Cast: Amitabh, Akshay Kumar, Bhumika chawla, Aryeman (introducing)
Rating:

The problem with FAMILY – TIES OF BLOOD clearly lies in its screenplay [Rajkumar Santoshi, Shridhar Raghavan], which follows a predictable path from start to end. And what adds to the woes is that the by-now-famous Santoshi stamp is clearly missing in the enterprise.

Synopsis

FAMILY – TIES OF BLOOD tells the story of two families, that of Viren Sahai [Amitabh Bachchan] and Shekhar Bhatia [Akshay Kumar] — two worlds totally different from each other. How these diametrically opposite worlds collide with catastrophic consequences forms the crux of the story.

A brief about the two families: Viren, a dreaded don, operates from Bangkok. His family, comprising of his wife [Shernaz Patel], son [Sushant Singh], daughter-in-law, daughter and grandson, live in Mumbai. That’s primarily because Viren’s wife doesn’t agree with his despicable activities.

The other family is that of Shekhar, who lives with his parents [Anjan Srivastava, Bharti Achrekar], wife [Bhumika Chawla] and brother [Aryeman]. They are a typical middle class family: Shekhar is a chef by profession, his wife is a doctor, while the younger brother has tried his hand at various jobs, including running a cyber café.

The story takes a turn when Shekhar gets killed by Viren. Unable to bear the shock of his caring brother, Aryan kidnaps Viren’s family with his bunch of friends. He is now thirsting for Viren’s blood. The battlelines are drawn…

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, John Abrahim, Lara Dutta, Celina Jaitley, Mahesh
Rating:
Promo/Teaser/Jhalak: Watch Now

Besides a story that is indeed a novel experience for Indian moviegoers, ZINDA is embellished with several twists and turns in the tale that come as a complete shocker. For those who haven’t watched the original, ZINDA will take you by complete surprise.

Also, the look and tone of the film is definitely not for the faint-hearted. Like Gupta’s last effort [MUSAFIR], ZINDA is provocative and graphic and frankly, you ought to have a strong stomach to absorb the film. Inspite of all these USPs, Zinda might not convince enough aam janta to shelve few bucks due to its extreme Hollywood style.
There is an old saying ‘ When in Rome, do as the Romans do’ or ‘Jaisa Desh Waisa Besh’. Zinda serves too much of voilence and gore, which might offend large part of Indian paying audience specailly childrens.

So much is for the opinion now, the get the story.

Synopsis

Bala [Sanjay Dutt], a software engineer, arrives in Bangkok with his wife Nisha [Celina Jaitley]. However, one fine day, he is abducted by someone for mysterious reasons. When Bala wakes up, he finds himself in a locked room, with the only human contact being a faceless person who delivers his meals.

His only window to the outside world is the television in his room and from it, Bala learns that his wife Nisha [Celina Jaitley] has been murdered and he is the prime suspect. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and months turn into years as Bala remains locked up, with the television bringing images of a changing world [WTC bombings, Tsunami].

Then, inexplicably, Bala is released after spending fourteen years locked away. However, he quickly learns that his ordeal is far from over, as he is handed some money and a cell phone, triggering the next stage of the twisted game that is being directed by Bala’s still-unknown tormentor.

Bala starts his hunt for the unknown enemy. Circumstances bring him close to Jenny [Lara Dutta], a cabbie, who gets to know his ordeal. With Jenny and his friend’s [Mahesh Manjrekar] help, Bala pieces together clues that eventually lead him to the person responsible for his imprisonment — a businessman named Rohit Chopra [John Abraham].

And in finding the answers to the two burning questions — why was he imprisoned in the first place and why was he released fourteen years later — Bala uncovers more than a few shocking revelations.

On the whole, ZINDA is an interesting story told in a stylish format. Unfortunately, a theme like this has its limitations: The dry, dark and gruesome film will appeal to the guys [youth] more than the fairer sex, but it’s definitely not for the ladies/families.

Coming soon @ you know where, dont you?

Bimal Roy tells a story of the dispossessed peasant and the moneylender/ landlord in Do Bigha Zameen. With his innate reserve and good taste he chooses a much wider context in which to place his narrative thus looking at rural poverty at one end and the brutalizing effects of city life at the other end.

Starring: Balraj Sahni, Nirupa Roy, Master Rattan Kumar, Meena Kumari

(more…)

Screen has always been the first award function of the year, and so has always been quite popular and you could see whole bollywood being gathered (actually the only people who hopes to win award).
This year in the nomination list as forecasted, Black heavily dominates along with Parineeta, Each having 13 nominations and surprisingly, Yahaan has 11 nominations.

Following is the nomination list along with the winners;
Declared results are in DARK RED

BEST FILM
Apaharan – Prakash Jha
Black – Anshuman Swami, Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Iqbal – Subhash Ghai (Mukta Arts)
Parineeta – Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Sarkar – Ram Gopal Varma and Parag Sanghvi
Yahaan – Gary S, Shoojit Sircar, Robby Grewal

BEST DIRECTOR
Nagesh Kukunoor – Iqbal
Prakash Jha – Apaharan
Ram Gopal Verma – Sarkar
Sanjay Leela Bhansali – Black
Sudhir Mishra – Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

BEST ACTOR (MALE)
Ajay Devgan – Apaharan
Amitabh Bachchan – Black
Saif Ali Khan – Parineeta
Shah Rukh Khan – Paheli
Shahid Kapur – Shikhar

BEST ACTOR (FEMALE)
Juhi Chawla – My Brother Nikhil
Konkona Sen-Sharma – Page 3
Priety Zinta – Salaam Namaste
Rani Mukerjee – Black
Sharmila Tagore – Viruddh

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)
Abhishek Bachchan – Sarkar
Amitabh Bachchan – Bunty Aur Babli
Kay Kay Menon – Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
Naseeruddin Shah – Iqbal
Toby Stephens – Mangal Pandey – The Rising

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (FEMALE)
Lilette Dubey – My Brother Nikhil
Shefali Shah – Waqt
Shernaz Patel – Black
Shweta Prasad – Iqbal
Prateeksha Lonkar – Iqbal

BEST ACTOR IN A NEGATIVE ROLE (MALE/FEMALE)
Ajay Devgan – Shikhar
Kay Kay Menon – Sarkar
Nana Patekar – Apaharan
Pooja Batra – Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story
Yashpal Sharma – Apaharan

BEST ACTOR IN A COMIC ROLE (MALE/FEMALE)
Abhishek Bachchan – Bunty Aur Babli
Akshay Kumar – Garam Masala
Anil Kapoor – No Entry
Ishaa Koppikar – Kya Kool Hain Hum
Rajpal Yadav – Main Meri Patni Aur Woh

BEST BACKGROUND MUSIC
Amar Mohile – Sarkar
A R Rahman – Bose – The Forgotten Hero
A R Rahman – Mangal Pandey – The Rising
Monty Sharma – Black
Salim-Suleiman – Iqbal

BEST MUSIC
M M Kreem – Paheli
Shankar -Ehsaan-Loy – Bunty Aur Babli
Shantanu Moitra – Parineeta
Shantanu Moitra – Yahaan
Vishal-Shekhar – Dus

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (MALE)
Atif – ‘Woh lamhe…’ , Zeher
K K & Shaan – ‘Dus bahane…’, Dus
Sonu Nigam – ‘Dheere jalna…’, Paheli
Sukhwinder – ‘Woh kisna hai…’, Kisna
Udit Narayan – ‘Hum hain is pal yahaan…’, Kisna

BEST PLAYBACK SINGER (FEMALE)
Alisha Chinoy – ‘Kajra Re…’, Bunty Aur Babli
Kavita Krishnamoorthy – ‘Main vaari jaoon…’, Mangal Pandey – The Rising
Shreya Ghoshal – ‘Piyu bole…’, Parineeta
Shubha Mudgal – ‘Bawra mann…’, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
Sunidhi Chauhan – ‘Kaisi paheli…’, Parineeta

BEST LYRICS
Gulzar – ‘Dheere jalna…, Paheli
Gulzar – ‘Naam ada likhna ….’, Yahaan
Javed Akhtar – ‘Hum hain iss pal yahaan…’, Kisna
Swanand Kirkire – ‘Bawra mann…’, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
Swanand Kirkire – ‘Piyu bole…’, Parineeta

BEST STORY
Prakash Jha – Apaharan
Nagesh Kukunoor – Iqbal
Rajpal Yadav & Gunjan Joshi – Main Meri Patni Aur Woh
Sabapati Mahesh – Yahaan
Sudhir Mishra, Shiv Kumar Subramaniam & Ruchi Narain – Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

BEST SCREENPLAY
Nagesh Kukunoor – Iqbal
Piyush Mishra, Somnath De, Shoojit Sircar & Sameer Kohli – Yahaan
Prakash Jha, Shridhar Raghavan & Manoj Tyagi – Apaharan
Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Prakash Kapadia & Bhavani Iyer – Black
Vidhu Vinod Chopra & Pradeep Sarkar – Parineeta

BEST DIALOGUE
Gulrez Syed, Mohafiz Hyder & Rajeev Mirza – Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story
Nagesh Kukunoor – Iqbal
Prakash Jha – Apaharan
Prakash Kapadia (Hindi) & Bhavani Iyer (English) – Black
Vidhu Vinod Chopra & Rekha Nigam – Parineeta

BEST EDITING
Catherine D’hoir – Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
Bela Segal – Black
Nipun Gupta & Amit Parmar – Sarkar
Santosh Mandal – Apaharan
Shekhar – Yahaan

BEST SOUND
Ajay Kumar P B – Yahaan
Biswadeep Chatterjee – Parineeta
Kunal Mehta & Parikshit Lalwani – Sarkar
Resool Pookutty – Black
Robert Taylor – Mangal Pandey – The Rising

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jakob Ihre – Yahaan
N Natraja Subramanian – Parineeta
Ravi K Chandran – Black
Ravi K Chandran – Paheli
Sudeep Chatterjee – Iqbal

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS
Biju D – Naina
Eagle Videofilms – Paheli
Merzin Tavaria – Waah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!
Stargate Company, LA – Dus

BEST ART DIRECTION
Chandravadhan B More – Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story
Keshto Mondal, Tanushree Sarkar & Pradeep Sarkar – Parineeta
Muneesh Sappel – Paheli
Omung Kumar – Black
Samir Chanda – Bose – The Forgotten Hero

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Bosco-Ceasar – ‘Dus bahane …’, Dus
Farah Khan – ‘Kaal dhamaal …’, Kaa
Farah Khan – ‘Kangana re…’, Paheli
Saroj Khan – ‘Vaari vaari …’, Mangal Pandey – The Rising
Vaibhavi Merchant – ‘Kajra Re …’, Bunty Aur Babli

BEST ACTION
Allan Amin – Dus
Jai Singh Nijjar – Apaharan
Seng (Thailand) – Ek Ajnabee
Sham Kaushal – Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story
Shoojit Sircar – Yahaan

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER (MALE)
Abhay Deol – Socha Na Tha
Karan Sharma – Dil Jo Bhi Kahey
Kunal Khemmu – Kalyug
Shiny Ahuja – Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi

MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER (FEMALE)
Chitrangada Singh – Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi
Minissha Lamba – Yahaan
Sonya Jehan – Taj Mahal – An Eternal Love Story
Vidya Balan – Parineeta

BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR
Jahnu Barua – Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara
Mohit Suri – Zeher
Onir – My Brother Nikhil
Pradeep Sarkar – Parineeta
Shoojit Sircar – Yahaan

BEST JODI NO.1
Abhishek Bachchan & Rani Mukherjee (Bunty Aur Babli)
Katrina Kaif & Salman Khan (Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya)
Priety Zinta & Saif Ali Khan (Salaam Namaste)
Rani Mukherjee & Shah Rukh Khan (Paheli)

What were your guesses?

Starring: Sanjay Kapoor, Manisha Koirala, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Helen, Mushtaq Khan

A film of this genre ought to rely on mood, atmosphere and the cast to create the spookish mood. But in this case, almost everything is so uninspiring and monotonous that the viewer starts feeling restless at the very outset. The middle or end portions also don’t contribute much in elevating the status of the enterprise.

Promo/Teaser/Jhalak: Download

Synopsis

ANJAANE – THE UNKNOWN tells the story of Shivani [Manisha Koirala], her husband Aditya [Sanjay Kapoor] and their two children. Sonia [Tejaswini Kolhapure] is the third angle of the triangle. Aditya and Sonia are in love.

When Shivani gets to know about it, she confronts Sonia and slaps her. Now Sonia is seething with fury and seeks revenge. Aditya decides to move in with Sonia and divorce Shivani. Later, Sonia gets to know that she cannot deliver a baby and eyes Shivani’s children. Aditya agrees to it.

Even the court rules in Adityas favor. But fate has something else in store for all of them. This is just the backdrop of the film?

Starring: Waheeda Rehman, Shabana Azmi, Konkona Sen, Rahul Bose

Promo: Download

Aparna Sen film has always been different from regular bollywood flicks, whether in 90s ofr in present day.
You ought to view with different glasses! along with your thinking cap. 15th Park Avenue is an woman oriented movie dealing with various relationships and its complications.
Embellished with sterling performances from top notch actors like Shabanaji, Konkona, Waheedaji and many more, 15th Park Avenue lives upto its story to some extent.

Synopsis

Anjali [Shabana Azmi] lives with her mother Rewa [Waheeda Rehman] and sister Meethi [Konkona Sen
Sharma]. Meethi suffers both from chronic schizophrenia and epilepsy and has to be cared for by her family. In spite of her illness, Meethi had been quite functional up to her early twenties. She had even got engaged to a young man called Joydeep or Jojo [Rahul Bose], as she called him.

After that, disaster had struck! Meethi, who was working for a publishing house as a journalist, had gone on an assignment outside Kolkata where political goons had raped her repeatedly. This incident had triggered off Meethi’s hitherto dormant schizophrenia. Joydeep was unable to relate to Meethi any longer and had broken off the engagement.

Meethi now lives completely in a delusional world where she is married to Jojo and is Mrs. Joydeep Roy with five children of her own. She believes that she lives with her husband and children at 15 Park Avenue and would insist on being taken to look for her house, which never existed in the first place.

Anjali is the sole caregiver to her widowed mother and schizophrenic sister. As a result, she becomes a much stressed individual and Meethi’s doctor Kunal advises her to take a break from work. Anjali, Meethi, their mother and Meethi’s attendant Charu arrive in Bhutan for the prescribed holiday.

By a strange co-incidence, Joydeep is here too with his wife Lakshmi [Shefali Shah] and their two children. He sees Meethi quiet unexpectedly and feels completely shattered at the change he sees in her. He follows Anu and Meethi to their rented cottage. But, strangely, Meethi does not recognize him at all.

Later, Meethi confides in him about her husband Jojo and her five children. She entreats him to help her find her house at 15 Park Avenue and to help her get away from her sister whom she imagines to be completely tyrannical!

On the very first question itself, the outburst began;

“How could they nominate my director Jahnu Barua in the ‘best debut’ category? Barua has made many films in his native language Assamese and won innumerable national and international awards… Just because they think ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’ is Jahnu’s first feature film they’ve chosen to insult him, me and the film.”

He added: “First of all ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’ isn’t Barua’s first Hindi film. In 1982, he made ‘Apeksha’, which was the Hindi version of his Assamese film ‘Aparoopa’. It featured Suhasini Mulay in the lead. Besides that, he has made 8-10 feature films before Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara.

“I thank god that Satyajit Ray’s first Hindi film ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’ was made many years ago. Today, he’d probably have been nominated for best debutant for ‘Shatranj Ke Khiladi’.”

He said he wouldn’t change his mind. “My decision is irreversible. It’s an insult to the director and me. My Gandhian film got honoured in Pakistan. And this is how they honour the film and its maker in Mumbai?
So, no thanks! I am not reconsidering my decision to attend the awards.”

Sometimes your absence is the best way of making your presence felt.

Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara Synopsis .

And its been none other than our own ‘Ash -ex’ Vivek’s december release Home Delivery. The year 2005 didn’t fare well for Vivek. Begining of this year saw huge disappointment for this little ‘Kisna‘ and with no credit for success of Kaal and end of the year with this huge disaster. It was not just his movies, even his love life with so called ‘Most beautiful lady of the world’ in his own words also came to an end.

Sanjay Gosh, the director of this master piece, who in past had hits like Jhakar Beats reacted to this survey humouriously;

At least my film has topped in some list. Hats off to me for that

He continued,

‘One learns from one’s mistakes. I guess after ‘Jhankaar Beats’, I went terribly wrong this time. I’ll have to be very careful with my next one.

So I hope we won’t be seeing Vivek in his next venture for sure, as Sanjay made clear that he won’t be stumbling on same stone twice.