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Lage Raho Munnabhai ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ became the first Hindi film sequel to repeat the history of winning the award  as its prequel ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ had bagged similar honor in 2003. It was the undisputed winner of he year that has won four awards in the nations’ prestigious awards ‘54^th National Film Awards’.It won four of the awards in the categories of Best Screenplay(Raj Kumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi), Best Lyrics(Swanand Kirkire), Best Supporting actor(Dilip Prabhavalkar) and for the best Entertainment of the year.

Gandhian Values ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’ and the ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ was a serious attempt to familiarize the young generation of  not only of the country but also of the world with the Gandhian principals and the morals. The film was a hit not in India but all over the world. These to films had aroused the interests of the young generations in the Gandhian values that there were many instance when people used the Gandhian style of objecting to the odds.

Other Awards Dilip Prabhavalkar has also won the award for best supporting actor for the Marathi film ‘Shevri’. It was a double bonanza for him.Soumitra Chatterjee, the veteran Bengali Film Actor was awarded with the honor of Best Actor for his role in Bengali film ‘Poddokkep’ and the Best Actress award was given to the Tamil actress Priyamani for the film ‘Paruthi Veeran’. Best Feature Film Award was given to the Malayalam film ‘Pulijanmam’ directed by Priyanandnan. It is the film about the struggle between the exploitative forces and the resistors. Best Director Award was given to Madhur Bhandarkar for his film ‘Traffic Signal’. The prestigious Indira Gandhi Award for the Best First Film of a Director was given jointly to Madhukaithapuram for his Malayalam film ‘Ekantham’ and Kabir Khan for his Hindi film ‘Kabul Express’. Konkana Sen Sharma won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Hindi film ‘Omkara’.

Delay Because of delay in the announcement of the 2005 awards announcement of the 54^th National Film Fare Awards was delayed .It had happened because of the stay orders obtained by one of the jury members who had objected the criteria of inclusion and selection of the films for consideration of awards.

Premiere Much awaited ‘Sarkar Raj’ was screened at the Siam Paragon Cineplex at the International Indian Film Academy in Bangkok. It received an overwhelming response at its premiere at IIFA ceremony in Bangkok.

Special Features There are many specialties related with the movie. First one is that the primary cast features almost all of the Bachchan family, Amitabh Bachchan, Abishekh Bachchan and Aishwarya Bachchan who appear first time in a film after the marriage of Aishwarya Rai and Abishekh Bachchan. Second one is that this movie is a sequel to ‘Sarkar’. The story of the film has been inspired by the Enron issue. Another fact is that the story is based on family and life of Shiv Sena Chief Balasaheb Thackeray. Recent incidents that happened in Maharashtra during the campaign against north Indian, have added more to the publicity of the film. It must be noted that Bachchan Family was also targeted by the campaigners.

Director Ram Gopal Verma, who is famous in bollywood for his experimentation with the themes, has come with a vengeance. His recent movies have been the experiences that he will like to forget. This film is very crucial for the career of the director as his latest films from Ram ‘Gopal Verma Ki Aag’,    to ‘Nishabd’, ‘Darling’, and ‘Go’ all proved out to be super flops .This film can mark the return of Ram Gopal Verma or can be an end to the career of such an astonishing one. 

Family film Sarkar Raj is family film on two levels. Both the families have a great influence in their respected fields. On one hand Thackerays are the Political power in the state of Mahashtra and on the other hand Bachchans are also a power in the Indian film industry that is also located in Maharashtra.

It is a political drama that unravels the secrets of political powers and also presents the true picture of the affected ones. We hope this movie will do justice to all of the sections who are directly or indirectly in and out side the picture.

Salman on Small Screen:  After Amitabh and Shahrukh Khan now it is Salman Khan, who has turned to the small screen. His TV show Dus Ka Dumm is in demand already. It is said that he has taken his TV serial very seriously. He is anchoring Soni TV’s new reality show Dus Ka Dumm started on 6^th June.

Script: Inspired from the US game show Power of 10 it is game of guessing. In the show the contestants are asked questions and those who predict the most accurately are declared winners according to the response of the public. Salman has always remained in the news for the reasons that were mostly related to his wrong doings.

Popularity: This is not the first time that a bollywood actor has turned to the small screen.After Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan have anchored the Show named, ‘Kon Bnega Krorepatu’, that was a massive hit and was viewed not by inside the country but outside also. And the show had become so much popular that the popularity of its anchors had also increased many folds.

Largest Fan Base: It is not the bigger screen that has made the Indian cinema popular but it is the Indian TV channels that are viewed all over the world and are very among the viewers. Indian TV serials are as much famous in other countries as they are in India.It is the largest reach of the Small screen that the Bollywood actors are get drawn towards it .Thousands of films get released every year in India. People watch them and forget even the names. But it is the TV serials that on which most of the household wives spend most of their time.  Now Indian film industry has recognized the power of the small screen, how it can influence the masses and can popularize one in a single appearance on the screen. This fact is evident from the fact that recently Shahrukh Khan had chosen the small screen for the publicity of his latest movie ‘Om Shanti Om’.

Thought Salman’s decision of anchoring the show is astonishing one but it is not wrong one. In the past he has remained in the news for wrong doings but we hope this show will increase his popularity and will be liked by everyone.

Bollywood Figure Yash Chopra is a writer, director and producer of bollywood movies, having a distinct identity in the Indian film industry. Though he has made films of various sorts but it is the love theme, whenever he worked upon, gave him immense success and to his films. His selection, of

Background scene and music are some of the qualities that always have touched the hearts.

Life Born in Lahore (Pakistan) in a Punjabi family on 27^th September 1932, Yash Chopra was the youngest child of the Vilayati Raj family. In the initial stage of his film carrier he worked as an Assistant Director to I S Johar and then he worked for his, journalist turned director brother B R Chopra. He made his directorial debut with the film ‘Dhool Ka Phool’ in 1959.Under the banner of BR Films he has credit of producing some thematic movies that always hit the prevalent social problems whether it unwed motherhood illegitimacy, the communal feelings or an adulterous affair in ‘Dhool Ka Phool’ and ‘Ittefaq’.

Home Production Company He broke away from BR Films and launched his own film production company with the name of Yashraj Films. Under his home production he started with the film ‘Daag’. Eighties, with Amitabh Bachchan was one of the best phases of his film career. ‘Deewar’, ‘Kabhi Khabhi’ except many others are his films with Amitabh that have always influenced the viewers of all generations. ‘Darr’, ‘Dil To Pagal  Hai’, ‘Dilwaale Dulhanis Le Jaayenge’ were made under his home production that were the massive hits of the times and in which love theme was dealt with different angles. He was awarded with prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award by the Government of India .Despite it he has been awarded with numerous awards nationally and internationally

Directorial Comeback In recently published news it was stated that after a long gap Yash Chopra is going to make his directorial comeback. He has decided to cast Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit in his directorial comeback as they are his favorite couple. Dates are not finalizes yet but it will be available after some time as both are busy .Though Yash Chopra has at regular intervals made his presence felt on the screen but viewers have missed him a lot .Everyone is fed up with the movies being presented today as they are very much apart from the realistic issues that influence the society. Underworld related, love plus gangsters or some purposeless comedy are the only themes left, related to which films are being in the film industry. People are for the films that they can see while sitting with their family or that will not affect the child psychology. Yash Chopra is one of the bollywood directors who have always produced the thematic movies Whether it were the love themes or the social problems .We hope he will make his next film that will be based on the true values, that is for what he is in bollywood famous for.

Famous Couple Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor, is the much talked bollywood couple these days. Every section of the Indian society, from Senior Citizens to the School going children, from house wives to the daily wagers, nobody forgets to get report of the latest developments in their affair. People even have started to bet upon the future possibilities of the affair.

Love Affair The love affair between Saif and Kareena was not the reason of that brought so much publicity to them but it was Kareena’s breakup with Shahid Kapoor that attracted the attention of the public. People believed that relationship between Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor is very tight and it was only a matter of time that they will get united for rest of their life. But Kareena dumped the chocolate boy-actor and has settled for Saif Ali Khan.

In Headlines When the story of Kareena’s breakup with Shahid and her affair with Saif surfaced, people though that it was just a promotion tool for ‘Jab We Met’ and ‘Tashan’. But the story turned out to be true. It was said that she drew towards Saif while they were shooting for their upcoming film ‘Tashan’ and Shahid Kapoor was in Canada .Ever since Saif publicly admitted both of them are in love they caught everyone’s eye. Every little development in their affair becomes the headline of the newspapers. Whether it was Kareena’s name tattooed on Saif’s left forearm or the gifts that he presented to Kareena people know everything.

Rumors Recently there were reports that the due had a heated argument following Saif’s insistence for getting married as early as possible and Kareena’s priority for her career. The other reason was that Kapoor had not approved their relationship. Inspite of Kareena’s record declaring of not getting married for the next five years there are rumors that they have got married. It is said that they tied the knot at a quite ceremony .It is said that the nikaah ceremony took place at Khan’s residence at Bandra on Wednesday. Though Khan Family has denied the news but no smoke can be expected without fire

The Ace Bollywood producer Jhamu Sugandh died of cardiac arrest on 28 May afternoon.He was hurried to the Life Criticare Hospital in Juhu because of having a breathing problem. He died after some time in the hospital.he was associated with the film industry as a producer, financer etc.His sudden death sent shock waves across all the film industry. His death is being considered a big loss to the film industry.

He had produced, financed and collaborated with a varied range of films such as, from

Bandit Queen, Water, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam etc. His company Jhamu Sugandh Productions had made some hit films such as Rangeela, Aks and some more.He had also collaborated with some other film directors such as Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Mani Ratnam, Aamir Khan, Deepa Mehta .He was also an advisor at Amitabh Bachan’s AB Corp. His company Jhamu Sugandh Poduction was also associated with the Kolkata film industry. Recently he had planed to produce at least six Bengali films.

He was having an adventures nature and had never hesitated to produce the films having controversial themes. Whether it was Deepa Mehta’s “Water” or Buddhadev Dasgputa’s ‘Kaal Purush’.He always financed ,produced and collaborated with those films that he thought ,take the Indian cinema to the new hights.He always welcomed the themes that touched the hidden and sensitive issues whether they were related to society, religion or politics.

‘Johny Gaddar’ and ‘Gulal’ were the last films he was associated with.Because of financial difficulties he had to abandon these projects and had lately become a recluse. He was not happy with the films being produced because he thought ‘cinema that he believed in and produced had ceased to make a difference to the film industry.’

Jhamu Sugandh’s sudden demise has caused a dent to the film industry that can’t be dealt with.Industy has lost a man who always provided some fresh air to it. Such experimental and daring personalities always show new ways to their respected fields and the Indian and Film Industry has lost one. He is no more but his films are like a lighthouse that always will guide the Industry to experiment with the new ideas.

When Gajendra Singh created Antakshri, a reality show, out of India’ home- grown favorite picnic and parlor game, in the year 1993, no one ever thought that one day such reality shows would be the life line of dipping TRPs of the TV channels which grew like anything in the past decade, more than 60 of them are just for news only. Surprisingly all are indigenous.

Singer from B- towns tried their luck in the yet another reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in 1995. Then came the giant reality show- KAUN BANEGA CROREPATI (KBC). With Amitabh Bachchan as host, who was then a fading star, gambled through this show to re-establish himself in which he got a bumper success. It was this show which not only changed the host’s life but transformed Indian television, promising fame and fortune to the couch potatoes. The channel STAR PLUS, which aired KBC, was the channel # 1 with an audience of 22 million in 2001 which soared to 61 millions in the year 2005. The telecom servers were streamlined to confront a peak load of 4,000 SMSes per second traffic.

Making heroes out of nobodies, it was reality television boom which put mass into mass media. From 5 crore votes of first INDIAN IDOL finale, the response heaped to 7 crore in the third edition. With a reality show in almost every genre like singing (SAREGAMAPA), dance (JHALAK DIKHLA JA), comedy (GREAT INDIAN LAUGHTER CHALLENGE) and even for weight loss (BIGGEST LOSER JEETEGA).

It is reality shows countering the SAAS BAHU drama of the Indian television which has the maximum viewership. More and more format are being discovered and invented for reality shows. Some a made- in – India formats and many being licensed from abroad.

Now that India is waiting for a yet another generation of reality shows, broadcasters have scrubbed trade shows for the next big thing over the television. Even in the western countries, there is a critical situation in drama in the soap and successful shows have picked up reality television traits like THE OFFICE and LOST.

If music is a powerful form of communication, Begum Akhtar was the first effective communicator. She was the one who realized the power of music and used this medium to convey a message. She zealously guarded a rare pathos in her notes as a stamp of her irreproducible style and identity. After 34 years since she passed away, today when there are only a few takers of classical music her records are still best-sellers.  She added ghazals to the classical stage and approachable to the common man. She knew how to communicate with her audience. She chose the lyrics carefully and furnished them to the audience in her own style, which helped her manage to achieve personal rapport.

She was born in 1914 in the Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh. Under the able guidance of Atta Ahmed Khan of Patiala, she began musical training. There she learnt the classical and semi-classical forms of singing be it ghazals, bhajans, dadra or thumri. She also has trained her students  and groomed them for their all round development of her students which is unbelievable.

She was a secularist and nationalist. Padam Shri Begam Akhtar was once approached by a few maulvis to get a favour for their masjid in Baranbanki as they claimed that the masjid was taken over by Hindus and they are performing pooja there. She replied, it is a form of IBADAT (prayer) that is being held there. She was a true patriot.

She always believed in the empowerment of women. Akhtaribai Faizabadi, popularly known as Begam Akhtar gave her first performance when she was 15 years old. Her first recording was recorded with Megaphone Record Company. She started her acting career with Mumtaz Begum in 1934. She stopped performing for five years after marriage. Once she fell ill and music was prescribed as the only remedy. There was a personal  rapport that she managed to achieve with each member of her audience, almost as if she was singing exclusively for an individual listener.

Long established Bollywood giants from Punjab- Raj, Shammi, Shashi, Randhir and Rishi, Karishma and Kareena. Balraj Sahni, Dev Anand, Geeta Bali, Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna the original filmy HE-MAN Dharmendra, Raj Babbar, Ranjeeta, Neetu Singh. Not to forget Dara Singh. Also the bad guys Amrish Purl, Pran, Premnath, Shakti Kapoor. Kalbhushan Kharbanda, Ajay Devgan, Preity Zinta, Om Puri, Achala Sachdev and many others. The list is going on and on.

They, however, deserve credit for making a path to Bollywood and inspiring many from Punjab to catch the train to Mumbai. We have many of them already there making their way to the stardom gradually. Topping the chart is Sonu Sood. This Moga boy is riding high on the success of JODHAA AKBAR, where he played brother of Aishwarya. He started his career with Tamil & Telegu movies. With Shaeed- E-Azam Bhagat Singh (he played the lead role) he was not only recognized but was also nominated for many awards.

In Anurag Kashyap’s DEV D, opposite Abhay Deol, we would get to see another face from Punjab- MAHI GILL. She is a trained actor from Punjab University- Department of Indian Theater. She is also playing a lead role in one of the coming Punjabi films CHAK DE PHATTEY.

Before Mahi, we have Gurleen Chopra, winner of many beauty pageants like Miss Chandigarh, Miss North India and that is what helped her anchoring assignments on Punjabi television. She is a big name in South now as her resume boasts of 25 films in almost all the south Indian languages. She appeared in her first Hindi film INDIAN BABU.Balbir Kaur of Chak De girls- Tanya Abrol is also planning to shift to Mumbai and check for the options once her studies are over. This young girl from Abohar essayed the role in CHAK DE to perfection which would always open options for her.

The TV serial KAREENA KAREENA showcased a yet another aspirant from Punjab. Kulraj Randhawa- a business management student began her acting career with this TV serial aired on Zee TV. She also did a Punjabi film MANNAT against Jimmy Shergill.

Yash Chopra has always loved love. DAAG, KABHIE KABHIE, LAMHE, CHANDNI, VEER ZAARA- his body of work is rich. His son, Aditya, has a passion for grandness. DHOOM, DHOOM 2, TA RA RUM PUM, JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM, LAAGA CHUNARI MAIN DAAG, AAJA NACHLE- all style, no substance. At the heart of TASHAN, again style is there. A latest masala pot-boiler from chopra’s stack. From fights, songs, locations everything is designer.

A UP clod turned mafia dons BHAIYYAJI (Anil Kapoor), delicate seductress POOJA (Karina Kapoor), indigenous muscle hunk who is Bhaiyyaji’s recovery agent BACHCHAN PANDAY (Akshay Kumar), and desi call center employee JIMMY (Saif Ali Khan). All are searching for wealth of Bhaiyaaji who got the money through his illegal ways of extortion, bars etc as dons of Hindi films earn.

This money is buncoed by Pooja by conning Jimmy. The money is hived up in different cities. Now this is where the director got an opportunity to take all of us to DESH- VIDESH KI YATRA by bringing in the role of ministry of tourism. You may get to see cold desert of Leh, sandy dunes of Rajasthan and the back waters of Kerala. Chopras thought that probably that would not fill the appetite of the Indian viewers so they would take you to Greek Islands as well

Anorectic bikini dressed Kareena tries to become Zeenat Amaan of Qurabani when she emerges from the sea. Saif recapitulate the role of Mel Gibson in Mad Max. Let’s not talk about Anil Kapoor here. I am sure you would not be able to understand most of the times what he was saying. He was looking pathetic when he was trying to be histrionic.

The poor jokes of Akshay Kumar evoke yawns. His comic sequences are exaggerated. Well I think Akshay thought that enough is enough now let’s go back to what he is best at- action.

Zayed Khan was born on 5^th July, 1980 to Sanjay Khan and Zarine and grew up in Mumbai before moving to Dehradun and later, Kodaikanal to complete his schooling. His family roots in acting took him to the London film school which he attended for his acting to be taken seriously.

His Bollywood break came opposite her childhood friend Esha Deol in the thriller “Chura Liya Hai Tumne” which also saw the cricketer Salil Ankola among its cast. The film did not perform exorbitantly at the box office but definitely caught good attention of the media. His next movie “Main Hoon Na’ broke a goof number of records for performance at the box office and Zayed Khan rose to instant fame. He was seen playing an honest cop in his next movie “Dus” where he chooses to die in order to save the city. As expected, the movie performed well and Zayed Khan became.

Zayed’s later releases like “Rocky: The Rebel”, “Shabd” and “Vaada” did not do well but his upcoming projects like “Mission Istanbul” and “Main Yuvraj” looks promising. The movies should do justice to his acting talent which bagged him the Filmfare best supporting actor in 2005 for “Main Hoon Na” and best debut in 2004 for “Chura liya hai tumne”.

Esha Deol is the daughter of Bollywood superstars Dharmendra and Hema Malini and half-sister of Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol. She had represented India as a National football player. Under the supervision of her mother, she started practicing Bharatnatyam and Odissi at a very early age and is now a very accomplished dancer. She has also attended a 2 month course in United States in jazz dance and ballet.

Her debut was with “Koi mere dil se pooche” for which she won the Filmfare best female debut award. The movie was on the bold topic of marital violence and blue films where Esha co-starred with Sanjay Kapoor and Aftab Shivdasani. Her first major hit was “Dhoom” alongside Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham. Fortune started favoring her and she delivered hits like “Kaal”, “No Entry”, “Ankahee”, “Dus” and “Darling”. She got great reviews for her role in “Ankahee” and “Darling” where she played an obsessive character and a ghost respectively. She was showered with critical acclaim for her role in “Darling”.

Most of her early films flopped but she was smart enough to learn the lessons from them and move ahead in Bollywood to establish her as a thinking actress. She is all set to appear with her mother in her next movie besides acting in her mother’s directorial venture.

Vivek Oberoi had a dream debut in Ram Gopal Verma’s “Company” for which he received the Filmfare best debut and the best supporting actor awards. The movie was a great success and also, received much critical acclaim making him one of the best debutant in the industry in the last decade.

He followed up “Company” with power packed performances in “Road”, “Dum” and “Saathiya”. Each of these movies brought him fame and huge appreciation of his talent while the movies enjoyed moderate success at the box office. He changed gears to star in a comic role in the movie “Masti” which became a box office hit. Fortune seemed to be smiling for Vivek as his performance in the critically acclaimed movie, “Yuva” was again well received followed up by the successful “Kaal”.

His roles in “Omkara” and “Shootout at Lokhandwala” won him public acclaim again and Vivek’s role received special mention for the later at almost all the award functions. Vivek was not lucky to escape a few flops during this period like “Home Delivery” and “Kyun! Ho gaya na..”.

Vivek actively pursues voluntary work as well and has been helping the Tsunami victims.

Upen Patel was born in India on 16^th August 1980 but has been brought up in United Kingdom. He is a computer science graduate from Hertfordshire. He started out as a model for numerous brands like Hugo Voss, Paul Smith and Zegna but the desire to make an entry into Bollywood inspired him to shift to the music video industry where he featured in the video of a remix song alongside the female actor, “Udita Goswami”.

Such efforts were good enough for him to be noticed and he debuted in the murder mystery film “36 China Town” which also starred Akshaye Khanna, Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. The film enjoyed good success at the box office and his role as a Casanova was very much appreciated. His next venture, “Namastey London” was a huge hit and though his role was a supporting one in the movie but the success of the movie can equally be attributed to Upen as well. His only movie till date as the lead “Shakalaka Boom Boom” did not boom and was declared a flop. His upcoming projects include “Money hai to honey hai” which is slated to release later this year.

Upen has won the IIFA best newcomer award in 2007 for his movies “36 China Town” and “Namastey London”.

Celina Jaitley is one of the few personalities who were born abroad in Kabul, Afghanistan on 24^th November, 1981 and went on to become Miss India in 2001. Her mother was also a former Afghan beauty queen. Her brother is following in their father’s footsteps and is serving the Indian army. She spent a major portion of her childhood in Kolkata.

She began her career as a model and then, made foray in music videos industry where she featured in a few albums including Bombay Vikings’ “Zara nazroon se kehdo”. Her first feature film was “Khel” opposite Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty and the famous cricketer Ajay Jadeja where she played Jadeja’s love interest. Her other movies include “Janasheen”, “Silsiilay”, “No Entry”, “Jawaani Diwani”, “Tom Dick and Harry”, “Apna Sapna Money Money” and “Shakalaka Boom Boom”. Most of these movies had hit music and so did moderate business.

She is currently working on her first international movie “The Quest of Sheherzade” which has been shot in New Zealand. Her other upcoming projects are “One Night” and “Kabul ka Gangster”. Both the movies are in their post production phase and are expected to be in theatres soon. “Kabul ka Gangster” is supposed to justify Celina’s claim of being Afghan descent but 100% Indian at heart.