Genius A R Rahman wins Oscar Award for the Best Original Soundtrack for Slumdog Millionaire and for Best Original Soundtrack – Jai Ho for the same movie.
Slumdog Millionaire has swept Oscars with awards in almost all categories it was nominated including Best Picture, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing etc.
It was great to see Rahman’s speech of choosing love over hate. Simple message. Universal message. The feeling of seeing Jai Ho and O Saaya being played live at Oscars was really special.
Time to Celebrate Rahman and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. This British Movie has done India proud !
All TV Channels in India are Euphoric. All People are Euphoric. Let us celebrate !
Slumdog Millionaire featuring Indian story and actors will be in contention for various awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Music Director.
Aamir Khan has won the CNBC Outstanding Business Leader Award in the Entertainment Category. Aamir received this award from Shri Mukesh Ambani. Aamir Khan also received the NDTV Indian of The Year Award in Entertainment Category. Akshay Kumar received the Best Actor Award – Popular at Nokia Screen Awards but he conferred the award to Aamir Khan. It was a remarkable gesture by Akshay but it also spoke of Aamir’s new found stature in the Indian industry.
Incidentally, Shri Narendra Modi was also present there and they seemed to have bonded well after the past spat on Narmada Issue.
Ghajini is moving towards 250 crores. Aamir Mania continues….
Indian film industry has been getting lot of academic attention recently. Institutions like IIMs, S P Jain have already introduced case studies on movies like Chak De India.
Finally, the film industry gets a serious academic analysis as a business. IIMA, under the leadership of Professor Tejas Desai, is a introducing a course on film-making. The course is called ‘Introduction to Contemporary Film Industry’ and starts from Dec 23.
Leading lights of Bollywood including Aamir Khan, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sanjay Gadhavi are going to be taking classes and sharing their insights.
Prof Tejas Desai is a PhD in Biostatistics, an innovative thinker and a movie fan!
When he was a sophomore, Tejas Desai, then 19, began as a film projectionist in the US. Like scores of other students, Desai took up the job to support his undergraduation studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The sophomore graduated and went on to do his PhD in bio-statistics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Back home, Desai joined the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) as an assistant professor, yet the short stint as a film projectionist haunted him and it didn’t help that movies were becoming his favourite pastime. That is when Desai thought he would use films as a tool to teach young management students.
I had the good fortune of meeting Prof Tejas Desai. He said that lot of intellectual studies and analysis happen for new and old industries. But nobody is looking at Bollywood.
Good thinking!
Well, this course is definitely going to be a blockbuster !
Slumdog Millionaire is creating buzz all around. The movie follows the universal themes of love, destiny and determination. It is based on Vikas Swarup’s novel Q & A.
The movie has music by A R Rahman and stars Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan along with the lead actor Dev Patel.
Fantastic, Amazing, Rocking – Superlatives that have already been used for Rock On! For a change, these superlatives seem to be well justified.
Dil Chahta was coming of an age movie for Bollywood. Farhan Akhtar is a part of another defining movie for Bollywood. Do not think of it as a Rock Music movie. Do not compare it with Hollywood movies of same genre. We have a long way to go there. However, we should appreciate that Bollywood is moving towards Hollywood….Manorama Six Feet Under, Taare Zameen Par….Rock On will be another milestone on that road.
Rock On is a cool movie. The movie is very contemporary and urban. The brilliant script is given primary importance. The characters are well-defined. The casting is spot on. The look of the film is meticulously perfect. I liked the styling of Farhan Akhtar’s apartment. The music and lyrics of the movie touch you.
Farhan Akhtar as Aditya Shroff, Arjun Rampal as Joe, Shahana Goswami as Debbie leave strong impact on you. All the other important actors including Prachi Desai, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny have done credible job.
The characters display an high level of maturity. There is no melodrama between Aditya and Saakshi, when she discovers his past relationship. Deby’s practical reasoning and advice to Joe are part of real life. Aditya and Joe have their unparalleled talent, but their egos have destroyed lives of one and all. Yet, when they meet again, there is no acrimony. The movie’s victory is in its small moments. Farhan does not react to Deby’s accusations. The Irani cafe owner does not recognize Luke Kenny. Farhan’s indiffrerence to Joe’s song. KD’s singing act at the party.
Of course, the movie could have been better. There are small loop-holes. The break-up of Aditya and his girl-friend was abrupt. The 10-year chasm between all melts within a few moments. Character of KD & Rob could have been given more meat. However, I would not mind these. It is better than ‘Leave-your-brains-at-home’ movies.
Life is not black and white. There are shades of grey. There are no perfect answers. Questions will remain. Like did Aditya’s ego lead him into grey area? Or Joe’s insecurities got to him?
All the songs are amazing. They have a high level of energy. The Tum Toh Ho is a wonderful ballad. Socha Hai, Rock On will make your heart sing. Phir Dekhiye has inspiring lyrics and Pichle Saat Din is a catchy song. A good music album as well.
The movie’s real hero is Abhishek Kapoor. The integrity of the film maker is genuine. His passion and his special treatment to the movie touches you as well.
Farhan Akhtar also deserves credit for giving Abhishek full liberty and freedom. It would have been difficult for him to give control to someone else. Especially, when he is an successful and accomplished director. Farhan also has done full justice as a producer and displayed his new talent as singer.
Rock On Movie is a metaphor for life. It is not about music. It is about friends. It is about following your dreams. Rock On is one of those movies that have their heart in the right place.
The hype around Chetan Bagat’s new book ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ is understandable. His previous works, Five Point Something and One Night @ The Call Center are runaway hits. They still dominate book store top ten lists in fiction across the country.
And indeed they are well-written, simple and interesting stories with the right message to appeal to today’s youth. Five Point Something inspired other campus stories including Above Average, Watch Out We Are MBA, Anything For You Madam etc. So it is natural to have huge expectations from ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’. And that was the only mistake of all Chetan Bhagat Fans. Like mutual fund disclaimers this is true – past performance is not an indicator of future returns.
I finished ‘The 3 Mistakes of My Life’ in 3 hours. The first thought after reading it was that the author seemed confused. I was at a loss to what the author wanted to convey. The book is full of stereotypes and not in the same league as the first two books. The book is about 3 friends and is set in Ahmedabad with a detour to Australia. It has popular themes like friendship, love, cricket, religion and business to make it a masala book. But it is not different nor presents any new perspective. Even if you do not read this book, you are not at a loss.
The 3 Mistakes of My Life just seemed to be a good marketing title. All the three are not mistakes in true sense. Of the three, two do not seem to error in judgement – but everyone needs to make those errors to grow up. And one mistake is repeated again and again, which does not make it a mistake but a habit.
The book grabs the life and colors of Amdavadi life in a very beautiful manner. The book will be popular in Ahmedabad as people can relate to it better and already Chetan Bhagat, Sudha Murthy are very popular in Ahmedabad. Also Big Bazaar’s Depot and other books stores are heavily promoting the book which has an attractive price tag of Rs 95.
The 3 Mistakes of My Life is readymade for Bollywood. Already, Chetan’s other books are in different stages of production in Bollywood and this is next in line.
Overall, the book is not extraordinary. However, Chetan Bhagat has made his place in Indian publishing history. And even great masters sometimes fail to live upto their usual high standards. It happens. Anyway, we are with you Chetan!
Shah Rukh Khan’s Farah Khan Directed Om Shanti Om and Sony Pictures’ Sanjay Leela Bhansali Directed Saawariya have ensured a gala Diwali at the box office. Both were fully hyped and aggressively promoted movies.So what is the audience verdict ?
Om Shanti Om is going to be a bigger hit. Saawariya had started off well due to headstart over Om Shanti Om in booking. However, it is not likely to continue its close fight and collections will drop in the second week.
Picture perfect scene. Magnificent sets. Attention to minutest details. Good music. Focused theme. This is out and out Sanjay Leela Bhansali movie.
Sanjay Leela Bhansali does not care for the lowest common denominator. His movies are about himself and his expression of certain ideas. If they click with the audience and succeed at box office like Black, great. Else, who cares!
Hollywood’s first Indian production Saawariya is a movie based on White Nights. It is a visual treat and one cannot put your eyes away from the beautiful sets. Omung Kumar has created magic in blue and green. The bridge, RK Bar, Budhha etc are all delight to watch.
Ranbir Kapoort looks promising and is indeed going to go places. He will keep the Kapoor tradition alive. Sonam Kapoor is good but not in the same league as Deepika Padukone. Salman and Rani and Zohra Sehgal give wonderful support to the main lead.
The music is good and songs are artistically picturized. Though one wished that a few songs were eased out.
However inspite of all the positives, the movies fails to impress the audience. The story is quite slow and stretched. People did not like the ending as well. Watch it for visual treat!
Fantastic, Amazing, Rocking – Superlatives that have already been used for 
