“I was really sad when I heard about the demise of Rajesh Khanna. And so I decided to pay a tribute to my favourite Bollywood hero,” with that Ranjit Dahiya went looking for the perfect canvas on the streets of Bombay. A resident of Bandra, he knew the landscape quite well and soon found the […]
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Tag: Amitabh Bachchan
Rekha: The Role Of A Lifetime
Rekha will soon be seen playing Super Nani but the icon turns into an age-defying model in the film to teach her errant family a lesson. No, dowdy weepies for the lady.There are many faces of Bhanurekha Ganesan. The little girl who danced on a table in a white frilly frock to the tune […]
Pran: Volume And Depth
An authentic actor’s face is unmistakable, unforgettable. The eyes speak volumes. Every frown stands out. Every snarl registers. When the lip curls, the nostrils flare, the forehead furrows, you watch without blinking, without a moment of doubt that the emotion playing out before you is real. To call an actor real is anomalous but what […]
The Great Gatsby: Operatic And Wistful
The green light of a distant dock twinkling tantalisingly. Whispering of irretrievable gifts, of hope. Of innocence..that time chipped away at soundlessly. A man, alone on the other side of the bay, reaching out, trying to grasp it. ** Diaphanous curtains filling up a room with wind, and luxurious lassitude. Beautiful shirts. Spun out of […]
Bachchan In Love: 10 Definitive Moments
In the 70s and the 80s, cinema was an Eastman colour, 70 mm or cinema-scope as the case may be, ‘cannot bear to miss a scene’ event. And if you have not watched Trishul and Deewar or Kala Patthar or Sholay in a cinema hall, you will never know what it was like to be in the heart of […]
From Disillusion to Anger..
On October 10, 1964, the whole nation was shocked to hear about the sudden and tragic death of the great stalwart of Hindi cinema Guru Dutt. Not only because he was a great film director, producer and actor; but because he was only 39 years old. His fame was defined by four films Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke […]
Rajesh Khanna: A Summer Romance
My first memory of Rajesh Khanna is the song, “Accha Toh Hum Chalte Hain (Aan Milo Sajna, 1970) and of me sighing exaggeratedly like he did in the song. And of listening to his songs from Mere Jeevan Sathi (1972) in an Assamese cantonment and trying to sing, “Mera Naam Hai Shabnam” (Kati Patang 1970) and then […]
100 Years Of Indian Cinema: Yash Chopra
Vehmon gumaan se duur duur… Yakeen ki hadd ke paas paas… Dil ko bharam yeh ho gaya… Unko humse pyaar hai.. Rekha and Amitabh Bachchan framed by gregariously nodding yellow tulips. And a universal hope encased in the above lines. And romance as if it was a precious pearl preserved in a velvet lined jewel box. […]
The Fiery New Agneepath
There is an unavenged little boy in Karan Johar. A son who saw his naively golden-hearted father not getting his due in an industry driven by merciless opportunism so it is apt that Johar should pick a Father India metaphor to replay and remake in the memory of Yash Johar. Karan Malhotra’s Agneepath tries to avenge […]
Passion For Cinema
I learnt at five just what Hindi cinema means to middle class India when I heard my father talk about Dilip Kumar’s death scene in Ganga Jamuna.“Tabahi macha di,” (he was devastating) he said. Films were a part of everything we lived through in Patiala. Terrorism, joy and grief. Happiness meant a scooter […]
Beautiful Hunger…
There is something beautiful about hunger. Especially when it oozes out of an actor on the screen and sears you bone to soul. You see this hunger in actors who are destined for extraordinary success. In the way their eyes blaze, their bodies bristle, their nerves twitch. The way, they throw themselves into a role and turn it into a pulsing, […]
Aarakshan:The Lone Idealist
First things first. This is not the first time Prakash Jha has made a film on education. He made Hip Hip Hurray (1984), possibly the first Indian sports film set in a school. It was among other things, a comment on the equation between students and teachers. He never was a creative opportunist. Or someone […]