Hilary Duff - Rise to fame, when cast children in the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Daddio.

Hilary Duff's 1st serious rise to fame came when Hilary Duff was cast as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC sitcom Daddio in 2000. Her co-star Michael Chiklis, stated, "After working with her the first day, I remember saying to my wife, 'this young girl is going to be a movie star'.

Hilary Duff was completely at ease with herself and comfortable in her own skin." Duff was dropped from the cast of Daddio before it was aired, which made her reluctant to pursue her acting career further.

However, Hilary Duff manager and mother urged her on, and a week later Hilary Duff successfully auditioned for the children's television series Lizzie McGuire, where Hilary Duff portrayed the title role of a clumsy but average middle school girl. The show focused on her growth into teenhood.

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.

Rafi, Sharda and Shankar Jaikishan.

Rafi, Sharda and Shankar Jaikishan.

Rafi had sung many duets with all the leading female singers in the country during the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. He had sung around 440 duets with Lata Mangeshkar, who dominated bollywood music during the 50s, 60s and 70s. He sang duet songs with Shamshad Begum, Mubarak Begum, Geeta Dutt, Asha Bhosle, Suman Kalyanpur and others. During that period he sang many duets with Sharda as well, mainly in films composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Sharda won a number of filmfare awards for best singer for her performance in mainly the films of Shankar Jaikishan. Sharda is still alive and also has received the Rafi Memorial Award in 2007, from the Rafi Lovers Circle, Calcutta.

Most of those songs sung by Rafi and Sharda during the 60s and 70s did good business along with the success of the films. In Seema the song “jab yeh dil udaas hota hai” became super hit. The duet song of Rafi and Sharda was appreciated by the viewers. In the film Gumnaam, the song “jaane chaman shola badan, pehelu me ajao”, became superhit. Rafi’s seductive andaz for Manoj Kumar thrilled the audience along with Sharda’s voice for Nanda. Sharda had a different type of voice in comparison to other singers, so her combination with Rafi was very unique.

Shankar Jaikishan gave the song “sun sun sun re balam, dil tujhko pukare” in the film Pyar Muhobbat. The main song was sung was by Sharda, while Rafi finished it with the last line. The song was picturised on Dev Anand and Saira Banu, with one singing the song for the other over telephone. It created a very romantic andaz which was enjoyed by the viewers. There was a song in the film Shatranj, titled “bakamma bakamma” sung by Rafi and Sharda, having comedy andaz. Although the film did average business, the song did well.

Some of the other duets of Rafi and Sharda included “aap ki ray mere bare me”, “aya kaisa zamana o baba”, “pyar ka kar uran khatola”, etc. Besides Sharda sang many hit duets with Mukesh as well including “chale jana zarah thehero” in the film Around The World, picturised on Raj Kapoor and Rajashree, “duniya ki sair kar lo”, etc., as Mukesh sang many songs composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Probably Rafi’s capability to adjust himself with any female singer including Lata, Geeta Dutt, Sharda, Asha Bhosle, Shamshad Begum, etc., showed the level of adaptability and effortlessness of the giant singer. Shankar Jaikishan always banked their resources on Rafi and for those reasons even the duets composed for Rafi and Sharda were melodious and evergreen. The songs should be preserved.

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.

Will Anil Kapoor be successful as producer?

Will Anil Kapoor be successful as producer?

Anil Kapoor, the legendary superstar of bollywood films is inclined to concentrate on his career as producer along with acting. The viewers had seen his capability as actor over the last 25 years. He had acted in every type of role including romantic hero in films like 1942 – a love story opposite Manisha Koirala, angry young man in films like Tezaab and Ram Lakhan opposite Madhuri Dixit, patriotic roles in films like Nayak opposite Rani Mukherjee, comedy roles in films like No Entry opposite Lara Dutta, Mr. India opposite Sri Devi, to name a few. He got filmfare awards for best actor and national awards and proved his versatility in every type of film.

But in respect of production, bollywood history had shown that not many actor turned producer were successful. Probably Raj Kapoor and Guru Dutt were the most successful producers and directors who were equally famous as producers in comparison with their acting stardom. Guru Dutt created such a team, that whenever even other directors directed his films, there was a stamp of Guru Dutt embedded in them. For example Raj Khoshla directed CID under Guru Dutt production. But the film had the team of Johnny Walker, OP Nayyar, Rafi, Wahida Rehman who were some of the best contributors in Guru Dutt. Some section of the viewers felt that Guru Dutt could have acted in the film instead of Dev Anand.

Raj Kapoor had the expertise in every field of a film including costume designing, music direction, picturisation of song sequences, casting, editing, etc. He produced the film Anari directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, also produced the film Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hai, directed by Radhu Karmakar. In Anari, Raj Kapoor’s team including Shankar Jaikishan, Hasrat Jaipuri, Shailendra, Mukesh, Lata, Manna Dey contributed the most. It hardly appeared before the viewers that it was a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film. In fact, Raj Kapoor won the film fare award for the best actor in both the above mentioned films. The big factor was that Raj Kapoor could create a separate benchmark for himself as a producer and whenever saw his name, they had a separate expectation from the film.

In the past Sohail Khan and Boney Kapoor created their identity as producers. Anil Kapoor had done few experiments with Akshay Khanna in the recent past. He has to produce few quality films to also keep his mark in the world of production. The viewers wish him the best of luck.

Did Kambaqht Ishq fulfill the requirements of comedy film?

Did Kambaqht Ishq fulfill the requirements of comedy film?

Kambaqht Ishq had been released a week ago. As the film had both Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor as the lead performers lot of anxiousness was there in the minds of the viewers of the film. Besides, the films that had done best business in the last few years had all been related to comedy subject matter. So as this film was also related to comedy whether the subject was acceptable to the viewers was the main question.

Firstly the story was full of fiction. There was hardly any reality embedded in them. The film had shown that Kareena Kapoor, a super-model cum surgeon operated injured stuntman Akshay Kumar and left her heart-shaped watch, with an hourly alarm that blared ‘mangalam –mangalam,’ in his intestines. The reason of Kareena Kapoor’s hatred towards Akshay Kumar was even more hilarious. It was just because he was man. In fact Kareena Kapoor hated all men and her motive of doing the ridiculous act was to take revenge against Akshay Kumar.

Kareena wanted to get pendant back. So she lured Akshay Kumar, jabbed an injection and hurriedly cut his body to get it back. The sequences with Denise Richards and Sylvestor Stallone were not that impressive. Jafed Jaffery and Boman Irani did not have much to do. In fact instead of the comedy element having predominance Kareena hatred towards all men and treating them like dogs got importance.

The film still has hope considering the committed fan-base of both Kareena and Akshay Kumar. In respect of Kareena even if the film does not click, she has other films to follow this year like Mr and Mrs Khanna. Akshay Kumar badly requires a hit film after the disaster of Chandni Chowk to China and 8*10 Tasveer. If the film ends up being hit, the director and producer will be happy enough. Let us hope for the best.

Remembering Sanjeev Kumar on 9th July, 2009.

Remembering Sanjeev Kumar on 9th July, 2009.

The viewers of bollywood films would remember Sanjeev Kumar on his birthday on 9th July, 2009. He was one of most gifted actors that bollywood films had produced and still remains immortal in his memorable works. He was sublime in the role of a deaf and dumb character in Gulzar’s film Koshish. He received national award for his brilliant performance and also inspired Jaya Bacchan to reach the same level of excellence in the film.

In Sholay he played the epic role of Thakur of north Indian village. His personality in the film amazed the Indian viewers and many aspects he superseded Dharmender and Big in the same film where they were sublime. His personality matched the cruel instincts of Amzad Khan in the role of Gabbar Singh in the same film. Again his role in the film Aandhi opposite Suchitra Sen in 1975, showed his softer side. He could feel the emotions of his wife who was a popular political leader but was corned by many members of the opposition. He received filmfare award for best actor in 1975 for his epic performance in Aandhi.

Gulzar probably had made the best use of the versatile actor. His role in the film Mausam was full of reflections. He recollected his past experience with Sharmila Tagore when his car ascended the roads to his destination in Darjeeling. Bhupinder Singh’s song “dil dhoonta hai phir wohi fursat ke raat din” written by Gulzar and composed by Madan Mohan matched him ideally. Probably Bhupinder Singh’s deep voice suited Sanjeev Kumar better than no other actor in bollywood . He gave elegant lips in the film Parichay in the song “bite na bitai rehna”.

Besides, Sanjeev Kumar kept his mark in comedy films like Seeta Aur Geeta opposite Hema Malini, also Angoor opposite Moushumi Chatterji. He was sublime also in films like Satyakam and Shikar. Critics argue that he was the most versatile actor after Dilip Kumar and Balraj Sahani and he showed his variation in films like Naya Din Nayi Raat. All the nine roles were different and Sanjeev Kumar treated each of the them with separate andaz. His role in Khilouna showed the characteristics of a mad person and was worth mentioning. He gave elegant lips in Rafi’s song “khilouna jaan kar mujhko”.

The works of Sanjeev Kumar should be preserved and actors of the new generation learn from his versatile performances.