Singers and music labels come together for long-awaited agreement on royalty The Indian Music Industry (IMI), the apex body representing all music labels in India, and the Indian Singers Rights Association (ISRA), the apex body representing all singers in the country, have signed an agreement between member labels of ISRA and IMI. As a result of this, pact, all record labels, singers and musicians will be greatly benefitted, at pan India level, and get royalties at much higher levels than at ...

Life is Good, Review: Is it? A sweeping statement, to be sure. Life has its ups and down and is good to some people while not so good to others. To the central character in Life is Good, Rameshwar, played by Jackie Shroff, life has been rather bad, on the whole. So, bad, in fact, that he contemplates committing suicide at least twice. Yes, there is a long period in between when he finds love in an unlikely quarter, but like the tagline of LG (Lucky Goldstar) Electronics, ‘Life’s G...

IFFI 53, 2022, 05: Lata Mangeshkar, one of a kind The 53rd edition of the International Film Festival of India is paying homage to Melody Queen Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away in Mumbai in February this year, aged 92. While the veteran singer’s soulful songs are one too many, thousands, to be sure, each excelling her own huge contribution to Indian cinema and culture, the festival has chosen Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 1973 musical drama film Abhimaan, to pay tribute to the superlativ...

Hachette’s The Bollywood Pocket Book Series, A 4-in-1 Set, by Diptakirti Chauduri: Get set Yes, it’s a pun. I mean you should get the set, buy the book, or rather, books. They look deceptively thin when ensconced in the hardcover box, but provide a substantial reading once you pull them out. Book one is about Iconic Dates, with Raj Kapoor and Nargis on the cover, under an umbrella. The author reminds us about the calendar of events that begin with Raja Harishchandra’s releas...

Music Forever: Long performing music duo L-P, alias Laxmikant-Pyarelal Ajay Poundarik is neither a writer nor a journalist. But if he is anything, he is a fanatic admirer of the work of the music composer duo of Hindi films, Laxmikant and Pyarelal, better known as L-P. LP, which, in music parlance, is an acronym for Long Playing Record, is a term that fits them like the proverbial glove. They were indeed a long-playing pair, to be sure. As a tribute to his ‘deities’, Poundarik ...

Aamir, Nasir, Tahir, Tariq, Mansoor, Amjad: Movies, Masti, Modernity, Flashback 7 To remind you, Aamir is indeed Aamir Khan, Amjad is definitely Gabbar Singh, and the triple M above is to acknowledge that it was Akshay Manwani’s biographical book on the cinema of Nasir Hussain that got me delving into the period of about 15 years, when I interacted with the Hussain Khans (first five) and the bare Khan (last, but the most imposing personality). Actually, Mansoor did not use his middle na...

Aamir, Nasir, Tahir, Tariq, Mansoor, Amjad: Movies, Masti, Modernity, Flashback 6 To remind you, Aamir is indeed Aamir Khan, Amjad is definitely Gabbar Singh, and the triple M above is to acknowledge that it was Akshay Manwani’s biographical book on the cinema of Nasir Hussain that got me delving into the period of about 15 years, when I interacted with the Hussain Khans (first five) and the bare Khan (last, but the most imposing personality). Actually, Mansoor did not use his middle na...

Indian films’ greatest playback singer Mohammed Rafi: Tributes on his 92nd birthday Rafi died in 1980. Among the singers who gave playback to songs picturised on Indian actors, he topped the list, both in terms of quality and quantity. Opinions have been expressed that Kishore Kumar had the edge when it came to spontaneity and Manna Dey was a classical wizard. My own childhood favourite, Mukesh, too, was the darling of a few millions, but nobody, nobody could eye the spot that Rafi had ...