Wanted- Young Stars, Where are they?

Note- By young star the reference here is to an actor in his 20’s and who has enough star power to carry off a film on his ‘young’ shoulders.]
A short while ago when I was in Mumbai I was involved in a discussion with some friends which included a few PFC authors as well. All of a sudden the discussion started focusing on one aspect- who is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? Most people said Shahid, one or two said Ranbir and probably someone took Imran’s name as well. Mind you this discussion took place a week before the release of Wake Up Sid and maybe if it happened after the release, Ranbir may have got a few more votes.
Now quite recently I was talking to another friend and discussing who would be the ideal candidate to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version. After a lot of thought I realized that probably the best choice for the same would be none other than Hrithik Roshan. Yes I do agree that Hrithik is certainly a decade older than Ram Charan, but then considering that the hero in Magadheera has to fight, dance, ride a horse, wear a period costume, perform bike stunts and most importantly look convincing in all these, nobody else I thought fit the bill better than Hrithik.
Most of us must be aware of the buzz created a few days back by apparent rumors that the producers of Magadheera ( Geeta Arts ) have decided to rope in Hrithik and Aamir to portray the hero in the Hindi version ( Hrithik for the past and Aamir for the present ). All this has made me ask the question aloud- where are the young stars in Hindi Cinema today? My personal observation is that Shahid Kapur certainly can fit the bill to a reasonable extent. While with a Ishq Vishk, Vivaah and Jab We Met he proved that he can pull of a romantic and family oriented film, the action genre still eluded him. After Kaminey even that has been handled to some extent.
But what Shahid needs now is to prove that he can pull off an out and out masala entertainer and emerge a big star in his own right. While Saawariya and Bachna Ae Haseeno invoked mixed response to Ranbir’s acting, Wake Up Sid has certainly brought in favorable response and now I think its clear that for light hearted romantic flicks Ranbir can certainly be an ideal choice. Even his forthcoming movies like Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani and probably even Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year seem to suggest the same. Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti might make a difference as it would be something out of the ordinary for him. But in spite of all this it’s still debatable if he can carry off a masala action entertainer. We need to wait and watch.
As for Imran Khan I do not really have much to say. I think the success of his first movie – JTYJN was due to a combination of A.R.Rehman’s music, the script and the performances of the entire star cast and not of Imran in particular. His later movies like Kidnap and Luck have not done anything positive for Imran. It’s probably even too tempting to say that Imran has probably been overrated a bit too early. Lets see if his forthcoming releases like Delhi Belly manage to create a more positive impact and tell us if he’s overrated or not.
Now let’s talk about Neil Nitin Mukesh who made a decent debut with Johnny Gaddar. While he looked lost in Aa Dekhen Zaraa, he was all right in New York but still has a long way to go before he can give us the confidence that he is a big star in the making. While Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail could be a turning point for him, its time that Neil also decides to move out of the serious grim roles and loosen up a bit and do a light entertainer too so that we can see some variety from him. Now the only other names that I can think off are Kunal Khemu, Emran Hashmi, Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh.
While Kunal Khemu is certainly a good actor I really doubt if he could carry off the larger than life roles convincingly. Emran Hashmi,Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh are people who have just turned 30 and can maybe easily pass off as few years younger as well. After doing some trademark movies the actor in Emran has finally started emerging with movies like Awarapan and Jannat, but he still needs to do more such movies before getting universal acceptance. Sharman Joshi and Riteish Deshmukh have unfortunately got slotted as actors who excel in comedy films and though they have done movies like Life in a Metro, Rang De Basanti, Sorry Bhai (Sharman) Naach, Cash ( Riteish ) which are not comedy films, they still tend to get associated more with the lighter movies. Hopefully an Aladin and a Rann for Ritesh or 3 Idiots for Sharman will help in proving their versatility.
When we look at the scene in regional cinema, the scene is a bit different. While in Bengali and Malayalam cinema the situation is somewhat similar, it’s a lot different in Tamil and Telugu cinema. In Malayalam Prithviraj is the only actor among the young brigade who looks well set to fill in the slot that’s firmly occupied by Mammootty and Mohanlal. In Bengali cinema for a long time now it’s basically Prasenjit Chatterjee and Mithunda who have been ruling the roost. The only other actor who has managed to make a serious impact is Jeet who shot into prominence with his debut film itself (Saathi).

Prasenjit Chatterjee and Ranjit Mullick - Mama BhagneThrough there are other talented actors like Jishu Sengupta who have been hovering around for ages, they are yet to get their due. Dev is the current sensation and might probably join the ranks of Jeet to prove a worthy challenger to Prasenjit. A case in point about the lack of younger stars can be seen in the form of a recent Bengali movie- Mama Bhagne ( remake of Govinda’s Rajaji : ) ) where Ranjit Mullick and Prasenjit play the uncle and nephew respectively whereas ideally one would expect younger stars to fill the requirement.
The situation certainly is a lot better in Tamil and Telugu cinema. While Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan are still going strong and Vijay,Ajith, Surya, Vikram, Madhavan constitute the next layer, there’s also a big pool of younger actors in Tamil like Dhanush, Simbu, Vishal, Bharat, Arya, Jeeva, Jayam Ravi and a lot many more. While Dhanush, Simbu and Vishal are focusing on trying to be the next big star, people like Jeeva (Katradhu Tamizh, Raam, Siva Manasule Sakthi etc), Bharat ( Kadhal, Pattiyal etc ) and Arya ( Arindhum Ariyamalum, Pattiyal, Naan Kadavul etc ) are trying to make a balance in their choice of movies. Telugu cinema also has a lot of younger actors like Jr.NTR, Allu Arjun, Ram Charan Teja, Ram, Allari Naresh etc who have reasonable star power.
Having mentioned all this let me get back to my earlier questions. Who do you think is the best young actor in Hindi cinema these days? And who do you think will ideally be fit to do Ram Charan Teja’s role in Magadheera’s Hindi version? I don’t think there would be too much of confusion regarding the responses to these questions, nevertheless let me wait and see what you all have to say. Let us remember that most of the popular stars today like SRK, Aamir,Salman,Akshay,Hrithik, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek, Ajay Devgan etc all had become stars before they even turned 30. After all there are very few people like Amitabh Bachchan who started a bit late and turned a star in their 30’s. Considering that it’s tough to say how many of the current lot would go on to emulate their seniors. Time alone would say. In the meanwhile let us look forward to Hrithik (in all likelihood) doing the Hindi version of Magadheera. After all wasn’t it just recently that we saw Salman Khan doing his version of Mahesh Babu’s Pokiri (Wanted)?
Note- I have on purpose not discussed people like Zayed Khan, Harman Baweja, Jacky Bhagnani etc for obvious reasons.

Originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/wanted-young-stars-where-are-they/

Yaari Hai Imaan Mera, Yaar Meri Zindagi- Friendship as depicted in Bollywood Films

On behalf of Ashwin I dedicate this post to Vrushali, who according to Ashwin is the best friend in the world.

Friendship is an integral part of our emotions and friends occupy an important part of our lives. In some cases friends often are given the same status as that of family members when it comes to certain crunch situations. For someone who has been brought up over a staple diet of Bollywood movies, friendship as depicted in these films has always fascinated me. This post is a simple attempt to illustrate how friendship is shown in Hindi films and mention a few movies in particular for they way they have gone about illustrating the same. And of course in my own small way I wish to thank a lot many people for, their friendship has certainly been quite valuable to me.

In the earlier days (at least in the 50’s and 60’s) life was considered to be a lot simpler than it is now. There were lesser complications that existed in those days. But even then friendship could take different dimensions as shown in 2 well known movies, both of which incidentally released in the same year- 1964. The films in question being Dosti and Sangam. Dosti was an ideal example for the fact that not all films need big stars to succeed. In fact the movie starred a couple of relatively new actors in the main lead- Sudhir Kumar and Sushil Kumar as a blind boy and a cripple respectively. It was a movie which was basically based on the friendship between these two boys who roam the streets of Bombay (as it was known then) singing songs and earning their livelihood. One of the biggest strengths of the movie apart from the very natural performances of the 2 male leads was the melodious music given by Laxmikant-Pyarelal, one of their earliest successful films.

While every song was a gem (Rahi manwa dukh ki chinta, chahoonga main tujhe shaam savere and many more) the song in particular which probably epitomizes friendship is“Koi jab raah na paaye, mere sang aaye, ke pag pag deep jalaye, meri dosti ,mera pyar”.Such is the intensity of the song that it leaves you completely at peace. Friendship as shown in Dosti is truly divine. Moving on to Raj Kapoor’s Sangam, well the movie was about 3 childhood friends played by Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar & Vyjayantimala. It won’t require any special insight to know that the story turns out to a romantic triangle. It was a movie which placed a lot of emphasis on male bonding and tried to distinguish between the thin line between friendship and love. It also showed how love could result in anguish for someone. This was again a musical with Shankar-Jaikishan in brilliant form with scores like Yeh mera prem part padh kar,Mere man ki Ganga, Main kya karun Ram mujhe budda mil gaya and many more but the anguish & pain in friendship and love is aptly described in this song-
“Dost dost na raha, pyaar pyaar naa rahaZindagi hamein tera, aitbaar na raha, aitbaar na raha”

In the year 1973 a sensation happened. Prakash Mehra came out with his Zanjeer with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead. The movie went on to become a path breaker in many ways. It was the first blockbuster in the career of AB, it paved the way for a long relationship between Prakash Mehra, AB & the writer jodi of Salim-Javed and of course the ‘angry young man’ persona which AB went on to successfully symbolize in movie after movie started off with this movie. But amidst all this the element of friendship is also something that the film focused upon. And here the friendship was special- it was the friendship between a cop and a criminal (Pran) who is influenced by the cop and gets reformed. And therein begins the deep friendship between the two. The song“Yaari hai imaan mera, yaar meri zindagi” composed by Kalyanji-Anandji summarises the friendship in the best way possible.

Well,when we are talking about friendship in Hindi cinema, would it be prudent not to talk about Sholay? Jai and Veeru today are probably the best known friends in the entire history of Hindi cinema. Yes Sholay is a classic and probably everything that matters in the movie was a highlight, but certainly one of the biggest positives of the movie was the bonding between Jai and Veeru. Be it the early scenes in the jail when the jodi tries to have a blast in taking a dig a the jailor ( Asrani ) or in the scenes when Veeru is trying to woo Basanti ( Hema Malini )- there is an inherent sense of humour that is prevailing throughout the movie. The song “yeh dosti, hum nahin todenge,Todenge dum magar, tera saath na chhodenge” symbolizes the free spiritedness of their friendship the best. The Jai-Veeru bonding went on to even be an inspiration for the similar bonding of Govinda and Sanjay Dutt seen in movies like Haseena Maan Jaayegi,Jodi No.1 and Ek Aur Ek Gyarah.

When a film’s title is Dostana what else can the movie symbolize but friendship? Both the popular movies with this title, one a 1980 release and the other a recent 2008 release had a strong undercurrent of friendship running throughout the film. Let’s look at Dostana (1980) to begin with. This was a classic tale of friendship between Vijay (who else but Amitabh Bachchan ) and Ravi ( Shatrughan Sinha ) who are best friends in spite of their work getting into the way. Even when both fall in love with the same girl, Sheetal ( Zeenat Aman ) they still manage to retain their friendship with Vijay trying to sacrifice his love. But that’s when their friendship gets fractured on the basis of a misunderstanding created by the villain,Daaga ( Prem Chopra ). The movie was a resounding success and the music by Laxmikant- Pyarelal was certainly a big boost too. My pick of the lot among the songs is definitely –“Bane chahe dushman zamana hamara, salamat rahe dostana hamara”.

Well, in the 70’s and 80’s there were hundreds of Hindi films which stressed on the friendship angle, but in most cases the movie would again go on to become a romantic triangle and the exceptions would be limited to the odd movie like Khudgarz. Just when I thought the topic had almost lost its impact, there came a movie in 1994 which ushered in a fresh wave- Andaz Apna Apna .Amar ( Aamir Khan ) and Prem ( Salman Khan ) begin as rivals fighting to marry a rich heiress and wanting to become rich overnight. Due to turn of circumstances they join hands and then begins the mad comedy of errors. For the way the two characters are shown as fun loving, bumbling characters- the movie can be seen endlessly. There is always an underlying current of one-upmanship between the two and that was certainly refreshing.

There was a movie which came a few years before AAA and which tried to explore the angle of friendship between a boy and a girl. The movie was the trendsetting Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) which along with QSQT is credited to have broken the trend of the mindless action movie of the 80’s. Here the two friends are Prem (Salman Khan) and Suman (Bhagyashree ) who try to portray that after all friendship can exist between a boy and a girl too. The innocence shows in the form of symbols like the ‘friend’ cap which went on to became a rage across the country. But of course all good things come to an end. This was after all a romantic film and yes the situations eventually lead to them falling in love with each other. Nearly a decade later (1998) the angle was explored again in Karan Johar’s directorial debut ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ as you had Kajol and SRK playing best friends.Of course friendship eventually turns to love here too.

If there was ever a movie to symbolize friendship between 2 women I would probably think of movies like ‘Dor’ and ‘Filhaal’. In case of Filhaal the story tackles the emotions running through the friendship between 2 childhood friends Rewa ( Tabu ) and Sia ( Sushmita Sen ) and brings in the element of surrogate motherhood between the 2 friends. Dor on the other hand is a sensitive portrayal of friendship between 2 women( Gul Panag and Ayesha Takia )of completely different spectrums yet who go on to share a bond- of friendship, that is extremely genuine.

The coming of age when it applies to human emotions and portrayal of friendship, can be seen in the form of Dostana (2008). Here Kunal (John Abraham ) and Sameer ( Abhishek Bachchan ) pretend to be gays to share an apartment with Neha ( Priyanka Chopra ). Though predictably both of them fall in love with Neha and try their level best to spoil her relationship with Abhimanyu (Bobby Deol ), they do end up realizing ultimately that the friendship between the three of them is what matters the most. Probably the best thing that Bobby Deol does in the entire movie is to tell Priyanka in the climax that the 2 of them (John-Abhishek) are truly her best friends.

Duniya Dilwalon Ki (1996- Kadhal Desam in Tamil) takes a slightly unconventional look at friendship again. Both Vineet and Abbas who are best friends are in love with the same girl –Tabu. When it becomes clear to her that both her friends are in love with her, she decides to give predominance to friendship over love and choses to remain friends with both of them forever rather than marrying one of them and losing a good friend in the bargain.

Well, talking about friendship and while discussing current trends how can I not talk about OLLO (Oye Lucky Lucky Oye). OLLO brings a fresh and unconventional approach to friendship. Lucky (Abhay Deol ) the protagonist and Bangali ( Manu Rishi ) are childhood friends who become partners in crime as well. Theirs is a typical tale of friendship as they do most of things in tandem, just when it looks like a regular tale of friendship there occurs a chilling betrayal and the friendship crumbles in a heap. This is a very contemporary take on friendship. As we are all aware life has got a lot more complicated in the recent past and to see such an event happening is but fairly natural.

And maybe another movie which I must mention here is Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gulaal’. I felt that the friendship portrayed between Ransa ( Abhimanyu Singh ) and Dileep Singh ( Raj Singh Chaudhary ) was impressive enough for the simple reason that it clearly shows how a bold and colorful personality can influence an otherwise mild mannered person.

This was not a comprehensive list of Hindi movies which explored friendship. Rather I have gone on to just look at a sample list of a few films all of which look at facets of friendship different from each other. I would certainly like to know which are your favorite Hindi movies depicting friendship and your take on the movies mentioned here by me.

P.S- originally published in PFC.Check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/yaari-hai-imaan-mera-yaar-meri-zindagi-friendship-as-depicted-in-bollywood-films/

Priyadarshan- The Run Machine of Indian Cinema

So far this year we have seen the frenzy generated by SDM and the success of movies like Dev D and Raaz- the Mystery Continues. And of late we have been hearing a lot about the ongoing strike in Bollywood. But there has been a landmark that was also noticed in the 1st Qr of 2009, something which did not really get so much of attention. This landmark was achieved on 13th February ’09 when Billu got released. No this write-up is not something about either Billu or SRK. For those who are not aware I wish to inform that Billu is the 75th movie directed by Priyadarshan in his career spanning around 25 years in Indian Cinema. This is indeed a commendable achievement because there aren’t too many directors with such a big tally of completed projects and more so when it’s from someone like him who has successfully made a transition from South Indian cinema to Bollywood.

Oh! Yes we all know that a lot of his recent movies have started getting repetitive. There are valid complaints like he’s been using the same locations time & again, he’s been working with a stock set of actors, he continues to remake his own movies or those directed by others (mainly Malayalam) etc. But all said and done we just cannot ignore the fact Priyan has given us countless memorable movies in Malayalam like Chithram, Thalavattom, Kalapani etc and even some of his early Hindi movies have been quite refreshing like Gardish & Virasat. This year also has finally seen the release of his critically acclaimed Tamil movie- Kanchivaram. This year also is seeing him work on serious movies like Bum Bum Bole (with Darsheel Safary and supposedly inspired from Children of Heaven) and an untitled movie on AIDS awareness with Akshay Kumar and Mohanlal.

Hence considering all this I think this is the right time to look back in time and re-visit some of the best works of Priyan. Given below are 5 films that I feel would be top on my list and they are described below in chronological order. Considering his repertoire it has not been easy for me to choose the movies. But nevertheless here I go-

Poochakke Oru Mookuthi- This Malayalam movie released in 1984 was Priyan’s debut movie which he went on to remake later in Hindi as Hungama. The movie was a brilliant comedy of errors and had superlative performances not just from the lead cast of Shankar,Menaka and Mohanlal but also from the supporting cast like Nedumudi Venu,Sukumari, Shankaradi, Jagathy Sreekumar etc. The ‘chaotic’ style of climax which is a Priyan trademark actually originated from this movie. One of the best scenes from this movie is when Shankar an aspiring singer comes to teach music to Sukumari and Nedumudi Venu interferes. The scene does not feature in Hungama. Given below is the video link- have a look & enjoy J



Thalavattom- Released in 1986, this Malayalam movie was unsuccessfully remade by Priyan later in Hindi as Kyunki. With more than subtle shades of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, what made the movie special was Mohanal playing the character of Vinod who is mentally ill. Mohanalal’s portrayal was extremely convincing and was ably supported by others like Karthika, Nedumudi Venu, Soman,Jagathy Sreekumar etc. Inspite of the slightly serious subject Priyan retained his comic touch in the movie with some memorable comedy scenes like the one in the link below-



Music by Reghu Kumar also deserves a special mention here.

Chithram- Released in 1988, this Malayalam movie is one of the biggest hits in the history of Malayalam cinema. The movie was so successful that it went on to be remade in a lot of other languages including Tamil and Hindi but none of them were directed by Priyan, The movie was written by the prolific actor-writer Sreenivasan and once again had Mohanlal in the lead. Chithram is the story of Vishnu ( Mohanlal ) a photographer who goes to jail for accidentally killing his wife and then escapes from jail to make money for his child’s surgery. That’s when he comes in contact with Kalyani ( Renjini ) and her uncle ( Nedumudi Venu) who want him to act as Kalyani’s husband to make her father ( Poornam Vishwanathan ) happy as he is ill & on vacation. What ensues is a comic series of adventures with an extremely emotional climax. Music by Kannur Rajn was also one of the main reasons for the movie’s success. Given below is the link to the video of my favorite song from the movie – Doore kizhakkudikkum sung by M.G.Sreekumar and Sujatha.



Kilukkam- This Malayalam movie released in 1991 was also remade by him in Hindi as Muskurahat. It is certainly one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema – but definitely not just a routine comedy. While Mohanal as Joji the tourist guide in Ooty and Revathy as the orphan in search of her father were certainly commendable, IMO the actual star of the movie is Jagathy Sreekumar who plays the role of Mohanalal’s friend Nishchal.This movie is one of the best examples to showcase the powerhouse of talent that Jagathy Sreekumar is. Watch the scene in the video below – one of my favorites from the movie. This was one of the earlier works of Sharat Saxena in South Indian cinema.Music by S.P.Venkatesh was also in line with the mood of the film.




Kalapani- Not all movies directed by Priyan were comedies and Kalapani ( Siraichalai-Tamil, Saza-E-Kalapani-Hindi) is a fitting example to underline the statement. The movie told the poignant story of a doctor (Mohanlal) who is wrongly accused of being a naxalite and sent to the Cellular Jail in Port Blair (Andaman & Nicobar Islands). The movie brilliantly described the cruelty that the Indian freedom fighters suffered in the Cellular Jail during the British regime. Performances by the supporting cast of Amrish Puri,Prabhu,Tabu,Annu Kapoor etc were all praiseworthy. Music by Ilayaraja and cinematography by Santosh Sivan further enhanced the appeal of the story.Earlier this year when I finally got to visit the Cellular Jail, I couldn’t but help recollecting a lot of scenes from the movie.

Apart from these 5 movies certain other movies also deserve a special mention like Thenmavin Kombathu (Saat Rang Ke Sapne by Priyan inHindi), Akkare Akkare Akkare
the 3rd part in the classic Dasan-Vijayan police series , Vandanam, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikunnu. Do let me know what you all feel about these movies and about the other movies made by Priyan. Here’s hoping that Priyan – the run machine of Indian cinema continues to entertain us with his movies and makes even better movies hereafter.

Note- I have not mentioned any Tamil or Hindi movie in my list because all his movies in Hindi and Tamil have been direct remakes of other South Indian movies (mainly Malayalam) directed by Priyan himself or others.

Originally published in PFC- check it out here- http://passionforcinema.com/priyadarshan-the-run-machine-of-indian-cinema/