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Time of India
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Shabana Azmi says her 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani' co-star Jaya Bachchan is 'completely different person from image that the media has created'
Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan worked together in Karan Johar 's 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani,' which was released in 2023. As the film completed two years since its release, Shabana Azmi talked about the bond she shared with Jaya Bachchan. During the same, the former stated that her co-star is nothing like what the media shows. Let's check out what Shabana Azmi has to say about Jaya Bachchan. In an interview with NDTV, Shabana Azmi claimed that Jaya Bachchan's public image does not reflect who she is in real life. The latter is infamous for her straightforwardness with the media. However, Shabana Azmi stated that her 'Rocky Aur Rani' co-star is quite "funny." She said, "Jaya is very warm and a completely different person from the image that the media has created about her." She further stated that Mrs. Bachchan was the reason she joined the Film and Television Institute of India after watching the short film titled 'Suman.' Shabana Azmi added that she had never seen someone act like that and thought that if there was a place where one could learn such good acting, then that is where she would want to go. Recalling the scene where Jaya Bachchan's Dhanlakshmi faints after watching Dharmendra and her character kiss, Shabana Azmi said, "We were laughing even on the set. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like The Most Beautiful Women In The World Undo She is extremely funny." In short, Shabana Azmi expressed that people have misunderstood Jaya Bachchan due to her videos with paparazzi and other incidents. She stated that the 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' actress is totally opposite of what she is portrayed to be. More about 'Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani' The film featured Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt in the titular roles. The movie received a lot of love from the audience. The film talked about how two people, who are from different backgrounds, fall in love and work on their relationship, despite their clashing personalities.
NDTV
a day ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
NDTV Exclusive: Why Shabana Azmi Calls Her Rocky Aur Rani Co-Star Jaya Bachchan "Very Funny"
New Delhi: Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, directed by Karan Johar, completed 2 years on July 28, 2025. The film boasted of an ensemble cast, led by Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh in titular roles. In conversation with NDTV on the film's anniversary, Shabana Azmi spoke about her bonding with another veteran actress in the team - Jaya Bachchan. She played the role of the antagonist in the film, Dhanlakshmi Randhawa. What's Happening Thanks to social media and a deluge of pap videos, Jaya Bachchan is infamous for her interactions with photographers and, mostly, her disapproval of them popping up everywhere. Speaking of the reputation that the younger generation has of the veteran, Shabana Azmi refutes it as she calls her Rocky Aur Rani co-star "very, very funny". "Jaya is very warm, and a completely different person from the image that the media has created about her. She was the reason why I had joined the Film and Television Institute of India after watching the short film Suman. I've never seen acting of that kind. And I said, wow, there's some place where we can learn acting of that kind. And that's where I want to go." Shabana Azmi highlights the iconic moments when Kanwal (Dharmendra) and her onscreen character Jamini share the most-talked-about kiss, and Jaya Bachchan faints in the most dramatic manner. She says, "We were laughing even on the set. She is extremely funny." About Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani A cute-meet love story between a flamboyant Punjabi boy, Rocky and an opinionated Bengali journalist Rani. They fall in love despite their clashing personalities and diverse cultural backgrounds. As their families oppose, the lovebirds decide to swap their homes for three months to win them over before getting married. In A Nutshell Shabana Azmi spoke of her lovely bond with Jaya Bachchan on the sets of Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. The actress also spoke about how Jaya Bachchan is vastly opposite to the image she has in the media.
The Hindu
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
From Ritwik Ghatak to John Abraham: A Radical Cinematic Legacy
Published : Jul 26, 2025 17:49 IST - 14 MINS READ The birth centenary this year of Ritwik Ghatak, the redoubtable chronicler of the partition of Bengal as also of the naxalite movement, is as good an occasion as any to recall the insightful words of the independent American critic Jacob Levich, who studied the cinemas of both Ghatak and, arguably, his foremost student, John Abraham, with equal keenness: 'Ghatak's stint as vice-principal of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) for a short while in the 1960's left something of him in his students. A John Abraham would never have happened were it not for the tutelage of Ghatak. Abraham did what he did because Ghatak validated his angst. Perhaps, similar was the case with his other protégés, but besides these few men, the legacy of Ghatak seems to have terminated. We need more people to be aware of this great man's ouevre and humanity. We need young filmmakers to continue in the tradition of this alternative school of filmmaking.' When Abraham died at the age of 49, there died with him a part of what is known as the 'Ritwik vision', for none of his Institute students had so tenaciously stuck to his credo, if not his craft, as Abraham. Ghatak had faith in Abraham; he sensed in the young man a capacity for creativity springing from a sense of protest that he did not find in too many of his students at the Pune institute, or elsewhere. Talking to an interviewer, Ghatak said that he 'pinned' his faith on Abraham; and Abraham did not fail his Ritwik-da. Especially in his last film, Amma Ariyan, which may be read as a homage to both Mother as well as to Mentor, but in a language far removed from that of the Bengal master. We should not fail to notice that though their social philosophy was uncannily similar, the two were quite different when it came to the use of poetics or aesthetics to make their respective personae felt. It was poor consolation to those who knew and loved Abraham that the short, lean, bearded man died with the knowledge that his last film had won two prestigious prizes at the National awards for 1986: the special jury award for excellence in direction and another for best black-and-white cinematography (by the gifted Venu). The New Wave I first heard of Abraham sometime in the second half of the 1970s when his second film, Agraharathil Kazhuthai (Donkey in a Brahmin Village), caused a wave of critical interest. Made in Tamil and not in his native Malayalam, Donkey was a delightful and disturbing satire on Brahmin bigotry and superstition told through the story of a little donkey. The poor creature is blamed for all the ills that descend on the village and is ultimately killed by some people hired by the local Brahmins. But the tongue-in-cheek Abraham would not let the story rest at that. The humble four-legged on which The Family rode into Bethlehem was invested with posthumous miraculous powers as also a frightening capacity to invoke an apocalyptic end. Following the death of the donkey, an absconding son returns out of the blue, a lame woman is able to walk again, so on and so forth. The sinner becomes a saint overnight: a temple is raised to the memory of the benevolent creature, and black humour expressed in an almost documentary style has a field day. While the film was eminently successful in giving an idea of how people with closed minds give birth to a rigid and cruel society, it could also be read as an allegory with recognisable parallels in human experience. Many an innocent person is hounded out of his wits in his lifetime, only to be pronounced blameless, even blessed, when he is safely dead and buried or cremated or whatever. Also Read | What happens to radical cinema in reactionary times? When Ghatak was alive and made his kind of films with a conviction and vengeance hard to come by in Indian cinemas, which naturally caused a lot of discomfort to varied vested interests, he was declared to be insane as a result of excessive drinking over a period of many years. But once he was dead and could no longer be a thorn in anyone's flesh, or so they thought, retrospectives of his films began to be held all over, and such homage started being paid to him by word of mouth or in writing as would have perhaps caused him to wither away in embarrassment had he been living. A similar fate was reserved for Abraham. For many years, he was treated as some kind of a joke, on account of his drinking and his offhand lifestyle. Little or no mention was made in well-defined circles of his importance as a filmmaker and intellectual. But those who knew him well and had also done a bit of history-reading could easily make out that those who laughed at him were extremely nervous in their laughter, for they saw in Abraham a threat to the iniquitous established order of things. Born in Changanacherry in Kerala, Abraham graduated from Kerala University. After adorning a clerical chair at the LIC office in Bangalore for a while, he joined the FTII in Pune. His first film won the National award for best story, but went largely unnoticed. It was with Donkey, his second film, that he made many sit up in admiration. It was five years before he could make his third film. Amma Ariyan, his fourth and last work, made Abraham a legend. Rarely has a film established a director as firmly in the minds and hearts of viewers as Amma Ariyan did. Crossing State boundaries and regional frontiers with a sureness that was difficult to believe when it first began to happen in the late 1980s, Amma Ariyan has acquired a pan-Indian audience today that is characterised by mature thinking about cinema as art, politics, and philosophical discourse, not confined to metaphysical niceties. Abraham's political philosophy is full-bodied, rooted in the searing lives and experiences of the people he chooses to portray, and yet ethereal in a moving, contrarian sort of way. One of the mysteries of what goes by the name of New Indian Cinema, that never ceases to haunt me, relates to the question of what further conquests Abraham would have made had he not died at the young age of 49 after taking that quantum leap with Amma Ariyan, which could be the dream of many a filmmaker of high substance. To leave just at the moment when one is poised to join the pantheon is a sadness that is difficult to express adequately. It is impossible not to get emotional while discussing this unforgettable 'people's artist', not so much in the sense of social realism as value-driven humanism with an unflinching agenda not to submit to the tyrannies of history or the market, come what may. While on the subject of the near-hysterical allegiance on the part of many viewers in Kerala, Bengal, and elsewhere to the artistic and political legacy of Abraham, I strongly repudiate any suggestion made by some 'established' filmmakers that the allegiance is juvenile or mindless over-enthusiasm. It is the likes of Abraham and Ghatak who have given to film art in India that cutting edge, without which the viewing experience is reduced to, well, viewing for the sake of viewing. Cinema is a many-roomed mansion; and the master and his pupil, who was himself maturing into a master when prematurely snatched away, inhabited a particularly ill-furnished chamber reserved for those opposed to mathematical precision or clinical cleanliness in art. Perhaps, making it big in the world in his lifetime may not be the best thing to happen to an artist. A teacher's worth It has been said that one reliable way of measuring the worth of a teacher is to explore the quality of the work done by his best students. By that standard, Ghatak appears to have succeeded splendidly. For the brief period that he taught at FTII, he had among his students some brilliant young minds who, in subsequent times, went on to be major contributors to what is known as New Indian Cinema, a creative and interrogative movement lasting all through the fourth quarter of the last century. They included Mani Kaul, Saeed Mirza, Nirad Mahapatra, Kumar Shahani, and Abraham. It was only to be expected that a modern and powerful medium like film should take note of the naxalite movement in its different regional avatars in this vast and variegated country. In this connection, two films immediately come to mind—Ghatak's Jukti Tokko Aar Goppo (Reason, Debate and a Story) and Abraham's Amma Ariyan (Letter to Mother)—not only because they deal with a common theme, but also because the viewer is repeatedly reminded of the commonality of their makers, their attitudes, purposes, and sensibilities. Abraham was able to direct only four films in about two decades. Of these, the last, Amma Ariyan, gave rise to important discussions by virtue of its depiction of what the director perceived to be the naxalite persona in Kerala, and many things besides. Amma Ariyan has a slow, stretched-out beginning lasting for half an hour or so. For those who know their Abraham well, there is nothing exasperating in this; for others, it could well prove to be a test of patience. But for those who pass the test, the next one and a half hours could come as a revelation. The film is structurally reminiscent of Jukti Tokko Aar Goppo, which tried to come to ideological grips with a group of militant young naxalites holed up in a jungle, both fearless and vulnerable at one and the same time. Ghatak's film starts in the port city of Calcutta and ends in wooded hill country; Abraham's starts in the northern highlands of Kerala and ends in the port city of Cochin. Both cities carry memories of the arrival of foreigners who turned into exploiters. Thematically, too, the two films are of a piece. The same attempt at indicating the historical links between the past, especially the post-Independence past, and the present; the same fierce faith in the coming generations which, however, would do well, or so the directors seem to maintain, to seriously examine the dialectics of human relationships before plunging into the maelstrom of political and social liberation and, finally, the same preoccupation with the idea and being of the Mother as the fountainhead of strength and energy. Amma Ariyan's camerawork is tailored to a feverish design, in tune with the film's total spirit, reflecting the director's vision and convictions. One sequence, in particular, should be mentioned: Purushan, the protagonist, and his small band of comrades coming out of an ancient church in Cochin. Unforgettable in its quiet impact, it summed up the feeling of unity of humankind in the service of a common ideal. 'We ought to miss original men and artists like John Abraham or his teacher, Ritwik Ghatak, if we are to defeat the mediocrity currently invading our regional cinemas.' It is this oneness of spirit that is at the core of what Abraham himself had to say about his last film: 'Amma Ariyan is an analysis of the extremist movement in Kerala during the late seventies. Many of my intimate friends connected with the extremist group committed suicide in that period. They were very intelligent, sensitive and had high aesthetic sense. Their deaths were haunting me and this provoked me to make this film. The way I see it, films should speak to the people and people should speak through cinema. The cinematic experience should rouse the social consciousness of the audience. Through Odessa [a film co-operative started by Abraham and his friends to reach good cinema to the masses], I will show my films to the people. If they don't have money, I'll show them free. Amma Ariyan is an open letter from a pampered child to his mother and it is also a letter from all those of my generation who cannot communicate. I am writing on behalf of them to Mother.' How do we bring back originality? In the premature death of Abraham, Kerala's New Cinema, which had a profound impact on filmmakers and audiences throughout the country, lost one of its brightest and most original practitioners. The word 'original' is being used with a definite view in mind, for one heard the criticism after Amma Ariyan, that it resembled Ghatak's last film in some ways, for some people's comfort. Yes, Abraham was influenced by Ghatak, which the former readily conceded with a touch of unmistakable pride, but he never imitated Ghatak: he was too talented for that. Abraham was too much of an artist and an individualist to imitate anyone. Like all original talents, he would take whatever he needed from one or more sources and then mould them according to his own artistic notions and political needs; according to his own vision of place and people, of ideology and history. In fact, we ought to miss original men and artists like Abraham or his teacher, Ghatak, if we are to defeat the mediocrity currently invading our regional cinemas. If the naxalite movement was aimed at radical political change, the small band of artists that sought to record different aspects and delicate nuances of that movement may be said to have infused fresh and challenging vision into the largely moribund film scene in the country. Also Read | Aravindan at 90: A legacy outside the market How deeply Ghatak was embedded in Abraham's soul, in his psyche, in his absurd and fanciful ways, comes across vividly in a poem called 'A Tribute To Ritwik Ghatak', snatches from which may be recalled: Ritwik Daa,/ let me call you Ritwik Daa, / I know that you are no more./ But I am, alive for you, believe me./ When the seventh seal is opened/ I will use my camera as my gun/ and I am sure the echo of the sound/ will reverberate in your bones,/ and feed back to me for my inspiration./ Thank you Ritwik Daa,/ I am thanking you/ not with impotency and insipidity./ Ritwik Daa,/ I remember you,/ when the words fail to criticize you,/ Ritwik Daa,/ eternally you are/ in my brain/ in my spirit and / in my Holy Ghost/ Amen. Nearer home, another homegrown poet but certainly not blessed with an iota of the social or artistic credentials of such extraordinary intellectuals as Ghatak or Abraham, sought to give vent to his soul thus: Some artists die/ go to heaven/ or some such place/ rub shoulders/ with heroes and saints/ spend/ rest of their lives/ like museum pieces/ cold/ remote/ untouchable/ Other artists die/ go to hell/ deserve or not/ they burn/ head heart liver spleen/ lower organs too/ burn and burn/ till to ash/ gas/ they turn/ There's one other set/ smallest/ select/ they die like the rest/ but cannot leave/ for another shore/ love of earth/ love of fellows/ follow them/ like hunting shadows/ Love of students/ love of donkeys/ love of cruel deeds/ love of mothers/ love of letters/ love of reason/ love of stories/ love of arguments/ love of fumes/ love of myths/ love of roads rivers/ love of the absurd/ love of the impure/ love of love/ pursue them/ singly/ and in packs/ to hold them back/ where they were/ No heaven/ no hell/ no earth/ no in-between/ only where they were/ exceeding god/ shaming satan/ these unquenched artists/our pride/ joy/ solace. To return to where we began, namely, the brief period during which Ritwik set FTII on fire with his alcoholic tantrums, not to mention the depth and range of his reportedly past-midnight lectures away from the classroom. Saeed Mirza, who went on to build a formidable reputation with his kitschy working-class classics around the violent and sordid underbelly of Bombay, is on record that Ghatak was given to saying that to be a filmmaker, one must carry his childhood in one pocket and, in the other, a bottle of alcohol! While Saeed or Nirad Mahapatra, the one-film Odia auteur remarkable for his poetry of small-town dailiness, took their teacher's mock-heroic, impish advice as no more than an enjoyable metaphor, Abraham embraced it so literally as to singe and scorch and finally burn himself to an untimely end. But not before he had proved himself a resounding credit to his angry, sad, great teacher. Vidyarthy Chatterjee writes on cinema, society, and politics. For several decades now, he has pursued New Malayalam Cinema with great devotion.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Payal Kapadia: ‘Neeraj Ghaywan's Masaan is a moment in Indian cinema'
When Neeraj Ghaywan-directed Masaan created a buzz by winning two awards — FIPRESCI award and the Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section — at the Cannes Film Festival, 2015, director Payal Kapadia, then a student of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, candidly recalls her initial reaction to the film's success, marked by what she termed 'film school arrogance' and skepticism. 'Is Masaan really that good? We wondered. However, after watching it, I was moved by the way Masaan talked about caste and gender. Masaan is a moment in Indian cinema,' she said. Kapadia, the writer-director of Cannes-winner All We Imagine As Light (2024), was in conversation with Ghaywan after a special screening organised by Versova Homage Screenings (VHS) on Thursday evening as Masaan turns 10. Talking about Masaan's significance in Indian cinema, she said: 'It is not often that you see characters in Hindi cinema that (give the impression) we might have met them at some point or capture feelings that we must have experienced at some point in our lives. That's why Masaan is both universal and specific to a particular place. There are so many themes in the film. As cinema students, we were inspired by how this film had used a unique cinematic language — long takes and off-screen sound — in the mainstream space.' A compelling exploration of themes of love, loss, caste, guilt, and ambition, Masaan parallelly follows the stories of its lead characters — Devi (essayed by Richa Chadha) and Deepak (Vicky Kaushal). Ghaywan's initial idea was to explore the story of a man who works at a ghat and can't muster enough courage to speak to a woman he is drawn to. 'Later on, I developed a couple of other tracks. The concept of two people, who were slowly navigating towards each other, completely oblivious of their journeys ending together, was always there.' says Ghaywan. The special screening of Masaan was organised by Versova Homage Screenings (VHS), a community viewing platform created by two brothers, writer-director Rohan K Mehta and actor Prayrak Mehta. They started VHS in April 2024 with the screening of Avinash Arun-directed Killa (2014) and this was their 25th screening. For Payal Kapadia, one of the powerful scenes of Masaan is the ending, when Devi and Deepak meet at a ghat in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) and go on a boat tour of Sangam, which is the confluence of rivers: the Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati. 'The ending is powerful. It is about two people who don't know each other and have impacted each other. It goes so well with the metaphor of Sangam of the rivers,' she said. In response, Ghaywan said he always wants to end a story with hope. 'That was also the last shot that we took as the sun was about to set.' Masaan, which boasts of an impressive ensemble cast, features Shweta Tripathi, Sanjay Mishra and Pankaj Tripathi. When Kapadia mentioned how 'its characters are complex', Ghaywan said, 'I don't like unidimensional characters who are honest and sincere. As humans, we are flawed.' Ghaywan's second feature Homebound premiered at Cannes Film Festival's 'Un Certain Regard' section and will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in September. Also Read | Vicky Kaushal was ridiculed after he was cast as lead in Masaan, says casting director Mukesh Chhabra: 'Kisko hero le liya' Even though a decade has passed since its release, Masaan still stands out for its magnificent use of music and Hindi poetry. 'For Masaan, I wanted a different kind of music. The inspiration was Udaan, which used rock music in a coming-of-age film so beautifully,' he said. The songs of Masaan were composed by Indian Ocean and the lyrics were written by Varun Grover, who also wrote its screenplay. The script deftly weaves references to Urdu & Hindi poets such as Akbar Allahabadi, Basheer Badr, Mirza Ghalib, Dushyant Kumar and Nida Fazli.
India.com
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- India.com
'Kaliya! He looks like a…'; Meet actor who met his lover on a train, his mother-in-law called him a…, her mother rejected his proposal, he is…
The film industry has seen many couples getting married after a tough negotiation with their parents. We have seen several cases where a mother refuses to give their daughter to an actor. Today, we're going to tell you about a superstar who fell in love with Miss India while traveling on a train. On the other hand, the daughter's mother was not willing to marry her daughter to this actor. She called him 'Kaliya' (black-skinned) and compared his standards with her beautiful daughter. The love story of Shatrughan Sinha and Poonam Sinha Today, we are going to tell you about the love story of Bollywood's finest actor, Shatrughan Sinha, and his wife, Poonam Sinha. For the past 45 years, Shatrughan has been married to his wife Poonam. In a recent conversation with Curly Tails, the veteran actor turned politician revealed how Poonam's mother didn't agree to their marriage and called him 'Kaliya and a rowdy boy.' How did Shatrughan Sinha meet his wife Poonam? You'd be surprised to know, Shatrughan Sinha's love story is nothing less than the chemistry in a film. While travelling from Patna to Pune, Shatrughan Sinha first saw Poonam in a train with his friends. During that time, Shatrughan Sinha was heading to Pune for the first time to join the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). The two were in the same compartment, struck by her beauty, Shatrughan Sinha defended Poonam while his friends teased her. When Poonam's mother was not ready to marry her daughter to Shatrughan Sinha In the same conversation, Sinha revealed that Poonam's family initially refused to marry her daughter to Shatrughan. However, Sinha's family never gave up on the fight. After several years of hard work, Poonam's family agreed to the marriage. In an anecdote, Shatrughan Sinha revealed how his elder brother, Ram Sinha, who was a scientist in the United States, first approached Poonam's family for the matrimony. However, Poonam's mother, in no time rejected the proposal, and said, 'Have you seen your brother's face? Kaliya! He looks like a fool as well as a street rowdy at the same time. Look at my daughter… she looks like she bathes in milk. Poonam Chandiramani is Miss India. If you were to click a colour photograph of the two of them together, it would still look like black and white. Their pair does not make sense.' Later, Sinha said, 'Fortunately, however, they eventually agreed to our union.'
