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.

AR Rehman's Oscar rewarded his brilliant work for the last 5 years

AR Rehman’s Oscar rewarded his brilliant work for the last 15 years.

AR Rehman’s receiving of Oscar for specific song and background score of the film Slumdog Millionaire had been a reward for the excellent music he had composed in Indian films during the last 15 years. That includes the music for the films in bollywood industry and South Indian industry.

The film produced by Anil Kapoor had shown the realistic picture of the reaction of the police department whenever a slumdweller earns huge sum of money after participating in a quiz competition held in a TV Channel. The depiction of the life in a slum is well appreciated by both the intellectual viewers and also the general audience.

The background score created by AR Rehman had created theme music for the film. In fact as the film was realistic in nature there was not much scope of creating that many number of songs. In fact the Indians are very happy about the recognition of AR Rehman due to his consistent composition of legendary tunes.

AR Rehman had entertained the viewers with his innovative music for more than 15 years. His music in the film Roja, with Arvind Swamy and Madhu astonished the viewers of bollywood films a lot in the early 90s. The songs “roja janeman” and “dil hai chota sa” became super hit in the early 90s. Chitra, Hariharan and other singers contributed very well in the film Roja.

AR Rehman’s music in the film Bombay was successful as well. Songs like “tu hi re” sung by Hariharan stormed bollywood films. AR Rehman was sublime in the film Saathiya. Sonu Nigam’s song “saathiya” and other songs of the film were very melodious. A R Rehman was brilliant in Taal. Songs like “ishq bina kya jina”, “rabba jogi” etc. were unique in nature.

In 2008, all the tunes of AR Rehman were unique. The songs in the film Jodha Akbar had mughal andaz like the one “khwaja meri khwaja”. In Jane Tu Yaa Jane Na, AR Rehman catered to the tastes of the young crowds. Songs like “pappu cant dance sala”, “kabhi kabhi aditi” were full of energy and rhythm.

On the other hand the music in the film Yuvvraaj, was romantic with songs like “tu hi to meri dost hai”, “shanno shanno”. Viewers feel that AR Rehman still has a lot of music left in him. He is expected to do more experiments in the films in future after winning the Oscar award for Slumdog Millionaire.

Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details.

Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details.

The film Slumdog Millionaire had shown too many details in respect of life in a slum in Mumbai. If the aesthetic value and the cinematic value of the film is analyzed it will be found that some of the scenes were impressive while some could be edited.

There were scenes shown where the boy who won more than million rupees award in a quiz contest in television show came to know that Big B had come to their city. Big B obviously was a great icon of the 70s and 80s and childhood hero of many slumdwellers all across the country. But the scene where he left the latrine and ran to get an autograph of the legend hardly had cinematic value. It was crude reality shown without proper cinematic techniques.

Even the children being beaten up by antisocial elements in the slums in the film cause annoyance than amusement for the viewers. Violence can be related to real-life situations, but when it is shown in a one-sided manner the viewers hardly enjoy them. On the other hand the interrogation procedure conducted by Irfan Khan was more realistic and meaningful. It is quite obvious when a slumdweller wins such a huge amount of money in quiz contest which requires lot of knowledge in the eyes of the police the owner of the amount are always brought under scanner.

If the films of storytellers of the past are reviewed it will be found that legendary directors edited those materials in films which could have created adverse impact on the viewers. For example in Shyam Benegal’s Ankur, the son of Shabana Azmi threw a pebble on the river to show that realization and revolt commenced in the village. The entire revolt was not shown in details.

Editing forms a very important tool in the hands of legendary filmmakers and in that respect directors like Satyajit Ray showed the next generation that too many details are required for conveying powerful messages in films. He showed just a slice of cake being taken away by the British General in the film Shatranj Ki Khiladi to show territories within India being annexed by British East India Company which started from the estate of Avadh.

Besides, Govind Nihalini also finished the film Aakrosh on an intellectual note. Nasirruddin Shah asked his Senior Counsel played by Amrish Puri that if he was killed in future would it appear to him similar to a road accident. Amrish Puri said yes and the film ended there.

Slumdug Millionaire has all the attributes of a realistic film, including powerful script, innovative camera work, meaningful dialogues, but too many details could have been avoided by the director of the film.