Publicity is necessary and often unavoidable. But it can only open the door; it cannot keep the audience glued to their seats. No amount of hype can permanently conceal weak storytelling, just as genuine cinematic excellence eventually finds its audience.
The new generation of actors shaped by the social media era, including Panday and Padda, appears more measured in handling fame and choosing projects. Even so, their second film will undoubtedly face far greater scrutiny.
The central issue with making biopics on figures like R.D. Burman, Madhubala and Kishore Kumar is not whether these lives merit cinematic exploration. The real concern is whether Bollywood will portray them with honesty and depth or reduce them to sanitised tributes designed for mass appeal.
Ranbir Kapoor has rarely shied away from stepping beyond his comfort zone, often choosing roles that challenge him as a performer. But Ramayana will serve as a litmus test even for an actor of his calibre.
'Bollywood By Choice' is Outlook's weekly column that examines the good, the bad, and the ugly of Indian cinema—Bollywood and beyond—offering praise and criticism with equal fairness to both the deserving and the disappointing.
In Kusheshwar Ashtan, JD-U candidate Aman Kumar Hazari defeated his nearest RJD rival Ganesh Bharti by a margin of 12,685 votes while Arun Kumar of RJD lost to Rajeev Kumar Singh of the ruling party by 1,722 votes in Tarapur.
A low-down on the men and women who played a key role in making Amitabh Bachchan the Phenomenon that he ultimately became.
Lalu and Paswan had forged an alliance against the NDA led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ahead of the 2010 assembly elections but their alliance could not get more than 25 seats in the 243-member assembly at the time.
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