|
Sunday,
June 6, 2004
|
|
Bollywood’s new
badshah
His movies dare to be
different and offbeat. Yet, they turn out to be box-office grossers and
strike a chord with the masses. Saibal Chatterjee
finds out what makes the non-conformist Ram Gopal Varma a hit in
showbiz.
|
|
|
|
TRUST
Ram Gopal Varma to achieve the seemingly unattainable. Steadily,
assertively, and without the ballyhoo one usually associates with the
badshahs of Bollywood, the 42-year-old Hyderabadi has brought a bit of
the past roaring back into the frame of Hindi popular cinema even as
the crisis-ridden Mumbai film industry strives to stride into the
future of the entertainment business.
|
Ram Gopal Varma
|
Vashisht’s western ways
Roshni Johar
THE
statue of sage Vashisht in an ancient temple in Vashisht village, 3 km
from Manali, has remained unchanged for centuries. It is the world
around it that has acquired a different look. A unique culture has
emerged, created by foreign tourists and locals alike.
Time for monsoon masti
INDIAN
folklore is replete with
images of the monsoon, the season of dancing peacocks and cooing papihas,
occupies a lot of significance in Indian folklore. A number of fairs and
festivals mark the coming of the rains, be it the Teej festival of the
North, the Ambubasi mela of Assam or the revelry down South.
A
seaside drive
Renu Manish Sinha
AS
the Air Deccan flight descends down the Bajpe airport in Mangalore,
the eye registers a vast lush expanse dotted with clusters of
buildings. In the parking lot of the airport are eight brand new
Elantras, launched recently by Hyundai Motors.
When it rained misfortune
K. Rajbir Deswal
INDIANS
may find the coming of the rains a time to celebrate. But monsoon fury
is something that used to fill Europeans with dread during their stay in
this country. It used to take five years of exposure to the severe
summer and the subsequent humid rainy season for a European to get
acclimatised to India.
Heavenly
trek in Garhwal Himalayas
A calm destination in
the Himalayas, the Bhagirathi Valley is an ideal getaway to beat the
heat and enjoy nature’s bounty, says Tarun K.
Roy
BHAGIRATHI
valley is a tranquil and scenic destination in the heart of the
Gahrwal Himalayas, blessed with the holy river Bhagirathi, enchanting
white-water streams, snow-clad high mountains, milky glaciers,
crystal-clear lakes, conifer forests and alpine meadows.
A dull affair
Ervell E. Menezes
THE Day
After Tomorrow is a
disaster film with its roots in an ecological crisis caused by global
warming. But two decades ago, Hollywood used a missile attack from the
Communists to trigger off doomsday in a film called The Day After.
This is evidently a remake of it but after 9/11, they prefer to deal
with natural disasters.
Pakistan’s Big B
Aditi Tandon
HE is
known as the Amitabh Bachchan of Pakistan. And why not. Ghulam
Mohinuddin, who attended the 10th World Punjabi Conference in
Chandigarh recently, has acted in over 300 big banners in Pakistan.
What makes Mohinuddin stand out in the fraternity of
Pakistani actors is his proclaimed pro-India stand.
Music
now for netas, not abhinetas
Ruchika M. Khanna
NOT
to miss the chunky gold chains or heavy Bengali accent. Bappi da, the
man who brought disco to Bollywood, is happy churning out political
tunes these days. Taking his
foray into politics rather seriously, Bappi Lahiri's political tunes
in his latest album, Ghungta, are taking him places.
|
