Kalki Koechlin won Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award
Indian actress of French descent Kalki Koechlin, 27, who debuted in Anurag Kashyap's critically acclaimed Hindi film Dev D, playing the character of Chandramukhi, won the Best Supporting Actor (Female) Award for her role in the film. Kalki was born to French parents in a small village in Pondicherry. Her parents had come to India 38 years ago. They are devotees of Sri Aurobindo. She was doing modeling assignments for Television commercials before being short-listed for the role of Chandramukhi in 'Dev D'. Kalki speaks Tamil, English and French while she had to learn Hindi to prepare for her role in Dev D.
Rahman wins Filmfare Award the 25th time
The music maestro A R Rahman, after winning accolades around the world, once again created history by winning a Filmfare Award for the 25th time. Actresses Tabu and Kajol presented him the Best Music Award for ‘Delhi 6’ on Saturday night at the Yashraj studios in Mumbai, where the Filmfare Award ceremony was held.
Filmfare Awards: Paa wins Best Actor & Best Actress Awards
The 2009 movie ‘Paa’, directed by R. Balki (R. Balakrishnan) starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan in the lead roles won the two major awards at the Filmfare Awards for Best Actor (Amitabh Bachchan) and Best Actress (Vidya Balan). The film was produced by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation and Sunil Manchanda. Celina Jaitley, who was looking awesome in her Cavalli gown, said, “I’m definitely rooting for Paa.”
And the awards for Paa are:
Best Actor in Leading Role (Male): Amitabh Bachchan (in his absence Vidya Balan received the award). Vishal Bhardwaj who was on stage said, "Diye ko ujaala dikhaane jaisa hai.”
Best Actor in Leading Role (Female): Sri Devi and Boney Kapoor presented the award to the lovely lady Vidya Balan.
Earlier Paa has already received 14 nominations and won 4 awards at the Star Screen Awards, including Best Actor (Male) for Amitabh Bachchan, Best Actor (Female) for Vidya Balan. Also it won 2 Stardust Awards in 2010: Star of the Year Award (Male) for Amitabh Bachchan and Stardust Best Supporting Actor Award for Abhishek Bachchan.
Nandita Das wins Critics Best Film Award for her directorial debut Firaaq
2008 Hindi film Firaaq, the directorial debut of Nandita Das, has picked up the Critics' Choice Award for Best Film. The film, set one month after the 2002 violence in Gujarat, India, and looks at the aftermath in terms of the effects on the lives of everyday people. The film stars Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal, Raghubir Yadav, Sanjay Suri, Shahana Goswami, Amruta Subhash and Tisca Chopra. The film has largely been well received, both locally and internationally. It won three awards at the Asian Festival of First Films in Singapore in December 2008, the Special Prize at the International Thessaloniki Film Festival, an award at the Kara Film Festival, and Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Government of France.
As an actress, Nandita Das is known for her critically acclaimed performances in Fire (1996), Earth (1998), Bawandar (2000) and Aamaar Bhuvan (2002). For the Filmfare Awards she was present with her husband. Firaaq won awards in the categories below:
Best Film: Nandita Das won the Critics Best Film Award for her directorial debut Firaaq
Best Costume Design: Vaishali Menon
Best Editing: Sreekar Prasad
Best Sound Design: Manas Chaudhury
Dev D shines at Filmfare Awards
The 2009 Bollywood romantic film, written and directed by Anurag Kashyap, based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's classic Bengali novel Devdas, was a big winner at the Filmfare Awards, along with ‘3 Idiots’ that swept most categories and ‘Paa’. Director of ‘Dev D’ Anurag Kashyap walked in for the ceremony with his girlfriend Kalki Koechlin, who is a lead star of the film. The lovely lady said, “This is my first nomination, I am really, really happy. It is a huge thing for me." The film won awards in the following categories:
Best Background Score: Kabir Bedi and Mukesh Bhatt presented the award to Amit Trivedi, who said, “I kept very quiet about my work. I would let my work do the talking. This is my first Filmfare. I have fallen in love with this black lady.”
Best Cinematographer: Anurag Kashyap received the award on behalf of Rajeev Ravi.
Best Production Design: Helen and Sukant
Best Supporting Actor (Female): Neil Mukesh and Kunal Kohli presented the award to Kalki Koechlin. She thanked everyone from the Dev D team and ended her speech by saying, “I also want to thank the most important person in my life, Anurag Kashyap.”
Best Actor (Female): Mahi Gill, who won the Best Actress Award (Critics) for her debut film Dev D, was wearing a black and golden gown, in which she looked very stunning. “I have no idea if I have been nominated for the award. But I am very excited as this is my first Filmfare night,” she said.
3 Idiots sweeps Filmfare Awards
The 2009 Bollywood comedy film 3 Idiots made a big sweep of the 55th Idea Filmfare Awards by winning most of the popular choice awards, followed by Firaaq, Dev D and Paa. The film won awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Dialogue, Best Screenplay, Best Story, and Best Supporting Actor.
Raju Hirani, director of 3 Idiots said, “The award is a celebration for one’s hard work. If you start competition it’s not fun, it’s unhappy then. Anyway I wish we take away at least 10 awards. We will miss Aamir tonight, but what to do. He doesn’t attend award function.” To that Vidhu Vinod Chopra added, “Actually I hope we take as many as our hands can carry.”
And the awards were:
Best Film: Actress Rekha handed over the Best Film to the 3 Idiots’ team including R. Madhavan, Omi Vaidya, Boman Irani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani.
Best Director: Rajkumar Hirani received the award from Ramesh Sippy.
Best Screenplay: Urmila Matondkar and Abbas-Mastan presented the award to Rajkumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Abhijat Joshi.
Best Dialogue: Minissha Lamba presented the Best Dialogue Award to Rajkumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.
Best Story: Genelia D'Souza and Harman Baweja gave the award to Abhijat Joshi and Rajkumar Hirani.
Best Supporting Actor (Male): Bipasha Basu and Ramesh Taurani were there on stage to present the award to Boman Irani.
‘3 Idiots’, loosely adapted from the best selling novel ‘Five Point Someone’ by Chetan Bhagat, stars Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni and Boman Irani. 3 Idiots has become the ‘highest grossing Bollywood movie of all time.’ The film set a box office record for the Indian film industry, grossing Rs 400 crore (US$ 86 million) worldwide. It is expected to be the first Indian film to be officially released on YouTube, within 12 weeks of releasing in theatres.
Deepika in red sleeveless dress
“The younger audiences seem to like the lighter first-half where Farhan Akhtar romances Deepika Padukone. The more serious second-half seems to be a kind of angst-filled journey for the protagonist as well as the audience,” Karthik Calling Karthik director Vijay Lalwani said of his film that released Friday. Incidentally Lalwani is going to visit movie halls to gauge the audience reaction to his directorial debut and he wants to write his next script to reflect the choice of the viewers. The film stars Deepika Padukone and Farhan Akhtar in the lead roles.
Sneha Ullal says comparison with Aishwarya Rai was unfair
Actress Sneha Ullal now feels that constant comparisons to Aishwarya Rai in the very beginning of her career worked against her, and did not help her, as reported by newspapers. She began her career with a tag that described her as an Aishwarya Rai look-alike. Though she got a dream launch opposite Salman Khan in 'Lucky-No Time For Love' in 2005, she could not make it big in Bollywood, despite starring in films like ‘Aryan’ opposite to Salman Khan’s filmmaker brother Sohail Khan in 2006, and ‘Kaashh... Mere Hote’ (2009). Both the movies could not work well at the box office, leaving the 22-year-old actress no option but to look for chances in South Indian cinema.
Sneha said, “Personally, it was one of the greatest compliments that I had. You don't often get compared to the most beautiful woman of your time.”
It seems now she is planning to come back to Bollywood industry, with her recent horror flick ‘Click’, starring Shreyas Talpade. Click is a 2010 Hindi film starring Shreyas Talpade. However, there are reports of her having signed up for acting in a couple of new Bollywood films.
British Indian Actress Katrina Kaif
British Indian actress and model Katrina Kaif has appeared in Bollywood, Telugu and Malayalam films and she is the country’s sexiest woman, according to FHM and Maxim magazines. Mattel, the international toymaker, said that a forthcoming Barbie doll would be modelled on her. She has won honours such as Face of the Year at Lakme India Fashion Week (2005), Voted Most Luscious Lips in the Film Industry (2005), Most searched Indian celebrity on Google (2008), Voted Sexiest Woman Alive by FHM India (2008), Sexiest Asian Women by British Magazine Eastern Eye (2008), Ranked 48 on Most Desired Woman List by Askmen.com (2009), India’s First Barbie Doll by Mattel (2009), Most Googled celebrity in India leaving Michael Jackson behind (2009), Voted Asia's Sexiest Women by FHM India (2009), Voted by No.1 Hot & Sexy Heroine by Filmfare (2009), Most Searched Celebrity on Bollywood Hungama (2009), and Voted Most Desirable Woman on ZOOM's 50 Most Desirable poll (2009).
Aishwarya Rai on Mumbai Mirror
Recently the Mumbai Mirror ran a report that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan cannot risk pregnancy due to stomach tuberculosis. The article had alleged that due to the disease Aishwarya was unable to conceive. In his blog her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan rubbished the report and wrote the article had brought great distress and harm to his family. He urged the tabloid to retract the article and make a full apology to his daughter-in-law and also to his family.
The Hurt Locker sweeps BAFTAs
Photo: Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Anthony Mackie and Jeremy Renner of The Hurt Locker cast and crew.
The Hurt Locker was the BAFTA night's big winner taking six awards out of eight nominations, including best director for Kathryn Bigelow -- the first woman director to win the prize. It was a triumphant night for Bigelow, who beat ex-husband James Cameron, whose 3D epic Avatar was also nominated for eight prizes but won only two.
Bigelow, who at the start of the night ran down the red carpet to avoid questions from journalists about their duel, said the win was ‘really amazing and humbling… I would like to dedicate this to never abandoning the need to find a resolution for peace’.
The Hurt Locker won BAFTAs for Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow), Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay (Mark Boal), Best Sound, Best film, and Best Cinematography.
The story of the film revolves around a United States Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team during the Iraq War. The story was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded with a US bomb squad in Iraq. The film stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, and Brian Geraghty as members of a US Army EOD unit in Iraq and follows their tour together as they contend with defusing bombs, the threat of insurgency, and the tension that develops among them.
The film was shot in the Middle East, specifically in Jordan, within miles of the Iraq border. The title ‘The Hurt Locker’ is slang for being injured in an explosion, as in 'they sent him to the hurt locker'.
Oscar hopeful Gabourey Sidibe
Actress Gabourey Sidibe, one of the hot favourites for this year's Oscar Best Actress Award for her debut role in 'Precious', attends a Tribute to Tim Burton at The Museum of Modern Art on November 17, 2009 in New York City, USA (Photo by J. McCarthy).
The 26-year-old American actress Gabourey Sidibe who made her acting debut in the 2009 film ‘Precious’ played the title character for which she has won a nomination for a Best Actress Academy Award.
In Precious, Sidibe plays the role of a physically and sexually abused sixteen-year old girl, with a four year old child by her own father and with another child on the way. The film Precious won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe Award and Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award.
She has also finished shooting her next film, Yelling to the Sky, a Sundance Lab project directed by Victoria Mahoney and starring Zoe Kravitz, in which she plays a bully.
For her performance in precious she has already won awards such as Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress, Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress, Hollywood Film Award for Rising Star Award, Iowa Film Critics Awards Best Actress, National Board of Review Breakthrough Performance Female, Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress, Satellite Award for Outstanding New Talent, and Women's Film Critics Circle Award for Best Young Actress.
Gabourey Sidibe at ACE Eddie Awards
American actress Gabourey Sidibe attends the 60th annual ACE Eddie Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA on February 14, 2010.
My Name Is Khan is a hit in the UK and other counties
My Name Is Khan has kicked up a new frenzy in the UK where he is no less than a king among film goers, upon the release of the film there. In Australia the February 11 preview collections for the film were ranked at #11. In the Gulf countries the movie fared 50 per cent better opening collections than other competing releases. Middle East countries have an established fan base for King Khan. In Egypt, Syria, Oman and Lebanon, where also the film was released, the response was phenomenal.
My Name Is Khan sets new US box-office record
Photo: Berlinale/Cinema for Peace. The photo shows Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol waving to fans during the Berlin International Films Festivals. The tickets for My Name Is Khan were sold out in five seconds flat in Berlin and each ticket was auctioned of at the rate of Euro 1000 or more on e-Bay.
My Name is Khan (MNIK), starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, overshot film industry trade analysts’ expectations in North America by becoming the biggest grossing Bollywood film ever in terms of the first week collections. The film, opened on February 12, has in its first weekend made US$1.94 million in three days surpassing a record set in 2007 by Om Shanti Om, another film with SRK as the lead actor. Fox Star Studios, the overseas distributor of MNIK, released it in 121 theatres in USA and Canada. Also MNIK earned $2,275,000 in four days crossing the $2 million mark faster than any other Indian movie in North America, beating the record of the Aamir Khan-starrer Three Idiots that grossed $2,149,227 over five days.
“We had sold-out shows during the weekend in a lot of theatres. There has been a buzz about MNIK - it has scored reviews in LA Times and CBS News which is unprecedented for an Indian movie,” said a rep of Reliance’s Big Cinemas which operates 181 screens in the US.
Leader Actress Richa Gangopadhyay
The beautiful girl Richa Gangopadhyay was crowned Miss India USA 2007 at the 26th annual pageant held in New Jersey when she was a 21-year-old final year student at the Michigan State University, USA. She was majoring in Dietetics and Nutrition. She takes active interest in acting, dance, music, movies and spreading awareness about health and nutrition. In the pageant she also won the title of Miss Photogenic. She was crowned by the outgoing title-holder Ayushka Singh. Now Sekhar Kammula's Telugu film ‘Leader’ has become the launch pad for Richa in the Telugu film industry. She co-stars with Rana Daggubati and Priya Anand in the film. Wish her luck in this film and for her future career as an outstanding actress!
Actress Richa Gangopadhyay
Actress Richa Gangopadhyay, the leading lady of the film ‘Leader’ in which she co-stars with Rana Daggubati and Priya Anand, caught the attention of all the people present at the audio launch event of Leader which was held in Hyderabad on 22 November 2009.
My Name Is Khan bags Rs 25 crores on opening day
At the Berlin International Film Festival: (L-R) Actor Shah Rukh Khan, actress Kajol and director Karan Johar attend the 'My Name Is Khan' Photocall during day two of the 60th Berlin International Film Festival at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 12, 2010 in Berlin, Germany.
IANS reported from New Delhi on Feb 14 that the 'My Name Is Khan', Bollywood's favourite onscreen couple Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol's first film together after eight years, has raked in around Rs.250 million (about US$5.3 million) across the globe on the opening day. Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studios India that distributes the film in India, said, “We are delighted with the performance and audience reactions across demographics. More so, because this is only phase one of the film release… In addition to the release across 45 countries, MNIK will be rolled out in a phased manner across 25 non-traditional markets from April onwards.”
In New Zealand the opening day collection for the film was about $9727. In the Middle East the movie is already 50 per cent higher than any other previous film in Bollywood with the earning estimated at $300,000. For paid previews ‘My Name Is Khan’ earned about $193,000 from 89 sites in Britain which is the highest for a single-day preview there. In Australia, on Thursday, paid previews collected around $34,000, ranking number 11.
Fox, the distributor, says the film will be released in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Oman and Lebanon in the coming week.
Aishwarya Rai tops with Rs 10 crores for a film
The photo above shows Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at the recent Apsara Awards. Also, the author of this photo adds that hubby Abhishek Bachchan holds the Guinness World Record for the 'Most Public Appearances to Promote a Film' by traveling to seven cities in 12 hours to promote his movie 'Delhi-6'.
Wow! Star prices are shooting up! The latest buzz is that Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai has been offered a whopping Rs 10 crores by Bobby Pushkarna, the producer of the National Award winning film ‘Page 3’. He has been chasing the 36-year-old actress for three months to sign her up for his next movie in the lines of Jag Mundhra’s ‘Provoked’.
Earlier there were reports that actress Kareena Kapoor has been paid Rupees seven crores for her upcoming film Golmaal 3, and even as the industry is abuzz about it, here comes the pricey news that Aishwarya Rai has beaten her in the paycheck game.
The South Indian Bunt community beauty Aishwarya Rai, who started her film acting career with her debut in Mani Ratnam's Tamil biopic film Iruvar (1997) with the Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, is currently busy with Mani Ratnam's Ravan, Shankar's Robot (Endhiran), Vipul Shah's Action Replay and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish.
Aishwarya Rai is in the lead role of the Hindi and Tamil versions of the Mani Ratnam film Raavan/Ravan produced simultaneously, both written and directed by himself. The music is composed by Oscar (2009) and double Grammy (2010) winner A. R. Rahman. The film will also be dubbed into Telugu and other regional languages. The Hindi version stars Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda, Ravi Kishan, Nikhil Dwivedi and Priyamani. The Tamil version of Raavana stars Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj, Karthik, Prabhu, Priyamani, Munna, Kishore and Vaiyapuri. Raavan/Ravan is reportedly a modern day interpretation loosely adapted from the Indian epic Ramayana. Shooting began at the end of October 2008 and the film went into post production in October 2009. Dancer Astad Deboo was roped in to choreograph a Tandav dance between Abhishek and Aishwarya. Fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee is the costume designer for Aishwarya Rai in the film. Raavan has been shot in picturesque locations in India, including the forests of Kerala, and locations in Ooty, Jhansi, Kolkata, and locations in Maharashtra.
Endhiran (also spelt as Enthiran, a Tamil word meaning Robot), the forthcoming science-fiction Tamil language film being directed by S. Shankar and starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai, is being made at an expected cost of Rs 165 crores, one of the highest ever film budgets of the Indian film industry. Now the latest buzz is that he is planning to convert part of Endhiran into a 3D version as if the Avatar mania has affected our directors too. The much awaited Endhiran has choreography by Prabhu Deva, lyrics by Vairamuthu, art direction by Sabu Cyril and cinematography by Ratnavelu, all regulars with Shankar, who has also roped in Oscar winner Sound Remixing Engineer Resul Pookutty for sound effects. Endhiran, with its story set in the future, according to reports, will also showcase futuristic but imaginary and bizarre fashion fads, for which costume designers Manish Malhotra and Aalim have worked extensively on costumes Endhiran.
Action Replay is an upcoming Bollywood Indian film, based on a 1994 Gujarati Indian play of the same name, a time travel tale based on Mumbai in the fifties, being directed by Vipul Shah and starring Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai, Neha Dhupia and Randhir Kapoor in major roles. It is expected to release in 2010.
In Guzaarish (English: Request) directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Hrithik Roshan, who shares an enviable and amazing on-screen chemistry with Aishwarya Rai, performs the lead role with her, the other stars in major roles being Aditya Roy Kapoor and Monikangana Dutta. The story is spun around a married nurse (Aishwarya Rai) and a wheelchair-bound paraplegic patient (Hrithik Roshan), suffering from impairment of the motor and sensory nerve functions of the lower limbs, with whom she falls in love. Both Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai will sing a song for the movie, the first time Roshan sings for a movie. Earlier the accomplished screen couple Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai has starred in two movies together, Dhoom 2 and Jodhaa Akbar, which were huge hits. Rai has previously worked with Bhansali in two hit films, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and Devdas (2002). However, it was in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, a love triangle starring Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan, that she came to the attention of Bollywood producers and directors with her performance in the film that won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award.
Pune Bomb Blast Update: 9 dead, 45 wounded
Times of India reporters Asseem Shaikh, Swati Shinde and Mihir Tanksale has reported on the newspaper’s site that the Pune blast toll is 9 dead and 45 wounded.
The bomb blast ripped through the city’s popular German Bakery, close to the Osho Ashram, diagonally across from the Jewish Chabad House, recced by 26/11 suspect David Coleman Headley, killing at least nine people, four of them foreigners, all women, the report says. More than 45 people were rushed to hospital with varying degrees of injury. Body parts of some of the dead were found strewn on the North Main Road and near the O Hotel, a few metres from the bakery.
The blast at 7.15 PM left a 6ftx4ft hole in the wall of the bakery when it was crowded with people. According to Union Home Secretary G K Pillai, there was an unattended packet which exploded when a waiter tried to open it.
Terror attack kills eight in Pune, India
According to reports from agencies at least eight people have been killed and 33 others injured in a powerful bomb blast in a on a restaurant in India's western city of Pune. The explosion ripped apart the German Bakery, in Koregaon Park, is a landmark eatery that is very popular with tourists. It is located close to the Osho Ashram in the city's upscale Koregaon area, usually teeming with foreigners. Though the nationalities of the dead are not known yet, reports say, at least one of the dead is a foreign national. The explosion was set of at about 7 PM (1330 GMT) when the restaurant was packed with diners.
Many among the victims live in the area, work there or are visitors, while some others are students. Pune has a large population of foreign students and the site of the blast the German Bakery is a favourite hangout for foreigners and locals alike. So the explosion might have been planned with the purpose of killing foreigners along with locals and attracting international attention.
The blast, which Maharashtra state officials described as a bomb blast is the first major attack India has faced since the Mumbai bombings by terrorists in 2008.
"We heard a big noise and we all rushed out. The impact was so much that there were tiny body parts everywhere," Vinod Dhale, who works at the restaurant, told Reuters news agency.
According to senior police official Rajendra Sonawane ‘there was an abandoned bag which seems to have contained some IED (improvised explosive device)’.
Also, according to highly placed sources in intelligence agencies that told CNN-IBN the Indian Mujahideen, the militant group blamed for a series of bomb blasts in major Indian cities in 2008, is suspected for the Pune blast on Saturday. The evidence collected from the blast site has the ‘trademark’ of the Indian Mujahideen, reports say, and the group is believed to have built a strong network across Maharashtra and they are believed to have a module in Pune.
Indian Mujahideen was blamed for the serial blasts that killed 13 people in Varanasi, Faizabad and Lucknow on November 23, 2007. It is also blamed for the serial bombing in Jaipur that killed 63 people in May 2008. The attack in Ahmedabad that killed 46 people in July 26, 2008 was also the handiwork of the Indian Mujahideen.
Sheena Shahabadi in a paddy farm?
Indian film actress Sheena Shahabadi (Teree Sang of 2009 in Hindi and Bindaas of 2010 in Telugu) is the daughter of Sadhna Singh, who starred in the movie Nadiya Ke Paar.
Sonam Kapoor's upcoming films
Actor-director Pankaj Kapur has decided to cast the Delhi-6 star Sonam Kapoor opposite his star son Shahid Kapoor for the upcoming movie ‘Mausam’ after considering a number of girls including Shatrughan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi Sinha, Govinda’s daughter Narmada Ahuja, and daughter of Alyque Padamsee and Sharon Prabhakar Shazahn Padamsee. It is reported Pankaj Kapur’s wife Supriya Pathak is particularly interested in Sonam playing the female lead in Mausam.
After a string of movies with interesting titles hit films like No Entry, Welcome, Singh Is Kinng and the underproduction film No Problem, writer-director Anees Bazmee has announced a film with a similar title Thank You in which also the 24-year-old Sonam Kapoor will be cast in the lead role against 42-year-old actor Akshay Kumar. About the selection of actors, Bazmee has attributed his choice of actors to his script, saying, “Akshay has a different look in the film. And after I saw Sonam in Delhi 6, I knew she suited the role best.”
Anees Bazmee denies that Sonam’s father Anil Kapoor who is producing No Problem has anything to do with her casting, saying, “Anil is family. But he was pleasantly surprised when I told him that I wanted to sign Sonam for Thank You.”
SRK and Kajol in My Name Is Khan
My Name Is Khan, starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles and directed by Karan Johar, is opening in Mumbai this Friday. Produced by Hiroo Yash Johar and Gauri Khan, the film is being distributed by Hollywood’s Fox Searchlight Pictures that purchased the distribution rights in India and worldwide for Rs 100 crores. With reports of rampage by Shiv Sena against the 63 theatres in Mumbai where the films are being released, the stakes are very high for both SRK and Karan Johar who are liable for the distribution as, generally Mumbai accounts for about 40 per cent of the collection.
The film is noted for the coming together of Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in the lead roles after many years. Tanay Chheda, who portrays Shah Rukh Khan's character as a child, is internationally recognizable as he portrayed the "middle Jamal" in Slumdog Millionaire that won eight Oscars last year. Also, American actor Christopher B. Duncan, who portrays President Barack Obama, is known for his interpretation of Obama on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The film was shot in India and the United States.
Before the current trouble in Maharashtra, SRK already had some trouble in connection with the film on 14 August 2009 as he arrived in USA to promote My Name Is Khan and to participate in other events around the country including Indian Independence Day, at Newark Airport in New Jersey, he was pulled aside by Immigration Officers after his name popped up on their computers. He was questioned for over an hour -- Khan claims it was at least two hours -- about the purpose of his visit, and he was later released.
The present trouble relates to Shah Rukh Khan’s on his criticism of the fact that players of the Pakistani Cricket Team were not bought by the clubs that took part in the 2010 Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions of cricketers. On this, he was condemned by Shiv Sena, following which there have been protests and demonstrations against him and the party demanded that cinemas in India should refuse to screen My Name Is Khan. Shiv Sena also demanded that Khan (who owns the Cricket team ‘Kolkata Knight Riders’) apologise for his comments, but he said, "I have no idea what I am supposed to apologise for…” On Tuesday January 10, 2010 when theatres opened for advanced bookings there were attacks by alleged Shiv Sena cadres on theatres and booking centers in Mumbai.
My Name Is Khan tickets sold out in 5 seconds in Berlinale
It was smoothening to read the IANS news reported by Meenakshi Shedde, the India Consultant to the Berlin Film Festival, reporting from Berlin on February 12 that the online tickets of Shah Rukh Khan's movie My Name is Khan were sold out in five seconds in Berlin, Germany. She also reported that the film's tickets were being auctioned on e-Bay for 1,000 Euros (approximately Rs.60,000) each.
Shedde quotes Jenny Watkinson, who is assigned the 'Shah Rukh Khan Department' in the International Relations office of Dieter Kosslick, Berlin Film Festival director, as saying, “I've never seen anything like it. This year it's expected to be even bigger than in 2008 (during Om Shanti Om). The online tickets for ' My Name is Khan ' were sold out in five seconds.”
SRK’s film premieres in Berlin on Friday with a red carpet at the famous Berlinale Palast theatre on Potsdamer Platz. Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Karan Johar are in Berlin for the premiere of the film. This year India has a record number of nine feature films at the Berlin International Film Festival in the Berlinale, during the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Film Festival.
This report comes while there have been reports of widespread vandalism directed against theatres in Mumbai that are to screen My Name is Khan by Shiv Sena following Shah Rukh Khan’s opinion that Pakistani players should also participate in the Indian Premier League’s Twenty20 cricket matches, in spite of the presence of as much as five companies of the Maharashtra State Reserve Police Force deployed for security. The 63 cinema halls in Mumbai where the film is being released this Friday are threatened, though over 1000 protesters have been arrested as reported by the media.
