Movies Blogs

Much has been written about the famous rivalry between Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi, something which is still hugely debated after their deaths. But Mohammad Rafi's son Shahid Rafi reveals that there was no cold war between the two legends. In fact, whenever they met , they were very warm towards each other. On the occasion of Kishore Kumar's birthday, Shahid shares a picture which has been very close to his heart. "I have this picture hanging on our wall at home. It's a very special picture of two legends getting together," he says.

Whenever he got a break, Rafi would go to his London house for a holiday. "Incidentally, Kishore Da had come to London for a concert. When he got to know that Dad was also there in the city, he took out time from his schedule and came home to meet him," he adds.

Kishore KumarKishore Kumar once said "Look, I don't smoke, drink or socialise. I never go to parties. If that makes me a loner, fine. I am happy this way. I go to work and I come back straight home. To watch my horror movies, play with my spooks, talk to my trees, sing." And his songs are what endears him to us. What lives on in our minds even after 24 years of his passing away.

On his birthday, we — after a lot of debate — have a list of our favourite songs.

Haal Kaisa Hai Janaab ki

Pyaar Manga hei tumi se

Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas

Chukkar Mere man ko

Phoolon Ke Rang Se

Yeh Shaam Mastani

Eena Meena Deeka

Ek Ladki Bheegi bhaagi si

Yeh Jeevan Hai

Do they match your favourite  Kishore Kumar songs? Tell us

Cast: Dilzad Hirale, Apoorva Arora, Sohail Lakhani, Suraj Kumar, Tanvi Azmi and Sachin Khedekar

Directed by Sanjivan Lal

Rating: ***

Indian movies on childhood have mostly focused on issues that adults believe children deal with. And real kids and their issues (for whatever reason) are rarely deemed worthy of being essayed on the screen. In the bargain, we're subjected to overtly dramatic, smart-ass little devils who spout one-liners like laughter show contestants. In such a state, Sanjivan Lal's 'Bubblegum' breaks the mould created for screen kids and even gets terribly close to at least one fragment from each of our childhoods.

I mean, who hasn't been a love-struck teen, when the whole concept, though fuzzy, makes one gulp at the very idea of confessing the feeling. When just the very sight of the person required pre-meditated stalking and division of attention would lead to unparalleled jealousy. We've all been there, we've all done that. If not, here's a chance.

The story is based

Cast: Om Puri, Govind Namdev, Manoj Pahwa, Mohnish Bahl, Anooradha Patel, Uvika Choudhary, Sarrtaj Gill

Directed by Ajai Sinha

Rating: Honour spilling

'Khap' sounds like a blunt instrument cutting through flesh and ironically refers to Khap Panchayats or village bodies that brutally skin young couples who marry within their own clan, village (or cow-shed?). Although, the Supreme Court of India has banned Khaps from exercising medieval methods to simulate the phrase, 'till death do us apart', no court has proof-read the script of the film, 'Khap', so here we go again.

Luckily, movies made on grave topics are usually intercut with a lighter parallel screenplay to balance the mood. Unluckily, 'Khap' takes the parallel story so far, it leaves the core issue like an abandoned baby outside a deserted church. So amidst the barbaric chopping, tractor mowing and sword stabbing of couples marrying within their 'gotra' (clan) in a quaint village called Sajod, lies a diabetically-sugary urban

Movies in July

Our in house movie critic Kunal Guha has, over the last couple of weeks, reviewed and rated the major releases of the month 'Murder 2,' 'Chillar Party,' 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' and 'Singham'. Let me start with a disclaimer, I do not always agree with Kunal on his reviews. And speaking about reviews, here is one fun review which we saw on CNNGo.

Having watched the films that released this month, says the writer, I can't help but wonder if someone passed around an industry memo deeming July male stripper month in Bollywood. I know it's summer, he says,  but -- the four movies in this recap contain about eight hours of footage of men in various stages of undress, with little to absolutely no reason to show for it.

This includes everyone from a frighteningly tanned Hrithik Roshan, to a 42-year-old Ajay Devgn, to a group of 10-year-old boys in their tighty-whities. Huh, well, trust me, it is not what I wrote, check out the article here. And, if you are like me, you will just love the

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Kajal Agarwal, Prakash Raj, Ashok Saraf, Sachin Khedekar, Sonali Kulkarni

Directed by Rohit Shetty

Rating: **

Many will be quick to point out the similarities between 'Singham' and the numerous air-headed Salman Khan blockbusters. But low-gravity action, punches that propel bodies into mid-air ballets and cars walking on two feet, make it obvious: 'Singham' is a remake of a Tamil film (Singam) and is directed by Rohit Shetty (who is obsessed with blowing up cars in his films). And one has to be a bit lenient with remakes as they are like miniature models of famous monuments. If your little 'Leaning Tower of Pisa' is chiseled too acute, live with it, it's just a souvenir, right?

The film is about a humble village cop, Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgn) who enforces law like a preschool moral science teacher. All accused and convicts are let off with a warning, as they're usually his friends and/or belong to the good ol' gaaon ki mitti, which is later distinguished from

When Sabrina Lall came out of the special screening of 'No One Killed Jessica', she was quite relieved. She wasn't concerned about the overdramatisation of the Jesicca Lall murder case nor was she bothered much about the dowdy depiction of her own character by Vidya Balan. All she wanted was that her sister should be shown in true light and Rajkumar Gupta managed to do that. Speaking after a special screening of the film, Sabrina had said, "When we agreed to let them make the film, my family and I had been warned about the Bollywood types but Rajkumar replicated almost every detail."

But 'No One Killed Jessica' cleverly managed put out a disclaimer describing the film as "a hybrid of fact and fiction". The film scored with the audience as it did not delve too much into Jessica Lall's past and stuck only to the investigation and the trial.  If you overlook the over the top characterization of Rani Mukherjee as a high flying scribe, barking orders at the juniors and overturning her

Directed by Zoya Akhtar

Rating: ***

Films dealing with life-altering epiphanies are always shot in stunning locations. And Hindi films dealing with the same, need a stunning cast as well. A possible rationale: beautiful places relieve stress and bring things into perspective. And beautiful people experiencing divine realizations can hold your perspective on the screen, often resulting in a 'ka-ching' sound at the box office. 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' (ZNMD) is one such film.

In true 'Hangover' meets Vikas-Krishna-Barcelona spirit, the film deals with a bachelor adventure marinated with stories of finding, losing and forgetting love. Kabir (Abhay Deol), an affluent construction tycoon is about to take the marital plunge. But not before he completes a much-postponed trip with school buddies, investment banker (and constantly grumpy) Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) and freestyle flirt Imraan (Farhan Akhtar).

So, the