Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged Karan Johar
I am shocked with Lamhaa’s failure-producer
Jul 29th
Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 29, 2010)
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| A still from Lamhaa |
All the fanfare and controversy around Lamhaa turned out to be a flash in the pan eventually. At least for producer Bunty Walia. And he has no qualms in admitting it and that too, quite vociferously.
“I don’t know why I’m confessing but people didn’t turn up to watch Lamhaa,” sighs Bunty. “I am shocked. Despite the strong line of stars and the relevant subject of Kashmir, the film didn’t get any eyeballs. It is clear that Indians are not interested in what is happening in their country.”
Turns out, Bunty isn’t the only one lamenting. Lead actors Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu and Kunal Kapoor, have not been paid.
While Walia doesn’t deny this, he says, “But how can I pay them fully when I haven’t got a single paisa from this film? I have lost Rs 30 crore. Lamhaa has taken my life back by 10 years.”
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| Bunty Walia |
Despite the loss, the producer stands up for director Rahul Dholakia and the actors. “They all did a fine job,” says Bunty, “I have no complaints with their work.”
Now that Walia is done rummaging for the silver lining, he’s starting afresh. He says, “I will definitely continue to make films but no issue-based ones hereafter.” Bunty and Karan Johar should probably catch up.
Kajol-Kareena call a truce
Jul 29th
Only Karan Johar could have managed this…
Meena Iyer | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; July 29, 2010)
Can two mothers make a home? And can two powerhouse actresses exist peacefully on the same set? Yes, if you have Karan Johar trouble-shooting. Once again Bollywood’s premiere filmmaker has managed to pull off another first. Dharma Productions’ We Are Family that will hit the screens on September 3, is an intimate, emotional film. “UTV and I decided to release it on September 3 because it’s a film meant for women and family audience, and we wanted an opposition-free clean week,” says Karan. He adds, “It’s the first official adaptation in Bollywood of a Hollywood film — Step-Mom in this case.” He points out that Dharma is fortunate to have a good equation with Hollywood giants such as Fox (My Name is Khan) and now Sony Pictures (We Are Family).
And whether it is getting the lyrics of a song — like he did with Pretty Woman for Kal Ho Na Ho or whether it is adapting the 1998 Susan Sarandon-Julia Roberts film Step-Mom, Karan believes it must be done officially. “There is just no other way to do it than in collaboration with the foreign studio or with getting the official remake rights,’’ says he. He is happy, too, that UTV Motion Pictures is also on board this project that brings together two of his favourite actresses — Kajol and Kareena Kapoor.
“These two return as a pair after they worked with me in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Siddharth Malhotra, my director, has brought these two women of substance, in substantial roles, for the first time. And, as a viewer and a cinegoer, I was truly excited to see their pairing. I’m also happy that Arjun Rampal has solidly held his own despite being thrown in with these two solid performers in what I describe as an intimate family experience.’’ Karan is particularly proud of the fact that the debutante director has managed to get the desired performances from his actors. “I personally think WAF will provide the audience a happy laugh and a good cry.’’
Clash averted:We Are Family to arrive a week before Dabangg
Jul 28th
By Taran Adarsh, July 28, 2010 – 09:06 IST
The Eid week was supposed to witness the clash of two biggies – Karan Johar’s WE ARE FAMILY and Salman Khan’s home-production DABANGG. The promotion of the two films have already commenced with a bang. While the first promo of WE ARE FAMILY, launched with I HATE LUV STORYS, came in for tremendous appreciation, the promo of DABANGG, launched some days back, created a tehalka of sorts, with everyone calling it a Hit, even before its release.
The latest is, Karan Johar and UTV have decided to bring WE ARE FAMILY one week earlier. The film will now arrive on 3rd September, not 10th September. Which means, a solo release for both WE ARE FAMILY and DABANGG. Also, there won’t be a maara-maari for screens. Plus, the business won’t get divided. A wise move, indeed!
BOLLYWOOD HUNGAMA.COM
KJo directs emotional scenes of Ra.One?
Jul 27th
King Khan has summoned Karan Johar to London to direct the emotional sequences of Ra.One
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 27, 2010)
Karan Johar is currently in London and shooting for Shah Rukh Khan’s film Ra.One. Karan is directing a couple of scenes for best friend Shah Rukh Khan’s magnum opus since SRK feels that Karan is the lucky mascot. He wants all the luck possible for this film.
Our source said, “Shah Rukh is extremely close to Karan and some days back he had tweeted, inviting Karan to come and direct a couple of scenes for him. SRK wrote that Karan is his lucky mascot and that’s why he wants Karan to do it.
Karan accepted the invitation and so Karan is currently in London shooting a couple of emotional scenes which are his forte, with SRK and Kareena. The schedule of the film has been split into two units for a couple of days. The original director, Anubhav Sinha, will continue to shoot the primary montages and action-packed sequences of the feature. Karan, in the meanwhile, will be shooting the mushier bits.
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“Karan left for London on Friday night and has also begun shooting from Monday. He is going to shoot for two days and after that Anubhav Sinha will once again take over as the director of the film,” said a source.
Incidentally the combination of SRK and Karan has not failed at the box-office so far, starting with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai up to the recently-released My Name Is Khan. Let’s hope that this superstitious arrangement doesn’t cause any tears for King Khan.
KJo in the meanwhile was too busy shooting to comment.
Munnabhai has aged!
Jul 27th
The lovable don will be back with his sidekick Circuit in 2012, but in a new avatar
Meena Iyer | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; July 27, 2010)
Rajkumar Hirani had actually drawn the curtains on his most lovable character, Munnabhai. His Munnabhai Chale Amrika had to be stalled after Karan Johar used the same idea of his protagonist meeting the US President in My Name is Khan. So Raju went on to his next script leaving Munnabhai on the backburner. But what the filmmaker proposed, the trade and public opposed.
Under tremendous pressure from distributors and also from the janta to bring back Munna, Raju is now scripting the next Munnabhai film with his co-writer Abhijat Joshi. “Wherever I go, people walk up to me and say ‘Where is that Munnabhai film whose trailer you showed us with Eklavya?’ Some people are even slightly aggressive and say, “Aap ne trailer dikhaya, film kahan hai?,’” said Raju, who keeping all this in mind, has decided to launch the sequel sometime in 2011. “Munna and Circuit are very interesting characters we have created and we can say many socially relevant things using them,” he said. But there’ll be one change in this film — Raju will age Munnabhai’s character to suit Sanjay’s current personality.
Peepli Live actor wants to meet Katrina
Jul 26th
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 26, 2010)
Omkardas Manikpuri, an actor from the prestigious theatre house founded by late Habib Tanvir Sahib, Naya Theatre, was taken completely by surprise when all stars walked to him in praise of the promos of Peepli Live.
Karan Johar, Rani Mukherjee and Sharman Joshi all personally got themselves introduced to Natha (as Manikpuri is fondly known) and told him that they really liked what they saw in promos. Manikpuri now wants to meet Katrina Kaif since he is fascinated by her glamour.
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| Katrina Kaif | Omkardas Manikpuri |
He managed to gather the guts to request Aamir for the same. Aamir was first shocked and then started laughing as he found Natha’s request so adorable.
He promised that once he would be back from the tour of Peepli Live promotions in the UK he would surely arrange a meeting.
When contacted, Omkardas Manikpuri confirmed, “Yes, I have told Aamir sir. It is a very personal request, so I don’t want to talk about it.”
Dostana 2 postponed?
Jul 26th
The sequel has now been delayed because creative differences have cropped up between producer Karan Johar and director Tarun Mansukhani
Sonal Chawla (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 26, 2010)
For those who were waiting for the sequel for Dostana, this one is for you. The film has run into trouble, owing to the creative differences between the producer Karan Johar and director Tarun Mansukhani.
There is an element of disagreement over the second half between the director Tarun Mansukhani and producer Karan Johar. A source reveals, “Karan is not very happy with the script and especially the second half. He has asked Tarun to re-work the second half and take as much time as he wants to.
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| Tarun Mansukhani | Karan Johar | |
The movie for now has been postponed to an indefinite period. Karan heard the script before leaving for London.”
The source continues, “The differences were quite storng. Karan did not encourage what Tarun had penned and despite Tarun’s repeated attempts Karan did not budge.
They both had different points of view and failed to come to a common ground. The movie has been getting postponed for some reason or the other. Sometimes there were date issues with the three stars and then the script itself.”
“In fact the immediate crew has been asked to take their time off from the pre-production till Tarun is ready with the script, approved by Karan. There were also supposed to shoot a grand song in a circus next month and were doing a reccee in Kolhapur for the same to get some references. Everything has been called off and cancelled,” adds the source.
While Karan remained unavailable for comment, Tarun said, “Karan and I have collectively taken a call to delay the start of filming by a few months so as to gain more prep time. Dostana will still release as per schedule in the second half of 2011.”
He adds, “There is absolutely no discord between Karan and myself.”
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| A still from Dostana |
SRK wants to catch Akki’s Khatta Meetha
Jul 23rd
King Khan requests a special preview of Akshay Kumar’s latest Khatta Meetha. Clearly, the two archrivals are softening up to each other now
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 23, 2010)
Seems like the monsoons have brought the onset of a new season of friendship. The surprising bit is that these friendly alliances are developing between the unlikeliest of types. After Mumbai Mirror reported about the blossoming camaraderie between Karan Johar and Aamir Khan, here’s another cracker of a story.
There was a time when Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay Kumar apparently couldn’t see eye to eye, professionally that is. There were several stories doing the rounds in the industry of their professional rivalry. Being two of the biggest stars in Bollywood today, both Shah Rukh Khan and Akshay did all in their capacity to occupy the number-one-star position.
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Turns out, the rivalry between the actors has suddenly simmered down. SRK met Akshay a month ago on a flight to London. The actors might have interacted with each other on that flight. The result is that King Khan is now very keen on watching Akshay’s latest release Khatta Meetha.
Our source said, “Shah Rukh Khan is in London working on his film RA.One. He will be taking a couple of days off to come to Mumbai next week. During the break he wants to catch up with Akshay’s film Khatta Meetha.
Shah Rukh’s office has requested the producers Ashtavinayak for a print, which he will be watching at the recently-built preview theatre at his residence.
The producers have also agreed, but are asking for a particular date in the coming week for this purpose. This is yet to be finalised. The reason is that SRK is not sure about his plans. He has no clue as to when he would come back to Mumbai. But one thing’s for sure. The day he returns will definitely be booked for watching the film.”
Another source said, “This is a newfound friendship; Akshay and SRK are known to be rivals. A while ago SRK landed up on the sets of Patiala House in Film City, where Akshay was shooting. They chatted for quite long. Now SRK is keen to watch Akshay’s film. That means the two archrivals are getting friendly.”
There are after all no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.
Priyanka swaps roles in Silence?
Jul 22nd
When a weaker female role in Anurag Basu’s biopic Silence had no takers, Priyanka Chopra opted for it, and sacrificed her coveted role for it
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 22, 2010)
After the Kites debacle, a new turn of events has ruined Anurag Basu’s year. His Kishore Kumar biopic has been put on hold. Apparently, the film needs extensive research, and is no longer financially feasible.
According to a director-friend of Ranbir Kapoor (who was supposed to play Kishore), “Ranbir has stopped talking about the Kishore Kumar biopic. It’s no longer a lucrative project anymore.”
When Anurag decided to focus on his prestigious project Silence, starring Ranbir Kapoor as a deaf and mute hero, he cast Priyanka Chopra to play the role of a mentally challenged girl. Not in his wildest dreams had Anurag expected that this casting will be the root of his problems.
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| Priyanka Chopra | Ranbir Kapoor | |
Asin was supposed to play the other female part in the film. When Asin turned that down, Katrina stepped in. But both opted out later. Why? Because by then, both Asin and Katrina had discovered that the part Priyanka had been chosen for was actually a far stronger role.
As a result, this other female part had no takers and this had put the film on hold for six months.
Until Priyanka stepped in. Apparently, Priyanka, who thinks the project is too precious to be endangered, has now volunteered to play the vacant female part (which is believed to be the weaker part), so the more powerful female part would be easier to cast.
At one time Kajol had similarly volunteered to play the other female lead in Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, when every girl in tinsel town had turned down the role Rani Mukerji played.
Says a reliable source, “Silence is too powerful a project to be stalled. Priyanka knows this and is only too happy to do whatever is best for the project. Even if it means swapping roles.” When contacted Anurag Basu said, “It’s true we’ve been unable to cast the other part. We have time. We’ll sort it out.”
Wonder which part Anurag is referring to now?
David Dhawan’s son in KJo’s film?
Jul 22nd
Meena Iyer | TNN (BOMBAY TIMES; July 22, 2010)
It is set to be a dream launch. Varun Dhawan, younger son of former Bollywood box office pasha David Dhawan, has been signed by Karan Johar for a project that will take off in 2011.
Trade sources say that David was always clear that his older son Rohit will be a director and younger son Varun an actor. Rohit is meant to be directing Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Chitrangadha Singh and Deepika Padukone in Desi Boyz. And Varun was waiting in the wings till KJo discovered him.
Karan says, “The banner will launch two new boys in the same film. The details of the boys and the director are still in the process of finalisation there are no confirmations as yet.”
However, it is almost certain that Varun will be one of those boys. Incidentally, the director too will be a Dharma faithful. There was a time when David could have been the ideal filmmaker to launch his own son. He was ruling the BO with super-hits like Biwi No 1, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Coolie No 1 and many of those critically-spurned puerile super-hits. However, post Partner (again a huge hit) David is in semi-hibernation. In fact, after his Do Knot Disturb fiasco, the trade has been sceptical about DD’s box office prowess. The filmmaker has been signed for Sanjay Dutt’s Rascals with Sanju and Ajay Devgn in the lead.
