Posts tagged short film

I am good at playing a tomboy-Priya Wal

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

MM.com exclusively chats with Priya Wal, who shot to fame for essaying the role of the ‘red- haired’ tomboy from the popular show Remix. In this freewheeling interview, she justifies playing a tomboy again in her latest show Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani, how her off-screen persona is totally different, and also her plans of starting a single girls’ ashram

Varun Vazir | MM Online Bureau (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 09, 2011)

We’ve seen the TV actress Priya Wal in several soaps like C.I.D., Yes Boss, Sun Yaar Chill Maar, Aek Chabhi Hai Paddos Mein, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and many more, but she agrees she’s got everyone sitting up and taking notice of her for essaying the role of Anvesha in her first show- Remix. She’s extremely excited to be a part of Ekta Kapoor’s Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani on Star One as her fans wanted to see her again in the tomboy avatar!

You played a role of a tomboy in the show Remix, which is similar to your current character – Misha – in the show Pyaar Kii Ye Ek Kahaani. Weren’t you scared of being typecast?

No, not at all. It’s very easy to typecast somebody, but the challenge is to take it up and do something different with it. There’s a lot more to every character than just playing a tomboy. Luckily, I don’t have to sport red hair this time!

You agree that your tomboy image goes very well with the audiences?

I was very lucky to be launched with the show Remix. I feel my tomboyish image got stuck in people’s mind. People More >

Nikhil Advani starts a new chapter with Anuja Chauhan

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

Signs on bestselling author of The Zoya Factor to script his next love story, Guppie – Mein Liar Nahih Shayer Hoon. He has also split with his partner of many years, Mukesh Talreja

Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 23, 2011)

Nikhil Advani has decided to fly solo for his next directorial venture. Advani, who partnered with Mukesh Talreja to produce Salaam-E-Ishq (2007), Chandni Chowk To China (2009) and Patiala House (2011), has broken away from Talreja to form his own production house.

For his first endeavour alone, Advani has signed on Anuja Chauhan, author of the bestsellers, The Zoya Factor and Battle of Bittoria, for his next film, which is tentatively titled Guppie- Mein Liar Nahih Shayer Hoon.

Nikhil Advani

When contacted, Advani was not very forthcoming about starting up his own production house, telling us, “It is too early to talk about my banner and starting my production house.

I am excited about starting my new film with Anuja Chauhan. Anuja and I have worked together extensively on many ad films.

I loved Zoya Factor and Battle of Bittoria and so I wanted her to write an original screenplay for my film. I had this idea and Anuja is writing it. It’s going to be a love story, scheduled to go on floors in the middle of this year.”

Anuja Chauhan

When questioned about casting and if Akshay Kumar will be a part of the film, he said, “It is too early to talk about the casting of the film.

Akshay and I have had a couple of More >

Phas Gaye Re Obama & Bach Gaye Re Kapoor

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

Now that Phas Gaye Re Obama (PGRO) is a certified hit, here’s a profile of its multitasking maker – Subhash Kapoor

Satyen K. Bordoloi | MM Online Bureau (December 17, 2010) Subhash Kapoor, a multitasking maker, is content with the success of his movie Phas Gaye Re Obama (Pic: Satyen K. Bordoloi)

He is the second journalist who has successfully released a satire this year in Bollywood. And his film, like Anusha Rizvi’s ‘Peepli Live’ is set in rural India. But that’s where similarities end. No mighty Khan was backing Subhash Kappor’s Phas Gaye Re Obama (PGRO). Neither was he remotely connected to the Bollywood mega-clan that shares his surname. Yet he managed to pull off a miracle, backed by a good script.

And it is a backing that has helped. But like anyone without a godfather inside the fortress of Bollywood would tell you, he has had a tough, arduous journey.

After working as a journalist in Delhi, this MA in Hindi Literature, decided to make films after a short film he had made in 2001 went places. He began making commercial short films, documentaries and ad films and shifted to Mumbai in 2006.

In 2007 he made and released his first film, ‘Salaam India’ – on cricket. Sadly the fail-safe gamble to release the film during the world cup backfired as it coincided with India’s humiliating ouster from the series. The film sank worse than the titanic.

“Yet I thought that since I had already made and released a film, it would be easier to find funds More >

I’m writing a film called Portable Lover-Dharmendra

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

Dharmendra talks about battling booze, making movies and getting fitter

Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 10, 2010)

• In your forthcoming film Yat Yamala Pagla Deewana you are working with your sons Sunny and Bobby for the second time after Apne. How is working with family?

With family, there are no ego clashes, no negativity. It always gives you an extra boost, which shows in the final output. After Apne, we were flooded with offers from filmmakers who wanted to cast the three of us. But we were waiting for a good script.

Yamala Pagla Deewana is a comedy, but the backbone is the emotion. Sunny and Bobby play my sons. I play a thug who has separated from my wife (played by Nafisa Joseph) and take Bobby with me. Let’s keep the rest of the story under wraps (smiles).

• You are working with your daughter Esha too in Tell Me O Khuda…

With daughters, you see, I am still a man from the village. Let’s not go there. All said and done, we live for the happiness of our children, don’t we? I felt very tense when I saw her doing so many action scenes. She was hanging from the wing of a plane. I was waiting in my vanity van and I called her. Her phone was off. I called up the director. She was hauled up and assured me that she was fine. When I wasn’t convinced, she said that she has my Jat blood and I should stop worrying about her.

• Does Hema Malini worry about her?

You rarely get such a brave and strong mother like her.

• And how is she as a More >

New flavour of MAMI

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

This year, Shyam Benegal boasts of a competition between aspiring filmmakers

Mauli Singh (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 09, 2010)

Come October, MAMI, 12th Mumbai Film Festival, will kick-start on a brand new note. The week-long festival starting from October 21, will see MAMI chairperson Shyam Benegal inviting aspiring directors for a competition called ‘Dimensions Mumbai’.

Aspiring directors from Mumbai, below the age of 25 years, will submit short film entries. The duration of each film should not exceed five minutes and they will have to be based on the theme of ‘Mumbai, The Metropolis’.

A panel of experts will select top 20 films from the entries received. These  will then be screened at the Festival. Apart from short fiction, the competition is also open to documentaries and animated films.

The Jury will honour the winning films with special prizes too. This includes the Silver Gateway trophy and a cash prize of Rs One Lakh for the winners and another one of Rs 50 thousand for the runners up entries.

And the jury, which is an all-women one, has an exciting line-up too. It includes renowned filmmakers like Tanya Seghatchian, Yoon Jeon Hee and Suhasini Mani Ratnam and is headed by Jane Campion, the Academy award-winning director of The Piano.

Shyam Benegal confirms, “Yes we have an all-women jury. They are excellent filmmakers and the best jury to have.” Talking about the new competition, Benegal adds, “This time we plan to make the More >

Bachchan in Balki’s short-film on Indian cinema

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

By Subhash K. Jha, June 18, 2010 – 11:08 IST

Even as Balki puts finishing touches to the script for his third film featuring the Big B in the lead, the twosome who gave us the two extremely unconventional hits Cheeni Kum and Paa will now be getting together for a 15-minute film celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema.

While details for the project are yet to be finalized, it is understood that PVR Cinemas has commissioned 8 leading filmmakers to make 15-minute films which would all be released as one feature film in 2013 when Indian cinema celebrates a 100 years of existence.

The first director to start his film would be Balki.

Says the director, “Doing a short film with Amitji would be a special challenge for me because I’ve never done a film in that format before, and neither has he. We’ve done numerous ads and two feature films together. Now let’s see what I can do with Amitji in the 15 minutes that we’ll be provided.”

Balki says another film with the Big B, no matter what its duration was imperative. “I was beginning to get withdrawal symptoms. That man is addictive. Once you work with him, there’s no way you can resist working with him over and over again.”

While the challenge of creating a 15-minute full and comprehensive film replete with a plot and a background score will be taken up by Balki in the pre-winter months, at the end of the year, he’ll start his third feature film with Mr. Bachchan. Apparently, it would be the Big B’s most intensely More >

Meet the voice behind Imran Khan’s Coke commercial

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

The soprano-ish voice behind Coke’s ‘bus’ TVC tells Malay Desai why there would always be listeners for edgy music, which is good news for her band Sridhar/Thayil

By Malay Desai (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 21, 2010)

‘I want to be a mean and lean blow-up doll to grace us and stay for an unfashionably long time… so say all you want ‘coz baby it’s showbiz!’

… sang a voice at Blue Frog last night, leaving the club’s audience amused with the theatrics of the spoken word. The voice has also created a buzz on primetime TV across the nation, in a cola commercial featuring actors Imran Khan and Kalki Koechlin.

The TVC has become a talking point, thanks to singer Suman Sridhar rendering Mohammad Rafi’s Tum jo mil gaye ho. It’s also a debut endorsement for the 27-year-old, who has created a popular niche in the indie music industry through her band Sridhar/Thayil. The ad is just an offshoot of her works, which include much more, she tells us over lunch at a Bandra café.

The female half of Sridhar/Thayil looks like a shy monk who’s just given into funky indulgences. Now sporting super-short hair (after carrying off a tonsured look for long) and wearing punk accessories, Sridhar is often eccentric, much like her music. “The TVC happened purely by chance. Mikey (Mike McCleary, composer, best known for his works with Lucky Ali) called me one evening to his Bandra pad; we Youtube-d the old version (featuring Navin Nishchol) and I recorded a scratch,” she More >

Penniless Indian film makes it to the Oscars

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in
Producers of Kavi, India’s lone connection to the Oscars, Guneet Monga and Harish Alim, talk about how the film was made on hope and a prayer By Namrata Bhawnani (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 06, 2010)

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Kavi

While no Indian film made it to the Oscar this year, a student film, Kavi, has made the bold leap to the Academy Award shortlist. Nominated in the Short Film (Live Action) Category, it’s a miracle that the film got made at all, let alone find itself in the top five at the Oscars.

A film that had no funding, a lead actor from the slums and an American director who coasted solely on his passion for the subject: there were too many problems at the outset. So director Greg Helvey, from the University of Southern California, did the smart thing. He got himself Indian producers.

Guneet Monga and Harish Amin, who have worked with the likes of Anurag Kashyap and Mira Nair, stepped in as they liked the script. Well, they had to; after all, it wasn’t exactly a moneymaking proposition. Quite the contrary, really, as Greg confessed that he had none.

Harish says, “Greg had visited India twice before and really likes the colour and the people. It is his diploma film and he didn’t know how to go about it. We asked him if he has a decent budget and he said, ‘I don’t have the money.’ He raised it independently as funding started pouring in on his website. He also held photo exhibitions to raise funds. We shot it and then it stopped there as he had to raise More >

I wondered what it would feel like to kiss Rahul-Arjun Mathur

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

KISS AND TELL: Rahul Bose and (right) Arjun Mathur Rahul Bose-Arjun Mathur do first gay love scene in Bollywood

SUBHASH K JHA Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; December 7, 2009)

Madhur Bhandarkar had shot a gay kissing sequence in a car between Samir Soni and his screen lover for Fashion and deleted it even before it went to the censor board. But for his film I Am Omar, Onir is determined to keep the first gay love-making scene between the ever-adventurous Rahul Bose and the upcoming Arjun Mathur (seen in Zoya Akhtar’s Luck By Chance and Farhan Akhtar’s short film on AIDS, Positive). Onir feels the sensitive sequence may be unnecessarily sensationalised but has to be retained because the film doesn’t work without it. Explains Onir, “Arjun plays a sex worker. So we couldn’t do away with the physical aspect of the gay issue.” The sequence has the actors making out in a public place. Abhimanyu Singh (seen in Anurag Kashyap’s Gulal) plays a homophobic cop who chances on the couple and harasses them. Says Onir, “Luckily none of my actors had any inhibitions. Rahul and Arjun did the scene which goes much beyond anything seen in Indian cinema. They behaved like thorough professionals.” Now he hopes the censor board would be just as professional. While Rahul, who had done Indian cinema’s first and only gay gangrape sequence in Bom-gay, refrains from comment, Arjun who wants to explore the dark side of sexuality, says, “For me as an actor it is always challenging to see what More >

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