News

In a new installment of his This Day That Year series, Subhash K Jha looks at the time when Sunny Deol spoke about Bobby starring as Bhagat Singh in 23rd March 1931: Shaheed.

It’s easy to dismiss this as yet another Bhagat Singh bio-pic, 23rd March 1931: Shaheed, in the current cascade of such films, more so when the director Guddu Dhanoa doesn’t have the reputation of making particularly classy films.

But Dhanoa’s version of the by-now familiar story has its own smouldering intensity. It projects a vitality quite dissimilar to Raj Kumar Santoshi’s The Legend Of Bhagat Singh . And yet , the vitality in 23rd March 1931 Shaheed is no less vital.

An organic intensity runs through Dhanoa’s exacerbated narrative. Sometimes, specially in the second-half he gets carried away with all the bombastic outpouring of rhetorics and rhyme -–‘screams’ that patriotic films in mainstream Hindi...

Director Raj Kumar Santoshi talks with Subhash K Jha on his 2002 drama The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, why he choose Ajay Devgn for the lead role and much more.

Why was the making of The Legend Of Bhagat Singh so important to you?

I’ll be very honest with you. When I was a child of 13 or 14, I remember asking my father (the late filmmaker P.L.Santoshi) about Bhagat Singh. As the evening fell in Lonavala my father told me all the details about Bhagat Singh’s life . That evening’s conversation with my father remained in my mind . While working with Govindji (Nihalani), I picked up this fine habit of reading . Any city I’d go to, I’m sure to pick up books. That’s how I familiarized myself with Bhagat Singh’s life. Then, during the time I made my early films like Andaz Apna Apna,...

Subhash K Jha looks back at the Ajay Devgn starrer, The Legend Of Bhagat Singh, directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, with music by Ar Rahman, which released in 2002.

The passionate intensity of the Indian freedom hero Bhagat Singh martyred at the age of 23 — or 24 depending on which of the three versions of the bio-pic one is watching — by embracing death with a smile in March 1931 in pursuit of his dream of an Independent India, shines in every frame of Santoshi’s film.

Bhagat Singh’s mercurial passion for patriotism and the sheer madness of the revolutionary impulse in colours that convey both nostalgia and immediacy. Even as subtle sepia tones seep into the narrative, the rusts and oranges suggest a rugged rage and an incendiary intensity. The sets and locations — including the Taj Mahal in Agra silhouetting the revolutionaries’ zeal deal — are equally apt. Credit must go to cinematographer K V Anand...

Which Bollywood Movie Did Daniel Craig Audition For?

(Photo Credit – Instagram)

You read that right—Daniel Craig, now a household name as James Bond, once auditioned for a role in Rang De Basanti that you wouldn’t expect him to touch. In a twist that even the most hardcore Bond fans might not know, Craig tried out for the part of James McKinley, the British jailor who walks the freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev to their execution in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s iconic film.

But things didn’t pan out—because he was also being considered to take on the role of the next 007 at the time. In his autobiography, The Stranger in the Mirror, Mehra recounts how he wanted to create a piece of world cinema, aiming for perfection behind the scenes with a team that included David Reid and Adam Bowling. These two had worked on classics like Lock,...

The ending of Mithya Season 2 hinged on the rescue of Yash from the clutches of Rhea, who intended to take him to Granada, Spain, via Nepal. The first half of the series was all about Rhea using a failed writer named Amit to tarnish the reputations of both Anand Tyagi and his daughter, Juhi Adhikari. Rhea was Anand’s illegitimate daughter. So, she hated Anand because he was the reason why her biological mother had died by suicide. But she was obsessed with Juhi, Anand’s official daughter, and she wanted her all to herself so that they could be a family. Since Neil (Juhi’s husband) was coming in her way, Rhea proved that he was a lecherous man and then killed him. That didn’t convince Juhi to side with Rhea, and instead she told her half-sister to stay away from her and her family. Rhea lied about killing Neil in self-defense,...

After the success of Sacred Games and Mirzapur, the Hindi region of the Ott space was filled with all kinds of episodic crime dramas. Off the top of my head, we got Delhi Crime, Hasmukh, Your Honor, Undekhi, Flesh, Aashram, A Simple Murder, Dark 7 White, and more. Paatal Lok managed to stand out, but since it was backed by an insanely talented star cast and a team of brilliant directors and writers, its success didn’t come off as a surprise. But the crime drama show that floored me was Mithya. Sure, it had stellar actors like Huma Qureshi and Parambrata Chatterjee in it and was being helmed by Rohan Sippy. However, everything depended on a newcomer, Avantika Dassani, and boy did she deliver in spades. The writing of her character was absolutely diabolical, and the cold way in which she went about the misty mountains of Darjeeling executing...

The first episode of the upcoming television show ‘Atal’ is set to premiere on December 5, and will present the early childhood of Atal, the cultural values instilled into him by his family, his discomfort with the unfair treatment under British rule, and his stand against injustice.

The show chronicles the life of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Talking about the upcoming track, Ashutosh Kulkarni, who essays the role of Krishna Vajpayee — the father of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, shared that the episode delves into Atal’s birth during Christmas festivities, highlighting his family’s obstacles due to a British officer and Tomar (Mahmood Hashmi) obstructing their journey to the hospital. As Atal (Vyom Thakkar) grows up, his family instils the significance of cultural values and heritage in him.

The actor said: “His defiance against the erasure of cultural symbols at school and his discomfort with the unfair treatment of...

The first episode of the upcoming television show ‘Atal’ is set to premiere on December 5, and will present the early childhood of Atal, the cultural values instilled into him by his family, his discomfort with the unfair treatment under British rule, and his stand against injustice.

The show chronicles the life of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Talking about the upcoming track, Ashutosh Kulkarni, who essays the role of Krishna Vajpayee — the father of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, shared that the episode delves into Atal’s birth during Christmas festivities, highlighting his family’s obstacles due to a British officer and Tomar (Mahmood Hashmi) obstructing their journey to the hospital. As Atal (Vyom Thakkar) grows up, his family instils the significance of cultural values and heritage in him.

The actor said: “His defiance against the erasure of cultural symbols at school and his discomfort with the unfair treatment of...

Among the titans of the Indian film industry, his forte was the grand epic that brought various phases of the subcontinent’s history – ancient, medieval, and early modern – to vivid life and enabled him to use his booming baritone, which even drew blind people to cinema theatres just to hear his grandiloquence.

Be it as the Rajput nobleman Sangram Singh in “Pukar” (1931) set in the times of Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Raja Porus in “Sikandar” (1941), in the title role of the Parmar king in “Prithvi Vallabh” (1943), as the Rajguru of Rani Lakkshmibai in “Jhansi ki Rani” (1952), or the bitter persecuted Jew Ezra in “Yahudi” (1958), Sohrab Modi strode the silver screen with his imposing presence, boundless histrionic abilities, and thunderous voice.

He delivered a trailblasing performance as a kind and rational man turned domestic tyrant – and twice over- in “Jailor”, made first in 1938 and remade in 1958, with totally different casts save him in the title role.

Among the titans of the Indian film industry, his forte was the grand epic that brought various phases of the subcontinent’s history – ancient, medieval, and early modern – to vivid life and enabled him to use his booming baritone, which even drew blind people to cinema theatres just to hear his grandiloquence.

Be it as the Rajput nobleman Sangram Singh in “Pukar” (1931) set in the times of Mughal Emperor Jahangir, Raja Porus in “Sikandar” (1941), in the title role of the Parmar king in “Prithvi Vallabh” (1943), as the Rajguru of Rani Lakkshmibai in “Jhansi ki Rani” (1952), or the bitter persecuted Jew Ezra in “Yahudi” (1958), Sohrab Modi strode the silver screen with his imposing presence, boundless histrionic abilities, and thunderous voice.

He delivered a trailblasing performance as a kind and rational man turned domestic tyrant – and twice over- in “Jailor”, made first in 1938 and remade in 1958, with totally different casts save him in the title role.

Music and poetry have been a crucial part of India’s freedom struggle against the British who ruled the nation for over 200 years.

The poetry of Sarojini Naidu inspired many in the resistance, even the legendary Bhagat Singh and his comrades Sukhdev and Rajguru sang ‘Mera Rang De Basanti Chola’ on their way to martyrdom.

As India celebrates its 76th Independence Day on Monday, here are some Hindi songs that you can add to your playlist and celebrate the spirit of Independence Day.

1. Sandese Aate Hain: The first song on the list is the iconic song from ‘Border’, a timeless melody with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar, and sung by Sonu Nigam and Roopkumar Rathod. The song perfectly showcases the emotional aspect of a soldier’s life as they often find it difficult to tell their families as to when they would return home.

2. Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera: An...

There are many events in the history of India that are extremely important to every citizen, but in the history of modern day India, no event is greater than August 15, which we all proudly celebrate as our Independence Day, the day when India broke free of the chains of the British Raj.

August 15, marked a dramatic shift in the course of the entire world where India, which had been drained to the last drop, stripped of nearly all its wealth and historical and civilasational glory was born anew, at the stroke of midnight 77 years ago in 1947.

To celebrate India’s 77th Independence Day, here are some of the best movies that audiences can watch which celebrate the patriotic passion of the whole nation and dive into history of both pre-Independent and post-Independent India:

1. ‘1971‘: This historical war drama directed by Amrit Sagar starring Manoj Bajpayee, Ravi Kishan, Piyush Mishra Manav Kaul,...