Where Bollywood Comes Alive
Posts tagged stars
MAMI: Warning bells for Japanese cinema on Day 5
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
If the Japanese themselves can applaud MAMI’s selection of Japanese cinema, then that means the organisers have definitely done something right
Satyen K Bordoloi (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 26, 2010) A lively discussion on the relationship between movies and the media (Pics: Satyen K Bordoloi
Day five at the Mumbai Film Festival started on an ominous note when Takashi Koizumi, Akira Kurosawa’s assistant for two decades, sounded alarm bells for Japanese cinema.
“Contemporary cinema, I am sorry to say, is not in a good state because of the collapse of the studio system. Today Japanese cinema is focussed on not how beautiful a film is, but how fun it is.”
The master’s favourite apprentice, Takashi Koizumi“Beautiful cinema tries to maintain harmony, but fun cinema destroys harmony. I am alarmed by Japanese cinema right now,” he said to a slightly shocked, but not so unaware gathering.
This was a stark contrast, coming as it was after Arun Khopkar’s passionate summarising of Japanese cinema with words like, “These (Japanese filmmakers of the past) are not just great artists, but they represent a religion at a time in which God is dead. Their films teach you not only to live, but to love.”
Koizumi was amazed at the package of Japanese cinema at the Mumbai Film Festival and asked that this retrospective happen in Japan itself so that his own countrymen could see the films of their own great masters. Moderator for the event, Aruna More >
MAMI: Women and young filmmakers brighten day 4
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
One of the highlights of the day was a discussion in which filmmaker Sajid Khan claimed that scripts were ‘not important’
Satyen K Bordoloi (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 25, 2010)
Filmmaker Zoya Akhtar speaks during a discussion involving India’s women directors at the Mumbai Film Festival (Pics: Satyen K Bordoloi)
As the Mumbai Film Festival reached the midway point on Sunday, it showed signs of maturity that was much expected of the event. Besides the usual film screenings, three events made the day for anyone who attended all or either one of these.
The morning stage was expected to be both fiery and enlightened as the fantastic eight of India’s emerging woman filmmakers shared the stage together. Moderated by journalist Nandini Ramanath, seated together were Sooni Taraporevala, Nandita Das, Zoya Akthar, Anusha Rizvi, Sona Jain, Bela Negi, Rajshree Ohja and Leena Yadav.
Zoya had the audience in splits when refusing to be embarrassed about having mood swings or crying on sets, she said, “On my sets I will cry if I want to. I will be in all my hormonal glory. As a man, you have chosen to be part of my set, so you handle it, boy.”
Rajshree Ojha’s comment that the other upside to making Aisha was that she got to check out clothes and shoes, drew many giggles from the audience, many of whom were women filmmakers themselves.
Different topics were discussed about women and cinema, sexism, difficulty of funding for women, stereotyping, control More >
Aamir and Salman are wonderful-SRK
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
King Khan praises his contemporaries, including Salman, with whom he is not on good terms anymore
TNN (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 03, 2010) Shah Rukh Khan (Pic: BCCL)
So what if Shah Rukh Khan isn’t starring in KJo’s new release (he’s not even doing a cameo or a hot item number this time), but he’s there in spirit.
And in the promotions too. After all, he’s family, na? Yeah, during a promotional interview of We Are Family, with Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal, SRK casually blended in with the team and started talking about the movie, leaving all the viewers stunned and amused.
Of course, the perfect moment was when he commented on the two other Khans. He said, “I have a huge amount of respect for Aamir and Salman.”
“I think they’re wonderful. I think they’re great stars, I know them personally and they’re great human beings. And they’re much bigger stars than I can ever be. I hope one day I can be like them in terms of work.”
Bravo, SRK, bravo! Over to you Sallu, c’mon and give us a quick dabangg reply. While Aamir can start pondering already…
Stars galore Pony’s wedding reception; Govinda invades with his 25 guests!
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Pony Verma’s wedding reception had stars, producers and well-wishers lighting up the night
Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 26, 2010)
The wedding reception, thrown to celebrate the marriage of choreographer Pony Verma and South star Prakash Raj, packed in quite a gallop.
While Prakash was dressed in a formal suit, Pony was dressed in a sleeveless blouse with a long flowing sharara, accessorised with matching bangles and a prominent mangal sutra.
Pony’s Verma’s godfather Priyadarshan and Rani Mukherji graced the event. Aside from them, many top producers such as Subhash Ghai, Ratan Jain and Boney Kapoor (accompanied by resplendent wife Sridevi) too blessed the couple.
Cricketer S Sreesanth, who is Pony’s rakhi brother, came to wish the couple on stage; he even brought a rakhi with him, to have it tied on stage since it was Raksha Bandhan. Arjan Bajwa, Raj Kaushal-Mandira Bedi, Mugdha Godse, Krushna-Kashmera, Manoj Joshi, Rajpal Yadav, Parvesh Rana, AK Mishra were other fraternity members present.
But it was Govinda who truly stole the show. He walked in with his entire family and extended family; this included his brother Kirti Kumar, his sister, his daughter Narmada, his niece, nephew, etc. The Govinda entourage added up to almost 25 guests!
The party went on till the wee hours and was later shifted to the dance floor where the couple danced together.
Sridevi and Boney Kapoor Bride Pony Verma with Sreesanth Govinda with groom More >Here’s why Dabangg is ‘tracking quite well’
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Presenting the trend of film ‘tracking’, the tool that analyses which film the audience is more inclined to watch
Lekha Menon (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 23, 2010)
Ever wondered why Salman Khan’s Wanted was a blockbuster while Main Aurr Mrs Khanna, released a few weeks later, starring the same actor was a dud? Or why Yashraj’s New York clicked but a similar-themed Kurbaan flopped despite heavy promotion?
While it’s still impossible to foretell the fate of a film or its opening weekend numbers (the biggest aspect that makes or breaks a movie these days), one tool helps a filmmaker gauge if he’s on the right path to box-office success – organised tracking.
What is Tracking
A common feature in Hollywood, tracking has now come to Bollywood too. This is basically a statistical and scientific technique which tracks the buzz about a film and predicts if it will translate into footfall.
Twelve-16 weeks before a film is released, the PR machinery gets into action. Tracking analyses whether this buzz – promos, songs, posters, media coverage etc – is actually clicking with the audience. Is the movie-goer impressed enough with the campaign to spend his money on a ticket?
And in a day and age when the marketing budget of a film ranges from Rs 4 crore to Rs 12 crore, such insight can change the fortune of a film. Also, this technique tests the creative materials – trailers and film posters – before it goes for public consumption. “The data thus provides a More >
Neil shifts to Powai; saves 4 hrs travelling time
03 years ago
Neil moves out of his Napean Sea Road home to Powai to cut down on travel time to his shoot
By Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 18, 2010)
Mumbai can be an intensely time consuming city to commute in, and even the stars need to find creative solutions to get around. Neil Nitin Mukesh did the smart thing and simply moved out of his Napean Sea Road apartment to his own pad in Powai. And his mommy is helping him settle in, since he is going to be living on his own.
He has decided to move to Powai as he starts shooting for a Yash Raj production, directed by Pradeep Sarkar and starring Deepika Padukone. The location is Chandivali studio and the move to the suburbs saves him four hours of travelling time.
Neil confirmed the news and said, “Yes, it’s fun to be in this house as it used to be our holiday home. I have come to this house after ten years and it holds many pleasant memories for me. My mom cleaned it yesterday afternoon and we both went grocery shopping at Hiranandani. All the grocers were very welcoming and surprised to see me here. It was fun shopping with mom as she wants to stock up for my move into this house.”
Living alone is usually a growing up experience, but Neil will probably be fussed over. He said, “I am saving around four hours of travelling time from town to Powai and it’s a great relief. I am going to stay alone here, but knowing my parents, they will surely come down every week to check up on how I am doing, although I have my entire More >
Get ready for the best of Bollywood at Filmfare awards
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
TIMES NEWS NETWORK (THE TIMES OF INDIA; January 22, 2010)
New Delhi: Are you ready for the razzmatazz? The 55th Idea Filmfare Awards will be presented on February 27 at the Yashraj Studios in Mumbai at a glittering ceremony that will literally see the stars descend on the red carpet.
Announcing the event at a press meet on Thursday, actor Asin confessed she had a special bond with the prestigious black lady (Filmfare Award trophy). “I received my first encouragement, the Filmfare Award, for my first Telugu film; and last year, I received a similar applause for my first Hindi film (Ghajini) too. Naturally, the appreciation given to me by the Filmfare Awards is not only very valuable, it is very special too,’’ she exclaimed.
Tarun Rai, CEO, Worldwide Media, said the award ceremony which was viewed by almost 30 billion people the world over, would now be watched by much larger numbers because of the IDEA mobile handsets which will offer content on the mobile platform for 58 million subscribers. The black lady not only had a history of five decades behind her, she was also the most coveted award. “Only the Oscars have a heritage and a longevity that compares with the Filmfare Awards which have grown from five to 37 categories over the years,’’ he said.
According to Pradeep Shrivastava, chief marketing officer, IDEA Cellular, the idea behind the collaboration was to bring “stars and the best of movies closer to the customers’’. This year is indeed special. For, not only More >
After SRK, it’s Shahid
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
TROUBLED: Shahid Kapoor. The actor spends 90 minutes at the US immigration
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; October 26, 2009)
Shah Rukh Khan’s ordeal on August 15, at the New Jersey immigration, threw light on a problem constantly being faced by Bollywood stars and their staff. And now like King Khan, Shahid Kapoor too apparently spent 90 minutes at the New York airport, while the authorities grilled his spotboy Mohammed Manjoor Allam, better known as Mamu in Bollywood. Mamu, an elderly gentleman, has been taking care of Shahid since childhood and is working as the actor’s valet or spotboy. Shahid is currently in the US for a 40-day schedule of Parmeet Sethi’s untitled venture being produced by Aditya Chopra. He had left for the US days prior to the release of his film Dil Bole Hadippa! along with actress Anushka Sharma, choreographer Ahmed Khan and a close-knit unit. For the first leg of the shooting, the unit was in Philadelphia and from there, they packed to move to the Big Apple last week. It was during his entry into New York that Mamu was asked to step aside and questioned separately as his name needed special clearance. A member of the unit said, “The questioning lasted for nearly 90 minutes. Though Mamu has travelled extensively to most countries with Shahid, USA is the only country he had not visited.” When Mamu was stopped at the airport, Shahid sensed that he was very nervous, especially since he wasn’t very fluent in English. Shahid didn’t More >
Farah Khan speaks about her new show (Must-read!)
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Interviews
As she gets ready to unleash her sense of humour on unsuspecting viewers with a new chat show starting tomorrow night, where she gets stars and other people to reveal unknown facets about themselves, Farah Khan takes time to introspect on her own life
By Indu Mirani (MUMBAI MIRROR; August 22, 2009)
• Let’s start with your favourite decade, the 1970s. In 1970 you came from this extremely rich family and by 1971, they were paupers. How did this happen?
I was five years old in 1970 when my dad (actor-producer Kamran Khan) had a spate of hits. The films were not A-grade movies but he was doing very well in his own right. I remember we had the first Impala car. Sajid had just been born and I was this absolutely spoilt child. Then in 1971 he made a film called Aisa Bhi Hota Hai into which he put all his personal money and the film bombed on the opening Friday. I remember it because I had gone to the theatre on Friday very excitedly with my grandmother and the theatre was empty. By Monday people stopped coming to our house. It was like a funeral. Our house usually used to be full of people. But by Monday, it was empty. And then there were bad times for 15 years till 1985, when he died. It was a very hard time, especially for him.
• What are the good things you remember?
There are too many! I remember that everyday I had to go and buy a new record, by which I mean EPs or LPs. I was a spoilt child, so everyday, I was taken in the Impala car to Linking road, More >