With Paa, Amitabh Bacchan has chartered those unchartered territories where no one else has dared to charter before. He’s stepped into the shoes of a 13 year old, named Auro who has a rare genetic disorder called Progeria which fastens up the ageing process. This means though Auro is 13, but due to ageing, his body is of a person who may be five times his age. And we don’t see Amitabh at all in the film because in Auro’s skin he is simply unrecognizable. Yes, unbelievable but true. His acting today has reached a pinnacle of near insurmountable standards. After about 40 years in the film industry and already a legend like status, Amitabh is such a genius who is not willing to rest on his laurels. With such a top performer, belief and reality always merge. With Paa, Balki too, was looking at risk differently. He has taken a road less travelled but has broad shoulders of Amitabh Bachhan to bank upon and he does not disappoint.

New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Music maestro A.R. Rahman has been nominated for two Grammy awards for the film “Slumdog Millionaire”.
The Mozart of Madras, as Rahman is fondly called, has been nominated in the best soundtrack for motion pictures, television or other visual media category for the film, and in the best song for motion picture, television and other visual media category for “Jai ho”, said the official Grammy website.

Written by lyricist Gulzar, “Jai ho” has been sung by Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Vijay Prakash and Rahman himself.

Nominated for the first time at the Grammy’s, Rahman won two Oscars for “Slumdog Millionaire” and the best original score award at the 2009 Golden Globe Award.

The 52th edition of the Annual Grammy Awards will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Jan 31 next year.

New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan has been nominated for a Grammy award in the best traditional world music album category.
Khan has been nominated for the album “Ancient Sounds”, a joint-venture with Iraqi oud soloist Rahim Alhaj.
Other albums in the category include “Double Play”, “Douga Mansa”, “La Guerra No” and “Drum Music Land”.

The ceremony will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles Jan 31.

Two weeks ago we did a show on Afrobeat during our scheduled World Music hours which was actually inspired (on timing, not music) by recent Hollywood flick 2012. Now call it luck or mere co-incidence but two days ago Fela!, the new musical opened up on Broadway!! Amazing! Is it luck? Co-incidence?Telepathy? Call it whatever but do check out the musical Fela! produced by Jay Z, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith. It has some great reviews and is highlighting the life and struggle of Fela, the pioneer of Afrobeat. Also check out our podcast of the Afrobeat show if you missed the same which is embedded herein, and do let us know of your thoughts. We shall review the Broadway musical as well in days to come and keep you posted.

Click on read more to listen to MASTRADIO's Afrobeat shows and watch the Fela! videos. 

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Well-known advertising professional and lyricist Prasoon Joshi has penned a special poem in Hindi as a tribute to the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Joshi, who has written toucing songs like “Taare zameen par”, “Maa” and “Ru ba ru” apart from others, has written and recited the poem exclusively for news channe NewsX.

The video is 2.19 minutes’ duration and features images of bloodshed, bomb blasts and grieving citizens in and around some of the important landmarks, including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and the Oberoi Trident as well as the Chhattrapati Shivaji Terminus railway station.

These places were under siege - for 60 long hours - of 10 Pakistani terrorists, who struck visciously, killing 166 people and injuring 244 others in Mumbai last year.

Click on Read More to listen to the poem.

Mumbai, Nov 26 (IANS) After four years of hard work, finally Mumbai-based writer and filmmaker Brahmanand Singh has completed “Pancham Unmixed” - a film on legendary composer R.D. Burman’s life and time - and released it on DVD.
“It was in my mind for a long time. I wanted to do something definitive on him. I have tried to explore his music in the film. It was possible only by talking to people who have been around him, worked with him and also by talking to some new composers who have a fantastic interpretation of his music,” Singh told IANS.

Director Vishal Bharadwaj released the DVD Wednesday. Singer Amit Kumar and composer Shantanu Moitra were among others who were present at the event.