Torrents: Good or Bad for Entertainment ?

It is quite normal to find many movies, Albums and Documentaries uploaded on various websites before their actual release. Earlier, I used to be surprised by the power of Internet and the creativity of our Tech Geeks. Now, I have realized that everything is possible and ethical in this democratic world as long as you are not caught by the law. Same thing applies, when it comes to 'Torrent' and the websites which are supporting Torrents. You can find dozen of Torrent supporting websites with a huge collection of Entertainment stuff.....You name it, Whether its movie, music album, documentary, video...Everything is available.

But.....What about our Entertainment financiers and distributors ? Are they not suffering because of Torrent supporting websites. How does it feel, when you are investing millions of dollars on any movie and you find your movie on website before its official release ?.... Yeah, I know it hurt (Both Financially and Professionally). But, still Torrent supporting websites are mushrooming with every passing day and making millions of dollars (Not always).

Although, Torrent was developed with a good intention of sharing large files/documents over Internet, but it has been used in a negative way. No doubt its fulfilling its original goal but unexpected negative outcomes also. We are the people who are using Torrent for downloading latest movies, softwares, videos, books and Albums without paying a single penny. Hence, we are also part of this crime....Even me.

Its up-to us to correct this whole game of illegal downloading because in the end every entertainment lover is going to suffer. I don't know how ? But as we know, "To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction". Future is uncertain....its our present which we can change. So let-us change it.... "Stop Illegal Downloading".

Hope readers like the post. Keep giving your feedback.

"It is good to be entertained"

What is in name ?

I always keep thinking why many entertainment actors change their name before entering the world of entertainment ? Reasons could be many, like 'To make their name more appealing' or 'to make it pronounce easier' or 'to stay away from the prejudice related to a particular group'. Todays column will try of publish the real name of Entertainment personalities and the reason for changing their names.

1. Actor Nicolas Cage's real name was 'Nicholas Coppola'. He changed his name to disassociate himself with famous film director Uncle Francis Ford Coppola.

2. Famous director Woody Allen's real name was 'Allen Stewart Konigsberg'

3. Famous singer and Musician Bono's real name is 'Paul David Hewson'. Bono is his stage name.

4. Actor Tom Cruise's real name is 'Thomas Cruise Mapother'. Tom Cruise is his screen name.

5. Actress Jodie Foster's real name is 'Alicia Christian Foster'.

6. Actor Ben Kingsley's real name is 'Krishna Pandit Bhanji' which was later changed to Ben Kingsley.

7. Singer George Michael's real name is 'Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou'.

8. Actor Dilip Kumar's real name is 'Muhammad Yusuf Khan'. Dilip Kumar is his screen name.

9. Actor Rajesh Khanna's real name is 'Jatin Khanna'. Rajesh Khanna is his screen name.

10. Actor Sanjeev Kumar's real name was 'Harihar Jariwala'. Sanjeev Kumar was his stage name.

11. Actor Johnny Walker's real name was 'Badruddin Jamaluddin Kazi'. Johnny walker was his screen name.

12. Comedian Johny Lever's real name is 'John Prakasa Rao Janumala'. Johny Lever is his stage name.

13. Actor cum comedian Govinda's real name is 'Govind Arun Ahuja'. Govinda is his screen name.

14. Actor Jeetendra's real name is 'Ravi Kapoor'.

Does name change makes any difference in the career of the Entertainment personality ? For some it makes and for some it doesn't makes. Its combination of various key factors to achieve success in the world of entertainment, name is just one of them.

"It is good to be entertained"

Songs and The Bollywood

People in west may find it quite difficult to digest Movies with 4-6 minute songs present in them. They may find it of no use because for them movie is all about drama, emotion, action, passion (Includes both sex and violence) comedy etc. Some people try to counter argue this by saying that people in countries like India have lots of time to watch movies with songs, whereas in western countries people do not have time to sit and watch songs in cinema theaters. For them songs are meant for I-Pods and MP3 players not movies.

Lets be true, in real people of each and every country of the world have their own set of doing and perceiving things. For people in western countries, its very difficult for them to perceive movies with songs (I appreciate this fact). But its very important for entertainment lovers to appreciate the fact that there is the world of Bollywood with movies which are having 3-4 songs of 4-6 minute duration present in them.

Bollywood has a very rich history of movies with a songs of near to nine decades. During 1935-36 first bollywood songs to hit the nation were from the movie "ACHHUT KANYAA". The most prominent singers of 1930's and 1940's were K.L Saigal,K.C Dey, Pankaj Mullick, Shanta Apte, Govindrao Tembe, Ashok Kumar, Devika Rani, Surendra, and Wahidan Bai (Very few readers may be aware of these singers)."Indrasabha", released in 1932 holds the record of maximum songs in the history of Bollywood with a tally of 71 songs.

How can we forget the movies of 1960's-70's with actors running, jumping and moving around the tree while singing the song. How can we forget the melodious music of Roshan, S.D Burman and R.D Burman. These great figures have helped the bollywood in building this vast empire of music. Most of the latest bollywood songs are inspired in one or the other way by the work of these music giants of the Bollywood.

Bollywood songs are the team work of singer, lyricist and the musician, all of them complement each other.

The most famous singers of the Bollywood Were/are:

1. Kishore Kumar
2. Mohd. Rafi
3. Manna Dey
4. Lata Mangeshkar
5. Asha Bhosle
6. Mukesh
7. Udit Narayan
8. K.L Saigal


The most famous Music composers of the Bollywood are:

1. S.D Burman
2. R.D Burman
3. Roshan
4. Khayyam
5. Laxmi Kant, Pyare Lal
6. Kalyanji, Anandji


The most Famous Lyricist of Bollywood are:

1. Anand Bakshi
2. Javed Akthar
3. majrooh sultanpuri
4. Sameer
5. Gulzar

Reference: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/music_hist.html

"Its Good to be entertained"

Music Beyond Boundaries

This blog has not published anything related to music as yet. So, it was obvious to dedicate a day of week for the most important ingredient of the entertainment, "Music". This blog will publish topics related to music on every Tuesday of the week. Musical traditions of various countries will be published under this column.

Today, I will cover the two most famous bands of South-East Asia; Junoon and Strings. Both of the bands are from Pakistan, but have more fan following in UK and India (Indians love these bands).

Junoon (English translation: "obsession/passion") was South-East Asia's biggest and Pakistan's most popular rock band. It was formed in 1990 by guitarist, songwriter and medical doctor Salman Ahmad. Junoon is regarded as the pioneer of Sufi rock. Junoon sing mostly in the Urdu language, with a blend of Western hard rock with Sindhi and Punjabi folk and Qawwali.

Junoon was no overnight success. The band struggled financially for the first few years. After release of their third album "Inquilaab" (Revolution) in 1996, Junoon developed a nationwide fan following. The song "Jazba-e-Junoon" of "Inquilaab" was their first solo hit.

In 2004 Ali Azmat, the lead vocalist, left the band to start his solo career. Salman Ahmad also released his solo album. On December 11, 2007, Junoon performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway together with other artists, which was broadcast live in over 100 countries. In 2008 Junoon performed in Srinagar (India) for the first time and turned thousands of music lovers hysterical.

Major albums of Junoon are:
1. 1991: Junoon
2. 1993: Talaash
3. 1996: Inquilaab
4. 1997: Azadi
5. 1999: Parvaaz
6. 2001: Ishq
7. 2004: Dewaar
8. 2006: Infiniti
9. 2002: Daur-e-Junoon (Live Albums)
10. 2002: Junoon for Peace (Live Albums)

Strings is an internationally acclaimed Pakistani pop band of two members; Bilal Maqsood and Faisal Kapadia. Strings is known worldwide for their stringed rhythms. Lyrics of the songs are penned by Anwar Maqsood, Bilal's father. Kapadia is the lead vocalist for the band, Maqsood acts as the composer, guitarist and at times does vocals for few songs. For live concerts, band hire Adeel (Lead guitarist), Shakir (On the bass guitar), Haider (on keyboards) and Qaiser (on drums).

After Initial years of start and stop with albums like Strings and String 2, band decided to re-union again in the year 2000. (There were four members earlier in the Band but now only Bilal and Faisal). Band came with songs and albums like Durr, Dhaani and Koi Aanay wala hain. This is just the start of the Band from the Pakistan. Group members are in their 30's, so chances of going long are very high for the group. Apart from this group is working on various projects from movies to music albums.

Major Albums of Strings are:
1. Strings 1 (1990)
2. Strings 2 (1992)
3. Duur (2000)
4. Dhaani (2003)
5. Koi Aanay Wala Hai (2008)

Keep reading and giving feedback & suggestions for the blog.

"Its good to be entertained"

Source:
1. Wikipedia
2. http://stringsonline.net/

Actor's special: Hero or Zero

How can anyone of us forget the contribution of the Actor in any movie, series, serial or documentary. "Actor's special column will be published every Monday of the week. Actors from the diverse fields of entertainment will be covered under this column.

An actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in movie, television, theater, or radio in that capacity. Readers can find various lists on the Internet with headings like "100 Best actors of the all time". This column is not going to rank any actor on the basis of his/her revenue generating record on the screen. Instead focus would be on performance, roles and the personal life of the Actor.

Readers are welcome to criticize any view presented under this column.


Actor of the Week: Tom Hanks



Actor of the week is Tom Hanks. I have chosen Tom as a actor of week because of his multi-talented skills in field of Entertainment. Tom Hanks is a actor of world repute, apart from this Tom is a Producer, Writer and a Director. Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks was born on July 9, 1956 in California. Tom Hanks studied theater at Chabot College in Hayward, California.

Tom made his film debut in the low-budget slasher film "He Knows You're Alone" and got a part in the television movie "Mazes and Monsters". Early career of Tom went through hits and flops. In 1986 Tom was finally able to achieve success both financially and professionally with movie "Nothing in Common". "Big" was another major movie which established Hanks as a Hollywood talent. Big is an 1988 fantasy-comedy film about a boy who makes a wish "to be big" to a magical fortune-telling machine, and is then aged to adulthood overnight. Tom received Golden Globe for this movie.

Tom received his first best actor academy award for the movie "Philadelphia" in the year 1993. Philadelphia is a movie revolving around HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia. Tom lost around 30 lbs for this movie. Philadelphia (1993) was ranked 49 on the American Film Institutes heroes list of the 100 years of the Greatest Screen Heroes and Villains. Second best actor award followed first one for the movie "Forrest Gump" in the year 1994. Tom also received Golden Globe this movie.

Spouse(s): Samantha Lewes (1978-1987) and Rita Wilson (1988-present)

Facts and Figures about Tom:
1. Lost 50 lbs for his role in Cast Away (2000) and 30 lbs for Philadelphia (1993).
2. Voted 26th Greatest Movie Star of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
3. Sold popcorn and peanuts as a teenager at the Oakland Coliseum.
4. Publicly endorsed Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

Major movies of the Tom are:

1. The Money pit.
2. Big.
3. A league of their own.
4. Sleepless in Seattle.
5. Philadelphia.
6. Forrest Gump.
7. Apollo 13.
8. Toy Story 1 & 2 (Voice Only).
9. Saving Private Ryan.
10. You have got mail.
11. Cast Away.
12. The Terminal.

The list goes on....

Tom Hanks will also be covered under "Director's special" this week. Keep reading.....

"Its good to be entertained"