Sudhir Mishra-Director with a difference

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Sudhir Mishra born in Lucknow is a Bollywood Film Director and screenwriter most acclaimed for his movies that do more than just entertain the audience. It can be said that film making caught his eye at an early age as his father DN Mishra was a founder member of the Lucknow Film Society.

Sudhir Mishra finished his graduation from Delhi university and formed a theater Group called "Workshop Theater" with Badal Sircar and worked on many plays with the latter. Sudhir left for Pune after working with Badal Sircar for one and a half years. He spent his time at FTII(Film and Television Institute of India) where his younger brother Sudhanshu Mishra was studying at the time.Though Sudhir spent his time at the institute.he never actually studied there.
The director moved to land of dremas and opportunities, Mumbai and stepped in Bollywood as an assistant director and scrptwriter in comedy classic "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron" in the year 1983 directed by Kundan Shah.He later on, worked with "Mohan Joshi Haazir Ho !" directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza and with Vidhu Vinod Chopra in Khamosh(1985).
Though he had considerable contributions to the above films,he made his directorial debut with his film "Yeh Woh Manzil Toh Nahin' in the year 1987 for which he won the National Award for the First Film of a Director. But he didn't stop there,Sudhir Mishra went on to make many films which recieved not only crtical acclaim but prestigious awards too. Some of such films include, Main Zinda Hoon(1988), Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin(1996),Chameli(2003) and the most noted movie of his film career till date, "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi".
His other awards include National Film Award for Best Film on Social Issues for the film Main Zinda Hoon releasd in the year 1988 and Filmfare Best Story Award for Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi in the year 2005.
Films directed by Sudhir Mishra:

• (Yeh Woh Manzil To Nahin(1987)
• Main Zinda Hoon(1988)
• Dharavi(1992)
• Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin(1996)
• Calcutta mail(2003)
• Chameli(2003)
• Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi(2005)
• Traffic Signal(2007)
• Khoya Khoya Chand(2007)

Farhan Akhtar mobbed at Madhavrao Scindia Awards ceremony

Farhan Akhtar who was praised for his 2001 directorial debut Dil Chahta Hai was recently mobbed at the Madhavrao Scindia Awards function in Kanpur. The Rock On!! star had to be locked inside a room for almost an hour till the crowd was gone. Farhan Akhtar was honoured for outstanding performance in cinema.

Intellectuals, industrialists and politicians were witnessed at the awards function. But the young mob became quite excited after seeing Farhan. After Rock On!! wherever Farhan goes, people expect the star to sing for them which becomes really hard.

I don't want to work with new comers says Karan Johar

In the first half of Karan Johar's conversation with Raja Sen, the filmmaker spoke about stepping out of his comfort zone, and being more honest as a filmmaker.

As the film-faffing continues, Johar discusses the problem of stars and image, the basic Bollywood screenwriting hurdle that should never change, and why he would never cast newcomers in his films.

Some of those are the way they are, and the way they will be. I think if I yank myself totally out of my zone, it might affect me. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy have also composed music that is completely different: there is no lipsync song in My Name Is Khan, it's all background. And the music is not Western at all, barring the fact that it's somewhere fusion based. Also it's got different voices, people I haven't worked with.

When I spoke to Shah Rukh, I said 'look, it's very important that you play even this character as a mainstream hero,' because that's one call that I took commercially. I felt he had to be an endearing character, no matter what. So if that takes bringing about a certain level of 'cutiefying' at times, or toning down the disorder in areas but still maintaining a regular pitch, I think it's imperative.

We sent the script to the National Autistic Society, just to read the dialogues. Because there are a lot of things characters like Rizwan Khan don't say. They say things literally, so there are a lot of expressions they won't use. And then we sent the first bits of rushes to people, to see if we're doing okay. Because we needed to know. You see, it's such a varied disorder and there are so many strains of it, there's no one way of doing it. So one had to strike that balance between the projection of this character on mainstream celluloid and getting the facts right.

So, therefore, having Shah Rukh and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Sharmishtha [Roy, art director] and Manish [Malhotra, costume designer] and all the people I've worked with earlier were also important. But I think all of them have been challenged. I don't think they've done something like this. We're very far away from the release, and one can never be sure, but the feeling definitely was that we haven't done this before. So either we could have totally screwed it up or maybe got it right, so that's something that I don't know. At all.

My name is Khan is a serious film. No doubt about it. That's why it has a world of its own, its own beat. But I would say it's a drama, a quintessential drama which is definitely serious. There's nothing frivolous about it.

Karan Johar speaks about his new film My Name Is Khan. He says he is not comfortable working with newcomers that’s why he chose Shahrukh Khan and Kajol and Shankar-Ehsan-Loy for his film.

Rensil D'Silva's film called to be lengthy

Debutant director of Bollywood industry Rensil D'Silva's upcoming romantic flick Kurbaan is said to be longer than the show-timing which multiplexes approve. Rensil D'Silva's film is called to be formidable and lengthy.




Produced by Karan Johar Kurbaan has turned out to be two hours 37 minutes long after editing. Rensil D'Silva exclusively speaks about his directorial movie Kurbaan and said that this flick is not a documentary on terrorism. Infact totally based on global issue. The fast-paced thriller is scheduled to release on November 20.

The movie features Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi in lead roles.

RITUPARNO GHOSH

Rituparno Ghosh is one of the contemporary Bengali directors in India. Starting his career in the year 1992 the well admired director has been recognized for his works worldwide.




Rituparno Ghosh was born and brought up in Kolkata. He studied at south point high school and later joined Jadavar Uiversity to pursue his education in economics. Both his parents were closely associated with filmdom. His father was a documentary filmmaker.

Rituparno Ghosh has always professed that he has admired the works of Ingmar Bergman, Krzysztof Kie Lowski, Bille August, Quentin Tarantino, Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Wong Kar-Wai and Pedro Almodovar.

In a little over a decade, Rituparno Ghosh has established himself as one of the best directors in contemporary Indian cinema. Though he has largely worked in Bengali, his native language, with stories and themes that are rooted in Bengali culture, his films have broken geographical and linguistic barriers by reaching national and international film festivals.

Though his first film Hirer Angti (The Diamond Ring), made in 1992, a children’s film won an international award, it failed to get a public release in theatres. However, the film was later shown several times over at small festivals for children’s films and also on the small screen. Unishe April went on to win the Swarna Kamal or the National Award for Best Film as well as Best Actress for Debashree Roy.

A unique element in a Rituparno Ghosh script is its distinct structure, which changes with every film he directs. Unishe April opened with the shocking scene of an untimely and sudden death. Whispers and hushed tones underscored the grief of a little girl in shock, till we were surprised to discover that the entire unfolding was in flashback. The narrative of Dahan is sandwiched between letters penned by one of the two main female characters to her sister away in Canada. It is in Utsab (2000), that one finds Rituparno in total control.

Based on his own story, Titli (2002) offers the usual Rituparno fare of a filial relationship in conflict being resolved in the end. But the ambience is unusual. For the first time in his career, Rituparno moves his script beyond the confines of the four walls to shoot it almost completely on location among the scenic landscape of Kurseong. Raincoat (2004, Hindi) starring Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai, was an unabashed plagiarization of The Gift of the Magi with suitable shifts in time, relocation, characterization, storyline and socio-cultural backdrop.

In an interview , he told us that “Chokher Bali (2003) was been a long-time dream-come-true for me. I love to make films on subjects I understand the most. I feel I understand the inner feelings of women, their passion, agony and sufferings.”

Today, Rituparno Ghosh is the only filmmaker in Bengali cinema to have successfully transcended the borders of language, culture and casting to make films in Hindi and English.

Madhur Bhandarkar's 5 films will be held at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival

The Life member of the ‘International Film and Television Research Centre’ and the ‘Asian Academy of Film and Television', Madhur Bhandarkar’s five films will be held at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival between November 14 and 20. The films are Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal and Fashion. Hollywood celebrities such as Salma Hayek, Lucy Liu and Samuel L Jackson will be gracing the event.




Madhur Bhandarkar also said, "It is a great moment for me." Around 25 Indian films will be screened during the festival. Some of the big fames gracing the event will be legendary filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, actress Sridevi and her producer husband Boney Kapoor, director Madhur Bhandarkar, Slumdog Millionaire star Irrfan Khan and writer Vikas Swarup, etc.

Subhash Ghai SRK-Sunny's peacemaker

Bollywood's top most actors Shahrukh Khan and Sunny Deol are now friends again. Yes, both the stars had a fallout way back in 1993. The two made up at Subhash Ghai's bash that took place on October 24. SRK and Sunny ended the 16 years long cold war. Lately, Shahrukh Khan had an ego clash with Sunny Deol during the making of Yash Chopra’s Darr.

A source present at the party said, “Shah Rukh had come in earlier in the evening and he was sitting in one of the private sections at the party venue with Karan Johar and his other friends. Sunny Deol was accompanied by director Neeraj Pathak, who he was chatting with, when Ghai suddenly went up to the reticent actor and took him to the private section. Subhash Ghai headed straight to Shah Rukh and reintroduced the two warring actors. SRK and Sunny shook hands and gradually warmed up to each other and were later seen chatting animatedly with lyricist Prasoon Joshi.”

Maker of notable films include Kalicharan ,Karz, Hero, Meri Jung, Karma, Saudagar, Khalnayak, Pardes and Taal, the director did a great work too !!!!

All izzz well

The first look of Rajkumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots recently got unveiled at a press conference at Metro which saw an enthusiastic response. The story of the film is based on three students at an engineering college which are portrayed by Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan and Sharman Joshi.

All these three stars rubbished rumours of a fight between the director Rajkumar Hirani and Aamir Khan. Rajkumar Hirani added to his statement that Aamir had even helped him out with the sub-titling of the film.

Vinod Chopra too expressed his gratitude towards Mr Perfectionist Aamir Khan saying that it was a big pleasure working with actor like him. The movie that has been acquired by Reliance Big Pictures is set to hit the big screen on December 25. We can say that all is well....

IMTIAZ ALI- A MAN OF COMMON TASTE

In Osian's film festival, Imtiaz Ali said "I don't want to make movies for a limited audience. When I am taking money from somebody else and making a movie I need to recover cost. I automatically think on those lines while directing a film because I am a man of common taste."




The 38-year-old director does not want to be in the league of "different" filmmakers.

He does not want to prove that he is a different director or that he wants to re-invent himself with his movies. He just want to tell those stories which he thinks he can show the best. He says he is a victim of his own limitations. Imtiaz Ali has become one of the most sought after directors in Bollywood post the success of 'Jab We Met' and 'Love Aaj Kal'. The film, despite its girl-meets-boy theme, struck a chord with the audience because of Ali's innovative story-telling method.

In an interview Imtiaz Ali said "Bollywood is in that phase now when people are bored of formula films, so we directors are under no compulsion to make a certain kind of movie. We can make them the way we want to. We are happy to be directing films at this point of time". "Before the films release we tend to say things to the media to sell the film. I try to lie as little as possible.

Imtiaz has always accepted the flaws in his films and is ready to accept the criticism openly when they are released. Ali said in an interview," None of my movies have been perfect, after a while I do see defects in them and wish that I could correct them."

His first three films have revolved around the subject of love, but Ali insists that there is no deliberate reason why he chooses to explore this topic repeatedly, be it in his first film 'Socha Na Tha' or his latest 'Love Aaj Kal'.

RAJKUMAR SANTOSHI

Rajkumar Santoshi is an Indian film director and producer of Hindi films. He is the son of choreographer P.L. Santoshi. His movies strive for realism. Santoshi often relies on original screenplays instead of adapting Hollywood movies and adding 'naach gaana' (magic mix). While Santoshi has gained the recognition of his peers, he is rarely nominated for awards.




Rajkumar Santoshi and Sunny Deol have worked in many films like Ghayal, Ghatak and Damini that were Bollywood hits. Sunny Deol won the best actor for Ghayal and the best supporting actor for Damini.

Santoshi is known to repeat actors of his choice in a series of consecutive movies. He is one of the pioneers of the item number having Aamir Khan in Damini, Mamta Kulkarni in Ghatak, Urmila Matondkar in China Gate, etc. His films are well-made and are well-accepted by the Bollywood audience. He has also made movies starring famous actors such as Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.

Rajkumar santoshi is a award winning director and producer in Bollywood. His movies often are hard hitting, real and he avoids remakes. He is also known to bring out the best in the actors. The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) saw Ajay Devgan as the freedom fighter. The movie won a National Film Award. Khakee (2004) was another success for Santoshi.

His last release was Halla Bol (2008). His next release is a comedy, Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, starring Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor. The movie will be released in theaters in 2009.

With a title that is too long, and quite unlike a typical Bollywood name, the upcoming romantic comedy ‘Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahani’ has already made its presence felt.

Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, who has delivered some great serious cinema to his credit, the film promises to be a rocker, regaling the audience with its romantic storyline interspersed with comedy.

The title of the film has already generated quite an interest amongst the public.Named after the film’s central character, Prem, the title brings out the essence of the character, who according to Santoshi, is a strange fellow. The film is a romantic tale of two youngsters, Prem and Jennifer, played by Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.