DesiReflections

Those who have born and brought up in Calcutta, they know meaning of Adda. It is nothing but sitting in a group for hours together talking anything from everything with friends as well as strangers while sipping tea. Indian Express Group brought Adda to Mumbai with a little difference. Instead of nukkad chai shop the venue was very upmarket Olive Kitchen & Bar at Pali Hill, Bandra. The addebaz were top celebrities from Bollywood including Poonam Dhillon, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vinta Nanda etc etc. The occasion was relaunching of Screen in new sleek avatar instead of Broadsheet. The speaker of evening was Shah Rukh Khan who had taken questions from all and sundry to keep everybody in good spirit and humor. Right from Kolkatta Nightrider his films, caricaturing his colleagues to competitors. While he speaks about his friends turn foes, he appears to be very candid.He admits all his foes's names starts with S! He also admits that Mumbai has made him more humble, had he been in Delh...

EMBRACING DIGITAL : OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES IN BUILDING BRANDS IN INDIA  iMEDIA BRAND SUMMIT : Sep 21-23, 2011 Digital is a new buzz word in advertising. Conventional advertisers also started taking note . Reason is simple , it is focussed, measurable, it can map behaviour pattern of consumer and capable of changing game rules. To demystify its real power interaction between buyer and seller is very important. Network Play alongwith iMedia Communication organized 3 days summit in Grand Hyatt, Goa One minute that counted : A unique way to break the ice and get started with introductions, the one-minute match up was the corporate version of speed dating. The room was abuzz with energy and people were milling about with visiting cards and notepads. We even spied someone dragging along a Powerpoint presentation to each table. Hope springs eternal and all that. Digital build brands:  The opening keynote panel on Day 1 set the agenda straight with this th...

The occasion was Pre Onam get-together by Matrubhumi Publications in Mumbai. I saw some of the best performance of Theyyam, now almost forgotten religious dance form of North malabar region of Kerala. I thoroughly enjoyed the performance. In fact it was so enchanting and engrossing that during the performance, I was almost forgot the distance between mortal and immortal, only God/ Goddesses in their mesmerising spin of traditional colorful attire, mask and more then anything pure flow of innvocation. I could gather some info about this dance form and will try to explain : According to the legendary Keralolpathi, Parasurama sanctioned festivals like Kaliyattam, Puravela and Daivattam or Theyyattam to the people of the North Malabar region. He also assigned the responsibility of performing the Theyyam dance to the indigenous tribal communities like Malayar, Panan, Vannan and Velan. "There can be no doubt", say Bridget and Raymond Alchin, "that a very large part of ...

I have cherished memories of Rhythm House at Kala Ghoda in Mumbai. My visits to this iconic records and cassettes shop were no less the musical journey. Decked with cassettes and records of latest Bollywood,Hollywood, Jaz, Indian Classical, Western Classical, Pop, Rock this shop used to attract large crowd, people of all age groups, lovers of all genre of music. Music companies used to test launch their products at this shop. But it is past, you may not find crowd any more at Rhythm House. Is it an indication that music is dying ? No honey its not true. People are indulged into listening more music. But of course the form has definitely and drastically changing. Not surprising a number of established music companies like TIPS Cassettes and Record Co. have stopped coming up with CDs of their latest music until and unless there is firm order. KPMG in its report on music business mentions that now music reaches to its end user in various other formats such as internet, mobile ...

STATE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS IN SHOW BUSINESS NOW A DAYS I work in Public Relation domain from quite some time. To me it is really a very satisfying to see that you build a right kind of image for your client which he really deserves ! But during last few years role of PR people has completely changed, from fixing anything to everything for your clients in trade & industry to shock fans with all kind of Jhoot ke Pulande in show business. I remember good old days when a PR person in film industry used to be a one man army, right from arranging press coverage for shooting, film preview followed by cocktail parties, advertisement in the film trade magazines, , interviews with cast, producer, director all rolled up in one army. Now a days PR function has been taken over by smart, pushy trained marketing professionals. They take good care of their client by planting stories (read bizarre) to get more eye balls.Some time these stories work some time outright rejected by the fans. Here ...

दर्शक सलमान खान की फिल्मे इस लिए देखना पसंद करते हैं कि उनमे फुल्टू मनोरंजन रहता है. लेकिन लगता है कि अब सलमान अपने प्रशंसकों के धेर्ये की परीक्षा लेने में तुल गए हैं . उनकी यह पिक्चर हिट तो हो गयी क्योंकि ईद पर कोई बड़ी फिल्म नहीं थी और सलमान फैन अपने पसंदीदा सितारे को देखना चाहते थे पर यह फिल्म वावजूद अच्छे स्टंट के वेहद पकाऊ किस्म की है , अब जब कि यह फिल्म हिट हो गयी है इसका नीर छीर विवेचन करना जरुरी है. कहानी प्रेम सूरत और रुतबा देखकर नहीं होता। वो तो बस होता है और जब होता है तो फिर कुछ नहीं सोचता।पर क्या किसी को बिना देखे भी ऐसा प्यार किया जा सकता है जो न केवल प्यार करने वाले की बल्कि उसकी भी जिन्दगी बदल दे जिसे प्यार किया जा रहा है। निर्देशक सिद्दकी की सलमान , करीना कपूर और हेजल कीच की मुख्य भूमिकाओं वाली फिल्म बॉडीगार्ड दरअसल फिल्म निर्देशक की ही लिखी और निर्देशित मलयालम और तेलगु फिल्म की रीमेक है। फिल्म में राज बब्बर ,शरत सक्सेना,आदित्य पंचोली, विद्या सिन्हा, महेश मांजरेकर,चेतन हंसराज,मोहन कपूर और रजत रवैल की भी महत्वपूर्ण भूमिकाएं हैं। फिल्म की कहानी लवली सिंह(सलमान...

अलविदा गणपति गणेश चतुर्थी मुंबई में न सिर्फ भक्ति भावना का ज्वार लाती है वरन सामुदायिक रहन सहन का एक अनूठा उदाहरण प्रस्तुत करती है. गणपति वप्पा मोरया के समवेत स्वरों से सड़क, गली गुंजित हो जाती हैं. चाहे गरीब हो या फिर अमीर हर एक के घर में मिट्टी के गणपति स्थापित किये जाते हैं , जगह जगह पंडाल में सार्वजानिक मूर्ति भी रहती हैं जहाँ भक्त जन बड़ी संख्या में जुटते हैं , धार्मिक भावनाओं का उभार चरम सीमा पर पहुँच जाता है. सुबह शाम भजन कीर्तन भक्तों का उत्साह और बढ़ा देते हैं. इस आलेख का उद्देश्य इस दौरान की जाने वाली चंदा उगाही या फिर त्यौहार के राजनीतिकरण के बारे में चर्चा करना नहीं है वरन मूर्ति विसर्जन से जुड़ी अलौकिकता की अनुभूति है. इस बरस मैंने विसर्जन के लिए लोखंडवाला से वर्सोवा बीच का सफर तय किया. दो किलोमीटर की यह दूरी तय करते करते चार घंटे लग गए . सड़क पर विसर्जन के लिए जाते सैकड़ों समूह लेकिन कहीं कोई अव्यस्था नहीं , भजनों और 'गनपत बाप्पा मोरिया पुरचा वर्षी लौकरिया' के समवेत स्वरों, ढोल नगाड़ों के कोलाहल के बीच आनंद ही आनंद. जो कहता है कि इस महानगर में केवल त...

Faith carries tremendous power. Its an old saying that a physically challenged person can cross mountain with the power of his ! Come September, it is time for Ganesh Chaturthi, another occasion for faith building, when the entire city falls in the magic spell of Ganapati. He is the lord of people, powerful and easily approachable God. Whether it is lane full of jhopadpatti, small society, big society or any cross road, maidan one can find eye catching mud idol of Ganesh, and the devotees flocks morning evening chanting Ganpati Bappa Morya. Real magic of faith unfold every day, till this mud idol of Ganesh immersed in sea. See any Ganesh Idol, the skilled craftman create magic in mud, the mud takes shape of divinity. I am seeing Ganpati year after year from last 25 years. Scale of public Ganpati celebration has gone much higher, modest to extravagent. From a budget of few hundred/ thousand to multi crore. Now we have so many pandals where raja and maharaja Ganpati sits, few exa...