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Lata and Dev to be felicitated

          Legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar and evergreen star Dev Anand will be presented with Lifetime achievement awards on December 7 at the NFAI auditorium. Dev Anand's films including Guide, Hum Dono, Saadhi Manase and Mohityanchi Manjula, in which Mangeshkar worked as music composer will also be screened. The second Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) will be held from December 5 to 11. Deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal will inaugurate the festival, which will screen a wide range of Indian and international movies, on December 4.
-Nov 30,  2003

Glossy Janasheen

          Produced, directed and edited by Feroz Khan, Janasheen is all gloss and sheen and lots of style thrown together. The film has been shot in some of the real exotic locales like Australia, Afghanistan and Thailand. Celina Jaitely is seen playing a violinist who seems to have an inclination in showing more of her cleavage than her musical skills!
-Nov 30,  2003

Film on Indo-Pak match 

           Bollywood and cricket share a close bond of generating the maximum craziness in people. Cricket and films connects people of all age groups, culture and communities. Similar thing is now being attempted by director Sanjay Srinivas in his maiden venture 'Silence Please...The Dressing Room'. The film was recently launched at Mumbai's Brabourne Stadium. It started with a pooja and a muhurat shot was taken on lead actress Sonali Kulkarni, Tom Alter and a bunch of new-comers. The film stars cricketer-turned actor Salil Ankola in the main lead with Sonali Kulkrani, Tom Alter, Arif Zakaria, Alekh Sangal and others. Though subject on cricket was attempted earlier by Dev Anand in 'Awwal Number' and recently by Aamir Khan in ' Lagaan' this film will be one step ahead. Debutant director Sanjay Srinivas himself has written the filml.
-Nov 30,  2003

Sohail's Team

          Sohail Khan has signed a new project, the Team, that stars Amrita Arora, Aarti Chabbria and famous TV star Yash Tonk a.k.a. Kunal Sikand from Kahin Kissi Roz who made his debut with Kuchh To Hai. Manoj Chaturvedi and Sanjay Chaturvedi who have produced Wrong Number recently, produce the film. It is directed by Ajay Chandok, who has been an assistant director to David Dhawan. Currently the 'Team' is being shot on a 15-day spell on Mumbai locales and would be releasing next year.
-Nov 30,  2003

Hrithik stops signing 

          Hrithik's so excited about Farhaan Akhtar's war drama Lakshaya that he has stopped signing films for the moment. Shooting for the movie was a challenging experience for Hrithik who said that for the first time he got to test his limits as a human being and as an actor too. Still basking in the success of his last hit Koi Mil Gaya, the handsome actor is concentrating on just one film - Lakshya. -Nov 30,  2003

A change of career for Govinda! 

          Now that his films are constantly flopping, Chi Chi has decided to turn producer. Not many producers are willing to take a risk on Govinda flicks. Govinda aka Chi Chi has launched his own film titled Sukh. An all- in-the-family involvement, the film will be scripted by him, while brother Kirti Kumar will direct the film "I plan to work out a career strategy for myself. I have understood the importance of completing a film in a short time. I plan to continue to now take up only one project at a time," said Govinda. Lessons well learnt over time!
-Nov 28,  2003

Sohail Khan the busiest!

          The youngest of the three Khan brothers, Sohail Khan happens to be the busiest actor amongst the three. He has been flooded with film offers and is doing two shifts per day, but the hunk wants to balance his family life as well as career. He has also announced two films under his banner. He says, "It is time now that I chart out my schedules so that I can concentrate on my work and also look into production details. Besides work, I also need to devote time for my family."Nov 28, 2003

Abhishek wants to be paired with Lara!

          Lara Dutta seems to have made a great impact on junior Bachchan, who worked together in the film 'Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost'. For ABCL's comeback production 'Ranveer', Abhishek wants Lara to be paired with him as they share a wonderful on-screen chemistry. Director Raj Kumar Santoshi has been asked to rope her in. The film has Amitabh Bachchan playing one of the leading roles and is the first one to be produced by Big B's revived company ABCL.
-Nov 28,  2003

Fardeen optimistic! 

           Another family of handsome Khans, Fardeen and Feroze Khan have released their film 'Janasheen'. The film is as polished and dramatic as a Feroze Khan release normally aims to be, but we have yet to see how well it fares at the box office. However, Fardeen is quite confident about this second home production of the Khans. He has several films in his kitty, Dev with Govind Nihalani, No Entry, produced by Boney Kapoor and directed by Anees Bazmee, a film with Ken Ghosh and Jail with Madhur Bhandarkar.
-Nov 28,  2003

Manisha's 'Paisa Vasool' in tune

          Seems like the latest trend in Bollywood is actresses turning into film producers and the latest to join the bandwagon is none other than Manisha Koirala. Manisha is ready with her latest film 'Paisa Vasool' that stars Sushmita Sen, Sushant Singh, Makrand Deshpande, Tinu Anand and Rakhi Sawant along with her. The film's last shooting was rounded up at the Bandra flyover and the music was released by Times Music in Mumbai at Provogue Lounge. Newcomer Bapi-Tutul who had earlier composed one song in Ram Gopal Verma's 'Bhoot' composes the film's music score combining all ranges of music from ballads to item numbers to fun filled numbers. Check out the main highlight of the film, which is the disco song and the title track by Sunidhi Chauhan.
-Nov 26,  2003

Sushmita goes comical 

           Sushmita Sen for the first time is attempting a full-fledged comedy film in Paisa Vasool. Though she was seen in a comical role earlier in Biwi No.1, her new character as a struggling actress from Delhi who only gets item numbers in films and music videos as she is taller than most of the heroes is a brilliant piece. In the film she sports lots of garbs from a police inspector to a nurse to a killer as well. In fact it was the team of Manisha and Sushmita jodi who are the real scene stealer in the film with no hero, for a change.
-Nov 26,  2003

Kapil in a film

           Bollywood and cricket are the only two things desis just adore to the extent of craziness. Actors and actresses are worshipped and so are cricketers. That's why these two jobs are the most looked after. We have stars playing cricket for a good cause not to mention cricketers trying their luck in films. And after Ajay Jadeja, it is Kapil Dev who will be the next guest in tinseltown who will soon be seen in a film with Dharmendra.
-Nov 26,  2003

`Waqt' mahurat on Juhu beach 

           Muhurats generally happen in the closed-door confines of five star hotels. But for the first time a live muhurat took place in front of a crowd of people on Mumbai's Juhu beach on Wednesday evening. The film, which was launched before the public, was Vipul Amrutlal Shah's Waqt - The Race Against Time. This film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Priyanka Chopra and has been produced by Manmohan Shetty's Entertainment One and Eros International. The film is an adaptation of a Gujarati play 'Avjo Vhala Fari Malishu' which is written by famous Gujarati writer Aatish Kapadia.
-Nov 26,  2003

Amitabh and Vipul's team up! 

           'Waqt' team includes Amitabh Bachchan again with Vipul Amrutlal Shah, Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal and Aatish, with whom he had worked in Aankhen. In Aankhen, Amitabh had played a eccentric bank officer who hatches a dangerous plan to loot a bank. Aankhen was based on Aatish 's Gujarati play 'Aandhalo Pato' and was a huge success. In Waqt, Akshay and Amitabh share a friendly relation which is affected by a secret and that acts as the turning point of the film. The team of Waqt will be ready for shooting by the end of this year.
-Nov 26,  2003

Shah Rukh's charisma is ever-increasing! 

           Only Shah Rukh Khan has it in him to star in a film and make sure that people throng to the theatres for advance bookings even before the film's release! Kal Ho Na Ho set in USA stars Preity Zinta, Saif Ali Khan and Shah Rukh Khan and is directed by Karan Johar. The music of the film is topping the charts and is selling like hot cakes. The expectations from the film are very high and it is presumed to do wonders for the film industry!
-Nov 25,  2003

'Bend it like Beckham' was to be a lesbian flick! 

           'Bend it like Beckham', a film that shot Gurinder Chaddha to fame in India as well as internationally, was initially to be a lesbian flick but the director chickened out at the last moment because they were not sure whether it would be accepted by the people! Nisha Ganatra, a film-maker from New York, revealed that the female protagonists in the Chaddha football film were supposed to have a lesbian relationship but the makers changed it keeping the tastes of the Indian audience in mind. Ganatra whose film "Chutney Popcorn" has got rave reviews at various film festivals was in Mumbai for the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Images (MAMI). Her film is a comedy that centres on a lesbian sister who is willing to be a surrogate mother for her married sister.
-Nov 25,  2003

Colonial hangover in Bollywood?

           The fad of the Bollywood films trying to add spice to the titles using ever flowery English language has led to some very funny film titles! "Kaagaar - The Edge", "Hatya - The Murder" etc. A noticeable feature is that most titles have the English synonyms to the Hindi titles. Rumour has it that the Sunjay Dutt's film "Daag - The Fire" was supposed to be "Aag - The Fire" Once upon a time we had the long film titles fad, now the colonial hangover of adding English bylines seems to be the flavour of Bollywood!
-Nov 25,  2003

Yana Gupta eyes the hundred mark! 

           Item number girl Yana Gupta wants to dance her way to the record books by doing a hundred item numbers in Bollywood. The Czech beauty who shot to fame with her "Babuji Zara Dheere Chalo" number in "Dum" has realised that doing item numbers is her forte and has decided to stick to doing what she does best, dance her way to fame, fortune and record books.
-Nov 25,  2003

Another film on Kashmir 

          Film-makers like Mani Ratnam, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Saawan Kumar and Vinod Pandit have made films on Kashmir, but they were more on commercial format. The latest on the subject is a crossover film called Hope. This film is about three commandos who go on a mission to catch a terrorist. It is a film that makes people realise the value of humanity. The film stars Rajat Bedi, Gayatri, Mukesh Tiwari, Zakir Hussain, Raaj Hussein, Nishigandha Wad, Amar Talwar and Manish Wadhwa. The music is by young and talented 19-year old Sneha Khanwalkar, dialogues by Nikhil Vasudev, lyrics by Shahil Sultanpuri. Though the film is based in Kashmir it has been shot in Manali and Rohtang Pass. The film will be screened at the ongoing festival in Mumbai and later on will have a worldwide release.
-Nov 24,  2003

Aamir's trouble 

           After a long time Aamir's latest film, 'The Rising, was launched but trouble seems to be the name for this film. Ever since Aishwarya Rai backed out, this Ketan Mehta film is having a tough time obtaining producers to finance the venture. For starters Sahara Parivar, one of the co-producers of the film, have backed out. Aishwarya being one of the directors of Sahara Parivar, Sahara obvioulsy got miffed. Miramax was to distribute the film internationally. But the minute they learnt that Ash was no more a part of the film, they too backed out.
-Nov 24,  2003

Ritesh in demand 

          People who've seen Vashu Bhagnani's Out of Control are praising it a lot for its fresh treatment. Not only that ... Ritesh Deshmukh is said to have done his job very well and is being touted as the next 'in-demand' bankable actor to watch out for. The architect-turned-actor is sure set to go places. Looks like director Apurva Asrani will also arrive with a bang, so will Bhagnani regain his Midas touch. Though actresses like Brande and Hrishitaa will not get benefit as they have nothing to do in the film.
-Nov 24,  2003

Mahek's item song 

           Norway based Mahek Chall made her debut in Nitin Manmohan's Nayee Padosan which was a disaster at the box office. That made Mahek resort to doing ad films and music videos. Now she will be seen doing an item number in Sudhir Mishra's Chameli. The film stars Kareena Kapoor and Rahul Bose in the main lead. Mahek plays a bar girl in this item song called Mein Saat Samander.The film is produced by Pritish Nandy Communications with music by Sandesh Shandilya.
-Nov 24,  2003

Perizaad entices boozards

           This Parsi bawi seems to be going places after Joggers park. After modelling for Asmi Diamonds actress Perizaad Zorabian will launch Vodka brand Absolut. Amidst the colourful lights of happening pub and disc Athena, Perizaad will open a bottle of Absolut, officially launching it in India. Well seems like boozards will have a treat.
-Nov 24,  2003

Now, Hussain's muse is Urmila!

           MF Hussain is planning to make a bilingual comedy with Urmila as the lead actress. It is said that Urmila has already accepted Hussain's new project. This is the latest buzz doing the rounds of the film industry. Meanwhile, Hussain has just completed his film 'Meenakshi' which has Tabu in the lead role. The 'Rangeela' babe is very busy this season with one mega project after other falling in her lap. As for the Hussain offer she seems quite excited and says, "The role in this film is different. I'm glad I'm doing the film. I'm excited about the story."
-Nov 24,  2003

Heading in the write direction! 

          Archana Puran Singh the only other successful woman comedienne after Tun Tun is now set to direct a film, which she refers to as being 'semi-autobographical'. The untitled venture promises to feature an all-new star cast of four girls and a guy. Archana says the film will be based on her personal experiences when she first came to Mumbai and shared a flat with four other girls. Archana revealed that she began penning the script during her pregnancy. "That was eight years ago. I used to write down points that were related to motherhood. But the film that I'm going to make is a different script. I shall begin shooting sometime in January 2004," she says.
-Nov 24,  2003

Raja Bhaiyya coming to town! 

           Raja Bhaiyya will be released sometime this month. But even before its release, producers Kalyani Singh and Mansingh Deep are ready to experiment with another new film. The next film is purportedly a murder mystery and has already been titled as 'Partner - An Agreement to Kill'. The film's male lead cast has been finalized. Govinda's nephew Krishna and Khalid of "Joggers Park" fame will be matching wits with three heroines.
-Nov 24,  2003

Govinda in Jackie's home production

           Jackie Shroff has signed Govinda for his next home production. Jackie will also play an important role in the movie to be jointly produced by his wife Ayesha. The film will be a comedy caper. Jackie's last film with Govinda was Sonali Bendre starrer Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hai directed by Mahesh Manjrekar. That film had failed to woo the box-office. Jackie's third home production was the much hyped 'Boom', which starred Amitabh Bachchan and Jackie himself among some 'hot' models. But 'Boom' went bust and became Jackie's third consecutive flop. Hope Govinda's antics bring good luck for Jackie Shroff.
-Nov 17,  2003

Jimmy, Hrishita in Charas

          After working together in Tigmanshu Dhulia's Haasil, Hrishitaa Bhatt and Jimmy Shergill have teamed up again for director Tigmanshu Dhulia's second film on drug trafficking. Apparently the film is a rehashed version of Hollywood hit Traffic. Titled Charas, the film also stars Uday Chopra and Namrata Shirodkar in parallel roles. However, it is still not known whether Jimmy is paired with Hrishitaa or Namrata in the film. The film is about the struggle of a protagonist who wants to root out the menace of drugs from the society. Dhulia is confident that the movie will appeal to the masses because "drug trafficking is prevalent in several parts of the country. This makes it a mass-appealing subject." Ninety percent of Charas has already been shot. The movie is currently in post-production stages.
-Nov 17,  2003

Jaya turns producer 

          Jaya Bachchan is all set to turn producer in association with Sahara. The film is based on Jaya's famous play 'Maa Retire Hoti Hai'. Jaya's performance as the main protagonist of the stage play has added a new dimension to the character. The play has been hugely successful in Marathi and Gujarati. The play was premiered in the USA and had 24 houseful shows there and was also staged in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
-Nov 17,  2003

Rajesh Roshan's Aitbaar 

           After Koi Mil Gaya Rajesh Roshan is back with his next film Aitbaar. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, John Abhraham and Supriya Pilgaonkar in lead roles. The film is a romantic thriller where Amitabh plays Bipasha's brother who is out to protect her from John. Melodious tunes by Rajesh Roshan are already catching up and the music company Sony Music plans to promote the music in a big way.
-Nov 17,  2003

Ramu makes Company sequel 

           Ram Gopal Varma seems to be in a mood of making sequels. After making a sequel to Darna Mana Hai he is planning a sequel to his hit underworld film 'Company'. Tentaively titled 'D' the film will tell the story of company protagonist Malik before he met Chandu. The sequel movie will end exactly at the point where 'Company' started that is when Malik meets Chandu and says Mere liye kaam karega? Sushmita's boyfriend Randeep Hooda has been finalized to play the main lead in the film. New-comer Vishram Sawant will direct the sequel.
-Nov 17,  2003

Sanju's dose to cure everybody

          Sanjay Dutt's forthcoming film Munnabhai MBBS sees him playing a goon-turned-quack whose best prescription for any malady is 'love and laughter'. The film is a hilarious story of a Mumbai tapori who is a local Robinhood for setting disputes and helping the poor through his muscle power. But things change when his father played by Sanjay's real-life father Sunil Dutt arrives in the city. According to the father, his son is a respected doctor in the city. With his father around, the goon Munnabhai turns into an erudite Munnabhai MBBS. However, cupid strikes when he meets a real female doctor called Suman who later becomes his lady- love. Munnabhai's love for Suman inspires him to become a real doctor. And as it turns out, Munnabhai's own prescription provides the solution for all his problems.
-Nov 17,  2003

Paap in Karachi 

           Pooja Bhatt's latest film Paap will be premiered in Pakistan in Karachi this January. This is Pooja's attempt to strengthen cultural relations between India and Pakistan. Paap is her maiden film as a director and questions the sanctity of sin and love. The film stars hunky John Abhraham and model-turned-actress Udita Goswami in lead roles. The film also has Pakistani singers Ali Azmat and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan singing for the film. Hope it sets a new precedent in improving relations between the two neighboring countries.
-Nov 16,  2003

Rajat Rawail's new venure 

           The film marks the directorial debut of Rajat Rawail, nephew of Rahul Rawail. Hum Tum Aur Woh is a thriller with story by Tutu Sharma. Rajat Rawail had earlier directed Zameer and Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya. Nadeem Shravan has been signed to compose the music for the film. The film will roll in October and is expected to release in March 2004.
-Nov 16,  2003

Padmini's new job

           Actress Padmini Kolhapure recently made a comeback with Smita Talwarkar's Marathi film Chimni Pakre but has no plans to sign more films. She is happy supporting her sister Tejaswani by giving her tips on acting and constantly encouraging her. Meanwhile, her production house Padmni Telemedia is planning to go big by getting into TV and films in a big way.
-Nov 16,  2003

Sohail's latest

          Sohail Khan is so busy with acting these days that he has no time to go back to direction. He is doing as much as five films currently. His latest film Lakeer has Sohail teaming with Sunil Shetty and John Abraham and is directed by choreographer-turned directed Ahmad Khan. The film is a big-budget thriller. This time Sohail might be lucky and could get from lakeer what his own film Maine Dil Tujhko Dil diya could not give him.
-Nov 16,  2003

Raveena's day out 

           Actress Raveena's day out with the under- privileged children supported by CRY was at the Oxford Bookstore on the eve of Children's Day. Raveena Tandon is ambassador for CRY since last year and has been an active participant for children's cause. There were 20 excited children from REAP, one of the many balwadi schools supported by CRY and were meeting Raveena for the first time. Raveena has been associated with CRY as their ambassador from last year. She was selected for her natural empathy towards children and star value.
-Nov 16,  2003

Shssh stars with Kids 

           There was a unique celebration of Children's day in Mumbai as children of Asha Daan Meter Teresa Orphanage got to meet the film stars and other celebrities at Mumbai's Circus. The event kick-started with a circus performance by trapeze artists along with magic shows by magicians. Children in the age group of 5 to 16 had a gala time watching circus and meeting filmstars. The stars who met those kids were the stars of recently released film Shsssh, Tanisha and Gaurav Kapoor. Actor-director-producer Sohail Khan was also present.
-Nov 16,  2003

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