Movie Reviews and More ...

Where-for art thou Farha ? Remember her ? Today best known as actress Tabu’s elder sister, during her heydays she was better known as a feisty and spitfire leading lady who never minced her words. Revisiting the daring Hyderabadi lass who was once the darling of the masses.  Introduction to Movies:  Born in 1968 Farha was raised by her mother, a single parent. With little sister Tabu (b. 1970) for company Farha grew up as a daring and bold young girl who preferred taking the bull by his horns. Her only connection with Bollywood was aunt Shabana Azmi. The filmy connection helped both sisters who debuted in the same year 1985, Farha with Yash Chopra’s Faasle and Tabu with Dev Anand’s Hum Naujawan.  A brief eventful career:  After Faasle, Farha was flooded with offers and was seen playing lead roles in movies like Love 86 (1986), Palay Khan (1986), Marte Dum Tak (1987), Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani (1988), Do Qaidi(1989), Jawani Zindabad (1990) and others. She lost out on big p...

‘I asked for the Mike, I was given the mirror’  ‘If I were a boy I would’ve married LATA MANGESHKAR’  Just two of the many quotes attributed to yesteryear’s star singer Sulakshana Pandit, a former star forgotten by film lovers and her own fraternity as well.  Sulakshana was born in 1954 in the illustrious Pandit household which boasted of renowned classical vocalists like Pandit Maniram, Pandit Pratap Narayan(her father), pandit Jasraj and many others. In the mid 60s she along with her father and older brother shifted to Bombay and started singing as a child star in movies like Taqdeer(1967).  Her rose complexion and golden tresses only added to the film makers and Co singers recommending her to take up acting as an alternate career. She struck gold with the suspense thriller Uljhan(1975) her debut as a lead star opposite Sanjeev Kumar. She alternated between a singer and an actress and struggled hard to establish herself as a singing star. She appeared in films like...

Filmfare does it again ! Yet again they prove how unfair and biased they are. At times they claim they are awarding only those who are popular among the viewers as it’s supposed to be a popular film award and then they also claim they award the worthy irrespective of the fate of the film at the box office. Phew! Such hypocrisy. After their last awards in 2019 which was a clean sweep for the very undeserving Gully Boy where even Alia Bhatt got awarded for a guest appearance, they are back with their pan masala chhap tradition to award the unworthy again.  Considering the horrible pandemic and the unexpected lockdown due to which movies were theatrically released only till March 2020 and thereafter only on ott the Filmfare committee could’ve well clubbed 2020 with 2021, but then paisa bolta hai and Vimal pan masala paisa daalta hai so the grand glittering awards ceremony has to take place.  There are the deserving winners, like the late Irrfan winning best actor that’s so deser...

FILMFARE- HOW ‘FAIR’?  Early this year just before the lockdown crisis, there was hue and cry over the Filmfare awards held in Assam wherein majority of the trophies were swept by the movie Gully Boy(2019). Agreed it’s an individualistic decision and opinion about liking or disliking a movie but how does one react when a senseless rap like ‘Tu nanga hi to aaya hai nanga hi jaaega’ wins best lyrics and a cameo by Alia Bhatt gets the coveted best actress award. Not fair no? If you think Filmfare has played dirty only now then you are wrong or misinformed. We don’t need to check recent decades but it dates back to 1970 when awards were rigged. Filmfare awards started in 1953 and are considered the oldest and ahem most respected awards in our country. But they ain’t fair always, check Rishi Kapoor’s honest confession In his autobiography Khullam Khulla where he admits that the best actor award he won for Bobby(1973) was infact bought by paying thousands of rupees at that time. He hims...