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Satyajit Ray’s “Shatranj ke khiladi” has won the best film – critics filmfare award in 1978 but the fact that it has not been received well by the Indian audience raises an unending debate over adaptation of literature. Though this was not the first film of Ray which was based on literature, in fact “pather Panchali” “apur sansar” and “aparajito” were also based on Bibhutibhushan bandopadhyay’s novels. Bibhuti Bhushan’s novel had already become classic much before the film was made. Though there is a debate here too that the original novel was superior to the film (Pather Panchali)and the essence is lost in the translation in other languages but the response ‘pather panchali (film)” received from all over the world discards this debate and the film is considered as a classic. This is an ideal relationship between a book and the film based on it where both become …

Just came from the Premiere of �Jane tu�.�(wrote just after coming out of the premiere)�..Thanks to Ajay who called me to come to the show. It was raining �yes and also the raining of stars (the real stars )�.the venue was PVR Goregaon and the people were everywhere�outside��..in the lounge�.on the first floor..second floor�.third floor..every floor was packed with people�the media�..countless cameras�..mobiles��there was flashes flashes and flashes�I entered with Ajay�just ahead of me the man waving and shaking his hands was Mr. Mukesh Bhatt�..Suddenly the crowd screamed . I looked back only to find out Tabu has just landed up. I kept looking at her until the lift comes. The lift carried us and we arrived on the third floor�..we entered into a long corridor�as we are entering we met Jaggu dada..(Jackie Shroff) (think he was leaving)�I shake hands with him. I was so pleased that …

�Sarkar Raj� released with a message -RamGopal Verma is back…. nice opening and great reviews makes it a watchable sequel. But what type of film it is..Is it a political film (every second scene has to do something with politics). Is it a good hearted mafia film (sarkar is shaher ka sabse bada gunda hai) or is it a family film(I somewhere read Ramu was speaking about his first part that if you remove some of the scenes from the film it could be almost Hum Aapke Hain Kaun. But this sequel is more political than the first but what type of politics is this ? Neverthless,the Plot is more rooted. This seqel has no achaar no new dress of Tanisha and very few family moments (ya… think bomb blast is more attack on sarkar’s family than a family moment….wht’s the chemistry between Abhishek and Tanisha ? ) …

There has been a trend in Hindi cinema that only people from Urdu background could write songs for the films. In some senses it sounds true but upon revisiting the Hindi music scenario one has to believe that only writers with progressive thoughts had written good songs. Be it shailendra or Majrooh Sultanpuri. But since I have discussed these lyricists in my earlier posts it’s time to revisit other lyricists. In this today’s hinglish era everone could write lyrics. For them, it’s not necessary to become a progressive or possess any ideology. It’s a truth because progressive writers like Nida Fazli and Raahat Indori has been left behind in this race. Earlier Kaifi azmi has never considered as a very respectful name in urdu adab (the height which saahir achived) but these factors only could never marginalize their contribution to hindi film music.

These writers always possessed an …

It was a muddy sunset(77 years before) and the last rays of the sun were collapsing into the walls of Jamia Millia University Delhi and Premchand was about to leave for Lucknow and suddenly a man comes to him and asks for a brand new story for �Jamia Risala� (Jamia�s literary magazine). Premchand told him that he will send it after reaching Lucknow but the man was in hurry as the materials were about to go to the press. Premchand then cancelled his journey and wrote a story in the same night. The story was �kafan� which is known as one of the great work of Indian Literature. He always stood with his words �main mazdoor hoo jis din na likhoon us din roti khane ka mujhe adhikaar nahi� (I m a worker and don�t have any rights to eat without writing). The characters of �Kafan� Ghisu and Madhav …

The veteran lyricist Shailendra writes in a song �humne har jeene waale ko dhan daulat pe marte dekha�(sab kuch seekha humne na seekhi hoshiyaari). The line has a message and has a connection with the whole idea of �jaagte raho�. The writing department of �Jagte raho� comprises of Shambhu Mitra, K.A Abbas and Shailendra. These were the people mainly associated with �IPTA� and more than an artist they used to be activists. So we can say that �Jagte Raho� might have been inspired by the Italian New realism movement. “Jaagte raho” was released nine years after the independence. The era was full of freedom and the industries are on the hands of prosperous people. These people wanted to control the market and the stream of black money started to flow. �Jagte Raho� is a reflection of the Indian society of that era. But simultaneously the first decade after …

I was the last to leave the theatre �I wished Khoya Khoya Chand should not have got an end�.what a vintage wine it is!�I could not recollect myself..I just loved the film�surprised by the narrative�breath taking dialogues �great music blended with wonderful songs�an exceptional love story �Nikhat neither go with Jafar nor she is desperate to marry Jafar..Jafar too doesn�t care of Nikhat�s illness and want to make his film�.Is this the revenge Jafar is taking out with his father in the form of Nikhat..? I wanted to see Jafar becoming a successful Director..I wanted to see the end of Nikhat�Just wished to see the reaction of Jafar when Nikhat dies..the last moments of Nikhat�wanted to see what Nikhat could have wished in her last breathes.. but �.?
Half of the theatre already vacated just after the interval�The rest of the audience were making obscene comments�the other half …

At last there is a lovely sad song coming out of �khoya khoya chand� � �khoye khoye chaand ki talaash me firaq me udaas hai ye dil��.great lyrics and the music�mind blowing�and the way they connected this song to Majaz�s poetry .. �ji me aata Hai ye murda chaand tare noch loon is kinaare noch loon us kinaare noch loon��it�s unbeleavable�These verses are from Majaz�s poetry �awara� which is the most popular nazm of Majaz . The gist of the opening lines �Shaher ki raat aur main nashaado nakaara phirun..jagmagaati jaagti sadko pe awaara phiru. ae ghame dil kya karu ae bahishte dil kya karu..� is very much similar to the song �khoye khoye chaand ki talaash me..�
yeh manjilein bhi khudahi tay kare,
yeh faasalein bhi khudhi tay kare
jindagi sawaalon ke jawaab dhudnein chali
jawaab mein sawaalon ki ik lambi si ladi mili
sawaal hi sawaal hain sujhti nahi …

Those were the days when the madness was just started in a small sleepy township of Jharkhand.Our local cinema hall was showing �DDLJ� every five shows in our local cinema hall. This popularity of the film has created so much craze that we bunked our school and went to see the film. The film had a great impact on us and consequently�we saw �DDLJ� continuously for a week. Though it was not possible to get a ticket because buying a ticket from the counter is like fighting a war. . First, the long queue to reach to the counter and the counter had very small space in which we had to put our hands to fetch out the tickets and you have had only two seconds to do that otherwise our clothes would be torn down.. Besides there was a huge risk in getting into that since we could be …

The script is almost lock but the one question which is not leaving us is what should our hero do at the end.
Throughout the film our hero doesn�t do anything special. he is just a next door simple guy and we tried him to keep him as
real as he could be but towards the end we are loosing our sleep over it.(Audience point of view)…. endless discussions�multiple conclusions�continuous brainstorming sessions�still could not figure it out�what our hero should do. And if he remains the same at the end of the film then what�s the core message we want to convey to the audience. Consequently if there is no message then why we are making a film.? I always wonder why the audience comes to cinema hall? Moreover what they prefer to see in the movies? They come to watch a film or want to entertain themselves?(considering …

The most unconventional song in �laga chunari me daag� is �ehe thaiya motiya heraail ho raama�(this is the spot where I lost my pearl) . Though Shantanu and Swanand had tried their best to revive a most popular form of music of UP & Bihar, I felt that something is missing in the song. first thing I felt that this is a “chaiti” not “thumri” so it should be sang with the same energy and enthusiasm that the form of the song demands. “Chaiti” is a festival folk which in villages used to sing in the time of reaping of their grains. It has different moods depend on the situations for example, the villagers used to sing in two groups and counters each other�s comments. The other situation is when a woman misses her husband or a remembers her maayka. Obviously a sad situation but the …

It�s a short story of Dhirendra Asthana which inspired me to write this post..The story called �vichitra desh ki prem katha� (love story of a strange country).It�s a tale of a man whose love life is devastated by a political drama unfolds all of a sudden at the center. The backdrop used in this story is the tenure of �a poster woman.�. The protogoanist of Dhirendra Asthana�s story is KC who loves a muslim girl .He got threats and he has to leave the place..he moves to his Uncle�s place at Delhi and fortunately got into a nice job�His Uncle has some illegal business and could not match the wavelength of KC.So Kc leave his Uncle�s residence and started to reside separately�One day some police men came to him and arrests him over the charge of being traitor of the country..He has a charge of reading books of …

He is a writer,an actor ,a producer,a lyricist,n a above all a director…In a couple of films he also shot some scenes..His last hit was �Kranti��.26 years ago�. But Manoj Kumar is not relevant today�even if he is alive�Started his struggle with Dharmendra played a long inning into the Film industry.but could not come out succefully in his second inning��clerk� and �Jai Hind� became disastours..but at every 15th aug or 26th jan he becomes relevant all of a sudden�With the changing trends and definitions of �patrotism� MK�s cinema has become outdated..(read RDB or Chak De)�but this can�t be denied that he made his kind of cinema and yet made them hit�MK�s first film as an actor was �fashion� in 1957�.and..I think his first hit was �hariyali aur raasta� with Mala Sinha�then �Shaheed� released�which became a huge hit�according to MK �Shaheed� was a risk since before this, two films were made …

Now when RajKumar Santoshi�s �halla bol� is about to release,there’s a buzz that it�s inspired by Safdar Hashmi and Jessica Lal�s case. Halla Bol stars Vidya Balan opposite Ajay Devgan and is scheduled to release by this year end.A part of it has also been shot on the sets of �omkara�.It�s the story of an actor and his journey.It�s a tale of how Ashfaque Khan transformed into his screen name �sameer khan�.A party happens and everthing changed for the actor and he fights for justice�.This is the synopsis I read. Now I have a doubt� in this synopsis where the story of Safdar Hasmi lies. I will not talk about the famous Jessica Lal case ( though it�s equally an ideal case of failure of a democratic system) simply coz the case is in court and we have to wait for the court�s verdict. The verdict of Safdar hashmi …

No censor board certification….no entry fees…all u have to go and watch some of the best films of france. Starting today at 8 PM,French embassy is organising a week of french film festival at fun republic andheri…so mumbai PFC guyz…meet u at Fun.
aug 3rd-9th 8 PM

Gulzar ne kahi likha hai “geet budhe nahi hote”..us din maine auto waale ko gaana lagaane ko kaha to usne saaf shabdo me kaha..”kya gaana lagaaye sahab..sab log naye gaana sunna chahte hai..aur mere ko naya gaana jamtaa nahi�.gaane ka matlab gaane me meaning hona chahiye�aajkal ke gaane aadhe to angreji me hote hai samajh me nahi aate�baaki sirf music music�..”maine use samjhane ki koshish ki ki aisa nahi hai ab bhi ache gaane likhe jaa rahe hai par sunoge tab to�.jaise guru ke gaane..metro ke,,omkara ke..usne kaha sirf hit hai sahab ��koi geet dil tak nahi pahunchtaa..mujhe laga ki baton hi baton me usne kuch aisa keh diya jo sach hai kahi na kahi�� kya aise gaane banna band ho gaye jo seedhe dil tak pahunche..agar aisa hai to hum kya banaa rahe hai..kya likh rahe hai�.chintan vichaar jaisi gatividhiyon se hum door hote jaa rahe hai�.sawaal ye hai …