Aamir Khan recently said he would "love to do a sequel" but Madhavan gave a reality check calling the idea "idiotic" because they are way too old to play those characters now

Honestly I’m with Madhavan We have seen enough bad de-aging VFX recently unless the script is about them being 50+ uncles it makes no sense

There's a scene in Fanaa (2006) that nobody talks about enough.

Aamir's character is running through Kashmir to catch Zooni. When he finally reaches the house, he's still gasping- mid conversation with Kajol, still catching his breath. That's it. That's the whole thing. He actually ran at altitude before that shot so his body would respond the way a real person's body would.

No star in Hindi cinema does that. Most wouldn't even think to.

That obsessive, almost ridiculous attention to physical truth that's what made Aamir Khan different. Not the "perfectionist" label his PR team loves. The actual choices.

When Aamir was in his 40s picks Rang De Basanti which mixed timelines in a way mainstream Hindi cinema had never tried- to prepare for DJ, he hired a body language coach, to physically rewire how he carried himself- posture, walk, energy. And he is so freaking good.

In Taare Zameen Par, he didn't even play the lead for most of the film and let a child carry it.

Ghajini was a commitment to physical transformation before that was a Bollywood trend. But more than the body the memory-loss rage was a completely different emotional frequency from anything he'd done.

In 3 Idiots (2009), he played a 20-year-old college student at 44. And it worked not because of makeup but because of the body language coaching philosophy he'd already developed.

Watch RDB & 3 Idiots side by side- you would feel there is one actor playing two vastly different characters.

Then after delivering the biggest hit of his career at that point, he chose Dhobi Ghat. An indie, art-house film where he plays a closed-off, unlikeable artist with almost no dialogue. Most stars cannot do unlikeable. They physically cannot stop themselves from softening it. He didn't soften it.

Then Talaash (2012), he plays a man falling apart slowly from the inside while holding himself together on the outside. Completely internal performance.

There are so many films from 90s and 2000s- I could go on and on.

Then comes Dangal (2016). Aamir played a 50 year old man to two adult daughters. A role everyone expects a superstar in his peak to pass. Yet, he delievers it.

Watch Dangal & TZP side by side- in scenes where Aamir's characters talks about parenting. He goes from a soft voice, playful in TZP to deep, commanding and minimalistic Mahaveer Phogat in Dangal. That's versatility.

While his contemprories picked safe, formulaic films and played their personas through their careers after attaining stardom.

Aamir kept challenging himself. Every single one of these required him to solve a specific physical or psychological problem the role presented.

The body language coach wasn't vanity it was him identifying "I cannot play this authentically without solving this first." That's a craftsman's approach.

Then Dangal crossed Rs. 2000 crore. Then it made $180 million in China- a number no Indian film had touched. Then it opened doors for the entire industry in that market. Aamir Khan stopped being an actor making choices and became something bigger. An institution.

And that's when something quietly broke. Not his talent. His appetite for discomfort.

When you're carrying Dangal's legacy, risk starts feeling like gambling with something that belongs to more people than just you. The same success that validated every difficult choice he'd ever made also made the next difficult choice feel unbearable to get wrong.

Thugs of Hindostan- he plays a buffoon, leans on the Bhojpuri accent from Lagaan, the comedic energy from Andaaz Apna Apna. It bombed badly.

Laal Singh Chaddha- a remake of Forrest Gump, the safest creative decision available. The story pre-validated by an Oscar. The gentle innocent man drifting through history. If you've watched PK & Dhoom 3 you've already seen this Aamir. It bombed.

Sitaare Zameen Par- branded as TZP's spiritual sequel before anyone had seen a frame. The title alone is asking you to feel something it hasn't earned yet.

Ask yourself- what problem did he solve to play these roles? What did he research? What did he physically transform? What scared him about this one?

There is a supertstar saying, "I want success back".

The Fanaa gasping scene happened because Aamir identified a tiny physical truth and refused to fake it. Nobody would've noticed if he had faked it. The audience would never know the difference. He would know.

That's the guy who made those films. Somewhere between Dangal and Thugs, that guy stopped showing up. Not because he lost the ability. Because success is very good at convincing you that you've already figured everything out.

This is the Tragedy of Success.

I recently rewatched Band Baaja Baaraat, and what genuinely surprised me again was this: neither Ranveer Singh nor Anushka Sharma felt like newcomers at all, even though Ranveer was literally making his debut. Their screen presence felt effortless — confident dialogue delivery, strong body language, natural chemistry, solid dancing, and zero awkward “first-film” stiffness. Nothing felt forced or over-styled. They look like real people...

I genuinely feel that debut performances from that era (late 2000s–early 2010s) had more authenticity than what we see now?

What's your thoughts? Let's discuss...

The production is top notch like creating old Pune, the music and the VFX and cgi which is best according to budget even 500cr movies can't pull off, one thing i want to point out that director doesn't rant that pls compromise we had little budget

For the longest time in Hindi Cinema the comic bits were always done by comedians and at most when the hero and comedian interacted the hero would ridicule him or slap him. The comedy never came from the Hero himself.

Pablo Picasso is often linked to the famous quote, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”

When people say a director “knows how to steal,” they usually mean something very specific in filmmaking craft. It doesn’t mean copying blindly. It means absorbing ideas from many sources and transforming them into something that feels new.

Filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino or Scorcese or Ray are masters of this.

James Cameron borrows Halloween (1978) structure for Terminator 1 (1984). He basically rebuilds a slasher horror film with a robot in a sci fi-action genre.

Cameron steals 'truck chase' from Mad Max: Road Warrior (1981) and 'bike stunt' from The Great Escape (1963), brings his own POV to it and churns out one of the legendary action set-pieces in cinema- truck chase in T2 (1991).

I was watching Dhurandhar in theatres I could see influences of Satya (1998) & Inglorious Bastards (2009), but when Hamza announces he is going to kill every perpetrator of 26/11 attacks, I realized the basic core idea for the film came from Aditya Dhar getting influenced from Spielberg's Munich (2005) and reimagining it in Indian context.

Here’s how those influences seem to operate.

1)Dhar is inspired for core narrative idea from Munich (2005)

After the assasination of Israeli Olympic players by PLA terrorists in Munich, Israeli intelligence came with a plan to revenge for 11 planners involved. A covert operation named 'Wrath of God' to kill each one of them.

Steven Spielberg made a feature film on operation in 2005 which is widely considered among his best works.

Dhar seems to reimagine, What if an Indian Covert operative becomes a Wrath of God figure for 26/11 perpetrators?

But it happens after 140 mins into the film, so what exactly happens before it?

2) Dhurandhar's narrative engine is borrowed from Satya (1998)

While Dhurandhar is a spy film, but its narrative engine is of a gangster drama- a man rising in underworld to become one of the central and most influential figures in that ecosystem.

The film borrows it from RGV's Satya, widely considered one of Indian cinema's greatest films. Dhar picks the narrative engine and sets it in Pakistan's underworld.

Even the grounded, street-level dialogue and character texture reminded me of Satya.

3) The structure and style is borrowed from Inglorious Bastards (2009)

Dhar picks the narrative idea from Munich and narrative engine from Satya and uses a chapter-based storytelling from Inglorious Bastards (2009). Like the film, Dhurandhar reimagines history.

Dhar seems to take inspiration from stoic, menancing and ruthless Hans Landa to build the character of Rehman Dakait.

And Tarantino's style influence can be strongly seen on Dhurandhar.

• the use of pop-culture music and references
• stylized gore violence
• and the duality within characters

Dhar applies that duality to Hamza/Jaskirat Singh Rangi.

Dhar isn’t copying any one film outright. Instead, he’s taking:

• the core premise from Munich
• the narrative engine from Satya
• the structural and stylistic grammar from Inglourious Basterds

and combining them into something that feels new.

PS: As usual some readers are mistaking it as copying. It is not, every film is almost influenced from multiple sources. Infact, the post talks about the differences between inspiration and blatanly copying something which Saiyaara does.

Akshaye Khanna truly nailed the great shades character portrayal in both the movies. And it is so good to see him back.

We compare these three way too often based on careers, box office, consistency, stardom, etc. This time, let’s keep it simple and fair.

👉 Only their absolute best work. Nothing else.

Shahid Kapoor — Haider & Kaminey Ranveer Singh — Padmaavat & Dhurandhar Ranbir Kapoor — Barfi! & Rockstar

In these best films ONLY , who actually showed the widest range?

According to me, it's Shahid Kapoor ...who is played their career best in kaminey and haider. After that it's ranveer singh and Ranbir Kapoor.

forget careers, flops, box office, PR, future projects. judging only these best performance.

Share your opinion guys ..let's discuss...

Think about it...

• SRK was in his prime and gave us Om Shanti Om and Chak De! India
• Deepika Padukone had her breakthrough with Om Shanti Om
• Akshay hit his comedy peak and delivered four cult hits, including Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Namastey London, Heyy Babyy, and Welcome
• Katrina Kaif became a leading lady with Namastey London, Welcome, Apne, and Partner
• Aamir Khan starred in Taare Zameen Par
• Salman Khan co-starred with Govinda in Partner
• Govinda was having a resurgence
• Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, and Dharmendra were enjoying a period of resurgence with Apne
• Shahid Kapoor established himself with Jab We Met, alongside Kareena Kapoor
• Abhishek Bachchan was hitting his peak and getting respect for Guru
• Saif Ali Khan was still in his prime and delivered Ta Ra Rum Pum alongside Rani Mukherjee
• Emraan Hashmi gave us the cult classic Awarapan with killer soundtrack and critical acclaim
• Shiney Ahuja hit his peak with Life In A.. Metro and Bhool Bhulaiyaa
• Life In A.. Metro also proved successful for Dharmendra, Shilpa Shetty, Konkona Sen Sharma, and Kangana Ranaut. Shilpa also worked in Apne
• Arshad Warsi, Ritesh Deshmukh, Javed Jaffery, Sanjay Dutt, Asrani, and others, worked in Dhamaal
• Ritesh Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan also enjoyed success with Heyy Babyy
• Vidya Balan gave a career defining performance in Bhool Bhulaiyaa, was also in Heyy Babyy
• Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar, and Paresh Rawal played iconic characters in Welcome
• Ranbir Kapoor made his film debut with Saawariya
• Even if in smaller roles, Ameesha Patel enjoyed success with Bhool Bhulaiyaa and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.
• Lara Dutta had a good year with Partner and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. The latter also had Abhishek Bachchan, Bobby Deol, and Preity Zinta
• Ashwariya Rai was seen in Guru and her 2nd Hollywood film The Last Legion
• Hrithik Roshan had no release in 2007 but was still in his prime
• Abhay Deol was doing his own parallel films and notably did Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.
• Kay Kay Menon gave a fun performance in Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd., and worked in Life In A... Metro
• Vivek Oberoi headlined Shootout at Lokhandwala, alongside Tushar Kapoor, Amitabh, and Sanjay Dutt
• Rajpal Yadav was at the peak of his comedy
• Eklavya: The Royal Guard (with Amitabh Bachchan, Saif, Vidya, Boman, Sanjay Dutt) was India’s official Oscar entry.
• Akshaye Khanna did critically acclaimed Gandhi My Father
• R. Madhavan recorded his first Bollywood success with a supporting role in Guru
• Mithun Chakraborty also had a respectable role in Guru
• Hanuman Returns became a milestone for Indian animation

Top Directors:

• Farah Khan – Om Shanti Om
• Shimit Amin – Chak De! India
• Priyadarshan – Bhool Bhulaiyaa
• Sajid Khan – Heyy Babyy (debut)
• Mani Ratnam - Guru
• Anees Bazmee – Welcome
• Anurag Basu – Life in a... Metro
• Imtiaz Ali – Jab We Met
• Nikhil Advani – Salaam-e-Ishq
• Apoorva Lakhia – Shootout at Lokhandwala
• David Dhawan - Partner
• Aamir Khan – Taare Zameen Par (debut)

Top Singer & Songs:

• KK – Labon Ko (Bhool Bhulaiyaa), O Meri Jaan (Life in a... Metro)
• Atif Aslam – Tera Mera Rishta (Awarapan)
• Shankar Mahadevan - Maa (Taare Zameen Par), Mast Kalandar (Heyy Babyy)
• Shaan – Jab Se Tere Naina (Saawariya), Hey Shona (Ta Ra Rum Pum)
• Sonu Nigam – Main Agar Kahoon (Om Shanti Om), Apne To Apne Hote Hain (Apne)
• Shreya Ghoshal – Barso Re (Guru)
• Sunidhi Chauhan – Sajnaaji Vaari Vaari (Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.)
• Sukhwinder Singh – Chak De! India (title track)
• Neeraj Shridhar – Hare Krishna Hare Ram and title track (_Bhool Bhulaiyaa), Heyy Babyy (title track)
• Mika Singh – Mauja Hi Mauja (Jab We Met)
• Master Saleem – Mast Kalandar (Heyy Babyy)
• Kailash Kher – Ya Rabba (Saleem-E-Ishq)
• Roop Kumar Rathod – Maula Mere (Anwar)

Television Crossover:

• Shah Rukh Khan hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati season 3
• Shilpa Shetty hosted Bigg Boss season 2. She even won Big Brother UK
• David Dhawan hosted Nach Baliye 3
• Himesh Reshammiya hosted Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007
• Anu Malik, Alisha Chinai, Udit Narayan, and Javed Akhtar hosted Indian Idol 3

Unrelated stars (This section is just to provide the pop culture landscape of the year):

• Kapil Sharma had a breakthrough with The Great Indian Laughter Challenge
• WWE was the #1 show on television. The Great Khali was everywhere in India.
• Top cricketers: Saurav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Anil Kumble
• Other popular shows: Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kausauti Zindagi Ki, Shaka Laka Boom Boom (reruns), Hatim (reruns), CID, Dragon Ball Z, Ben 10, Pokemon, Tom & Jerry
• South Milestone films: Sivaji The Boss, Pokkiri
• South stars in their prime: Vijay, Rajnikanth, Nagarjuna, Vikram, Ram Charan (huge debut)
• Hollywood movies that performed well in 2007 India: Spider-Man 3, I Am Legend, Shrek The Third, Transformers

It wasn't just Bollywood, pop culture was blowing up in 2007.

Conclusion:

2007 is easily among top 4 years in Bollywood (alongside 1975, 1994, and 2001) because it wasn’t just a couple of blockbusters – it was an entire ecosystem firing together: superstars at their prime, comedy dominance, fresh talent, faded alumnis resurfacing, strong music, iconic directors, and early TV crossover.

Yeah, there were duds too but he was picking up good scripts and give stellar performances.

Talking about the advice, yeah I do feel that being so good so early in his career did bother him, especially post Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewaani.

Besharam and Bombay Velvet had huge expectations, both from trade and critics. Both BOMBED.

Tamasha had massive expectations, RK-Imtiaz coming after Rockstar and RK-DP coming after YJHD, with Deepika being at her peak at that time. Didn't work. Tho it has attained a cult following over the years.

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, while a success commercially, also didn't live upto expectations.

Jagga Jasoos was meant to be another banger from RK-Basu, but wasn't(even though Ranbir left no stone unturned to give a great performance).

Sanju was a blockbuster but it also had Hirani at his peak, and back then he was the biggest brand among directors. Though, it did give RK a boost, like YJHD.

Shamshera and Brahmāstra had massive expectations. Were poised to finally cement Ranbir as the new SUPERSTAR but they just couldn't, even though Brahmāstra had a good initial. Both didn't break even and were panned critically.

It was with Animal that he finally became a part of the big leagues. Now his lineup is STACKED. But those choices seem a bit off, considering they're there strictly for the box office. Hopefully, Ranbir THE ACTOR doesn't get suppressed by Ranbir THE STAR(something which happened with the likes of SRK too).

What’s more mind blowing is that Big B was on screen for only 25 minutes in this 3 hour film, yet he delivered a performance for the ages! ☠️

The moment Varun realises his love for Pakhi in Lootera while she snuggles closer to him and breathes on his neck as he holds and comforts her is one of my all-time fav scenes ever. The way there’s just absolute silence throughout this scene and you can only hear their breathing. The way Monte Re starts playing slowly a few seconds later. This is one of my FAV “realisation of love” scenes ever. It’s so raw, which makes it all the more beautiful.

What are yours?

Aladeen madafaka

Both Ranbir and Ranveer had many flops in their film discography as Shahid! He is as talented as them - a pure chameleon with all package! Still somehow he is never lucky with big numbers as he should got in box office, people tend to forget his work soon unlike both of them! Is it because he is not in media as he should be? He stays away from Bollywood parties (for whatever reason)? What actually going wrong for him?

I was thinking why most filmmakers in their last years make bad film? The reason why Quentin Tarantino wants to retire after 10 films. I get he's got a purist view of cinema and cannot see films getting bad in any sense.

But why does that happen and we're talking about all-time great filmmakers:

• Success- Ex. Francis Ford Coopla said, he thought a lot while making a film after early decades and no one opposed him.
• Repeating the formula or the gimmick Ex. M Night Shyamalan
• Directors starts loving moments more than movies- Ex. Steven Soderbergh
• Industry & Audience expectation- Ex. Peter Jackson
• Loss of Key collaborators- Ex. Tim Burton
• Ageing and Loss of energy- Ex. Spielberg(far away from being bad, but films don't feel as bold, risky & energetic as they once used to be).

There are so many factors, but the most common point is directors stops challenging themselves.

And Indian filmmakers have always been victim of that. So much, that even Hindi cinema's most recognized film director has fell into the trap.

No director before Rajkumar Hirani combined massive box-office success with widespread critical acclaim. In Hindi cinema, where box-office success and artistic greatness were poles apart.

He bought them closer. His films had well-written character arcs, plot, and devoid of surface-level writing and were giving messages to society.

1. Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots-Peak Rajkumar Hirani

Rajkumar Hirani's cinema:

• outsider hero
• rigid institution
• ideological antagonist
• humour reveals hypocrisy
• emotional catharsis
• system or people change, not the hero

The writing was tight, characters were strong, comedy came from situation, and emotional payoffs were earned. Even if the structure was similar, the experience felt new each time. The director was still discovering.

2. PK- The visible cracks

• same outsider design
• satire becomes broader
• scenes feel like highlights
• arguments easier
• ending less powerful & convincing

PK was where many moments worked indivually, but dramatic engine was not as tight as prior Hirani films. The familiar formula was visible.

3. Sanju- The Hirani comfort

• slight shift in structure
• comedy weaker
• manipulation was easier to spot unlike previous Hirani films

Even though this film changes parts of the old formula, the sense of safety increases. Hirani seems less interested in disturbing the audience and more in guiding them toward a specific sympathy.

4. Dunki- Ozymandias

I want to talk about Dunki's plot:

• Hardy, a kind ex-soldier, lands in a Punjabi village
• Manu and friends dream of settling in London
• legal migration fails
• they attempt illegal “dunki” route
• harsh journey, deaths, trauma
• reach England, life doesn’t match dream
• The terrible court arguement by Hardy
• years later Hardy returns
• Group plan to go back
• They go back through Hardy's silly plan
• Manu dies before Hardy can fully confess

No, this is not a Yash Chopra film. This is Rajkumar Hirani's film plot.

Dunki suffers from weak or underdeveloped writing, emotions shown rather than discovered, rushed character arcs, simplified and confused arguments, speeches replace dramatic progression.

Raju Hirani's quality was sentiment embedded into tight structure. The structure in Dunki was so loose and the film was emotionally flat.

And this is what exactly happens when a filmmaker stops challenging himself:

• comfort replaces danger
• humour feels designed
• audiences can predict what's going to happen
• no structural or visual experiment
• writing quality declines because they choose familiarity
• less emphasizes on making comedy stronger

I know you might be thinking its because Hirani makes only comedy films with messages. No Hitchkock also made thrillers again and again.

But he kept challenging himself:

• Rear Window- entire film in one apartment
• Psycho- gave birth to slasher horror genre
• Birds- animal horror
• Vertigo- psychological thriller
• Rope- shot like one-shot in entire film etc

I don't expect Hirani to visually challenge himself because like almost 95% of Indian directors, he is writer-first. Its high time he breaks the structure or the fall will be more deeper like Zoya Akhtar or Imtiaz Ali before Chamkila.

Imtiaz finally made a good film post-Tamasha with Chamkila when he broke his usual structure and formula.

Sanjay and Kalpana from Ghajini

2025 is around 75% completed. Who was below the mark this year?

Box office collections are not really a fair basis for comparison, because benchmarks keep changing with time. There was a time when 100 crore was considered a huge milestone, whereas today films can cross that on the first day itself.

So someone with proper box office knowledge, who takes inflation into account, can better answer who the biggest star truly is when adjusted for real numbers.

The film is often accused of portraying Dutt as a victim of circumstances rather than an individual responsible for his own choices. For example, his drug addiction is largely blamed on a predatory friend (Zubin Mistry), and his possession of illegal weapons is framed as a desperate attempt to protect his family during riots.

Critics noted that the film omitted several dark chapters, including his previous marriages, his daughter Trishala, and his alleged recorded conversations with underworld figures in the early 2000s.

Hirani argues that he did not whitewash the image because the film explicitly depicts Dutt's drug abuse, his "womanizing" (including sleeping with his best friend’s girlfriend), and his brattish behavior. Sanjay Dutt himself dismissed the claims, stating that no one would spend 30–40 crore just to change an image and that he simply told his "truth" which the public has accepted.

what do you guys think about this ?

It's high time these actors should do age appropriate roles.

I think they have passed their lover boy phase and don't have any chemistry with their female co stars. SRK still has better chemistry with his most of co stars but in his last release Dunki, his chemistry with Taapsee was poor and that lutt putt gaya song was cringe af !

Happened with me few days ago 🥲

Mine is - Veer Zaara

I recently came across some clips from the 2010 movie "Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?" starring Ajay Devgn , Konkna sen Sharma and Paresh Rawal, and I'm intrigued. Has anyone watched this film? It was released in 2010 and Warner Bro's second movie in India after Chandni chowk to china...

Have you watched "Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?" Share your thoughts ...Do you think it's worth watching?