There is an old saying in show business, when it rains, it pours and that is coming true for
Sachin-Jigar who have been on a roll for a while. This year the celebrated music duo weaved
magic at the Bali Yatra in Cuttack with their memorable numbers ‘Apna Bana Le’, ‘Phir aur
kya chahiye’, ‘Tere vaaste’ and more. High on the success of their superhit love ballad ‘Phir
aur kya chahiye’ has created history as the most streamed song.
The other love ballad to make headlines is King’s ‘Maan meri jaan’ crossing over 275
million plays, followed by Karachi singer-songwriter Kaifi Khalil’s tune ‘Kahani suno 2.0,’
composer-duo Sachet Parampara ‘s ‘Malang sajna’, Arijit Singh, Pritam and Amitabh
Bhattacharya’s ‘.

Vikas Bahl started his career with advertising, later he worked with several companies like UTV, Spotboy and  others. In 2011, he first shot into fame with Chillar Party and even won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay, with Vijay Maurya. The film also garnered the National Film Award for Best Children’s Film, which gave him the confidence to direct a film he always wanted to, Queen, starring Kangana Ranaut changed Kangana and Bahl’s destiny.

Bahl’s  was on top of the world when his next film Shaandar, about a destination wedding crashed at the box-office.  Bahl was confused. Showbusiness is unpredictable but the setback was difficult to endure.  He was not ready for a feature film so he directed a short film Going Home,  with Alia Bhatt, on women’s safety, that went viral. Slowly, he mustered confidence to make a biopic on mathematician and IIT-JEE coach Anand Kumar called Super 30 which was acknowledged by both the box-office and the critics.

All of us discovered the devastatingly handsome Fawad Khan in Pakistani serials. For me it was Zindagi Gulzar Hai and for others it was Humsafar.  He was outstanding in both.  Producer Rhea Kapoor had a brainwave to cast him opposite her sister Sonam Kapoor in Khoobsurat/ 2014 and he was so striking that soon all the top banners were queuing up for him. In 2016 Kapoor & Sons and Ae Dil Hai Mushkil brought him in the headlines and just when we thought we had another Khan in show business, Fawad was asked to pack up and return to Pakistan. India did not want any exchange of art or artists with the neighboring country.

 A million hearts broke but it was not such a big loss because Indians still got to watch Fawad Khan in Pakistani serials and Fawad Khan’s heroines and directors were happy that the prodigal had returned home. Wishing you a happy birthday and a happy journey in time to come.

I first saw Suchitra Krishnamoorthi in a film called Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa. She was young, vivacious and there was no reason her career shouldn’t have taken off but it didn’t. She was unaffected and quite frankly didn’t particularly try hard to fit into the rat race. She was a successful model, came from an educated family and was not fiercely ambitious.

Over the   decades, she fell in love with filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor, got married and had a baby, Kaaveri, today a grown-up girl and an accomplished singer.  The wonderful thing is that Suchitra truly discovered herself after her divorce. She is not just a professional actor dabbling in movies and theatre but a trained singer with many albums to her credit. She is a poet and a published author, a painter. On her 48^th birthday I wish her the best in all she does.

I am of the generation of journalists who saw Smita Patil pregnant.  The magazine I edited featured a pregnant Smita talking about her baby. We reported on her delivery and why Smita and also the post-natal complications. Nobody expected Smita Patil to die but she did and it was a funeral to remember.

For a while Prateik was brought up by his maternal grandparents but he spent time with his father’s family as well and proudly wore his surname. I often wonder what kind of a life Prateik would have had if his mother was alive. Maybe she would have charted out a different path for his career. Would he have been more successful? It is a difficult question to answer but he would definitely have been more secure and happy. Anyway, Prateik has worn his cross gracefully and on his special birthday, I wish him all the best.

Critics describe Luca Guadagnino movies as visually stunning. Be it I Am Love (2009), A Bigger Splash (2015), the Academy Award-winning film Call Me by Your Name (2017), Suspiria (2018), feature documentary Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams (2020). Bones and All (2022) won Guadagnino the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival 2022. He made his TV debut with the HBO drama series We Are Who We Are (2020), which he created, directed, wrote, and produced. His film Challengers starring Zendaya, Mike Faist, and Josh O’Connor, releases in April 2024, and currently he is in the post-production of his next feature based on William S. Burroughs’ novel Queer.

One of the key highlights of Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival this year is going to be the masterclasses by these two veterans. India loves their work, and they are an inspiration for established as well as budding filmmakers across the world.

MAMI aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas and provide easy access to information related to filmmaking, funding, film distribution, business opportunities, and strategic marketing support for films and filmmakers.