Bollywood movies diary

Salman admit Hello hasn’t done well….. hello?????

2008-10-31T03:24:00.000-07:00

My last blog post was about how Bollywood was exaggerating the success of its movies and presenting them as hits. As Bollywood has been going thru a disastrous phase recently this is their plan B.

So we hear and read the papers and find the stars/directors/producers thanking the fans and congratulating their co-stars for the success of their just released film. And that too within two days of a film being released – which I feel is really jumping the gun.

So we officially have so far – Hello, Kidnap, Karzzz and now Heroes becoming a hit. But if this was so, how come I read an interview of Salman recently and he was asked about the failure of Hello. He very candidly said its ok, some movies work and some don’t. That’s is from the horse’s mouth na? After all not only did he star in the movie and has a stake in it, it is also produced by his brother Sohail Khan (I think) and is directed by his beloved brother in law – Atul Agnihotri. So one could hardly expect him to downgrade a film and agree to it being a flop.

Will this trend continue and be used for all movies in future- just to ensure that it get a little more money and most importantly it doesn’t scare of the corporate investors. We have Yuvvraaj and “Ek Vivaah…..” coming up besides Chal Chala Chal and Biloo Barber, “Chandi Chowk…”. Will the charade last till then or will the Hindi Film Industry get wiser?

Does Bollywood really have hits this season?

2008-10-29T05:47:00.000-07:00

It's weird. Bollywood is goi9ng hoarse proclaiming hits and an article in Rediff claims otherwise. In the last two weeks we have been flooded with HIT!!! HIT !!!HIT!!! signs all over the press. Hello is a hit, Karzzz is a hit, and now Heroes film is a super hit. Heheh heheh . Only one question to these people- do the distributors agree – or is this some embarrassing cover operation by Bollywood. Make even an ordinary movie into a hit and eventually crowds will flow in to watch in anticipation of some entertainment.

The Hindi film industry is hit by a series of high profile flops – Love Story 2050, Drona, Tashan and more. Suddenly all dreams of conquering the world and dominating Hollywood looked hollow and exaggerated. It showed Bollywood in its true light – egoistic, unorganized and dumb. So now when the next big movie flops. It would mean an exodus of the corporate companies who actually believed in the corporatization of Bollywood. So to counter such a disastrous scenario Bollywood decided to play the bogey game. Any movie with a semblance of a chance of becoming a hit was pushed as a ‘big’ movie and later after it got a bit of the audiences it was declared a super hit. Kidnap which was described as an ordinary movie was one such movie – it also has ads proclaiming it made 40 crores so far – so what if the costs of the movie were close to the same figure or more – after all it had Sanjay Dutt in it and had the new stud in town – Imran Khan. So it couldn’t have been a cheap movie to make.

Now they have continued with the other movies, Hello had been declared a hit in spite of bad reviews, and even Heroes which was described as ordinary has ‘reportedly’ a big success. And even Karzz is a big hit – we have Himesss-bhai thanking one and all for the extraordinary success of the movie. And on the other side, Rediff a source I rely on a lot has published list of movies released recently – and has classified al l the so called hits mentioned above as flops. Only Welcome to Sajjanpur has been classified as a hit in that list.
Lets see if this trend continues for Bollywood. Will they continue to ‘convert’ lukewarm movies into hits, get a false sense of bravado and continue churning our average fare for the viewers. That will be a sorry day for Bollywood.

Sallu as a sardar in Hero's

2008-10-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

Check out the usually suave and hunky Salman as a burly hairt Sardarji in the film Heroes. What do you say? Should he do more such roles. Do earthy roles suit him or should he stick to the westernised look?

Hero's stars Salman Khan, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Preity Zinta, Vatsal Sheth, Dino Morea, Sohail Khan, Riya Sen.

Will Tarzan Boy Vatsal break into the big league?

2008-10-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

The debutant of Tarzan – the wonder car, Vatsal Seth, has grown up and become a man. In his debut movie he was a reed like structure and was slotted as a college kid. But in his new film he has worked out (with Sallu bhaiyya’s inputs it seems) and has done a strip tease for an item number called “Badmash laundey”. The song involved Sohail and Vatsal crashing into a girl’s only party where they are having a great time and in their enthusiasm they get the two hunks to strip.

The boys join in the fun and put on a strip tease show for them. The song is racy and has Riya Sen looking sensational and has a bevy of foreign models dancing in the background. Sohail too has a great body though he is not sculpted as well as some of the others in the industry. He has bulk – and has great wings- and looks the part of a disc bouncer. Not very much of a film making school.
The film Heroes is a great chance for Vatsal to get into the big league of Bollywood. He has a great charming smile and acts decently. If this movie does well as it looks like it will, it will really bolster his career.

The brawny studs from Hero's

2008-10-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

The two main characters from Heroes film look brawny and will appeal to a lot of women who will relish the fleshy show. yes, it is not the original stripper, Salman Khan but his kid brother Sohail and another young pretender - Vatsal Seth.

Waiting for Dasvidaniyaan

2008-10-22T05:30:00.000-07:00

I am eager to see how Dasvidaniyaan fares at the BO. The Vinay Pathak starrer (would Vinay have believed a couple of years ago that he would top line a project in Bollywood) brings together the talented team of Rajat Kapur, Vinay and others from the Bheja Fry movie. It also has part of the team from Mithya. These movies were well received in the multiplexes (so called multiplex movies) and this gave rise to a new and bold cinema.

I initially thought that the title was some sanskrit but apparently it is a russian word meaning good bye. The trailer looks confusing - involving some phirang girl and mother and Gaurav Gehi. Vinay looks and acts like his Bheja Fry character. I am sure it will be a fun film and will turn out well- I will be outside the theater when it releases beating down the doors.

Check out cute Preity Zinta pics.....

2008-10-22T05:09:00.000-07:00

Check out these great snaps of Preity Zinta from the film heroes. She is looking like a plump Punjabi aunt - cute and yet sexy.

India trounce the Ozzie beast

2008-10-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah....yeah I know. This is a bollywood blog but this is big news!!! By beast I mean that the Aussies are an invincible machine - thats why they are like a strong beast - unyielding and unforgiving. Thats why it was surprising to see them succumb to a spirited Indian team.

The Indian team did almost everything right - batting, bowling and welll....decent fielding. The bowling was the ppick I would say as we without getting patriotic - were better than the Aussies for the first time ever. I mean when ever we have done well the bowling had to succeed to an extent right. But this time we were far superior to the Aussie bowlers. We pictched it up, let it swing, and teh spinners gave it flight and let it rip.

The batting was the icing on the cream with our very aggresive and talented openers gettign that big stand that we desperately wanted. In fact they got a good strt in teh first inniongs too. Ahhhh... a victory over the Australians - and that too a thumping one.

For mre details - read Yahoo article - http://in.yahoo.com/s/86800

Red hot Sohail Khan?

2008-10-21T00:30:00.000-07:00

Sohail Khan suddenly finds himself in the spotlight after years of being used to seeing bade bhaiyya hog the limelight. His last movie where it can be safely said he has a leading role (unlike God Tussi great Ho and other crappy movies where he plays a side kick to Sallu bhaiyya). The movie Hello based on a best selling novel by Chetan Bhagat received a pleasant Hi from audiences thoughthe reviews were less charitable.

But if your movie does well inspite of the critics then you should be happy - though of course the ideal scenario would be if critics loved your movie and people poured in to watch it and made it a super duper hit. Anyway, Sohail has got a hit and now he is starring in this weeks film Heroes which has a large star cast besides the tried and tested formula of patriotism.

The movie is looking good and the buzz is good. So does that mean Sohail will end up with another hit on his hands. And if that happens we have another star in the Bollywood marquee. A late in the day to become a star but better late than never. Since Salman was already a star the pressure was always less and he was into producing and directing movies so the pressure of getting success was never there on him like others who have no financial backing and support.

Gorgeous Priyanka Chopra

2008-10-17T05:16:00.000-07:00

Saw a picture of Priyanka Chopra from the stills of the about to release fashion- and my god she is looking heavenly. I mean she is reeling off flops in the manner that Akshay Kumar is reeling of hits and yet she is looking radiant, beautiful and happy. Maybe inside she is hurting. God Tussi..., Drona, Love Story 2050. its difficult to pin down which was the worst flop of her career.

Anyway, shehas Fashion to perhaps bring her back in the reckoning and I also think Dostana (or is it Dosti?) will get her back at the top - where she belongs. I think she is a good actress witha lot of pizazz and very young too. When she made her debut, people called her air-headed and there were tons of jokes about her answering questions in teh Miss India rounds that I thought she must be very dumb. Or she made some major boo-boo on the big stage. But she struggled manfully on and started getting some major hits. Her box office appeal was manifested when she was selected for big projects like Don (SRK one) and Krissh.

Then she hit a trough with the above mentioned three flops - and colossal they were. Now she only has Fashion and Dostana to redeem her staus in Bollywood. The shots of Dostana also look amazing – she has a fantastic body, all worked out and toned and she has worn a lot of skimpy clothing in it. There is an item song/disco number in which she is dressed in a saree. Man…she has a chocolate body. The saree has a bikini blouse and her tummy looks hot. She dances inhibitedly with Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham. Boy would I love to be in their shoes dancing away to glory. Sigh….

Saina Nehwal - the next IT girl of Indian sports

2008-10-16T23:57:00.000-07:00

I know this is a Bollywoood blog, but I had to post about this brave girl.
Check out the pic of the following article - it has Saina Nehwal in it. I predict you will be seeing a lot of her in the coming years. She is an ace badminton player who has been trianed by former All England Champion P. Gopichand.

http://specials.rediff.com/sports/2008/oct/16pic4.htm

She did amazingly well in the Olympics where she beat the World Champion before falling to the Olympic champion in the quarter finals. One more victory (or is it two more) and she would have added to our medals tally in the Olympics.Unlike her almost-namesake Sania Mirza who hogs all the media attention and has nothing to show for her efforts, Saina is dedicated and is focussed on her career. I wish our sponsors spread their moolah to other sports especially badminton so that deserving athletes like Saina, Jwala Gutta and Chetan Anand also get some financial assistance.

Yuvvraaj sold to Ashtavinayak

2008-10-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

The big news hitting the blosphere and buring up the wires is that Eros the producers of Salman's upcoming Yuvvraaj have sold all the rights to Ashtavinayak - except the overseas and electronic rights (mobile, online , etc). What does this signify in todays jittery Bollywood?

Is it that the producers were unsure of public reaction? Or is it a reflection of Salman's dipping success rate at the BO? Or like I suspect lack of faith in Subhash Ghai's hit making formula? After all it has been some time since Subhash Ghai has deliverd a hit.

Or it could be another reason - that the movie has not turned out well and thats why the producers are happier to parcel it to some one else. I was just reading that Aashayein of Nagesh Kukoonoor too has no takers as it has turned out to be a ordinary product. This has been the first time I have heard a movie come out with bad reviews. Otherwise the hype factory is always telling us how great this movie is, how big a hit it will be and a million other stories about the goings on on the sets. But now we had a low key build up to Drona and now Aashayein is getting bad press and now Yuvraj.

Is it a Media versus Bolyywood war or have the journalists stopped sucking up to the hIndi film Industry. I am curious to see how the film heroes is received as it is again a big multi-starrer and has the irrepresible Salman Khan in it. he will avoid publicising his own movie if he doesn't like the producer/director - thats how reckless he can get. So lets see how Hero's fares at the BO.

Gorgeous Preity – Classy

2008-10-15T04:47:00.000-07:00

Saw a pic of Preity on rediff and I had to share it. She went for the premiere of Heaven on Earth. Man. She looks like an elegant lady. Beautiful, radiant and confident – Ness is a lucky guy. That’s what her boyfriends name is na?

She also says in the same interview that when she look back at her career she should be able to see that she also did some films that she was truly proud of.

According to her she felt Veer Zaara was a movie she could be proud of. Her next movie Heaven on Earth which will be her first cross over movie is the next one. It has a similar story like Aishwatya’s Provoked – but she still wanted every man to watch as much this film as she wanted women to do the same. The message she wanted to send out was that - a slap, a push, could not just bodily hurt a lady but also hurt her spirit very intensely.

She also said even though we might be a nation that has a lot of things to be proud of, but we certainly don't have any cause to be proud of the way we care for our women.
She also mentioned that whenever they finished shooting for Heroes film on shoot in Punjab, she would distribute chocolates to village kids. But the shocker was that there would be a ratio of 40 boys and eight girls. It shocked her immensely! That meant that the locals just killed all the girls. It was gender bias at its worst.

That’s why she wants the aam junta to watch my films, and drive home the point that if you would just let these daughters grow up, so much could be altered in this great land of ours.

Where is Bhumika Chawla?

2008-10-15T04:39:00.000-07:00

Looks like we have lost the very cute Bhumika Chawla to the South Industry. Bacause she made her mark in Bollywood with Tere Naam and got into the big league and then disappeared. Imean she also has got married in the mean time but she is still acting in South movies. So why not Bollywood?

So if you want any good images, news or posters of Bhumika one needs to go to Southie sites. I found this one image of hers in a South site and she looks delectable.

(Picture courtesy - Yupptv.com)
She had also acted in a movie called Run. The movie flopped but the songs still get a lot of air play in the channels. She looks adorable in the songs and forms a very good couple with Abhi in the movie. The movie on the whole is very cute.

She also had a small role in a movie with Akshay Kumar. I found a couple of sequences really cute. Akshay as her husband asks her for a fish kiss. And she squeezes her lips in a vertical manner and gives him a (flaying) kiss. The scene was cute and yet not cheap.
She does look lovely, has beautiful lips and a beautiful persona. Look at the image and tell me if you disagree.

Will Hello scrape home?

2008-10-14T02:47:00.001-07:00

Hello which had opened to average reviews has apparently done well in the first three days. The collections dropped after it released last week but then had a good show on Sunday. Even its director Atul Agnihotri said themovie has done well and also perfomed well in the Gulf. Hehh heheh hehe Our current directors usually give figures of the two big western countries to show how the film has received abroad - but Atul has come up with another country/region now - the Gulf. Soon we will have Subhash Ghai claming 100% collections in Vietnam, Ghana and Colombia. Guys gives us a break. We know one has to look pleased and happy - but u don't have to lie.

Anyway, here is the Rediff link in case u are interested. http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/oct/13box.htm

One movie I am glad about in that list is Welcome to Sajjanpur - thiough I do not agree with the line saying "Its too preachy". Crap - it was a well made movie with no sermonizing - in fact the message was put across quite well.

This will be a good omen for Salman who has had an ordinary year so far and is supposed to have a big budget release soon - the Heroes film which is directed by Samir Karnik. It also stars Preity Zinta, Vatsal Sheth, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Dino Morea, Sohail Khan and Riya Sen. The patriotic genre has worked for earlier movies like Rang De Basanti. Lets see if it works for this se tof very desperate actors.

Aussie media after Sourav again!

2008-10-14T02:36:00.000-07:00

Looks like the Aussies love Sourav way too much. Including their very rabid media. Yesterday after India managed to eke out a win, with the help of the light and a bit of an effort by the oldies - Sachin, Laxman and Sourav - the Australian media blamed the inability of the aussie team to win on Sourav.

They claimed he was using deliberate tactics to slow down the game and acc to them he had brought the game in disrepute. For years now Sourav has never had the best of relations with the press and the Aussie press has been vitriolic. I can't understand how delaying the game by a few minutes would have won the aussies the game - he has forgottent to strap on his thigh guard after he came on to bat after the interruption play due to bad light. he and Laxman also had appealed for bad light and they were upheld by the umpires who allowed them to walk off.
So the love affair between the Aussies and Sourav continues.....

Kidnap / Drona / Welcome to Sajjanpur??

2008-10-10T05:07:00.000-07:00

Of all the movies listed on top, I would definitely recommend "Welcome to .....". I watched it last week and found it to be an entertaining film. Based in a small town, yet it showcases all the dreams and aspiration of people living in villages, towns and bigger cities. The craving for steady jobs, money, lust, love and most importantly power. It is a simple yet deeply intricate tale and scores heavily over the other hyped up Drona and Kidnap films in the marquee.

Though I haven't seen Kidnap the reviews are consistent enough to suggest that it is a rehash of the usual mish-mash in Bollywood. It has nothing new to offer. Though Minnisha Lamba does look inviting. All critics unanimously say that Imran Khan is star material and the fact that his last movie was alove story and yet he has convinced audiences with a portrayal of a kidnapper means he is substance and not only style.

Drona has almost disappared from theatres after the bad reviews it has received and most importantly the bad word of mouth - that is always the clinching factor. Any amount of lies, putting out blatant ads claming a hit do not work; it is eventually the audience that will decide if a movie will run ot not.

Next on the anvil is the Heroes film. It would have released today as I write this blog, but I am not sure of the reviews so far. Lets see if Bollywood will continue the trend of having big banner flops and small banner hits (Welcome to Sajjanpur, A Wednesday)

Govinda's next will decide his fate....

2008-10-07T07:01:00.000-07:00

Govinda is leading a precarious life. He isn't active in politics and his voters are complaining. He is unsuccesful in films and his producers are compalining. Inspite of having a hit to boost his flagging career he followed it up with a embarassing "Money Hai Toh.....". And now and then he finds himself in some slapping incident or the other. Doesn't look good for an MP and a leading Bollywood star- in fact a senior artiste of the Industry.

His next movie is Chal Chala chal and he better get a better result from it as he has been given a second lease of life with Partner. Before Partner nobody was giving him a second look and he had become an outcaste. But post Partner he has been flooded with offers and also hiked him price in the vicinity of crores - which is scary for the Hindi film Industry to pay to Govinda...hehe hehehe heh.

He is also looking fat, and badly out of shape, hardly like heroes are supposed to look; so inspite of his obvious talent he wasn't getting any offers. At one time he was one of my favorite actors and I really enjoyed his roles as he was a complete actor though he gained more success with comedy. Anyway this will be his last fling with politics especially if he does well in the next few movies. Lets see how he does.

Dada to finally to quit (after Aus Test series)

2008-10-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

I know this is not related to Bollywood - but it is big news. And Bollywood and cricket have been mixed up to make a heady cocktail in recent times to serve for the Indian public. Sourav Ganguly is finally resigning. Realising that time was not on his side, the scores were not coming along and selectors putting pressure on him, he has finally decided to leave. Good decision according to me, he has outlived his utility to the team. He was an average batsman (what ever the stats say), horrible fielder and a scheming politician. When he was removed from captaincy he plotted against Rahul Dravid who was a thorough gentleman and had himself appointed captain again.

With the young brigade putting up good performances it was a matter of time when the older players threw in the towel and decided it was time. I am glad he is finally gone and waiting fir the other so-called big star to retire - Sachin Tendulkar. He has overextended his stay by several years according to me.

Will Bobby be a hero again.....?

2008-10-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

Bobby Deol the ladla of the Deol pariwar (yes yesy i know there is Abhay to stake a claim to that title...but...) will be seen soon in Heroes film which is expected to release in October end. So far he has been having a torrid time in Bollywood in the last few years. There was a time after a tepid start he got a few decent hits - good popular hits. Gupt, Soldier and a few semi-hits or B-grade like Bichoo, Humraaz, etc. With the good will of teh Deol family behind him, he looked for a steady career in Bollywood, till he did a few too many B-grade movies.

This proved to be his ondoing as the flops piled up, his other solo (sort of) films crashed at the BO, especially Shaka laka Boom Boom. He got a little bit of appreciation for Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (though I found his mama's boy act exasperating....) but that movie tanked. Add an embarassing Nanhe Jaisalmer and a dismal home production Chamku (where did they get the title from?????????) it completes the sad resume.

He has been following Sunny Bhaiya's policy - if you get a hit - replicate the formula. That won't get you far in a creative field where one has to keep doing varied roles as audiences will tire of you and start rejecting you. Even some one as limited an actor as Akki Kumar (well he was to start off with) did tons of action films, before dabbling in romance and finally did a string of comedies that got him to the top. He has is again going for an all our action movie - Chandni Chowk to China. The smart thing is he is mixing up and dishing out a mixed fare to his fans. And it is successful. Bobby has to emulate him and cut down on projects and roll out a more complete film product.

The verdict on Drona is out

2008-10-06T04:55:00.000-07:00

Abhi's super hero flick has finally been released and the verdict is out. It is a dismal movie. The story had a lot of possibilities but it has been directed and edited horribly. I haven't seen Bunty Behl's first effort, but if this is what he can dow ith a second movie, he better find another vocation. The flow of the movie was horrible, the editing was amateurish, abd the acting forgettable.

I can't belive in this day and age, after delivering such decent movies, Bollywood is dishing out such tripe. And Abhishek !!!!! What did he think he was doing? This is after Guru? His career will end if he continues to inflict such punishment to his fans.

This movie is bad news for Bollywood. It might still do the impossible and draw in the younger audinces- but I think it is unlikely. I see the current ads in the newspapers are trying to interest that section of the audiences. Thets their only hope i guess now.

Will Sardar Salman out-score Sardar Akshay

2008-10-06T04:41:00.000-07:00

The next Sallu starrer (at least he is visible prominently in the promos) is due for release and is looking like a bloated film cast. But it might still do well, I feel as Salman has a steady and loyal fan following. The other stars are not doing all too well - especially the two Deols - Sunny and Bobby. Add a failure of an actor Sohail Khan and it looks shaky. BUt there is Preity to lend her strong screen presence to the film and that should help it do well.

The story seems a bit unusual and since it has a heavy dosage of patriostism it may do well as films on thuis topic usually do well if made well.

Another interesting by-story to the film Heroes is that Salman is playing a Sardarji in the movie. This comes closely on the heel sof Akki the new King of Bollywood doing so in Singg is Kingg. And he had a nice juicy hit to his name. Also he seemed to fit the part of a jabroo Sardar so well one may have been fooled that he was a genuine sardar. It remains to be seen who triumphs in this hairy tale of the Turbanned studs.

Bollywood junior artists and workers on strike

2008-10-01T00:20:00.000-07:00

A strike has been called by Bollywood's junior artists and workers on Wednesday morning. They are better wages and settlement of dues. Apparently salaries are delayed up tp the extent of 90 days and some time 120 days (thats 4 months), at least in the case of TV serial actors.

I was watching a new report about the same and saw their leader, a guy called Tiwari who was being interviewed by the TV studio. I completely agreed with one point he said about foreign artistes (especialy women and that that too white) being brought in for almost all the dance numbers nowadays. I mean I understand for some songs if foreigh women are used - like a movie shor totally abroad, like say Heyy Babyy, where the principal characters are in Australia. But hard core movies based in India should stick to Indian workers/artistes. Could the film Heroes have a bunch of blonder women jiving along with Salman Khan? It would look weird wouldn't it? He said our producers and directors prefer gori chamdi to our Indian performers and we are not sure if they have valid work permits. They get much much higher salaries and also hotel accomodtion and other perks. In a way this is racism by our own people, isn't it?

And all this in a time when star salaries are at a peak. Akshay, SRK and company are demanding and getting salaries like 40 crores, 60 crores and more and getting it. But if the industry is doing well then why isn't the moolah being distributed among the lower work force without who the cameras would never roll? All greed and hyped up stars behind this mess I say.

Abhishek’s a saviour!

2008-09-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

Abhishek Bachchan will have many unforgettable moments to remember from his world tour. But the moment he’s probably going to remember the most is when he played saviour in real life. When the Bachchan’s arrived along with the other stars in Toronto, there was a huge stampede and chaos, so much so that a small child was caught in the middle of it all. Abhishek immediately rushed to the rescue of the tiny tot, who was separated from her parents. He picked her child’s parents.

The entire incident delayed the show, but helping the child get to where she belonged was of utmost priority to Abhishek. “This makes him a real-life Drona,” says director Goldie Behl. “Dro-na mean ‘the saviour’. On hearing of the incident, I felt as though the character from my film actually came to life!” And the teary-eyed parents of the child insisted that they were eternally grateful to him.

Abhishek's Super hero movie creates curiosity

2008-09-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

The pre-release promos of Goldie Behl’s film Drona are creating so much curiosity that the maker Eros International is planning to unveil the film part by part with its characters on screen. The first look focused completely on Abhishek Bachchan with superb special effects. The second look of the film is all set to showcase the look of Kay Kay Menon and Priyanka Chopra on August 15 in theatres all over. Drona is a fantasy adventure, a first of its kind in India. With Abhishek and Priyanka in a never before seen avatar, a full-length theatrical trailer of Dro-na will be released with God Tussi Great Ho across all theatres. Eros is highly focused on this movie, one if its blockbuster releases this year, an exciting and first time visual treat for audiences, which will release across screens on the long holiday weekend of Eid and Gandhi Jayanti. As real world meets fantasy; the action adventure film is sure to thrill audiences – youngsters and adults alike.

Heroes’ movie to release on October 24th

2008-09-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

The next big movie on the block is Heroes – which is somehow shaping up to seem like a Rang De Basanti. The comparing of a new generations aspiration with patriotic flavor. Only in “Rang De..” the patriots were based during the 1920’s while here it is contemporary. But the general thrust is the same, modern young men out on a voyage to discover themselves.

In Heroes the two main protagonists are Sohail Khan and Vatsal Sheth. The idea seems novel- two students of a film institute go to the border to deliver three letters. And during this assignment they come across the real heroes of the country – that is the soldiers who man our borders. Here the list gets a bit bigger with some erstwhile big stars – Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty, Preity Zinta, Dino Morea, and starlet Riya Sen.

The promos look very fresh and clean. A lot of Ladakh and Leh – these places can never look jaded. The concept seems different. And the cast is a bit tricky. But all said and done eventually it has to be a good movie to click. Best of luck to this new set of heroes.

Shiney Ahuja - what next?

2008-08-19T04:36:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since Shiney Ahuja has any release. As far as I know Metro was the last movie he was in. The movie wasn't such a big hit, but was well appreciated by a lot of people. It was a urban romantic social drama about a bunch of couples all related to each other in some way or the other. A lot of movies are whacking the parallel story concept from "Love actually...." or some thing like that - that very beautiful movie with 2 dozen stars in them - Hugh Grant, Keira Knightly, Alan Rickman, Colin Firth and more.

It was a nice concept of showing stories of different sets of couples and somehow relate them together at the end - i loved it. The same was used for Salaam-e-Ishq and also for Yuva. And now for Metro. Though Salaam.... didn't click.

Shiney has Hijack, an action thrille coming up soon and this is definitely a change for him; he has been doing the strong emotional movies so far (unless u can slot gangster as action) - Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Woh Lamhe, and some comedy/horror with Bhool Bhulaiyaa.

Lets hope he does well as I think he is one of the most gifted actors in the current crop and he looks damn handsome. So I really want such a talented actor to do well in Bollywood.

Akshay - the king is dead, Long Live the King

2008-08-19T04:14:00.000-07:00

The Khiladi Kumar has come a long way with his B Grade movies which had only one purpose - dishoom dishoom. And yes...a bit of songs thrown in. Khiladi was a case in point- silly college caper, cute girl friends and a lot of suspense. The movie clicked becos of the whodunnit drama and not beacuse of any great acting from its leading stars.

Also Akshay Kumar was not considered as a actor by any stretch of imagination. But he was punctual, worked hard, focussed ona ction and kept slogging away. He was very much in teh same boat as Suneil Shetty perhaps, only along the way, Akshay improved his acting skills and one fine day Hera Pheri happened. Though the movie had some great contribution from Paresh Rawal, Suneil Shetty, Om Puri and a host of strong character actors, it was Akshay who used the good will of a great comedy hit and propelled himself forward strongly.

Today he can lay claim to a string of hits in the last few years - Dhadkan, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi (2004), Garam Masala, Phir Hera Pheri, Bhaagam Bhaag, Bhool Bulaiyaa, Heyy Babyy, Welcome and now Singg is Kingg. Th best thing is Akki has acted with the smaller directors and has very few in not any movies with the Yashraj, Karan Johar, Ram Gopal Varma, and Bhatt camps. That i feel is incredible.

Looks like "Bachna Ae..." has pipped "God Tussi..."

2008-08-18T03:43:00.000-07:00

According to press reports and industry trade figures, it looks like Bachna Ae Haseenon has beated God Tussi great Ho in the two horse race. The collections of th Yashraj banner movie indicate it has got a good initial and has the potential to become a bumper hit in the coming weeks. Unless the collections drop and other movies eat into its share.

At least God Tussi doesn't seem to be posing any danger in that respect. It has collections of 50% - 60% and in some centers 80% while Bachna has 80-90% and higher in some metro areas. So trade pundits are proclaiming it as the first decent hit Yashraj has had for some time now- after a string of debilitating losses like Tashan, Tara Rum Pum, Thoda Pyaar... and Laaga Chunari mein Daag. Whewwwwwwwww......that what uncle Yash must have said. And planted a fat kiss on Siddharth Anand's smiling mug. Its not everyday that one gets to trump a star like Salman.

And the movie must aslo be a huge relief to new turk on the block, Ranbir Kapoor who had a disastrous start with Saawariya. It must feel greta to get a hit under his belt finally after all that hype. And a prud day for his parents, Rishi and Neetu. Likewise Bipasha Basu adds one more hit to her tally and Deepika cements her place in Bollywood. Also a huge relief for the very sexy Minissha Lamba, who has had a bad run at the BO so far.

"Bachna Ae Haseenon" or "God Tussi ...."

2008-08-16T05:13:00.000-07:00

Which movie will apeal to the audiences? "Bachna Ae Haseenon" or "God Tussi Great Ho". While "God Tussi ...." has a big star Salman Khan in it, Bachna has new and rising star in it - Ranbir Kapoor. Both have opened to mixed reviews with Bachna getting its nose ahead. "God Tussi...." has been criticised as a blatant copy while Ranbirs movie starring Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Minissha is said to be fresh and enjoybale.

But we all know that doesn't count for any thing in Bollywood as it can turn the tables on critics and reviews quite easily. Here star power counts a lot as fans of a particular star will go and watch any crappy movie if their favorite star is in it.

So lets wait and watch. And what will I watch? Definitely Bachna...as I would like new stars to rise and I think Salman is a arrogant idiot and is doing the worst kind of movies possible; either due to lack of concern or plain stupidity.

God Tussi …… is not a copy says Rumi Jaffery

2008-08-14T03:52:00.000-07:00

In an interview with Rediff, Rumi Jaffery the films director says his upcoming movie ‘God Tussi Great Ho’ is not a copy of Bruce Almighty.

Pray tell me how – Both main characters are reporters in the movie. Both have girlfriend troubles in the movie. Both their girl friends are poached by rival reporters. There is a figure who plays God in the movie, in the Hindi movie by the Big B. Even their suits are of a similar styling – complete white. Couldn’t they have at least changed that before arguing about the originality of their movie?

The main character gets pissed off with the situation he is in and blames God for all his troubles. God appears and offers him the chance to run the world for 10 days. WAIT!!! Eureka there was the difference. In the original Jim Carrey gets a period of only 1 week (if I am right) and here Salman gets a period of 10 days. THAT’S WHY THIS STORY IS AN ORIGINAL. I AGREE. He he hehe he heh

And what else? The troubles that follow when he is unable to mage the world make him realize that managing the world is not that easy as it looks.

Yup Guys, this is an original!

Check out the interview at http://specials.rediff.com/movies/2008/aug/13slide1.htm

By the way, Rumi has to his credits movies like Haseena Maan Jaayegi, Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge, Chal Mere Bhai, Kunwara and Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya. Will this be Salman Khans next hit after Partner, which was a blockbuster hit last year.

Ranbir’s next big hope - Bachna Ae Haseeno

2008-08-13T02:28:00.000-07:00

Ranbir Kapoor who started out on the wrong note with Saawariya, has a chance to make amends with his next release - Bachna Ae Haseeno – a Yash Raj Productions movie. Everything seems to be going good for him – big banner, songs climbing up the charts already, not one, not two but three drop dead gorgeous actresses opposite him, great look and locations of the movie clips so far. Only worry could be the recent track record of Yash Raj. They have been found embarrassingly lacking in script sense and choice of stars.

Check out their turkeys this year – Tashan, Thoda Pyaar, Thoda Magic. Not serious enough, lets glance at last years result – Tara Rum Pum Pum, Laaga Chunari Mein Daag , Aaja Nachle, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. That’s six flops compared to one hit. Only shining light was Chak De India. So Ranbir better make sure he makes all the trips to the religious places his father and uncles used to make as it seemed to work for them.

He does have three gorgeous excuses to blame if the movie fails - Minissha Lamba, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu. And though I feel he doesn’t have hero material looks (too dopey, long face), he does seem to be charming and has a calm and mature head on his shoulders. I saw him on a TV Reality dance show and he carried himself admirably. And most important he spoke Hindi well- something that some fancy-schmancy Mumbai stars cannot do too well. Get the message, Hrithik, Fardeen, Tushar Kapoor???

Here it is - Full Story of Drona

2008-08-12T03:20:00.000-07:00

I did it. I have got the entire bloody story. All meticulously typed out and spell-checked. I hope hear some thank you's. :-)

Hidden deep within the folds of our universe is secret as ancient as time itself. A secret, which unraveled would bring about the end of the world. Only one man today can protect this secret and save us from total destruction.

Drona: The warrior. He who shall protect the eternal cycle of life and death.

Faraway in a distant town, there was once a young man Aditya. Brought up by a foster family, Aditya was unaware of his real identity and the destiny that awaited him. Ever since he was a child, a recurring nightmare haunted him. And when he woke up in fright, there was no one he could hold on to except for a magical blue rose petal that came wafting in the wind, never failing to make him smile through his tears.

Somewhere far from here, an evil sorcerer, Riz Raizada, a descendant of the asuras (legendary demons) has become dangerously impatient, in his thirst for the precious secret. The secret, which was the missing link, in his grand plan of taking over the universe. To get to the secret, he'd have to defeat the Drona. And herein lay his problem. He didn't know who or where he was!

One sudden day Aditya and Riz came face to face and Riz immediately recognized him as the person he was searching for. Aditya's destiny had caught up with him and his life was about to take him on a journey he had never imagined.

Aditya couldn't figure out why Riz's men were hunting him down. Just when he was about to be captured, a cult that believed that Aditya was their messiah came to his rescue.

Sonia, the leader of the cult, revealed Aditya's real identity to him. Baffled, Aditya found it all too hard to believe. Having no time to lose, Sonia decided to take Aditya back to his place of birth, the ancient kingdom of Pratapgarh where his mother, Queen Jayati Devi would have the answers to his questions. But before he could embrace his mother, Riz and his army of the darkest powers caught up with him.

Aditya would now have to rise to the occasion and embrace his destiny. For the sake of mankind he would have to become the legendary warrior he was born to be. Thus began Aditya's journey through myths and legends. Along with Sonia, he would fight the evil spells of the absolutely lethal Riz Raizada. By battling the odds, he would discover skills that he never knew he had.

But would his fears catch up with him?

Would the nightmares from his childhood come in the way of his epic journey?

As good and evil clash in this contemporary fantasy fable, a breathtaking adventure beckon you into a world of mythic heroes and malicious magicians, of enchanted lands and life altering choices, of cunning curses and absolute innocence.
Aditya will have to rise to the occasion.
The magnificent world of Drona!!!

Check out the entire story at http://drona.erosentertainment.com

The updated story of Abhisheks next Super hero movie

2008-08-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

Faraway in a distant town, there was once a young man Aditya. Brought up by a foster family, Aditya was unaware of his real identity and the destiney that awaited him. Ever since he was a child, a recurring nightmare haunted him. And when he woke up in fright, there was no one he could hold on to except for a magical blue rose petal that came wafting in teh wind, never failing to make him smile through his tears.

Somewhere far from here, en evil sorceror, Riz Raizada, a descendant of the asuras (legendary demons) has become dangerously impatient, in his thirst for the precious secret. The secret, which was the missing link, in his grand plan of taking over the universe. To get to the secret, he'd have to defeat the Drona. And herein lay his problem. He didn't know who or where he was!

One sudden day Aditya and Riz came face to face and Riz immediately recognized him as the his adversary....... To read the entire story in detail visit the Drona film site.

It will feature the latest images, trailers, wallapers and more!!!

Super hero dressed as a Mughal emperor?

2008-08-06T06:56:00.000-07:00

The look Abhishek has been given for his next film Drona is a bit unusal to say the least. It isn't the usual spandex or lyra outfits worn by Hollywood super heroes, but is almost an outfit out of a catwalk of Delhi fashion designers presenting a Pre-independance look show. Not that it looks bad, just that one usually doesn't associate super heroes or even people with mystical powers to be dressed like a prince or Nawab from Lucknow.

But to his credit AB carries it off as he is tall and lanky and the initial promotion has him standing in a very dramatic and decisive pose. But the important thing is if the story is good, entertaining, plausible, the movie is well made, and finally the performances. Many a good movie has crashed due to awful performances by supposedly good actors.

I somehow find the story quite appealing as it combines our beautiful and rich history with the modern era. If this movie does click then it will spawn a hash of movies trying to break "the barriers" so to say.

Also looking forward to see Piggy chops in an action role and also get a well desrved hit under her belt. Poor chick has been facing a lot of flak for her Love story 2050 debacle.

Lot of expectations from Abhishek's new film

2008-08-04T06:09:00.000-07:00

There is a great amount of noise in Bollywood for the upcoming film Drona. The curiosity factor is high and the solo trailer released so far has whetted appetites even more. The teaser looks mysterious and yet not all that impressive. So the jury is still out whether the film will do well or not. The film producers (Behls) have managed to maintain the shroud of secrecy around the flick it has been discovered in recent times too much publicity can also kill a picture (a la Tashan, though it didn't harm Om Shanti Om).

So they have stuck to a single as the only media release so as to tease audiences and Abhishek Bachchan fans alike. The story or synopsis as we should call it is also more mysterious and vague. Abhishek looks dressed like a person from the Mughal era with all shiny robes et al. No spandex or lyra for him. No news of the gorgeous Priyanka Piggy chops Chopra in the first trailer.

So lets see if this strategy of keeping the movie under wraps works and makes the flick a hit or will it be a failure and perhaps put off the ticket paying audiences.

Drona the film

2008-07-11T03:32:00.001-07:00

The next sci-fi adventure from Bollywood is Drona or at least that is what it looks like to me. Apparently there are lots of special effects used in the movie, and i hope they do work, because in Bollywood we have a history of film-makers getting caried away with special effects and making amess of the movie. And in many cases the SFX are tacky and do not look good in the movie.

I remember a movie called Jaani Dushman - it was horrible. It was basically a vehicle to make a hit movie for a producers son - Armaan Kohli for those who remember him. The doting father pulled in half the football team size stars in it and yet the movie flopped. I mean the movie was obviously horrible, so I think even the big stars could not have saved it. I remember it had Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Sonu Nigam (Yessssssss the singer), and a few more gullible stars besides Armaan Kohli and his lady love Manisha Koirala. So u can imagine what bad special effects can do to a movie.

I really hope for AB's sake that film Drona movie is good because he is a good actor and deserves all the success he can get. It also has teh yummy Priyanka Chopra as his...wowwwww..... bodyguard. Boy would I like to guard her body!!!!! Smouldering hottie that she is.

Add Mummy Jaya and Kay Kay Menon to complete the list and we have the big summer movie Drona served hot and ready to savour.

Hashar

2008-07-11T03:19:00.000-07:00

A Punjabi film called Hashar - a love Story is being released in a big way. Normally Punjabi movies are usually heard of in the northern territories and not much to the south of the country. But Hashar has the very popular Babbu Maan as the star and that makes it a big ticket movie, at least in Punjab and its surrounding areas.

He is of course a popular singer/performer in Punjab and people will be looking forward to this movie of his. He has also scored the music for Hashar and also responsible for the lyrics. He has two pretty damsels Mahima Mehta and Gurleen Chopra opposite him. Also starring are Gurkirtan, Rana Ranbir, Sudesh Lahiri, Dr. Surinder Sharma, John Victor, with the director being Gaurav Trehan.

Hashar is a college campus caper and how politicians get involved in it and mess up the lives of young people. reminds me of a very good film a few years back called Haasil which had Jimmy Shergill as the main protaganist in it. Hope Hashar also is appreciated by the masses.

Hijack

2008-06-07T02:09:00.000-07:00

The next movie from Bollywood is Hijack and I expect it to do well as it stars one of my favorites Shiney Ahuja. He is according to me one of the finest actors in the industry. If you don't agree or you don't know what I am talking about then watch "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi". He was bloody outstanding in it and so were his two co-stars - Chitrangada Singh and Kay Kay Menon. Though it was not a success the movie got reviewers raving about it and the performances and the actors.

He later got a couple of timely hits with Gangster and Bhool Bhulaiyaa and a critical hit with Woh Lamhe. This helped him consolidate his position and get a good start to his career. Now he is being considered for big banners and Hijack is one of his Solo films. He has Esha Deol co-starring in it with him. There is also a sexy siren called Kaveri Jha in the movie playing his wife. She has starred in a few south movies and from what I have seen of her she has a knock-out figure. Tall and a shapely figure accentuated with long legs. She also has big eyes and though I wouldn't call her beautiful, she is definitely attractive. Check out the net for her images and I am sure you will agree with me. There are a few scenes where she looks very well matched with Shiney Ahuja in Hijack. I guess Hijack is her first movie in Bollywood. Will she Hijack the movie from Esha Deols clutches?

Why do successful women fall for bad boys?

2008-05-30T03:43:00.000-07:00

It's happened way too often and it will keep happening. Attractive, successful women gravitating to men who are less that perfect, abusive towards women and even physically violent. The latest in this sad line of stories is Sonal Chauhan, the lead actress from Bollywoods latest hit, Jannat. She was seeing Sahil Jajoo (is the name right?) earlier and the relationship started tapering off (after she became successful???) and she tried moving away from him. He had a angry showdown with her at a airport in Mumbai and apparently snatched her phone and pushed her around. She has filed a complaint and the case is under investigation.

This Sahil is the same guy who reportedly supplied drugs to the fatal Rahul Mahajan/Moitra party in which Moitra ended up dead. He is also allegedly a dealer in Shahtoosh shawls (illegal btw). And a few other acts of law breaking apparently.

My point is didn't this girl know what she was getting into? A guy into drugs, illegal shawls/merchandise dealings? Why do girls get attracted towards such guys?? Or is it a case of use and throw?

Ambitious women using rich and brash women on their way up and dumping them when they get there? The list contains Aishwarya Rai, one of the most prominent people whose story we are all aware of. She was successful at her own level but needed to step up. Thats when Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam happened and she got her first A-list hit!! Later months/years later she spoke about him being abusive, physically violent (or did she leave that out) and his cheating on her regularly. Why not when he did all this, and dump him right away? I'm no fan of Salman Khan, another bad guy of the worst order, but it does look like that he was used to an extent in our male-dominated industry. Women do use men in their climb to the top. And men oblige. When its a two way understanding, we have the Urmila-Ramu affairs, Nisha-Ramu affairs and so on....and Ramu is still going strong.

Well besides these affairs, Bollywood is also releasing movies, Haal-E-Dil being the most prominent one.

Priyanka-Harman are going steady!!!

2008-05-20T01:44:00.000-07:00

(Image courtesy Eros Entertainment)

News is that Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja are going steady as indicated by their replies to questions posed in interviews. Pretty good sleuting I would say. Pick up answers from both persons and see if there are any indications from the answers.

Apparently Priyanka answered a question about the best Valentine gift she received, saying it was a Music CD of her favorite songs with a small prelude to every song by the boyfriend. And Harman in reply to another question about any gift that he has given recently said "burnt a CD of 12 of my girl's favourite tracks, went to a recording studio and inserted a romantic couplet that I had written myself before each track". his definitely confirms they were talkng about each other.

Smart deducing, I say. Elementary Watson, elementary.

Hot fresh movies coming up....

2008-05-08T01:54:00.000-07:00

It's been some time and I haven't blogged since over a month now. By that time the movies I was discussing have been released and unfortunately did not do too well - Krazzy 4 and even Tashan which released last week. In fact Tashan was so widely promoted and hyped and irritatingly only due to its Tashan factor. What about the movie, story, acting etc? U Me aur Hum did modestly well and got good reviews though it has not pulled in huge revenues.

Anyway, they are history now and now among the upcoming movies are Dhoom Dadakka and later Hijack, Mehbooba and Sarkar Raj. Dhoom Dadakka has the funny twins Anupam Kher and Satish Shah and four newcomers - Shaad Randhawa, Sameer Dattani, Aarti Chhabria, Shama Sikander. And yes there is also the sizzling Deekshika, according to me one of the most beautiful women in teh industry. Unfortunately she has not done enough movies during her stint in Bollywood. Check out the movies for the attractive women if not the movie. It's high on drool quotient.

Krazzy 4

2008-03-27T04:53:00.000-07:00

The next movie from Bollywood Krazzy 4, is certainly going the new marketing mantra, more is better. Recently Om Shanti Om did it and got success (rightfully or not is your decision) and Krazzy 4 is following the same plan. It started with the regular basic releases about the movie, how it was different and all about the main Krazzy 4 stars and the female lead in Juhi Chawla.

Next came the sweet spots like item numbers. First they got the biggest name in Bollwood - Shah Rukh Khan. Put him in a project and undoubtedly you get a lot of press and TV coverage. That happened and next they got in a mass star like Rakhi Sawant (Raanti appeal we call it), and again it got a fair share of the news bytes. And finally the Krazzy 4 producer Rakesh Roshan ropes in the currently hot Hrithik Roshan, who again being part of the family obliges.

So we have the similar stategy adopted by the Om Shanti Om team where they ensure the movie is always in the news. One story dies down, then throw in another. Smart we say, but what if the movie sucks. Om Shanti Om wasn't a classic but it worked, because of the humungous publicity and the presence of SRK. After hearing about it so much, people just had to go in and see it. And yes, because of Deepika Padukone. She was an important reason for the films success - pretty, pretty sexy, and pretty sexy smile.

Krazzy 4 has managed to do the same on a slightly smaller scale and evoked interest in the movie. My bet? Hit. It looks interesting. 4 Krazzy guys, no romance-shomance. And good actors. Suresh Menon, Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan, Rajpal Yadav. So it will do well. And will I rush to see Krazzy 4? Yes, of course!! My very favorite Suresh Menon. He is amazing. And funny as hell.

Salman snubbed at Hyderabad airport opening!!

2008-03-25T04:14:00.000-07:00

Salman Khan the enfant terrible of Bollywood, who will be seen in God Tussi Great Ho soon, got his just dues when he was called to participate in a function that was held to inaugurate the new International airport in Hyderabad. Now I am not sure of he was called to be present, or be part of the opening, but what happened was once the funcion was started, Sallu was relegated to the six row of the audience. Out of sight was out of mind for the organisers. They simply forgot about Salman for the rest of the program.

I was laughing my ass off thinking of Salman's predicament. He is notorious for his brusque behaviour with journalists and often answers rudely or sarcastically when he is in a bad mood - which is almost always. So it was great to hear him being brought down to earth. Haw hwhahwhw hwhah haw. But to his credit he behaved impeccably as a classy person should (Salman--- classy????? &^&^&^&*^& &*^%&^-&$^$%^) and sat quietly as the function rolled along. He will remember in future that he should avoid all functions that involve politicians as they are notorious for hogging the limelight - some thing that celebrities crave for themselves. In attendance were big-wigs like Sonia Gandhi, Andhra CM Reddy, and a few other central ministers. So what was the chance for Salman Khan to be noticed.

Salman Khan (star of Partner, Lucky - No Time For Love, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, Phir Milenge, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, Hum Saath Saath Hain, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Maine Pyaar Kiya) would be chastened with this embarrassing encounter with politicos and will surely be wiser. In future he would double check the programme before giving his okay to it.

Bhoothnath

2008-03-20T04:31:00.000-07:00

It's the season for ghosts in Bollywood again. Another Bhooth film nearing completion is Bhoothnath starring the ageless wonder Amitabh Bachchan. The trailer of Bhoothnath on the Home site took me back to my school days as it has been shot at my alma mata - a great school in Bandra. Interesting story, good cast - all the potential to do well, especially with the red hot streak that Bollywood is in the middle of.

The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Satish Shah, Rajpal Yadav, Aman Siddiqui, Tejas. The director is newcomer Vivek Sharma while the Producer is Ravi Chopra. The Lyrics of Bhoothnath are penned by wordsmith Javed Akhtar.

The Bhoothnath film star cast is interesting with Shah Rukh Khan teaming up with the Big B after ages. That would mean they have buried the hatchet (in each others back?). Also with them is Juhi Chirpy Chawla and master Aman. The Big B will then have God Tussi Great Ho as his next big banner release.

Any one seen the Deol Family portrait 'Apne'?

2008-03-18T23:00:00.000-07:00

I was really bored on Sunday afternoon and when I saw Apne in the TV listings I thought why not? The movie had got some favorable reviews in the media and I thought why not watch the Deol Parivaar all muscle their way through several dozen goonda's. I has also wanted to watch it on the big screen but was not able to catch it at all. That's why the fact that it was being screened on a Sunday (I don't get off my ass on a Sunday) was apt for me.

Though I was expecting a really well made movie (it was a moderate success after all) I was not all that excited by it eventually. The movie is in fact your typical Deol smash-pound-crush bones movie after all. There were a bit realistic parts like a disgraced boxer father (tainted by a doping scandal), his rough relations with the elder sibling who takes off to try his hand at business and his partly injured/crippled younger son. Though there was a lot of promise in the plot, a disgraced boxer - Dharmendra, trying to redeem his honour and pride by coaching a young tyro (Aryan Vaid) and counting on him to wipe the blot on his career. The young boxer takes off (for a foreign coach) and this shatters Dharmendra. His younger son Bobby, cannot bear this fathers anguish and he takes up boxing while at the same time doing hand strengthening his weak left arm. Here it could have been a simple rise to glory and fame movie and would have worked well. But how can we give more prominence to the elder Deol, Sunny who is also the acknowledged action star? This dilemna caused the writers (director/ producers???) to create a twist. As expected Bobby beats the defector, Aryan and heads for the World Boxing championship in the US, and there as expected makes great progress. He reaches the final - and the right to challenge the defending champ - a Garcia dude. Here instead of teh gyts and glory ending they make Garcia cheat and beat Bobby (when he was on is way to victory) and this causes Bade Bhaiyaa Sunny to snort and bristle as only he can (it is getting a bit tedious...sigh). He then challenges Garcia to a bout to prove that he cheated and beat his brother. And you can guess the ending. The brothers unite, so does the dad and the family is all one unit, and Sunny beats the crap out of the World Champion Garcia. yeah, with a circular swing of the arm which is patented by Suneil Shetty. Yeah, less punches, jabs, uppercuts, rigt hooks - more of amassive swing that resembles a drunk gorilla trying to swat at flies.

Anyway, Sunny Bhaiyya wins and all is hunky dory again. The Choudhary family comes back to motherland with their heads held high - AND all the Deols getting ample screen space. Isn't that the objective of the movie. Yeah, and since this movie was/is considered a hit, it means a hit for Sunny and Bobby after ages. Better cinema guys, better cinema. Stars? I would say 2/5 for Apne. That because three of them are in a movie for the first time.

Biggies coming up next are Krazzy 4, Bhoothnath and Race. They are have big stars or are from big banners. Will be an interesting slugfest.

Shah Rukh gets back at Aamir - are they taking the media for a ride?

2008-03-14T06:42:00.000-07:00

After Aamir poked fun at Shah Rukh and said that SRK was the Number 2 actor in the country, trailing him who was at number one, SRK poked fun at Aamir in his inimitable style. At most times Shah Rukh is pompous and conceited but he is smart enough to realize when to look humble and humorous. And this was an opportune moment. If he had disagreed with Aamir then he would look like an arrogant ass (which he is at times), but he played it down by accepting that Aamir was number 1 and he was happy that Aamir was considering him as Number 1.

If that is the case why does he keep throwing quotes around to all who care to listen (and there are not a few media people who lap up all his gab fest) that he is the finest actor in the country. He loses no opputunity in declaring that he is the best. Well, we agree he works very hard, is a great role model for the country (has not killed any endangered species, not beaten up his wife or girlfriend, has not killed people by drunken driving, etc) but the best???? Perhaps the most successful, thanks to the great rapport he has to the most important camps in the Industry (Chopra's, Johars, Farah, etc), thanks to the 'close' relationship with Karan Jhar who has given him his biggest (and most painful to endure) hits (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham). And most importantly the bad taste of Indian viewers.

Best actors shouldn't that club be reserved for good actors and not stars - though an actor can become a star. Actors like Aamir Khan, Shiney Ahuja (the great new hope for the Hindi Industry), Kay Kay Menon, Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Amrish Puri, Balraj Saini (yeah...i am going back in time). Perhaps stars like Saif, Akshay Kumar, Kangana Ranaut will join this club, but SRK and company? No Ways!!!

Color has gone out of Ghai's Black & White world

2008-03-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I am referring to the fate of his much touted arty film Black & White. It has bombed and so have his hopes of breaking the jinx that seems to have stuck to him like glue. Yaadein, Kisna and now Black & White. The list is growing long and alarmingly long. And this despite him taking a break from directing in between to concentrate on his Whistling Woods Institute and producing other directors movies.

So in between he did have movies like to the credit of Mukta Arts. So at least that would have cheered him up. When one tries to recollect the last time Ghai got a hit, one would have to go back to the stone ages. Heh hehehe. Joking. Actually the 90's. Now that may not be a long time for the lifetime of a person, but for a director/producer of Ghai's repuation, it sure seems painfully long. The movie that can be considered a hit would be Pardes (Taal was a semi-hit or average I would say).

The problem with him is that he hasn't grown as a director. Our film people are extremely formulaic, superstitious (all heroines should have names starting with M), and have delusions about their own grandeur. No good bound script, no research, no thorough study of the subject or taking characters that suit the role. Its more of let me take my two best friends in the industry and make a movie. And lets also take that nubile young thing who is very agreeable to 'everything' and launch her movie career. And then we get a dud of a movie.

In his defense he did try to get away from the regular tripe he dished out to audiences, but he was not rewarded. He needs to have another go at such a genre. Go Ghai, GO!

The Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi cold war era reminder pops up

2008-03-12T00:34:00.000-07:00

Smita Patil and Shabana Azmi allegedly never had the best of relations during their hey days. Smita had accused Shabana of pinching quite a few of her roles. One such movie is due to be released soon! Could ya beat that? Libaas starring Shabana Azmi and Smita's husband Raj Babbar was made 20 years ago.

But Shabana said she has made her peace with Smita ages ago and it should not be raked up now. She is in fact taking Smita's son Prateik under her wings just as he is all geared up to join the acting band wagon. Shabana says Prateik is a replica of his mother. He is about to leave for the States to enrioll in an acting course. When he is back Aunty Shabana will be ready to launch his career in Bollywood. Nice na? To have one your mothers arch rivals rooting and
doing all the groundwork for your success.

Shabana also mentioned about rising star Chitrangada Singh, saying she had an uncanny resemblance to Smita Patil. The looks the complexion all give viewers a feeling of Deja Vu. Smita is on the big screen again.

Salman Khan comes clean on the alleged support to Raj Thackeray's MNS

2008-03-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, Salman Khan made it clear in a press conference that he had in no way, supported the MNS agenda of hostility towards Uttar Bhartiya's (people from UP, Bihar). There were alot of stories swirling in the press that he along with a few other prominent film personalities had supported Raj Thackeray. But this was very diffeent from the actual story. The truth is that they had only supported his freedon of speech and were opposed to the court gagging him in his statements to the press and media.

Sallu said, "Raj is a very dear friend and I know him for very long. But I have not supported his cause. My father (Khan senior) just said that Raj has the freedom of speech, nothing more."
This innocuous statement was twisted by the media to mean that a few film artistes actaully supported the MNS agenda. Among them were Maharashtrian actors like Nana Patekar, Shreyas Talpade, and Sajid Khan and a few others.

Salman who has had a mixed year with a hit in Partner and a super flop in Saawariya is looking forward to a couple of important projects like God Tussi Great Ho, Yuvraaj and remake of Telugu super hit Pokiri.

Salman argued that his own family were originally migrants - father from Madhya Pradesh, maternal Grand father from Kashmir, and paternal Grand father from Kashmir. Thats the reason he said it was impossible for him to support such demands.

Mithya is great news for talented non-chocolate heroes like Ranvir, Vinay, Rajat Kapur

2008-03-07T00:57:00.000-08:00

The surprise hit of the season, Mithya has been a encouraging success story for actors not in the good looking mould of Salman, Aamir or Hrithik. Bollywood is fueled by good looking heroes, vanity and glamour. Rarely do ordinary looking heroes and heroines get a chance to show case their talent. Producers prefer taking guys and gals who have way too good looks as they belive it will draw the audiences in. So if a actor is talented and perfect for the role, he might get passed over for the position. Therefore in so many years very few actors with modest looks have succeeded in Bollywood. Like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Seema Biswas, Ajay Devgun. In fact many of them ended up becoming character actors or comedians where at least they got to hold a regular job or got a chance to showcase their histrionics.

Thats why a movie like Mithya which has Ranvir Shorey and last years Bheja Fry which had Vinay Pathak are very important for talented non-chocolate heroes like Ranvir, Vinay, Rajat Kapur. They give a chance for a story to be told without the trapping of glamor, sincerely and in a heartfelt way. Bheja Fry made Vinay a ful fledged star and he started demanding a package of up to 1 crore plus. And why not? He is realy talented and funny. And he has taken the long road to success.

The same for his buddy and Channel V conspirator, Ranvir. Hardly the typical good looking Punjabi munda, he is a sensitive and natural performer. He was also seen in Jism, Traffic Signal, Khosla Ka Ghosla, and Aaja Nach Le.

Rajat was part of both films. A good role in Bheja... and the director in Mithya. So it looks like a nice (and funny) team is forming in Bollywood and it doesn't include SRK, Yash Johar, Yash Chopra and Farah Khan. And yet the result is a hit film. And a well made human drama.

Though the movie hasn't raked in tons of money, the fact that it was made on a small budget of 2.5 crore, allowed it to reach break even faster and now it is making money for its distributors. Bring on the bubbly.

Ajay Devgan sets a green example to his Bollywood compadres

2008-03-06T01:41:00.000-08:00

Ajay Devgan has dealt a great blow for a greener environment by buying a Maruti Swift car for himself. Now if the naive reader is wondering how another car will help the environment - well small cars such as the Maruti Swift, Hyundai Santro, Maruti 800 and others are less polluting than the big cars. Even abroad green organizations put pressure on the Hollywood stars to avoid using SUV's which are seen as the most polluting vehicles in the world. So the simple way to look at it is, small car = less pollution and big car = more pollution. The pollution is because it guzzles more fuel as well as its emissions.

It also makes sense to have a smaller car in a city like Mumbai as it becomes more easier to move the car around. Larger car means you are stuck in narrow roads and at times are not able to move in congested traffic. And if you are stuck in traffic then the size of the car won't be much of a difference. People usually go for bigger cars due to the higher horse power and more comfortable interiors. And the kick one gets from boasting of the ownership of a nifty set of wheels. So a star like Ajay sacrificing all that for the environment is a laudable achievement. Wish him all the best for his new found zest for greenery and his new movie U Me aur Hum. He has had a spate of flops with Cash, Sunday and Halla Bol and he needs some better luck at the box office. His last good movie and hit Omkara was some time away. Perhaps he needs more of roles like Gangajal and Apaharan where his raw intensity shines through easily instead of these candy floss capers. Or an all our comedy caper like Masti or Golmaal which will raw in the audiences in spite of the plot.

Subhash Ghai is all excited about his next movie - Black & White

2008-03-03T04:44:00.000-08:00

Though Subhash Ghai has a large body (you thought I was referring to his girth didn't you?) of work, he is till excited and nervous as a young school boy about his next movie - Black & White. The one obvious reason is that it is the first movie in a couple of years that he has directed. Seems to be a good decision too, if you see his last masterpiece (of course I am sarcastic), Kisna. That movie singularly pulled Vivek Oberoi from the star orbit to struggling actor ground level. Ghai had done a Kisna of Hrithik Roshan too with Yaadeein. Though one must say Hrithik had the backing of his father Rakesh Roshan, who helped with recover with Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish. ANd of course he later had Dhoom 2. Unfortunately Vivek had no sugar to bail him out.

Media reports are supposedly carrying good reports about Black & White, and even the man Ghai is talking about it favorably. The visuals are good and it seems to have a good topic. Of course one has to eventually see if the movie is deep and meaningful and has a soul or not, or Ghai has randomly picked up a plot and stretched it to make a full length feature film. He is notorius for not giving importance to a strong story line. So lets see if his optimism this time is misplaced or worth the price of a movie ticket.

Reebok has signed on Bollywood star Bipasha Basu as it's new face

2008-03-03T03:24:00.000-08:00

(Image courtesy Rediff.com)

Bipasha Basu the hot Bong bombshell has proved what a good toned body she has. Well, at least Reebok have approved her. Reebok India has signed on the fittest Bollywood star as it's new face for all their India-centric promotions.

Subhinder Singh who is the MD of Reebok India said "Bipasha embodies the pulse points of our brand --individuality, authenticity and a life lived to the fullest in perpetual motion. She is an actor par excellence, a celebrated youth icon with an immense passion for fitness."

Bipasha has been managing her career quite well. For a model (who are dubbed bad actors) she has made impressive strides as an actor. She has refined her acting skills, become a sought after dancer (when directors approach you fro item numbers it means you have made it as a dancer) and is doing strong roles now as opposed to the glamor roles. She has done Corporate where she wore business suits and did not bare her dusky skin at all in the movie. She also made sure she did roles that kept her in the limelight - both audiences and producers; like Omkara, No Entry, Dhoom:2, Phir Hera Pheri, and a few others.

"Mithya" movie review

2008-02-29T22:42:00.000-08:00

Well I finally caught Mithya. And just in time too. Finally because I have been reading good reviews about it on the internet and only last week a friend told me that he saw it and loved it. he also said Mithya is your kind of movie and you will love it. Just in time because even though it is a great movie, it is fast disappearing from the theaters.

So much for the intelligent movie goer in India or for that matter in urbane Mumbai. Here comes a great movie and even after great reviews, positive feedback and great word of mouth it really isn't pulling in crowds like it should. My feeling is that it didn't have item numbers (sad situation na?), not major undressing of the heroine(s) or the hero (as is the norm nowadays), and perhaps lack of front line stars. Anyway the movie has received critical acclaim, earned decent movie and given recognition to people like Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, and even hot bod Neha Dhupia.

Now about the movie - a short review of Mithya.

The movie is awesome! The way the character of Ranvir Shorey is developed is great. The finer points, the nuances, the pettiness of the thugs, their take on their gruesome lives. All very well researched and thought out. Ranvir Shorey is obviously the star of the movie. Within minutes you feel for him and start sympathizing and empathizing with him. He is gullible, funny and a coward. Yet at times he is brave, street smart and brutal. Confusing? Mixed up? Isn't that how all of us are. At times fearful, at times brave.

Neha Dhupia has got a nice meaty role and she does competently. It does help that she is extremely easy on the eyes. She dresses like a wannabe actress and looks good in the role. She also is a gangsters moll and plays it well with style and bitterness well balanced in her performance. Naseer has a small role but is adequate. Vinay and his side-kick play their thug roles with aplomb. We also get to see former telly actress Irawati Harshe after a long time. And she looks delectable. She is attractive and charming as the don Raje's cute and understanding wife.

All in all engaging cinema and a great successful venture for Rajat Kapoor as a director. May he make many more films like this in the future. Also expected to do well in the coming week are films from Subhash Ghai, Black & White and a comic caper/gangster slapstick One Two Three which should be out in theaters soon.

The ban on Jodhaa Akbar by MP government lifted! A victory for fair play

2008-02-27T02:43:00.000-08:00

The ban on Jodhaa Akbar put unilaterally by the MP government has been stayed by the High Court. When the ban was imposed on the movie by the MP government, there were hardly any protests in the state. In fact the few stray protests by the Rajput groups died down in a few days. But will our governments who are more political than social let sleeping dogs lie? No they won't and soon we had a scenario where Government banned a movie expecting trouble when there was none. Some might defend the cation as over zealous but if one looked at the ground situation, it was obvious there were no major Rajput organizations, militant or otherwise who could cause problems or create a law and order problem. It was just a non-performing government trying to score a few brownie points with a small community.

In fact there were a few Rajput groups who protested the move and files a PIL against the government and asked them to revoke the ban. There were also the distributors who were upset by the ban as they felt it highly unnecessary and were keen to cash in on the immense interest them movie has generated.

Thankfully the High Court saw this cheap political stunt by the MP government and had the ban on Jodhaa Akbar revoked. WIth this UTV and Ashutosh Gowariker will be mighty pleased as it will ensure they do not lose on on valuable revenue on the movie. It will also be a sharp reminder to other governments that they cannot play around with the law as they please.

Shama Sikander the little minx from Hindi serials does an Item number in Tamil Movie

2008-02-25T02:00:00.000-08:00

A Tamil movie called Vellitherai has been showing promos on TV and a hot babe in one of the numbers has everybody asking about her. The number in question is ‘Kanji Paanai’ and she has danced with Prakashraj in the song. The surprising answer to that question is Shama Sikander. Yes the very sweet and cute guzzu girl from 'Yeh Meri Life Hai'.

After that serial had wound up prematurely she was not seen in any other serials or movies for that matter. The only place i saw her was in an ad for Sauna belt on some obscure channels. Mind you she was looking hot. She has a nice slim figure and a nice flat tummy and she was perfect for plugging a product like Slim Sauna which promises to make you lose fat if you use it.

Apparently Prakashraj zeroed in on this Rajasthani beauty after being impressed by her bubbly face which would be a big plus for the rustic and playful folk number. I am definitely looking forward to this number as I think she is a great looking babe and would be sensuous in an item number.

Ranvir Shorey-Vinay Pathak to the fore...viva la new age cinema

2008-02-25T01:16:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the parallel or new age cinema we are being introduced to actors who might have otherwise been languishing in the periphery of cinema and away from the recognition that they rightly deserve. One of the stars who has slowly and steadily worked his way up is Ranvir Shorey. This extremely talented actor started off as Channel V VJ and it was his double act with his funny twin Vinay Pathak that he came to the publics notice. At least he came to my notice. I don't know how many people remember his days as a VJ and his at times atrocious and at tongue in cheek humor. They had a ball and who ever watched it with them enjoyed the show immensely. It was only because of the presence of a Cyrus Broacha that they were not crowned the undisputed funny men of TV. And were they funny.

They then graduated to films where they picked up small buy significant parts. It seemed they could not act without each other or they simply liked each others company too much. Perhaps it gave a sense of security to them when they stepped in to the big bad world of Bollywood that they had each other withing shouting range. Vinay Pathak was first off the blocks with a smallish but funny role in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam.

I was watching Jism recently and realized that they were playing John Abraham's friends in the movie. It was around this time that Ranvir's name was splashed on the Bollywood scandal pages for his messy affair with Pooja Bhatt and his drinking problems. He reportedly ranted outside her house once after being punch drunk. He luckily managed to get out of that phase and started doing small but significant roles.

He was seen in small but important roles in Khosla Ka Ghosla, Traffic Signal, No Smoking, Bheja Fry, Aaja Nachle and major starring roles in Mixed Doubles and now Mithya. Bheja Fry was of course the huge sleeper hit of last year that catapulted his buddy Pathak on to the big league. And that is what Mithya will do for Ranvir I think. I hope it does well, as it is a brilliant film, with great reviews and has been getting great word of mouth publicity.

And the movies they have acted in together? Mixed Doubles, Khosla Ka Ghosla, Bheja Fry and Jism. Proves that buddies work and play together?

Next bollywood offering - One Two Three

2008-02-22T23:23:00.000-08:00

The next movie from the Bollywood shop floor is One Two Three, a movie starring Suniel Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Tusshar Kapoor, Sameera Reddy, Esha Deol, Neetu Chandra, Tanisha, Upen Patel and then some more.

The promos are running full steam on the various TV channels and I think the film will release soon. When the promos, trailers and songs are seen in continuous succession that means the movie is progressing well, the shooting is almost complete and the producer has not fled from Bombay!!!! Hehe heheh heh. So the movie will be released a few weeks after they say it will That's who Bollwood works here.

The songs or at least the songs used in the trailers look catchy and the movie has a kind of happening freshness. By freshness I mean one was getting tired of the comedies being churned out. And this one looks a bit well made and has a decent plot for a change. But it also has Tushar Kapoor and when a movie or project has him, I immediately think of Balaji films (Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai, Kyaa Kool Hai Hum). That means Balaji is involved and thats how he got the role. And that screws up the project to an extent. No issues with him but he seems just too wooden, no charisma and very ordinary looking. And his language control is bad. I mean I heard he can barely speak Hindi in real life. Then why do they come into Bollywood for gods sake? For the easy money? Its disgusting, working in the Hindi Film Industry and not knowing the language. I mean I can understand people like Upen Patel or Katrine Kaif who came in from England, they have an excuse. But a Bombayite? And what about Marathi? Shouldn't the MNS or Shive Sena retards be targetting him?

Anyway, only hope is for Paresh Rawal in the movie. Prob is he is doing the same roles too often. He must start abstaining from such roles and go for a major overhaul. Are you listening Paresh bhai?

Bad news for Ashutosh G, as Jodhaa Akbar gets banned by unscrupulous MP government

2008-02-22T23:07:00.000-08:00

News is just out that Ashutosh Gowariker's epic love drama Jodhaa Akbar, has fallen victim to caste politics and the MP government has banned it from been screened in that state. And this is after the protest were dying down. The Rajput community had asked for a ban a week ago but seeing that their demand were being ignored they slunk away like the snakes they were. But the lame duck government (what else do you call a government which instead of upholding the law plays vote bank politics) decided it was a grea chance to bag the loyalty of the Rajput community. And so they banned the film even though there were no perceivable law and order problems.

(Check below link for news article on Yahoo.co.in
http://in.news.yahoo.com/indianexpress/20080223/r_t_ie_nl_general/tnl-mp-bans-jodhaa-akbar-theatres-threat-aaaedd4_1.html)

In fact only last week a minister Mr. Gaur saw the film and found no problems with the movie and suddenly the CM now finds it a danger to Law and Order and bans it? Mysterious. Actually cheap politicians playing cheaper games.

Under fire Jodhaa Akbar notches up Rs 38.53 cr in 4 days!!!

2008-02-22T00:41:00.000-08:00

That will be sweet Sufi music to Ashutosh's ears, wouldn't it? After all the controversies, the unnecessary threats and the fire bombing and protests (which are adding more states to its tally), it is nice to hear of such figures for the very talented and conscientious director.

In only its first 4 days, Jodhaa Akbar has mopped up 38.53 crore from the box office (domestic and international). And there is three days of collections to be added to complete a week. It is UTV Motion Picture release. Last year Om Shanti Om grossed about Rs 42 crore for the entire week and that was a Shah Rukh Khan vehicle. A close second so far has been Akshay Kumar movie Welcome as it grossed about Rs 37 crore in the first week of its release.

Last years Aishwarya-Hrithik starrer Dhoom 2 had total box office collections of Rs 32-33 crore in the first week of its launch.

US territory
After Om Shanti Om (about Rs 6.90 crore), Jodhaa Akbar (6.40 crore) is the second highest Bollywood grosser during the first-four days of its release.

Subhash Ghai's Black & White may turn out to be a surprise hit

2008-02-21T23:33:00.000-08:00

The movie Black & White which is to be released by Ghai's Mukta arts soon may actually surprise a lot of people and become a hit. And the person who may be surprised the most might be Subhash Ghai himself!!! Thats because the last time he gave a hit, we were in the stone ages.

It has been a sad degeneration of a film maker who was handed the title of Showman, previously belonging to Raj Kapoor. Obviously the pressures were too much or he got carried away and got too conceited. For any person, and more importantly a professional artiste, growth is very important. What is success without intellectual growth. Perhaps thats why they say that failure hands out more lessons than success. Perhaps thats what happened to Mr. Ghai. He got big successes - perhaps easier than others got them. That went to his head and he assumed he knew all there was to film making. But film making is nothing but story telling in a audio-visual medium. And one needs to be able to read the lessons every day life gives you. Not announce films without stories, re-use formula's and pay more importance to the name of the actress you are launching. And in many cases rename her so her name is more correct numerologically (is there is any word like that).

And the trap is truly set when film makers go to controversial stars with criminal backgrounds just to ensure they get a chunk of the media bytes (Sanjay Tada Dutt?). The movie he made in that case Khalnayak was trash (cept that raunchy Choli number by Ms Dixit) and it was badly received but for Mr. Ghai it was good enough to count as a hit. Now thats where you know a person has fallen on hard times when he finds mediocre success thrilling. I found even Saudagar all tripe. And then things went worse. Movies like Yaadein, Kisna though he got a Pardes in between. That i reckon was his last hit.

Now the erstwhile Showman has started producing more movies in the hope of improving his success rate. Makes sense na? If it clicks, its a Mukta film. Else the director botched up the vision. As had Nagesh Kukkunoor in Bombay to Bangkok. Sigh!!!

Anyways, Black & White is carrying reports (planted I guess) that the young kid, Sinha is impressive in the film and it make even a seasoned pro like Anil Kapoor insecure. How insecure we will see after the movie releases. The music is by Sukhwinder and he has given the expected Punju flavor and the title song is good- earthy and catchy. The trailers look promising. The story seems ok. Lets see the movie. Best of luck, Mr. Ghai.

Akshay Kumar-Bhushan Kumar gang up for new movie '8x10'

2008-02-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

With the resounding success of Bhool Bhulaiyaa, T-series are all set to repeat they big marquee star from that film in their next project. Akshay Kumar who is soon acquiring the tag "Jubilee Kumar" will team up with T-series top honcho Bhushan Kumar for a new movie project titled '8x10'.

The film will top line besides Akshay Kumar, the flavor of the season - Shahid Kapur (Jab We Met) and the sizzling Ayesha Takia. Nagesh Kukunoor who is also directing Akshay in Tasveer will also direct this film indicating a growing working relationship between him and the Khiladi Kumar.

Hrithik's trance dance in 'Jodhaa Akbar' lauded by one and all

2008-02-21T03:38:00.000-08:00

Looks like Hrithik's dedication to his craft is paying him rich divedends. His trance dance in 'Jodhaa Akbar' has been widely appreciated and a person no less than Amitabh Bachchan has said "not since Stanley Kubrick's legendary sci-fi '2001: A Space Odyssey' in 1968 had there been such an apocalyptic moment in a film". Now comparing his scene to Stanley Kubrick's movie is a great achievement and is a great pat on the back for Hrithik. He was told that it was moment when Akbar connects with divinity. So it was critical he portrayed a man connecting with God and obviously it has worked well.

Hrithik Roshan said, "I joined the singers to dance with one hand pointing towards heaven, which was receiving the divine gift, while my other hand pointed to the ground, which meant I was connecting the gift received from divinity to people down below. I was the medium, the recipient of divine communication'. Well, I was going to catch the epic movie as it is as I am a huge fan of Ashutosh Gowariker, but now it looks like I also have a scene of the century to look forward to.

Bipasha Basu looks cute in her new trimmed hair-do

2008-02-20T04:59:00.000-08:00

(Image courtesy Rediff)

Bengali beauty Bipasha Basu has gone and got her curly locks chopped and I must admit it looks very natty. She was always in the Bombshell category and thats why her long and swirling hair suited her personality and her roles. Surprisingly initially I never found her attractive. No no , I'm not gay. Its just that I found her just too oomphy but still nothing to dream or fantasize about. I found others like Amisha Patel, Hrshitaa Bhatt, Riya Sen, Rimi Sen, Rani Mukherjee quite hot. But Bipasha?? Naaa....

Then later when she got her hair straightened I found her suddenly very desirable. I can't explain it. Yes, now she is part of my fantasy list of actresses.

The Bong bombshell actress is promoting her film upcoming movie Race. It stars Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Akshaye Khanna and Sameera Reddy. In this movie she is is seen with long tresses - her usual va-voom look. You can see why I think it is cool.

Aamir Khan in Rajkumar Hirani's next movie

2008-02-18T05:04:00.000-08:00

Apparently since Shah Rukh Khan has backed out from doing Hirani's next film he has on to his next film. It is named Idiots. It will feature Khan. This has been posted on Aamir Khans blog and obviously it has been given the go ahead by Aamir himself.

The movie is on a college campus, and deals with five 'useless' students. Remind anybody of Golmaal. But of course if Aamir is involve with this project it will be special and something to look forward to.

Shah Rukh Khan was supposed to act in a film by with Munnabhai director Rajkumar Hirani. But there was a big scrap with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's movie Eklavya being selected for the Oscars and when some Industry asses took potshots at Chora and his movie he hit back saying some earlier choices were not all that great. In the list he mentioned Paheli of SRK. This obviously got SRK's goat, the conceited ass that he is and he then refused to do Hiran's next movie as Hirani and Chopra are a known tag team in the Bollywood Industry. Vinod Chopra is also the film's producer.

Due to this development Hirani moved on to his next project.

Ektaa Kapoor and Sanjay Gupta call a truce

2008-02-16T01:35:00.000-08:00

Ektaa Kapoor and Sanjay Gupta have called a truce. Sanjay Gupta had organised a bachelor party or a party for singles. Though for the life of me, I cannot understand how Sanjay Gupta can be called as single after creating all those press stories about him trying to woo his wife back in his life. Does that mean she has told him f&*^ off and thats why he is single?

Ektaa Kapoor and Sanjay Gupta had a money dispute over their film, Shootout At Lokhandwala. Ekta's Balaji and Gupta's White Feather films were producing this film, starring Sanjay Dutt and Vivek Oberoi. Apparently Gupta had withdrawn 2 crore as payment for Big B's smallish role but later Big B had stated he had done the role for free as he was close to director Apoorva Agnihotri. This was obviously egg on the face of Sanjay Gupta and it led to a big fight.

The latest news is that Gupta had thrown a party for singles on Valentine's Day & invited Ektaa Kapoor too. This apparently melted the ice between the two and helped them get back to buddy-buddy terms. So alls well in Bollywood's circles two famous or infamous production companies.

Verdict on Jodhaa Akbar is out - its a landmark movie

2008-02-16T00:10:00.000-08:00

I was just going through rediff and read a review of Jodhaa Akbar on it. And I was pleased with what I read. The reviewer must have caught a premiere show of Jodhaa Akbar and has sent in a review. Like I expected (and desperately wanted it to be true) the movie is supposed to be brilliant. Apparently if the director had a tighter script and better editing was done this movie would have been a master piece. But if and buts can change the fate of the movie now.

The words used to describe the two principal characters Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are "brings his muscular presence and charismatic personality to make the role his own" and "Some of her dramatic scenes are weakly performed but she whips up excellent chemistry with Hrithik" respectively.

A later review in the Times Of India isn't all that generous. It says the movie is a bit long, and the sub-plots weak. It does acknowledge that the main characters have done a great job, the character actors are sincere and the sets and battle scenes are good.

I hope this movie does well as it will be one the the best movies in the careers of both the main leads - Hrithik (Dhoom:2, Krrish, Lakshya, Koi Mil Gaya, ) and Aishwarya (Provoked, Guru, Guru, Umrao Jaan, Bunty Aur Babli, Shabd, Raincoat, Kuch Naa Kaho, Devdas, Albela, Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Aa Ab Laut Chalen).

Want to check out the review?
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/feb/14jodhaa.htm

I think all this suggests it is much more worth than a movie ticket. If that isn't convincing then the fact that the director is a certain Ashutosh Gowariker should be reason enough.

Aishwarya wearing ethnic outfits in Jodhaa Akbar and yet looking hot

2008-02-13T02:51:00.000-08:00

I saw some pics of Aishwarya from the hugely anticipated movie Jodhaa Akbar. She is seen wearing ethnic outfits yet looking hot. The costumes are the traditional Ghagra Choli that are still worn in parts of Rajasthan but when you put Ash in them you can imagine how they get sexed up. The outfits show off her belly and yet look dignified.

Lucky for her its a period film and not much skin show was expected as it would give another reason for Abhishek to see red. He was reportedly upset when her much touted smooch with his buddy Hrithik in Dhoom 2. That was also the reason that he was stuck off the wedding invitation lists.

(Image courtesy Rediff)

Sajid Khan recomends award committes also should ignore Aamir Khan and his movies

2008-02-08T02:37:00.000-08:00

Sajid Khan had some unhappy memories of Screen awards. His movie Heyy Babyy lost out to Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par in the best directors category, an award he would have dearly loved to get his hands on. His movie was his debut movie and besides being acclaimed as a funny movie it set the cash registers ringing all around the country and overseas in countries with a large Indian diaspora.

But that obviously wasn't enough and he had a crack at the awards committee and had a suggestion for them. He said they should skip Bollywood movies where they know the award recipients will not turn up to collect the award.

Sajid said of Aamir and his latest baby Taare Zameen Par,

"Aamir is a very good friend of mine. He is a star par excellence but when he gives a statement out in the press that he is not interested in awards, then I think the awards also should show no interest in him... You are giving out all the awards to Taare Zameen Par, which, again see the point is, it deserves and I'm not saying it doesn't deserve... It's a fantastic film, but you know that there is going to be no-one coming to take it."

Aamir Khan's directorial debut movie was in the running for 17 Star Screen Awards and won 7, including Best Director (Aamir Khan), Best Supporting Actor (Darsheel Safary) and Best Story (Amole Gupte).

Karan Johars Dharma Productions to roll out 4 new movies

2008-02-08T02:20:00.000-08:00

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions have announced that they will be launching 4 new films very soon. After rolling out 5 movies in the past decade starting with the mammoth hit Kuch Kuch Hota Hain, his debut film, Karan went on to release Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kal Ho Naa Ho And Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. The first two were big money earners while the third though criticized a bit by his fans, did do decent business for Dharma productions.

KJ will helm his fourth film, which will begin shooting from Oct '08. Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol will be the leads in this yet untitled film. Shibani Bathija who also wrote for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna will script.

Next will be Dostana, starring Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra. Then comes the animated version of KKHH - Kootchie Kootchie Hota Hain. It will be directed by Tarun Mansukhani. It will use the voices of the original cast - Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerjee.

The 4th movie, will showcase the Tashan couple Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and one more lead actor.

Whew, that a lot on a single persons plate right? Best Of luck KJ.

Fitting revenge for Aamir Aamir Khan - May start attending award functions!

2008-02-08T01:56:00.000-08:00

It is an old story that Aamir Khan does not attend the Indian award ceremonies excepting the Nationals. This is due to the reason that there is great corruption or nepotism in handing out the awards. Stars close to the organizers tend to be favored more and those who do not suck up top the committee ate ignored in spite of good performances. Aamir is one of those who don't pay much attention or special treatment to such programmes and hence he also keeps way from such functions.

I remember in the eighties when Anil Kapoor was the reigning star he used to sweep the awards. Be it Filmfare, Screen or what ever few awards were there then. He even got it for a pretty lousy films like Beta. He was the reigning star then with Mr. India, Ram Lakhan, Parinda, Eshwar, and quite a few hits in a row. He was also touted as the person to take over from Amitabh Bachchan. Yes, he was (is) a fabulous actor too, unlike some hammy superstars of today. But it was obvious the person with the biggest bank balance picked up all the Bollywood awards.

The same routine continues today with the biggest gainer being Shah Rukh Khan. His acting is pretty painful, but he delivers the hits, has stupid girls going gaga over him, has the nation searing by him and by that logic picks up most of the awards. The net result, starred in several dozen films, acted in? Two! Swades and Chak De India. And awards for almost all the movies.

Now a lot of corporate companies have jumped in and the number of award shows have also increased. So that means almost any star will get an ward, if not in this show then another one. He just has to be nice or pay up money for an ward and it is his. And yes, he or she may be also asked to dance or do some routine on stage. And then he is presented an award by a grateful awards committee.

So it isn't a surprise that Aamir chose to keep away from all the mess. But him deciding to attend such functions now could be because his star child actor Darsheel Safary has been nominated for a Best Actor category for an upcoming award ceremony. This means the delightful scenario that if he wins, he beats the super stars like SRK, Akshay and others vying for the same award. What fitting revenge it will be for Aamir if this happens. His protege thumping the actors who have been in the industry for donkey's years and yet got beaten by a kid.

The top 10 romantic Bollywood movies of all time

2008-02-07T03:01:00.000-08:00

Rediff has prepared a list (with readers inputs) of the top 10 romantic Bollywood movies of all time. Nice idea as it throws up surprise movie that one might not think of.

It has the customary and expected Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and Bobby. Mentioning the top 10 so far and if your favorite movie isn't there, then go to the URL below and add your vote.

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/jan/30msg.htm

Bobby
Dilwale Dulhaniye Le Jaayenge
Mughal-E-Azam
Maine Pyaar Kiya
Dil
Lamhe
Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak
Kashmir Ki Kali
Aradhana
Love Story

Since I am not a Shah Rukh fan, I find DDLJ too high on that list as I find it over-rated. But it is a fun film. I would have liked Socha Na Tha in the list, and QSQT a lot higher.

Will the Jodhaa Akbar Rajput/relation controversy affect the film?

2008-02-07T02:29:00.001-08:00

The furore about whether Jodhaa Bai was Emperor Akbar's wife or daughter-in-law hasn't died down like I thought it might. The group making noises are a small fringe group and so lack the political muscle or social base. And add to that it is almost impossible to confirm or deny who Akbar married or didn't. He had 34 wives according to reports in the media! So how is one to know if any of these these women are not Jodhaa Bai and if the Muslim women listed in history are Hindu women with their Muslim names after conversion.

Rediff has a well written article about the story. Click on the link below for more details.

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/feb/06jodha.htm

It also could be a well orchestrated campaign to rustle up some crucial media coverage of a film which is of epic proportions. Such a big budget will need to draw in people in large numbers to ensure it does earn money for its producers. And Indians are notorius for ignoring good historical movies. Must be the lack of appreciation of our own culture and traditions. The Mughal rule impacted the polity and landscape of India in a major way and hence educated Indians would be more than interested in such a story straddling that era of history.

But we all know this doesn't hold true, as the masses look at cinema for escapist fantasies. I hope and pray Jodhaa Akbar is made well and interestingly so that it succeeds and a talented director like Ashutosh Gowariker is suitably rewarded for making good cinema.

It will also be a landmark film for Hrithik and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as they need to true blue movie like this in their portfolio to justify the confidence of the industry in their talents. Though Hrithik has Koi Mil Gaya, Lakshya and Mission Kashmir in his bag he needs to get the big roles right. Same for Aishwarya who has mostly dominated the media for non-filmy reasons than those related to great roles. She does have Iruvar, The Raincoat, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Provoked and Guru but she is also remembered for Kajra Re and Kambakth Ishq. So they both need to movie like Jodhaa Akbar on their resume.

Actor Karan Singh star of Dil Hi Dil Main, commits suicide at residence

2008-02-07T01:49:00.000-08:00

In a sad development for Bollywood, another young actor Karan Singh star of Dil Hi Dil Mein, commited suicide at residence in Oshiwara in suburban Mumbai on Thursday morning. Though his movie released years ago, it was a flop and he wasn't seen in any major Hindi movie later. He then acted in some Bhojpuri and South Indian films. Karan had also recently swung over to movie production & was reportedly working on a Hindi movie project.

Karan is survived by his wife, and two daughters, who were not at home yesterday.

Karan was found hanging from a ceiling fan at about 1:30 am and police are investigating the case. Sadly Dil Hi Dil Main will be his only claim to fame. In this movie the sexy Sonali Bendre (Sarfarosh) was cast opposite him. She has now retired gracefully from movies after marriage with Goldie Behl.

Shaad Ali snaps up Akshay-Kareena in Yashraj's next flick

2008-02-05T23:19:00.000-08:00

After having a rousing start with Saathiya and later following up with a enchanting Bunty aur Babli, Shaad Ali came up a cropper with the Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. The big budget movie from the Yashraj stable bombed badly and was panned by the critics and rightly so.

I had gone in to see the movie at a cheap single theater in Mumbai and found the flow and narration pretty disconnected. The reason I went it was I knew it was a Yashraj Movie and I would get to see some glamor if not good cinema at least. And the star cast was excellent. My favorite Abhishek, and a very hot Lara and the all time malai kofta- Preity Zinta. Which idiot calls her bubbly. I find her sizzling. her body is luscious and yes, she does have a cute smile. That doesn't mean you restrict your fantasies to candy floss romance. She is white butter according to me.

Bobby Deol is a good looking stud who has wasted the movies spent on him. His films are getting more and more meaningless and his hits are drying up. When was the last time he gave a hit? Baadal? Semi-partial hit. And ages ago.

But surprisingly the two lesser stars did well, though I found the praise for Bobby was a bit extravagant. He was playing the usual bumbling mama's boy and a flamboyant playboy- roles he has essayed in all his movies. But yes, Lara Dutta was great - as the sassy hooker as well as the arty-farty french-indian chic. Looks yummy with that extra baggage. Abhi was ok. And Preity was cute, funny and competent. But- the movie sucked.

Surprising since Shaad has shown good touch in his earlier movies. I guess he stuck to his style of narration and it didn't come here. One has to innovate and most importantly learn. Else you will stagnate. Any one remember Subhash Ghai?

Rajinikanth’s Robot to be re-named to a Tamil one

2008-02-02T01:54:00.000-08:00

By now we all know that Rajinikanth is doing Robot- a movie that will be directed by Shankar. But news has come out that the title would be changed, as Robot is an English word.

This is good news as there has been a tendency to give English names for Indian movies and Tamil movies are also to blame in a big way. Recently there was talk of giving rebates to movies that had authentic Tamil names as opposed to English ones. The last few years have seen a spate of Tamil movies with English names like Boys, Sivaji – The Boss, and a lot more. Then there was an outcry and it was suggested giving tax rebates to movies opting for pure Tamil names. That had a desired effect I think. I checked a popular Movie site just now and even after 10 pages I couldn’t spot a Tamil movie with an English name. (http://www.behindwoods.com/features/Gallery/movies/movies5/index.html)

That’s could be one reason why Rajinikanth is changing the name to a Tamil one. Sujatha, who is supposed to be writing Robot, is on the lookout for a suitable name and the word is that the name Iyandhiran has been recommended. Rajini and Shankar have apparently accepted this name. But there has been no official confirmation about this yet.

It has been some time since he has done a Bollywood movie. He has some decent hits in his bag such as Hum, Dalapati (dubbed from Tamil) and a few ordinary ones like ChaalBaaz, Farishtay and Dalaal No.1.

Katrina Kaif steps up and is ready for a crack at the upper crust of Bollywood royalty

2008-01-31T03:07:00.000-08:00

(Image courtesy Vogue)

A good indication that a person is successful is when foreign media start courting them for interviews, photo shoots and put them on their cover page. Thats what seems to be happening to Katrina Kaif. She may started with modeling, stepped in to films with a disastrous Boom, but made up with it with her later movies. She was criticized for British accent and her inability to speak good Hindi, but she has worked hard, picked up decent Hindi and is now on the cusp of becoming a major force in Bollywood.

She also starred with Sallu initially but even that didn't work for her. Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya also didn't do too well in the theaters. Sarkar was a little jewel for her but had a small role in it. It took her pairing with the hunk Akshay Kumar to get her kickstarted in Bollywood. Almost all the movies they worked together in have been bit hits if not huge hits. Starting with Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Namastey London and now Welcome (http://www.welcome-thefilm.com). She also has Partner to her credit.

She has now yet another achievement to her credit. She is on the cover of the latest edition of Vogue India. And it is Jean Paul Gaultier, the world renowned designer, whose outfit she is wearing in the photo.

Way to go. I find her extremely gorgeous and her smile is beautiiiiiiiful. It's her height that gives her an attractive personality and yet she is not scrawny like the other model/actresses of today. She is healthy and bootylicious as some would say.

Taare Zameen Par - the after effects

2008-01-30T04:22:00.000-08:00

Its public knowledge that when Aamir's home banner venture, Taare Zameen Par began, it was Amol Gupte who was the director of the film. After a while Aamir Khan took over the direction, as he was not happy with the way things were shaping up. He offered Amole the option of having his movie produced by some other production house, but Amole opted to continue with Aamir.
So Aamir gave the credit of creative director to Amole and took over the mantle of director. The entire story, concept and nitty gritty of the movie is attributed to Amole because he has worked with such children before. So even though he was unhappy with the situation, but still wanted Aamir to be the one to produce the movie because of his long association with him and the fact he trusted Aamir to get his message across. And what we got was another brialliant effort from Aamir. It impacts the viewer very similar like his earlier films like Rang De Basanti, Dil Chahta Hai, Lagaan, Ishq, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Rangeela, Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, 1947 Earth, Dil, and Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak.

Now Aamir has given an interview saying he regrets this incident as it has spoiled his relationship with Amole. He wished all could be back as normal but it will be difficult as Amole will never be able to forget this embarresment and it will always haunt their friendship.

Who is the main lead in Rakeysh Mehra's Delhi 6?

2008-01-30T04:04:00.000-08:00

Rakeysh Mehra's Delhi 6 is plagued with uncertainty over his male lead actor. Surprising since with a major and acclaimed hit on his hands - "Rang De Basanti", he should have actors queuing up to sign up.

He would have never predicted that the casting of his next film would become such a big problem. So the actors who were considered and/or approached are Hrithik, Akshay, Abhishek and last week's Hollywood actor. Finally a new name has cropped up. That of Aamir Khan's nephew, Imran Khan. This will mean that it will be his second film after Sanjay Gadhvi's Kidnap.

Delhi 6 is reportedly based on Delhi's monkey man menace that shook the Indian capital, a few years back.

Jodhaa Akbar - Another movie, another controversy....

2008-01-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

Another controversy has reared its ugly head with a group from the Rajput community opposing the facts presented in the Jodhaa Akbar movie. They claim that Jodhaa bai was not Akbars wife as shown in the movie and neither was she the daughter of the Amer king. She was according to them Akbars daughter-in-law and was the daughter of a Marwar king.

As far as I have learnt history all through school and at all levels that Jodhaa Bai was Akbar's wife. So if this is no right and history has been distorted then I don't think Ashutosh Gowarikar is the one doing it. He is merely continuing the legend as we know it. I would like to say to this obscure Rajout group, where were you when Mughal-e-Azam was released and if history is wrong then they should get the right facts and evidences and campaign to have it corrected at the right levels. You can neither change nor create history by creating such a fuss. Start a campaign and have these facts proved at the national level.

I sincerely hope that this does not balloon into a major problem as Ashutosh has gone with what is popular peception and would never have gone and tried to fidget with history. And the is group has popped up on the eve of the release. Where were they so far? Banished by Akbar to the hinterlands?

Ranbir Kapoor in a Time Machine?

2008-01-29T08:22:00.000-08:00

Shekhar Kapur the reputed Bollywood director gone to Hollywood will reportedly finally make his long-delayed project Time Machine. But the main lead has been changed and instead of Aamir Khan, it will star Ranbir Kapoor.

One unusal fact is that even Ram Gopal Varma had also hoped to make a film called Time Machine with Shah Rukh Khan but that too never took off. That makes the name Time Machine some what of a jinx.

The initial cast also included Naseeruddin Shah, Rekha and Raveena Tandon, and that will obviously change as Raveena has sort of retired and a younger actress would be required opposite Ranbir.

Ranbir will be looking forward to getting a hit under his belt and getting rid of the jinx tag which is given to new comers till they get a hit. Once that is done, film makers are less tensed about signing on the star. He has a quirky Saawariya to his credit so far and will need to do better.

Shekhar Kapoor is the reputed director of a few big Hollywood movies and in an earlier spell in Bollywood had directed Mr. India, Joshilay, and Bandit Queen. He was supposedly working on a prequel to Elizabeth - the Golden Age.

One more child star grows up - and has she grown up...

2008-01-29T08:02:00.000-08:00

Another kid who worked in movies has stepped in to puberty and as these kids do nowadays has continued to work in front of the camera. Obviously the lure of Bollywood and the Idiot box is way too strong for them to keep away. Yeah...and the money is pretty good too.

Check out the photo I 'borrowed' from rediff and lets see if you can spot the gal.

Can you? No?

Okay lets give you some hints.

1) It was a big big block buster.

2) She played the daughter of the main star.

3) He is one of the super star Khans.

4) Her name was Anjali in the movie.

5) She is named after the other mail lead in the movie.

If you haven't got the answer so far, you need a good kick on the back side.

The girl is Sana Saeed and she was in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. She played Shah Rukh Anjali in the movie.

So if you didn't get it that means you really don't care for Shah Rukh Khan and also for Yash Johar's movies. No complaints. Even I don't.

Back to the girl. She looks hot. And that to in ethnic clothes. Imagine her going skimpy as in Bollywood roles. Heh heh heh.

She also appeared in a couple of television shows and ads and aftetr paying attention to her studies she's back in the new telly soap, Babul Ka Aangann Chootey Na. She also anchored some shows like Fox Kids and Kache Papad Pakka Papad at age thirteen. And was in Badaal (starring Bobby Deol and Rani Mukerji). On her resume also are ads for Sunsilk and Clinic Shampoo, a poster ad for DHL and Lifebuoy soap and a role serial Sati (on Sahara TV) for two months.

So she has been in touch with the glamour world.

For Ajay Devgun, U, me aur Hum is very important as Halla Bol has not set he box office on fire

2008-01-28T03:36:00.000-08:00

His next release U me aur Hum is quite important for Ajay Devgun, as Halla Bol has not done too well at the Box office. I had seen the movie and though I quite liked it, it did not have the punch or the tight editing that could have made it a great flick. So it ended up being an ordinary movie. Especially as it was directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi, audiences and critics were expecting a lot more.

An unusual factor is that all the performances have been very good. Ajay has been execellent, Vidya restrained and yet commanding and Pankaj Kapur simply awesome. He is one under utilized talent in the industry. And the rest of the supporting cast were flawless. Anjan Srivastav as Ajay father, his mother (Arya), Vidya's father, his theatre colleagues and rest of the players. No performance seemed phony or out of place. Yet the movie seemed to be missing some thing.

Add to that an entertaining story, good scandalous real life sub-plots, and cheeky and scandalous references to the Bollywood industry, especially to Shahrukh Khan and other arty farty stars.

Now Sunday has been released and the industry is waiting for the results. The reviews so far are average and most expect it to do well (comedy movie na????) but not be any massive hit. So his next movie U me aur Hum with wifey Kajol is very important for him.

Rediff gives a two and a half star rating to movie Sunday

2008-01-28T02:40:00.000-08:00

Just read the review of the movie Sunday (Starring Ayesha Takia, Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Irfan Khan, Anjana Sukhani) and they haven't really liked it too much. It has been given a rating of 2.5 stars (5 being the highest). I too was not expecting too much from the movie as it is another one from the factory assembly line of comedy movies. I feel even the audiences will be getting tired of comedies now.

The problem is not with well made comedies, but of those film makers just trying to cash in on the 'trend'. Especially directors who have scored a hit with their previous film. If it is of a particular genre then they will stick to it like glue even if it kills them.

For example look at a successful director like Priyadarshan. He made a string of comedies and now feels that is his domain and only hope to make a hit. So when he attempts a remake of a thriller like Bhool Bhulaiyaa (original is an unpronounceable mallu movie) he goes on to mangle it in to horrors - a comedy movie!! So what can you expect of lesser directors like Rohit Shetty, who got the biggest hot of their careers with Golmaal. They will invariably go for a repeat dose. Not to mention a Golmaal part deux.

If these directors were really competent and confident about their craft, they would be attempting to make good films not hits. They would try to tell a story well, not get a sure fire hot script. They would pick up a great script and make a movie around it. Not ask writers to make a comedy keeping pre-conceived stars in mind and then add silly gags to pad up the film. This is the bane of Hindi cinema. Average movie makers hogging up the attention of the financiers.

Bipasha Basu - scores a Goal in Golf

2008-01-28T01:49:00.000-08:00

Looks like after movies Bipasha Basu seems to very interested in sports. After working in a football movie Goal (along with with boyfriend and costar John Abraham) and also being present at the Mumbai Marathon, the actress is now showing an interest in golf.

Bipasha, who has been voted the sexiest Asian, attended the Qatar Masters Golf Tournament in Doha over the weekend. Also present were a host of sports and movie stars such as former US sprinter Carl Lewis, former tennis player Anna Kournikova, Shilpa Shetty, Australian actress Natalie Imbruglia and Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.

Earlier I never liked Bipasha all that much. I mean I knew men drooled over her but she just didn't turn me on. But recently after she has a hair straightened I started finding her gorgeous. I dunno the reason. Now I find her smoking hot. I suppose it has some thing to do with her straight hair and her raunchy desi numbers in Omkara and No Entry. She always had a great figure, but I always ignored her. Remember the skin fit ad she had done for a reputed denim brand? I found it bad. Skinnny legs and an anorexic body. Not very Indian and very Un-Bipasha. Now her great figure seems very appealing. Check out the photo which was published on Rediff. Yes, she is covered up, but she does look edible.

One more Roshan in Bollywood....

2008-01-25T03:00:00.000-08:00

Super star Hrithik's sister Sunaina will be making her debut in films. Not in the acting department, but as a producer. The senior Roshan is co-producing Krazzy 4 with her father Rakesh Roshan. That leaves only Hrithiks mother and wife left to join Bollywood. And if you count Suzanne's fashion designing for Hrithik then even that name can be struck off the list.

Krazzy 4 is a comedy-caper starring Arshad Warsi, Irrfan Khan, Rajpal Yadav and Suresh Menon as the whacko characters and Juhi Chawla plays a psychiatrist. Dia Mirza and Rajat Kapoor who is Juhi's husband in the film make up the rest of the star cast.

Hrithik who is having a relaxed year has the much awaited Jodhaa Akbar coming up and he had Dhoom 2 which was released a long time back.

Remember the time? Does Chandrachur Singh ring a bell?

2008-01-25T02:46:00.000-08:00

Well if you can't place this name, let me refresh your memory. Chandrachur Singh was a promising actor from the Hindi heartland and I quite liked him. He seemed promising as I liked his diction, his dialogue delivery and his confidence. He was okay looking but seemed good enough to play the lead role thanks to his presentable looks. But it was his good acting and screen prescence that indicated he was here for a long haul.

Let me list his movies. He started with Tere Mere Sapne which was a ABCL presentation. If that isn't enough, Arshad Warsi was his co-star and the movie had a couple of fine numbers and a decent plot and good performances by all the lead actors. It was a hit and he on his way. He later did Maachis, Daag-The Fire (Sanjay Dutt), Kya Kehna and Josh (opposite Aishwarya Rai). So he wasn't a one hit wonder. yet his later roles were awful and he got sucked up in the quagmire of Bollywood and was not heard of later. Nice to know he is around and is keen on a longer innings.

He will star in a movie called Maruti Mera Dost to be produced by his brother Abhimanyu Singh who runs Contiloe Films. The film is a children's film and also stars child artiste from Cheeni Kum - Swini Khara.

Have Sanjay Dutt and Maanyata married secretly?

2008-01-25T02:34:00.000-08:00

Sanjay Dutt has been usually very secretive about his love life. Even earlier during his much talked about relationship with Madhuri during the Khalnayak and Saajan days, he never came out in the open about that affair. The same continued for most relationships unless he went the whole hog and married the woman in question. Like Rhea Pillai for example.

So its a bit surprising that he has let it come out in the open that he may have married Maanyata. In an advertisement where he has wished his mentor and protector (remember the tit-for-tat deal between Sunil Dutt and Thackeray) Shiv Sena leader Balasaheb Thackeray on his 82nd birthday a couple of days ago ie Jan 23. At the bottom of the ad he has signed off with Sanjay Dutt and Maanyata Dutt. So we can assume that the star of Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munna Bhai has learnt his lessons in life and decided to settle down and they are man and wife.

One more success for Aamir

2008-01-24T02:29:00.000-08:00

After the resounding success of his last movie (both critical and commercial) Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan has gone and added one more achievement to his list. That is a victory over smoking. He has been writing on his blog for some time now that he is trying to kick the butt but it hasn't happened so far.

But he has finally managed to kick the habit which is really commendable because I know of many friends who have tried umpteen times and have failed. They had tried all techniques, going turkey, reducing slowly, smoking on scheduled days- all ending in failure. In fact some guys ended smoking more than normal.

So it is great that a role model like Aamir has managed to defeat the cigarette. In fact Shahrukh has been in the news for his smoking in public places and for his attempts to give up smoking too. But he has failed and is keen to give it up as he has kids of an impressionable age at home. Also to show his fans and the public that such battles can be won.

Even the health ministry is after the stars as quite a few recent movies have shown stars smoking and this definitely glamorizes the act. So after having a great last two years with a lot of hits (Taare Zameen Par, Fanaa, Dil Chahta Hai) and rare flops (Mangal Pandey - The Rising)

Who is this new Sardarji on the block?

2008-01-24T02:07:00.000-08:00

Check out this hunk Sardarji who is starring in Sameer Karnik's latest movie. If you can't recognise him, too bad for your Bollywood knowledge. It's one of the big stars from the Khan club.

Well if you still aren't sure who it is, let me tell you. It's Salman Khan who will be seen playing a Sardar for the first time in his upcoming film Heroes.

The movie Heroes also stars Sohail Khan, Vatsal Seth, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Preity Zinta, Amrita Arora, Riya Sen and Mithun Chakraborty. Whew! That is one compact starcast! Salman plays a military official in this road movie which is reportedly inspired by the cult classic The Motorcycle Diaries.

After Jaan-E-Mann and Salaam-E-Ishq this will be another movie where Salman will be sharing screen presence with quite a few stars.

The photo is just a photoshopped impression of how Salman would like like a Sardar.

Ashutosh's labor of love...Jodhaa Akbar

2008-01-23T23:57:00.000-08:00

I was reading about the making of Jodhaa Akbar and I feel vindicated about the vision and meticulousness of Ashutosh Gowariker. Apparently the writer Haidar Ali had researched about the life and times of Akbar quite thoroughly with a Rajasthani historian. In spite of this Ashutosh later had the story checked for factual accuracy and authenticity. So we can be rest assured of seeing a beautiful and accurate movie without extra embellishments to juice up the era.

He is according to me one of the finest directors in our Industry. Not only because of Lagaan but because of Swades. I found Swades (Shahrukh Khan)so much more topical, contemporary and meaningful, if not a wee bit idealistic. But that movie made me a Gowariker fan for life. I am looking forward to Jodhaa Akbar and I will see it, even if the reviews are not too good; because I feel it will be a thoughtful bit of cinema. Bring it on Hrithik and Aishwarya Rai. :-)

Bollywood's lucky streak continues...Welcome and Taare...both big hits

2008-01-23T04:09:00.000-08:00

It happened years ago, when Aamir and Sunny Deol went head to head with Dil and Ghayal. The trend was generally to avoid a clash as the hits ratio was as low as it is. But surprisingly both movies went on to become big hits. Later producers went back to the old system and avoided clashes as it was assumed that it would hurt both parties.

It was only rare cases of movies that released together. Aamir and Sunny did it again with Raja Hindustani and Gadar and again they went on to be huge hits. But that isn't the rule and the latest case of two big releases is OSO and Saawariya where OSO did well and Saawariya got a luke warm response. One case I felt where both films sufefred was Don (new- Shahrukh) and Jaanemann, where Jaanemann flopped big time and Don didn't do too well. Shahrukh and camp did manage to pass it off as a hit and even a sequel is being talked of, but the truth is the movie did not do as well as SRK's movies generally do. And if you consider that the music was superb (love Shaan number and the Aaj Ki Raat) and the story was stylishly told and had a unexpected twist and yet it didn't do great business.

Thats why its amazing that Welcome and Taare Zameen Par are both big hits. In fact Welcome got of to a scorcher of a start and has reportedly earned 110 crores so far. TZP was a steady starter and now has got immense word of mouth and great reviews. It is also touted as being possibly ending up as a bigger hit than the hype monster of Shahrukh Khan, Om Shanti Om, and thats some achievement. Bollywood is lucky and may the golden touch continue.

Darsheel new actor in tinseltown - in crackling form in Taare Zameen Par

2008-01-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

The child actor Darsheel Safary who stars in Taare Zameen Par has made a confident and likeable attempt at playing the troubles Ishaant Awasthi. The film belongs to him and he is the principal character in the film and even Aamir Khan the big draw of the movie appears only at the half time of the movie. In fact if you take away Aamirs portion in the movie it appers an out and out Darsheel movie.

One never gets bored as the story is engrossing and audiences immediately sympathise with the child as he is impish, fragile and yet brilliant at the same time. But one needed a strong and firm character to play Ram Shankar Nikumbh and Aamir Khan plays it without a false step.

One realy can't be sure who to credit Darsheels acting to - the director, assitant directors, creative directors (Amole Gupte) or to the lad himself. It is a role of a lifetime and one wonders if such a role wil be written again and if it is, will it be enacted so wel again. And there is the factor that Darsheel is from a reputedly well off family, so this might be the last film in some time. We might have to wait till he has goten his studies and graduation out of the way.

Here's wishing him all the success in life and a thanks to him, Aamir and the team of Taare Zameen Par who enteratined us so splendidly.

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To get access to the latest and most popular Bollywood DVDs you can visit the Eros DVD mall. The latest DVD available is Partner the film starring Salman Khan, Govinda, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta.

After Halla Bol, looking forward to U me aur Hum

2008-01-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

After Halla Bol, Ajays next movie in the pipeline is U me aur Hum which also features his wife Kajol. This will be really interesting as they have come together earlier and have had good results to show for it. Pyar toh Hona hi tha and Ishq were big hits while a couple of others didn't do that well especially Raju Chacha.

I really liked Halla Bol as it was a well made movie. Though I think a lot of people including me were expecting a lot more from Raj Kumar Santoshi. The movie is not that gripping or engrossing like say for instance Ghayal or Damini. Not that Ajay is any less of a performer, but its just that the movie had great potential for being a classic.

Funny scenes were inserted in to scenes where the seriousness should have been maintained. For instance the conversations with the powerful politician. His side kick acts silly and this messes up the important scenes.

Even Vidya Balan has a much smaller role than her talent deserved.
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To get access to the latest and most popular Bollywood DVDs you can visit the Eros DVD Store. The latest DVD available is Heyy Babyy the film starring Vidya Balan, Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan.

Ajay Devgun's Halla Bol is a pretty good flick

2008-01-21T05:13:00.000-08:00

I watched Halla Bol yesterday and found it to be a pretty decent movie. Ajay has acted competently as usual and the movie is an accurate portrayal of the Hindi film industry also called Bollywood. It shows Ajay as a small town boy moving from the street theatre group of Pankaj Kapur and trying his luck in Bollywood. He strikes it big and then starts his metamorphis. From a middle class morally upright citizen to a weak, money seeking shallow superstar.

Vidya Balan plays his wife and she has a small role which she does competently. I really wanted to see more of her as would many of her fans. She is a beautiful woman in every sense of the word and is a fine actress. So it was kinda disappointing to see that she had a smallish role in the film.

If fact one can say after Ajay, it is Pankaj Kapur who has the meatiest role. In fact he also has a decent amout of the 'hit' dialogues as one calls it. Hats off to Ajay Devgun for doing such a role where unlike in the earlier era, the stars were insecure if a fellow actor got better lines or scenes. He is following the path taken by Akshay Kumar who is working in multi-starrers or ensemble movies and delivering hits due to a superior product being dished out.

I think this movie may cause a lot of controversy as it has taken a few potshots at the reigning biggies like Shahrukh Khan and Aamir. Watch it and find out!

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To get access to the latest and most popular Bollywood DVDs you can visit the Eros DVD Store. The latest DVD available is Manorama Six Feet Under the film starring Abhay Deol.

Rajnikanth to star in Shankar's Robot

2008-01-08T23:54:00.000-08:00

It has been made official that Superstar Rajnikant has agreed to play the main role in Robot. The movie is supposed to be directed by hot-shot director Shankar. This is indeed big news as two of the biggest names in tamil cinema have come together and the result will have cine fans licks their chops in anticipation.

Check out this article in rediff for more details.

Shankar has been trying for years to start this project and announcing the casting of this film in the press for years now. He started with Kamal Haasan, but the Tamil star had a box office fiasco in Alavandaan and, also had creative differences with a director who is very firm about what he wants. Later Shahrukh Khan was supposed to do it. and the last star pencilled in was Aamir Khan.

And now finally it has been Rajnikanth who has been finalised, which will be good as the two are both from the same industry and this will help in the smooth production of the movie.

Here's looking for a lively Robot from Shankar and Rajnikanth, the Boss.

You can avail of Loins of Punjab DVDs at this popular online DVDstore which also has other blockbuster Bollywood Movies in their catalog.

How many guys have seen Johnny Gaddar?

2008-01-03T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hey! I was recently watching Johnny Gaddar at home and found it to be quite a good movie. The main lead (or young hero), Neil Mukesh is quite decent, but needs to tighten up on his acting. He is also very fair. Almost alabaster. Go out in the sun dude and get some Vitamin D. Right now you look like you stay cooped up in a freezer all day.

Well the movie was pacy, well shot and interesting. I think multi-star or ensemble casts are here to stay. The producers are ensured that the audience comes in seeing multiple stars for the price of one and the stars are more secure in sharing the blame if the movie flops. Rimi Sen looks hot as usual. I did miss the part of the start and also bits in between (channel surfing is a weakness). So I need to see the entire movie in one go to have a fairer idea of of the movie is in an entirety. Another movie that has got good publicity is Manorama - Six feet Under. And a couple of stories of Dus Kahaniyaan are supposed to be good, especially the Rice Plate.

One disappointing movie is Buddha Mar Gaya which inspite of good stars didn't too that well.

Waiting for Sunday!!!!

2008-01-03T02:49:00.000-08:00

The advertising schedules for movies must be longer than earlier now, because I noticed that Sunday the movie has been on air for some time now. But the movie has not been released yet. What I am trying to say is that the producers are releasing their promos and trailers and the rest of the marketing material even earlier than usual.

Of course Om Shanti Om (OSO) and Saawariya were a bit unique due to the cat fight the makers of the two movies got into. But nevertheless it is obvious the marketing cycles of movies have increased drastically and so have the budgets. That means that even though movies are a lucrative business they are forking out that little just to ensure that their movie is in the public eye.

Anyway Sunday is scheduled for Jan 25 according to the official Sunday website. So will watch it and let you guys know. I am also supposed to see Bombay to Bangkok (if I get the tickets...i love freebies), so will give you the dope on that one too. Ciao.

I like the indie films like Bheja Fry coming out, which allow newer fresher stars to shine on the big screen.

Clash of two biggies - Taare Zameen Par and Welcome

2007-12-21T00:41:00.000-08:00

Two really big movies are clashing this week- TODAY that is. But luckily we are spared the hype that was generated during Diwali by Om Shanti Om and Sawariyaan. Man - that was a big let down wasn't it. I still haven't seen Saawariyan, but am not expecting much. But I may still catch it. While I din't find OSO all that great though it was funny in parts. And i Liked the 70's look. All in all a good laugh.

Of the two releases today, I think both should do well, as Aamir Khan has a loyal following while Welcome show cases the current red hot favorite Akshay Kumar. Anything Akshay touches turns to gold. So I am counting on that to make Welcome into a really good blockbuster. Add to that the odd couple of Anil Kapoor and Nana Patekar and a sizzling Mallika Sherawat. Paresh Rawal completes the star packed ensemble.

Other two releases are Bombay to Bangkok and Sunday.

TZP has the ever dependable (kindly ignore Mangal Mangal Mangal....) Aamir and a very sensitive and meaningful story. The look seems fabulous and I already am feeling a bit emotional. The Kid looks lovable and the songs are soulful. So how can it
miss?

My view is give the audience two good films and they will watch both. Right na????

But this didn't work out for Laaga Chunari Mein Daag as the prescence of other movies hits its prospects badly.