Articles

I think there is a stigma attached to the marital life in general and the religious life in particular of the trinity of Khan actors like Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. All three of them had ended up marrying their ladylove or childhood sweethearts albeit belonging to the Hindu community. So you had the coupling of Aamir Khan - Reena Dutta, and now Aamir Khan – Kiran Rao, Saif Ali Khan – Amrita Singh, then Saif Ali Khan – Rosa Catalano (Not married) and now Saif Ali khan – Kareena Kapoor (This couple is yet to tie the knot) and above all Shah Rukh Khan – Gauri Chhibber.

Pradeep Sarkar after delivering a critical and box office success with his debut feature Parineeta had faltered in his next one, Laga Chunari Mein Daag but with Lafangey Parindey he has managed to get back in form and has succeeded in giving masala entertainer. The only thing that goes against it are the predictable plot points and the slow pace. But despite its few flaws LP is still worth a watch for its unusual lead pair Neil and Deepika and good direction aided by nice music.

There is a lingering moment towards the end of this unvarnished look at life, way beyond the poverty line, when the village strewn with vehicles, equipments and over-curious mediapersons is suddenly emptied out. What we are left to look at is a village, a family, a life and a situation on the same threshold of pain, humiliation, hunger, and poverty, where the whole rigmarole had started. The silence between that moment of excruciating emptying-out and embracing that emptiness is so palpable that we the audience cannot miss its significance.

Aamir Hussain Khan hails from a typically staunch, conservative and orthodox Muslim family originating from the Khan clan of Peshawar. Belonging to the Shia clan he has never hidden the fact that right from childhood he was quite liberal minded and moreover a rebel person at heart. He has always made it very clear that more than believing in and having total faith in Islamic religion he has always and completely reposed his faith in ‘Allah’(God), the one and only supreme power of the entire universe.

Aisha is based on Jane Austin’s popular novel Emma. Western filmmakers have attempted the big screen versions of Emma before and Rajshree Ojha has come up with a competent if not a fabulous Indianised version of the same with Aisha.

Boy hates mushy love stories, doesn’t believe in love and all those things that come along with it whereas the girl is a big believer in romance and is living her own perfect love story with a childhood pal. Boy meets this girl and don’t get along but eventually love strikes! First for the girl but the boy rejects it explaining that he only thought of her as a friend. Soon love strikes him too but by then it is too late. He tries to woo her back and ends up doing all those mushy things that he hated in the first place. Punit Malhotra’s debut directorial venture, I Hate Luv Storys works well when it tries to poke fun at these elements but eventually falls in the same clichéd trap when it comes to delivering as a film.

Since the time of the announcement of Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, curiosity about how India’s most accomplished filmmaker manages to do a modern day adaptation of the mythological epic, Ramayan, has known no bounds. Thankfully, Mani succeeds in his own inimitable way. His team’s painstaking hard work shows in every frame of the film and his actors help him raise the film’s bar.

It is said that the epic saga of Mahabharata contains all the stories that exist in this world, be it lies, deceit, lust for power, revenge. In short all those that can make a solid impact. Prakash Jha taking a cue from this has set his big canvass film Rajneeti against an Indian political backdrop. But then at the same time he has merged dollops of The Godfatherwithin it. Nonetheless, the end product makes a compelling watch.

Hrithik Roshan’s Kites may make his fans very happy by the way he has been presented (and he enacted) in the film but those looking out for a never seen been before experience that was promised through its mega marketing blitzkrieg will be in for a major disappointment.