In the Indian film industry, the muhurat shot or muhurtam shot is the first shot (or take) of a film marking the commencement of the principal photography. It is preceded by a pooja (religious rites). [1] [2] Muhurtam is a word from the Rig Veda and means moment. Contemporarily it means "auspicious moment" [3]
A character in Shashi Tharoor's Show Business: A Novel muses "The muhurat of any film, the auspicious moment when the opening shot is canned, is not an event its star is supposed to miss... Muhurats are packed with oversize individuals in undersize clothes, their eyes and thighs gleaming with synthetic sheen... their tendency is to drape refulgent garlands on every available tripod, clapper, or neck. I'm happy to avoid them. In any case, marigolds make me sneeze." [4] A Rediff.com news story covering the release of Bob Christo autobiography Flashback: My Life and Times in Bollywood and Beyond, carries an excerpt in which Christo asks "What is a mahurat[ sic ]", "That's an inauguration" he is told. [5] According to director Suresh Krissna, "In an industry steeped in superstition, it is blasphemy to even think of not using the muhurat shot – the first shot has to be inserted at some point". [6]
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami was an Indian writer and novelist known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.
Electional astrology, also known as event astrology, is a branch found in most traditions of astrology according to which a practitioner decides the most appropriate time for an event based on the astrological auspiciousness of that time. It differs from horary astrology because, while horary astrologers seek to find the answer to a question based on the time the question was asked, electional astrologers seek to find a period of time which will result in the most preferable outcome for an event being planned.
Shashi Tharoor is an Indian former international civil servant, diplomat, bureaucrat, politician, writer and public intellectual who has been serving as Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, since 2009. He is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers. He was formerly an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and unsuccessfully ran for the post of Secretary-General in 2006. Founder-Chairman of All India Professionals Congress, he formerly served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and on Informational Technology.
Prithviraj Kapoor was an Indian actor who is also considered to be one of the founding figures of Hindi cinema. He was associated with IPTA as one of its founding members and established the Prithvi Theatres in 1944 as a travelling theatre company based in Bombay.
Soha Ali Khan Pataudi is an Indian actress who has worked in Hindi, Bengali and English films. She is the daughter of veteran actress Sharmila Tagore and former India cricket captain Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and the younger sister of actor Saif Ali Khan. She started her acting career with the romantic comedy film Dil Maange More (2004), and is best known for her role in the drama film Rang De Basanti (2006). In 2017, she authored a book The Perils of Being Moderately Famous that won the Crossword Book Award in 2018.
The Kapoor family is a prominent Indian show business family with at least 4 generations of the family over 94 years being active in the Hindi film industry. Numerous members of the family, both biological and those who have married into the family, have had prolific careers as actors, film directors and producers. "The Pioneer" founder of the dynasty was "The Patriarch", Prithviraj Kapoor, who was the first member of family to begin acting in movies with his 1928 debut film Do Dhari Talwar. He was a pioneer of Indian theatre and the founding member of Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). His son Raj Kapoor was the most influential actor and director in Hindi cinema. The genesis generation or the earliest linear generation of the Kapoor family tree to ever act in the films was Prithviraj Kapoor's father, Basheshwarnath Kapoor, who debuted as actor in 1951 film Awaara, which was produced, directed and starred in lead role by his grandson Raj Kapoor.
Baashha is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language gangster action film written and directed by Suresh Krissna. The film stars Rajinikanth, Nagma and Raghuvaran, with Janagaraj, Devan, Shashi Kumar, Vijayakumar, Anandaraj, Charan Raj, Kitty, Sathyapriya, Shenbaga and Yuvarani in supporting roles. It revolves around an auto-driver who maintains a humble exterior and stays away from violence, but has a dark past which he conceals from his family.
Parattai Engira Azhagu Sundaram is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language crime action film directed by Suresh Krissna. It stars Dhanush, Meera Jasmine and Archana. The film is a remake of the 2005 Kannada film Jogi. The film revolves around a woman who comes to the city from her village in search of her presumably lost son. The film was released on 27 April 2007 and it could not repeat the success of its original version and was declared a box-office bomb.
Veera (transl. Warrior) is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Suresh Krissna and written by Panchu Arunachalam. It is a remake of the Telugu film Allari Mogudu (1992) and stars Rajinikanth, Meena and Roja with Janagaraj, Senthil, Vadivukkarasi, J. Livingston, Mahesh Anand, Vinu Chakravarthy, Ajay Rathnam, Vivek and Charuhasan in supporting roles. The film is about a man who marries twice because of circumstances beyond his control and is forced to live a double life to cover his tracks.
Annaamalai is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language masala film directed by Suresh Krissna and produced by Kavithalayaa Productions. A remake of the 1987 Hindi film Khudgarz, itself based on Jeffrey Archer's 1979 novel Kane and Abel, it stars Rajinikanth, Khushbu and Sarath Babu with Radha Ravi, Nizhalgal Ravi and Manorama in supporting roles. The film revolves around Annaamalai, a poor milkman, and Ashok, a wealthy hotelier, who have been friends since childhood, a friendship opposed by Ashok's father who attempts to create a rift between the two.
Rajinikanth is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 160 films, predominantly in Tamil cinema. He began his film career by playing antagonistic and supporting roles before graduating to a lead actor. After starring in numerous commercially successful films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, he has continued to hold a matinée idol status in the popular culture of Tamil Nadu. Writing for Slate, Grady Hendrix called him the "biggest movie star you've probably never heard of." Rajinikanth has also worked in other Indian film industries such as Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bengali.
Sathyaa is a 1988 Indian Tamil-language gangster film directed and co-written by Suresh Krissna in his directorial debut. Produced by Kamal Haasan, the film stars him and Amala, with Rajesh, Janagaraj, Bahadoor and Kitty in supporting roles. A remake of the 1985 Hindi film Arjun, it revolves around an unemployed youth who cannot tolerate injustice in his community.
Punnagai Mannan is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Revathi, with Srividya, Rekha, Delhi Ganesh, Sudarshan and Sundar Krishna Urs in supporting roles. Its plot revolves around a dance instructor whose student falls in love with him.
Oruvan is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Suresh Krissna. The film stars Sarathkumar, Pooja Batra and Devayani, while Raghuvaran and Anandaraj play supporting roles. Produced by Lakshmi Movie Makers, the film had cinematography handled by S. Saravanan and music composed by Deva. It was released on 25 June 1999.
Chandramukhi is one of the pivotal characters in the 1917 Bengali novel Devdas by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. Her character was inspired by the Hindu mystical singer Meera, who devoted her life to Lord Krishna; similarly Chandramukhi devoted her life to Devdas. Chandramukhi is portrayed as a Tawaif in the novel and its film adaptations. Chandramukhi means "moon faced" or "as beautiful as the moon" in Sanskrit.
Dak edition, in India, is the edition of a newspaper published earlier than other editions in order to be distributed to mofussil areas. Shashi Tharoor provides his description of 1960s Dak edition as "yesterday's news with today's date on it. Aggarwal states that it is the responsibility of the news editor to schedule the printing of the dak edition which he describes as meant for distant places as different from "city edition", which intended for the city in which it is printed. Naqvi states that there are many editions of a paper such as dak edition, city edition and late city edition. A dispatch appearing in Allen's Indian Mail (1851) uses the term describing it as very different from the morning edition.
Veer Savarkar is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language biopic film based on the life of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. This version was released on DVD format. This film is produced by Savarkar Darshan Prathisthan, under the president-ship of Sudhir Phadke. It was premiered on 16 November 2001, in Mumbai, New Delhi, Nagpur and six other Indian cities. Rediff.com reports a claim that it is the first movie in the world financed by public donations. On 28 May 2012 its Gujarati language version was released by then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi.
Shanmugam Saravanan is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works mainly in the Indian film industry. He is an alumnus of the M.G.R. Government Film and Television Training Institute. He started his career with Poove Unakkaga, a Tamil romantic film starring Vijay and Sangita and was released in the year 1996. He debuted as a director by his directorial venture Silambattam. Saravanan is well known for his association with Directors Vikraman and Suresh Krissna. He has worked as a cinematographer in more than 25 films in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.
Annaamalai is the soundtrack album, composed by Deva with lyrics by Vairamuthu, for the 1992 Tamil film of the same name, starring Rajinikanth and directed by Suresh Krissna. It marks the beginning of a collaboration between Rajinikanth and Deva, replacing Ilaiyaraaja, who was the norm composer for Rajinikanth's films. The soundtrack was released on 8 May 1992, under Lahari Music label.