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In a new edition of This Day That Year, Subhash K Jha revisits Diljit Dosanjh’s sports biopic, Soorma, directed by Shaad Ali which released in 2018. We also hear from Dilijit Dosanjh about the making of the film and becoming Sandeep Singh in a throwback interview.

At a time when supposedly responsible filmmakers are glorifying gangsters, terrorists and sociopaths in ostensible bio-pics, Soorma, about the struggles of hockey champ Sandeep Singh to overcome crippling obstacles to claim a name among sports legends, comes as a gust of unpolluted air.

This is a film that needed to be made, a story about a man whom future generations need to know about and look up to. Damn, the young need role models from our everyday life, not imported super-heroes who can’t save their own egos even as they purport to save civilization from destruction.

Soorma serves up an appetizing homemade dish...

Subhash K Jha celebrates Sudhir Mishra’s 2005 centerpiece Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi that starred Shiney Ahuja, Chitrangda Rao, and Kay Kay Menon. We also hear from Mishra, who says, “I was born to make Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi,” and delves more into the creation of a film that he says changed him.

Death, says one song in this remarkably dense and evocative film, is akin to love. It sure seems like death for Vikram (Shiney Ahuja) every time Geeta (Chitrangda Rao) looks at her idol-lover Sidharth (Kay Kay Menon). And death sure feels like a renewal and assertion of life every time Sudhir Mishra makes a new film. His outstanding understanding of the complex polemics and politics that motivate the mysteries and contradictions of modern Indian society has given us great pieces of alternative art in the past, including the unusual thriller Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin, where the characters ran around...

Raveena Tandon Once Opened Up About How Ram Gopal Varma Was Not Sure About Her Casting In Shool (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Raveena Tandon might be a top actress of the 90s but had to convince Ram Gopal Varma for her role in Shool, directed by E Nivas. Raveena established herself in the comic space with her films opposite Govinda. However, that hindered her as she did not fit Rgv’s criteria for Shool’s Manjari. However, the actress proved her acting prowess and convinced Varma she was not the wrong choice. Scroll below for the deets.

Shool was released in 1999, and Eeshwar Nivas directed the film. The film features Manoj Bajpayee and Sayaji Shinde in crucial roles. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi. It was also featured at the International Film Festival of India and the Toronto International Film Festival. The action crime drama...

Song: Jai Shree Ram

Movie: Ram Setu

Music Composer: Vikram Montrose

Singer: Vikram Montrose

Lyrics: Shekhar Astitwa

Check out Jai Shree Ram Song Lyrics from Ram Setu starring Akshay Kumar, Jacqueline Fernandez, Nushrratt Bharuccha

Jai Shree Ram!

Vinay Naa Maanat Jaldhi Jadh

Gaye Teen Din Beet

Bole Ram Sakoop Tab

Bhay Bin Hoye Naa Preet

Vinay Naa Maanat Jaldhi Jadh

Gaye Teen Din Beet

Bole Ram Sakoop Tab

Bhay Bin Hoye Naa Preet

Bhay Bin Hoye Naa Preet

Bhay Bin Hoye Naa Preet

Bhay Bin Hoye Naa Preet

Bhay Bin Hoye Naa Preet

Hare Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram

Hare Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram Ram

Ho Tribhuwan Mein Sarvatr Tumhi

Vistaar Kaun Naape,

Tum Krodh Mein Jab Aa Jaao To

Barhmand Sakal Kaanpe,

Tumhein Dhyave Tripurari

Gaavein Mahima Tumhari

Tum Ho Divya Sakal Gun Dhaam

Neel Varn Dunu Dhaari

Prabhu Avadh Bihari

Tumse Bada Hai Tumhara...

Good Luck Jerry

Starring Janhvi Kapoor, Mita Vashisht, Deepak Dobriyal

Directed by Sidharth Sengupta

It isn’t easy to extract laughter out of drug dealers, cash-strapped migrants and cancer patients. Good Luck, Jerry manages the herculean feat with a fair amount of success. This is not a life-changing film. But it does show us how to take charge of our lives when the going gets really rough. Never mind the means.The narrative spills the beans with confidence.

Janhvi Kapoor plays the titular role of a Bihari girl in Punjabi who makes a living working at a massage parlour. She is neither a victim nor a schemer. The film never over-sentimentalizes Jerry’s circumstances choosing to see her as a manuipulator rather than a victim.

Some of the best-written sequences feature with her mother, played with brilliant punctuation marks by Mita Vashisht (she is more fun and funnier than Saranya Ponvannan...

Guilty Minds(Amazon Prime Video; 10 Episodes)

Created & Directed by Shefali Bhushan; Co-directed by Jayant Digambar Samalkar

It is not as if this series blows your mind off with its legal wisdom. Nor is it only about getting the courtroom sequences right. Both in place, Guilty Minds sets out to score points for being able to hijack our attention for ten episodes. Not all of it is equally engrossing. But the storytelling even when faltering and fumbling to cram in too many social issues(including an utterly unnecessary child-abuse end-game) never ceases to be compelling.

Primarily, Guilty Minds works because it doesn’t try to penetrate too far into the minds of the perpetrators. It is all done on the surface level, but with immense care and concentration, so that an impression of focused narration and uninterrupted tension is created even when the plot meanders into the characters’ personal lives which...

'D'day for younger daughter Ahana is around the corner. And 'Dream Girl' Hema Malini is fully into preparing for the event. Says the radiant mother of the bride-to-be, "The wedding is on February 2. We're all so excited. I don't feel as if I am giving away another daughter in marriage. Instead it feels like two sons are being added to my family. Both Esha and Ahana's partners are so loving, caring and affectionate towards both me and Dharamji." Hema has double reason to celebrate, as Sholay has opened in a new 3D avatar. Says Hema Malini, "I saw parts of the 3D version. Dharamji has seen the whole film in 3D. We both love what they've done. All those bullets flying into the audiences' faces and horses galloping out of the screen adds to the excitement of the original. See, we have to move on with the times gracefully." The...

Little money, bare minimum equipment and no crew, but Mohan Azaad still pulled off his uniquely titled directorial debut Bhagwaan...Tera Bhala Ho. He has sent the Rs.20-lakh film - the story of a lower caste boy - to Cannes and thanks friends for making his dream come true..People.s help is difficult to explain in words. The film is all about goodwill and people.s belief in me,. said Azaad, an engineering graduate, better known as the writer of the critically acclaimed Chandni Bar.Born to a Punjabi father and a Malayali mom, the 45-year-old grew up in Patna and calls himself a proud Bihari..We have sent the film for pre-selection to the Cannes Directors. Fortnight and also to the Cannes International Film Festival because we believe in the film. Only two people have seen it - Yogesh, a veteran in the film festival circuit, and director Shashilal Nair.