Madhuri Dixit quietly shoots an ad; will also sign movie soon

The ovation is so irresistible especially when you happen to be Madhuri Dixit. To no one’s surprise, she’s back in the thick of things shooting not only for the reality show that brought her to India this time, but also an endorsement for which she has apparently been paid an unheard-of price.
Madhuri has now been signed on for a number of endorsements in India. One of them was shot last week at a suburban studio. According to reliable sources, Madhuri and her old faithful business manager Rakesh Nath (Rikku) have finalized the exiled Diva for at least three other endorsements that would keep Madhuti busy for a good part of January.
When contacted Rikku who has looked after Madhuri’s career from the start admits Madhuri’s endorsement plans. “She is at this very moment shooting for an endorsement campaign for Hindustan Lever product. Other endorsements are being finalized. Meetings are on.”
The buzz in the film industry is that Madhuri is determined to make a comeback into movies.
Says a source, “The reality show, then the endorsements are stepping stones to a movie comeback. When she did Yash Raj Films’ Aaja Nachle three years ago, the project backfired because it relied solely on her charisma. The film was about saving a dying theatre company. It wasn’t about saving the Taj Mahal. So no one really cared. This time Madhuri is determined to get her movie comeback right. She’s here in Mumbai for the long haul. The reality show and endorsements are teaser trailers. Madhuri will sign a big film soon.”
Apparently, Yashraj Films, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Karan Johar and UTV have come up with tempting offers. Madhuri is on the verge of signing one of these.
Says Rikku, “You’re right. She has got 4-5 very good offers. She will definitely do another film soon. But this time we have to be very careful. I’ve worked with other actresses. But Madhuriji is Madhuriji.”
The diva seems more than happy keeping busy at home away from her adopted home. Says Madhuri, “I’m having a ball. I am so glad people have like me on ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa’. I am enjoying this busy phase before the camera.”
Her sons are expected to join her this week for their Christmas holidays. “I can’t wait to see them,” Madhuri says happily before rushing for her next shot.

Abhishek Bachchan to star in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next

While on one hand Sanjay Leela Bhansali is still coming to terms with the debacle of Guzaarish, on the other he is already planning his next project.

For his next venture, Sanjay is planning to cast none other than Abhishek Bachchan. The film is an intense human drama about contemporary situations. It talks about the dilemma that a young individual faces in trying to jump across the hurdles that are placed in his life by the wheels of the government.

Bhansali explains that his reason for choosing Abhishek for the pivotal role is because the director feels that AB Jr. has immense untapped potential.

While Bhansali has earlier worked with Bachchan Sr (Black) and even Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Devdas, Guzaarish), it would be interesting to see him working for the first time with Junior Bachchan.

Prime Focus delivers VFX and DI for Guzaarish

Prime Focus, with its wide range of services including Cameras, DI and VFX, has always been part of most Bollywood projects in one way or the other. But for the first time, Prime Focus has not only provided the aforementioned services but also film prints and Digital Cinema Masters for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s visual extravaganza- Guzaarish.

Prime Focus’ DI team was lead by Rohan Desai, Chief Colorist and DI head, Prime Focus, who has also graded SLB’s ‘Black’ and ‘Saawariya’ in the past said, “Like Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black was a turning point for DI in this industry, Guzaarish will be a turning point for Prime Focus as the true one-stop shop not only to deliver complete top-quality DI and VFX work, but also to deliver the final film prints and digital copies, which is what the audience will see. It is a mark of our veritable integrated services profile.”

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movies are always a visual splendour. The Prime Focus team has worked on some really challenging and spell bounding VFX shots for Guzaarish. Leading the team were, Merzin Tavaria, Chief Creative Director and Reupal Rawal, Sr. VFX Supervisor, Prime Focus.

Talking about the VFX of the film, Merzin said, “Having worked with SLB earlier, we understand his creative sensibilities. We worked on some really complex VFX shots for Guzaarish. All of Hrithik’s magic tricks needed to have a very ethereal feel to it. We worked on each of these shots with a lot of attention to detail to make it look as seamless as possible, so you can’t really tell the difference between reality and illusion.”

Talking about the experience, Reupal Rawal said, “We are extremely honoured to have been associated and have contributed to the success of Guzaarish with our VFX. I would like to thank SLB for trusting our creative expertise. It’s his vision and expression of true cinema that pushed us to achieve greater heights of creativity. ”

Some of the most visually appealing shots are actually the magic of VFX. Some of them include the first magic trick of Hrithik where he is dancing with a ball, the unbelievable CG house shots, the candle sequences and even the most talked about fly shot which was part of the first look of the movie.

Many of those illusionary magic tricks were actually executed by a group of about 50 artistes in the post-production facility of Prime Focus over a period of almost four months. Below is a shot by shot break down of each scene.

SRK gets impressed by Hrithik’s performance in Guzaarish

It’s the star-wives’ club at work. Mrs. Shah Rukh Khan and Mrs. Hrithik Roshan have brought their two superstar-husbands together. On Friday night, when Shah Rukh Khan watched Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish with his close family and friends, he was so moved by the film and Hrithik Roshan’s performance that he yanked his younger colleague out of slumber and made him immediately drive down to his bungalow ‘Mannat’.

No one says no to King Khan. Dead tired and fighting off a viral attack, Hrithik had no choice but to drive down to Mannat. Shah Rukh and Hrithik discussed Guzaarish and Hrithik’s performance until 2 am.

Says a source, “Shah Rukh had asked for a print of Guzaarish because he’s very fond of Hrithik. Also because Shah Rukh had played a physically challenged character in My Name Is Khan. He was curious to see how Hrithik had approached the character of a physically disabled hero. What started as profession inquisitiveness, turned into a complete involvement with the on-screen goings-on.

Shah Rukh felt Hrithik in Guzaarish out-excelled his own performance in My Name Is Khan. Shah Rukh also feels Guzaarish was way superior to what the director Sanjay Bhansali had achieved with Shah Rukh in Devdas.”

Half-way through the film, Shah Rukh rang up Hrithik and asked him to come home immediately. The two are close friends and their wives are even closer. Says Hrithik, “In fact, Sussanne was already at Mannat. When Shah Rukh wanted me to go over I had no choice. He’s always very generous,” says Hrithik.

It is rare for a colleague to be so generous towards another colleague’s stand-out performance, especially when he has given an equally riveting performance in the same genre during the same year.

Says a source, “Shah Rukh in My Name Is Khan and Hrithik in Guzaarish portraying two inspirational protagonists suffering from a crippling disability, will be the two top contenders for the best-actor nominations this year. By so generously acknowledging Hrithik’s performance, Shah Rukh has dissolved the competitive edge between two superstars.”

Digicon6 Special: Keynote by South Korean filmmaker Kwak Jae-yong

If you thought that Sanjay Leela Bhansali was the only one who gave a lot of attention to the film’s music, think again. The acclaimed South Korean filmmaker Kwak Jae-yong discusses the use of music in his films at DigiCon6 Asia Contents Forum in Japan. Excerpts from the keynote…

I have never made any films with a particular market in mind. As a child, I loved reading Japanese novels and comics and have been influenced by them. The most important thing about writing a screenplay is that one has to be true to the story.

I love conveying my character’s emotions through the music pieces to my audience. Also while choosing the kind of music; I try to share the common feelings with audience. I think that is why my films are accepted. People start learning how to talk through emotions. Love, hate, pain all is communicated through the use of emotions rather than words. I loved listening to overseas music; I have been influenced a lot by pop music and Western content. When I try to communicate, I use emotions.

I get actors to listen to the music, thus we try to share emotions. In My Sassy Girl (2001), I controlled the speed of music. When actors nurture real feelings because of the mood created, I consider my job done. I use music as a tool to express our feelings. If you see my movies you would understand that I try to use actors who are like general people.

When I was a child, I loved Japanese Manga and animation and consumed a variety of Japanese content. Across South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, there is a lot if diffusion of content. In My Sassy Girl, people’s reaction to the music was similar across countries. In that sense, I think that the people are the same. People are after all, people, when it comes to emotions.

Controversy over Raima and Riya Sen’s next film

Click above for more movie stills

The lovely Sen sisters, Riya and Raima, are caught in a dilemma. The bone of contention between Ghai and Ghosh, and by extension involving Riya and Raima is the film that brings the two sisters together, a wide-screen adaptation of Rabindranath Tagore’s controversial novel Nauka Dubi which casts Raima and Riya in a bold wife-swapping tale.

In the novel, as too in Ghosh’s Hindi-Bengali adaptation, the two women protagonists played by Riya and Raima never come together, not even for a passing shot.

Apparently, Ghai who has produced the film, feels the audiences specially in the Hindi belt would feel cheated if the two hotties are not brought together at least once in the film.

Says a source, “Ghai belongs to the hardcore commercial school of filmmaking whereas Rituparno Ghosh’s sensitivities are far more arty. This is the first time that the two sisters Raima and Riya are coming together. Even in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s adaptation of Saratchandra’s Devdas the two female protagonists, rivals in love, came together although their paths never crossed in the novel.”

However Rituparno Ghosh won’t relent.

Protests Ghosh, “Why should Raima and Riya come together just because people expect them to? This is material from Rabindranath Tagore and therefore inviolable. I respect Sanjay Bhansali’s work. But that (Devdas) was his vision and interpretation. In my Naukadubi the two women cannot come together.”

Raima and Riya seem to agree with their director. Speaking on behalf of both, Raima says, “People expect us to come together. But that’s the beauty of the story. Everyone else comes together, only we don’t. Besides this is a Rabindranath Tagore story. Ritu-da left it at that.”

Over to you, Mr Ghai.

The producer says diplomatically, “We’re planning to release Naukadubi on January 23, Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday. Ritu has done a great job.”

An added dimension to the all-India release of Naukadubi is that it re-launches Bengal’s superstar Prosenjeet in Hindi. Naturally, Ghai would like to expand and extend Prosenjeet’s stardom beyond Bengal. For this he needs to make sure the audience goes home happy.

Ramu apologizes to Bhansali for his comments on Guzaarish

“If anything so enamoured of hatred can be called a peace offering, then yes I’m releasing Rakht Charitra 2 on the same day (November 19) as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish,” chuckles Ramu.

For the first time in his entire career as an outspoken critique of the Bollywood denizens, Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) has apologized to a fellow-filmmaker for offending him.

After posting a nasty comment on a social network on Guzaarish, Ramu realized he had gone too far this time and profusely apologized to Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB).

Ramu’s SMS to SLB reads, “I’m sorry if I offended you. I just have this habit of constantly saying something funny on Twitter about every happening out there. Most of the comments are on me. I make more comments on my own films than anybody else’s. I’ll take back my remark publicly asap. Sorry again.” SLB immediately chose to forgive and forgot and move on.

Uncharacteristically gracious on this occasion, one wonders what brought this generous spirit out of Ramu! Says the director, “I guess it’s the nervousness of my own release. I’ve never been more anxious about any of my films than Rakht Charitra.”

Ramu admits it is a violent film. “It does to the action genre what K3G did to the family film. But the violence is dictated by the theme. You can’t say it is excessively violent. The Telugu version was censored this week with just two minor cuts for Adults Only.”

Ramu will release the sequel to Rakht Charitra three weeks after the first part on November 19 on the same Friday as Guzaarish.

Declares Ramu, “I’m hoping that Sanjay Bhansali, Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya won’t kick brush my film’s teeth. On a more serious note, they’re two completely different genres. Guzaarish is about love. Rakht Charitra is about hate.”

That one stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and the other Vivek Oberoi is purely coincidental.

Ravi Chopra to produce Chenab Gandhi

Every aspiring filmmaker looks up to his mentor to be at the helm of things when they start with their debut venture and so did Vibhu Puri, associate director and co-writer of Saawariya.

Puri was all set with his directorial venture Chenab Gandhi which was to be produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. But Bhansali made Puri wait for almost a year, something that wasn’t appreciated by the young filmmaker. Not wasting anymore time, Vibhu approached Ravi Chopra, who will now be producing the film. Though one would expect a lot of bad blood to run between Bhansali and Puri, but it isn’t so. In fact, Puri he has even penned four songs in Guzaarish. As for Chenab Gandhi, there is news that many couple of stars have been short listed for the cast, but their names are yet to be revealed.

Is Guzaarish inspired by Spanish film The Sea Inside?

The first look promo of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s highly anticipated Hrithik-Aishwarya starrer Guzaarish was unveiled earlier this week. While the promo is quite splendid to say the least, the film does bear some resemblance to a 2004 Spanish film called The Sea Inside which is based on a true story of a sailor Ramdon Sampredo who becomes a quadriplegic following an accident. In Guzaarish, the buzz is that Hrithik, who plays a magician, ends up in a wheelchair because of an accident that happens when a magic trick goes wrong.

Bhansali’s earlier films such as Black was also inspired from The Miracle Worker while Saawariya was loosely based on a Russian short story ‘White Nights’.

While neither Bhansali nor his lead actors were in any mood to reveal even a bit about the story of Guzaarish at the launch event, going by the promos of the two films, there is no denying that there is some similarity between Guzaarish and The Sea Inside.

First trailer: Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai in ‘Guzaarish’

MUMBAI: The first trailer of the much anticipated film, Guzaarish is out and it looks appealing because of its cinematography by Ravi K Chandran, music by Bhansali himself, and industry’s two beautiful stars Ash and Hrithik.

It’s going to be magical; Sanjay Leela Bhansali is back after three years. The movie narrates a story of a wheel-chair ridden paraplegic, and his nurse.

Hrithik plays a magician named Ethan who later suffers from the impairments of the motor and sensory functions of his limbs. A beautiful nurse played by Ash takes cares of him with whom he shares a special bond.

As the film is about magic, Hrithik has tried to learn a few tricks too and was guided by a Ukrainian magician for his role. The movie is centered on him and the trailer says, “See what I see”, “Feel what I feel”. Ash again manages to mesmerize us with her plain look in the film.

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