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Showing posts with the label cinema

JAWAAN (2023) : review

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And finally the much hyped, much awaited Jawaan saw light of the day ! Big stars, big budget( humongous budget actually), big music composer, everything super large. But does it meet the expectations of the average viewer? No it goes not. Read on.  A decorated jawan locks horns with a criminal called Kaali, this is in 1986 ( the year movies like Aakhri Raasta released, just for reference). Kaali gets him eliminated and send the pregnant wife to jail. The baby born in jail grows up to become the hero (look alike of the father) and decides to avenge the misdeeds done to his innocent patriotic parents. Well, isn’t it a masaaledaar full on Bollywood- Tollywood drama subject ?  And then the director Atlee also borrows ideas and references from various retro movies, some idea from Sholay (1975) as the hero assembled a gang of jailed Qaidis in order to form a team to nab the villain, then there’s an entire episode borrowed from Dhartiputra (1993), and the basic theme is copy pasted ...

Whatever Happened To: Farha Naaz

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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...

ARANYER DIN RATRI(1970): Classic revisited

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Directed by: Satyajit Ray  Cast: Sharmila Tagore, Kaberi Bose, Simi Garewal, Soumitra Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh,  Subhendu Chatterjee,  Shamit Bhanja, Pahadi Sanyal, Premashish Sen, Dibyendu Chatterjee, Samar Nag and Aparna Sen. If I’m asked to name just one movie directed by THE Ray as my personal favorite then the title keeps changing depending on my mood, it varies from Nayak(1965) to Ganashatru(1989), sometimes it’s Mahanagar(1963) and most of the times I name Charulata(1964), but such is Ray’s cinematic appeal that it’s difficult to select just one! Right now depending on my mood it’s his classic tale Aranyer Din Ratri(1970), a timeless classic that somehow never fades or gets old.  Four young men in the ir late 20s and 30s from Calcutta set out on a weekend Escapade out in the wilderness, they bribe the housekeeper at a Dak Bangla to get rooms and embark on exploring the woods and a virgin village. Here each of these men is different from the other, though bonde...

Filmfare how fair ?

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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...