Shandaar - Movie Review

Vikas Bahl it seems wants to establish himself as a versatile director. His first two outings (Chillar Party and Queen) were totally different from each other, apart from being really brilliant films. Shaandaar is different from his other flicks alright, but it’s far from being brilliant. Bahl’s scenes are seen falling flat most of the time, and he isn’t even able to whip out something to keep us captivated during the boring parts. He however succeeds in bringing out the best from his actors. He and the ever so impressive Anil Mehta deserve credit for capturing some jaw dropping locations as well. The film would have received a lot of help if some of its songs and unneeded sequences were chopped off, especially the cheesy bits like the Karan Johar cameo and the long and winding scene in which everyone gets accidentally drugged. The animated bits are uninspired and yet another attempt by Bahl to capture the fairy tale vibe.

An adopted daughter of Bipin Arora (Pankaj Kapoor), Alia Arora (Alia Bhatt) has fit into her new family easily despite the hatred towards her by her new mother and grandmother. Alia is a creature of the night; in the sense that she cannot sleep. Her father hopes that her insomnia will one day be cured by a man who will put her to bed. Enter Jagjinder Joginder (Shahid Kapoor), a wedding planner who eventually succeeds in doing that. Get the reverse Sleeping Beauty angle here? The sub-plot involves Bipin’s evil mother who wishes to marry off his real daughter Isha (Sanah Kapoor) as part of a business deal with the overly flamboyant Sindhi tycoon played by Sanjay Kapoor. Despite keeping the fairy tale angle alive, this sub-plot fails at effortlessly tying itself up with the main plot. There’s no crispiness in the whole affair, as the storytelling is delayed time and again by unique and ambitious sequences (the director wants to make an impression with these) and songs that fail to move the story forward.

Rating - 2/5

Movie Review - Jazbaa

JAZBAA starts off with the introduction of the super fit and health conscious Anuradha Verma (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), who is Mumbai's topnotch criminal lawyer with a cent per cent success track record. She also happens to be a single mother to her darling daughter Sanaya (Sara Arjun). And the reason for her to be a single mother is because she got separated from her husband and her in-laws because they wanted a son instead of a daughter. Needless to say that, Anuradha Verma happens to be extremely close to her daughter Sanaya. One day, during Sanaya's annual sports day meet, she gets kidnapped in broad daylight. Rather than asking for ransom money, the kidnappers lay a condition that they will release Sanaya only if Anuradha Verma fights the case of the dreaded criminal Nayaaz (Chandan Roy Sanyal) and free him from the jail. Left with no choice, Anuradha starts collecting evidence from all the sources possible in order to free Nayaaz, the very man who has raped and murdered Sia (Priya Banerjee), the daughter of the respected college professor Garima Chaudhary (Shabana Azmi). Amidst all this, there exists the 'street-smart cop' cop Yohaan (Irrfan Khan), who has been suspended off his services by the Anti Corruption Bureau on the basis of corruption charges against him. When all his repeated requests to his 'good friend' Anuradha Verma in order to fight his case yields no results, he suspects something amiss in Anuradha Verma's life. Despite her warnings and requests, Yohaan gets into Sanaya's kidnapping case. Being her true friend and her secret lover, he stands by Anuradha like a rock. Does Yohaan become successful in freeing Sanaya from the dreaded kidnappers, who are the kidnappers and in what way are they connected with the rapist cum murderer Nayaaz, does Anuradha Verma manage to find her daughter Sanaya and what ultimately happens to the 'unspoken love' between Anuradha and Yohaan…forms the rest of the story. Despite the 'towering' presence of the master performer Irrfan Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan with her 'initially-rusty-later spellbinding' performance, carries the film on her shoulders. Her 'comeback' performance in JAZBAA can undoubtedly be defined as one of her best till date. She makes an impressively stunning impact, conveying a gamut of emotions with utmost conviction and aplomb. Full marks to Sanjay Gupta for capturing (read 'extracting') a raw and stunning performance from her. Besides looking beautiful and stunning, she also holds a strong screen presence. The interval scene when she spots her daughter but is unable to rescue her, shows Aishwarya's talent as an actor. JAZBAA can be termed as Irrfan Khan's first main lead hero performance in a mainstream commercial film. His screen presence, when added to his delivery of one-liners takes the film to a different level altogether. Irrfan Khan mouthing his set of one-liners (in his impeccable trademark style) are whistle and clap-worthy. The veteran actress Shabana Azmi, on the other hand, comes up with yet another stellar performance in JAZBAA. She lights up the screen with her glowing presence in the film and shows her true potential, especially towards the climax sequences. Other actors like Jackie Shroff, Priya Banerjee, Siddhant Kapoor, Chandan Roy Sanyal and Atul Kulkarni excel in their respective roles.

While the film's music (Amar Mohile) is not very massy, it is the film's background music that keeps the film gripped throughout. The film's editing (Bunty Negi) could have been a bit better in order for the film to look sleeker. The film's cinematography (Sameer Arya) is decent.

On the whole, JAZBAA is a captivating thriller with good performances that make it a decent one-time watch.

Rating - 3/5  .........Courtesy - bollywoodhangama.com

A Tribute To Ravindra Jain

Ravindra Jain was born blind to well-known Sanskrit scholar and Ayurvedacharya, Pandit Indramani Jain and mother Kiran Jain on 28 February 1944. Jain and his family hail from Aligarh. He is the third child among seven brothers and a sister.

Ravindra Jain met his mother-in-law, Mrs. Nirmala Jain, in Delhi while attending a promotion event for the film Saudagar. Soon after, Nirmala Jain's daughter, Divya Jain, insisted upon only marrying Ravindra Jain or nobody else. Her wish later got fulfilled and they have a son named Aayushman Jain.

He won the Filmfare Best Music Director Award in 1985. He was a well respected figure, and considered a rolemodel for many people, as he overcame his disability of blindness.

Ravindra Jain is one of the most notable of the Hindi music directors who started his career in the early 1970s, composing for hit films such as Chor Machaye Shor (1974), Geet Gaata Chal (1975), Chitchor (1976) and Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se (1978). Along with composing music, he also wrote the lyrics for many of his famous songs. Ravindra Jain's father died during the recording sessions of the film Saudagar, however, Jain did not leave the studio until the recordings were finalised giving utmost importance to his work.

One of his most famous songs is Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se (Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se). He was also given a big break by Raj Kapoor, for whom, he composed many super hit songs in movies such as Ram Teri Ganga Maili, Do Jasoos, and Heena,Jain also rendered beautiful music to many of Rajshri Productions' features starting in the 1980s and continuing well into the 2000s (decade).

Jain is credited for bringing south Indian singing sensation Dr. K. J. Yesudas to Hindi movies, in singing in many of his movies in the 1970s and 1980s. Together they sung some memorable songs like 'Oo goriya re' (Naiyya), 'Beeti hui raat ki' (Ayyash), and 'Gori tera gaon' (Chitchor). It is said that Jain was so fascinated by the way Yesudas sang his songs that Yesudas' face was the first he wanted to see if he ever received his vision. Jain has worked on songs after his liaison with Yesudas, but he has failed to attain the pinnacle of glory he achieved with the master singer during the 1970s. Jain has described Yesudas as the 'Voice of India'

During the 1980s and 1990s, Ravindra Jain widely composed for most mythological movies including Navaratri, Gopal Krishna, Jai Karoli Maa, Har Har Gange, Durgaa Maa, Badrinath Dham, Solah Shukrawar, Raja Harishchandra, Bolo he Chakradhari, Brahmarishi Vishwamitra in Telugu, Shanivrat Mahima and Jai Shakumbhari Maa. In 2006, he composed music for the Hindi film Vivah directed by Sooraj R. Barjatya and its spin-off sequel Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi directed by Kaushik Ghatak, both of which were produced by Rajshri Productions. In 2008, Ravindra Jain composed music for director Gufi Paintal's debut film Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with upcoming composer Surya RajKamal. He was chosen to compose for Rajshri Productions's Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon Se sequel Jaana Pehchana (2011) and upcoming Satish Kaushik-directed biopic Tansen. Upcoming 2012 projects include Baromas and Barbareek- Sheesh Danee Mahayoddha based on Barbarika.

Jain composed for Asha Bhosle's private album Om Namo Shivay featuring eight bhajans based on Lord Shiva. In 1990s, an album called Guru Vandana was released featuring songs on gurus (teachers) and saints and disciples. Album Timeless Mahatma based on Gandhi's teachings was released in 2011 and was featured in an Indian exhibit in South Africa. In 2014, Jain launched albums Kashi Pushpanjali and Mission BodhGaya. In 2014, Jain released Sampoorna Ramayan-- a musical version of the story with simple Hindi lyrics sung by famous Bollywood singers. 

Ravindra Jain also composed music for many television serials, mainly under the banner of Sagar Films, throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (decade). Ravindra Jain provided bhajans and songs for many of Ramanand Sagar's popular TV serials, beginning with Dada Dadi ki Kahaniyaan, then moving on to one of the two Indian epics Ramayan and its follow up Luv Kush. Along with two South Indian composers, K.V. Mahadevan and K. Pukazhenti, Ravindra Jain composed 2 to 3 semi-classical songs for later episodes of Bollywood actress Hema Malini's TV Serial Noopur and the complete soundtrack for the show Women of India- Urvashi. Hema Malini continued collaborating with Ravindra Jain as composer for her dance ballets--Mahalakshmi, Durga, Nritya Malika, Ramayan, Krishna Balram, and Radha Krishna.

For his collection of shayaris titled Ujaalon Ka Silsila in Urdu, Jain was presented with the Sahitya Award (Uttar Pradesh Hindi-Urdu Sahitya Award Committee) in Lucknow on 6 June 1997 by Romesh Bhandari, Governor of Uttar Pradesh. Ravindra Jain has also received many other prestigious awards such as Raaseshwar, Sur Singer, Filmfare Award, Swami Haridas Award, Youth National Award, Ashirwad, Adhar Shila, Uptron, Priyadarshini Award, Jaycees, Lions, Indigo '90, Rotary, Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards, Uttar Pradesh Film Patrakar Sangh Award, Sangeet Gyaneshwar Award, Almost Faqir, Sangeet Samrat, and other honours by many national, international, socio-cultural and film institutions.

He died on 9th October 2015 in Mumbai's Lilawati hospital after prolonged illnesses.

Source - Wikipedia

Talvar - Movie Review

We all know that Bollywood is a place where reel incidents imitate the real ones. There have been many films in Bollywood, which have been made on real life incidents. A few years back, the mysterious death of a young girl named Aarushi Talwar rocked and shocked the whole nation. The same was translated on screen around last year in the form of the Tisca Chopra starrer RAHASYA. This week's release is TALVAR, happens to be yet another 'take' on the story plot that treads on the similar (if not same) premise. Will TALVAR prove to be 'sword' sharp at the box-office or will it lose its shine, let's analyze. 

The film starts off with an 'official introduction' of Inspector Ashwin Kumar (Irrfan Khan) in the officers' get together of CDI (Central Department of Investigation). This is followed by his senior officers' handing over to him the double murder case 'that had shaken the entire middle class families by its roots'. The film then goes into a flashback of events which had led to the murders. The flashback shows the family of the Tandons which consists of Nutan Tandon (Konkona Sen Sharma), Ramesh Tandon (Neeraj Kabi), their daughter Shruti Tandon (Ayesha Parveen) and their domestic help Khempal. One day Nutan gets a shock of her life when she discovers the dead body of Shruti lying in a pool of blood on her bed. She immediately screams for help. The police team led by Inspector Dhaniram (Gajraj Rao) arrive on the spot and start their regular investigations. On the basis of suspicion, they pick up the Tandons' domestic help's close friend Kanhaiya. Based on his 'assumptions', he spins a story that it was the husband-wife duo of the Tandons who had killed their daughter because they had seen her in a compromising position alongwith Khempal. Wasting no time, Inspector Dhaniram and his senior officer declare the murder as a clear case of 'honour killing'. Because of the discrepancies in the case by the police department, the case then gets handed over to the CDI, which is led by Inspector Ashwin Kumar and his close colleague Inspector Vedant (Soham Shah). After days and nights of working relentlessly on the case, they suddenly discover Khempal's decomposed body on the building's terrace. This leads to a series of hardcore investigations alongwith narco-analysis tests performed on the suspects. After all this, Inspector Ashwin Kumar and his team almost crack the case. Just as Inspector Ashwin Kumar is about to reach to a conclusion, situations take a U-turn when his senior officer gets retired and there enters a 'colour-changing' new chief of the CDI. The moment he takes charge, the first thing that he does is freshly investigate the Shruti Tandon-Khempal's double murder case. Situations become worse and challenging for Inspector Ashwin Kumar when Inspector Vedant starts working against him because of the greediness of being promoted to a higher rank. This leads to an altercation between Inspector Ashwin Kumar and Inspector Vedant, which results in Inspector Ashwin Kumar being suspended off his services. After a series of investigations by the newly formed CDI officers' investigative team, they conclude that it was indeed the duo of Nutan and Ramesh who were the killers. Who ultimately are the killers of the 14 year old Shruti Tandon and Khempal, do they happen to be Shruti's own parents or someone else, and does the case ultimately get solved after all the unexpected twists and turns is what forms the rest of the story. 

The film's director Meghna Gulzar, who, has to her credit of having directed films like FILHAAL, JUST MARRIED and DUS KAHANIYAAN tries her hand in the hard-hitting genre with TALVAR. She does full justice to the film as a director. TALVAR is such a film in which the script is the undisputed hero. And Meghna has let the film's 'hero' do the talking. Even though the story of TALVAR is way different from what Meghna had done before, she deserves full brownie points for handling the sensitive and complicated issue in such a watertight and flawless manner. The film's narrative is superlatively gripping and keeps the audiences glued to the edge of their seats till the end. While the first half of the film is outstanding and tight, the second half slows down after the interval, but picks up towards the end, thus making for a thoroughly engaging film till the end. Alongwith Meghna Gulzar, if there's someone who deserve to be applauded with both the hands, then it is the writer Vishal Bhardwaj, who has written the film's story and screenplay. 

Even though the film has powerhouse of talents, it is Irrfan Khan who leads the film right from his entry in the film. With this film, he has yet again proved that why he is the most bankable star in Bollywood today. His performance is absolutely magnetic and compelling. Right from the word go, he takes charge of the film totally. Even though Konkona Sen Sharma seems to have underplayed her usual self, she is convincing in her part as much as Tabu in a cameo. Special mention to Neeraj Kabi (for his portrayal as a helpless father), Sohum Shah and Atul Kumar (esp. for his chaste Hindi dialogues). The rest of the actors help the film in moving forward. 

In a film like this, we all know that there is no scope for music. That's why even the film's songs (music by Vishal Bhardwaj) fail to leave an impact. It is the film's background score that stays with the audience. While the film's cinematography (Pankaj Kumar) is decent, the editing (A. Sreekar Prasad) is very crisp. The film's dialogues are brilliant.

On the whole, TALVAR is an engaging, edgy thriller with no dull moments. A must watch.

Rating - 4/5

Singh Is Blingh - Review

Akshay Kumar plays Raftaar Singh, a buffoon and a sort of caricature oh himself. He doesn’t speak in English, hates taking anything seriously, has a serious affinity towards landing himself in trouble and has a thing for babes in bikinis. The story begins in Punjab, jumps to Romania, South Africa, Goa, giving us some eye catchy locales and beautiful frames. Amy Jackson plays Sara, the antithesis of Akshay. She not only speaks fluent English, but is capable of getting herself out of every tricky situation by kicking some ass. The two meet, there are a couple of funny romantic scenes and we get a backstory of Amy trying to find her long lost mom. Kay Kay Menon plays the worst written baddie in recent times. Akshay and Amy who can’t speak each other’s languages converse through the help of an interpreter played by Lara Dutta, who also has the best written scenes in the film. There are plenty of songs, fight scenes and gags to keep you occupied, depending on your palette for movies you will be entertained or appalled.

What works for the film are the scenes with Lara, Akshay and Amy. The whole Mind Your Language and Lost in Translation moments between these three provide ample comic relief. Lara and Akshay have an impeccable comic timing and play off each other’s energies. The writing is fresh and some dialogues genuinely funny. Also the songs are shot lavishly and look rich. Sunny Leone’s cameo comes as a pleasant surprise. Lara makes a spectacular comeback, making us wonder why we don’t see more of her. Please someone cast her in a TV remake of I Love Lucy.

Singh is Bliing is entertaining if you don’t go expecting evolved humour. Some really funny scenes with Lara Dutta and Akshay Kumar make this film engaging and watchable.

Rating - 3.5/5

October'15 Programme Schedule

DATE/DAY	EVENT	TIME IST
01-10-15 To 31-10-15	Old And New Hits Of Bollywood	From 7.00 Hrs To 7.00 Hrs
Every Sunday	Request Songs From Listeners Around The World	From 09.30 Hrs To  10.00 Hrs Repeat at 15.30 and 20.30 Hrs
01-10-15	Birth Anniversary Of Music Director "Sachin Dev Burman" Listen Him	From 8.00 Hrs Onwards
04-10-15	Birth Day Of  Singer "Shailendra Singh" Listen His Songs	From 8.00 Hrs Onwards
13-10-15	Death Anniversary Of Singer, Actor, Music Director and Lyricist "Kishore Kumar" Listen Him Throughout The Day, more about him @myblog	From 8.00 Hrs Onwards
25-10-15	Birth Anniversary Of Music Diretor "Shankar (Shankar Jaikishan)" Listen His Composition	From 8.00 Hrs To 11.00 Hrs
25-10-15	Death Anniversary of Lyricist "Sahir Ludhiyanvi" Listen His Lyrics	From 8.00.Hrs To 11.00 Hrs
31-10-15	Death Anniversay Of Music Director "Sachin Dev Burman" More@blog	From 8.00 Hrs Onwards