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IAA Hosts Niche Entertaintment’s ‘Dil Se’: Superlative Singing & Dancing
by Jyoti KulKarni
Houston: The musical genius of composer A.R. Rahman was on display through a superlative audio-visual and live performance by Niche Entertainment of Pune. Niche has presented a series of such unique performances for over a decade, including “Bhairav to Bahiravi”, “Black and White” and “Prabhat to Sairat”.
Niche Entertainment is currently on a 14-city USA tour with the “Dil Se ...” show. Indo-American Association of Houston was the national sponsor of the entire USA tour. The Houston show took place last Friday, June 2 at the Stafford Civic Centre on Cash Road. After the Houston show, the troupe had four more to go.
IAA Board of Directors member Radhika Day came on stage and announced a discounted ticket package for IAA patrons for upcoming performances of Mika Singh and theatrical production of ‘Mughal-e-Azam’. Day also urged
713-789-6397 the audience to purchase event tickets directly from IAA rather than third-party ticket sellers.
“Dil Se ...” is directed by Milind Oak. The performance script was written by Ashay Walamb with Nachiket Devasthali as the narrator. The singers are Abhilasha Chellam, Ashutosh Joshi, Deepika Datar and Abhishek Telang. The dancers were Kunal Phadke, Abhishek Havaragi, Rutuja Ingle, and Riya Desai.
The show traced Rahman’s life and his musical growth. The presentation also focused on his close relationship with Director Mani Ratnam and his appearance on the international scene through the composition of “Jai Ho” for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and Shekhar Kapur’s ‘Bombay Dreams’
At the conclusion of the Houston show, Director Milind Oak came on stage to reveal that Niche Entertainment will be working on a new show about the remarkable career of India’s nightingale -- Lata Mangeshkar.
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‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’: Fails on its Comic Potential
Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.
Solution Next Week
by sHubHra gupta
How far will you go for a house of your own? And at what point will you draw the line? Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’s central conflict is one that makes it instantly relatable to millions of middle-class Indians. When it comes right down to it, young Indore-based couple Kapil (Vicky Kaushal) and Soumya (Sara Ali Khan) have some tough calls to take: will they be able to go through with it?
overcomes the efforts of the actors, especially Himanshu Kohli’s paan-chewing lawyer (the funniest part of the film) who tries his best to help the hapless couple, Inaamulhaq as the charlatan-liar who gobbles money from the innocent public, and Sharib Hashmi as the good-natured chowkidar who, we all know, will be granted his biggest wish; no prizes for guessing what that is.
relationship over this obsession for a house, the film makes it very clear that it is the woman who is more to blame than the poor man, who keeps trying to keep peace between his ‘selfish’ wife, and his affectionate family for whom blood will always be thicker than Thums Up.
What else can you say for a film which revolves around keeping both a marriage, and morals, intact?
In the way it gets going, Zara Hatke is pure sitcom territory. Kapil is a yoga instructor, Soumya is a tutor; their two-year-old marriage still has spark. Both are constricted for space in their house, with mummyji, daddyji, mamaji, mamiji, and a too smart for his own good nephew, who is constantly inserting himself in between the young couple when they want to get cosy. The only way out, as Soumya sees it, is an abode in which they can enjoy their privacy, and to which end, the two embark on a path on which there are several roadblocks, including (spoiler alert) a fake divorce
As for Kaushal and Khan, the former does better at his ‘kanjoos’ self (representing people who deduct portions from their ‘aaj’ to save for their ‘kal’); the latter needs to build in significantly more variation in delivery. And while the two are made to say sorry to each other for having nearly ruined their
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Sara Ali Khan, Himanshu Kohli, Neeraj Sood, Inamamulhaq, Sharib Hashmi, Rakesh Bedi, Sushmita Mukherjee
Director: Laxman Utekar
Rating: 2 star -- Indian Express
Last Week’s Solution
You’re all set for a light-hearted yarn, as Kapil and Soumya chomp on greasy roadside noodles, split a fizzy soda (she calls him a ‘cheepda’ because he insists on getting only one, never two) and share a five star bar (ooh, more branding) together, while breaking into a couple of forgettable songs. A government housing scheme meant for lower income groups comes up on their radar, and both agree to do questionable things, in the hope of lucking out.
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But the film never quite builds on its comic potential, by throwing a tonal switch somewhere down in its second-half, introducing a plot twist doused in mothballed sentimentality, and adding a dreary sanskari layer to the whole thing. That, and by consistently flat writing, which tasteumrestaurant@gmail.com
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