Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged Anand
Happy times in Bollywood for sad endings?
04 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Bollywood may have its inhibitions, but Indian audiences have proved time and again that they are open to films ending on a tragic note
Bharati Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; May 22, 2013)
When rockstar Rahul Jaykar jumps to his death in the climax of Aashiqui 2, not many were sure if a sad ending would work for the love story. But shattering all myths about sad endings’ fate at the box office, the film became a runaway hit.
A trade source says, “Actually, such excuses (tragic ending) crop up when a movie sinks at the box office and the concerned filmmaker looks for justifications to save face.” Says Shagufta Rafique, the writer of Aashiqui 2, “We did not think of any other end. The film is about a man who ends his life so that his lover can live on; we never worried if the ending will affect BO performance. I won’t call it a risk, it was about being true to the story.”
But despite the success of tragic love stories — Ranbir Kapoor’s Rockstar (2011) is another recent example — not many filmmakers are ready to take the risk. For example, the original storyline of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6 (2009) had Abhishek Bachchan’s character dying. But after pressure from the studio, the director changed it. Both endings were shot and there were reports that the film would be re-released with its original climax.
This trend is not new. Twenty-five years ago, Mansoor Khan had also shot two climaxes for Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988). A trivia on the film states that while the older More >
One line of Game caught my fancy-Abhishek Bachchan
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
By Devansh Patel, March 19, 2011 – 10:46 IST
The actor is in an upbeat mood in Filmistan Studios in Goregaon. His film Game, a twisted thriller, is just a few days away from the big screen release. Add to that, this is the same Studio where he shot his first scene with his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan twelve years ago when they were mere acquaintances. That explains why the actor greets me in his vanity van with a special chai ordered for me on the sets of Abbas Mustan’s Players being shot in the same studio. He sits tall and with his brewed coffee arriving just in time in his extremely special ‘Chelsea’ mug, you can make out that Abhishek Bachchan the man likes to hold things close to his heart, be it his first shot with wife at Filmistan, his forthcoming film Game or his ‘Chelsea’ coffee mug. Where’s my ‘Liverpool’ mug? Anyway…he doesn’t talk much but he talks precise. His words are sharp and his answers make absolute sense. He said something that is still engraved in my head, as I write this interview, “Failures shake your confidence, shake your belief but it won’t shake your love and passion for what you do.” But the strange thing about Abhi’s selective reticence is that it’s accompanied by a broad smile, as if to say he knows what game he’s being asked to play, and he’s just not interested. For a change, he has no option today but to play the ‘Game’ with me. UK’s Harrow Observer columnist and Bollywood Hungama‘s London correspondent is all More >
Movie Review: AASHAYEIN by TARAN ADARSH
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in External Reviews
By Taran Adarsh, August 27, 2010 – 08:17 IST
Practically every new-age film-maker wants to attempt a real story on celluloid. Stories which are straight out of life/newspapers/news channels. These stories, generally, strike a chord with the ticket buying audience if narrated convincingly and most importantly, narrated within commercial parameters.
Nagesh Kukunoor has been a frontrunner as far as choosing and narrating real stories are concerned. AASHAYEIN too seems like ‘our’ story. Here’s a man who suddenly discovers that he has a few months to live. The indomitable spirit of living life to the fullest, under all circumstances, is what you expect from him. But AASHAYEIN gets so bizarre and abstract that you feel anesthetized after a point. Sadly, you don’t react to the characters, you don’t react to the film either.
BY BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COMLike Kukunoor’s previous attempts, AASHAYEIN is sensitively told and has several poignant and heart wrenching moments, but the story strays from realism and ends up being a fantasy, which leaves a sour taste in your mouth. The entire RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK track, with John imagining himself in Harrison Ford’s boots, is weird.
Final word? AASHAYEIN just doesn’t meet the aashayein [hopes] of the viewer.
At a party to celebrate his big win at gambling, Rahul [John Abraham] proposes to his girlfriend Nafisa [Sonal Sehgal]. Within minutes of announcing his engagement, he collapses on the floor. After a medical More >
Movie Review: AASHAYEIN by FENIL SETA
02 years ago
We all have our own wishes and desires and patiently wait for the day when they will all come true. We slowly and steadily also work towards fulfilling them. But what if one day you discover that you have just few days to live? What will be the state of our near and dear ones? How will they survive once we have left for heavenly abode? And not to forget, what about our dreams that we had patiently nurtured over the years? Aashayein takes a look at this issue where a terminally ill patient tries to find purpose and hope in his last few days. Although there have been films that have dealt with a more or less similar issue in the past and are very close to our hearts (Anand, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Dasvidaniya), Aashayein still succeeds in many ways and touches a chord. Unfortunately, at the same time, the film falters which prevents it from becoming a classic.
The story of the movie: Rahul (John Abraham) is a compulsive gambler and a chain smoker. One day he succeeds in winning a huge amount in gambling and throws a party to celebrate. In the party, he proposes marriage to his longtime girlfriend Nafisa (Sonal Sehgal). However, immediately after doing so, he collapses. After a medical checkup, the results are out-he has lung cancer and only a few months to live. He is obviously shocked and then decides to shift to a hospice without telling anyone about his whereabouts. It is here at the hospice that he learns some lessons of life.
Aashayein begins well and grips More >
Big B, Sonu Sood in Bhudda Panga Nahin Lene Ka
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Subhash K. Jha, August 5, 2010 – 11:40 IST
Casting Abhishek and his illustrious Bachchan father as son and father was seen as too predictable. In a film that marks the return of Telugu super-director Puri Jagannath into Bollywood, Sonu Sood and not Abhishek has been cast as the Big B’s son.
It was felt by everyone that Sood bears an uncanny resemblance to the young Big B from the early 1970s.
Says a source close to the project, “If you put Mr. Bachchan’s still from Anand and Pyar Ki Kahani next to Sood’s stills you’d think it’s the same person.”
The project earlier entitled Bhudda: Don’t F…K With Him is now entitled Bhudda Panga Nahin Lene Ka. Apparently, Ramu was keen on it. But the ‘F’ word didn’t go down too well with the Big B.
The project to be produced by Ram Gopal Varma puts a lid on all speculation about RGV’s apparently shaky relationship with the Bachchans. RGV first produces the Senior Bachchan’s film with Sonu Sood in October and then directs a film starring Abhishek Bachchan in January.
Except for the fact that the expletive from the title Bhudda: Don’t F..K With Him has now been deleted, apparently on the Big B’s suggestion, the ambitious project produced by Ram Gopal Varma and directed by Telugu cinema’s no.1 director Puri Jagannath has suffered no dent due to Big B’s meagre dates. Big B had earlier decided to focus on his television commitment for Kaun Banega Crorepati this year. But now in what appears to be swift swoop of changed plans Puri More >
Luck By Chance
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The biggest hits of their career were NEVER meant to be theirs
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; January 2, 2010)
You talk to any film director and he’ll give you gyaan on how such and such actor is in the film because he/she fit the casting to the ‘t’. Yet, the reality of the matter is something else. It is usually who is available; and sometimes who is more saleable. Take the latest: Aamir Khan was never meant to be playing the idiot in his latest film. It was to be Shah Rukh Khan. Since SRK and producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra had a difference of opinion, the Bollywood Badshah was replaced by Aamir. And while the rest is history, there are innumerable such examples in the film industry. History knows that Amitabh Bachchan was not Prakash Mehra’s first choice for Zanjeer. It was meant to be Dev Anand or Raaj Kumar. When both actors said no, the Big B stepped in. Jaya Bachchan even thanked Dev saab for refusing the Zanjeer role. The film gave her — her real life husband and it gave Bollywood one of its most revered screen couples. Today you wonder how Dev saab would ever have fit into the angry young man mould. But that’s an after-thought. Hrishikesh Mukherjee wanted Raj Kapoor to play Anand. When he couldn’t, Hrishida sent for Shashi Kapoor but Rajesh Khanna wormed his way in. And till today Anand is synonymous with the 70s phenomenon. Shatrughan Singh continues to smart that it was he who was to be Jai in the Jai-Veeru jodi of Sholay but because he More >