Bollywood has produced a number of hard hitting movies revolving around social issues and the associated crime - Satya, Thakshak, Shool, Company, Gangajal, Sarkar and most recent Sehar are just to name a few. While each of these movies covered varied themes like underworld, extortion, cop-politician nexus, organized crime etc., there hasn’t been any flick that detils out the prevalent issue of kidnapping industry [if we can call it this way]!

Prakash Jha’s latest endeavor ‘Apaharan’ talks about this blooming industry in various parts of India, especially in the state of Bihar, from where one hears the most number of incidents around kidnapping. Just like his previous directorial venture ‘Gangajal’, ‘Apaharan’ too is a star studded affair with an added attraction of Nana Patekar as one of the main protagonist. Prakash Jha retains 80% of his prime starcast from Gangajal with Ajay Devgan, Mohan Agashe, Yashpal Sharma, Ayub Khan, Anup Soni, Mukesh Tiwari and Daya Shankar Pandey appearing in Apaharan, the only major difference being Gracy Singh replaced by Bipasha Basu. A Holi Cow production in association with Prakash Jha Productions, Apaharan is an Entertainment One presentation with music by Adesh Srivastava and background score by Wayne Sharpe [who also has the background score of Gangajal to his credit.

Professor Raghuvansh Shastri [Mohan Agashe] and Ajay Shastri [Ajay Devgan] are just another middle class father-son pair with fair expectations from life. While Professor is a great individual of high principals, Ajay too wants to follow the same path in life by becoming an upright police officer. But circumstances force him to be different from what he had set out to be!!

He instead gets involved into the grim world of crime. So what’s new once may ask as there have been countless movies about misguided youth. Well, the difference here is the deed of his father that forces him to become what he never wanted to become!

All this while he is constantly supported, encouraged and shown the right virtues and a righteous path by his mature love Megha [Bipasha Basu] who has a mind of her own and makes Ajay dwell deeper into his own conscience. Howsoever troubled Ajay may be, but he always knows that Megha would always be there besides him. In addition, there is Kashinath [Ayub Khan], who belongs to the category of those wayward youth who choos to follow the path of their mentor rather than creating an identity of their own. But little did he know that one day his very life would be forced to take a direction that Ajay had laid down for him.

The most important [and interesting] character of the movie Apaharan is Tarbez Alam, which is played by none other than Nana Patekar. He runs a parallel ’sarkar’ of his own and in his scheme of things the people involved are politicians, criminals, bureaucrats, and petty criminals who operate at the ground level. To make matters worst, he himself is a political leader of the minority that gives him an extra edge. A ruthless criminal in totality, he thrives due to the existing system in the region from where he operates. Mukul Nag enacts the role of his brother Usman, who is ever ready to lay down his life for his elder brother.

As evident, Tarbez Alam is not alone in his endeavor to be powerful and popular in the world of kidnapping. In this big corrupt society, he has for company people like Gaya Singh, Brijnath Mishra and Muralidhar. With a hardcore criminal Gaya Singh [Yashpal Sharma], manipulative politican Brijnath Mishra [Akhilendra Mishra] and a middleman Muralidhar [Murali] in fray, there was no stopping the organized crime of kidnapping.

Since things are still not completely ‘black’ with some white and gray areas everywhere, same is the case with the system where you have honest folks like Anwar Khan and Akash Ranjan, who represent that facet of society that still has some conscience left. While Anwar [Mukesh Tiwari] is an upright police officer who has a point to prove to his department, Akash Ranjan [Anoop Soni] doesn’t care about the stature of the person standing in front of him and asks questions that hit where they hurt most. What gives him the flexibility of coming out unscathed from his challenges? The power of pen since he is a journalist.

In a battle of ‘black’ and ‘white’, there are bound to some gray areas and Ajay Shastri represents that section of society that wants to get out of this mud-pool, never mind the obstacles that come his way.

At the hindsight, Apaharan may seem to be yet another gangster movie with focus on kidnapping this time around. But with powerhouse of talent Nana Patekar and Ajay Devgan sharing a common platform and director Prakash Jha at the helm coming up with a unique theme never seen before in such details, one is sure that Apaharan would strike a right chord.

Shot extensively in the towns of Satara [Maharashtra] and Salampur [Bihar], Apaharan also conducted some shoots in Nagpur, Pune and Nasik Jail. With number of biggies arriving in the week of Diwali, Apaharan too is not far behind with good chances of movie arriving on 3rd/4th November.

Yashraj Films are on a roll. And now they are soon becoming the masters of popcorn entertainers too. While some of their earlier flicks revolved around mushy romance or high drama, they soon redefined the genre of ‘feel-good’ flicks with the release of DDLJ a decade back. This was followed by mushy ‘Dil To Paagal Hai’, teenage romance ‘Mohabbatein’, family entertainer ‘Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai’, neither-here-not-there ‘Mujhse Dosti Karoge’ and a take on marital drama ‘Saathiya’.

But the zenith of their success came last year when they had back to back bumper successes in the shape of youthful ‘Dhoom’ and ‘Hum Tum’. All this while they also kept their age-old loyal audience happy with a regular dose of ’sarson-ke-khet’ and family values in timeless ‘Veer Zaara’. Huge success of fun-filled ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ has only reaffirmed that Yashraj Films have managed to catch the pulse of the audience. Now with the trend being clear that viewers want to see designer movies with sparkling locations on screen, Yashraj films come up with yet another youthful fun flick that is innovatively titled ‘Salaam Namaste’, a symbol of coming together of the two religions!

What do you expect from a movie that has its opening promos set on Australian beaches? Imaginations turn wild with the very sight of pretty Preity dancing along with Saif Ali Khan with both the lead actors looking all the bit trendy and hip as seen amongst generation X. It is hard to imagine both the 30 plus actors looking ever so refreshing and the icing on the cake definitely comes in when one realizes that the starcast of ‘Salaam Namaste’ also comprises of John Abraham, Arshad Warsi and Tania Zaetta. Directed by debutant Sidharth Anand who also wrote the screenplay for Hum Tum, Salaam Namaste has already caught the fancy of the cinegoer.

At the very onset, the storyline of ‘Salaam Namaste’ is quite simple. BOY and GIRL meet, they quarrel, they hate each other and they eventually fall in love!

The BOY is Nick, Nikhil Arora [Saif Ali Khan], who migrates to Melbourne from Ludhiana and finds a new career dimension for him - he becomes the head chef of a cool Indian restaurant called ‘Nick Of Time’. He is witty, he is wicked, he is fun to work with and above all, he wants to live life on his own terms. He doesn’t interfere with anyone and expects anyone else to do the same with him. He likes to have fun, enjoy, party and then……..go to dreams while sleeping for long hours. Quite possible for him because he stays all alone with no responsibilities to worry about.

But then life was never supposed to move on for him in the same way when Ambar enters his life!!

The GIRL is Ambar, Ambar Malhotra [Prety Zinta], who is a twenty something Indian settled in Melbourne. She too has left her native place Bangalore behind! Why? Because she is young, she is pretty, she wants to have fun and her parents have exactly the opposite in their mind - They want her to get married! She chooses to live life on her own and make a career for herself in medicine while also earn some quick money as a radio jockey [RJ] for the radio station - SALAAM NAMASTE. A no-show at her scheduled show of the interview of Nick - the celebrity chef - is what brings daggers out for Ambar. The daggers soon turn into roses [as expected] and after a few cool sequences, dance on the beach and the beginning of affection happens the inevitable - They fall in love!!

So one may say - what new? Well this is where the novelty factor comes in as the couple doesn’t decide to marry. They in fact decide to live in together without worrying about the future. They are friends who are into a relationship. But marriage? Naah !! Because they are ultra cool, they wanna have some fun and above all they want to give it a try before they eventually take ’saat pheras’.

Life moves on quite smooth as they have a rollicking time with each other. They quarrel, they argue, they fight, they make up, they sing, they dance, they celebrate.

But will they ever marry? Will the coming together of similar personalities result in sparks? Will they finally come to a conclusion of an extended life together after spending a few weeks or months?

Will the feeling of true love surround the two young hearts together?

Will this jodi say ‘Salaam Namaste’ to each other every morning till death do them apart?

The first ever Indian movie filmed entirely in Australia, ‘Salaam Namaste’ already boasts of popular music by Vishal Shekhar and is all set for a September 9 worldwide release.

There are some legendary stories that need to be told. If ‘Mangal Pandey - The Rising’ came and conquered everyone’s imagination, there is yet another legendary tale to arrive soon, this time taking you more than 400 years back.

The legend in picture here is Bhaggmati. Her prince charming - Mohammad Quili Qutub Shah.

The movie - Bhaggmati The Queen of Fortunes.

In the making for last few years, it has been an ongoing struggle for its makers Zee Telefilms and the director Ashok Kaul. And that’s because Bhaggmati - The Queen of Fortunes is no ordinary Bollywood movie. Instead it is the first ever of its kind to be created for Indian screens as it is a half live and half animated. This means that while there are actors like Tabu, Milind Soman and Hema Malini [special appearance] in the movie, they share frames with horde of animated characters. The animation carried out by Z.I.C.A. [Zee Institute of Creative Arts] forms the USP of this love story about which little has been heard before but needs to be known by a lot more.

Have you ever wondered what led to the construction of the city of Hyderabad and what gave the city its name? Well ‘Bhaggmati’ promises to revive the history in a cinematic experience of one of its kinds in a few days from now.

The movie begins in modern day with the introduction of Shivranjini [Tabu] who is a University topper and studies History. Her colleague is Asim [Milind Soman] who is in love with her. In one of her research programs, she hits upon the love story of Bhaggmati and King Mohammadd Quili Qutub Shah. This is where the past and the present times meet with Tabu enacting the character of Bhaggmati while Milind Soman plays the prince. To add to the fun, the characters alternate between live and animated.

While going through the chapters of history, the story about the lovers unfolds. While the prince had everything on a platter, Bhaggmati was a commoner, a dancer and Lord Shiva’s devotee. As destiny would have it, the two come together face to face and fall in love.

There was everything that could go wrong in a positive culmination to the love story, be it the religion, the status or the background. But despite all oppositions, the prince perused his love for the charming lady. But the rules were strict even in that era and before the two love birds could unite together, the prince was disallowed from going anywhere near his love.

But as the saying goes, there is no stopping love, especially in diverse circumstances. The same held good even then with the prince challenging all the barriers, including the mighty river Moussi on a stormy night to meet his love. Proving his love and resolve to be united with Bhaggmati, the prince is finally able to convince the king about his feelings.

True love wins in the end with the king finally relenting to the wishes of his son and allowing him to marry Bhaggmati. In the meanwhile he also makes a provision for a bridge to be constructed across river for the safety of his son.

Later the prince built an entire city at the behest of his lady love and named it as Bhagyanagar, which is now known as Hyderabad. Just like Taj Mahal, here too a symbol of love was created in the form of the world famous Charminar.

An interesting journey into history, it would be interesting to see how Ashok Kaul’s research joins the pieces of history together to recreate a story in an era about which nothing is documented and is known only through fables and myth.

A Zee Telefilms production, ‘Bhaggmati - The Queen Of Fortunes’ would be released in international territories including France and Russia besides US and the UK.