Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged competition
Why should it be easy?-Anupam Kher
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
In an introspective chat with reader Ashish Srivastav, Anupam Kher reflects on the highs and lows of his career
MUMBAI MIRROR; May 01, 2011
There are actors who are good at playing only certain characters, and then there are kalakaars like Anupam Kher who can essay any role effortlessly. More than two decades ago, I was deeply moved by his performances in Saaransh and Daddy, and ever since I have been a huge fan.
I was over the moon when I met him recently, as I was obviously curious to learn about his journey as an actor.
Anupam said, “I was a beggar when I entered the industry. I was hungry for work. It wasn’t easy, but why should it have been easy? That apart, I always wanted to be the best. I guess it is my small town mentality.
I don’t consider myself a character actor. I feel all the characters I have portrayed so far have been the heroes of the films. This concept exists only in India.”
From his experience, he understood that there was a need for formal training in acting today. “Abroad, you cannot even do a two-minute role if you are not a trained actor. You have to learn your craft well, or else it’s like going to a quack for medicines.
What sets actors like Om Puri, Seema Biwas, Naseeruddin Shah apart is that they have been trained in their métier and it shows,” explained the National School of Drama graduate.
For the same reason, he enjoys working with new age directors such as Dibakar Banerjee, Neeraj Pandey and Ayan Mukherjee. More >
They find me predatory-Priyanka Chopra
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
She has guts, luck, hunger…and a mind of her own! Subhash K Jha charts the journey of Priyanka Chopra from the dark side of the moon to an actor to be reckoned with!
TIMES LIFE (February 27, 2011) FROM saying no to the unfaithful wife’s role in Sanjay Gupta’s Musafir to blissfully sinking her teeth into the role of a woman who kills seven husbands and gets away with murder, Priyanka Chopra has come a long way in just eight years.
Gupta was deeply offended when Priyanka had refused Musafir. She thought it was outside her comfort zone. The matter ended there. You can’t make Priyanka Chopra change her mind.
After seeing Musafir, I asked Priyanka why she had said no to it. “Did you see Mahesh Manjrekar saying, ‘Blouse khol’ to his wife?” Priyanka retorted. She didn’t sound shocked or scandalised, just amused. We both burst out laughing. It’s rare to find Priyanka making a politically incorrect statement, even as a joke. Earlier on, I’d tease her about being the new Rani Mukherjee who always made sure she said the correct things. “That’s good, na. Rani is so good at her job and so successful.”
The comfort zone is a place Priyanka is very sure about. She won’t say no to a role, because it requires body exposure. But she isn’t comfortable flaunting cleavage. Priyanka is the most obdurate actress I’ve come across. She gives you a long rope as a journalist. But if she’s put off, she takes a long time to come around. “Write what you want as More >
Birthday Bumps for the Big Boss
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The Big B’s birthday party will be in conjunction with the inaugural show of KBC to give Bigg Boss a run for its money. Sallu and Bigg Boss mates, it seems, might even be called
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 15, 2010)
The Big B and the Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) team are pulling out all stops to make sure the show provides stiff competition to Salman Khan-hosted Bigg Boss. Season 4 of KBC with Amitabh Bachchan at the helm kickstarts on the Big B’s birthday, 11 October. And the Big B will for the first time host a birthday party to herald the new season of the iconic game show.
The channel has decided to pitch KBC in the 9 pm slot, alongside Bigg Boss 4.
Confirming this development a top executive from KBC’s channel says, “We are not afraid of the competition at all. We could have telecast KBC in a later slot so as to not clash with the other show. But we want to know which show the great Indian middleclass would prefer to watch. As far as we can see a show that fosters knowledge and provides Indian households with an engaging, clean, non-degenerative entertainment has nothing to fear.”
Barring his 60th birthday bash, hosted by wife Jaya Bachchan, the Big B has never had a birthday party. For the first time the Big B will play host to mediapersons and invitees from the television and film industry on the day KBC resumes.
Apparently Salman Khan and the team behind Bigg Boss would also be invited to the Big B’s More >
Aamir-Sanjeeda to split?
23 years ago
Ego clashes between Aamir Ali and Sanjeeda Shaikh escalate after they decide to compete against each other
By Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 15, 2010)// // // One of television’s most popular couples Aamir Ali and Sanjeeda Shaikh are heading towards a split. The tension between the two has been building up since quite some time and the couple is rarely seen together these days.
Trouble aggravated between Aamir and Sanjeeda when they were approached to compete with each other for the second season of the dance show Zara Nach Ke Dikha and Aamir was reluctant to compete with his lady love.
A source said, “Aamir and Sanjeeda were approached for the same show, which has a group of boys competing with a group of girls. Unlike last season, this year will have eliminations. When Aamir learnt about the eliminations and realised that he and Sanjeeda would be pitted against each other, he told her that only one of them should participate. However, Sanjeeda flatly refused and they ended up having a tiff.”
This was just the beginning of ego clashes between the couple. “After both of them signed the contract for the show individually, problems only increased as a sense of competition erupted between Aamir and Sanjeeda. Consequently, interaction between the two is down to a minimum now,” added the source.
This isn’t the first couple to have serious issues cropping up in their relationship due to a sense of competition. In the More >
Katz gets donors for mom’s chartiable trust
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE: Katrina Kaif
Katrina Kaif diverts brand funds towards mother’s charity
SHARIN WADER BUTANI Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; February 11, 2010)
Here’s one good and important lesson that Katrina Kaif has learned from boyfriend Salman Khan. To do charity without making a noise. Taking a tip from how Salman gets friends and sponsors to contribute to his ‘Being Human’ foundation, Katz has started asking the brands she endorses to give something towards her mother Sussanna’s charitable trust that looks after abandoned babies. She got a major jeweller to contribute Rs. 50 lakh as a start and is already working on the other brands she acts as ambassadress for.
This is a smart move, say Bollywood insiders, and now all eyes will be on Kareena Kapoor to see what she does to ‘up’ her appeal in the Popularity Stakes. Comparisons are odious, but then with Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor, what else would you do? The two KK divas are seen as being neck-to-neck at the finish line of the Bollywood No. 1 title and being made out to be arch rivals in the bargain. But on the sets of Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan, Katrina said convincingly, “I don’t fear competition. I see every actress whose films are a hit as a competitor. And I think it’s healthy to think that way ‘coz then I try to do much better.” She can talk, she’s got a serious film like Prakash Jha’s Rajneeti readying for release in which she plays a politician. And then TMZ. “Rajneeti belongs to another level, More >
Ranbir-Most Desirable Man
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
HUNKS OF B-TOWN:
Heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor is India’s Most Desirable Man in ZOOM Top 50 list
MADHUREETA MUKHERJEE Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; January 8, 2010)Maybe it’s the ‘rocket’ in his ‘pocket’. Maybe it’s the wide awake Sid in him. Maybe it’s his real life ajabghazab prem kahani or the success of his Katrina pairing. Maybe it’s nothing more than his Kapoor genes and that charming demeanour — but without doubt, Ranbir Kapoor has emerged the topper of the ‘ZOOM 50 Most Desirable’ hotties list for 2009. Nope, he didn’t have to bare his butt (like last year’s winner John Abraham) — Ranbir did that already in his first film, remember? Nor did this Kapoor boy didn’t need a six-pack to win this much desired list, just a sweeping vote and very close competition from a bunch of hunks that pushed him to the limit. The Red Hot Countdown — ZOOM’s master countdown to beat all countdowns, had its annual competition to compile a list of India’s hottest — men and women. And with Katrina emerging hottest Indian woman, what with her class act and her huge fan base, it needed Ranbir to become the ghazab partner to Katz in this hot sweepstakes.
The list, compiled on the basis of online voting on www.zoomtv.in and via SMS, along with an elite, informed panel deciding the final winners, had voters pushing the buttons to vote in their favourites. Aamir, with his newfound hotness, post 3 Idiots; Akshay Kumar’s lean and mean ‘hauteness’, the ever beautiful Hrithik’s bare body and More >
India’s answer to Brokeback Mountain
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
GETTING SERIOUS: A still from Dunno Y.. Na Jaane Kyun
Come, new year and Bollywood is all set to make its first gay love story as an answer to Hollywood’s Brokeback Mountain that was released in 2006. Sunjay Sharma’s Dunno Y.. Na Jaane Kyun deals with a serious relationship between two men. Director Anil Sharma’s brother Kapil Sharma is playing a wannabe gay model in the film. Competition and survival compels him to succumb to exploitation. “Most strugglers will connect to my role,” says Kapil. While most actors develop cold feet to play gay characters isn’t Kapil scared to get slotted at the beginning of his career? Kapil replies, “I feel today’s audience is mature enough, and they don’t want to see typical run-of-the-mill kind of films. Look, at Hollywood, Hasn’t Tom Hanks played a gay character? An actor should be open to playing any character conventional or unconventional. The only thing I was particular about, was that this character should not come across as a caricature or just as an object of mockery. I am truly happy with what I have chosen.”
BOMBAY TIMES (January 7, 2010)
Kareena is more than a wife: Saif
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
Sarita Tanwar (MID-DAY; July 31, 2009)
Saif Ali Khan walks in 10 minutes late. He’s looking fresh and surprisingly fit. He gives me a typical filmy hug and announces, “I haven’t had a bath yet.” I tell him that information would’ve been appreciated a few seconds earlier. Even though he is in his gym clothes, he’s not carrying his workout on him.Must be the blue blood. He settles down on the other end of the couch and dons his serious glasses, “This is the Bengali in me finally coming out. Very Basu Bhattacharya.” Point noted and it’s time for some serious business. He orders coffee and me conversation. And then, we talk about his love, aaj and kal. Excerpts….
The last time you did a light romantic film (Hum Tum), you won a National Award. What are you expecting with Love Aaj Kal (LAK)? I am not in the least interested in awards. It is a kind of celebration that comes much later. I am hoping for a decent opening and a successful run. That’s it.
That’s it? I am hoping and expecting that people will like the movie and enough of them will watch it so that the people who have invested in us are not disappointed. I think it is a good movie and it has a good story. I think stories are really important parts of our lives, whether it is reading or watching them or listening to them from an old tailor in Bhopal, sitting at the foot of my bed, when I was a baby. My parents would be on the balcony, talking with adults and this old man would tell me tales of shikar and tigers and More >