Desi Galaxy

Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic is released now and it is not doing well at the box office. But I think thats how they decided to market the movie. Since it is a fun family comedy and released during summer vacations when schools are off and children are bored playing all day. So they would tell each other about the fun new movie they watched and then other children would take their parents to theaters and thats how it will pick up momentum. A friend of mine has seen the movie and she thinks that it is a wonderful movie specially for children, families and romantic comedy lovers (I don’t trust her much when it comes to selecting my movies).

Rani Mukherjee is playing the role of an angel who is sent to earth to help Saif Ali Khan. Saif is playing the role of a busy businessman who suddenly becomes responsible for taking care of four orphan children.

There are lots of similarities between Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic and Hum Tum. Both has Rani Mukherji and Saif Ali Khan, both are filmed in bright colors at trendy locations, and both use animation. Since I haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t say how they are using the animation, graphics and visual effects. But I think that since movie is about magic so Kunal must have used animation to create magic.

This movie is really important for Rani Mukherji’s career. Her last two movies (Saawariya, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag) were big disappiontment among the masses and the critics. Media has already started talking about her getting engaged with Aditya Chopra. Which is a sign that Rani’s career is about to touch the deadly lowest level. Same thing happened with her predecessors Madhuri and Sri Devi.

Tashan is one of the most awaited films of 2008. Starring Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor. This movie is directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya. Mr. Acharya, who wrote screenplay for the Dhoom and Dhoom 2, is debuting his career as a director with this movie. Produced by Aditya Chopra and Yash Chopra under the banner of Yash Raj Films. We don’t know much about the story and plot of Tashan yet. But rumors are that Kareena will be seen wearing a bikini in this movie, Akshay will be playing the main character as Bachchan Panday, and Anil Kapoor is playing the negative role as Bhaiya ji. Music and songs of Tashan are composed by Vishal Shekhar.

Check out Music Review of Tashan

Trailers and Songs of Tashan

Jodhaa Akbar is story of a romance between a Mughal Emperor and a Rajput Princess. Set in sixteenth century this story begins with a marriage of alliance between two cultures for political gain with the king Bharmal giving his daughter’s hand to Mughal emperor Akbar. Akbar didn’t realize that by accepting the proposal, he is not only attempting to improve relations with Rajputs but also starting a journey of true love.

Historically speaking the marriage had a significant impact on the Indian sub continent. Akbar who became the King at a very young age, has had to fight many battles to gain the control over the empire, he extended his rule and made policies that helped two main cultures and religions come closer. Akbar’s attempt to bring cultural diversity inside the Mughal Palaces changed India forever. His policies affected the lives of millions. But how these policies affected him on a personal level is a subject of great interest in itself.

Ashutosh Gowarikar tries to explore this subject with this film. The story revolves around Jaluluddin Muhammed Akbar and Jodha. Akbar while busy gaining and maintaining the rule of his vast empire, had to win the heart of Jodha. Akbar fell in love with Jodha but then there were politics of cultures, religions and armies. He had to keep every one happy, including Jodha.

When a Hindi film viewer thinks of Akbar the great, the image of Prithvi Raj Kapoor comes to their mind. Prithvi Raj Kapoor played the role of Akbar in 1960’s classic Mughal-e-Azam. Definitely people are going to compare Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodha Akbar with K.Asif’s Mughal-e-Azam. Mughal-e-Azam is one of the most loved Indian movies ever. It was a difficult task for K.Asif to finish this movie in 60s. It took him almost 9 years to finish the movie. It was a lavish production with grand sets, hundreds of extras, costumes and jewelry. There is no doubt that Ashutosh would come up with something much more lavish and grand than the Mughal-e-Azam but would he able to shot it as impressively as k.Asif did? The stories of two movies are totally different from eachother but there are two common aspects firstly they are both stories of Mughals falling in love, secondly they both need extra ordinary sets, costumes and talent to portray the lifestyle of Mughal Emperor Akbar.

A. R. Rehman has composed music for Jodhaa Akbar and it is melodious but there is nothing so great about it. It is nice, very nice but it is not great. But then we can not say anything about the music yet as we haven’t seen how it fits with the theme of the movie. A. R. Rehman is very talented and I think if we are comparing Jodhaa Akbar with Mughal-e-Azam then A. R. Rehman is the closest to Naushad who composed the unforgetable music for Mughal-e-Azam.

Hrithik Roshan is playing the role of Akbar the great. Ashutosh made the perfect choice Hrithik fits in the costumes. He looks impressive, but then he will also have to prove his acting skills. This is the most challenging role Hrithik has ever done. It is a huge movie where he can prove himself eligible to compared with the likes of Prithvi Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar.

Aishwarya Rai, there is no doubt that she is one of the most talented actress currently available. She is beautiful and knows perfectly well how to portray the unforgettable beauty. Then again, she will have to act a lot better than she did in Devdas. Looking beautiful is not going to win her any more audience applause.

Expected to be released on 15 February, Jodhaa Akbar is the most anticipated movie this year. We can debate the impact of the movie on the Indian popular culture, we can compare it with Mughal-e-Azam. But there is no doubt that the most talented people of Hindi cinema has worked hard to make this movie and it is a must watch for all.

Yash Raj films and producer Aditya Chopra come with yet another brilliant idea directed by Siddharth Anand who previously directed Salam Namaste for Yash Raj Films. The story comes from Siddharth himself but unlike Salam Namaste this time he has hired Habib Faisal to write screenplay for Ta Ra Rum Pum. Music composed by Vishal-Shekhar and lyrics by Javed Akhtar.

This is a story of a family and how they struggle together in the time of trouble to overcome the challenges of life. Our hero, Rajveer Singh (played by Saif Ali Khan) is a pit-crew worker in a racing team with a passion for driving. He gets discovered by Harry (Jaaved Jaaferi), a team manager and the same day Rajveer Radhika (Rani Mukerji), a music student who he falls for instantly. His career boosts and he becomes the car race driver for ’speeding saddles’. He marrys Radhika and becomes father of two cute kids. But after a car racing accident Rajveer’s life takes a new turn. He is no more the top car racing driver in the country and he finds him self mentally scarred. He is forced to auction his house and he moves to Bronx style neighborhood. Rajveer and Radhika now decide that they are not going to hide reality their children. Begins a new journey where Rajveer has to fight his inner demons while keeping his family together and happy like they were before the accident.

Some interesting details about the movie:

• Manish Malhotra is not designing the costumes for Rani in this movie. Surily Goel has designed the costumes for Rani Mukerji and Mamta Anand has designed the costumes for Saif Ali Khan. We don’t know for sure but it seems like Rani has abadoned Manish altogether.
• The film is shot in entirely in the United States and only a few scenes were shot in Mumbai studios.
• It is rumored that Abhishek Bachchan would make an special appearance in the movie.
• Hollywood stunt coordinator Steve Kelso was hired to do the stunts for the movie. So I think it is going to have some better stunts something more brilliant than Dhoom?

Official website: Ta Ra Rum Pum

With the recent disappointment surrounding around the performance of Indian Cricket Team in the world cup and a disastrous failure of Cricket based movie Hat trick, bollywood has had enough of cricket. Perhaps the masters of the Hindi film industry already knew that people want to see something else, something more thrilling than cricket and more glamorous than tennis. And they decided to come up with Indian women’s Hockey team playing in the world cup.

Shahrukh Khan is working for Yash Raj again in Chak De India. Shahrukh plays the role of a Hockey Coach for a girls team in the movie. From what I have read about the story of the movie, it feels like it is the bollywood version of Bend it like Beckham. Directed by Shimit Amin and produced by Aditya Chopra, the music of the film is composed by Salim-Sulaiman (Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Mechant).

Expected to be released in August this year, Shahrukh Khan has already started promoting the movie. Recently he has talked to media about his role in the movie. Shahrukh told that he has played Hockey in college days and he feels that Hockey is neglected in India.

I feel hockey as a sport has been monstrously neglected in our country. I used to play the game during college. In fact, I was quite a good hockey player. So the role was a lot like going back to my past.

Vidya Malvade a tv host and model turned actoress is playing the role of a Sikh girl in the movie. She has worked with Shahrukh Khan in a Santro ad, but working with him in a movie was like a dream come true for her, she said:

it was an amazing experience. We worked together briefly for the Santro ad. Now after having spent a couple of months with him, i realise why he is a superstar. The level of detail character, camera angles, makeup to which he goes during a shot is unbelievable. You have to work with him and others to feel the difference.

Tags: Hockey, Aditya Chopra, Bollywood

Directed by Ram Gopal Verma, the movie is based on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. This is story of an affair between a 60 year old married man and an 18 year old girl. Amitabh Bachchan is playing the lead role against the new comer Jiyah Khan. Hollywood has made lolita and there is no doubt that sex plays an important role in the story. We don’t know how Ram Gopal Varma is going to treat the movie, but still shows that we would be seeing lots fresh meat.

In a press conference after the music release of the movie, Amitabh said that the movie is not about sex:

The film dwells with the genuine emotions of the man and the effect it has on his family when confronted with such a situation and how they deal with it. The audience understand the honest and genuine feelings of my character in the film rather than sex and sensuality.

The newcomer Jiah Khan told news conference that she plays her age in the film.

My character is of different shades who is extreme in her thoughts. It was interesting to play such a role.

Jiah Khan is originally from London where she learnt acting, dancing and singing. It is rumored that she is daughter of Tahir Husein which makes her Aamir Khan’s stepsister. However, Tahir Hussain publicly accepted that Jiah Khan’s mother Rabiya is a close friend but denied that Jiah Khan is his daughter.

The Hollywood version of Lolita is a critically acclaimed movie starring Jeremy Irons and Melanie Griffith. The movie had an R rating for aberrant sexuality, a strong scene of violence, nudity and some language. I think Ram Gopal verma has shown violence in his movies, he created one of the sexiest songs ever made for a hindi movie ‘Tanha Tanha’, where he showed Urmila running on the beach wearing a shirt. But I don’t think that there would be any nudity in the movie. What I can see from the stills and posters is that Jiah is trying hard to copy Charlotte from the hollywood version.

Since Nishabd has Amitabh Bachchan, the movie is going to be a must watch for people who want to see good cinema. However I doubt that Ramu would be able to maintain balance between sexuality and romance. I also doubt that he would be able to convince the audience of the relationship, the bond and the love between the two characters.

Dhoom 2’s director Sanjay Gadhvi says that Dhoom 2 is like Amar Akbar Anthony. He is brave enough to say:

it’s a potboiler. It’s a complete masala film. It has what Manmohan Desai used to call ‘an item’ — not to be confused with an item number!

He coined the term ‘item,’ and said one item, or highlight, had to appear every nine minutes — because a single reel of film lasts about nine minutes. When you lean back and watch the film, an item makes you sit up and take notice. So a drunk Amitabh Bachchan in front of the mirror putting band aid is an item, Amitabh and Vinod Khanna having a fight is an item, My name is Anthony Gonsalves is an item, Anhonee ko honee karde is an item, etc.

In an era when all directors want to earn them self some reputation by making remakes in a hollywoodish tone, thank God that we have some one to promise us the typical bollywood entertainment. With the huge budget, mega stars and an elite banner are all the more reasons to believe that this would be one hell of a movie. Reading Sanjay’s interview on Rediff, I could easily connect the dots and see what he will be offering us in the movie. His movie will be based on items connecting one scene to another under a smart storyline, thrilling plot and dancy item numbers.

One such item is the rumor that Aishwarya would be appearing wearing a bikni in this movie. My site’s stats and several search analytics tool reveal that since this rumor spread there is termendous increase in the volume of queries from people looking for pictures and images of Aishwarya Rai in Bikni. To spice up the sexyness you would be seeing Bipasha Basu on the beach and Rimi Sen aswell.

Other masala news is that Hrithik looks a lot more muscular in Dhoom 2 than in Krrish. The guy is so handsome and Godlike I can’t even imagine improvment in an already so hot figure.

I am not very excited about seeing any change in Abhishek’s performance in this movie neither I am hoping any improvement in Uday Chopra’s acting skills.

UPDATE: There is another Masala Item Dhoom2, it is a kissing scene between Hrithik and Aishwarya Rai. It is said that the Bachchan family is quite upset at this scene showing their soon to be daughter in law kissing on the screen. I bet it would be just no tongue sucking and eating eachother kind of kissing, it would be just a little friendly smooch. But the celever producers are making it a news so that they could create more buzz around the movie.

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Moview Preview - Dhoom 2

Fans and motion picture industry in Bollywood are eagerly looking for Farhan Akhter’s “Don“. Starring Shahrukh Khan, this movie is a remake of a 1978 classic Don, directed by Chandra Barot and Don’s character played by legendary Amitabh Bachchan. Farhan Akhter’s father Javed Akhter wrote the screenplay and dialogues of the original movie.

Shahrukh Khan is playing the role of Don. Farhan Akhter reportedly said that the original movie while a classic but still didn’t do the justice to the script. He is an optimist and has a hit like ‘Dil Chahta hai’ and a super boring ‘Lakhsya’ on his credit. But if he thinks that he can do the justice with the script by giving Don a more James Bondish look then I think he is mistaking. Looking at the trailers, songs, movie downloads and movie website, one can easily predict that this movie would be copying visual and sound effects from hollywood movies like Matrix, all Bond movies, Mission Impossible, etc.

I don’t think that a cheap copy of special effects can make any Indian movie special. People want to see some thing original, something they can relate to and they can not see Vijay acting like Keanu Reeves. This chase as seen in trailers and posters takes place in either Malaysia or Singapore. India is not a very shiny place for these directors or perhaps they think that their Heroes can perform well in Forgein countries.

Below are some pictures and stills from Don, these images reflect what Farhan is going to do with the Don and honestly I think its quite pathetic. You can see Shahrukh pretending like Tom Cruise and Leo from Matrix. You can also see Arjun Rampal wearing costumes like Tom Cruise wore in Mi series. You can also see the legs of Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.