Movie: Housefull

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Deepika Padukone, Lara Dutta, Arjun Rampal

Music Director: Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy

Rating: 3/5

Every time a Sajid Khan movie is all set to hit the screens, the entertainment meter just elevates to a brand new level. The expectations increase by leaps and bounds and the ears are all curious to enjoy another fun-filled album which promises a lot of rocking beats and musical dhamaka. Sajid’s association with the musical triumvirate of Shankar Ehsaan Loy comes together once again after ‘Heyy Babyy’ in this 2010 slapstick comedy ‘Housefull’ with hopes of replicating their earlier success.

The very first track of the album which stole everybody’s attention is ‘Oh Girl! You’re Mine’. This sets the mood for the listeners and assures them that there is a lot more fun to come their way. This is one such track that you will feel like setting on the repeat mode and go on hearing it for hours. Tarun Sagar and Alyssa Mendonse with their vocals make no mistake at al as they croon this track wonderfully to make it an instant hit.

Then follows the unusually composed track, ‘Loser’ which has a bizzare feel throughout with lyrics that are fully loaded with attitude. Comical lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya throughout the song ensures a touch of mockery to the song which definitely is a situational based song.

The album reveals yet another situational track with ‘Papa Jaag Jaayega’. The entire composition along with the lyrics redefines laughter. The cheeky and crazy lyrics certainly gives this song a freaked out number. Listeners can easily make out that this one is a situational song. With promotions going on, in full swing, this song has hit the eardrums just at the sweetest spot and is heard on almost every channels, radio stations and is being liked by everybody too.

‘I Do Not Know What To Do’ bursts into your ears and leaves you wondering how ‘not so stylish’ it sounds when our singers croon it in English. With an Indo touch to the vocals, this song does not seem to catch the attention of the listeners at the very first go. Whether it does after several more hearings is again a question as this one is a mere average track of the entire album.

The album takes a retro turn with the recreation of the 80s hit, ‘Aapka Kya Hoga’. Mika’s singing is exciting in his own special way and does not fail to give the sparkling touch to this track. This track is equally good to the original version of the song, if not better than that.

All said and done, this music album has a lot of fun and frolic to offer. Though the songs are mostly situational, the album is all set to stay glued to the listener’s minds for long. In one line, this album can lift your spirits from the nadir and send it all the way to the zenith of energy!

Go for it!

– Arundhati Chatterjee –

Every stream has their own ways and trademark styles by which it is somewhat easy for a stranger to identify them. These signs may not necessarily be the ones they flaunt in the college premises but these are those patent aspects of their character that they carry wherever they go.

So, here are some of the traits that distinguish a BMM student from the other folks around.

• Upbeat To The Core:
Be it the wardrobes, the gadgets, the lingo, the creativity…BMM tops it all.

• Lack Of Textbooks:
It is a rare sight to find BMM students roaming around the corridors with huge stacks of textbooks because for them, it’s how much they grasp from the world around them is what matters at the end.

• Redefining Informal Ways:
If ever you tend to find any bit of information coming across to you in some out of the box ways, you can close your eyes and proclaim that it is a BMM brainchild. Pamphlets, Handouts and Announcements are considered outdated by these folks.

• Enjoy Theatres And Plays:
The students around the campus who are most likely to attend a play at the prithvi theatre will never be from the BSc IT or the BMS gang. These students will almost always be hailing from the BMM stream. These are the intellectually mischievous segment of the college.

• Fests That Are Fun And Nothing Else:
Check out for yourself by attending POLARIS, Detour and CUTTING CHAI this year and you will definitely agree with me that exclusive BMM fests are indeed creatively enriching and highly entertaining experiences.

• The Word Play:
These folks are excellent when it comes to Word Play. You just cannot get enough of their arguments and all of them being fantastically logical. At the end of the argument, there are chances you might forget your own point. This is the sheer gift of the gab that a BMM student is gifted with. He will not abuse you and neither will he give up but, win in their own style.

• Their Rooms Speak For Them:
You find a horribly messy room which looks smart and very interesting with loads of DVDs, Photographs, Camera, Magazines, Graffiti, Posters and several colorful tit-bits which you cannot actually make out what they really are. Yes! You might be standing in a BMM student’s room. Their life is defintiely the most colorful ones.

• Involvement of The Crazy Element:
There will always be some bit of craziness involved in the thought process of these individuals. No matter where they are, what they are up to, who they are with, these guys cannot get rid of their devil mind from exploding with ideas that most of the times leave the person at the receiving end spellbound at their power of imagination.

• Lappy Is My Best Friend:
Today, carrying a laptop or a net book to college is no more a rare event. But, who do these laptops mostly belong to? Ah! Without a doubt, the BMM folks top here too. On an average, everyday at least 40% of the class carries a laptop with them to add the finishing touch to their presentations.

So, in case you come across individuals with such traits in them, shoot the question at them…
“Are you a BMM student?” and you will be surprised when they will pat you too hard and flash an extraordinarily broad smile and reply, “How did you guess, mate???!!??”

– Arundhati Chatterjee –

Everything changes at a very fast pace in this busy and happening world. And what happens when the source of all our news i.e. media too redefines itself. Journalism, which was once about sincerely penning your thoughts and letting people know what’s happening in various parts of the world, is now about creating news rather than investigating news.

It’s a revolution in media industry that first came through the cable television, then satellite and now online versions of newspapers is augmenting the news media scene. In olden times, news was that which came from newspapers or word of mouth. Today the term ‘news’ is not just about informing, but also about doing it fast, effectively and also analyzing it for Gen X. Being in the eye of public domain has created a tremendous pressure on the publication as well as news channels.

With various multimedia options – from streaming video online to downloadable applications, blogs and mobile alerts, the options are varied for today’s reader. Journalists are working harder than ever to cater to their readers. From live reporting, interviewing, analyzing the facts to the digitalization of news on blogs and official websites, the job is easier said than done. Journalists who want to set their articles apart as truthful and comprehensive have began giving public access to their sources.

Playing an active role in the process of collecting , reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and other information was the definition of journalism in olden times. Today it is defined as – Revelation , current events, gossip, new information, imparting facts. There is no ‘News’ anymore rather just about anything is news today.

E.g. Famous bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai’s marriage controversy or we can say a tea-gossip that Ms. Rai will change her name after marriage was unbelievable. To some extent it may be news for entertainment and gossip lovers , however television channels carried 30 minutes slot in this very subject.

The media ecology, with its additional agency of interactivity, democracy and with a new domain of bloggers and citizen reporters has extended the medium to further discuss a set of issues and opportunities that extend beyond familiar boundaries. The news business and political journalism have now experienced such incredible changes as specialized news, financial news and sports 24- hour cable satellite service.

Today social media has also changed journalism. It’s an extension of those practices which are now an essential component of any news organizations strategy. However , an increase in competition has also led organizations to distinguish themselves from less responsible outlets by being more transparent about how they do their work. Due to all this newsmakers face increasing competition to cover all the pertinent stories and reach sources before their competitors . The biggest change which has occurred is increased involvement of the audience , which has morphed from the occasional letter in to an active citizen participating in polls and giving feedback through emails.

Understanding online journalism, impact of technology on journalism, journalism in digital age, print media v\s television media are some of the terms that define modern journalism.

The basic rule of good journalism is- “ Tell the story right, tell it well,” or “ If you cant be funny, then be interesting.”

– Mrinalini Singh –

Movie: Badmaash Company
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das, Meiyang Chang
Music Director: Preetam Chakroborthy
Rating: 3.5 / 5

Badmaash Company, one of the Yash Raj ventures of 2010 as expected, has all eyes set on it. Yash Raj camp has a great music history and a lot is expected from the music album of this film too. This album can be called the male dominated album as there is complete absence of female vocals. With Meiyang Chang as one of the four actors, everybody would have looked forward to Chang’s singing in the album but, hard luck guys! Chang is not a part of the vocalists. The album, just like the movie is indeed a stylish and powerful album with no place for any romantic or sentimental ballads.

After the successful chain of compositions like Love Aaj Kal, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, Tum Mile and many more to count, Pritam comes with another sizzling and upbeat album with ‘Badmaash Company’. The opening track of the album is ‘Ayaashi’, sung wonderfully by K.K. The song has already worked well in promoting the movie. The lyrics and beats of this track are equally catchy and tend to stay in your mind for a very very long time. Undoubtedly, very soon every pub across the country will want more and more of this song. This has been an instant hit with the youngsters.

The track that follows ‘Ayaashi’ is ‘Jingle Jingle’, which has an unusually appealing feel. This one is another groovy number with not so common lyrics which makes the song all the more interesting. Mohit Chauhan has lived up to the expectations and the instrumentation has definitely provided the brilliant Punjabi Feel to this track. This song is going to make people involuntarily croon the song all day long.

This album constantly lets the temperature rise and brings to you ‘Chaska’ after ‘Jingle Jingle’. But, this time around, even with the strong vocals of Krishna and too much of electronic beats, the song fails to make a place in your memory even after listening this number for quite a number of times. Neither the beats nor the lyrics tend to render anything extraordinary for this track. ‘Chaska’ definitely is an average track. There’s nothing great about the track.

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan joins in with the Sufi Rock track ,’Fakeera’. This is quentessentially Pritam’s composition. This track definitely at some point in time will remind you of his earlier compositions like ‘Ya Ali’ from Gangster, ‘Tu hi Haqeeqat’ from Tum Mile and few more similar Sufi style tracks. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice doesn’t seem to suit to this genre of music and hence fails to bring out the desired effect rock effect.

These are the four tracks one will get to hear from ‘Badmaash Company’ and there are two more remixed tracks which do not make any special mark. All said and done, this album is one of those albums which are certainly going to stay for real long in the party circuit and will be desired by the social butterflies everywhere. Every time you wish to feel evil from within, give this album a listen for the lyrics definitely stirs up your devil side. The bottomline is ‘Badmaash Company’ is an excellent trendy album with interesting lyrics and catchy music throughout. Though, the quality of music falls in between, still the album is worth listening.

– Arundhati Chatterjee –

Italian lifestyle brand Diesel has decided to launch the brand in the Indian market. Diesel has partnered with Reliance Brands (a Mukesh Ambani owned entity). The Diesel-Reliance joint venture is in the ratio of 51:49.

Five stores will be launched in the next 3 months at Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. The first store is all set to be launched in Mumbai. The store will be called ‘Be Stupid’ and will flaunt the diesel collection across the 3 floor store spread across 7,500 sq ft.

Renzo Rosso, President and Founder of Diesel said, “I have always admired Indian people, they are very passionate about what they do and they have an innate fashion taste. India has been one of our major objectives for the last 5 years; we worked hard in order to find the right location, the perfect time and the best partner to expand our brand in this country. The time is now and we are very excited to be here.”

Darshan Mehta, President and CEO, Reliance Brands, also added, “To launch In India one of the most iconic brand in contemporary fashion, is the culmination of a dream and many months of painstaking but enjoyable work for my team and me. Diesel has spawned a genre of fashion that is an alternate to established luxury and in India it arrives to a throng of hungry fashionastas and a growing generation of cool consumers.”

Diesel expects to launch all the stores by end of June.

Emami is all set to launch a new marketing campaign and is geared up to strengthen the brand value of its newly acquired brand Zandu Balm (after acquiring Zandu Pharmaceutical). Emami has signed cricketers Virender Sehwag, Amit Mishra and Dinesh Karthik to endorse Zandu Balm for duration of two years.

Confirming the news, Mohan Goenka, Director, Emami Group, said, “The size of the pain relieving market in India is estimated to be about Rs 1,500 crore and Zandu Balm holds the pole position in this category. We intend to popularize the Zandu Balm brand among the Indian youth and make it a symbol of best reliever of pain and strain that gets inflicted on the body. Our objective is to make the brand more acceptable to the young generation of India, hence the association with Virender Sehwag, Amit Mishra and Dinesh Karthik.”

Goenka further said, “Since the ambassadors are not only youth icons but also depict fitness, they perfectly fit in the requirement of the brand. Moreover, cricket in India has the maximum fan following as compared to any other form of sports.”

Goenka also spoke about the campaign adding, “Our objective is to make Zandu Balm more acceptable to the young generation of India. So, we feel that the association with Virender Sehwag, Amit Mishra and Dinesh Karthik will not only give a facelift to the brand but also provide it an exclusive platform not just to reach millions of cricket fans in India, in particular, but also to the country’s young populace. The campaign is still in the process of being prepared.”

The television commercial featuring the three cricketers is directed Prahlad Kakkar and scripted by Adi Pocha.

Grey Group, a global marketing communications company (part of WPP) has appointed Divyapratap Mehta as Senior Planning Director. Mehta has earlier strategized plans for various brands like Unilever’s Dirt is Good, LG, Nestle, Maruti, Fever 104 fm and Havell’s campaigns to name a few.

Bindu Sethi, SVP and National Head of Planning, Grey India confirmed the news, “In our effort to enhance the quality of our brand work and the offering to clients, we are strengthening our planning talent and resource pool. It gives me great pleasure to welcome Divyapratap to Grey and the planning team.”

Speaking about his appointment, Mehta said, “Grey offers a great combination of the right people with the right thinking. Along with the team, I look forward to facing the challenges that will come my way as I take on this new role. I am proud to be part of an agency that understands and appreciates the value of powerful planning and emphasizes the need to create advertising that becomes ‘Famously Effective’.”

Prior to this, Mehta has worked with Lowe Lintas as Associate Vice President Planning and as Regional Planning Director-South East Asia-Lowe Worldwide. He has worked with prominent agencies like TBWA, Leo Burnett and McCann Erickson in the past.

Rating : 3/5

The Roshan family comes together after a break of three years. Kites is the most anticipated movie of 2010 and the music of the film too was expected to be extraordinary. Especially, as the news of Hrithik Roshan lending his voice started making the rounds, the expectations increased by leap and bounds. With the unique music release, the Roshans came up with launching the tracks on the radio stations; Kites intrigued the auditory senses of the audience big time.

The Album, composed by Rajesh Roshan opens with the track, ‘Zindagi Do Pal ki’. This stands out as the most appealing and romantic number with sheer soul stirring lyrics. Sung by K.K, this song is a musical delight with a typical Rajesh Roshan feel attached.
After ‘Zindagi Do Pal Ki’ comes another love song, ‘Dil Kyun Yeh Mera’ which is quintessentially K.K. The lyrics has a lot of poetic feel and it is going to stay in our minds for a very very long time. The touch of rock which comes as the song progresses gifts the track an upbeat feel.

Follows the soft romantic number is the soft rock number, ‘Tum Bhi Ho Wohi’ crooned fantastically by Vishal Dadlani, who is later joined by Suraj Jagan. This one is a powerful and at the same time a very energetic number to lift your spirits at any given point in time. Guitar as the backbone of instrumentation for this track, the tune at the beginning stays throughout the song and the hangover of this tune promises to stay with you all day long.

After the first three tracks, emerges the USP of the album, ‘Kites in the Sky’. The song that has been in the limelight ever since it has been recorded by Hrithik Roshan, all the eager ears have been waiting to listen this one. The song begins with a very western feel and maintains it throughout as Suzanne D’mello elegantly sings the Spanish part of the lyrics and is then joined by the Star himself. Nevertheless, Hrithik makes his mark with just the two lines that he lends his voice for. This song will definitely make a mark in the urban section of the audience. With the minimal usage of instruments, this out and out romantic ballad will make its way straight to your hearts.

There is a sudden change in the romantic feel of the album as the next song, ‘Fire’ comes in. It is truly unique in every sense. Neither does it have any carefully penned down lyrics nor any romantic feel and yet it is one of the catchy numbers of the album. It’s more of an instrumental number with a very short vocal part. One can expect Hrithik to dance away to glory in this typical dance floor number. It is sure to make it to every single pubs across the country. Anirudh Bhola, Anushka Manchanda, Rajesh Roshan and Vishal Dadlani help excellently with the vocals to make this song an instant raving hit.

Definitely the album has not lived upto the enormous expectations but indeed has a strong international appeal and is sure to attract the urban audience and specially the youth. The album is here to stay for a long time in our hearts and paves the way for the film’s success.

– Arundhati Chatterjee –