Shreekant Sambrani tells himself over and over again, don't lose heart in these dire times, there is asha (hope) still, in the divine voice of Asha Bhosle.
After spinning into the spotlight with the hit song-and-dance number Mera Naam Chin Chin Chu in Howrah Bridge (1958), Helen signed scores of films as a dancer. But Helen was raring to step out of her dancing shoes, and play heroine instead.
While Nishaanchi is not a homerun for Kashyap, there's enough joy in this audience pleaser, notes Mayur Sanap.
Here's imagining Craig's James Bond as a typical Bollywood hero.
Sholay's Basanti is the face of women's empowerment and gender equality. That's why, half a century after the movie first released, we're still talking about her.
Asha Bhosle's only daughter Varsha Bhosle, who died in 2012, had penned this beautiful ode to her mother.
Who says Bollywood gals have it easy?
Kareena has been a leading lady now for 25 years, Deepika for almost two decades and Alia for over a decade. Dinesh Raheja chronicles the changing ways Bollywood has treated actor-moms.
In 1973, several major leading ladies like Mumtaz, Raakhee, Jaya Bhaduri, Dimple Kapadia, Tanuja, had married and retired from films. Producers wanted a new heroine as a replacement. Many thought Sulakshana was a Mumtaz lookalike and was soon persuaded to sign on multiple films as a leading lady.
Big films like Dhurandhar, Chhava and Kantara: Chapter 1 hit box office gold in 2025, and its directors, Aditya Dhar, Laxman Utekar and Rishab Shetty, have proved their worth. But many other directors made an impact with their 2025 releases, in various languages.
'I kept urging Salman to see Pokiri, and one day, past midnight, he finally turned up at a Mumbai preview theatre to see it. Nervously, I waited for Salman's reaction to Pokiri. After watching it, he walked past me without a word. I followed anxiously, and before sitting in his car, he just signalled thumbs up.'
'I have always broken my image every time I went on screen. I don't know what it means to be a Greek God but people used to call me one.'
Dharmendra's demise means the loss of one of the biggest icons ever in the Hindi film firmament.
Though Zanjeer is credited as Amitabh's breakthrough film, it didn't immediately enthrone him. Rajesh Khanna countered with a huge hit in Daag that year. But Deewar upended audience's cinematic taste and filmland hierarchies at the very start of 1975. Bachchan emerged as a one man industry, the angry young man who could regulate the thermostat of the entire film industry, recalls Dinesh Raheja.
The song that best encapsulates Geeta Dutt's unfairly abbreviated life would probably be: Yaad Karoge, Yaad Karoge, Ek Din Humko Yaad Karoge. On her 95th birth anniversary on November 23, Dinesh Raheja pieces together the life of this talented singer.
2024 may have seen a few flops at the box office but there have been some hits as well.
'I wanted to go for the heart, and at the same time, open the audience's mind.'
Singer-actress Sulakshana Pandit, 71, passed into the ages on November 6 after a prolonged illness. Besides her acting roles, she leaves behind some beautiful songs to remember her by.
Subhash K Jha remembers his conversations with movie legend Manoj Kumar, who passed into the ages on April 4, 2025.
'Mahesh Babu is not too keen on doing a costume drama or a period film at this stage of his career.'
Dinesh Raheja charts the highs and lows of Hrishikesh Mukherjee's creative association with five megastars -- Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra.
'I saw Bimal Roy's Devdas again a few years ago, almost 50 years after it had been made.' 'I found it very intelligently made; the scenes flowed so beautifully.' 'There is just one scene with both Suchitra Sen and me in the film, and it's beautiful.'
Over the years she directed the country's collective mood so masterfully -- and so often -- that it remains impossible to overestimate her impact on our perception of Hindi cinema as a whole, notes Raja Sen.
'Even if I had the backing of a big corporate house, which I don't, in today's market, I wouldn't want the responsibility of making a Rs 300 crore-Rs 400 crore film.'
Dinesh Raheja celebrates Lata's 96th birth anniversary on September 28 by picking some choice examples of her non-typical songs that are tinged with a rare eroticism.
While Amitabh Bachchan's chemistry with his heroines -- from Jaya Bhaduri to Rekha to Hema Malini -- brought sizzle to his films, many of his biggest blockbusters have been powered by his combustible combination with male co-stars.
Rehana Sultan was all set to be a path-breaker. The time was right. Hindi cinema had emerged from the 1960s musicals era. But somehow, leading film-makers of the time did not believe Rehana had that cachet. It was Zeenat Aman who ended up being the definitive taboo-trasher of the era. Dinesh Raheja salutes the trendsetter of the 1970s, Rehana Sultan.
Zeenat Aman had scored more hit songs than any of her contemporaries. This can be attributed partly to happenstance and partly to the fact that her forte for high glamour could be showcased most winningly in a crowd-pleasing number, observes Dinesh Raheja.
Rediff's film critic Sukanya Verma lists her top best actresses of 2015.
'A director's actor, if I had told her to jump from a building, she would probably have.' 'But I only told her to jump off a running train...'
Ever since Zeenat Aman arrived on social media, she has been giving us interesting nuggets from her life.
'Pahlaj Nihalani came to my rescue. There was no Instagram in those days so I didn't recognise him.' 'I almost fainted when he told me he was Pahlaj Nihalani, the producer of Ilzaam, the hit film that had just made Govinda a star.' 'I told him I was a model and an aspiring actor, and he responded, "You have an interesting face. Come and meet me in the office tomorrow".'
'Suchitra Sen threatened to leave, with the film only 80 per cent complete.'
When you are in love, you are preoccupied just with that.' 'Nothing else registers. It's like being drugged.'
There are so many female-oriented movies, from Mother India to Arth to Pink. But there are some absolute gems that never got their due.
These fresh new faces, waiting in the wings for their big Bollywood debuts, will take your breath away!
'He had wanted to present me in the likes of the heroines of the 60s whose churidar-kurta look with winged eyeliner and bouffant had captivated fashionistas at the time.'
The actress is very hot and happening now!
'Even today, though my hair looks different, people recognise me wherever I go. They come up and say 'Aap Maine Pyar Kiya mein thi, na?' I think it's going to follow me to the grave.'
