'I often give myself a pat on the shoulder, reminding myself that I've done a good job considering where I started and the mindset I grew up with.'
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.
While Nishaanchi is not a homerun for Kashyap, there's enough joy in this audience pleaser, notes Mayur Sanap.
This is also the time when South Indian films started doing well, commercially and critically, on a Pan-India scale.
'Gujarati films are crossing the Rs 100 crore mark, Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra has surged past Rs 300 crore, Marathi film Dashaavtar has already topped Rs 50 crore and Tamil blockbuster Coolie has raked in over Rs 250 crore.' 'These successes show that regional cinema is no longer niche.'
'There are tall personalities who have utilised Mumbai and Maharashtra for their career growth, but they never thought it is their responsibility to learn Marathi.'
Dinesh Raheja salutes Sandhya, the acclaimed dancer who passed into the ages on October 4.
'I feel as proud as a father when I see Aditya Dhar being celebrated for his work.'
'On the set, he was this big personality, the great Om Puri. But at home, he was like a fluffy teddy bear.'
Asrani may have never been a marquee name up in sparkling lights or on outsized posters but the sheer proficiency with which he realised his characters has unleashed gales of laughter over five decades and made a significant contribution to several landmark films. Dinesh Raheja salutes the iconic actor.
They Call Him OG topped the gross domestic box office collection with Rs 224 crore (Rs 2.24 billion).
Arundhati Roy's 1989 film, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, which won two National Awards for Best Screenplay for Roy and Best Feature Film in English, is among the line-up of 10 films for the Berlinale Classics segment.
Mehmood and R D Burman shiver, wail and flail when they encounter a stuffed tiger that wags its tail, furniture that moves on its own volition and dancing skeletons and mummies. Dinesh Raheja revisits a must-watch.
From facing Dennis Lillee to filming with Dharmendra, Mohsin Khan goes back in time in a freewheeling interview.
When mainstream Hindi cinema is preoccupied with romance, comedy, horror and action, stories about sisters and brothers are very rare. Vasan Bala has made a first-of-its-kind film where the leads play sister and brother, notes Aseem Chhabra.
'When you are a pioneer and someone who's put on a pedestal, but then the pedestal gets dusty, people don't look at the statue anymore.' 'They would say, 'Yes, yes, of course I know Bimal Roy. He made Do Bigha Zamin.'.'
'One is not allowed to smoke on the sets of a Hollywood film even during a break.' 'When I asked an assistant to suggest some place where I could light a cigarette, he recommended the bad boys' corner -- where Jack Nicholson smoked.' 'However, I hesitated.' 'But when I was heading back to my chair after the shot, Jack Nicholson asked me if I wanted to join him for a smoke. We had a long conversation over cups of cappuccino.'
The posters of Siddhant Chaturvedi and Malavika Mohanan's new film, Yudhra, are out, and they are looking very good.
'The film-literate public in Kerala are not happy watching run-of-the-mill movies.'
'Everything I know about acting and direction I learnt from him.'
At 8,700 screens, India, the world's largest film producing country, has just six screens for every million of its people, compared to 125 in the US and 30 in China. With Sitaare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan hopes to expand the market for Indian cinema.
'When my character died in Border, I felt a strange sense of pride. But today, I sometimes feel that if my character had survived, perhaps I would have been a part of Border 2.'
'After the first Kantara, when they announced the second one, I kind of knew he will call me. I had this instinct. Then he called me at midnight and I didn't pick up. I was like, I'm not talking to anybody at 12 at night. The following day, I called and we chatted. He said, I have to narrate you something. I said, I know, it's Kantara!'
'What do you think... those working in the film industry are illiterate people? Why don't you go and work with Bimal Roy?'
'No sane person will ever want to stop this film in Bengal. This is going to heal the Bengali community.'
'In the film she played a chirpy bubbly character. But in person she was quite the opposite. Very dignified, graceful and quiet,' Dharmendra, who starred with Jayalalithaa in her only film, tells Subhash K Jha.
Yash Raj Films has launched the YRF Script Cell, a platform discovering and nurturing screenwriting talent from across the world.
Kantara Chapter 1 is scheduled for a worldwide release on October 2, in Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, Bengali and English.
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.
2025 started with a blockbuster in Chhaava and ended with an even bigger one in Dhurandhar. There have been other Hindi hits too, and we take a look at the Top 10.
'At times when the pressure, glitz and glam felt horribly garish, there he was with no pretences or guile. A sweet reminder that life is about the real things not the fluff.'
Reacting to the Twitter spat between Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada actor Kichcha Sudeep over the use of Hindi, former Karnataka chief minister and Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy, said: "Actor Ajay Devgn is not only hyper in nature but also shows his ludicrous behaviour."
Maharashtra Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar has directed the MMRDA to scrap the proposed Bollywood theme park project under a Metro rail corridor following opposition from citizens groups. The funds will be diverted to other priority development projects.
After delivering the biggest hit of her career with Animal, Rashmika Mandanna finds herself on this year's Forbes 30 Under 30 achievers list.
'...and say that if I don't wear a sari, they will unfollow me.' 'Today, if I have 2.9 million followers on Instagram, out of that, the majority is from the South.' 'Telugu has given me the most fame and money.'
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.
'Look after your own mother before looking after your neighbour's mother.' 'I don't believe in starving my own mother and feeding sweets to the neighbours.'
'So my question was, 'What is it that you are proud of? What have you achieved? What is your contribution?' 'He had no answer.'
In a special series, we will put YOU to the test everyday!
