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iView Author: The Narcissist (Goa, India)

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Portrait of a director - Hrishikesh Mukherjee
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There has been a lot of discussion in recent times about the quality of movies being churned out in Bollywood. I had posted a comment on the news item about Fox entering the Indian movie market where I’d stated my thoughts vis-a-vis the quality of movies being made these days and its relation to the money coming into the industry. This spurned a thought in my mind about heavyweight filmmakers of yore. I’m sure today’s directors can learn a trick or two from the veterans and that coupled with the finances at their disposal, there’s no reason why Bollywood shouldn’t attain dizzy heights.

The first name that spontaneously came to my mind while thinking about these directors was Hrishikesh Mukherjee. Maybe …

In a Shakespearean tragedy, one cannot but get sucked into the emotional cauldron. Be it Othello or King Lear or Macbeth or Hamlet, its all about great emotional upheaval when it comes to the core of the Bard’s plays. In Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear, Amitabh Bachchan’s (as well as most of the cast’s) first full-fledged English role, Harish ‘Harry’ Mishra too is a character full of Shakespearean pathos. Quite naturally, it is but natural to expect that Harry’s character would draw you in with its raw emotional power.

Strangely, it does not happen, except in sporadic scenes. It is hard to say who is at fault – Bachchan or the script. Bachchan gives a performance that is one of his best, but even though there have been raving reports about this being his best-ever performance, there is actually nothing much that takes forward his histrionics from the point where he …

Amitabh Bachchan has already been appeared in 5 films during the first six months of 2007 and no wonder he may appear in 5 more films in the rest 6 months. Among his contemporaries he is the only actor whose acting career is still enjoying so active phase.

Recently Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna also have been able to show their presence in films released in the first half of the year 2007. Both the actors have shown promises and have proved that they have not lost their calibre, command over the craft and hunger to perform better.

Such comebacks are welcomed as they may open new vistas in hindi cinema. Leave alone exceptions but on an average hindi cinema has been shying away in making films dealing with aged people in lead roles.

These capable and still popular actors may start a new and matured phase in Hindi cinema. There is …