Posts tagged TNN

‘Taarak Mehta’ completes 700 episodes

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in
TNN (MUMBAI MIRROR.COM; October 03, 2011)

 

In the age of television production when the person who is playing the title role is also replaced by another face overnight- it is really a pleasant surprise when the cast of popular comedy series Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah is united even after the completion of 700 episodes. When you meet them, they really feel like a big family, busy having fun between each-other and in their own round of jokes.

Neha Mehta, who plays Anjali Mehta in the series, says, “As it is evident, it is very much the understanding and forgiveness between all of us that keeps us going so strong and united. Clashes and differences are bound to happen, but everyone solves it in between and next moment is again the pleasant one. We have as much fun shooting as much audiences have watching it- and that’s the biggest secret behind our success!”

“No matter how many days you get to shoot, you have the same screen importance,” explains Ghanshyam Nayak aka Natukaka, “In stead of fighting for more screen space, the lead actors are always keen on taking care of everyone’s character being given same significance. There are some months in which I shoot hardly for four or five days, but audience will never feel that while watching.”

And what is holding the ratings high even after all these time and competition getting more and more fierce? Producer Aasit Modi says, “Apart from the wonderful team, the major credit goes to our writers. There are days when they work More >

My preference is solo hero films-Chirag Paswan

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in
Seema Sinha | TNN (MUMBAI MIRROR.COM; October 03, 2011)

 

 

Newbie Chirag Paswan and son of politican Ram Vilas Paswan, who will make his debut with Kangana Ranaut in Miley Naa Miley Hum looks upto another politician son Riteish Deshmukh, but not entirely. Chirag has larger ambitions. “Riteish has done well for himself. He has created a place for himself in the industry. I will be lucky if I too could have my audience but my preference would be solo hero films,” says the light-eyed hunk.

He continues, “Riteish started as a solo hero but soon he realized that multi-star cast works better for him and he shifted to comedy. He developed that skill and now his comic timing is super. But I would want to believe that I am capable of taking the burden of the whole film on my shoulders alone.”

“But time will tell. More than me, others will be telling me whether I will be able to do solo films or not once my debut film releases on November 4,” adds Chirag, who strongly believes that being from the influential family may guarantee a fantastic entry but the challenge lies in sustaining your dream ambition. “A certain amount of exposure that I got before coming into the industry has helped me. I have been going for events, networking, meeting people. Had I been a complete newcomer it wouldn’t have been this easy. My background, my heavyweight surname does help but eventually it is your talent that counts. Rather than the hype, I would like to work hard to sustain myself,” says More >

Cops pour cold water on Deepika’s housewarming

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in

But Deny Receiving A Complaint Or Penalizing Actor

Bharati Dubey & Nitasha Natu | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 3, 2011)

 

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone’s housewarming party ended abruptly early on Saturday after police landed up at her brand new pad at Prabhadevi. Though sources claim that the actor was penalized, the police have denied it.

An eyewitness, who was present outside the flat, told TOI, “A police patrolling van stopped outside the building around 3.15am. An officer went to Padukone’s flat on the 26th floor. We learnt that residents had called up the police control room, complaining of loud music being played at her party.”

Meanwhile, a crowd, including mediapersons, had gathered in the building compound.

“A little later, another police vehicle arrived and cops in plainclothes went up to Padukone’s apartment. What was strange was that the vehicles and cops did not exit from the side of the building where the crowd was. They left from the other gate of the building, probably to avoid being asked questions by mediapersons on whether the actor was penalized,” said the witness.

A few minutes after the cops had left the building, some of the actor’s guests too made an exit. These included actor Imran Khan, his wife Avantika, liquor baron Vijay Mallya, actors Abhay Deol and Preeti Desai. The guest list at the party included top notch with names like Amitabh Bachchan, Karan Johar, Priyanka Chopra, Siddharth Mallya, Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Riteish More >

Agressive lyrics trend in Punjabi rap picks up

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in

Punjabi rap, with its explicitly violent and crude lyrics, has invited ringing condemnation from established singers. But the kids can’t get enough

Jaspreet Nijher & Ruhi Batra | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; October 2, 2011)

 

The latest Punjabi hit song, Gaddi moudan ge, by Mika, poster boy of Punjabi cool, celebrates hooliganism, while the explicit titles of some of the latest chartbusters — Gippy Grewal’s Gangster and Hathiyaar, KS Makhan’s Badmashi, Preet Brar’s Desi gun — point to a trend that packages violence as a fast moving consumer good. In a radical departure from a tradition rooted in folk, Punjabi songs that once extolled golden mustard fields, pretty girls and brave men, are today littered with words like ‘bandookan’ ‘dunali’ (guns), ‘daru’ ‘bootlan’ (liquor), and gangsta rap phrases such as ‘signal todah ge’ (we’ll break all rules) and ‘chak laan ge’ (we’ll kidnap the girl).

High on testosterone and low on taste, such songs revel in being youth anthems and are meant for those who think it’s cool to cuss crudely. Sociologists attribute this to the love of notoriety and risk-taking that is embedded in the Punjabi psyche. “This region of North India faced the maximum onslaught, whether of foreign invaders or the Partition,” says Dr Archana Sachdeva, a retired sociology professor. “Land and women became a prized possession. Hence, just like all music reflects the state of its people, Punjabi music too acquired characters of violence that eventually came to embody More >

I would love to do a Cameron Diaz-Minissha Lamba

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in
Elina Priyadarshini Nayak | TNN (MUMBAI MIRROR.COM; September 29, 2011)

 

Bollywood hottie Minissha Lamba is mostly seen doing cute and glamorous roles and it seems the actress is quite happy with it.

But ask her why she is away from doing meaningful and meaty roles and she says, “It’s not that I am running away from serious roles and don’t like doing them. I started my career with meaningful role and have done quite a few serious roles too like in Yahaan, then Shaurya and also in Well Done Abba which was Shyam Benegal’s film. So, I don’t think anybody can say that I haven’t done serious films. But, I largely consider myself an entertainer and want to be someone who entertains people. Moreover, serious roles will come my way in right time, but primarily I want to make people smile with my work.” So, what kind of a film the actress would love to do? “I would love to do a role of an action heroine, someone like Cameron Diaz,” says she.

Dimpy Mahajan suffers miscarriage

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in
TNN (MUMBAI MIRROR.COM; September 26, 2011)

 

Dimpy Ganguly-Mahajan, wife of Rahul Mahajan, has had a miscarriage. The model-turned-actor is recuperating in Mumbai, trying her best to come to terms with the loss.

The miscarriage happened last Monday. Dimpy, who had kept the pregnancy news under wraps, was all set to come down to Kolkata end-September for the promotion of her Bengali film, Hello Memshaheb. It’s still not clear whether the plan is put on hold because of the sudden turn of events. Dimpy was in her first month of pregnancy.

Film-makers vie for larger screen pie

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in

Bharati Dubey | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 26, 2011)

 

Mumbai: Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One may beat Salman Khan’s Bodyguard with sheer number of screens it will be played out in cinemas this Diwali.

The film will be released in 3,200 screens, which is the highest ever for any Bollywood film. However, there is every chance that Ritesh Sidhwani’s Don 2 may defeat Ra.One with an even bigger release in Christmas. Sunil Punjabi, CEO of Cinemax Cinemas, said, “The overall demand for films has increased and hence the need for a larger number of print runs.”

Actor-producer Shah Rukh Khan believes like China, which has a 45% growth in moviegoers; India too is experiencing a similar trend but feels the number of theatres is not enough. “There are about 14,000 theatres in the cities, 8,000 in southern India and 7,000 in the north. Every day we hear that more theatres are being added, however, the population is also increasing. Once the retail of cinema gets more organized, people will come to the theatres.”

Ritesh Sidhwani, who plans to release the Don sequel in Christmas, said, “I plan to show my film in every possible screen available in the country. It is the last week of the year and there is no other film releasing along with Don 2. Apart from that the movie is a franchise and already has its audience.’’

Bollywood has begun following Hollywood way of bombarding cinema halls with maximum screens. Trade analyst Amod Mehra said, “Avatar released internationally in more than More >

Smuggler invests 50 lakh to make Bollywood movie

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in

C Unnikrishnan | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 26, 2011)

 

Mumbai: Red sanders smuggling kingpin Ajit Satam had invested Rs 50 lakh to make a Hindi movie, possibly with Mallika Sherawat as the lead actress. Satam had paid the money as advance to Susie Ganeshan, an assistant to director Mani Ratnam, directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) officials said.

Satam, arrested three weeks ago, is currently in jail with four of his associates. During questioning, Satam said he wanted to produce a movie.. “He did not confirm about the choice of the lead actress but we learnt Satam planned to make Sherawat the heroine and had planned a trip to Nigeria,” an official said. The script was not decided and the payment was made four months ago. DRI is likely to question Ganeshan for more details on the payment.

Satam wanted to enter Bollywood considering the money he made by exporting red sanders, a banned item, officials said. He made a profit of Rs 2 crore in export of one container. A Std XII dropout, Satam had a passion for cars. He owned six high-end cars—a Ferrari, two Bentleys, one BMW and two Mercedes.

Investigations showed that the Ferrari ran only three kilometres, though he paid over Rs 3 crore for the car, officials said. A probe is on to find out any violations, if any, in the purchase of these cars and their registration. One of them is registered in Nagaland without the vehicle travelling there. Satam had planned to buy a Rolls-Royce Phantom, but was arrested by then. More >

Bollywood-Air Force’ love-hate relationship

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in

‘Mausam’ is the latest film to run into controversy with the IAF. Sunday Times explores Bollywood’s uneasy relationship with the armed forces

Meenakshi Sinha | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 25, 2011)

 

Tales of valour and courage by men in uniform have always gripped popular cinema. But they have also had their fair share of controversies over cinematic liberties.

Mausam, which has just been released, is no different. This directorial debut of veteran actor Pankaj Kapur, whose son Shahid is the hero of the film, ran into controversy when the Indian Air Force (IAF) refused to give a no objection certificate (NOC) over a computer-generated aerial sequence. This led to the film being released on September 23 instead of a week earlier as planned.

Shahid, who plays a fighter pilot in the movie, claims there were no requests for any changes in the script or scenes, only minor tweaking of an action sequence involving six fighter planes, one of which was flown by him. “It was a 30-second sequence that shows me inside a Mirage 2000 which could not be shown to the IAF earlier,” he says.

He agrees that while all necessary clearances were sought by the producers prior to its shooting, this kind of roadblock could have been avoided. “But we’re happy to make the changes because it helps the film look more authentic.” He acknowledges the support given by the IAF for the film, including the use of its air bases and aircraft. Mausam features Sonam Kapoor as the female lead and is More >

Bhojpuri director lends hand to nail fake cops

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1 year ago
by Fenil Seta in

Mahima Sikand | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; September 25, 2011)

 

Mumbai: The Mumbai police have come up with a slew of innovative measures to tackle the menace of fake policemen.

The Amboli police station has roped in Bhojpuri director, Moncy Shahnawaz, to help them spread awareness. Shahnawaz has produced two documentaries showing how people are duped and outlining the modus operandi of these gangs. These documentaries are now being screened in movie halls and on cable channels. There are plans to start showing them in some colleges. “The idea is to raise awareness among the public. Most of the victims are senior citizens, so we are showing the movies on Aastha and spiritual channels,” said Vishwas Nangre-Patil, additional commissioner of police (Western Region). The police have also started visiting spiritual gatherings to educate senior citizens.

The police have also taken the help of 50 elderly women to help bust the network of fake cops. The women are given a few bogus ornaments and two-three escorts who follow them. These decoy operations are intended to catch the culprits red-handed. “We have been carrying out these operations for the past week and so far, no crime has been reported. The increase in patrolling by constables along all roads has ensured that such incidents have dramatically gone down,” said Nangre-Patil.

The emphasis on senior citizens stems from the fact that they are the worst affected by this menace. Nangre-Patil explains how these people operate. More >

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