Archive for the ‘Video’ Category
Khatron Ke Khiladi on Viacom’s Colors
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.
Jaane Tu .. Ya Jaane Na: A great movie
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.
.JPG)
Kahani Hamaray Mahabharat Ki on 9X
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
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
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).
Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke (1993) - Great movie
On July 17, 2008 in Melody, Video, Child, Song, Romance, Bollywood, Classic, Comedy, Movie
Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke was a delightful movie, no doubts whatsoever. A story that combined a love story with the sensitive elements of trying to bring up kids who have lost their parents was superb. The movie had some excellent performances by the lead pair of Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla; with other noteworthy performances by Dalip Tahil, and the 3 kids (Master Sharokh, Kunal Khemu and Baby Ashrafa) turned in some great performances. The movie was released in 1993, directed by Mahesh Bhat and produced by Tahir Hussain.
The movie was written by Robin Bhatt, Aamir Khan and Sujit Sen, and had music by Nadeem-Shravan; lyrics were by Sameer. It was a fairly successful hit (although the Best Actor award for the year went to Shahrukh Khan for Baazigar). What lent the story great appeal was the sensitive treatment of the behaviour of the kids, how the eldest moves towards maturity and wants to start getting treatment like an adult; how the kids understand through an example that they should treat others the same way they want to get treated, and how through love and understanding, it is possible to bond with children (even those who have had the emotional scarring of losing their parents).
.jpg)
Patthar Ke Phool (1991)
On July 04, 2008 in Mafia, Song, Video, Police, Crime, Bollywood, Romance, Action, Movie
Patthar Ke Phool was a movie released in 1991. It was the debut movie of Raveena Tandon and one of the earlier movies of Salman Khan; and unlike some of Salman’s earlier movies, this was not exactly a hit. Some of the other characters in the movie were Vinod Mehra, Kiran Kumar, Reema Lagoo and Manohar Singh. Vinod Mehra passed away before the movie could be released, and the movie was dedicated to his memory. The movie was directed by Anant Balani and produced by GP Sippy. Music for the movie was by Ramlaxman, and the movie was written by Salim Khan.
The movie was about this young police officer fighting an underworld gang. He is also in love with Kiran (Raveena Tandon) who is actually the daughter of the leader of the gang, and about whose real activities she is unaware.
Raveena won the Filmfare Lux New Face Award for this movie.
.gif)
So what happens when the duty of Suraj (Salman Khan) leads him to fight against the activities of his beloved’s father ? Her father is also against this relationship, and the movie is about this conflict.
Kasturi - the amnesia plot
On June 30, 2008 in Drama, Star Plus, Revenge, Video, Values, Character, TV, Romance, Family, Hindi Serial
When a serial lands in problems or the story needs to be elongated, there are some traditional measures that can be adopted such as amnesia, plastic surgery, etc. All of them are great for changing not only the person playing the character, but also help in adding a few weeks to the serial. And so it proved in Kasturi; just when the confrontation between Kasturi and Raunaq seemed to reaching a peak and Robbie would become totally aware of the truth of Raunaq, things changed. So what did happen ?
Well, Kasturi decided that she needed to strike back, so she pretended to behave madly. In the midst of this, Raunaq and Anita decided that they really do need to end the life of Kasturi, and they can drop her off a cliff after drugging her; she however is prepared and tries to turn the tables on them. However, in the end, she is the one who gets shot and falls off the cliff, and her mother blames Robbie for this happening.
Bhootnath - a mis-mash of different emotions
On June 21, 2008 in Culture, Video, Child, Drama, Song, Movie, Values, Society
I watched Bhootnath just the day after having watched Jannat just the previous day, and given that my impression of Jannat was not good, any movie would have been good. But Bhootnath was a movie that impressed in parts. The Director, Vivek Sharma, tried to take many human emotions into the movie; thus taking the movie into 3 separate parts - the first part where the ghost appears to be evil and a danger to whoever tries to enter the property; the second part where the child makes friend with the ghost and turns him into a proper civilized person-like character with human emotions; and the third part where there is an attempt to throw in a lot of tear-jerkering emotional scene so that the ghost can disappear and everything can turn out normal. In the end, these attempts to make the movie cater to many interests put a lot of strain on the overall movie, and my feeling is that it did not turn out as well as could be. The movie takes on a heavy social issue of how children go abroad, and become of that land.
The movie is geared towards kids, and that was clear when I saw the songs. They were all songs designed to appeal to children, and it did seem a bit different to see songs that had a lot of kids in them; but most of the audience was adults, so was wondering whether there was a mismatch in terms of the advertising of the movie versus the intended effect of the advertising. The movie has a cast that is capable of some great things - Amitabh Bachchan, Aman Siddiqui, Juhi Chawla, Rajpal Yadav, Satish Shah, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Shahrukh Khan. Amitabh Bachchan gives a good role, but one feels that in the middle of the movie, he gets overshadowed by the kid, and then in the latter half of the movie, Shahrukh Khan seems to get most of the attention (Shahrukh Khan had a role that was more than a guest appearance, but less than a full role). Rajpal Yadav was very thoroughly under-used in the movie, getting 2 very brief scenes (almost like a cameo).
Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat on Star Plus
On June 21, 2008 in Drama, Star Plus, Video, Values, Character, TV, Family, Hindi Serial
Raja Ki Baarat is a serial that appears on Star Plus at 8 PM weekdays (Mon to Thur). It is a show about a girl called Rani, only 17 years old. She is the support of her family after the passing away of her father, and works in the big mansion (who lives in this kind of lifestyle anymore). She is very good at what she does (and she essentially works as a servant in the house), in addition she is very dedicated and honest (although the senior Bhanumathi can’t stand her). The other main character of the serial is the prince, Yudhistir, who is very aware of his status. He is not arrogant, but very much aware of his tradition and duties, and will act in the manner prescribed by tradition.
In this family, the Raja Surya Singh Rathore is the strongman of the family, the absolute patriarch; his word is law in the family and he believes in his elder son. In addition, there are the 2 sisters to whom he is married - the Badi Rani and the Choti Rani. The Badi Rani is bed ridden, and does not speak. The entire family cares for her; however, it turns out that the Choti Rani (her younger sister) wants to get rid of the Badi Rani and get the focus onto her son Ranbir rather than the elder son (Yudhistir), who is after all the son of the elder Rani.
Towards this end, she is trying to poison the Badi Rani (her own sister) and Rani is getting caught up in this game, since part of her duties is to attend to the Badi Rani and give her the medicine. Now the Badi Rani is poisoned, her life is saved but she is in a coma, and the blame starts getting put on Rani. How does she get out of this and prove her innocence ?
