Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s ‘Saving Face’ wins maiden Oscar for Pakistan!

This post originally appeared on Bollyspice.com

A very proud nation Pakistan woke up to a jubilant Monday morning as news flashed of film-maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s triumph on becoming the first Pakistani to win an Oscar at the 84th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Hollywood, California. Her film ‘Saving Face’, based on the appalling incidents of acid attacks on women in Pakistan, brought home the first Oscar for Pakistan by winning in the Best Documentary (Short Subject) category.

Flash Mobbing at High Street Phoenix with 'Bachpan after Pachpan'

They say 'Age is just a number' and that's exactly what a bunch of enthusiastic Wilson College students set out to prove by organising a flashmob at High Street Phoenix for a group of 50 senior citizens aptly titled "Bachpan after Pachpan". Apprehensions (if any!) were set aside while they grooved to hits like 'dhinka chika' and several others, thinking of nothing else but enjoying themselves & having a good time. As they say truly "Old is Gold" and these "young" adults have proved just that!

Been swamped with Flash Mobbing overdose recently thanks to the Hollywood film "Friends with Benefits" but this by far is one of the cutest and adorable one from closer home.

Re-visting 2011 & Hello 2012

Hello, my fabulous readers! I’m back after a very long sabbatical, just in time to wish you beautiful people a very Happy New Year! 

2011 wasn’t God’s best creation, but all-in all was a kind year filled with some tears, more laughter, joys, struggles, heartbreaks, friends, family and more or less what I could’ve wished for… Taking the nostalgic lane down 2011; here’s revisiting an exhaustive list of moments that made up my year…

"Why I Loved Good Night Good Morning" - Directed by Sudhish Kamath

This post initially appeared at Bollyspice.com, but when the portal went thru changes, the link broke. While the admins work on fixing it up, I have (on demands from a few :) re-posted it here.

Thankfully for us, the past few years have seen “Indie” films (popularly nicknamed in India as parallel cinema, i.e. do not boast of the typical masala bolly-fare) going mainstream. While Indian audiences are still miles away from giving our independent filmmakers the same adulation as our commercial ‘big-production-house’ backed directors, it is heartening to see that what was earlier restrictive to select art audiences and festivals screenings is getting a healthier reception among regular cinegoers. 

Making rounds of several national plus International film festivals, Sudhish Kamath’s (co-written with Shilpa Rathnam) Good Night | Good Morning is an independent film about an all-night phone call between two strangers. Sudhish, an expert movie critic; fabulous host on a chat show (Hands up), goes behind the camera for the second time, with this 80 odd-minutes film. 

Wedding Bells: PrithviRaj ties the knot with Supriya Menon.

Its OFFICIAL! Malyalam Superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran is hitched and the lucky lady is BBC journalist Surpiya Menon. While speculations began around a month back about the supposed nuptials, fans were taken aback when the news broke early morning on 25th April, that the couple had already tied the knot. The wedding was held in Thenkurissi Kandaath Heritage Villa in Palakkad which happens to be the bride’s hometown. It was a low-key private affair attended by less than 50 of the couple’s close family members and friends.

 

The couple met some (?!) years ago, when Supriya was researching South Indian Cinema. A grand reception has been planned at Le Meridien on May 1st for friends and acquaintances from the fraternity. 

They make a super cute couple, dontcha think?? Best Wishes to the couple.

Bournvita Quiz Contest - We WANT it back! ! Join in...

One of my fondest childhood memories can be traced back to watching 'Bournvita Quiz Contest' with my siblings. (BQC and Chitrahaar were the only two small-screen luxuries we were allowed when we were young :)) Long before Big Bachchan took to the hot seat armed with trivia's and questions, quizmaster Derek O'Brien enthralled his little audiences with GQ edu-tainment. It was a neat ploy then used by parents to get their kids to solving quizzes, engaging in reading and also extra motivation to study hard, so that we could beat each other at the mock quizzes.

With the increasing advent of 'money-over-matter' reality shows capturing the small-screen, it’s almost impossible to find anything of remote sensibility to be watched on television. This has been the increasing concern for  many who have come together and started a movement to 'Bring the BQC Back'.

What started out as something simple has now become a full on quizzing hub. People are sharing their Q&A's. Some have also come up with cool one liners - like 'Don't be Stupid, Bring BQC Back' and 'Bring Sexy Back, Bring BQC Back' which have got converted into badges and banners et al. They’ve also got Derek and Mr. Amin Sayani (the original quizster) to spread the word.

Right now, they’re working on the steps forward, but you can show your support by joining the movement. And If you have any suggestions, feedbacks, ideas for the team, shout it out.

Movie Review: TeenMaar (Telugu) *Pawan Kalyan, Trisha, Kriti Kharbanda

Apart from my usual language disclaimer, may I add a second note here, that I have as much as possible refrained from comparing TeenMaar to its original Love Aaj Kal. However is some references are delved upon, request the reader to accept it without being judgmental.

When I first heard about ‘Love Aaj Kal’ remake in Telugu, I was clearly intrigued. Though the original was a box-office hit, it received some flak because not many people warmed up to the concept of ‘practical romance’ wherein breaking up, patching, moving on etc was as casual as any other hobby. Also with 2 narratives of different timelines running parallel, intertwined with each other, was a tough job to keep the viewer constantly attentive and engaged. So my first thought was - is the comparatively reserved South-Indian audience ready for this kind of cinema. Will Director Jayanth and Trivikram be able to do a satisfactory job at getting the local audience to accept this modern day ‘practical’ love-story? I think they do. And they do a good job at it.