Happy birthday to Jeetender

Happy birthday to Jeetender.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Jeetender, the golden hero of the 60s on 7th April, 2009. He has been considered as one of the most consistent actors who had steady box-office in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

In the early 60s, he started his career with the success in the film Geet Gaya Pattharone, opposite Rajashree. Bollywood industry was flooded with actors at that time including Showman Raj Kapoor, Tragedy King Dilip Kumar and the other matinee idols like Rajender Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Shammi Kapoor, Bharat Bhushan and others. He had to face very strong competition to stay in the competition at that time.

Within a short period of time his dancing skills were cultivated by the directors and his films started making profits. His film Farz in 1967, opposite Babita, became super hit. The songs composed by LP and sung by Rafi created storms, including “mast baharon ka mai ashiq”, “baar baar din yeh aye”, etc. Besides, Jeetender’s dance performance in most of the songs entertained the viewers to a big extent.

From that time onwards, Jeetender had a great combination with LP, Rafi and Anand Bakshi. All the songs of the film Humjoli, Jeegri Dost and Banphool became superhit. Prominent songs included “mere desh me”, “dhal gaya din”, etc. Initially critics called Jeetender jumping jack, but his dancing skills followed by his acting skills made him a ruler in the 70s and 80s.

In 70s, he was probably the only romantic actor other than Rishi Kapoor, he survived the period relating to action films, when Big B, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughu Sinha and others gave hit action films one after the other. The hit films of Jeetender in the 70s include Karwan, Nagin, which continued in the 80s with the success of films like Asha opposite Reena Roy.

Jeetender also played a crucial in off-beat films of Gulzar like Parichay, Khushbu and Kinara where the intellectual audience had appreciated him. He gave very elegant lips in brilliant songs of Bhupinder Singh like “naam gum jayega”, “meethe bol bole”, etc. He transformed himself from an excited, energetic, youth to a reserve personality in Parichay, Khusbu and Kinara.

Jeetender’s in the 80s had compelled producers to launch him opposite young actresses like Sri Devi and Jaya Prada who were much younger than him in films like Himmatwala or Dharm Adhikari. After the launching of his son Tushar Kapoor in modern films, he had reduced acting in contemporary films.

But the viewers expect him to still continue in modern films in character roles just like before.

Review of the film 8*10 Tasveer

Review of the film 8*10 Tasveer.

Director Nagesh Kukunoor had experimented with an abstract subject in the film 8*10 Tasveer. Akshay Kumar used to be considered the safest actor of bollywood in 2008 after he gave hits after hits. But his film Chandni Chowk to China did not do great business and his fans expected a lot from 8*10 Tasveer.

The film opened with acrobatic stunts of Akshay Kumar, as he ran through a forest, jumped off a cliff, landed in water, stayed under it for sometime in reference to a bear trap. Akshay Kumar initially showed his inclination to become an environment warrior. But when his wealthy father (Benjamin Ghilani) fell off a boat in the presence of his wife played by Sharmila Tagore and died, Akshay Kumar became serious. In fact his father died even in front of his business partner played by Girish Karnad.

Javed Jaffery, the detective in the film convinced Akshay Kumar that his father had not died, but was murdered with previous planning and intelligent execution. Akshay Kumar studied and examined the last photograph of his father. He saw the picture of three of the business partners sitting with his father in the boat.

He tried to study four of them in the photo frame and realize what was there in their mind when they hatched up the plan of murder of his father. The rest of the film hovered around the solving of the murder mystery. Obviously the film had a number of romantic scenes with good locations as well.

The romantic performance of Ayesha Takia opposite Akshay Kumar is worth mentioning. After a long time Ayesha Takia got a prominent role opposite the leading star of bollywood. Even Javed Jaffery’ relief performance in respect of the hyderabadi spoken in the film was also impressive.

But the biggest problem with the film lied in the fact that it was too slow. Nagesh Kukunoor’s treatment relating to murder mystery could not shape in the manner crime thrillers like Race were made earlier by Abbas Mastan. The music of the film was also ordinary.

Inspite of all these factors if the film does good business then it will be the sheer box-office of Akshay Kumar which does not fail often in the recent times.

Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai created a trend of dacoit-oriented films.

Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai created a trend of dacoit-oriented films.

Raj Kapoor’s film Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai created a trend in bollywood films to make movies on the subject related to dacoits. Radhu Karmakar the famous cameraman of Raj Kapoor directed the film while Raj Kapoor produced it in the early 60s.

Just like any other film of Raj Kapoor, his character Raju was full of innocence. He helped the leader of the dacoits of Central India (father of Padmini), who was shot by the Police. Raj Kapoor gave him food and water, and Pran with his men brought both Raj Kapoor and their leader back to their area. Most part of the film was shot at Bheraghat in Jabalpur near Narmada falls.

Raj Kapoor was initially convinced by Padmini that the dacoits rob the money from the dishonest moneylenders and distribute it to the poor people. Raj Kapoor agreed to help the dacoits on that count. But when he went with the dacoits to a marriage party and saw that most of the members of the party were killed by the dacoits, he went and reported the entire matter before Raj Mehra, the police officer and told him that he would convince the dacoits to surrender before the police. But he also asked Raj Mehra to award least amount of punishment to the dacoits. All the dacoits were convinced by Raj Kapoor at the end of the film.

The biggest asset of the film lied in the powerful music of Shankar Jaikishan. In this film SJ used mainly folk tunes with powerful orchestration. Most of the leading singers like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Geeta Dutt, Mukesh, Manna Dey, Mahendra Kapoor, etc, were used. The music was superhit with successful songs like “kya hua”, “o maine pyar kiya”, “hoton pe sachai rehti hai”, “hum bhi hai, tum bhi ho”, “aa aab laut chale”, to name a few.

Padmini, the brilliant dancer previously had a glorious career opposite Shivaji Ganeshan in South Indian films. She almost gave her lifetime performance in the film Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai. Her dance performances were brilliant, innovative and unparallel. Pran also did extremely well in his character of the dacoit in the film. Nana Palsekar, Lalita Power and other character artists were also sublime in their respective roles.

Raj Kapoor won the film fare award for best actor for his performance in the film Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai, while the film won a number of awards under other categories. The film also had lot of social message. The dishonest section of middlemen in the country who tortured the lower middle class compelled innocent people to turn into dacoits. In that context the film depicted the picture of Indian society in the late 50s and early 60s. From that time onwards a number of films were made on the life of dacoits. Significant among them include Sunil Dutt’s film Mujhe Jeene Do, Dilip Kumar’s Ganga Jumna, to name a few.

Raj Kapoor had always been a trend setter. Even in respect of films related to dacoits he created a trend which many directors had followed after that time. The film should be restored for those purposes.

Happy birthday to Jaya Prada.

Happy birthday to Jaya Prada.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Jaya Prada on 3rd April, 2009. Jaya Prada was considered as one of the most gifted actresses of bollywood films of the 80s. She shook the Indian audience with her dancing skills in the film Shankaravaranam.

In the late 70s her film Sargam opposite Rishi Kapoor became superhit with a brilliant story and excellent songs. She played the role of a deaf and dumb girl who had immense dancing callibre which was unearthed by Rishi Kapoor in the film.

The music composed by LP was brilliant by every musical standard and Lata and Rafi were sublime in the songs “dafliwale dafli baja”, “koel boli”, “ramjiki nikli sawari”, etc. In an age of action pact films of Big B, Vinod Khanna, Sargam being a romantic film with Rishi Kapoor and Jaya Prada did excellent business.

From that time Jaya Prada became the no. 1 bollywood actress and acted opposite all the leading stars of bollywood. Her other superhit films include Sharabi, opposite Big B, Akhree Rasta opposite Big B, Kamchor opposite Rakesh Roshan, to name a few.

She acted in a number of films opposite Jeetender as well and all of those films were successful. At that time she got stiff competition from Sri Devi, another South Indian actress who had both acting talent and dancing talent. The films where both of them acted together, the viewers were confused to choose between the two. In Akhree Rasta Jaya Prada did equally well like Sri Devi.

In the 90s, also Jay Prada’s films especially opposite Big B did good business, like Indrajeet or Aaj Ka Arjun. In those films while Big B concentrated on action sequences, Jaya Prada played the romantic part to perfection. With the emergence of new actresses in bollywood films in the 90s like Madhuri Dixit and Juhi Chawla, Jaya Prada faded away from the bollywood industry.

She joined politics and had been the parliamentarian for more than a decade. Besides she had played important roles in tamil films and other South Indian films over the years.

The viewers expect her to make a comeback in bollywood films in character roles as many of them feel that she still has a lot of acting left in her.

Can Katrina Kaif maintain her dream run in 2009?

Can Katrina Kaif maintain her dream run in 2009?

The viewers of bollywood films wonder whether the Hongkong born Indian actress Katrina Kaif be able to maintain her dream run in 2009. When she started her career in the film Boom in 2003 and followed it up by performing in Sarkar, critics never thought that she would go a long distance as she had problems in respect of speaking Hindi.

But from the time she acted in super hit film Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, opposite Salman Khan, her fortunes changed in bollywood films. Her glamour and screen presence defeated the criticisms relating to her European style of intention. Her performance opposite Akshay Kumar in films like Namaste London and Humko Dewaana Kar Gaye stormed bollywood films.

Namaste London did excellent business and from that time bollywood producers and directors realized that Katrina Kaif was the greatest crowd-puller in the contemporary period. All the songs picturised on her till date had ended up being hits including “just chill chill” in Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, “inshah allah” in Welcome, etc.

Besides she had given lips in different locations in different styles in the films till now. For example her lips in the film Yuvvraaj, in the song “tu muskura”, was totally different from her lips in the song “zara zara kiss me” in the film Race, which was again totally different in the song “teri ore, teri ore” in the film Singh is Kinng. At the same time her hit films opposite various actors prove the other factor that she could adapt herself in situation opposite any actor.

Her hit films include Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya opposite Salman Khan, Apne opposite Bobby Deol, Partner opposite Govinda, Welcome, Namaste London and Singh is Kinng opposite Akshay Kumar, Race opposite Akshay Khanna and Saif Ali Khan, to name a few. Although she had got stardust awards in the past the filmfare award for the best actress is still one of the dreams which had not turned true for Katrina Kaif till date.

The big question that lies in the minds of the viewers is that can Katrina Kaif continue her dream run in 2009 as well? In 2009 her upcoming films include New York opposite John Abraham, Blue opposite Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Sanjay Dutt and Ajab Prem Ki Gazb Kahani opposite Ranbir Kapoor.

Producers and directors have a lot of hope on Blue, New York and the other films of Katrina Kaif. If she gives hits after hits this year, there will be no doubt that she is going to rule the bollywood industry for the next five years.

Uttam Kumar and comedy films like Mouchak

Uttam Kumar and comedy films like Mouchak.

Uttam Kumar, the most versatile superstar of Bengali films became one man industry in the 70s. Viewers were not that bothered about who was his heroine in the film or the co-actors or actresses. The moment the name of Uttam Kumar flashed in the silver screen the viewers knew that he had the potentiality of pulling on the film alone.

Arun Kumar Chatterji, better known as Uttam Kumar acted in Arobindo Mukherjee’s film Mouhak in 1975. Aurobindo Mukherjee had experimented with Uttam Kumar and Sabitri Chatterji in the films Nishipadda and Dhanni Meye. In Mouchak, Uttam Kumar was the elder brother of Ranjit Mullick who got a job outside Kolkata.

When he came to his workplace, he found that right from the CEO of the company to the different officers, people were looking for qualified men to get married to their daughters. Even the house that was rented to Ranjit Mullick was in the vicinity of all these persons who wanted to keep him in close watch and convince him to marry their daughters.

The situation became so worst that Uttam Kumar had to come to that place and artificially campaign about the bad character of Ranjit Mullick. He told all the officers that Ranjit Mullick was a drunkard, gambler and anti-social. Even after that the fathers of these girls never stopped coming to his house and convincing him about marrying their daughters.

At the end of the film Ranjit Mullick entered into an affair with Mithu Mukherjee, and after the acceptance of her both from Uttam Kumar and Sabitri Chatterji, the marriage was solemnized. The film showed the crude reality of fathers of unmarried daughters in Bengal in the mid-70s who generally were in need of qualified bachelors to get their daughters married to them.

Even the lips given by Uttam Kumar in Manna Dey’s songs like “Jodi jagai madhai”, “ebar mole suto hobo”, “paglagarod kothay ache”, etc., was equally brilliant.

Uttam Kumar died almost 29 years back. Bengali films these days get lot of sponsorship and technical development had taken place in the film industry. Yet the vacuum created by superstar Uttam Kumar neither had been filled up, nor can be filled up by anyone else. Comedy films like Mouchak should be restored to show the contribution of Uttam Kumar in those types of films.

Boman Irani's indispensability in bollywood films.

Boman Irani’s indispensability in bollywood films.

Viewers of bollywood films for the last 15 years used to consider Anupam Kher, Kader Khan, Paresh Rawal or Amrish Puri as the indispensable actors without whom most of the films would have remained incompleted. Boman Irani joined that elite list after showing his acting skills during the last 5 years.

Boman Irani did not stick to any regular style of acting. In every film he altered his mannerisms according to the requirement of the stories. He played the role of considerate father of Hrithik Roshan in the film Lakshya. He showed the personality of a middle-class father and also the concerns relating to sending the only son to armed forces.

His performance was totally different in the film Munnabhai MBBS. He played the role of the Principal of the Medical College, where Sanjay Dutt came to study medical science. He showed the concerns relating to allowing a student to continue in the college with fake certificates. His daughter never wanted Sanjay Dutt to leave the college as his unconventional style of entertaining patients had helped them to recover, but Boman Irani showed his uprightness in dealing with Munnabhai in the film.

He had shown his comedy skills to perfection in the film No Entry and Lage Raho Munnabhai. In one of them he played the role of politician, while in the other film he played the role of cunning promoter. The performance had both villainish style and comedy style embedded in them. While these films did extremely well, Boman Irani’s performance in flop films were also appreciated by the audience. The best example could be Yuvvraaj. He played the role of the father of Katrina Kaif, who never wanted to get his daughter married to Salman Khan. But at the end of the film he realized the family bond between the three brothers Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan and Zaid Khan and changed his decision.

Boman Irani was sublime as a villain in the film Don. Shahrukh Khan and Boman Irani tried to play games against one another and expand their control over the underworld as such in South East Asia. He never let the audience know about his identity till the end of the film. Hi performance had hardly any mannerisms as tried to maintain his composure opposite veteran actor Om Puri who also was sublime in the film.

The viewers expect the talent actor to experiment with himself even more in bollywood films to be made in future.