Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi - betrayal by the new bahu
By Ashish On August 20, 2008 in Saas-Bahu, Drama, Star Plus, Revenge, Values, Character, Society, TV, Popular, Family, Hindi Serial
A battle royal between Tulsi and Tripti is ongoing, with Tulsi fighting a proxy battle with Vaidehi (her bahu, but one who also totally believes in Tripti and is fighting to destroy the Viranis even though she is married to Laksh and is now in love with him). One wonders as to how Tripti is wandering around free and out of jail, given that she had been sentenced by a court to a jail term, but she is wandering freely without any constraint; but she must have proved a popular villain, and hence they brought her back into the serial in a confrontational mode with the Viranis without worrying about a jail sentence.
So Vaidehi sets out on her task. It can be a good role for any actress, showing her to be a dutiful daughter-in-law while also seeking to destroy the family in which she lives. In this case however, by getting her to confront Tulsi at every opportunity, to laugh like a maniac many times, and to try to look evil a lot, somehow is ruining the whole effect. It looks out of place, and seems like over-acting. At the same time, they show her to be capable of any kind of wrong deed, including adding stuff in juice and putting oil on steps to make people fall.
Sarkar Raj - Taut, but does not rise to be a great movie
By Ashish On August 19, 2008 in Drama, Crime, Politics, Bollywood, Movie
Sarkar Raj was a move that was awaited for quite some time; it came after a few clunkers for The Factory of Ram Gopal Verma such as ‘Aag’, ‘Darling’, etc. Memories of his earlier movies such as Satya, Company, Rangeela, and Sarkar (for which Sarkar Raj is the sequel) were fading out due to these recent disastrous movies that he made. All his admissions that the movies were bad, mistakes were made, etc, don’t really help in lifting his reputation. So, this movie was awaited for multiple reasons:
- This movie showcased the Bachchan clan; Amitabh, Abhishek, and Aishwarya (not Jaya though)
- It was supposed to have the same kind of suspense, the taut and slick making that was there in the original movie Sarkar (made in 2005)
Khatron Ke Khiladi on Viacom’s Colors
By Ashish On August 13, 2008 in Reality Show, Contest, Video, Colors, Talent, Competition, Bollywood, TV, Popular, Action, Hindi Serial
When you launch a new channel in a field already having a number of new channels, you need to have some great programs to draw people. Typically, film stars are seen to get some excitement to the scene (you already have Shahrukh Khan on ‘Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain’ and Salman Khan on ‘Dus Ka Dum’), and so getting a top film star to be the host of a new program is good. Now, when you have a channel launched by a major international media company such as Viacom, funding is less of an issue, and so getting a truly hot star such as Akshay Kumar worked. Combine this with the excitement of a reality show with actual stunts performed by amateurs, some good locations, and female TV / Other stars, and the channel could actually have a winner in terms of attracting viewer attention. Going by the buzz I hear in the office, people are watching this regularly.
Kasam Seh - strange happenings
By Ashish On August 12, 2008 in Values, Drama, Zee, Family, TV, Crime, Hindi Serial
Most Hindi serials use 2-3 tactics to get rid of their top stars, or to spice up the show. So, the serial could either get characters to do a plastic surgery so that their face is completely changed (helpful when you want to get a new actor in), or they get a good person to suddenly become bad (helpful to give a twist to the story), or they make time fly past and bring in a change of 15-20 years (people change, but otherwise, the house, the cars, everything else looks exactly the same). All of these strategies have been employed in this popular serial from Zee.
Appearing weekdays at 9 PM, the serial tells the story of 3 sisters, Bani, Piya, and Rano; The story though primarily is that of Bani and her life. After the departure of Prachi from the lead role, the serial had to bring in a new face for the lead role of Bani. And so they bring in the plastic surgery for the new face, and give her the name of Pronita. She is out to take revenge against Meera (initially shown to be good, then turned into evil). Meera has ruined the lives of all of Bani’s children, and Pronita has to also try and help them out.
So, Pronita gets married to Mr. Walia (why he divorces Meera was not clear), and then has to face a lot of resistance from the other family members including her own kids. And who supports her ? Her old enemy - Jigyasa (very surprising). Right now Meera has got Krishan arrested for drugs smuggling, and Pronita was unable to prevent it.
Movie: Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (2008) - Watchable
By Ashish On August 09, 2008 in Magic, Child, Family, Romance, Bollywood, Comedy, Movie
Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic was a movie made under the banner of Yash Raj Films (produced by Aditya Chopra and Kunal Kohli) starring Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherji, and a smaller role by Amisha Patel and Rishi Kapoor. The movie is written and directed by Kunal Kohli (no doubt an attempt to try to re-create the success of his earlier movie Hum Tum (2004) starring Saif and Rani). The movie has some nice music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy (with the ‘Nihaal Ho Gaayi’ song being catchy and popular; the ‘Lazy Lamhe’ song did not become so popular even though it had a lot of eye candy). The movie had some great performances by the kids, by Rani Mukherji (given her closeness to the producer, this would have been expected though); the performance by Saif Ali Khan was marred by the fact that the movie script almost made him change his character in the space of 15 minutes.
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Banoo Main Teri Dulhann - Getting boring
By Ashish On August 06, 2008 in Zee, Drama, Power, Family, TV, Hindi Serial
What happened in the previous incarnation of Divya and Amar ? As Vidya and Sagar, they were massively manipulated by Sindoora, who played one against the other and used all the weapons that she had. So, even though Divya knew by that time what Sindoora was upto, she was unable to do anything, and in the end, both Vidya and Sagar lost their lives to Sindoora (she shot both of them).
And then they came back in a rebirth, met again and even got married inspite of the best efforts of Sindoora to stop them. However, their remembrances of their previous life has been sketchy, and they remember things in part. However, if people expected the makers of the serial to bring some relief, then it is difficult. After all, if Sindoora goes, then maybe the whole drama of the serial goes, so the serial stretches on and on. Right now it seems that the serial is exactly doing what was happening earlier. Divya knows the truth, knows the evil nature of Sindoora. However, they have shown Amar to be now totally believing Sindoora, unwilling to listen to any ill spoken of her. He is even willing to believe that Divya may have got married earlier, and is ready to leave Divya because of this.
For many watchers of the serial, it seems like that the same stuff is getting repeated, and that the serial is now getting boring. It’s the same shrewdness and evil shown by Sindoora, with Divya trying to fight it, but not fully able to.
Jaane Tu .. Ya Jaane Na: A great movie
By Ashish On August 01, 2008 in Song, Melody, Video, Romance, Comedy, Bollywood, Music, Movie
When me and the spouse were debating which movie to watch, I was thinking of Kismet Connection, and the spouse was thinking of ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’; of course we watched the movie that the spouse wanted to watch. Well, I don’t regret it one bit. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and I was still laughing 10 minutes after the movie even though it was already 1 AM in the morning when I came out of the movie hall. I was very impressed after watching this movie, and will recommend it to anyone wanting to watch a nice movie, full of comedy, with some great acting.
The movie was made under the banner of Aamir Khan, produced by Aamir and Mansoor Khan, and directed by Abbas Tyrewala; lyrics were also by Abbas, and the great music was by A R Rehman. The film introduced Aamir’s nephew Imran Khan (Jai Singh Rathore) and also starred the pretty new Genelia D’Souza (Aditi Mahant) in lead roles. However, it was not only these, there were a host of other actors who played small and large roles, and were fairly significant in these roles: Karan Makhija (playing Rotlu), Nirav Mehta (Jiggy), Alishka Varde (Bombs), Pratik Babbar (brother of Genelia, Amit Mahant), Manjari Phadnis (Meghna, girlfriend of Imran for some time); and then you had the senior artists - Anuradha Patel, Jayant Kripalani (Aditi’s parents), Ratna Pathak Shah (playing Jai’s mother), Naseeruddin Shah (playing the deceased Amar Singh Rathore, Jai’s father), Kitu Gidwani, Rajat Kapoor (Meghna’s father), Arbaaz Khan (Bhaloo), Sohail Khan (Baghera), and Paresh Rawal as Inspector Waghmare.
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Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki on 9X
By Ashish On July 28, 2008 in Drama, Video, 9X, Mythology, Values, TV, Classic, Character, Hindi Serial
When it became known that Ekta Kapoor was going to be making her own version of the Mahabharat on 9X, there was a lot of fear that with her concept of entertainment, TRP’s, and popularity being pegged to things such as the drama of saas-bahu serials, abrupt screen transitions, plastic surgery, and so on, this will be a Mahabharat that will remove the positive memories of the BR Chopra version. And now the serial is on air, having been launched on July 7, 2008, and appearing on 9X at 9 PM on weekdays.
The serial started out with depicting the episode of ‘Draupadi Vastraharan’, and this one did not go down too well. There was a lot of screaming by Anita Hassandani (playing the role of Draupadi), and one could actually see her using the full level of her voice while exhorting the Pandavas to take action to save her, while also screaming at the Kauravas. Over a period of time, the serial has started to reveal its cast, and the cast is essentially all the regulars of her serial (so far, no major new faces).
Ek Se Badhkar Ek on Zee TV: Another reality show
By Ashish On July 25, 2008 in Song, Contest, Melody, Dance, Video, Reality Show, Talent, TV, Competition, Zee, Singing, Bollywood
With all other channels having their mix shows dealing with getting the previous contestants from reality shows (music, dance, etc), Zee could not be far behind. Given that all the previous year finalists from Sa Re Ga Ma Pa would still be in a contract with Zee, it was pretty easy for Zee to launch a new show feature Raja Hassan, Anik Dhar, Harpreet Deol, Amit Paul, and so on. Combine them with a dancing person from the world of TV (and which TV actor does not want publicity today), and you have a reality show with teams comprising of one dancer, and one singer, and their performances are evaluated on that basis. Try and get a new host, the Bhogpuri film super-star Ravi Kishan (I find him most irritating, not a particularly good host).
Like most other shows, it is now mandatory to bring in celebrity judges, and so in addition to the usual judges of singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya and choreographer Ahmed Khan, the following celebrities have so far made their appearance on the show (Jackie Shroff, Salil Chadda, Vivek Oberoi, Priyanka Chopra, Harman Baweja, Manoj Bajpai, Ganesh Acharya, & Hansika Motwani). These celebrities also appear to promote their forthcoming movies, and as more movies get released, there will be more film stars who will show up in the form of celebrity judges. The show appears on Sat-Sun at 7:30 pm.
10 ka Dum on Sony Friday and Sat at 9 PM
By Ashish On July 24, 2008 in Reality Show, Contest, Video, Sony, Competition, TV, Popular, Bollywood
There can be no easier way to make money. If you get 5 questions right, then you are going to make Rs. 10 crore, so how can you make money easier than that (unless you are a MP / MLA and every vote will count) ! The format of the show is pretty simple; you get on stage, shake hands with Salman Khan, do some polite chit-chat, he asks about your family, makes a few funny jokes, and you are on. So what do you need to do ?
You will be asked a question about something that they have gone and asked people in India about, and you need to give an answer that falls close to how the average person in the street has answered. So, for example, you could be asked:
“how many men would like to have a harem” and you have to give an answer. Suppose you say 30% - 60%, and the correct answer is 49%, then you win and move to the next round. As you move, the amount within which you have to guess the right answer keeps reducing (so it is 30%, but could come down to 5% or 10% near the end).
