Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged 1999
Virkamaditya talks about his favourite photograph
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Director Vikramaditya Motwane shares one of his treasured experimental images of the Taj, taken before he mastered the lens
MUMBAI MIRROR; March 27, 2011
This is one of those pictures I’m very proud of. Funnily enough, it all worked out by sheer accident and I’ve always been fascinated with how it all came together.
Back in 1999, I was about 22 and assisting Deepa Mehta with her film Water. We had gone to Delhi for a recce trip.
Maybe it was about being in Delhi and somewhat of a whim; I had never seen the Taj so I decided to make my way down to Agra on a quick detour.
Since I was just about getting started with photography at the time, I didn’t have any equipment of my own.
I had borrowed gear from a friend and landed up at the gates of the Taj with an SLR film camera, two lenses and an expired roll of Fuji film.
Given the amateur status of my photography at the time and the unreliable expired film, I had no idea how the shoot was going to work out.
I spent the day fooling around with the camera and managed to exhaust the roll, shooting pretty much blind the whole time.
It was a random solo trip so I just had fun with it. When I got back, I cross-processed the film (a mechanism by which one intentionally processes a film roll with chemicals intended for different type of film for unpredictable results).
Like I said, it was mad experimentation but when the image developed I was stunned. It looked fantastic. I was surprised that More >
Cricket slumps Bollywood
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The tie between cricket and Bollywood has turned into a no-contest. Forget fielding potential biggies, Bollywood has refused to take strike!
Misha Paul (BOMBAY TIMES; March 2, 2011) Some would say this was inevitable. Others would say Bollywood could have done better and released a few movies even while the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 was on. Responses would vary, but that takes nothing away from the hard fact that Bollywood will release merely two films in March. That Bollywood — even Bollywood — has had to take the escape route by lining up its releases for April, shows the impact of the tournament on the common man.
Not everybody would agree that this needed to happen. But most believe that cricket on a grand stage plays havoc with the industry’s release timings. Add to that, exams that will place during March, and you have a situation in which the new releases are faced with the threat of running inside half-empty theatres.
Trade analyst and critic Taran Adarsh says, “WC and exams play the spoilsport during the release of a film. The proof is the latest Vishal Bharadwaj release, which opened in theatres on the same day as India took on Bangladesh. It did not get a good opening anywhere.” Is not releasing the films during such cricketing extravaganzas a smart move? “After WC, there will be IPL. From July to August, we will have rains. Then we have the Shraddh and Ramzaan time, when films are not released.”
Trade analyst Vinod More >
Movie Review: NO ONE KILLED JESSICA by FENIL SETA
12 years ago
Since a long time, the first Friday of the year was considered a jinx. Many filmmakers were of the opinion that a film is bound to flop if it releases in the first week of January. They even supported their ‘theory’ by giving instances of films that hit screens in the first week of the year and bombed. It was a baseless assumption as coincidentally, all films releasing in the first week of Jan since some years were duds. One can’t expect films like Dulha Mil Gaya, Jawani Diwani etc to work, right?! But No One Killed Jessica, released on the initial Friday of 2011, has helped break the so-called jinx! The film has turned out to be a commercial success for the simple reason that it is a very well made film! Based on the famous Jessica Lal murder case, No One Killed Jessica is a class apart in the sense that never ever a film, based on a true life incident, has turned out to be so thrilling and interesting. A film that surely deserves a watch by each and everyone!
The story of the movie: Delhi, Summer 1999. Jessica (Myra Karn), a bartender in a high profile party, is shot dead by Manish Bharadwaj (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), son of a powerful politician (Shireesh Sharma). And why? Simply because Jessica refused to serve Manish the drinks after closing hours! Jessica’s sister Sabrina (Vidya Balan) and their parents are shattered with the news of Jessica’s death. The police arrests Manish and his accomplices and it seemed like an open and shut case. After all, More >
I feel vindicated-Sabrina Lall
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Subhash K Jha (MID-DAY; January 7, 2011)
Sabrina Lall’s apprehensions were put to rest after she saw No One Killed Jessica
Sabrina, the sister of slain model Jessica Lall recently saw the film No One Killed Jessica based on her sister’s murder. She has loved it. Speaking after a special screening held in Delhi, she said, “It was eerie and moving. sWe were all deeply relieved by how true to life the film has turned out.”
Sabrina Lall and Vidya Balan
The fear was that the film would sensationalise the subject, “When we agreed to let them make the movie, my family and I had been warned about the ‘Bollywood types’. We were told, ‘You don’t know what you are getting into. Why have you given the NOC? Now they’ll just do anything they like.’ But watching the film I feel vindicated. It will make Jessica kind of immortal.”
Precise detail
Admiring the director for his diligent recreation of the harrowing time after Jessica’s murder in 1999 when Sabrina and her family knocked on doors for justice Sabrina sighs, “Rajkumar Gupta has replicated almost every detail of the events of the proceedings after Jessica’s death.
Even the dialogues and conversations in the film are what I’ve gone through. All of us, my cousins etc, were like, ‘My god, how did the director know all this?’
The director had got the script approved by Jessica’s sis. Says Sabrina appreciatively, “Rajkumar had sat with me for almost a week. We discussed everything about the case.”
Constant reminder
She More >
Actors are like beggars-Rani Mukerji
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Rani Mukerji says she wants to be seen more often on the big screen but describes actors as beggars waiting for good scripts to come their way, which is the reason for her long absence .
By IANS (THE TIMES OF INDIA.COM; December 26, 2010)
“Actors are beggars! They wait for good scripts to come their way. It’s always the makers who decide to make a film and then it’s on the actors to choose what they want to do on the basis of what is being offered to them,” Rani, who will feature in a never-before-seen avatar in ” No One Killed Jessica“, told IANS in an interview.
“Honestly, the kind of roles that are being offered to me, I have to think hard before taking them. I have a responsibility towards my fans and I can’t do random things. I have to do a role that catches people’s attention. If my fans love me so much, the least I can do is to come out with a good film for them; that’s why I do fewer films now,” said the 32-year-old.
The dusky damsel wants to be seen more, but somehow she is not so lucky.
“I keep hoping and praying that I get scripts which are different so that I can take up those films. As an actor I want to be seen.
“The constant reaction that I keep getting is that ‘Rani, we want to see more of you’, and I too want to do more films. In fact, I want to come out with two-three films every year, but I’ve not been really lucky that I could do that. I’m not getting the roles that I really want to do,” she said.
Rani, who used to do a More >
Godmother director is back
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
BOMBAY TIMES (December 4, 2010)
Film writer-director Vinay Shukla won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film for Godmother in 1999. And then for some reason he went slow. He got busy with lectures at the screenplay writing course at the FTII, Pune and conducted regular workshops on scriptwriting in Lucknow and at the Satyajit Ray Film Institute, Kolkata. Now, he is back with his next that has an ensemble cast like Konkana Sen Sharma, Shreyas Talpade, Mahie Gill, Raima Sen, Shahana Goswami, Boman Irani, among others. The film is once again something that is right up Vinay’s ally. It is a collage of four short stories about women’s empowerment. It addresses the issue of women’s emancipation from restrictive roles in traditional storytelling, and ends up walking a very thin line between making a profound statement about empowerment and being potentially offensive for painting these women as cunning. What makes Vinay’s portfolio of 25 odd films exciting is because he keeps experimenting with different styles of story conception, screenplay and dialogue in regular mainstream fare (Satyamev Jayate, Ram Jaane, Virasat) as well as off-the-beaten-track subjects (Parinay, Tarang).
Salman, Bebo in Bhansali’s next?
02 years ago
SLB looks to revive Bajirao Mastani after seven years
Prithwish Ganguly | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; December 1, 2010)
This has to be the biggest end-of-the-year news for Bollywood. Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who wanted to cast Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan) again after his super success with them in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam in 1999, has revived plans for the project he had in mind. It is his ambitious film Bajirao Mastani that Bhansali had to shelve in 2003 after the bitter break-up between the actors; the filmmaker had said then that he could not see anybody else fitting their shoes for his epic romance based on the 18th century love story between two historically significant characters.
Now, Bollywood sources say, Bhansali is quietly reviving the project and though he will cast Salman (his favourite hero) as Bajirao, he is getting into a dialogue with Kareena Kapoor to act opposite the macho actor as Mastani. Though Ash continues to be Bhansali’s favourite leading lady, the filmmaker knows that the possibility of Salman and Ash making a film again is next to impossible. So, he has decided to replace Ash with Kareena who he feels is the best among the current actresses to fit the bill. Salman and Kareena share good vibes so Bhansali is a relieved man. Insiders say this move will not see the Bhansali-Ash relationship going sour.
Mastani was the wife of Peshwa Bajirao who served the Maratha empire. They were said to be the perfect More >
Rani smokes, abuses in No One Killed Jessica
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By India Abroad
Thursday Nov 18 7:25 PM
New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) After playing variety of roles, Rani Mukerji will be seen in a completely different avatar in ‘No One Killed Jessica’ – she plays a journalist who smokes cigarettes and hurls abuses.
‘(Director) Rajkumar Gupta wanted me to give the impression of a strong journalist and to represent media as it is. I have seen a few female reporters smoke. I am just playing you all…so you can’t put me in trouble for this,’ Rani, a non-smoker, told reporters here Thursday.
The film’s first look was unveiled and Rani was seen using Hindi abuses in the trailer of the film, which deals with model Jessica Lall’s murder case. Jessica was shot dead by Manu Sharma, son of a Haryana politician, in 1999.
Rani said she didn’t have to go an extra mile to play the role in ‘No One Killed Jessica’, which also features Vidya Balan.
‘Thanks to my career, I have met a lot of reporters and anchors. So I didn’t have to meet any one specific for my characterisation in the film. Rajkumar just wanted me to use my experience with journalists to be like them in the film,’ she said.
Gupta says abuses were imperative to Rani’s role.
‘The abuses have been used to define attitude and not in a derogatory sense. These days abuses are a part and parcel of conversational language and we didn’t feel that there was any harm in using them,’ said Gupta.
The cast and crew of the movie hope that the censor allows the film to pass without the beeps so that the More >
Aamir to play the cop again
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Actor’s role in new film confirmed
Prithwish Ganguly | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; November 10, 2010)
Aamir Khan has some set principles. And one among them is that the acclaimed actor does not like to repeat any of his screen characters. But BT has learned that Aamir is set to break his own rules for his next film that is being directed by Reema Kagti. The film is already in the news, and extensively, with people guessing what Aamir’s role will be. Now, we break the suspense with the exclusive information that the actor is set to play the cop once again. The last time Aamir played a policeman was in Sarfarosh, 12 years ago.
The 1999 film saw Aamir’s character, Ajay Singh Rathod, go on to become an iconic celluloid hero and Sarfarosh enjoyed a cult cop film status since then. Cut to 2011, Aamir’s character Tarun will see him essay the role of a razor-sharp cop in plainclothes who is a prime member of the Crime Branch — much like Rathod of Sarfarosh, a cop who worked on his own terms. The untitled suspense drama is set to roll in February and will release in the same year too.
When contacted, Aamir confirmed to BT that he was indeed playing a policeman again. The film is a two heroine suspense drama and Aamir will also play a central role in its production. Buzz is that he is co-producing the film along with long-time friends Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani with whom he had done the hugely successful and acclaimed Dil Chahta Hai in 2001. More >