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Showing posts from March, 2020

#RainboxStudios acquires the adaptation rights of legendary poet-songwriter #SahirLudhianvi’s biography

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Rainbox Studios acquires the adaptation rights of legendary poet-songwriter Sahir Ludhianvi’s biography The studio will bring alive the story of one of India’s most enigmatic cinematic personalities for his centenary year in 2021 #RainboxStudios acquires the adaptation rights of legendary poet-songwriter #SahirLudhianvi’s biography Mumbai, 19 February 2020: Rainbox Studios, a division of Rainshine Entertainment, announces the acquisition of the book adaptation rights for ‘Sahir Ludhianvi: The People’s Poet.’ Penned by award-winning author, Akshay Manwani, and published by Harper Collins, the biography covers Sahir’s enigmatic journey right from his dysfunctional childhood to the point where he became India’s most celebrated songwriter. With super hit songs in classic films like Pyaasa, Naya Daur, and Phir Subah Hogi, his work is truly exemplary. By telling his riveting story to digital audiences in audio-visual format, Rainbox Studios pays tribute to the m

#KeliClassicalRhythmFestival2020

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KELI 28th year in pursuit of Arts Keli Classical Rhythm Festival 2020 (On Thayambaka ) (Evolution of a Rhythm ensemble through Time and Tradition) (This festival will present Mattannur Sreeraj the young genius performer who has imbibed an exclusive artistry of the tradition of Thayambaka. In this festival Sreeraj will unveil the evolution of Thayambaka through 3 performances show casing 3 indigenous Rhythm patterns) February 28,29 and March 2020, Mumbai: The primary focus of Keli festival is to preserve the classical and traditional art forms of India through live performances and awareness programs keeping their authenticity intact. In this edition, Keli is presenting Mattannur Sreeraj the young and exclusively talented contemporary Thayambaka performer. He will be leading this festival and through this festival he will be unveiling the evolution of the art form of Thayambaka through three marvellous concerts playing three different indigenous rhythm patterns .

#JohnAbraham to produce well-known social entrepreneur, #RevathiRoy's biopic

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John Abraham to produce well-known social entrepreneur, Revathi Roy's biopic The film will also be produced and directed by Robbie Grewal MUMBAI 2020: John Abraham's JA Entertainment, Robbie Grewal's Red Ice Films and Anil Bohra's Vyka Entertainment are all set to produce the biopic of Revathi Roy, the much acclaimed social entrepreneur who started Asia’s first all female taxi service- Hey Deedee and the first all woman last mile delivery service. The story of the film has been adapted from the book ‘Who is Revathi Roy’ by Swati Lodha. Early in her enterprise, Revathi made an incredible decision that would defeat every possible stereotype, social and financial, about women, business and women in business. She decided that her staff would consist only of women who were Below Poverty Line. Today Roy, who was in the list of Fortune India's most powerful women in 2019, has trained and empowered many such women enabling them and their familie

#AngreziMedium #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

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Bollywood Film Review Johnson Thomas Stellar performances fail to raise the pitch here Film: Angrezi Medium Cast: Irrfan Khan, Radhika Madan, Kareena Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Manu Rishi Chaddha, Deepak Dobriyal, Pankaj Tripathi, Ranvir Shorey, Kiku Sharda Director: Homi Adajania Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 150 mins Dinesh Vijan and team Maddock Films attempt to reclaim the success of ‘Hindi Medium’ by presenting this sequel ‘Angrezi Medium’ directed by Homi Adajania instead of Saket Gokhale. The film has some wonderful performances and a riveting father-daughter-bonding track but the unwieldy length and the sloppily sub-plotted shenanigans drag it down to tedium. The film has a dream cast and Adajania has corralled their craft with superb control - every performer gives off their best, yet the scripting is so lazy, largely devoid of humor that the narrative is unable to make much of that benefit. The writing and situations are hackneyed – eve

#Baaghi3 #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

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Bollywood Film Review Johnson Thomas Stunted, Rebel without cause Film: Baaghi 3 Cast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor, Ritesh Deshmukh, Jaideep Ahlawat, Vijay Verma, Satish Kaushik, Virendra Saxena, Ankita Lokhande, Jackie Shroff, Jameel Khoury, Disha Patani Director: Ahmed Khan Rating: * * Runtime: 143 mins The title may imply sequel but this third edition merely takes a ‘stunted’ franchise to further depths. Remake of Tamil Film Vettai (2012), the makers call it a spiritual sequel( Don’t know what that means?) to Baaghi and Baaghi2. A one-man army against fierce terrorists in a foreign land, this Tiger Shroff stunts showcase displays a whole lot of brawn…but, hey! Where’s the brain? Vikram(Riteish Deshmukh), a cop, older brother and much beloved to Ronnie(Tiger Shroff), gets abducted by a dreaded terrorist group, Jaish-e-Lashkar in Syria and Ronnie who has been fiercely protective all along( we see him rescue his brother from umpteen dicey situati

#Kaamyaab #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

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Bollywood Film Review Johnson Thomas Limp, unrousing tale Film: Kaamyaab Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal, Sarika Singh, Avtar Gill, Manmauji, Liliput, Manoj Bakshi, Viju Khote, Guddi Maruti Director: Hardik Mehta Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 109 mins An ode to the Hindi film extra from the 70’s and 80’s, Kaamyaab, supported by Shah Rukh & Gauri Khan (who apparently came on board because the film was finding no takers) tries hard to make the life of a side actor Sudheer(Sanjay Mishra) look interesting. But the bitter-sweet irony of having played nearly 499 bit parts in a career hall-marked by a sex-video misrepresentation, is totally lost in a segue of events that lacks interest and fails to intrigue. The film opens with a TV crew from Garhwal trying to get Sudheer to speak about his 499 bit roles, some of which had catchy memorable two-bit dialogues. The episode on him is titled ‘Garhwal Ki Prerna’ and the crew are expecting him to come

#Doordarshan #HindiBollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

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Bollywood Film Review Johnson Thomas Sitcom theatrics Film: Doordarshan Cast: Mahie Gill, Dolly Ahluwalia, Manu Rishi Chadha, Supriya Shukla, Rajesh Sharma, Mehak Manwani, Sumit Gulati, Shardul Rana Writer & Director: Gagan Puri Rating: * * Runtime: 114 mins The set-up here is distinctly theatrical. Sunny(Shardul Rana) is in his ‘Mastram’ phase making gooey eyes at his landlord’s ( Rajesh Sharma) pretty daughter while his hapless father Sunil(Manu Rishi Chadha) is grappling with having to handle two teenage kids, a comatose mother Darshan Kaur( Dolly Ahluwalia) and a recalcitrant wife Priya( Mahie Gill) who is separated and angling for a divorce. The narrative was expected to come alive after Darshan wakes up from her three-decade old coma and the family in their eagerness to prevent a relapse decide to allow time to stand still 30 years in the past. The milestone highlighting that aspect is the Doordarshan news signature tune. Other than the basic

#Thappad #BollywoodFilmMovieReview #PicksAndPiques #JohnsonThomas

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Bollywood Film Review Johnson Thomas The ‘SLAP’ that went awry Film: Thappad Cast: Tapsee Pannu, Pavail Glati, Ratna Pathak Shah, Kumud Mishra, Manav Kaul, Naila Grewal, Tanvi Azmi, Ram Kapoor, Maya Sarao, Dia Mirza Director: Anubhav Sinha Rating: * * ½ Runtime: 141 mins Anubhav Sinha’s cause happy film is not about Domestic violence or abuse, it’s merely about taking a stand on issues in a marriage that allow one party to be dominant over the other. It’s also about a woman’s right to prevent any form of violence on her person – even if it be inadvertent. Probably, this one is going to be a hard nut to crack for the predominantly patriarchally inclined men and women from the Indian audience. Presented as a caution against physical violence in marriage along with some choice pyrrhic dialogues to support that leitmotif, the film takes a clear-cut stand but the viewers might not be as enamoured of the flag wagging tale as the strident feminists and gender e