Notable Role (4/1000): Abhimanyu Singh (Gulaal)

Hailing from Patna (Bihar), Abhimanyu Singh made his debut in films with Aks (2001), directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. His first time major role was that of Rananjay Singh or Ransa in Gulaal (2009), directed by Anurag Kashyap, for which he won the 2010 Stardust Award for breakthrough performance. The fans of Gulaal movie would always give preference to the role of Ransa to that of Dukki Bana (role played by K K Menon). Ransa has been considered to be the perfect character of that movie and Abhimanyu seems to have done justice to that role.

Here are some scenes of Gulaal presenting Abhimanyu:

Introducing Ransa
Murder of Ransa.

Ransa against University election.

He also won praises for his role of Bukka Reddy in Rakta Charitra (2010), directed by Ram Gopal Varma. In his review in The Times of India, Nikhat Kazmi compared his performance to that of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (2008) which outshone the lead star. He is also the brother of Bollywood actor Chandrachur Singh.

Don 2: Touching International Benchmarks

People may not like me praising the 1st sequel of the 2006 remake of Don because they expect stunts and story in the movie suits only to the Hollywood hunks like Silvestor, Vin Diesel or Tom Cruise.

But wait guys. Why don't you check out the reviews of Don 2 on iMDB ? Barring the scene, wherein SRK appears at the party in the guise of Hritik, the whole movie is devoid of any other crap. Even his entry through the yacht was the best scene of the movie. 

However, there was one dialogue similar to that used in Mission: Impossible (when Don says to Samir in his first meeting at the stadium "kya ye wahi Sameer Ali hai jisne Tokyo Stock Exchange se dedh (1.5) million dollar chura ke benaami tareeke se Save Me Foundation to donate kiye the". The dialogue used in M:I when Ethan meets Luthar and other partner says "this does'nt sound like the Luthar Stickel I have heard of..."). Some viewers say that this movie is at the standard of the Hollywood action flicks. Songs were not so good as compared to its prequel. But, if you get a good print of this movie, you should go though it and appreciate the hard work of Farhan Akhtar.

FILMFARE AWARDS: FARHAN GRABS GOLD AT FILMFARE OLYMPICS

It was the prestigious moment for the Indian cinema industry that justified the sacrifice of Milkha Singh of Bollywood (played by Farhan Akhtar in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag). Not only this, BMB also clinched the maximum number of trophies at the 59th Idea Filmfare Awards 2013, which include- the best film, best actor for Farhan, the best director (for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra), the best costume (by Dolly Ahluwalia), best production design (by Acropolis Design) and best lyrics (for Zinda, penned by Prasoon Joshi).  

Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela brought Deepika Padukone the best actress trophy, while veteran Supriya Pathak was honoured for her supporting act in the movie.

The lifetime achievement award was given to veteran actress Tanuja for her outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

Even if Lunchbox was not selected for Oscars, it was not disappointed at the award ceremony as the best actor in supporting role was bagged by Nawazuddin Siddiqui for the same, which also won the best debut director award for Ritesh Batra.

Southern star Dhanush won the best debut (male) award for Raanjhanaa and Vaani Kapoor walked away with the best debut (female) trophy for Shuddh Desi Romance.

The following is the list of winners at the Filmfare Awards 2014:

Best Actor: Farhan Akhtar - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Best Actress: Deepika Padukone - Goliyon Ki Rasleela RamLeela
Best Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Best Film: Bhaag Milkha Bhaag
Best Debut (Director): Ritesh Batra - The Lunchbox
Best Debut (Male): Dhanush - Raanjhanaa
Best Debut (Female): Vaani Kapoor - Shuddh Desi Romance
Best Film (Critics): Ritesh Batra - The Lunchbox
Best Actor (Critics): Rajkummar Rao - Shahid
Best Actress (Critics): Shilpa Shukla- BA Pass
Sony Trendsetter of the Year Award: Chennai Express
Best Screenplay: Chetan Bhagat, Abhishek Kapoor, Supratik Sen and Pubali Chaudhari (Kai Po Che)
Best Story: Subhash Kapoor - Jolly LLB
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Nawazuddin Siddiqui - The Lunchbox
Best Actress in a Suporting Role: Supriya Pathak - Ram-Leela
Lifetime Achievement Award: Tanuja
Best Music Award: Jeet Ganguly, Mithoon and Ankit Tiwari - Aashiqui
Best Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi - Zinda (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
Best Playback Singer (Male) - Arijit Singh, Tum hi ho (Aashiqui 2)
Best Playback Singer (Female) - Monali Thakur, Sawaar Loon (Lootera)
RD Burman Award: Sidharth Mahadevan
Best Choreogrpahy: Samir and Arsh Tanna - Lahu Muh Lag Gaya (Ram-leela)
Best VFX: Tata Elxis (Dhoom:3)
Best Background Score: Hitesh Sonik - Kai Po Che
Best Action: Thomas Struthers and Guru Bachchan - D Day
Best Cinematography: Kamaljit Negi - Madras Cafe
Best Editing: Aarif Sheikh - D-Day
Best Production Design - Acropolis Design (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)
Best Sound Design - Bishwadeep Chatterjee and Nihar Ranjan Samar (Madras Cafe)
Best Costume - Dolly Ahluwalia (Bhaag Milkha Bhaag)

Jai Ho: A common man against the powerful and apparently against Newton.

Apparently, the movies starring Salman Khan, have something very special apart from the audience crazy for his performance and for his movies. It has many things different from other movies. His movies always seem to be challenging the Newton's laws of motion.  

For example, the 3rd law of motion says: "to every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". But for Radhe, Chulbul, Lovely Singh and (recently) Jai Agnihotri (all these being the names of Salman Khan in Wanted, Dabangg, Bodyguard and Jai Ho), this law doesn't work any more. The law of his action and reaction seems to be:

"every time there is an action against Salman Khan, there will be at least 1000 times opposite reaction to the actor".

Talking about his recent release Jai Ho, I can conclude that no doubt the concept is quite good as it revolves around the common man's interest. But as far as the execution part is concerned, this movie fails to deliver due to the law of motion (whose follower seems to be Rohit Shetty as well) followed in the Salman's movies. 

A person closely following the scenes of Salman's movies might have come across a climax which involves the fight of this macho-man with some equally muscular bodybuilder (be it Chhedi Singh of Dabangg, Chunni of Dabangg 2, Aryan of Ready and of course the recent one being a John Doe in Jai Ho) which helps both Salman and his opponent to show the hardwork they have done to their body by showing their abs. 

Such crap stunts mar the quality of the Indian movies. It must be avoided by the producers in order to make it worth international standard.

Pan Singh Tomar: Realities from the life of dedicated athlete screened.

The movie of the year 2012, dedicated to the life of a true and dedicated Indian soldier and athlete turned rebel, named Pan Singh Tomar, shows that Indian cinema is not devoid of artists who know the art of direction and the artists who know how to be indulged in the character role. 

After his debut in direction through Haasil, Mr. Tigmanshu Dhulia showed his talent behind the camera, which was equally reflected by the performance of Irrfan Khan as Pan Singh Tomar.

Truly, this movie deserved the nomination for Oscars instead of Barfi! in 2012. But what can we do about the decisions taken by the members of the jury influenced by the banners like YRF. 

Gladiator: All about heart-touching music and superb direction.

Watching this movie, I came to know what makes the Hollywood masterpieces different from ours. The Academy Awards winning movie of 2000 makes everyone conclude that the movies are not only about story, performance and direction. They are also about the sweetness of music. 

Talking about a particular scene of the movie, I loved the dialogue between Maximus and Ceaser in the arena, when he says:

"My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the armies ofthe north, general of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius, father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife and I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next".

The artists like Anurag Kashyap, Shoojit Sarkar and Dibakar Banerjee have the courage to make such masterpieces in Indian cinema.

Being a masterpiece of world cinema, I enlist this movie in the Must Watch section of my blog.

Upcoming Bollywood: Gunday

With the promise of fun and entertainment, 2014 awaits the international actor of India, Irrfan Khan and two other upcoming and promising actors, after their success with Ishaqzaade and Ramleela. 

Hence, I present the trailer before you.

Releasing: 14th February, 2014