Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged sonali kulkarni
No premiere for Ajintha
01 year ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 11, 2012)
Wednesday evening saw high drama unfold at the Cinemax theatre in Andheri West. The occasion being the premiere of art director Nitin Desai’s Marathi film Ajintha based on the Ajanta Caves in Aurangabad, which got cancelled just an hour-and-a-half before its scheduled 8pm start.
The invitees including Aamir Khan, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ashutosh Gowariker, several senior actors from the Marathi film industry, not to mention politicians were forced to beat a retreat from the venue. Mirror has learnt this last-minute cancellation happened because the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had refused to grant the film certification.
A filmmaker on request of anonymity revealed, “Kaafi jhamela hua. Many people were already on their way to the multiplex. Others who came to know had to stay put at home or reschedule their plans. It was a very awkward situation for Desai, who had sent out elaborate invites to nearly half of B-town.”
While Desai remained unavailable for comment, his spokesperson lamented, “Bahut nukksaan hua hamara. We had booked the entire multiplex. We have lost nearly Rs 15 lakh.” Wasn’t Desai furious? “Yes but there was little he could do. He even sent out apologies to the invitees,” the spokesperson said.
Explaining their position, she further said, “We were expecting to get the censor certificate last week but it didn’t happen. The objection stemmed from a protest by the Banjara community. In fact we had a More >
Nitin Desai’s Marathi film in trouble
01 year ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s dream film on Ajanta caves lands in trouble, apparently because details portrayed about the Banjara community are untrue
By Hiren Kotwani (MID-DAY; May 10, 2012)
When Nitin Chandrakant Desai started working on his dream film Ajintha based on the famous Ajanta caves in Aurangabad, little did he know that it would rake up quite a controversy. A member of the advisory panel of the Censor Board has written to the government organisation, stating that there is a wide protest across the country, especially from the Banjara community in the state, against this film.
Sanjiv Kumar Rathod, who is on this panel from the Mumbai region, has pointed out five objectionable scenes, and asked the CBFC and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to bring a Banjara expert into the panel before clearing the certification.
Among his other objections, Rathod points out that Paro (played by Sonali Kulkarni), the girl who helped in the discovery of the Ajanta Caves, was exploited, abused and killed in real life, which has not been shown in Desai’s film.
Pointing out that the Banjara God portrayed in the film does even not belong to the community, he states, “The name of the Banjara God is Saint Sevalal. So what the film shows is not acceptable to the community. They have not shown their real culture. Besides, the Banjara youth are also shown naked in the movie.” Desai was unavailable for comment.
Sonali Kulkarni bares her back in Ajintha
01 year ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The Marathi film industry goes bold as they experiment with erotic poster
Pooja Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; April 21, 2012)
Sonali Kulkarni for the first time is posing boldly for the Marathi celluloid. She’s playing Paro, a tribal woman in Nitin Chandrakant Desai’s Ajintha. Sonalee talks about the boldness of the poster and the substance behind it.
“Yes, it was a bit awkward to pose for the poster with my bare back but then, when I studied the philosophy behind the film, behind the sensuous paintings, I realised that the role I am doing is not skin deep. The role and its presentation in a particular manner has got a philosophy behind it,” Just a quick web search of the name —Robert Gill yields umpteen number of results regarding the British researcher-painter’s contribution in discovering the majestic caves of Ajanta. What finds no mention is Paro — the girl he met, fell in love and became his inspiration while discovering the hidden sculptures. “There is absolutely no literature available regarding Paro. And that is what makes it a challenging character to portray. She is so unlike me. I am an urban girl, whereas she belonged to a tribe. I am fair, she was dusky,” smiles Sonali as she talks about her efforts to get the Paro-like look.
“I had to wear a full body make-up throughout the shoot. And we shot for 12 days at Ajanta caves besides 40 days in Karjat. And the stunts — I jumped off a 60 feet waterfall and went on a honey bee comb hunt and fell from a mountain — all More >
Bollywood celebs’ phone numbers leaked
01 year ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
A website has listed out personal numbers of B’wood celebs, resulting in an alarming rise in the number of crank callers
Amrapali Sharma (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 28, 2012)
Nobody likes crank callers. Our very own busy Bollywood celebrities, less so. But despite call blocking services and repeated attempts to change numbers, many tinsel townies have been getting random phone calls over the past four to six months. The reason, Mumbai Mirror has found out is a webpage that lists out personal mobile numbers of most celebrities. Surprisingly, the phone numbers are mostly accurate. And those, who have changed their numbers recently, have their old numbers listed on the webpage.
This list published on the Internet might be a dream come true for most fans but has become a nightmare for most celebrities. “It’s a boiling issue for most of us. I get random calls from different cities from people who just want to chat. Fans did call once in a while but over the last four months or so, the number has gone up drastically. I have missed important calls due to this. I had that number for the last 15 years. But due to these crank calls, I had to change it. I had been trying to find out who had leaked my number. Thanks to you, I know now,” Sonali Kulkarni told Mirror.
And the callers can’t always be categorized as ‘crank’. Filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani, for instance, had been getting calls from people trying to find work in the industry. “I can’t explain how troublesome it is. Strugglers call up More >
Sonali Kulkarni gives birth to a baby girl
01 year ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Latika Mehta (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 22, 2011)
The actress, who played Hrithik Roshan’s foster mother in Mission Kashmir, will now have to play mum in real life too. Award winning actress Sonali Kulkarni and husband Nachiket Pantvaidya became the proud parents of a baby girl on October 18. The actress was admitted to Seven Hills Hospital in Marol, where she delivered her little bundle of joy at 12.40 pm.
Nachiket said “We are extremely happy and enjoying being parents. Both Sonali and baby are fine. We will name her in a couple of days.”
Sonali, who was last seen in the 2011 blockbuster Singham, tied the knot in a quiet ceremony on May 24 last year. We hope to see the new mother grace the silver screen again.
NRI, IT professionals make Marathi cinema richer
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Pooja Kulkarni (BOMBAY TIMES; May 1, 2011) Marathi cinema is witnessing a new trend these days. In an unusual intersection of varied professions, more and more NRIs and IT professionals are coming forward to produce Marathi films. Not just that, they are also taking active interest in areas like scripts, marketing, post-production and distribution of the films as well.
After having spent over 25 years in the green energy sector and having set up his own nuclear power plant in South India, engineer and NRI Ashok Damre’s creative side finally took over his instincts. And that’s when he decided to enter into the world of Marathi cinema. Having set up his production company, the US citizen is currently producing the film Samhita, directed by veteran directors Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukhthankar. “I have always had a close affection towards Indian classical music. In fact, I have been organizing classical shows of veteran vocalists in Brihan Maharashtra Mandal in Chicago. So basically, it’s the love for Marathi culture that motivated me to enter Marathi cinema,” says Damre. His film depicts the era of a sansthan, and has Milind Soman as the lead.
Award winning director Umesh Kulkarni’s next film Deul, is being produced by Abhijeet Gholap, who has had an illustrious career of a software professional in California. When Abhijeet returned to Pune in 2007, he had never thought he would enter the Marathi film industry. “My close friend and More >
15 Marathi actors star in Singham
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 15, 2011)
Rohit Shetty’s Singham starring Ajay Devgn has taken originality to the next level. In a time when we see South Indian star Madhavan playing a Punjabi boy in Tanu Weds Manu, Singham, which is a story based in Maharashtra, stars 15 Marathi actors starting from the old Hemu Adhikari and Jayant Sawalkar to child star Agastya to impart authenticity to the project.
Apart from Ajay Devgn who plays a Marathi cop and South Indian actress Kajal Aggarwal in the lead, the film stars Ashok Saraf, Sachin Khedekar, Sonali Kulkarni, Anant Jogue, Vijay Patkar, Agasthya Dhanorkar, Suchitra Bandekar, Jayant Sawarkar, Suhasini Deshpande, Meghna Vaidya, Ashok Samarth, Kishore Nandlaskar, Ravindra Berde, Pradeep Welankar and Hemu Adhikari, who are all from the Marathi film industry.
(l-r)Marathi actors Sachin Khedekar and Sonali Kulkarni, Director Rohit ShettyWhen contacted Rohit Shetty, director of Singham said, “In the film we have shown Ajay Devgn from a small town on the Goa-Maharashtra border.
That’s the reason I wanted the film to have an authentic look and I decided to cast all these Marathi actors. We have even shot the film in a small town in Goa.”