Top Ten Bollywood Hindi songs

Bollywood movies are very popular in this subcontinent. Music is one of the integral part of Bollywood movies. Over the years, Bollywood gave us brilliant singers and music composers. In this post, I am going to write about the top ten songs of Bollywood movie.

Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya: “Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya” is a song from Mughal-E-Azam, one of the most expensive cinemas ever made in Bollywood. It is also one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed movies in Indian cinema. The movie was directed by K. Asif. The music of this movie is composed by famous music director Naushad. This movie had a total of twenty songs but in order to keep it shorter many of the songs had been deleted. The lyrics of “Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya” was written by Shakeel Badayuni. It was sung by Lata Mangeshkar. An interesting thing about the song is that Naushad told Lata Mangeshkar to sing some portions of the song in bathroom in order to get an echo. Naushad used Indian classical music to compose the song. Raga Durga was used to compose the music of this track.

(Source:http://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/mughal-e-azam-1960-karim-asif/)

Tere Mere Sapne: “Tere Mere Sapne” is a song from the famous movie Guide released in 1965. Starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman in lead roles, Guide was directed by Vijay Anand. The movie was based on R.K. Narayan’s famous novel, “The Guide.” written by R. K. Narayan. The music of the movie was composed by none other than the brilliant Sachin Dev Burman and lyrics were written by Shailendra. The song “Tere Mere Sapne” was sung by Mohammed Rafi. Among others who sang in this movie were Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Manna Dey and Sachin Dev Burman. The song of this movie is ranked number one in the list of greatest 100 Bollywood soundtracks of Planet Bollywood. For this movie, SD Burman won the Filmfare award that year in the best music directing category.

(Source:http://imovies4you.com/guide-1965-bollywood-classic-movie-online-and-download/)

Jindagi Ke Safar Me Gujar Jate Hain Jo Mukam: This is another great song from another great movie, Aap Ki Kasam. Aap Ki Kasam was released in 1974. It was directed and produced by J. Om Prakash. It was also his directorial debut. The movie stars Rajesh Khanna, Mumtaz and Sanjeev Kumar. The music of this movie was composed by RD Burman, son of legendary music director, Sachin Dev Burman. The movie was super hit and upon released and the songs of the movie also became immensely popular. The lyrics of the songs was penned by Anand Bakshi and it also showed the brilliance of the great music composer RD Burman.

(Source:http://watchollywoodmovies.wordpress.com/2009/09/25/aap-ki-kasam-1974-hindi-movie-download/)

Papa kehte hain bada naam karega: This song is from another famous movie of 1988 Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak. It was a romantic drama film written by Nasir Hussain and directed by his son Mansoor Khan. Aamir Khan and Juhi Chawla portrayed the male and female lead in the movie and it was their first major movie and also their first big hit. The song, “Papa kehte hain” was picturised on Aamir Khan and it was sung by Udit Narayan. All the songs of this movie also became immensely popular and Indian Movies ranked it among the top 25 must see Bollywood movies. For the songs of the movie, Anand-Milind won the Filmfare award that year in the best music directing category. It was also their first major musical work of Anand-Milind.

(Source:http://hot-on-world.blogspot.com/2011/07/qayamat-se-qayamat-tak-1998-hindi-movie.html)

Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jaana Sanam: This is another great song from another great Hindi movie, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Released in 1995, the movie was directorial debut of Aditya Chopra. Karan Johar also did a cameo in this movie. This song was sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Kumar Sanu. The music of this movie was composed by Jatin Lalit and the lyrics were written by Anand Bakshi. Among other singers of this movie, there were Asha Bhosle, Kumar Sanu, Abhijeet, and Udit Narayan. This song Tujhe Dekha To Ye Jaana Sanam was picturised on Shahrukh Khan and Kajol and it is considered to be one of the most romantic songs of Bollywood cinema till today and for writing the lyrics, Anand Bakshi won his third Filmfare award after fourteen years.

(Source: http://www.lassiwithlavina.com/24_7_talkischeap/yash-chopra-the-master-weaver-of-love-stories/html)

Man Tarpat Hari Darsan Ko Aaj: This song is from another great movie Baiju Bawra. The movie stars Bharat Bhushan and Meena Kumari and directed by Vijay Bhatt. Naushad, the brilliant director who composed the music of Mughal-E-Azam, also composed the music of this film and for his work, he won the Filmfare best music director award and it was the only award he received. The song Man Tarpat Hari Darsan Ko Aaj was based on Raga Malkauns and it was sung by Mohammad Rafi. The film also established Mohammad Rafi as a prominent singer in Hindi movies. The lyric of this song was penned by Shakeel Badayuni.

(Source: http://www.onlinewatchmovies.net/hindi/baiju-bawra-1952-hindi-movie-watch-online.html)

Baharon Phool Barsao: Baharon Phool Barsao is a song from hit movie Suraj. It was released in 1966. The movie was directed by T. Prakash Rao. Suraj stars Vyjayanthimala and Rajendra Kumar in lead roles. Baharon Phool Barsao was a romantic number and it was picturised on Rajendra Kumar and Vyjayanthimala. The song was sung by none other than the famous Hindi playback singer Mohammed Rafi and the lyric was written by Hasrat Jaipuri. The movie was a commercial success and the song became very popular. The music of this movie was composed by Shankar Jaikishan. Shankar Jaikishan won Filmfare award in best music director category for this movie.

(Source: http://www.webmallindia.com/buy-dvd-online-hindi-movie-suraj-p-3286.html)

Bachna Ae Haseeno: Bachna Ae Haseeno is from Hum Kisise Kum Naheen released in 1977. This movie was directed by Nasir Hussain and it was the biggest hit of 1977. The music of this movie was composed by R.D. Burman and this song Bachna Ae Haseeno was another great creation. The movie had nine original songs and Bachna Ae Haseeno was sung by none other than legendary singer of Hindi cinema Kishore Kumar. Overall, all the songs of this movie are very popular even till today. Bachna Ae Haseeno was picturised on Rishi Kapoor. Among others, the movie stars Kaajal Kiran, Amjad Khan, Zeenat Aman, Jalal Agha and Tom Alter.

(Source: http://onlinetvlive.blogspot.com/2008/09/hum-kisise-kum-naheen-1977-hindi-movie.html)

Awara Hoon: This song is from the movie Awaara produced and directed by Raj Kapoor in 1951. The music of this movie was composed by Shankar-Jaikishan and lyric was written by Shailendra. Mukesh sang the song. Awara Hoon was picturised on Raj Kapoor. One of the interesting things about this song is that here you will see Raj Kapoor acting like Charlie Chaplin. The role of Raj Kapoor in this movie was very similar to that of Charlie Chaplin. The movie was very successful and the songs were also very popular. Planet Bollywood listed it number 3 on their list of 100 greatest 100 Bollywood soundtracks.

(Source:http://chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/filmi_sangeet/film_song_1951_film.html)

Ab Tere Bin: This song is from movie Aashiqui, a Bollywood romantic film of the 90s. Aashiqui is significant in many ways. First of all, this movie became very successful and music played a major role in this regard. The music of this movie was composed by Nadeem-Shravan and it established Kumar Sanu in Bollywood. Ab Tere Bin is a sad song. It was picturised on Rahul Roy and it was sung by Kumar Sanu. Sameer wrote the lyrics. For this song, Kumar Sanu won Filmfare awards in best male Playback singer category and Nadeem-Shravan also became the best music director for this movie. The songs of this movie are recognized as the best songs of the 1990s.

(Source: http://sonylijin.blogspot.com/2009/04/aashiqui-1990-mp3-songs-download.html)

Salman Khan top ten movies

He has got a great face and great physic. He is considered to be one of the most good-looking and most successful actors of Bollywood. He also has a great heart and known for his charity and benevolence. And yet he has gone to jail and created many controversies and eventually came to be known as the “Bad Boy of Bollywood.” Yes readers, I am talking about none other than Salman Khan. In this post, I am going to write about top ten movies in Salman Khan’s career. Here goes the first one.  

Maine Pyar Kiya:

http://movies.sulekha.com/hindi/maine-pyar-kiya/pictures/1.htm

In fact, I think Salman Khan is one of the luckiest actors in Bollywood for he tasted success with his first major movie Maine Pyar Kiya. It was released in 1989. Maine Pyar Kiya was the biggest hit of the year and established Salman Khan in Bollywood. For his performance in the movie, Salman Khan received nomination in the Best Actor category and won Filmfare in the Best Male Debut category. Along with Salman Khan, the film stars Bhagyashree, who also became very famous over-night. This was the first movie of Salman Khan and director Sooraj R. Barjatya.  Together they gave lots of good movies to the audience.

Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!

http://www.lightscamerabollywood.com/salman-khan-biography-with-pictures/

In 1994 Salman Khan and Sooraj R. Barjatya paired up once more and gave one of the most successful movies in Bollywood; Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!. Starring Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit the story of the movie has been adopted from Nadiya Ke Paar which was also produced earlier in 1982. Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! collected $24.44 million dollar all over the world and became the biggest hit of Bollywood that year and one of  the biggest hit movies ever. The movie won Filmfare awards in five categories and National awards for being the most successful film of the year. The movie runs for two hundred minutes that is more than three hours. The songs of the film also become very popular.

Karan Arjun:

http://bollywoodmarie.e-monsite.com/pages/videos/salman-khan-shahrukh-khan-bientot.html

Karan Arjun was released in 1995. This movie is significant in many ways. Karan Arjun stars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan two of the major stars of Bollywood in lead roles and Hrithik Roshan, who later become another major top Bollywood actor, also worked as an assistant director in this movie. The movie is based on death and reincarnation. Karan and Arjun portrayed respectively by Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan were killed in a conspiracy and later reborn as Ajay and Vijay. The movie shows how the two brothers reunite with their mother and avenges their father’s death. The movie also stars Mamta Kulkarni and Kajol and it had great songs and overall Karan Arjun was complete entertainer.

Khamoshi: The Musical:

http://www.zulm.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=449

Khamoshi: The Musical is another great movie of Salman Khan. It was released in 1996. Just like Sooraj R. Barjatya, this movie introduced another talented director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Sanjay and Salman became best friends. Although Khamoshi: The Musical was not a commercial success, it received critical acclaimed and proved that Salman Khan was not just an actor for commercial movies.  Khamoshi: The Musical stars Salman Khan and Manisha Koirala in lead roles. Annie (Manisha Koirala) is a Christian girl born and brought up in Goa and she falls in love with a Hindu boy named Raj (Salman Khan). However, Annie’s parents do not accept this relationship. The movie shows how the family unites again.  

Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya:

http://www.mp4videosongs.net/movie/pyaar-kiya-to-darna-kya/

The year 1998 was a major year in Salman Khan’s career. I this year, he starred in four hit movies including Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya. PKTDK is the first movie of Salman Khan and Kajol. Salman Khan’s two brothers- Sohail Khan and Arbaaz Khan were also involved in this movie. Sohail Khan written and directed it and Arbaaz Khan played a supporting role. PKTDK was a romantic comedy. Muskaan (Kajol) is an orphan girl living with her elder brother Vishal (Arbaaz Khan) and uncle Dharmendra. For higher studies, she goes to a university in Mumbai and there she meets Suraj (Salman Khan) spoilt son of a rich man. The two eventually falls in love. When Vishal came to know about their relationship he becomes very angry. The movie then show how Suraj won the heart of Muskaan’s family.

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai:

http://www.taazaedition.com/kutch_kutch_hota_hai_Wallpapers_3735.html

Another success of 1998, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai stars Shah Rukh and Salman Khan. It was the directorial debut of Karan Johar. Salman Khan played a supporting character but his performance was widely praised and he bagged Filmfare Best Supporting Actor award. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai is one of the highest grossing movies of Bollywood of all time. It collected $8.15 million in India and went to make a life time collection of $18.64 million. Rahul Khanna (Shah Rukh Khan), Anjali Sharma (Kajol), and Tina (Rani Mukherji) study in the same college. Rahul and Anjali are very good friends and Anjali secretly loves Rahul. Rahul is in love with Tina and they get married. While Anjali was engaged to Aman (Salman Khan), she accidentally came across Rahul and their love rekindled.

Biwi No.1:

http://salman-khan-movie.blogspot.com/

In 1999 Salman Khan starred in Biwi No.1 opposite Karishma Kapoor and Sushmita Sen. It was directed by David Dhawan. A remake of Tamil movie Saathi Leelavathi, Biwi No.1 was the biggest hit of 1999. Prem (Salman Khan) was a successful businessman with a happy family. He has a beautiful wife named Pooja (Karisma Kapoor) and two children. But however, he gets involved in an extra marital affair with an aspiring model named Rupali (Sushmita Sen). This eventually leads to the separation of Prem and Pooja and the movie then shows how Prem realizes his mistakes and returns to Pooja. The movie was not liked by the critics but it became commercial success with a box office collection of $25.34 million and also one of the major hit movies in Salman Khan’s career.

Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam:

http://movies.sulekha.com/hindi/hum-dil-de-chuke-sanam/pictures/3.htm

The year 1999 was also memorable to Bollywood movie goers for another movie, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. The story of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam is based on Bengali novel Na Hanyate written by Maitreyi Devi. The movie was directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai’s on screen romance charmed the audience and they became one of the most famous onscreen couples of Bollywood. Nandini (Aishwarya Rai) is the daughter of a classical music maestro Pandit Darbar. Sameer (Salman Khan) comes from Italy to study music to Pandit Darbar. Eventually he becomes close with Darbar’s family and falls in love with Nandini. When Nandini’s father comes to know of their relationship he tells Samir to leave his house and not to see Nandini anymore. Nandini was married to Vanraj (Ajay Devgan). The movie then shows what happened to these three people.  

Hum Saath-Saath Hain:

http://bollydreamz3.tripod.com/humsaathsaathhain.html

Another successful movie of Salman Khan directed by Sooraj R. Barjatya. Among others there were Karisma Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre, Mohnish Behl and Mahesh Thakur. Vivek (Mohnish Behl), Prem (Salman Khan), and Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) are three brothers and they have one sister Sangeeta (Neelam Kothari). They belong to a wealthy family and there is great love between the brothers. The movie shows how the relationship of the brothers was tested and how they remain united. Like Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!, this was also a very lengthy movie running for more than three hours and had several songs that became very popular. Hum Saath-Saath Hain became a commercial success. Although it was a multi-starrer movie, Salman Khan’s performance was appreciated.

Tere Naam:

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030824/spectrum/spotlite.htm

In 2003, Salman gave another hit movie Tere Naam. Directed by Satish Kaushik, Tere Naam is a remake of Tamil film Sethu, which was released in 1999. South Indian screen writer Bala, who wrote script of the original movie, also wrote the script of Tere Naam. Salman was highly praised for his performance in the movie and it received nominations for twenty-four awards and won four of them. Radhe Mohan (Salman Khan) is an ex-college boy who falls in love with Nirjala (Bhoomika Chawla) a traditional Brahmin girl. Initially, Nirjala rejects his proposal, but ends up loving him. The movie had an excellent opening weekend and collected $3.53 million. It became the eleventh highest grossing Bollywood movie of 2003. For her performance, Bhoomika Chawla received Zee Cine Award in Best Female Debut category. 

Top Ten British Actress

Britain, over the years, produced many talented actresses who charmed the movie-goers. In this top ten entry, I am going to talk about top ten British actresses of all time.

Helen Mirren:

Source:http://www.instyle.com/instyle/package/transformations/photos/0,,20290121_20432472_20860179,00.html

Her real name is Helen Lydia Mironoff. Her father was of Russian origin and her mother was English. Mirren started acting since her school years. She studied at St Bernard's High School for Girls and there she took part in school plays. She then attended New College of Speech and Drama. At the age of eighteen, she became a stage actress for National Youth Theatre. As a stage actress, she gave some memorable performances. In 1970, director/producer John Goldschmidt produced a documentary film on her titled Doing Her Own Thing. At that time, Mirren was working with Royal Shakespeare Company and was a well known actress. Aside from working in stage, Mirren also worked in movies. Some of her major movies are- Age of Consent, Excalibur,O Lucky Man! Caligula, The Long Good Friday,and White Nights.

Judi Dench:

Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/theatreblog/2009/oct/13/judi-dench-young-actors

Judi Dench is not known for her physical beauty but when it comes to acting she is considered to be one of the most prominent actresses in Britain after the Second World War. Born in 1934, Judi Dench started her acting career as a theatre actor at Old Vic Company in 1957. In the next few years, she appeared in several plays of William Shakespeare such as, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth. During this time, she also went to work in movies and for her performance in movies she bagged BAFTA Award in the most promising new comer category. Dench made her movie debut in 1964 by appearing in The Third Secret. In 1968, Dench appeared in a in a musical titled Cabaret. Here, he played the role of Sally Bowles and had to sing. Initially, she was quite nervous but after singing in the play she got positive feedback from the audience and reviewers. Judi Dench appeared in numerous movies but she is mainly known for her work in theatres. Most of us remember her as the boss of famous spy James Bond in Bond movies. She took over the role of ‘M’ the boss of James Bond in 1995 and since then she appeared in six movies.

Julie Andrews:

Source: http://www.momtrends.com/2012/04/julie-andrews-exclusive-interview/

Any list of top British actresses will be incomplete without Julie Andrews. This beautiful Opera singer, actress and author is considered to be one of the most talented female British actresses the world has ever seen. I first saw Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins back in 1991 and I immediately fell in love with the movie. Another great movie of Julie Andrews is The Sound of Music. In both these movies she played the role of a nanny. Julie Andrews was born at Surrey in England. She started taking Opera singing lesson at a very young age. It was her step father Ted Andrews who noticed her singing talent and took her to Lilian Stiles-Allen, a noted concert singer, for training. In 1946, Julie Andrews made her radio debut where she sang a duet with her stepfather on a BBC show. As she grew up, she started to appear with her parents on stage on a regular basis. Mary Poppins was the first feature film of Julie Andrews which was released in 1964. For her performance in the movie she won Academy Award in the best actress category. In the next year, she also received Academy award nominations for her performance in The Sound of Music. Both Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music are two of the highest grossing movies of all time.

Vivien Leigh:

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/vivien_leigh/

Vivien Leigh is known both for her beauty and acting talent all over the world. She is ranked 16^th among on American Film Institute’s 100 Years...100 Stars list. Vivien Leigh was born in Darjeeling which is now located in West Bengal. Her father was an army officer and mother was Roman Catholic. Leigh’s parents instilled interest in her about theatre and acting. Vivien Leigh’s first movie was Things Are Looking Up. She then appeared in The Mask of Virtue. The movie received excellent reviews and this made her quite popular among the movie going audience. Vivien then did several stage plays along with Laurence Olivier with whom she also had an affair. In 1939, she went to America to work for the movie Gone with the Wind. This movie established Vivien Leigh as a big star. It is a tragedy that a brilliant actress like her suffered from bipolar disorder. She also earned a reputation of becoming an actress difficult to work with which forced hard to stay out of acting. Despite her all shortcomings, she is definitely one of the most talented and successful British actresses of all time.

Rachel Weisz:

The first thing you will notice about Rachel Weisz is her beautiful face. For her beauty, she was labeled English rose. Weisz was born in Westminster. She grew up in a family that appreciated arts and literature. In 1994, she made her film debut with Death Machine. In 1996, she appeared in a thriller movie called Chain Reaction with Keanu Reeves. In 1999, Weisz appeared in historical movie Sunshine. In this movie, she played the character of Greta. That same year, she got international fame by appearing in the adventurous movie called The Mummy opposite Brendan Fraser. The movie did a business of $415,933,406 world wide. This was followed by a sequel The Mummy Returns in 2001 which also did very well. Some of the other major movies of Weisz are- Enemy at the Gates, About a Boy, The Shape of Things, Runaway Jury, Constantine, and definitely may be My Blueberry Nights, and Fred Claus.

Thandie Newton:

Source: http://www.fandango.com/thandienewton/filmography/p52472

Thandie Newton was born in London to a Zimbabwean mother and British father. From a very young age, she was interested in dancing and she enrolled into Tring Park School for the Performing Arts but a back injury finished her dancing career. During this time, she started auditioning for films and debuted in Flirting (1991). While working in this movie, she became close friend with famous Australian actress Nicole Kidman. In 1994, she appeared with Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. She then appeared in a Franco-American historical drama film Jefferson in Paris. In this movie, she played the role of Sally Hemings. For her performance in the movie, she was offered a role in Beloved in 1998. In this movie, she worked with Oprah Winfrey and Danny Glover. Newton gained international fame by appearing in Mission: Impossible II. Here she played the female lead opposite Tom Cruise. She was supposed to work in Charlie's Angels but Lucy Liu was chosen in her place. Thandie Newton got married to English writer/director/producer Ol Parker in 1998. The couple has two daughters Ripley and Nico.

Kate Winslet:

Source: http://www.people.com/people/kate_winslet/0,,,00.html

Whenever Kate Winslet’s name is mentioned to someone the first movie that would come to anyone’s mind is Titanic. Directed by James Cameron, it established her as a big star in Hollywood. Kate Winslet was interested in  acting from a very young age. At the age of eleven, she appeared in a TV commercial for a kid’s serial. She also studied in a Redroofs Theatre School in Berkshire and took acting lessons. Winslet began her acting career in British television in 1991 and over the next couple of years she appeared in various situational comedies and stage plays. Then at the age of seventeen in 1994, she debuted in Heavenly Creatures. Instead of playing pretty girl character, she always showed interested in playing bold and unconventional characters. For this reason, throughout her filmography you will not see many big budget movies but more independent movies that challenged her abilities as an actress.

Emma Thompson:

Source: http://www.thecinemasource.com/blog/interviews/emma-thompson-interview-for-last-chance-harvey/

Emma Thompson is another talented British actress, comedian and script writer. One of her most successful movies was Sense and Sensibility. Thompson’s father was a director and mother was an actress. She started acting at a very young age. Along with her studies, she continued acting on stage. Because of her acting talent, her agent signed her up even before she completed her graduation. She played the female lead in a musical titled Me and My Girl which brought her instant fame as an actress. Throughout the 80s Thompson mainly appeared in TV series. Thompson’s first major film was The Tall Guy which was released in 1989. It was a romantic comedy where she appeared with Jeff Goldblum. In 1992, she appeared Howards End. For her performance in the movie she received Oscar in the best actress category. In 1996, Thompson got her next Oscar for Sense and Sensibility. She wrote the script of the movie and it was directed by Ang Lee.

Julie Christie:

Source:http://www.people.com/people/package/gallery/0,,20168763_20175502_20401574,00.html

According to Al Pacino, Julie Christie is “the most poetic of all actresses.” Born to a tree planter father and painter mother, Christie spent his childhood at Chabua, Assam, India. She then went to England for higher education. In 1957, Christie started out as a professional stage actress but she was not interested in theatres. In 1961, she got her chance in the movies. That year, she acted in science-fictional TV series A for Andromeda. The next year, she appeared in a comedy titled Crooks Anonymous. In this movie, she played the girlfriend of the protagonist. That same year, she also appeared in another comedy The Fast Lady. Seeing her performance, the producer of James Bond wanted to take her in the movie Dr. No but later she was dropped for Ursula Andress. Julie Christie gained international fame in 1965. That year, she appeared in Darling. For her performance in the movie, she won Academy award in the best actress category. This was followed by Doctor Zhivago and Young Cassidy. Doctor Zhivago was commercially successful all over the world and Christie became very famous. Till date, Doctor Zhivago is the eighth highest grossing movies of all time.

Kristin Scott Thomas:

Kristin Scott Thomas has French nationality and she can speak French fluently. She worked in both English and French movies. To the English speaking audience, she is known for her performance in Bitter Moon, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and The English Patient. In The English Patient, Kristin played the role of Katharine Clifton, wife of a British couple who falls in love with a Hungarian noble Count played by Ralph Fiennes. The English Patient received both critical acclaim and box office success and Kristine won Academy Award nomination in the Best Actress in a leading role category. Kristine also worked in French cinema in 1980s. Some of her major French movies are Tell No One and I've Loved You So Long. 

Schedule of ICC T20 World Cup Cricket 2012

ICC Twenty20 or T20 World Cup 2012 is going to be held at Sri Lanka and the tournament will start from 18 September 2012. The final match of the tournament will take place on October 7, 2012 and Sri Lankan cricket board is now working night and day to ensure smooth organizing of the event. This is the fourth T20 World Cup and for the first time it is taking place in South Asia or Asia. Right now, in Sri Lanka, Sri Lankan Premier League T20 event is taking place and just after that the Sri Lankan cricket fans will be able to enjoy the perhaps the second biggest cricketing event in the world.

Sri Lanka is a cricket power and it has good performance in T20 World Cup so far. All the matches will be played in three stadiums and they are Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, R Premadasa Stadium and Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium. Of these three grounds, Pallekele International Cricket Stadium and R Premadasa Stadium have crowd capacity of 35000 while the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium has crowd capacity of 60000. So, there will be no shortage of spectators.

Twelve teams are participating in the events and they have been divided into four groups. In each group, there are three countries and two top teams from each group will advance to the Super Eight and in Super Eight, there will be two groups. Again from Super Eight, the top two teams will move to the semi-finals. You can easily understand that after that the two semi-final winners will play in the final match.

Now, let us take a look at the groups and who are going to do well and advance in the Super Eight. In group A, teams are England, India and Afghanistan. There is an every possibility that England and India will not have any difficulty to advance into Super Eight and hardly anyone is expecting for Afghanistan to cause any upset.

In group B, the teams are Australia, West Indies and Ireland and again Australia and West Indies are most likely to advance easily. Group C may sound bit difficult as there are three strong countries in Sri Lanka, South Africa and Zimbabwe. I am expecting that Zimbabwe will give some trouble to the two other countries in T20. However, it is true that Zimbabwe does not have the strength that they used to have in the past.

Group D is another tricky group involving all the three countries that play Test matches and they are Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh. Pakistan is most likely to advance into the Super Eight very easily and there is a good chance that Bangladesh may cause an upset against New Zealand. The recent form of Bangladesh is not bad and New Zealand has suffered a lost in the last one year. So, I am hopping that Bangladesh may move into the Super Eight with Pakistan.

I have already stated that Sri Lankan Premier League T20 event is taking place now and the players who are taking part in it are most likely to get some advantage. They will get good practice for the Sri Lankan condition and this is something that may give age to both Sri Lanka who is the host of both SLPL and T20 World Cup 2012 and Pakistan. Pakistan may get some advantage because a number of Pakistani players are participating in SLPL and they are also getting good practice. Another country that is in action now is India and they are playing against New Zealand. There will be a lot of pressure for India to perform.

I personally feel that it will be a South Asian country that will win the event and I think that it will be one of the teams among India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Outside of South Asia, England looks to be a balanced team and you can never count out Australia.

There will be a lot of pressure on Indian team to win this event because India is the current World Cup champion of One-day cricket. However, after winning the World Cup in the first part of 2011, things have gone very bad for India and they suffered some heavy losses in international cricket. So, Indian fans want something out of this event. When T20 World Cup started it was 2007. There was a lot of excitement but I think that IPL and other events like SLPL, Big Bash and BPL and even T20 events in England have perhaps decreased the attraction of T20 cricket. The main reason is that almost everyone there is an event of this shortage version of cricket and that is why it is difficult for fans to get too much excited.

As for television channels, it is Star Cricket that is going to broadcast the matches live for South Asia. Of course, each country has its own channels and in a separate entry in this Blog, we are going to give all the information that you need about TV channels of T20 World Cup cricket.

There is no doubt that T20 is the most popular format of cricket now a days. It is important not to try to make too much crowd of it. Because of IPL and other T20 events, this World Cup has lost much of its glamour. Well, ICC and the cricket boards of all the Test playing countries should think of making international cricket popular and always giving priority to international cricket rather than local T20 events. Here, we have to remember that it is international cricket that should come first.

T20 World Cup 2012 in Sri Lanka:

Sl.	Date		Teams	Time	Venue
Group Stage
1.	18th September 2012 (Tuesday) D/N		Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe- Group C	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
2.	19th September (Wednesday) D/N		Australia vs Ireland- Group B	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
3.	19th September (Wednesday) D/N		Afghanistan vs India- Group A	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
4.	20th September 2012 (Thursday) D/N		South Africa vs Zimbabwe- Group C	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
5.	21st September 2012 (Friday)		Bangladesh vs New Zealand- Group D	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
6.	21st September 2012 (Friday)		Afghanistan vs England- Group A	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
7.	22nd September 2012 (Saturday) D/N		Sri Lanka vs South Africa- Group C	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa, Hambantota
8.	22nd September 2012 (Saturday) D/N		Australia vs West Indies- Group B	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
9.	23rd September 2012 (Sunday)		New Zealand vs Pakistan- Group D	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
10.	23rd September 2012 (Sunday)		England vs India- Group A	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
11.	24th September 2012 (Monday)		Ireland vs West Indies- Group B	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
12.	25th September 2012 (Tuesday)		Bangladesh vs Pakistan- Group D	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
Super Eights
13.	27th September 2012 (Thursday)		TBC vs TBC (C1 vs D2)- Group 1	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
14.	27th September 2012 (Thursday)		TBC vs TBC (A1 vs B2)- Group 1	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
15.	28th September 2012 (Friday)		TBC vs TBC (D1 vs C2)- Group 2	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
16.	28th September 2012 (Friday)		TBC vs TBC (B1 vs A2)- Group 2	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
17.	29th September 2012 (Saturday)		TBC vs TBC (A1 vs D2)- Group 1	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
18.	29th September 2012 (Saturday)		TBC vs TBC (C1 vs B2)- Group 1	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
19.	30th September 2012 (Sunday)		TBC vs TBC (B1 vs C2)- Group 2	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
20.	30th September 2012 (Sunday)		TBC vs TBC (D1 vs A2)- Group 2	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
21.	1st October 2012 (Monday)		TBC vs TBC (B2 vs D2)- Group 1	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
22.	1st October 2012 (Monday)		TBC vs TBC (A1 vs C1)- Group 1	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	Pallekele International Cricket Stadium
23.	2nd October 2012 (Tuesday)		TBC vs TBC (B1 vs D1)- Group 2	GMT 10:00  Local 15:30 IST 15:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
24.	2nd October 2012 (Tuesday)		TBC vs TBC (A2 vs C2)- Group 2	GMT 14:00 Local 19:30 IST 19:30	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Semi-Final
25.	4th October 2012 (Thursday)		TBC vs TBC (Super 8 Group-1 1 vs Super 8 Group-2 2)	GMT 13:30   Local 19:00 IST 19:00	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
26.	5th October 2012 (Friday)		TBC vs TBC (Super 8 Group-2 1 vs Super 8 Group-1 2)	GMT 13:30   Local 19:00 IST 19:00	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo
Final
27.	7th October 2012 (Sunday)		TBC vs TBC	GMT 13:30   Local 19:00 IST 19:00	R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo