Bollywood Wave

Aamir Khan is extremely meticulous about making his decisions. And if he chooses someone then that person must be really special! After working with A R Rahman in most of his films lately, Aamir has opted for Shankar-Ahsaan-Loy as music directors for his home production ‘Taare Zameen Pe’. Directed by debutante Amol Gupte, Aamir will be playing the lead role and the film will be on the floors shortly.

Shankar-Ahsaan-Loy made a mark for themselves with Aamir starrer ‘Dil Chahta Hai’. And they have never looked back since then. After having given a string of successful music scores in ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, ‘Bunty Aur Babli’, ‘Lakshya’, ‘Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna’ and the more recent ‘Don’, ‘Taare Zameen Pe’ will add to the impressive repertoire of the triumvirate.

“Rang De Basanti” (RDB), Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra`s take on modern day patriotism and one of Bollywood`s biggest blockbusters of the year, will be India`s entry to the Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category.

“This year, there were eight films in contention, including “Lage Raho Munnabhai, “Krissh” and “Omkara”, but the jury chose “Rang De Basanti,” Film Federation of India member Suparn Sen said here.

“This year, it was a tough call because there were so many quality films in the running, Rang De Basanti stood out for its cinematic quality, its script. It is a very contemporary film and overall we thought it would be a good choice. Now let us see what they (the academy) think,” chairman of the jury and noted film maker Basu Chatterjee said here.

Starring Aamir Khan, Atul Kulkarni, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Kapoor and Anupma Kher, RDB chronicles one incident in the lives of seven youngsters as they go from being carefree college students to revolt against the government system.

The film, whose songs proved big hits, won critical acclaim as well as box office success.

The film has also been screened for consideration for nomination at Golden Globe Awards and producer Ronnie Screwala is confident that RDB stands a “strong chance” at the Oscars.

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“I`m delighted that Rang De Basanti has been chosen as India`s official entry to the academy awards. Such movies come along only once in a generation and we shall make every effort to ensure it is seen by as wide an audience as possible internationally too,” Screwala said here.

He said UTV was already planning a mainline release in the US in association with two major studios.

Rang De is the second Aamir Khan film to be chosen as India`s entry to the Oscars. His earlier film `Lagaan` was sent as India`s entry in the foreign film category some years ago.

Film-maker of Indian origin Deepa Mehta`s “Water” starring John Abraham and Lisa Ray has been chosen as Canada`s entry in the same category.

Nowadays Bollywood is making news all over the world. After months, Rang De Basanti is still making headlines. After making high scores at the box office in India, it is going to Australia. Rang De Basanti has inspired the student in the Australian classrooms. The Aamir Khan-starrer about the lives of a group of angry young people has been turned into a topic of discussion at the Beachworth Secondary Government School near Melbourne city.

The school has a session on critical appreciation of Indian films during which the children watch the films and discuss them in classrooms, says Susan Thomas of the Banyan Tree School, who was among ten Indian school teachers who visited Australia under an exchange programme recently.

“Classrooms in Australian schools are interactive and developing thinking skills among the pupils is a great priority there,” says Dhar, who saw a laptop with each faculty member at the Shalom College to help in teaching.