Tag Archives | Bollywood

Top 10 movies about India

By on September 3, 2012 in India, Travel Tips

 

Passage to India, directed by David Lean.

March to the Marabar Caves, Passage to India, directed by David Lean.

With the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) quickly approaching — and this year the Spotlight City is Mumbai — now seems like a good time to make a list of my top 10 favourite movies about India. These are not necessarily Indian-made movies — but movies that reveal the history and culture of the country. I have arranged them in chronological order of the time period they depict (not when they were made), so if you watch them in this order, you will get a sense of the history of India over the past couple of hundred years. Not too many “Bollywood films” on the list — but if you want to know more about the booming Hindi cinema industry in Bombay/Mumbai, read my Bollywood Primer. Continue Reading →

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: You Go Girl!

By on June 1, 2012 in India, News/Events
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, India Bollywood Star, Cannes FIlm Festival

Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images

Queen of Bollywood gives the kiss-off to critics

If you don’t know who Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is, she’s one of the biggest Bollywood stars in India; a former Miss World; and the wife of Abhishek Bachchan, son of legendary Indian film star Amitabh Bachchan. She has often been called the most beautiful woman in the world. Last November, at the age of 38, Ash (as she is called by her friends and the tabloids) gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Aaradhya.

And now she’s the centre of controversy because she refuses to bow to the celebrity pressure of returning to her pre-baby weight. The reason I am writing this blog post is simply to say to Aishwarya: You Go Girl! Continue Reading →

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Niagara Falls: The Taj Mahal of Canada

By on December 19, 2011 in Canada, Destinations, India
Photograph of Niagara Falls in winter

Niagara Falls in winter

People in India are fascinated by Niagara Falls

This weekend I am in Niagara Falls on a Jaunt. Whenever I travel in India, and tell people I’m from Canada, I often hear, “Oh, I would love to go to Niagara Falls!” It’s always been a bit strange to me, as I grew up within driving distance of “the Falls” and never took them all that seriously. When I was in high school, we used to drive to Niagara Falls in the middle of the night for a lark. We thought the place was silly. So to hear people in a far-off country — a country that I always deemed to be the height of “exotic” — say they long to visit Niagara Falls seemed bizarre. But of course perspective is everything. Continue Reading →

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Trishna puts Tess in Rajasthan

By on September 14, 2011 in India, News/Events
Photograph of Freida Pinto as Trishna in Michael Winterbottom's film

Freida Pinto as Trishna

Trishna unfolds with exquisite inevitability

Film captures the dark side of the changes taking place in India

His voice was filled with exasperation, and the churned-up emotion of watching tragedy unfold before him, onscreen. “Didn’t she realize she had the upper hand,” he asked. “He kept coming back to her. Why didn’t she take control of the relationship?”

He was a white Canadian, a “gora,” who had — like me — just sat through the premiere of Trishna at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film, based on Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles and set in modern-day India, was directed by Michael Winterbottom (Jude). It stars Freida Pinto (Slumdog Milionaire) and Riz Ahmed as the doomed lovers swept up in the tumult of a changing society. The decision to set the story in modern India was brilliant, and gave the film multi-layered depth, the sheen of reality and the depth of pathos. Continue Reading →

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Breakaway premier at TIFF

By on September 12, 2011 in News/Events
Photograph of Breakaway premier at TIFF with Akshay Kumar, Rob Lowe, and Russell Peters

Elephant at Breakaway premier

At the Breakaway premier

Indo-Canadian film breaks barriers, but fails to build bridges

Breakaway is a new Canadian film about a young Sikh Canadian man (Vinay Virmani) who is a mad about hockey — against the wishes of his traditional, turban-wearing father (Anupam Kher). It’s set in suburban Toronto and features Russell Peters, Rob Lowe and a cameo by Akshay  Kumar. The film explores the meeting of Sikh/Punjabi/Indian and Canadian culture, and attempts to reconcile them against the backdrop of Canada’s national sport (and pseudo-religion) — hockey.

On Saturday, September 10, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) with a raucous Punjabi-themed parade on Yonge Street that included bhangra music and dance, a painted elephant, Miss India-Canada, the cast and crew in colourful autorickshaws and Bollywood star Akshay Kumar on a white horse. The waiting crowd loved it and camera lights were flashing. It was a great start to a fun, feel-good movie. However, the film didn’t quite live up to its promise. Continue Reading →

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My glam “Bollywood” makeover

By on September 3, 2011 in News/Events, Photos
Photograph of Mariellen Ward by Andrew Adams of Katha Images

Photograph of Mariellen Ward by Andrew Adams of Katha Images

What’s it like to be a (blonde) Bollywood movie star?

I wanted to find out what I would have to go through, and how I would look, after a “Bollywood” transformation.

It all started with the clothes. I knew I needed a really fabulous sari or lehnga, so I went to visit my friend Manish Mahtani at Nucreation, a large clothing store on Gerrard Street, in the India Bazaar, in Toronto. Nucreation has an entire upstairs floor devoted to wedding and party clothes — and the selection is dazzling. It’s a bit like walking into a fantasy land; a gorgeous room filled with flowing, glittering, colourful clothes fit for a princess from an oriental fairy tale. I will be writing another blog all about this store, and the family behind it, soon — with photos of a model wearing some of the fabulous creations.

Read on to find out how I was transformed – with the help of three talented people and of course a gorgeous sari.

Continue Reading →

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Best bets for a weekend in Mumbai

By on August 3, 2011 in Destinations, India, Travel Tips
Photograph of tiffin-wallahs, Churchgate station, Mumbai, India

Tiffin-wallahs, Churchgate Station, Mumbai

Mumbai is mesmerizing

Imagine New York and Hollywood rolled into one, set in the tropics and squeezed onto a peninsula several sizes too small. Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) is one of the biggest and most densely packed cities on earth, India’s economic engine and the home of Bollywood, the glamour factory that makes more movies than anywhere else – more than twice as many as Hollywood. It buzzes, it never sleeps and don’t get in its way! Mumbai is on the move, and you better be too if you want to get on and off trains, cross the street, order food, shop or achieve any kind of success. For this city represents both the future, in the shape of the dreams of millions, and the past, in the streetscape of grand Victorian buildings.
What do you do with two days and two nights in Mumbai? Try these suggestions. Continue Reading →
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Bollywood in Toronto: Fave moment #4: Mariellen at the Fairmont

By on July 9, 2011 in News/Events
Photograph of party at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during IIFA Awards. Photo courtesy Andrew Adams of Katha Images.

The sumptous decor added to the glamour of the IIFA Awards after party, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel

Bollywood in Toronto

My top five favourite moments

This is the fourth in a series of blog posts about my favourite moments of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Toronto, June 2011. I had the good fortune to be the “embedded” blogger at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the IIFA’s host hotel, during the Bollywood invasion, so I was right at the centre of the action. Number 1 moment: Meeting Shahrukh Khan. Number 2 moment: Fan Frenzy. Number 3 moment: The stars.

Fave moment #4: Mariellen at the Fairmont

Perhaps it’s not exactly the same as Eloise at the Plaza … but staying at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel for the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Toronto did make me feel I was on an awfully wonderful adventure. I was a guest in the hotel from Tuesday, June 20 to Sunday, June 26, and totally immersed myself in all the preparations, behind-the-scenes activities, press conferences, events, star sightings and parties taking place in the hotel during those five days. Continue Reading →

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Bollywood in Toronto: Fave moment #2 – the fans

By on June 30, 2011 in Canada, News/Events
Bollywood actor Sonu Sood and fans in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during the IIFA Awards. Photo courtesy Andrew Adams of Katha Images.

Bollywood actor Sonu Sood and fans in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel during the IIFA Awards. Photo courtesy Andrew Adams of Katha Images.

Bollywood in Toronto

My top five favourite moments

This is the second in a series of blog posts about my favourite moments of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Toronto, June 2011. I had the good fortune to be the “embedded” blogger at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the IIFA’s host hotel, during the Bollywood invasion, so I was right at the centre of the action. Number 1 moment: Meeting Shahrukh Khan. Number 3 moment: The stars.

Fave moment #2: Fan frenzy

Staying at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the host hotel for the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Toronto, gave me a unique and close-up look at both the behind-the-scenes action and the fans. I have lived in India, so I was not at all surprised by the fan frenzy: Indian movie stars have the biggest and most loyal fan followings in the world. Hands down. No comparison. Continue Reading →

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Bollywood in Toronto: Fave moment #1 – Shahrukh Khan

By on June 29, 2011 in News/Events
Shahrukh Khan arrives in Toronto for the 2011 IIFA Awards

Shahrukh Khan arrives at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel for the 2011 IIFA Awards

Bollywood in Toronto

My top five favourite moments

This is the first in a series of blog posts about my favourite moments of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Toronto, June 2011. I had the good fortune to be the “embedded” blogger at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel, the IIFA’s host hotel, during the Bollywood invasion, so I was right at the centre of the action. Number 2 moment: Fan frenzy. Number 3 moment: The stars.

Fave moment #1: Meeting King Khan

Some of my readers will have no doubt, others will be totally surprised to learn: Shahrukh Khan (often known as SRK or King Khan) is the world’s number 1 movie star. By far. Any number or metric you want to use to measure — loyalty, fan base, power, influence, sheer hysteria — will show SRK way out in front. He is NOT the Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt of India. We do not have stars in the west the way they do in India. There are probably 1 billion people — that’s about one-quarter of the planet — who would give Shahrukh their kidney, if he needed it. Continue Reading →

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