Friday, 30 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 518

Rahasya is gripping Hawaizaada is unengaging
30/1/2015

Robinson Duggal/ Monica Vimal produced; Manish Gupta directed Rahasya ek doctor couple ki eklauti beti Aisha ke khoon ki kahani hain.
Ek raat Aisha ka neend mein qatal ho jaata hain aur police ko saare gharwalo par shaque hain.
Film ka plus controversial subject aur layered screenplay, film ki anokhi casting aur ensemble performances.
Writer director Manish Gupta indoor/ outdoor sequences ko baariki se pesh karte hain phir wo action ho, sound, ambience, crowd ya costume.
 Film ka first half gripping hain magar second half unusually isolated hain.

Aisa lagta hain ki ek CBI officer ke sivay iss case  se kissi ko lena dena nahi hain jab ki satya ghatna par adharit iss case ne samaj/ police/parivar/ media/ kanoon aur medical profession ko lekar bohat sawal uthayein thhe.
Kaash, hum kahani ke rahasya ke saath saath, kahani ke kirdaar Aisha ke baare mein bhi thoda jaan sakte.
Kaash, doctor ke alishan ghar ke saath saath, hum unke kaam ka vatavaran jaise dispensary aur aspatal bhi thoda bohat dekh paate.
Kaash, ye murder mystery ke saath saath ye human stand bhi leti…
Ye khamiyon ke bawajood Rahasya dekhni chahiye kyon ki  director kuch naya karne ki koshish karte hain
Aur kyon ki film ke saare actors khaas taurpe Kaykay Menon, Ashwini Kalsekar aur Tisca Chopra film ko dilchasp banate hain.
Rahasya ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 3 stars.
                                    *****
Reliance produced aur Vibhu Puri directed Hawaizaada Indian scientist Shivkar Bapuji Talpade ki kahani hain jinhone desh ka pehla unmanned plane banaya tha.

Pre-independence saal1895 Bombay mein basi aur Saurabh Bhave likhi ye kahani hain Subbarya Shastry, yaane Mithhun Chakraborty aur uske shagird Shivkar, yaane Ayushman Khurana ke junoon aur sunghursh ki.
Film ka sabse bada problem film ka sur hain. Apne desh ke liye aeroplane nirman karne wale krantikari pata nahi kyon har samay mazaak ke mood mein rehte hain.
Film ka pace behad dheema hain, aisa lagta hain jaise kahani uss samay ke saath ruk gayi hain.
Film ke kuch dialogues, kuch gaane manmohak hain magar jee nahi behlate.
Film mein Tagore ka zikr hota hain aur Lokmanya Tilak ko sarvajanik Ganpati sthapna karte hue dikhaya hain magar sab kuch upri aur khokla sa lagta hain.
 Hawaizaada desh ka garv ho sakti tha, magar ye udan nasafal rahi.
Hawwaizaada ko Big Entertainment ratings milte hain 2.5 stars.
Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Saturday, 24 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 517

Superstars and daughters
24/1/2015

The music launch of Shamitabh would be incomplete without Bachchan rendering the Piddley song and there was a thunderous applause when he concluded. Bachchan paid a special tribute to Illaiyaraaja and R Balki said 1000 is not a number but just an excuse to celebrate the maestro.

There was nip in the air and  when Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan came on stage to deliver a vote of thanks it was time for a trailer repeat.

The evening had ended but nobody wanted to go home. Not the hosts and certainly not the guests. Tabu lingered on reliving her memories of shooting Cheeni Kum with Balki. Sridevi lingered on reliving her memories of her shooting English Vinglish with Gauri Shinde wife of Balki.

Kunal Ganjawala was humming a tune and Bappi Lahiri chatting in Bengali with Shreya Ghoshal.  I saw a happy Shruti Haasan dive into the car with a smiling Kamal Haasan and an overwhelmed Rajnikanth gently led by daughter Aishwarya out of the green lawns.

Shamitabh is the biggest star studded musical event I have attended in my long career, there were as many superstars on stage as there were in the audience and after a while I stopped counting.


Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Friday, 23 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 516

Baby is responsible; Dolly ki Doli is unconvincing.
23/1/2015

Bhushan Kumar produced aur Neeraj Pandey likhi directed Baby kahani hain aatankwaad yaane terrorism ki.

Kaise aatankwaad humare beech palta aur phailta hain aur saath hi mein Baby kahani hain Espionage team ki jo desh ke liye jeete hain aur ladte hain.

Hero Ajay Singh Rathore/Akshay Kumar chief Firoze/ Danny Danzongpa ke kehne par apni 2 member team, Jai/Rana Daggupati aur Shuklaji/Anupam Kher ke saath mission par nikalta hain.

Film ka plus film ki tez raftaar, to the point dialogues aur super engaging screenplay.

India se shuru hoti, Nepal, Turkey aur Middle East safar karti Baby multi layered/ multi tracked hain aur har pal surprise aur tension se bharpur hain!

Bohat saare kirdaar hone ke bawajood sab ke apne characterizations aur aapsi rishte hain aur sabhi ne ummda performances diye hain.

Phir wo Sushant Singh ho, Rasheed Naz, ya stheer aankhowale Bilal yaane Kaykay Menon.

Baby Akshay Kumar ka ab tak ka sabse bahtareen performance hain. Action scenes ho ya pariwarik  jasbaad, minister ki office ho ya mohalla, Akshay Kumar kabhi mukke se kabhi aankhon se aur kabhi dimaag se aap ke hosh uda dete hain!

Film beshaq thodi lambi hain magar vishesh hain.

A Wednesday aur Special 26 ke baad Baby Neeraj Pande se ek aur zinmmedaar film hai jisse har haal mein dekhni chahiye.

Baby ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 4 stars.

Arbaaz Khan produced aur Abhishek Dogra directed Dolly Ki Doli kahani hai ek looteri dulhan ki.

Sonam Kapoor aur uska jaali pariwar amir ladko ko shaadi ke bahane phasate hain aur baad mein unhe loot kar rafoo chakkar ho jaate hain.

Film ka sabse bada problem film ki writing hain. Na ek bhi robbery interesting hain aur na ek bhi kirdaar convincing.

Puri film ek hi sur mein bejaan si chalti hain, na kahani mein high hain, na low, na drama na jasbaad!

Film ka best performance ladke ki maa Archana Puransingh ka hain aur uske baad jilted lover Rajkumar Rao ka.

Sonam Kapoor sundar hain aur ache kapde mein acha naach gaa leti hain.

Dolly ki Doli youngsters’ ke liye time pass film hain.

Dolly ki Doli ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 2 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 515

30 years after Geraftaar
23/1/2015

Director R Balki of forthcoming film Shamitabh is an admirer of Illaiyaraaja wanted to make the music event special for his idol and therefore asked the South brigade Rajnikanth- Sridevi and Kamal Haasan to felicitate the maestro. The heroes recounted interesting anecdotes about time spent with the music director. While Rajnikant admitted he has little sense of music, Kamal Haasan revealed an interesting and for him an embarrassing story while working with him on Hey Ram.

When Amitabh Bachchan joined the duo superstars on stage, they struck a pose for posterity. The last time the trio was seen together in a single frame was in Geraftaar more than 30 years ago. It was a nostalgic moment.

Everybody became emotional when a nervous Akshara walked up the stage with her father Kamal Haasan and showed him the second trial of Shamitabh and waited anxiously. Kamal held his little ones hand and said ‘Baby I’m as nervous as you today’.

The album was released by Jaya Bachchan and Gulzar, joined by the producers, the lyricist, the singers of the film and surprisingly all the musicians Pankaj Udhas, Bappi Lahiri, Adesh Srivastav, Ila Aroon present in the audience to come on the stage.


Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Thursday, 22 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 514

Celebrating Illaiyaraaja @Shamitabh
22.01.2014

It was a night to remember. The invite for the music release of Shamitabh came via an audio link in the baritone voice of Amitabh Bachchan. The occasion a celebration of maestro Illaiyaraaja who completed 1000 films and 5000 songs.

In the sprawling lawns of Taj Lands End, moonlight in the sky and nip in the air the near and dear ones gathered to cheer filmmaker R Balki and his team. There were distinguished guests in the audience Superstar Rajnikanth present in the capacity of an actor and also a father-in-law to cheer his son-in-law Dhanush.

There was Shruti Haasan and Kamal Haasan present as actors and also as family to support younger daughter Akshara making her debut in the film.

The audience was treated to a dance performance by Dhanush on the screen followed by a Tamil song rendition. Balki wanted Dhanush to sing in Hindi but Dhanush wangled out of it citing ‘language problem sir’.


BhawanaSomaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Tuesday, 20 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 513

Horror queen Bipasha Basu
20/1/2015


One of the most anticipated movies of 2014 Alone has not only been praised by the critics but also loved by the audiences!

Panorama Studios, Alone has managed to garner a whopping amount of Rs 4.57 nett crore on day one!

The film stars Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover who have grabbed million eyeballs and praise from the audience!!

Well, with such an amazing start we are sure that Alone is going to have a smashing weekend at the box office!!

The film is Produced by Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak, Pradeep Agarwal and Prashant Sharma and Directed by Bhushan Patel.

Bhawana Somaaya/@bhawanasomaaya
 

Monday, 19 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 512

Closing Cycles
19/1/2015

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters – whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. 

Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened.

You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister.

Everyone is finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.

Things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away.

That is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home.

Everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts – and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place.



Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them.

Nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Do not expect anything in return; do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood.

Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else.

Nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, work that is promised but there is no starting date and decisions that are always put off waiting for the “ideal moment.”

Before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back.

Remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person – nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need.

This may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important.

Closing cycles not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance but simply because that no longer fits your life...

Shut the door, change the record, clean the house, and shake off the dust.

Stop being who you were and change into who you are.


(Quoted from 'Closing Cycles' by renowned author Paulo Coelho)

Saturday, 17 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 511

Javed Akhtar turns 70
17/1/2015

Today Javed Akhtar turns 70 and here is my list of 70 things I associate with the lyricist poet. I have deliberately not elaborated on the list because this is a special gift and friends and family who are familiar with Akhtar understand why the word is on the list and don’t need explanations.

1. Kurta
2. Poetry
3. Urdu
4. Wit
5. Humour
6. Eyes
7. Expressions
8. Hair
9. Smile
10. Posture
11. Hands
12. Kada
13. Shoes
14. Voice
15. Diction
16. Cinema
17. Intensity
18. Anger
19. Success
20. Partnership
21. Surname
22. TV
23. Reality show
24. Channel
25. Writing
26. Desk
27. Pen
28. Fullscap paper
29. Script
30. Narration
31. Sitting
32. Recording
33. Debates
34. Copyright
35. Activist
36. Knowledge
37. Words
38. Youthful
39. Romance
40. Sea
41. Redefining
42. Rajyasabha
43. Delhi
44. Mumbai
45. Uttar Pradesh
46. Shabana
47. Farhan-Zoya Akhtar
48. Jaan Nissar Akhtar
49. Holiday Inn
50. Aircondition
51. Perfection
52. Quality
53. Shawls
54. Folders
55. Books
56. Library
57. Study
58. Folders
59. Tea
60. Sweets
61. Feet
62. Energy
63. Jackets
64. Mug
65. Aftershave
66. Appointments
67. Travel
68. Man Friday Kishore
69. Driver Ramu
70. Atheist

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Friday, 16 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 510

Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene
16/1/2015

Akhilesh Jain produced aur Gurmeet Singh directed Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene kahani hain do roommates ki.

Prithvi Khurana yaane Zayed Khan jo badi firm mein architect hain aur Sam yaane Ranvijay Singh jo bekaar hain aur kangal bhi.

Achanak dono ki zindagi mein aisa kuch ho jaata hain, jiski wajah se unki zindagi badal jaati hain.

Money Laundering yaane Hawala par banayi film ka subject naya aur contemporary hain.

Film modern technology aur aaj ke youngsters’ ki lifestyle ko le kar aham muddein uthati hain.

Writer Rajesh Chawla ke dialogues anokhe aur tadakedar hain aur film ka treatment behad simple, balke old world hain.

Chona che film ka pace dheema hain aur narrative bhi kahin kahin dull nazar aata hain.

Film ka plus film ki casting aur performances hain...  Naya chehra Tina Desai, dost Ranvijay Singh aur Anupam Kher interesting hain.

Chashme chadhaye, kabhi sharmate aur zyaada ghabrate hue Zayed Khan film ki jaan hain.

Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene mein na bade stars hain, na koi masala aur na yaadgaar music hain, phir bhi, film manmohak hain…

Saaf suthri, nek irade se bani, susheel vicharon ki Sharafat gayi Tel Lene, zindgai se judi hain aur kuch sabak bhi seekhati hain.


Sharafat Gayi Tel Lene ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 3 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya / @BhawanaSomaaya

Wednesday, 14 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 509

Happy Makar Sankranti
14/1/2015

Uttarayan, as Makara Sankranti is called in Gujarati, is a major festival in the state of Gujarat which lasts for two days.
  1. 14 January is Uttarayan
  2. 15 January is Vasi-Uttarayan (Stale Uttarayan)
Gujarati people keenly await this festival to fly kites, called 'patang' in Gujarati. Kites for Uttarayan are made of special light-weight paper and bamboo and are mostly rhombus shaped with central spine and a single bow. The string often contains abrasives in order to cut down other people's kites.
In Gujarat, from December through to Makara Sankranti, people start enjoying Uttarayan. Undhiyu (spicy, baked mix of winter vegetables) and chikkis (made from til (sesame seeds), peanuts and jaggery) are the special festival recipes savoured on this day.
In the major cities of Vadodara, Surat,Rajkot, Ahmedabad, and Bhavnagar the skies appear filled with thousands upon thousands of kites as people enjoy two full days of Uttarayan up on their terraces.
When people cut any kites they used to yell with words like "kaypo chhe", "e lapet","phirki vet phirki" and "lapet lapet" in Gujarati language.

Content Courtesy - Wikipedia / Image Courtesy - meme4u.com
Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya

Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 508

Happy Lohri!
13/1/2015


During the day, children go from door to door singing folk songs. These children are given sweets and savories, and occasionally, money. Turning them back empty-handed is regarded inauspicious.
The collections gathered by the children are known as Lohri and consist of til, gachchak, crystal sugar, gur (jaggery), moongphali (peanuts) and phuliya or popcorn. Lohri is then distributed at night during the festival. Till, peanuts, popcorn and other food items are also thrown into the fire.
The bonfire ceremony differs depending on the location in Punjab. In some parts, a small image of the Lohri goddess is made with gobar (cattle dung) decorating it, kindling a fire beneath it and chanting its praises. In other parts, the Lohri fire consists of cow dung and wood with no reference to the Lohri goddess.
The bonfire is lit at sunset in the main village square. People toss sesame seeds, gur, sugar-candy and rewaries on the bonfire, sit around it, sing and dance till the fire dies out. Some people perform a prayer and go around the fire. This is to show respect to the natural element of fire.[28] It is traditional to offer guests til, gachchak, gur, moongphali (peanuts) and phuliya or popcorn. Milk and water is also poured around the bonfire by Hindus. This ritual is performed for thanking the Sun God and seeking his continued protection.
Among some sections of the Sindhi community, the festival is traditionally celebrated as Lal Loi. On the day of Lal Loee children bring wood sticks from their grand parents and aunties and light a fire burning the sticks in the night with people enjoying, dancing and playing around the fire. The festival is gaining popularity amongst other Sindhis where Lohri is not a traditional festival.
(Image Courtesy - google / Content Courtesy - wikipedia)

Bhawana Somaaya / @bhawanasomaaya