Saturday, June 4, 2011

Lady Gaga too remixes with Bollywood Music.


Lady Gaga  teamed up with ‘Desi Hits’ and famous Bollywood music composers Salim-Sulaiman and released a Bollywood-inspired remix of her hit single "Born This Way,".


 Salim- Sulaiman are known for their successful music direction in movies- Fashion and ‘Rab ne Bane di Jodi’.  Sulaiman says of this remix, "When we started working on "Born This Way" there was a feeling of excitement and a bit of nervousness. This was the no. 1 track in 23 countries and to remix it and give it an Indian touch was something that we were very conscious about. The sitar was the instrument of choice for us when it came to creating a melodic riff. Of course there was the dholak and the dhol that always create the atmosphere of party and euphoria, but what really rocked it all was Salim's voice to add that Indian flavor."

This is the first step Lady Gaga has taken to break into the Indian market, while may other pop stars before her have been seeking the Indian audiences in various ways.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

No one killed Jessica - A Review


Cast: Rani Mukherjee, Vidya Balan, Myra Karn, Neil Bhopalam, Rajesh Sharma, Bubbles Sabhrewal, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Yogendra Tikku, Geeta Sudan, Shireesh Sharma, Samara Chopra
Producer:  Ronnie Screwwala
Director:  Raj Kumar Gupta
Screenplay & Dialogues: Raj Kumar Gupta
Background Score and Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Duration: 2 hrs 20 mins
Website: http://www.noonekilledjessica.com/
Genres:  True Story, Social
Rating: ***





Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/utvmotionpictures#p/u/32/IzGZ9oL9Lv0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glo7MAa6htQ

The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!

The story of this movie is based on the real life story of Jessica Lal murder  and the ensuing display of corruption in judiciary and  political systems, contrasting with the defenselessness of the common man struggling for justice, and highlighted with the crusade of a journalist  to expose the system and help justice prevail.

The story showcases how a frustrated Vidya Balan (Sabrina/ Jessica’s sister) struggles for seven years to seek justice for her sisters death while power, money, politics, and corruption change the face of the case.
 It shows how giddy power and political clout of one  (Zeeshan Ayub  as Manish ) equates a price of  life to a drink! 

The obvious and inescapable existence of bribery and corruption in the system is also displayed in the dialogs of the police cop in charge of the case: “Sab koi Khaata hai, Kis liye mein fark hai”  a reasoning that he gives that  he too  accepted a bribe but only to be gentle to the accused in custody not for dishonest reasons like the forensics did of changing the evidence or defence did of buying off or influencing the witnesses.

The  movie  highlights the strength of ‘media’ and  news media magazines and channels like Tehelka which are taking up causes and exposing the loopholes and sleazy duplicity of many power hogging people and corruption in the system. Here the feisty reporter Rani Mukerjee as Meera Gaity takes up the cause to help justice prevail in the Jessica Lal murder by reopening the proceedings of the case with the help of television exposés,  igniting public’s righteous anger  and concern using social networks, text messages and candlelight vigils.

The movie inspite of being inspired from  a true story, the handling of the story doesn’t make it ‘documentrish’ but incidents of fiction, back stories  in narrative and  interesting dialogs { “Everybody is Somebody  in Delhi ......Nobody is Nobody” -  Meera/ Rani mukerjee } and excellent music and songs makes it an interesting watch.

The cast of the movie is excellent. Vidya Balan plays the ordinary frustrated sister seeking justice very well. Rani Mukerjee in a feisty and   brash role of a journalist carries herself well.  The new actors Zeeshan Ayub as the accused and Myra as Jessica/victim and Neil Bhopalam as the coward witness play their parts well too, not to forget excellent acting by Rajesh Sharma as the cop.

The songs ‘Dili Dili’ , ‘’Aitbar and other music score  are racy and meaningful. The writer and director Raj Kumar Gupta keeps the movie crisp and heart rendering, reaching out to the people with positive reinforcement of possibilities of changing the system if one unifies for a cause!



Friday, February 4, 2011

Should 'Bollywood' be 'Bollywood' or not?


                                   "The above image is the 'photoshoped' image of  the Hollywood banner!!"

In a recent argument instigated by Salman Khan on Twitter, many in the Hindi film Industry  have come to discuss the credibility of the name Bollywood for the Hindi Film Industry. Many years ago the name Bollywood was coined for the Hindi Film Industry  inspired by 'Hollywood' which is the location of American Film Industry. The name "Bollywood” was derived from Bombay (the former name for Mumbai) . But unlike Hollywood, Bollywood does not exist as a physical place.

 Some  agree  with Salman  Khan and are not comfortable to have an aped name of ‘Bollywood’ like Hollywood;  while some do not want to change the name  having  lived  with it since so many years,  and also because  now its globally popular and recognized name for the Hindi Film Industry!!

This argument was earlier instigated few years ago by Amitabh Bachchan, the biggest star of the Hindi film industry but no change or discussion happened in this context. This time too it may just pass since creating a name change of the film industry is going to be a much bigger campaign than changing names of cities as is the trend in India these days!


Check out details on
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Bollywood-mat-kaho-na/Article1-658568.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bollywood

Twitter:
BeingSalmanKhan Salman Khan
Hate this bloody name , bollywood , koi naam hai kya ? Disgusting .

What is your opinion, should Bollywood  change its name?  Do write your  point of view or at least vote in the  Bollywood poll below.
 

Thursday, February 3, 2011

56th Filmfare Awards 2010 Top Winners – ‘My Name is Khan’, ‘Dabangg’, ‘Udaan’


The 56th Idea Filmfare Awards had three movies winning most awards- 'My Name is Khan', 'Dabaang' and 'Udaan'. Sharukh Khan’s 'My Name Is Khan' got 3 most popular awards - Best Director, Best Actor (Male), Best Actor (Female); Salman Khan starrer 'Dabangg' got 6 awards; ‘Udaan’ got 7 awards-  Best Supporting Actor (Male), Best Film (Critics), Best Story, Cinematography, Screenplay, Best Background Music and Best Sound Design Award.


POPULAR AWARDS

Best Actor: Shah Rukh Khan for 'My Name is Khan'
Best Actress: Kajol for 'My Name is Khan'
Best Film: 'Dabangg'
Best Director Award: Karan Johar for My Name is Khan.
Best Debut Director: Manish Sharma for Band Baajaa Baaraat
Best Debut Actor (Male): Ranveer Singh for Band Baajaa Baaraat
Best Debut Actor (Female): Sonakshi Sinha for Dabangg

Best Supporting Actor (Male): Ronit Roy for 'Udaan'
Best Supporting Actor (Female): Kareena Kapoor for 'We Are Family'


FILMFARE CRITICS AWARDS
Best Actor (Critics): Rishi Kapoor for 'Do Dooni Chaar'
Best Actress (Critics): Vidya Balan for 'Ishqiya'
Best Film (Critics): Vikramaditya Motwane and Sanjay Singh for 'Udaan'


LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Prabodh Chandra  aka  Manna Dey the melodious playback singer  was felicitated with one of the most prestigious award of the night - the Lifetime Achievement award. ( He  had won his first Filmfare Award in 1970 for singing the song 'Ae Bhai Zara Dekh Ke Chalo' from Mera Naam Joker).


SPECIAL AWARDS  were given to Amitabh Bachchan  an award for completing 40 years in the film industry!  And Madhuri Dixit for completing 25 years in the film industry!

FILMFARE MUSIC AWARDS

Best Music Composer: Sajid Wajid won the Best Music Composer Award for Dabangg.
Best Song Composer : Lalit Pandit  for the song Munni Badnam Hui…
Best Lyrics: Gulzar won the Best Lyrics Award for the song 'Ibn-e-Batuta' (Ishqiya).
Most Promising Talent in Music: Sneha Khanwalkar for 'Love Sex aur Dhokha'
Best Playback Singer (Male): Rahat Fateh Ali Khan won Best Playback Singer (Male) for 'Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji' (Ishqiya)
Best Playback Singer (Female): Best Playback Singer (Female) Award was shared between Mamta Sharma for 'Munni Badnaam Hui' (Dabangg) and Sunidhi Chauhan for 'Sheila Ki Jawani' (Tees Maar Khan)

FILMFARE TECHNICAL AWARDS

Best Choreography: Farah Khan for 'Sheila Ki Jawani' from Tees Maar Khan.
Best Dialogue : Habib Faisal for Do Dooni Chaar
Best Screenplay: Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane for Udaan
Best Story: Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane for Udaan
Best Background Music: Amit Trivedi for Udaan.
Best ActionDirector:Vijayan Master for Dabbang
BestCinematography: Mahendra Shetty for Udaan
Best Action Sequence: Vijayan Master for Dabbang
Best Editing Award: Namrata Rao for 'Love Sex aur Dhoka'.
Best Production Design Award : Mukund Gupta for 'Do Dooni Chaar'.
Best Sound Design Award: Best Sound Design Award is shared by Pritam Das for 'Love Sex Aur Dhoka' and Kunal Sharma for 'Udaan'.
Best Costume Design Award : Varsha and Shilpa have won the Best Costume Design Award for the film Do Dooni Chaar.
Best Scene of the Year Award:  Golmaal 3