Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged Abhishek Bachchan
Deepika-from bikinis to Bengal sarees!
Jul 29th
…Deepika’s quite enjoying the ride
Nimisha Tiwari | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; July 28, 2010)
If in Housefull, her last film, the gorgeous Deepika Padukone wore bikinis and rode water scooters… get ready to see her in Bengal cotton sarees riding a bicycle in her next — Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.
The sexy actress plays freedom fighter Kalpana Dutta of the Chittagong Uprising of the 1930s. A role that has excited Deepika no end, because Kalpana was strong and feisty, among the first women freedom fighters of the country.
The film itself, jointly produced by Ajay and Sanjeev Bijli along with Sunita A Gowariker, is an epic period thriller based on the book Do And Die written by Kalpana’s daughter-in-law Manini Chatterjee. Acting opposite Deepika is Abhishek Bachchan. It is presented by AGPPL and PVR Pictures. Director Ashutosh Gowariker thought Deepika brought much energy to Kalpana Dutta’s character.
This film is being shot in Goa and Mumbai and is due for release on December 3. Javed Akhtar has written its lyrics with Sohail Sen doing the music. Designer Neeta Lulla’s designed the costumes. So if you see Deepika dressed in cotton sarees pedalling a cycle in the city… don’t be surprised. She’s quite enjoying the ride!
SRK’s biwi on TV
Jul 22nd
Shah Rukh will act with his wife Gauri in a TV commercial
Sonal Chawla (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 22, 2010)
Now that Shah Rukh is taking time off from shooting for his various endorsements to concentrate on RA.One, wife Gauri Khan is exploring unchartered territory. She has bagged her first brand endorsement with her husband.
Very soon, the couple will be seen in a television commercial. The buzz in the industry is that they will endorse a very popular furnishing house. The shoot for the commercial is likely to take place in Mumbai.
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| Gauri and Shah Rukh Khan |
Ad filmmaker, Sunhil Sippy, (who directed Snip) will be directing King Khan and his wife in this commercial. And in this stint, Sunhil seems to have got by with a little help from his friends Makarand Deshpande and Saurabh Shukla actively helping him out wherever possible.
Gauri, who has always maintained a very low profile in the industry, is known to have designed costumes for her husband during his Baazigar (1993) days. She turned producer with Main Hoon Na (2004) and Om Shanti Om (2007). According to the source Gauri is finally letting go of her shell.
“Gauri has been approached for commercials earlier but somehow things never worked out. This commercial with Shah Rukh will be her first full-fledged assignment in front of the camera,” added the source.
Be it Saif Ali khan and Kareena Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai or Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna, star couples have always sizzled on the small screen.
Abhishek, Sanju in RGV’s Department?
Jul 21st
Ram Gopal Varma’s next Department will be loosely based on the lives of encounter cops Daya Nayak and Pradeep Sawant; Sanjay Dutt and Abhishek Bachchan will play the lead roles
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 21, 2010)
It seems Ramu is veering away from making horror films now. For good reason we suppose. The director is all set to make his next film Department, which is apparently based on the lives of encounter cops. Apparently Sanjay Dutt will play a character that is loosely based on Sub-inspector Daya Nayak. Added to this, it is believed that Abhishek Bachchan will play a role that’s based on DCP of ATS Pradeep Sawant.
Our source said, “Department will explore the much-discussed subject of the relationship between the police and the underworld. The subject of this nexus has been the theme for many films but in Department, it will be portrayed in a more real manner. The film will deal with the forming of the encounter squad and will follow the lives of the encounter cops and their friendships and rivalries.”
It is believed that director Ram Gopal Varma has already spoken to Sanjay Dutt. They will be working together after ten years. They had worked together in Daud. Ramu has apparently spoken to Abhishek Bachchan as well and the necessary formalities are to be finalised.
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| Abhishek Bachchan | Sanjay Dutt | |
Apparently, the film will also have a character based on the current Director General of police D. Sivanandhan. Ram Gopal Varma had loosely fashioned the role of Commisioner Srinivasan (Mohanlal) in Company on Sivanandhan earlier. However, casting for the character Ramu plans to have in Department, is yet to be finalised.
When contacted Ram, Gopal Varma said, “I am working on the story of a film called Department and it’s not based on any existing characters. Nothing has been finalised.”
However Dharam Oberoi, Sanjay Dutt’s business manager, confirmed the news and said, “All I know is that Sanju sir (Sanjay Dutt) is doing Ramu’s next film. Since Ramu has directly spoken to Sanju I am not aware of the details of his role. The dates will be finalised once Sanju is back in India.”
SRK’s a friend; Salman is affectionate to me-Nikhil Dwivedi
Jul 20th
Nikhil Dwivedi talks about his equation with the two Khans of Bollywood
Deepali Dhingra | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; July 20, 2010)
Raavan wasn’t favourably received at the Box Office. Was that disappointing for you?
Obviously, because every actor has expectations from his film. But at least I got some good reviews for my performance and that is heartening. I’ve seen the hard work put in by all, right from the director to all the actors, including Aishwarya and Abhishek. Somewhere, I don’t feel disappointed for myself but for the entire cast and crew. For me, this film was a step forward in every way.
What’s in the pipeline now?
I want to concentrate on the remake of Arjun, I’m quite excited about that. We have changed the entire script and made it contemporary as unemployment is not an issue so much now. But again, it’s about the main protagonist being against the system. Then there’s a film with Shashank Shah, who made Dasvadaniya. A film with Tushar Kapoor would be releasing sometime in September. It’s a very edgy film.
What’s happening with Basra?
Basra was delayed for some reasons. But I’ve been told by director Navdeep Singh that the project is on. I believe they are looking forward to shooting it sometime in October. They’ve taken my dates for it.
Recently, there have been rumours about your falling out and patching up with Shah Rukh Khan as well as your proximity with Salman Khan. What’s the true picture?
I’ve known Shah Rukh Khan a fairly long time, have always looked upto him and regard him as a mentor. Usually, I refrain from talking about our friendship because the position that I’m in, it looks I’m piggybacking on him, and I don’t want him or anyone else to get that impression. Just for that reason, I’m reluctant to talk about the friendship I share with him. Having said that, I have also known Salman for quite some time. Very recently, I joined him for his charity show in Dubai. Salman was extremely encouraging and very affectionate towards a novice like me. He was so affectionate towards me without ever wondering if Shah Rukh’s close to me. Shah Rukh has never ever told me who to be friends with or who to interact with. They’re two adults and they disagree, we should respect that. That doesn’t mean we can interact with one and can’t with the other. Each of them are doing their work and doing their best. One should interact with them and learn as much as one can from them.
Abhishek-Katrina to work in 3 films together
Jul 19th
The two actors who hardly know each other will do three films back-to-back later this year
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 19, 2010)
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| Nilesh wairker |
Abhishek Bachchan and Katrina Kaif will now be spending most of their working hours together (hope Ash doesn’t mind). The two have signed three films together and that too in a row. This would mean that Abhishek and Katrina, who hardly know one another, would be spending the next eight to ten months together.
Besides Tarun Mansukhani’s Dostana 2 and Abbas-Mustan’s Italian Job, the duo would be working on one of Vipul Shah’s next films, which will be a romantic-comedy.
Work on this film will start in January.
Katrina and Abhishek begin work on Dostana 2 as soon as Katrina returns in the first week of August from the shooting of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
They will be shooting a song together in Mumbai, followed by a long stint in London.
The only time Abhishek and Katrina Kaif have worked together in a film was in Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar, five years ago.
“But that was so long ago!” says Katrina, “We were both different persons and different actors back then. So much has changed. I hardly know Abhishek that well. Now that we’ll be doing so much work together I guess the process of getting to know one another will happen automatically. The little that I know of him, Abhishek is great fun.”
Sonam-starrer Sahibaan is now history?
Jul 19th
With no producers agreeing to take on the film, Rakeysh Mehra’s film starring Sonam Kapoor has been shelved
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 19, 2010)
Rakeysh Mehra’s film Sahibaan based on the legendary love story of Mirza-Sahibaan is shelved. The ambitious project had Sonam Kapoor playing one of the lead roles but the film failed to get any producers.
After Krrish 2, his is the second project that has slipped out of Rakeysh Mehra’s hands, which happened immediately after Delhi 6 bombed at the box office. Earlier, Rakesh Roshan had chosen Rakeysh Mehra to direct Krrish 2 but after the Kites debacle, Roshan Sr changed his plans and decided to save his son Hrithik’s career himself; let’s see what comes of that.
Sonam Kapoor was apparently quite excited about Sahibaan. Talking about the film in an interview, Sonam Kapoor had said, “Rakeysh talks to me about so many films. Sahibaan is one of them.
Let us see which one of these works out. But I want to work with him for sure. He is extremely realistic, a good man and a great filmmaker. I want to play characters of conflict, like the ones in his films.
But the actress wasn’t aware of the kind of conflicts the film would have to face in future. Mumbai Mirror (June 4, 2009) had reported about Rakeysh wanting to make Sahibaan.
The article stated that the idea to make Sahibaan with Sonam came to him while he was working on Delhi-6. Rakeysh would address Sonam as ‘Bittu’, the character she played in Delhi-6.
Then suddenly one day he started calling her ‘Sahibaan’. With time, for Sonam, the historical perspective and the literary antecedents of the character began to seep in. She started getting excited about the project and began pestering Rakeysh about it. Like Delhi-6, for this film too, Rakeysh had decided to cast Abhishek Bachchan in the lead.
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| Rakeysh Mehra |
Apparently, Mehra wasn’t able to sell the concept to any producer and the film had to be shelved. When contacted, a source close to Mehra confirmed, “Sahibaan is not happening. Mehra is busy in a lot of production work.”
Mehra got a little agitated when we called, “Did I ever announce such a film officially? So where is the question of shelving it?”
Guess Mehra nicknamed Sonam ‘Sahibaan’, just by chance.
Abhishek in Vipul Shah’s next?
Jul 17th
Abhishek Bachchan has been signing a series of comedy flicks after the disastrous Raavan
Sonal Chawla (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 15, 2010)
After the burning of Raavan at the box-office, Abhishek Bachchan has been signing romantic comedies left right and centre.
Maybe a laugh or two in his life does make sense. The actor has recently signed on to Vipul Shah’s next venture. Incidentally, Aishwarya Rai acted in his last film Action Replayy.
The actor will also be doing Dostana 2 with Tarun Mansukhani and is in talks with another comedy flick with Anees Bazmee.
A source reveals, “Abhishek Bachchan has dropped in on the sets of Vipul Shah’s Action Replayy many times. It was then that he had long meetings and interactions with Vipul.
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| Vipul Shah |
Vipul showed his keen desire to work with Abhishek and mentioned a few Gujarati plays and scripts he had penned.”
The source continues, “Abhishek liked one of his scripts and they have zeroed in a couple. In the past Vipul has written several plays and his first two films were based on his Gujarati plays.
The movie will be directed by one of his assistant director and will go on floors early next year.”
Sharman, Dino refuse Dostana 2?
Jul 13th
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 13, 2010)
A year after Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was repealed; Dino Morea and Sharman Joshi have decided to trace back their steps. They have refused to play gay men in Dostana 2.
The prequel starred Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham in the lead roles. A source says, “Dino and Sharman did give it a thought. But after much deliberation, they politely refused the offer.”
Earlier, the buzz was that Ritesh Deshmukh and Shreyas Talpade had turned down the same offer. Post that, it was heard that the entire gay track in the film has now been scrapped.
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Is that because none of these actors are willing? While the gay relationship between John and Abhishek was much appreciated in the prequel, Dostana 2 seems to be going a different direction.
Even the female lead Priyanka Chopra has been replaced by Katrina Kaif.
IHLS draws worse than Raavan and Kites?
Jul 11th
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Much as a lobby in media papers and some affiliated portals have been reporting bloated figures and occupancies for I Hate Luv Storys as a commercial grosser, comparing it to All India hits like Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani and what not, the reality on the ground is much different, even at the multiplexes. The Karan Johar film featuring Imran Khan-Sonam Kapoor has lower figures and occupancies than even last month’s disaster Raavan in India (Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai), and less than Kites (Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori), which too was a disaster, and quite a lot worse than Prakash Jha’s Raajneeti which was a hit.
Even in overseas in North America where it released mid-week Wednesday itself looking to capitalize on 4th July holiday coming up there, IHLS the film’s collections were not upto expectation given it’s a Karan Johar production, collecting a subpar $375K over the 3 day weekend and $535k over the extended 6 day wednesday-monday period there. Raavan which was a disaster overseas also 2 weeks before fetched $482k over its 3 day opening weekend despite opening below expectations and crashing on Sunday. Rajneeti earlier in June did $850k in USA for its 3 day weekend despite supposedly being an Indian interiors themed film.
In India, contrary to opening average of 80-90% claims across all multiplexes last Friday for IHLS, the multiplex opening average for this ‘youth-centric’ fare was actually closer to 40%-50% opening average with single screens much much lower. And by Wednesday, with possible exception of Delhi metro, the same multiplexes were drawing hardly 10-20 people for this ‘multiplex hit’. This can be verified by visiting a multiplex like Cinemax in Andheri in Mumbai or Fame in Highland park in Calcutta. Coming up 2nd weekend too is equally shaky. The multiplexes have been asked to allocate large number of screenings again but the actual advance bookings are sad. Not even 1% in some cases.
The collections are barely over 26-27 crores (even less according to some distributors) with occupancies worse than the flops of recent past.
Next up this Friday, Shahid Kapoor-Kareena Kapoor make a comeback with Milenge Milenge. And also Red Alert a take on naxalism. The following week sees Sanjay Dutt’s Lamhaa and a comedy called Tere Bin Laden, apart from Udaan.
IBOSNETWORK.COM
Dhoom 3 is being scripted-Abhishek Bachchan
Jul 11th
By Subhash K. Jha, July 10, 2010 – 11:52 IST
After three back-to-back action films – Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, Ashutosh Gowariker’s Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se and Abhinay Deo’s Game – Abhishek Bachchan has had enough action to last him a while. He’s all set for a complete change of pace with 3 comedies to be directed by Tarun Mansukhani, Anees Bazmee and Vipul Shah.
The decision to move away from grueling back-breaking physically exertive action for a while is a conscious one.
Abhishek has just returned from the shooting of Game in Greece and Istanbul and it’s instant replay in terms of gruelling action. The action scenes in Game were the opposite of the ones in Raavan. While Abhishek’s character in Raavan had to survive by instinct in the jungles, in Game Abhishek performed some slick technically precise stunts.
So is he deliberately phasing out his career from project to project, genre to genre? Protests Abhishek, “I’m not the calculating actor. I don’t choose the genres. Rather the genres choose me. I follow my heart.”
The challenge now is, how to make Dostana 2 funnier. Says Abhishek, “Initially I was against doing a sequel to Dostana. I couldn’t see how Tarun Mansukhani could make it funnier. How could he rise to the occasion. Tarun said, ‘Let me write the script. You’ll be the first person I’d narrate it to. If you don’t like it then I’d throw it out.’ Believe me Dostana 2 would be twice as funny as Dostana.”
Another sequel to a sequel Dhoom 3 is also about to begin. “Dhoom 3 is being scripted. Dhoom is nothing without Uday and my character. Uday Chopra and I are the film’s backbone.”
Lots of work for Abhishek. “I am impatient. I like to do a lot of work. I’m happy with the zest with which I work. If tomorrow I want to do only one film a year, I’ll do that. Right now I’m enjoying being a prolific actor. How many actors can claim to have done two films as diverse as Paa and Raavan one after another?”
BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COM
