Masterful Kapoor in BARFI!

Long before Ranbir Kapoor, Ileana D'Cruz and Priyanka Chopra faced a stampede in Bangalore a few days ago, Barfi! had entered my consciousness with its adorable trailer. Having watched it at its release, I have searched my words for several hours and would say that the film does not end when one comes out of the cinema hall. This one stays with you well beyond.

Barfi! is the story of Murphy/Barfi (Ranbir Kapoor) set in 1970's Darjeeling and Calcutta. Barfi is a mischievous and clever deaf-mute youth who falls in love with Shruti (Ileana D'Cruz). While Shruti feels affection for Barfi, she prefers to marry a man approved by her parents. When several years later, Shruti and Barfi meet again, he lives with Jhilmil (Priyanka Chopra), his autistic childhood friend who suddenly goes missing. As Shruti helps Barfi find the girl he now loves, she understands that she has never stopped loving him. Love and the pursuit of happiness are delicately portrayed by all three actors.

Barfi! has it all, starting by its delicate and pacy script, absolutely charming music and lyrics often taking center stage, beautiful cinematography, emotions, excellent comedy and a well sought-out and directed cast. Protagonists and second roles included.

A beautiful Ileana D'Cruz, one of Telugu cinema's leading actresses, is a fine match for Ranbir Kapoor. She looks the part and smoothly takes the plot to emotional places that are difficult to attain for an actor, particularly because she is mostly silent herself when she is with her costar. Priyanka Chopra, completely devoid of her beauty queen aura gives a subdued performance. I still have to find a role in which the actress makes me feel for the character and I do wish she had been given a tad more scope to relate to her, but she is quite commendable in her role. Where most Indian films with protagonists who are mentally or physically challenged struggle with accuracy and sentimentalism, Barfi! does just the opposite. Anurag Basu's writing conveys that "different" does not mean "strange", but simply "human", and that is only one of the elements for which the story should be strongly applauded.

 

The leading man, Ranbir Kapoor, is absolutely masterful. As I watched him, so many memories of Raj Kapoor's best moments appeared. Ranbir is his grandfather's grandson indeed. Chaplin, Mr. Bean and Georges Valentin (The Artist) all come to mind but are surpassed as the actor creates a character which is even more enchanting and endearing. I have not been moved by a performance in Indian cinema in a long time as I have by this one, in which the actor expresses so many nuances of emotion and life with pitch-perfect histrionics and not a single word! I would fearlessly say that young heroines now have their ideal counterpart in young Ranbir, a man who is good at his craft, is no longer promising or building his career, but has in my honest opinion, reached the start of its peak. May he continue gracing our cinema screens for a very long time.

Love, the true kind, is made of happiness, even when that happiness is not directly ours to own. Barfi! is an ode to that principle and more. Anurag Basu's delicate and humourous watercolour of life's twists and beauties has released and it is cinema not to be missed.

Visit the Barfi! webpage for stills and more information on the film.

BARFI!

Director  and screenplay: Anurag Basu   

Cast

Priyanka Chopra

Ileana D'cruz

Ranbir Kapoor 
Shaurabh Shukla
Rahul Garg
Sumona Chakravarti
Bhola Raja Sapkota
Jishu Sengupta

Producer: Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwvala

Music: Pritam

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59th NATIONAL FILM AWARDS: Onir, Vidya Balan, Ra.One and more

Photograph: Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images

It was an exciting and momentous day for the films and crews nominated to the National Film Awards 2011. Our heartiest congratulations to all winners!

Best Hindi Film: I AM (Onir)
Best Feature Films (2 awards): Deool and Byari
Best Director: Gurvinder Singh for Anhe Ghorey Da Daan 
Best Bengali Film: Ranjana Ami Aar Ashbo Na
Best Marathi Film: Shaala
Best Dialogue: Deool
Best Actress: Vidya Balan, The Dirty Picture
Best Actor: Girish Kulkarni for Deool

Best Screenplay: Nitesh Tiwari, Vijay Maurya, Vikas Bahl and Rajesh Bajaj for Chillar Party
Best Editing: Praveen KL for Aranyaa Kandam
Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment: Azhagar Samiyin Kuthirai
Best Music Direction: Neel Dutt for Ranjana Ami Ar Ashbo Na
Best Lyrics: Amitabh Bhattacharya for I AM
Best Choreography: Bosco & Caeser for "Señorita" from Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Best Special Effects: Ra.One
Best Children’s Film: Chillar Party
Best Child Artistes: Partho Gupte for Stanley Ka Dabba and Sanath Menon, Irrfan Khan, Rohan Grover, Chinmai Chandranshuh, Naman Jain, Vishesh Tiwari, Vedant Desai, Aarav Khanna, and Divji Handa for Chillar Party
Best Supporting Actress: Leishangthem Tonthoingambi Devi for Phijigee Mani
Best Supporting Actor: Appu Kutty for Azhagar Samiyin Kuthirai 
Special Jury Mention: Anjan Dutta for Ranjana Ami Aar Ashbo Na

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KITES may fail to impress international audiences

Beautiful looking starrers (Greek god Hrithik Roshan and Uruguayan princess Barbara Mori) and a good-looking supporting cast (Kabir Bedi, Kangna Ranaut), lots of action, a bit of imaginary chilli pepper sprinkled here in the form of Mexican "andele, andele!" and another dash of luxury or US Western locations there and you've got a mindblowing worlwide hit, right?

Well... Sorry to say... No.

'Kites' is likely to be a let down, particularly for Latin American and American audiences who will likely be fed a film that does not really take the trouble to appeal to their cultural sensitivity. A film that focuses on Hrithik Roshan but fails to duly bring forward his talent by an evident lack of script/story will certainly make ladies drool and men make summer resolutions to hit the gym but possibly not much else. 

While 'Kites' has an underlying subject that could have been beautifully used to craft a good film, the script falls short of the brilliant idea of filming an international romance between a gorgeous couple from two fascinating different cultures. While cinematography is good in various sequences, the word "unnecessary" certainly comes to mind during some hero-centric frames or several unessential film situations. The extremely wicked villain, nonetheless well enacted by Nicholas Brown, might also not go down well with audiences who are open to foreign cinema but prefer a bit more subtlety in their film plate.

Strangely enough, one of the most hyped pre-release sequences - a salsa dance featuring the jaw-drop-worthy pair - has reportedly been deleted, thus taking away probably one of the scenes that would have succeeded in successfully reeling in Latino audiences, making them feel that they were being shown in a cool and appealing light, an asset that the film is cruelly lacking. On second thought, the 'Kites' soundtrack offers such a poor example of pseudo-Latin rythms that the salsa sequence would probably not have worked. It is a pity that with such a large budget, production would not have tapped more gleefully into the fantastic array of musical talent available in Latin America.

It is unfortunately not enough to show a doll-like Barbara and an Indian hunk onscreen to attract non-Indian audiences to the cinema. Therefore, my feeling is that the film is less meant for international audiences and more likely to be a success among Hrithik Roshan fans. Barbara (Natasha) may say “Main ullu ki patthi hoon” with her charming Mexican accent to express her love to her Romeo but international audiences are more likely to express their feelings to Rakesh Roshan and Anurag Basu by asking "What's the point?". 

Producer: Rakesh Roshan / Sunaina Roshan
Director: Anurag Basu
Cast:
Hrithik Roshan...... Jai
Barbara Mori...... Natasha
Kangna Ranaut...... Gina
Kabir Bedi...... Bob
Nicholas Brown...... Tony
Cinematography: Ayananka Bose
Story: Akash Khurana / Anurag Basu / Robin Bhatt
Official website here

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Murder Songs Download [MP3] [2004]

Murder is a thriller directed by Anurag Basu. This film stars Mallika Sherawat, as a married woman who gets caught up with another man (Emraan Hashmi), and when the other man is murdered, she is wrongfully accused, though its actually the husband that has killed him. The touching music is composed by Anu Malik. I like all the songs and particularly the instrumentals.

Free Direct MP3 Links! Murder songs download,
Right Click on the song and choose 'Save Target As'. Enjoy!

1. Bheege Hont Tere - Kunal Ganjawala
2. Kaho Na Kaho - Amir Jamal
3. Dil Ko Hazar Bar - Alisha Chenoy
4. Jana Jane Jana - Amir Jamal
5. Zindagi Is Tarah - Anuradha Paudwal
6. Zindagi Is Tarah (Sad) - Sonu Nigam
   
7. Kaho Na Kaho (Instrumental)
8. Bheege Hont Tere (Instrumental)

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Gangster Songs Download [MP3] [2006]

Gangster is a film directed by Anurag Basu and released in 2006. The film stars Shiney Ahuja, Emraan Hashmi and Kangna Ranaut, a debutant. The film is a story of a bar girl who is in love with two people, one an ordinary, simple man and the other, a gangster. Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was initially offered the role of Daya in the film, but he turned it down saying: "Cricket is not only my profession but my obsession as well."The music is by Pritam. The lyrics is penned by Sayeed Qadri. I like the award winnig "Ya Ali" from Zubeen and "Tu Hi Meri Shaab Hai", other are also good. Hope You enjoy the songs!

Free Direct MP3 Links! To Download Gangster Songs,
Right Click on the song name and Choose "Save Target As". Enjoy!

1. Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai - K.K
   
2. Bheegi Bheegi - James
   
3. Lamha Lamha Male - Abhijeet
4. Ya Ali - Zubeen
5. Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai Euro Remix - K.K
6. Mujhe Mat Roko - Kavita Seth
7. Lamha Lamha Duet - Abhijeet & Sunidhi Chauhan
8. Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai Part 2 - K.K

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