BEAUTY - FULL HORROR

It all started with Urmila Matondkar playing a housewife possessed by a spirit in Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot. Since then, playing Ghosts has become an interesting act for our Bollywood actresses. The new age Bollywood horror cinema is moving away from blood & gore and towards good performance & better cinematography to create world class spooky effects. But when we talk of horror films, one name which was synonym with this genre is the Ramsays. Much before Ram Gopal Varmas of the industry, entire generations have grown up getting a gory kick from the Ramsay thrillers. They had an undisputed monopoly in Bollywood when it came to scary flicks. The Ramsay brothers domination was nearly total. When most of the film makers were reluctant of making a horror movie, the Ramsays kept churning out the creepy ‘omelette variety of ghost capers' from their production house year after year. From 'Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neechey', 'Darwaza', 'Hotel', 'Purana Mandir' to the only 3D horror film till date – 'Saamri', their quest for chills was incessant. From fear-provoking loonies trying to scare us, to some of the hottest actresses, doing their bit to build a hair-raising experience, bollywood has come a long way. Be it Urmila Matondkar in Bhoot, Vidya Balan in Bhool Bhulaiya, Adah Sharma in 1920 or Kangana Ranaut in Raaz - The Mystery Continues, the face of ghosts in Bollywood movies has certainly evolved. Maybe the hunks will feel left behind soon and start vying for the bhooth slot!!

E(xams) +E(lections) + I(PL) - BOLLYWOOD = March x April

The exam fever is on!!! Students from class 10 and 12 are bending their backs to prepare for the upcoming board exams. Bollywood too seems to be in exam mode,not wanting to take a chance in these testing times, with very few films releasing and no big-budget film is on the board."March has historically been a lean month. Seldom have big budget movies been released this month. This year, there aren't too many films expected next month too. Distributors are said to be wary of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the forthcoming elections lined up so close to the exam season. The lean season just got leaner!!The current tussle over revenue sharing is not helping the cause. On one side distributors are crying hoarse and on the other the exhibitors (multiplexes) are sticking to their perspective. “The multiplexes are not willing to accept rationalised terms for all films in India like in the rest of the world. In the light of this, the producers-distributors have decided not to market or release any new film set to release April onwards and with the elections and IPL coming, it is going to be tough for theatres”.Amidst all this, last Friday saw the release of three movies -- 13B, Karma Aur Holi and Dhoondte Reh Jaoge. The initial reports are not very encouraging with the response at the ticket counters being lackluster. This trend is expected to continue with the other releases this month. Most of them will have footfalls only in single-screens. The only movie with some hope is 'Aa Dekhen Zara' that has Bipasha Basu in the lead.The industry graph has already taken a dive this year with big budget projects like Chandni Chowk to China, Billu and Delhi-6 tanking on the box-office. Raaz - The Mystery Continues and Dev D have proved once again the unpredictable nature of audience response with their above expectation collections.The films slated for release in March include Gulal, Jai Veeru, Aloo Chat, Firaaq, Ek -- The Power of One, Khalbali -- Fun Unlimited, Barah Anna and Sikandar. But none of these movies have created a hype nor they have got an excellent music response.It looks like the film industry and distributors will have to wait until May for any good omens. Vishal Bhardwaj's Kaminay is tentatively set to release around that period and could be the turning point of the industry’s fortunes. Lets hope that Priyanka Chopra in a de-glam avatar and Shahid Kapir in a double role can do what Chinese, kabotars and barbers could not do!

PIRATES OF ENTERTAINMENT

We have seen Rajnikant at his invincible best in more movies than we can remember. he dodges knives, bites bullets in his mouth, walks out of blasts unscathed, is pushed from mountain tops and he just dusts his trousers and is back again. Try as they might, they just can't get the better of him.
It seems the Indian piracy industry has taken a few lessons from Rajnikant. Bollywood has met its' nemesis in the Rs 50 pirated DVDs, available freely at bakdas (wooden stalls) at railway stations, market corners and pavement stalls across the country. As if that was not bad enough, the pirates have gone beyond borders with their wares getting stacked up in the Indian – run grocery stores overseas.
According to a trade source, "Every Thursday one can get an un released Bollywood film title along with the last four big releases on a pirated video DVD at Mumbai's Crawford Market, Chennai Burma Bazaar, New Delhi's Palika Bazar and many other grey markets across the country.''
No wonder brands like Moser Baer (who sell official DVDs and VCDs of Bollywood titles for as little as Rs 99 and Rs 49) still suffer losses. It is estimated that 25-30% of theatre and home video Bollywood revenues are lost to piracy each year, thanks to the video pirate whose network is so well-oiled.
Sporadic raids, are conducted in Mumbai on and off - where pirated videos worth Rs 1 crore (approx) are recovered, are relatively few and far in between. The industry would ideally like volcano eruption of such raids to make the piracy model unworkable.
While pegging a figure on the actual amount of money lost to piracy maybe be impossible, according to veteran industry sources, Bollywood loses almost Rs 1500 crore to piracy every year.''
And if you thought the target segment for the piracy was limited to those who find the theatre tickets un affordable, think again. Nor is it that the pirated products have a urban penetration alone.
Bollywood can bring down the percentage of flops by at least 50% if piracy, be it in the form of VDC's, DVD's or internet downloads, is controlled.''
Maybe we can call our own Rajni to fight this battle for us!!

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT FUTURE HOLDS FOR YOU

There were two best of friends. One of them was hare and the other was crow. Though they were best of friends they were very different from each other. But they always complimented each other. Everyone would admire their friendship. Hare was named Hari and crow was named Kalua. Every day Kalua and Hari would spend their most of the free time together. They would have race among themselves or they would just sit and chit chat. Both were fun loving people. Days were going by one day Hari noticed Kalua was very lost and he realized past few days Kalua would be very lost would be in his own world. Hari felt there was something that was bothering Kalua. Hari when got up in the morning thought that he would go ahead and talk to Kalua today and ask him what the matter was. He asked Kalua to meet him in the evening and both went near the lake. It was around evening. Hari first started with his talks about how his day had past and how he had played pranks on everyone. Then after a while he asked Kalua what the matter was and what is happening with him. Kalua hesitated in the beginning but then let his heart out. Kalua could only tell his feelings to Hari. Kalua told him that he had fallen in love with a tortoise and her name was torty. He told him that he had fallen in love with her walk so slowly so cutely she walks. She always has her head down, the way she blushes and smiles when someone talks, even after having something so heavy on her she never cribs. He told Hari that he had fallen in love with everything about her. Hari was happy for Kalua but was confused that was the problem then so he there and there asked what was the problem then and why is he so worried. Kalua then replied the problem is that I am dark people make fun of my color, people make fun of my voice how can I even think of talking to her so I have decided I will let my feelings be with myself and I will never approach her even to be my friend because what if she rejects. Hari asked Kalua so what if she rejects then at least you tried. Kalua tells Hari that I can live with just admiring her but cannot live with her rejection. Hari at that point just smiles and says you never now what future holds for you my dear friend. They both leave the next day Kalua is sitting down near the tree and looking at torty when she just walks to him and says hi Kalua I have been looking at you since many days and I would love to be your friend would you be mine? Kalua is shocked and this is an opportunity he wouldn’t want to miss he tells torty yes and they both go for a date. Hari is standing beside Kalua when all this happens and is just smiling and thinking to himself like I said you never know what future holds for you.

WHAT'S THE BIG HUE AND CRY ABOUT?

A leading newspaper recently carried a story that left me amazed. It was a postmortem of how a white director brought the vision of an indian author on global celluloid.Sanjay Gupta (maker of films like Shootout and Kaante), who read Vikas Swarup's book Q&A as soon as it was written in 2005, liked it and decided to make a film based on it. Unfortunately the rights by then had already been sold to the makers of Slumdog.I agreed with Gupta when he stated that this was one of the "biggest losses" of his Bollywood career . But then he went overboard with his victemisque avtaar... "Making the film is one thing and marketing it is another. In Bollywood, we don't have a 20th Century Fox supporting our films, neither do we have the kind of finances they have". I beg to differ on this and I base this on the evolving maturity that Bollywood has witnessed in recent times. We see Indian production houses forging tie ups with global media and entertainment powers corps. Roadside Romeo was backed by Disney, Chandni Chowk to China was made and financed by Warner Bros. (the fact that it was not appreciated is besides the point. Even with 450 galis it made 45 crores in first week).It takes more than the backing of international production houses to make a global success story. Lagaan , TZP. Have proved this maximum. The fact that Boyle's production house Film 4 had "optioned the book" one year before it was even published was the clincher. It shows a finer ear to the ground for opportunities than just financial muscle. Or it could be the 'at the right place at the right time' factor that swung Slumdog into the Boyle kitty.Either ways, its not the end of the world, I hope bollywood becomes more alert in spotting good works of literature rather than crying on spilt milk.

KALUWA AND DALE

Once upon a time there was a village called Rampur. The village was facing a famine; it was dry as there was scarcity of water since months. There was no water to grow crops; there was no water for people to live. Thus, everyone left the village and shifted to nearby villages. Otherwise Rampur was once known as the most beautiful village. A village of dreams, it had strong brown hills, beautiful river flowing across it and greenery all over. It was a place like heaven but due to the famine it had become like hell.

But be it heaven or hell there are always couples everywhere. Even here there was a couple, a male crow Kaluwa and a female crow named dale. Kaluwa had got her to Rampur as when he had come here months back he was astonished looking at the place and had decided that he would get his first date to Rampur and so he brought her here. But then when he reached here he was shocked to see the place it didn’t look the same it was totally deserted and was wondering what to do. He couldn’t even tell Dale lets go to another place. He was sad for a while but then took a positive approach to it. He thought that this was a good place for their date as there was no one to disturb them and they could be together.

Things were going well it was a sunny day and it was extremely hot. Kaluwa and Dale were enjoying the date when Dale said that she was extremely thirsty and needed water to drink. She said it was the matter of life and death. Kaluwa didn’t know what to do as there was no water around in Rampur and he couldn’t even say no to Dale as it was their first date and she was asking only for water.
Kaluwa searched the whole of Rampur but he couldn’t find water anywhere. Just then when he was getting upset and coming back to Dale he saw a small jar which was half filled with water. He tried tasting the water to see if it is pure and fit to give dale to drink but he couldn’t. He was all upset and thinking what to do to get the water up to the brim for Dale to drink. Then he got an idea of throwing something in the water so that the water level rises.

He saw pebbles all around but he wanted to put something in the jar that was as pure as his love. When he was searching around the place he saw a pearl necklace and he thought why not break the necklace and put the pearls in the jar and what can be more pure than pearls. He put all of them in the jar and then the water came up to the brim that they could drink it.
Then Kaluwa and Dale drank the water and Dale fell all the more in love with him.

BEAUTY KICKS THE BEAST

Beauty Kicks the Beast Flexing muscles, swinging a sword or jumping from one building to another is no longer the strong suit for heroes. They are facing a tough challenge from the Bollywood actresses who are increasingly embracing action-oriented roles. And what an aesthetic sight it is to watch the beauties take on the beasts Heroines are no longer satisfied with just dancing around trees or singing in the rain. Be it Aishwarya Rai, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu, or Katrina Kaif , all are in a bid to compete with action heroes on their turf. "The trend of more heroines taking up action roles itself shows that with the progression of the Hindi film industry, women are wanting to go beyond being a beautiful furniture in the frame" Seema Biswas wielded revolvers in "Bandit Queen", a film-based on dacoit Phoolan Devi, Sushmita Sen gave an action packed performance in "Samay" and Esha Deol's and Aishwarya's racy acts proved a crowd puller for "Dhoom" and "Dhoom 2" respectively. Similarly Priyanka had some action scenes in "Krrish" kicked some real butt in "Drona" and when on to display some macho martial arts in the Don remake; Soha Ali Khan had some action packed scenes in "Khoya Khoya Chand", and kareena added the swowd to the oomph in the Shah Rukh- Kareena starrer Asoka. The list goes on, the theme remains the same. Life always comes in full circle. And so do trends. If you think Bollywood babes' daring deeds are only a recent development, think again! Way back in the 30s when Hindi cinema was just still in its nascent stages, the Australian born actress Nadia graduated from a circus girl to being Bollywood's first actress who could fight the baddies all by herself and convincingly so. She was best known for portraying the masked, cloaked adventuress Hunterwali in 1935. Her movie titles itself gives a clear indication of what her films were like - Hurricane Hansa, Pahadi Kanya, Lady Robinhood, Toofani Tirandaz, Stunt Queen and Tigress to name a few. Looks like the Hunterwali days are back. Our current crop of actresses could give the Fearless Nadia some lessons in bringing feminine grace to cinematic action. These women need no hunky heroes to protect them, they can do it themselves, in style!