Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 335

Rani Encore

29.04.14

 Kangana Ranaut will be ready for another release co-incidentally having a Queen in the title as in Revolver Rani. Produced by Ponty Chadha and directed by Sai Kabir, Revolver Rani is set against the backdrop of Chambal and Gwalior in MP and explores the life of a simple girl Alka Singh forced to pick the revolver and fight for herself and her people and if that sounds like Bandit Queen, it is not. Revolver Rani views the lighter side of law and as the eccentric, fashionable political leader the character is almost funny. Queen is the only female oriented film in Hindi films to  have collected close to 100 crores which is a record of sorts.

This time, the hype is unprecedented and the expectations too high and I’m scared all the excitement may backfire! It is foolish to compare the two films on the basis of a common title and glorify the actor before the release. Experience has proved that successes cannot be planned, it just happens! Therefore what Kangana should do is just concentrate on her performances and give ideas for marketing the film which she is good at and leave the rest to destiny. A special event is being planned to introduce the character to the media for which a set resembling Morena town where Rani/Alka Gujjar hails from is being created and aptly titled ‘Phasion, Fun and Gun’ and where desi food like Kadaknath murga and desi daru will be served to the guests. Sounds like a lot of fun.

Bhawana Somaaya / Tweets @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 334

Hollywood, Pakistan & Hindi films

28.04.14

It has been a week of national and international headlines. Superhero actor Andrew Garfield, all set to essay Spiderman yet again was in Singapore recently to promote The Amazing Spiderman 2 along with girlfriend Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx, when he surprised the Indian press by talking about actor Irrfan Khan who was part of Garefield’s earlier Spiderman flick. Apparently Garefield saw Lunchbox and was surprised that all Bollywood films are not song and dance. Surely they are not, Mr Garfield, just as all Hollywood films are not about Spiderman even if they are released in multiple national languages like Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

For years, Pakistan has remained obsessed with Amitabh Bachchan and eager to invite him to their country but it never happened. Years passed by and Pakistanis grew up on Bachchan films even when Indian films were banned in their country. Every time a new release came of Bachchan, there were talks of it being premiered in Lahore and Karachi but even that remained a dream. Now for the first time, Amitabh Bachchan’s Bhoothnath Returns is releasing in India and Pakistan simultaneously! There are talks about him being invited there for a seminar and if that happens, it will be the first for Pakistan and Bachchan!

Bhawana Somaaya / Tweets @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 333

Rani impresses, Samrat disappoints, Kaanchi surprises

25.04.14

Subhash Ghai likhi- produced aur directed Kaanchi ko hum ek inspirational kahani keh sakte hain... 

Isse hum Uttrakhand ki khupsurat vadiyon mein bassi ek joshili prem kahani bhi keh sakte hain…

Ya phir aaj ke Hindustan ke jagrit naujawan ki system ke khilaaf ladai …

Film ka plus Mandira Shukla ke costumes,corrupt cop ke role mein Chandan Roy Sanyal, Irshaad Kamil ke lyrics aur Ismail Darbar ka sangit, khaas taurpe ‘Tu sab kuch hai’

Film ka minus film ki length aur naujawan kahani mein misfit lagte veteran actors Mithun Chakraborty aur Rishi Kapoor.

4 dashak 19 filmein aur kaii naye kalakaron ko break dene ke baad, Subhash Ghai ek aur naye jode ko  pesh karte hain.

Pyaar ka Punchnama ka Kartik Aryan jo Hindi filmon ke liye bane hain aur Mishti jo film ki jaan hain aur chotti Rani Mukherjee ki yaad dilate hain.

Kaanchi ko nek soch , sachi neeyat aur nayi peedhi ke liye sandesh ke liye Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 2.5 stars.

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Tigmanshu Dhulia produced aur Sai Kabir likhi-directed Revolver Rani Madhya Pradesh ki rajneeti ki kahani hain, iske bawajood unn saari filmon se alag hain jo humne ab tak dekhi hain.

Wo isliye kyon ki Revolver Rani political satire hain jisme thodi hassi, thodi masti, aur bohat zyada khoon kharaba hain.

Ismein Chambal ki goliyaan hain…Gwalior ki gunda-gardi… Bollywood ke naach gane…Italy ke costumes aur Madhya Pradesh ki vishesh Hindi aur Angrezi.

Director manoranjan ke saath saath, aam zindagi ki samasyaein, jaise rang-roop/ aurat-mard/ pariwar-samaaj/ paisa-pyaar par vyang karte hain.

Beshaq ye sab ke temperament ki film nahi hain magar anokhi hain, film ke titles se lekar, aakhri scene tak rassili aur nirali hain!

Film ka minus film ki length aur excessive violence, film ka plus film ki likhawat, humour aur dher saare dilchasp kirdaar.

Film ka sabse bada plus, Kangana Ranaut jo Alka Singh ka chehra/ chaal-dhaal/ zabaan- galiyaan/ dil-jasbaad ko aise apnati hain jaise khud Chmbal mein palli badi ho.

Hindi Cinema ki 1940 ke dashakki Fearless Nadia ki tarah 2014 ki Revolver Rani ek baar phir Indian Cinema ki heroine ka ithihaas badalti hai

Revolver Rani ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hai 3 stars.

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Kavita Barjatya produced aur Kaushik Ghatak directed Samrat & Co, ek private investigator, Samrat Tilak Dhari yaane Rajeev Khandelwal ki kahani hain.

Ek ajnabi ladki, Samrat ke ghar apne pita ke qatil ko dhoondh ne ke liye Samrat se madad maangne aati hain aur Samrat apne  assistant Chakradhari ke saath case solve kar deta hain.

Film ka plot ordinary hain aur mysery bohat zyada simplistic. Outdoor locations khupsurat hain aur kuch dialogues witty.

Behtar hoga agar aap ghar baithkar TV par CID dekhe ya phir Rajeev Khandelwal ki koi purani film dekhe. 

Samrat & Co ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 1.5 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya  

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 332

Preserving the past

24.04.14

Earlier only Yash Raj Films hosted theme parties for media and served a menu matching the profile of the film at press screenings. Now everybody is doing it. Mona Anwar Ali, wife of Anwar Ali celebrated 10^th death anniversary of Hindi cinema’s greatest comedian Mahmood with a screening of Mahmood Productions Bombay to Goa. The invitation card sent to guests was a Bus full of chocolates and movie ticket stapled inside conductor’s bag. The screening was attended by Amitabh Bachchan and some other film personalities like directors Abbas Mustan. The motive behind the screening was to revive memories of a legend! It is fantastic that we are finally learning to celebrate our past and more important, preserve our history. Last week I attended the book release of Waheeda Rehman where in the author Nasreen Rehman was in conversation with the actor and this week it was Rakita Nanda daughter of ace villain Prem Chopra paying a fitting tribute in her book on her father.

Prem Chopra looked a proud father and a content actor the entire evening happy to be celebrated amidst a galaxy of stars in Mumbai’s post hotel.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya