Numerologist Niraj Mancchanda predicts the year for Bollywood's biggest banner.
After Saiyaara's blockbuster status, Yash Raj Films is trying to make its next release, War 2, a bigger hit.
The who's who of Bollywood got together to doff their hats at the iconic Raj Kapoor and celebrate his birth centenary on December 14 with a lot of fanfare.
'For him what's important is relationships, his role, and, of course, the script.' Rediff celebrates Shah Rukh Khan's 60th birthday on November 2 with a special series that introduces us to the man behind the superstar.
SMAT: Haryana beat Bengal to enter Super 8s, Punjab also qualify
'The new Indian cinema has still not found its voice and identity. It's trapped under the deadwood weight of Bollywood and popular Indian cinema.'
'I don't hold grudges against them; they are all my friends.' 'Guess who suggested Rani Mukerji's name?'
As the year draws to a close, Rediff's Senior Contributor Roshmila Bhattacharya takes a look at the hits and misses, the highs and lows, the newsmakers and the dealbreakers in alphabetical order.
'Every film had its challenges, but Mr India, Sadak and Gandhi were the toughest.' 'Mr India needed imagination, Sadak needed sensitivity and Gandhi demanded historical authenticity.'
'I love the feeling of falling in love and the memories it brings, even if it doesn't last.'
Chopra is planning to buy single-screen theatres and convert them into multi-screen theatres, depending on their viability.
The actress is indeed going to make a film comeback.
'I played five different versions of Woh Subah Kabhie Toh Aayegi for Raj Kapoor, only to be greeted with a totally blank reaction.' 'Thereafter, for 40 minutes, he disappeared, leaving us baffled.' 'But when he emerged, he couldn't stop appreciating our efforts!' 'He said Sahir Ludhianvi's writing was sheer poetry and since all my five tunes were equally wonderful, he would leave it to my discretion to chose the final tune.' 'What could be greater appreciation for an artiste?'
This year, Bollywood's most powerful production house makes very little profit.
Smriti Mundhra's documentary The Romantics has many, many, gems about one of Bollywood's most successful film-makers and more importantly, his iconic father, Yash Chopra.
'Rani has changed Adi for the better. If he is happy, why should I not be happy?'
'I didn't want to do a highlight reel with greatest hits of Yash Raj Films.' 'I wanted to do an actual story.'
'Mere Haathon Mein Nau-Nau Chudiya Hain showed how skillfully Shiv-Hari could weave into the commercial idiom.'
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 reclusive filmmaker, who'd evaded being clicked for fifteen years, arrived in India after a family vacation.
Aditya had moved out of his father's house and has been living in a five star hotel for several months.
'...it was for a very, very big lead actor.' 'I looked at it and saw how beautiful she was. I was like, there's no chance I'm getting it.' 'I auditioned for it and as luck would have it, they were looking for someone like me.'
Mumbai were bowled out for 181 in their second innings, setting J&K 243 runs to win the season-opening match.
Sukanya Verma plans your OTT menu this week.
The reclusive director-producer turns 43 today.
Sukanya Verma picks some of its best known sari appearances.
'Some time back, music was just noise.' 'Producers wrongly think item songs sell better.' 'Audiences are intelligent, they accept whatever you give, but that doesn't mean you can fool them.'
In a special series, we will put YOU to the test everyday!
'Don was declared a flop because not many people turned up.' 'Luckily, Khaike Paan Banaraswala became a big hit.' 'Word of mouth publicity led to the film becoming a big hit from the second week on.'
Because of Mukesh's much-hailed association with Raj Kapoor, it is often overlooked that the singer has also scored hits with almost all major heroes. On Mukesh's 102nd birth anniversary on July 22, Dinesh Raheja recalls some of his classic songs.
'We didn't create the Angry Young Man persona for Amitabh Bachchan.' 'We created the Vijay persona and then Amitabh Bachchan fitted into it.'
'People ask me about my biggest action sequence; this is it, because it involved two giants of Indian cinema.'
Angry Young Men misses some important elements of the Salim-Javed story including an understanding of the duo's creative process. In fact, the two men do not even appear together in the same space in the series.
'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.'
'One person says let us move ahead, the other doesn't want to.'
