ChinmayC Blog

The Amazon original movie ‘ Sharmaji Namkeen ’ (Savory Mr. Sharma) that released on Prime Video on 31 st March 2022 is all about one of the greatest actors of Bollywood —the lovable romantic hero since the seventies who started graduating to endearing and at times intense performances in character roles since the 2000s— Rishi Kapoor . The movie actually reminds us how dearly we miss the stalwart who passed away on 30 th April, 2020. Rishi Kapoor after being cast in the titular role in this movie and shooting started accordingly fell seriously ill. He had to undergo prolonged treatment in the US. Movie director Hitesh Bhatia and the producers waited for him to get well and return to the shoots. It was just impossible to replace him. His tremendous actor-son Ranbir Kapoor said how eager too was his father to complete the film. Rishi Kapoor did get well, returned to India by the end of 2019 and the shooting schedule started anew from December. Sadly, it was short lived. The superstar f...

  He has been much more than just a political leader; he has been an excellent human being with an ever-smiling face, friendly and spontaneous manners, a typical pure Assamese flavor in his warm communications, his deep roots in Assamese culture, his interest in fine arts and love for all forms of music, and an endearing lovable personality. Even in his ripe old age he used to mix with his admirers/supporters like one of them, talking to them in a warm personal tone, singing and dancing with them. Throughout his eventful political career, he maintained his clean image, at times against tremendous odds. People of Assam respected him as much as they loved him. We used to refer to him as Tarunda (like an elder brother) in our Assamese friends’ circles, and we were all fond and proud of him: as a leader who could articulate the state’s problems to the central leaders and in Parliament, and as a central Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Food under former Prime Minister PV Narsi...

  Legendary actor Soumitra Chatterjee passed away in a Kolkata hospital today after fighting with COVID-19 for nearly one and half months. He was tested positive on the 6 th of October 2020 and was promptly admitted to a hospital considering his age and vulnerability. The actor was on and off ventilator support as he developed a range of other infections. Great hopes were generated when he tested negative on October 14; but his COVID-related complications dashed all expectations of his final recovery. He continued to be on life support, and despite the best efforts of the team of doctors we have lost one of the greatest actors of Indian Cinema. He was 85, but still had enough ammunition to surge ahead with his creative pursuits, encompassing a saga of over five decades in Bangla movies. But for the deadly pandemic virus!   Soumitra Chattopadhyay has been one of my all-time favorite actors of world cinema, and living in Assam, I began to realize his immense contribution to c...

  We call him Bhaiya that means ‘Brother’; his official name is Vijay Kumar Deutale, originally from Nagpur in Maharashtra. He was tall, lithe, bespectacled and bearded with a predominantly grey tinge. He had a baritone that was always pleasant and soothing to the ears. I don’t remember him ever getting angry or raising his voice. He was always smiling, at times bursting out with free-flowing and pure laughter and merriment. Bhaiya had been known to us since the year 2003, and all these years he had been our spiritual guru, family friend and philosopher-guide in everything he chose to speak about us or we requested him to provide answers to our inquisitive questions. It wrenches away a part of our heart and soul to say that he is no more.   Vijay Kumar Deutale was working as a civil engineer in the government of Maharashtra. On a quest to explore life and meaning of life further he took voluntary retirement a few years back and started doing his personal work more intensivel...

The legendary playback singer and composer-actor-producer, SP Balasubrahmanyam has passed away in a Chennai hospital today after a spirited fight against the COVID-19 disease. The singer-composer who dominated the film industries of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Mumbai (Bollywood) for over five decades had tested positive on 5 th August 2020 and was in hospital since. Although the artiste was doing well in the initial stage serious complications developed later and he was put on the ventilator and ECMO (Extra-corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) support. He did test COVID-19 negative on September 7, 2020, but as his breathing problems persisted, he continued to be on ventilator and ECMO support. His condition became extremely critical in the last two days, and finally the music legend had to give in. He was 74.   Born into a Telugu family in Tamil Nadu in 1946 and raised mostly in Andhra Pradesh, SP Balasubrahmanyam, better known as ‘SPB’ or ‘Balu’, showed his li...

Dean Mervyn Jones, DM Jones as it appeared in the scorecards for Australia in the mid-eighties to early nineties for both Tests and one-day internationals (ODI), passed away suddenly in Mumbai today of a massive cardiac arrest. He was in the city for being a part of the broadcast team operating from Mumbai for the on-going new normal Indian Premier League 2020 in UAE. As per reports Dean took part in a discussion, and was then chatting with others in the hotel lobby when he suddenly collapsed, falling on the ground. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. He was just 59 and was in very sound health. Well, in this gloomy COVID-19 times death no longer needs an excuse to strike. The death of Dean Jones is a great tragedy to befall world cricket, and a terrible shocker for all cricketers, commentators and lovers of the game.   We remember Dean Jones as the awe-inspiring No.3 Australian batsman when Australia had been a formidable opponent beating a...