Goldie Behl’s Drona face the storm
Controversy seems to be the in thing in Bollywood these days. The latest is Goldie Behl’s film Drona with best friend Abhishek Bachchan. Unfortunately a horse brought for the shoot died hours after the team reached the sets at Kolyath in Bikaner.
The incident was reported by the Bishnoi community to two independent NGOs: People for Animal and Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The main problem seems that the body of the horse was buried without a post mortem. Well it looks like Behl will now have his bite of the controversy cake that Abhishek, his best friend, has been having for long.
Salaam-E-Ishq – A Review
Salaaaaaaaaaa….m-E-Ishq…By now you already know what I meant! I have recently seen a British film ‘Love Actually’ and thought it was a ‘light’ movie. Did I compare it to this one? I didn’t actually do that. But then Salaam-E-Ishq is too long!
From the real to the fictional:
Six stories in one package! Let’s have a tour from the realistic to the pure fictional ones-
Too many stories…and too much to talk about and yet you would think that 3.30 hr is too long. (And thanks to the theatre I was in, I didn’t even see what Sohail Khan & Isha Koppikar did in the movie…that’s what we call the ‘theatre editing’).
Anil and Juhi play their age for the first time (almost!). Theirs is a love marriage, with two kids and when everything is pefect “a man gets naughty when he reaches 40(forty)”. So there comes Anjana, a young dancer, in his life! Both the seniors give a composed performance while Anjana is shown as a bitch! Now why does the other woman be bitchy to be with a man? (answer: To attract Indian audiences!)
Akshaye & Ayesha are both engaged! Akshaye is SCARED about the after effects of a marriage and wants to run away. What he does is something stunning. You don’t even need dialogue or a scene for him – he just trickles you with his expression – Excellent performance, and one story that is near to truth! A bit true, isn’t it? Ayesha does necessary sobbing or laughing.
Now to the surreal! Well Isha Koppikar & Sohail Khan, playing a Haryanvi couple – are newly married. Sohail is waiting for the first night badly! So far so good! But the events take a turn when his getting ‘horny’ ends up in a series of accidents! So, as far the theatre edited and showed, I understood that they don’t have ‘it’!
Govinda plays a taxi driver, in another surreal story. He gives an amazing performance, something that is unique to Govinda. Waiting for “a dream girl” he ends up taking a foreigner, Sharon, on an unnecessary trip to Agra. Why she and he sticks together…why spoil the story…of course there is nothing much in it.
So who is remaining (boy there are too many people to remember) yeah Salman & Priyanka. Priyanka is an item girl looking for a chance to work with “Karan Johan”! Salman comes as a surprise in her life. Sallu does nothing much than singing Sonu Nigam’s songs! I got so bored in one song, that instead of watching the main actors…I started watching the girls behind them. The sarcastic part (not funny) though was of TV journalists trying to find the actual story!
Oh yeah talking of TV journalists, we have John & Vidya who both work with Times Now (nice way to promote a channel!) Vidya meets with an accident and loses all her memory of times spent with John! So you know why that dialogue you see in the promos is being made popular!
Technical Aspects:
Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy do a commendable work! But there are too many songs, and they bore you! I particularly enjoyed “Saiyyaan Re”. Kailash Kher’s “Ya Rabba”is soulful, comes in breaks…errr too many breaks! The others are fine!
Editing: Looks like the editor was sleeping, and he makes quite a few audiences sleep!
Photography: This kind of photography can be found in any other movie.
Screenplay & Characterization: Bad…or horrible…oh I forgot long!
Story(rather stories): Very inspiring to our bollywood writers. They will make 7 stories out of this one. You already know the other six. The 7th one would be on making of Salaame E Ishq (SEI)!
Direction: Now that I’ve told you everything and you know already know how good the direction is!
But…with all this I cannot say I was not entertained. Probably because of the big star cast or probably because I was watching a new movie or probably because this is my first movie in six months… try it…only if you have….five hours of spare time. All in all the movie is just a time pass…nothing more!
Spoof on KBC
With rumors and opinion doing rounds about who is the best- SRK or Big B, television channels have decided to cash in on the debate. Sahara One has intentionally launched a spoof called ‘Kaun Banega Champu’ to take a toll on SRK’s ‘KBC 3’.
Ruk Ruk Khan (Sunil Grover) engages Suresh Menon toplay the game. The episode will release from February 11. Hmm… Sahara- Bachchan loyalty is said to be the reason for this spoof but frankly I don’t it limits to that. Well who wouldn’t want to cash in on the popularity that comes on other’s publicity stunts?
Ashutosh Gowarikar again in troubles
It’s bad time for director Ashutosh Gowarikar. Jodha Akbar has always been surrounded by controversies since the start. After that Gowarikar was reported to be not much happy about Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding and now thedirector is facing another problem. Both the lead actors- Hrithik and Ash have cancelled the dates of shooting. Apparently, Hrithik has hurt himself and Ash is getting set to take on her new found responsibility. It will be a miracle if the movie sees the day’s light this year.
Mira Nair points at the Bollywood A-list
Nair who is one of the four directors roped in by Bill and Melinda
Gates foundation to make short films to spread AIDS awareness is angry on the biwigs of Bollywood. “Lots of stars don’t want to be associated with the virus. Some live and don’t learn,” said the lady director who has also been roped in by Warner Brothers to make their big budget film “Shantaram” starring Johnny Depp. Denying to such an ace director is a bad decision but denying for a good cause is even worse. Bollywood celebrities have their own strategies to keep themselves in news.
Sequel to the thriller ‘Raaz’
‘Raaz’ has been the Bhatt’s unequalled success and as the season of sequels continues, Bhatts too want the sequel of Raaz to be made. But neither the director nor the actors are aware of it.
Vikram Bhatt says, “”I really don’t know. Right now I’m readying Red for release and editing my other film Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi” and Bipasha says, “”This is the first time I’m hearing about it.” The only person who seems enthusiastic about the freshly heard news is Dino Morea and why not that’s the only success he has had in his whole career. The man says, “”Bhatt Saab has been talking about a sequel to Raaz. I don’t mind doing it, as long as the story is carried forward logically and interestingly. After all sequels are doing stupendously well. And Raaz was one of the biggest hits in recent times.” But looks like Mahesh Bhatt has got an entirely different plan for the sequel, “It’s Mohit Suri who directed my productions Zeher, Kalyug and Woh Lamhe who thought of the idea for the sequel. He’ll be directing Raaz 2″. Let’s wait and watch who walks away with the cake.
Shamita Shetty+Britney Spears act= Bollywood Britney
Elder sis, Shilpa, has become hot in UK and the younger one, Shamita, has gone hot in India. So hot that she even decided to san her bare minimum clothes. Shamita has been photographed doing a Britney Spears act.
Come on… do I need to tell what Britney did…Britney Spears became the most-searched item in the internet history, a few weeks ago, because she stepped out of her car sans her underwear. And our dear ‘Bollywood Britney’ did no less when she was spotted showing her ‘personal space’ at a filmi function. What’s next ‘Bollywood Britney’? Britney Spears did it thrice how about you? Can’t believe Bollywood has moved so far!
Madhur Bhandarkar’s trilogy completed
The timing couldn’t have been any better for Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Traffic Signal”. After
postponing its release from 2006 to 2007, the third in the director’s trilogy on Mumbai (first two being “Page 3” and “Corporate”), “Traffic Signal” starring Kunal Khemu releases on the 2nd of February. Even this strategic placement had threats from Salam-e-Ishq and Red (planned to release int eh last week on Jaunary) but then Bhandarlar went ahead and took the risk. And he definitely did the right job as Red has been postponed to the 23rd of February. And the next week that follows, February 9th also has two relatively low budget films releasing- ‘Black Friday’ and ‘Undertrial’, each of which have their own target audience and hence won’t be clashing with ‘Traffic Signal’.
Eklavya proves worth seeing
Eklavya- The Royal Guard is surely going to be a fond memory for every actor and the
director for long as all the stunts in the movie were done by the actors themselves. And hence follow some real interesting gripping stories on the sets: Mr. Bachchan again proved his dare devil attitude when he agreed to do the risky scarf burning scene in the movie all by himself in spite of his fear of fire (he had suffered severe burns on his right hand in an accident in the past). In another terrifying incident Big B got almost got crippled by the camel he was supposed to ride. But the legendary actor sums it up in his humility by saying, “When you are doing an action scene, you obviously know action sequences are action sequences, and it can go wrong. They are manufactured sequences; it’s not like its on real time. And when you manufacture some things, the balance, the timing can go wrong. The camel decided to kick me in the head. These things happen… Actually, I should thank Vinod for giving me the costume, because the turban saved me!” Boman Irani who plays the King also has some interesting tale to tell: “You know there is shot of me sitting in the car and the bullet goes past my ear and through the back screen of the car. Mr.Tinu Verma decides to fire a live bullet into the back screen and he is sitting right there between my legs with a gun, pointed and says “Thoda darne ka acting karo”. I’m like Tinuji don’t worry mein dara hi hu, I’m really scared and so the performance will come. Tinnu Verma shoots and the bullet went past my ear and hits the back screen of the old vintage car. Tinnuji was supposed to hit the center but it goes two inches high and hits the metal frame. And I dread to think what if it hit the frame, and rebound and hit my ears. But I swear I’ll never do that again. I swear I’ll never do it again”. After hearing to these accounts it is humanly impossible to not wait for the theatre packed release of this Vidhu Vinod Chopra film.
Shahrukh overwhelms
Shahrukh is unpredictable and he has got some sure shot 
ways to overwhelm people with his warmth and this time he went a little too far and did an Oprah Winfrey act. Dr. Guggilla, or Gugs as Shahrukh calls him fondly, the second contestant who had to leave the hot seat got a pleasant but a real costly surprise when Shahrukh took off his wrist watch and gave it to him with a tight warm hug. And mind you the watch is no small brand…which is obvious when SRK wears it! Gugs was completely taken aback but in a pleasant manner to know the person behind the star. So moved was the doctor by the star’s gesture that he has decided to gift the actor a gold watch that his wife had given to him as a wedding present. Hmm…has KBC become an exchange ‘mela’? I guess SRK has done his homework well…go on King!
Deepa Mehta’s Water in the Oscar final five
Deepa Mehta proved it that her directorial venture “Water” is here to stay, convey a message and also to participate in the Oscar race. From being selected in the nine expected movies, the movie ‘Water’ has moved to the final five Oscar award nominations for best foreign language category.
Let’s see if the Canadian entry about India will win the race or not. The awards will be announced on the 25th of February. But Indians should keep their fingers crossed for the 23rd of February in case they do not want to miss the Oscar nominated movie on India. Speculations are high that the film will release in India after its long ban on February 23rd. Good for India if it starts accepting the ills that were committed in the past shown through a film as soon as possible.
Abhishek and Aishwarya making too much news
Many things are happening after Abhishek-Aishwarya engagement! Apparently our Sallu, who was Ash’s ex-boyfriend, has sent a friendly message to Abhishek congratulating him and Ash for the engagement.
Hmm…looks like someone else too has to get inspired by the act!!! The news is still not over, even when the wedding dates are still to be announced Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are being sought to spend their honeymoon in Europe. French and Switzerland tourism boards have offered sponsored Honeymoon package for the star couple with incentives like a free stay in an igloo suite that has private Jacuzzi and sauna. Also comes RailEurope’s offer for free luxury rides for the couple’s sightseeing sessions. Well looks like there is lot before and after the wedding but still all this will end one day and dear Ash you better not quit movies for just this bliss. Sure you can take a break and come back. Bachchans…I guess its time for you to change the family norms according to the new generation. Ash is not Jaya Bhaduri to leave her career when she is at the top of it.
