Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 181

Bachchan Rocks

30.8.13,Mumbai

UTV produced aur Prakash Jha directed Satyagrah bhrashtachar ke khilaaf aandolan ki kahani hain.

Dwarka Anand urff  Dadu / Amitabh Bachchan Ambikapur ke retired principal hain jo ab mohalle ke bachon ko apne aangan mein padhate hain.

Unka beta Akhilesh imandar engineer hain aur uski patni Sumitra /Amrita Rao bauji ke sunghrsh mein shamil hain.

Manav yaane Ajay Devgn, Akhilesh ka dost hain magar uski soch aur sapne Akhilesh se alag hain!

Arjun Rampal Ambikapur ka joshila leader hai aur Manoj Bajpai corrupt politician.

Yasmin Ahmed/ Kareena Kapoor aaj ke daur  ki News Editor hain jo dimag ke saath dil ki awaaz bhi sunti hain.

Kranti 7 pahado se paar karke aati hain: Jagrutta – logon ka juttna – unka junoon – virodh - aapsi matbhed –samajik uthal-puthal aur aakhir mein - solution!

Satyagrah hume ye 7 pahado se parichit karwati hain, sirf interval ke baad film naare baazi mein bikhar jaati hain.

Multistar hone ke bawajood, director sabhi ke saath nyay karte hain .

Magar theatre se bahar nikalkar aap sirf ek ke baare mein sochte ho -  bachon ke dadu yaane - Amitabh Bachchan.

Kuch drishya aapki aankhon se ojhal nahi hote hain…

…Jab wo sarkari karamchari ko thappad marte hain…jab wo nirdesh dete hai…jab wo apne bête ke gham mein tut-te hai…aur jab wo anushasan par utarte hai…!!

 Prakash Jha ki filmein zyadatar samajik mudon par hoti hain – crowd scenes, violence, prachar- jo kuch hadh tak film ko boring bana deti hai.

Satyagrah mein bhi ye sab hain aur iske alava - adarsh, sangit, rishte, prem aur karuna rassa!

Satyagrah ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hai 3.5 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 180

Shyaam tere kitne ghar aur kitne naam..?

29.8.13,Mumbai

 

Yesterday was Janmashtami and today is Gokulashtami. We celebrate the birth of Krishna every year and every year he turns more alluring and mysterious. The papers are full of his leela and his magic. I have myself written a lot about him in reference to films and in reference to how he remains a magnificent obsession for all his devotees but today, I present different interpretations to emphasize how different people have different perceptions of Lord Krishna

Sri Sathya Sai Baba says whoever you see and whoever you come into contact in this material world is the very form of Krishna. Followers of Srinathji say that the very essence of his idol is to engage his devotee in to the four bhavas – vatsalya, sakha, daas, madhurya and these correspond to the eight darshans of jhaanki of the lord in a single day. Sri Hita Ambareesh follower of Radha Vallabhasampradaya professes that to understand Krishna is to understand the reality of life. Even in the most difficult, he is serene and that is his message to us to retain our calm. And finally Ohsho : Krishna alone accepts the body in its totality and he accepts it in not any selected dimension, but in all its dimensions. He says Krishna accepts duality of life and therefore transcends duality.

Not surprising poets say Shyaam tere kitne ghar aur kitne naam..?

Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 179

Saundarya

 28.8.13,Udaipur

Beauty is becoming serious business and this is apparent in Udaipur where Hindustan Levers is hosting a seminar on the various influences on Indian Beauty’ for the Unilever Skin Leadership team comprising 25 members with Global brand, Vice Presidents of brands like Dove, Vaseline, Pond’s , Fair & Lovely, Pears etc and global region heads.

Titled Saundarya the seminar focuses on the three strong influences on Indian Beauty that is cultural, bollywood and western through talks and experiential sessions. Priya Tanna ,Vogue Editor is one of the speakers for the day and will talk about the western influence and changing beauty trends. The cultural influence illustrated as Sola Shringaar is another session on the benefits of Ayurveda based on Shalini Holkar’s book Almond eyes and Lotus feet.

I’m invited to talk about how beauty has been perceived over the 100 years in cinema, how the big screen and its various icons determine our concept of aesthetics and sex appeal. Time was when costume and makeup determined a character, which is slowly and gradually changing but even then the aspiring Indian woman still looks up to the movie icon for beauty tips and trends to follow in society.

More about this seminar when I get back to Mumbai...

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 178

Akshay Kumar returns to roots. 

 

27.8.13, Mumbai

The life of an actor is to look ahead not behind. Akshay Kumar would have liked his film Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobbara to be a hit but when it did not live up to his expectations Kumar moved on to his next project. Currently focusing on his new project Boss Akshay is engaged in patch work shoot in two cities which hold strong emotional memories for him. Akshay Kumar grew up in Delhi, learnt martial arts in Bangkok and every time he was shooting in the two cities he turned emotional. He recalled his shooting stint during Chandni Chowk which was hardly 200 meters away from his old home. He had this urge to revisit his home but it would not be possible during the day, so next morning he woke at four in the morning, drove to his old home and sat outside to relive old memories. What he didn’t tell us but what we gathered from his conversation was that he shed a silent tear remembering his loved ones, particularly his father, who is no more. Whoever said that big boys don’t cry? They do. Ask Akshay.

Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya