Ameesha Patel

Rajkumar Santoshi`s directorial venture

Bhool Bhulaiya is a Priya Darshan Film.The film revolves around a small village/town where people are very conservative and superstitious. An out and out comedy that will enthrall audiences of all ages.

A blind woman is taken care by a wealthy nobleman after her fiancee is presumed to be dead. Things takes a turn when her former fiancee comes back to her, which puts her in a dilemma. Durga (Amisha Patel) is a beautiful blind woman with a talent for shaping pottery. She is poor, and lives with her widowed mother in a simple home. By chance Durga crosses paths with Babu Rohit (Arjun Rampal) who saves her life when she is about the fall over a cliff. The pair spend time together and fall in love. At one point Durga creates a clay bust of her Babu ("sir") but weeps because she cannot see it. Rohit tells her that he will find a way to help her see again. But before anything could happen between the two Dubai returned Rana, another man who wants to marry Durga, kills her mom and then Babu himself. A devastated Durga undergoes eye surgery through Swiss-based Dr. R.K. Prasad and regains her sight. Dr. Prasad takes her with him to live in Switzerland and this is where multi-millionaire Raj (Bobby Deol) enters her life and wants to marry her. Dr. Prasad persuades her to let go of Babu's memory and marry Raj, which she does. At their engagement party, Raj's friend, Rohit, who was missing in India, is found. His appearance disrupts Durga's life as she thinks that her Babu has returned back. Rohit however recognize her and convinces her that her "sir" where in Babu has returned. On a coincidence Raj comes to know of the entire pass between Durga and Babu and he decides to reunite the couple once again. —gavin@sunny_deol2009@yahoo.com Jaipur-based Durga has been blind as far as she can remember, and helps her dad make clay statues of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. When her dad passes away, she and her mom continue making clay statues to make a living. Then one day Durga is involved in an accident and is rescued by a young man named Babu. Both of them fall in love with each and want to get married. But before that could happen, Dubai returned Rana, another man who wants to marry Durga, kills her mom and then Babu himself. A devastated Durga undergoes eye surgery through Swiss-based Dr. R.K. Prasad and regains her sight. Dr. Prasad takes her with him to live in Switzerland and this is where multi-millionaire Raj enters her life and wants to marry her. Dr. Prasad persuades her to let go of Babu's memory and marry Raj, which she does. At their engagement party, Raj's friend, Rohit, who was missing in India, is found. His appearance disrupts Durga's life as she thinks that her Babu has returned back. But how can a young woman, once blind, who has never seen her lover, be sure that he has returned? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com) Beautiful, blind & poor Durga lives with her widowed mother in a Shanty house. She has a special talent for shaping pottery and does this to make a living. One day while traveling with a little boy, Durga accidentally misleads her path and was about to fall over a cliff when a young man named Babu comes to her rescue. Hereafter both became friends and spend beautiful moments together and this has blossomed to love. The pair expresses there love to each other and promises to get married but before this could take place, a jealous suitor who wants to marry Durga apparently kills Babu and get rid of his body down a deep ravine. Durga secures enough money, and goes to Dr. Prasad's hospital and perform an eye surgery and eventually regains her sight. Soon after she is adopted by Dr. Prasad and they relocate to Switzerland. There she meets Raj, who falls in love with her and proposes marriage to her, through persistence and kindness, Durga finally accepts Raj's marriage proposal. Unknown to Durga that her lover, Babu is alive and is known as Rohit, who is also Raj's childhood friend. But even if he comes back to her she will have to forget the past and think about her future, tying the knot with Raj. —gavin (gunmasterM@hotmail.com)

Mangal Pandey: The Rising is a biographical drama based on the life of Mangal Pandey, an Indian sepoy in the British Army of the East India Company who sparked India's first war of Independence in 1857.

It is the year 1857, a large part of the Indian subcontinent is under the control of the British East India Company. The private company has its own administration, laws and its own army, which controls the fate of 20% of world's humanity. On 7 April, in Barrackpore in West Bengal, Mangal Pandey (Aamir Khan), a Sepoy (soldier of Indian origin) in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry of the company's army, is being led to his execution by hanging for fomenting mutiny against company rule. Witnessing the execution is Pandey's friend, Captain William Gordon (Toby Stephens), who is relieved when the execution is delayed due to the hangman's refusal to hang Pandey. Gordon knows that he is responsible for the upcoming wars between India and the British Empire. The film then flashes back to four years earlier. While fighting in Afghanistan, Pandey saves Gordon's life by dragging him to safety when the two were targeted by Afghan snipers. Afterwards, Gordon seeks out Pandey at a camp and offers him his pistol as a token of gratitude. 4 years later (31 December 1856), during the New Year Eve's ball at the Governor General's palace in Calcutta, Pandey angers Captain Hewson (Ben Nealon) when he attempts to stop him from severely beating an Indian servant for inadvertently touching Emily Kent (Coral Beed), the daughter of Mr. Graham Kent (Kenneth Cranham), an influential British businessman. Gordon witnesses the assault but does not stop it leading to tension with Pandey. However, he apologizes to Pandey during a wrestling match and a friendship is formed between them transcending rank, color and race. Gordon even participates with Pandey to sabotage Hewson's horse-riding gear, which leads to Hewson falling on his back in a comic fashion. Officer Lockwood (Simon Chandler) is the company auditor who has been sent from England specifically to look into the company's affairs in India, and investigate the charges of corruption and wrong doing. Company's biggest business in India is opium. Company forces Indian farmers to grow Opium and pay them a pittance for it. They would sell this Opium in China at inflated prices and buy spices and silks from them. When the Emperor of China resisted, the company attacked China and wrested Hing Kong from them, using Indian soldiers for the battle. Lockwood raids the warehouse of a Parsi trader Sohrabjee (Sohrab Ardeshir) and finds stacks of privately purchased Opium ready to be shipped to China. Sohrabjee tries to Lockwood out with a bribe of 3000 pounds. But Lockwood burns the entire stock of Opium since the Company has a monopoly on the opium trade in India. The farmers who sold the Opium to Sohrabjee (under orders from Company officers), their lands are confiscated, and when they protest, the army fires on them and sets their village on fire. Meanwhile, the installation of communication wires all over the country have enabled telegraph services, which allows the East India Company to move troops to the troubled regions quickly, and before the situation gets out of hand. The company then introduces a new weapon in January 1857 for its troops: the Enfield rifled musket. Rumors spread among the Sepoy that the paper cartridges holding the powder and ball for the rifle are greased with either pig fat or beef tallow; the process of loading the rifle requires the soldier to bite down on the cartridge, and the soldiers believe that this would cause them to consume pork or beef - acts abhorrent to Muslim and Hindu soldiers, respectively, for religious reasons. A low-caste laborer named Nainsukh (Atul Kumar) teases Pandey, a Brahmin, that he has lost his caste by using such a gun, but Pandey dismisses Nainsukh's taunts. The Sepoy, led by Pandey, express their concerns to General Hearsey (Jeremy Clyde), but he reassures them that no such cartridge exists. The Sepoy remain concerned when they are asked to test-fire the new rifle at musketry drill, but Gordon, after talking to Hearsey, reiterates that no such cartridge exists and asks a Sepoy to test-fire the rifle. Pandey volunteers, and his fellow Sepoy chastise him afterward. However, demonstrating his trust in Gordon, he states his belief that the rumors are untrue. Meanwhile, Gordon stops a Sati ceremony from occurring and rescues a widow, Jwala (Ameesha Patel). Jwala says that she was forcefully married to a 60-year-old man, who had grown children. The Sarpanch demands that Gordon return Jwala, but he refuses. Gordon arranges for her to be treated, and the two gradually become closer, eventually having an affair. Pandey sides with Gordon on the matter, earning the ire of his community. Pandey further earns Captain Hewson's ire by stopping him from trying to sexually assault a prostitute named Heera (Rani Mukerji), who was sold to a brothel run by Lol Bibi (Kirron Kher) exclusively for British soldiers. While slavery was banned in Britain, the company allowed it in India, as it was a means of entertainment for the white soldiers and this way the army remained free of any serious diseases. Pandey suffers a serious beating from Hewson and three other officers the next day, but Gordon intervenes and saves Pandey. Pandey meets Heera at the brothel afterwards, and they begin to fall in love with each other. Sometime later, Nainsukh takes Pandey and some other Sepoy to see the factory, owned by Mr. Kent, where the cartridge grease is made; indeed, the grease turns out to be pig fat and beef tallow. Pandey, believing Gordon lied to him, returns Gordon's pistol, and ends their friendship. Hearing of the 34th Regiment's refusal to use the rifles, the 19th Regiment at Berhampore also refuses to use them in a parade at the ground on 12 February 1857, and mutiny brews among the Sepoy. Gordon unsuccessfully attempts to dissuade Pandey and the mutineers from rebelling and is likewise unsuccessful at convincing Major General George Anson (Christopher Adamson), the Commander-in-Chief, India, to abandon using the cartridges. The mutineers, meanwhile, meet with Tatya Tope (Deepraj Rana) and his messenger Azimullah (Shahbaz Khan) and they all agree to unite under the leadership of the elderly Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar (Habib Tanvir) and rise in rebellion. Anson decides to send the Queen's Regiment from Rangoon to intercept and subdue the rebels; it is scheduled to arrive in Berhampore on 1 April. Heera informs Pandey of this plan, having spent the previous night with Hewson. The rebels revise their timetable to march on 30 March, but the wife of one of the rebels, angry at her husband after an argument in which he tells her of the impending revolt, informs her British employer woman of the plans. As the employer woman is having an affair with Hewson at the time, he overhears the conversation and later tortures the rebel into revealing the date of the march. On 29 March, the mutineers are informed of the Rangoon Regiment's arrival. Pandey attempts to rally them into fending off the attack, and when the officers, including Gordon, inquire as to what they are doing, the rebels turn on them. With the regiment's arrival, the mutineers want to throw down their weapons; Pandey, however, fires at the opposing forces, killing two and injuring four. Later on, he was court-martialed, and Gordon testified on his behalf, passionately defending his actions and warning of bloody rebellion if he is hanged. Despite Gordon's warning, the court-martial imposes a death sentence on Pandey. The night before Pandey's execution, Heera visits him in his jail cell and has him place Sindoor on her forehead, marking their marriage. The next day (on 8 April), in front of Gordon, the British officers, his fellow Sepoy, and the townspeople, Pandey is hanged. Inspired by his execution, the spectators break out in revolt. The film ends with drawings of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and footage of the later Indian independence movement.