Hari Puttar: Home Alone?

If you thought Hari Puttar is the desi version of Harry Potter, you are wrong. But there is something that is right, Hari Puttar seems to be INSPIRED by Home Alone series. The movie seems to be quite inspired from the source, be it the story or the scenes, as I could find scenes from Home Alone in the promos itself.


The movie has been set in a desi environment and subsequent changes are there but the level at which copying is done, I have doubts whether the director will be able to make the movie worth watching for Hindi-only viewers, leave alone those who watch English movies. Though I must admit Zain Khan is looking good in the movie, I don't think he looks much like a ten-year old as claimed by the movie.

In fact, after seeing the promo, I am once again thinking if we really lack subjects for children's movies, because except occasional good ones from a few people like Vishal Bhardwaj (Makdi, Blue Umbrella) or Sangeeth Sivan (Halo), we don't have much to give to our children, and when something comes, it turns out to be 'Inspired' from a Hollywood movie.

Anyways, I hope the movie makes a good watch for Children at least.

Well Done, Farhaan!

I am a regular Orkuttee. 12 days ago I started a poll on Farhan's Orkut community asking which role Farhan Akhtar was better at: Was he a better actor, or was he a better singer, or was he equally good at both, or should he have just stayed a director as he was good at neither.



The poll was answered by 161 people out of which 101 said Farhan Akhtar was equally good as a singer and an actor.

47 people said he was better as a singer.

12 people thought Farhan was a better actor than a singer.

And one guy said he should have stayed a director only.

Well done Farhan! I guess you couldn't have wanted more. Keep rocking. Indian youth is loving you.

Welcome Mr Moitra

Welcome to Sajjanpur. I had no idea this movie could have songs that would make me dance instantly or songs featuring distinct artists like Mohit Chauhan and Madhushree. In short, the music of Welcome to Sajjanpur has quite unexpected things attached to it. Now we shall see how GOOD it is.


The keyword to the music of Welcome to Sajjanpur is 'Sitaram'. I guess you can buy the CD to keep on listening to this one song. A fast track semi-bhajan, something like Hare Krishna Hare Ram of Bhool Bhulaiya, which has the potential of making people dance. The song is there in two versions, normal and remix, and both the versions are too good to miss.

Now let's talk about the rest of Album. Rest of Welcome to Sajjanpur is nothing as good as the first song, but not bad either.

I guess time for duets is over now. The second track, Ek meetha dard De ke would have been better without a female voice. Maybe this is so because of 'different' male voices today, like that of Mohit Chauhan and Atif. Mohit has always been better singing alone. Still, the song is fine and may be liked by those loving soft romantic tones.

Number three, Bheeni Bheeni Mehki Hawayen, is again a soft romantic song, but this one leaves no impact on the first few listens at least. Though a few notes are good, and may be liked after sometime, the song has a few flaws like mismatching lyrics, with words from a village dialects and at the same time Urdu ones too.

Fourth song 'Dildara' is Sunidhi in her typical mood. With the lyrics of the song, one can guess it to be an attempt at making another Beedi, but a little difference. And the difference remains, though the song is worth listening. A fine song in Sonu and Sunidhi's voice.

I guess that's all about songs in Sajjanpur. The next one, Aadmi Aazad hai is something like Salaam Kijiye of Aandhi. It's a satirical song on the condition of Indian democracy, probably pictured on Yashpal Sharma in the movie. Good lyrics that one might like in the movie, but won't help the album otherwise.

And then comes Munni ki Baari, another song which is somehow similar. I think u can guess all about the song as it's all sung in a Eunuch's voice.

And, the end comes in as the remix version of Sitaram Sitaram. For this one, Shantanu Moitra deserves an applause as the remix is not one of those lost-in-the-remixes'-crowd. It's worth listening to.

Fonal verdict is that Welcome to Sajjanpur is an album which has got a few very good songs, or at least song, and overall the effect is not bad. In case you don't mind buying album for one good song, you can bet on this one. The keyword is 'Sitaram'.

Teri Bandagi (Drona)

Abhishek Bachchan's Drona might not be much loved by music critics, but there are some notes worth a note too. Here I talk about one, Teri Bandagi, that is almost a signature of Roop Kumar Rathod along and quite unusual for Sunidhi Chauhan.

Teri Bandagi is a beautiful, slow song sung by Roop Kumar, Sunidhi, and supported by Dhruv, the composer for the movie. The song starts with Sunidhi singing in a mood that is mostly given to mostly Shreya or others, with Roop Kumar Rathod coming in and bringing a touch of Maula Mere Maula and Teri Justajoo.

The lyrics of the song are good too. You can have a look at the starting lines.

Pal Chhin Pal Chhin Uljhi Uljhi ik raina
Dhadkan Dhadkan bikhre bikhre se chaina
Meelon chale hai gusum ye khamoshi
Kitna bhi samjhao man ye maane na
Teri bandagi..
Jeene jeene na, jeene na teri bandagi..

So, if you like slow songs, I guess you can go listen to Teri Bandagi and decide for yourself. Hope you will like it.

Arjun Rampal: Second and Loved

Arjun Rampal could never find a place in Bollywood, even after having a few good movies to his credit, like Gaurang Doshi's Aankhen. But now, Arjun is having a second lead in most of his movies, and is being loved more than he was as a solo hero.

The best example of this case was Rock On!!, where Arjun was loved by one and all. Even though Farhan Akhtar was the lead of the band and the movie too, Arjun Rampal got his presence felt throughout. In fact, people said it was his best ever performance.

Rock On!! was hardly out of people's minds when Last Lear hit the theaters. And today, every critic is busy praising Big B and Arjun for their performances in the movie. Yet again, this is not a solo lead performance by the model-turned-actor, but Arjun is getting more and more praise.

Last year also Arjun had been good in Om Shanti Om where he played the so-called villain of the movie. It seems it was OSO where Arjun got a kick start. Well, whatever it is that kicked start him, we just wish he goes better every time.

Good Luck Joe! Keep Rocking.

Chandni Chowk to China Postponed

Kal Ho na Ho director Nikhil Advani's next movie, Chandni Chowk to China, starring Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone has been postponed to January 16th, 2009 from the previous release date of Diwali. The movie, shot mostly in China, is Warner Brothers' first Indian movie.


The movie, CC2C, (the name given by its website) has many interesting aspects related to it. The movie is supposed to be aprtly based on Akshay Kumar's life. Nikhil Advani has also said that Deepika will be having a double role in the movie.

On the music front, things are interesting too. While the composers are Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Kailash Kher also has done some music composing for the movie. Kailash had previously given music for Pranali, a story on Devdasis and of course composes music for his own album's tracks.

Madhur Bhandarkar: In no mood to stop

Fashion is all set for a children's day special release on 14th November. But Madhur, with everything set, seems in no mood to stop, or even take a break. While we still have two months to go for the release of Fashion, the first look of Madhur's next movie is out. They call it 'Jail'.

Jail, which has Neil Nitin Mukesh in lead, is expected to release on May 1st, '09, as per the producers, which include Percept picture company along with Bhandarkar Entertainment. Here is the first poster of the movie which shows Neil behind the bars.


Jail is a hard-hitting story of an ordinary man Parag Dixit who finds himself inside the four walls of a prison due to a series of unfortunate events around him. The film is from his point of view and tells the stories of several other inmates, as it happens in almost all Madhur Bhandarkar movies.

Vinay Pathak: Time starts now!

Vinay Pathak's time has finally come. After playing side roles in various films and getting noticed in every one, Vinay has made a place for himself in the film industry, and now he is getting more from it.

This October can be a wonderful experience for the actor because as per current news, two movies of Vinay are slated for a release on 10th October, both of them having him in the lead!!


Interesting, isn't it? A person who was seen only in comic roles until a few months back, is now going to have two movies of 'his' released on the same day.

The two movies of Vinay are Dasvidaniya and SRK.

Dasvidaniya is a situational comedy in which the hero, that is Vinay, knows that he will die in three months and hence prepares a list of ten things he would like to do before dying. I guess Dasvidaniya might make a wonderful movie.

The second one, SRK, if as interesting as its name, can work wonders too. In the movie, Vinay plays the title role of SRK, that is, Shivaji Ramchandra Khote. In SRK, Vinay has Rituparna Sengupta working with him, who was in Main, Meri Patni aur Woh also, along with Manoj Joshi and Dilip Prabhavalkar, who had played Gandhi in Lage Raho Munnabhai.

Talisman: Big B's New Look

Talisman is the new movie of Amitabh Bachchan that is to come quite late in time. The movie is a Vidhu Vinod Chopra production and will be directed by Ram Madhvani. Ram is the person who had specially directed one song, 'Bheja Kum' in Aamir Khan's Taare Zammen Par. (the one in which all letter-insects are running towards Ishan Awasthi)

The movie seems to be quite inspired by Chandrakanta, Neerja Guleri's hit serial on Doordarshan which was subsequently based on Devki Nandan Khatri's play of the same name.

Here is a promo of the movie.

Horn OK Please: Trailor

First song of Nana Patekar, Rimi Sen and Muzammil Ibrahim starrer Horn OK Please/Pleassss is out. The music for the movie is given by Lalit Pandit of Jatin-Lalit duo. The movie is slated for an October 10th release.

Soniye Je Tere.. (Karzzz)

In the series of Himesh Reshammiya's Karzzz, here comes song number 4 -- Soniye Je tere. The video is just fine and so is audio. Check it out.