Posts tagged rajinikanth

Rajinikanth’s next Kochadaiyaan postponed yet again

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6 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Prachi Kadam (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 2, 2012)

 

Initially, the film was to release during Diwali. Next, we heard it would hit theatres on Rajinikanth’s 62nd birthday on December 12 this year. However now, there is news Kochadaiyaan, the film, has been pushed even further. Directed by Rajini’s daughter Soundarya R Ashwin, Kochadaiyaan is his first film after a long bout of ill health.

An insider revealed, “The film will release around end of January or early February next year.” Kochadaiyaan will open on an international scale in languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Japanese and English.

Bollywood is noticing me again-Jackie Shroff

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7 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Actor talks about his formula for a long-lasting Bollywood career and his son Tiger’s debut

Deepali Dhingra (MID-DAY; October 19, 2012)

 

Sitting in his plush 14th floor apartment near Bandstand, Jackie Shroff is in a reflective mood. Having completed 30 years in cinema, film offers for the veteran actor are far from drying up. In fact, Shroff states that of late, offers are just pouring in non-stop. Jackie speaks to us about the highs and lows of stardom…

Are you nervous about your son Tiger making his debut soon? Not at all! When my first film released, I was sleeping at that hour. You have to take it easy. You’ve worked sincerely, now what happens is up to the audience. Toh khoon jalaane se kya faayda?

You’re playing the lead in a Hindi film (Cover Story) after a very long time… The first 15 years of my career I did sing songs but I never really danced. Then came the trend of two-hero films. So there was me and Anil, me and Sunny and so on. I kept doing anything that came my way. Mujhe farak hi nahi padta. Height hai, body hai, aawaz hai, discipline hai. Khada ho jata hoon toh dikh jata hoon (smiles).

You stayed busy with regional films along the way… Yes and that’s the time I started getting roles here again. The first Tamil film I did, Aaranya Kaandam, it got a National Award. It had people looking at me in a different light again. Then came Dhoom 3, Aurangzeb… Tigmanshu Dhulia’s assistant offered me a great cameo in his film and then I’m in Rajinikanth’s More >

Pictures: Star-studded 70th bday bash of Amitabh Bachchan

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7 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

MUMBAI MIRROR (October 11, 2012)

 

Easily, Jaya Bachchan’s bash for Amitabh’s 70th birthday has been one of the most keenly awaited do’s of the season. And when D-day finally arrived, it was every bit a party befitting the stature of the man being celebrated.

Reliance MediaWorks at Film City, Goregaon resembled a beehive of activity even as a string of actors, industrialists, politicos and bigwigs arrived to wish Big B a happy birthday.

Indeed, the situation got a bit chaotic, what with the traffic jams outside the venue. However, the occasion was marked by lot of warmth ad camaraderie with the Bachchan family being the perfect hosts. Among the megastar’s older contemporaries were Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, Waheeda Rehman, Asha Parekh and Prem Chopra to name a few. It was most touching to see Big B’s buddy and co-star of many films Shashi Kapoor arrive in a wheelchair.

The guests were invited to take to the mic and speak about the Big B. The quintessential birthday cake was cut at the stroke of midnight followed by a luxurious sitdown dinner. And, the press was invited too…

While Aaradhya slept upstairs, the rest of the Bachchan family posed for the shutterbugs

Big B’s on-screen rival Prem Chopra arrives with his wife

One superstar comes to greet the other: Rajinikanth and wife at the party

Yaari Hai Imaan Mera: Shashi Kapoor and Pran wheeled in for the bash

Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu exchange pleasantries with Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Co-star of many More >

I will never quit South cinema-Sonu Sood

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7 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

The Punjabi munda on his loyalty towards the industry that shaped him and being choosy in Bollywood

Urmimala Banerjee (MID-DAY; October 10, 2012)

 

Post Dabangg, Sonu Sood has been on a roll. With four projects in his kitty, the handsome hunk is happy to be in a space where he can “pick and choose”. In a freewheeling chat with HitList, he talks about his upcoming projects and more…

How has life changed post Dabangg? The best part was that both critics and the audiences loved my performance. People accepted me as an actor. It has also given me the freedom to choose the best roles possible.

Are you deliberately being choosy? Yes, I want to do only good work from now on. I will never quit working in South Indian films because that’s where I started, and they complement my Bollywood career. In fact, I am doing three Telugu films right now. It’s exciting to be a part of the South film industry. In Bollywood, I want to do versatile roles in varied genres.

Tell us about your upcoming projects? As of now, I am very kicked about Sanjay Gupta’s Shootout At Wadala and Prabhu Deva’s film with Tips. Then of course, there’s Zanjeer. I have exciting roles in all these projects, and that’s all I can ask for.

What’s the latest on Rana, your film with Rajnikanth? That project has been postponed due to Rajni sir’s poor health. It is a privilege to work with him. In fact, I had done a film with him in 2007 called Chandramukhi, and now we are together again. The very fact that he recognised More >

Bollywood reopens its doors to South stars and stories

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7 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Kavya Christopher and Lata Srinivasan (BOMBAY TIMES; October 10, 2012)

 

While Mollywood star Prithviraj catches Rani Mukerji’s fancy in Aiyyaa, where she wants to marry a tall, dark and handsome (TDH) South Indian, Sudeep’s lead role in his next, Makkhi, is grabbing eyeballs, too. Yes, ‘cool and sexy’ TDH South Indian actors are in season in Bollywood!

When we spoke to Prithviraj about the south stereotype in Aiyyaa, he said, “This movie shows South Indianism as very attractive. In the movie, Rani plays a girl who finds everything about South Indianism — smell, colour, looks, complexion — very cool and sexy. It sort of puts all south Indian characteristics in a way that Bollywood has not looked at it before.” In fact, the actor is keen on doing more Bollywood flicks. As for Sudeep, he’s five films old in Bollywood and is enjoying the offbeat films he does here.

An influx of South Indian actors is headed to Bollywood. Tollywood star Rana Daggubati sizzled with Bipasha Basu in Dum Maaro Dum; his peer, Ram Charan Teja, is all set to romance Priyanka Chopra as the angry young man in the Zanjeer remake.

Earlier, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal, three of the South icons, had forayed into mainstream Bollywood. Today, South actor Prakash Raj is one of the most sought-after villains in Hindi cinema.

OTHER SOUTH STARS IN BOLLYWOOD While Tollywood star Rana Daggubati was seen in Dum Maro Dum, his contemporary Ram Charan Teja will be launched in Bollywood in the Zanjeer More >

Anybody can be Sridevi-R Balki

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7 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

BOMBAY TIMES (October 5, 2012)

 

Sequels have made smash hits into huge franchises. Batman, Spiderman, Superman… man man man! Now, welcome the biggest sequel to the smashest hit woman of Indian cinema. Sridevi-2.

While Gauri was busy writing and directing English Vinglish, I was serving coffee, watching Sri perform and thinking to myself about the concept of human franchise. What does it take an actor to be a phenomenon? And a phenomenon 2?

It’s actually very very simple. Anybody can be Sridevi. Here’s how.

1. Be born with ACT+ blood group.

2. Start acting at the age of 3 or max 4.

3. Preserve your basic intelligence at all costs. Don’t complicate instinct with too much knowledge.

4. Love acting. Keep acting. Don’t analyse your gift.

5. Grow up. Forget birthdays. Adjust your dates between Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, NTR, Nageshwara Rao, Chiranjeevi….etc etc. 6. Between all the dancing, jumping and after every fifth commercial blockbuster, slam the audience with a breathtakingly sensitive performance or through divine comic timing.

7. Have the courage of conviction to turn the north into the south. Do the same things… follow the same rules and conquer the rest of the country.

8. Command a price equal to the country’s top heroes and command the respect given to the country’s finest actors. Be right on top.

9. And stop.

10. Get married to a man with a heart the size of Punjab. Allow luck to play a part in your life for once and introduce yourself to somebody as wonderful as More >

Check out the mahurat of Bhagwaan Dada

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8 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

MUMBAI MIRROR (September 18, 2012)

 

Long before he became the superstar of Tamil cinema, there was a phase in the 80s when Rajinikanth starred in a slew of Hindi films. In Bhagwaan Dada (1986), a film about a criminal who redeems himself through his love for an adopted child, Rajini played the protagonist, along with Rakesh Roshan, Sridevi and Danny Denzongpa in prominent roles.

This photograph captured by ace lensman Jagdish Aurangabadkar at the mahurat of Bhagwaan Dada has almost the entire team in it. Interestingly, Hrithik Roshan, who was just 12 at the time, portrayed Rajini’s son Govinda and made quite an impression. Rakesh’s brother Rajesh composed the film’s music. Sujit Kumar is seen sitting alongside his old friend and co-star of many movies, (late) Rajesh Khanna. It was around this time that Khanna was rumoured to be having an affair with Tina Munim, a young actress who played a crime reporter in the film.

Joker fiasco: If Rajinikanth can, why not Akshay?

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8 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Distributors cite the superstar’s example, demand compensation from Akki for Joker’s failure at the BO

Bharti Dubey (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 10, 2012)

 

He may have distanced himself from Joker, sealing its fate at the box office, but Akshay Kumar is now being pulled up for what distributors are labelling as unprofessional behaviour. With Joker tanking at the box office, distributors across the country are demanding compensation from Akshay, who was a co-producer for the film, for their losses.

Reportedly, the film cost around Rs 55cr, satellite rights were sold for about Rs 14 cr and the estimated losses amount to Rs 20cr. Trade analyst Suniel Wadhwa said, “The film was discontinued after the first week due to non-performance. Most distributors have lost nearly 60 per cent of their money.”

Distributor Sunny Khanna, told Mirror, “The brand lost only because of Akshay’s unprofessional behaviour and I definitely want compensation from him. He should learn from Emraan Hashmi, who is ready to promote an old film like Rush. Had Akshay promoted Joker, the film’s business would’ve gone up by 40 per cent.’’

South India-based distributor cited the example of Rajinikanth and said Akshay should refund the money the way Rajini did when his films flopped at the BO. Readers may recall that Rajini had agreed to pay back theatres 33 per cent of the amount for which his film Kuselan was sold in the Tamil Nadu territory. He also repaid distributors the money after another film Baba More >

2013 to see release of number of books on Indian cinema’s bigwigs

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8 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Garima Sharma (BOMBAY TIMES; September 5, 2012)

 

A few days before Rishi Kapoor’s 60th birthday, it came to light that the actor is working on his autobiography, to be released in 2013, chronicling four decades of his life. But, Kapoor is not the only one inking is life in black and white for his fans. From superstar Amitabh Bachchan, the iconic Rajinikanth to the cinematic genius Satyajit Ray, many of Bollywood’s big names are going to become the subject of books over the next year.

Autobiographies and biographies are top of the list for most publishers. There are soon going to be books on Shammi Kapoor, Mani Ratnam, Manoj Kumar, Guru Dutt and Shatrughan Sinha. Also one on Mohammed Rafi by his son, an Aamir Khan biography as well as Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty’s autobiography. That apart, a book on Satyajit Ray is being written by his wife Bijoya Ray. There is a book on Bollywood villain Ranjeet too in the pipeline.

Then there is a book being written on the entire Bachchan clan, and we hear that it may just have exclusive pictures of Abhishek-Aishwarya’s daughter Aaradhya.

Besides these, graphic novels and screenplays too are being picked up by readers. The script of Rishi-Dimple’s Bobby is being released soon, as is a book on the movie Amar Akbar Anthony, which will also feature its screenplay. Another genre being explored is that of graphic novels. There have already been such novels on Don 2 and Agent Vinod, and more in the future may not be ruled More >

Salman Khan vs Rajinikanth this Christmas?

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9 months ago
by Fenil Seta in

Sneha Mahadevan (DNA; July 30, 2012)

Salman Khan

Actor Salman Khan seems to have moved on from frenemy Shah Rukh Khan, as the trade buzz is that he’ll be having a face-off of sorts with his film clashing with that of the ‘hero of the masses’, South actor Rajinikanth in December.

It’s that time of the year when the release of big budget films have been planned as it’s the festival season. Since there are not too many film slots around the time, big films end up clashing with each other. Something similar is set to happen this December as South superstar Rajinikanth’s film Kochadaiyaan is scheduled to release on December 12 and actor Salman Khan’s Dabangg 2 on December 21.

Unlike the clash of SRK’s film with actor Ajay Devgn’s in Diwali that led to a lot of reshuffling, both Salman and Rajini are apparently unperturbed by the turn of events. None has made a move to pre-pone or postpone their films. Says a source close to Salman, “Bhai had locked the date of the film’s release even before it went on the floors. And he has no intention to change it now.” Will this affect the film’s success chances at the BO?

Says trade analyst, Bharti Pradhan,“I have always maintained that if the films are good, it will make no difference to their success if they are released on the same day. Dil and Ghayal released on the same day, but both went on to become huge hits. People don’t necessarily choose between two films, if they are good, they watch both.”

While there is a good gap of More >

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