Sanam Puri croons for Amazing Spider-Man 2
Mumbai, Apr 18 : Bollywood singer Sanam Puri, after having proved his vocal prowess with tracks like Ishq Bulava and Dhat Teri Ki, recently came up with the latest youth anthem - 'Main Hoon' - in association with Sony Pictures' highly anticipated motion picture, Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Under Sony Music, the song will be featured as a promotional track for the movie starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Jamie Foxx.
In a perfect integration, Sanam Puri will collaborate with one of Hollywood's biggest franchises in India.
Exclusively composed for the Indian audiences, Sanam Puri's 'Main Hoon' is a rock ballad envisaged more like a youth anthem that showcases the zeal of moving ahead.
'Main Hoon' mirrors the sentiment that each one of us has the power to achieve more and reach great heights.
Adding on Sanam Puri said, "It's a great feeling and a huge learning experience. The Spider-Man franchise has a massive fan following in India and to render a song for such a huge film is a dream come true."
Puri added, "The song promises to be an anthem that is especially composed for our Indian audiences and I am confident it will appeal to all age groups. Sony Music and Sony Pictures have been extremely forthcoming and I don't think this would have been possible without them."
The song video will be out on Youtube on Apr 24 and across all streaming and download platforms from Apr 24.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 releases in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on May 1.
Mumbai Mirror
In a perfect integration, Sanam Puri will collaborate with one of Hollywood's biggest franchises in India.
Exclusively composed for the Indian audiences, Sanam Puri's 'Main Hoon' is a rock ballad envisaged more like a youth anthem that showcases the zeal of moving ahead.
'Main Hoon' mirrors the sentiment that each one of us has the power to achieve more and reach great heights.
Adding on Sanam Puri said, "It's a great feeling and a huge learning experience. The Spider-Man franchise has a massive fan following in India and to render a song for such a huge film is a dream come true."
Puri added, "The song promises to be an anthem that is especially composed for our Indian audiences and I am confident it will appeal to all age groups. Sony Music and Sony Pictures have been extremely forthcoming and I don't think this would have been possible without them."
The song video will be out on Youtube on Apr 24 and across all streaming and download platforms from Apr 24.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 releases in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on May 1.
SINGULAR HONOUR
The national film awards retain their dignity amidst the great Indian trophy tamasha
Many years ago, in a magazine interview with Akshay Kumar, the star was asked how would he react if he got the national award? He replied, “Oh my god, where did I go wrong?”
Notwithstanding the fact that nobody in his senses could ever consider him for an award, Kumar’s supposedly witty reply sounded like an unsavoury jibe at the efforts of hundreds of anonymous technicians and filmmakers across the country whose only consolation, in many cases, are the national awards that they get under different categories every year.
Every civilisation identifies talent in its society, from various fields, and duly acknowledges their contributions by instituting award functions where they are felicitated. The lobbying and the manipulations apart, which sometimes cast an unsavoury shadow on some of these awards, such honours fulfill an important social role. It is not only the creative or technical satisfaction that a person derives from his work that sustains him, but also the recognition by the state which immediately brings him into focus of the general public, who otherwise would have remained unaware of such individuals and their roles in society.
Time was when the Filmfare award and the national awards were the only two award functions that were held every year, apart from the state awards. But in the past two decades, a plethora of private award functions that have mushroomed all over, especially in Mumbai, have diluted the very purpose of such honours. They have become more of showcases for stars, both fading and new, who grace the auditoriums, sucking up to every scripted line uttered by the presenter, putting on a fake smile as the television camera pans across them, trying to hold on to that moment of glory before it moves on to the next star.
Actress Kangana Ranaut, perhaps, put it best recently when she expressed her decision not to attend any such function in the next year. “If there was just one function, I would look forward to it, but there are about 15 to 16 of them. To be able to sit through each of these for five to six hours is too much. Add another two hours of hair and make-up … they are also giving away awards for ‘best smile’ and ‘best sari’. Those behind these functions try to please everyone. In such a scenario, what is one to make of these awards?”
Brave words by a talented young actor who has won everybody’s heart with her scintillating performance in Vikas Behl’s Queen. Given the gluttony of the corporate houses that sponsor such award functions, there is no danger of her being blacklisted as long as their telecast garners TRP ratings and promotes their products. Controversies spice up a campaign and help ratchet up the sales.
In a scenario like this which resembles a fish market, the yearly national awards stand out like a beacon of sanity and matured sensibility. Where else would regional cinema and its practitioners find mention apart from their home states? In which Bollywood film festival would you find an entire section devoted to non-fiction films with different categories like best biographical and historical reconstruction film, best science and technological film, best film on art and culture, or best environmental film including agriculture? How else one would have known of a talented singer from Kolkata called Rupankar who got the award for best male playback, or V J Sabu Joseph who got the award for best editing for a Tamil film entitled Vallinam?
Mainstream media, in its obsession with Bollywood had erroneously mentioned the Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla starrer Gulab Gang as the recipient of best film on social issues, instead of Nishtha Jain’s documentary Gulabi Gang, which incidentally also fetched the best non-fiction editing award for Arjun Gourisaria. Such is the state of affairs!
In an environ like this where people cannot look beyond the superficial glitter, it is left to the national awards to steer the light towards meaningful efforts away from the mainstream rut, and help unknown practitioners get their a share of national glory till the next year’s announcements.
Notwithstanding the fact that nobody in his senses could ever consider him for an award, Kumar’s supposedly witty reply sounded like an unsavoury jibe at the efforts of hundreds of anonymous technicians and filmmakers across the country whose only consolation, in many cases, are the national awards that they get under different categories every year.
Every civilisation identifies talent in its society, from various fields, and duly acknowledges their contributions by instituting award functions where they are felicitated. The lobbying and the manipulations apart, which sometimes cast an unsavoury shadow on some of these awards, such honours fulfill an important social role. It is not only the creative or technical satisfaction that a person derives from his work that sustains him, but also the recognition by the state which immediately brings him into focus of the general public, who otherwise would have remained unaware of such individuals and their roles in society.
Time was when the Filmfare award and the national awards were the only two award functions that were held every year, apart from the state awards. But in the past two decades, a plethora of private award functions that have mushroomed all over, especially in Mumbai, have diluted the very purpose of such honours. They have become more of showcases for stars, both fading and new, who grace the auditoriums, sucking up to every scripted line uttered by the presenter, putting on a fake smile as the television camera pans across them, trying to hold on to that moment of glory before it moves on to the next star.
Actress Kangana Ranaut, perhaps, put it best recently when she expressed her decision not to attend any such function in the next year. “If there was just one function, I would look forward to it, but there are about 15 to 16 of them. To be able to sit through each of these for five to six hours is too much. Add another two hours of hair and make-up … they are also giving away awards for ‘best smile’ and ‘best sari’. Those behind these functions try to please everyone. In such a scenario, what is one to make of these awards?”
Brave words by a talented young actor who has won everybody’s heart with her scintillating performance in Vikas Behl’s Queen. Given the gluttony of the corporate houses that sponsor such award functions, there is no danger of her being blacklisted as long as their telecast garners TRP ratings and promotes their products. Controversies spice up a campaign and help ratchet up the sales.
In a scenario like this which resembles a fish market, the yearly national awards stand out like a beacon of sanity and matured sensibility. Where else would regional cinema and its practitioners find mention apart from their home states? In which Bollywood film festival would you find an entire section devoted to non-fiction films with different categories like best biographical and historical reconstruction film, best science and technological film, best film on art and culture, or best environmental film including agriculture? How else one would have known of a talented singer from Kolkata called Rupankar who got the award for best male playback, or V J Sabu Joseph who got the award for best editing for a Tamil film entitled Vallinam?
Mainstream media, in its obsession with Bollywood had erroneously mentioned the Madhuri Dixit-Juhi Chawla starrer Gulab Gang as the recipient of best film on social issues, instead of Nishtha Jain’s documentary Gulabi Gang, which incidentally also fetched the best non-fiction editing award for Arjun Gourisaria. Such is the state of affairs!
In an environ like this where people cannot look beyond the superficial glitter, it is left to the national awards to steer the light towards meaningful efforts away from the mainstream rut, and help unknown practitioners get their a share of national glory till the next year’s announcements.
Film review: 2 States
Film: 2 States
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh, Revathy, Ronit Roy, Shiv Subrahmanyam, Achint Kau
Director: Abhishek Varman
Rating: **
Deep into what seems like the fifth hour of the film, Krish (Kapoor) shows up at Ananya's (Bhatt) office in Chennai to win her back after a miserable month of pining. "What have you done to yourself?" she exclaims, alarmed by his disheveled appearance. Mr. Kapoor is still sporting the same finely-trimmed beard that adorns his face throughout their courtship (and three other films). I grinned at the director's unintentional message: It's all in her mind.
But 'Two States' doesn't have these layers, as much as I searched for them.
Designed as an autobiographical tale of North Indian author Chetan Bhagat's love story with his Tamilian wife, this film is a bafflingly superficial adaptation of a book that should have remained a book.
I remember the novel to be an amusing representation of the done-to-death culture clash between two of Bollywood's favorite regions. Bhagat's writing was observational and descriptive, using the power of hindsight to lighten up a regular dose of early relationship drama. Unfortunately, Arjun Kapoor's methodical behavior isn't accompanied by a voiceover, despite using a (faceless) psychiatrist as a medium for his thoughts.
Krish invariably appears dazed, perhaps stunned by the cliched portrayal of his ignorant Punjabi mother. Amrita Singh is a fine actor; she even reminds you of her caliber when she crudely asks a Gujarati rickshaw driver if they eat dal as dessert too. But her punchline is (always) drowned out by a loud background score that inexplicably appears when least needed. Her oppressive husband, played (again) by Ronit Roy, is not quite sure about what makes him so hateful. He has an uncanny habit of smashing glasses of good Scotch onto the floor—arguably his most heinous crime. A random flashback can't demolish his Udaan hangover, though theirs is a most relatable Indian household story.
Furthermore, the blossoming of a young relationship in IIM-Ahmedabad gives you an impression that they're waltzing through the halls of Guru-Cool instead, with Students of the year popping out of decorated corners. This would have worked with a fictional name (IIPPM, maybe?), or if an actual South-Indian girl was cast as Ananya. Alia does the best she can with her lines (and dimples), but at no point did I believe her to be a fiercely ambitious Tamilian girl in touch with her traditional roots. Even if I overlook their post-coital tea-drinking, the line has to be drawn at their respective choices of placement and remuneration after graduating from India's biggest management school.
There are some amusing moments, especially when Krish tries to pull a DDLJ-act with Ananya's conservative folks. Her upright father, played soberly by Shiv Subramaniam, is the only character that reminds me of the rare instance of cross-culture pollination done right (Vicky Donor). But 'Two States' lacks that exact sense of casting, instead relying too heavily on people's perception of the book and its' modest goals.
One of the less dated facts this film gets right is that a writer often gets inspired by pain. 'Two States', the book, was a result of momentary heartbreak too. As is this review.
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Amrita Singh, Revathy, Ronit Roy, Shiv Subrahmanyam, Achint Kau
Director: Abhishek Varman
Rating: **
Deep into what seems like the fifth hour of the film, Krish (Kapoor) shows up at Ananya's (Bhatt) office in Chennai to win her back after a miserable month of pining. "What have you done to yourself?" she exclaims, alarmed by his disheveled appearance. Mr. Kapoor is still sporting the same finely-trimmed beard that adorns his face throughout their courtship (and three other films). I grinned at the director's unintentional message: It's all in her mind.
But 'Two States' doesn't have these layers, as much as I searched for them.
Designed as an autobiographical tale of North Indian author Chetan Bhagat's love story with his Tamilian wife, this film is a bafflingly superficial adaptation of a book that should have remained a book.
I remember the novel to be an amusing representation of the done-to-death culture clash between two of Bollywood's favorite regions. Bhagat's writing was observational and descriptive, using the power of hindsight to lighten up a regular dose of early relationship drama. Unfortunately, Arjun Kapoor's methodical behavior isn't accompanied by a voiceover, despite using a (faceless) psychiatrist as a medium for his thoughts.
Krish invariably appears dazed, perhaps stunned by the cliched portrayal of his ignorant Punjabi mother. Amrita Singh is a fine actor; she even reminds you of her caliber when she crudely asks a Gujarati rickshaw driver if they eat dal as dessert too. But her punchline is (always) drowned out by a loud background score that inexplicably appears when least needed. Her oppressive husband, played (again) by Ronit Roy, is not quite sure about what makes him so hateful. He has an uncanny habit of smashing glasses of good Scotch onto the floor—arguably his most heinous crime. A random flashback can't demolish his Udaan hangover, though theirs is a most relatable Indian household story.
Furthermore, the blossoming of a young relationship in IIM-Ahmedabad gives you an impression that they're waltzing through the halls of Guru-Cool instead, with Students of the year popping out of decorated corners. This would have worked with a fictional name (IIPPM, maybe?), or if an actual South-Indian girl was cast as Ananya. Alia does the best she can with her lines (and dimples), but at no point did I believe her to be a fiercely ambitious Tamilian girl in touch with her traditional roots. Even if I overlook their post-coital tea-drinking, the line has to be drawn at their respective choices of placement and remuneration after graduating from India's biggest management school.
There are some amusing moments, especially when Krish tries to pull a DDLJ-act with Ananya's conservative folks. Her upright father, played soberly by Shiv Subramaniam, is the only character that reminds me of the rare instance of cross-culture pollination done right (Vicky Donor). But 'Two States' lacks that exact sense of casting, instead relying too heavily on people's perception of the book and its' modest goals.
One of the less dated facts this film gets right is that a writer often gets inspired by pain. 'Two States', the book, was a result of momentary heartbreak too. As is this review.
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