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It started with Hassan Jehangir, Salma Agha, then later went on to Ali Haider. Ofcourse, Ustad was always there. But we are not talking about Ustad here. Our focus is the pages of memory that got fader through the years. The music from sarhad ke us paar that knew no barriers. And never will. Lets go over few pages of past and come to where we stand now.

Late 80’s
Hassan Jehangir is what I call ‘salad days’ memory.
The song that made Hassan Jehangir a household name across the 2 countries - Hawa hawa.

Hawa Hawa was a revolution of sorts for reasons best known to the late 70’s/80’s borns.

This song was followed by aaja aaja dil hai deewana. And the only image that comes to my mind is a shoddy album cover with a guy …

IFFLA 2008 Announces Call for Entries
The Sixth Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) seeks narrative, documentary, music videos, experimental, children’s and animated films of any length and format. IFFLA will run April 22-27, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Los Angeles. Jury and Audience Choice Prizes will be awarded for Best Feature, Documentary and Short Film.
IFFLA 2007 had over 6,000 attendees and screened 36 films from 8 countries. In addition to the high-quality of presentation of their work, filmmakers in attendance gained access to an eclectic mix of professionals from the Los Angeles film industry.

Check out what our past filmmakers …

Pickle, an online journal on the entertainment industry, believed to be backed by one industry body, has reported that the Film Federation of India (FFI) has started the process to select the Indian entry for the Best Foreign Film Oscar in the 80th Academy Award.

It says that a cross section of industry experts and critics contacted by it “squared in on” Feroz Abbas Khan’s Gandhi My Father (Hindi), Ameer Sultan’s Paruthiveeran (Tamil) and Maniratnam’s Guru (Hindi) as their favourite choice for nomination from India for the Oscars.

Some of the other films that are in the “radar of Oscar watchers” are Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Eklavya (Hindi), Shanker’s Sivaji (Tamil), Radhamohan’s Mozhi (Tamil) and Rosshan Andrews’ Notebook (Malayalam), it claims. But it adds the rider, “Analysts appreciated the films listed in this para but were not confident to bet on any of these movies.”

According to Pickle, Gandhi My Father and …

Mumbai rains played truant almost throughout July..Then suddendly today it started raining again..Not raining..But pouring..It hardly drizzles in Mumbai.

Whether it becomes Shanghai or not one thing is for sure, Mumbai scores over it in terms of rainfall. It receives almost the double the amount in Shanghai.For your gyan the average annual rainfall of 2120mm is almost double of Shanghai’s 1143 mm. Moreover no other global cities match Mumbai’s average.

‘Another unique aspect of Mumbai rains is that no other city handles as many intense rainy spells. Hongkong and Shanghai get six to seven months of rain, while Mumbai piles up its staggering average in just three very wet months.’ So much and such muck for Mumbai rains.

You might wonder what is the link between Mumbai rains and Bollywood.It’s said that Mumbai ki barsaat aur producer ki baat ka kabhi bharosa nahin kiya ja sakta( Mumbai rains and producers’ claim can’t …

Orwell’s prediction of the horrors of 1984 would seem mellow compared to what humanity really saw. In Delhi at least, thousands were massacred, families destroyed forever, the scum of humanity exposed, as justice still remains to be served. It’s a disgusting piece of our history that our government, which still employs many of those directly responsible, chooses to conveniently bury. In that context, it is of utmost importance for us Indian’s to look at ourselves through our own personal stories, to re-live the horror we allowed into our society, and hopefully prevent that from happening in the future. “Amu” tells one such personal story.

Kaju (Konkona Sensharma) arrives in India, appearing to be the stereotypical Indian-American in search of her roots, doing the rounds of the exotic side of the country with her camcorder. Adopted at the age of three and raised in Los Angeles by her foster …

Received from Worldwide Film Distribution yahoogroup… Please spread the word!

Let me take this opportunity to introduce you about me and social activities of our organization. …

I am working with a government organization, one of the most important & entertainment department called “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE” is given to me and I am looking for your help to expand the membership.

What is “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE” ?

The National Film Development Corporation Limited (NFDC) is a Government of India Enterprise set up with the objective of fostering excellence in Indian Cinema. It provides film enthusiasts in Mumbai an opportunity to see good meaningful World-Class Films throughout the year through the “NATIONAL FILM CIRCLE”.

For the past twenty-five years, National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has produced/co- produced more than 200 films in 15 languages, including English. Amongst these all several internationally acclaimed films like Gandhi, The Making of Mahatma, Mirch-Masala, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Sardar, Parinda and …

In our tribute to Deepti Naval, the screening of Mirch Masala on Saturday, April 21 @ 8:00 pm has been REPLACED by the stunning Main Zinda Hoon directed by Sudhir Mishra. This is a rare film that is not available on DVD, VHS, or VCD, and NFDC has been kind enough to strike a brand new subtitled print for us, specially for the tribute. Don’t miss one of Sudhir Mishra’s finest films and Deepti Naval’s best performances as this may be your only chance to watch the film on 35mm in Los Angeles. Book your tickets now at http://www.arclightcinemas.com. For more information on the full program, please visit http://indianfilmfestival.org.

IFFLA Live Webcast & Filmmaker Interviews

IFFLA is going live on the web this year. For those unable to join us here in Los Angeles, you too can be a part of the festival by checking out …

In celebration of its fifth anniversary, IFFLA has added a day making it a 6-day long event that runs April 17-22, 2007 at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility located in the heart of Hollywood.
Tickets are now on sale online at www.arclightcinemas.com or at the ArcLight Hollywood box office. For more information on how to attend the festival, please visit www.indianfilmfestival.org.
Check out this year’s Film Program and our new Bollywood By Night series, late night 21+ screenings of extravagant, exuberant and energetic Bollywood blockbusters. Chill out, have a drink and enter a world that’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced!
We are proud to introduce IFFLA EcoVision, a program that aims to spread ecological awareness by showcasing films on sustainability, utilizing eco-friendly products and processes, working with eco-conscious non-profit organizations and celebrating Earth Day on Sunday April 22.
If you …

(Guys, this is a small review/analysis of a documentary on a slum demolition in Delhi on the banks of the river Yamuna, titled Yamuna Gently Weeps.
I met with the film’s director and shared his views, so would like to express my views on the documentary and also try and push the cause that it supports.)

(From an Outlook book review)

MAY 9, 2004—one day before the Lok Sabha general elections. Houses of 1,50,000 poor men, women, and children, residing at the Yamuna Pushta slum of Delhi for almost 40 years, were bulldozed and razed to the ground. Nothing remained. Only 20 per cent of the evicted persons were relocated, and that too to a barren place 40 km away, while 80 per cent left to the mercy of streets from where they could be picked up any moment with the charge of vagrancy by the police. …