Ishqiya

Director Abhishek Choubey first assisted Vishal Bhardwaj when Vishal was shooting for the children’s film Makdee in 2002 and then was the Asstt Director for him in The Blue Umbrella, Maqbool and Omkara. Ishqiya is Abhishek Choubey’s debut film as Director. The much acclaimed Kaminey last film by Vishal Bhardwaj (Kaminey) also had Abhishek doing the screenplay. ISHQIYA sees Vishal and Abhishek teaming up with Sabrina Dhawan to write a crackling screenplay that makes for a film that is will remind you of Omkara and Maqbool in terms of its stylised story telling and powerful music. Great visuals and twists and turns that make for a brilliant film. The dialect is authentic and does not falter anywhere – not in the Bhopali Hindi nor in the Hindi that you hear in Gorakhpur where bulk of the story is set.  If you were offended by the unfiltered language of Omkara then beware there is a lot more of that in Ishqiya. Why? ‘coz that is the way the characters communicate in the film. It is way the two crooks Khalujaan (played by Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban Hussein (Arshad Warsi) communicate.  Read more

Three Idiots

What do you get when you take an author like Chetan Bhagat who writes bestsellers, a director like Raju Hirani who directs hit movies like the Munna Bhai series, an actor like Aamir Khan who knows not just how to act but also can teach many MBAs a thing or two about how to market a film to the masses? The answer is 3 Idiots. Be sure to place your bets on this movie winning several awards besides raking in big bucks for the producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra who is laughing all the way to a solvent bank (not affected by recession). Read more

Raga Khamaj

In Hindustani Classical music, there is an elite group of Ragas which get picked routinely for the more austere and certainly more complex forms of singing like Dhrupad, Dhamaar or Khayaal. Clearly dhrupad or khayaal is not for everyone. It is for the discerning listeners and accomplished artistes. Then there are several ragas relegated to the Kshudra Prakriti (trans: Lighter Nature) which is usually far more intertwined in the folk traditions of singing. These ragas are used more frequently while singing  Thumri or its lighter form Daadra - both of which are romantic compositions. The seasonal song forms of Chaiti, Hori, Sawani are from UP, Kajri (songs of longing sung during monsoon). The form called Tappa is usually from Punjab, while Tarana is usually sung at the end of a concert, Geet and Bhajans are purely devotional.

Mahatma Gandhi made the devotional song Vaishnava Janato based on Raga Khamaj, almost synonymous with his own name. This bhajan gets a modern interpretation from Pandit Jasraj, Shankar Mahadevan and Jaspinder Narula in this video.

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Meet Cartoonist Ajit Ninan

The morning newspaper and a cuppa chai is a ritual that is common to a large part of the human race. But people read it in their own manner. Some glance at the headlines and head straight for the sports page. So open the editorial page and shake their head disapprovingly at the affairs of the world. I head for the cartoons. I grab the newspaper and head straight for Ajit Ninan’s cartoon. I look for two elements of wit in a cartoon – the visual and verbal. Ninan excels in both. With most cartoonists one lands up choosing between the two. Ajit started his career with FD Stewarts – an ad agency in Chennai before they transferred him to Delhi. While in Delhi Ajit started contributing cartoons to  Target – a magazine for children run by the India Today group. That led to an offer to join the media group as cartoonist and illustrator. Ajit’s cartoons in India Today, Business Today and Target got him noticed. He joined Indian Express newspaper in 1992 before drawing for the news magazine Outlook. He is now with The Times of India as their Chief Graphics Consultant. Ajit used to run a cartoon strip called Detective Moochhwala (and his tail-less dog called Poochh, which means tail in Hindi) for Target. That comic strip had cult status amongst readers and it was amazing to see Ajit pack in a tight storyline and brilliant graphics in about 35-40 frames.

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Kaminey

I am a fan of writer, lyricist, music composer and film director Vishal Bhardwaj. He brings in a breath of fresh air into Indian cinema especially mainstream Bollywood. He has cracked the magic formula of making movies that are aesthetically appealing and yet are commercially successful.  Never afraid to experiemnt, Vishal is gifted and gutsy. As a director, his films Maqbool (adaptation of Macbeth, made in 2004 *ing Irrfan Khan and Tabu) and Omkara (adaptation of Othello, made in 2006) have made audience sit up and take notice. Taking great stories to the masses is a challenge. To take the complexity of a Shakespearean play and adapt it to contemporary India and yet make it appeal to a broad spectrum of audience is what Vishal does best. His literary and cinematic mentor Gulzar writes songs that play at an upmarket nightclub as loudly as they do in the autorickshaws. Omkara had Saif Ali Khan and the blockbuster song Beedi Jalai Le (watch the song here if you have not) featuring a sizzling Bipasha Basu. Kaminey has Shahid Kapur. He carries the script all the way. Read more

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