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Bollywood, Drugs and Violence

Fame and glamour are a heady mix and there are very few who manage to remain grounded despite the high they offer. Bollywood has sometimes been in the news for all the wrong reasons and some of our reel heroes have been in the news for their aberrant behaviour in real life.

Bollywood's bad boys have had their share of run-ins with the law; be it drugs, alcohol or a history of violent relationship with women, our stars have often fallen from grace. While the media hype around these cases claims to uncover Bollywood's dark underbelly and the law plays a merely farcical role, the bigger question that needs to be addressed is the lack of any remedial approach to deal with such recklessness.

Lindsay LohanLindsay Lohan was headed back to "jail" almost immediately after her release. After spending 13 days of her 3-month sentence, Lindsay Lohan was expected to report to a rehab clinic within 24 hours to start her 90-day programme as ordered by the court.

Charlie SheenCharlie Sheen, one of the highest paid actors on

Tintin

When you read a story do the visuals just flash in your mind? For me, it does. And while growing up, Tintin — with his tuft of hair - and his ever faithful Snowy were my heroes. I could always bank on Tintin, Captain Haddock and the Thompsons to make me laugh or take me through a hilarious adventure.  Add in Professor Calculus and my day was made.

Strangely, The Secret of the Unicorn was one of the first Tintin books I ever read. But that does not mean that I have forgotten it all. Each and every scene — from the detectives Thompson and Thomson losing their wallets many times over to Captain Haddock recounting the story of his ancestor's fight with the pirate Red Rackham — I had a picture in my mind.  A whole train of thought - in images that is -race through my mind when I think Tintin.

So, why am I talking about Tintin now? And that too in a movies blog you may ask. Well, the reason is simple. A couple of days back, the posters for the new movie - 'The Adventures of Tintin: Secret

Ragini MMS

Cast: Kainaz Motivala, Raj Kumar Yadav

Directed by Pawan Kriplani

Rating: ***

Those who say, they don't enjoy watching horror films, are the ones who shit their pants. Those who say they do, enjoy shitting their pants. And 'Ragini MMS' has many scenes that, well, induce one to visit the washroom. Only problem, you don't want to go alone.

Another ambassador of the found-footage genre that first got noticed in 'The Blair Witch Project', this one is not about a witch hunt, but about a hunting disembodied spirit, who finds her (yes, it's a woman) prey in anyone who happens to tread her path.

The story begins with jump cuts of a young couple filming each other with a handycam as they plan a trip out of town where, quite apparently, the idea is to get intimate. The boy, Uday (Raj Kumar Yadav) has another secret plan, while the girl, Ragini (Kainaz Motivala) is truly committed and ignorant of her boyfriend's true motives. Their love-nest happens to be an oddly-shaped bungalow in the middle

Stanley ka dabba

Cast: Divya Dutta, Partho, Amol Gupte, Divya Jagdale

Directed by Amole Gupte

Rating: ** 1/2

Stanley Ka Dabba is a deliciously candid and naturalistic portrayal of not just children but also of school teachers. Many montages in the film sweep us through the different kinds of teachers we've all had in our school life. Some- dictators like Hitler, some- you can confide in, some- who find novel ways of making the most mundane subjects seem interesting and even those who find a new excuse to pick on that one kid in class every single day. In this case, no prize for guessing who that kid is. The film succeeds in furnishing a back-to-school experience and as much as you realise what you miss, you also realise how regimented school life made us blindly follow silly things, which at the time seemed significant.

The film is about Stanley (Partho), a minor 'bol-Bachchan' loved by his friends, who look forward to his elaborate and fantastic tales about the most inconsequential things. His

Hollywood, when not churning out its staple romance, usually sticks to the tried and tested ribald comedy (aimed at mostly men who refuse to grow up), mindless action flick (ditto), tearjerker drama/chick flicks (women - of all kinds) or animated adventures for the ageless. But the nineties brought with it a wave of starlets from TV who were looking for their big break on celluloid and what followed was a genre that brought in women in droves and with them, their hapless dates, who in order to keep the "romance" alive in the relationship, tagged along meekly to see mild to offensive comedy swathed in huge layers of feel-good romance and tied up with a big pink bow of a happy ending - leading to the birth of the first mixed genre, the romcom, in contemporary Hollywood.

Hollywood then started experimenting with mixing certain genres to appeal to a larger demographic, or a mix of two or more. Some stars became synonymous with the mixed genres, some genres defined the career graph of

Sci-fi films have always had an appeal among all. Find out why and our pick of the best in the genre this year

Science fiction as a term would be the perfect oxymoron. Science stands for logic and facts, while fiction is a figment of one's mind and is limited only by ones imagination. And the delicious combination of the two gives us this genre in cinema that tickles our craving for the unknown and presents the same in the most magnificent form imaginable. So it's a bit like playing God. Creating creatures, alien forms, blurring the line between science and magic and helping realize our every fantasy.

So when the blue-skinned- sub-human Na'vi species enchant us with their wide-eyes and astounding abilities, we fall for it instantly. It's because we want to believe in things that cannot be proven outside the cinema hall. We want to escape into a world where extinct species secretly exist. This stretches the landscape of our mind and takes us on a journey that is scripted with the

Salman — Katrina: Salman had a terrible track record with his earlier ex-girlfriends but he seems to be behaving more mature this time. Post their break-up, Salman and Katrina have appeared together on small screen and recent reports seem to suggest that the two will soon be doing a movie together.

Ranbir — Deepika: The Ranbir and Deepika split created a lot of buzz but all that seems to be a thing of the past now. Both of them have said that they have no issues working with each other again. So while the relationship might have broken hearts, their professional equation remains the same.

Deepika Ranbir

Photos:  The men in Deepika's life

Preity — Ness: While the post break-up phase was kind of awkward between Preity and Ness Wadia, IPL 4 seems to have brought them close again. The ex-lovers and current business partners have been spotted partying together and with mutual friends, they seemed quite comfortable with each other since this season began.

Bipasha — Dino: Bipasha and Dino even after