Atif Aslam – a voice that transcends boundaries….

                                          

The young singer from the land of purity,with no formal training in singing,went on to achieve great success with his soul-soothening voice that has managed to transcend boundaries.Atif began his career with the band named JAL during his college days, which was also the time when he discovered his hidden talent as a singer. With the aspirations to become a fast bowler, destiny would have it tht he would attain fame n fortune with his voice. A rift with the fellow Jal band member Goher Mumtaz, brought atif into limelite as an individual. The real breakthrough came in ,when he was offered a chance in Bollywood and there has been no stopping for Atif from then on. His voice became very popular across India. His last 2 albums,namely ‘Jal Pari’ and ‘Doorie’, have been a great hit with some excellent songs. The much awaited album ‘Hangami Halaat’ has been doing rounds on the internet and it claims to be the original atif-kind-of-songs.
Born on 12th March,1983 into a family of 4 brothers and being the youngest in the family he has the support of his family throughout his career.Though the brand name ‘Atif-aslam’ is best-selling,he has not escaped the negative criticism, which claim him to be a plagiarist and tht his voice is nasal. When u r feeling really let down and the whole world is closing in on you, Atif’s voice does magic to ur soul and i mean it. ‘Aadat’,'Kuch is Tarah’ are the ultimate soul-sootheners. You will feel like he is singing it for you.
There is so much of feel and emotions,tht he has put into these songs which qualifies them in the best-songs-ever-heard list.
Though i prefer his voice in the melodious songs,Atif’s voice stands apart in the Punjabi songs and his favourite rock songs.Coming to the topic of ‘a voice tht transcends boundaries’ , Indians have taken to the craze of pakistani singers off-late… during the 1990’s it was only Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali khan who was well-known here. Now every Bollywood movie happens to introduce a pakistani singer.
Tht was how Atif entered the commercial market here.

Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani, a comedy set in a comic book universe, is a frustratingly uneven film. Some of it is genuinely funny and delightful and some of it is repetitive, and annoyingly tedious.

But even in its most limp moments, what keeps the film from derailing is its lead pair: Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif. There is such sizzle and beauty and unadulterated charm here that you really can’t look away.

The story, co-written and directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi, is set in a picturesque little town, which seems like a cross between Goa and Ooty.

Specifics are irrelevant because Santoshi isn’t aiming for realism here. This is a cheerfully artificial world, in which Prem, played by Ranbir, lives with his parents.

Prem is a 9th standard drop-out whose main job is being the President of the Happy Club. The happy club hopes to make people happy but mostly its members boast about doing nothing.

Enter Jenny, played by Katrina, a lovely lady with a slightly troubling back-story: she is an orphan and the parents who adopted her are now forcing her into marriage with an obnoxious boy only because he is rich.

Jenny and Prem, who both have a tendency to stammer when they are emotionally wrought, become friends. And Prem, who can’t bring himself to tell her that he loves her, finds himself in the uncomfortable position of trying to get Jenny away from her own wedding so she can get together with her boyfriend, Rahul, who has issues of his own.

In its best moments, Ajab Prem is crackling comedy.

Santoshi keeps it light, fluffy and fun. There is a real sweetness in the scenes in which Prem and Jenny first discover that the other also stammers.

Some of the dialogues sparkle. The trouble is that the film cannot maintain this tone and energy. So, the humour dips and the gags become forced.

At times, the film strains so hard for laughs that it almost feels like the director is beating you with a stick and ordering you to enjoy it. But even here, Ranbir and Katrina don't let up. Of course, he carries the bigger burden.

Ranbir, as the bumbling nerd, is in almost every frame. Watch him in a ball room scene, in which his body won't stay still or at a cop station, hesitantly declaring his affection for Jenny.

Hopefully someday, Ranbir will find a script that matches his talent.

Ajab Prem isn't it. But the film is engaging enough, as we say in Mumbai, time-pass. Go for it.


Songs of this movie



Courtesy: movies.ndtv.com

Auro, the protagonist of Paa, is a smart 12-year-old boy who has progeria - a rare, horribly disfiguring disease that accelerates aging and will kill Auro by the time he hits his teens.

Director R. Balki, who has also written the script and obviously loves to break paradigms-recall the age-defying romance of his debut film Cheeni Kum - has cast the 67-year-old Amitabh Bachchan as Auro.

Balki has also cast Abhishek, as Amol, Auro's father. But happily, Paa is much more than this gimmicky role reversal. It's tender and moving, and equally, clumsy and melodramatic, especially in the second half but Paa is worth a trip to the theatre.

The first half of Paa moves beautifully.

Balki briskly takes us through the romance between Amol and Vidya, played by Vidya Balan, that leads to Auro. They meet in college. When she gets pregnant, he suggests an abortion because he is ambitious and not ready to shoulder the burden of a family.

She dumps him, has the baby without telling him and raises it with the help of her mother.

Paa has been pitched as a father-son film but what works far better is the mother-son relationship. With a real tenderness, Balki establishes the love a mother has, even for this lumbering boodha baccha, as a character calls him.

But Balki's real triumph as a writer is the character of Auro. There is no trace of self-pity about him. He's witty, charming and pretty acidic when he wants to be. He calls his grandmother Bum because she has a big one.

Unrecognizable under mounds of make-up, Amitabh Bachchan is astounding as Auro. His height is a bit jarring but his slouching shoulders and mischievous eyes more than make up for it. There isn't a discordant note in this performance. Abhishek is also nicely understated as the idealistic politician who finds out, too late, that he has a son. Vidya's character has the least clarity but she manages to bring some heft to it.

The film unfortunately, isn't as smooth. The first half has a few jarring moments - at one point, we detour into Amol's political career, which leads to an unnecessary lecture on media responsibility - but mostly Balki keeps the plot on track.

But then, just like it did in Cheeni Kum, the curse of the second half strikes.

Paa loses its flow. It loses its emotional momentum and starts to feel unnecessarily manipulative and lengthy. I found the other children in the film especially problematic.

Like Sexy, the cancer-stricken girl in Cheeni Kum, Auro's friends are overtly precocious and beyond a point, false. Balki also can't seem to leave well enough alone. Auro's mere presence is tragic.

The sadness of his situation doesn't need underlining but Balki doesn't want to take any chances and he yanks up the melodrama. After Auro's death, as his parents weep, a background song goes: Meri Maa Teri Hai Mere Baad.

These are sizeable bumps but Paa neutralizes them with strong performances, some crackling writing and its ambition.

Clearly Balki and the Bachchans, who have also produced the film, want to push the envelope for Hindi cinema.

Various news reports have suggested that Paa is copied from Francis Ford Coppola's Jack but apart from progeria-stricken protagonists, the films have little in common.

In fact, Paa is better than Jack. I recommend that you make time for it.


Songs of this movie



Courtesy: movies.ndtv.com

Happy new year to all

This is the time when I take up a new new year resolution. I resolve that I will be always Idiot no. 1 this new year.




Happy new year 2010