But, Shahrukh Khan told Anand that there was no need to make Karan wait as Shahrukh wasn’t interested in the role anymore and he had been waiting to inform just this. “I want to do films now,” Shahrukh told Anand before leaving the place. Anand then summoned Karan inside his chamber and talked about how it made him upset. ‘He is a TV actor called Shahrukh Khan. I was looking at him as a probable to play the lead role in a TV serial. I have better options though.” , Anand told Karan Johar as he nodded “yes” to everything that Anand Mahendroo told him.

It is general knowledge that Shahrukh Khan started his career with television serials. But, very few people know that Shahrukh Khan’s scripted his success by declining a role in yet another television serial! “I want to do films now”, he told Anand Mahendroo and since then, there has been no looking back!

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Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar are known to be close pals, so close that Karan Johar has publicly claimed more than a dozen times that he respects King Khan and considers him more than a brother. The only time we heard a riff between the two was when Karan Johar cold-shouldered Priyanka Chopra upon hearing rumours of her having an affair with Shahrukh Khan were doing the rounds. However, that issue was quicky resolved by Karan choosing to break the ice with Priyanka, which he insists never existed anyway and their friendship remains the same as before.

Seemingly, there could be some problems between Karan and SRK’s friendship. Reports suggest that Shahrukh Khan has refused to give Deepika Padukone time off so that she could promote her new upcoming film, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, which is a Dharma Productions’ project. Looks like Shahrukh and Rohit Shetty are in a hurry to complete Chennai Express and secure the Eid release date. Karan needs Deepika to promote his film abroad and would’ve wanted her to accompany Ranbir for the promotional tour. Ranbir Kapoor is also not keen to go without Deepika to promote the movie and this might end up hurting the film’s collections.

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Sonam Nair makes her directorial debut with “Gippi”, produced by Karan’s Dharma Productions, which traces the changes in the life of a teenage girl.

“Talent does not have a gender at all and it should not have a gender. Sonam Nair is a very talented young girl. It does not matter that she is a girl, she is very talented director,” Karan told reporters here.

So far, Karan has launched a bevy of new directors – Nikhil Advani (“Kal Ho Na Ho”), Punit Malhotra (“I Hate Luv Storys”), Ayan Mukerji (“Wake Up Sid”), Siddharth Malhotra (“We Are Family”), Shakun Batra (“Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu”) and Karan Malhotra (“Agneepath”).

“Only in our country we make such differences like, ‘Oh, first time you are working with a female director’….I have been asked this question a lot. I think she (Sonam Nair) is very talented and talent should not have a gender,” said the 41-year-old.

With his last directorial venture “Student Of The Year”, he launched four fresh actors – Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra and Kayoze Irani. Now “Gippi” will introduce Delhi-based girl Riya Vij, who plays the title role, to showbiz.

Karan believes that it’s necessary to bring in new talents.

“New faces, new stars and the new breeding talents are the only future (of the industry). Today, we will give them platform, and tomorrow they will be the stars. And we have to leverage that star value they bring to the table,” Karan said.

–Indo-Asian News Service

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“Madhuri Dixit is the queen of dance. The songs she has done are iconic…she is the mother of those entertaining songs,” the 41-year-old said here Tuesday at the screening of his another production venture “Gippi”.

“She (Madhuri) created it, she invented it and she is it. She is re-visiting once again the genre she has made for the big screen. So I am really excited,” added Karan.

Hit “Tezaab” number “Ek do teen” had catapulted Madhuri in the big league and after that there was no looking back for the fine actress who not only proved her emoting prowess but also created magic on the silver screen with her dance in songs like “Chane ke khet Mein” (“Anjaam”), “Didi tera devar deewana” (“Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!”), “Choli ke peechhe” (“Khalnayak”), “Akhiyan milaun” (“Raja”), “Mera piya ghar aaya” (“Yaraana”), “Kay sera sera” (“Pukar”), and “Maar Daala” (“Devdas”).

“Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani” has been directed by Ayan Mukerji and features Deepika Padukone opposite Ranbir. But Karan is more excited to see Ranbir’s chemistry with his childhood crush Madhuri on-screen when the film comes out May 30.

He said: “Both Madhuri and Ranbir will have a fantastic chemistry. Both are fantastic dancers and I feel they light up the celluloid like never before.”

Meanwhile, Karan has teamed up with Madhuri and Remo D’Souza to judge the celebrity dance reality show “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 6″.

–Indo-Asian News Service

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The young Bollywood stars Siddharth Malhotra, Arjun Kapoor, Aditya Roy Kapur attended the special screening of Karan Kohar’s film Gippi held at Light Box Preview Theatre in Mumbai.

Also snapped at the special screening were Karan Johar, Divya Dutta, Riya Vij, Hard Kaur and Ayan Mukherjee.

Siddharth Malhotra wrote on Twitter: “Gippi took me back to school n reminded me of all the awkward moments I had back then, watch it guys you’ll have fun…”

Gippi’s music director Shekhar Ravijani tweeted, “Loads of love to the entire team of #gippi. It’s a beautiful film. Don’t miss it.”

According to Karan Johar, the producer of the film, “Honestly speaking, it’s (‘Gippi’) going to be a new experience for all of us because Dharma has never made such a film. We hope this one proves Dharma can also do small-budget films, but at the same time films that have content.”

While Riya was looking cute in a white dress, her onscreen mother Divya Dutta went stylish in a black outfit.

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Co-directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, “Go Goa Gone” is touted as Bollywood’s first zombie comedy. The movie is produced by Illuminati Films, co-owned by Saif, who will be seen as a zombie slayer Boris in it.

Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwari and Puja Gupta join Saif in the cast.

In the film, two friends, played by Kunal and Vir Das, join another friend on his business trip to Goa. There Luv (Vir Das) meets Luna (Puja Gupta), a fun loving girl who invites them for an exclusive underground rave party on a remote island, hosted by Indo-Russian Mafioso, Boris (Saif). Their nightmare begins when zombies accost them.

The filmmakers are experimenting with a zombie genre for the first time, and they believe the audience is ready to accept such unconventional genres.

“In fact, we thought it would not be easy to get actors for the film, but luckily Saif was convinced then the things fell into place,” said Krishna, who had earlier directed “Shor In The City” with Nidimoru.

With budget of the film not being revealed by the production houses, it is being said that “Go Goa Gone” is made on a smaller scale compared to Saif’s other productions.

“I would say the budget of the film is very low. I am not allowed to reveal the budget of the film, but I can assure you that the film is made on a much lesser budget than any Saif kind of films,” Krishna said.

“Gippi”, on the other hand, focuses on the life of a 13-year-old girl played by Delhi-based Riya Vij and how she copes with changes in her life.

The film is Sonam Nair’s first attempt as a director and she has the backing of Karan, who has produced it under his banner Dharma Productions.

This is also a first for the production house, which has so far explored various genres like family drama with “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, unconventional romance in “Wake Up Sid” and action in “Agneepath”, except for exploring children’s film genre.

Also, for the first time, Dharma Productions is launching a woman director.

Nair had earlier assisted Ayan Mukerji in Dharma Productions’ “Wake Up Sid”.

The movie revolves around a schoolgirl called Gippi. She studies in IX and the story is about the twists and turns in her adolescent life.

Actress Divya Dutta, who plays her mother, says the movie will take audiences back to their childhood.

“Everyone will feel that we have gone through this. So, when you relate with any film or any promo, you definitely want to watch that film. And ‘Gippi’ is one of those films and I think it will make its own mark beautifully,” she said.

–Indo-Asian News Service

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Bollywood Celebden Rating – 4/5

Cast- Rani Mukherjee, Randeep Hooda, Katrina Kaif, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Vineet Kumar, Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Naman Jain.

Direction- Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar, Zoya Akhtar.

A quartet of four contemporary movie directors come together to mark the centennial celebration of Indian Cinema by making an anthology of four short films. Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap, these geniuses display something that they have never done before and probably won’t get another chance to. Each was given a budget of 1.5cr and looks like they’ve done justice in all respect.

Plot :

Karan Johar.

The movie starts with Karan Johar’s short film. This movie revolves around three people – Dev ( Randeep Hooda ), Gayatri ( Rani Mukherjee ), Avinash ( Saqib Saleem ). Now, we know Karan Johar and his style of movies, music, stunning locations, ecstactic costumes, etcetra etcetra.  But in this movie, looks like Karan Johar has taken a U-turn from his customary. His film starts with the  monotonous life of a  married couple – Gayatri and Dev and how Gayatri meets her new collegue in Avinash who plays a homosexual rebel in the movie and flips their whole world upside down.

Rani Mukherjee is a sexually repressed wife in the movie and befriends Saqib Saleem at work. While she wonders why her husband ( Randeep Hooda ) doesn’t pay heed to her sexual needs, the young guy turns around the married man’s life and shows him his misplaced sexual tug. While the plot surrounds the ongoing societal cringe on homosexuality, you see how it unfolds the message of how sexuality is being hidden inside closets fearing a stamp of marriage.

Dibakar Banerjee.

A middle class family man ( Nawazuddin Siddiqui )  struggles to make a living. No jobs, no opportunities and no money. Based on the short film of Satyajit Ray’s ‘Patol Babu, Film Star’, Dibakar Banerjee has paid an ultimate tribute to Ray. After failing to reach for a job opportunity on time, Purandar ( Nawazuddin Siddiqui ), he reaches an area where a film shoot is taking place. Eventually, he lands up with a bit part role in the movie and that’s when he imagines his late father talking to him, making him realise the fact that personal satisfaction cannot be compared to monetary incentives.

In the end, the contentment on Nawaz’s face and the way he describes his day’s story to his down-with-fever daughter is just a treat to watch. The plot’s main punch comes here, where Nawaz’s stunning dexterity lures the spectators to the core emotional point. Without any words spoken and just a Tagore song playing in the background, Nawaz’s body language and how he engages her daughter into the whole atmosphere of felicity is completely bliss.

Zoya Akhtar.

A small kid ( Naman Jain ), named Vicky in the movie, is completely allured by Katrina Kaif. The little boy wants to explore his sexuality while his father, played by Ranveer Shorey, is adamant on making his son play sports to get tough. The plot revolves around belief. Self-belief and Dreams. Taking into account how Katrina coming into Bollywood without knowing anybody and a single word of Hindi, is now a superstar, the boy also wants to follow her footsteps. Obviously the boy couldn’t just tell his dad “Kyun Ladki Hone Mein Kya Burai Hai? So he hides his dream within himself and wishes to make it come true when the time is right.

Though the movie doesn’t match up to the other ones, Zoya Akhtar amazes us with her technical expertise. The elation on the guy’s face while watching the item number, Sheila Ki Jawaani, is really worth and how he wishes to be like her. While the performance of Ranveer Shorey as a disciplinarian father is done with perfection, the little kids, Naman Jain and her sister in the film Khushi Dubey are just groundbreaking with their respective roles. Katrina Kaif plays a sparkling cameo in the film.

Anurag Kashyap

Anurag’s short film is about a young man Vijay ( Vineet Kumar )  who arrives in Mumbai to fulfil his ailing father’s (Sudhir Pande) last wish. Anurag Kashyap, with this movie, should be able to tight-lip the naysayers who say that he confines to limited themes for his movies. While he’s known for his swimming against the tide type of dark films, in this movie he has expressed more than just one thing. Vineet Kumar hails from Allahabad, UP and comes to Mumbai with a wish to meet Amitabh Bachchan. He is on a hopeful journey to meet Big B and make him eat his mother’s Murabba. 

Vineet Kumar’s performance in the film considering his role as an outsider to the new city of Mumbai is just outstanding. Anurag’s film evokes millions of emotions in us, happiness, sorrow, a few tears would shed when something transpires during the train journey of Vijay. All in All, one of the best among the four short films.

The Last Word

All the three actors of Karan Johar’s part have performed brilliantly especially newcomer Saqib Saleem. The movie also highlights a very controversial topic in today’s world especially in our country. Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap have done justice in celebrating the 100 years of Indian cinema with their mind boggling plots and expertise. But the standout performance was Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s in Dibakar Banerjee’s short story. His acting keeps you glued to the screen and makes you feel everything that you haven’t yet.

Though the movie has not much of the ‘centenary celebration of Indian cinema’, Bombay Talkies is surely something that everybody should watch and have a glimpse of four different lives living in the same world with four different societal problems.

The post Bombay Talkies – Review appeared first on Bollywood Celebden.

“We have been there throughout. All the milestones of cinema, there has been some Kapoor or the other,” says 60-year-old Rishi Kapoor, who has notched up nearly 150 Hindi film credits over a four-decade acting career.

It started with grandfather Prithviraj, a silver screen pioneer from the 1920s. Then came his son, the legendary Raj Kapoor, known as “the Showman” and “India’s Charlie Chaplin” for his roles as a loveable tramp.

Raj’s three sons followed him into acting, with Rishi leading the way as his generation’s romantic hero. Now Rishi’s son Ranbir, 30, is touted as “the future of Bollywood” and his niece Kareena is a leading actress.

That’s not to mention the Kapoor spouses, cousins, in-laws and other relatives who have taken a shot at movie stardom with varying degrees of success.

“The audiences have always welcomed us and given an opportunity and we’ve lived up to it,” Rishi tells AFP at his sprawling bungalow in the film capital Mumbai, which he shares with wife Neetu, an actress, and their rising star son.

The three of them will appear together in the film “Besharam” (Shameless), which Rishi is just back from shooting in New Delhi. He jokes that he is done talking in interviews about his son, whose fame is fast eclipsing his own.

“Whenever I talk about Ranbir… whatever I’ve said about him is in the headlines,” he says in theatrical mock anger. “The article’s about me, not my son!”

But he is clearly delighted that Ranbir is continuing the family tradition, which he puts down to “our purpose, our resolve, our passion for cinema”.

The lineage keeps producing talent — Ranbir won critical acclaim for his turn as the deaf-and-mute hero of last year’s hit “Barfi!” — but it also shows the power of a surname in an industry still mired in nepotism.

As Indian cinema marks its centenary this week, the main rivals to the title of “Bollywood’s first family” are the Bachchans.

Veteran superstar Amitabh Bachchan married actress Jaya Bhaduri and their son Abhishek has followed them into the movies, albeit to much less acclaim, and married model and actress Aishwarya Rai.

Among other famous film families are the Dutts, the Bhatts, the Deols, the Akhtars, the Chopras and the Johars.

“I’m a brand ambassador of nepotism,” admitted director and producer Karan Johar at a recent conference on cinema in Mumbai.

“If my father was not a film producer and he didn’t have that kind of contact with other illustrious filmmakers, I would probably have been a fashion designer, I would have been in the world of advertising.”

In showbiz worldwide it helps to have connections, but India is especially fond of its dynasties. In politics, 42-year-old Rahul Gandhi may run to be his family’s fourth-generation prime minister in polls next year.

Indian businesses also tend to stay in the family, be they small roadside food stalls or sprawling conglomerates such as consumer goods giant Godrej and the Reliance energy and telecoms empires.

“Networks count for a lot in India. It’s not just merit. If your father’s in the business, he has an established network and that’s very important,” says Dipankar Gupta, a former sociology professor.

“Democracy tends to mask in India that the patron-client relationship is essential, it keeps things going at every level.”

A few outsiders have managed to break into cinema.

Johar’s nepotism comments were made at a panel titled “Gatecrashers who made the party: the Out of Towners in Bollywood”, which highlighted a handful who have shown it is possible.

Megastar Shah Rukh Khan, ranked as India’s top celebrity by Forbes, had no starry childhood but a middle-class upbringing in Delhi.

Half-British Katrina Kaif, one of Bollywood’s highest-paid actresses, was brought up abroad, not speaking Hindi, and “had an ice cube’s chance in hell of making it”, according to an April edition of Filmfare magazine.

“I think it has become a more accessible space in the last 15 years. The pearly gates to the kingdom have opened up a little bit, especially for filmmakers,” says film critic Anupama Chopra.

She adds however that nepotism remains a “big part” of the industry: “the son of an actor invariably becomes an actor”.

Rishi insists that hard work and talent are crucial to make it to the top — not every Kapoor has hit the big time. But if you are one of the lucky ones, he sees little sense in diverting from the family path.

“It’s plain logic. Why would I want to become a rocket scientist when I’m good as an actor?” he laughs.

– IANS-AFP

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The milestone will be marked with the release of “Bombay Talkies”, made up of short commemorative films by four leading directors, while India will be honoured as “guest country” at next month’s Cannes festival.

Exhibitions in the capital New Delhi are showcasing a century of cinema, including onscreen kissing scenes that originally fell foul of the censors.

It is also a time for reflection on how the industry has evolved, from its early screen adaptations of Hindu mythology to the garish romantic escapism of modern blockbusters.

Commercially, cinema is thriving: India produced almost 1,500 movies last year and the industry is expected to grow from $2 billion to $3.6 billion in the next five years, according to consultancy KPMG.

Leading the way is Hindi-language Bollywood, which took the “B” from its home in Bombay and won the hearts of movie-mad Indians.

But old-timers complain that it has become superficial, neglecting to deal with pressing social concerns of the age.

“There’s a dumbing down that has taken place in the content. I think we are suffering from what is called the narrative crisis,” said veteran director and producer Mahesh Bhatt.

He contrasts modern filmmakers with Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, known as the “father of Indian cinema”, who brought the first all-Indian feature film to the silver screen in Bombay (now Mumbai) on May 3, 1913.

A tale from the Hindu epic Mahabharata, “Raja Harishchandra” quickly became a hit despite its female characters being played by men — women acting was still widely frowned upon.

Phalke made more than 100 films until his silent style fell victim to “talkies” in the 1930s, but the advent of sound technology allowed India cinema to flourish.

Bollywood plotlines today can involve stars breaking into song, often in picturesque far-flung locations, apropos of nothing — a style that may bemuse a Western audience, but one that helps to set Indian cinema apart.

“If it was exactly the same thing as Hollywood, Hollywood would have run us over. We don’t have that money,” said film critic Anupama Chopra.

For her and many others the “golden age” of cinema was the 1950s, when movie greats emerged such as Satyajit Ray, India’s most renowned filmmaker, who hailed from the alternative film hub of West Bengal.

It was the era of newly independent India, searching for an identity and producing films such as Mehboob Khan’s 1957 hit “Mother India”, which combined social concerns with popular appeal.

The 1970s and 80s saw a growing commercialism with the rise of the “masala” movie — a family entertainer that typically mixed up romance and action, songs and melodrama, a comedy touch and a happy ending.

Parallel Cinema continued to focus on realism, with films such as Mahesh Bhatt’s “Arth” (Meaning) in 1982, a gritty tale of an extramarital affair that presented strong female characters.

It was a path-breaker in a decade described as the “dark ages” of Hindi cinema, which struggled with the advent of colour television, rampant piracy and dependence on the Mumbai underworld for funding.

Things improved after India’s economy opened up in the early 1990s, and again a decade later when filmmaking won formal “industry” status. Both steps encouraged foreign firms, such as Fox and Disney, to invest in Bollywood.

But subsequent leaps in technology have not been matched by advances in storytelling, say critics, who lament the formulaic plots, passive roles for women and the copying of Hollywood.

Bollywood’s escapist fantasies have long held mass appeal because “there’s enough realism in the common man’s life”, said Bhatt.

But with ever more TV shows, the Internet and easily available global films, such movies may no longer meet the demands of the educated middle-class.

This expanding group “wants to see something better than trash which caters to the common man who drives auto-rickshaws. They want to see a different kind of cinema,” said veteran actor Rishi Kapoor.

A new crop of experimental filmmakers has started to appear, such as “Hindi indie” darling Anurag Kashyap who is a fixture on the global film festival circuit.

Trade analysts say the growth in multiplex cinemas has also encouraged mainstream films to diversify: a surprise hit last year was “Vicky Donor”, a romcom about sperm donation.

Raj Nidimoru is co-director of upcoming “Go Goa Gone”, one of India’s first zombie films, and he believes the move away from staple Bollywood is only just beginning.

“This is just a ripple right now, it’s going to become a wave.”

–IANS

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It’s an accumulation of four short stories directed by four different filmmakers – Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan  Johar. It is lined up for a May 3rd release, the same date when India’s first feature film – Raja Harishchandra which was made by the legendary Dadasaheb Phalke was released.

“Initially, I used to feel that Karan is a misfit but not anymore. The more I have discovered him, I love him a lot. I identify with him on a lot on many things in life. And he is also who he is because of where he comes from. He aspires to be a filmmaker… He is constantly trying to change himself, adapt to situations, produces films for younger lot,” Kashyap told reporters in an interview.

“The only difference is he has the resources that I don`t have. I find a parallel in what he does. I like him as an individual now,” he said.

Kashyap is mightily impressed with the movie that Karan Johar has made for the centenary celebration and feels it’s one of a kind.

“I have seen their (Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Karan Johar) films and they have done a brilliant job. Everybody has made a magical film. There is a silent secret competition between the four of us but my favourite is Karan Johar`s film,” he added.
Anurag was the first one to come on board for this film and he did recommend a few directors including Dibakar.

Initially, Anurag Kashyap was the only one to come on board for this project and he did recommend a few directors, including Dibakar.

“I came on board because I enjoy doing short films. But I am not a struggler anymore to make a short film. I had also given Vishal Bharadwaj`s name. He was shooting something so he couldn`t come on board,” he said.

For `Bombay Talkies`, all the four directors were given Rs 1.5 crore each.

“We were all given the same budget, I think for Karan it would be a very tight budget. But for me Rs 1.5 crore was enough as I could make a feature film in that,” he says.

Anurag’s short film which runs for about 20 minutes, is about a huge fan of Big B and his quest to meet his idol. Amitabh Bachchan plays a cameo in the film where he meets his ardent fan, who comes to visit him all the way from his hometown Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.
For Anurag, working with Big B has always been a dream. The filmmaker is all praise for the legend.

“He took care of the crew, he was so hospitable, he kept feeding us all the time. We were overwhelmed,” he said.
Considering the story is about a fan of Bachchan, the shooting happened in and around Pratiksha bungalow, one of houses of the legend.

“I have shot inside the bungalow and around. Pratiksha is the main protagonist of my film. And that for me is the important thing and without Pratiksha I couldn`t have made the film,” he said.

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