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Posts tagged amol gupte
Tell Me Oh Khuda director thrown out
Jul 23rd
Producer Hema Malini has thrown out director Mayur Puri from Tell Me O Khuda, a few days after this paper reported serious creative differences between the two
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 23, 2010)
Hema Malini’s ambitious project Tell Me O Khuda, starring her daughter Esha Deol, is in hot water. After the project ran into creative differences between the producer (Malini) and its director (Mayur Puri) the latest is that Puri has been shown the door.
The decision to oust Puri has come in the wake of the creative melee between Malini and Puri having snowballed into a nasty avalanche of bitter vibes. Puri was thrown out of the project at 4 pm yesterday at the IMPPA (Indian Motion Pictures and Producers’ Association) office, where the association and the IFTDA (Indian Film & Television Directors Association) convened to resolve the issue.
The buzz is that his name will not appear in the credit titles either. Instead, Hema will direct the film herself. “Quite a few portions of the film may have to be reshot,” says a source.
“Hema and Puri could not reconcile. It is good for both of them and the film that they are not working together anymore. Quite a few solutions were offered but there was no way that Puri could have remained the captain of the ship any longer. Puri’s money issues have been settled too.
Hema has directed Dil Aashna Hai and she has a good knowledge about direction,” says the source.
Another source close to Hema said, “Puri overshot the film. Nearly 1.5 lakh feet of footage has been shot. This skyrocketed the budget. Hema bore that with a pinch of salt, but she almost fell off her chair when she saw what Puri had shot until now.
Hema realised that Puri’s reels were nowhere close to the script he had and the canvas he had envisaged for her. “Forget the script, Puri hadn’t even shot the basic storyline he had sold Hema while being appointed to wield the megaphone,” reveals a source close to Hema.
On the other hand, Om Shanti Om’s dialogue writer and Dhoom’s associate director, Puri, is tearing his hair out. According to a source close to Puri, “Hema Malini’s sensibilities are far different than his. Whenever Puri tried reasoning with her, Hema did not lend him a ear.
And he has not overshot the film. He was making only 5.6 cans per day which is very normal. It is an ego clash. Think of it, this is not the first time that a director finds himself in the lurch. It happened with Anurag Basu, Rahul Rawail, Shekhar Kapoor (Joshilay) and Amol Gupte (Taare Zameen Par).”
When contacted yesterday evening, IMPPA Vice President Sushma Shiromanee said, “Yes, we had a meeting today. Puri is not directing Tell Me O Khuda anymore. Hemaji will complete the film.” Hema did not deny that Puri is out from Tell Me O Khuda, but she was not too comfortable talking about her rift with Puri. She simply said, “I am the producer and now I will complete the film. I have people around me including some good technicians.”
Puri denied that he was present at the IMPPA office yesterday. But later he said, “Okay. But I don’t want to talk about this. I would rather maintain a dignified silence.”
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| Mayur Puri |
Starring Arjan Bajwa opposite Esha, Tell Me O Khuda is about a girl who is in search of her father. The plot bears a slight resemblance to Hema Malini’s first and only film as a director, Dil Aashna Hai, which was about a girl on the lookout for her mother and starred Divya Bharati and Shah Rukh Khan.
Dil Aashna Hai was also incidentally ripped off from Shirley Conran’s bestseller Lace, which was later televised into a mini-series in the late 1980s. The film bombed and was ripped apart by critics. Let’s hope the fabric of Tell Me O Khuda has no tears.
Chandan Roy Sanyal as the chief bad boy
Jul 22nd
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 22, 2010)
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| Chandan Roy Sanyal |
After impressing his viewers as Shahid Kapoor’s friend in Kaminey, Chandan Roy Sanyal has bagged a role debutants could only dream of.
Chandan has been signed to play the negative lead in Santosh Sivan’s next film Urumi. Chandan will play an evil prince in the 15th century.
When contacted Chandan said, “Yes I am very excited about the film. My executive producer Mubina Rattonsey of Kaminey recommended my name to Santosh.
I play an evil prince and am against my cousin, who is dating a princess (Genelia D’souza); I keep trying to win her over.”
Apparently, Amol Gupte, who was seen with Chandan in Kaminey as well, will now be playing his uncle. And they hate each other (in the film that is).
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| Santosh Sivan |
While talking about the extravagant costumes in the films, Chandan can’t contain his excitement. He says, “I’ll learn horse riding. Since I am playing a prince I will wear good costumes and ornaments. It is quite a stylish role.”
Abhinay Deo displeased with Aamir?
Feb 8th
Delhi Belly director Abhinav Deo upset with Aamir Khan’s seeming lack of interest in the film; gets busy with Crooked
By Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 08, 2010)
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| Abhinav Deo |
For all those expecting to see Aamir Khan’s home-production Delhi Belly, here’s an update – the film is not going to see the light of day till at least October 2010. The reason is that Aamir and the director of Delhi Belly, Abhinav Deo, have not been on the same page.
This isn’t the first time that Aamir has had a different view of things than the director he appointed. His spat with Amol Gupte during Taare Zameen Par is well-known.
The buzz is that Aamir isn’t happy with Abhinav’s output and has stopped taking much interest in the film. Meanwhile Abhinav has taken Aamir’s aloofness to heart and made his displeasure clear to his close aides.
A source close to Aamir said, “Abhinav is irritated that Delhi Belly has been kept on the backburner. He has moved on and is now directing Crooked. How long could he wait?”
But defending Aamir, the source added, “Aamir is not at fault. He has been very busy and likes to get involved in one project at a time. He will start working on Delhi Belly soon. But yes, Aamir does like to be in total charge of whatever his production house makes.”
Both Abhinav and Aamir remained unavailable for comment.
New ailments to spice up BO
Oct 19th
Cancer & TB Passé, Bollywood’s Top Films Are Betting On Rare Diseases
Meenakshi Sinha | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 18, 2009)
New Delhi: The destitute poet dying of cancer, the coughing mother suffering from tuberculosis — over the decades, Hindi films have often used diseases to create engrossing drama. Now, with changing times, a fresh bunch of ailments, disorders and conditions are afflicting the protagonists: dyslexia, dextrocardia, progeria, and short-term memory loss.
‘Pa’, a forthcoming Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan-starrer, deals with progeria, a condition where a person ages five to six times faster than the average individual. Director R Balakrishnan was toying with the idea of casting the father-son duo in a role reversal. “The film’s story fructified when a doctor gave me the details of the condition,” he says.
The recent shift in the nature of diseases of protagonists partly stems from the fact that tuberculosis is no longer life threatening. Cancer remains a major killer but timely discovery offers a possibility of cure. The new ailments provide a certain topicality and give the story a modern feel.
Characters with special ailments gathered focus when Hrithik Roshan played a “developmentally disabled” youth in ‘Koi Mil Gaya’ (2003). A slew of films highlighting such conditions have followed since: Aamir Khan’s ‘Taare Zameen Par’ (2007) created huge awareness about dyslexia, a condition where a person has difficulty in reading and writing. Also, Amitabh Bachchan and Kajol brought Alzheimer’s disease in to the limelight in ‘Black’ (2005) and ‘U, Me Aur Hum’ (2008) respectively. Karan Johar’s forthcoming film, ‘My Name is Khan’, turns its attention to autism. Aamir Khan suffers from short-term memory loss in the action blockbuster, ‘Ghajini’. The disease plays an important part in the movie’s plot. More recently in ‘Luck’ (2009), Imran Khan had dextrocardia, a rare medical condition of a person born with his heart on the right.
Irregular ailments have always been an integral part of Hindi films. Mental sickness formed a vital part in movies such as ‘Raat Aur Din’ (1967, where the heroine had multiple personality disorder, and ‘Arth’ (1982), where the heroine was schizophrenic.
Film trade expert Taran Adarsh says earlier films seldom discussed diseases in detail. “But now, with growing awareness, scripts often explains the ailments or mental conditions in detail. The audience also accepts reality more easily today. Hence you have films like ‘Pa’ and ‘My Name is Khan’,” says Adarsh. But, as Amol Gupte, who wrote the story and screenplay of TZP, points out, barely 2% of Hindi cinema looks at special medical conditions.
Changing Script
->Aamir Khan’s ‘Taare Zameen Par’ created huge awareness about dyslexia, a condition in which a person has difficulty in reading and writing
->Amitabh-Abhishek starrer ‘Pa’ deals with progeria in which where a person ages 5-6 times faster than normal
->Karan Johar’s forthcoming film, ‘My Name is Khan’, starring Shah Rukh Khan, turns its attention to autism
->In ‘Luck’, Imran Khan had dextrocardia, a medical condition in which a person is born with the heart on the right
->The trend started with Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Koi Mil Gaya’
