Hindi Serials – Dance India Dance – Jeetendra on the sets of the dance show
By Ashish On March 17, 2010 in Competition, Contest, Dance, Dance India Dance, Hindi Serial, Reality Show, TV, Zee
The latest superstar to shake a leg with the finalists of Zee TV’s Lux Dance India Dance is “Jumping Jack” Jeetu! The evergreen heartthrob who made the ladies swoon in the 70’s and 80’s had all the girls on the sets of India’s biggest dance reality show raving about how young he still looks. When quizzed about his trademark “White shirt, white pants n white shoes” look, the actor said, “Dark clothes make me look short!” Heard this one before, guys? Quite an original perspective, Jeetu ji! As he stepped up on stage, Jeetendra said, “Let me first admit … I am deeply intimidated by all the dancers who’ve performed on this platform. Over the years, fans have loved me for my dance style. But these guys are just something else. They’re rockstars. I doubt if anybody can match steps with them!” Turning to Grand Master Mithun Da, he said, “Dada’s been a great friend and a source of inspiration in so many little ways.” Overwhelmed by the praise, Mithun Da interrupted him saying, “Please, Jeetu ji! It’s completely the other way around. I have always taken your guidance and followed your footsteps in the industry. You have been my idol for a very long time!”
In a bid to dazzle Jeetendra, the 3 masters and their teams are said to have presented acts depicting the famous dance styles of all their favorite Bollywood stars. Watching Shakti from Terence ki Toli bring alive the magic of Madhubala with Aaiye Meherebaan from Howrah Bridge, a floored Jeetu asked her who taught her all those lovely expressions. Playfully, Shakti pointed at her guru Terence Lewis who went red in the face! Jeetuji insisted, at this point, that Terence show them a glimpse of Madhubala and the ace choreographer had no choice but to oblige! Everybody’s favorite Dharmesh “sir” from Geeta Ki Gang brought the house down with a medley of dance hits from Jeetendra’s films and the superstar had tears in his eyes! All eyes were glued to the floor when Jeetu took to the dance floor with Mithun Da and Master Terence Lewis. To catch all this excitement and more, tune into Lux Dance India Dance on Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30 PM on Zee TV!
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Hindi Movie – Aks (2001) – a superb movie starring Amitabh Bachchan, Manoj Bajpai, Raveena Tandon, and Nandita Das
By Ashish On March 16, 2010 in Bollywood
Aks released in the year 2001 and is a supernatural thriller. It has as its central theme the age old conflict between good and evil. The film starred Amitabh Bachhan, Nandita Das and Manoj Bajpai. Directed by debutant director Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, it received a lot of critical appreciation but did not fare well at the box office. The supernatural theme of the film and the struggle between the evil and good is somewhat ambiguously portrayed. The audience found it difficult to accept and appreciate the lead character’s internal struggles.
Manu (Amitabh Bachchan) is an honest cop. He is hot on the pursuit of Raghavan (Manoj Bajpai), a dreaded killer. Manu tracks him down to Budapest but is unable to prevent Raghavan from killing the Indian Defence Minister and stealing a valuable floppy that has important information that could affect the very destiny of the nation. Manu is able to arrest the killer and he even tries to force Raghavan to divulge the details of the floppy, but the latter remains mum. Raghavan is sentenced to death. Raghavan tries to escape but he is shot down by Manu.
Soon, the very people who were involved with Raghavan’s sentencing start dieing mysteriously, one by one. At the same time Supriya (Nandita Das), Manu’s wife notices subtle changes in his demeanour. Initially she is pleased but one night when Manu forces himself on her, she is convinced that things are not right. Similarly Arjun Singh, Manu’s friend also notices the changes in him. As the body counts keep rising, the finger of suspicion keeps pointing at Manu. Slowly it is revealed that Raghavan’s spirit has taken control ofManu’s body and soul. As a result Manu finds himself drawn to Raghavan’s girlfriend (Raveena Tandon), a bar dancer. The honest inspector is thus caught in a vicious internal turmoil where the good and the evil struggle to take complete control.
Hindi Serial – Bandini – Santu on a more aggressive nature, but her own sister gets caught
By Ashish On March 15, 2010 in Bandini, Character, Crime, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Marriage, NDTV Imagine, TV, Values
Santu returned to the home after spending her 10 years in jail (the 10 years in jail for a murder that she did not commit), and realized that the house had been divided in her absence, with a line drawn through the center. At the time of her trial, her sister Khemi was totally against her because she was convicted of the murder of Khemi’s husband Arjan, and she also set a condition with DM that if DM wanted her to not abort Arjan’s baby, he would not take any steps towards fighting Santu’s case. Based on this request, and shocked by it, Dharamraj cut off all links with his family and business, staying in the house but no longer involved in any decisions (this was a very strange decision, and given that he is a moral decision maker, this was not something that he should have done).
Now that Santu is back, she wanted the divisions in the house to get over, and one way was to get all the house people against her and with each other; she seems to be succeeding in that. The other quest that she had was to get DM back involved in the family, and also protect the family against their own internal divisions. Part of that was to ensure that people accounted for their misdeeds and accounted for all the money that they took from the treasury, and for that, she took control of the house safe by claiming that DM had once given her a Power of Attorney. This was a side of Santu that nobody had ever seen, and they were very confused; even more so since she made it seem that she was after the money.
One of the quests for her was to find out who was trying to get rid of Toral’s unborn baby by poisoning her, and it was very shocking for her when her own sister, Monghi was accused of the crime. Santu laid a trap and found out that it was Khemi (again her own sister) who was accused of the crime, and Khemi was doing it to ensure the complete rights of her own son, Krishna.
Hindi Serial – Sabki Laadli Bebo – the confrontation between the real Bebo and the false Bebo (Raano) – expected in the next couple of episodes
By Ashish On March 15, 2010 in Character, Drama, Family, Hindi Serial, Marriage, Romance, Star Plus, TV
In Sabki Laadli Bebo, Bebo had just a few weeks back come through a major problem, when she had saved her family from being implicated in charges of demanding dowry and conspiring to burn their daughter-in-law; this had even divided their family with their own son and another daughter-in-law being implicated. It was only Bebo who along with her husband Amrit managed to save them from this trouble and bring out the false case in court.
As soon as that specific time ended, the show makers decided to start another major complication, this time in terms of a life-threatening complication for Bebo. They brought in a double (somebody looking exactly like Bebo), who saw the comfortable and lovely life for Bebo and wanted it all, and since she looked exactly like Bebo, you could imagine what would happen. And so it happened, this lady (called Raano – very original names !) duped Bebo, took her near a cliff, and pushed her over. After some initial uncomfortable questions by the police, she feigned confusion and got herself out of the situation and accepted by the family.
In the meantime, the real Bebo was still alive, but you would have guessed it, she had lost her memory and was unable to remember who she was and why some things seemed familiar to her. Through a series of events, she came back to the house, scaring the fake Bebo (the real Raano) tremendously. Now, the serial is showing how Raano is trying to get Bebo out of the picture; bebo in the meantime is struggling to understand some of the recollection that she gets when she some photos, some people, and so on. I am pretty sure that in some time, she will be able to recollect more of her memory and remember what happened; and in the meantime, the people around her will start to realize something is wrong since she would recognize some things that only Bebo could know.