Omkara, an indian adaptation of Shakespeare’s OTHELLO, is a movie made both for the masses and classes. It dares to swim against the tide. It defies the set rules of commercial cinema. It’s not one of those candyfloss films. It’s not sunshine cinema either. Nor does it follow trends… OMKARA is a serious film, about real people, about real emotions.

Trailer/Promo/Teaser

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Saif ali Khan, Vivek Oberio, Kareena Kapoor, Konkona Sen, Bipasha Basu & Nasurdeen Shah (Guest)
Rating:

Synopsis

Omkara or Omi [Ajay Devgan] is a gifted chieftain who heads a gang of outlaws, which include the crafty Langda Tyagi [Saif Ali Khan] and the dynamic Kesu [Vivek Oberoi] amongst his chief cohorts. The story begins when Omi appoints Kesu and not Langda as his chief lieutenant.

Langda’s pride is slighted and raging with envy he hatches a plot to falsely implicate Omi’s beautiful lover Dolly [Kareena Kapoor] in a love affair with Omi’s “favorite lieutenantâ€Â? Kesu. With the unwitting aid of Indu [Konkana Sen Sharma], Langda’s wife, and the willing help of Raju, a fellow grouch, Langda’s plan takes shape and results in horrific tragedy.

Using petty insinuations and lies, Langda keeps poisoning Omi’s mind till one day it snaps and Omi goes about tearing up his own safe and secure world. By the time he realizes what he has done and the backlash of his actions, it is too late.

Omkara’s love for Dolly, Dolly’s unquestioning love for Omi, Langda’s warped loyalty and jealousy for Omi, Kesu’s unswerving devotion to Omi — all lead up to a dark tragedy where Omi finally realizes what he has done…

From MAKDEE to MAQBOOL to OMKARA, Vishal Bhardwaj’s transition has been simply remarkable. OMKARA shows that Vishal is a brilliant storyteller, who has a terrific command over technique too. In fact, it wouldn’t be erroneous to state that every sequence in the film bears the stamp of a genius and most importantly, someone who knows how to adapt an English play into a 2-hour Hindi film.

OMKARA is also embellished with great performances, but the one who steals the show is, without a shred of doubt, Saif Ali Khan, who plays the evil Langda Tyagi brilliantly. Ajay makes a stirring and powerful interpretation of a man haunted by uncertainty about his lover’s faithfulness.Kareena delivers an award-worthy performance. She looks gorgeous even without makeup. Vivek Oberoi is alright; he doesn’t really get much scope. Konkona Sen Sharma is outstanding.

On the whole, OMKARA is a brilliant film from the making point of view and is also embellished with topnotch performances.

Trailer/Promo/Teaser

Woh Lamhe means those moments. The film talks about…
Moments of fame
Moments of love
Moments of pain
Moments make a lifetime
For everyone who has loved and lost…

Storyline

In the glitzy entertainment capital of Mumbai as dusk descends, famous actress Sana Azim (Kangana Ranaut) slashes her wrists in a hotel room, in an attempt to kill herself. When this news reaches film maker Aditya Garewal (Shiny Ahuja), he is devastated. Aditya has been searching for Sana all over the world. Sana who was intensely involved with Aditya, had mysteriously disappeared from his life without any explanation, three years ago, only to surface now in what could be the last moments of her life.

As Aditya waits outside the ICU in a death watch situation, praying to be reunited with her, he is hurled back into the perfumed days and champagne nights of his memory, wherein Sana Azim played the role of both, lover and mentor to a struggling Aditya.

Everything was perfect, except for an enemy which lurked in the shadow, waiting to destroy their love. An enemy which neither of them saw till it was too late…

When Aditya realizes that the only way he can save Sana from total devastation is to take her away from Bollywood and the vested interests that threaten to destroy her completely, he runs away with Sana putting his career on the line. Those moment lived in the sanctuary of their love are like an oasis in the desert.

Until one day, suddenly, she disappears, leaving him with unanswered question.
Why did she leave at the very acme of their love, when there seemed to be hope?
What pushed her to attempt suicide?
Will be finally be able to piece together the puzzle that has been haunting him and almost destroyed him?
And most important of all, will be reunited with his love?

Storyline

Anu (Priyanka Chopra), a London based NRI has just broken up with her boyfriend Danny (Dino Morea). Now, she’s to come back to Mumbai to be a part of her stepsister Shirani’s (Amisha Patel) marriage, to the New York-based, Gujarati businessman Kunal Shah (Suniel Shetty), Dino’s best friend.

In a plan to get back to Danny and to make him jealous, Anu convinces her colleague Aman (Akshaye Khanna), who’s also a male escort, to accompany her to the wedding as her new beau.

Incidentally, Shirani was also involved with Danny earlier, which resulted in heartbreak for her too, as everyone learns of Danny’s womanizing ways. Anupam Kher and Lilette Dubey play guardians of the two sisters, Anu and Shirani.

As time passes by, Aman finds Anu fascinating and later it develops into a fondness between the two. How Anu and Aman’s relationship undergoes a change during the course of these incidents forms the crux of the story.

Will she able to find her true love in Danny or Aman?

And does Shirani marry Kunal happily?

Mr. Amitabh Bachchan being conferred with Doctorate Degree

The university had earlier conferred an honorary degree on former South African president Nelson Mandela for his charity work.

Bachchan said he was deeply humbled by this recognition. The megastar said his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan did PhD in English literature from Cambridge University way back in 1954 and was referred to as ‘Dr Bachchan’ and whatever he is today is because of the academic influence of his parents on him.

Amitabh Bachchan, who arrived in London on Tuesday accompanied by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, is expected to call on Jack Straw, leader of the House of Commons, and other members of the Tony Blair Cabinet on Thursday.

To celebrate the honorary degree conferred upon Bachchan, Keith Vaz, MP, former minister for Foreign and Commonwealth office, will host a dinner at the House of Commons on Friday.

Amitabh Bachchan is a well-known figure in the creative industries and his energy and professionalism will be an inspiration to our graduates and students across the board, and especially to those wishing to pursue careers in the film sector

a spokesman of the De Monfort University said.

We congratulate Mr. Bachchan for his outstanding achievements in this stage of Life.
Sky is the limit !

This gives me a right to ask you certain questions. More so as you did shut me up when I was vehemently objecting to the changes you had indicated, with “Now you have done your job. Let me take over as a director. Let me make the film from my point of view. I have handled more than two hundred screen plays – so just rest assured – I know what I am doing.”

In order to prove his point, he have ven posted whole script of the movie online, so that viewers could compare of completed movie with the original script. Upon reading the script, it definitely proves that Naseerudhin has changed many scences of the movie, in some places to add the commercial value while in others for the reason only known to him.

Mr. Gada gets over the top by challenging Mr. Shah;

And my question is, Mr.Shah, if you possess the screen writing skills, why dismantle and over write somebody else’s script – why not write one on your own?
And if you could not control the creative rush and deployed your skills as a writer to such a great extent – why the credits read – ‘WRITTEN BY UTTAM GADA’ and not ‘WRITTEN BY NASEERUDDIN SHAH’?

Mr. Gada requests whole world, who are passionate about indian cinema to download and read his original script before taking potshots upon him.

Download the original script of Yun Hota To Kya Hota (working title Udaan)

Now I can tell the world – ‘before blaming me, please read my script and decide for yourself what is the source of the incompetent, unaesthetic and at times atrocious writing that has gone in to YUN HOTA TOH KYA HOTA!’

Teaser

Cast: Paresh Rawal, Konkona Sen, Ayesha, Irrfan, Jimmy
Rating:

Synopsis

Story 1: Tilottima [Konkona Sensharma] is married to Hemant [Jimmy Shergill], who she met through the Net. Their honeymoon is cut short because he has to return to his job in the U.S. Tilottima is desperate to reach U.S., but has to face an irate mother-in-law [Carla Singh] in the process. She manages a visa and heads for L.A.

Story 2: Salim [Irrfan Khan] is the stockbroker son of a Godmother [Saroj Khan]. He’s besotted by the much older but sensuous Namrata [Suhasini Mulay]. Even as he involuntarily gets involved in a killing [Boman Irani], he discovers that she has been cheating on him. Before the shattered man can gather his wits, his mother forces him to pack his bags and flee the country before he’s implicated.

Story 3: Rahul [Ankur Khanna] is a brilliant but poor student who’s already got admission into a prestigious university abroad. But he’s hardly excited, nor appears to be too keen on going because of a lack of funds and an incapacitated father. Almost overnight, almost magically, all his problems get sorted out thanks to a friend [Ayesha Takia] and he finds himself flying out to a brighter future.

Story 4: Rajubhai [Paresh Rawal] is a small-time organizer of foreign shows. To be a part of his show will cost an aspiring dancer/singer a few cool lakhs. Old flame Tara [Ratna Pathak Shah] mortgages her house so that Rajubhai would include her only daughter [Shahana Goswami] into his show. And so the seasoned and hardened Rajubhai finds himself fathering a wide eyed, innocent girl on her first trip abroad.

Of the four stories, the ones that stand out are the Jimmy-Konkona and Paresh-Ratna tracks. The constant bickering of the mother-in-law [Carla] and her dislike for the new bride [Konkona] is smartly depicted. The portion at the U.S. Consulate — Konkona’s interview for a Tourist Visa — is another noteworthy twist in the tale. But the culmination to this story is unclear. Why doesn’t Konkona make a phone call to her husband, clarifying that she couldn’t board the ill-fated flight and that she’s very much alive? Also, didn’t the director feel it’s important to show that the newly-married couple has reunited? That’s a glaring loophole!

On the whole, YUN HOTA TO KYA HOTA… WHAT IF? is a well-intentioned film, but the sudden ending and the missing links in the script make things go awry and unsatisfied !

Teaser

Cast: Irrfan, Emraan, Nisha, Jaqeer
Rating:

Synopsis

Nikhil [Emraan Hashmi] is a cabbie in Dubai; he doesn’t shy from going that extra mile to earn those extra bucks. He plans to open a travel agency some day and settle with the woman of his dreams, Rhea [Nisha Kothari], a bar dancer by profession.

Nikhil’s life takes a turn when Vikram [Irrfan Khan] hires his cab for the entire night. Vikram is no ordinary passenger. He is in Dubai with a mission — to eliminate five people in the course of one single night. Unaware of Vikram’s nefarious plans, Nikhil drives him around, drops him to a destination, picks him up and moves on to the next destination.

But Nikhil soon realizes that he has been trapped and has to find a way out of this misadventure. The more he tries to get out of it, the more Vikram traps him. Nikhil begs, pleads, argues, retaliates, schemes… but to no avail as Vikram doesn’t have intentions of letting him free till his mission is accomplished.

Slowly, Nikhil starts transforming himself into a personality that could counter-attack the man sitting on the rear seat.

On the whole, THE KILLER is an absorbing fare that should appeal to lovers of thrillers.

She is a reining dream girl of indian celluloid after ‘Hema Malini’. A dream girl of a class, but not until her ground breaking item number in Shakti (2002) hit the screens. Her first item number along with SRK rocked whole nation, and soon the name Aishwarya Rai was ringing in every nukkad, chaiwala & railway paltforms. Bolwed hard by critics, but loved and admired by masses made Aishwarya – the girl of masses. Her item number became so popular that it outbeated Helen’s all time mass monger number – Do Ghoot Mujhe Bhi ….

Ishq Kamina – Aishwarya Rai & Shah Rukh Khan in Shakti (2002)

The transformation came with the price, soon every next ABC director wanted her to do an item number for their movie for any price. Coke commercials to cameo roles, everone wanted Aishwarya as girl next door, rural teekhi mirchi role.

It was not the idea of item number that bothered me, but the kind of number they were offering me – skimpy clothes and gyrating bumps. Its difficult when people starts comparing me with Rakhi Sawant.

Unfortunately, most of the (non)-sensible movies after Shakti bombed at box office, but she still tried to stay away from Ishq Kamina roles. Not long enough could she hold herself, when the filmi moughal himself offered her chance to share the frame along with Bachachan’s with Kajarare in Bunti Aur Babli (2005) . Once again, the song took indian music industry by strom, every TV channel was airing same music video. Viturally every palce of India was singing this song – in FMs, cabs, parlors, discos, picnics, festives.

Kajarare – Aishwarya along with Bachachan’s in Bunti Aur Babli (2005)

Finally, Aishwarya was crowned officially as ‘Item Girl’ tag in filmi circle after this song. No other actress has ever gained such acollade for an item number – without being controversial. Well, from classes glam doll to todays masses rani – Aishwarya surely proved that riding against the tide always brings success.