obituary
Bhavatharini, The Charmer With The Angelic Voice: You Will Be Missed
The musical maestro of Tamil Cinema, the thespian Music Director Ilaiyaraaja is mourning the loss of his magical daughter, Bhavatharini who succumbed after a battle with cancer. Bhavatharini who was 47 years old, passed away in Colombo, Sri Lanka on 25 January, where she was undergoing Ayurvedic treatment for cancer. The South industry has been mourning the big loss, and words are not enough to describe the bounty of charisma and magic that Bhavatharini possessed in her musical acumen. It is very important to remember and celebrate the charming voice that Bhavatharini, fondly | Click Here...
Obituary: Lata Mangeshkar Remembers Late Raam Laxman
“I just heard Vijay is no more,” Lataji sighs. “The world knew him as Raam Laxman. But that was not his real name. His actual name was neither Ram nor Laxman, but Vijay, Vijay Patil. He was very close to us Mangeshkars, since we were Maharashtrians just like him. Jab ek bhasha, ek khana, ek rehen-sehan hota hai toh woh apnapan ho hi jaata hai(when the language, food lifestyle are identical that feeling of closeness is bound to happen). I remember Vijay for our gupshup as much as our recordings. He was bitingly satirical about the people he didn’t get along with. | Click Here...
Obituary: Shravan Rathod No More
Shravan Rathod whose partnership with Nadeem-Shravan yielded some of the most hummed film songs of the 1990s, somes from a family of musicians. His brothers Roop Kumar Rathod and Vinod Rathod are well-known singers. Lyrics Sameer Anjaan recalls Shravan as a humble extremely talented musician . “Between them Shravan and Nadeem had divided the composing chore, just like Laxmikant and Pyarelal.Nadeem would sing the tune and Shravan played it on the harmonium as if it was Nadeem’s voice.” Sameer who wrote all the hits of Nadeem-Shravan’s including | Click Here...
Obituary: Alvida, Mrs Fatima Zakaria
It is so strange that this morning I was discussing the kindness of well-established individuals towards newcomers with Kartik Aaryan, and then I read that Mrs Fatima Zakaria is no more. She is part of my memory of life-making kindness when I was starting out. when legendary mediapersons like K N Subramaniam, Pritish Nandy , Pradeep Guha and Kanchan Gupta(Kolkata The Statesman) encouraged a young stubborn journalist from Patna who wanted to break into entertainment journalism in Mumbai(then,Bombay). One of my editors was so discouraging I almost ga | Click Here...
Obituary: Shashikala No More, Hindi Cinema’s Favourite Badwoman Is Gone
The two most hated screen women in the North belt of India were Lalita Pawar and Shashikala. And we can’t really blame our emotional audiences for despising these women. Both super-talented, Lalita Pawar and Shashikala made a career out of villainy. In those days they called wicked woaen on screen ‘the vamp’. Villainy was only for men, you see. But Shashikala was a proud villain. She played manipulative scheming red-hot evil women in hundreds of films. In Neel Kamal she was the Sati Savitri heroine Waheeda Rehman’s sister-in-law. Together with her mother- | Click Here...
Ashiesh Roy Gone, Industry Mourns
I remember Ashiesh Roy from the time when he had no ‘i’ in his name. He was talented warm, enthusiastic and eager to be written about . In our country only stars are written about. Ashiesh was not a star. But I made it a point to mention him in my film reviews. In my review of one of his last feature film Barkhaa I wrote, “But the film's finest performance comes from Ashish Roy as the level headed unbelievably kind bar owner. Roy imparts a natural ease to his over-sweetened part in a film where everybody strains to make an impact.” He was quick to res | Click Here...