“Dhabba” literally translates to stain. These mentions are given to the worst of the year.

Worst Film
It’s a tie!
Love Story 2050, Tashan, Yuvraaj

Worst Director
Subhash Ghai

Worst Costume
Aki Narula for Minissha Lamba – Bachna Ae Haseeno

Special Mention
Madhur Bhandarkar for making a movie about fashion and having clothes less than spectacular.

Not Worth Watching
De Taali
Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi
Heroes
Karzzzz
Mission Istanbul
One Two Three

There have been quite a few movies which I watched in the past few (quite a few) weeks, and here are my 2 pennies/ pence/ cents (but not reviews).

(Again somewhat long post)

- Kung Fu Panda - Possibly the best movie of the year so far, which is a pretty strong statement to make given some of the releases so far ((notably – The Dark Knight). Sarcastic, witty, beautiful, detailed and oh-so-god-help-me funny. It shows why Jack Black is such a wonderful talent and how animation can sometimes actually take a movie to great levels. I heart Po totally.

- A Wednesday - Pretty laid back and mundane in spite of the tight storyline, but still worth watching.  One can wait for the video release provided no one tells him/ her the plot. Acting by Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher is brilliant – true stalwarts of Indian cinema, these guys. I still couldn’t get myself to fully accept the makers claim that a thug pees in his pants just because a snarling Jimmy Shergill is in the vicinity. Sorry, but just not gonna happen.

- Phoonk – I wish I could say out loud, without any apprehensions, that -

a) The movie is insane, arbitrarily disjointed and oh-so-NOT scary. The same goes for its creator. b) The voyeuristic crow is the best actor in the movie which speaks volumes about the ‘actors’. c) A movie makes money when Revenues – Expenses > 0. Clearly, each cast member was paid no more than half grand. => Expenses ->0. => A Hit. Even K-Jo agrees with this hypothesis and calls it a sleeper hit (whatever that means).

Ideally I shouldn’t be afraid to say all these things, but I am petrified of Ramuji. Terrified that that he’ll hex me, phoonk me up or worse – sit me down and explain to me in mind-numbing detail how godmax Daud and Nisha/Priyanka Kothari are. That’s one major reason why most reviewers gave it a thumbs up, in my opinion – RGV had them sh** scared too. You might say I’m just being scared/ superstitious, but then you know what they say – It’s superstition until it happens to you. Brrrr …

- Rock On - A nice rock movie with pop-style music, well-shot concert videos and songs which are refreshingly different (although not that awesome – you can’t play the audio alone in an infinite loop without a video playing simultaneously). I say pop, because every rock band should always have a bass guitarist, while the keyboard player is not a necessity. The story can be summarized in 6 words – band-disband-grow-reband-pathos-joy. Arjun Rampal takes up the Atul Agnihotri mantle of deadpan dialogue delivery no matter what the occasion and succeeds in being woodier than the entire Amazon forest. Farhan Akhtar sings better than he acts. Watching him being a successful, Jai-Sri-Krisna going I-Banker with a nice swanky house and a cute wife gives me considerable heartburn, but it’s ok  …

- Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - The movie worked because it was different, which was quite ironic – the story is pretty old and predictable (two good friends who don’t realize that they are in fact made for each other). The acting is strictly ok. The gags are like old wine in a new bottle (or the other way round- don’t quite remember). There are a lot of glaring errors (lots of time warps to cover ~20 km in like 2 minutes) and random references which can please smart-asses but which otherwise must have passed unnoticed. Still, the movie succeeds because of its novelty, hype, freshness vis-a-vis the actors and a fairly peppy soundtrack (Only one complaint: the overdose of singers with heavy South Indian accents seemed a bit out of place at times). Overall it was good, but definitely not a masterpiece as some made it out to be. Its success can be more attributed to a paucity of decent Hindi films (the other movie which released on the same day was Love Story 2050. LOL!)

- The Dark Knight - Brilliant movie, simply brilliant. First time in a long, long time was I actually on the edge of my seat. Heath Ledger’s death gave it a surreal effect, like someone was addressing you from the grave, and his acting was mind-blowing. The stunts were crazy and the movie could had gone on for like ever without anyone complaining. Not the #1 movie of all time, though.

- Bachna Ae Haseeno – Ranbir Kapoor has a good screen presence, even when he wears purple lipstick to complement with his deep purple (coloured, not the band ka) t-shirt and pink khakis. His character’s inability to commit is not as cringe inducing as some thought, but the entire second half is full of predictable reconciliatory attempts which are … well, quite boring. Bipasha looks like an aging has-been hottie who ’swallowed’ one-too-many times, thereby acquiring a positively scary voice. Minissha Laambaa looks like a cute frost-bitten bunny and displays a unique ability to deliver all her dialogues with her teeth firmly clamped shut. Deepika Padukone has a distinctly Marathi accent which seems a bit out of place in Sydney. But still, it is an ok movie – very colourful and hummable, but nothing more.

- De Taali - Watching this movie was the closest I’ve ever felt to experiencing a Dementor’s Kiss (from the Harry Potter series) which sucks out all joy from your life (the kiss, not the series). I felt miserable for days after that, and would had given up watching movies altogether had I not been so jobless most of the time. It was not just not funny – it was anti-funny. The very opposite of funny. It was what Laughter is prescribed for when people call it The Best Medicine. There was just ONE joke in the entire frikkin’ movie, and that too I missed because I was out of the theatre recuperating. Worst waste of my time ever.

- The 40 year old virgin - Nice, awkward movie which has its moments. I liked it more because I’m a big fan of Steve Carrell from The Office. Overall an okay watch.

Over and out.

In an article about music of De Taali media goes on to say that Raja Hasan is a popstar.Here is the article for you:

De Taali was a soundtrack created to attract spry Bollywood listeners. The film revolves around the story of three friends – two young guys and a girl – and how the introduction of a new female friend tests each of their relationships. Which in Bollywood means an overabundance of remixes and guest appearances by DJs. Vishal Shekhar, the music director, managed to serve up the title track De Taali in three different versions, including one featuring Nikhil Chinapa, a video jockey-turned-popular DJ. The playback singers include a lineup of young talent in Bollywood – Shaan and Raja Hasan to Sunidhi Chauhan – who are crossover popstars as well.But the soundtrack is decidedly mediocre, and all the attempts to remix the title track falls flat.

However, the hit that will help the soundtrack ride its way to the top lies with Raja Hasan and the song, Maari Teetri (My Butterfly). Hasan, 28, a finalist on a musical reality show in 2007, is now a popstar who blends classical Indian music with western influences. Hasan comes from a trained under his grandfather, Alla Rakha Khan, a maestro, who sang under the patronage of the King of Jodhpur. The streamlined energy and ethnic fusion present in Maari Teetri should’ve set the theme for the soundtrack instead of following Bollywood protocol and banking on the title song.

Link to the article:

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080827/ART/788404783

Three cheers for Raja Hasan Hip Hip Hurray.

Today I am very happy and proud Raja fan.All reality show singers struggles to get a song in Bollywood.Winners and finalists like Debojit,Qazi,Rooprekha.Md.Vakil,Sandeep Acharya etc. could not get a single song in bollywood.

Raja Hasan has made a grand entry in bollywood and has already recorded a number of songs and some of them has already been released.He already has one superhit song Maari Teetri under his belt.

A year back he was singing in a reality show and today his song Maari Teetri is sung by  reality show contestents Ali Pariwaar in the reality show Waar Parivaar on Sony TV.Is not that a big achievement.Hats off to Raja Hasan.

He is too busy these days being called to perform on big occaisions and also giving interviews in various TV Channels also recording songs as well as recording for Ek Se Badhkar Ek.He is also working hard for his first album.

So Raja fans its time to party. Give a treat to all your friends and family.Chak de Raja.Way to go.

 
It seems like it is not easy to sing Sukhwinder and Kailash Kher songs the new singers will find it difficult to sing Raja Hasan songs. Ali Pariwaar did not sing well.Urmila`s dance at the end was nice.Here is the video:

Lavanya wrote this as comments:

Yupppppppppppppppppppieeeeeeeeee,
Meri dua itni jaldi sach niklegi mujhe pata nahi tha,
maine abhi abhi Waar Pariwaar(Sony tv)dekhrahi thi,aur maine dekha ki next episode(tomorrow)mein Ali pariwaar(contestents)”Maari Teetri” ganewale hai,
I am sssssssssssssssssssooooooooo happy for you Raja.
At last Raja’s Maari Teetri ek reality show me aanewala hai.Way to go Raja,You are THE BEST”.

So for the first time Maari Teetri will be part of a reality show.So freinds dont forget to watch Waar Parivaar tomorrow on Sony TV at 8PM

‘De Taali’ which sounds all fun and youthful with its title and look of the film brings E Niwas after ‘My name is Anthony’. With the likes of Riteish , Ayesha , Aftab and Rimi Sen ; one would expect a laugh riot but the outcome nowhere calls for a single clap.

Synopsis…

Paglu (Riteish), Amu (Ayesha) and Abhi (Aftab) are buddies, an integral part of each other’s lives. Amu is a girl amongst the two guys, though Paglu and Abhi don’t treat her like one. Paglu is the one who makes her realize about her feelings for Abhi. Life, however, takes a serious turn when Abhi falls in love with Kartika aka Anjali (Rimi Sen).

E Niwas in an attempt to outdo his own ‘Love ke liye kuch bhi karega’ misfires big time. The plot is headed nowhere with just a bunch of songs shot at various eye catchy locations. From starting off as a lovey dovey tale of 3 friends to a kidnapping affair with the entrance of a foxy Rimi Sen , ‘De Taali’ is nowhere close to a fun film.

In fact the 1^st half of the movie wasn’t as bad as the 2^nd which is totally lame and stupid with the entrance of characters such as Pawan Malhotra , Rimi’s family angle etc and off course Mukul Dev’s hunt for his ‘Anjali’.

E Niwas makes an attempt to package his film with some eye candy by squeezing in cameos from Neha Dhupia, Anjana Sukhani ,Hrisitha Bhatt but they all fall flat. Maybe Neha’s cameo is a little funny with the ‘Chitrakoot’ element.

On the music front, the best song of the pack by Raja Hassan ‘Maari Teetri’ is missing from the film and instead all other tracks by Vishal Shekar seem a little too irrelevantly placed or comes as an overdose.

The best performer of the film is no doubt Riteish Deshmukh who indeed has some comic sense and his timing is apt. Ayesha Takia too does well with this flick and is much better than her ‘Sunday’ performance. Aftab is just ok. Rimi Sen is so pale as the vamp in the film. She somehow seems to have lost her charm attempting to be the so called ‘sexy’ kind.

At the box office , ‘De Taali’ won’t find much takers with an overload of films this week. The plot being a big letdown doesn’t leave much for the film.

Lot of fans were saying that the sound in the Ghazal video was not good so I have improved the sound of the Ghazal and now its all right.You can download the MP3 from here:

http://www.4shared.com/file/53611506/94df5c9a/Ghazal_by_Raja_Hasan.html

I loved the high note he took in the third part of “Hai Maroon thaaare desh mein” it was great job.You can also download MP3 of  Kesariya Balam sung by Raja Hasan in the year 2000 from here:

http://www.4shared.com/file/53612222/b67e436a/Kesariya_2000.html

 More downloads coming soon.

He enters like a King and behaves like a King.Raja Hasan is no more the Raja as he was one year before he is now  a smart and more handsome King Hasan.Let me disclose a secret Raja personally loves to be called King Hasan.

I thought ZEE will give entry to all the contestants in order of their ranking in Saregamapa 2007 as Aneek was the first to enter as the winner but Raja Hasan`s entry was left to the last.ZEE knows people were waiting to watch Raja speak and perform and to maintain the TRP for today`s episode they reserved the performance of Raja Hasan on his song Maari Teetri for today.

Here is the full video for you.Watch and enjoy:

Today on ZEE TV Raja Hasan made a appearance and talked about his progress and also did an act from how he hosted Saregamapa Middle East.Lastly he sang in the group with Aditya,Aneek,Mauli,Sumedha & Junaid the song Nagada Nagada.

As usual he came in last for TRP reasons and the music of Maari Teetri was played in the background as Raja Hasan came on stage.People love to watch Raja.I recorded the performance but bad luck today it was not saved on my computer due to lack of space in hard disk.I will try to put up for viewing as soon as possible.

Dont miss tomorrow`s episode at 10PM IST and Raja Hasan will be performing Maari Teetri.

First of all, I think this movie is complete time pass…. BUT, I would recommend watching it, it’s got a few good laughs

De Taali album finally enters the charts.It is at No 9 now and media reports say Raja Hasan song Maari Teetri is a hit.Tashaan another Vishal-Shekhar movie moves out of the charts and makes way for De Taali.Media also says that there are doubts about the album staying in the charts for long since the movie is not extraordinary.
Anyways Raja Hasan gets recognition in Bollywood with his song Maari Teetri that itself is a great achievement.

Click here to read the full report:

http://bollywoodhungama.com/features/2008/06/24/4016/index.html

Kavita who is from Bangalore just now reported this:

Maaari teetri is definitely a hit !  Our local FM stations are playing it very often.

We all know about Raja Hasan as a singer but nothing has been revealed to the world about Raja Hasan as a person.So this site on demand of many Raja fans have decided to dedicate one full month to let the world know about Raja Hasan,his family, his friends, interesting and humourous moments in his life and also about his childhood.All these will be supported with loads of unseen videos, photos and video interviews.

So here we go. We present a beautiful video of Raja driving his car alongwith Rafiq Sahab and his friends across the streets of Mumbai. By the way Raja`s car is Honda City and it seems he drives well.

Here is the video for you:

Lyricists never gets the credit for beutiful songs he writes.Will Maari Teetri work wonders for Raja Hasan.Read this article and think for yourself:

A hit Bollywood number can work wonders for the stars who feature in it and the singers, but the lyricist often goes unnoticed and music greats say this is largely because youngsters don’t understand the ‘value’of lyrics.

In recent times, songs like Judai … from Jannat , … from Woh Lamhe , and … from Life…In A Metr o have become popular, but only a handful of people know about their lyricists, Sayeed Quadri and Sandeep Srivastava.

And music directors and singers agree that barring big names like Gulzar, Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi, most other lyricists don’t get the due fame and recognition. Singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan says, “I think generally in India people’s perception of music is wrong, they don’t identify the people who create music.”

“Lyricists and composers are the actual creators of music and yet they don’t get the recognition they deserve.” Playback singer Shaan, who has bagged several awards for his Jab se tere naina… from Saawariya , says the star-driven industry and youngsters’ lack of understanding as far as lyrics are concerned is to blame.

“Everything is driven today by stars. The youth these days do not understand the value of lyrics and that is why songs with worthless lyrics are becoming hits too,” Shaan added. “It is a sad state of affairs. A lyricist is as important as the music composer or singer but sadly not many get the fame they deserve,” said composer Chirantan Bhatt.

Bhatt is the man behind songs like Awaarapan banjarapan … from Jism and Tose naina lagey … from Anwar . Mahadevan added, “The modus operandi these days is that lyricists are at the bottom of the ladder when it comes to fame and recognition. Even good lyricists like Sameer and Rahat Indori haven’t got the level of fame they deserve.”

Singer Shibani Kashyap echoes his sentiments and says the media could help in this regard. “Apart from Javed Akhtar saab and Gulzar saab, lyricists don’t get to connect visually with the audience. They need more media space as they play a vital role in each song,” she said.

Lyricists deserve much more, says Shekhar Ravijani of popular music director duo Vishal-Shekhar. “They need to be more visible. Lyricists are very much a part of a film and they also put in a lot of effort,” Shekhar maintained.

“Well, unfortunately only two things make an album sell – the name of the film and the singer. That leaves in a way no space for the lyricist,” said Mukul Kansal, vice president and client services director of a leading music company.

He too stressed that finally consumer is the king – it’s their interest that decides who gets more publicity and therefore becomes more popular. When asked what can help a lyricist come into the limelight and join the likes of Javed Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi, Kansal asserted, “Powerful lyrics and originality are the major tools to climb the laddar.”

First of all let me say that even if Raja Hasan gets a line to sing with Sunidhi Chauhan and that too for Yashraj Films it is a big thing and we Raja Hasan fans should be proud of it.Tell me if any contestant  from  recent reality shows has got so many opportunities I think none.Even Debojeet the winner of Saregamapa 2005 is still to get a song in bollywood,Vineet has sung a song or two only for Himesh who was his mentor.Most of the other winners or runners up never got a song to sing.Many big names from reality shows like Mohd.Vakil,Parthiv Gohil,Qazi Taukeer,are all lost in the crowd.

Raja has already recorded 7-8 songs and some have been released and that too just in a span of 7-8 months.So we should take things positively and Raja still has a long way to go.

Now about the song he recorded with Sunidhi Chauhan.Raja has sung the main repeating part of the song which is the heart of the song.It is a long line which is repeated in the song many times.Just like “Maari Teetri tane velvet ko lehngo lyado re” is repeated many times in the song.People never remember the full song the main lines are always in everybody`s mouth.Just like Dard-e-Disco Dard-e-Disco.

We should be satisfied with the progess in Raja`s career.He shares the podium with stars like Ritesh,Aftab and Ayesha.He records with country`s top singer Sunidhi Chauhan and that too twice.Vishal sings as back up voice to Raja`s song.

So what more you expect from Raja Hasan.Whatever opportunity Raja gets we should take positively without any ifs and buts.

Watch the awesome video of Raja Hasan song Maari Teetri from De Taali.

Maari Teetri (The Butterfly Song) – Raja Hasan – De Taali download @ DLoadmp3.com

Maari Teetri (The Butterfly Song) – Raja Hasan – De Taali

Freinds you can download the MP3 of Raja Hasan singing Jiya Dhadak Dhadak in Ek Se Badhkar Ek from here:

Click here to Download

Here is the promo video of Saturdays Ek Se Badhkar Ek.Its just a glimpse of Raja Hasan singing Jiya Dhadak Dhadak.Raja Hasan says that in a show where Ayesha was also present and on Ayesha`s request he sang the antara of the song 28 times.

Raja Hasan looks awesome in the dress.

Watch the glimpse of upcoming performance of Raja on Ek Se Badhkar Ek:

First day first show watchers report that De Taali is a very slow and a boring movie.The story has no relevance at all.

Except for Raja Hasan song Maari Teetri there is nothing worth watching in the movie.Maari Teetri has been amazingly choreographed and filmed.All movie watchers loved the song and will surely go back home and hear it again and again.

Vijay Bhai inspite of official work pressure went to watch the first day first show said that the movie is very boring and cannot be watched for 2 hours.Raja Hasan`s Maari Teetri song is at about 50 min from the start of the movie and people from all age groups from children to teenagers to middle aged and aged all loved it.There is no comedy in the movie.The movie had a nice subject but the presentation was very bad.The media was also present and different type of people were asked about the movie all said in one word its boring and even people coming out of the movie hall asked the people who were in que to buy tickets for the next show  not to waste their money.

There is also a confusion about Raja Hasan`s song in the prints.Some say it is included in some prints and not in some.Let things clear about it I will let you know.

The final summary is Raja Hasan`s song is superhit and De Taali as a movie is dissapointing.