The festival of colours is here! And am very excited. I love the maddness, the merriness and ofcourse, the Bhang! It’s a time when everyone is high. And I dont mean, on the Bhang…on life itself..! The atmosphere is charged with excitement and everyone goes into a colour-throwing frenzy! And Bollywood ofcourse, has innumerable songs to go with the flavour of the season! Here are my top three Holi songs. Ja Re Hat Natkat from the movie Navrang, in which Sandya plays the role of the woman and the man. Holi Ke Din from Sholay and Rang Barse from Silsila, which is no doubt the most popular Holi song ever! I also, came across this discussion about favourite Holi songs! Check it out!

Am hoping that my super lazy friends get out of their lounging lairs and come play Holi this year. Last time was absolutely dead, though i did get hit by one egg. SOurce unknown.

Hoping for a little more excitement this year though. Today, a small colourful child came running towards me with colours in his hand.  I would have been more than happy if he had thrown those colours at me, but i guess he only wanted to colour those who dint want to be coloured. So he spared me and ran away in the other direction  

Meanwhile, in all my misery I was browsing the net for anything to do with Holi, and discovered that I could, infact, watch Holi related movies. If you, like me, share the interest. This is the place to be!

    

Now, it’s time for me to continue my search for Holi players. goodbye world. Am off to a more colourful place!

Every festival is celebrated with a lot of pomp and show in Bollywood! And Diwali is no exception. Infatc, it’s one of the biggest festivals of India. In most movies, Diwali often marks the begining of a new chapter in the character’s life or a definitive change in the story. Basically, Diwali stands for change, a new begining and something dramatic on the whole. In the movie Waqt, Balraj Sahahi sings ‘Ae Meri zohra jabeen’ at the Diwali celebration. He’s also celebrating the start of his new business. So Diwali is an auspicious occasion here that calls for a new begining. Although right after the song, there is an earthquake and his three sons get seperated. Again, Diwali marks this dramatic change in the mood of the film.

But the most touching film of all time is Anuraag. Where the entire colony celebrates Diwali a month before the actual festival, beacause it’s the final qish of a dying child. It’s a very touching moment and the festival of lights in a stark contrast to the flame that’s slowly getting extinguished in the child’s eyes. Here’s a little something more about Diwali I came across on the Seventymm site. It’s a Safe Diwali that they are stressing upon this year. I guess this video says a lot more than words can say.

I guess India is one of those few countries that celebrates atleast a hundred different festivals a year! And our movie industry is one of those few industries that takes inspiration from each of these festivals and makes celebratory movies in honour of them all! It’s a beautiful representation of our culture and spirit. I was browsing through festive movies on the net and realised that we have a movie for almost every occasion. Movies add to the ’spirit’ of any festival. They bring families together!

More intrestingly they take you away into a world of fantasy and make beleive, and that too for a good three hours! No matter how good or bad a movie turns out to be, its a new experience. That’s what is so amazing about watching a film! Especially Indian films; almost all of them are a mixed bag of emotions, drama, music, action, adventure and comedy, all packed into one power packed film!

Navrathri and Dandiya are Bollywood’s favourite themes. Everyone is obssessed with this, and some of the most brilliantly picturised songs are the Dandiya Numbers. I especially like the song Dholi Tharo, from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. It was one of the most aesthetically shot songs i’ve seen.

I have still not seen Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. Getting tickets for a film in Bangalore is not a task for the faint hearted. I’ve decided to wait it out until the madness dies out and then attempt mission ticket procurement. Meanwhile I saw Kung Fu Panda. It was a great movie, absolutely hilarious. It made me laugh from begining to end. The humour is very quirky and sometimes really subtle. That’s the thing about animated films. They make you laugh out loud and really enjoy yourself. It’s like entering an alternate reality where animals can talk and people can get run over by trucks, get flattened out like pancakes and still bounce right back to life. It’s a world where I often think I belong

I was in Pune last weekend and mangaed to watch Hancock. The film really started off well. I mean, it was very very funny. Then the director went and screwed it up with some melodrama. It could have worked really well if it were a comedy through and through. Will Smith is great in the film. I did not like the actress though. She’s hot, but not so much of an actor. The role was initially offered to Aishwarya Rai, but Madame turned it down. Will Smith is all ga ga over her and she keeps turning him down. I wonder why that is.

It sounds crazy but I actually watched Om Shanti Om again!! It was on TV, and I just got involved in it. It’s so hilarious in parts. I am a total sucker for comedies. I can watch them all day long. I think every movie would do very well to have some humour in it. I plan to watch the film one, two, three today. I heard it’s good. I dont care about hit or flop, well as long as a movie makes me laugh, it’s a hit for me!

I knew it, I knew it! It comes as no surprise that Jaane Tu is running full house while Love Story struggles it’s way forward. Somehow being associated with Aamir Khan itself is a boon for a film…and then he promoted it so much. It had to have some substance. I have not been able to procure tickets for the film, but am trying and shall not give up until I suceed . Meanwhile I took a quiz on Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and really liked it.  <thumbs up>

I think Genelia D’souza is going to go a long way. Here are some pics and videos of her…! She has a really cute face and some kinda innocence about her…she will make a mark in bollywood. Imraan Khan, am not so sure bout…well sure, he;s got the chocolate boy looks…but does it really work today? I mean, there’s so much competition…what with Ranbir, Harmaan, Shahid, Neil, Hrithik all already in the game..it’s going to be tough. this year the three biggies are Ranbir, Harmaan and Imran.

I suppose Ranbir is already all hyped up as he’s from the infamous ‘kapoor’ khandan… a boy! after rishi kapoor, i think he’s the next male member in the family to become famous. So yeah, he’s gonna clinch all the deals. Reminds me a little of ‘OK’ in Om Shanti Om. Which by the way, I rented from Seventymm and watched at home for the 2nd time this weekend. It rocked!

 

Ram gopal varma is back! After a series of not-so-great and really really bad films, he’s made a huge comeback with Sarkar Raj. The movie is one of his best works so far. Movie sites are saying that it has superseded its prequel. Here’s somemore interesting feedback on the film. I read on Seventymm, the movie site that Ram Gopal Varma previously deciced to cut down Ash’s role in the film because he thought it was too long and distractive. According to him the main importance had to be given to the male characters around whom the film revolves. Now this may be true to this film but it brings me to an issue that has been around in the back of my brain. How come most Indian movies have a man as the central character? Is our society so set in its ways that it will not accept primarily woman dominated films? Or is it because most of our directors are men? It’s a little dissapointing to see men men men is all the films… A guy is following his destiny.. A guy is fighting against the government… A guy is the Funny Don.. It’s getting incredibly boring.

I’d even watch a dog, honestly…just don’t show me the stereotypical guy anymore. To add to it all, most of new kids on the block look like a cross between some yesteryear star and a wannabe rockstar. It’s NOT cool. Bollywood is so beaten to death of late that nothing makes you go ‘Wow’ anymore. I can’t even remember the last film I saw beacause they all seem to be the same. I HATE that idiot called Emraan Hashmi, i cannot understand how people can cast that MONKEY in films. What an idiot. Can’t act, can’t dance and can barely be called human. sigh.

Another complete disaster is Sikander Kher. He, am sure most people would agrree with me on this, looks like a Gorilla that escaped evolution and landed in Bollywood by some nasty quirk of fate. He;s so not hero material. I wish someone whould smack him in the face and tell him to get a haircut and then go drown himself. And oh, don’t even get me started on Mimoh…the disaster. What was he thinking..oh wait, i forget, he’s probably not capable of such brain-related activity. Dances like a moron who suddenly lost control of his limbs and looks like a mound of clay. ANd that hair… (((((( like dry hay that has been chewed by a cow and spat out in disgust

So that’s Bollywood today! More later… ciao.

 

It’s that time of the year again…Aishwarya’s outfit is yet again in the news. Having faltered three years in a row, this year she seems to have played it safe with black. Though I don’t think the outfit was looking all that great on her. She is a good looking woman who can look stunning with least effort, then why does she always look to out-of-place during the Cannes? I mean, her clothes look like she’s trying too hard to fit in. Why can’t she just wear something Indian. Saris are all the rage today, around the world. What’s the deal with those gowns that make her look all out of shape and uncomfortable. The same goes for Preity Zinta. I don’t understand why they have to try and look western when they can look gorgeous in Indian clothes. Click here to check out Preity Zinta’s Cannes Outfit. But I read on Seventy mm website that Ash was indeed planning to wear Indian clothes this year at Cannes. I hope they all do.

This year, one of the first movies to be screened was Blindness. A story about how an entire village is slowly going blind bue to some strange virus. A scary concept. Here’s a trailer of the film. On the other hand, the film Kingfu Panda was declared out of competition. poor panda

Am not sure how many Bollywood films are being screened at Cannes this year, but one thing I know is none of them will win. We’re really stupid in our choice of films that get sent out there. Why cant a good film like a TZP get sent. No…instead we will sent some miserable excuse of a film like ‘Kabhi Khusi Kabhi Gham’…it’s all just politics. Good for nothing.

The art of Film making died with legends like Satyajit Ray and Rajkapoor.

Do you like movies? Do you enjoy playing anagrams? Here’s a kick ass combination. It kept me occupied for a while and I quite enjoyed it.  It took me back to childhood. I used to enjoy word puzzles. But I suppose as you grow up, you get busy and stop enjoying those things. These days I prefer just resting my brain when am free…strange, even during college i considered games and puzzles relaxing. I wonder why it changed. I really need to get back into soving riddles. I beleive they help excercise the left side of your brain. That’s the creative side.

Moving on to Bollywood, there’s nothing interesting happening. Though I did recently discover Aamir Khan’s blog. It made a really interesting read. I heard he even chats with people online. On the other hand, I think Amitabh Bachchan’s blog is completely fake. I don’t like it at all. It’s got some insane posts like a comparison between his and SRK’s popularity. What kind of crap is that? Which actor actually puts up stuff like that? God, its so cheesy. Atlest put in the effort to make it ‘look’ like it’s his original blog. Plus the langauge is impeccable and the blog is updated almost on a daily basis.  Aamir’s blog is anyday more real.

Talking of Aamir Khan, did you read about his new film Ghajini? I played this quiz (yes am still a quiz freak) on seventy mm site. It’s nice. click on that link to play it.

Until the next time something interesting happens..ciao..

I recently read that the elusive Aamir Khan has accepted an award…!! Not only did he accept it, he actually flew down to Mumbai just for the award….!! When someone who accepts practically no awards, makes an effort to come and accept one, it’s definitely something worthwhile. “”I have lost faith and trust in the system of awards in India. I have had personal bitter experiences of the same here,” Aamir had said when his film Lagaan won several awards. BEsides, Aamir there are very few stars who shy away from awards, in this country where publicity is everything.

But Aamir’s no-awards stance has made him that much more popular and more respected. He’s the original hero who makes movies for the sake of movies. Recognition, for him, comes in the form of touching million people’s hearts, minds and souls with his films. He does not need a jury to tell him that his film or his acting is the best…he knows that in his heart and the people who watch, appreciate and are touched by his films are proof enough.

Recently I was browsing through this movie site and came accross Aamir Khan’s celebrity page. I found some of his best videos…from the time he was young, goofy and all chocolaty..!! He’s come a long way from then. The Aamir of Dil and the Aamir of Taare Zameen Par are two very different people. Both, brillaint in their own way…If you get the chance, take this quiz on Aamir Khan’s new movie..Gajini. It’s interesting.

Everytime a celebrity couple gets married…its hot news!! Even serious news channels like NDTV and CNN IBM pick up on the wedding news and play it on prime time TV. We are a movie-crazy country for sure. I think it’s part of India’s charm…we really like our cinema…and go all out in showing it. The reason perhaps is that, movies give everyone an outlet. A way to escape monotony and real life, temporarily. The world of Indian cinema is really vast, and it’s fascinating.

More than the onscreen stories, the off screen ones seem to be of interest to the Indian audience. And our media does more than enough to feed this need. Okay, so everybody gets what they want..the public- its entertainment, the media – its viewership.

I thought about all this as I watched a particulary entertaining video of Saif and Kareena in Tashan. So they’re getting married sometime soon. The ‘official’ announcement is allegedly out but no one seems to have recorded that. So as of now it’s only word of mouth.