''Bollywood Diaries'' is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by

K.D.Satyam K.D. Satyam (born 29 December 1977) is an Indian film writer and film director. He wrote ''Gattu'', a film that became a part of the list of India's Academy Awards nominations in 2012. He has also written and directed ''Bollywood Diaries''. The ...

. It features

Raima Sen Raima Sen (born Raima Dev Varma on 7 November 1979) is an Indian actress who is known for her work in the Hindi and Bengali films. Early life Raima Sen was born on 7 November 1979 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Moon Moon Sen and Bharat Dev Varma ...

Salim Diwan Salim Diwan (born 12 May 1985) is an Indian Bollywood film actor who made his debut in ''Bollywood Diaries''. Early life Diwan was born in the Jhunjhunu district, Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, India and was attached to local theatre gro ...

, and Ashish Vidyarthi, along with Karuna Pandey and

Vineet Kumar Singh Vineet Kumar Singh (born 28 August 1978) is an Indian actor and writer known for his strong portrayal of an aspiring boxer Shravan Kumar Singh in Mukkabaaz (2018). A M.D. in Ayurveda from Government Medical College and Hospital, Nagpur, Vineet ...

. Produced by Dr. Sattar Diwan, the film was released on 26 February 2016.

Plot

The story revolves around three unrelated individuals – Rohit (Salim Diwan), a man working at a call-center in Delhi, Vishnu (Ashish Vidyarthi), a retired middle-aged government servant from Bhilai, and Imli (Raima Sen), a prostitute from Sonagachi,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. All three aspire to become

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

actors, and each of them undergoes several hardships in their struggle to breakthrough the industry. The movie shows the passion and madness of common individuals trying to realize their dreams in Bollywood.

Cast

as Imli *

as Rohit * Ashish Vidyarthi as Vishnu * Karuna Pandey as Lata *

as Daman * Robin Das as Sundar Das * Ekavali Khanna as Raveena

Production

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

of the film began in October 2014 and the shooting started one month later, in November. The film was shot in Bhilai,

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

. During the filming, Ashish Vidyarthi suffered a mishap where he nearly drowned in the Shivnath river before being rescued by a policeman.

Release

The film was released on 26 February 2016 across India.

Reception

Critical response

Subhash K. Jha said, "(viewers) should not miss this aspirational Bollywood saga." Rahul Desai called it, "a well-acted, unnerving film about Bollywood aspirations." Rohit Bhatnagar from The Deccan Chronicle said ''Bollywood Diaries'' is a "brilliant tribute to Bollywood Struggling actors." Martin D’Souza of Glamsham.com rated the film with three stars, describing it as "an honest film with great connect." The Free Press Journal's Johnson Thomas called it, "a bittersweet story that has passion and substance and is smartly devoid of formulaic expressionism." Bollyvision.com gave called it, "an honest film." Box Office India said it was, "worth a look." The cinematography by

Dev Agarwal Dev Agarwal is an Indian cinematographer and director. He is best known for his work in the films like ''CityLights (2014 film), CityLights'' and ''Bollywood Diaries''. Dev directed the documentary film ''Moved by Love'' which was screened a ...

was brilliant as he creates stark images, capturing the energy of the characters with an unforced realism," said Joginder Tuteja, giving reviews about this film. Subhash K. Jha called ''The Bollywood Diaries'' "An ordinary film that touches the heart - 3 stars." by Divay Agarwal. Komal Nahta said, "Bollywood Diaries is a very real portrayal of strugglers in Bollywood. It is a genuinely good attempt which should be seen by those who with of cinema and Bollywood."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5216810 2010s Hindi-language films 2016 films Films about Bollywood Films scored by Vipin Patwa