Kamal Sharma
Kamal Sharma

wazir2015 was certainly not huge by Bollywood standards but there’re many smiling faces towards the end as Rohit Shetty’s DILWALE and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s BAJIRAO MASTANI both crossed Rs.300 Crore worldwide. Apart from Salman Khan’s BAJRANGI BHAIJAAN & PREM RATAN DHAN PAYO, Kangana Ranaut’s TANU WEDS MANU RETURNS, Varun Dhawan’s ABCD 2, HATE STORY 3, PIKU, PYAR KA PUNCHNAMA 2 and Akshay Kumar’s various films, there wasn’t much to celebrate in Bollywood but there’s much better expectation in 2016 as the year starts with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s long awaited thriller WAZIR this Friday.
Directed by Vijoy Nambiar of DAVID fame, WAZIR is Neil Nitin Mukesh and the film is about two chess protagonists Amitabh Bachchan & Farhan Akhtar and they’re ably supported by Aditi Rao Hydari & John Abraham. As per the first reports, Amitabh & Farhan are brilliant and it’s to be seen how the cinegoers will react to Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s story with which he’d been toying for over 11 years and after working on the script with Abhijaat Joshi, he finally decided to produce the film in 2014 and the reaction from the bollywood fraternity is certainly very encouraging.as Anil Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Jaya Bachchan, Sharman Joshi, Madhawan and cricketer Sachin Tendulkar joined Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari & Abhijaat Joshi at a special screening in Mumbai and everyone spoke in favour of the film. Music helmed by Vinod Chopra’s favouriteShantanu Moitra and supported by Ankit Tiwary & Swanand Kirkire is already quite popular and all reports are pointing to a positive response at the box-office which certainly will bring cheers in bollywood as a positive opening will reflect well for the rest of 2016. Going back, Satyajit Ray’s SHATRANJ KE KHILADI pitted brilliant Sanjiv Kumar & Saeed Jaffrey as the Chess Players and now, many years after, Vidhu Vinod Chopra has brought together thespian Amitabh Bachchan & the ever improving Farhan Akhtar as the Chess Players and it’s to be seen how the two will recreate the magic as Farhan Akhtar directed Amitabh Bachchan in LAQSHYA (2004) in their previous meeting. A good opening will certainly bring smiles as Juhi Chawla’s CHALK N DUSTER, Akshay Kumar’s AIRLIFT, Ekta Kapoor’s KYA KOOL HAI HUM 3, Rajkumar Hirani’s SAALA KHADOOS and Sunny Leone’s MASTIZAADE are also expected to release in JANUARY 2016!

priyanka chopraPriyanka Chopra Wins People’s Choice Award!!!
PRIYANKA CHOPRA became the first Indian and South Asian ever to win the Favourite Actress in a New TV Serial as the QUANTICO girl won her first ever PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD at a glittering ceremony in Hollywood on January 6th. Bollywood reacted favourably as almost all tweeted congratulatory messages and the news got better as it was confirmed that DEEPIKA PADUKONE will star opposite Hollywood’s VIN DIESEL, who won the Favourite Star & Movie award from none other than Priyanka Chopra earlier, for the next FAST & FURIOUS. Well HOLLYWOOD, here comes BOLLYWOOD!!!

Sadhana cremated quietly!!!
sadhanaSADHANA was the most beautiful actress of 60’s, who acted in popular hits like LOVE IN SIMLA, HUM DONO, EK MUSAFIR EK HASINA, ASLI NAQLI, MERE MEHBOOB, WOH KAUN THI, DULHA DULHAN, RAJKUMAR, ARZOO, BUDTAMEEZ, INTEQAM, EK PHOOL DO MALI & GEETA MERA NAAM with almost all top heroes but alas, she passed away at the age of 74 on December 25,2015 at Mumbai’s Hinduja Hospital from cancer but sadly, hardly any one turned up at her funeral or condolence meeting. Apart from her close friends Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh, Helen & Shammi, the rest of the fraternity was represented by Raza Murad, Deepti Naval, Salim Khan, Sanjay Khan  & a few others and even her own cousin Babita Kapoor was visibly absent. Sadhana was famous for her ‘Sadhana Cut’ hair style and Churidaar Pajamis in films like WAQT, MERA SAAYA, ANITA and ARZOO and sadly, the film fraternity deserted her at her need of hour but Producer, Director & Actress SADHANA (Sept.2, 1941- Dec.25, 2015) will always be remembered for her beauty, style and acting !

Chauranga is a must for all!!
Chauranga-Movie-PosterONIR’s CHAURANGA is making waves for quite some time and co-produced by SANJAY SURI, the film is about the plight of a Dalit boy and if reports are to be believed then the film is a visual treat which has been getting great reviews at various international film festivals. Critics are raving about it and Onir, who earlier made the acclaimed I AM, is confident of getting many national awards for CHAURANGA. Sunny Deol’s GHAYAL ONCE AGAIN has been pushed to February release now and it seems that all eyes are on Akshay Kumar’s Jan.22nd release of AIRLIFT. The gap between BAJIRAO MASTANI & DILWALE is widening and it seems that Sanjay Leela Bhansali has pipped Shahrukh Khan this time as Bajirao Mastani continues to be `the first choice of cine goers around the world. Well, a very HAPPY NEW YEAR to all the readers and hoping that better bollywood movies will release in 2016 and with that, it’s time to say good bye but not before reminding you all to watch this week’s YAADEIN on Sunday, Jan.10nth @ 1 PM, which is a tribute to SADHANA JI!

Kamal Sharma, president of Kamal’s Video Palace, the biggest Indian video store in North America and concert promoter since 1994, is a popular TV host on Shaw Multicultural Channel of “Kamal’s Top 5 Hits” and “YAADEIN,” the longest running South Asian TV shows for more than 31 years.