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Second and concluding part of the excerpts from a conversation occurred between Director Raju Hirani(RH), and Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), is presented here.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Raju Hirani, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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AB: How could you preserve your dream of directing the films? Advertising work was fetching you good money. Did this not distract you from your dream of filmmaking?

RH: I had not come from Nagpur with a thought that I would make documentaries or would do Ad films. I think nobody comes thinking this sort of things. I did not know about Ad films …

In continuation of the series “Initial Steps“, excerpts from a conversation occurred between Director Raju Hirani(RH), and Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), are presented here.

Ajay writes about Raju Hirani

First time I had met Raju Hirani in the office of Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Munna Bhai MBBS was not released yet. Most of the journalists were interviewing VVC. I saw that a shy man was silently sitting on a bench. Shining in his eyes pulled my attention and I approached him and got to know that he was the director of Munnabhai MBBS. I did a formal newspaper kind of interview with him and came back. Film was released and got a success. I met him again and this time it was a long meeting.
Coincidently I got to know bit earlier because of my sources that Munna Bhai MBBS was given the National award. I …

Zara Aawaz ka Lehja to badlo,
Zara Maddham karo is aanch ko Sonaan
Ke jal jaate hain Kungre narm Rishton ke
Zara Alfaaz ke Nakhun tarasho
Bahot Chubhte hain jab Narazgi se baat karti ho
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[ Change the tone of your sayings
lower down this heat
as it may burn the soft filaments of the relationship
cut the nails of your harsh words
because they pierce a lot
when you talk in anger ]

When he recites something in his deep voice then words become more significant and they open many new meanings before us.

When he pens down something on paper and these words come across our eyes then our mind goes on a wonderful trip in all possible directions and no time machine is required then as mind can reach in any era as words cover a very broad horizon where a villager woman making Uplaas from Cow Dung or making the Bitorha …

Some thing changes the course of direction in the life. Manoj Kumar did Shaheed and made Bhagat Singh’s character immortal on screen. No other actor could play the role of Bhagat Singh as convincingly as Manoj Kumar played in Shaheed.

Watch the Manoj Kumar as Bhagat Singh in Shaheed singing the song
Ai Watan Ai Watan humko teri kasam and recall the famous posters of Bhagat Singh.

He was at his best in Shaheed. Bhagat Singh’s role remained his best performance . Before Shaheed he was seen as another imitator of Dilip Kumar’s acting style.

Shaeed made him popular as an independent hero and Shaheed’s popularity gave him chance to make Upkar. Shaheed gave him the solid ground on which he could create the character of Bharat Kumar.

Everybody has something special in him/her and every actor also has …

First thing first, KHUSHBOO is a PERIOD film, based upon the story of Sharat Chandra Chatterjee. So no new definitions can be imposed on the characterisation/s. It is set in an old time and hence has to be seen in that manner only.

Once selected a story, the thing which matters is the fact how convincingly a director has shown his chosen story. Story may not look convincing in a period film because times are changed but good directors have that skill where they keep grip on the visual story telling factor and audiences are soaked deeply in to the visual watching of the film and whether story is feasible in the present circumstances or not, ceases to matter for audiences.

Practices like Childhood marriages or fixing the marriages for children are not in the fashion now a days but this absence can not stop audience to enjoy the films …

Amrita Preetam and Imroz, Amrita Preetam - Imroz and Amrita Preetam Imroz, all the three above mentioned nomenclatures are different. While first method tells names of two persons, second tells names of two people separated by a hyphen and these two methods don’t represent lovers like Amrita and Imroz and they can only be represented by Amrita Preetam Imroz or Imroz Amreeta Preetam. If there is a gap between two consecutive words then it’s a gap for the ease of reading only else they formed a united personality, different in characteristics and yet living a common loving life till the very end of Amrita’s life and perhaps afterwards also.

Amrita Preetam Imroz, were the lovers who never said “I love You” to each other. What was the need? How could they say this when every moment of their life …

Aapke Deewane is a romantic comedy film having love triangle in the plot. AKD was the debut film for Rakesh Roshan as a Producer.

AKD is a fun film like other films of Rishi Kapoor, came out in the 70s. Influences of films like Khel Khel Mein and Rafoo Chakkar can be found in AKD. Campus based fun of KKM is present in AKD also and like Rafoo chakkar, male character here also pretends to be a woman to earn some money and to win the heart of his love interest.

Hritik Roshan also made his debut in acting with this film. In same year 1980 Hritik was also seen in the film Aasha which was made by his maternal grandfather J Om Prakash. After few years he appeared again as a child actor in Bhagwan Dada. …

First moment is always special. It can be first ever meeting, first ever visit to a place, first ever watching of some piece of art etc. It can be first day of month, first month of a year or first hour of a day or first moment of the beginning of anything which we like.

There is always a different energy level before the people in these “first” moments. But in present days hectic life style and rush of meeting up the dead lines, perhaps one does not always remain alert to really notice that today is the first day of another month. Some people notice that its first date of a month but that excitement has been lost which used to be there till some years ago. Perhaps money is more and so much is happening around the people that sensitivity needed for this kind of small thing has …

THANK YOU Navketan, Dev Saab and Vijay Anand to give us Jewel Thief. Your film, Jewel Thief, denies to loose its charm even after 41 years. 41 years is a time period long enough to forget even the places where one enjoys the formative years in the childhood. Lovers of Jewel Thief exist in all the age groups. It does not matter at which age they saw it, film remains in the list of their top favourite films after that one watching. Years don’t matter here. Some saw it 41 years ago when it was released in 1967. Some saw it in later years but one fact remains true for all the generations of the different audiences and that is the adhesive power of the film.

Ideally, Jewel Thief can not be discussed as it fulfils the dictum, “Sweet of …

Cinema has reached in to the weird territories also but still human emotions can not be taken away from the cinema and still films are made and will be made which basically cover human life and human emotions in quite ordinary sense as they are meant to be.

We, the human, laugh and cry along with the characters shown in the cinema and that is the success of such humane stories and cinema. Cinema which covers the lives of human beings touches a chord with the audiences and if cinematic effort is sincere then it penetrates audiences deeply and makes a place in their heart.

The Pursuit of Happiness is also such a film which shows us human emotions and life of struggling ordinary human being, whose life is at the verge of destruction.

This man is living on the …

There have been many good female singers in the hindi cinema right from the days of Noorjahan and Suraiya. Geeta Dutt, Suman Kalyanpur and Sudha Malhotra all gave good and hit songs and their songs were able to compete with the songs of any good female singers active in those years. They all have many songs where question of comparison with other singers does not arise and listener is fully satisfied with their singing only. They have got many songs of their own.

Even it is hard to imagine that any other female singer could have sung Afsana Likh Rahee hoon dil e bekarar ka (Dard 1947), better than the Uma Devi, who later became famous in her new incarnation of Tun Tun-the famous female comedian.

Inspite of the fact that so many good female singers always remained active in …

KL Saigal (KLS) also belong to the precious list of those rare people who did not need long life to prove their worth among Billions of people on earth. KLS did live only for 43 years but he has left behind such a great contribution to the field of music that till people, who understand music, will be coming on earth, his songs will remain immortal. Such a great voice, such a crystal clear pronunciation of the words and such a devotion and involvement to the music is seldom seen.

KLS sang around 100 songs in Hindi films and still he has been recognised as a legend of legends and not by the ordinary music listeners only but by the legends themselves.
For big and accomplished singers, musicians and audiences having refined taste in music, KLS has been their singer …

Some genius mind has written/said

� Shabd to shor hain tamasha hai,
Maun hee prem ki bhasha hai �

[ Spoken words are nothing but exhibition of a noise,
Silence is the real language of love ]

A Poet has written

You smiled,
You did not talk to me,
But I felt that
I was waiting for long
for this moment only

Another brilliant and highly constructive mind has mentioned a beautiful thought

� Where love exists, there silence seems very natural and joyous. When it is a matter
of loving someone silently then there is no comparison to this feeling of calmness.
Does there exist any desire to say something while looking lovingly at the lover ? �

Love can not be explained in words. Recipie of love can not be published. When no language was here …

Just to remember Sanjeev Kumar and to celebrate his 70th birth anniversary.
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Who does not know that Sanjeev Kumar was a very good actor? Who does not admit that he was a versatile actor?

He did many films which could be classified as mile stones in their respective genres. He played very tough roles with a competent ease. Nothing looked tough once he accepted a role. He made it so easy that role seemed tailor made for him. Exception can be his role of Maznu in Love and God but that film took almost ages in completion and it can/should not be taken as an example.

Films, where he has played deftly a strong character, are many and films, came out from his union with Gulzaar saab, are well known and praised alike both by critics and audiences but apart from these highly acclaimed films he has done many light and regular …

It will not be suffice to say that Amrish Puri plays only a callous father of Anant Velankar (Om Puri) in the film, Ardha Satya or the film shows him as a cruel father only. It will not do a proper justice to this interesting character. Things are not so simple and straight with this character that we may define his character as a harsh father of AV. Its not possible for Vijay Tendulkar to write a simple character that has been given only one characteristic. His characters have to be completely complex in nature because they belong to real life. His characters are seen in real life. Its not possible for Govind Nihalani to show his characters seized under monotonous behaviour and his characters have to face the volatile conditions and behaviour because life is like that only and prototypes don�t work here. That�s the beauty of films directed …

Final part of the interview of Director Prakash Jha(PJ), taken by Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), is presented here.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Prakash Jha, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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AB: Which kind of influences you were having while making Daamul?

PJ: Impact of realistic cinema was certainly there. My own thinking and understanding was also developing continuously. I developed my own craft in direction and I conceived and further developed characters according to the necessity of that particular theme. Honestly speaking Daamul was the first film which followed my own liking and had my own style and touch. These four …

Second part of the interview of Director Prakash Jha(PJ), taken by Ajay Brahmatmaj (AB), is presented here.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Prakash Jha, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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AB: You still make documentaries but if we talk about feature films then how this journey was started and why and when did you think that you should make feature films?

PJ: I was thinking about making feature films also. I had written scripts for the two stories of Shaival, Kalchakra and Daamul. I was searching producers for Daamul. Man Mohan Shetty had become my friend by then. He said …

To continue the series “Initial Steps”, excerpts from an interview of Director Prakash Jha,
taken by Ajay Brahmatmaj , are presented here.

Ajay writes

I had started my interview series with the interview of Prakash Jha. He is my elder and to some extent my guide also. Perhaps it is difficult, at present, to evaluate the contribution of Prakash Jha to Hindi cinema but he has brought a new language to the Hindi cinema.

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[Following is the translation of the Hindi Interview and may not do full justice to the original interview so to read the exact sayings of Prakash Jha, one should go through the original interview. This is simply a trial to expose the interview to those readers who can not read Hindi at all]
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From now onwards Ajay Bramatmaj will be represented by AB and Prakash Jha …

3.5 scenes in the film and he still deserves to be called as The Naseeruddin Shah!

Simply because of his brilliant portrayal of Inspector Mike Lobo. “Short role can still be great” is proved by Naseeruddin Shah in Ardha Satya.

Mike Lobo is often discussed among policemen before he actually appears on screen. In the present time, he is a broken man, a drunkard who was suspended from the police department because he could not do compromises with the usual functioning of the department and tried to work in his own manners. He was too rebellious. Its told by other policemen that he used to say that whoever would come between he and his duty he would have to face his wrath. Whoever was found against his opinion of law and order, he fought with him. Vested interests could not bear his presence in the police force and he …

The wonder that was that Victory.

Victory and defeat, both are the parts of the life of any human being. One goes to surmount the whole world and he may be defeated by a small and simple thing produced before him by the nature. It is said that most difficult task in the world is to win the hearts of the people. It can only be done by the love and love is a phenomenon which happens on its own. Love can not be forced.

Victory and Defeat
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Every moment
Life plays the
game of check and mate,

But
By having a mate
one becomes a looser for a few moments only,
Life …