ITV

Tag: Anupam Kher

  • ‘Main Tera Hero’: David & Dhavan

    ‘Main Tera Hero’: David & Dhavan

    MUMBAI: When watching a David Dhavan film, remember he is a Manmohan Desai fan and believes in making films to entertain. Ergo, don’t look for logic or argue about the last scene and the next being not connected. As long as the film gives you ‘time pass’ his agenda has been met. A father directing his son is a rare privilege enjoyed by very few filmmakers. Here, David directs his son, Varun Dhavan.

    Varun is a good-for-nothing boy studying in Coonoor and, obviously, finds it hard to get through his class. Many of his fellow students go to Bengaluru to study and come back with better results. Varun also decides to do that. Once in a Bengaluru college, the inevitable happens. He spots Ileana D’Cruz and, for him, it is love at first sight. Since this is a remake of the Telugu film, Kandireega, what follows is bizarre! It happens only in South Indian films and that is, Ileana is being watched over by a bunch of goons delegated by Arunoday Singh, a local cop who is in love with her and overtly possessive about her so no one dare look at her, let alone come anywhere near her or love her. Arunoday is always accompanied by a fellow cop and his sidekick, Rajpal Yadav.

    Well, Varun has already fallen for her and is not scared of Arunoday which he proves at first opportunity by thrashing his goons. Next he should be thrashing Arunoday and that would be the end of the story. But that would also mean the end of the film less than hour into it. For the sake of affording the film its full 2-hours-plus run, Arunoday challenges Varun to win over Ileana in the next three days or else face his wrath.

    Varun wins over Ileana even before he starts and Arunoday should not be a hurdle anymore.  And he is not, but there is a bigger challenge for Varun now. His lady love, Ileana is kidnapped and the man behind it is the father of a girl who fell for Varun when he was on his way to Bengaluru. It so happened that he fought some rowdy boys on the way and a girl, Nargis Fakhri, who captured his actions on her handycam had fallen for him. She happens to be the daughter of the biggest don operating between Asia and Africa, Anupam Kher. Ileana has been kidnapped by the don’s man so that Varun follows her and Kher can then make him marry his daughter, Nargis!

    Producers: Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor.

    Director: David Dhavan.

    Cast: Varun Dhawa,Ileana D’Cruz, Nargis Fakhri, Arunoday Singh, Anupam Kher, Evelyn Sharma, Raju Kher.

    Anupam is supposed to be sinister, pulling out a gun at the drop of a hat. But for the sake of entertainment, he is more of a caricature, with Saurabh Shukla as his sidekick. As if that were not enough, Arunoday, along with his sidekick, Rajpal, has also followed Varun to Anupam’s den. Varun has ten days to marry Nargis. Meanwhile, he has to pretend to be in love with Nargis while trying to get her out of his hair so he can romance with his true love, Ileana. The only help he has is from lord Ganesh and Jesus Christ, their statues talking back to him. Finally, Nargis finds her true love in Arunoday with some help and prodding from Varun.

    While the first half is fun and dance and battles of one-upmanship with Arunoday, the film gathers more pace in second half as more characters are added in the form of Anupam, Saurabh and Nargis. Being a Telugu remake, some aspects may seem farfetched: like the character of Arunoday, a mere inspector who terrorises a girl and her parents as he plans to marry her, that too in a metro like Bengaluru.

    David Dhavan directs his son and has rightly chosen to make a light entertainer which usually don’t backfire and fit the slot of a typical David film. As usual, he also does not get carried away with length and restricts the film to 128 minutes. The film has peppy music and provides scope for Varun to showcase his dancing prowess. However, the background score is full of pieces from RD Burman and Bappi Lahiri repertoire. Cinematography is good. Varun has an easy job of playing a carefree young man with the role requiring no drama. But why is he imitating Govinda and Anil Kapoor? Ileana is okay while Nargis has little to do. Anupam and Saurabh are in their element providing much of the fun. Shakti Kapoor in guest role lends his presence.

    On the whole, Main Tera Hero is a fair entertainer with a reasonably good opening response. While the T20 may affect its collections on Friday and Sunday (if India qualifies for the finals), in many parts it will have the advantage of Ram Navami and election day holidays.

    Jal: Dry run…

    Kutch, the deserted district of north-west Gujarat, seems to have become the flavour of the season for both commercial as well as offbeat films. Jal is the latest film based in Kutch, dealing with its water problems. The film is about a clairvoyant who can pinpoint a spot where a well can be dug to find water. Now that Narmada waters have reached far-flung corners of Kutch including the borders manned by the army, the subject may seem a bit out of sync but mattered a lot not very long ago.

    Producers: Puneet Singh, Girish Malik, Sumit Kapoor, Yogesh Mittal.

    Director: Girish Malik.

    Cast: Purab H Kohli, Kirti Kulhari, Saidha Jules, Mukul Dev, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Yashpal

    Sharma, Ravi Gossain, Vicky Ahuja.

    Purab Kohli is Bakka who is gifted with this instinct of spotting water underground with the help of his two brass sticks. He is right 60 per cent of the time by his own admission and his village counts on him in the absence of an alternative. When he isolates a spot, they just dig! This is his livelihood. On a personal front, Bakka loves the daughter of the mukhiya of the neighbouring village, Kirti Kulhari, with which his village has a running feud because that village has abundant water while his village has no source of water. Bakka is also loved by his best friend’s sister in his own village, Tannishtha Chatterjee.

    Things change for Bakka and his villagers when a researcher, Saidha Jules, arrives. She sets up her base on the waterfront where thousands of flamingos arrive each year. Soon she notices that the young ones of these flamingos die because of excess salt content in the water. The salt dries up in their wings rendering them flightless. She realises that sweet water needs to be added to this flow of water. Drilling machines are brought in and spots isolated where water could be found. This also provides labour to villagers who are engaged to take the dug sand away. However, despite the drill and the computer, the team fails to find water.

    Bakka’s skills are called upon to identify spots with water. All the three spots he earmarks give water. Bakka becomes a small celebrity and also gets employment from the government. Now the neighbouring village mukhiya is ready to give his daughter to Bakka in marriage. All is going well when his own villagers expect Bakka to borrow the drilling machine from Saidha and her colleague Gary Richardson. But, before he could raise the subject with Saidha she has left having finished her job. Gary also feels he has no use for Bakka now and ignores him. It is while Gary and his team are away that Bakka lures their middleman, Yashpal Sharma, with gold collected from the villagers. But, tragedy strikes, the machine breaks down and all hell breaks loose.

    The happy days are over for Bakka. His efforts to manually dig for water fail. The gold is stolen and he is blamed and thrown out of the village along with his heavily pregnant wife. When, finally, good news comes in the form of an article on his skills and a cheque as a reward, Bakka is nowhere around to collect it.

    While the first half is light with a lot of bonhomie and humour among the villagers, the second half, especially towards the end, becomes heavy with some forced tragedy. Direction is generally good. Background score as well as the choice of folk songs is effective. The highlight of the film is cinematography by Sunita Radia who captures vast vistas of the desert beautifully while also excelling otherwise. Purab is impressive with another good performance coming from Tannishtha. The rest, cast as village folk are natural.

    Jal will find a lot of appreciation from critics as well as on the festival circuit but not find many takers in cinema halls.

  • Vote! Because you must

    Vote! Because you must

    MUMBAI: For every Indian citizen, who is escaping the power to use their own weapon for change, ET NOW India’s #1 Stocks and Business News channel has launched an election special initiative by Brand Equity called ‘Vote, India! with an intent to mobilize voters to cast their franchise.

     

    Under the initiative, three impactful TV films (created by India’s finest advertising agencies – McCann Erickson, Publicis and Leo Burnett) urging India to cast their vote, are now up in the race to be Voted as the Best one.

     

    Practicing democracy to the last bit, the best TV film will be adjudged basis people’s votes; all one needs to do is to log onto the ET NOWs Brand Equity FB page on www.facebook.com/brandequity and cast their vote for the campaign they deem as most effective on or before 1st April.

     

    Along with, the films will be judged by a panel of esteemed jury comprising Akshay Raut, Director General, Election commission of India, Milind Deora – Minister of State Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India), Anupam Kher – Actor, Amitabh Kant –Secretary, Dept of Policy & Promotion & Piyush Pandey, Executive Chairman & National Creative Director Ogilvy & Mather India.

     

    Hosted by Sonali Krishna, the election special Brand Equity episode, announcing the winning Film will feature on Wednesday, April 02 at 10.30 pm followed by repeats on Saturday 2.30 pm & Sunday at 11 am.

  • Winners of the L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014

    Winners of the L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014

    MUMBAI: L’Oréal Paris, the world’s No. 1 beauty brand and Femina, India’s largest women’s magazine once again came together to celebrate India’s women achievers at the third edition of the L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014 at The Leela, Mumbai. The awards celebrated ‘Women of Worth’ in India, honouring women who work selflessly for their communities across 14 categories including Social Impact, Community Causes, Science & Innovation and Education amongst others.

    Honouring women with extraordinary accomplishments and exceptional commitment to their careers and communities, the L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards brought to the fore the strength and contribution of Indian women to society.  The nominees were shortlisted after an extensive research process while identifying each one’s key contribution in their respective fields.

    Manashi Guha, GeneralManager, L’Oréal Paris said, “It gives us immense pleasure to see the L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards grow as a platform that recognizes strong women so committed to the society around them. L’Oréal Paris firmly believes in women empowerment and applauds any woman who bravely takes on a challenge and converts it into an opportunity. I would like to congratulate these Women of Worth for their exemplary work and thank them for inspiring women everywhere to empower themselves and lead an extraordinary life.”

    Sharing his views on organizing these awards, Tarun Rai, CEO, World Wide Media said, “Over 50 years Femina has celebrated and inspired the modern Indian woman through its pages. It was only fitting that we institute and award for women achievers across a variety of fields. In its third edition the L’Oreal Paris Femina Women Awards will celebrate the achievements of 62 nominees. 15 of them will walk away with the stunning ‘Tangram’ trophy.”

    The evening saw distinguished women from various walks of life being felicitated for work done in diverse fields. Sonam A. Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Katrina Kaifalong withAkshay Kumar, Huma Qureshi, NehaDhupia andAnupamKher, Dr. Swati Piramal, Sabyasachi, ZarinaScrewalafrom the esteemed jury members presented the awards. Other guests present at the awards included DiaMirza, Kunal Kapoor, Mini Mathur, SonaliKulkani,  PriaKatariaPuri, PoojaBedi, KalkiKochelin, Neel Bhoopalam, Nimrat Kaur.

    With power packed performances by IshaSharvani, Aditi Mittal &SwanandKirkirethe ceremony brought alive the essence of womanhood in India and made the evening an occasion to remember.

    Rounding off a successful third year of the awards Tanya Chaitanya, Editor, Femina said, “L’Oreal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014 are an out-and-out celebration of the deserving yet the unsung. Women who work tirelessly towards causes close to their heart, chasing excellence in all that they do, women who believe in taking the community along, women who make a huge difference to their surroundings. It is Femina’s honour to have such women achievers step up and take a bow before the world in a befitting all-out extravaganza that the L’Oreal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014 is. Thank you, ladies!”

    Winners of the third edition of L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awards 2014

    L’Oréal Paris Femina Women Awardswere setup in 2012 by two formidable women-centric brands L’Oreal Paris and Femina to honour and provide a platform for women achievers who have done exceptional work in their respective fields. L’Oréal Paris, known for its powerful slogan ‘Because You’re Worth is not just the World’s No.1 beauty brand, but also a brand that embodies self-confidence and empowerment. Femina is synonymous with celebrating women and their achievements and has done pioneering work in putting these achievers in the spotlight for over five decades. Held on an annual basis, the awards will continue to honour and celebrate women achievers for their significant accomplishments towards the evolution of society.

  • Soha Ali Khan joins P&G to help build a P&G Shiksha school in Kolkata

    Soha Ali Khan joins P&G to help build a P&G Shiksha school in Kolkata

    MUMBAI: Having impacted the lives  of over 420, 000 children till date, P&G’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility program P&G Shiksha continues to march forward with the motto ‘Padegha India, Badhega India. In its 10th year, P&G Shiksha makes the necessary infrastructure interventions by building and supporting schools across the country thereby giving children the access to education.  Supporting this endeavour, Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan, who has been associated with the P&G Shiksha initiative for many years, paid a visit to a P&G Shiksha School in Kolkata to help paint the school walls and complete the on-going construction activities at the school. P&G Shiksha’s infrastructure interventions are key to enabling access to education to children across the country. The actress turned teacher for the day, involved the children in some interactive learning by implementing several fun tactics. She also engaged them in a rapid fire round, on a wide range of subjects and was very impressed with the confidence, intelligence, wit and exuberance demonstrated by the P&G Shiksha children.

    The actress also shared her vision of empowering under privileged children with access to education and together with P&G Shiksha urged consumers to make the simple brand choice and join the program’s drive by purchasing P&G products such as Tide, Ariel, Whisper, Pampers, Olay, Head &Shoulders, Pantene, Vicks, Gillette, Oral-B & AmbiPur. These purchases enable the company to channelize part of the sales proceeds towards building and supporting schools across the country.

    In West Bengal alone, P&G Shiksha has improved the lives of nearly 5000 underprivileged children through quality education, by building and supporting over 15 schools. With the objective of improving the quality of education and encouraging more children to stay in school in Kolkata, P&G Shiksha delivers key infrastructure interventions that enables access to education and motivates children to learn every day. P&G Shiksha has also been instrumental in the change by equipping schools with necessary amenities from building classrooms to building toilets, thereby bringing down the dropout rate and improving the overall literacy rate in West Bengal.

    Supporting this initiative, actress Soha Ali Khan said, “I have been associated with P&G Shiksha for many years now and today I feel proud and delighted to be a part of this initiative yet again. I truly believe that education is a basic right of every child and it is heartening to see a movement like P&G Shiksha facilitating education for underprivileged children and helping them realise their dreams and providing them a better standard of living. With 42% rural areas in India still not having access to primary schools and 30% of primary schools not having proper toilets; infrastructure is a key issue at schools across the country. I am thrilled that by painting the school walls today I have been able to play a small role in giving these children a bright and colourful future and ensuring they have access to a fully functional school! I encourage all of you to join the movement by making the simple brand choice of buying P&G products, as a part of the proceeds go towards building and supporting schools. Today, at the P&G Shiksha School, not only did I discover a teacher in me, but also had a lot of fun painting the kids’ lives that are the future of India.”

    P&G Shiksha has over the years received generous support from many thought leaders and celebrities such as Anupam Kher, Dr. Kiran Bedi, Anil Kumble, Rani Mukherjee, John Abraham, Abhay Deol, Farah Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Sameera Reddy, Huma Qureshi, Sushmita Sen, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Sharmila Tagore, Konkona Sen, Neha Dhupia, Soha Ali Khan, Lara Dutta, Preity Zinta, Jacqueline Fernandez, Jatin Das, Shaan, Chitrangada Singh, Soha Ali Khan,  Shruti Hassan and many more.

    P&G Shiksha also allows consumers to share in their support. This can be easily done by buying any P&G Product such as Tide, Ariel, Whisper, Pampers, Olay, Head &Shoulders, Pantene, Vicks, Gillette, Oral-B & AmbiPur and part of the proceeds will go towards building and supporting schools. Consumers can also visit P&G Shiksha’s online partner – Amazon.in (www.amazon.in/pgshiksha) to buy P&G products & support this cause.

    With a motto of ‘Padhega India, Badhega India’ – P&G Shiksha believes that the secret to a brighter India lies in the quality of education of our children.

  • Gulaab Gang: Colourless

    Gulaab Gang: Colourless

    MUMBAI: There are a whole lot of enthusiastic new filmmakers who want to be launched and they are often impressed by a local story, episode or a character that they think, it is a subject apt for a film. But biopics are not accepted in India generally. Even a film like Gandhi only just managed to scrape through. The others, whether on Nehru, Bose, Patel or Ambedkar have been box office disasters.

    The story of Gulaab Gang emanates from a real-life UP character, Sampat Pal Devi, who commandeers a gang of women adorned in pink saris. The gang’s agenda is to get justice for the poor ill-treated women of the area. The makers deny that the story is based on the life of Sampat Pal Devi and even run a slide at the beginning to the effect, but the similarities of not only the basic concept but even the events and incidents are the kinds Devi dealt with. In which case, coincidences to a real life character abound in this film.

    Madhuri Dixit is beaten black and blue by her step mother even as her father looks on. But she is determined to learn to read and write. Next thing you know, Madhuri has suddenly turned into a middle-aged woman who runs this gang-cum-NGO described as Gulaab Gang. Her campus looks like one from a Bruce Lee Kung Fu film teaching a bunch of Chinese students the art of self-defence, except that here there are pink-sari-clad women trying their hands on lathi wielding.

    Producer:  Anubhav Sinha.

    Director: Soumik Sen.

    Cast: Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Priyanka Bose, Divya Jagdale.

    In a poorly conceived script, nobody seems to care for Madhuri and her pink brigade or seems oblivious of it because the crimes against women abound in her region! Her reputation is not enough; every time, she has to demonstrate the power of her lathi brigade! After a couple of demos to establish the might of Gulaab Gang, the routine sets in. The film proceeds to show the same politicians vs police vs ordinary citizen saga which finds its roots in post emergency antiestablishment era of filmmaking.

    It is time to pit Madhuri against her bete noire, Juhi Chawla. She is an overambitious widow of a politician with dubious credentials. She is a well established leader doing very well for herself and her party. Yet she decides to cross swords with Madhuri for no apparent reason. It is only one of the incidents of several for which there is no explanation. Things happen with no reason. The film loses its viewer every few minutes.

    While Madhuri and Juhi are pitted against each other for nothing, the usual caricatures hanging around a politician and well-meaning Taus hanging around Madhuri abound.

    Except for using real life incidents from Sampat’s life, the film has nothing original to offer.  These incidents, which needed to be cemented together to make this into an interesting narration is grossly missing. The direction is shoddy when not amateur; the director has no clue as to his medium or the theme. Dialogue is poor. Editing could have worked to halve the film’s length. The use of music is pretentious with little relevance. Madhuri tries to portray a combination of Santokben Jadeja (Vinay Shukla’s Godmother) and Dhankor Ba (Supriya Pathak in Ram Leela); what is she, a social worker or a don? Juhi is a poor version of her former self.

    Gulaab Gang is an arduous watch; a punishment to sit through.

    Queen: Marry Go Round

    Queen is a coming of age movie. While we keep making the odd coming-of-age hero-oriented film now and then, their scripts remain half-baked. Queen is about a girl on the verge of her marriage who gets a second chance to see the world and come out of her cocoon.

    Kangana Ranaut is Rani and her boyfriend has dubbed her queen. Kangana is from a traditional Punjabi halwai family leading a disciplined life. She is the obedient, home-to-college/college-to-home type. Rajkummar Rao, the son of a family friend, is besotted with her simple beauty and starts chasing her. Since the families know each other, a marriage date is soon fixed.

    Producers: Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane.

    Director: Vikas Bahl.

    Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon.

    Rajkummar is now a foreign-returned groom, having just got back from finishing his education in London. A couple of days before the marriage date, his foreign experience catches up with him. He does not want to marry Kangana anymore; she does not seem his type. He breaks the news to Kangana while his folks do so to her parents.

    Kangana is devastated. Any girl from a traditional family who has known only one man in her life, her groom to be, would be. After spending a couple of days locked up in her room, she emerges to face the world. She has the ticket and the visa to visit Paris, the trip was planned as her honeymoon trip and she decides to make it a solo honeymoon trip.

    A shy and scared Kangana discovers herself in this strange land with a language she does not understand. She befriends the hotel waitress, a single mother, Lisa Haydon, who has some Indian genes in her and can mutter some Hindi. After spending a few days in Paris, Lisa packs her off to Amsterdam. The travel, she feels, will help Kangana and help change her outlook.

    It is time for Rajkummar to miss Kangana and he is back on her spur. He wants to rekindle the romance and even feels jealous when he sees her in the company of other men. But Kangana is in no hurry. She wants to complete her tour. Decisions about life can always be taken at leisure.

    Queen is a simple but nice story about traditions vs breaking the shackles. Foreign locations make it a bit more watchable. The film rests solely on the shoulders of Kangana and she does justice to her role. Rajkummar does not fit the romantic hero any which way you look at it; not even if you think of a middle class family. The supporting cast is apt. Songs are well choreographed. Direction is good.

    Queen is a watchable film but suffers due to face value and exams. It will get praises but little from the box office.

    Total Siyapaa: Total Waste

    Total Siyapaa is an idea worth exploring. It is about an independent-minded Indian Punjabi girl falling in love with a Pakistani Punjabi boy in a neutral land that is England. Alas, Total Siyapaa may have the initial idea, but the film fails to develop into something more substantial and falls flat on execution.

    Yaami Gautam is taking her Pakistani boyfriend, Ali Zafar, home to meet her parents, Kirron Kher and Anupam Kher. While Yaami awaits his arrival, Ali is in constant touch with her and mentions having brought a bomb of a gift for her. A Pink Panther kind of cop, gnawing on his doughnut, happens to pick up the word ‘bomb’ and, instead of his girlfriend’s house, Ali finds himself in a police lock up. The level of humour the film plans to unleash on the viewer established, the film proceeds to dish out more of the same.

    Producers: Neeraj Pandey, Shital Bhatia.

    Director: Neeraj Pandey.

    Cast: Ali Zafar, Yaami Gautam, Anupam Kher, Kirron Kher, Sara Khan.

    Even while the debate on acceptance of a prospective Pakistani son-in-law continues, he is already ordered around by Kirron and made to do household chores. In an attempt to defrost soup, the container slips out of Ali’s hands, goes straight out of the kitchen window and lands on Anupam’s head, knocking him unconscious. The police, it is made to look, don’t take too kindly to the Pakistanis and Yaami does her best to keep Ali away from the scene of this accident not knowing the man lying unconscious on the street is her very own father.

    When it is realised that the victim could well be Anupam the action shifts in his direction. Efforts to create funny situations out of his hospitalization, his encounter with a hooker and his family’s search for him don’t succeed. There is no comedy; the situations are just not funny enough. There are some side tracks like Yaami’s sister, Sara Khan, who has had a fight with her husband and has come to stay with her parents, and a running tiff with the Pakistani neighbors. The grandfather’s track is juvenile.

    Performances are generally mediocre. Yaami is okay. Ali can’t act and ends up making awkward gestures with his hands. Kirron does what she is expected to do: play a loud Punjabi woman. Anupam is wasted. Sara Khan does well while the best of the lot is the child who plays Sara’s daughter; she is the only natural one.

    The script is loose and lacking in substance, which makes the direction as uninspiring. The film has two good songs in Nahi maloom….. and Chal Buleya…

    A poor fare with indifferent public response, Total Siyapaa faces the threat of discontinuation from cinema halls mid-week.

  • Tata Sky brings the ithaas of Ramayana to you

    Tata Sky brings the ithaas of Ramayana to you

    MUMBAI: Tata Sky, India’s leading DTH service provider brings Ramayana, the popular and timeless Indian epic once again on to television with a twist. Starting this month, the Ramayana tales will a part of Tata Sky’s interactive platform – Actve Music every Sunday.

    Tata Sky gives its subscribers an opportunity to relive a total of 1300 minutes of exhilarating audio entertainment of the Ramayana at convenient time slots throughout their Sundays with voice over’s from some of Indian cinemas most profound and famous personalities such as Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Javed Jafri, Om Puri etc. The classic epic is divided into 120 episodes of 10 mins each which will be played on Bhakti Sagar channel every Sunday.

    Commenting on this unique introduction, Vikram Mehra, Chief Commercial Officer at Tata Sky said, “In today’s day and age every parent seems to be struggling to ensure that their child in the 21st century, should be aware of Indian history and religious folks, one way or the other. This offering ensures that customers from all age groups to enjoy the offering, relaxed on a Sunday with their entire family in the comfort of their homes.”

    Tata Sky’s Actve Music has time and again revamped itself, catering to the likes of its subscribers, this time by introducing music genres such as Classical, Kannada Devotional, Spiritual Music, Blues and Jazz, English Hits & Classics. Actve Music’s USP continues to be a 24×7 music platform with subscriber’s choice of music with no ad-breaks, no RJ or VJ interruption. Now with the Ramayana on Actve Music subscribers have an enduring epic as new offerings to enjoy.

     

  • Anupam Kher to anchor The Power of Shunya – Quest for Zero! on Times Now

    Anupam Kher to anchor The Power of Shunya – Quest for Zero! on Times Now

    NEW DELHI: Times Now has linked up with DuPont for the series Power of Shunya – Quest for Zero which commenced telecast over the weekend.

     

    This path breaking show is being anchored by the much celebrated Padma Shri awardee Anupam Kher. The series will examine the critical challenges facing a growing India, and showcase the various companies, individuals who have done pioneering work to find practical science based solutions for the same.

     

    The Power of Shunya: Quest for Zero is telecast on Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and repeated on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.

     

    In its journey across 16 episodes, the Power of Shunya will explore among various disciplines sustainable science based solutions to core issues plaguing a growing economy like A quest to feed a growing population with zero hungry mouths, a quest to build a new infrastructure with zero construction casualties, a quest to provide electricity to villages with a zero carbon footprint and a quest for zero nutrition deficiency while showcasing companies and everyday individuals who are in their own way striving to unlock the power of zero to deliver maximum growth at zero impact.

     

    Speaking on the initiative DuPont South Asia and ASEAN president Rajeev A Vaidya stated, “At DuPont India, we identify with this powerful idea; it is very close to DuPont’s philosophy that the way to make progress against a goal . . . a safer workplace, for example . . . is to embrace a commitment to zero workplace accidents. The Power of Shunya expresses both that commitment and our ambitions as a company to help find collaborative, science-powered solutions tailored to India’s unique challenges. We are delighted to be partnering with Times Now to showcase companies and individuals epitomising the spirit of Indian ingenuity that is already making a difference to the lives of millions of Indians every day and for generations into the future.”

     

    Speaking on his association, Kher stated “I personally believe that Shunya is the most powerful number. I have constantly gone back to ground zero and reinvented myself. To innovate you have to constantly unlearn and infuse new energy and thinking. I am excited to be a part of this path breaking initiative as I believe that scientific solutions showcased in the show truly have the power to solve India’s problems.”

     

    Speaking on the launch of the series Times Now, ET Now and Zoom CEO Avinash Kaul said “Times Television Network is proud to collaborate with DuPont on this quest. At Times Television Network we consistently strive to bring differentiated content to the viewers and the Power of Shunya series is a glowing example of it. The series is backed with extensive research and high production standards and has been meticulously put together in a slick format giving it a very international appeal.”

     

    Times Now, ET Now and Zoom business head branded content Hemant Arora, added: “The journey of making Project Shunya a reality has been simply fantastic. DuPont and Ogilvy entertainment teams brought unmatched passion to the table and that drove us to create something that would stand the test of any world class benchmark in terms of content as well as the desired impact.”

     

    Each episode will outline the key challenges through three unique case studies. The focus will be on devising sustainable solutions and will reiterate the problem that requires to be addressed, the power of science and innovation in addressing the challenge and the impact of these innovations on companies, individuals and Indian society.

  • Anupam Kher honoured with a City Proclamation in LA

    Anupam Kher honoured with a City Proclamation in LA

    MUMBAI: Veteran Bollywood actor Anupam Kher, who was recently seen in Oscar winning film Silver Linings Playbook, was honoured by Los Angeles City Council president Herb J. Wesson, Jr and 4th District council member Tom Labonge with a City Proclamation at Los Angeles City Hall on 26 February.

    The actor was much appreciated in Bend It Like Beckham and went on to do Bride & Prejudice, The Mistress of Spices, American Blend, Hope and a Little Sugar, Midnight‘s Children and appeared on the medical drama series ER in the role of Parminder Nagra‘s (Dr. Neela Rasgotra in the show) father.

    Kher said, "It is a big event because I am being honoured as an actor, and not only as an Indian actor. The Proclamation from the City of Los Angeles would be an endorsement of the fact that Asian actors are not seen as peculiar phenomena on a global platform. Of course, most of my films are Indian and I am an Indian actor. It was given to me on the same day as they gave it to the Legendary Dick Van Dyke."

  • Direction of Special 26 is good, ABCD’s wonderful

    Direction of Special 26 is good, ABCD’s wonderful

    MUMBAI: Special 26 is a caper movie with a story set in the 1980s. The story is inspired by a real life heist in Mumbai in 1987 when a famous jewellery shop in South Mumbai was raided by a team of fake CBI that took away valuables worth many lakhs. Coming from the writer-director of the acclaimed 2008 film, “A Wednesday”, the expectations from Special 26 were high.

    Producers: Shital Bhatia, Kumar Mangat.

    Director: Neeraj Pandey.

    Cast: Akshay Kumar, Anupam Kher, Manoj Bajpai, Jimmy Shergill, Kajal Aggarwal, Divya Dutta, Rajesh Sharma.

    Akshay Kumar aspires to join CBI but fails the entrance exams and is rejected. Undeterred, he forms his own personal CBI team with Anupam Kher, Rajesh Sharma and Kishore Kadam. This was the era of parallel economy, where much black money was involved in day-to-day transactions. The purpose of his “team” is to raid targets like jewellers and politicians in the name of the income tax department or the CBI as per need. The raids always go unreported: the targets dare not complain as it is a matter of black money. Kumar‘s team members are all spread out in different cities and how they came together is not explained.

    The team‘s targets so far have been small and medium range. Kher feels he is getting old and wants Kumar to plan one big heist so he can retire; Kumar has same plan in mind because his lady love, Kajal Aggarwal, a school teacher, is to be married off in a month‘s time. So, with a strict deadline, he plans to carry out one last job and vanish with his love.

    Meanwhile, Kumar‘s team raids a politician in Delhi. His modus operandi is simple but aggressive. He chooses his target and calls up the local police team of Jimmy Shergill and Divya Dutta as back up. This puts up a convincing show for the target. The politician is not willing to lodge an official complaint because it was all graft money and also because if leaked, the story would make him look like a fool among his people. However, since a real cop was witness and party to the incident, the police chief suspends him along with his aide, Divya Dutta while deciding to carry on the investigation off the record.

    Suspended and humiliated, Shergill has started his own investigation into the team. He approaches the real CBI, Manoj Bajpai. A chase around Delhi‘s crowded commercial areas to catch a criminal establishes Bajpai‘s sincerity, determination and bravery. His orders are to catch the fake CBI team and end their run of robberies which is about to reach half century. Meanwhile, Kumar‘s team is in the process of raiding a trader in Kolkata. But a real CBI team is already present there on their assignment. Kumar is a quick thinker and unfazed, he introduces his team as income tax officers, berates Kher for coming to wrong address and changes his target instantly. When the heist is over, he actually seeks the help of real CBI cops to carry the loot to his vehicle. The news reaches Bajpai, making him even more determined to catch the team.

    Aggarwal‘s wedding cards are printed and with the day nearing. Kumar plans his last big hit. It is the biggest jewellery shop in Mumbai, run by Tikku Talsania. However, he needs a huge team to carry out this job. He inserts a classified in a newspaper for aspiring young men and women for a job in CBI. Everything is carried out impressively. The candidates are interviewed at a five-star hotel and 26 candidates selected. They are to be trained next day in a two-hour lecture and finally tested in a raid which Kumar calls ‘Practical Training‘. Bajpai is in Mumbai along with Shergill keeping an eye on the happenings. He plants two of his own men in the team of 26. Thus is set up the climax, where Kumar and his gang will either escape or be caught.

    Special 26 sets a good pace with its first heist. One expects that pace to continue but that does not happen. The film goes onto dwell in the personal lives of the main protagonists. The second heist too is interesting but the proceedings quickly slow down again as Kumar plans his last trick. Finally, when it happens, the last raid makes the final half hour interesting and something to take away from the film.

    Coming from Neeraj Pandey, whose “A Wednesday” was a thrilling experience, Special 26 falls short on that count as it sags at times. It has Kumar but no scope for romance, music or action. The story does not go into the background of its characters nor how they came together. But overall the direction is good with an eye for details and in keeping with the ambience of 1980s.

    Performance wise, the film has unanimously good shows by all the actors. Kumar with his deadpan poker face is convincing as a CBI officer. Kher is excellent. So are Rajesh Sharma and Kishore Kadam. Manoj Bajpai as the determined CBI officer is very good. Jimmy Shergill, though cast in a side character, underplays very well. Divya Dutta, with just one line to speak every time, lends able support. Kajal Aggrwal has little to do.

    Special 26 has earned good reports and needs to improve over the weekend when it will require a huge leap at the box office to guarantee safe returns.

    ABCD: Any Body Can Dance 3-D Review

    Producers: Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur.

    Director: Remo D‘Souza.

    Cast: Prabhudheva, Kay Kay Menon, Ganesh Acharya, Dharmesh Yelonde, Salman Yussuf Khan, Lauren Gottlieb, Noorin Shah, Vrushali Chavan, Bhawna Khanduja, Punit Pathak, Mayuresh Wadkar, Sushant Pujar, Prince, Firoz Khan.

    ABCD: Any Body Can Dance is the first musical/ dance film in 3-D, which is used mainly in dance scenes. A dance film needs a cause, a challenge and a desire to do better than others. Prabhudheva, the master choreographer and dancer, finds all three when he is betrayed by his partner.

    Prabhudheva is a choreographer at Jehangir Dance Academy, run by Kay Kay Menon. The academy always wins first spot on a major TV dance competition. The competition is in its final round and, as usual, Menon‘s academy wins. However, Prabhudheva is not satisfied with the performance of the team of dancers he trained and says as much to his boss. Menon‘s answer is that it is not dancing that wins awards; it needs some manipulation, marketing and presentation. To this end, Menon has a plan to employ the services of a foreign choreographer and sideline Prabhudheva. Feeling let down by Menon, he decides to leave and head home to Chennai; after all he had built the academy.

    Prabhudheva books his ticket to Chennai but in the meanwhile takes refuge with Ganesh Acharya, a wannabe choreographer. Acharya does not want him to give up so easily and forces him to stay back and build a new team of dancers. Prabhudheva notices a few boys from the basti being chased by cops. He is impressed with the acrobatics and agility they use to dodge the cops. Later, he sees the same boys dancing during a Ganesh festival. He finds some hope in this bunch and decides to train them. The local politician provides him with a warehouse which is soon turned into a dance studio. There is rivalry between two groups in the basti so as one group of boys join the training, the other merely watches from the outside. Eventually, as they watch the process, they also join for after all there is a dancer in all of them and Prabhudheva‘s conviction is that Any Body Can Dance. The latest addition to the studio is a drug addict being chased by the police; he decides to mingle with the dancers to avoid the police. Not convinced he is one of the dancers, the police ask him to demonstrate. Funnily, his demonstration of dance is like an addict deprived of his regular fix. However, Prabhudheva sees a potential dancer in him too, one with a spark to become the lead dancer.

    The job looks near impossible as the dancers fumble and fall and keep fighting among themselves. There is no trust between the rival groups. Even in the elimination round, they start fighting on stage. They are instantly disqualified but Menon is delighted. He asks the organiser not to disqualify Prabhudheva‘s dancers as they can be the jokers of the competition and make people laugh. Menon wants to see Prabhudheva humiliated publicly. The disqualification is revoked. Prabhudheva is livid but decides to start all over again. He does that by first ending the enmity in the groups. Unless they unite, they cannot be a team.

    With the group ready and as if to rebuff Menon‘s taunt, they come dressed as jokers and get into second round and, eventually, into the decider. Now Menon sees tough competition for his academy; he tries to break Prabhudheva‘s group with handsome offers. The boys decline because they don‘t want to let their master down. The final round is announced but some manipulation by Menon has resulted in his team taking the opening slot which was otherwise allotted to Prabhdheva‘s dancers. Menon‘s dancers put up the same dance Prabudheva has choreographed for his dancers. Unknown to them, Menon had managed to lure at least one of their dancers who had given away his team‘s routine. Prabhudheva and his dancers have just ten minutes to think up a new routine before they are called on to stage. Prabhudheva tells them to go back to their roots, asking them to dance like they did on the streets at Ganpati. He wants them to dance like all Indians dance, with no rules or routine.

    This final dance and the one before that are the highlight of ABCD. After all, this is a dance musical and a story of a betrayed artiste and the underdogs he nurtures; when an underdog is contesting, the masses root for them. The final dance takes a bit from parts of India but is centred on a Ganesh stuti. Everybody loves Shri Ganesh and it turns out to be the masterstroke.

    ABCD is all about choreography and creating an atmosphere for music and dances. Director Remo D‘souza does that wonderfully. The disco number and the last two dances are excellent; the crowds are ably arranged and handled. The new talent in Dharmesh Yelonde, Salman Yussuf Khan, Lauren Gottlieb, Noorin Shah, Vrushali Chavan, Bhawna Khanduja, Punit Pathak, Mayuresh Wadkar, Sushant Pujar and Prince and Firoz Khan live up to expectations with their dances. Of the veterans, Prabhudheva plays the various shades and phases he passes through with total conviction. Kay Kay Menon in a small negative role is good. Ganesh Acharya is not much of an actor; he overacts. The expenses show in the costumes and sets as well as crowd scenes. Though tacky in parts, ABCD makes up with its second half and the climax.

    ABCD: Any Body Can Dance has a huge appeal for youth and masses and will have smooth sailing at the box office. The film‘s opening is very good.

  • Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 to open on 7 June, 2013

    Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 to open on 7 June, 2013

    MUMBAI: Producers Samir Karnik and Nitin Manmohan, who operate Top Angle Productions, have decided to release Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 on 7 June, next year.

    Going by the stupendous success of the first part, the producers are on a shooting spree with Dharmendra and his sons Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol taking active part in the shoots. They recently wrapped up the London Schedule on 4 December. The remaining portions will be shot in Varanasi early next year.

    According to Sunny, the London schedule was the longest schedule shot overseas for any film with the film extensively shot in Leicester and Birmingham.

    While the Deols will reprise their roles from the previous film, Neha Sharma and Kristina Akheeva will play the female leads.

    The film also features Johnny Lever, Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Sucheta Khanna in pivotal roles. The Film is been directed by Sangeeth Sivan.