Gossip over news, break ups over mush… Well let’s admit it, for the third person a failed love story of another individual is usually more entertaining that a perfect one. Goes without saying, if the story happens to be of a star, it is talked about much more. That would be an easy explanation to why break ups of Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai, Bipasha Basu and John Abraham etc have attracted such levels of curiosity. Here are some stories you may or may not have heard of; stories that could not stand the tests of time, or luck!

Dilip Kumar and Madhubala  Dilip Kumar and Madhubala had declared their relationship when they walked in together to the premiere of Kumar’s film Insaniyat (1955). But their relationship had started much before that. The relationship virtually ended when Dilip Kumar testified against Madhubala and her father Ataullah Khan in the court, siding with producer BR Chopra who had filed a case against the actress for walking out of his film Naya Daur. BR Chopra wanted to shoot in Bhopal and Madhubala’s father was dead against any outdoor shoot as a result of which the actress had to back out of the film. In the court Dilip Kumar testified that it was not exactly professional on Madhubala’s part. Apparently Madhubala continued to love Kumar and only asked him to apologize to her father. The thespian was in no mood to bend. A heart-broken Madhubala went on to marry Kishore Kumar on a rebound. But according to her    sister Madhur Bhushan, the diva loved Dilip Kumar right till the end of a short life.

pic courtesy- rediff.com

. Dev Anand and Suraiyaa- The effervescent Dev Anand had once said in an interview, to a well known film magazine, one of the rare occasions that he had cried was when his love story with Suraiyaa did not work out. As a struggling actor Dev Anand would admire Suraiyaa who was already a star. They worked together and soon Suraiyaa too fell in love. But like the typical Bollywood love story, this one had its extraordinary villain – Suraiyaa’s grandmother. The stoic elderly lady was not impressed by Dev and made sure the romance ended in as dramatic a way as it started! Suraiyaa was in fact forced stop any sort of communication with Dev and the granny also ensured that they never worked again together – through force and emotional blackmail put together! Suraiyaa remained unmarried all her life while Dev married actress Kalpana Karthik, a marriage often referred to as a rebound for the actor! The ring that Dev gifted to Suraiyaa as a symbol of their love probably still lies in the heart of Arabian Sea after the actress threw it away into the waters.

celebrity.psyphil.com

   Aamir Khan and Reena Dutta Not known to ever be in a hurry to do films, Aamir Khan’s marriage to Reena Dutta probably was one of the instances when the actor was so sure that he barely waited till he was 21! They were childhood friends turned lovers. But when Aamir figured that their families may create problems due to the religious differences he decided to elope with his lady love. Interestingly though he kept the marriage out of media’s attention for some time so that his ‘married’ status did not affect his female fan following! Everything was fine till one fine day, 15 years and two kids later, when they decided to call it quits! Reason attributed was “irreconcilable differences on account of temperamental differences”. Interestingly while Aamir went on to marry Kiran Rao, he continues to be friends with Reena .

Saif Ali Khan and Amrita

pic courtesy - santabanta.com

Another case when the actor was just trying to gain a foothold in the industry while the actress was already a huge star. But Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh’s love story had something more interesting – the age difference. Saif was five years younger to Amrita! But that was hardly a deterrent for a smitten Saif! He went ahead and married Amrita Singh in a secret ceremony despite family pressures and had built a happy family… till things went horribly wrong.

Some other such stories include Rajesh Khanna and Dimple Kapadia, Sanjay Dutt and Rhea Pillai, Abhishek Bachchan and Karisma Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi and Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar and Shilpa Shetty… they had their own share of attention. Of course there are love stories which not only survived but could have films made on them too. Like the ones between Shammi Kapoor and Geeta Bali, Sunil Dutt and Nargis, Raj Babbar and Smita Patil, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh. But then, that we will leave for another day to discuss!

Review: Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu

Actors: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Boman Irani
Producer: Hiroo Yash Johar, Karan Johar, Ronnie Screwwala
Director: Shakun Batra
Music: Amit Trivedi
Rating: **

Love has this uncanny capability to change a person. And any such change is often enticing enough a story for on-screen adaptation. Therein lies the fundamental idea of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. But then filmmaking is little about the primary idea; rather it is about the way the idea is showcased – what we call the screenplay. And it is this very aspect that fails an almost sure-shot idea that EMAET is based on.

Karan Johar, who delivered the year’s first superhit with larger than life action drama Agneepath, surprises as EMAET fails to stand despite it being closer to his primary storytelling interests!

The problem with EMAET is that it fails to generate interest. That probably is caused by lack of interest shown by the writer in developing the story into a film! So what do we see? We see a cross between Wake Up! Sid, Bommarilu and Anjaana Anjaani! Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan) is a nerd who has never taken a decision ever in his life. His clothes, food and profession have been dictated by his parents. Rahul meet Rihana – bubbly, independent, fun and adventurous. He is smitten and soon changes for the better. And in process falls in love.

The only good part of the film is probably the end. Not because the ordeal ends but because the director dares to walk into a terrain that usually is too scary for other filmmakers – the terrain of uncertainty! Before that of course there are some fun scenes and songs to keep you entertained just about enough to not knock you to sleep. Thankful for that!

Among other good things are performances. While Kareena looks and acts good, Imran shows he is maturing as an actor. This probably is his best work so far! The rest of the small cast live up to their roles.

Overall, Ek main Aur Ekk Tu would probably be a better DVD watch than at the theaters. But then since DVD will take some time to hit the market you might as well enjoy some other love stories in the comfort of your couches. You may of course try EMAET at the theatres if you are the adventurous types. But then if you belong to such a breed, why would you not try Steven Spielberg’s War Horse or the Bourne Legacy!

Movies have come a long way. First it was those street plays, then theaters and then silent cinemas and then to the cinemas that we see with full fledged dialogues.But one thing that has been witnessing this transition by being a silent spectator is the sound or music as we know it today. Music in itself and by itself has undergone a sea of change right from how the songs were recorded live at the scene to now where all the music director needs is the lead singer

True music aficionados would scorn at the current standards of music in the film industry. To them music is synonymous to MS Subbalakshmi crooning her kritis or keertanas or the ghazal maestros weaving their magic. India being a country with a varied culture and dynamics is home to a plethora of genres of music. Some of it is influenced by the west but majority of our love for music comes from our descent and it is ingrained into our psyche.

The most popular genre of music today is film music or light music.

Film music itself falls under various categories- melody, folk, rap, jazz so on and so forth.

Typically a scenario when a song is born goes somewhat like this. There is a particular emotion that the director of the film wants to convey be it love, happiness, tragedy etc at a particular point in the movie. He then along with the lyricist visits the composer and explains the situation and justifies the necessity of a song in that point of the movie. The lyricist then writes the song and the tune for the same is composed. This entire process has now undergone a change. It so happens for any BIG star there has to be an introduction song. The song is conceived and tuned even before the rest of the script is hard bound. So these fall under the FORMULA category where there are typically 5 songs. One song for the hero introduction, One for the heroine introduction ( it could be the one where the hero teases the heroine ) one song when the heroine falls in love with the hero. One song when there is a change in their relationship status or there is a rift in short a melodramatic song that yearns to tug at the heart strings of the listeners. The Fifth song which is nowadays a must for any movie irrespective of the language of the movie-The ITEM song where we have a popular heroine (donning skimpy outfits which we would be ashamed to wear in the confines of our own homes) and in a few cases a popular hero dancing ( most of the time provocatively). So thats the long and short of the genre of film music today. Very rarely do we see or listen to a song in only a native language. Say for eg. a pure tamil song or a pure hindi song or a pure telugu song. Understood and agreed that we being a multilingual country can efficiently speak more than three languages but still the essence of the song is lost when tried to put too many ingredients in it.

This article about film music would be incomplete without the mention of AR Rehman. The man who put Indian music on the world stage  and the style with which he did that. Yes SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE the movie that changed the way our music industry was perceived by the west and the rest of the world. Yes, the Oscars and Grammys and every thing followed and it was a glorious year for our music.

Well at this juncture it is a must for me to elucidate on the so called Piracy of Music. Well not in the sense that we get to download the songs on line and stuff but it is that the current crop of music directors blatantly lift off music from other languages and pass of as their own with incredible credulity. Such is their gall and such is our gullible nature that we happily lap up whatever is dished at us. No one sues another for copyright infringement. Such cases come up during the promotional phase of the print and giving the movie maximum media mileage but once the movie is released these cases meet their surreptitious ends. Gone are the days when the music directors prided themselves in making chart busters. Now is the era of the internet so we have copies of English songs in Telugu and Tamil and Copy of tamil songs in Bollywood. In most of the cases the music directors of such songs are same and they find it a waste of their talent to give new tunes or may be the producers are to be blamed to getting the same tunes for less. We had a chart topping hindi number recently that was a lift off from a telugu flick. When entire movies are being remade what’s the fate of a single song.

The advent of internet and the social networking sites are helping the publicity of the music of a particular movie. Gone are the days when we used to have posters announcing the release of music. We now have live streams of music release functions on line. Music promotions, Online radio stations etc are all adding to the publicity of a movie and in particular the music of the movie. We indians are suckers for freebees so we have garrulous radio jockeys announcing free music cds or movie tickets to their caller and celebs who are perceived as demigods by their fans, themselves promoting the music of their movies.

I must not fail to mention the recent song ” Kolaveri Di” from the Aishwarya Dhanush Directed tamil movie “3″ going viral. What was perceived as a leak then turned on to become the most viewed video as announced on CNN.It has more than 25 million hits on you tube. We have every one from a 4 year old boy to a 60 year old man and every nation from Pakistan to Germany making their version of the song and getting their two seconds of fame.

The movie industry and in particularly the music industry has seen a sea of change and will continue to see and experience the change for eons to come.

But the bottom line is music is our way of life and our love for it would never diminish no matter the genre no matter the language and no matter the period.

Music is ephemeral and so are lovers of music….

Seven brides for seven brothers is a musical from Hollywood from which the movie Sattte pe Sattta derived “inspiration” Well but we are not writing about the movie nor does it figure in our recommendations for the week which we have named as Seven musicals for seven days.We are bringing before you our seven DVD picks for the coming week and going with our theme we will feature seven musicals that one should watch at least once for a totally enjoyable musical experience. With this we have attempted to offer you a diverse selection through our DVD picks.

Sound of Music-

No list for Musicals can be complete without mentioning the ultimate Musical – Sound of music. A 1965 movie by Robert Wise starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, which caught the imagination of both the viewers and the movie makers, who kept on churning variations of the time tested formula of the movie.The movie is a story of a Governess, who had been handed the charge of highly indisciplined  children of a disciplined person and how she wins them over is the basis of the movie. The music and lyrics are by Richard Ledger and consists of classics as Do re mi , Sixteen going on seventeen and the Sound of music.

My fair lady-

My fair lady , a 1964 movie adaptation of a stage musical of the same name  is again an adaptation of Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, directed by George Cukor and starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. The plot if you are familiar with , you will remember it as that of a wager by the snobbish professor Higgins that he could make a flower girl presentable enough to pass her off as a Lady of the high society. The movie won eight Oscar awards, including the one for Original music score and can be recommended as a collector’s item. The music by Frederick Loewe is melodious and consists of the numbers such as I could have danced all night, The rain in Spain and You did it.

Chicago-

 Let us move up a bit to the recent times. For a change from the pastel shaded romantic musicals to something red and hot. Yes Chicago , starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Rene Zeilwegger, Richard Gere . This 2002 release directed by Rob Marshall is just the thing to pump up your adrenaline with all the oomph and energy. It had won six Oscar awards and also was a huge commercial success. The plot in itself is a simple one about two murderesses Catherine and Rene who are on the death row for different charges and who fight for their fame as it is their only ticket to escape from the gallows. The performances of both the actresses are live wire and high energy and both sizzle their way through All that jazz! The music is by John Kander in almost all of the tracks and consists of popular numbers like All that Jazz, Chicago and Cell block tango.

Moulin rouge-

After the oomphy and red hot Chicago, lets move on to the colourful and glitzy Moulin Rouge with a comparatively mellower theme. Again a recent choice, from 2001, this Baz Luhrmann directed movie starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan Mc Gregor has all the elements of a masala bollywood movie , except  that it is a Hollywood production. The plot is  set in the nineteenth century with music from the current times, and the story builds up when the romance between a poet and the star courtesan of the Moulin Rouge, a night club unfolds with a third element, the Duke, a patron of the night club,who also desires Nicole . You will be interested to know that it features a track Hindi Sad Diamonds, which is a medley and features Chamma Chamma by Alka Yagnik. Other than that – The track, ‘The show must go’ on is the highlight of the movie

Grease-

This 1978 movie , directed by Randal Kleiser and starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John is considered among the top musicals of all times. A teenage musical love story, but it has the added advantage of show casing some groovy moves by Travolta . Music by Jim Jacobs has some really peppy numbers like You are the one I want, La Bamba, Rock n Roll Party Queen and Greased Lightning.

Phantom of the Opera-

 Leaving out Andrew Lloyd Webber from any list on musicals will be sacrilege. Hence we have  Phantom Of The Opera, a film adaptation of the play of the same name for you . A 2005 release , with an intense love story in the backdrop of French Opera House as the setting,  can good music  be behind? The plot itself is a fantasy romance cum thriller which goes as- An opera ghost falls in love with a chorus girl, and not only does it tutor her but also terrorizes the other crew and cast to benefit her. Things turn murky when the girl falls in love with someone else though. The movie stars Gerald Butler and Emmy Rossum and the music and performances comes as strong and powerful.

Sweeny Todd and the Demon Barber of Fleet Street -

 To finish off we slightly deviate from the oft repeated themes of musicals , which is usually romance, to something more deadlier and menacing. Johnny Depp does look crazy and menacing as the Demon Barber of fleet street , Sweeny Todd. A Tim Burton directed, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter  starred movie hardly goes wrong, and though this 2007 released movie is a musical, the dark and brooding theme of the story is not lost even among the numerous musical scores. Other than the music and the stars it also stars Alan Rickman and Timothy Spall of Harry Potter fame and their performances never fail.

Those were our recommendations for your week. Of course there is a vast library of other Musicals, which too are classics in their own right, but since we could pick only seven, so here is our list. Hope you have an enjoyable experience with them

To try something different requires courage and innovation. To try something outrageously different requires something much more than that. James Cameron tried the latter and the results are there for all to see.

First of all, to even visualise such a movie way back (he wrote an 80 page scriptment) in 1994 is itself a huge thing. And

then to start working upon the script there and then it also deserves accolades. Cameron then delayed the filming simply because he felt that the technology at that time was not up to the mark.

Finally the work on the film began in late 2005.

The Animation Factor:

When Cameron announced his plans of making such a futuristic movie set many years ahead in the future, he of course was panned by production houses which included FOX studios, the producer of Avatar.

Why exactly was he criticised? Because of the production costs involved and the delays that happened. The film needed a grand canvas to make it realistic, the technology and animation needed were to be developed after experimentation.

A number of innovative visual effects techniques were used in the production of Avatar. According to Cameron, work on the film had been delayed since the 1990s to allow the techniques to reach the necessary degree of advancement to adequately portray his vision of the film. The director planned to make use of photorealistic computer-generated characters, created using new motion-capture animation technologies he had been developing in the 14 months leading up to December 2006.

Along with this, Cameron had to collaborate with several experts to develop the language, music and the imaginary settings for the alien world. These factors resulted in severe cost overruns.

Avatar broke barriers of cinematic excellence once it was released. The movie, both in terms of content and style scored full points in the box office. The collections of Avatar are history.

Let us see what Avatar did to world cinema.

Firstly, it changed the way we viewed cinema. Rather than cinema always being a representation of the common man’s story, Cameron proved that a futuristic story, if well supported by technology will also fare well among the audience. The critics hailed the visual effects and the animation that were efficiently portrayed in the movie.

Avatar took animation to a different level altogether. From the creation of the Navi man to the action sequences, Avatar was an animator’s delight. But more importantly, it took us to the year 2148 effortlessly.

The benchmark set by Cameron will be really tough to emulate in the sense that it took him so many years to complete the movie. VFX got a new meaning and inspired film makers throughout the world. Two such Indian movies viz. Ra One and Krissh 2 are the ones which have a huge number of VFX shots.

All in all, James Cameron deserves all the plaudits he has received for the movie. He might have missed the Oscars, but for the audience he is the pathfinder and the torchbearer of imagination.

My first encounter with the characters of Rio was when I played the Angry Birds Rio application. I did not realize the connection between the App and the movie. So I finally put the two together from the start of the movie.

From the makers of the hit Ice Age series, Blue Sky Studios brings Rio the Movie– a colorful and vibrant animation set inRio De Janerio. It tells the story of Blu, a domestic macaw who never learned to fly. The movie spins around Blu’s adventure as he set out for Brazil to mate with his female counterpart (Jewel). And when a domestic city slicker Blu meets a wild and free Jewel there is bound to be a firework, which forms the core of the movie. But apart from the love birds, there are a host of other characters, like the drool drenched bull dog Luiz, the red crested cardinal Pedro, the yellow canary Nico and the villainous Nigel. The movie is a feast with state-of-art animation. Rio’s brilliance comes from the exotic locale. The spice and flavor of Rio de Janeiro brings this festive flick to the movie and adds a rich cultural backdrop.

The voices in general are well done. While Hathaway comes across as confident and worldly, Eisenberg with the right amount of nerdy confusion to make Blu convincing, makes a lovable naivete to this character. Creating a positive impression is Jemaine Clement, who perfectly spins the villainous role of Nigel with a welcome snarky snarl. Will.I.Am and Jamie Foxx lends their voices to Pedro and Nico adding a comic relief to the movie.
Some of the best moments in the film are with the supporting characters. Nico and Pedro as the super fly street birdies provide fabulous one-liners and musical moments, the monkeys I love to hate, who in the movie add some of the better comical relief. I was laughing out loud when I saw the text message between the monkeys. The music is equally fascinating. Without missing a beat, the filmmakers did a tremendous job capturing all the rhythm and sounds of Brazil that can be heard throughout the movie.
All the praise for the supporting characters and music aside, I cannot say that Rio breaks new ground in terms of animation entertainment. And Anne Hathaway’s voice as Jewel was somehow not so appealing to me. For some reason I was hoping for a Brazilian accent and something less perfect sounding. The end seemed a bit rushed too. Though it lacks the ability to generate an infectious, amusing adventure, it is worth a watch.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys animation. If I were to rate it, I’d give 4 out of 5.

Voice cast                                              
Jesse Eisenberg as Blu
Anne Hathaway as Jewel
Jemaine Clement as Nigel
Will.I.Am as Pedro
Jamie Foxx as Nico
Jane Lynch as Alice
Tracy Morgan as Luiz
George Lopez as Rafael
Bernardo de Paula as Kipo
Wanda Sykes as Chloe
Bebel Gilberto as Eva
Leslie Mann as Linda Gunderson
Jake T. Austin as Fernando
Rodrigo Santoro as Túlio Monteiro
Carlos Ponce as Marcel
Jeffrey Garcia as Tipa

The 17^th International Children’s Film Festival kicked off on November 14 in Hyderabad. No, I cannot comment on what the festival has achieved so far, simply because I have had no idea that such a festival exists in first place. This information I found on my mailbox recently when a publicist decided to spread some gyaan.

Well the release did try its best to create an impression of how grand a success the festival has been. Alas! I am a tough man to please. Has it really made a difference in anyway? And if yes, in what way? If my research goes right, a couple of years back one of the producers were circulating releases saying their film, that was to be screened at the festival, had a lot of farting jokes and hence the children would like it!

Not being too hard on the organizers- Children Film Society of India, we all know about them. We have seen their montages before many a children’s film that we have watched. And also liked! But having said that children films being made in India has always been a point of discussion.

Everyone’s got their point of view. What’s common among most is misconception. Various misconceptions! Some believe that any movie with kids in it is a children’s film. Hence the classification of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ or ‘Mr India’ – complete with it wet saree dance sequence – as a children’s film! Worse, a complex film like Mani Ratnam’s ‘Anjali’ is often regarded as children’s film by many just because it has a child as protagonist!

And many of course take the intellect of our new age kids for granted. Some of these are the same people who would talk of how smart their kids are as they can operate a blackberry at the age of three! Why then make dumb films for kids, is a question they can’t seem to comprehend! We don’t need to feed the kids with blatant moral lesson. That makes the films as boring as a moral science class in school – the period when students would find more interesting stuff happening outside the window!

Renowned filmmaker Satyen Bose once said, “Good children’s films shall be made when we allow children themselves to write and direct them.” Well the least we can do is to understand them!

Lack of ideas has never been as evident in filmmaking as when it comes to children’s films. So while many pull the wrong film into the category, most find the wrong story! What’s doled out, as a result, at regular intervals are tales of mythology. And many of them in sequels of previous badly made films.

Things are not all that bad. We have had great films for sure. This year alone there were films like ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’, ‘Chillar Party’ and of course the kid super hero in ‘Zokkomon’! Things are looking up in fact.

To be just, there have been good films made every now and then. So we have had ‘Boot Polish’ (1954), Jaldeep (1956), Meera ka Chirta (1960), Parichay (1972), Safed Hathi (1978), Aaj ka Robinhood (1988), Kitaab (1777), Halo(1996), Makdee (2002). Satyajit ray’s Goopi Gaine Baga Baine  deserves special mention among non-Hindi films. In fact his Sonar Kella is a thriller which pleases both children and adult equally. But in this case, unlike usual Bollywood films, the bad outweighs the good… slam dunk!

That’s the reason I think would recommend that those who can do it, should visit the film festival with their kids. With 170 films from 44 countries I am sure the kids would at least have some quality entertainment coming up their way. In process maybe the parents could also understand their kids better! And also cinema better!

And for all you know… these kids would grow up to make the scene brighter than what it is today!

The Movie: Chillar Party

The Audience: Made for children, meant for the adults

The Directors: Nitesh Tiwari, Vikash Bahl

The Producers: Ronnie Screwvala, Salman Khan

The Music Director: Amit Trivedi

The Cast: Irrfan Khan, Sanath Menon, Rohan Grover, Naman Jain, Aarav Khanna, Vishesh Tiwari, Chinmai Chandranshuh, Vedant Desai, Divji Handa, Shriya Sharma

The Special appearance: Ranbir Kapoor in an item song

The USP: The big gang of kids; the Chillar party…!!!

After the success of the small budget children’s movie Stanley Ka Dabba; Chillar Party another small movie with little kids and a big message, hit the screens on the 8^th of July 2011. The promos of the movie had successfully caught the attention of the viewers by dint of the brand name of Salman Khan Being Human Productions and the item number Tai Tai Phish by Ranbir Singh at the end of the movie. However, in the movie, the real heroes were the eight school going kids of Chandan Nagar Society, who were better known in the colony as the Chillar party.

With a very interesting style of narration, the movie opens with a unique introduction of the kids, who have been given different nicknames like Jhangia, Silencer, Aflatoon, Shaolin, Encyclopaedia etc. and each of whom has a different story to tell. Each one has a characteristic which makes them endearing, funny, and downright adorable. The kids, as a group, are strongly knit together and they live in a world of their own. When a homeless kid named Fatka enters the society as a domestic help along with his dog Bhidu, the kids try to get rid of him considering him and his dog as a threat to their reign in the society. But after an initial friction, the kids accept Fatka as a member of their group and become inseparable friends.  The real story starts with the entry of the local politician Bhide (played by Shashank Shinde), who during his visit to the Chandan Nagar society get entangled in a riff with Fatka and his dog, and orders all stray dogs in the city to be done away with, including Bhidu. The kids stand up to save Fatka and Bhidu and start their own revolution against the society and the politician. A part of this was the Chaddi March, in which hundreds of children in Mumbai stripped down to their chaddis and joined the Chillar Party and marched all throughout the city protesting against Bhinde and the society.

One of the best traits of the movie, apart from the entertaining style of storytelling is its simplicity and the message that is conveyed, with the innocence of the children kept very much intact. The issue, as small as that of a stray dog losing its only shelter has been used wisely to convey yet another bigger message; i.e about the right of the children to actually stand up to something, and about the power they possess in the process of bringing changes to the society. The movie also portrays effectively the realities of life like how child labours are employed and how they are treated. The entire movie is narrated from the children’s point of view, but it deals very strongly with the issues related to the adults in the society. The performances of all the kids, though being their debuts, stand at a very high level and are more than enough to keep the audience glued to the screen without losing a wee bit of their interest. They are amazingly natural and confident. Special mention must be made of Naman Jain, who played Jhangia,- the kid who hated wearing his underwear, was the life of the movie. He had some of the best lines and the funniest scenes to his credit.

Each character had a specific role to play, and each of them was created by Vikash Bahl and Nitesh Tiwari with a purpose in mind. Not a single scene in the movie was unnecessary and the flow of the script was very smooth.

Like every other movie, Chillar Party had certain loopholes as well. In the second half of the movie, the narrative changes its original track and becomes a little contrived. Moreover, the issue that is taken up is not something that everyone alike can identify with and depends on each person’s own perception. The music was quite average and other than Tai Tai Phish and Chatte Batte, the other songs could not gain much popularity. Also, the placing of Tai Tai Phish along with the end credits instead of somewhere in the middle or beginning of the movie is like a waste of the song, since most people leave the hall once the end credits appear.

Over all, the movie is very fresh in every aspect. The idea of a Chaddi march as a device of revolution is a very original idea. With fresh concepts, new faces and unique style, Chillar Party emerges as a film that can inspire many more such children’s movies with meaningful messages. Full of fun, comedy, entertainment, emotions and love, Chillar Party is indeed a must watch for all. After all, we all do need a change, don’t we?

Honeymoons are quite an interesting time. More so for people who want to know what the person who has gone on his honeymoon has been doing. The details of someone’s private time, are far more attractive than one’s professional tidings. And if that someone is a star like Imran Khan, it just gets spicier! So when we met him recently to talk about his next film Mere Brother Ki Dulhan we decided to talk about his honeymoon rather – something which he managed seven months after his marriage in January. Excerpts…

You are just back from your honeymoon. How was it?

It was fun man. I went to Prague, Vienna, Nice and then to Paris. This was my first holiday with Avantika in four years. The last holiday was when we were shooting for Kidnap. Sanju had gone to jail and the shoots were stalled.

How was that vacation different from this vacation?

This holiday was much better. Back then we had gone to Kerala for around five days. And this time around I had three weeks off in Europe doing what I love doing – eating, sleeping and just chilling. That is what I believe is a holiday. So before going I had checked online for the best restaurants in the places I was going to. So when I reached those places, I knew where to go.

So what was the best thing you ate?

I don’t remember the dish. It was some roasted duck. But it was in this small place in Nice, which is like our Goa but more sophisticated. There was a small restaurant which had some 5 tables. It was run by an old couple. So this Aunty comes with a glass wine and reads out the menu. There were just 4 things in the menu. Three of them duck items and if you did not like it they had a beef dish. We settled for two different dishes and they loaded our plates with fresh and delicious ghar ka khaana! Never ate something like that and it still is fresh in memory. The uncle used to run the kitchen and there were just four dishes as he cooked his grandmother’s recipes.

How is life post marriage?

Marriage does not change a thing. In fact I don’t understand the relevance of the license. Your relationship is what you make of it. There are enough examples to show that marriage does not mean one is committed.

Since we are talking about commitment, do you think a person can love two people at a time?

I don’t think so. Maybe there could be infatuation.

Talking about your film, are you glad that the clash between your film, Rockstar and Mausam have been averted at the box office.

I never thought there would be a clash. I believed that by the time the date approached people would realise and figure out other dates. I am happy that there is no clash. It is always a bad business decision to clash films.

“There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child, there are seven  million.”    —       Walt Streightiff                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

‘I Am Kalam’ is an intensely inspiring movie enlightening the indomitable potential of dreams through the lenses of a child.

Released in the Indian screens on 5^th August 2011 and critiqued over reputed international film festivals, this movie has been produced by Smile Foundation as an initiative to disseminate the importance of education for the underprivileged.

 Winner of  “Heroism in cinematography” award 2003 ,the debutant director of ‘ I am Kalam’, Nila Madab Panda, has been highly acclaimed for over 65 documentaries and shortfilms. He wanted the audience to grab the essence of a movie that is plain and doesn’t turn out to be preachy.

‘I am Kalam’ is a story of a poor child named Chotu (Harsh Mayar) of Rajasthan who  gets inspired after watching the former President APJ Abdul Kalam delivering a speech on children’s education but cannot aspire to fulfill his education due to poverty.Reincarnating himself as Kalam, chotu struggles to change his destiny after he comes to know that the erstwhile President had worked as a newspaper boy once to finance his own studies.

“Teacher ki pyaar bhari daant khana chahta hai chotu, Chotu ko ek naam chahiye, Chotu ke sapnon ko ek pehchaan chahiye , Kya aap denge ?” 

Sanjay Chauhan’s moving script has been able to override many obstacles in the film, to bring out  the talented performance by Harsh Mayar, a Delhi slum kid in reality, who happens to be the strongest fibre in the film.

Having  won the 58^th National Award ( best child artist) for this film, Harsh Mayar becomes a representative of children who believe effort is more powerful than fate.

Shot at Rajasthan and Delhi, Chotu works at a dhaba in the movie and dreams to make it big someday. There is also another character at the dhaba, Laptan (Pitobash) who idolizes Amitabh Bachchan and dreams about becoming a star. 

‘I Am Kalam’ transcends the melodramatic commercial drama films. The cinematography by Mohana Krishna has contributed extraordinary camera angles that are distinctly pleasing. Although movies like this, appeal only to a particular audience, the subject matter has taken it to greater glories from winning the best feature film  at Lucas International Film Festival , Frankfurt 2010 to  many more inside and outside the country.

 Most of the creative cast and crew  in ‘I am Kalam’ are newcomers. For a film shot on a shoestring budget, this movie has done a brilliant job ,kudos to Mohana Krishna’s cinematography of the colours of  ’kesariya balam aaonee, padharonee mare des‘.

  Susmit Bose has captured the music for this film. Hussan Saad , a child artist playing Ranvijay, the privileged one in the film throws light on class differences within the conservative structures of Rajasthan. His childhood experiences with Chotu is a poignant reminder of  a rare unrequited friendship.

This film is an illustration of how a simple storytelling can sculpture the gift of learning while giving  the public ,  spaces for speculating the young world around them.  I am Kalam leaves you reminiscent of the lines of Bhati Mama acted by Gulshan Grover: “There  are some people who live in a dream world,  there are some who face reality; And there are those who turn one into the other”