Kalichaudas marks destruction of evil - DAY 696

Kalichaudas or Amavasya or Pehli Diwali as is popularly called is the day before the festival of lights. Actually all the four days of the festival has a legendary story and myth asociated with it. The first day of the festival Naraka Chaturdasi marks the vanquishing of the demon Naraka by Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.

Amavasya, the second day of Deepawali, marks the worship of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth in her most benevolent mood, fulfilling the wishes of her devotees. Amavasya also tells the story of Lord Vishnu, who in his incarnation of a dwarf vanquished the tyrant Bali, and banished him to hell. Bali was allowed to return to earth once a year, to light millions of lamps to dispel the darkness and ignorance, and spread the radiance of love and wisdom.

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Dhanteras is worship of Money - DAY 695

Dhanteras is the first day of the five-day Diwali Festival as celebrated primarily in Northern & Western part of India. The festival is also known as Dhanatrayodashi or Dhanvantari Trayodashi. The word ‘Dhana’ means wealth and Trayodashi means 13th day as per Hindu calendar. It is celebrated on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha (dark fortnight) in the Hindu calendar month of Ashwayuja.

On Dhanteras, Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped to provide prosperity and well being. Dhanteras holds special significance for the business community due to the customary purchases of precious metals on this day. Lord Kubera, the God of assets and wealth is also worshiped on this day.

The tradition of gambling on Diwali also has a legend behind it. It is believed that on this day, Goddess Parvati played dice with her husband Lord Shiva, and she decreed that whosoever gambled on Diwali night would prosper throughout the ensuing year. Diwali is associated with wealth and prosperity in many ways, and the festival of 'Dhanteras' ('dhan' = wealth; 'teras' = 13th) is celebrated two days before the festival of lights.

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Charlie ke Chakkar Mein :Bores - DAY 694

AmitSial likhiaurManishSrivastav directed Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein wohi drugs, drinks, pyaar, dosti aur nakamyaab rishton ki kahani hain.

Paanch dost jinme se ek director ban na chahta hai aur ek actor, subah sham milte hain, ladte jhagadte hain aur rang reliyaan manaate hain.

Ek raat, ek club mein, zyaada nasha aur arguments ke baad, ek haadsa ho jaata hai, jiske baad, sab ki zindagi badal jaati hai!

Kahani ke teen versions hain: Pehla, jo doston ka version hain.  Doosra, jo underworld ka version hai aur teesra, jo police ka version hai.

Film ke opening credits mein Naseerudin Shah ka shukriya aada kiya gaya hai. Karna bhi chahiye kyon ki jo film mein Naseerudin Shah ke alava dekhne layak kuch hai bhi nahi.

Charlie ke Chakkar Mein ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 1.5 stars.

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Parineeti Chopra & Starwar - DAY 693

Parineeti Chopra was part of a panel discussion at Jio MAMI and got visibly excited when she visited the special star wars booth at the venue. She was excited that the festival was showcasing the best of unseen cinema and enabling movie buffs like her to experience the epic Star Wars saga.

The MAMI Mela hosted at Mehboob Studio, Mumbai was a terrific spot for many actors to hang in there for coffee and conversation after their and Parineeti was one of them. She spent a lot of time around the brand new LightSaber which has been flown to India especially from Hollywood and pretended to be a Jedi from the film. The paparazi loved to capture her and Parineeti enjoyed the moment thoroughly.

The customized and theme based Star Wars: The Force Awakens booth allows fans to feel immersed in the biggest cinema spectacle of the century. So many people from the media and others posed with Lightsabers and clicked fun pictures in anticipation of the movie.

@bhawanasomaaya

Marathi Rangbhumi Festival - DAY 692

On the occasion of Marathi Rangbhumi Diwas, we at The Hive in association with Culture Shoq have curated a festival featuring some magnificent plays and play readings. Commencing on 5 Nov to 8 the many exclusive shows at the festival include Theatre on the Big Mic which willbe an open mic in Marathi for theatre enthusiasts. Then there is a Kathak performance, play reading by Omkar Bhatkar readings of his play titled L’arbre Etrange (The Strange Tree) in Marathi that tells the story about three people who find solace in a tree.

Varhaad Nighalay London La about a rich father who sends his son to study in London, England. The son decided to marry a girl from Britain is written and directed by Laxman Deshpande will be performed by actor Sandeep Pathak. Didh Inch Var, a solo performance adapted from Dedh Inch Upar written by well-known Hindi writer Mr. Nirmal Verma narrates the conversation between a man and a fictitious character while sitting in a liquor bar in the midnight.

 Antarnaad is collection of stories, poetires, articles on various issues led by Abhijeet Awari and Yugandhar Deshpande and another Rangkamal program based on short stories of Kamal Desai and presented by Ravindra Lakhe and Priya Jamkar.  Similarly two solo acts titled Kathagoi- directed by Hemant Hazare, performed by Dhanashree Karmarkar and Sunil Joshi.

The highlight ofcourse is an adaption of Vijay Tendulkar’s short story Ved about a woman and her imaginations about her lost husband. She lost her husband years ago but has not come to terms with it and believes he is alive and has imaginary conversations with a non existent person.

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Fans make superstars - DAY 691

Ajay Devgn had a surprise visitor recently; it was from a group of his most ardent fans and who call themselves 'ADians' connected with the fan clubs across India through his social media spear headed by approximately 20 fan clubs all over India and met up in Mumbai to surprise their favorite actor on his sets and were happy to meet not just Ajay but also Kajol.

 It was after meeting them that Ajay discovered that his fans are connected to not just India but also overseas and on their request Ajay spoke to his fans across Pakistan, Indonesia and Singapore. 

It was a special day for the fans and for Ajay Devgan who was charming and looked after his guests and presented all of them with ADian' T-shirts.

Now this is what I call a Fan- tastic moment.

@bhawanasomaaya

Critics don’t make cinema - DAY 690

For all the glowing reviews Titli received from our lead critics, the first day collection of the film was just 50 lacs. Granted that the film is shot on a shoe string budget on real locations with newcomers and revenue of a crore for a production like this is more than satisfactory but the poor results raise many questions. The foremost being can reviews/ critics alter the fate of a film and the answer is no.

It is coincidence that renowned criti Peter Bradshaw at a workshop held for Jio MAMI 2015 elaborated on the very same points. Bradshaw recommended that it is important for reviewers to retain their innocence in the theatres and not get carried away by the analysis of the film. He emphasized that it is not about getting a review right all the time but about engaging and involving your reader/ viewer. In many ways a review of a film is like a film and if the reviewer is not engaged in what he is writing/ speaking the reader/ viewer is not going to be involved too.

Bradshaw said that most reviewers feel isolated when their opinion or ratings are not in sync with the other critics, they don’t have to feel apologetic. He said the sad part is that not only do most of the reviews lack original opinions but also are dull and matter of fact, which should not be because cinema is about passion.

Bradshaw was dismissive about his popularity and that so many people around the world watch films only after reading him and attributed his success to the reach of Hollywood, the internet culture and the fact that his medium was English. He said he was the beneficiary of a new revolution.

In a final question to how important is a critic to cinema his answer was revelatory, he said ‘Not at all. In the final analysis it is filmmakers who will be remembered not critics'.

@bhawanasomaaya