Filmigyan: 2016

Thursday 12 May 2016

Interesting Bollywood Facts - II

11. Lata Mangeshkar's song ‘Ae Malik Tere Bande Hum’ from ‘Do Aankhen Barah Haath’ (1957) which was an original composition by Vasant Desai, was adapted by a Pakistani school as the school anthem.

12. Style diva Rekha wears only crimson or chocolate colored lipstick when making public appearances.

Image Credit: © BCCL

13. Actor Amjad Khan was almost dropped from ‘Sholay’ (1975) because scriptwriter Javed Akhtar found his voice weak for Gabbar Singh's role. Danny Denzongpa was approached for that role initially.

Image Credit: © BCCL

14. Amitabh Bachchan is so punctual that many a times he used to open the gates of Filmistan Studios himself for he used to reach the place before the watchman or gatekeeper.

Image Credit: © BCCL

15. ‘Silsila’ (1981) is the only movie in which Shashi played an elder brother to Amitabh. In all the other movies starring the duo, Amitabh has essayed the role of the elder sibling. The films include hits like ‘Deewar’, ‘Suhaag’, ‘Do Aur Do Paanch’ and ‘Namak Halaal’.

Image Credit: © BCCL

16. In his youth, actor Dharmendra was such a big fan of actress Suraiya that he walked miles to watch her film ‘Dillagi’ (1949) over 40 times.

Image Credit: © BCCL

17. Because the cinema industry was still considered a low profession in the 40s, music director Naushad was introduced by his parents to his bride as a tailor. And ironically, the music that played in his ‘baraat’ was from ‘Rattan’ (1944) – that had been composed by him.

Image Credit: © BCCL

18. Music director Madan Mohan, who was a very good cook, bribed Manna Dey with bhindi meat to make him sing one of his composition, ‘Kaun Aaya Mere Mann Dware’ in ‘Dekh Kabir Roya’ (1957).

Image Credit: © BCCL

19. Mohammad Rafi, who loved watching boxing, requested the organisers on his tour to Chicago to get him an appointment with Mohammad Ali. Otherwise a busy man, Ali proceeded to Rafi’s hotel room when he found out that the legendary Indian singer wanted to meet him.

Image Credit: blogspot (dot) com

20. Joy Mukherji learnt the dance to ‘Duniya Pagal Hai Ya Phir Main Deewana’ in ‘Shagird’ (1967) from a dancer in a Hong Kong nightclub. On his way to the shooting of ‘Love In Tokyo’, he visited the club and was very inspired by an energetic dancer in the club – he went up to her and asked her to teach him the steps.

Wednesday 11 May 2016

Interesting facts about Bollywood Diva 'Rekha'

Rekha, or Bhanurekha Ganesan, is a living legend of Bollywood. She was and still has been stealing the hearts of her fans through her timeless beauty and acting. Her journey in Bollywood has not only been about her flawless acting, but has also been a mixture of secrets and rumours. Keep reading to find some interesting facts about the Bollywood diva Rekha that we bet you did not know.

1. Born out of wedlock!

Bhanurekha Ganesan, or as we know her, Rekha, is the daughter of Gemini Ganesan, South Indian actor, and Telugu actress, Pushpavalli. Her father did not marry Pushpavalli, and also did not acknowledge his paternity when she was still a kid. She has a sister, one half-brother and five half-sisters.

#2.Ugly duckling

Rekha did not like acting, but was forced to work in B and C grade movies due to financial problems. She quit her school to support her family financially. She started her acting career with a Telugu movie,Rangula Ratnam. She was also considered as an ugly duckling before she established herself and got her break in Bollywood.

#3. No Hindi, no movie

Rekha struggled to communicate with her co-workers as she could not speak Hindi, during her initial days in Bollywood.

#4. Complete makeover

The actress took some time out and concentrated only on herself, and entered Bollywood as a timeless beauty in the 1970s. She transformed herself by routine exercises and diet. And much of the credit for her makeover goes to none other than, legendary actor, Amitabh Bachchan with whom Rekha was believed to be have had a rampant affair.

#5. Never ending link-ups

As her career in Bollywood flourished, she was linked with different Bollwyood actors like Vinod Mehra and Raj Babbar. Even during the later years of her career, she was linked with young actors like Akshay Kumar. We obviously did not forget the rumours of her affair with Amitabh Bachchan, who fought with a man troubling her during the shoot of Ganga Ki Saugandh.

#6. Husband woes

She married Mukesh Agrawal, an industrialist, who committed suicide, just a year after their marriage. Rumours were that he could not tolerate Amitabh and Rekha’s affair, though he left a note saying, “Don’t blame anyone”.

#7. Rumoured marriage

Image Courtesy: Ghar

There was also another rumour about the actress being secretly married to actor Vinod Mehra. But, Rekha never admitted to this. In fact, she openly denied this rumour on the talk show Rendezvous With Simi Garewal.

Image Courtesy: Indian Express

#8. The prestigious National Film award!

She won the National Film Award for best actress in the movie Umrao Jaan. She learnt Urdu for this movie and also confessed, “After reading the script, I had a strange feeling that I had Umrao in me.” She also acted in several parallel films along with the mainstream, maintaining a healthy balance between the two.

#9. Yogic beauty

Rekha practices yoga every day. She believes that it is yoga and the highly disciplined life that she leads that have made her an ageless beauty in Bollywood, today. She also admires different ayurvedic spa treatments.

#10. Ek chutki sindoor

Rekha, after the demise of her husband did not marry again. Yet she has often been spotted with sindoor (a sign of a married Hindu woman) at public outings. And even more interesting than this is the fact that, no one till date had the nerve to question her about the mysterious sindoor in hermaang!

Friday 29 April 2016

Interesting Facts about the Epic Love Story "Mughal-e-Azam"

Epic love story "Mughal-e-Azam" Released in 1960 is a cinematic landmark in many ways.
The supremacy of the movie can be gauged from the fact that when the movie was re-released in its color version in 2004, surprisingly, it recreated the same magic at the box-office that it created in the 60’s.

The premiere of Mughal-e-Azam was held at the then new,1,100-capacity Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai, The day before bookings for the film opened, a reported crowd of 100,000 gathered outside the Maratha Mandir to buy tickets.[8] The tickets, the most expensive for a Bollywood film at that time, were dockets containing text, photographs and trivia about the film, and are now considered collector's items

We Are Presenting 13 Interesting & Unknown Facts About the Legendary Movie .

1# When the first shooting schedule began in 1946, K. Asif cast Chandra Mohan, D.K. Sapru, and Nargis for the roles of Akbar, Salim and Anarkali, respectively.

2# Tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain says, "I was considered for the role of the young Dilip Kumar. But the role was eventually played by Jalal Agha."

3# This was one of only two films K. Asif completed. When he died in 1971, he left behind two unfinished films, Sasta Khoon Mahenga Paani and Love and God, the latter released by K.C. Bokadia in 1986.

4# The song "Ae Mohabbat Zindabad" had Mohammad Rafi sing with a backup chorus of 100 singers.

5# During Making Of the Film K.Asif was in huge debt so he even bought paan and cigarettes on credit.

6# The statue of Lord Krishna used in the film was made of pure gold.

7# The colour version of the film was the first Indian movie to be released in Pakistan after Indian movies were banned there after the 1965 war.

8# Before every shot, Prithviraj Kapoor (who played Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar) would look into a full-length mirror. When director K Asif asked the reason for the odd behaviour, Kapoor said he did it to 'get under the skin of the character'.

9# This is the first full feature-length movie to be coloured and re-released in theatres in the history of cinema. Some English films have been coloured but only released in the home video format.

10# Cinematographer R D Mathur had to experiment with lighting to shoot the famous Sheesh Mahal setting of Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya. He tried painting the mirrors with wax to check the glare, which worked but also made the visuals dull. He then tried placing strips of cloth strategically to create bounced lighting.

11# For the scenes in which Madhubala is imprisoned, instead of using lightweight chains, real, heavy chains were used to tie her up, in order to make the scene look authentic. So much was her dedication that Madhubala would stand, shackled with these heavy chains, even in between shots, so that the pain shown in her face would look real. She was in pain for days after that, with many bruises caused by the chains.

12# For the battle sequence, 2,000 camels, 4,000 horses and 8,000 troops were used.

13# In the movie Kala Baazar, the premiere of "Mughal E Azam" was shown as a live event where Dev Anand does blackmarketing of the premiere shows tickets.

Wednesday 27 April 2016

Amitabh Bachchan Success Story

Quick Facts

Early Life

Although Amitabh Bachchan’s unwavering popularity makes it difficult to imagine that he was ever anything but famous, this legendary actor’s success story is all about troughs and crests. Unlike many superstars, Amitabh Bachchan saw failure at the peak of his career and struggled in a mature age as an actor and claimed back his throne of super-stardom in the second phase of his acting career.

It is a little-known fact that in early life, Amitabh Bachchan, who aspired to become an actor, was rejected for his voice, gangly height and not having a ‘camera conducive face’. History is well-versed in irony because today, Amitabh Bachchan is known across India and the world at large for his baritone voice, commanding height and striking face.

Career

Amitabh Bachchan’s first stint in the movie world was his role as a voice narrator in the National Award winning film Bhuvan Shome in 1969. His first acting role followed soon after in Saat Hindustani. In 1971, he played the critically acclaimed role of a cynical doctor in Anand which also earned his first Filmfare Award. In 1972, he appeared in Bombay to Goa, which was another notable film of his early career.

In 1973, Amitabh Bachchan landed his biggest, most legendary role in Zanjeer. This film also helped establish his ‘angry young man’ image among the adoring masses. He also made Abhimaan with his wife Jaya Bachchan that had a successful run at the box office. He appeared in several films like Deewar, Sholay, Kabhie Kabhie, Amar Akbar Anthony, Mr. Natwarlal, The Great Gambler etc. that helped secure his position as the top actor.

Amitabh Harivansh Bachchan with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

In 1982, Amitabh Bachchan suffered an intestinal injury while filming the movie Coolie. The accident proved to be a near death experience with a bad case of splenic rupture and huge blood loss. Later, he was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis which sent him into a pessimistic state of mind and he decided to quit films.

After several years of slump and consecutive box office failures, Amitabh Bachchan returned to stardom with Mohabbatein where he played an elderly, stern teacher. This was followed by several successful family dramas like Ek Rishtaa, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham and Baghban. He also starred in several critically acclaimed movies like Aks, Khakee, Dev and Black, the last of which won him his second National Film Award for Best Actor.He hosted and continues to host all the seasons (barring one) of the popular television game show Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Amitabh Bachchan stands as an enigma, a true inspiration to many actors of generations below him. Still going strong and never bogged down with age, Big B as he is fondly called, rules the hearts of millions all over the world.