Little Lata, came home after watching K.L.Saigal’s ‘Chandidas’ directed by Nitin Bose and declared that she would marry Saigal Saab when she grew up. Here begins, Hindi filmdom’s most enduring love story. Between Lata Mangeshkar and Hindi film music. A story of passion , commitment and sincerity . A story that has taken on the awesome dimensions of legend .A story that has charmed and enchanted millions all over the for more than five decades …
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Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam
Tum Rahe Na Tum, Hum Rahe Na Hum …

One of the finest song delivered by Geeta Dutt in Guru Dutt’s final directoral venture ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’. Kaagaz Ke Phool till date is considered just second to Pyaasa by many. A cinematic masterpiece that went over the audience’s heads and sank like the Titanic so to say.

Starring: Guru Dutt, Waheeda Rehman, Johnny Walker, Veena, Baby Naaz

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I think I can rate this film above ‘Saaransh’ as far as my performance goes. When I did ‘Saaransh’ I was hungry as an actor, I was on the roads and nobody knew who Anupam Kher is? Now after more than three hundred films people say – ‘dekhte hai is baar Anupam kya karega?’ It’s more challenging for me to reinvent myself at this stage. I can confidently say that with this performance I’ve outdone ‘Saaransh’, and ‘Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara’ ranks as my best performance of my career.

Well, we’re looking forward to many more such power-packed performances from you. Remember…better is the enemy of the best!

Ash admirers have always wanted to know more about her relationship with Vivek Oberoi. But their curiosity has rarely been whetted. “I have always maintained silence about my personal life and I won’t make an exception this time,â€Â? was Aishwarya’s standard response, to any personal question.

The farthest Aishwarya would go, when asked about her public appearances with Vivek Oberoi, was, “Vivek is a very good friend.� Beyond that, she remained politically correct, never acknowledging his presence or importance in her life. Recently when the media splashed the Ash-Vivek split story, she was disappointed.
“It hurts her when she reads one-sided stories and it is very easy to get away with such stories because she won’t react to allegations,â€Â? says a close associate of Ash.

Allegation: Ash unceremoniously dumped Vivek after seeing the box-office result of Home Delivery and immediately started dating Abhishek Bachchan.

Clarification: This is utter rubbish. The relationship ended six months ago and Home Delivery was released much later, in December 2005. Ash never made it obvious that she is more popular than Vivek in India and abroad. She worked with Abhishek in Dhai Akshar Prem Ke in 2000, much before she knew Vivek. She is very close to the Bachchans. She is certainly not dating Abhishek. Incidentally, Abhishek is a friend of Vivek.

Vivek still in love with Ash

The buzz goes that Vivek has planted the story of his break-up with Ash to gain publicity. But a very close friend of Vivek says, “He doesn’t need all these publicity gimmicks. He respects Ash and hasn’t ever spoken against her, although he was provoked by his friends. All he wants to know is the reason behind Ash dumping him. Vivek is heart-broken today.â€Â?

Abhishek Bachchan on Ash

This has become a ritual. The media loves to cook up such stories. And once you start reacting to such gossips, you end up giving it undue attention. Ash is a great co-actor and we share a very cordial relationship. It is embarrassing for an actor, particularly a woman, to get associated with men she isn’t involved with.

Welcome to the Corporate World. A battlefield of power hungry people. A world filled with deceit and corrupted minds. Where wealth, fame and success are fought over. And rules don’t exist.

CORPORATE is the story of two leading industrialists in the food sector. Each powerful, each ambitious and equally relentless. When the market opens up to international players, competition gets fierce. And the battle for supremacy begins.

Moral codes are abandoned and ethics are forgotten as these two bitter rivals embark upon a deadly game of monopoly. Success and prestige take precedence over all else. Good is no longer good enough. And people are driven to the brink of insanity. All in the name of business.

Staring none other than hot and happening Bipasha in lead, with sophisticated biz women look tells stroy about ups and down, inside and outside of a corporation. The sultry siren usually seen in designer wear in films is seen in corporate suits in this film. However her sex-appeal doesn’t decline in any way. Samir Dattani and Minisha Lamba form the young members of the corporate world and most certainly as the love-birds in the film. Flashes of Mercedes Benz, media cameras, conference halls, corporate meetings, social gatherings, presentations and parties follow.

This summer stay tuned for a game of paisa, power and politics. Enter another world of realistic cinema by Madhur Bhandarkar – enter the world of ‘Corporate’.

The story revolves around a Parsi family, Sethnas residing in the hills of Panchgani. A retired sculptor Dinshaw (Naseeruddin Shah) heads the family. Other members of the joint family comprise of Dinshaw’s wife Katy (Dimple Kapadia), brother Farokh (Boman Irani), sister-in-law Tina (Simone Singh) and second brother Fardoonjee (Honey Chhaya).

Then arrives Cyrus (Saif Ali Khan) at the Sethna house and stays on.

As the movie proceeds it gains a psychological insight into the family and reveals that everything is not all right with the Sethna family. Not just that, even Cyrus comes across as a bizarre personality.

Made under the banner of Times Infotainment Media Limited, Being Cyrus is produced by Ambika Hinduja, Dinesh Vijan, Raman Macker and Munnish Puri.

Actor Saif Ali Khan hasn’t started ‘greying’ yet, but at the rate he’s maturing as an artiste and stepping into ‘grey’ areas (where no one dared to go before), he may soon compete with actors ‘older’ in stature. When we asked him how it feels to be the ‘dark’ man in a darkly caustic film, Mr Clean Khan said,

It’s very interesting to do such roles. It’s like living on the edge. My roles like Ek Haseena Thi have been the most interesting ones. Actually I try to do films that I like watching. And this kind of on-the-edge cinema is what I enjoy watching the most.

Well Saif, these kinds of films will surely give you an ‘edge’ over the other actors too, eh?

One of the less hyped release of last week was Malamaal Weekly – Priyadarshan. In a nutshell, MALAMAAL WEEKLY isn’t great cinema. Nor is it a terrible letdown. It floats in between, a strictly average fare with the by-now-famous Priyadarshan touch visible sporadically and intermittently. With such huge collection of comic characters from Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Ritesh Deshmukh, Rajpal Yadav, Shakti Kapoor to Asrani, the movie could have been made bit paceful and lively.

Last week’s another release was Jigyaasa. JIGYAASA makes an effort to present an inside view of the Hindi film industry, but the unfortunate part is, what comes across on screen makes you uncomfortable. And — most importantly — it paints a dark picture of the industry.
In the film, an aspiring actress sleeps with a topnotch producer to bag a film assignment, then a lady producer [lesbian] to bag another film, then with the film’s lead man, then offers a male companion to a gay activist cum organizer of a film award, then sleeps with a gangster, in between takes to drugs, then accuses an actor-director of sexual molestation and in the end, commits suicide.

JIGYAASA even takes potshots at several known names [it's not difficult to guess the targets] and packs in incidents that we may’ve read in newspapers or watched clips on television news channels. Add to it a generous dose of sleaze and titillation and you’ve a film that bares the mechanism of the industry.

Sadly, the end result leaves a bad taste in your mouth. What could’ve been an exciting experience comes across as a tacky exercise that tarnishes the image of Bollywood.

Another release which went unnoticed last week was, Mr. 100% – The Real player. It?s based on male prostitutes/gigolos. With a rarely attempted concept on hand, the makers could?ve come up with a thought-provoking fare. Unfortunately, MR. 100% ? THE REAL PLAYER is all about titillation.

This week(17th March) it was same as last week, movies like Umar, Banana Brothers and some other C graders – unfortunately some makers and critics hype them as independent movies like in Hollywood.

Umar highlights the plight of senior citizens with parallel crime story. It not only looks at the atrocities committed by their kith and kin during their sunset years, but the story also has a crime angle running parallel. Unfortunately it stands nowhere near BAGHBAN, Avtar or Swarg which had similar theme.
The problem is, while the story of the senior citizens holds interest, the crime part doesn’t. If the emotional story of the three aged people [Kader Khan, Prem Chopra, Satish Kaushik] appears straight out of life/identifiable and moves you, the crime story fails to thrill you. It actually stands out like an island.

Banana Brothers is a comedy made in English with a dash of Punjabi and Gujarati, BANANA BROTHERS shows the difficulties faced by Indians who migrate to foreign land in search of money and success. The serious issue is dealt with humor this time. It is supposedly a light entertainer, but there are hardly any moments that tickle your funny bone. Besides, the pacing of the film is quite slow and the goings-on unfold at a sluggish pace. Ohh ya, stars were viz; Anupam Kher, Gushan Grover and Johny Lever.

Esha Deol now breaks her silence.

Yes. One day after pack-up, Amrita abused me in front of my director, Indra Kumar and my cameraman and I thought that was totally out of line. To protect my self-respect and dignity, in the heat of the moment, I slapped her. I have no regrets because she totally deserved it for her behaviour towards me at that point in time. I just stood up for myself and my dignity.