All the best got a good opening.

All the best got a good opening.

To the amazement of most of the viewers of bollywood films, the film All the best got a brilliant opening, when released on the same date with the film Blue and Mr. Aur Mrs Khanna. Most of the viewers thought that the other two films would have got a greater opening.

In this film Sanjay Dutt had been shown as a businessman in London. His brother Fardeen Khan always wanted money from Sanjay Dutt. Sanjay Dutt did not marry anyone but pretended to have married Mugdha Godse.

Ajay Devgan was a dealer of cars. He was married to Bipasha Basu. Due to financial debts both Ajay Devgan and Sanjay Dutt borrowed money from the local gangstar Johnny Lever. From there the problems of both the gentlemen started.

The rest of the film was related to the story of how the two individuals Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan managed to face Johnny Lever in relation to their debts. The film had been directed by Rohit Shetty. Ajay Devgan produced the film along with acting in it.

The character actors and actresses in the film did exceeding well including Asrani, Mukesh Tiwari, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sanjay Mishra, to name a few. Pritam had composed the music of the film and one of the songs titled “All the best” had already become a hit.

There are two reasons for the success of the film All the best over Blue and other films. One reason is that the lives of most of the middle-class Indians had been stressed out. They find relief in seeing comedy films over other types of films. So action films and romantic films do not have the same market as comedy films.
The other factor had been the combination of Rohit Shetty with Ajay Devgan and other group of actors. He had used them in Golmaal which was a hit, and therefore knew how to make the best use of their acting talent.

Do not Disturb was related to old subject.

Do not Disturb was related to old subject.

The film Do not disturb was related to old subjects already dealt with by David Dhawan. He had made a number of comedy films in the past and the storylines in the present films appear to be almost the same.

Govinda had been shown to be a husband who is scared with his wife Sushmita Sen. Sushmita Sen was the owner of the company and commanded respect in the office where Govinda also worked. The other character Lara Dutta had an old boyfriend played by Sohail Khan. Govinda spend time with her to avoid his wife.

Once she saw Govinda in a photo with Lara Dutta and from that time the suspicion developed. The other person in the snap was Ritesh Deshmukh. Govinda blackmailed him to tell his wife that Lara Dutta was his girlfriend. His mother was sick. Govinda gave the money for her treatment.

Ritesh compromised for mother’s sickness. Then he had tell lies one after the other. He got beating from Sohail Khan also. The story had a lot of similarity with films made in the past.

Just because comedy films had done a great business in the last few years, most directors had devoted their energy in making comedy films.

But the films can only do good business if the story is new. David Dhawan’s films also had different box-office results. If films like Biwi No. 1 or Partner had done fantastic business, films like Ek Aur Ek Gyarah and others did mediocre business.

Business there is strong competition for comedy films. Do Not Disturb has to compete against All the Best and other films where there is chance of the film getting lesser recognition. The performance of Govinda, Lara Dutta, Ritesh Deshmukh, Sushmita Sen were fine.

Mai Aur Mrs. Khanna got a slow opening.

Main Aur Mrs. Khanna got a Slow Opening.

This year 3 of the bollywood films were released on 16th October, 2009, including Blue, Mai Aur Mrs Khanna and All the best. The directors and producers purposely released it during the period of diwali to allow the viewers to watch the film during festival time.

Although Blue and All the best got a fantastic opening, Mai Aur Mrs Khanna lagged behind. Director Prem Soni had used Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in a love story titled Mai Aur Mrs Khanna. Salman Khan married Kareena Kapoor against the wishes of his parents and settled in Melbourne, Australia. There he had a successful career of a stock-broker. The moment he lost the job, the internal differences between the couple played by Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor had forced Kareena Kapoor to stay with Sohail Khan.

Salman Khan’s friend Govinda tried to patch up the things so that the marital relationship could be restored. The film had been produced by Ronnie Screwala and Sohail Khan. Kareena Kapoor’s visa expired in Australia before she was working in a watch shop. Due to insistence from her friends she married Sohail Khan.

In the mean time Deepika Padukone also entered the scene and made the play more dramatic. Inspite of good performances from Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan and Sohail Khan the film did not have a good opening. The music of Sajid Wajid was impressive with Sonu Nigam’s song “don’t say alvida” becoming hit.

Some way or the other the luck is not going in Salman Khan’s favour. Although his TV program “10 ka dum” had been extremely successful most of his films including Wanted are doing mediocre business. He has one last film this year titled New York to prove his stardom. But the film Mai Aur Mrs Khanna should be watched by viewers considering the cameos played by even guest artists like Preeti Zinta and seasoned performances from Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and others.

Wake Up Sid will do average business.

Wake Up Sid will do average business.

The film Wake up Sid is destined to do average business. Ayaan Mukherjee, the director of the film experimented on a very dry subject. Karan Johar had produced the film and the film had been shot in sensible locations.

Ranbir Kapoor had been shown as a very lazy person who never had any goal in life. His father Anupam Kher got irritated about his carefree life. His mother Supriya Pathak tried to shield his mistakes and when Anupam Kher found him failing in his exams he asked him to leave the house and build his career.

He met Konkona Sen Sharma, who was an aspiring writer from Kolkata. She came all the way from Kolkata to Mumbai to shine in the field of journalism. She was given an opportunity by Rahul Khanna, the editor of the publication house where Konkona got a job.

Konkona met Ranbir Kapoor, became friends and took his help in finding a rented house in Mumbai. She allowed Ranbir Kapoor to stay in her house. Both of them fought together at times. Konkona told Ranbir Kapoor that he did not grow.

She introduced Ranbir Kapoor to a photo developing personality who gave him a job. Both of them worked together. Lastly Ranbir Kapoor told his father Anupam Kher about his development and his father allowed him to return back and stay in his house. Konkona was in her tears to know that Ranbir was returning back. She realized for the first time that she got attached. Ranbir also understood that he loved Konkona Sen Sharma. The story ended here.

The trouble with these films is that only a certain section of the audience has the patience to understand the off-beat subject inspite of star cast of Ranbir Kapoor. Shankar Ehsaan Loy also gave very soft music as opposed to their innovative style of music given in films like Don or Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Wake Up Sid will do average business but can get appreciation from the critics.

Happy birthday to Hema Malini.

Happy birthday to Hema Malini.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to dream girl Hema Malini on 16th October, 2009. She was the uncrowned queen of bollywood films of the 70s.

Her strong dancing skills gave her a separate place in bollywood films. Her performance in the film Sapno Ka Saudagar opposite Raj Kapoor was extremely successful in the late 60s. From there she never looked back. Her film Abhinetri opposite Shashi Kapoor became super hit. Her successful films opposite other stars included Gora Aur Kala opposite Rajender Kumar, Burning Train opposite Dharmender, Johnny Mera Naam opposite Dev Anand, to name a few.

Within short time she formed a brilliant combination with Dharmender and their films started rocking bollywood in the 70s. The pair started off with films like Naya Zamana, Raja Jani and went on to give all time hits like Seeta Aur Geeta, Jugnu, Charas, Sholay, etc. If Sholay is remembered for superlative camerawork of Ramesh Sippy, villainish andaz of Amzad Khan, angry image of Big B, then it is also remembered for tremendous dance performance of Hema Malini. She danced on top of glasses in the song “jab tak hai jaan”.

Hema Malini did extremely well in off-beat films as well. One of her landmark films included Kinara opposite Jeetender and Dharmender. Gulzar’s films was based on dancing and Hema Malini’s classical dance balanced the story line where Jeetender’s car struck Dharmender and killed him on the spot. Dharmender was the husband of Hema Malini in the film and she lived with his memory in the film.

Hema Malini’s films opposite Big B also did great business. Some of their hit films included Desh Premi, Satte Pe Satta, etc. In the last few years Hema Malini had been seen contributing in character roles in bollywood films like Baghban.

The viewers still believe that a lot of dancing skills are still left in Hema Malini and she should still act in bollywood films in future.

Happy birthday to Om Puri.

Happy birthday to Om Puri.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Om Puri on 18th October, 2009. Om Puri had been considered to be one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema by critics, eminent directors, international film journalists, etc.

Oscar winning director Satyajit Ray experimented with Om Puri in the film Satgati in the early 80s. Om Puri played the role of a cremator who was employed by the zamindar played by Mohan Agasi to cremate a dead body in a village in North India. Om Puri died at the end of the film as he worked with extreme bad health. Om Puri’s expression relating to pain and misery expressed the exploitation of lower strata of the society in North Indian villages as written by Munshi Premchand.

Om Puri became the automatic choice of renowned directors like Shyam Benegal, Govind Nihalini, Sai Paranchpe, Sudhir Mishra, and many other directors who enriched parallel cinema in India. The range of roles of Om Puri included the role of a villager in the film Aakrosh whose tongues were cut to prevent him from speaking, the role of a poor person who donated his eyes in the film Chokh, the role of a police officer who found corruption at every level of the police force in the film Ardha Satya.

Amongst the different directors Govind Nihalini probably made the best use of Om Puri. The performance of Om Puri in the film Tamas in the role of a victim of partition of 1947 requires special mention. The film created controversy as it was related to hindu-muslim riots and when it was featured in TV, its transmission was stopped for certain period of time.

Om Puri made very valuable contribution in commercial films over the last 20 years. His successful films included Ghayal opposite Sunny Deol, Krishna opposite Sunil Shetty, China Gate opposite Naseeruddin Shah, Gupt opposite Bobby Deol, Malamaal Weekly opposite Paresh Rawal, Raat, etc. It is difficult to mention the national and international awards won by Om Puri in his illustrious career in a small article.

The viewers expect him to continue the great work in the years to come.

Happy birthday to Vinod Khanna.

Happy birthday to Vinod Khanna.

The viewers of bollywood films wish happy birthday to Vinod Khanna on 6th October 2009. He had remained a versatile actor and contributed in bollywood films from the 70s.

He started his career as an anti-hero. He played the role of a villain in the film Aan Milo Sajna, where Rajesh Khanna was the lead actor. With the advent of action films in the mid-70s, Vinod Khanna became a dominating figure in bollywood films. Big B’s appearance in the film Zanjeer created a fair competition between Vinod Khanna and Big B.

Both of them featured together in the film Zameer. Both of them showed their action skills against the other actor. In Amar Akbar Anthony, Vinod Khanna played the role of a police officer while Big B played the role of a smuggler. In that film the action skills of Vinod Khanna and Amitabh Bacchan was balanced by the romantic style of performance of Rishi Kapoor. All three of them played the role of the three brothers who were separated earlier but met together at the end of the film. Pran played the role of the father of the three actors.

In Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Vinod Khanna played the role of the friend of Amitabh. Big B sacrificed his life at the end of the film after preventing Amzad Khan from creating any harm to Rakhee. The songs of the film became superhit. Vinod Khanna acted along with Big B in other films like Hera Pheri, Khoon Paseena, Pavarish, etc.

The other notable films of Vinod Khanna included Qurbani with Feroz Khan. Vinod Khanna played the role of his friend who sacrificed his life to save Feroz Khan. Vinod Khanna played a very significant role in the film Burning Train, where Dharmender played the role of his friend. He was the engineer who built the super fast train, but Danny conspired to put a bomb in the train which exploded and burned the train. At the end Dharmender, Jeetender and Vinod Khanna rescued the passengers.

After launching his son Akshay Khanna in the film Burning Train, Vinod Khanna switched to character roles and got busy with politics. He also joined the Rajnish Ashram in the early 80s. The viewers expect him to continue the brilliant work in the years to come.