A Star Studded Launch For Hariharan & Bickram Ghosh’s Ishq – Songs Of Love!

Composer Bickram Ghosh and singer Hariharan have teamed up to bring to audiences myriad shades of Ishq, the much needed emotion post pandemic. With music by Maestro Bickram Ghosh and set to vocals by Legendary playback singer Hariharan, Ishq – Song Of Love features music video directed by Arindam Sil and lyrics by Sugata Guha. It features Abhisek Mallick on the Sitar and, interestingly, features Bickram Ghosh himself for live percussion and Tabla.

Known for critically acclaimed hits like Chants Of India with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison, The Music Room with Sonu Nigam, Pulsating Drums with Zakir Hussain and Taufiq Qureshi, and several other iconic tracks with Pandit Ravi Shankar, Bickram Ghosh – arguably one of the greatest Tabla exponents of all times and the composer of Ishq, talks about the album. “The idea of love changes over generations of time. We keep hearing people say, ‘woh puraane zamaane ke gaane hai’ (those are songs of the old times). I’ve really wanted to make an album of love songs with different nuances of love,” avers the Tabla maestro.  “These have been difficult times! Unexpectedly, we’ve achieved something musically. During the pandemic, we’ve completed an entire album as well as the videos,” he adds!

Speaking about the same, veteran playback singer Hariharan shares that he has been super excited to see the album get ready for release as, he adds, creating an album is a lot of hard work taking hours, days and months of an artist’s time! “Here, we have six songs with six stories! The kind that tells its own story. The nuances behind each song are as different as the stories behind them. All in all, the outcome of love is different.”

Interestingly, the song ‘Baaton Baaton Mein’ already crossed millions of views on YouTube. It is available on other platforms including Apple Music and Spotify as well!

The industry DOYENS including Anupam Kher, Shankar Mahadevan, Sanjeev Kapoor, Roop Kumar Rathod, Kavita Seth, Lesle Lewis, Kaavya Jones, Sandip Soparrkar, Sharbani Mukherjee, Salim Merchant, Akshay Hariharan, Karan Hariharan, Shilpa Rao, Pratibha Singh Baghel, Purbayan Chatterjee, Gurneet Jolly, Anusha Srinivasan Iyer, Yogesh Lakhani among others made their presence felt for the EP launch at Tap, Juhu. Besides celebs of the likes of renowned chef, chocolatier and cake sculptor Harneet Jolly’s live sculpture cake added more energy to the musical evening.

Yogesh Lakhani of Bright Outdoor avers, “Hariharan and Bickram Ghosh are phenomenal musicians and it is a pleasure for Bright to be associated with ‘Ishq – Songs Of Love’.”

Need we say more!

Neena Gupta-Vikas Khanna come together to make history at Varanasi Ghat

 

Actor Neena Gupta was excited that finally the lighting classes at the National School of Drama helped her look all radiant with no makeup and just a kajal and lipstick. The actor who is part of the virtual edition of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) this year on Insider.in with her film The Last Colour, along with her director, celeb chef Vikas Khanna, expressed her happiness to be part of the festival that is on with all its resplendence despite the pandemic. Neena Gupta was as excited about the festival as she was for her film.

"I love the feel of getting back to normalcy,” she expressed her wish to be at the festival physically next year.

Expressing her connection with art, Neena Gupta spoke of her favourite piece of art, Lalita Lajmi's painting, that is, the piece of art in her house that she purchased as it touched her heart, Neena expressed how she loves it. Vikas Khanna spoke of how he has a museum of old vessels in Manipal with over 10000 vessels.

The duo spoke of how they met at a flight, and Vikas Khanna talked about how his grandfather spoke of Neena Gupta as he watched Mirza Ghalib because of her and felt that she had an amazing ‘noor’ (aura). 

Noor, incidentally is the character of Neena Gupta's name. Vikas Khanna confides that she had an amazing light on her face though she wore no makeup in the film."

Vikas Khanna confided that he took Anupam Kher's advice on how to approach her. Anupam Kher told him “Go approach. She is an emotional actor. She will tell you what she thinks without mincing words.” An early morning narration to Neena Gupta who after a night shoot gave him time, and then gave the nod.

"If I love a script and love my role, I say yes immediately. Some films are very close to me. It has made me sad. As some stop midway, others don't get the release they deserve. Like Woh Chokri, where I won a National Award for Best Supporting Actress but it did not get its due. But I never look down upon any one as we carve our own destiny with our work!"

Vikas expressed how he decided to take the risk and take up a story of a little untouchable child who asks a widow on Varanasi ghat to play Holi with her!

"Nothing teaches you the way you work on the sets. And Neena ji's experience as director helped me."

Vikas Khanna who has made over nine documentaries on food and religion before, expressed that his discipline as a chef helped him let Neena Gupta to rest and look radiant despite using no makeup on the sets.

Neena Gupta spoke of the time she made baigan bharta and Irish Coffee at Prithvi Theatre to make ends meet. And hence the cooking connection between the duo.

An interesting experience indeed.

Farooq Sheikh helped me pass my third year exams: Kavita Krishnamurti at KGAF 2021

Padmashri Legends Pankaj Udhas and Kavita Krishnamurti come together at the virtual edition of Kala Ghoda Arts Festival on Insider.in. The duo have a long association with Kala Ghoda as  they studied together in St. Xavier's College and used to squat at Elphinstone's canteen The Log Cabin, and then spend time at The Rhythm House to get an opportunity to listen to new records at the booths at the milestone location.

Jehangir Art Gallery's Samovar was another favourite hangout and they still remember the cuisine. "Our Kala Ghoda festival started in 1972," reasons Pankaj Udhas. Unfortunately Rhythm House and Samovar don’t exist any more. Kavita Krishnamurti speaks of her senior Pankaj Udhas and how they all looked up to him at college. "He has seen super stardom but it has never gone to his head. It is so difficult to become a star singing ghazals and it is an uphill task."

Pankaj Udhas talks of the big college gang that used to sit below the trees and eat food from the tin roof canteen. "I was No. 1 in terms of bunking. I was a Science student, required 24x7 in class. My Botany Department would overlook canteen. My HOD Mr. Bhole used to see me laughing and the peon used to be sent to call me up," he laughs.

Kavita Krishnamurti speaks, "Farooq Sheikh was part of our college. One day he saw me with a long face. I told him my attendance is less as I do a lot of jingles and programmes, and had to bunk, but only for music. He spoke to the Principal and helped me. In my third year, he took sessions for me and helped me tide through. It was so nice of him," she recalls.

Pankaj Udhas talks of how the dreamers who were part of Sangeet Mandal and Natya Mandal, used to dream together. "Right from Anuradha Paudwal nee Alka Nadkarni, Kavita Krishnamurti, Nitin Ghat, Priti Moti Sagar Ranu Mukherjee (Hemant Kumar's daughter), Natya Mandal had Farooq Sheikh, Smita Patil, Satish Shah who used to oscillate between Natya Mandal and Sangeet Mandal, Dalip Tahil, Shabana Azmi were senior to us, Anil Kapoor was junior to us... We all owe our encouragement to St. Xavier's," he recalls.

The duo also sang some amazing songs, keeping alive the joy of music that transported them in time. "St. Xavier's has positive vibes that helped us all tide us through," expresses Kavita Krishnamurti.

डिजिटल स्टार सतीश रे दिखेंगे 'पांडेजी ज़रा संभलके' में एक नये अवतार में !

 

 

आज की शहरी ज़िंदगी पूरी तरह से तनाव और अन्य जटिलताओं से परिपूर्ण होती है. ऐसे में हंसने-हंसाने की ज़रूरत पहले से कहीं ज़्यादा महसूस की जाने‌ लगी है. ऐसे में अब आपको हंसाने के लिए कॉमेडी सीरीज़  'पांडेजी ज़रा संभलके' जल्द ही आपके सामने पेश होगी.

 

इस सीरीज़ की कहानी मनोज पांडे (सतीश रे) नामक एक ऐसे शख़्स के इर्द-गिर्द घूमती है जो अपनी गर्लफ़्रेंड दिबोशी (डॉली चावला) के साथ लिव-इन-रिलेशनशिप में रहता है. उसकी ख़्वाहिश हमेशा से ही दिबोशी से शादी करने की रही है लेकिन उसकी ज़िंदगी में एक ऐसा मोड़ आता है जब वो ख़ुद को अपनी बचपन की दोस्त इशिता (कनिका खन्ना) की तरफ़ आकर्षित पाता है जिससे फिल्म में हास्य की नई नई परिस्थितियों का निर्माण होता है. अभिनेता प्रकाश जैस इस सीरीज़ में सतीश रे के दोस्त नरेश के अहम रोल में नज़र आएंगे.

 

उल्लेखनीय है कि इससे पहले सतीश रे द्वारा निभाए गये ईमानदार शर्मा, अल्फ़ा पांडे और बबन भोला जैसे किरदार काफ़ी लोकप्रिय साबित हुए थे. उनके शो 'ईमानदार इंटरव्यू' के साथ साथ भोजपुरी और बिहारी लहज़े में उनके बोलने का अंदाज़ भी देशभर के युवाओं को ख़ासा पसंद आया था. अब इस सीरीज़ में सतीश रे का फिर से एक नया अंदाज़ देखने को मिलेगा.

 

'पांडे जी संभलके' का निर्माण किया है मैत्री फिल्म प्रोडक्शन के गनु दादा और अमोल भोसले ने जबकि इस सीरीज़ को विनय शांडिल्य ने निर्देशित किया है. वहीं निखिल रायबोले और भूपेंद्रकुमार नंदन ने‌ इस सीरीज़ को मिलकर लिखा है.

कॅफे स्टुडिओज के बैनर तले बनी सीरीज 'पांडे जी ज़रा संभलके' 17 फरवरी से MX प्लेयर पर उपलब्ध होगी. इस सीरीज का पोस्टर वैलेंटाइन डे के एक दिन बाद जारी किया जाएगा. ठीक ऐसे वक्त पर जब पांडेजी हमेशा के लिए अपनी वैलेंटाइन की सहेली के प्रति आकर्षित हो रहे होंगे!

Move Over IPL, PPL Is Here!

Pro-Panja League India’s Only Arm-Wrestling League, at Radio Club Mumbai on Feb 14

One of the most iconic sports of all times, Arm Wrestling is often referred to as India’s favourite pastime! The sport now has a competitive avatar that has successfully drawn people across all ages and the followers including genders, thanks to this competition. In a unique bid in athletics to let your forearms do the talking, Pro-Panja is emulating the league format for arm-wrestling!

“Panja is an internationally acclaimed sport seeped in Indianness! That’s what the Pro-Panja League stands for,” expresses actors Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhangiani, the brains behind Pro-Panja League, set to take arm wrestling to the next level in India!

The maiden venture, with ardent followers including 5,000 male and 2,000 female arm wrestlers in the amateur levels saw 400 athletes from 18 states, with Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju and Padma Shri Olympic Boxer Vijender Singh with an undefeated streak, not just making their presence felt at the maiden Pro-Panja League, but also participating in an exhibition match where, instead of shaking hands, they wrestled arms. This was seen to be motivating for the youth, who then flocked in numbers towards the amateur arm wrestling tables set up for the youth to try their hands!

Talking about the origins of the sport in India, Parvin Dabas avers, “Eugene Sandow, the father of bodybuilding visited Mumbai in 1904. This was at the invitation of Sir Dhunjibhoy Bomanji, a shipping magnate and a popular socialite! Sandow’s visit created a great impact and before we knew it, the homegrown Panja became a household thing!”

“The league has spawned an emerging hub of contenders from Punjab, MP, Haryana, Mizoram, Manipur and Kerala! Some of these states also boast gyms in which women often sculpt their ‘dominant hands’ by arm-wrestling!,” reveals Parvin, an avid MMA fan who is also the man behind MMA India Show, Sports India Show among portals.

Preeti Jhangiani believes that these numbers are all set to grow. “India’s most promising athletes are from the North, Kerala ans Assam and the North East states especially Manipur and Mizoram! We are exploring more and more states with the hope to motivate more people to take up this sport professionally!

“Anyone can play arm wrestling. But it takes hours at the gym perfecting arm wrestling techniques, physical strength, skill, endurance and talent to compete professionally at a higher level. “We are glad we are pioneering a sport in India where arm wrestling has moved from amateur to professional!” elaborates Parvin Dabas who is excited that this year witnessed a record number of entries despite the pandemic. This year will also see the best compete for the title of No. 1 Arm Wrestler in the country. Interestingly, the technique, the angle of the tug, the timing of a surge and the precise position of each finger decides the winner in Pro-Panja League that proves that the brain is more powerful than brawn!

Surely an entertaining event to watch out for!

Leslee Lewis Teams up with The ATG - Omar Gooding, Heads For Hollywood!

Leslee Lewis joins hands with The ATG and Omar Gooding to make melody for Hollywood number Entourage. The film, titled Trap City, features this number and, recently, the original soundtrack for Trap City, was partly filmed at one of the best and the most happening night clubs of Mumbai!

Trap City, a Kyyba Film’s realistic musical, starring Brandon Jackson as a young rapper working for a drug kingpin in the face of fame as his song becomes viral! After an attempt on his life, he faces the choice of either going to prison and destroying his career, or testifying against a dangerous crime boss who might not fail the second time! What Brandon Jackson does, decides his future in Trap City! The film is expected to be a musical eye-opener on the abuse of power and how the common man is the real sufferer! 

The driving force behind Kyyba Films, and the producer of Christmas Coupon, Celebrity Crush, Devil’s Night: Dawn of The Nain Rouge and now Trap City, Tel Ganesan has brought together an eclectic blend of International Award-winning music personalities including the ATG, Leslee Lewis and rapper Omar Gooding for Entourage!  

Acclaimed Indian musician Leslee Lewis avers, “Collaborating with new age artists from Hollywood is another learning curve for me! Tel Ganesan is a creative producer in every sense! The ATG has got the groove just about right and the rap verses fill in perfectly! I am excited to be an integral part of Entourage!”

Hollywood based musical new age musical prodigy, The ATG, was seen reflecting on the mood of the track during the filming of the official music video! “Entourage is a contemporary hip-hop and pop fusion song! The song is quite an eclectic array of different musical influences across the globe, both vocally as well as production-wise. Despite the deceptive simplicity, the music production employs an array of interspersed track waves! While being a musically rich record, the music has been produced to be a club banger! Leslee, Omar and I wanted to ensure an unabashedly fun listening experience!

Tel Ganesan adds, “It is a wonderful blend of the Eastern and Western world of music. It is an amazing experience to be working with such talented artists! I remember flying to Mumbai, the heartland of Bollywood and signing Leslee on board for Entourage. It feels like yesterday, and now the song is in post-production! Kyyba Films is looking forward to dazzle you with the upcoming OST!”

Trap City, currently in post-production, is all set for an International release! Keep up with this space for more!