Best Films at Filmfare Awards (1953-1960)

The Best Films between 1953 to 1960 that bollywood produced and that still hold cine-lovers hearts for their originality and essence. The great filmmakers best works in one read.

Hold back and have a look...





Mughal-E-Azam (1960)An Indian epic film produced and directed by K. Asif was a lavish production that took nine years to finish.The film broke box office records in India when released and held the record for the highest grossing film ever until the 1975 film Sholay broke its record. In 2004, a colorized version of the movie was released theatrically for the first time.


Sujata (1959)Bimal Roy film that starred Sunil Dutt and Nutan supported by Lalita Pawar and Shashikala explored the situation of caste in India.





Madhumati (1958)The movie starring Dilip Kumar, Vyjayantimala, Pran and Johnny Walker dealt with reincarnation and had a gothic noir feel to it. The film was one of Roy's greatest commercial successes.

Mother India (1957)The film ranked #3 in the list of all-time box office hits. It was a benchmark film of Indian Cinema that voiced many social issues.



Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baaje (1955)The musical drama had Sandhya and Gopal Krishen as lead pair.

Jagriti (1954)This movie is now remembered largely for its patriotic songs, written by Pradeep and set to music by Hemant Kumar.


Boot Polish (1954)This childrens film was a Raj Kapoor production and won accolades for its performances and music.




Do Bigha Zameen (1953) directed by Bengali film director Bimal Roy and starring Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy in lead roles, the film is known for its socialist theme, and is an important film in the early parallel cinema of India and is rightly considered a trend setter Like most of movies by Bimal Roy, art and commercial cinema are merged to create a movie that is still looked upon as a benchmark and paved way for future cinema makers in the Indian neo-realist movement, which began in the 1950s. It also won international prize at Cannes.

Mirchi Music Awards 2009

Music … is medicine of life. It is a natural therapy, it has power to make us laugh, Cry and create a serene effect on the listener. In a nut-shell, its been by our side every time we may need and turn to it.



Now it’s time to return the favors and acknowledge the all-giving music. Thank it for everything it’s done for us! And it was only fitting that Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM — India’s hottest radio station, took the lead in this long-overdue gesture.

Radio Mirchi hosted a glittering award show — the Tata Indicom Mirchi Music Awards last Saturday, to honour excellence in Hindi film music and thereby felicitate deserving artists in our music industry.

Eminent personalities from the film and music fraternity attended the award ceremony where trophies were awarded across popular and technical genre for the year 2008 in 17 different categories. The jury’s salute for memorable contribution to music was bestowed upon saxophonist and music arranger Manohari Singh who worked extensively with music director R D Burman.



The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar for her outstanding contribution to the music industry over the years.

Hosts

The hosts for the event were singer Shaan and actress Tulip Joshi.

Performances

Bollywood actors

To make the evening memorable, there were some outstanding performances by chirpy actress Genelia D’Souza, Bipasha Basu and Shahid Kapoor.

Bollywood Singers

Singers Kunal Ganjawala, Neeraj Shridhar, Tulsi Kumar and Shreya Ghoshal enthralled the audience with their mellifluous voices by rendering some of the best songs of the year.

The show stopper of the evening was Abhishek Bachchan who also gave away the two most important awards of the evening – Song of the Year and Album of the Year which were won by Jashn-e-Baharaa from the film Jodhaa Akbar and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na respectively.

Commenting on the event, Prashant Panday, CEO, ENIL said, “Music is the lifeblood of radio and for Radio Mirchi to host this first edition of the Tata Indicom Mirchi Music Awards is but natural.”

Contest

As a build up to the awards, Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM and Tata Indicom ran the grand “Tata Indicom Talent Hunt” contest for aspiring singers across 23 key locations in India. Aimed at identifying a combination of ideal voice, spunk and X factor, the contest winner — Prachi Shah from Ahmedabad —got a chance to attend as well as perform at the Tata Indicom Mirchi Music Awards.

The Tata Indicom Mirchi Music Awards will be telecast on Sunday April 12, at 9.30 PM on Star Plus

Taare Zameen Par drops curtain on this year’s Asian Film Festival

The occasion of the last screening of the two-week long second Asian Film Festival was held on Thursday evening last week. A large crowd gathered to watch the award winning Indian film “Taare Zameen Par” that highlighted the important message that children are our future and we should take care of them.

The screening was followed by a cultural show with folk dances from Kashmir, Gujrat and Tamil Nadu states by students of the Indian International School.



Before the film officially began, the Indian Consul General Sayeed Ahmed Baba welcomed the guests and remarked that the film has a simple but very strong message, particularly for teachers and parents. The movie is directed and produced by the famous actor Aamir Khan.

The Swiss Consul General Adriene Evequoz, particularly enjoyed the film. “The film removes obstacles and gives hope to parents and teachers on how to help, discuss and take care of special children.”

The aim of the festival was to cultivate interest in and understanding of the traditions and culture of participating countries, and it seemed to succeed overwhelmingly in that department.

Mamdouh Salem the executive director and producer of Rowad Media for Media Production and Distribution said that “The cultural show presented by the Indian school children was very nice, and we got to know about their tradition and culture."

The 2nd Asian film festival ended with a vote of thanks from Japanese Consul General Toshimitsu Ishigure to all the participants in the festival and particularly the Indonesian Consul General for hosting the event at his premises.

Taare Zameen Par drops curtain on this year’s Asian Film Festival

The occasion of the last screening of the two-week long second Asian Film Festival was held on Thursday evening last week. A large crowd gathered to watch the award winning Indian film “Taare Zameen Par” that highlighted the important message that children are our future and we should take care of them.

The screening was followed by a cultural show with folk dances from Kashmir, Gujrat and Tamil Nadu states by students of the Indian International School.



Before the film officially began, the Indian Consul General Sayeed Ahmed Baba welcomed the guests and remarked that the film has a simple but very strong message, particularly for teachers and parents. The movie is directed and produced by the famous actor Aamir Khan.

The Swiss Consul General Adriene Evequoz, particularly enjoyed the film. “The film removes obstacles and gives hope to parents and teachers on how to help, discuss and take care of special children.”

The aim of the festival was to cultivate interest in and understanding of the traditions and culture of participating countries, and it seemed to succeed overwhelmingly in that department.

Mamdouh Salem the executive director and producer of Rowad Media for Media Production and Distribution said that “The cultural show presented by the Indian school children was very nice, and we got to know about their tradition and culture."

The 2nd Asian film festival ended with a vote of thanks from Japanese Consul General Toshimitsu Ishigure to all the participants in the festival and particularly the Indonesian Consul General for hosting the event at his premises.

The occasion of the last screening of the two-week long second Asian Film Festival was held on Thursday evening last week. A large crowd gathered to watch the award winning Indian film “Taare Zameen Par” that highlighted the important message that children are our future and we should take care of them.

The screening was followed by a cultural show with folk dances from Kashmir, Gujrat and Tamil Nadu states by students of the Indian International School.



Before the film officially began, the Indian Consul General Sayeed Ahmed Baba welcomed the guests and remarked that the film has a simple but very strong message, particularly for teachers and parents. The movie is directed and produced by the famous actor Aamir Khan.

The Swiss Consul General Adriene Evequoz, particularly enjoyed the film. “The film removes obstacles and gives hope to parents and teachers on how to help, discuss and take care of special children.”

The aim of the festival was to cultivate interest in and understanding of the traditions and culture of participating countries, and it seemed to succeed overwhelmingly in that department.

Mamdouh Salem the executive director and producer of Rowad Media for Media Production and Distribution said that “The cultural show presented by the Indian school children was very nice, and we got to know about their tradition and culture."

The 2nd Asian film festival ended with a vote of thanks from Japanese Consul General Toshimitsu Ishigure to all the participants in the festival and particularly the Indonesian Consul General for hosting the event at his premises.

Taare Zameen Par drops curtain on this year’s Asian Film Festival

The occasion of the last screening of the two-week long second Asian Film Festival was held on Thursday evening last week. A large crowd gathered to watch the award winning Indian film “Taare Zameen Par” that highlighted the important message that children are our future and we should take care of them.

The screening was followed by a cultural show with folk dances from Kashmir, Gujrat and Tamil Nadu states by students of the Indian International School.



Before the film officially began, the Indian Consul General Sayeed Ahmed Baba welcomed the guests and remarked that the film has a simple but very strong message, particularly for teachers and parents. The movie is directed and produced by the famous actor Aamir Khan.

The Swiss Consul General Adriene Evequoz, particularly enjoyed the film. “The film removes obstacles and gives hope to parents and teachers on how to help, discuss and take care of special children.”

The aim of the festival was to cultivate interest in and understanding of the traditions and culture of participating countries, and it seemed to succeed overwhelmingly in that department.

Mamdouh Salem the executive director and producer of Rowad Media for Media Production and Distribution said that “The cultural show presented by the Indian school children was very nice, and we got to know about their tradition and culture."

The 2nd Asian film festival ended with a vote of thanks from Japanese Consul General Toshimitsu Ishigure to all the participants in the festival and particularly the Indonesian Consul General for hosting the event at his premises.

Indian Film Festival in LA in April

April is usually a pretty warm month in Los Angeles. It’s a perfect month to check out some movies! And the great thing about LA is that it offers variety. In April, while sitting in the cinema and lazily staring at a screen you’ll get a chance to practice your understanding of Japanese, discover the streets of Warsaw, and sing along to Bollywood songs and more!



Indian Film Festival

Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles will take place from April 21-26 at the Arclight. Its goal is to showcase “films from or about India made by Indian and international filmmakers.” Similar to the Japan Film Festival in LA, its mission is to promote a greater appreciation of Indian culture and cinema. Indian culture and its cinema has been greatly appreciated last year, with its pinnacle at the 2008 Oscars where “Slumdog Millionaire” received 8 golden statuettes. And this festival will celebrate the career of Anil Kapoor who played the host of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” in Danny Boyle’s film. One of the films are the festival is “Virasat” in which Anil Kapoor plays the lead role (and I’m sure he’ll attend the festival). To watch a film at this festival will cost $12 for the general public and $9.75 for Seniors and Students.


Three other Film Festivals will also be organized as a part of the April Show, These are Beverly Hills Film Festival, Japan Film Festival and Polish Film Festival.

The 10th annual Beverly Hills Film Festival will take place from April 1-5 at the Clarity theatre’s dedicated to independent filmmakers and will include some premiere of indie films.

The 2nd annual Japan Film Festival in Los Angeles takes place from April 10-16 at the Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex and from April 17-19 at the Downtown Independent. Japan Film Festival–Los Angeles, JFFLA, was started to help promote Japanese films and Japanese filmmakers. It’s also dedicated to delivering a better understanding and appreciation of contemporary Japanese culture. They will screen films that already premiered in Japan and that were made between 2007 and 2009. A movie that looks really interesting is "Funuke, Show Some Love, You Losers!"

The 10th Annual Polish Film Festival in Los Angeles will take place from April 22 - May 3 at the Laemmle's Sunset 5. This festival will present the best Polish films from 2008 followed by Q&As with the filmmakers and cast. It’s a great place to meet Polish filmmakers (if you want to!) or Polish people working in Hollywood. The program of the festival is not online yet but I hope that they’ll show “Hania” a film directed and shot by the great cinemtographer Janusz Kaminiski.