Tag Archives: music

TV actors in B-town – has the perception changed over time?

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There was a time when beauty pageants titles were considered as a ticket to Bollywood. Perhaps now Television has taken that place. Rightfully so, as today TV is no longer a media just for kids, housewives and retired. With advent of categorized channels like music/ news / youth based/ for kids / general entertainment, TV has emerged as a media for all masses. It’s popularity and penetration is unmatched.

We have seen so many TV actors / personalities who had found a foothold on television and still took the biggest leap to foray into Bollywood. All these TV celebs had humongous fan following and that is what transpired them for the jump.

The list has no end to it. Be it Sushant Singh Rajput of Pavitra Rishta; Amit Sadh of Guns and Roses; Prachi Desai of Kasamh Se; Yami Gautam of Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam; Ayushmann Khurrana of MTV Roadies season 2 fame; Rajeev Khandelwal and Aamna Sharif of Kahin To Hoga; Amar Upadhyay and Pulkit Samrat of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi etc. etc. etc…

And how can one forget Vidya Balan and Shah Rukh Khan. We also saw Ram Kapoor, Ronit Roy, Mona Singh, Renuka Shahane, Rohit Roy doing significant guest roles.  Latest to join the bandwagon is Hussain Kuwajerwala and ASR aka Barun Sobti whose debut movie are lined up for launch this summer. News of Karan Kundra signing a three movie deal is also doing rounds.

This emerging trend of transition from small screen to big screen signifies that today in terms of popularity, TV actors are second to none. Does that mean B-town’s perception about TV actors has changed over time? I guess not really. There is no dearth of talent on TV today and just like our movie stars, TV actors are also expected to exhibit their skills in drama, dance and action.  Their screen popularity adds to the list of positives. Yet why is it that still most of the movie debutants are from non-TV background? Why do we have only a handful of TV actors getting an opportunity to test the waters?

Even post the transition, why their success story is not precedent to their TV performance? The names above were at the peak of their TV career and still had the guts to call it quits knowful that only few have been enviably successful in this media. There are some who are yet to enjoy the fruits of commercial success and most had to settle for cameos.

Will our popular TV actors get a fair chance for making big in B-town and not just settle in for cameo? Will they be able to make it large in cinema as well? While the latest success of Kai Po Che has set the road but it is still too early to say if indeed our beloved TV actors will be able to break free from the TV actor tagging and get to share similar stardom as non-TV movie stars.

Do share your views and feedback about this on Twitter-iDubba and set reminders for your favorite shows on iDubba app..

70th Golden Globe Awards: List of winners

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The 70th Golden Globe Awards-winners

It was time for the 70th Golden Globe Awards.The Golden Globe Award is known to recognize excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. It is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) .The 1st Golden Globe Awards were held in January 1944 at the 20th Century Fox studios in Los Angeles. The 70th Golden Globe Awards were presented  at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, where they have been held annually since 1961.

 There has been lot of discussion about Golden Globe Awards and Oscars. Some say that these awards are considered to be the dress rehearsals for the Oscars. These awards lay the foundation and the buzz around the Oscars. But none the less, Golden Globes do have a special place in the Film and Television Industry. 

 All eyes were on Ben Affleck, whose directorial efforts on “Argo” were ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, aka The Oscars. Unlike 9 nominations for Best Motion at the Oscars, Golden Globe had 5 nominations. These included Argo, Django unchained, Life of Pie, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty. Television Series too had some interesting nominations, that included Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Downtown Abbey: Season 2, Homeland and The Newsroom for the Best Television Series – Drama. So who do you think won the 70th Golden Globe Awards?

I know you must be eagerly waiting to know who the winners are. Will not keep you waiting for long, here’s a complete list of all the Golden Globe winners.

 MOVIES

  • Best Motion Picture, Drama: “Argo”
  • Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical: “Les Misérables”
  • Best Actress, Drama: Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
  • Best Actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln”
  • Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”
  • Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Hugh Jackman, “Les Misérables”
  • Best Director: Ben Affleck, “Argo”
  • Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Les Misérables”
  • Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained”
  • Best Foreign Language Film: “Amour”
  • Best Animated Film: “Brave”
  • Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, “Django Unchained”
  • Best Original Score: Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi”
  • Best Original Song: “Skyfall” (music and lyrics by Adele and Paul Epworth)

TELEVISION

  • Best Series, Drama: “Homeland,” Showtime,
  • Best Series, Musical or Comedy: “Girls,” HBO
  • Best Actress, Drama: Claire Danes, “Homeland“
  • Best Actor, Drama: Damian Lewis, “Homeland“
  • Best Actress, Comedy or Musical: Lena Dunham, “Girls”
  • Best Actor, Comedy or Musical: Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
  • Best Miniseries or Movie: “Game Change”
  • Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie: Julianne Moore, “Game Change”
  • Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie: Kevin Costner, “Hatfields & McCoys”
  • Best Supporting Actress: Maggie Smith, “Downton Abbey”
  • Best Supporting Actor: Ed Harris, “Game Change”

Based on these winners, do you think you can guess the winners of Oscars 2013 ? Well you can catch the nominations list of the Oscars 2013 here. And don’t forget to set ialert on iddubba.com to view more information.

Have you tuned into Sony MIX yet?

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There has been one more addition to the Music Channels that we watch and this time it’s Sony that has entered this market. Every year, India sees close to 2,000 films launched, and not to forget their music releases. It’s a fact that films have a large dependency on the success of their music. After all what’s Hindi Cinema without Music!

As of now following are some of the Music channels that are making the audience dance on its tunes:

- 9XM 

9XM is a Bollywood Music Channel that airs the latest and best Bollywood Music songs along with rib-tickling jokes by a gang of super cool animated characters, namely Bade Chote, Bheegi Billi, Badshah Bhai, Silly Chicken and The Betel Nuts.

- B4U Music

B4U Music is a music-themed digital TV channel available on more than 8 different satellites, in more than 100 countries.

- MTV :

MTV is more an entertainment based channel now as the focus has shifted from music a lot. Do read out our earlier post about MTV over here –  MTV: Music or Masala Television

- Bindass

Bindass (also known as UTV Bindass) is a Hindi entertainment channel in India targeted at Indian youth.

- Zoom

Zoom is an Indian glamour and entertainment television channel primarily covering Bollywood

- Channel V

The bloody cool world of Channel [v] for the latest Bollywood gossip, the hottest TV shows and the coolest campus fashion.

- VH1

VH1 entertains you with your favourite tv shows, music videos, celebrity news, photos, live performances and special events.

- ETC

ETC is considered as the most credible Bollywood trade channel. It is a Music and movie channel in Hindi and Punjabi.

So getting back to the this new channel, Sony has positioned its new channel as a pure film music channel, MIX is a destination dedicated to music and all that belongs to it. Coming from a family that has prided itself on providing fresh breakthrough programming, MIX too promises an exciting and expansive library of Hindi film songs spanning all eras. Served through a theme based music play out suiting the need of the hour, these songs set up MIX as a channel where everyone will find their favourites every day. Moving into the gap created by erstwhile music channels claim themselves as ‘youth channels’ and other music channels dishing out non-music content and reality shows. 

There are some reports that the music genre on TV has shrunk over time. Data tells us that it is due to lack of stickiness essentially because all music channels target youth. Everyone plays the same numbers too. Sony Mix has managed to tap listeners from both the age groups 14 -24 and 25 – 40 years. And the best part is that they don’t have video jockeys, no animated characters, but do have only one three-minute movie trailer in an hour. So do you think this new change will keep the audience tuned on Sony MIX?

So have you tuned into Sony Mix? Do let us know your views on the this latest Music Channel.

Happy Listening ;)

MTV: Music or Masala Television

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You might scratch your head and start thinking why am I referring MTV as Masala Television. Well the following post is about finding out the real truth. After reading this you may also come to a conclusion whether MTV is a Music Channel or it has turned out to be Masala Television over years.

It was not long ago say some 9-10 yrs back when viewers used to wait to see what’s new in the list..New Album, hot album, Best songs… in a way they wanted to see the latest Music Labels, their reviews and responses. Top most Singers had their music launch aired in MTV, there were shows explicitly telecasting interviews with the Singers and rappers. TV was geared more towards music and music appreciation, The concept of VJ’s was made popular by MTV as this channel was about MUSIC 24/7!!  The VJ’s of early 90’s had good knowledge of music, a unique style of their own and undoubtedly a great  sense of humor too.I am sure that none of you must have forgotten VJ’s like Malaika Arora, Maria Goretti , Shenaz Treasurywala, Mini Mathur and a few others. No doubt that Cyrus Broacha and Nikhil Chinnappa are still holding the fort but the charm that the previous VJ’s had, is not present there anymore. . MTV is now being hosted as a television show with VJs who have very little to do with knowledge in music and music videos.

You might have this question..Does MTV has series of reality shows!!! You might be surprised, but the answer is YES. The biggest ammunition that MTV has is “Roadies”. It was started way back in 2003, and currently 8 seasons are over. No doubt that Roadies is very popular and has many ardent followers, but the channel is trying to replicate this success in every other show. Every second show is now a Reality show. They are trying to get the youth hooked on to its channel by shows like MTV Stuntmania a biking stunt show hosted by famous stunts director Allan Amin and MTV Splitsvilla A dating reality show.

This channel which once used to be solely a music channel has turned in endless race of reality shows, In 1998, we had about 19 hours of music programming. 2008 saw an average of just three hours of music videos per day on MTV, with the rest of the day devoted to reality shows. . Is this a conscious effort made by MTV or has it lost its audience??? Is this the reason for MTV to drop “Music Television” from its corporate logo too in 2010?

If i ask you, which is the channel you prefer for watching Songs,  MTV will certainly not be your 1st choice. Some might say, 9XM , B4U Music, and the latest one Sony PIX. You might say that I have missed on one more important Music Channel, ie Channel V. Well, they too are slowly but steadily moving on the path of MTV. Only time will say if MTV was right moving its focus on Reality Shows and slowly taking Music off their menu. What are you views on this topic?

Discuss this over Twitter – @idubba

Review of season finale of ‘The Dewarists’ – Masti ki Basti

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Here is another review by iDubba on the season finale of a very popular show “The Dewarists” – Masti ki Basti

‘Masti ki Basti’ was the season finale of this wonderful show that collaborated ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ and Rewben Mashangva. The location chosen for the season finale was perfect – “the abode of the clouds” – Shillong.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Xduu7cPC8]

Raghu dixit learned classical karnatic music and started playing guitar at the age of nineteen. The Raghu Dixit Project was formed in 2005 and in 2006 they got their first break by Vishal and Shekhar and as per Raghu ‘the rest is history’. He has made folk music as popular as any other chartbusters. The awesome feel to make people happy by what he sings on stage is what keeps him going and doing the same stuff again and again.

One cant believe that this simple lungi clad guy with ghoongroos on feet can make you rock the floor like mad. I personally witnessed it when ‘The Dewarists’ were in Delhi and heard ‘The Raghu Dixit Project’ for the first time in my life and fell in love with the band.

<READ FULL REVIEW HERE>