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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. 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! Film on Indo-Pak match (Go To Top)
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. Sohail's Team (Go To Top) 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. Hrithik stops signing (Go To Top) 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! (Go To Top) 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! Sohail Khan the busiest! (Go To Top) 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! (Go To Top) 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. Fardeen optimistic! (Go To Top)
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. Manisha's 'Paisa Vasool' in tune (Go To Top) 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. Sushmita goes comical (Go To Top)
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. Kapil in a film (Go To Top)
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. `Waqt' mahurat on Juhu beach (Go To Top)
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. Amitabh and Vipul's team up! (Go To Top)
'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. Shah Rukh's charisma is ever-increasing! (Go To Top)
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! 'Bend it like Beckham' was to be a lesbian flick! (Go To Top)
'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. Colonial hangover in Bollywood? (Go To Top)
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! Yana Gupta eyes the hundred mark! (Go To Top)
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. Another film on Kashmir (Go To Top) 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. Aamir's trouble (Go To Top)
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. Ritesh in demand (Go To Top) 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. Mahek's item song (Go To Top)
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. Perizaad entices boozards (Go To Top)
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. Now, Hussain's muse is Urmila! (Go To Top)
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." Heading in the write direction! (Go To Top) 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. Raja Bhaiyya coming to town! (Go To Top)
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. Govinda in Jackie's home production (Go To Top)
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. Jimmy, Hrishita in Charas (Go To Top) 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. Jaya turns producer (Go To Top) 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. Rajesh Roshan's Aitbaar (Go To Top)
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. Ramu makes Company sequel (Go To Top)
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. Sanju's dose to cure everybody (Go To Top) 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. Paap in Karachi (Go To Top)
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. Rajat Rawail's new venure (Go To Top)
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. Padmini's new job (Go To Top)
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. Sohail's latest (Go To Top) 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. Raveena's day out (Go To Top)
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. Shssh stars with Kids (Go To Top)
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. ANI & India Overseas |
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