No Hrithik or Abhishek yet for ‘Agneepath’ remake: Karan Johar

Mumbai, There have been speculations about who will play the male lead in the remake of the 1990 hit “Agneepath”. While the names of Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan popped up, filmmaker Karan Johar clarifies that no one has been finalised to play the part Amitabh Bachchan immortalised in the original.

“I haven’t made any statement whatsoever around the man who would eventually be playing the role of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan that was made
iconic by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. All I have said is that, yes, we are going ahead with a remake of ‘Agneepath’ and that’s about it,” Johar told IANS.

Whether it is Hrithik, Abhishek or someone else, Johar must be having a wish list?

“Well, the wish list is to get the screenplay right. For the moment nothing else is more important than that,” he said.

Even though the film is being produced under the banner of Dharma Productions, Johar won’t be going behind the camera for the movie.

“True, I would be stepping aside and the film would be directed by Karan Malhotra, who has assisted me on ‘My Name Is Khan’. That’s the only thing which has been finalised… everything else you hear is mere speculation. We will finalise the cast once the script is locked. Currently, it is still in the process of being written,” he added.

Malhotra is not really a novice when it comes to filmmaking. He has earlier worked as an assistant director with Ashutosh Gowariker on “Jodhaa Akbar”, Farah Khan on “Main Hoon Na”, Farhan Akhtar on “Lakshya” and Raj Kumar Santoshi “Lajja and Pukar” amongst others.

Since it is close to two decades since the release of “Agneepath”, would the remake have a different milieu to it?

“Certainly! We are adapting the film from the original, but ours would be a new age version that would fit in well with today’s time. We really hope that we are able to do justice to the original and make the remake exciting for today’s generation,” Johar said.

Dharma Productions, meanwhile, has as many as seven films that are in different stages of production. These are “My Name Is Khan”, “Wake Up Sid”, “Kurbaan”, “Koochie Koochie Hota Hai”, remakes of Hollywood flick “Stepmom” and “Agneepath” and “I Hate Love Stories”.

How is he managing it all?

“Believe me, it’s not difficult at all. All you have to do is to follow a three-point mantra – delegation, outsourcing and trust. Along with that, if you have the right vision and infrastructure in place, which we do have in Dharma Productions, it isn’t difficult to crack it all.

“That’s the way you manage things and I have been fortunate enough to have a team with which it has become possible to helm a number of projects at the same time,” said Johar.

Among the seven films, three are ready to hit the screens.

“‘Wake Up Sid’ is all set to arrive on Oct 2. ‘Kurbaan’ will come in late November. Other than that, we are looking at an early 2010 release for ‘My Name Is Khan’. Yes, these have been busy and really exciting times,” the filmmaker said.

Read More

Bollywood on self-healing path with four hits

New Delhi, Energetic openings to Bollywood’s four recent releases, “New York”, “Kambakkht Ishq”, “Love Aaj Kal” and “Kaminey”, have succeeded in getting the business perk up. Wounded by a long strike earlier this year, the film industry is perhaps on a self-healing path now, say trade pundits.

The two-month-long stand-off between the producers-distributors and multiplex owners over revenue sharing, which was resolved June 5, led to a whopping Rs.300 crore (Rs.3 billion) loss to the Hindi film industry.

The dry spell was broken by Kabir Khan’s “New York” that released June 26 followed by the other three films — “Kambakkht Ishq” that came July 3, “Love Aaj Kal” July 31 and
“Kaminey” Aug 14 — raking in a net profit close to almost half the losses so far this year.

“These four films will do a net business of Rs.150 crore (Rs.1.5 billion) put together,” revealed an industry insider.

Said trade analyst Taran Adarsh: “The industry is definitely on a recovery path… it is getting better now, but we do need a big number of hits to follow as even an A-list movie like ‘Luck’ bombed.

“Every movie has a luck of its own. For example, a small-budget film like ‘A Wednesday’ had a moderate release last year but proved to be a dark horse. At the end of the day it’s the content that will win.”

Film critic Omar Qureshi had something similar to say.

“The industry is healing. Everyone was deprived of movies. There was a desperation to watch films and the audiences couldn’t handle it. So they took multiplexes by storm once good movies hit the screens and the result is worth watching,” said Qureshi.

“But that doesn’t mean mediocre movies will win the race too… it’ll only take big-budget and big-banner movies with a good story to make up for the losses and bring in footfalls,” he added.

The stand-off between producers-distributors and multiplex owners started in February over revenue-sharing. While the producers demanded a flat 50 percent share of all film revenues irrespective of the stars, budget and box-office collection, the exhibitors stressed on sharing profits based on the movie’s earnings.

As a result the producers declared a strike from April 4 onwards, which saw no big Bollywood releases in multiplexes across the country.

Now all eyes are set on an array of big releases after the lull.

The line-up includes Shahid Kapoor-Rani Mukerji starrer “Dil Bole Hadippa”, three movies of Salman Khan — “Wanted”, “Main Aur Mrs Khanna” and “London Dreams” — two Ranbir Kapoor-starrers “Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani” and “Rocket Singh – Salesman of The Year”, and Aamir Khan’s “3 Idiots”.

Apart from these, there are also Hrithik Roshan’s much-talked-about action thriller “Kites”, Priyanka Chopra’s “What’s Your Raashee?”, two movies starring Amitabh Bachchan — “Aladdin” and “Pa” — Akshay Kumar’s “De Dana Dan”, Govinda’s “Hook Ya Crook” and Neil Nitin Mukesh’s “Jail”.

Read More

Kareena Kapoor yet again on ‘Filmfare’ covers

Size zero girl Kareena Kapoor is the reigning fashion diva of Bollywood. So, it does not come as a surprise when we find glossy magazine covers repeating the pretty lass over and over again. This is the third time Kareena Kapoor is on the covers of ‘Filmfare’ magazine. She sizzles in
a bright yellow dress on the September issue of the magazine and looks extremely confident exposing her hot long legs without any footwear. Not to mention here that the girl has as much of right attitude as her acting skills!

Read More

Rani & Shahid promote ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ on TV

Rani Mukherjee will be back on silver screen with ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ after a long time, her last being ‘Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic’. She has taken special efforts in getting a toned body and flaunting it in a bikini. Nevertheless, she is taking keen interest in promoting the film along with her co-star Shahid Kapoor who is on a high these days post his success of
‘Kaminey’.

The duo was seen as special guests on the grand finale of the reality show ‘India’s Got Talent’ on 22nd August on Colors. Shahid awarded the trophy to The Prince Dance group who was declared the winner of this reality show after several relatives and friends of the group, apart from state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, corporate houses and social activists joined hands to vote en masse for them. They got a staggering Rs.50 lakhs (Rs.5 million) in cash and a swish newly-launched Maruti Suzuki Ritz car as the reward. The group, comprising 26 artistes, all below 22 years of age, spellbound everyone with their act, which was based on episodes from the Mahabharata.

The episode saw Shahid and Rani enjoying the performances and bonding well with the judges Sonali Bendre, Kirron Kher and filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor.

Read More

Ajay Devgan’s unique proposal to Bipasha Basu

After the underwater proposal made by Akshay Kumar to Kareena Kapoor in ‘Kambakkht Ishq’, Ajay Devgan is all set to propose Bipasha Basu from mid-air in director Rohit Shetty’s upcoming comedy ‘All The Best’. The scene has Ajay seated in a sports car dangling 8 feet above the ground and giving out a rose to Bipasha standing on the
road.

The scene being risky and difficult took two days planning and an entire day for shoot. The car, being suspended from mid air and Ajay’s need to balance his weight, there was extra precaution needed as Bipasha was standing below the car and nothing could go wrong. To add to it, it had to look completely romantic. The scene has been successfully shot.
Thankfully, everything went fine and the scene was shot during the course of a day.

Besides Ajay and Bipasha, ‘All The Best’ also features Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan and Mugdha Godse. The film is set for Diwali release.

Read More

Elesh shouldn’t be known as my husband: Rakhi Sawant

Mumbai, They got engaged amid much fanfare on national television but item girl Rakhi Sawant is worried about her Toronto-based fiance Elesh Parujanwala.

She is worried about him accepting her sexy image, his financial independence and, above all, she doesn’t want him to be just known as “Rakhi Sawant’s husband”.

“Will Elesh be able to support me financially? I don’t want
him to be known as Rakhi Sawant’s husband. I need time.

“I agree Elesh is educated and he comes from a wealthy family. But all of it belongs to his father. He has nothing of his own in Mumbai, not even a home. He needs time to settle down,” Rakhi, who selected Elesh through NDTV Imagine’s reality show “Rakhi Ka Swayamvar”, told IANS in an exclusive interview.

She is also concerned about Elesh being comfortable with her sexy image.

“People are spreading dirty rumours about me. On the Internet they’ve morphed my face on naked bodies. Would Elesh be able to tolerate it?” asked Rakhi.

She is also disgusted by singer Mika’s attempts to gain mileage out of her name.

“I’m really tired of people using my name. I don’t want to give such people importance. I’ve learnt the hard way how to be dignified. Jesus has taught me to be calm. My good days are just beginning.”

Rakhi says she’ll marry Elesh only when he becomes economically self-sufficient.

“I don’t want him to be another Abhishek Awasthi (her ex-boyfriend) in my life. Yes, we’re engaged. I like him a lot. But how can I hand over my life to someone who isn’t earning a proper living?

“That’s why we’re going on another reality show to see whether we’re really as compatible as we seemed on ‘Rakhi Ka Swayamvar’. I didn’t get enough time with him on that show. You and I saw his best face. Now I want to see the real Elesh.”

Her new show “Pati Patni Aur Woh”, which is likely to be aired next month on NDTV Imagine, is about parenting.

“I want to marry a man who can support me. In India, wives are supposed to be looked after by husbands, not vice versa. I don’t want him to come and stay in my house. I want to live in his house. I will wait for him to afford a house.

“I know Elesh is a decent guy. But is that enough? He has to be financially independent. He needed a place and a face to latch on to; that’s why he came on the show. Abhishek was so decent. But he was known as Rakhi’s boyfriend.”

Rakhi’s new show is about parenting, but kids give her a headache.

“I’ve a migraine problem. When a child cries, I get a severe headache. I don’t know how I’ll manage for a month with a stranger’s child.

“On top of that I’ve to cook on the show. I can’t cook to save my life. I don’t know how I’ll manage. I can’t even use make-up. Can you imagine Rakhi Sawant without makeup?” she said.

Asked how she’ll cope when she has her own kids, Rakhi replied: “Apna bachcha to har koi paal leta hai…jaanwar bhi. I don’t know how I’ll cope. I think I’m going to lose my cool completely. So far people have only seen the good Rakhi Sawant. Now they’ll see the real me.”

Speaking about ex-boyfriend Abhishek, she said: “I still consider him my good friend. I hope and pray he finds a good girl. If ever in life he needs me, I’ll always be there.

“If he needs me to be a dance partner in a reality show I’ll gladly do the needful. He has supported me a lot. I’ll always be thankful to him for getting my mother out of my life. That’s one good deed he did. If Abhishek hadn’t been there, I’d have not had the courage to break away from my family. I’d have been wallowing in mud.”

Read More

Toronto girl is crowned new Miss India-Canada

Toronto, In the biggest South Asian beauty pageant in North America, 25-year-old Aanchal Dogra was crowned Miss India-Canada 2009 here Sunday night.

Hailing from Mississauga on the outskirts of Toronto, Dogra was also the oldest contestant among 16 Indian-Canadian girls who vied for the title. “I cannot believe that I will be the winner of this beauty pageant,” said Dogra who holds an MD in alternative medicines.

The beauty crown puts Dogra in the league of Lisa Ray, Komal Sidhu and Ruby Bhatia who went on to become big names in the entertainment world.

Komal Sharma, 20, from Montreal, and Guneet Marwah, 21, from Richmond Hill near here were the two runners-up at the 19th edition of the Indian beauty contest.

Hollywood actor and singer Karen David, who was on hand to crown the winners of the pageant, treated the audience to one of her favourite number. Born in Shillong, raised in Toronto and trained in London, actor-singer David has played the lead role in Hollywood film ‘Scorpion King 2′ and ‘Provoked’. She has also lent her voice to compositions by A.R. Rehman and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Crowning Dogra as the new Miss India-Canada, David lavished praise on Indian culture and lauded the expatriate girls for keeping Indian native traditions alive in the West.

The three-hour-long evening show opened with all the girls strutting their desi stuff.

In fact, they opened their performances with the hit Bollywood song ‘Main Desi Girl’ from the film “Dostana”. And the desi fare was on display in abundance as the 16 contestants regaled the huge audience with their individual musical and dance skills – from bhangra to hit Bollywood numbers to bhajans.

Finally, they were put through quizzes by the judges who settled on Aanchal Dogra as the winner and Komal Sharma and Guneet Marwah as the two runners-up.

Apart from winning the Miss India-Canada crown and lavish beauty, monetary and electronic gifts, Dogra will also get free passage to India and five-star accommodation to spend time in the Bollywood town.

Read More