This is the story of a young boy called Ajitpal. Born in Punjab, he was born to a father who ran a cinema hall. As he grew up, he discovered that his father’s business incurred heavy losses and the family shut the cinema hall and moved to Ahmedabad, where his father took up a job as a security guard. It was a traumatic childhood of pain and penury but his passion for writing, and traveling changed his fortunes. Singh shot to fame with his webseries Tabbar and now he makes his debut Hindi feature, Fire in The Mountains. Premiered at Sundance Film Festival, the film is produced by Ajay Rai, Alan McAlex and co-produced by Mauli Singh. An 82-minute family drama, it tells the tale of a mother who toils to save money to build a road in a remote Himalayan village only so that she can take her wheelchair-bound son for physiotherapy to the city. Her husband however believes that a shamanic ritual (Jagar) is the remedy and steals all her savings.  

Fire in the Mountains has travelled to more than 30 international film festivals and has won 13 awards including Audience and Critics’ awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actors.

“The film is a journey driven by love, dedication, and passion and delves into societal issues against the mesmerizing backdrop of the Himalayas. No matter how many films I make, this will always remain special to me” says the filmmaker. Producer Mauli Singh adds that artists from across countries have collaborated on the film and the success is a result of collective energy and cultures”.

After Sex Lies and Videotapes we have Sex, Likes & Stories directed by Keith Gomes, known for his peculiar taste in off-beat topics. The mastermind has been acknowledged for his previous work in the Oscar-eligible short film – Shameless. Sex Lies and Stories is shot on iPhone and features Abhishek Banerjee, Mokshda Jailkhani, and ShruthyMenon. The film addresses our growing obsession with the social media and insecurities associated with it, the ugly truth of the internet.  We are living in a world ruled by filters, algorithms, and it is time to face the real world.

On May 21st (Japan Time), XG made their first appearance at the large-scale music festival, Head in The Clouds New York Music & Arts Festival, hosted by 88rising at the Forest Hills Stadium in New York.

They captured the hearts of the audience with their breath-taking stage presence and New York’s 15,000 audience danced to their popular songs. Recently XG showcased their first performance in Japan at the world’s largest K-Culture festival, KCON JAPAN 2023 and once again the euphoria was unbelievable.

It is always one film and one character that escalates an actor’s journey to the top and for
actor Rasika Dugal it was Beena Tripathi of Mirzapur that got her noticed on the OTT
platform.  The actor has just completed Season 3 of the series and confessed that when she
was first offered the character, she was extremely nervous and thinking of saying ‘no’ to the
series. Rasika says, she was not confident that she suited the part and felt the character called
for a more voluptuous, overtly sexy actor and then she remembered a stranger she met years
ago at a private party and unknowingly based her character on this stranger. Recalls the actor,
“This frail girl came from a small town, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, a singer, quite ordinary
but when she started to sing, she transformed into a sensual, irresistible voice. That image
stayed in my mind for a long, long time and I decided that she would be my model for Beena
Tripathi”.

When something special has to happen, you know it in your heart. So, when Tovino was offered the script of 2018, he started reading it like any other script but was weeping half way through it. He loved the subject but did not share it with anyone. The filmmaker knew that he had an ace up his sleeve and was not going to give up without putting his best foot forward. Tovino recalls that when the shooting ended every day and everyone longed to get under the umbrella, Jude would be wading through the waters, writing new scenes on paper.

Filmmaker Jude Anthany Joseph’s critically and commercially acclaimed Malayalam film 2018 hit the screens on May 5 is continuing its dream run at the box-office. Shot like a thriller, the film has become a rage and the Kerala government has on public demand increased the shows of the multi-starrer in cinema halls. Currently the film is showing in multiple languages and garnered 146.6 crore worldwide within ten days. 2018 tells the story of the devastating Kerala floods when all individuals came together to survive the calamity. The film effectively takes forward the message that humanity can win over adversity.

Rajesh Roshan shot to fame with Mehmood’s 1974 film Kunwara Baap followed by 1975 super hit Julie; and after that there was no looking back for the music composer. Son of the illustrious music director Roshan, Rajesh Roshan carved a niche for himself in film music. Nobody had imagined that a young  composer would challenge three established music directors but Rajesh Roshan made a space for himself amidst stalwarts R.D. Burman / Kalyanji-Anandji  and Laxmikant-Pyarelal. Rajesh Roshan reinvented himself from time to time with different singers and filmmakers that included his brother Rakesh Roshan and melodies like Kaho Naa… Pyaar Haibears testimony to that. Wishing the versatile music composer, a happy, happy birthday.

The 1971 film Chhoti Bahu directed by KB Tilak and starring Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila
Tagore was based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Bengali novel Bindur Chhele written in

1956. It was a remake of Telugu film, Muddu Bidda and a super hit. This was the phase when
      every film featuring the lead pair was a super success and Chhoti Bahu was loved for its
      music and complex characters.  It was a story of a couple unable to consume their marriage
      because the heroine suffers some mental blockage. 
      I did not follow the story when I watched it as a little girl and never watched it again. What I
      remember though was that it was about a dark secret related to Sharmila Tagore and not
      shared with Rajesh Khanna and his family before marriage. The film was a super success
      because it was that phase when Sharmila Tagore and Rajesh Khanna together could do no
      wrong. Those were the days!

It is wonderful how our present-day actors are expanding business beyond making movies. Ajay Devgn started as an actor and has over the decades expanded to film production, direction and now he launches his own cinema chain. The actor/ filmmaker is all set to launch NY Cinemas, a unique multiplex, named after his children, Nyasa and Yug, in Guwahati. The idea is to bring back the magic of the single screens into the multiplexes. The question is, will the idea work? 

Devgn is confident it will because the theatre is located in the heart of the city, Roodraksh Mall and offers the largest screen/ 56 feet wide with Dolby Atmos sound. So, for the first time the theatre will include a Mocktail Bar and authentic meals prepared by a team of passionate chefs. The cuisine, the décor and the design are all aligned with the culture and the tradition of Assam. Its best feature is a 360-degree photobooth and a 12ft video wall in the lobby to capture unforgettable memories. NY Cinemas currently operate across 12 cities and 50 screens.

 In 75 years of independence nobody has paused to ponder over Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse, to reflect why Godse did what he did? Like Ravan is always featured in every projection of Lord Ram on the big screen, Nathuram Godse is a permanent villain in all films made on the Mahatma. In 2023 one filmmaker, Raj Kumar Santoshi made an effort to present a different story of the assassination though and today, Nathuram Godse’s 123^rd birth anniversary is a good time to revisit Godse Gandhi-Ek Yudh.  The film is a fictional account of what would have happened, had Mahatma Gandhi survived the bullet triggered by Nathuram Godse. In Santoshi’s narrative, Mahatma survives the attack and recovers to pardon his offender. In fact, Mahatma befriends Godse and the film projects a healthy debate of ideology and perspectives.