Month: September 2019

Gone are  the days when she  was  elbowed  out of  projects.  Tapsee Pannu’s career has never been in a  better  place now.And no pushing and shoving. Tapsee looks back at the rejections without...

Whether it is Amitabh Bachchan  or  Prabhas, nobody says no to Chiranjeevi. As  his  ambitious  pseudo-historical Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy readies  for an October  2 release  the information filtering out of  the Telugu  film industry is  that Chiranjeevi  has asked  Prabhas to ...

Gully  Boy, the  Zoya Akhtar-directed   film about  street rappers in Mumbai , has been selected as  India’s official entry to the Oscars.  And Alia Bhatt who will soon be celebrating her  boyfriend Ranbir Kapoor’s  birthday  on September  28,...

Is  Salman Khan all set  to turn into a full-fledged  director soon.  Considering how deep his involvement with the making  of  the  films that he  stars  in,it seems  likely he would  take...

 Page  3 addicts—now  converted to Rage  Free addiction-- always want to know   how  ‘normal’ the superstars are.  “Does Shabana  really scrub her  own floor? Does Raakhee cook entire meals? Do the Bachchans actually see their...

After a vocal  trans-gender avatar in  Dream Girl it is time  for Ayushmaan  Khurrana to push the envelope even  further with his  next project Shubh Mangal Zyada Savdhan where he  plays  a gay character who not only comes out  of...

If I were  a Britisher I’d  take very strong exception to  the way  the ex-colonists are  portrayed  in Indian cinema. Barking caricatures, they  look  and behave like louts on a...

The  Zoya Factor Starring Sonam Kapoor, Dulquer Salman Directed by Abhishek Sharma Rating: **** A rom-com that’s intelligent enough to consider its audience intelligent enough to avoid spoonfeeding every  morsel of  emotion  …that’s The  Zoya Factor, a delightfully grownup  comedy where the laughs are ...

 Sunny Deol admits he  was  never  so nervous about his own  debut as he is about his son Karan’s debut. “When my debut happened I was chilled out.  It was  my father...

 Ever since Salman  Khan and Sanjay Leela  Bhansali parted ways there has  been  many speculative articles as  to why the  creative separation  occurred.  One of  the  theories for  the  misadventure doing the  rounds is  that...

 Though Sonam K Ahuja, nee Kapoor, loves the lovestory that she  shares with her  co-star Dulquer Salman in her  new release  The  Zoya Factor , her favourite lovestory hands-down , is  the one she shares with her husband  Anand Ahuja. They’ve been married  more  than  a year...

Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas Starring Karan Deol,Sahher Bambba Directed  by Sunny Deol Rating: ** ½ (two and a half stars) There is much that’s beautiful in Sunny Deol’s debut film for his son, the handsome and...

Prassthanam Starring Sanjay Dutt, Manisha  Koirala, Ali Fazal, Satyajit Dubey, Jackie Shroff Directed  by  Deva Katta Rating: ****(4 stars)  Midway through the  stormy tale of politics, family feuds, sibling rivalry  and other elements  of  simmering discontent , an incidental ...

He may deny  it as  much as  likes. The fact is, Prabhas and Anushka Shetty are  going very strong  as a couple and would  have made it official long ago were  it not for  his ...

Though Sonam K Ahuja, nee Kapoor, loves the lovestory that she  shares with her  co-star Dulquer Salman in her  new release  The  Zoya Factor , her favourite lovestory hands-down , is  the one she shares with her husband  Anand Ahuja. They’ve been married  more  than  a year...

There  has been a spate  of rumours regarding who will  finally play  Prime  Minister NarendraModi  in  his biopic.  The  three actors whose names  keep  coming  up   are Paresh Rawal, Akshay  Kumar  and Anupam Kher.It is understood  that ...

Saaho seems headed towards major disappointments  for all concerned, most of all  Prabhas who has apparently not been paid  a penny. Says a source, “The producers have  borrowed heavy amounts of money from...

There is nothing made in  china about Made In China. It is  straightaway  one  of those clever  urbane comedies where  sexual innuendos  are  used  in a  decent way  not to simulate...

A vicious attack  was launched on Akshay Kumar’s  character on Twitter  earlier this week . As  ‘Hawas  Ka  Devta Akshay Kumar’ trended on  Twitter, Akshay did what was  best  for  him.  He lay low as the Twitterati indulged in the...

There are reports filtering in of Rishi Kapoor  resuming work on his pending assignments  now that  he is back  fully healed after a serious illness.  However  Rishi Kapoor answers  my question on his plans  with...

On September  18 when  India’s most celebrated  living  film actress Shabana Azmi turns 69, she will be packing  her bags to leave for a performance dedicated to her  father the legendary  poet Kaifi Azmi. Shabana who...

Raj ,Judgementall Hai kya(JHK) has opened to rave reviews.Do you feel vindicated after all the unsavoury controversies that surrounded the film? Controversies don’t make a film, a good story does. I always...

Producer and former chairperson of  the  Central Board Of Film Certification Pahlaj Nihalanifeels there  is  nothing like  original cinema. He lashes at netizens who have been criticizing Sunny Deol’ son Karan’s debut film Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas ...

Zaira(Secret Superstar) Wasim’s not-so-secret decision  to  quit  cinema  couldn’t have been  more ill-timed. Just when  her starrer The  Sky Is Pink is gathering  global  glory  Zaira has  walked away  from her promising career.  She was  sorely...

On Sunday afternoon  Prashanth Neel, the  director  of the spectacular Kannada  hit  KGF  who is currently shooting the  KGF  sequel in  Hyderabad, drove down to meet Telugu superstar  MaheshBabu at the latter’s residence. They spend nearly...

There are very few stars in Andhra Pradesh  who command the enduring and heartfelt respect of Chiranjeevi. God to many, saviour to some Chiranjeevi has ruled the  hearts of  millions  for decades.  One  of  his ...

You are  returning to Bollywood. Would you work with  a MeToo accused? I already have turned down one film last year in November the moment I heard the director’s name It had come...

 In a  breakthrough  performance, the  pretty Meera  Chopra has finally made an impact as a  rape survivor  in Ajay Bahl’s  Section 375. Meera couldn’t be more relieved. “It’s been  a long and difficult...

At  the end  of the very engaging courtroom drama Section 375  director Ajay Bahl leaves  us with a question mark regarding the rape survivor’s  claim of being raped.  This ambiguous  ending has angered netizens ...

 The Arjun Reddy/ Kabir Singh director Sandeep Vanga has moved on to a  dark crime thriller  entitled  Devil  . And this  time it’s going to be a Hindi film for  Vanga who was flooded with offers  from Bollywood  and Telugu cinema after...

Legends  don’t die.  But they sometimes fade away.  And that’s worse than death especially when they’ve known the kind of super-stardom that Rajesh Khanna experienced   between  1969 and 1974. Between  Aradhana and  Aap Ki Kasam.  I should know....

 The  young Ali Fazal is rapidly acquiring an international stature in Great Britain where he  co-starred   with, ahem, Dame Judi Dench  in  the well-received  pseudo-historical Victoria & Abdul in  2017.  Ali, who will  next be...

Anubhav Sinha’s Article 15  already promises  to take  Ayushmann Khurrana’s  career  to  another level even  before release. He plays a cop determined to bring justice to the socio-economically challenged in an oppressed village of  Uttar Pradesh. With...

The raging fire that  destroyed  the   set  of David Dhawan’s Coolie No 1 at Filmistan  studios (Mumbai)   has  put a  brake  Varun Dhawan and  his co-star  Sara Ali Khan’s remake. Sources say  the shooting for Coolie...

As  someone  who has known Ram Gopal Varma, aka Ramu, for  more than two decades, it really saddens me to see him reduced to the role of fellow-filmmaker Puri Jagganadh’s unpaid(?) publicist. It is fine...

As  far karmic coincidences  go , this takes  the  cake and  the bakery. On  September 13 , the date when director Shonali  Bose  lost her precious son  Ishan, her new film the...

Dream Girl Starring:  Ayushmann Khurrana, Nushrat Bharucha, Annu  Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, Abhishek Bannerjee, Raj Bhansali, Nidhi Bisht Directed by Raaj Shaandilya Rating: ****(4 stars) Way back in the 1977 when Dream Girl meant Hema Malini,Dharmendra sang  Anand Bakshi’s  truly  romantic line Kissi shaayar ki ghazal , Dream Girl….  42  years later  the  ceaselessly enterprising Vijay Raaz  plays  a self-styled shaayar ...

Section 375 Starring Akshaye Khanna,  Richa Chadha, Meera  Chopra, Rahul Bhat Directed  by Ajay Bahl Rating: ****(4 stars) A  very pretty Maharashtrian girl steps  out of  her  humble home  to go to her workplace  when a neighbour shouts out,  ‘Ae Madhuri Dixit.’ ...

 The  Federation Of Western India  Cine Employees(FWICE)  in a strongly-worded series  of letters has  condemned  Diljit Dosanjh,  Saif Ali Khan and singer Shreya Ghosal for  agreeing to perform at a US concert  on September 21 organized  by...

 Aamir Khan’s Decision To Work In MeToo Director’s Film Causes Outrage, Tanushree Dutta Lashes Out This week after  great deliberation  Aamir Khan decided  to  play the late music baron Gulshan Kumar in a  bio-pic  directed ...

Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone  together  for the first time in  Farah  Khan’s Satte  Pe Satta sounds like  a  casting  coup. But  it isn’t really  true. While Hrithik has given  his  nod,...

 The failure  boxoffice  performance  of  Saaho has  put a question mark on the next big Telugu release Sye Raa Narsimha Reddy. Like  Saaho  , this ambitious  bio-pic  of a freedom fighter  has also been dubbed  into Hindi ,...

It  is a sign of  Indian cinema’s maturation  that  leading men are no longer apprehensive  about playing gay characters.While the taboo broke  long back in the West, Indian cinema took...

Ajay Bahl who directed the  startling sexually charged unorthodox feature   BA Pass in 2012  is back  with another  eyebrow-raising  film  . Sex is  a predominant factor in Bahl’s  new  film Article  375  as well....

Blinded By The Light (Netflix) Starring  Viveik Kalra, Aaron Phagura,Nell Williams Directed by Gurinder Chadha Rating: *** ½ (3 and a half stars) What  Danny Boyle couldn’t  do to  the Beatles,  Gurinder Chadha has done for Bruce Springsteen...

Nitesh Tiwary’s  wonderfully  lifelike  film Chhichhore gathered momentum on Saturday  evening at the the boxoffice after a slow start.According to  boxofficeindia.com the  film’s collections rose by  70 percent on  Day 2. Relieved and  joyful producer Sajid Nadiadwala says, “We...

Is it fair  to  attack the Saaho  director  Sujeeth Reddy  alone  for  the  way the film finally  shaped up?  From what  one hears  the  film’s leading man  Prabhas was as  hands-on  during the  making...

The trailer  of  Shonali Bose’s  awaited family drama  The Sky Is Pink  is  so  euphoric it left me  giddy with  joy and made me completely  forget that there  is  a tragedy  and a...

Late  Night(Amazon) Starring Emma Thomson, Mindy  Kaling Directed  by Nisha Ganatra Rating: *** ½(3 and ahalf stars) I can’t recall the  last time when I had  so much LOL fun watching a  film. For one, the imploding ...