Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 404

Bhairavi

31/07/2014

According to our constitution, woman is a legal citizen of the country and have equal rights as men but is this true in our society? A woman in Indian society is a recurrent victim of humiliation, torture and exploitation and only about 39 percent of all women in India actually attend primary schools. Rape in India is the fourth most common crime against women. To bring these issues into focus A V Motion Pictures has decided to make only films that will focus on societal injustice. Bhairavi based on true incidents of women in India who are physical and mentally harassed in the name of God is the first step in that direction. Written by Veerendra Singh on the rituals followed by the tantriks the film was launched with a classical song by veteran singer Asha Bhosle.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya  

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 403

Wonder Dog

30/07/2014

In the 80s there was a film called Teri Meharbaniyaan which was a super hit at the box-office. Now so many years later comes another Entertainment where Junior- the wonder dog will get a higher billing to hero Akshay Kumar in the credit titles of writer-directors Farhad-Sajid’ new film. Akshay Kumar has gone on record to say that while heroes have one body double Junior had six doubles on the sets to not cause any problems during the shootings. To give Junior higher billing than him was also Akshay’s idea and interestingly this will be the only film in his entire career where he takes a lower billing as a professional.

Entertainment marks the directorial debut of writers Farhad-Sajid who have given us blockbusters like Housefull-2, Golmaal-3, Singham and many more!

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 402

No country

29.7. 2014

Aparna Sen’s husband Kalyan Ray is an author and his new book No Country published by Simon & Schuster in the US last month is simultaneously being published in UK, Ireland, India and Australia by another publisher Bloomsbury on 29th July.

The French translation is being brought out by Grasset around Christmas this year and the Italian translation by Nord in March 2015. The Mumbai launch will be held at Land's End on 5th August where Shabana Azmi will be reading passages from the book and Aparna Sen’s old friends Javed Akhtar, Rahul Bose and  daughter KonkonaSen will be there to support Aparna and Kalyan.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 401

Workshop on Women

28.7. 2014

One of the most serious and shameful issues facing India today is sexual violence against women. Many feel this is a result of the women are portrayed in the media particularly in films and on TV. Women characters are sexually objectified, stereotyped in regressive ways, are portrayed purely to cater to the male point of view. Gender relations are depicted in an unequal way. In hardly any film or TV serial is the woman depicted as an individual, with her own independent point of view. Clearly these images and characterizations have a significant influence on the shaping of society's attitudes towards women.

While most of the times screenwriters and directors act under pressure from other decision-makers (producers, channels, so-called market forces, etc.), it is important to be aware of the impact of such work on the social psyche. As generators of content writers/ directors need to be sensitized to the perils and to raise awareness Film Writers association (FWA) organised a day workshop, in association with Laadli (an initiative of Population First).

Held at the FWA office in Andheri prominent the workshop was attended by prominent writers and directors. Dr. Sharada of Laadli and writer Anjum Rajabali discussed the portrayal of women in cinema followed by a presentation and discussion on television and women by  Rajesh Dubey and a presentation of women projection in lyrics by Danish Javed. Kamlesh Pandey, Hon. Gen. Secretary, concluded the workshop with his last word.

Bhawana Somaaya / Twitter - @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 400

Kick deserves a kick!

25/07/2014

Sajid Nadiadwala likhi aur directed Kick Devilal yaane Salman Khan ki kahani hai jo zindagi ke har pal mein ek kick yaane mazaa talaashta hai.

Isliye wo tez bike chalata hai, doston ko bhagakar shaadi karata hai, khupsurat ladki ke gale padta hai aur badmasho ko sabak seekhata hai.

Jail ke andar qaidiyon ke saath, jail ke bahar bachon ke saath aur pub mein ladkiyon ke saath, Devi sab ka man jeet leta hai.

Phir ek din kuch aisa hota hai ki Devi Devil ban jaata hai…

Credits mein 6 writers ke naam diye gaye hai jinme shamil hai director Sajid Nadiadwala aur bestselling author Chetan Bhagat – itne saare naamon ke bawajood film mein koi plot ya kahani nahi hai.

Bohat saare actors zaroor hai magar saare kirdaar naqli aur saare jasbaad joothe hai.

Kissi kirdaar ka kissi se na koi sacha rishta hai aur na sachi shikayat ya samasya.

Jacqueline Fernandes acha naachti hai. Randeep Hooda acha action karta hai. Saurabh Shukla acha bolta hai aur Nawazudin Siddiqui acha actor hai magar ye saari achaiyon ko milakar fiolm nahi banti!

Director Sajid Nadiadwala ko pata hona chahiye, ke exotic locations, designer costumes aur expert camera work se filmein nahi banti!!

Actor Salman Khan ko bhi maan lena chahiye, ke jaan leva stunts, naach gaana, music, romance aur masala dialogues se performances nahi bante!!!

Bohat ho gayi Dabngg/ Bodyguard ki bhaigiri, bohat mana li100/250 aur 300 karodo ki Jai Ho box-office par, bohat mana liya superstar ka jashan, ab kuch serious acting bhi ki jaye.

Film ke aakhri scene mein Salman Khan kehte hai, ‘Main dil mein aata hoon, samajh mein nahi’.

Samay aa gaya hai Salman Khan ke aap ki filmein bhi samajh mein aaye, warna aap ko dil se majbooran uttaar na hoga.

Kick ko dukh ke saath Big Entertainment Ratings milte hai 2 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ tweets @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 399

No 7 year itch for WWI

24/07/2014

Whistling Woods International founded in the year 2008 celebrated their seventh Convocation in Mumbai for which Kamal Haasan flew down all the way from Chennai to deliver a lecture to the graduating students. He toured the campus and was amazed by the facilities that students enjoyed in our country.  Haasan addressed 300 students, and congratulated Subhash Ghai and his faculty for the excellent work.

Present at the occasion was Meghna Ghai Puri, the President who recently received an award from Skilltree Consortium, at the House of Commons in the UK for building a Global institute in India with International standards, thanked Kamal Hassan and prolific writer Javed Siddiqui for their presence and making the evening at WWI special.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 398

Finding Fanny

23/07/2014

Homi Adajania is back with another quirky comedy Finding Fanny! The film narrates the story of five odd balls played by Arjun Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Dimple Kapadia, Naseeruddin Shah and Pankaj Kapur; who set out on a road trip to find love.  

After Cyrus and Cocktail it is evident that Homi is attracted to dysfunctional families and characters. Adajania says, "Love makes normal people do nutty things and if they are already a little nutty they become unbearable. My producer, Dinesh Vijan, knew I would drive him insane but still decided to support me. I had worked with Deepika in Cocktail so it was easy to convince her. Arjun Kapoor was enthusiastic. I couldn’t have made this film without Naseer because his character is specially written for him. As for Dimple, if I make a film without her she will have my head on a platter but the biggest surprise and an actor I simply adore is Pankaj Kapur. He is a phenomenal actor and it was a fabulous experience directing him. Finding Fanny was shot and wrapped in 36 days, a shoot-experience that was almost as goof-ball and hilarious as the story itself."

A Fox Star Studios production Finding Fanny releases on September 12.

Bhawana Somaaya/ Tweets @bhawanasomaaya