Sachin's ' Ferari ki Sawari'

Cricket and Bollywood are what Indians live by, and the stars of both have huge fan followings. The IPL proved to be an undeniable draw, what with Shah Rukh Khan-Saurav Ganguly and Preity Zinta-Yuvraj Singh available in package deals.

However, cricketers turned actors have not really been much of a draw on the big screen. There were players such as Sunil Gavaskar, Salim Durrani and Sandip Patel who did strive to make their presence felt, but hardly created a ripple. Syed Kirmani played the killer with the golden heart in Kabhi Ajnabee They, but even his karate moves did not impress many.

Pakistani actors such as Mohsin Khan and Mazhar Khan too failed to make an impact in Hindi films. The former married Reena Roy and his movies Batwara and Saathi did nothing for him. Mazhar Khan was better known for beating up his wife, the sensational Zeenat Aman.

Of the recent lot, Saurav Ganguly has actually acted in a Bengali film while his team mate Anil Kumble has also tried his luck on the silver screen. Vinod Kambli acted in an aptly named movie called Annarth, and Ajay Jadeja decided to do Khel after being banned from playing cricket!

The good looking Salil Ankola seems to have broken the jinx with appearances on television and a number of movies. Kurukshetra, Shiva and Deva are the three movies apart from Silence Please...The Dressing Room, a movie that links cricket and Bollywood, in which he has starred with the talented Sonali Kulkarni.

Yuvraj Singh, who captained the Punjab team in the IPL, is also set to act in a movie produced by his father Yograj Singh, a cricketer who has had a short stint in Bollywood himself. Apparently, the young man plays a 70-year-old Yograj, who spins a web and tells his own story to future generations. Yograj Singh does not want Yuvi’s attention taken away from his cricketing career and, thus, has given him just a cameo in his movie, while Yuvi will be played by his brother Joravar.

 Kapil Dev has also made an appearance in Mujhse Shaadi Karoge? But  this time, it is master blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s turn.  The maestro is all set to work in Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s ‘Ferari Ki Sawari’. Tendulkar will essay an important role alongside Sharman Joshi and Boman Irani in the film. In spite of having managed a coup of sorts, Chopra isn't ready to reveal anything. Just like the term `Gandhigiri', which was a well-kept secret until Lage Raho Munnabhai (2007) released, the real length of Sachin's role in the movie, too, is under wraps. http://www.mynews.in/News/sachin_tendulkar_to_work_in_a_movie!_N93880.html

Frankly speaking, none of these willow men have made any kind of lasting impact on the big screen. Maybe it is a case of each man being adept at his own trade. Cricket is what most of the above are good at and they should stick to what they do best. However, today, alternative careers have become attractive, with models turning cricket anchors and cricketers doing everything but playing cricket.

Whatever the cause, it is not worth the misery of failing when it comes to a second career option. It is better to retire gracefully from the limelight, rather than burn one’s fingers in the Bollywood pie, where audiences are less forgiving than cricket spectators.

Isn’t it better to shine in one career, and win laurels for the country, instead of looking elsewhere and doing a mediocre job of both? Is it the lure of money that attracts cricketers to tinsel town, or the hope of getting further entrenched in the minds of millions of fans? Do you think cricketers should act?

"I LOVE married men" club

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty  when walked down the aisle to marry London-based businessman Raj Kundra last year she was following the footsteps of Hema Malini, Sridevi and Raveena Tandon –  and many other actresses who famously entered into wedlock with men who had been married earlier.

Kundra was already separated when he met Shilpa, but his estranged wife Kavita publicly blamed the actress for the break-up of the marriage. However, Shilpa was adamant she would date him only after he was officially separated.

In the past, many actresses have found love in successful married men – who may or may not have been separated from their first wives.

Even though yesteryear star Dharmendra was married to Prakash Kaur and had four children with her – two daughters and sons Sunny and Bobby Deol – Bollywood ‘dreamgirl’ Hema Malini got romantically involved with him. Dharmendra converted to Islam to wed the actress in 1980. They have two daughters – Esha and Ahana.

Bollywood’s former cabaret queen Helen also fell for screenwriter Salim Khan, who was married to Salma Khan (original name was Sushila Charak). Though he had four children from Salma – Salman, Sohail, Arbaaz and Alvira – he married Helen in 1980 and adopted a daughter named Arpita.

Even Sridevi tied the knot with film producer Boney Kapoor, with whom she did films like “Lamhe” and “Mr. India”. Boney, the elder brother of Anil Kapoor, was married with two kids before he married Sridevi in 1996.

Critically acclaimed actress Shabana Azmi fell in love with prolific writer Javed Akhtar, who was married to scriptwriter Honey Irani. Shabana and Akhtar entered into wedlock in 1984. Akhtar had two kids – Farhan and Zoya – from his previous marriage.

Raveena Tandon also decided to wed film distributor Anil Thadani, who was married to Natasha Sippy. It was reported that the actress had once lost her cool at Thadani’s former wife upon seeing Natasha trying to get too close to her husband at a New Year’s party in 2006.

Popular actress Karisma Kapoor also entered into matrimony with a divorcee – Delhi-based businessman Sanjay Kapur. Mahima Chaudhary also wed architect Bobby Mukherjee, who was earlier married with two kids.

These days, a prominent actress dating a divorcee is Kareena Kapoor. With Saif Ali Khan, she makes for one of Bollywood’s most talked about couples. The actor had once been married to actress Amrita Singh. Tabu is also reportedly dating southern star Nagarjuna, who is married to former actress Amala.

And the very recent actress to join "i love married men" club is Lara Dutta who recently got engaged to Mahesh Bhupathi . Mahesh Bhupathi was earlier married to Shwetha Jaishankar and apparently, Lara has been termed as the reason behind their divorce.

It has become a trend in bollywood now with  most of the actresses opting for married men. I don't know what fascination they hold and why they hold..but these women certainly enjoy the darker side of a relationship !!!

Peepli [Live] gets a peek at Oscars !!!

Usually movies come with ratings and reviews which either takes us towards the movie or away from it. But Aamir Khan’s movies come with ‘compulsion’; a ‘must watch’ tag. When Aamir puts himself behind a movie, then all ratings and reviews fly out of the window; and people just want to watch the product at least once. And when that product turns out to be what ‘Peepli [Live]’ is, we understand what differentiates Aamir from the others.

Everyone has been gushing about the movie; even the media channels who have been mocked at in the movie. The tv channels have accepted it as a backhanded compliment that at least they showed the plight of the farmer, albeit in a sarcastic tone and for TRPs. I would sound repetitive if I said that ‘the movie was great…a satire on the political class and media … authentic … moving, etc etc. Rather than stating the obvious, let me just say that Shyam Benegal called the movie ‘a landmark film’ on a news channel some weeks back. After hearing the entire discussion, my mind took flight and I started wondering why this movie was chosen as India’s entry for the year 2011. http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20100924/1416/tnl-peepli-live-is-india-s-official-entr_1.html. Apart from the movie being a fine work of art, a concave view of the farmer’s plight, it’s also a telling statement on the society. Let me quickly list the things that go in favour of PL:

1.   Of all the movies that India has sent to Oscars, only 3 movies have been nominated in ‘Best Foreign Language Film’ category – Mother India, Salaam Bombay and Lagaan. All three based on people with impoverished background in general, MI and Lagaan based on rural background in particular.
2. Having seen the success of Slumdog Millionaire and the various discussions on poverty-porn or poverty sells, PL seems to be just the kind of movie that the jury may favor.
3. most movies that were sent as India’s entry were barely showcased due to lack of funds. We have previously seen how Aamir and Ashutosh gave it their best in promoting ‘Lagaan’. By virtue of having been there before and done the hardwork, Aamir seems to be the ideal producer who can promote the movie. And also, his credibility can bring in the jurors and critics to give his movie a dekko.

Peepli [Live] works on all levels. It tells a great tale in a fascinating manner. The story itself is not all that new, a general apathy displayed by the political class and the discontent of the poor innocent villager. But the media-hawks flying down to the epicenter of the drama and the various bureaucratic procedures/hurdles gave the entire proceedings a satirical tone. Who can forget that line “We are waiting for the High Court orders” being oft repeated or the invasion of privacy where a man cannot answer nature’s call without the presence of security and tv cameras. What have we come to? Reporters/journalists chasing mal-mutra for TRPs!

I have this weird feeling that the movie has a better chance of winning the Oscar (because of above reasons) than of being selected as India’s entry. Let me hastily add that I have not spoken about any regional cinema here. As much as I have read and watched them, I wasn't sure if any of them could make it. Nonetheless,my personal choice was Peepli [Live] and I am glad that it got selected. Let me know what you think !

Sci-fi journey from Star Wars to Robot

Science fiction is a speculative notion, scientific based, prediction of phenomena not accepted by theoretical sciences. It is one genre which has fascinated both the filmmakers and audiences since the inception of movies. Hollywood started experimenting with this genre from the early 1900’s with George Milles silent movie ‘Journey to the Moon’, considered  the 1^st ever sci- fi movie, with other examples being Frankenstein (1910), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde(1920), Metropolis(1927), and many more.

Now let’s jump straight to our very own Indian cinema. In the 50-60’s, films in Bollywood were still emerging from the shell and directors were slowly experimenting new themes. The first sci-fi attempt was actually made in the Bengali cinema by director Satyajit Ray who wanted to make a film on alien life forms but due to some production problems, the project was shut down. There were no further attempts made by any other filmmaker in Bollywood and making movies on romance, comedy, family dramas were only considered as bankable options. Then the 70’s arrived which were mainly dominated with films of Rajesh Khanna which fuelled more romance in our lives and the revolutionary anti-system movies of Amitabh bachchan which accurately displayed the emotions of the time period. But a thought of ever producing a full-fledged sci -fi movie was still considered by many, ahead of its times.

During this period, Hollywood was started providing the world with some 

of the best sci-fi movies of all times. In 1968, the maverick director Stanley Kubrick made the movie 2001:A Space odyssey which broke the barriers of visual effects at that time. This was followed by possibly the most influential duo directors the world of cinema would ever see, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. George Lucas pioneered the trend of Sci-Fi movies with his box-office sensation Star Wars which gave way to other successful movies such as Jaws, The close encounters of the third kind, E.T the extra terrestrial, Terminator etc. The filmmakers in Hollywood suddenly woke up to the plethora of possibilities available in the Science fiction genre and suddenly every other movie started following this upwardly trend. Subjects ranging from Aliens to supernatural entities to natural disasters, all were part of the overall science fiction.

Shekhar Kapoor who was an avid follower of the Hollywood cinema, finally took it upon himself to give India its first fully commercial Sci-fi movie. The movie was Mr. India starring Anil Kapoor and Sridevi which held a mass appeal but it was the children who primarily loved the film.

 It was only after 16 years that another director would resurrect the genre back into bollywood. The director was Rakesh Roshan and the movie was Koi Mil Gaya which was largely inspired from the Spielberg classic E.T the extra terrestrial. The movie became an instant hit and struck a chord with children across India. This also led Rakesh Roshan to produce the sequel to the film called Krishh with Hrithik again reprising the role of the main protagonist who attains superhuman capabilities. There were many sci-fi movies in Bollywood which followed soon after but none could repeat this same success story. It became a certain undertone that a mega sci-fi project generally lacked a good story line which ultimately led to the movies becoming massive duds. Movies ranging from Prince with the high-class technology to Alag, a story of a child with miraculous healing powers, neither could make an impact on the audiences. Even the over-hyped Sci-fi romantic movie Love Story 2050 which was rumored to be made on an elaborate budget of 60 crores, was blatantly rejected by the public. Audiences as well as critics panned the movie for having nothing innovative and the acting abilities of the main actor weren’t much of a treat either.

Bollywood, since then has refrained from going anywhere near the sci-fi genre. But now there are big expectations from Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai starrer movie ROBOT whose promos look promising. It remains to be seen whether the movie works or not but for the sake of the genre and for the need of a fresh idea, I would pray that it really works !!!

Marketing class 101 in Bollywood

When I was a kid, watching a movie was an event in itself. It would be thoroughly planned in advance with the sheer excitement of buying the tickets, purchasing popcorn, seeing your favorite movie stars, singing with the songs and wanting to repeat the entire 3 hrs again when the movie would finally end. Surprisingly one of my most favorite parts in the whole movie experience would be the trailers of upcoming movies which would be showed before the start and during the interval, as well as the glitzy posters which would nicely be displayed on the cinema buildings. Those were the olden days of bollywood where promoting and marketing the movie were not such an essential part of the whole business. People were so enamored by films in general that no amount of marketing would actually accentuate the feeling. But still, there were some tactics which were used to market films, clearly with the goal of generating curiosity and excitement around it. These ways ranged from movie billboards, fancy posters, trailers etc to the much less occurring interviews which were given by stars on print or on the radio.

But with the humongous increase in competition to the extravagant investment being made into Bollywood, movie marketing has become the most essential aspect of the industry. Earlier only producers would take care of promotions, but today from the producers to the distributors to the theatre owners, all take part in promoting the movie. The marketing of a movie has become very personalized today and there is no preset template that can be used for every movie. Each requires a unique strategy for marketing and branding depending upon the script, actors, target audience etc. So, from Amitabh Bachchan reading news on a news channel to Salman Khan riding a horse on the race course for the movie ‘Veer’, marketing in the industry has become a new mantra today.

It would probably take a whole new article to accurately explain the marketing genius of the great Aamir Khan  who has in some ways pioneered the whole concept in Bollywood, but I shall attempt to summarize everything  in one go. Aamir Khan is known for being a perfectionist and sort of an introvert with no interest in coming to Page 3 parties or socializing, but before the release of his movie you will see him practically everywhere. From the most popular T.V channel to the most niche one, Aamir Khan will always be seen either giving an interview, making a guest appearance, taking up some cause, all in line with the theme of his upcoming movie. Even the BTL (Below the line) marketing activities strategized by Aamir khan’s camp like viral marketing , ambush marketing, multiplex promotions, merchandize are all centered around the same goal which is to generate interest. For the movie ‘Ghajini’, Aamir went around different locations in India giving people the exclusive ghajini cut and providing health tips to people. The theaters came into play when all the ushers in the cinema got the same cut as the main protagonist, just to enhance the audience brand recall. The movie 3 idiots used another innovative tactic when all the washrooms in theatres had the sign, “Be the 4^th idiot”. Such activities have really proved Aamir Khan to be a true revolutionary in the field of promotions and the honour of having various case studies dedicated to his marketing strategy along with invitations to give lectures of marketing in B-Schools. He was also recently awarded the most creative entrepreneur of the year by NDTV Profit for his glorious achievements in the line of marketing & promotions of films.http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/creative-entrepreneur-of-the-year-aamir-khan/161420

Even the online platform is being used to a great extent by marketers for viral marketing and online promotions. I have a close friend who works in Google and chatting with him recently, he told me how John Abraham , Ranbir Kapoor interactively use the medium YouTube to promote their movies and stay in touch with their fans. For an upcoming movie, there has been a launch of exclusive moderator interviews with Ranbir kapoor and Priyanka chopra on Eros’s YouTube channel http://www.ranbirkapoor.net/videos/movies-vid/aa-movies-vid/aa_int/piggy-chops-ranbir-promote-anjaana-anjaani/. This shows to the scale the online media is being adopted in various marketing strategies, and with the extreme growth of internet users in India we can expect much more such activities to come.

So, finally we can appropriately conclude that in today’s time period, the script, direction, story, acting, music, cinematography together are incomplete if not accompanied with the essential promotion. As the saying in the industry goes, “if the audience doesn’t develop interest, why will they go and see it.” 

Sabse bada rupaiya...

The only thing is that ke Bhaiya, Sabse Bada Rupaiya...

In today’s times finance is one of the most integral part of how ventures and businesses function. The tryst of early bollywood with financial entities was highly difficult initially and finding solvent producers to fund entire movies was an unheard concept. A solution to the problem was floated by some key people in the industry with an inception of an association called ‘Films and Television producers Guild of India’. This association had very influential members on its panel such as Dr. V Shantaram, B.R Chopra, Mehboob Khan, Homi Wadia, Raj Kapoor, and for the next 50 years this association become the touchstone of the Indian film industry.

Still, the concept of financing movies in bollywood was way different from its western counterparts. The studio culture which was prevalent to an extent in bollywood, could never become the primary form of funding.  Independent individuals such as Mehboob Khan who directed as well as produced the epic ‘Mother India’ and B.R Chopra who produced various movies such as Sadhana and Naya Daur, were completely capable of funding as well as selling the rights of the movies. The legendary Raj Kapoor had many movies under his own banner R.K Studios ranging from ‘Shree 420’, ‘Awaara’ to ‘Jis Des mein ganga Behti Hai’. This culture continued in bollywood for decades with other camps like Yash Chopra, Subash Ghai, Yash johar all playing the part of being a ‘one man force’ in the crucial payment of the production bills.

It was early in the 21^st century that we saw a dynamic change engulfing bollywood in the matter of production. It initially started with many corporates realizing the golden opportunity to rake in the profits with the growing bollywood popularity. Some of the first to join the bandwagon were corporate such as the Oswals, Raymond, Pantaloons. Many corporate organizations then came up with a business strategy to establish media & entertainment companies as subsets of the parent company, mainly to invest capital in upcoming movie projects. Some companies which can be cited as examples are Tata Infomedia, a subset of Tatas,’ Applause’ the entertainment arm of Birla to Reliance Infotainment. Corporate funding has also led to insurance giants such as Bajaj Allianz entering the industry to insure films.

This revolution or so occurring in bollywood also created its ripples in the west with many mammoth Hollywood studios making their way to the Indian film industry. Many studios started having tie-ups with the Indian production houses to churn out box office hits. Sony produced the movie ‘saawariya’ for the worldwide market and took a share of the huge amount of collections it raked in.  This led Sony Corp now has a tie-up with Eros entertainment for 6 movies in the future. Other notable studios started creating partnerships such as Disney with Yashraj for the movie ‘Roadside Romeo’ and Warner Bros teaming up with Ramesh Sippy for the production of ‘Chandni Chawk to China’. The most recent success was the influx of profits which Fox Searchlight generated from the movie ‘My name is Khan’. An estimate showed that the 3 Billion dollar sensation ‘Avatar’ grossed 26 million in India where ‘My  name is Khan’ came a close second at 23 million. This clearly shows the intensity with which Hollywood biggies are realizing the exorbitant growth in the Indian film business.

Finally, with globalization embarking our country in the early 90’s, it is still fair to assume that we haven’t reached the maturity phase yet, which basically shows us that this is just the beginning. I’ll not be surprised if in the coming years more conglomerates enter the Indian film industry and heavily bet big with other forms of commercially viable media.

Silver screen to small screen

It was the year 1988 that a young charming man was first seen by the audiences in a television serial displaying the life of the Indian military. The serial was ‘Fauji’ and the man in question is the current superstar of bollywood Shah Rukh Khan a.k.a King Khan. The serial was a very real life adaptation of how new individuals enter the armed forces as budding adolescents and emerge out as groomed men. The character Lt Abhimanyu Rai played by SRK was this determined novice officer who with his serious yet peppy mannerisms bowled the serial viewers. It was the success SRK achieved from this show that helped him in his future ventures as a developing actor with his ultimate dream of being a superstar. A period in time when conventional actors such as Anil Kapoor, Jackie Shroff, Sunny deol were dominating the screens, it was a wave of fresh air for people to once see an antihero climbing the ladder of potential stardom.

This was by far the biggest success story of that time as the golden transition from TV to movies was the path which every budding actor wanted to emulate. There was many actors who made a significant mark on the small screen  such as Amar Upadhay of the Kynki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi fame to Aman varma, Ronit Roy, Milind Soman as well as the singer Sonu Nigam, and tried their luck to hit the penultimate jackpot of being an A-list bollywood hero, but unfortunately all of them failed in their bleak attempts.

At the same period in history,  iconic Amitabh Bachchan was roped in to play the host on the Indian version of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’called ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’. The show ,a brainchild of the suave quizmaster Siddharth Basu first aired in the year 2000 and broke all previous TRP ratings held by the usual dramas churned out by Television channels. The reality show was so successful that it led to a storm of reality shows being conceptualized by channels and made way for a new transition, Silver screen to small screen. This was followed by the return of SRK to his roots by appearing in KBC 3 and ‘Kya aap panchvi paas se tez hain’. The English reaity show Fear factor was then remodeled into Khatron ke Khiladi with Akshay as the host and Big Brother got its Indian version Big Boss with shilpa shetty as the dark complexioned winner.

Most recently, the sexy siren Priyanka Chopra joined the ranks of being a TV host for Khatron ke khiladi 2 and the show’s phenomenal opening has just proved the certain appeal and bankability the bollywood stars have on the Indian audiences.

 So, its fair enough to conclude now that the way our media is transforming into new forms and opening up new avenues, it is really not suprising to see how great movie thespians are moving towards their small medium counterparts.  

Bollywood meets Sports

Sports  have instant connect with  the Bollywood since the very beginning. Apart from sports or sports element forming the integral part of  storyline  of Bollywood’s script, Hindi film Industry has been abuzz with rumor of love affairs between  Bollywood star and  Sports persons. Our very controversial Indian Premier League ( IPL) also has Bollywood connections with Hindi film stars such as Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Shahrukh Khan  associated with Kings XI Punjab, Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knightriders respectively.


A very recent entry in this bollywood meets sports connection is that of Lara Dutta and Mahesh Bhupathi who recently got engaged in New York after a courtship of 6 months.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Lara-Mahesh-Bhupathi-engaged/articleshow/6583854.cms


Here are some more examples of how Glamour attracts Glamour-

• Bollywood actress Reena Roy married former Pakistani Test batsman Mohsin Khan, now the national chief selector, in the 1980s. The two later divorced. 

• Former Pakistani captain Imran Khan was linked with Bollywood bombshell Zeenat Aman.

• According to reports cricketer Ravi Shastri was engaged to actress Amrita Singh but the situation changed drastically and the two parted ways forever. 

• One of the greatest all-rounders in cricket Garfield "Gary" Sobers was briefly engaged to actress Anju Mahendru. The actress was then in a relationship with Rajesh Khanna. 

• Actress Amrita Arora dated cricketer Usman Afzal for almost four years but decided to part ways after undergoing a period full of strain. 

• The Harbhajan Singh-Geeta Basra linkup is being much taled about and the buzz is that the two might soon take their relationship to the next level.

• Former Indian captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was smitten by the charms of Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore and the two married in 1969. 

• Former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin married model-turned actress Sangeeta Bijlani. Sangeeta was earlier dating Salman Khan.

• Indian tennis ace Leander Paes had a long relationship with actress Mahima Choudhary, but then things didn't end well. Following his breakup with Mahima, Leander married Rhea Pillai, who was earlier married to Sanjay Dutt.

• Cricketing legend Vivian Richards had a brief affair with actress Neena Gupta, with whom he has a daughter Masaba.

These are only some of the examples.There are many more instances where Bollywood has established a connection with sports. What is intriguing is that these two are the most ardently followed religions of our country and have a tremendous fan following, especially cricket in sports. What is even more interesting is that not even 90% of these relationships have had a happy ending.

A classic case of  "All that glitters is not gold"...don't you think so????


P.S- My best wishes are with Lara and Mahesh Bhupathi  for their marriage and hope they have a successful and happy life together!!!

Dabangg hears Da-bang...

One man's food is another man's poison. 

This saying couldn't be further from truth in the current scenario of Hindi Cinema. Today when there are well above 250 films releasing every year in Bollywood, finding a unique concept can be a task, and every now and then, there are claims of copyright being made. The latest film blamed for copyright infringement is Dabangg. Emami has slapped a legal notice to Arbaaz Khan Productions Private Limited for using their brand's name 'Zandu Balm' in the song 'Munni Badnaam' from the film. The company has claimed that the brand name 'Zandu Balm' was used in the song without their consent.


Emami has asked now asked the producers to either withdraw the song or delete the brand name from it. For more information refer-http://www.jhankar.pk/news-detail/Bollywood-News/-'Zandu-Balm' manufacturer-sues-Dabangg-producers.html


Another Salman Khan movie that was caught in a copyright infringement issue was Veer where the makers of the film were accused of lifting some concepts from a certain book without any approval from its author  Pavan Choudary. The plaintiff had claimed that the idea and concept that India should not be a 'Sone Ki Chidiya' but 'Baaj' (hawk) was almost identically copied and adapted from his book 'Trilogy of Wisdom' and that the makers of Veer were using the same for their commercial gains. 

Even Akshay Kumar's hit comedy Housefull was stopped from being broad casted on Indian television because of copyright issues over the song 'Apni Toh Jaise Taise'.

Funny, isn't it? We have taken to plagiarism so easily. Wasn't it enough that we made Indian versions of foreign films that now we have started picking out ideas from our own market and that too without acknowledging them in the credits? Where is our cinema heading towards? I am not against using

clips, lyrics or any material for that matter from other sources provided one gives them the credit of the same. There is nothing wrong in doing so. Here the issue of ethics and morality comes which every film producer/director should abide by.

We already have a separate Copyright Commission for Bollywood instituted by HRD Minister Kapil Sibal which has on board highly prominent people from the industry. I just hope that this organisation works efficiently to curb such kind of violations fom happening. I know I am being very positive in my attitude for hoping that such kind of issues don't turn up too often  but what the hell, I am a human being and I am allowed to dream :) !!!

Lyrics n Music

Munni badnaam hui Darling tere liye, main Jhandu balm hui darling tere liye..  

This is a very popular song doing the rounds of various radio and TV stations these days. It makes me wonder where are we heading towards? Lyrics, at one point of time used to be the essence of the songs in hindi cinema. The films were recognized by the songs and the songs in turn were liked because of their lyrics.

 It was India's very first sound film, Alam Ara,http://www.indianetzone.com/22/alam_ara_indian_movie.htm that established the song-n-dance convention in our cinema. 

Seventy-five years on, look at the state of film lyrics today.The lyrics are supposed to not only reflect the spirit of a film, but also capture the essence of the time and place it's set in. Today's songs seem labored because of a huge disconnect between lyric writing and poetry. Words are rustled up to fit pre-composed tunes. Today the beat is important, not the words.

Today's lyrics aren't poetry. They aren't even prose. They are bad prose. The attempts at rhyming are painfully laboured. In the past, a Hindi film lyricist had 70-75 words to play around with. Today he has no more than 30 or 35. Their vocabulary is very limited. Today's cinema has no gentle dissolves, no flashbacks. It's cut-to-cut. Images and sounds are thrown at you one after the other. In song sequences, the movements usually have no connection with the words. Words are just an excuse to hang a tune on.

In an interview Gulzar once said, "You don't have to wear heavy glasses to write film lyrics." Beeti na beetayi raina in Parichay was a classical bandish that conveyed the pain of separation. It worked wonderfully well in the '70s. Today's Hindi cinema has no room for such songs. If we think old classical poetry will still work, we'd be deluding ourselves. Do we still wear the kurtas or pants we wore in the '60s? To survive, you have to move with the times. You have to think of images relevant to the contemporary environment. "In Satya, I wrote sara din sadkon pe khaali rickshey sa peechhe peechhe chalta hai to refer to a lover pursuing her beloved. I couldn't have used the traditional Radha-Krishna imagery here. It would've been completely out of place."

So you see, the scenario has changed, the times have changed and so the imagery needs to be changed too but not the depth and the meaning behind the lyrics...because at the end of the day, no matter how nice the music is, its the lyrics that hook the listeners to a song!!!

To be continued...