Barkha Roy captures the life of MF Hussain

There’s a lot more to the renowned late painter MF Hussain than just his paintings. Did you know that he loved filmy gossip and wouldn’t mind making regular calls to his friends to catch up on it? Well, the world may know him as a controversial artist/filmmaker who stirred quite the hornet’s nest during his stay in India so much so that he had to take an exile but the man was also a friend people could count on! And now Reena Roy’s sister Barkha Roy is soon to release her film on Hussain’s journey of life.

“I had met Hussain Sahab around ten years ago at Samta Bank in Bandra and instantly had become friends with him. He had also seen the film I produced, Sanam Teri Kasam, and had also expressed his wish to work with me someday which I had agreed upon as well. Unfortunately, that couldn’t happen but I wanted to honour my commitment and there couldn’t be a better way to do that than film his life journey for his millions of fans,” says Roy while talking about her film My Friend Hussain.

But make no mistakes, this isn’t a mundane biopic on MF Hussain, Barkha declares that the film is a proper commercial fare targeting at everyone. “My Friend Hussain is an out and out 1hour 10 minutes of commercial film. It’s Hussain’s journey with friends. And all big artists like Raza, Kishan Khanna, Ram Kumar have all spoken about the great painter. The film will be released in September around the time of Hussain Sahab’s birthday. It’s my tribute to the great painter and I want the world to see his personal side,” says Barkha Roy.

Recalling her fond memories of Hussain, Barkha reveals an interesting incident that showed Hussain’s big-heartedness, “It was this one time when he invited me for lunch and despite giving me time, he reached around four hours late. He furiously apologized when he realized it didn’t go down well with me and the gentleman that he was he made sure he made up for his mistake by gifting me my portrait that he had painted.”

Well, we are sure the fans of MF Hussain will eagerly await the release of this movie!

Chirag Thakkar to enter in Amita ka Amit

Amita ka Amit aired on Sony Entertainment Television is gearing up to witness the entry of an arrogant choreographer Siddhanth to be played by popular actor Chirag Thakkar who was last seen in Sony TV’s Bade Ache Lagte Hai. Sources inform that Chirag will be playing a role of choreographer, who would choreograph special Janmashtami dance sequence for Amita. Siddharth is known for his no nonsense and arrogant attitude, who will leave no end to criticize Amita. On the hand Amita is leaving no stone unturned to prove herself in dancing. 

Will she be succesfull in wining everybody’s heart by her special Janmashtami performance?

To know  that  tune into Amit ka Amit Monday to Friday at 8.30 pm only on Sony Entertainment Television

Media Invite to cover musical homage to Shamshad Begum on Tuesday, 6th August, 2013 in Gurgaon

                Two Societies namely PECOBA and SAKHA are jointly organizing  a program of musical tribute to late playback singer Shamshad Begum who died on 23^rd April, 2013 at the age of 94. It is being held at Epicentre, Apparel House, Sector 44, Gurgaon on Tuesday, the 6^th Aug, 2013 from 7.30 pm sharp to 9.30 pm sharp
                    Born in Lahore in 1919, Shamshad was the oldest surviving playback singer of film industry. She was highest paid singer of her time and even Lata Mangeshkar has sung in chorus in  songs in which Shamshad Begum was the lead singer. To give an example, in the song “aji khushian manayen kyoon na ham, ham kisi se…” from film “Khidki (1948) which was set to music by C. Ramchander, the lead singer is Shamshad while Lata is singing in chorus. (Record of this song was issued by Columbia Company in their Record No. GE 8088). Shamshad was the recipient of Padma Bhushan Award in 2009.
                              In our program, one of the topmost singer of Northern India Simrat Chhabra and other top singers will be singing Shamshad’s solo and duet songs. The journey of her singing life from 1937 in Lahore to Bombay will be illustrated through slides and through recorded interviews of our compere Mamta Vani with persons of film industry like Kamini Kaushal, Tabassum, playback singer Meena Kapoor, Shamshad’s daughter Usha Ratra, wife of music director Husan Lal Mrs Nirmala, radio Ceylon announcer Gopal Sharma and others.
                            Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh (PEC) is one of the oldest colleges of India and was originally born in Lahore in 1921 .PECOBA is an Alumni Association of this College and was founded by 46 years ago in 1967. PECOBA has 10,000 members all round the world. Its alumni include Kalpana Chawla and Jaspal Bhatti.
          SAKHA is a premier cultural society of Delhi, founded 26 years ago in 1987. It is known for its pioneering contribution towards reviving and popularizing the golden period of Indian Film Music by organizing music competitions in memories of legendary singers like KL Saigal, Mukesh, Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar etc. A large number of singers first discovered by SAKHA through these music competitions are today playback singers in Mumbai, including Sonu Nigam who won Rafi competition in 1988.
.         This is the first program of musical homage to Shamshad Begum at the national level. In view of the national importance of this event, I request you to depute your person and camera team to cover the Function. General schedule of timing is given below:
 7.30 pm sharp to 8.20 pm……Songs of Shamshad Begum by Simrat Chhabra & other singers
8.21 pm to 8.40 pm…..Floral tribute to Shamshad Begum by dignitaries, release of website www.simratchhabra.com and distribution of SAKHA AWARDS. Awardees include Dr DR Saini, Principal Delhi Public School, Dr Rawail Singh, Secretary, Punjabi Academy, composers Mohinder Sarin & Chhote Lal. Consent from suspended IAS Officer Durga Shakti Nagpal is still awaited.
8.41 pm to 9.30 pm sharp….Songs of Shamshad continued. Program ends at 9.30 pm sharp

Bollywood'​s biggest iftaar bash on 6th

The ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI DOBAARA team is leaving no stone un-turned in its promotion and in capturing the strong Muslim flavour of the film.

A grand iftaar party has been organised at a suburban Mumbai hotel on the 6th of August, for which invitiations are going out to the biggest industry and non-industry names.

Says a source, “Many top-level politicians and government officials are expected at the bash."

“The iftaar daawat will be a huge celebration. Besides Ekta and Tusshar (Kapoor), Akshay (Kumar), Sonakshi (Sinha), Imran (Khan), Milan (Luthria, director), Shatruji (Shatrughan Sinha) and Jeetuji (Jeetendra) are extending personal invitations for the bash,” says Tanuj Garg, CEO, Balaji Motion Pictures.

As many as 400-500 guests are expected to attend the do, for which security has been beefed up.

A short qawwali performance by the Sabri Brothers has been planned and the décor will have an Arabic theme.

The food menu will comprise traditional Eid delicacies. “Dates will be served to break the roza. For dinner, there will be many Mughlai specialties served such as Handi Biryani and Kebabs,” adds the insider.

Coincidentally, Emraan Hashmi, who played the role of Shoaib in the original ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAI DOBAARA, will also be present. A photo opp between the old and new Shoaibs will surely be among the highlights of the keenly awaited party! 

‘Bani - Ishq Da Kalma’ celebrates 100 episodes

 

Producer& creative director Raaj Shetty along with Writer/producer Damini Kanwal Shetty threw a party to celebrate completion of 100 episodes of their serial ‘Bani - Ishq Da Kalma’ on 2^nd August 2013. Along with Raaj Shetty, Damini Kanwal Shetty and director Nandita Mehra the actors present for the celebrations were Puneet Issar, Rita Bhaduri, Raaj Shetty, Shefali Sharma, Adhvik Mahajan, Neha Bagga, Gaurav Chaudhary, Ekta Singh, Navni Parihar and others.

It was a full out Punjabi get together where Punjabi dhol player welcomed each and every guest to the beats of their drums. A huge bani cake was cut by cast and crew and in the end all the crew members of ‘Bani-Ishq Da Kalma’ treated their actors and producers with a beautiful skit. “This is the most precious gift we have received. Inspite of hectic schedule, they took time out to rehearse. All are such good performers,” said Damini Kanwal Shetty. Adds Raj Shetty, “it’s definitely a proud moment for us. Show has received many pats on the back but this is all result of good team work.”