Features

Kids never had it so good. After decades of neglect, the genre of children's cinema is increasingly finding favour with the dream merchants of Hindi filmdom. "Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii", "My Friend Ganesha", "The Blue Umbrella" and now "Nanhe Jaisalmer" have all hit the marquees within a span of two months. Never before have so many films for children competed simultaneously with big-budget potboilers for the attention of producers, distributors, exhibitors and cine goers.

The two most awaited films of the year, "Saawariya" and "Om Shanti Om", are likely to rewrite the rules of film marketing in India. Both the films are releasing Nov 9 and the distributors have waged an aggressive publicity campaign. Shah Rukh Khan's 6-pack abs in "Om Shanti Om" are being used to lure the audience. In "Saawariya", Ranbir and Sonam Kapoor, the scions of two illustrious Bollywood families, are touted as the film's high points.

Book clubs are popular in Australia, but Bollywood Clubs? Yes, they too exist, with more and more Australians cued on to Hindi films. Curator Rebecca Bower, whose bedside table doesn't have books but a laptop and Hindi film DVDs, has formed a Bollywood Club where a group of women watch and discuss Indian films.

Time was when you watched a film and exclaimed that it had captured so much of real life. Today the trend has reversed: we compare a real life situation to a certain turn of the script in some film. "Just like in that movie," we say wonderingly. That sense of wonder has nothing to do with real life; it has everything to do with reel life. In fact, the image has become more real than the real thing.

Comedy is certainly the flavour of the season in Bollywood with every other comic caper making a killing at the turnstiles and dime-a-dozen dream merchants scrambling over one another to board the bandwagon. Among the recent to hit the box office is "Dhamaal". No sooner was David Dhawan's pop-up comedy flick, "Partner", declared a hit, another veteran of the genre, Indra Kumar, seems poised to hit a homerun with his latest offering "Dhamaal", which released Friday.

From "Piya tu ab to aaja" to "Dum maro dum" and "Kambakht ishq", singing diva Asha Bhosle has been enthralling listeners with her vivacious and versatile numbers for more than six decades. And the singing legend, who turned 74 Saturday, is still going strong. From Madhubala to Helen in the older films to newer actresses Urmila Matondkar and Kareena Kapoor, these screen scorchers are all bound by a common thread - the evergreen voice of Asha.

Two remakes of two huge hits - both coincidentally from the 1970s - are released in one week to great expectations... but sink without a trace. So, the question arises - do we really need remakes? The most memorable remake fiasco was by none other than mighty Ram Gopal Varma. His "Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag", made with an obscenely high budget and big stars, is a re-styled and re-modelled version of Ramesh Sippy's 1975 cult film "Sholay". But it sank at the box office without a trace.

Be it the softly romantic "Pyar hua iqraar hua" from "Sri 420" or the frankly sensual "Aaj rapat jayen" from "Namak Halaal", rain songs have been a constant in Bollywood films down the ages. Here, stars and directors list their favourites: Saif Ali Khan: My favourite rain song will have to be "Tip tip barsa pani" from the film "Mohra". I like the lyrics and the ambience created by the tune.

Bollywood may not ever develop as broad a global market as Hollywood, but it seems set to become a financier and marketer of global products - created at home or abroad, says Newsweek magazine. The ticket sales for Indian productions are rising fastest outside India, even as its increasingly wealthy middle class heads to the box office at home for more unconventional fare, the magazine notes in its Sep 10 issue citing PricewaterhouseCoopers projections.

From indolent Nawabs chewing betel nuts to regular denizens going about their day-to-day life even as they surmount subtle signs of marginalisation and alienation, the caricature of Indian Muslims on Indian celluloid has undergone many changes. The just released "Dhokha", revolves around a Muslim police officer in Mumbai who finds nothing in common with suicide bombers from his own community but is faced by the same questions that bog many in the minority community in India.

It is the day when Bollywood brothers get misty eyed remembering their sisters and the special filial bonding that is strengthened with a silken thread on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. Actor Tusshar Kapoor says: Getting the rakhi tied by my sister Ekta is something I look forward to every year. Of course, I'll gift her with something. But what does one give to a girl who has everything? Ekta is the coolest and smartest sister in the world and I want her to remain that way.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan's parents had to return disappointed from the city jail Monday after authorities refused to let them meet their imprisoned son as the visiting time had elapsed. Salman's father Salim Khan and his mother Salma arrived in the city in the afternoon and went straight to the Jodhpur Central Jail to meet Salman, who is serving a prison term for hunting an endangered deer in 1998.