Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. Her career in the Hindi film industry has spanned over 160 films, mostly within independent and neorealist parallel cinema, though her work extended to mainstream films as well as a number of international projects. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several genres. She has won a record five National Film Awards for Best Actress, in addition to six Filmfare Awards and several international accolades. The Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri in 1998 and the Padma Bhushan in 2012.
Farhan Akhtar is an Indian actor, filmmaker, writer, dialogue writer, singer and songwriter who works in Hindi films. Born in Mumbai to screenwriters Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani after establishing a production company named Excel Entertainment along with Ritesh Sidhwani in 1999, made his directorial debut with the coming-of-age comedy-drama Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and received widespread critical acclaim for portraying realistic modern Indian youth in the film, which won the National Award for Best Hindi Film and the Filmfare Award for Best Film (Critics). Following this, he directed the cult war film Lakshya (2004) and made his Hollywood debut through the soundtrack of Bride and Prejudice (2004), for which he and sister Zoya Akhtar served as lyricists. Next came the commercially successful Don (2006), his third directorial venture, post which he directed a short film titled Positive (2007) to spread awareness on HIV-AIDS.
Salim Abdul Rashid Khan is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter. He wrote the screenplays, stories and scripts for numerous Bollywood films. Khan is one half of the prolific screenwriting duo of Salim–Javed, along with Javed Akhtar. The duo were among the first Indian screenwriters to achieve star status in Hindi cinema, and became the most successful Indian screenwriters of all time. While working together, Salim Khan was largely responsible for developing the stories and characters, whereas Javed Akhtar was largely responsible for developing the dialogues.
Zoya Akhtar is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Hindi cinema. Born to Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani, she completed a diploma in filmmaking from NYU and assisted directors Mira Nair, Tony Gerber and Dev Benegal, before becoming an independent writer and director. She is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. Akhtar, along with Reema Kagti, founded Tiger Baby Films, a film and web studio in October 2015.
Salim–Javed were an Indian screenwriting duo, composed of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, who worked primarily in Hindi cinema. They were among the first Indian screenwriters to achieve star status, and are regarded as among "Hindi cinema's greatest screenwriters". They worked together on 24 films between 1971 and 1987, of which 20 were commercially and critically successful.
Nasreen Munni Kabir is an India-born television producer, director and author based in the U.K. She is best known for producing an annual season of Indian films for the British terrestrial television channel Channel 4.
Haathi Mere Saathi is a 1971 Indian Hindi-language drama film, directed by M. A. Thirumugam, with screenplay written by Salim–Javed and dialogues by Inder Raj Anand. The movie has a Disneyesque appeal with an Indian twist. Haathi Mere Saathi was the biggest hit of 1971 going by box office collections, and was also critically acclaimed. The film stars Rajesh Khanna and Tanuja. The film at that point in time was the biggest hit ever made by a South Indian producer in Hindi.
Kranti (transl. Revolution) is a 1981 Indian historical drama film, produced, edited, dialogue and directed by Manoj Kumar, with the story and screenplay written by Salim–Javed. It stars an ensemble cast, consisting of Dilip Kumar in the title role along with Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Hema Malini, Parveen Babi in pivotal roles. The film also marked the return of Dilip Kumar after a four-year hiatus. It ranks among the top 10 highest grossing Indian films of all time, when adjusted for ticket-price inflation. It was one of the most expensive Indian films of the time and it went on to become the highest grossing Indian film of the 1980s decade by a distance, when adjusted for inflation. Kranti is the biggest patriotic hit ever seen in India. It was the second highest grossing Indian film ever behind Sholay (1975) at the time of its release. However, it did higher business than Sholay in its original run. It grossed ₹20 crore as compared to ₹15 crore of Sholay in the original run. Sholay did exceptionally well in re-runs earning more profit in the meanwhile period.
Khairabad is a town in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. It is 8 km from Sitapur on National Highway 24 in the Awadh region of India, about 80 km from the state capital Lucknow. A Municipal board conducts the affairs of the town.
The filmi-ghazal is a genre of filmi music based on ghazal poetry in Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), used in Indian films, especially the music of Bollywood. The filmi-ghazals retain the couplet format and rhyme scheme similar to that in ghazals. However, instead of vocal or instrumental passages as interludes, the filmi-ghazal usually uses precomposed musical pieces.
Honey Irani is an Indian actress and screenwriter, who works in Hindi cinema. She started her career as a child actor with roles in films such as Mahesh Kaul’s Pyar ki Pyas. She was probably four to five years old when the shooting of the movies Chirag Kahan Roshni Kahan and Bombay Ka Chor started.
Betaab (Restless) is a 1983 Indian romance film written by Javed Akhtar, directed by Rahul Rawail and produced by Bikram Singh Dehal. The plot of the film was loosely based on William Shakespeare’s The Taming Of The Shrew. The film stars Sunny Deol and Amrita Singh in their debut roles along with Shammi Kapoor. The music was composed by Rahul Dev Burman. The opening of Betaab started in 1981 with the presence of Dilip Kumar, Saira Banu, Raj Kapoor, and Dharmendra. Before the release of Betaab, Sunny Deol also had a small role in the film Main Inteqam Loonga 1982 which his father Dharmendra was the hero of the film. Betaab was a commercial success and went on to be one of the biggest hits of the year, emerging as the 2nd highest grossing Indian film of 1983. The film was remade in Telugu as Samrat in 1987, with Ramesh Babu and Sonam, and in Kannada as Karthik in 2011.
Masala films of Indian cinema are those that blend multiple genres into one work. Masala films emerged in the 1970s and are still being created as of the 2020s. Typically these films freely blend action, comedy, romance, and drama or melodrama. They also tend to be musicals that include songs, often filmed in picturesque locations.
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, also abbreviated as ZNMD, is a 2011 Hindi-language coming-of-age adventure comedy film directed by Zoya Akhtar and produced by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani under Excel Entertainment. The film stars an ensemble cast of Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin. A co-production between India and Spain, it was filmed in Spain, India and the United Kingdom on a budget of ₹45 crore. The music and background score are composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy with lyrics by Javed Akhtar.
Iftikhar Hussain, known by his pen name Muztar Khairabadi, was an Indian Urdu poet.
Inder Raj Anand was an Indian film dialogue and screenwriter in Hindi cinema, who worked on many Raj Kapoor films, starting with Aag (1948), Aah (1953), Anari (1959) and Sangam (1963). While formally referred to as a writer for Hindi films, he was actually an Urdu writer, writing his scripts and dialogues in Urdu.
"Señorita" (transl. Miss) is a song from the 2011 Indian film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. It was composed by Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy and performed by Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Spanish singer María del Mar Fernández. The lyrics were penned by Javed Akhtar. The Latino-flavoured Spanish flamenco song is about being yourself and having fun.
Parsi theatre is a generic term for an influential theatre tradition, staged by Parsis, and theatre companies largely-owned by the Parsi business community, which flourished between 1850 and the 1930s. Plays were primarily in the Hindustani language, as well as Gujarati to an extent. After its beginning in Bombay, it soon developed into various travelling theatre companies, which toured across India, especially north and western India, popularizing proscenium-style theatre in regional languages.
