Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged Bombay
No need to be insecure about Salman Khan-Zarine Khan
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
…Since the actor gives equal attention to all women in his life, says Zarine Khan who finds it tough to go through life as a Katrina look-alike
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 05, 2011)
To a girl looking in from the outside, being labelled a Katrina Kaif doppelganger would be a compliment worthy to boost a young lady’s self-esteem for quite sometime. But for Salman’s protégé Zarine Khan, who has been trying to recover from her debut in the box-office flop Veer, it has been more of a bane in her professional life.
The actress revealed, “You know after the release of Veer, I was lost. The film did not do as well as expected and I was not getting big offers.
Only new directors were approaching me. Then, there were all these comparisons about me being a Katrina Kaif look-alike and how I would eventually disappear like Sneha Ullal.
I was very insecure and had no film background. However, it’s been over a year and with work coming in, I have been able to dispel all talks about me disappearing. However, now I have to shed one more issue and that’s being a Katrina look alike.”
The uncanny resemblance to Kaif has funnily enough made people believe Zarine too is from the UK. And with her British background being spread with conviction she is rumoured to have difficulty speaking Hindi. However, Zarine set the record straight, as she said, “There is this misconception that I am from UK and I am 26-27 years old.
The fact is I have been born and More >
Sanjay Suri & Onir talk about their film I AM
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
By Devansh Patel, April 19, 2011 – 15:32 IST
Two strangers. One I met for the first time in 1999. The other I met last week at my house party. Now rephrasing it: Two stories, One interview. Meet the creatively gifted Sanjay Suri and Onir. How can I ever forget my first interview in the year 1999. I recall entering the Trident Hotel a few yards away from the Ahmedabad airport. There he was dressed in a blue chequered shirt on his waist high denims held tight by his black belt saying, “Try and make it look like you aren’t acting. Just be real” And real he was with no starry tantrums nor the usual debutant over confidence. So, what’s not to love about Sanjay Suri? He’s a little bit sharp, a little bit funny, a little bit volatile, and hugely charismatic. Certainly he came across alluring back then. It’s 2011 and he still is the same, except his hair. It’s more like a ‘hair today gone tomorrow’ kind of a story. Having said that, he looks dapper than what he used to twelve years ago. Suri, today possesses an air of slick confidence that I haven’t noticed in him before. The reason is his film I AM. Produced and acted in the same, Sanjay having spent a decade and more in the wilderness of Bollywood has an honest revelation to make, “I AM is a movement and I am proud of that. I AM started as an idea and it got delivered.” But just then Onir delivers, “The passion to make money has surpassed the passion of making good cinema”. A fitting reply to one and all, a More >
Army chief will be at Dev Saab’s premiere
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Mauli Singh (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 02, 2011)
Dev Anand’s cult classic Hum Dono is releasing in colour on February 4 this year.
The veteran actor invited the army chief as the main guest at the premiere, which is likely to include a lot of B-Towners as well.
Dev AnandAnand says, “Since the film pays a tribute to the Indian army, during the premiere of Hum Dono in 1961 I had invited Lieutenant General Choudhary, who was the area commander in Southern Command then.
He was an important man. He asked me to come to the Gun house in Bombay.
I went to meet him and had a few drinks and drove to the main Eros theatre. Now 50 years later when I am holding the premiere of the film again, I have invited Lieutenant General Sanjeev Chopra to be the chief guest.
He is the area commander in Southern Command. And he will come. I am very thrilled.”
YPD script, cast was initially rejected by 8 producers!
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By KOMAL NAHTA
Fortune favours the brave. So while eight top Bollywood producers refused to get on board Samir Karnik’s Yamla Pagla Deewana, starring the Deols, veteran producer Nitin Manmohan’s stepping in at the last moment (two days before the film went before the cameras) has proved highly profitable.
While the total budget (production, promotion and print) of Yamla Pagla Deewana is around Rs. 24 crore, Nitin Manmohan has already raked in at least Rs. 41 crore through the sale of the film’s theatrical and satellite rights. After the release of the film’s first trailer, the common public and the trade went into a tizzy of excitement. Advance booking in single screen theatres, starting Monday, has also been good. Let’s take a look at the breakdown of the film’s economics so far:
The producers have garnered Rs. 25 crore from the sale of theatrical rights for different territories (except Bombay, where one of the producers, Nitin Manmohan, is distributing the film himself). Nitin Manmohan and the other producers have sold off the film’s satellite rights for Rs. 16 crore approx. As a result, the producer has already booked a profit of Rs. 17 crore, even before the film has hit the theatres!
But what really happened? Why was a project – that has proved profitable to the producer even before the film’s release – rejected by many others? Thus goes the story…
When a broker approached several top film producers and production houses with Samir Karnik’s story of Yamla Pagla More >
Dhobi Ghat actor speaks
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Monica Dogra, musician and actor, talks about the truth behind the NRI cliché of finding one’s roots
Kevin Lobo (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 09, 2011)
Monica Dogra’s decision to leave America is a stroke of genius. In four years, since she decided to discover the country of her ancestors, the NRI has been able to break through the cluttered indie music scene with Shaa’ir + Func.
The band has already made a trip to Glastonbury, has three albums under their belt and its fan base increases by the day thanks to India opening to new sounds.
Yet, this is small game compared to her cinema debut with Dhobi Ghat, the Aamir Khan production that will release on Friday.
Her foray into Bollywood, wait “Indian cinema” she corrects, is an extension of her journey of self-discovery. “When you are born to immigrant parents, you are constantly reminded that you are Indian, yet you don’t know what that means.
I studied the Bhagavad Gita and kathak in school, and yet I was interested in rock and electronic music. It was confusing as a kid. So I decided to come to India to understand where my roots lie,” says Monica.
Her character in Dhobi Ghat follows in a similar vein - an NRI discovering the city of Mumbai, the difference between reel and real is blurry, at least superficially.
And that’s perhaps what the casting team for the movie spotted. “We (the band) were touring the UK when I received a Facebook message from Kiran Rao’s team asking me to audition.
Apparently More >
Dharmendra’s back!
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
With comedy, action, romance… at 75 today, and with 50 years in Bollywood, the birthday boy’s ready with a new film co-starring sons Sunny and Bobby Deol
Mark Manuel | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; December 8, 2010)
For his 75th birthday today, Dharmendra could not have asked for anything as fulfiling as a new film with his sons Sunny and Bobby Deol. That too, in his 50th year in Bollywood. But God has been kind, and the Deols have Yamla Pagla Deewana lined up for release on January 14; it is full of comedy, action and romance, the film beginning in Canada, then traveling to Banaras and eventually making its way to Punjab, showcasing the great Indian joint family along the way. It is a Top Angle Productions film, produced by Nitin Manmohan and Samir Karnik, and directed by Samir himself.Dharmendra is excited, naturally. “After 50, they say the reel of life gets fast, but I am now a 75-year-old boy,” he exclaimed thumping me on the back with his big hand. I was having breakfast with the Deols, stuffed parathas with butter churned on their farm in Lonavala, a tall glass of lassi. This is what Dharmendra has every morning, not just on his birthday. He talked, Sunny, Bobby and I listened. “Fifty years have gone just like that,” he started, “but I have had exceptional luck. I was a school teacher’s son who wanted to be an actor simply because it is human nature to want to be loved, liked and admired. I just wanted a Fiat car, a flat, and to be More >
Meet the Censor Board CEO
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
While admitting she was too hasty in snipping The Social Network, CEO Pankaja Thakur explains why the Censor Board often errs on the side of prudishness
Kunal Pradhan (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 28, 2010)
The popcorn was long over, and the hush in the ringtone-heavy theatre was too good to be true. The Social Network, a biopic shot with the raciness of a thriller, was nearing its end. Mark Zuckerberg sat at a conference table with his laptop in front of him, waiting for legal aide Marilyn Delpy, the only person during his interrogation interested in listening to him, to pass a verdict.
“You are…” she started. The audience shifted nervously in their seats, anxious about what was coming next. “…not _____ol. You’re just trying so hard to be one.” What? What did she say? We looked around, urgently searching for an answer. You’re not a what? An asshole? A lost soul? A self goal? A big, fat troll? As the audio flickered for a fraction of a second, David Fincher’s spell was broken.
On leaving the cinema hall, I remember wanting to be face to face with the person who had beeped out the film’s most important dialogue. Wouldn’t I give him a piece of my mind!
Two weeks later, on Walkeshwar road, which connects Bombay’s snotty hill people with the rest of the city, I found myself standing in front of the White House complex, minutes away from the meeting I was yearning for. On the second floor of Bharat Bhavan, the CEO of the Central Board More >
Is Bruce Willis coming to India?
02 years ago
Mauli Singh (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 15, 2010)
The Indian market is opening up and attracting a lot of Hollywood stars.
Shortly after the news of Pamela Anderson’s entry in Bigg Boss buzz is that Pulp Fiction star Bruce Willis is coming to India to promote his next film, Red, which is releasing on November 26. A source informs, “The Sin City star is coming to Bombay on November 24 and will attend Red’s premiere on November 25 which is most likely to happen at PVR Juhu.
Bruce WillisBruce will be accompanied by his co-star and the Academy award winner actor Morgan Freeman of Shawshank Redemption and Million Dollar Baby fame. The film also stars Mary-Louise Parker, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren. Red is one of the biggest film of Willis so far and he realises the importance of promoting it in the Indian market.”
Deepak Sharma, the CEO of PVR distribution, says, “Yes, we are trying to bring Bruce Willis to India for the premiere of Red in Bombay. He is quite kicked about coming to India but there are some visa hassles.
If they get sorted he will definitely be here for the première. If he is able to make it the première will be a grand affair and the who’s who from Bollywood will be invited.”
P.S. our source close to the project confirmed that the visa problems have already been sorted out and that the actor will definitely fly to India soon but shhhh…