Archive for March, 2008
Nandita Das crossing borders
Mar 30th
Nandita Das has carved her own niche in the world of unconventional cinema and now the gal is in news again for yet another parallel cinema but this time with a difference. This time she has crossed the borders and will be seen in the movie ‘Ramchand Pakistani’ under the direction of a Pakistani filmmaker Mehreen Jabar.The film will also have other television stars from Pakistan television playing important roles in the film. Nandita plays the character Champa, mother of the boy, Ramchand. The story revolves round the hassles faced by the family when the boy and his father accidentally cross the border. The story moves parallel between the father-son in Kutch jail and the mother left in a small village in Pakistan. The film also brings out the differences of being a Hindu dalit in an Indian jail.
Talking about director Mehreen, Nandita says, “I met Mehreen at Kara Film Festival where Bawandar was to be screened. Later on, we became friends and she narrated me this story which I found very powerful. She is a very intelligent and a sensitive director.”
Ramachand Pakistani will be showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Tabu’s loss is Amisha Patel’s gain
Mar 30th
Separation from her boyfriend Vikram Bhatt has inspired Amisha Patel to focus more on her career. After landing with a crucial role in Kunal Kohli’s next film under Yashraj banner, the actress has taken a step further and has bagged in a meaty role in Shah Rukh Khan’s home production ‘Billoo Barber’, a comedy to be directed by Priyadarshan.The film is about two childhood friends – a barber (played by Irrfan Khan) and a rich filmstar (played by SRK himself). The film is apparently inspired from the mythical Krishna-Sudama story. It is reported to be a remake of Malayalam film ‘Katha Parayumbol’.
Amisha Patel has been signed to play Irrfan’s wife. However, she will also be sharing some scenes with Shah Rukh. Tabu was the first choice for the role but she declined the offer to Amisha’s gain.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Hrithik Roshan v/s SRK in ‘Krazzy 4′
Mar 30th
‘Krazzy 4’ can’t get enough of item numbers. After SRK and Rakhi Sawant, now Hrithik Roshan has shot a red hot item number for the flick. The most interesting part is that both King Khan and Hrithik have danced to the same song ‘Break Free’ and it will definitely be a treat to see two Bollywood’s best bodies shaking to gain an edge over each other.Director Jaideep Sen says, “Hrithik’s song is on the same tune (as SRK) but there is a slight change in lyrics. He has danced brilliantly as usual and it shows! I am very lucky that two megastars have danced to the title song for my debut film. Rakhi Sawant’s song is for the masses as she is famous through her item songs.”
Hrithik’s number has been choreographed brilliantly by Ganesh Acharya. ‘Krazzy 4’ is a light-hearted comedy starring Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav, Irrfan Khan, Suresh Menon, and Juhi Chawla. It will release on April 11.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Tanushree Dutta pays for her tantrums
Mar 30th
With growing competition, professionalism is the word today. However, some actresses refuse to take off their attitude crown not without losses. So, when actress Tanushree Dutta threw tantrums on the sets of ‘Horn Ok Please’ this Wednesday, producer Sami Siddiqui decided not to give in to her attitude, ousted her out of the project and opted for a more professional Rakhi Sawant instead.It so happened that Tanushree, clad in skimpy clothes, was rehearsing an item song with the film’s choreographer and actor Nana Patekar. Provoked by her outfit some junior artist on the sets passed a lewd comment on Tanushree. To add to the insult, Nana Patekar reportedly said that she should have covered her body up to prevent people from getting provoked. Tanushree was so upset that she refused to perform with Nana. The song is reportedly spicy and Nana was supposed to touch her in some shots. The actress retired to her vanity van refusing to come out of it. This delayed the shoot for over two hours. Irked by Tanushree’s unprofessionalism, the producer cancelled the shoot. Now, the queen of item numbers, Rakhi Sawant, has bagged in the song.
‘Horn Ok Please’ is directed by Rakesh Sarang, and also stars Muzzamil Ibrahim and Rimi Sen.
Image source: GlamSham
Popularity: 16% [?]
Celina Jaitley faces abuse from Pakistani cricketers
Mar 30th
This one is the third incident of abuse and insult with Celina Jaitley, friends! This time the devil comes from the guests from across the border.This Sunday, Celina Jaitley was in Delhi for her performance at the Indian Cricket League’s match between Pakistan and India. However, after she had finished her performance and was leaving with her security personnel around the stadium, she heard loud abuses in Hindi coming out of the Pakistani players’ enclosure.
Though she refuses to share the nastier comments or to put blame on anyone, some of the less abrasive comments she heard included, “Move her away, she is spoiling the mood of the entire match,” and “Why does she need such heavy security? Is she Osama Bin Laden?”
Recalls Celina with a shudder, “At first I couldn’t believe where it was coming from. I still want to give them the benefit of the doubt because it’s so hard to believe they could behave this way.” Celina wanted to rush out of the spot to her car, “But I couldn’t because the security guys wouldn’t let me pass. So I was stuck listening to myself being described in the most colorful language.”
This certainly isn’t a friendly gesture coming from sports to entertainment!
Popularity: 12% [?]
Rekha and Rishi Kapoor shoot for ‘Sadiyaan’ at Golden Temple
Mar 27th
Yesteryear superstars Rekha and Rishi Kapoor shot a scene for their upcoming film ‘Sadia’ by Raj Kanwar at The Golden Temple in Amritsar on Tuesday, March 25, 2008. In the scene they cleaned utensils at the ‘langar’ of the temple. A few scenes were also shot in the marbled periphery of the temple and at the Akal Takht, the Sikh temporal seat.The duo first paid obeisance at its sanctum sanctorum and were later presented replicas of Harmandir Sahib and sets of Sikh religious books by the SGPC.
Not to mention that the crowd of overwhelmed to catch a glimpse of mystic Rekha clad in an off-white salwar-kammez and dupatta around her neck. Also, like every other religious visit, even this one was also not without controversies. Some people showed their displeasure when the actors were offered holy water, which they poured in each others’ mouths, as it is considered taboo inside the shrine premises by the Sikh ‘maryada” (religious code).
Rekha was nonetheless very touched by piety of the temple and said, “It is a pious and religious place for the whole world; not just one community”.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Holi Bash in Bollywood!
Mar 27th
Holi was celebrated with full fervor and enjoyment at financial and entertainment capital of the country. People were seen across the Bollywood applying ‘gulal’ and other synthetic colors on each other amidst the festivities of Holi. Some were seen playing holi in eco friendly manner applying herbal colors. In many localities the festival of holi was turned into the water canon arranged “rain dance” party.Stars were also not far behind in celebrating the festival as many programs were organized across the North West suburbs at homes of film stars. One such party was organized by lyricist Javed Akhtar and his activist-actress wife Shabana Azmi at their home in Juhu. The famous holi celebrations at Bachchans’ residence were cancelled due to the death of Amitabh’s mother Teji this year.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Konkona Sen’s first brush with comedy
Mar 27th
Konkona Sen is eagerly awaiting RituParno Ghosh’s ‘Sunglass’ to hit the screens. With this movie, bubbly Konkona is trying her hand at comedy for the first time and she did love doing it.“Though Mixed Doubles was a comedy I didn’t have any humorous scenes. Ranveer (Shorey) had the funny scenes. I didn’t. In Sunglass I do have the comedy. And I enjoyed myself. …I wonder when Rituda will release the film! He’s gone to another film Last Lear. We haven’t even dubbed for Sunglass. Me and Jayaji have been at his head to release it,” says Konkona.
Konkona shares the mother-daughter relationship with Jaya Bachchan in the movie. She has already done so with her in ‘Laaga Chunri Mein Daag’ and the two get along very well for sure. Well, for Konkona (credits to her easy going nature), there is no problem with any of her co-stars. She gets along well with all her co-stars, be it Kangana Ranaut in ‘Metro’, Sandhya Mridul and Tara Sharma in ‘Page 3’ or Madhuri Dixit in ‘Aaja Nach Le’.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone – Love birds in Bangkok
Mar 27th
Bangkok suddenly seems to be have become the second home for Bollywood these days. Saying so, coz recall all the Bollywood stars and half of them are in Bangkok either for work or fun (read pleasure). Neera Vora’s ‘Shortcut’ has let 4 A-stars (Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao) have work and play in this fun city. Also stationed in Bangkok is another A-star, Akshay Kumar, who is shooting for Nikhil Advani’s ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ with pretty and nubile co-star Deepika Padukone.Talking about Deepika, Ranbir Kapoor could just not be left out. So, instead of leaving his prized possession in the hands of ill famous Bollywood playboy, Akshay Kumar, (Don’t’ mind Twinkle!), the Kapoor prince decided to fly off to Bangkok to guard his lady love. Ranbir got an assignment to do a photoshoot for Filmfare magazine in Bangkok and, knowing that Deepika was already there, the actor lapped it up excitedly.
On Friday, he left for Bangkok for the photoshoot. Now, the love birds are surely painting the city of Bangkok red.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Salman goes shirtless again, this time for the kids
Mar 7th
Salman Khan and his shirtless avatar have become almost inseparable by now. And it was exactly this avatar of his that the kids got to see on the sets ‘Amul Star Voice of India Chhote Ustad’. First, Sallu Bhai swept the crowd as he stepped onto the stage with his hit song ‘Hai Rama Rama Ho’ from the film, ‘Lucky’. He also danced with the Chhote Ustad’s contestants, Aishwarya, Anvesha and Prakriti. And when the kids requsted him to let them have a look at his well-toned bod, Salman promptly obliged and removed his shirt in the true ‘Salman-i-shtyle’ singing to the tune of his hit song ‘O, O Jaane Jaana’. He flexed his muscles and drove the audience wild.“We all, including the audience went crazy when he took off his shirt. This was the best episodic shoot I have ever experience; it was filled with fun”, said the Chhote Ustad contestant, Aishwarya who has been a big fan of Salman Khan since her childhood.
However, this was not all. The bad-boy-with-the-golden-heart also showed the kids his humane side as he donated around five lakh rupees for the aid of one cancer-afflicted child. What’s more, the actor even let his creative urge take over, as he painted a canvas right on the sets. It was certainly a triple treat for the kids, who just couldn’t get enough of the actor.
Popularity: 15% [?]
Fairly unfair – Bipasha dumped for Karishma
Mar 7th
Bollywood’s list of sexy actresses would be definitely incomplete without the mention of dusky bong beauty Bipasha Basu, but never before this had Bips felt that her dusky complexion was in any way a hinderance in her career.Bips was signed for a jewelry brand, but she was swapped at the last minute for Karisma Kapoor. Bips was shocked when she learnt that it was her dusky skin which triggered the brand to replace her in the ad. According to the brand, the diamonds would not quite go that well with her dark complexion and also, her dusky look might not help the brand connect with the target women audience. Also Bipasha’s oomph image would have been an impediment for the families in patronizing the brand.
Now, Karisma Kapoor, with a fair and glowing skin, has been roped in to model for the brand instead of Bipasha Basu and the buzz doing the rounds is that she has already shot for the endorsement in a posh suburban hotel.
However, sources say that Bipasha Basu is very much hurt and disappointed by the whole episode. At the time, when the deal was being clinched with her by the company, they should have taken everything into account and should not have done something so humiliating like this at the last moment.
Also what worked for Lolo was the presence of Vasu Bhagnani’s brother Khemchand Bhagnani as a partner in the jewellery company. Khemchand pressed for Lolo as he considered her lucky for himself and his family. Karishma worked in Vasu Bhagnani’s ‘Coolie No 1’ and the movie was successful at the box office.
Well, that’s fairly unfair of the jewelery brand to do so with Bips. Isn’t it?
Popularity: 11% [?]
SRK, Gauri, Karan and Preity into table-top grooving
Mar 7th
Friday night, after the wedding of Anil Deshmukh, Prive, witnessed a sight any Movie lovers would give an arm for….Shah Rukh Khan, wife Gauri Khan, director Karan Johar and Preity Zinta in a hot foursome dance number.It so happened Shah Rukh and Gauri came into Prive with their gang of close friends comprising Karan Johar, Kajal Anand, Preity Zinta, Mehr Jessia, Manish Malhotra, Maheep and Sanjay Kapoor among others. They came in directly after attending Riteish’s brother Amit’s reception, followed by dinner at Tetsuma. The four Bollywood celebrities danced on top of table-tops and grooved to a mixture of English and Hindi music until early in the morning.
No need to mention that the crowd was thrilled to have them amongst them. No one bothered them for autographs or photographs. They just watched them letting their hair down and enjoying themselves. The group only left when Prive was shutting its doors at 3 am.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Shahrukh Khan with a turban
Mar 7th
Sports and SRK are merging more and more with each other. Recently, the Baadshah of Bollywood was present to inaugurate the ‘Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football tournament’ in Pune. In keeping with the true tradition of Pune, King Khan was spotted wearing a pink turban and to everyone’s surprise, Shah Rukh seemed completely in his element with ‘pagdi’ et al and needless to say, entertained one and all with his antics.What’s more, later he was even seen kicking ball, enjoying football as he always had. This is a hero who can add glamour to any sports, be it cricket, hockey or football!
Popularity: 10% [?]