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Paatal Lok 2 & Panchayat 4(Photo Credit –YouTube)

The first half of 2025 has given us some amazing Hindi shows. From heartwarming dramas like Panchayat Season 4 to gritty thrillers like Paatal Lok Season 2 and Black Warrant, there’s something for everyone. We have handpicked the top ten Hindi series of the year so far and ranked them based on their current IMDb user ratings. For multi-season series, we have considered the average ratings of the latest season. Read on to explore their IMDb scores, brief plots, and where you can watch them online.

10. Kankhajura Release Date – May 30, 2025 Director – Chandan Arora IMDb Rating – 7.1/10 Available On – SonyLIV

Plot: The crime thriller series is an Indian adaptation of the award-winning Israeli drama Magpie. It follows the story of Ashu (Roshan Mathew), a man who is released many years after serving a prison sentence. But when he reconnects with his brother Max (Mohit Raina), his return begins...

Actor Roshan Mathew speaks with Subhash K Jha, about his experience working onAjay Rai’s crime thriller series Kankhajura.

What attracted you to Kankhajura?

I think what attracted me to the show was the character itself of, Ashu and there is just so much to him that right from the first brief that I read about the show, I felt like if I say no to this, I don’t know when again I’ll get the chance to play a character like Ashu.

Malayalam cinema remains your mainstay, are you happy with the offers in your native language?

Yeah, I love the kind of work that’s been happening in Malayalam. I think a lot of us who are currently active in Malayalam cinema are all very grateful that this is the period that we are getting to do our best work and this is happening, these particular writers...

Subhash K Jha speaks with Mohit Raina about his intense performance in the psychological thriller Kankhajura.

In Kankhajura you and Roshan Mathew play against one another in a pitch-perfect jugalbandi?

With time I have realised it’s very important in a two-actor story , that both actors are secure . Otherwise it can become very tricky .Luckily I had a great experience . Roshan is very secure about his craft. The give and take in each scene was organic. The base of our equation was that, and now we do share a lot more than just actors.

Was it tough getting into the mind of this complex morally ambivalent character?

Kankhajura gave me an opportunity to play Max an extremely complex character , our director Chandan Arora was very clear since inception about the layers of Max ; it’s his baby and he has spent a lot more time on it than us actors , I just followed his vision.

Kankhajoora Ott Verdict: 3 Reasons Roshan Mathew Series Will Jump In Week 2! ( Photo Credit – YouTube )

The Ott world is currently raving about a psychological thriller, Kankhajura, starring Roshan Mathew and Mohit Raina. The web series is adapted from an Iranian web series, Magpie, and is adapted by Chandan Arora for Indian audiences!

Starring Mohit Raina and Roshan Mathew, the official synopsis of the web series says, “A man serving a murder sentence who gets released early from prison on the condition that he cooperates with the police as their informant – a role (known as a magpie) that he also had in jail.”

Kankhajoora Ott Verdict

Kankhajoora managed to garner 1.8 million views in its debut week, taking the fifth spot in the list of most-watched streaming originals in India for the week of May 26 to June 1 2025, with estimates based on audience research by Ormax.

Trending Criminal Justice S4 Ott Verdict: With 12.5% Lesser...

“Kankhajura” rests firmly on the compelling performance of Roshan Mathew. He stars as Ashu, a recently released convict, introduced at the very start of Chandan Arora’s gripping drama. Ashu is hopeful his brother Max (Mohit Raina), a real estate developer, can find him a job, set his life in order. However, Max refuses to concede him much room. Ashu initially moves into Max’s house, where he lives with his wife and daughter, but realises he’s rather unwelcome.

Feeling underserved, he engineers a variety of schemes to impress on his brother his invaluable presence, that he can actually be a great asset should Max take him into his team. Max is overseeing an ambitious project that would take his career to great heights if it successfully comes together. But it entails the displacement of many in the Goan town. Ashu tries to plant himself in Max’s plans,...

Kankhajura Review: Roshan Mathew Manipulates Me To Binge This At Once! (Photo Credit –Instagram)

Kankhajura Review: Star Rating:

Cast: Roshan Mathew, Mohit Raina, Ninad Kamat, Mahesh Shetty, Sarah Jane Dias, Trinetra Haldar, and others

Creator: Adapted from the Israeli Series Magpie

Director: Chandan Arora

Streaming On: Sony Liv

Language: Hindi

Runtime: 8 episodes of 40 minutes each

When something creeps on you, you have to find that thing and object because it feels like it is crawling everywhere! Something similar happened to me when I watched the Kankhajura teaser. I was excited to watch this web series and the feeling intensified once the trailer arrived! And while I was not very sure of watching this whole at once, something crept into me, and I kept shunning it, deciding to watch just one more episode, till I binged on the entire web series!

Starring Roshan Mathew as the lead, the plot was well explained in the trailer itself!

Kankhajura (SonyLIV)

Starring Roshan Mathew, Mohit Raina, Usha Nadkarni, Heeba Shah, Sarah Jane Dias, Ninad Kamath, and Mahesh Krishna Shetty

Directed by Chandan Arora

If Kankhajura’s dark, sinister criminal mood flows by like a breeze in spite of eight episodes, it is for Roshan Mathew, that chameleon-like Malayalam actor who transforms in front of our incredulous eyes into a severely traumatized borderline-psychotic, kind gentle naïve yet devious man named Ashu who seeks only one thing in life: validation from his brother Max, played effectively by Mohit Raina.

Very rarely are we forced to wonder what a film/series would be like without an actor: Dilip Kumar in Devdas, Shabana Azmi in Arth, Kamal Haasan in Hey Ram…

Add Roshan Mathew to this rarefied roster. Were it not for Roshan, Kankhajura would collapse like a house of ‘cads’, and I do mean cads. The characters, including Mathew and Raina, have...

Kajol’s Horror Film Maa (Photo Credit – Instagram)

Indian actress Kajol is geared up for the theatrical release of her next film, Maa, a mythological horror movie that will hit the big screens on June 27, 2025. The film has been directed by Vishal Furia, who also directed Amazon Prime Video’s horror films Chhorii and its sequel Chhorii 2. The official trailer of Maa was unveiled earlier today, and it promises a spooky and thrilling experience.

No.1 Film On IMDb’s Most Anticipated List

The most anticipated Indian title on the IMDb top ten list is Tarun Mansukhani’s star-studded comedy thriller Housefull 5, which will be released in theatres on June 6, 2025.

IMDb’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Indian Movies and Shows

Here are the top ten most anticipated new Indian movies and shows as per IMDb (at the time of writing), along with their release dates and respective platforms. The list is based on real-time popularity,...

Here’s When You Can Stream Mohit Raina and Roshan Mathew’s Kankhajura! (Photo Credit – Sony Liv)

The upcoming psychological thriller Kankhajura, starring Mohit Raina and Roshan Mathew, has already caught the attention of fans with its intense teaser, released on May 2, 2025. This Hindi adaptation of the Israeli series Magpie promises a mix of suspense, emotional depth, and family secrets. If you enjoy thrillers that keep you on the edge of your seat, Kankhajura is definitely one to watch.

When & Where To Watch Kankhajura Online?

The teaser gives a chilling glimpse into the show with the line: “It’s fragile. It’s fatal.” The beautiful but eerie visuals of Goa add to the tense atmosphere, setting the stage for a thrilling story.

Kankhajura will be streaming from May 30, 2025, on a popular Ott platform, SonyLIV. Don’t miss watching it for an action-packed ride filled with suspense and emotional turns.

View...

Kanneda Ott Verdict: Onwards & Upwards Towards Beating Paatal Lok? ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

A crime drama on JioHotstar has been making all kinds of right noises with its content, and in three weeks, Kanneda, starring Parmish Verma, has garnered a viewership of 11.9 million views on the platform as per the latest data.

On The Right Track To Beat Pataal Lok!

In three weeks, the web series has already garnered 74% of the total views garnered by Pataal Lok on Prime Video in four weeks. The web series has also been finding a spot in the top 10 most-watched web originals on Ott in India!

Kanneda Ott Verdict Week 3

Parmish Verma‘s web series started on a roaring note, and it took a jump in week 2. Despite witnessing a drop in week 3, Kanneda took the third spot in the list of most-watched streaming originals in India for the week of March 21 to April 6, 2025, with...

In a fascinating and deep conversation with Subhash K Jha, Parmish Varma discusses his latest role with his performance as the lead in the new Ott series Kanneda.

Parmish, I have to confess I had not heard of you before Kanneda. Where does this implosive performance come from?

Thank you. I completely understand that not everyone across the country may have been familiar with my work before Kanneda, and that’s the reality of being an artist. You keep creating, knowing that your reach might be limited to a certain audience. I’ve been working in this industry for over a decade, doing theatre, directing, writing, and acting in Punjabi films, but the opportunity to showcase my craft on a national scale never really came my way. Most of the films I worked on were either my own productions or projects I had written myself because I was so passionate about storytelling and filmmaking.

Subhash K Jha looks back at Balki’s Ki & Ka, which starred Kateen Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor, which released in 2016. As a bonus, we also hear from the director, R Balki, who talks about working on what he calls a ‘happy movie’ and working with Kareena and Arjun!

The streeling is pulling Arjun Kapoor into the kitchen. And Kareena Kapoor doesn’t mind as long he is fully functional in the bedroom. That dear audience, in a nutshell, is Ki & Ka. A film about role reversal between the sexes where the ambitious wife Kiya (Kareena) goes out to earn the bread and butter, while the husband Kabir (Arjun) is blissfully happy looking after the home.

Immediately, there is an infectious charm to the proceedings. Every scene is a joy to behold. It could have something to do with Kareena Kapoor’s presence. She lights up every frame as only she can.

In this wide-ranging and completely fascinating interview, the brilliant actor Rajpal Yadav, who has been working in Hindi cinema since 2000, talks with Subhash K Jha about life, the incredibly versatile roles he has played in his varied career so far and so much more.

You are now a year older; how has your journey been so far?

The journey so far is amazing. I have enjoyed myself a lot. Dukh aur sukh dono sar aankhon par. I saw many ups and downs in twenty-five years and got the opportunity to do many scenes, from one scene to a hundred scenes, sometimes as length, sometimes as strength in the film, sometimes as a guest appearance, sometimes supporting, sometimes negative, sometimes positive, sometimes comedy. I think in half a century, I got a chance to live five hundred lives through characters.

How would you sum up your journey so far?

I started...

Subhash K Jha revisits R Balki’s Pad Man, which featured Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor. The film, which was released in 2018, was revolutionary in many ways, shining the light on social injustice.

One man in Tamil Nadu, who is miraculously a convincingly-transformed North Indian in Balki’s endearing Pad Man, decided to do something about making sanitary pads affordable to poor women. The thought was not just unmentionable but also outrageous. It still is. The pain, humiliation, strife, and final victory of Laxmikant Chauhan is narrated in a series of quickly-cut quirky, bitterly humorous episodes (editor Chandan Arora can take a bow) that could easily have become caricatured, preachy, and propagandist.

Pad Man is none of the above. It celebrates the spirit of enterprise with enrapturing integrity and tempered gusto, rendering the saga of Laxmikant Chauhan’s journey from familial humiliation and spouse-dissertation to a Padma Shri addressing the United Nations.

Striker opens and closes with the tension around the slums during the 1992 riots. The on-location shooting brings to the proceedings a kind of clipped and cutting edge and an intimate immediacy. You feel you are there in the slums with Arora’s characters. But you aren’t sure you want to be there. We never stay long enough with the characters to get to know them well.

Film editor-director Chandan Arora’s Striker was not an easy film to make. It’s not an easy film to see either. The vast near-epic scale scope and expanse of the slum saga stretches into two hours of a non-linear narration where time passages are made without borders. The lack of punctuation marks in the telling of the tale of the coming of age and rage of the protagonist Surya (a striking Siddharth) is a major detriment in identifying the swarm of characters...

The debut-making lead pair of this quaint concoction, Rasha Thadani and Aaman Varma, are refreshingly unspoilt in their screen presence. They would have done even better had they been launched in a contemporary milieu with lots of splashy colours and dancing, something like what Junaid Khan and Khushi Kapoor are seen doing in Loveyappa.

Why is this Disneyesque film set during the British Raj where apparently the whip did all the talking? What Rasha and Aaman get is the toasted-brown ruggedness of the Chambal Valley , more suited to the Bandit Queen than the Pert Princess that debutante Rasha Thadani plays in an underdeveloped part which has no beginning or end.

Under the cloak of a virgin romance Azaad is a masculine film about the boys and the beast. Ajay Devgan playing the indulgent Chachu to the hilt both on and off screen , pitches in an extended cameo Bandit King Vikram Singh...

Actors Mohit Raina, Roshan Mathew and Sarah Jane Dias will headline the Indian remake of Israeli drama Magpie, which has been titled ‘Kan Khajura’. The show will also star Mahesh Shetty, Ninad Kamat, Trinetra Haldar, Heeba Shah, and Usha Nadkarni, reports deadline.com.

SonyLIV is remaking thriller Magpie in-house after licensing the rights from Israel‘s Yes Studios. Ajay Rai is producing and Chandan Arora is the director.

The original Israeli series follows a convicted murderer, who gets early release after 17 years on the condition that he continues to cooperate with the police as an informant.

“Being part of a thriller is always exciting yet demanding for any actor,” said Mohit.

He added: “My character has various shades associated with it and that has been a great responsibility to portray. To get into the skin of the character, we tried on various looks that brought out a well-etched character.”

“Magpie,...

Gaslight is a 2023 mystery-thriller film, directed by Pavan Kirpalani (Bhoot Police), this somewhat unsettling but intelligently adapted film is diabolic – and it glows on all accounts. It is the atmospheric account of a woman being driven out of her mind. The word ‘Gaslight’ here is symbolically used to describe an attempt to manipulate a person psychologically, thereby, ultimately, making them doubt their own sanity.

At the very onset of the narrative, we are given to understand there has been a murder. The question here is not only a whodunit but why and how? How the sustained mystery unfolds is what keeps you glued to your seat. The prologue transfers us to Mayagarh Palace, the haveli of Ratan Singh Gaikwad, where through a clip of a home video we are shown him celebrating the birthday of his daughter Mishri aka Meesha.

Years later, after a freak accident followed by the death of her mother,...

Mission Mangal movie review is here. Released today, the movie stars an ensemble cast of Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Taapsee Pannu, Nithya Menen, Kirti Kulhari, Sharman Joshi, H. G. Dattatreya and Sonakshi Sinha. Directed by Jagan Shakti, the movie is based on the story of scientists at Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) Mangalyaan mission. So, how is India?s first movie on space mission? Let?s find out in the movie review of Mission Mangal.

Immediate reaction when the end credits roll

Such a sundar and mangal ode to Mother India and the mothers, daughters of India. Akshay Kumar again on Independence Day makes our heart filled with rousing passion and motivation that goes beyond.

The Story of Mission Mangal

A tribute to the team of Isro that wrote history on space and made India proud with mission Mangalyaan. Rakesh Dhawan (Akshay Kumar) is the mission director while Tara Shinde...

“Pad Man” is inspired from the short story “The Sanitary Man of Sacred Land” written by Twinkle Khanna on the life events of Arunachalam Muruganantham, a social entrepreneur from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India, who invented the low cost sanitary pad-making machine, with nearly no financial support. Directed by well known Indian film director R. Balki , the film has sensibly portrayed a delicate issue with a strong underlined social message.

Lakshmikant Chauhan (Akshay Kumar) is a welder and gets married to Gayatri (Radhika Apte) and slowly discovers that his wife uses unclean and non hygienic rags in her menstrual phase every month. To maintain the menstrual hygiene of his wife, Laxmi buys sanitary napkins from the market, but Gayatri refuses to use those as being expensive. With time, Laxmi understands that it’s also the superstitions and ignorance in the thought process that prevents women from following a healthy and...

Pad Man

Starring Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor, Radhika Apte

Directed by R Balki

There was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s stunning Padmaavat two weeks ago. There is the stunning-in-its-own-right Pad Man this week.

There is the period film. And then there is the film about the periods. Excellence comes in many packages. But rarely in a small secret package wrapped a newspaper. Sometimes these packages cost Rs 55 and are completely out of reach for the non-urban women of India.

One man in Tamil Nadu, who is miraculously a convincingly-transformed North Indian in Pad Man, decided to do something about making sanitary pads affordable to poor women. The thought was not just unmentionable, but also outrageous. It still is.The pain humiliation, strife and final victory of Laxmikant Chauhan is narrated in a series of quickly-cut quirky bitterly humorous episodes (editor Chandan Arora can take a bow) that could easily have become caricatured,...

We have seen his fabulous choreography both in Hollywood films like Slumdog Millionaire and Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Bollywood films like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Saawariya, Guzzarish and many more. Most recently Longinus Fernandes is the man behind the incredibly cool moves in ‘Bolo Har Har Har’ from the movie Shivaay! Directed and starring Ajay Devgn, Shivaay is set to hit the big screen on October 28th.

First, check out his amazing choreography!

I got the chance to do an interview with Longinus about his creation of the dance for the song. Check out what he had to say about the piece, working with Mr. Ajay Devgn, and more!

So how did you become a part of the song for Shivaay?

The song, ‘Bolo Har Har Har’, from the film Shivaay came to me from the Video Director Chandan Arora.

What was the brief that Ajay Devgn gave you for the song?...

Ki & Ka

Starring Kareena Kapoor Khan, Arjun Kapoor,Swaroop Sampat, Rajit Kapoor

Directed by R Balki

Rating: **** ½

The streeling is pulling Arjun Kapoor into the kitchen.And Kareena Kapoor doesn’t mind as long he is fully functional in the bedroom. That, dear audience, in a nutshell is Ki & Ka. A film about role reversal between the sexes where the ambitious wife Kiya (Kareena) goes out to earn the bread and butter, while the husband Kabir (Arjun) is blissfully happy looking after the home.

Immediately,there is an infectious charm to the proceedings. Every scene is a joy to behold. It could have something to do with Kareena Kapoor’s presence. She lights up every frame as only she can. And then when you have the cinematographic genius P C Sreeram manning the lenses even Arjun Kapoor looks so radiant, you want to ask this couple….where do they generate...

Along with his work in Bollywood and in India, you have seen choreographer Longinus Fernandes’ work in Slumdog Millionaire in the ‘Jai Ho’ sequence and in Eat Pray Love among many others. Now Fernandes has brought his unique style and fabulous moves to the movies again for a special sequence in director John Madden’s The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. What makes it so special is that the choreographer worked with some of the best actors in the world including Richard Gere, Judy Dench, Maggie Smith, Lillette Dubey, and Dev Patel to name just a few and got them to dance to the Bollywood beat of the killer song ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’.

I was lucky enough to get the chance to do an email interview with Longinus about The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and more! Check out what he had to say about working on the film, getting...

This relentless search for a fleeting bird, a key theme in the film (shades of the seminal Satyajit Ray classic Pratidhandwi where the recurring motif was the hero’s search for a mythical bird), symbolizes his search for happiness and a better life.

Fandry is a deceptively simple, but multilayered portrayal of the evil caste system that still looms large in many parts of India. The movie is also a one sided love story and a parable about the failure of the imagination. Like Fracois Truffaut’s 400 blows it is a portrayal of a childhood dealt a cruel blow by society. I say the film is deceptive because the film’s breezy portrayal of adolescence hardly prepares the viewers for the devastating climax.

Directed by debutante Nagraj Manjule, the film tells the story of a young Dalit boy names Jabya who daydreams about wooing his pretty higher caste classmate who...

Chennai, Jan 8: Southern actor Siddharth, who made his Bollywood debut with 'Rang De Basanti', is working in David Dhawan's untitled project and says he is having a ball while shooting for the movie.

'Having the best time on David Dhawan's shoot. I feel 10 years younger just because of all the laughter..wonderful gang. Great moments of fun,' the 32-year-old posted on Twitter.

Siddharth's last Hindi movie was Chandan Arora's 'Striker' in the year 2010.

Southern actor Siddharth, who made his Bollywood debut with .Rang De Basanti., is working in David Dhawan.s Chashme Buddoor and says he is having a ball while shooting for the movie..Having the best time on David Dhawan.s Chashme Buddoor shoot. I feel 10 years younger just because of all the laughter..wonderful gang. Great moments of fun,. the 32-year-old posted on Twitter.Siddharth.s last Hindi movie was Chandan Arora.s .Striker. in the year 2010.

A feeling of foreboding and damnation builds up in the narration from the first frame itself. Here's a gloriously gutsy film exploring the underbelly of Mumbai through the lives of two slumkids who grow up in identical circumstances but with somewhat disparate values.

First-time director Faruk Kabir displays remarkable skill in creating a pastiche of mammoth crime and little punishment. The pace leaves meager space for grace. And yet Allah Ke Banday creates a world filled with acute aggression repression and damnation with a reasonable amount of paciness to the edgy narrative.

The world that Faruk Kabir's characters inhabit is reminiscent of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, Irrfan Kamal's underrated Thanks, Maa, Mahesh Manjrekar's City Of Gold and Chandan Arora's Striker. Deriving its lingering study of juvenile delinquency from these sources Allah Ke Banday moves forward and acquires a life of its own.

The gripping narrative...

After a hiatus, Ram Gopal Varma would be back into the business of making films with a vengeance. He would soon be flagging off multiple films in the year 2011 where he won't necessarily be coming behind the camera as a director. "That's true, I can't sit quite for long. I have to start new productions now", confirms Ramu whose last production without him as a director was ill fated Go (2007). On the other hand, his other production Shabri is stuck in the cans for years. There was a time when Ram Gopal Varma was busy giving breaks to number of first time directors. They could have ranged from spot boys to assistant directors to writers but anyone with promise who caught fancy of Ramu had a good enough opportunity to get a film for himself. "However, the results weren't always favourable", comments an industry veteran, "Look at the line up...

After a hiatus, Ram Gopal Varma would be back into the business of making films with a vengeance. He would soon be flagging off multiple films in the year 2011 where he won't necessarily be coming behind the camera as a director. "That's true, I can't sit quite for long. I have to start new productions now", confirms Ramu whose last production without him as a director was ill fated Go (2007). On the other hand, his other production Shabri is stuck in the cans for years. There was a time when Ram Gopal Varma was busy giving breaks to number of first time directors. They could have ranged from spot boys to assistant directors to writers but anyone with promise who caught fancy of Ramu had a good enough opportunity to get a film for himself. "However, the results weren't always favourable", comments an industry veteran, "Look at the line up...

Only two films old yet he continues to spark attention every time his name appears in headlines. Well, that is the sign of an actor who's left a good impression. Indeed, Siddharth is the man we're talking about. After Rang De Basanti, a long hiatus ended with Chandan Arora's Striker. That film may not have gotten him commercial success, but definitely didn't take away from the image he worked hard to built from just a supporting role in Rdb.

The actor now returns to screens in a different avatar and in fact a different screen. We're talking about your television screens of course! Siddharth now sports the title of the national ambassador for the elite clothing brand Peter England. His popularity in more than one state of India made him the perfect candidate to reach audiences far and white.

Normally companies such as Pepsi, Provogue and Coke would have...

Movie Review: Madholal…Keep Walking; Star cast: Subrat Dutta, Neela Gokhale, Pranay Narayan and Swara Bhaskara; Director: Jai Tank; Rating: 2 out of 5.

The ‘chawl’ culture of Mumbai has never been too far from Hindi cinema. From Basu Chatterjee’s ‘Piya Ka Ghar’ to Sanjay Jha’s ‘Pran Jaye Par Chawl Na Jaye’ to Mahesh Manjrekar’s ‘City Of Gold’ and Chandan Arora’s ‘Striker’, many gripping tales of resilience and kinship have been put on screen with no trace of self pity or anger in the underprivileged characters .

Filmmaker Chandan Arora’s Striker that released this February has now been made available by Studio18 on YouTube for its Indian audiences. The film was available to download and to stream off YouTube overseas from February 5, the day of its theatrical release. It was the first-ever Bollywood film that reached out to a wider audience in a cost-effective manner through the world’s largest online video sharing platform. Hemant Bhardwaj, senior vice president, distribution marketing, Studio18, points out that the latest move was to gauge YouTube’s passive reach and audience viewing experience. “Considering that the broadband revolution is around the ...

Mumbai, May 19 – After two serious Bollywood films – ‘Rang De Basanti’ and action drama ‘Striker’ – southern star Siddharth is set to show his romantic side to Hindi moviegoers.

‘Yeah, my next Hindi film will be a romantic film. Audiences in Mumbai haven’t seen what I do down south. After seeing my ads for a cellphone company, Hindi filmmakers have woken up to my lighter romantic side,’ Siddharth told Ians.

Those cellphone ads were made by Chandan Arora, who made ‘Striker’. ‘He’s.

Kolkata, April 10 – Popular Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta is excited about her upcoming Bollywood projects, ‘Bumm Bumm Bole’ and ‘Life Express’.

‘I am doing more Bollywood movies. I am excited about my roles in these films,’ said Rituparna at a press conference here.

‘Bumm Bumm Bole’ is directed by well-known filmmaker Priyadarshan.

The actress made her entry into the Mumbai film industry with Chandan Arora’s.

StrikerIndian Films/Studio 18, Rs 199 Bombay, Bombay, December 1992. You can smell the impending violence in the air in the Muslim-majority ghetto of Malvani. Suryakant Sarang, away from home for long, decides to return to curfewed Malvani at this point of post-Babri tension. Before we know how things progress, writer-producer-director Chandan Arora swivels the story back to May 1977 to (re)introduce us to the young(er) Surya entering the portals of the Ideal Carrom Club with his elder brother Chandrakant. And so we enter the skidding, ricocheting world in which the game of carrom becomes a metaphor for negotiating through this world. ...

There is no question of pulling the film out of theatres. That’s a grave allegation to make against a studio that has invested so much on mounting and marketing the film. We put money into Striker because we believed in it and no studio would willingly jeopardise an opportunity to recover its investment,” says a spokesperson for Studio 18. The studio head insists that if Chandan Arora believes that they played dirty, he should name at least one theatre or exhibitor who got a call instructing them to pull out the film. “Collections were down to 5 per cent on the ...

It all began when a few Bollywood-loving writers and friends heard that Studio 18 and YouTube had come together to release Striker on the Internet the same day as the release in India. Immediately, tweets started flying to plan a time that we could get together and do a watchalong. Directed by Chandan Arora and starring Siddharth, Anupam Kher, Aditya Pancholi, Padmapriya, Nicollete Bird, Ankur Vikal, and Vidya Maldave, Striker is the first Bollywood film to be released on YouTube and we were all excited to be able to see the film during its first weekend. (Usually we do watchalongs after films have released on DVD or we are going back to visit old favorites!) Organized by Beth Watkins with help from Sujoy Singha, the watchalong soon grew from the 4 of us to over 25 people in 9 countries including the Us, UK, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Australia, and Abu Dhabi. One person tweeted,...

There was a time when children and adults alike enjoyed a game of carrom, but videogames seem to have taken over now. Actor Siddharth hopes his film 'Striker' will bring back the lost popularity of carrom.'Striker is not a sports film, but I am sure it will bring back carrom in vogue. Although it is still quite alive... we have Asian champions and many great players of the game in India...it will definitely get a boost in popularity with the film,' Siddarth told Ians over phone from Mumbai.'It's kind of a biographical film on Suryakant...however that's not the only angle. It's an amalgamation of many stories in the slums of Mumbai. It is based in the 1980s when carrom used to be very popular and a rage in these small bylanes. It's about how this character is faced with many choices in...

Movie Review: Striker; Star cast: Siddharth, Aditya Pancholi, Padmapriya,Vidya Malvade, Ankur Vikal and Anupam Kher; Director: Chandan Arora; Rating: *** - Is a good film.

Feb 5, 2010: Its December 1992 and curfew time in Malvani, Mumbai’s north western suburb when Suryakant Sarang aka Surya (Siddharth) arrives back in Mumbai from an out of town trip. Communal riots have broken out in the area mostly dominated by Muslims. Surya is stopped by the police, headed by local in charge Faroukh (Anupam Kher). But Surya is restless after he comes to know his family members have.

Genre: Thriller Director: Chandan Arora Cast: R. Siddharth, Aditya Pancholi, Anupam Kher, Padmapriya, Nicollete Synopsis: Set in a Mumbai ghetto in the mid ’80s and based on true life accounts, this is a story of the triumph of human spirit over indomitable odds. Born into a poor family, Surya grows up with few luxuries. Poor health keeps him away from school often and that is when his elder brother, Chandrakant, introduces him to carom. Quite similar to pool in its concept, carom is common among people all over India. The underground carom scene has been breeding hustlers and gamblers for many ...

Chandan Arora's Striker may not be your typical Bollywood masala fare, but it certainly has what it takes to appeal to the Hindi film audience, and this confidence emanated from none other than the lead actor, Siddharth, while talking to India's leading trade expert. While replying to a query as to why he chose Chandan Arora as the director of his launch as a solo hero in Bollywood, Siddharth replied that he was very happy and lucky to have Chandan as his director, and felt...

She was the stunning and ultra cool ex-girlfriend of Farhan's in Rock On!! whom we simply couldn't name but were sure we'd seen her before. Now at last we can put a name to the face and point out exactly when and where we've seen her before. Nicolette Bird may be a newbie on the big screen but she's been around for quite some time reigning the modeling industry, ad world and even delivering hit music videos. Unlike most newcomers, she's taking it slow and feeling out the industry before she indulges too much into it, but that's not to say that weren't not cheering her on to to stay and entertain us for years to come. For now she's gearing up for your reactions to her second release, Chandan Arora's Striker, in which she plays the very beautiful Noorie. As the release date gets closer and closer, the...

New talent and fresh blood in a film always makes the film ten times more exciting, and the debut of the gorgeous Padmapriya gives you yet another reason to check out this Friday's release, Chandan Arora's Striker. The award winning actress finally is gracing Hindi cinema screens with a very unconventional debut that is a must watch. As she gears up to win your hearts this Friday, she takes a moment to exclusively talk to BollySpice about life, films and Striker!

How did you land your role in Striker?

Being part of the same fraternity, Siddharth suggested my name to Chandan Arora, and that's how the ball got rolling.

Tell us a bit about your character Madhu?

Madhu is a bar owner, a Kohli girl, a woman who exudes superlative energy, warmth, and sense of humor that is very naive but is very mature, businesslike and real at the same time.

He belongs to a new breed of makers for whom cinema is not just merely film making, but instead a process in which you get absolutely involved in the subject matter. Making a film for them is more than just organising a film and executing it, but instead believing 110% in what they're bringing to life on screen. Perhaps that is why although he's only 2 films old, Chandan Arora has somewhat a name for himself already amongst the audiences and more importantly his peers. This February, after a lot of struggle and trouble, the highly talented director is all set to release his third directorial venture which he has also produced. The film stars Siddharth (Rang De Basanti), Aditya Pancholi (Yes Boss), Ankur Vikal (Slumdog Millionaire), Nicolette Bird (Rock On!!) and Southern actress Padmapriya. Promos have made everyone more and more intrigued about this project, so Chandan put all the queries...

Feb 3, 2010: Vidya Malvade stole many hearts with her powerful performance in 2007’s biggest hit ‘Chak De India’, where she played a hockey player in the film. Now yet again she is starring in Chandan Arora’s upcoming flick ‘Striker’ which revolves around the game of carrom.

So, how did Vidya end up doing a sport-themed film for the second time?

“What can I say; perhaps I think I have got a past connection with sports. Maybe I had some kind of association with sports in my past life,” smiles Vidya.

Well ‘Chak De India’ was in a.

This week will see a solo release in the form of Chandan Arora's Siddharth starrer Striker. Yes, there is also The Hangman but it is an English language film and even otherwise it will not achieve anything significant. Coming back to Striker, the film has managed to arouse curiosity, based on another sustained innovative publicity campaign by Studio 18 and also due to the fact that it brings back the Rang De Basanti star after four years (Siddharth) and he teams up with the direct...

Touch Carrom integrates with Striker to becomes the first ever official iPhone game of a Bollywood movieThe Indian Film Company and Studio 18 have tied up with Zentity s.r.o., the makers of popular iPhone game Touch Carrom, to promote their upcoming release, Striker.Touch Carrom brings the favorite Indian carrom board game to the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Touch-based game controls give the players very realistic game play.  Striker top lines Siddharth (of Rang De Basanti fame), a young carrom champ who is forced to give up the game to pursue other ambitions abroad. Destiny and circumstances bring him back to the game to earn money. Commented Hemant Bhardwaj, Svp, Intl. Business, Studio18, said, .Looking for innovative and high impact ideas to create interest around our movies, TouchCarom perfectly fit the bill for Striker..Zentity has released a special Striker Edition of Touch Carrom, which is a special free...

For you Bollywood fans, as I’m sure there are some…

Bollywood Filmmaker Chandan Arora’s Striker will become the first Bollywood film to premiere on YouTube internationally alongside its Indian theatrical release on Feb. 5, in a deal struck between Google India and pic producers the Indian Film Co. and Studio 18.

While the deal is a first for YouTube, it is not the first time that a Bollywood film has been available day and date online. Production house the Rajshri Group premiered Vivah on its website on the same day of its theatrical release on Nov. 10, 2006 for a fee.

The film generated 4 million legal downloads internationally and was a theatrical hit in India.

Hemant Bhardwaj, senior VP of international business for Studio18, said, “This is a redefining moment. The success of this project will put wings on our films, which are rich in content but unable to find optimal distribution...

This February we gear up to welcome yet another ball of talent into the Hindi Film Industry, and one who's definitely not new to the camera. Southern belle Padmapriya is all set to debut in a very unconventional role in Chandan Arora's Striker, releasing on the 5th of February. With nearly 30 releases down South and several awards to acknowledge her talent, this young lady has definitely left an impression on all who've come in contact with her. And now its time for the Hindi cinema audiences to meet this new gal on the block, so here's presenting some exclusive shots of the many moods of the ever so stunning Padmapriya.

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