Biggest Hits of 2010

The year is coming to an end and so is my assignment of 36 blogs. Don't worry, I'll continue with blogging regularly. However, to end this assignment, my friend gave me a nice idea. He suggested that I should do a photo-blog giving a tribute to the best films produced this year.

So, here's a treat to all Bollywood fans. Lets take a sneak-peak at the biggest hits of 2010. Enjoy!

Women in the media

In the 21^st century, we like to believe that a woman can do everything a man can do and can even do it better.

My journalism class has 20 students out of which only five are male. Imagine my surprise when statistics showed to me that the number of male journalists is significantly higher than female journalists.

I don’t only mean in developing countries where women don’t have the same opportunities as men or have laws that restrict them from doing certain things. It’s an all over the world phenomenon. The Global media monitoring(GMM) report of 2010 that spans over a 110 countries, studying the media situation says that there is a higher number of women studying to be journalists but much less actually make it into work.

About 62 % percent of all journalists are male while only 38 % percent are female. We like to argue that women and men are equal but these statistics prove otherwise.

The reasons are many.

One is the glass ceiling that refers to an invisible barrier that prevents women and other minorities from climbing to the highest rung of corporate hierarchy.This is demotivating as from the beginning a woman knows that no matter how hard she works this will be a barrier to her success.

Another is it’s difficult for a staunch feminist to get ahead in the male dominated media industry. If you have to succeed you have to become “one of the boys” or a stereotypical definition of a woman.Women are clearly still not seen as an important part of the world. According to GMM report ,“24% of the people heard or read about in print, radio and television news are female. In contrast, 76% of the people in the news are male.”

Considering half the world’s population is female there is definitely something wrong with this statistic. Even when they are in the news they’re celebrities, victims or both. Women may go hoarse screaming out that equality exists but these hard facts tell us otherwise.

My professor, Mr. Amitav Sinha Roy gave us a viable albeit difficult solution. He said to all of us female students, “don’t get mad, get even.” Watch out world, it maybe a small start but 15 of us girls are ready to tackle this media industry and soon.

The return of the Khan-Daan

Generally by Sunday evenings, I start looking at my watch realizing that it’s the day for airing of another 'Koffe with Karan' episode. I love the way the new show is panning out ,with great pair of actors and actresses  coming together ,show after show. From the Bachchan clan to Saifeena to the much awaited Shahid-Priyanka, its quite a delight to watch, especially with the usual punch of Karan Johar’s witty humour.

But one thing that kept my mind questioning continuously was when was our very own King Khan due to make an appearance, considering he has been a lucky charm & sort of a brand ambassador of the show since its inception. So, when I finally read this news on a Bollywood blog ( My Bible) that not only is Shah Rukh Khan coming on the show but has a whole episode dedicated only to him, I was overjoyed.

Now news like this may seem a bit, well ‘extra special treatment’ to some people but I shall give logical reason to explain this phenomenon.

-Shah Rukh khan was the show’s 1^st guest.

-He has appeared a record of four times on the show with Kajol, Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Hrithik Roshan, Gauri Khan etc.

-He is the only guest who has actually turned the tables and asked rapid fire questions to karan himself.

-He has appeared in every Karan Johar movie till date.

….and this list keeps going on. So to all the skeptics out there, he is Karan’s family after all, be it a best friend, brother or anything else, I don’t know! But one thing is for certain that I will immensely look forward to this show as Shah Rukh Khan along with any guest or alone is bound to steal the show and provide us (or rather me) an entertaining and fun ending to a much awaited weekend.

And the Catfight continues...

Last night I was reading my favorite blog which is also an avid provider of my weekly Bollywood gossip, when I read quite an interesting event in progress.

The cold war between the United States and the then USSR might be over (or that is what we know), but the origin of this concept has given a far new meaning to our Bollywood actresses. So, here’s the tale of another such mindless clash. Apparently the sheer rivalry between Lara Dutta and Priyanka Chopra exists from a long time (since their 1^st movie!) which I’m guessing most of the Indian audiences know ,especially those who follow the dramatic lives of our stars, but it so seems that a very remarkable turning has taken place. As both the actresses will share the screen presence in the upcoming sequel of Don, they will also end up sharing more time off-screen together.

 Now the issue here involves one certain Tennis player who has found a new fan base among these beautiful stars. Lara Dutta, who is happily in a relationship with Mahesh Bhupathi might just find this a bit daunting that her arch nemesis Priyanka is a very huge fan of Mahesh and is all excited to meet him in person.This surely is just a non-factual speculation as both the actors are tight-lipped about their liking towards each other and meet cordially in public eye, but we can just hope that everything stays fine in the land of our leading ladies.

Surprisingly, even in my early memories of Bollywood, there have been immense instances of two actresses going head to head such as Kareena against Priyanka, Kareena & Priety, Bipasha & Amisha …and the list goes on. A most recent example will be when Karan Johar in the show ‘Koffee with karan’ showed some old clips of Kareena Kapoor and other actresses displaying their affection for each other.

This makes me strongly feel that all such incidents simply dilute the brand these actors cultivate of themselves and rather than bickering over non-sensical matters, they should uplift, shape and mould their careers towards a brighter future. And yes, being an actress does lead to such egoistic clashes but ultimately the stars that come out of it and stay above it will surely succeed.  

Welcome back Madhuri !

She was hailed as The Dancing Queen in addition to being one of the most prominent actresses of Bollywood for decades. Her comeback film ‘Aaja Nachle’ may not have fared well at the box office but got the actress critical acclaim, both from Indian and international audiences. Some of her dance numbers are  popular to this day ('Ek Do Teen’ from Tezaab, ‘Dhak Dhak’ from Beta, ‘Chane Ke Khet Mein’ from Anjaam and‘Kay Sera Sera’ from Pukar). 

No prizes for guessing who am I talking about. Yes, it is our very own Madhuri Dixit and this time she is ready to set the small screen on fire. The pretty actress will be seen  judging a television reality show along with Malaika Arora Khan and choreographer Remo D'Souza,called Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, 5.

While flipping through the Television channels yesterday, I saw the trailer of the show and it left me speechless. The show for sure seems grand ,what with the contestants of previous 4 seasons performing and also introducing the contestants of this season. Also, with the kind of judges that the channel has managed to rope in, the magnitude of the performances and of the show itslef  is definitely going to be huge. Getting Madhuri to judge the show has  just added cherry on the icing.

 Madhuri was one of the first celebrities to be approached with the offer and immediately accepted it since she thought it was a good way to connect with her fans, being the excellent dancer she is. However, this isn't Madhuri's first encounter with small screen. The actress hosted a reality TV show  based on the concept of matchmaking, called ‘Kahin Na Kahin Koi Hai’ in 2002. However, the concept of a reality show was still new and unexpected at that time, as a result of which the show was taken off air.

So, for all Madhuri fans, who couldn't get enough of her in Aaja Nachle and who are as crazy about her million dollar smile as I am, here's a golden oppurtunity to get up,close and personal with the actress. The show will start airing from second week of January. I 'll be waiting with bated breath to see my favourite actress in action . What about you?

Its time for the Rajini Trophy!

Yesterday night I came across this blog which gave me perhaps the most incredibly fantastic information of this year. It stated that hopefully in the near mortal future, we shall witness two of the biggest stars in India come together on the same stage. It further added that all this will happen in front of our very eyes, which just begged me to ask the question- Who and what is this?So (drumroll!) the two actors are none other than Rajinikant & Salman Khan and the place is a cricket stadium. Yes, its true, we shall be seeing the Asian super star playing head on, against the original cool dude of bollywood Salman Khan in a cricket match.

If the blogger has to be believed, Sohail Khan is the main brain behind this event and is organizing an entire tournament with one side being all bollywood actors, proudly calling themselves ‘Mumbai Heroes’ against Rajinikant’s team of south Indian stars.  This is being done in collaboration with the CCL (Celebrity Cricket league) and the matches will be mostly held in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

In my view ,there have been a lot of such matches and games organized in the past such as a football match organized between actors in the late 90’s when Shah Rukh Khan showcased his exemplary football skills to the celebrity cricket match between Hrithik Roshan and Kapil Dev’s team in the beginning of the millennium, but still if everything goes as planned this match may just over shadow them all, proving to be a sheer entertainment and delight to watch. Who knows, this match might just up the TRP’s of many IPL matches.

So finally with this quite factual information in place, this blog wouldn’t be complete without some jaw dropping-ly funny Rajinikant jokes. So here goes-

1)      -Rajinikant is ready to bowl his first delivery and the bails fall on their own.

2)      -While fielding, Rajinikant doesn’t dive to get the ball, the ball dives to get Rajinikant.

3)      - And lastly, 10 runs are needed on the final ball, when Rajinikant hits it with sheer force leading to the ball breaking in two pieces, one going for a six and the other for a four.

Its a mob mentality !

It’s not the first time in Bollywood that we see an inception of a new trend in movies which continues over a large span of time finally giving way to another trend. One such latest trend has been the occurrence of con movies on the silver screen.

It’s quite  marvelous to see the fascination Indian audiences have for this genre. From the days of ‘Hera Pheri’, ‘Bluffmaster’, ‘Bunty aur Babli’, ‘Oye lucky lucky oye’ etc, audiences love our conmen with the heart of gold. And with the staggering box office success of last years ‘Kaminey’, ‘Ishqiya’ to the recent ‘Badmaash company’, all revolving around conmen, we can easily state that the con is on in bollywood. This has also  led to the further production of many movies on this theme such as ‘No problem’, ‘Tees maar khan’, Yamla pagla deewana’ , all coming out later this year.

In the movie, ‘Tees maar khan’ we shall see Akshay kumar portraying a modern day conman who steals from the rich and but does give to the poor. When asked about the role, the director Farah khan responded that the role is hugely inspired from the English folklore hero Robin Hood. Therefore, our conman in the movie,for a change, is called half Robin Hood . We shall also see another such movie with yesteryear legend Dharmender and his two sons Sunny deol & Bobby deol coming together for the con movie, 'Yamla Pagla Deewana’ , slated to be released in January next year.

Several con movies have been made over the years, some have achieved great success and some have not, so is just the genre which makes the movie or is the other way round? Well that remains a debatable issue and as far as other factors are involved our film audiences are the best critics. As for the trend, the eternal question is, let’s see till when it lasts!

Rapid Fire Karan

It’s the return of our favorite bollywood talk show host to what he does best (or second best for the KJo movie fans out there!). The season 3 of the famous celebrity show “Koffee with Karan” has begun to a spectacular start. It’s been 4 years since season 2 aired and the subsequent season was in the wraps for a very long time, but again the wait was quite worth it.

The show now has a bit of a more hip feeling to it with the improved soundtrack and layout along with some amount of classiness attached to it. And this isn’t the only the change, for the very first time, the show began with guests other than Shah Rukh Khan!

The first episode had the Bachchan union Abhishek and Aishwarya gracing it. Karan Johar in his usual talk host panache asked the couple, “How they feel being married, How is life changed, How do they feel when they bump into their respective ex’s? All being answered quite sportingly by the duo. This was then followed by some clips of the film industry folks as well as the ‘Aam Janta’ giving extremely wonderful testimonials about both the actors (No guesses here!)     

 Finally we came to the much awaited “Rapid fire” round which was  a lot of fun and considering there was a bigger and more glamorous hamper up for grabs , it was an entertaining sight, ultimately culminating into an overall good show.

The following two episodes had amazing guest pairs lined up with the chocolate boys Ranbir kapoor and Imran Khan to the Bollywood divas Deepika Padukone and Sonam kapoor gracing the couch. There are even talks that Karan Johar might just bring two screen legends Salman Khan and Aamir Khan on the same couch! Well this is quite a herculean task, but contrary to what people think of KJo’s masculinity, he is actually capable of pulling this off!

So, with the airing of the first episode, Karan johar has proved yet again that his amazing ability to charm his guests and audience alike is still very much on the high and then again who else can we think of asking our favorite stars, What we really want to know about them?

The return of the Superstar Quizmaster

On October 11^th 2010, which incidentally also happens to be the birthday of our beloved quizmaster, Mr Amitabh Bachchan(AB), the fourth installment of the hugely popular show ‘Kaun banega crorepati’ (KBC) started. The episode began with a clear white background showing only Amitabh Bachchan re-enacting the monologues of some of his greatest scenes. This was then followed by an energetic foot thumping version of the song 'khaike paan banaraswala' performed by AB himself. This was rather an unusual start to the quiz show but I must say, it was highly entertaining and a sheer delight to watch.

The main program finally began with AB welcoming all the guests with warmth and in his typical gentlemanly manner, greeting the entire audience. He briefly narrated some of the changed rules and then the game started. Finally we had our contestants appearing on the hot seat, expressing the utter delight to share the same platform with AB, and describing their humble beginning and their journey to the show.

The questions this time are fast, pacy, engaging and not as complex as the previous three seasons. Whether the questions were related to politics, sports or science, more than often it has crossed our realm of things and we end up feeling, “maybe I knew this anwer”.  Whatever be the case, it keeps us glued to our seats.

In the diwali week, KBC lined up its extravagant set of celebrity episodes with a special format, a new hot seat and the who’s who of Bollywood, entertainment and sports arriving. The week started with guests such as Leander Paes, Sreesanth, Ashwini Ponnapa, etc for the sports episode, playfully answering all the questions along with recounting their great victory at the recent CWG games. This was followed up by the beloved TV bahus who perked up the entertainment quotient of the show and finally the entire cast of Golmaal 3, providing a perfect end to the Gala Diwali season.

It’s been three weeks since the AB hosted KBC has gone on air. With the stupendous success and the staggering TRP(Television Rating Points) ratings it has received , it has genuinely arrived as a refreshing change for our Indian television to becoming an intelligent, entertaining and a complete family program.

Google translate- Bollywood Ishtyle

All right, the Google Translate tool is cool, it does translate most of the stuff brilliantly. But then, for obvious reasons, it's funny how the Famous Bollywood dialogues get translated. Here's what I came across on the web while checking it out and it was hilarious.

After going through the above translation, I wondered what other cheezy lines of Bollywood would translate into if one tries to convert them into English. And so I tried a few famous songs and phrases. Following are those for you to enjoy-

बाबूजी ज़रा धीरे चलो, बिजली कड़ी यहाँ बिजली कड़ी.

Papa Just go slow, electric power link link here.

प्यार दीवाना होता है, मस्ताना होता है.

Love is crazy, have become drunk.

मुन्नी बदनाम हुई darling तेरे लिए.

Munni was bad for you darling.

जियो, गाओ, मुस्कुराओ, क्या पता कल हो न हो.
Live, Sing, Smile, do not know what to do tomorrow.

बदतमीज़ ! तेरे घर में माँ-बहने नहीं है.

Arrogant! Your home mom - is not flowing.  

कितने आदमी थे?
How many men were?

These are only a few of them that I tried. You can try some on your own too. Its fun. And please post some of the Best ones that you come across.

Season of 'Remakes' in Bollywood

These days I have been reading about a couple of news articles in the newspapers which focus on the plans of some directors to remake the old classics from Bollywood. Only today I read that Bollywood's 'Mr Perfect' Aamir Khan has been picked for a special role, which nobody except him will be able to essay. Its the role of Baiju Bawra  that was played by Bharat Bhushan in the old classic. Film-maker Krishna Shah wants Aamir to play the role of the wandering singer.

Some of the old classics have already been reprised on the silver screen. To name a few which i recollect are- Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag (Sholay) by Ram Gopal Verma, DON by Farhan Akhtar, Umrao Jaan by J.P. Dutta , Sahab Biwi aur Ghulam and if I am not mistaken a couple more. Remake of old classics isn't something new to both Bollywood and Hollywood, but the way we Indians do it is quite amusing for my liking. I have nothing against directors who plan remakes of old classics because each director has his own style to present the story and the movie overall.

But the way the we jump to a new formula for successful movies is what strikes me the most. Just like the time when all of a sudden we had three or four Bhagat Singh movies(The Legend of Bhagat Singh, Shaheed-e-Bhagat Singh) releasing at around about the same time. What explanation can be given? Has the Bollywood all of a sudden been inspired by Bhagat Singh back then or its just a rat race. Same has been the trend with the current remake of old blockbusters. It just appears to me as if one director plans to do something, others follow their trail. Its sad to see that Bollywood movies rely on a particular formula for a movie to be a hit. Even I would like to see the remake of these movies, in a new, happening way to suit the viewers of present generation. But I am very skeptical in these remakes if they arrive at the same time. This just shows the lack of belief which film makers now have in their scripts and have no option other than to remake the old movies. Hope we get a refreshing change in the Indian Cinema!

The name is RAJINIKANTH

Sivaji Rao Gaekwad or Rajinikanth can lay his hands on whatever he wishes for. He is the highest paid actor in India, respected alike by the old and young and probably the only actor in India who can do justice to the title demigod NDTV’s best Indian of the year award for 2007.We all know that Rajinikanth is a timeless superstar and his Endhiran Robot is arguably, the biggest ever hit in South India. The second most powerful entertainer in Asia, after Jackie Chan, Rajinikanth has proved that he is Mr. Box Office himself. Let us now go to the lighter side of life and enjoy some Rajinikanth jokes that have been doing the rounds lately-

1. When Rajinikanth is asked to kill some one he doesn't know, he shoots the bullet and directs it the day he finds out.

2.Rajinikanth has counted to infinity, twice.

3.Rajinikanth never wet his bed as a child. The bed wet itself in fear.

4.Rajinikanth doesn't breathe. Air hides in his lungs for protection.

5.Google won't find Rajinikanth because you don't find Rajinikanth; Rajinikanth finds you.

6.Rajinikanth killed Spiderman using Baygon Anti Bug Spray.

7.Rajinikanth once kicked a horse in the shin. Its descendants are today called giraffes.

8.Rajinikanth's calendar goes straight from March 31st to April 2nd, no one fools Rajanikanth.

9.Rajinikanth killed the Dead Sea.

10.When Rajinikanth does push-ups, he isn't lifting himself up...He is simply pushing the earth down.

11.The world will not end in 2012, Rajnikanth has bought a computer with a 3 year warranty.

12.Rajinikant can lick his elbows.

13.The last time Rajinikanth killed someone, he slapped himself to do it. The other guy just disintegrated. Resonance.

14.Rajinikanth doesn't need a visa to travel abroad, he just jumps from the tallest building in Chennai and holds himself in the air while the earth rotates.

15.The day ROBOT was released, Rajinikanth gave Times of India a rating of 4 stars.

And these are only a few. There are many more that one can find on Facebook, Orkut and other social networking sites these days. And if one Googles them then they can find at least a thousand similar jokes. Trust Rajnikanth to have a such a huge fan following. What would we have done without you? 

Long Live Rajnikanth!

Bollywood in Holland!

Kailash Kher, Sonu Nigam, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Shreya Goshal. They all have on thing in common in 2010. Wondering what that is? Well, they have all performed in The Netherlands this year. The Netherlands or Holland is a small country in North-Europe, where the people speak Dutch and many times are referred to as the Dutch. It's almost invisible on the map, but 2010 has been the best year for this country in terms of entertainment from Bollywood. This small country has seen so many outstanding and big name concerts in just 2010 and they are still counting. The year isn't over yet. 

The year kicked off with Kailash Kher giving an amazing performance in The Hague in February, which was SRO(standing room only). He was followed by Sonu Nigam, who went only two weeks later and again the show was sold out. Nigam was followed by Atif Aslam who visited for an Easter party. Then Rahat Fateh Ali Khan paid a visit to The Hague. He was suppose to be in Holland for only one concert, but so many people were so eager to see him that the organizers had to arrange for a second show the next day. Both shows were completely sold out. Atif Aslam returned within two months to entertain the Dutch audience, this time in the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. And for the lovers of yesteryears music, Usha Mangeshar and Amit Kumar wentfor a special show. And just two weeks ago Shreya Goshal visited Holland. And the year isn't over yet. 

Holland is expecting actors Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal and Dino Morea in November. Then there is Sunidhi Chauhan visiting on the 6th of November and in December Adnan Sami will visit Holland for the umpteenth time. 

In the last couple of years Bollywood has gained much more popularity in Holland. The films are played at regular theatres, Bollywood gets a mention in Dutch magazines, and several festivals bring in Bollywood entertainment. Not only is it getting bigger and better, Bollywood is getting noticed outside the Indian community as well. Earlier it was Turkish, Moroccan, Afghani and Pakistani people who were interested, but now the Dutch community is also noticing its glitter and glamour.

Several Indian movies contain scenes or songs, which have been shot in Holland. You probably know the songs 'Bhanwre Ne Khilaya Phool Phool' fromPrem Rog and 'Dekha Ek Khwab' from Silsila. These have been shot in the tulip fields of Holland. The cast and crew of Hello Brother, starring Salman Khan and Rani Mukerjee, went to the same fields for the song 'Teri Chunariya Dil Le Gayi'. And in 2004, Hum Tum was shot in Amsterdam. More recently you could see Holland in the video of the Imran Khan hit song 'Amplifier'. 

It looks like this small country has finally joined in on the Bollyaction that has been going on for years in America and England and the fans there seem ecstatic! We will all have to wait and watch to see what happens next!

Hissing beauties

They hissed, they slithered and they kissed to kill. Bollywood has witnessed a variety of Nagins over the years. Some we loved to hate and some we hated to love.This time it is Mallika Sherawat  who has slithered back into business in Bollywood, donning the garb of a snake in her latest film 'Hisss'. The film directed by Jennifer Lynch has the sizzling hottie and Irrfan Khan playing the lead characters. Mallika is not only smoldering in the film’s promos but has reportedly also done a full monty for certain scenes in the film.
The other Bollywood hotties who sizzled on the screen in their Nagin avatars are-


Sridevi
If Mallika sizzles in her snake avatar, Sridevi pushed the mercury several notches higher in her rendition of the fabled snake woman. Her serpentine moves around Amrish Puri (who plays a snake charmer) in Harmesh Malhotra’s Nagina still manage to give me goose bumps. The actor’s blue eyes (thanks to coloured contact lens) and her enticing demeanour and of course, that graceful dancing in the film stayed with me long after the film was declared a box office smasher.


Vyjayanthimala
Vyjayanthimala appeared as a snake woman in her successful movie Nagin where she performed a beautiful snake dance to the tunes of 'Man dole mera tan dole'. This hugely popular number has been one of the Southern beauty’s most remembered performances. She was one of the first stars in Bollywood to pave the way for actors after her, to go the reptilian way.


Reena Roy
Reena Roy was considered by some as the ultimate snake woman when she appeared on celluloid playing a snake that embarks on a revenge trail after her lover is killed by a group of young men. Ably performed by Roy.


Rekha
Rekha added a lot of oomph factor to her portrayal of the snake woman in the film Nagin. She played a beautiful icchadhari nagin (a snake which could take any form) who could kill any mortal with her venomous looks. Even with limited prowess over special effects back in 1990, the fight sequence between the snake and the mongoose were well documented. 


All the above movies worked in their time but the concept of Nagin doesn't appeal in today's age. Times have changed and cinema had evolved. The audience no longer prefer to see such old-fashioned concepts in the movies . Present day audience is more aware, informed and demanding and therefore, don't buy such kind of movies anymore.


In my view, 'HIisss' dud at the box office should make the concerned people stop hissing around and turn around to make some refreshing cinema.