Kishore Kumar – musical genius

It is the birth anniversary of Kishore Kumar, a day worth remembering for all lovers of music. Born 4th August 1929, Kishore was never a trained singer. His biopic mentions that he once got badly injured as a child, cried very loudly for several days, and that “opened” up his vocal chords! It is one of those injuries that changed Indian music forever!

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara continues to surprise and polarize

What started out looking like a Spain tourism ad to some, a Dil Chahta Hai redux from the promos to others, was described by the maker as NOT that as most of the film is spent driving in a car, was slated to tank badly at the box office, have a short life span and be yet another yuppie wannabe film, has now taken on some legs at the ticket windows and continues to delight many viewers into its third week.  The usual gang of reviewers ranged from panning it solidly to loving it unabashedly. 

The PERFECT awards! Oscars, TwiFi and others in between

We were told TwiFi Awards would be the perfect platform to pick the best and most deserving candidates to award. It helped that the platform was being set up just as the usual award shows were going on in B-town, with the same perform and walk away with the prize allegations, the behind the curtain machinations, the favorites, and even talk of the buying and selling of awards.

Twi-fi – Whose awards will they be?

Awards season has begun in Mumbai and the chamiyas and chailas are practicing their dance numbers for the stage shows. In the meantime a twitroots revolution is slowly building up.

Koffee With Karan – Directors’ special!

There was an earlier directors’ episode with Raju Hirani, Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra and Kunal Kohli.

What should the STAR be doing?

Should he be looking for new and pathbreaking roles?  Playing to his strength?  Being laid back and in the mode that got his fans to love him in the first place?  One can think of Jack Nicholson – loved by all, fine actor.  And then we got too much of the good thing and Jack became a caricature of Jack.   I am grateful that Aamir and SRK have not fallen into that trap.  If anything I would say that Salman is playing laid back with Wanted and Dabangg, in roles tailor made for him, and reaping rewards.  But does that stretch his acting mettle?  I still think his best may have been as the bumbling idiot in Andaz Apna Apna!