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Posts tagged farhan akhtar
Kareena Kapoor excited about her role in Zoya Akhtar’s next?
01 week ago
by Fenil Seta
in Rumour has it
Upala KBR (DNA; May 9, 2013)
Kareena Kapoor Khan has been approached by Zoya Akhtar for her next film, which revolves around a brother-sister relationship. Ranveer Singh has been finalised to play the role of the brother.
Says a source, “On Sunday night, Zoya gave a three-hour narration to the actress at her Bandra home. The role is to die for and Kareena is extremely excited about it. Even her sister Karisma loved it, and is urging her to say yes. The film belongs to the leading lady and Bebo has been wanting to sink her teeth into a performance-based role for sometime now. She wants to be challenged as an actress. Another big incentive to do this film are the new energies. Bebo has never worked with Zoya before, except for the cameo in Luck By Chance. She likes the director’s past films and her sensibilities, so is trying to work her dates and somehow fit this film into her schedule.
Date crunch Kareena is facing a date crunch with the number of films she has lined up in 2013-14. Currently she is shooting for Punit Malhotra’s Gori Tere Pyar Mein with Imran Khan, after which she will start shooting for Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor’s joint production with Emraan Hashmi. When that wraps up, she will begin shooting for Shuddhi with Hrithik Roshan, produced by Karan Johar. In the meantime, she has also been approached by Rohit Shetty for his next film after Chennai Express. Kareena adores Rohit and the blockbusters he delivers, so now she is trying to fit in Zoya’s film, More >
Vidya Balan to fly from Melbourne to Cannes next week
01 week ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; May 8, 2013)
Vidya Balan has been in Australia for the past one week to attend a film festival where she will soon begin shooting for her film Shaadi Ke Side Effects with Farhan Akhtar. A source says, “Vidya was in Australia for the Melbourne film festival and in the next couple of days she will be shooting for some intensely emotional scenes at Gold Coast.” It is said that the makers of her film were waiting patiently for her to finish her prior commitments, so she decided to accommodate their dates and took time out to complete the shoot.
“Vidya has some back-to-back work commitments. She is supposed to attend the 66th Cannes Film Festival immediately after the shoot. So ideally she was going to take a break and prepare for her appearance on the red carpet in Cannes. But now she won’t get any free time on hand.”
Hrithik Roshan-Ranbir Kapoor in Farhan Akhtar’s next?
02 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Rumour has it
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 30, 2013)
Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani may bring together two actors who’ve never before shared screen space – Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan – in a film that will be produced by their banner, Excel Entertainment. The buzz is that Hrithik has a cameo in the film while the director and the rest of the cast is yet to be finalised.
When contacted, Ritesh just said, “Nothing has been finalised.”
Meanwhile, a source close to the development said, “Excel will soon make an official announcement about the film that will go on floors sometime next year. Ranbir and Hrithik are very good friends who’ve never had the chance to work together before. Finally, it’s happening.”
Quizzed about the possibility of Ranbir and Hrithik also starring in Farhan’s sister, Zoya’s next, Ritesh did not reply.
There has been speculation that real-life siblings Kareena and Ranbir are set to play reellife sister and brother in Zoya’s forthcoming film. The yet-untitled project is rumoured to be an autobiographical tale of Zoya and Farhan.
How stars prepare for their crucial scenes before the camera
02 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Mehul S Thakkar (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 30, 2013)
People often lament that they don’t make them like that anymore. Well they do. The present breed of actors is showing the same kind of dedication to their craft, as the previous lot. How Aamir Khan went without a bath for two weeks to get that street-worn look for the climax of Ghulam is now part of filmlore. And Farhan Akhtar has set a new benchmark with his rigorous training sessions for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. We look at how some of your favourite stars have their unique way of preparing for that crucial make or break scene.
SAD BUT TRUE One would not really associate the chirpy Sonam Kapoor battle with emotions that are not all bright and cheerful. But the actress, who has recently started shooting for a film with Ayushmann Khurrana, had to summon her unhappiest thoughts for a scene, and here’s how she went about it. The film opens with an intense tragic scene, and Sonam had to look her dejected worst. To get into the right frame of mind, she instructed the crew to spare her a few moments of solitude. She then put on her ear plugs, and switched on some music. The playlist, that ran for an hour or so, had melancholic tracks, and Sonam played them in a loop, till she was in command of the right emotions before the camera.
AT YOUR SERVICE Before shooting for the famous Kun Faya Kun song in Rockstar, Ranbir Kapoor and his director Imtiaz Ali stayed at the Nizamuddin Dargah in Delhi for three days. Ranbir perfomed all the daily More >
More and more co-productions churned out in Bollywood
04 weeks ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
More and more production houses are coming together to make films… Aakanksha Naval-Shetye investigates the upside and flipside of this new business model
Aakanksha Naval-Shetye (DNA; April 21, 2013)
B-Town has developed a fascination with joint-productions. But is there a sense behind these partnerships? Ideally when two big banners come together, they should bring their strengths to the table. Like a big A-list hero. So when Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala announce a film together, one should bring Shah Rukh Khan to the table and the other Salman Khan. Now that would be big. But their co-production 2 States stars two newcomers Alia Bhatt and Arjun Kapoor. The question begging to be asked is: Why does a Dharma or a Nadiadwala need to come together to cast these newbies? The answer is simple. Karan wanted to make this film and Sajid had bought the rights to the Chetan Bhagat’s novel.
Ekta Kapoor announces co-venture with Pritish Nandy Communications to produce Shaadi Ke Side Effects starring Vidya Balan and Farhan Akhtar. Again, here was a film that was a sequel to PNC’s Pyar Ke Side Effects, they wanted a A-List star to act in the film. Ekta, liked the script and roped Vidya for the film.
Then there is Karan Johar and Anurag Basu’s Hasee Toh Phasee with Parneeti Chopra and Sidharth Malhotra in the lead. Karan has admitted many times that he doesn’t have the sensibility to make a film like Anurag, though he thinks there is an audience for his brand of cinema, like Udaan, More >
Check out Farhan Akhtar shooting for Cafe Coffee Day ad
04 weeks ago
MUMBAI MIRROR (April 20, 2013)
Farhan Akhtar is quite the man about town these days. In between shooting for Shaadi Ke Side Effects co-starring Vidya Balan and spearheading MARD (Men Against Rape and Discrimination) – his initiative in support of women, the actor-filmmaker managed to squeeze in some time to shoot a commercial for a popular coffee chain. Mirror lensman Raju Shelar chanced upon Farhan and team while they were busy filming the advertisement at a coffee outlet opposite Girgaum Chowpatty.
The shoot started Thursday afternoon and it wasn’t before 8.30pm or so that the unit called it a day. With so much on his plate, not to mention his Milkha biopic dinching close to release, Farhan sure needs a coffee break.
Most remakes made because it earns makers pots of money-Salim Khan
01 month ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Money, name and identity. We talk to Bollywood’s old guard on why they are upset with zippy remakes
Anand Holla (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 14, 2013)
Forty years after Amitabh Bachchan ushered in the angry young man to whistles and cheers in Zanjeer, its writers Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan are channelling the character’s inner rage. Furious and unrelenting, Bollywood’s most successful scriptwriter duo filed a suit in the Bombay High Court this month, seeking a stay on the release of its remake, Zanjeer 2.0.
Their grouse is that producers Amit Mehra (whose father Prakash Mehra directed and produced the original) and Reliance Entertainment didn’t seek their consent for the remake, even though they hold the copyright of the ‘literary work’. While the 1973 film starred Bachchan, Dadasaheb Phalke award-winner Pran and Jaya Bachchan, the remake stars Telugu star Ram Charan Teja (top) and Priyanka Chopra.
Salim-Javed claim they have been trying to resolve the matter for a year now. Says 68-year-old Akhtar, “We tried speaking to Amit. When that didn’t help, we first went to the Film Writers Association and then the Federation of Western India Cine Employees, which also agreed that the rights belonged to us. But the producers didn’t relent. When we own its rights, how can someone make it in Telugu and Hindi without our consent?”
It’s not that the legendary scriptwriters are against remakes. Khan, 77, points out that a remake is a win-win situation for writers. “If it works, it proves More >
Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani unveil animated jingle of Fukrey
11 month ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Meena Iyer (BOMBAY TIMES; March 30, 2013)
Fukrey is not an easy title to pronounce or perhaps even to explain to the hoi polloi, except in North India. In their attempt to make the task of understanding their title easier for everyone involved, the evolved producers — Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar — have actually come up with an animated jingle composed by Ram Sampath and written by Swanand Kirkire.
Coming back to Fukrey, Ritesh and Farhan, who have led the way many a time in their decade-long career — be it making path-breaking cinema like Dil Chahta Hai (2001) and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) — have this time come up with the marketing innovation of giving the viewer a highenergy video that describes the recipe of being Fukrey (that is colloquial for good-for-nothing or someone who’s perpetually broke).
Says Ritesh, “This is the language of the film. It’s the first time a filmmaker is doing a jingle to promote the title. We were thinking of the best way to explain the meaning of Fukrey. And that’s when we came up with the idea of this jingle. In the digital world, animation works very well. We thought it would be a nice way to introduce our Fukras. Ram is a renowned talent in jingles.”
Farhan says, “Fukrey is a word that the people of Delhi and certain sections of North India are very familiar with. Of course, it is alien to a lot of us who are from elsewhere. Hence, the need to explain its meaning is important. Getting an animated jingle seemed like a fun way More >
I&B Ministry calls for truce between filmmakers, CBFC over censorship issues
01 month ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 29, 2013)
At a time when Hindi films have come under criticism for disrespectful portrayal of women, and Censor Board decisions are increasingly being viewed as arbitrary, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry has stepped in to broker peace between the warring parties – the producers and the Board. The bone of contention being the Cinematograph Act 1952 that the film industry thinks is outdated. The I&B Ministry has called for a meeting with all parties concerned between April 3 and April 5, though the venue hasn’t been decided yet. Representing the film industry will be Farhan Akhtar, Ramesh Sippy, President of the Producers’ Guild Mukesh Bhatt, President of the Association of Motion Pictures and TV Programme Producers (AMTPP) Sajid Nadiadwala and Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association Chief TP Aggarwal. Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) Chief Leela Samson and CBFC CEO Pankaja Thakur will represent the censors. Also present will be senior members from the special panel that was instituted under the chairmanship of judicial expert Mukul Mudgal to review the functioning of the Censor Board.
The meeting will set the pace for the necessary amendments to the Cinematograph Act 1952, after taking into consideration suggestions by all concerned. Special song and dance numbers, foul language, and scenes portraying actors and actresses smoking and drinking are likely to be discussed during the meet.
Aggarwal confirmed the More >