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PFC Janata,

This is just a reaction to Subrat’s Post on Janta’s Stupid Majorityism.. Taking a cue from a good performance by Indian Pugilists at the Olympics today, thought should try a punch in the air. Would love to see if my favorite author Subrat comes back with a harder one at me.. Being a voice from the “public”, I would not mind loosing the round to the “elitist”, but not without fighting…

Dear Subrat,

Just completed reading your post “Janata is King? Stupid Majorityism” on the PFC.. Sometimes I tend to avoid reading PFC posts due to heavy occupancies in running the company (keep them in queue for some furture free slot) , still you being one of my favorite writers on the site, how could I missed your post.. What I liked the most about the the content is that it compelled me to write a reply …

July 31

One of the most talked about film of the year, Kuselan (Kuselan in Tamil, Kathanayakudu in telugu) is releasing today.. The film makers and distributors are eyeing at a bumper opening as Pyramid Saimira has already bought theatrical rights for more than 60 crores. What makes Kuselan an extravagant affair is just one name Rajanikanth. The film is remake of last year’s critically acclaimed Malayalam film Katha Parayumbol and though Rajanikanth is just doing a Guest appearance of a Super Star (played by Mammootty in original), the film is customised to cash on each and every frame that Rajani appears in.. (Check out the trailer which confirms this). The film is produced by K Balachandar and being directed by P Vasu, a Rajani Regular.. The biggest superstar of India though is just playing a guest role, …

Just returned back from the sets of Gulal.. For more than a week, I was so heavily occupied in the work, the I could not manage to visit the location (currently filming at Chaumu Palace, about 40 kms from Jaipur city).. and then came July 4th, the Independence day of US, became a day of freedom for me as most of my clients were busy spending time at a holiday… So I left early (9.30PM) from the office and directed my car on to the highway. It was an adventurous ride to the location.. I was so heavily engaged in my projects in last few days, that I forgot Vasan told me its Chaumu Palace and I took it for Chaksu (Near Chokhi Dhani, I remember Chokhi Dhani reference in the film so I did not even cared to confirm back) and I set off in a wrong …

Dr. Jones is back… While many of the heroes and super heroes have not gone beyond a triology at the most, its his fourth outing in 27 years.. Though it took nineteen years in the re.re.return to yet another adventure journey and in the mean time Harrison Ford, the 46 year old “Junior” of The Last Crusade(1989) now grown up to 65 year old in so many years, the adventure ride continues with same fun and excitement with the entertainment never seems to end.

After all “Its all about the mileage, not the years”.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull is releasing tomorrow world wide with great expectations from the Indy Die Hards all over..

The BO is excited too as per this report
Expert trackers agree that Harrison Ford’s Indy Jones might whip J. Depp’s Captain Jack’s …

The Great Indian Tamasha, “Cricket ka SharmYuddh” has finally begun… Infact its two days and three matches old already.. The box office collections of first two days is quite encouraging for the organisers, franchises, players and for almost everyone who is involved in the carnival of cricket..

You might ask what Cricket and IPL is doing on the PassionForCinema frontpage and I agree.. it a complete out of the context PFC post, a wrong place to talk about it.. but then today bollywood is finding itself in a wrong place.. in the stadium on the cricket ground, not in cinema halls.. on Friday none of the hindi films got released due to IPL opening. The music directors and singers are busy in composing team anthems, the costume designers are busy in designing the dresses for the cricket teams, the stars are busy in giving company in the pavilion …

“Geet boodhe nahin hote, unke chehron pe jhurriyan nahi girti
wo palte rahte hain, chalte rahte hain
sun-ne walo ki umra badal jaati hai….”
- Gulzar in Fursat Ke Raat Din

It was an unusually calm and quiet Saturday yesterday. For the first time in last four months, the work had given permission to relax. Though the evening had watched a unusual strong spell of rains and storm, but the night was completely silent. After so many days I got a few moments for myself and I decided to celebrate with my favourite songs.. its been months since I spent time with them… In office, though the worldspace keeps playing for 24 hours, and sometimes they do play good songs too, but the fight of mind and heart makes it difficult to enjoy… many a times the heart conquers the mind and gets me into the song yet a telephone call or a team …

Just a few days back, I was thinking of, the changing face on the villains in the recent times… that the big, bad, conventional villains are now mostly restricted to comic acts in “so called” comedy films.. and the big question was “where is Gulshan Grover?”, “Did Hollywood actually consumed him?”.. “did the (no) news of Bond movie really pushed him in to the hide?”

Today a typical loud roaring laugh announced on TV… “Mujhe Sab Chahiye!” and I knew the badman is back… and he is back this time as the biggest badman of all time, RAAVAN… in a VFX based 3D animated film called Mahayoddha Rama, yet another one based on Ramayana.

The teaser was released with the screening of RACE and turned out to be a big surprise indeed..

Teaser of Mahayoddha Rama:…

“Oh no! not again” was my first reaction to the news.. as the Dhol-Nagada of the news of its release have been playing with my ears for so many years. After umpteen announcements of its release in last 13 years (and ofc still remaining dabba-band till date), today I heard the same news once again… Yaar Meri Zindagi is releasing finally… Big B and Shatru Bhaiyya are reuniting once again onscreen..

Rediff Reports

Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha will reunite on screen after 26 years. The last time we saw them together was in Yash Chopra’s Kaala Patthar.

Now, Yaar Meri Zindagi, which releases this month, will feature both actors in pivotal roles. And in case you are wondering why you haven’t heard of the casting coup in this film before, the reason is Yaar Meri Zindagi has been lying in the cans for 37 years!

Exciting News? As a big …

Which of the following (unusual) pairs sounds most interesting of the three?

a. Priyadarshan with Shahrukh Khan
b. Shahrukh Khan with Irrfan Khan
c. Priyadarshan with Gulzar..

The next film of Red Chillies Entertainment titled ‘Billoo Barber’ features all of them together for the first time. (Shahrukh’s guest presence in Krazzy 4 can be ignored)… The film features Irfan Khan in the title role of a Barber while Shahrukh plays a childhood friend of the barber, now a super star.

Who says Priyadarshan is running out of stock (specially of his malayalam “originals” or “original remakes”) for new hindi films. He seems to have remembered the rule “When All Fails, Hunt Mythology for the scripts” as since the inception of Bollywood, mythology has proved to be one of the biggest sources of stories and scripts and Billoo Barber is said to be an adaptation of the famous Krishna Sudama frienship episode. …

It was the time when Doordarshan was at the Prime… It was the time when having a big satellite dish on the roof was a status symbol.. It was the time when VCP(/R)s were The Source of Home entertainment when it comes to Bollywood or Hollywood.. It was that time in late 80s, when one of its kind Video Magazine made its mark in lacs of indian homes. Any passionate bollywood fan will not forget that name “Lehren”..

The good news is Lehren is coming back on TV.. This time as a dedicated bollywood news channel.
Variety reports

Former video leader Lehren Entertainment is to launch India’s first TV channel dedicated entirely to Bollywood news and gossip.

The Lehren TV channel is skedded to launch in April. Company says it has received broadcast ministry clearance to uplink and will begin testing the service from next month.

Having a dedicated news …

So the results are out.. and there are no shakes in terms of surprises, making the results less exciting than ever… The black beauty is also loosing out its charm with every passing year.. Filmfare is now reduced to one of the awards and not THE award of the industry.. Interestingly Yash and Aditya Chopra are confered with the Power award (seems they could not decide who is more powerful at home, Yash ji or Aditya Chopra.. Seems giving it to one would make another unhappy.. so lets make both of them happy together.. After all Filmfare business is about keeping favourable stars happy)…

Anyway I would like to take you all back to 1973, 25 years earlier and introduce you to the filmfare all time “power” award.. The year when real power play was on display at the awards..The all time power award goes to Sohan …

It was exactly 25 years back in 1983, when India had one of the most defining moment of our sporting history by winning the cricket world cup and we have been still cherishing that moment till date year after year.. In the same year bollywood gave us a small yet significant film filled with moments to cherish forever… To me the film is a landmark and path breaking one, considering that none of the big producers/houses/banners backed it.. None of the big star cast was associated with the film. The production unit was lacking budget even for the important props (The hero had to get his own personal camera for shooting, which eventually got stolen during the shooting..).. The cast had mostly new-comers and crew had mostly strugglers.. but despite all odds, There was a UNIT and a perfect team.. Very similar to the world cup winning team …

December 12, 2007. What does this date signifies for hindi films.. I did surfed through the news papers, TV channels, web sites and news groups to find out if someone cared to cover an important event in Hindi cinema.. While I could know from them that Sanjay Dutt resumed shooting today after his yet another comeback from Jail, unfortunately could not find a single mention of 100th Birth Anniversary of a musical legend of hindi cinema Khem Chand Prakash. A legend who died at a very young age of 42 but before leaving has given the world a handful of immortal melodies for the generations to come

It was exactly 100 years ago, on December 12, 1907 when Khemchand Prakash was born in Jaipur. His father was a dhrupad singer and a kathak dancer in the royal court and boy Khemchand got his first training of music and dance from …

“Jab Nasha Toot.ta hai
kitne tukade gire hain

Hosh chun.ne lage hum
hum bhi kya sarfire hain”

The song kept playing inside me, when I came out of the Cinema hall after watching No Smoking.. and it moved to my lips too while driving back to home.. (while others had “phoonk diye” on their lips) Unlike JG or MSFU, where the director helped me to solve the puzzle before I left the theater, here I found defeated by Anurag.. You won Bro.. but I took the puzzle home with me in an effort to solve it whenever possible.. I have not given up.. The challenge is not over yet.. A similar feeling was there 8 years earlier when I came out after watching Hu Tu Tu (My heart said its good while my mind was not satisfied) but I could solve the puzzle in its second screening.. With …

First of all let me tell you I am not a film reviewer.. I don’t want to be one as I believe all the reviewers have their own biases and preferences like any other audience watching the film. I also believe most of the great films have boring reviews and sometimes the greatness of a film is beyond the reach for many of the reviewers.. of course all badly made films provide much better opportunity to have the most entertaining reviews on them..

On the following lines, you will not find a review but a reaction and its a reaction to a comment I read sometime back, by a person I admire to a great extent Javed Siddiqui saab. A comment that set me to a journey to find answers and made me to actually review a film.
It was about a film that is one of the …