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Special homage to Yash Chopra at 43rd IFFI

he 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will pay special homage to Bollywood director Yash Chopra, who died Sunday.

Manoj Srivastava, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Entertainment Society of Goa, which co-organises the festival, said Tuesday a cinematic tribute to the filmmaker was on the cards.

"The festival wanted to pay tribute to the creative genius of Yash Chopra. Now it will be a homage to th/tom/topic/Yash-Chopra">Yash Chopra

earned the tag of King of Romance after churning out romatic sagas Daag, Kabhi Kabhie, Silsila, Lamhe, Chandni and Dil To Pagal Hai.

Before venturing into the romance genre, he proved his versatility by making a film on communal harmony, Dharamputra.

His Kaala Patthar was inspired by a real-life mining disaster and Ittefaq was an experimental thriller.

Srivastava feels it was wrong to call him the King of Romance.

"Yashji discovered romance post Silsila. He made much more diverse films before 'Silsila'. He was a far more substantive filmmaker," he said.

Yash Chopra: The director with a musical soul

What is the magic of Yash Chopra’s cinema? The ingredients include genre-redefining stories, remarkable characters, complexities of man-woman relationships and the quality of production. But one of the most important features of his style of filmmaking was the memorable music

Yash Chopra is not just the ‘king of romance’. He is at heart a storyteller. Whether it was the gritty tale of two brothers and a mother in Deewar, or a revenge seeking Dilip Kumar caught in conflict with his adopted son Anil Kapoor in Mashaal, or a young Sridevi falling in love with a much-older Anil Kapoor in Lamhe – Chopra has tested many waters, sometimes a little ahead of his time. But one thing remained constant in his movies: musical depth.
It would be an understatement to say that Chopra had an ear for music. Most of all, he had a soul for music. Many may not realise this, but before Chopra earned the tag of King Of Romance, he was known as a gritty narrator.
He was one of the first to tell the story of an anti-hero – Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar – a path many were afraid to tread in the 70s. When Salim-Javed wrote the script, they did not leave any space for songs. But Chopra insisted on having at least three songs in the film. The songs were the only let down in the tight narrative. Apparently Chopra told Salim-Javed, ‘Film sookhi lag rahi hai’, and the writer duo replied, “Then let us name the film geeli deewar (wet wall)!”
It’s not that Chopra never made a songless film. His 1969 film Ittefaq with Rajesh Khanna had no songs. But he was someone who always wanted his work to be remembered as much for its music as for its script and characters.
Almost two decades after Deewar, he cast yet another upcoming actor as anti-hero – Shahrukh Khan in Darr – and this tale of an obsessive lover was underlined by great music, including the superhit song Jaadu teri nazar sung by Udit Narayan.
The soundtrack of 1981 love triangle Silsila was a runaway hit, but the film was one of Chopra’s biggest duds at the box office.
Accomplished musicians Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia made their foray into film music with this one. The headlining track was, of course,, the dream sequence Dekha ek khwab. For the picturisation of this song, the cast and crew were flown to Amsterdam and the song was shot amidst the tulip fields. The Indian audiences had never seen something like this before. Shiv-Hari’s association with Yashji continued with hit music like Chandni and Lamhe. And Chopra’s characters soon started being transported to exotic European locations for a romantic number in every movie he made post Silsila.
Chopra could sniff out everlasting melodies that would strike a chord with the audience. Shiv-Hari composed an instrumental piece for the background score of Lamhe, but Chopra decided to use it as a romantic dream song featuring Anil Kapoor and Sridevi. And it went on to become a huge hit. The song was Kabhi main kahoon.
By this time, Chopra had developed an affinity for instrumental dance pieces that he used as a symbol for his heroine’s frame of mind. In Chandni, Sridevi expressed her angst through classical dance and in Lamhe, she did the tandav that represented her anger and unrequited love. Later, he created a dance sequence with Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor in Dil To Pagal Hai – a metaphor for the underlying competition for Shahrukh’s love.
Interestingly, Chopra got back to direction in 1997 with DTPH, but decided not to work with his favourite jodi Shiv-Hari (with whom Chopra worked from 1981 to 1993 in eight films). Instead, he chose the well-known music arranger Uttam Singh, who had no qualifications as music director then. Everyone wondered why Chopra made this decision, but the association became one of the most successful of the 90s, as all the tracks in the album went on to become bumper hits.
Yash Chopra fulfilled his long-cherished dream of making a musical film with DTPH. The tagline of the film was aptly given – A Yash Chopra Musical. Uttam Singh was so nervous about taking forward Chopra’s legacy of great music that he ended up making about 150 tunes for the film. During the making of the movie, Chopra said, “You can give your best, honest, sincere job and leave the rest to almighty. You can always make a good film. But to make a successful film, you need his blessings.”
One of the most remarkable moves Chopra made was with Veer Zaara in 2004. The director decided to revive Madan Mohan’s unused compositions 30 years after his death in the love story starring SRK, Priety Zinta and Rani Mukerji. Chopra’s music sense shows in the songs he chose and the way he used them. Songs like Do pal ruka and Tere liye played a huge part in getting the audience excited about watching the film.
Chopra couldn’t imagine his movie albums without the contribution of his close friend and veteran singer Lata Mangeshkar, who he called ‘didi’. So yet again, Lata was channelled – she sang some of the most romantic songs of Veer Zara, and those will always be remembered as her last few love ditties.
It’s not mere coincidence then that Chopra decided to work with this generation’s greatest music composer AR Rahman for his last film. The coming together of two maestros was probably predestined. And it is no coincidence that we will always remember Yash Chopra as a filmmaker who continued to make musical stories till his last breath…Jab tak hai jaan.

 

Sameera's Chakravyuh item number to raise temperature

From what we hear, Sexy semeera reddy has certainly gone all out to make the song Kunda Khol a once-in-a-lifetime performance in Prakash Jha's Chakravyuh.

The song, choreographed by Ganesh Acharya set and shot in bhopalwill see Sameera in a purely desi avatar and has some fast paced steps that are sure to enthral and entice the audience. But it was not an easy task for the actor as it took long hours of practice spread over two weeks and draining her out completely, resulting in drastic weight loss, Sam still thinks it was all worth it after seeing the final take of the song.

The actor was delighted when the ace director approached her for the song and had readily agreed to be part of the film that also features Arjun Rampal, Manoj Baipal, Abhay DEol, Esha Gupta and Anjali Patil in the main lead.

Sameera though has been selective in her films but it was her role in Musafir that has been remembered till date. 

Bollywood has enough space for everyone, so one who is not finding luck shining in the main stream movies is lucky enough to get something or the other in the main stream movies.

Sameera Reddy, the dusky bombshell seems to have made her entry in the industry again as a village belle in one of the item numbers of Prakash Jha’s upcoming flick Chakravyuh. The song in which the actress will be shaking her belly is Kunda Khol.

The song has been composed by Sandesh Shandilya, and sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. The racy lyrics of the song have been written by Ashish Sahu. The song was shot in Bhopal and has been choreographed by the dance master Ganesh Acharya.

Chakravyuh features Arjun Rampal and Esha Gupta in the lead roles along with Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpai and Anjali Patel. It is based on a very sensitive issue of naxalites. Let’s see if this one stands lucky for Arjun Rampal after the downfall of his earlier movie Heroine.

Success didn’t change Yash Chopra: Rohit Roy

Tinsel Town celebs are still not able to come out of the shock of losing the legendary film maker, Yash Chopra.

Rohit Roy remembers his interactions with the legendary director Yash Chopra and said, "I have had the good fortune of meeting him over several social evenings. The one thing that always struck me is his down to earth, warm fatherly demeanor. All the success never changed the humble man that he was."

Rohit credits Yash Chopra films for the romantic side of his personality. "His films made me the romantic that I am today. I consider myself unfortunate that I never got an opportunity to be directed by him. He will forever remain in our hearts," concluded Rohit.

 

Om Puri gives Manoj a sleepless night

Manoj Bajpayee had a sleepless night. The reason for it was veteran actor Om Puri.

"Dearest and respected Mr. om puri called up to congratulate me on Chakravyuh. Will not be able to sleep for sometime. Humbled and happy. Legendom!" tweeted Manoj.

Manoj plays a Maoist in Chakravyuh, directed by Prakash Jha. The movie releases Wednesda

Imran didn't want to play 'Matru'?

The actor initially had apprehensions about essaying a Haryanvi lad in Vishal Bhardwaj's film

 Our sources also say that so tensed was Imran at the prospect of playing a Haryanvi lad that the day after he signed Bhardwaj’s film, he paid a visit to the director to opt out of the project.

 

 
Our source says, “Being a Mumbai boy, Imran obviously had no clue how to speak like someone from Haryana. He had initially said yes for the film. However, after the first day of reading the script, he realised it was not going to be his cup of tea.” Imran tells us, “It’s true that I first thought I had made a mistake by agreeing to do the film. I went to Vishal sir to ask him to cast someone else. But thankfully, he didn’t budge and I finally became a part of the film.”

'Student Of The Year' collects Rs 28 crore in the opening weekend

Karan Johar's first directorial venture without Shah Rukh Khan, hits gold at box office

Karan Johar’s much-anticipated Student of the Year did not disappoint at the box office and as predicted the film has managed to attract the youngsters at the ticket windows. Student of the Year has collected about Rs 28.43 crore (Rs 8.98cr on Friday, Rs 9.36 cr on Saturday and Rs 10.09 cr on Sunday) at the box office in its first weekend.

 

On the other hands, the figures of Delhi Safari are at around Rs 37 lakh approximately, Shudhra and Jaanleva 555 are at less than Rs 10 lakh for the weekend. On the other hand, OMG has touched Rs 75.44 crore till Sunday night and is running in its fourth week and English Vinglish is at around Rs 29.56 crore after its third weekend. Hollywood film Argo, which has shown an impressive rise in spite of opposition from Student of the Year, deserves a special mention. Trade analyst, Atul Mohan says, “I think the only reason for SOTY to work is one man Karan Johar. 

 Not only has he made a commercial film but has left no stone unturned in terms of production value and promotions for the film. It’s only plus for him from now as there are two holidays coming up this week.” Trade guru Amod Mehra points out, “When a director like Karan makes a successful film with newcomers, it is an encouraging sign for others to bring new talent to the industry. The film’s a definite hit.”