News

In an exclusive interview Mahesh Bhatt eloquently speaks with Subhash K Jha about his loved 1991 romance Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin, which starred Aamir Khan and Pooja Bhatt.

How do you look back on Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin, your only film with Aamir Khan?

It is a memory that refuses to die. There is one truth I’ve come to know deeply: all the works of mortal men lie under a sentence of mortality. They live among things destined to perish. Seneca said this centuries ago—and it holds just as true for films, no matter how iconic.

It is one your most loved films?

In an age where my brilliant protégé Mohit Suri’s blockbuster love story Saiyaara has cast a spell on the global consciousness of cinegoers, it feels almost miraculous that a reference to Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin still draws smiles. That it continues to...

When Anurag Basu Fought Blood Cancer While Shooting & Sneaked Out For A Beer(Photo Credit –YouTube)

Ace filmmaker Anurag Basu, who recently made headlines with his latest release Metro In Dino, was once diagnosed with blood cancer in 2004. His story of battling cancer is all about determination, willpower, and survival. Let’s look back at the time when Anurag reminisced about his journey of surviving through one of the darkest phases of life. Read on to know more.

Anurag Basu Diagonised With Blood Cancer

In a podcast with Unfiltered with Samdish, Anurag revealed he got diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia, which is a rare form of blood cancer. He said, “At that time, Tani (his wife) was 7 months pregnant with Ishana. And she used to struggle with staying close to me. I was pushing myself for two months so that I could see the baby’s face. Then after that,...

Director Mohit Suri’s mentor Mahesh Bhatt is brimming with pride as Saiyaara becomes the highest opener of 2025 beating even the other blockbuster Chhaava. “In the entertainment jungle, tradition demands every filmmaker slay a lion with each movie, much like ancient times when a young warrior wasn’t deemed worthy of leading without such a feat. We celebrate blockbusters for pushing the economic needle forward, fuelling wealth in a cynical film industry that often banks on brain-dead entertainment or propaganda-laced films.”

Mahesh feels Saiyaara has broken myths about what works at the box office. “Mohit Suri’s love story, Saiyaara, shatters this myth in a cautious market, proving audiences crave diverse stories, especially heartfelt romances. Following the Aashiqui franchise—where I laid the foundation with Aashiqui and Mohit breathed new life into Aashiqui 2—he’s broken free from its shadow. With Saiyaara, he’s crafted a unique universe, forging his own voice.

It’s hard to move away from the territory of trauma that Mahesh Bhatt perennially creates for his characters. His protagonists suffer because they allow themselves the luxury of feeling and hurting in an utterly self-centred way.In a marked departure from the sacrificial mother figures of our movies, the film’s central character Nisha (played with gut-wrenching brutal honesty by Shahana Goswami) is shown to be a rich man’s mistress not because of her kid brother but because, as she roars in one of the narrative’s soul-piercing highest-pitched sequences, she has gotten so used to luxuries she can’t stand in queue for buses any more.

Jashnn, like Mahesh Bhatt’s Jannat before it, wallows in the transparent hunger of today’s lifestyle and how far individuals are ready to go in pursuit of the next thrill. At its heart, Jashnn is a simple story about four...

Subhash K Jha revisits Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera starring Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha as it celebrates 12 years.

A beautiful but deeply flawed film , Vikramaditya Motwane’s Lootera floors you with its audacious sensitivity and its proclivity to use silences to punctuate emotions.Indeed the sequences between Varun and Pakhi, played with compelling intensity by Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha, bristle and burst at the seams with unspoken feelings. There are long passages of muted lyricism in the narration where silences are used to accentuate the growing passion between a lonely emotionally and sexually insulated daughter of a feudal family in Kolkata, and the attractive stranger who walks into her life with the promise of passion, only to break her heart into wounding shards.

The love story, apparently inspired by an O’Henry short story moves in mysterious magical ways but often tends to lose its way in its search for...

In this exclusive interview: Mahesh Bhatt talks with Subhash K Jha about the incredible and esteemed Oscar winning composer M . M . Keeravani, his first meeting him, and praises their many beautiful notes for the movies.

Do you recall your first meeting with Keeravani?

He was dressed in black. He had the gait and the hush of a sage. I first saw him at the Avm Studio in Chennai. It was a music sitting for Criminal—a Telugu film starring Nagarjuna and Manisha Koirala, later made in Hindi. He didn’t shake my hand.

Why?

He was observing a Sabarimala fast, a sacred tradition where the body is stilled, and touch is withheld. There was something shy, almost boyish in his bearing. But the air around him carried stillness, like someone who had lived near fire and knew how not to flinch.

What happened next in your meeting with him?...

Celebrating the Mahesh Bhatt-Mohit Suri’s Awarapan, which starred Emraan Hashmi, Subhash K Jha looks back at the drama that released in 2007. And Mahesh Bhatt reveals what he thinks made Awarapan so special in a new installment of This Day That Year.

Freedom could be a song or it could be a poem. In Awarapan, it’s a thought that gets smothered in a stifled scream. Mohit Suri has specialised in manifesting the fears and anxieties of tortured souls in flight. After trying it out with lukewarm success in Kalyug and Woh Lamhe, he gets it right this time.

Freedom is a major driving force behind Mahesh Bhatt’s cinema. Like it or not, Mahesh’s tortured vision colours and complements every frame that his protégées, from Anurag Basu to Mohit Suri, have created. In this hauntingly delineated portrait of a woman’s right to self-fulfillment, Mohit Suri...

There is not a single person in the Hindi film industry whose face doesn’t light up at the mention of Yash Johar. There was much more to him than being Karan Johar’s son, although in his later years he introduced himself proudly as his son’s father.

Recalls Karan, “To my father there was no son better than me. He would launch into panegyrics about me in front of strangers and I would be so embarrassed. Whatever I am today, I owe it to my father. I am reaping the harvests of his goodwill in the film industry,”

Before he became an independent producer Yash Johar was a close associate of Dev Anand who had nothing but words of praise for Yash Johar.

“He started his journey in the film industry with me,” Dev Saab once told me. “He was loved by the entire industry. There was nothing...

The monumental evening saw the presence of Mahesh Bhatt, Pooja Bhatt, Prashant Virendra Sharma & Many More.

The city witnessed an extraordinary confluence of health, fashion, and social impact at the recently concluded “Rabiaz Walk for a Cause”, a one-of-a-kind fashion event spearheaded by Rabia Patel, where purpose met the ramp in the most inspiring way. The event was a vibrant celebration of mental health, empowerment, and community development—bringing together doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and mental health advocates who traded in their white coats for the spotlight under the arc lights.

Curated by the eminent Dr. Yusuf Matcheswalla, Dr. Kiran Makhijani, and Dr. Ali Akbar Gabhrani, the evening offered a refreshing escape for these everyday healers—giving them a chance to walk the ramp, rediscover themselves, and bask in the empowering experience of transformation. Because even those who heal others deserve moments of healing themselves.

The event wasn’t just about fashion—it pulsed with purpose.

Vikram Bhatt speaks with Subhash K Jha about his Ghulam, which starred Aamor Khan and Rani Mukherjee that released 27 years ago.

Vikram, how do you look back on twenty-seven years of Ghulam?

Looking back, twenty-seven years, I can’t believe how time has passed us by. Seems like yesterday. The making of Ghulam is a movie all by itself. Perhaps I should write a book on it.

Wasn’t Mahesh Bhatt initially roped in?

There is a story behind the story but I will leave that for the book. Boss (Mahesh Bhatt) told Aamir that should he not be directing Ghulam. Then there were two other directors in the company. Tanuja and me. Aamir chose to work with me because we had worked together before and had been good friends.

What was it like working with ‘Mr Perfectionist?’

Aamir has been wrongly called Mr. Perfectionist. He likes to put in...

There were three absences in Vikram Bhatt’s Ghulam, which turned 27 on June 19. Two of them are well known. One was the exit of director Mahesh Bhatt apparently at Aamir Khan’s behest and his replacement with Vikram Bhatt.

The other absence was Rani Mukerji’s voice. It was dubbed by a professional dubbing artiste, as Vikram Bhatt found Rani’s voice too husky. Interestingly, Vikram Bhatt has the reputation of dubbing for a majority of his heroes in the past, before Aamir.

The third so far unrevealed absence in Ghulam was that of the poet-lyricist extraordinaire Majrooh Sultanpuri

A source reveals that the Bade Dino Ke Bard couldn’t get along with Vikram Bhatt from Day One.

“Majrooh Saab walked out of Ghulam on Day One. He couldn’t see eye to eye with the director from the outset. They were like two opposite ends of the solar system.

Subhash K Jha turns the focus on Raj Kiran and talks with Mahesh Bhatt about his Arth hero.

Bhatt Saab, was Raj Kiran a casualty of depression?

Depression is not merely the absence of light; it is the crushing weight of darkness, where every breath feels like a battle against an unseen tide.I felt this truth viscerally when I met Raj Kiran in the psychiatric ward of Masina Hospital, Byculla, Mumbai. I had woken up that morning with an unnameable heaviness in my chest—a whisper of dread, the kind that cannot be explained, only obeyed. Something in me stirred with unease, and without thinking, I got into my car and drove to Masina Hospital.

What prompted you to do this?

I had heard that Raj had been admitted there, and though the world had already begun to forget him, I could not. I went not just as a...

Producer Mahesh Bhatt talks with Subhash K Jha and delves into one of his favorite films, 2015’s Hamari Adhuri Kahan, directed by Mohit Suri and starred Vidya Balan, Rajkummar Rao and Emraan Hashmi.

It is ten years of Hamari Adhuri Kahani featuring Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, and Rajkummar Rao?

It was Raj Kapoor who once said, “The child who loses the race is the one you remember. The world embraces the winner. The lights follow the victor. But your heart lingers where the pain did.” And I’ve lived long enough to know how true that is. When I think of Hamari Adhuri Kahani, that’s the film I return to—not because it triumphed, but because it bled.

The beautiful love story was considered regressive by some?

People tell me it was regressive. That it wore the idiom of television. That the maker of Arth turned the clock back.

Subhash K Jha revisits Mohit Suri’s Hamari Adhuri Kahani, which released in 2015 and starred Emraan Hashmi, Rajkummar Rao and Vidya Balan in this edition of his series This Day That Year.

Mohit Suri’s film about love during times of no red or green flags was mauled, lynched, and savaged. Looking back at the film, I feel compelled to wonder why it has been so violently rejected by critics. Could it be because the film raises some uncomfortable questions and issues related to an India that we’ve blanked out of the shining new India that we want the world to see?

This other not-so-shining India subsumes a societal structure based on and run by rules of gender inequality, where girls grow up accepting themselves as the second sex. This is not to say that this line of thought in the patriarchal set-up is in any way morally desirable.

To celebrate the iconic actress’s birthday, Subhash K Jha lists the six films featuring Dimple Kapadia’s best performances. As a bonus, we hear from directors, actors, and more on what it is like to work with her reel and real!

Kaash (1987):

Mahesh Bhatt’s powerful drama about an estranged couple coming together for the sake of their dying son, had Dimple pulling out all stops. Says Mahesh Bhatt, “Dimple Kapadia is the most generous Indian actress I have worked with. Our journey began with an unusual film called Kaash, which dealt with the bitter truth of life, that ultimately, you have to part with all that you love. The story revolved around a separated husband and wife (played by Jackie Shroff and Dimple Kapadia) who come together to fulfill the last three wishes of their terminally ill child, and how their relationship evolves through this painful experience.

This time titled This Day That Drivel, Subhash K Jha looks back at Emraan Hashmi’s The Train, which released in 2007.

Not to be mistaken with 1970’s Rajesh Khanna-Nanda murder mystery, The Train co-directors Raksha Mistry and Hasnain Hyderabadwala, to whom goes the dubious distinction of being the only directorial duo of Bollywood after Abbas-Mustan , don’t just rip off the fast-paced 2005 loco-motivated thriller Derailed directed by Mikael Håfström and starting Clive Owen and Jennifer Anniston, about the price an adulterous man must pay for biting into the forbidden fruit.

They turn it into a mushy-mushy rush-rush job where the film editor seems as much in a hurry as the commuters in the Thai subway that houses this thriller’s non-existent thrills. Trust me, Geeta Basra playing Jennifer Aniston’s role is quite a jolt. She pouts preens and poses as though Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction has suddenly got too close for comfort.

Sunil Dutt’s Reaction To Sanjay Dutt’s Confessions In Police Custody Were Heartbreaking! (Photo Credit – Prime Video/Instagram)

What is the most heartbreaking moment for a father and a son? When the father witnesses his son doing something that is beyond his imagination! One such moment arrived, unannounced in late actor Sunil Dutt’sDutt’s life, when his son Sanjay Dutt was caught up in a mess that turned his life upside down – his alleged link up to the Bombay Blast Case!

The actor was arrested right at the airport and was taken into police custody for interrogation right after he returned from a film shoot! While the media kept reiterating that the police were being harsh on an actor, and there were protests in favor of Dutt, senior Dutt could not believe what was happening!

When Sanjay Dutt Confessed As Per Rakesh Maria!

In Rakesh Maria’sMaria’s biography,...

Muzammil Ibrahim On Deepika Padukone & Pooja Bhatt ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Indian actor Muzammil Ibrahim, who’s known for his roles in Dhoka and Special Ops, has made some sensational claims. The 39-year-old actor claims Pooja Bhatt was extremely abusive towards him. If that’s not enough, he also alleged he was in a relationship with Deepika Padukone for two years. Scroll below for all the details!

Muzammil Ibrahim claims he broke up with Deepika Padukone

In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, the Will You Marry Me? actor claims he began dating Deepika Padukone shortly during her early days when she moved to Mumbai. But that’s not it; he even claims he was on talking terms with the Piku actress until she got married to Ranveer Singh in 2019.

Muzammil Ibrahim said, “We were in a relationship for two years. I was a star at that time, she was not. She is a superstar now.

Was there an actress more enchanting and engaging than Nutan? One thing is for sure. Nutan was unlike any other screen legend. She wasn’t a conventional beauty like Madhubala, nor as sprightly and spontaneous as Geeta Bali, or as graceful and rhythmic as Vyjayanthimala.

And yet, there was something about Nutan. Something deep and knowledgeable, as though she had unearthed the secret of the universe and couldn’t live with the burden of the knowledge. Born in 1931, Nutan Samarth was introduced to the screen by her mother, the legendary-in-her-own-right Shobhana Samarth, in a film aptly entitled Hamari Beti. Earlier stalwarts like Chandulal Shah and K Asif had offered her roles. But the doting mother took it upon herself to launch her beti.

Ironically, Nutan fell out with her mother over property disputes. The two women didn’t speak to each other for nearly two decades. Nutan was a fascinating mixture of steel and satin.

Subhash K Jha in a new installment of his series This Day That Year, looks at Hansal Mehta’s CityLights. We also hear from Producer Mahesh Bhatt anout the making of the film

We’ve read a whole lot on the B A Pass Director Ajay Bahl’s walk-out of the Bhatts’ camp over the project CityLights which clocks 11 years on May 30. What is not known to the public is the real reason why the fall-out happened. Apparently the flash-point that severed Ajay Bahl’s relationship with the Bhatts was the film’s pretty Sikkimese model-turned-actress Geetanjali Thapa’s remuneration.

The problems started early. Ajay Bahl had no stress with Mahesh Bhatt. It was Mukesh who first declared that CityLights would have a budget of Rs 5 ½ crores. But when Ajay insisted on Raj Kumar Yadav for the film’s leading man Mukesh further cut the budget as he felt Raj was not a boxoffice pull.

Subhash K Jha celebrates Paresh Rawal’s 70th birthday by looking back at five of the noted actors best performances.

Of late we don’t see much of Paresh Rawal. This is a pity, really. He is such a fine actor driven by an instinctive empathy with middleclass values. Rawal manages to make every character even in the silliest of films seem vibrant.

Lately in the news for opting out of Hera Pheri 3, in an interview to me in 2007, Paresh had said, “I’m not insecure about money. I’m insecure about good actors. After I watch Naseer or Om perform, I stay awake the whole night. My values are middle-class. I don’t want to be rich. I want to be successful…. I have worked so hard to arrive at this juncture in my career where I can shoulder whole films. But it depends on what you are shouldering.

Puzzle Phenomenon

Disney+ has revealed that Korean crime thriller “Nine Puzzles” has become the platform’s most-viewed Korean title globally in 2025, just nine days after its May 21 debut.

The series stars Kim Dami (“Itaewon Class”) as Yoon Ena, a high school student who discovers her murdered uncle’s body alongside a mysterious puzzle piece, only to become the prime suspect. A decade later, now a criminal profiler, she’s pulled into a new series of murders connected by similar puzzle pieces. Son Sukku (“Big Bet”) co-stars as Detective Kim Hansaem, with Kim Sungkyun (“Moving”) and Hyun Bongsik rounding out the cast. The series is directed by Yoon Jongbin (“Narco Saints”) and written by Lee Eunmi (“Tunnel”).

“Nine Puzzles” joins Disney+’s expanding Korean slate alongside “Unmasked” and “Hyper Knife,” with upcoming titles including treasure-hunting series “Low Life” starring Ryu Seungryong and international conspiracy thriller “Tempest” featuring Gang Dongwon and John Cho.

Subhash K Jha looks back at Tanuja Chandra’s 1998 film Dushman, which starred Kajol in a brilliant performance and Sanjay Dutt. We also hear from the director about the making of the film.

Tanuja Chandra’s grossly underrated film, Dushman, features Kajol in her career-best performance in a double role. When one of the twins is brutally murdered, the other takes revenge. The film was adapted from John Schlesinger’s tepid thriller An Eye For An Eye, where Sally Field avenged the death of her daughter. Several clever changes were made to the original script. In the original, it is the mother (Sally Field) who goes on a vendetta spree against her daughter’s rapist and murderer. In Dushman, it is the twin sister (Kajol) who seeks retribution, while the mother(Tanve Azmi) seeks closure to the tragedy. Dushman also added a romantic angle to the original with Sanjay Dutt...

Looking back at 2005’s Nazar, Subhash K Jha shines the spotlight on the film, directed by Soni Razdan that featured the debut of Meera.

The heroine tries to smoulder over the sea-splashed boulder. Yup, the beach is back..and the intentions are bolder! Or so the film’s voluptuous publicity suggests. Alas, for those who expect a whole lotta oomph to be crammed into the thriller, there’s bad news.

Meera’s Bollywood debut proves her to be a competent actress. But she doesn’t have that oomphy quality which would have elevated the film’s mass-acceptance level.

Given its limitations, Nazar is a bit of a damp squib. The director Soni Razdan’s loose grip over her plot is matched by an absence of technical wherewithal in the story.

All through the longish drama, we are treated to the protagonist’s purportedly eerie hallucinations.

Meera can ‘see’ the dead before they die.

Subhash K Jha revisits 2005’s Shabnam Mousi, which featured a brilliant performance by Ashutosh Rana.

Extremely poor production values don’t entirely take away from the essential theme of a eunuch’s fight for dignity in a social order that constantly shuns fringe people.

Ashutosh Rana is outstanding in the title role. Based on a real-life character, his portrayal of the eunuch is unique in every sense of the word. Bringing us straight into the twilight zone of the nowhere-people Rana creates spaces in the otherwise-stifling narrative where we see the main character with all her defences down, pouring out her anguish at being forever sidelined, into sequence after sequence showcasing the actor’s amazing power to project his dysfunctional character’s turmoil and coming-to-terms with her space in life.

The film’s narrative format is tragically devoid of aesthetic values. The cinematography, set design, and editing are all done...

Rajesh Roshan’s music in Mahesh Bhatt’s Papa Kehte Hain was far more successful than the film.

In 2018, Amal Malik put out a remix version of composer Rajesh Roshan and poet Javed Akhtar’s 1996 hit ‘Ghar se nikalte hi kuch der chalte hi raste mein hai uska ghar’. The beautiful love song rendered originally by Udit Narayan was featured in the film Papa Kehte Hain. Shockingly there was no mention of composer Rajesh Roshan in the music video which credited the composition as “Music Composed & Reprised by Amaal Malik”

Even more shocking was the fact that Javed Akhtar’s lucid poetic lyrics were completely changed and credited to one Kunaal Vermaa. Disgusted and angry Javed Akhtar had taken legal action against his desecrated song.

Said Javed Saab, “This has to stop. And I’ve taken the legal recourse. I sent legal notices to the people responsible for doing this...

Mahesh Bhatt, talks with Subhash K Jha about Jannat, directed by Kunal Deshmukh, and starring Emraan Hashmi and Sonal Chauhan in the romantic crime drama that released in 2008.

Bhatt Saab, it’s seventeen years since Jannat released?

Seventeen years. It feels like yesterday. And yet, a lifetime has passed. On May 16, 2008, Jannat walked into our lives—not with fanfare, but with that quiet confidence some stories carry when they know they’ve touched something true. Now, as I look back, what comes to me is not the success, not the applause, but a moment. A face.

Whose face?

I was in Gurgaon, at a friend’s home, when his wife-a middle-class woman draped in ordinariness but lit from within—was serving me hot chapatis. With a quiet intensity in her eyes, she said, “ Jannat is about the war inside every man. Between the hunger to grab everything in the shop window,...

In the period between 1982 and 1986, Shabana Azmi did some of her most potent work. These included Shekhar Kapoor’s Masoom, Gulzar’s Namkeen, B R Ishaara’s Log Kya Kahenge, Kalpana Lajmi’s Ek Pal and Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth.

These films changed the way we defined the Hindi film heroine and also brought a radical reform in the way the new Indian woman is perceived by society at large.

Cinematographer Pravin Bhatt’s first directorial venture Bhavna is a very special film in Shabana’s oeuvre. Playing strong, assertive characters who constantly challenged the predominance of patriarchy came naturally to Shabana. But Bhavna occupies a very special niche in Shabana’s glorious, unparalleled career. The story of a woman’s journey from a betrayed marriage to a murder convict, Bhavna deals with the protagonist’s journey with tempestuous velocity without losing out on the quality of grace and restrain.

When Mahesh Bhatt Opened Up About His Extramarital Affair With Parveen Babi ( Photo Credit – Facebook )

Mahesh Bhatt has had a glorious body of work in Indian cinema with some unconventional and soul-stirring movies. But his personal life made a lot of noise time and again, one of them being his highly publicized extramarital affair with Parveen Babi. Their relationship had grabbed several eyeballs because Bhatt was already married to his first wife, Lorraine Bright who had changed her name to Kiran during her marriage with the filmmaker.

According to Bollywood Shaadi, Mahesh Bhatt met Lorraine Bright when he was in school. She used to study at the Bombay Scottish Orphanage. Theirs was a teenage romance wherein the Saaransh director used to jump across the wall to meet her which also led to the latter being expelled.

The report further stated that Mahesh Bhatt revealed in a throwback interview, “I would...

While Duplicate featuring Shah Rukh Khan in the dual role of Manu and Bablu, released on May 8, 1998 was a non-starter at the box-office, there are legendary behind-the-scenes stories of how director Mahesh Bhatt was scarcely on the set, as he was at his peak directing multiple projects, unable to focus on any.

It reminded one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who at one point of time, was directing two Dharmendra starrers Chaitali and Chupke Chupke on two floors of Film City. Likewise, Mahesh Bhatt was directing Tammanna, Angaaray, and Duplicate at the same time. The consequences were disastrous. Producer Yash Johar, who launched Dharma Production with Duplicate, lost a humongous amount of money.

Mahesh Bhatt expresses deep regret at the Duplicate fiasco in this interview with Subhash K Jha.

Bhatt Saab, Duplicate was an experience you would rather not remember?

The only time you don’t feel like a filmmaker is when...

In 2013, producer extraordinare Mahesh Bhatt brought together Mohit Suri, to direct Shraddha Kapoor Aditya Roy Kapur in the romantic drama Aashiqui 2 and it was a smash hit. Talking with Subhash K Jha, Bhatt happily revisits the film, revealing what it was like working with Mohit Suri, stars Shraddha and Aditya, and celebrates the continued success of Aashiqui 2.

Aashiqui 2, your biggest hit as a producer, is now 12… do you remember your feelings when you first saw the finished film?

It was at the crack of dawn when I finished the final mix of Aashiqui 2 with Mohit Suri and his fiery Brat Brigade. As I stepped out of the mixing theatre, I immediately called (co-producer) Bhushan Kumar. He was surprised to receive a call so early in the morning. “We have a smash hit,” I told him. “This is going to be a jewel in our crown.”

And you were right?...

Revisiting Bardaasht, Subhash K Jha looks at the one when Bobby Deol did a Sunny Deol in this installment of This Day That Year!

E Niwas’ Bardaasht, which clocks 21 years on April 23, came at a time when the film industry is busy assembling products showcasing cops as romanticized idealistic super-heroes Bardaasht takes a cynical view of the police force. But the reality is this. Every day, law-abiding, god-fearing citizens are vulnerable to a taste of the ugly side of the police force. Doing away with the wispy white-washing of the khaki uniform, director E Niwas (in his third film on cops and cop robbers after Shool and Dum) portrays the grim and gritty reality of the uneasy and often ruinous relationship between the ordinary citizen and the law enforcers.

Filmmaker Vikram Bhatt turns screenwriter to deliver what’s ironically his only original and, by far, the most riveting story ever.

Subhash K Jha re-focuses the spotlight on Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan, which released in 2016, in this fascinating edition of This Day That Year feature series.

Maneesh Sharma’s Fan was extremely crucial to Shah Rukh Khan’s career. For the first time, he played his own fan: Shah Rukh Khan, the superstar and the fan.

Fan found Srk chasing himself as he hunts down and confronts an obsessive fan. It’s a unique concept, far removed from what the superstar attempted earlier. More importantly, Fan was a non-festive release. The release of Fan did not coincide with any religious festival.

It was Shah Rukh’s fourth double role since Duplicate, Don The Chase Begins and Om Shanti Om. Among the films where Shah Rukh Khan played a double role, Mahesh Bhatt’s Duplicate and Manish Sharma’s Fan stand out. They were relatively less successful on release but now have a cult following.

Producer Mahesh Bhatt talks with Subhash K Jha about Srijit Mukherjee’s 2017 Begum Jaan, starring Vidya Balan, in this in-depth, exclusive, inspiring, fascinating interview.

When and how did you decide to produce Begum Jaan, the Hindi version of Srijit Mukherjee’s Rajkahini?

I woke up to the brilliance of Srijit Mukherjee inside the preview theatre buried in the quiet, dust-soft suburbs of Andheri. Rajkahini flickered before me like a dream remembered from another life, a dream stitched in smoke and soul. A film made with a kind of fragile magic that only someone who speaks in the tongue of shadows and light can conjure. Someone who believes not in money but in the fire. And when it ended and the lights came on, I saw him standing outside the door like a schoolboy awaiting his exam results. He had invited me, yes—but perhaps he had also summoned something long dormant in me.

In a new edition of This Day That Year, Subhash K Jha rexamines Mahesh Bhatt-Anurag Basu’s drama Murder, which released in 2004.

On a wet, windy morning in Bangkok, the forlorn Indian housewife Simran (Mallika Sherawat) in a clinging blue chiffon sari waves frantically for a taxi, drops her shopping bags in the wet chaos and comes face to face with a sensuous silhouette. “Come to my apartment for a cuppa,” the smirking stranger tells the housewife. Face mirroring a repressed sexuality and challenged values, she refuses and then changes her mind…to plunge into a lustful liaison that brings her well-ordered life to a crashing crescendo…

Welcome to the second remake of Adrian Lyne’s Unfaithful in a week. With a far better cast, production values, and music score than last week’s Hawas, Murder kills your murderous murmurs about exploitative adaptations in the bud.

Where you expect a sleaze-fest,...

J D Chakravarthy, the star of Satya, talks with Subhash K Jha about his directorial debut Durga which turned 23 on March 23.

What prompted you to direct Durga way back in 2002 ?

Durga, well, you know, sometimes some films don’t work, not because they’re bad, but because of your earlier films’ impact. But the whole idea of making this film is only because of Satya. When you ask me about Durga, that is the first thing that comes into my mind. You know, that’s what has exactly happened with Durga. As this was immediately after Satya.

Did you enjoy turning director so early in your career?

Well, the good thing was, it was a tremendous high. And the bad was also that it has tremendous high. At that point in time, for me, you know, the South version worked. So, I decided to make it in Hindi. The moment...

The three Khan superstars Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir celebrate every major religious festival in India, be it Diwali, Eid, Christmas or Holi with equal enthusiasm. During Eid, Salman’s home Galaxy Apartment is the brightest in Mumbai. It’s an open house at Salman’s on Eid with guests of every religious order streaming in throughout the day to savour the delicacies that Salman’s mother and the cooks whip up in the constantly-active kitchen.

Food flows. So does good conversation.

Says Shabana Azmi, “This Eid, our house is completely under renovation, and we are living in a small flat, so it’s a very small lunch with only family with full focus only on food. But I did the mandatory badaam cutting for the Sheer Khorma last night like Mummy used to do… I’ve received lots of messages from friends and nieces complaining bitterly that they are...

When Parveen Babi’s Ex Kabir Bedi Shared The Details Surrounding Her Death(Photo Credit –Instagram/Shemaroo)

Yesteryear actress Parveen Babi was known for her versatile acting chops and an exceptional beauty. However, her personal life was marred by several tragedies, which ultimately led to her sad demise on January 20, 2005. The actress was rumored to have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and the cause of her death was said to be organ failure. Her heavily publicized relationship with actor Kabir Bedi was never a secret. In his autobiography, which was released a few years ago, he recalled the gut-wrenching details surrounding her death.

According to Zoom, Kabir Bedi was in a relationship with Parveen Babi despite being married to dancer Protima Bedi. Kabir and Protima were said to be in an open marriage and the latter knew about his romance with Babi. In his autobiography titled ‘Stories I Must Tell: The...

Esha Deol has been garnering praise for her role in the recently released Tumko Meri Kasam directed by Vikram Bhatt. In fact, there should have been more of her in the excellent film. The actress talks with Subhash K Jha about her homecoming to the big screen, working on Tumko Meri Kasam, her life off camera, and what’s coming next!

What made you say yes to Tumko Meri Kasam?

Tumko Meri Kasam, overall, for me, had more green tick marks to say yes to the project. As, you know, it’s very important who’s making it, who’s presenting it, and it was none other than Mahesh Bhatt sahib and the director Vikram Bhatt. I have worked with him earlier in a film called Ankahi, and having the opportunity to work with him again was like, for me, you know, I really, really loved working under Vikram’s...

Arbaaz Khan Once Revealed He & Salman Khan Were Embarrassed With A very Drunk Mahesh Bhatt ( Photo Credit – Instagram; Facebook )

Mahesh Bhatt is an eminent personality in the film industry known for his outspoken views and certain controversies. Bhatt’s movies are a little unconventional and are known for pushing boundaries with themes of love, loss, and social issues. He has also battled alcoholism, which once caused an embarrassing situation for Arbaaz Khan and his big brother Salman Khan. Keep scrolling for the deets.

Since Arbaaz and Salman are sons of the legendary screenwriter Salim Khan, they have been seeing people in showbiz for a long time. Bhatt was the son of filmmaker Nanabhai Bhatt and Shirin Mohammad Ali. His breakthrough movie was Arth, which is semi-autobiographical based on his extramarital affair with actress Parveen Babi. Bhatt’s Saaransh, starring Anupam Kher, was India’s official entry for the Academy Awards.

Mahesh Pooja 1990 Cover(Photo Credit –Instagram)

In 1990, the magazine cover of director Mahesh Bhatt and his daughter, actress Pooja Bhatt, became a controversy in the whole of India. The picture was of the father and daughter kissing each other on the lips defying societal norms and causing a heated debate.

The photo showed a young Pooja Bhatt, who was then in her early twenties, being kissed by her father as they were seated. At a time when Indian society considered public displays of affection as taboo, especially when the family was involved, the image was seen as provocative and unsuitable by many. The cover became an object of public discussion involving morality, cultural values, and the extent of artistic freedom.

The magazine cover led to a media storm watched, which was joined by numerous newspapers, television stations, and public spaces. Fans blamed the family for crossing the moral line and tarnishing the traditional family values.

It takes a lot of willpower and grace to remain oneself even after stardom hits you. I have seen success affect actors in two ways. They either change completely or pretend not to change.

Alia Bhatt is the exception. She has not changed one bit since she sashayed into sight in swirl of girlie poise in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year in 2012. Alia was not only Student Of The Year — She was the whole school. Endowed with the kind of natural talent and fresh beauty that I saw in Lucille Ball and Sridevi, Alia was just the antidote to the syntheticity that had crept into Bollywood ever since the norm and benchmark for feminine persuasiveness became how much and how frequently an actress is seen on social media.

Like Tiger Shroff, Alia Bhatt was treated as a bit of a joke on social media when she started. I...

In this amazing list, Subhash K Jha reveals his choice for the top 10 female characters in Bollywood.

Nargis’ Radha in Mehboob Khan’s Mother India(1957):

Nargis played Radha, the deserted wife who brings up her two sons on her own and kills one of them when he turns into an outlaw. For the first time in a Hindi film, the female protagonist was portrayed as strong, resilient, conscientious, and doughty without losing her femininity. Nargis won both national and international awards.

Meena Kumari’s Choti Bahu in Guru Dutt’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (1962): In the feudal household where women were content wearing expensive sarees and jewellery and never mind what their husbands did with other women, this wife dared to raise her voice. If her husband liked to drink, no problem. Choti Bahu hit the bottle to have him stay at home. The portrait of a woman...

Lootera, which released in 2013 and is now back on the big screen!

A beautiful but deeply flawed film, the eagerly-awaited Lootera floors you with its audacious sensitivity and its proclivity to use silences to punctuate emotions. Indeed, the sequences between Varun and Pakhi, played with compelling intensity by Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha, bristle and burst at the seams with unspoken feelings. There are long passages of muted lyricism in the narration where silences are used to accentuate the growing passion between a lonely, emotionally and sexually insulated daughter of a feudal family in Kolkata and the attractive stranger who walks into her life with the promise of passion, only to break her heart into wounding shards.

The love story, apparently inspired by an O’Henry short story, moves in mysterious magical ways but often tends to lose its way in its search for that elusive horizon where two socially, culturally,...

Anupam Kher Net Worth (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Actor Anupam Kher celebrated his 69th birthday recently. Born in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, Anupam Kher is one of the most versatile and celebrated actors in the industry. Let’s look at his journey and net worth.

Anupam Kher has been in showbiz for over four decades and has worked in over 500 films, including Bollywood and Hollywood projects. The actor has proved his exceptional talent in thriller, family drama, comedy, and more genres. Anupam started his acting career in 1984 with Mahesh Bhatt’s film Saaransh, where he played the role of a 60-year-old father, a role for which he earned commendation despite the movie’s commercial failure.

In his journey, he faced a suitable portion of success and failure. Apart from Bollywood, his international projects include Lust, Caution (2007), Silver Linings Playbook: (2012), and many more. Anupam Kher is now gearing up for his upcoming release Vijay 69.

It’s interesting to see women directors in India pushing the envelope to explore themes. After we had Farah Khan doing a ‘boys’ film (Main Hoon Na), the following year, Vinta Nanda, a past master at TV soaps, turned the tables on the macho brigade in Bollywood by doing the kind of angst-laden film on suburban paranoia that would normally go to a male director like Mahesh Bhatt.

White Noise is Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth without the comfort of distance. Nanda plunges right into the centre of her protagonist’s anguished universe. Her first-hand experiences in the TV industry, her despair at getting caught up in the mediocrity and morass of the Great Indian Soap Trick, and most importantly, her acerbic study of promiscuous, easy-flowing relationships in showbiz are given a peculiarly pungent treatment in her debut spin.

By a stroke of luck, Nanda has got a relatively untried but...

In this rare 2016 interview, Pooja Bhatt, who turned 53 this week, opened up to Subhash K Jha and spoke frankly and candidly about her life, priorities, pets & peeves.

Pooja, why don’t we see you on screen anymore?

I am not offered anything. No one wants to cast me! Earlier, they thought I was a producer-director’s daughter, hence difficult. Now, I am a producer-director myself. So, you can imagine how intimidated they are. The last person who was brave enough to cast me was Rahul Bose in Everybody Says I’m Fine. He gave me no choice. He is my dearest friend. I confided in him about how disillusioned I was by the business of cinema and stardom. He offered me a role. I was aghast. ‘What kind of a friend are you? I just told you I’m sick of the industry, and you’re offering me a role?...

Ishwak Singh talks with Subhash K Jha about Season 2 Of Pataal Lok and how he cherishes every moment on set. Plus, so much more!

A lot has changed in your career since the first Pataal Lok streamed its way into renown…how do you look at the journey from Season 1 to Season 2?

Life’s come a full circle; in the show, my character has assumed a position of power, and as an actor, I’ve achieved a certain status that almost feels too good to be true. There’s a common thread connecting the life of my character Ansari and how I’ve navigating my path in the film industry. The show is a test for both of us. Paatal Lok Season 2 is great on its own. It also happens to be an excellent season 2. Only a masterful writer like Sudip Sharma could’ve devised a roadmap like this. He...

We take you back to Alia Bhatt’s brilliant performance in Highway. Subhash K Jha shares a fantastic interview with Alia from when the drama, directed by Imtiaz Ali, was released in 2014.

Suddenly, 2013 had a new female star. Mahesh Bhatt and Soni Razdan’s youngest-born, Alia Bhatt, has gone from the baby from the family to the babe of Bollywood in no time at all. Alia laughed, “It has been a pretty tumultuous year for me. Yes, it was a decisive year. It was a year that I’d remember mainly for shooting Highway.”

Alia says Highway put her life into a perspective. “It helped me to connect with the person within me. My father (filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt) always said the day an actor finds oneness with the person within is the day he or she becomes a true actor. I think I found that person during Highway. I don...

Parveen Babi’s Last Meeting With A Friend & Her Last Interview Were Heartbreaking! (Photo Credit – YouTube/Instagram)

Parveen Babi was one of the boldest stars of Indian Cinema who made Bohemian style look cool even before it was a thing. The actress, however, died a lonely death and was found three days after her death when neighbors started smelling her rotten body in a locked flat and informed the police!

Before she died, the Amar Akbar Anthony actress was said to have a very sad state of mental health, which was not dealt with medically. Her last meeting with a friend confirms the same. However, Shekhar Suman denied the vast claims about the actress, losing her sanity when he interviewed her for the last time!

Parveen Babi’s Last Interview

Parveen Babi herself scheduled her last interview with Shekhar Suman for his show Simply Shekhar! The actress herself called the...