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Posts tagged anurag kashyap
As a kid, I thought Nargisji was my grandmother-Ranbir Kapoor
02 days ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
BOMBAY TIMES (May 17, 2013)
The legendary pairing of Raj Kapoor and Nargis Dutt was talked about for various reasons, be it their screen chemistry or their personal camaraderie. The special relationship between the two superstars often left Raj Kapoor’s grandson Ranbir confused. Says the actor, “The magic that Raj Kapoor-Nargis created is, according to me, impossible to recreate. Their names were always taken together. So much so that as a kid, I thought that Nargisji was my grandmother!”
The chat is part of the finale of Bollywood@100 on History TV18, where host Karan Johar will be in conversation with Ranbir Kapoor, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap. They’ll discuss the ‘Greatest Icons’ chosen by the poll.
Says Karan, “Being a part of this show and celebrating 100 years of Bollywood through rare and unforgettable moments has been a deeply spiritual and thoroughly enjoyable experience for me. Especially, since I have grown up in the industry and I could relate to it in many ways.”
Watch the final episode of Bollywood@100 on History TV18 tonight at 9 pm.
Anurag Kashyap: The Indian face of Cannes
05 days ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Over the last couple of years, Anurag Kashyap has emerged as the reason behind the desi contingent at the French Riviera
Kunal M Shah (MID-DAY; May 14, 2013)
Anurag Kashyap can be safely called the poster boy for the forthcoming Cannes film festival as far as India is concerned.
After a successful last year with The Gangs of Wasseypur and Peddlers, Kashyap returns to Cannes at the Directors Fortnight with his upcoming film Ugly, which stars Ronit Roy and Tejaswini Kolhapure.
Incidentally the three other films that are being screened at the festival are Bombay Talkies, Monsoon Shootout and Dabba also have an Anurag Kashyap connect.
Bombay Talkies has one story directed by Kashyap, Monsoon Shootout and Dabba are produced by Kashyap.
While we laud Kashyap’s efforts to take Bollywood to Cannes consistently, we wonder is these films will get the desired commercial release, as Anurag would like to have? While Gangs did have a grand release and managed to impress the critics and the audience alike, his other film Peddlers is yet to see the light of the day.
Shahid is my proudest accomplishment so far-Raj Kumar Yadav
06 days ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Raj Kumar who essays slain lawyer Shahid Azmi was recently moved to tears
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; May 13, 2013)
After garnering accolades for Kai Po Che, Raj Kumar Yadav is now pining hopes on his next film Shahid. The Hansal Mehta’s film, based on the life of the slain lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, has Raj Kumar essay the title role.
It was a proud moment for the trained actor from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) when Shahid’s younger brother Khalid Azmi (who is an advocate himself) after watching the film told Hansal, “ This is exactly how Shahidbhai was.” Says Raj Kumar, “I am overwhelmed.I am very touched.”
Incidentally, Mehta won the Best Director award for Shahid at the 13th New York Indian Film Festival. The film, produced by Anurag Kashyap, has been on the festival circuit and had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“This is my proudest accomplishment so far,” says Raj Kumar who will next be seen in Vikas Bahl’s film Queen opposite Kangna Ranaut.
Shahid Azmi was popular for defending some of the 26/ 11 Mumbai attacks accused and he was shot dead in his Kurla office in February 2010.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui to repeat his black suit at Cannes
01 week ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The actor is set to repeat his classic black suit at the festival; will let his films do all the talking
Zinia Sen (BOMBAY TIMES; May 11, 2013)
Not Armani, YSL or even a desi Manish or Raghavendra. For his impending red carpet appearance at Festival de Cannes, Nawazuddin Siddiqui will simply dust his suit from last year, slip it on and stride out — letting his ouvre, and not his wardrobe, do all the talking.
“Main wohi pehnunga jo last year pehna tha. Ek saal mein uss ko mai ne nahin pehena. You can wear black for all occasions. Aur main thodi na kisi ko bataunga ki yeh last year pehna tha,” said Nawaz, with disarming candour. While some would see this as fashion harakiri on the red carpet of one of the world’s most prestigious film events, Nawaz really couldn’t be bothered. He confessed that he’s had very little time to reorganise his wardrobe since he’s been busy shooting for Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa in Kolkata. “I’ll leave for Cannes around May 17. Some designers had approached me. But I was in Kolkata for the shoot. There’s not much time left,” he said on Tuesday, the final day of Buddhadeb’s shoot.
The powerhouse performer will be seen on the festival screen in three films — Monsoon Shootout, Bombay Talkies and Dabba (The Lunchbox) — all of which have made it to different sections. Having worked for over three years continuously, Nawaz is planning to take a break for three months before he takes up any new project. Sources confirmed that he is in More >
100 years of Indian Cinema: Mahesh Bhatt on 18 great filmmakers
02 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
BOMBAY TIMES (May 4, 2013)
In 1951, the Hollywood Moghul David Selznick was strolling through an empty, ghostly movie studio when he was struck by an uncomfortable thought. The maker of such giant classics like Gone With The Wind was in heavy debt. Television was beginning to be a threat to the movie business. Pointing to the empty stages, he said to his writer friend Ben Hecht ‘Hollywood is like Egypt… full of crumbled pyramids. It will just keep crumbling until finally the wind blows the last studio props across the sands.’
Thankfully, Selznick’s prophecy did not come true. The global movie business today is a multi-billion dollar industry. No wonder then that India, the film family’s most hyperactive child, is celebrating its 100th birthday party this year.
If I was given the chance to invite filmmakers for this bash, who would be on my list? Undoubtedly, the first person would be Dhundiraj Govind Phalke (Dadasaheb Phalke), who is the Brahma of Indian Cinema and whose 40-minute film Raja Harishchandra set the cinematic ball rolling in India. It was this brave son of India who understood that it is mythology that motivates cultures, not reason, race, or ideology. Next to him would sit Satyajit Ray, the only genuine auteur Indian cinema has ever had. Ray not only wrote his scripts and dialogues and songs, but also designed the sets, costumes, posters, operated the camera, edited the film and composed the music. He is the only Indian who has got a lifetime award at the More >
Alia Bhatt to play young Tejaswini Kolhapure in Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly?
02 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Rumour has it
Jigar Shah (MID-DAY; April 30, 2013)
After Karan Johar and Imtiaz Ali, Alia Bhatt is now working with Anurag Kashyap. The Student of the Year actress has done a cameo in one of Kashyap’s upcoming films.
A source says, “Anurag’s film Ugly stars Tejaswini Kolhapure and Rohit Roy. He has cast Alia to essay the role of a young Tejaswini. When Anurag approached her for the role, Alia couldn’t say no. She has already shot for her portion which required a day’s work.” A source close to Bhatt confirmed Alia’s presence in the film.
Aspiring writer claims Kashyap’s Bombay Talkies story is his
02 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Jigar Shah (MID-DAY; April 29, 2013)
Has the maverick filmmaker Anurag Kashyap finally fallen prey to ‘being inspired’? At least one writer, Nishant G Ranjan, thinks so.
Nishant says, “I had sent my story to Anurag Kashyap in 2011. It revolved around a person who wanted to make Mr. Bachchan listen to his poems written on him. He has a son dying of cancer who wants to have tea with him. For a very long time there was no reply from Kashyap’s side. So I thought, he wouldn’t have liked the story and I forgot it. Then while I was reading a local newspaper I read about the shooting in Mr. Bachchan’s bungalow. On inquiring further I figured that this was very much my own story. This was on February 22 and I immediately took up the case with the Writer’s Association. They tried a lot to solve the issue, but ultimately we had to file a case in the court. I’m now being told that I now have to go to the High Court”
“Anurag’s story is about this guy who wants to meet Mr. Bachchan and wants him to have a murabba made by his family. Apparently it is his mother’s wish that Mr Bachchan eats the murabba,” added Nishant.
In an earlier interview about his short film, Anurag has said, “My story about Mr Bachchan was one of the first scripts that I ever wrote. At that time it was called ‘Hum Bhi Allahabad Se Hai’. I always wanted to make this film with Bachchan Sir, but there have been many long silences between him and me … this film couldn’t have been made without him or his bungalow.” More >
My brain works 10 times faster when I write lyrics to tunes-Amitabh Bhattacharya
03 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
He may have forsaken his singing dream, but Bollywood’s most sought-after lyricist is certainly on a song. Amitabh Bhattacharya on having his biskut and eating it too
Anand Holla (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 28, 2013)
Five years ago, late into the night at his Juhu studio, composer Amit Trivedi asked his friend and reluctant lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya to record a scratch. It was for Dev.D’s now iconic track Emosanal Attyachar, which Bhattacharya had scribbled a few hours ago at a Lokhandwala coffee shop. Since it was to be picturised on two archetypal brass band front-men who sing with touching sincerity but sound unintentionally funny, Bhattacharya sang an over-the-top “Shabbir Kumar-Mohammad Aziz kind of version.”
The following morning, director Anurag Kashyap, in a flash of eccentricity, insisted on retaining both his and Trivedi’s voices. Bhattacharya fell off his chair. “I thought I had blown my eight-year-long struggle to be a singer over one glorious spoof. My first song sounded ready to destroy my playback singing dream,” laughs Bhattacharya, when we meet at his sister’s Andheri residence. He says he convinced Kashyap to give singing credits to the fictitious ‘BandMaster Rangeela and Rasila’ instead. Although, by then, Bhattacharya had almost given up his playback singing aspirations, he was unable to see how fate had planned it out for him.
Fourteen years ago, he, like all strugglers, left his Lucknow home for Mumbai. Soon enough, he was queuing up outside music More >
Karan Johar-Anurag Kashyap bonding big time
03 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Kunal M Shah (MID-DAY; April 26, 2013)
Who are the latest BFFs in B-Town? No, not Priyanka and Deepika, nor Anushka and Katrina. This time it is Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar. Yes, unlikely as it may seem the duo has been bonding quite a bit over the past few months. While KJo is known to be a hardcore commercial filmmaker, Anurag dabbles with reality in his films. And now with both joining hands and openly praising each other’s work, it seems that the best is yet to come.
The latest in the new dosti is that Johar who makes his maiden trip to Cannes has appointed Anurag — who has frequented the annual event themost, as a director, producer and film connoisseur — as their official guide. So the other three are keen that he plan their itinerary and set the pace. On the other hand, Karan has volunteered to dress Anurag and the others and style them.
The duo, with Zoya Akhtar and Dibakar Banerjee, will be presenting Bombay Talkies and walking the red carpet. Karan says, “I am extremely honoured that our omnibus endeavor has been officially selected at Cannes. I can’t wait to walk the red carpet with Dibakar, Anurag and Zoya.”
The friendship has also worked in business. Anurag and Karan are co-producing Hasee To Phasee, which stars Sidharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra and Adah Sharma. This is their first co-production and the association plans to make more.
Anurag’s wife Kalki will also be seen doing a Karan Johar production. She is seen in a prominent role in Ayan Mukerji More >