Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged darr
I still get angry even today-Sunny Deol
04 days ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
Sunny Deol turns contemplative ahead of his next film
Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 15, 2013)
Sunny Deol is a busy man, what with Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 inching close to release. We caught up with the actor-filmmaker in between meetings at his office in Sunny Villa. The otherwise reticent Sunny appeared to be in a candid mood and didn’t hesitate to answer our questions. Excerpts from the interview…
The way you function has changed over the years… (Smiles) Today, it’s important to promote your film; it’s now part of the filmmaking process…
What about your temperament? Back then, I used to get irritated with filmmakers and crib about the things we didn’t get right. I was both loved and hated for being upfront. But I was just being myself. Today, when I watch my movies online, I feel they are looking nice in totality. At that time though, I never felt so. However, I still get angry even today (laughs)…
Why has there been no connect between you and actors who came after you like Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan? I am happy with my family and my colleagues and want to continue making my own kind of cinema. I have never belonged to any camp and have no friends in the industry. Most of them will pay lip service but when it comes to doing, they tend to shy away.
Reportedly, there was trouble during the making of Darr but now, YRF has bought the audio rights of your film. Looks like times are changing… (Serious) Things change over a period of time. More >
Sunny Deol-Aditya Chopra friends again?
01 month ago
by Fenil Seta
in Rumour has it
For 20 years he had nursed a grouse against YRF for sidelining him in Darr. They buried the hatchet last week
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 13, 2013)
Necessity is the mother of invention. And in Bollywood it brings together those who have drifted apart. Sunny Deol, whose Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 is up for release, has swallowed his pride and reached out to Aditya Chopra, after a defiant silence of 20 years.
The actor had till date not forgiven Yash Raj Films (YRF) for ‘sidelining’ him in Darr (1993), which turned out to be Shah Rukh Khan’s careerdefining film. Both the production house and Sunny are keen to bury the past with YRF buying the music rights of Sunny’s home-production, YPD 2, starring Dharmendra, Sunny and Bobby.
While Sunny was unreachable, his spokesperson confirmed the development. Apparently, there were many takers for the music of YPD 2 but Sunny thought it was a great opportunity to reconnect with YRF and had a chat with Aditya on the phone. How did Aditya react? “He spoke to Sunny very warmly. There was no reference to the fallout. It was apparent that both were keen to work with each other again,” said the source.
When Darr hit theatres, Sunny was miffed with YRF for what he believed was preferential treatment meted out to SRK. With the film proving to be a hit, SRK went on to become Yash Chopra’s blue-eyed boy. Sunny even stayed away from Yash Chopra’s funeral and prayer meets.
While Sunny and Shah Rukh buried the hatchet sometime ago at a More >
Where have the good old bad villains vanished from Bollywood?
02 months ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
As the line between good and bad gets blurred, the villains have disappeared from Hindi films…
Upala KBR (DNA; March 16, 2013)
Bollywood has always had heroes and villains. All our stories are about good vs evil. There was Kanhaiyalal and Jeevan in the ’50s, Ajit and Pran in the ’60s, Ranjeet and Prem Chopra in the ’70s, Amrish Puri and Danny Denzongpa in the ’80s Gulshan Grover in the ’90s…and then the baddies vanished.
Now there is a whole breed of filmmakers (Karan Johar, Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu, Aditya Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani, etc) who don’t have villains in their films. There was a time when heroes played the good guys and the villains the bad guys. The lines between the good and the bad have blurred and grey characters have emerged. The success of films with leading men as anti-heroes (Khalnayak, Baazigar and Darr) is responsible for the villains being pushed into retirement. The actors who played baddies started playing character roles. When we need a terrifying character now, we import them from the South (Vikram (Raavan), Prakash Raj (Singham and Dabangg 2) or the heroes play baddies.
A quick survery of recent hits reveal that the concept of villain doesn’t exist anymore. 3 Idiots, the biggest hit in recent years didn’t have a khalnayak. Neither did Zindagi Na Mile Dobara, Barfi!, Rockstar, Cocktail, Jab Tak Hai Jaan, Student Of The Year. Kiran Rao says “Baddies will always be there in mainstream films for as long as there are stories to tell. But perhaps the More >
Gattu to make obsessive love story with Ekta Kapoor
07 months ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
A passionate story about unrequited love, the project will star the Rock On director’s close friend Farhan Akhtar in the lead role
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 4, 2012_
Abhishek Kapoor may have taken a good four years to get on to a new project after his 2008 film Rock On!!. But he isn’t going to sit around for too long this time around.
Mirror has learnt, the filmmaker, who is on the verge of completing Kai Po Che, his adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel The 3 Mistakes Of My Life, has already decided on his next directorial. This time, Abhishek (better known as Gattu) will team up with his cousin Ekta Kapoor’s production house Balaji Motion Pictures.
“I don’t know why Ekta and I haven’t worked together so far. She’s very dear to me. Maybe because we’re family we couldn’t think of work. But now I am making my next film with Ekta,” Abhishek told Mumbai Mirror. Excited about his next film, the director added, “It will be an intense romance about unrequited love. This subject would be a first for me as a director and for Ekta as a producer.”
A source close to the venture elaborated on the storyline, “The script is about obsessive love that can be categorised in the same genre as Yash Chopra’s Sunny Deol, Shah Rukh Khan and Juhu Chawla starrer Darr.”
The source also revealed that Abhishek’s good friend Farhan Akhtar who was a part of his pevious venture Rock On!! will play the lead role in this new venture.
And as far as working with Ekta, who is known to be a bit More >
SRK never asks me about the script, fee-Yash Chopra
07 months ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
At 80, Yash Chopra announces his retirement and goes down the memory lane with SRK
Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 28, 2012)
It was an event hosted by the company he has ably helmed for decades to felicitate him on his 80th birthday but it ended with Yash Chopra making a surprise announcement about his retirement. The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Jab Tak Hain Jaan will be Chopra’s last film as director.
With this one masterstroke YRF threw the gauntlet to the makers of Son Of Sardaar who have dared to open at the same time as them. Saying that he now wants to move into the mentor mode, Yash Chopra told Shah Rukh Khan, with whom he was in conversation: “Like they say, the best things we eat at the end. I want to do other things now. Launch new people. My wife has been complaining, so I will make her happy.”
A dapper Shah Rukh, whose first brush with a Yash Chopra film – Joshila, took place at the tender age of nine (“My mom told me she will show me a film if I passed in Hindi”), spoke about the filmmaker’s journey – from being an engineering aspirant to the father of romance in Hindi cinema.
SRK who may occasionally report late on the sets arrived much earlier than the scheduled time to rehearse for the event. After making a grand entry reciting the now famous verses from his upcoming film, he later sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for Chopra Sr. And it was one of those rare occasions when he spoke less than the other person on stage. Clearly, the director was the star at this More >
Behind every successful hero is a woman with a pen
010 months ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
A motley group of women writers in Bollywood give their male counterparts a tip or two on the new rules of scriptwriting
Shakti Shetty (MID-DAY; June 25, 2012)
What’s common between Agneepath, Vicky Donor and Shanghai? Other than the fact that they released this year and had strong male characters, all three were written by female screenwriters.
Given the longstanding tradition of employing male writers who took care of the story, dialogues and lyrics, it’s a pleasant shift from the usual track for Bollywood. Interestingly, however, none of the emerging ladies are prepared to point a finger at the industry. They’d rather welcome the change…
Urmi Juvekar After coming up with a heralded script like Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Urmi Juvekar went a step ahead and created Shanghai (both directed by Dibakar Banerjee). While penning a story, Urmi reveals that she keeps reminding herself that she’s a screenwriter first — not a novelist. “The role of a screenwriter is peculiarly different from a fiction writer. We are writing for a picture and words tend to change the image in my head to some other image when it enters the director’s head.” On being asked whether writers are given due credit in Bollywood, Urmi poses, “As long as we are getting paid, there shouldn’t be any issue. Anyway, do you care to know who the editor or the cinematographer of the film is? Nahi na? Then why bother with credit for writers only?”
Ila Bedi Datta Although Ila Bedi Datta has been actively involved in More >
I just can’t watch my team play-Juhi Chawla
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Juhi Chawla in a free-wheeling chat with BT
Deepika Sahu (BOMBAY TIMES; May 1, 2011)
She won millions of hearts as the endearing Rashmi in Qayamat Se Qayamt Tak way back in the 1980s. There has been no looking back for her since then. Juhi Chawla, Bollywood’s ‘Betty’ with her innate charm, has given hits like Darr, Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Hum hain Rahi Pyar Ke. But then she took a step forward and did movies like Jhankaar Beats, Teen Deewarein and My Brother Nikhil.
She says, “Interesting is the word I would use. It has been a combination of varied experiences. I have my share of hugely successful mainstream commercial films and also small-budget films.” Her chirpy and bubbly act has always found her many admirers. As many of her fans have maintained that seeing Juhi on the screen made them feel happy. Tell her this and she breaks into peals of laughter and says, “Oh… that makes me happy too. Many people tell me that. But to be honest, I didn’t know how I was doing when I was doing it.”
For somebody who has a wide body of work to her credit, does she feel that the Hindi film industry has changed? “Not really. There were always some filmmakers like Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Basu Chatterjee, Mahesh Bhatt and Shyam Benegal who made different films. So, there were always a space for different kind of cinema even within mainstream cinema,” she says.
But she feels strongly about one change. “Previously producers were putting in their own More >
YRF and Anupam Kher ‘fall out’
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The actor is no longer involved in any of the banner’s underproduction films, tarnishing an association since 1988
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 05, 2011)
I ‘ve no clue why I’m not a part of their recent films. Maybe they don’t need me any more. Maybe I don’t fit into their films,” speculates Anupam Kher about his fallout with Yash Chopra and family.
The actor has been affiliated to the YRF banner since 1988. A mutual friend of Kher and the Chopras gives us an insight into the former relationship, saying, “Ever since they worked together on Chandni, Yash Chopra considered Anupam a close friend and his lucky mascot.
Yashji made sure he cast the actor in pivotal roles and not just his own directorial ventures like Lamhe, Darr and Veer-Zaara. Anupam was also a major part of Yashji’s son Aditya Chopra’s film Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge.”
Anupam Kher Yash ChopraKher was last seen in a small role in Yashraj’s Badmaash Company in 2010. Post which he was left out of Aditya Chopra’s second directorial project Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and other Yashraj’s underproduction films.
When contacted, Kher tells us, “I still have the highest regard for the family and the fondest memories of all the films that I’ve done with them. On a personal level, I do miss being part of their films. But that is fine. When they have a role for me, I’m sure we’ll work together again.”
According to the YRF spokesperson, Rafiq, “Casting is script led and More >
Aamir to play ‘thinking thief’ in Dhoom 3
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
No gadgets or tricks for Aamir in Dhoom 3, he’s a thinking man
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 9, 2011)
Aamir Khan’s obsession with being different is fiendish. The man who was recently a brooding artist in his wife’s Dhobi Ghat is not leaving his brain behind even for a fun-and-games thriller such as Dhoom 3. As the villain of the film, Aamir will play a cerebral villain and no boy-with-toys or regular con.
According to sources, his character won’t be into bikes or gizmos like John Abraham or a master of disguises like Hrithik Roshan. Eschewing make-up and gimmickry, he will be the underplayed, soft-spoken evil man. “His machinations and manoeuvres as the international kingpin of the racket will be subtle and sly,” the source said.
But without stunts and action sequences, will there be enough bang in the sequel chasing the success of pervious Dhooms? The source claims that less will be more in this case because the few stunts that Aamir will perform are bigger and bolder than in the previous films.
“Aamir has already played the action hero to the hilt in Ghajini. He is now looking for something far removed from the stereotypical villain.”
Writer-director Vijay Krishna Acharya, who is apparently polishing and fine-tuning the part, is reluctant to speak on the matter. The creator of Dhoom says, “Other than the fact that I am directing the third film and that Aamir Khan is playing the antagonist in it, all I can tell you More >