What is the Madras connect in Guru Dutt's film, Kaagaz Ke Phool?

 Guru Dutt portrays a highly successful, passionate and famous film director in Kaagaz Ke Phool.

The film also explores the fleeting nature of fame in show business. The movie is set in the film industry and there was a need of authentic backdrop to show the rise and the fall of the protagonist Suresh Sinha, played by Guru Dutt.

Most of the film's studio scenes were shot at Vijaya Vauhini Studios in Vadapalani, Madras (now Chennai).

However, the studio did not receive explicit credit and for a long time people assumed that it was shot in Mumbai studios.

The iconic opening scene where an old Guru Dutt is shown walking through the studio gates and numerous other scenes showcasing studio's floors, cranes and arclights were filmed at Vijaya Vauhini Studios. The movie’s final scene features the surrounding areas of Vadapalani, showing a stark, undeveloped landscape of coconut trees.

The film was released at a time when Madras (Chennai) was emerging as a major hub for film making often challenging Mumbai's dominance in terms of studio facility.

The name Ajanta Studios used in the film was a fictional production company name created for the movie’s story.

Just to add, the iconic beam light scene in the song, “Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam” was not shot in Madras (Chennai). It was shot at Mehboob Studios, Mumbai. Guru Dutt had made special modifications to the studio's ceiling and walls to achieve the spectacular lighting effect in the song.

Image(s) Courtesy: Google

Which film actually saved Akshay Kumar's career after his 14 consecutive flops?

 This was an amazing movie - Jaanwar. The movie nearly saved Akshay Kumar’s struggling career. Jaanwar was released in 1999 and it was directed by Suneel Darshan. Akshay’s performance, dialouge delivery and even getup was different from his run of mill similar movies. A fact - Suneel Darshan revealed in an interview that the powerful protagonist role played by Akshay was initially written with keeping Sunny Deol in mind.

credit - google image

Jaanwar’s sucess had many reasons - chartbuster songs - “tujko naa dekhun too” , “Mausam ki trah”, “Mera yaar dildaar”. Akshay’s bond shown with his adopted son was the prime emotional arc of the story. Parallely, it had other tracks of Karishma and Akshay's earlier love story and later track Shilpa’s love for son - additionally Akshay’s struggle against law and followed by love changing him from movie’s title “Jaanwar” to a great human. Akshay’s role as a gangster was named Baadshah in the 1st half and more powerful role of Babu Lohar in the 2nd half.

credit - google image

The movie had a famous dialogue “yeh Babu Lohar ka haath hain”. Despite having Akshay, Karishma, Shilpa, Jaanwar had a powerful supporting cast - Ashutosh Rana, Shakti Kapoor, Johny Lever, Mohnish Behl, Ashish Vidyarthi. There is an amazing emotional scene in the movie - of Ashish Vidyarthi with Akshay’s son.

credit - google image

Ashish played a police officer who gets obsessed with Akshay’s character to arrest him. Finally after a decade of consistent search for Akshay which results him in not getting promotion, he arrives to catch Akshay ( who was earlier a criminal ) - Ashish’s character realizes that Akshay has been a changed man when he converses with Akshay’s son and gets surprised to listen that Akshay or Babu Lohar wants his son to become like Ashish Vidyarthi’ honest character/policeman. While earlier Akshay and Ashish were obvious rivals. He eventuslly drops the idea to arrest Akshay. A must watch scene.

Please watch this movie and you will enjoy and even it will bring some tears too. An action movie with right emotions can be great sequel with good nostalgia.

Jai Hind!

Will Kannada industry (Sandalwood) overcome Telugu industry (Tollywood)?

 Kannada film industry was blessed with artists like Rajkumar, Vajramuni, Musuri Krishna Murthy, Srinath, Sundar Krishna urs, Doddanna and others.

Kannada film industry is blessed with few good movies and presently Multi-talented legend like Navarasa Nayaka Jaggesh his equally talented brother Komal Kumar.

So Kannada film industry has nothing to overcome.

Only interested people maybe some interested Kannadigas can watch it. It's their wish.

As long as people watch movies and have their faith in Kannada movies.

Which actress has acted in only one film?

 There are many actress which worked in a movie, but never got another chance. However, one name who did wonders in her first movie ( a cult classic), however, surprisingly did not work in other movies was Gayatri Joshi.

credit - google images

credit - google images

She debuted against SRK in 2004 movie - Swades. Gayatri matched Shahrukh in terms of acting, amazing confidence as she never looked like a novice. It is very difficult to match the aura of gifted actor and star like SRK in terms of acting, expressions and dialouge delivery. Her dialogues with SRK on marriage, socio economic conditions of rural India and efforts to improve, were too good. In 2005, she married with ultra rich Vikas Oberoi and since then happily married, living life of happening celebrity.

The second name is not someone who worked in one movie, she worked in three movies, however, her prominent movie was a sleeper hit. She raised several eyebrows on her good looks and there were many conspiracy theories as why she did not worked in more movies. This was Jasmine from 1988 Veerana movie.

credit - google images

credit - google images

This Ramsay brother horror movie, still known for the good looks of actress Jasmine. Jasmine was the reason that made this little known movie as a hit on the box office. What happened to her has not been concretely known. Last update, in 2017 - she has been living in Mumbai with her family with retired from movies.

credit - google images

It was a grapevine that Underworld was aggressively persuing her post Veerana, and she left industry, isolated her from the film industry to keep herself safe from them.

Jai Hind!

Why is the 1991 American film The Silence of the Lambs considered one the 1000 best films?

Apart from the fact it’s well written, well directed and well acted, “Lambs” completely changed the way we thought about horror films.

In the past, horror films involved an antagonist that was scary because they were violent for no well defined reason, except maybe they didn’t like teenagers having sex. They were silent monsters without a thought in their brain except to kill, kill, kill. They were also really, really ugly.

(Typical horror movie antagonist - Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a good film in its own right).

“Lambs” gives us two antagonists in its “plot within a plot” format (which itself created an innovative storytelling technique), The first is our “main” antagonist:

Meet “Buffalo Bill”. Bill isn’t a homicidal maniac, but he is a killer. He’s not crazy, just deeply disturbed. Bill thinks he’s transsexual, but he isn’t. He doesn’t use a chainsaw, he uses a couch to lure in his victims and a pit to finish them off. Bill’s actions aren’t random - he wants to make a suit out of human skin which he can wear to look like a woman. He picks his victims very carefully - overweight young women who he starves so their skin will be easier to harvest. He’s also fairly smart.

However, he’s picked the wrong victim. The FBI is after him, and they have chosen this young agent to help hunt him down - she’s our protagonist.

Meet Clarice Starling - a pretty young FBI agent straight out of the academy. She soon realizes she’s a pawn in the FBI’s game, but she’s damned if she’s going to let this career opportunity go to waste. She’s been chosen to try to manipulate another killer, and here is where the horror genre is blown out of the water.

Hannibal Lecter. Possibly the scariest character in movie history. Currently serving multiple life sentences in a specially constructed cell which he never leaves. He was a psychiatrist who was obsessed with killing people and eating them. He would have gotten away with it too if some FBI agent hadn’t lucked out. The agent barely survived his encounter with Lecter. However, despite being extremely dangerous he’s also incredibly intelligent, outwardly charming and supremely manipulative. He’s our secondary antagonist.

Hannibal has information the FBI needs. They hope Clarice will appeal to him and he will give up the identify of Buffalo Bill. Bill’s case is well known to Hannibal, but the FBI thinks that Hannibal knows his identity.

But Hannibal’s problem isn’t with Clarice, it’s with this butthead:

Doctor Frederick Chilton. Hannibal’s pretty much at the mercy of this butthead, who takes delight in torturing Hannibal for his own purposes. He’s also trying to help out the FBI and thinks he can do it by putting pressure on Hannibal. He’s our secondary protagonist. Essentially, it’s a race between him and Clarice to get the information out of Hannibal. However, Chilton’s primary motivation is to make Lecter’s life a living hell.

Let’s just say that nothing goes to plan and examine some of the other ways the story is told.

The entire theme of the movie is manipulation, with each character at some point trying to manipulate one of the others to get their way. Even Clarice gets into the act, offering Hannibal the chance to actually spend some time in the “real world” on a beach on an island. Manipulation and counter manipulation run rife as when a character realizes they are being manipulated, they often manipulate back (Hannibal knows they won’t let him out of his cage).

The movie also allows the audience to be engrossed in the story at several points, allowing them to get inside Hannibal’s mind at several points. Not to give too much away, watch for the scene where Chilton can’t find his pen (don’t worry, you will know exactly where it is) and one where they find a dead guard in the elevator shaft (yeah, you will figure out what’s going on right away then too).

And like any good horror movie, the move implies more horror than it actually reveals, and keeps you on the edge of your seat sometime waiting for something bad to happen.

Why do some films choose to shoot scenes spontaneously in crowded areas like NYC without getting permits?

 Getting the permits necessary to shut down New York City streets and other public areas can be extremely expensive. And if your film does not have a budget for that, you simply film your scene the best you can while New Yorkers go about their lives.

To give you an idea how expensive we’re talking, during the filming of Vanilla Sky it cost $1 million to seal off Times Square for three hours and film a single scene there.

(Times Square, all closed off for the filming of Vanilla Sky, one Sunday morning in November.)

Now Times Square is a much bigger lift than other places in the City, but it helps put things in perspective.

To shut a street down completely, you will need a plan to deal with the traffic problem you’re about to cause, permits to do so and the NYPD to do all the work of traffic control and pedestrian diversion for you. And you can bet you’re paying for the NYPD officers to block the street off.

Because this is a major pain in the neck for New York City, and you will pay through your nose for the privilege.

Instead, you can simply go out and film right on an open street, no permits necessary. But this does mean you will deal with the crowds and the traffic whether you like it or not.

And trust me, this can be an issue.

(“Hey, I’m walking here.” Though the real incident behind this scene wasn’t used in the film, the production recreated it using a rented cab with an extra behind the wheel to get a better take a bit more safely.)

One of the most famous scenes in film history was improvised after a real life taxi nearly ran down Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman as they crossed a busy New York street during the filming of Midnight Cowboy.

What are some mind-blowing facts & trivia about Indian Film Industry ?

 1. Shilpa Shetty was interested in ramp modeling as a teenager. After passing 10th standard, she built her portfolio (photographs). She went to an audition but got rejected because she was considered short and was told to lose weight. The photographs that she had left at the audition were noticed by a filmmaker Dilip Nair, who later cast Shilpa in his film. That film got shelved but opened doors for her. She was cast in Baazigar (1993), and became a star.

2. Anil Kapoor’s wish was to become a film producer and his elder brother Boney Kapoor’s to become an actor, but the opposite happened instead, Anil became an actor and Boney a producer.

3. Juhi Chawla and Shahrukh Khan worked together for the first time in Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman (1992). By then, Juhi was an established actress with a Filmfare award win + 3 nominations. Shahrukh was a new-comer and Juhi had absolutely no clue who he was. Vivek Vaswani (co-producer and friend of Shahrukh) told her that Shahrukh looked just like Aamir Khan! and she should definitely work with him.

4. During school, Shahrukh was a part of a 5-member gang called C Gang, which was inspired by other ‘gangs’ trying to appear cool. C Gang even had a logo and identity cards.

5. Shahrukh was a sportsman before appearing on TV. Once he had got injured and was feeling low. Around that time, theater director Barry John was directing a play and looking for boys and girls. Shahrukh went for the audition and got selected. Barry John cast him as the main dancer and also assigned him a dialogue. Barry considered Shahrukh a good singer and dancer.

6. Abbas-Mustan revealed how Shilpa’s death scene was shot in Baazigar. The first choice was CGI, but Shilpa was willing to perform the stunt instead. She was suspended from a rope above a green screen and the background was added in post-production. Shilpa had completed the shot perfectly despite sustaining injuries.

7. D Ranganathan (Shahrukh’s friend from his theater days) revealed that once he and Shahrukh were returning from a play in a car. Due to security reasons, they were stopped by the police. A policeman had asked, “What’s in the trunk” and Shahrukh had replied, “2 AK-47 rifles and a dead body”.

8. Before they got married, Shahrukh had been to Mumbai (from Delhi) to look for Gauri. He took his friend Thomas with him and stayed at somebody’s flat. Both had to leave the flat early and spend a night at the railway station. Thomas revealed that Shahrukh had said at Marine Drive that he’d rule the city one day!

9. When Shahrukh was working for Barry John (helping him with stuff, not acting), former’s mother was checking a house, which was being shown by Kamal, the son-in-law of RK Kapoor (director of serial Fauji). She told Kamal that her son was an actor working for Barry John and he’d check the house after returning. That’s when Kamal suggested that his father-in-law was creating a TV serial (Fauji) and Shahrukh should meet him.

10. The maternal grandmother of Rani Mukherjee had wished for Rani’s mother Krishna to become an actress, but the latter wasn’t interested. This is one of the reasons why Rani was driven towards acting career by her mother.

11. Salim Khan was very keen to cast Rani. He had offered her a film when she was in 10th standard. Rani was a bit scared of being offered a film so early. It was only after 12th standard that she started considering acting.

12. There was absolutely no plan of casting Rani as Tina in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Director Karan Johar was willing to cast Twinkle Khanna for that role. He had met Twinkle, Aishwarya Rai, Raveena Tandon, and Karishma Kapoor, but none of them accepted the role. It was only then that Rani was roped in.

13. Rani’s first ever film was actually a Bengali romantic film called Biyer Phool (1996) which was produced, written and directed by her father Ram Mukherjee. It earned average to positive reviews from critics & audience.

14. Shilpa’s mother is an astrologer and had predicted her daughter’s fortune. She had told Shilpa’s father about the same but he wasn’t in favor of modeling or acting career. When Shilpa shared her desire to become a model, her father assumed that her’s mother might be right. He let Shilpa model but with one condition, she must complete her education.

15. Before Hema Malini’s birth, her mother was confident that she’d give birth to a girl. She even had decided to name her “Hema Malini” and predicted that Hema would become an excellent dancer.

16. Anil Kapoor had met Yash Chopra and begged for a role in Parampara (1993). Without knowing the role, he insisted Chopra let him in. Chopra finally signed him. But, Anil ran away before the shoot because the role was of the father of Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan. Vinod Khanna played the role.

17. In 1994, Shahrukh was listening to a qawwali at a Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan concert in London. He loved it and thought of using it in his film. All the rights were bought from NFA Khan and the preparation of a full song was going on. Before the idea could be floored, Akshay Kumar’s Mohra (1994) released with the same tune in the song “Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast”.

18. Ajay Devgn and Raveena Tandon worked together in Divya Shakti (1993) and started dating. Two years later, Karishma Kapoor (allegedly) dated Ajay, which made Raveena angry. In an interview, she claimed that Ajay had betrayed her. Ajay warned her not to spread lies. She accused Karishma of being insecure and snatching many roles from her. Then Ajay suggested Raveena get treated from a psychiatrist. This all ended when Raveena found a new attraction, Akshay Kumar.

19. Shambhu Nath had a dream, to see his son Sanjay Mishra becoming an entertainer. He sent Sanjay to NSD. Sanjay tried hard but could achieve more than average success. In the midst of all this, his father died. Sanjay was so traumatized that he decided never to continue acting career. He hid from the public view and started working at a small food stall. But, Rohit Shetty found him. Rohit encouraged Sanjay to return to films. That’s how Sanjay Mishra returned to the film industry.

20. Punjabi actor Veerendra was Dharmendra’s cousin. Veerendra had started his film career in the Punjabi film industry after seeing his cousin becoming a star in Hindi cinema. Within a decade, Veerendra achieved great success. He was shot dead in 1988. It is believed that other members of the Punjabi film industry were jealous of him and someone among them had contracted his killing.

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Sources of Information: Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai & Suhana Safar With Annu Kapoor.

Why do talented actors like Achyuth Kumar and Ram Kumar remain underrated in Kannada cinema despite their skills?

 Achyuth Kumar is very overrated Kannada actor and not loyal to Kannada film industry. I don't think he is underrated. He is one of the worst actors ever and often overacts.

Even Tulu actors who are lucky to have landed in Kannada Film industry like Rakshit Shetty, Rishab shetty and Raj B Shetty are very bad actors and known for overacting and poor expressions.

Ram kumar is a product of nepotism and not underrated. His father is a producer. He came to the film industry under the influence of his father in law senior actor Rajkumar

Navarasa Nayaka Jaggesh is the most underrated Kannada actor. He is the best Kannada actor till now presently active. No present Kannada actor can come close to him in terms of acting skills.