DesiReflections

Last week I had occasion to make a trip to mahabaleshwar and Panchgani. True, these hill stations are not as great as any hill station in the lap of Himalaya, because there you may view majestic snow clad peaks and thus a very different feel. But nevertheless for those who live mechanical and fast pace life in Bombay, these twin hill stations are a really great escape an opportunity to be your real self, you and pure nature. My visit also gave me a chance to be a part of five day long Strawberry Festival. Many people do not know that 85 per cent of India's strawberry production comes from Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani region! These five days the farmers open their strawberry fields to the tourists.Suddenly the entire region has a feel of Strawberry everywhere. Hotels, resorts, shops wore bloted, computer generated images of the fruit. The entire route to Verna Lake's waterfront festooned with boats bearing ads, flapping numerously in the wind.whereever you go strawberry pantations a...

निर्माता : आस्कर रविचंद्रन निर्देशक : के.एस. रविकुमार गीत : समीर संगीत : हिमेश रेशमिया कलाकार : कमल हासन, असिन, मल्लिका शेरावत, जया प्रदा ‘दशावतार’ फिल्म का निर्माण इसलिए किया गया है ताकि कमल हासन दिखा सकें कि वे कितने प्रतिभाशाली हैं। फिल्म में उन्होंने दस भूमिकाएँ निभाई हैं, हीरो भी वे ही हैं, विलेन और सहायक भूमिकाएँ भी उन्होंने ही निभाई हैं। बूढ़ी अम्मा, अंग्रेज, चीनी, बंगाली बाबू, जॉर्ज बुश, सरदार, वैज्ञानिक जैसे कई किरदार उन्होंने निभाए हैं, उन्होंने दिखाने की ‍कोशिश की है कि वे हर प्रकार की भूमिकाएँ निभा सकते हैं। निर्देशक और लेखक का सारा ध्यान इसी बात में लगा रहा कि हर दृश्य में कमल का कमाल दिखे और इसके लिए उन्होंने कहानी, स्क्रीनप्ले जो किसी भी फिल्म के मुख्य आधार पर होते हैं, को दोयम दर्जा दिया। अगर कमल के कमाल को देखने के लिए भी यह फिल्म देखी जाए तो भी निराशा हाथ लगती है। मैकअपमैन ने कमल का मैकअप ऐसा किया है कि वे पहचान में नहीं आते, लेकिन कमल द्वारा निभाए गए अधिकांश चरित्रों का मैकअप इतना भद्दा है कि बनावटी लगता है। फिल्म की कहानी 12वीं सदी से शुरू होती है और इक्कीसवीं सदी ...

8 x 10 TASVEER *ing: Akshay Kumar, Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Girish Karnad, Javed Jaffrey, Anant Mahadevan, Rushad Rana and Uttara Baokar. Percept Picture Company's long time-awaited Akshay Kumar-Ayesha Takia starrer film 8 x 10 TASVEER releases in cinemas worldwide on 3rd April 2009. The movie is directed by Nagesh Kukunoor who shot to fame in industry through Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts Production IQBAL and widely acclaimed DOR. Produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-series, 8X10 TASVEER is a thriller with supernatural element to it. 8X10- TASVEER is an edge of the seat action thriller that promises to never let up the pace and culminates in an unexpected climax. The talented duo, Salim Merchant and Sulaiman Merchant has composed the soulful music for the film though in the film only one song is a part of story, of course this song does not obstruct the flow of tight gripping screen play. The lyrics are penned by Irfan Siddiqui, Sameer and Bohemia. The background score elevates...

It is Navratri time. As a faithful, we observe fast for eight days in a row. It was last Sunday, my family decided to go to Kohlapur for darshan of Godess Mahalashmi and seek her blessings. Kohlapur is around 500 km from Bombay, the road is really excellent if not world class. To be very honest our Inova was gliding with cool 130 km an hour. Landscape on way gives an impression that you are in the lap of hills, though the fact remains it is the ghat area. Kohlapur was a principality. Shivji's son Shahu Maharaj's ruled the area, even after 58 years of independece the area has a feel of Raj. The lone source of Brown Sahib's entertainment and socialising RC Club was established in 1898 and still flourishing. Godess Mahalashmi is adhishtarthi devi of Kohlapur, she has really blessed the place, it is much more prosperous comparing to other part of Maharashta, we were told that per person per Mercedes here is highest. Mahalashmi temple is almost in the middle of city in fact ...