New Year’s Special: Distributor Anil Thadani in an exclusive interview with Siraj Syed, Part I Reclusive film distributor Anil Thadani, who is known to avoid the media, talks to Siraj Syed about himself, his business and issues facing the film industry. Anil distributed films some 30 films in 2022, including blockbusters like KGF Chapter 2, Bhool Bhulaiya 2 and Kantara. Siraj: What do the letters ‘a a’ in your company’s name, ‘a a films’, stand for? Anil:...

RIFF 08, 2022, 02: N. Chandra to get Lifetime Achievement Award The 8th edition of the Rajasthan International Film Festival (RIFF) will be organised by RIFF Film Club, during 25-30th March, 2022, and it will also celebrate Rajasthan Diwas (Foundation day of Rajasthan State). Somendra Harsh, Founder and Festival Director of RIFF, stated today that this year, the LifeTime Achievement Award will be given to the renowned Writer, Producer and Director Chandrashekhar Narvekar, better known as N. C...

With its lead players putting up pretences throughout the film, it is easy to label the film pretentious. To be fair, it is not pretentious. There is an element of sincerity in the making. My Client’s Wife is potentially full of sexual encounters, only the makers have been careful to keep it ‘clean’. But as is the problem with psychological thrillers, there are too many red herrings and deviations from the plot just to cause shock and awe. Is it based on a true story? The mak...

Ameen Sayani and the film Geetmala: Standing tall "Every stage singer is a mimic,” said Ameen Sayani ‘clone’ Sagar Sayani to me, in the green room, “and imitates legendary film song singers, Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle or Geeta Dutt. So what’s wrong if I imitate the compère, the very man who introduced us to these original singers, on radio and on stage, for 65 years?” Lead singer and ad-libber Gaurav Ba...

Indian film-writer, lyricist, Akhtar Romani no more A rare film-writer and lyricist from the Dawoodi Bohra community, Akhtar Romani (nom de plume) passed away today in Mumbai, his home for almost all his life. He was in his early eighties. His contemporaries at the Saint Xavier’s College, Bombay, included Vijay Anand (who was to direct classic films like Guide, Jewel Thief and Johnny Mera Naam), Mahendra Kapoor (one of India’s best known playback song singers) and Ameen Sayani (ra...