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SRK and his 慶onspiracy

Kajol to play Basanti?

There is rumour in the air that Ram Gopal Varma has chosen the effervescent Kajol for playing Basanti's role in 慡holay' remake. Couple of weeks ago, the industry was abuzz with the news of actress Esha Deol playing Basanti, originally played by her mother Hema Malini. However there was no official confirmation. As per a source, Ram Gopal has already approached Kajol for the role. However if Kajol says 憂o', then it would be Esha, who will be seen as Basanti

Shah Rukh-Aamir together?

Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are going to share screen space for the first time? It's a million-dollar question. However if the rumormongers to be believed, 慚angal Pandey' maker Bobby Bedi has signed up the two top Khans for his celluloid version of the mythological saga 慚ahabharata'.

But when asked, Bobby ruled out the rumour upright. 揟alks are still at a very early stage. The casting reports are just speculations and we have not yet arrived at any decision,

Aishwarya & John have the quality

They've never been paired before. "But if you close your eyes you can see how good John Abraham and Aishwarya Rai look together," says producer Gaurang Doshi who's all set to bring together the golden couple in his new magical mystical romantic musical Happy Birthday.

To be directed by Sriram Raghavan who earlier did Ram Gopal Varma's Saif-Urmila starrer Ek Hasina Thi, Happy Birthday starts shooting in January.

Says Gaurang, "We had signed John about a year back. But we we needed a strong charismatic and popular leading lady. Because Happy Birthday isn't about just the male protagonist. When Ash said yes, everything fell into place. She has never been seen with John before. They look like Adonis and Venus together."

John is on the look-out for new leading ladies to be paired opposite. In Water he's paired with Lisa Ray, in Baabul with Rani Mukherjee and in Salaam-e-Ishq with Vidya Balan for the first time.

Says Gaurang, "The catch-line for Happy Birthday will be, 'Those Who Don't Believe In Magic Will Never Find It.' We needed a magical pair. John and Ash have the quality."

Adds John Abraham, "I think Aishwarya and I will make a good team. It's a great script. Sriram is a super-director, and we're excited."

The music score is being done by Vishal-Shekhar.

Aishwarya Rai


John Abraham


[ Last edited by  Gadis_Venus at 9-5-2007 04:46 PM ]

Highest civilian award for BigB

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan received the perfect birthday present as he turned 65 on Wednesday when the French government announced it would honour him with its highest civilian award, the Officer of the Legion of Honour.

"France has decided to honour Amitabh Bachchan with the honour for his contribution to Indian and international cultural life," a spokesperson of the French Embassy said in New Delhi.

She said the French ambassador will soon discuss with Bachchan the details for conferment of the award.

Amitabh to dub for foreign film

Foreign- film buffs need no longer wait for satellite television to screen that favourite Oscar winning French film or Japanese film.

Sunil Doshi, who runs a major celebrity -endorsement company in Mumbai that looks after the advertisement assignments of Amitabh & Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Rani Mukherjee (among others), has formed two companies Handmade Films and Forum Films which will be releasing award 杦inning international films in foreign languages.

This is an unusual phenomenon in India where foreign-language films, not even the Oscar-winning ones, are obtainable to cine buffs on the large screen.

"We plan to change that. We want to bring new foreign films into India for large-screen viewing," says Doshi who last week married his French girlfriend Anna.

"We're starting with the French documentary March Of The Penguins directed by Luc Jacquet which has just won an Oscar. It's a prized acquisition. And Mr Bachchan has agreed to do the Hindi voice-over in place of the original commentary by Morgan Freeman. I don't think this kind of an experiment has been attempted before."

Besides the much-lauded March Of The Penguins, Doshi's two companies are also releasing the Belgian/French co-production L'Enfant directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne which has already won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes film festival 2005, and Dominik Moll's Lemming which was the opening film at Cannes in 2005.

"We're right now in negotiation about several of the Oscar- nominated foreign films this year," says Doshi whose company Handmade Film has produced three Hindi films --Santosh Sivan's Terrorist & Navarasa and Rajat Kapoor's Mixed Doubles.

Says Doshi, "We're very happy with the way Mixed Doubles has performed at the boxoffice. It was never designed as a blockbuster. It was a small naughty comedy and it has more than earned back our investments. We've now completed a second film with the same team called Bheja Fry. It's even zanier and more saucy than Mixed Doubles. 匢t has Konkona and Ranvir Shorey in the lead, and Rajat Kapoor as director. He also plays a role."

Says Doshi, "We at Handmade Films and Forum Films aren't looking at short-term gains. I won't look at the accounts sheet after every foreign release or after every film I produce. The idea is to look at long-term creative benefits. And if some financial profits are shown at the end of the year or two years we're happy. Otherwise Handmade Films and Forum Films will still continue to release and distribute the films it believes in."

Madhavan Plays Parallel Lead in Guru

Vidya Balan can sigh in relief. She finally has a leading man in Mani Rathnam's Guru.

It's been one helluva musical chairs for Mani Rathnam. After casting Abhishek Bachchan in the title role in his Hindi film Guru, there was a flurry of names for the other male lead

It's boring to rave about Big B

"It's very boring to rave about Mr Amitabh Bachchan. Every director does so after working with him. Now after having worked with him I know why they do so. After so many films and years he still has the capacity to surprise you.

People say he's doing too many films. But I'd like to evaluate him solely for what he does in my Sarkar. Mr Bachchan has reached a legendary status where he can never be blamed for a film's failure. Sarkar is my tribute to the talent of Amitabh Bachchan. And only his face appears on all the hoardings. I've always been a huge fan of his.

So far I had restrained myself from working with him. I've gone to him only when I had the role to justify his presence. I made them do exactly what the script required without worrying about what the so-called market expected from me.

Let's be honest. I designed Sarkar for Amitabh Bachchan. Abhishek came in later. I was too much in awe of the senior to concern myself about the junior. Like most moviegoers I grew up watching the senior Bachchan doing amazing things on screen. To do justice to his presence in my work I had to design something that was as good as his best works.

Whether I succeeded or not is secondary. I took my time to conceive a role that would showcase Amitabh Bachchan the way I wanted to see him. Were it not for Mr Bachchan I wouldn't have made Sarkar. For me he's a superstar. I'm not interested in seeing him as an actor. I want to see him larger than life.

To me he's the big brother who'll take care of my problems. In Sarkar I want to recreate the intensity that he exuded in Zanjeer and Deewar, obviously keeping his age in mind.

I think he's the only actor in Indian cinema who can hold the camera without saying a word. He always seems to be communicating directly with every member of the audience. You're awed and inspired by that one impenetrable stare. That's awesome. Mr Bachchan has taken Sarkar much beyond where I could ever take it. Many actors give good performances without understanding the craft.

But Mr Bachchan understands the craft and yet remains completely authentic on screen. He adds immensely to the writer and director's vision. I feel over the years, the directors began to depend too much on his persona. The one-liners in Deewaar and Namak Haraam became one-pagers in subsequent films.

I found that tense element missing in his recent films. In Sarkar I wanted to recreate that tense aura of the one-liners. I wanted to let his silences speak louder than his words. Even in real life he has the habit of looking blankly at you, so that you don't know how his mind is working.

Yes, the interaction with him was definitely exceptional. I'm the lion who has tasted blood. I'll work with him again and again. In fact I've already directed him again, in an episode of Darna Zaroori Hai, my sequel to the horror trilogy Darna Manaa Hai.

As for Abhishek, The best compliment for his performance came from a projectionist who was at a preview of the film. 'Aisee film to maine dekhi nahin. Amitabh aur Abhishek ki acting dekh kar pataa nahin chalta kaun kisska baap hai.'

When Mr Bachchan came he grew on us. I didn't know who he was. Then one day I saw him in Zanjeer, Deewaar, Sholay

The hottest on-screen couples of Bollywood

One of the main ingredients for a Bollywood blockbuster film is a good cast. If it抯 a love story, it helps when the hero and heroine share some kind of rapport on screen. Bollywood stars are treated like quazi-Gods in India

The second part of our feature on Bollywood 抯 favorite couples on screen. Does onscreen chemistry mean that the same rings true off screen卭r is it the other way around?

SALMAN KHAN

Sushmita takes over Katrina

Till recently it was the beautiful Katrina Kaif who was to essay the role of Jaya Bachchan in RGV'S SHOLAY. Rumour has it that Ram Gopal Varma had some accent issues with her and so he replaced her with Sushmita Sen. Varma informed a daily that the script and characters have undergone many changes which is why he decided to cast Sushmita, thereby rubbishing the accent rumours. He infact said that he was looking forward to working with Katrina in future and that she had tremendous untapped potential.  

Rumour also has it that Kajol has been roped in to play Basanti, refuting the buzz about Esha Deol playing Basanti. Hema Malini was seen riding a 'Tanga' in the film, so lets see what Kajol rides.

Apparently RGV'S SHOLAY has a modern city look with lots of changes. Amitabh Bachchan's new look as 'Gabbar Singh' was recently unveiled. That itself goes to prove how different RGV'S SHOLAY is from the original one.

Sushmita Sen


Katrina Kaif

Kareena Kapoor, a 'gem' of a star

Actor Kareena Kapoor was seen at a jewellery launch yet again, this time in Kolkata. CNN-IBN correspondent Sougato Mukhopadhyay caught up with this 慻em

Bipasha turns brand ambassador

After stunning audiences with her performance in Omkara, Bipasha Basu has now switched to brand ambassador mode.

Bips flagged off a new jewellery line at a suburban store in Mumbai on Thursday.

Handsome boyfriend John Abraham was in tow, supporting his ladylove. Also in attendance were director Sanjay Gadhvi and actor Vivek Oberoi.

"After working with Bips in Omkara, I have got to know her well, and I am here on her invitation," Oberoi said.

As Bipasha played the perfect host, NDTV asked her about her favourite bauble. The answer was quite a surprise"

"My favourite are a ring from my mother and the solitaire that John gave me," she said.

Meanwhile, its action time for Bips, with November already rushing up and Dhoom 2 set for release.

Juhi Chawla抯 film at Berlin Film Festival

Juhi Chawla抯 Punjabi film Waaris Shah

Color me blue: Juhi talks about her second coming

Since her debut in Bollywood, Juhi Chawla has always played the bubbly girl-next-door. For the first time, Juhi Chawla will be seen playing a gray character in Onir抯 forthcoming venture 揃as Ek Pal.

2 year old film starring Dino-Mahima ready for release

Couple of years back a suspense thriller starring Dino Morea and Mahima Chaudary was ready for release. Titled 'Gumnaam-The Unknown', the film came into limelight due to its unusual pairing. Songs by Nadeem Shravan were released too and the promotion was all there on the music channels.

Then there came a lull period and there was no news about the film. 2 years down the line, the film has been revived and may now see a release before the year ends. Produced by Shubir Mukherjee who had made Dharmendra starrer 'Teesri Aankh' a couple of decades back, the film marks the directorial debut of Neeraj Pathak who had written the screenplay of 'Pardes' around a decade ago.

Apart from Dino and Mahima, the film also stars Irrfan Khan, Suman Ranganathan and Rakhi Sawant in the principal roles.

Dino Morea


Mahima Chaudhary

Sush to Play Jaya in Ramu抯 Sholay

Sushmita Sen may have had a rocky ride lately as her much-hyped film 慫indaggi Rocks

Farhan clears misconception about Isha Kopikar's role in 'Don'

That Isha Koppikar's character (Anita) in the new 'Don' was not in the original version happens to be the popular conception, or should we say, misconception in people's minds. There was a talk that Isha's character is a new introduction.

But we hear that Isha's character in the modern 'Don' was indeed present in the original 'Don' as well but went unnoticed because it was a very insignificant one. Director Farhan Akhtar subsequently rewrote and increased it.

When asked, Farhan confirmed the question saying, "There's a character in the original, which is the character of Don's girlfriend. She had a very minor part in the film; in fact she has barely two scenes and is standing on the side in one of the songs looking jealous. But Isha's character in the new version has been substantially developed and when you watch the film, you'll find out yourself!"

We can't wait, as 'Don' releases in the UK on 19th October, a day earlier than the rest of the world.

Isha Koppikar

Karishma Fasts For Hubby

The media speculation about Karishma Kapoor抯 marriage status, were put to rest when she kept the 慘arvachauth

Aftab Shivdasani sports a new look

The silence on the deserted ground floor of Synergy belies the activity on the second floor of the Fort pub/lounge bar. An enthusiastic greeting welcomes me as I step into the brightly lit room.

Clad in a black jacket over black shirt and torn blue jeans, Aftab Shivdasani is trying on a designer eyewear options for the next change for a photo shoot. Avinash Gowariker, filmmaker Ashutosh抯 brother is the photographer.

At the end of the change, once he has checked the results on Gowariker抯 laptop, I ask Shivdasani about the concept of this shoot. 揟he idea is to try different looks, with different outfits. Unlike the last couple of shoots I抳e done, this one is for fashion and style. Whether it抯 in terms of outfits, looks, accessories, photographs, it抯 not a regular film shoot.