Happy birthday to Anil Kapoor.

Happy birthday to Anil Kapoor.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to superstar Anil Kapoor on 24th December, 2009. Critics argue that other than Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor and Amitabh Bacchan, no other actor in India had the same amount of individual talent as that of Anil Kapoor. He had sustained the heat and storm of bollywood films for more than 25 years and even at an age of 50, still remains an indispensable figure in bollywood industry. Although Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan took the industry by storm from the mid-90s, but Anil Kapoor had given one hit or the other in all those years.

Furthermore those actors who had come with Anil Kapoor like Jackie Shroff, Sunny Deol and others shifted to character acting, but Anil Kapoor still remained hero in the recent period. That describes his talent in totality. In 2008, he had played different types of roles.

In Race, the first super hit film of 2008, Anil Kapoor played the role of detective who had solved the mystery relating to the death of Saif Ali Khan. He disclosed the fact that Saif Ali Khan had not died but his death was planted. He also witnessed the death of Akshay Khanna when he competed with Saif Ali Khan in a car race. The film was related to the devolvement of family property between the two brothers. Anil Kapoor balanced the suspense –drama with action stunts of Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Khanna and dance sequences of Katrina Kaif, Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy. The songs composed by Pritam like “pehli nazar”, “allah duhayi hai” became landmark hits in the early part of the year.

He acted in a negative role in the big banner film Tashan with Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar. He sent Akshay Kumar to collect the debts of Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Akshay Kumar discovered his childhood relationship with Kareena Kapoor and took revenge against Anil Kapoor at the end of the film in a power-pact action sequence. Although the film could not do justice to the star-cast and high expectations of the audience of the country, the funny performance of Anil Kapoor could not be ignored.

Anil Kapoor was sublime in Subhash Ghai’s musical venture Yuvvraaj that was released in the last part of the year. It was the first time that Subhash Ghai, AR Rehman and Gulzar had united together to compose the music of the film, and the music had already become hit. The hit songs of the film included “tu muskura”, “shanno shanno”, “to mera dost hai”, etc. Although Subhash Ghai concentrated more on the romantic presentation of the relationship between Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in the film, the performance of Anil Kapoor as the elder brother and an innocent character appealed to the viewers the most. The audience has so much weakness for Anil Kapoor that the scene where Zaid Khan had slapped Anil Kapoor had created negative impact on the crowds and there were requests of editing of the scene. Although the film did not get box-office Anil Kapoor’s splendid performance was appreciated.

In 2009, the film directed by Anil Kapoor titled Short Cut, got critical acclamation. He had cast Akshay Khanna in the lead role who played the role of a devoted director. He was cheated by the actor Arshad Warsi who got success in films by short cut. Akshay Khanna used him in his own film and took revenge against the cheating committed by Arshad Warsi. Sonu Nigam’s song “kal nau baje” appealed to the viewers. The film he had produced in 2009, titled Slumdog Millionaire, won numerous number of Oscar awards, including the best composer award won by AR Rehman. Anil Kapoor is continuing with his directoral projects ahead.

In his long career, Anil Kapoor had acted with giants like Dilip Kumar and Big B in Sholay; Dilip Kumar, Nasiruddin Shah, Jackie Shroff in Karma, Nutan in Meri Jung, etc. He had performed in every type of film including romantic films, comedy films, action dramas, serious films, etc. He had acted different actresses ranging from Padmini Kolhapuri, Sri Devi, Madhuri Dixit to Tabu, Aishwarya Rai, Lara Dutta, to name a few.

Articles after articles can be devoted to the versatile actor. His notable films include Mr. India, Meri Jung, Tezaab, Pukar, Nayak, Virasat, No Entry, to name a few. He received filmfare awards, national awards for best actor and other awards dedicated for the excellence in bollywood cinema. Critics say that he never received the recognition that he deserved in life.

Even then the viewers expect him to continue the good work and entertain the viewers in the same way both as actor and also producer, director, as he did in the last 25 years.

Short cut had shown crude realities of bollywood industry.

Short cut had shown crude realities of bollywood film industry.

Anil Kapoor’s project Short cut had shown the crude realties of bollywood film industry. Those actors who hardly can even play a proper character had become superstars over the years. Arshad Warsi’s character was used to show the success of less-callibered performers in bollywood. Once they had been made stars, whatever they had done had become myths.

Akshay Khanna’s character had also shown that directors who had been innovative over the years and did original work could not get breaks. Stories were stolen, ideas were robbed, scripts were copied. This has been the story of bollywood industry for the last 25 years.

There was a time, during the 50s and 60s, when genuine creative work was appreciated. Audience were educated, learned, cultured and able to appreciate rich creations. Directors like Bimal Roy could make risky films like Devdas, Do Beegha Zamin, Madhumati, Kabuliwala, etc., which were appreciated and got box-office success as well. Actors like Dilip Kumar who were tragedians ruled the industry. Even Raj Kapoor could experiment with serious subjects in films like Boot Polish, Jaagte Raho, etc.

Music in bollywood films reached their level of excellence with composers like Naushad, Shankar Jaikishan, Roshan, Salil Choudhury,etc., lyricists like Sahir Ludhianvi, Shailendra, Kaifi Azmi, singers like Rafi, Lata, Manna Dey, and others sang even pure classical numbers which were digested and liked by the audience. The concept of commercial films and art films did not develop at that stage.

In the recent past it had been seen, that the industry had been run by influential people, who had contacts, good distribution capability and were engaged in politics who did shine. Akshay Khanna and Arshad Warsi were characters who tried to depict the reality of modern bollywood industry. Purely talented characters in all the fields of the film industry, had struggled to get producers to finance their work in recent past, and sometimes their work had been copied or stolen and reproduced by others. Anil Kapoor had been daring enough to deal with a subject which could have brought lot of controversy. Viewers should see the film.

Review of Anil Kapoor's Shortcut.

Review of Anil Kapoor’s Shortcut.

Anil Kapoor had come up with another production venture titled Shortcut. The full name of the film is Shortcut –the con is on. Akshay Khanna had been a struggling assistant director in the film. He met a struggling actor Arshad Warsi and both dreamt about getting good start to their career. Although Akshay Khanna had merit and deserved a good project, Arshad Warsi was nothing better than a joker. He himself thought that he had a lot of potentials and deserved good role.

Arshad Warsi stole Akshay Khanna’s script and used it for his own purpose. Akshay Khanna got dejected. Even her wife Amrita Rao left her after she came to know about the entire incident. The rest of the film was related to the manner in which Akshay Khanna tried to reconcile with Arshad Warsi and manage with him for his own cause.

The film had been shot in the romantic locations of Thailand. Along with the comedy elements in the films there were romantic sequences as well. Anil Kapoor was ably supported by director Neeraj Bhora. Neeraj Bhora previously had experience in making comedy films like Hera Pheri, where his work was appreciated.

Shankar Ehsaan Loy composed music in the film. They had done a great job once again. Most of the songs were innovative, especially “kal nau baje” had a great romantic appeal. The song already had become hit even before the release of the film. The performance of Akshay Khanna and Arshad Warsi were brilliant. Akshay Khanna is probably the only actor in bollywood who had lost his hair, yet had maintained his steady stardom. Amrita Rao did well in the film.

Anil Kapoor as producer, can expect a good response. The viewers will also enjoy the guest appearance of Sanjay Dutt in a song sequence in the film. The film has all the elements of success and is going to be hit.