RE: October 2007 - News - 3

Star line-up an annual affair at puja

Bollywood biggies have been on their menu for the past three years now. And for the residents of Pratapaditya Road Trikon Park, it’s something beyond the silver-screen lure.

“This has become part of our tradition now. We demand a grand opening from our puja committee and this is what we get,” smiles Sagnik Mukherjee, happy to volunteer as spokesperson for his para. “We have always had a bash.”

Having stars from Bollywood visiting them has become customary, thanks to Union minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi. This year, the Bollywood bouquet at the inauguration on Monday included Preity Zinta, Ajay Devgan, Dharmendra and Rakesh Roshan.

Devgan and Preity came down leaving their shoots midway just to be part of the grand Bengal festival.

Starting with Dharmendra, as the stars greeted the huge gathering one by one in the small cordoned lane beside the little triangular stretch they call the park, a reverberating surge of voices greets them back.

Trikon Park doesn’t have space big enough to accommodate the galaxy of stars, but the local residents were calm and well-behaved. “A lot of planning went behind it, too,” said Sagnik.

The stars could easily walk through the human barricades from the stage to the pandal, a good few yards, and there was no untoward incident. For the people, even a giant screen was put up so that no one was deprived of star-gazing.

Last year saw John Abraham and Sharmila Tagore, Nana Patekar and Anupam Kher taking the centre stage. And the year before, the residents had Jaya Prada and Sunil Dutt. No doubt, things are getting bigger by the year.

But did they have a wish list for this year? “Well, Hrithik Roshan was our first choice and Vivek Oberoi second. And of course, there was Rani Mukerji,” said Santanu Roy, a committee member.

“Tollywood stars are also a fixture of our Puja every year. Be it Mithunda or Tapas Pal, they all claim they belong here,” laughs Sagnik, while attending to his job of keeping order around the temple.

Rituparna Sengupta and Debasree Roy were present at this year’s inauguration.

Pushpa Mukherjee, aged 60, was there with her daughter-in-law and two grandsons, like every year. Whom did she come to see among the stars?

“Everyone, especially Preity Zinta and Rakesh Roshan,” she said. “And I would love to see Rani Mukerji, our gharer meye,” smiled daughter-in-law Mallika.

Sagnik goes on to explain how the pandal has been fashioned on the Kutaikundi temple of Orissa’s Mayurbhanj district, an excellent piece of art that has vanished even from the state’s tourism brochure. The nagor shilpa of Keeching village, in Orissa, has been recreated in pith and plaster of Paris by award-winning artisan Deepak Ghosh.

If you think para puja cannot get bigger or better than this, here’s Priya Ranjan Das Munshi’s promise for the year to come. “Rakeshji (Roshan) has just promised me that if he keeps well next year, he’ll definitely bring Hrithik with him.”


Preity Zinta and Ajay Devgan at the 2007 inauguration of Pratapaditya Road Trikon Park’s Durga puja.

Quelle: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071018/as...ory_8443006.asp

Bollywood biggies run own shows, turn producers - October 18

Some time back superstar Shah Rukh Khan and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had a fallout, with Khan stepping out of Chopra’s forthcoming film which is to be directed by Raj Kumar Hirani of the Munnabhai series.

According to insiders, Chopra is reportedly miffed with Khan because the actor wanted to sign Hirani for another film with his banner Red Chillies Entertainment. Well, this is only the tip of the iceberg. In the near future, superstars working with outside producers in Bollywood may become the exception rather than the rule.

The reason is simple. "Corporates are coming forward to forge ties with all the leading Bollywood brands, ie mostly the actors, offering them such huge sums for the joint ventures/independent productions, that actors prefer to float their own banners," says a trade source.

Talk doing the rounds is that Eros International has reportedly given Rs 200 crore to Ajay Devgan’s home banner Devgan Entertainment. This has not only helped Devgan and his partner Kumar Mangat wipe their slate clean of the losses they had incurred in the past, but has helped them to revive their company with some noteworthy projects.

Last year, the company won accolades with ‘Omkara’, this year it is getting ready to take Anurag Kashyap’s ‘No Smoking’ to Rome. Besides this, Ajay is making his directorial debut with ‘U, Me aur Hum’ which has Kajol and him in the lead.

In recent times, besides the Khans — Aamir, Shah Rukh and Salman — who have their own home productions, Bollywood has also seen Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, and Sunny Deol planning films under their own banner. Amitabh Bachchan too is expected to revive his banner AB Corp. "Later this year R K Films will start a couple of movies," confirms a source from Raj Kapoor’s studio. Aashim Samanta, who is currently making a film with Mithun Chakraborty, says, "It makes complete sense for an actor to launch his own banner, especially if he is in the league of Shah Rukh or Aamir." Ratan Jain of Venus also agrees. "Shah Rukh is one of the biggest brands going. And he also has a sound knowledge of the business of movies. His ‘Chalte Chalte’ and ‘Main Hoon Na’ were very successful. And his ‘Om Shanti Om’ is the most talked about project currently. Under the circumstances, it makes sense for him to continue producing movies."

Another source points out: "If Shah Rukh had only acted in ‘Om Shanti Om’, he would have at best made Rs 15 crore as his remuneration plus a share in profits from the Mumbai/overseas territory. However, by producing the film, the actor has reportedly made Rs 43 crore on the table. You don’t need to be a genius to see why making a film under your banner is more profitable."

Aamir Khan and PVR — his associates on ‘Taare Zameen Pe’ — are also expected to make a killing. Shabbir Boxwala, who is a partner with Suneil Shetty in Popkorn Entertainment, a banner that is launching their film ‘EMI’ with Sanjay Dutt on October 15 says, "Suneil has a great business acumen. Our company does entertainment shows and is currently producing ‘Mission Istanbul’ with Viviek Oberoi and ‘EMI’ with Dutt."

Boxwala feels, "The time has never been better for an actor to launch his own banner because most actors are big brands. What they bring to the table is their brand value, besides which they only need some technical assistance from a well-trained staff to carry out their instructions and run a profitable production company." "No star in Bollywood can get away with asking Rs 50 crore as his remuneration as yet. But they also know that films are sold on their names and so by making films under their own banners they can not only keep a control on the quality of the product, they can also take home a neat profit," says a trade source.

Among the biggest stars in Bollywood today Akshay Kumar and John Abraham are the only ones who don’t have their own banners. While Kumar says, "I’m happy being an actor," since he is riding a wave, you may soon hear of him floating his own company.

Quelle: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India...how/2472074.cms

Aap Ka Suroor, Guru nominated for Bollywood music awards - October 18

Bollywood Singer-Composer Himesh Reshamiya's acting debut 'Aap Ka Suroor' has been nominated for three categories for Bollywood Music awards along sides the likes of A R Rehman's Guru.

Reshamiya will compete with A R Rehman (Guru), Shankar Ehsaan Loy (Kabhi Alvida na Kehna), Pritam (Dhoom 2) and Jatin Lalit (Fanaa) for the award of Best Music Director, CEO of Bollywood Awards Kamal Dandona announced on Wednesday.

The nominations have been based on the preference expressed by Non Resident Indians in a poll conducted over last several weeks.

'Guru' and 'Aap Ka Suroor' have been nominated in three categories and 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna', 'Dhoom 2', 'Omkara', and Don has been nominated for two categories each for Bollywood music awards which will be presented on November 17 at a glittering star-studded ceremony at Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City in New Jersey, he said.

Competing for the best male singers will be Himesh Reshammiya (Yeh Tera Mera Milna-Aap Ka Suroor), Sukhvider Singh (Omkar-Omkara), Sukhbir (Dil Laga-Dhoom 2), Shaan (Main Hoon Don-Don) and Sonu Nigam (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna-Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna).

Alisha Chinoy (Its Rocking- Kya Love Story Hai), Sunidhi Chauhan (Beedi-Omkara), Shreya Ghosal (Barso Re Megha -Guru), Chinmayee Keerthi (Maya Maya-Guru) and Alka Yagnik (Salaam-Umrao Jaan) have been nominated for best female singer.

For best song, Sunidhi Chauhan-(Dhoom Machale-Dhoom 2), Himesh Reshmiya (Joot Nahi Bolna-Aap Ka Suroor), Alisha Chinoy (Its Rocking- Kya Love Story Hai), Shaan (Main Hoon-Don) and Keerthi Chunmayee (Maya Maya-Guru) will compete.

Quelle: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/009200710181240.htm

Sayali's like this only

BEST known as the Woh Ajnabi girl from The Train, Sayali Bhagat says life took a dramatic U-turn after winning a beauty pageant. "I'm a small-time girl from Nashik, who had to grow up almost overnight under the media glare," says the soft-spoken actress, looking young and dewy-fresh in a white balloon dress.

In town for the inauguration of Sangini Diamonds at the Rahim Service Station on Wednesday afternoon, Bhagat was nevertheless poise and confidence personified. Guess staying in Mumbai does that to you.

However, how does she rate her chances in Bollywood considering that her debut film bombed ? "Look, I'm not a star kid to have been able to take my pick of movies. I did my best with what I had. Sure, the film didn't do too well financially, but it definitely gave me an opportunity to prove my acting skills. The feedback I got for my performance was extremely positive and many critics even termed me as versatile. Thus, I am quite happy and have no regrets with the movie's box office numbers," comes the prim and propah answer.

Besides, she'll have you know, things are sure looking up, what with biggies like Halla Bol, Good Luck coming up, not to forget an Amol Shedke film. In Rajkumar Santoshi's Halla Bol, Sayali will be sharing screen space with Bollywood biggies like Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan. "I get to portray my naughty, brattish side in Good Luck which will be hitting theatres by November end," confesses Bhagat. " Then again, I play a cop in Amol Shedke's film. So you see, I'm doing a wide range of roles," she says.

Her short foray into movieland hasn't been without its share of controversies. Ask about her catfight with co-actor Geeta Basra who claimed to be the lead in The Train, and you get a refreshingly candid answer. "Even although I was the lead in the movie, Geeta claimed otherwise. But I did not feel the need to counter her claim as I knew that the audience would watch the movie and figure out the truth for itself," she signs off.

Quelle: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/...is-only/229837/

SHOLAY - 99, AAG - 49

If the disastrous box office response to RAM GOPAL VARMA KI AAG wasn't bad enough, further salt is being rubbed on the wounds with the film's original DVDs being now made available for a mere Rs. 49/=.

T-Series, who hold the home video rights of the film, have launched the film's DVDs at a dirt cheap price. This is a strategy that the company has adopted mainly for those movies which have either exhausted their shelf life to a good extent or have been major failures at the box office.

On the other hand DVDs of Ramesh Sippy's SHOLAY, which continues to find repeat audience till date whenever it arrives on the big screen or is beamed on satellite, are higher priced at Rs. 99/= on ULTRA. In fact even this price reduction has also taken place just recently as the DVDs were much higher priced till around a few months back.

Quelle: http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/hindi/article/34155.html

Movies Interrupted

Habe hier mal nur Ajay gelistet!

Due to production goof-ups, a schedule of Nagesh Kukunoor's Eight by Ten (earlier titled Tasveer) went awry. Back home from Canada, Akshay Kumar, who obviously doesn't like his dates to go down the tubes, alloted them to another film. So what happens to Eight by etc?

Well, it could be shelved.. stalled.. stuck. Glitches, differences, plain old production problems have been the bane of Bombay show business, notorious for the wastage of man and money power.

Cut to the chase then.. or just look at some of the movies that went poof with the wind.. for reasons known and unknown.

Mehbooba
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Manisha Koirala
Status: Ready but no takers.
Reason: Director Afzal Khan's romantic saga has been a case of no-show. Shakeel Noorani's Jaan ki Baazi and Pankaj Kharbanda's Dost are other Sanjay Dutt movies that are not likely to increase the sale of popcorn.

Champ of incomplete projects
- We need to introduce a Film Café Award..pronto! For the Best Mr Shelved Projects. Raj Kumar Santoshi has announced more projects than any other living Indian director (Shekhar Kapur is a close runner-up). Even a very early project planned with Meenakshi Seshadri and Sunny Deol was scrapped.. and no, we're not talking Damini.
- Then two years ago, it was the Rs 100 crore Mahabharat for Ramoji Rao. What's happening sir?
- London Dreams (inspired by Amadeus) with Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan but now it's learnt that producer P J Singh is looking for another director.
- Saamna toplining Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai and Nana Patekar was launched but nothing happened.
- In 2005, Santoshi announced Prithviraj-Samyukta with Ajay Devgan playing the feisty Rajput warlord and Aishwarya Rai as his consort. Poof.
- Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan were supposed to appear on the screen for the first time with Ranveer. In fact, Bachchan Sr was to re-start AB Corp with this project, but apart from a big launching party, nothing happened.

Quelle: http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/...ies+Interrupted

Golmaal Returns: Ready for Dubai

Well, what do block buster hits Golmaal, Malamaal Weekly and Dhamaal have in common?

Not too much to guess there, definitely the 'maal' factor and coincidentally, all these films have earned good 'maal' in the box office. Director of Golmaal, Rohit Shetty who's next film Sunday starring Arshad Warsi, Ayesha Takia, Ajay Devgan and Anjana Sukhanani, may not have the common link, but is almost ready with the movie now and all set to head to Dubai in November to make another film- the sequel to the hit laughathon Golmaal- Golmaal Returns!!

"Sunday is almost finished. I am looking forward to its release. Maybe I should consider changing the title to Sundaymaal for a safe bet!" jokes Shetty.

Interestingly his other film Golmaal Returns will have four heroines also this time, for which Kareena Kapoor and Anjana Sukhnani are already confirmed. The man is busy looking out for his other two heroines for the movie.

Guess our Bollywood ladies, might just be in for a surprise soon!

Quelle: http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywo...rns-051007.html

Riding on a rainbow

Hier gehts schon wieder um dieses Tamil-Remake "Pudupetai", hier nur mal ein Auszug, wo es direkt um Ajay geht!

...
While Selvaraghavan has roped in Vivek for ‘7 G Rainbow colony,’ a Tamil newspaper reported that he has also roped in Ajay Devgan for the remake of his film ‘Pudupetai’, which originally starred Danush aka Rajnikath’s son-in-law. While Ajay could not be reached for comment, Thangadurai said, “Selvaraghavan is in Kerala shooting at the moment. I can’t confirm it.
...

Quelle: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1128591

When director-actor pairs go awry

Auszug:

t has happened so many times before. Avant-garde directors who start off with committed actors suddenly start bothering about commercial considerations and change loyalties.

It happened when Prakash Jha crossed over from Anu Kapoor in 'Damul' to Ajay Devgan in 'GangaaJal'. Poor Anu kept quiet. But the volatile Naseeruddin Shah was far more vocal when Ketan Mehta decided to make his dream project on the life of Mangal Pandey with Amitabh Bachchan. The film finally got made with Aamir Khan in the lead.

Naseer blasted Mehta for deserting those who supported the cause of meaningful cinema. So did Om Puri. He felt betrayed when his favourite director Govind Nihalani switched from the Om-Naseer brigade to Ajay in 'Takshak'. This, after Om provided Nihalani with infinite inspirational energy in 'Aakrosh', 'Ardh Satya' and numerous other films.
...

Quelle: http://www.indiaenews.com/bollywood/20071018/75811.htm

The sexiest dads of the film industry: A Father’s Day special

Der Artikel ist definitiv von diesem Jahr!

Ajay Devgan

Actor Ajay Devgan says he has learned patience from his daughter Nysa.

The actor, who has excelled in several roles, has also excelled in his real life role of daddy dearest.

Having built a good physique and with his no-nonsense attitude, Ajay definitely makes a sexy dad!

Quelle: http://movies.indiatimes.com/quickies/msid-2127992.cms

PVR plans Rs 100cr spend in movie production

Leading theatre chain PVR Cinemas has charted out an investment of Rs 100 crore for film production. It plans to make three to four films in the current financial year, through its wholly-owned subsidiary PVR Pictures.

“With a proven track-record in the exhibition and distribution of films, we at PVR felt the need to expand in the entertainment space through content creation, and thus are venturing into production. To begin with we aim to
produce five-six films of which two are co-productions with Aamir Khan Productions and two will be directed by Rajkumar Santoshi,” said Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, joint managing director, PVR Cinemas.

Indian largest theatre chain PVR’s Cinemas, had announced its foray into film production by collaborating with Aamir Khan Productions for two movies starring actor Aamir Khan. While the film first ‘Taare Zameen Par’ is slated for release in December, the second film ‘Jane Tu Ya Jaane Na’ is scheduled for release in February 2009.

PVR is now ramping up its efforts on the production front. Business Standard had earlier reported that PVR is close to signing a two-film
co-production deal with filmmaker Raj Kumar Santoshi. Back then Santoshi had confirmed the development.

PVR today made an offical announcement about its teaming up with Rajkumar Santoshi for two-films and its plans to make a historical epic “Ashoka- The Great” with Ajay Devgan. The other film will be a comedy starring Shahid Kapoor and Katrina Kaif in lead roles. Both the films are slated for release by August 2008 and March 2009 respectively.

PVR Pictures is also on the verge of signing more deals with other directors and is strengthening its management base.

It has appointed Ashoka Holla as chief operating officer of the film production cell. Ashoka will be spearheading PVR Pictures’ content creation (production) in movies, international business and home entertainment.

Quelle: http://www.business-standard.com/common/...IN&autono=29092

Being bad today in Hindi films is good business

Auszug

...
Today, there isn't the prototype villain. There are interesting threads in a story. So there is the politician-don nexus in a slew of underworld films, there's a baby-faced killer in Being Cyrus, a chikna in Johnny Gaddaar, a slick operator in Zinda, even a glamourous cat burglar in Dhoom 2. Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Akshaye Khanna, Ajay Devgan, John Abraham, Shabana Azmi, Aishwarya Rai, Kajol, Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor, Esha Deol — all of them painted cinema grey. On the other hand, the recognizable villain that you threw curses at as he walked in, has all but disappeared from the screen.
...

Quelle: http://www.indiafm.com/features/2007/10/22/3157/