On Movies, Music and Drama....

Movies –

I feel little bit lazy to go to the theatre and watch the movie. I don’t have a special choice in this field. Even I don’t have a favorite actor or actresses. I like to see Katrina Kaif, Kareina Kapoor and Sonali Bendre on screen, but not a dying fan of these divas. Moreover, I like Sanju Baba, Govinda, Akshay Kumar in a leading role. The character artists like Paresh Raval, Om Puri, Kader Khan, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, and the villains like late Amrish Puri, Gulshan Grover are the important personalities in Bollywood in my opinion. Among directors, I like Suraj Barjatiya and His production’s films like ‘Hum Aap Ke Hai Kaun’ and ‘Vivaha.’ I don’t like Karan Johar’s films that much, though he is doing great with his ‘cup of coffee.’ Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Nasiruddin Shah, Hema Malini, Aamir Khan, Hritik Roshan are the gems in Bollywood. Amitabh Bachchan is the Lord of Bollywood. I don’t like and don’t want to talk about the ‘Khan’ reign. About comedy side, Johnny Liver, Paresh Raval, Govinda, Rajpal Yadav, Shakti Kapoor and Kader Khan are milestones. Priyadarshan; with his outstanding light comedy films forming the impact like Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s legendary creations such as ‘Golmal’, ‘Naram Garam’, and ‘Chupke Chupke.’ My hot favorite films are ‘Sarfarosh’, ‘Nayak’, ‘Vivaha’, and ‘China Gate.’ With all these, I must quote some names before concluding this section – Amol Palekar, Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Om Puri, Rima, Vikram Gokhale, Om Prakash and Mehmood.
Marathi Films –
Regarding Marathi Film industry, I think its going through the stage of renaissance. In the middle age (1970-90) the Marathi film industry was all about comedy films, and light hearted melodies. Dada Kondke’s duel meaning films reigned on Marathi Industry for some period. Then it went through the era of Mahesh Kothare and Sachin. This era was the golden period when Laxya and Ashok were the rulers of the Industry. Then the era of ‘Halad Kunku’ films was witnessed by this industry. But from last decade, most prominently from last five years, the new blood entered in Marathi Film Industry and the really beautiful films like ‘Shwas’ are being made. Professional standard also enhanced and can be noticed in the films like ‘Khabardar’, ‘Agabai Arechhya’, and ‘Pachadlela.’ Marathi Film Industry can never compete with Bolleywood or South Indian Film Industry, but it is developing as an independent kingdom from last few years. Off course, thanks to Govt. for providing funds to producers.
My all time favorite Marathi films are Mahesh Kothare and Sachin’s creations like Zapatlela, Navari Mile Navaryala, Dhadakebaaj, Banwa-banwee, and Atmavishvas. Ashok Saraf, late Laxmikant Berde, Sachin, Kishori Shahane, Nivedita Saraf, Ashvini Bhave, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Smita Talvalkar, are the great names in Marathi Industry.
English Films –
I hardly watch Hollywood films, so can’t write much about them. Science fictions and graphics used in Hollywood are mind blowing. The Hollywood films are made in order to form material impact while Bollywood films are emotional and sentimental. The huge creations, special effects, marvelous locations, camera works always make Hollywood film an interesting film. The war fictions are really incomparable and I used to watch the war fictions from Hollywood. Jurassic Park series is my favorite series from Hollywood. Angelina Jolly, Brad Pitt, and some professionally super hit actors are notable names in this Industry. ‘Titanic’ is the milestone in worldwide film industry for sure. Some Hollywood actresses and models are unbelievably beautiful for example the English Rose Kate Winslet. I must mention the name of former miss world Natalie Glebova as the word ‘Beauty’ came around.

Music –
Music is my passion and I love to enjoy almost every kind of music. My music interest can be seen right from Hindi Film Music, Indian Classical or Semi-classical Music, Marathi semi-classical songs, to the rocking English numbers. I like to here everyone at different times. My favorite male singer in Bolleywood is Udit Narayan and female is Kavita Krishnamurthy Subramaniyam. In Indian classical music, I must bow in front of Pt. Jeetendra Abhisheki, Pt. Ajit Kadkade, Pt. Jasraj, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar, and many more. In Marathi semi classical, Arun Datey is my favorite. In English, Shakira, Old time Jackson, Brian Adams, Ricky Martin and the one who made Triple H’s entrance theme are my favorite. In Gazal or Mausiki, Ghulam Ali and Talat Aziz are favorites. Mageshkar Legacy is god’s precious reward to the world. Lata Didi, Asha Ji, Hridaynathji, Ushaji, all these are the legends and I bow in front of these music milestones. Kishore Daa, Manna Dey, Mohd. Rafee, Mukesh all are the legends of Indian Music Industry. The film music is been prospering since last century and all legendary composers including Madan Mohan, O P Naiyyar, Shankar Jaikishan and Laxmikanth Pyarelal are the responsible hands who nourished the film music. Among today’s composers, I think A R Rahman is best, not only in bolleywood but also in the world. Ravindra Jain is the miracle of destiny and his lyrics and music is divine. Among new talent in singing, I like Shreya Ghoshal and KK. About the hot favorite guy of todays youth, Atif, I have one different opinion. I think one can find at least three Atifs in every gully of Karachi and Islamabad. About controversial, Himesh Reshammiya, I think his tunes are really sweet and enjoyment for common viewers. About his nasal singing, I think that’s his own style through which he expresses his emotions like no other can do! Before some years, Bappi Daa’s style of singing was appreciated by all, then why we can’t enjoy Himesh now? Few singers from talent hunt are also brilliant e.g. Abhijit Savant and Himani. But I hate Kazi Taukir, Amit Sana, Sandeep Acharya, Karunya, Debojeet, and all other minus as they lack versatility and originality.
Being a music lover, I like to enjoy all singers as everyone has its own tone here in Bolleywood. I must mention few names before I conclude. Suresh Vadkar, Alka Yagnik, Abhijeet, Kumar Sanu, Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan, Anuradha Paudval, Sunidhi Chauhan, Richa Sharma, Chitra, SP Balasubramaniyam(Real velvet Voice), Poornima (Voice with Nakhra), Kailash Kher and Sukhavinder.

Drama –
I am a stage performer and I would like to share my views about Marathi drama here as I am not that much familiar with English or Worldwide stage. I think, being an active part of stage since last ten years, I can analyze the drama as I know the plus points and limitations in it. Marathi Drama can be differentiated mainly into three streams; Professional Stage, Parallel Stage and Amateur Stage. Professionals are all about light hearted dramas, comedies and farces. They are doing the business for the sake of business. They never even hesitate to create and comment on Hindu Mythological characters. The professional stage has two levels. High level includes the standard dramas and well known drama groups e.g. ‘Suyog.’ The high level drama groups create standard Marathi Dramas. Prashant Damle, Vandana Gupte, Bharat Jadhao, Mohan Joshi belongs to this elite panel. The second level includes professional but not well settled drama groups who use cheap ways to earn money. High level professional drama is changing slightly as new subjects other that comedies are coming through them.
Now, the parallel stage; which is not that much wealthy as compared to professionals, but this is the group of real drama lovers. They always try new things and provide new options to professional stage. Actors in parallel stage can be successful on professional stage but the vise-versa is hardly possible.
The Amateur stage is living just because Govt. still organizes the State Level Drama Competitions. These people are free to do whatever they want! They can copy the professional stage and parallel stage with in their own style, they can make a drama without any newer facilities for the sake of old feel; they can choose the old time scripts and make them new, they can even break the rules of standard drama and form a new concept. This is the stage which provides new concepts to Parallel stage. And the hit concepts from parallel stage are picked by professional stage. This means all the three stages are interlinked and forms direct or indirect impact on each other. Professional stage forms direct impact on Amateur while Amateur forms indirect impact on professional. Finally, the Marathi drama is one and it is developing constantly though the velocity varies time to time.