Entertainment: Tu Hai Mera Sunday is gem of a film

After a series of flopped films, Tu Hai Mera Sunday, which is directed by Milind Dhaimade is able to win audience and critic’s heart.

It is this mix of mirth and melancholy that makes Tu Hai Mera Sunday one of the most precious slice-of-life films in recent times. The narrative shifts moods and tempo without disturbing the characters' journey and thought processes as they go from smothered anguish and despair to a celebration of life and related joys.

The oddly titled Tu Hai Mera Sunday is about working class yearnings, crushed dreams and smothered aspirations floating to the surface to confront the characters even as they conform to the stagnating status quo, loath to swim against the tides.

Barun Sobti is excellent as a sharp, polite guy. He hasn’t gone overboard in his dialogue delivery and appears full of potential. His character is charming, sensible and one of us.

However, Tu Hai Mera Sunday tries to talk about many issues in 126 minutes. The heated arguments sometimes look forced. The firm grips on the audience slacked somewhere in the second half. But thanks to his actors, director Milind Dhaimade manages to sail through these scenes and still conveys a very positive vibe about Tu Hai Mera Sunday, reported HT.

Google remembers Begum Akhtar through doodle

Google marked the 103rd birth anniversary of Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar on Saturday by dedicating a special doodle to her.

Born as Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, the ghazal queen is seen in the doodle sitting gracefully with a sitar with a few admirers around her.

She was born in 1914 in Faizabad in what is now Uttar Pradesh.

Begum Akhtars genre was, however, not ghazals alone, but also included splendid renderings of Hindustani classical music like Dadra and Thumri.

Akhtar was honoured for her immense contribution to Indian music with the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan (posthumously). She was also given the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.

Among the few early female singers, Akhtar is considered to have broken away from the concept of singing in mehfils or private gatherings and started performing at public concerts.
Akhtar breathed her last on October 30, 1974.

Adnan Sami to perform free concert in Srinagar

Pakistani-origin Bollywood singer Adnan Sami, is set to perform a musical gala on the banks of the Dal Lake on Sunday

The Rhythm in Paradise concert will take place at the sprawling lawns of the Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) with a select audience of around 3,000 VVIPs.

The SKICC complex has been given a facelift to provide the right ambience. A deweeding and preservation operation in the Dal Lake has been speeded up so that the dazzling lights of the concert fall on clean glistening waters.

“ He will perform without charging anything for the over two-hour long concert organised jointly by the union Home Ministry and the Jammu and Kashmir government,’’ said Mehmood Shah, Director of the state Tourism Department.

Doordarshan will stream the concert live. The government has deployed over 100 liaison officers to ensure that the concert takes place smoothly.

On his experiences of visiting the state, Sami said the region hosted a rich culture which had art woven in its roots.

“ The mysticism and Sufism found in Kashmir will continue to inspire me and influence my music so that I can produce rich melodies,” he said.

Although he has visited the Kashmir Valley previously including for the shooting a Qawali sequence for Bollywood blockbuster Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Adnan said about his present visit: “I am in heaven on Earth. Kashmir, Srinagar, love, peace, brotherhood and music.”

Many locals have expressed disappointment about the concert being a closed affair and not open to the general public.

“We looked forward to the concert and were ready to pay for the tickets, but we are now told it is not an open concert,” said Suhail Ahmad, 23, a university student.