Arora angry over Sonakshi’s performance on ‘Munni Badnam Hui’
December 1, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under Entertainment
MUMBAI: Sonakshi Sinha performed on the song, ”Munni Badnam Hui” from the film ”Dabangg” at the recently held Sahara India Sports Awards 2010 and the very fact did not go well with the main performer Malaika Arora Khan.
Ever since the film hit the theatre and the song tops the chartbuster, Malaika has been performing on the popular track during all the events. But when Sonakshi performed the song at the Sahara awards with the same thrill, she was bit upset.
This was Sonakshi”s first stage performance and so everyone applauded her. According to Malaika, Sonakshi could have performed on some other tracks rather than her”s. However, the organizer did not approach Malaika for this event.
The award ceremony will see many top-notch actors performing on some chartbusters and Shahrukh Khan will be hosting the show.
Bhushan Kumar clears the air on Kajraare controversy
T-Series is known to release its films with much fanfare. Hence, it came as a shock to a lot of people when T-Series’ film Kajraare directed by Pooja
Bhatt and starring Himesh Reshammiya released all of a sudden in just 2 theatres (that too in matinee shows) on Oct 15. Since then a lot of tongues started
wagging and speculations began on why such a move was taken. While none of the parties involved commented on the situation then, T-Series’ head-honcho
Bhushan Kumar explains his rationale behind this move, “It was a very calculated call taken by us. Today movie-watching has become an expensive proposition
and if the audience doesn’t feel excited about watching a particular movie, then they would not go to the theatres and spend money. A recent example is
Jhootha Hi Sahi, which despite having names like John Abraham, A.R.Rahman associated with the project, failed to generate any interest whatsoever
among the audience. Hardly anyone went to watch the film. The result was a big loss for the makers who in my opinion may find it difficult to even recover
the publicity costs from India theatrical collections. With Kajraare too, keeping Himesh’s current market standing, I was not very sure about people
going to the theatres in large numbers to watch the film. I am very proud of the film, it’s a very nice film and all of us have worked really hard on it and
I felt that maximum people should see the film hence we approached a leading TV channel (COLORS) and sold them the satellite rights. The film will have its
TV premiere next month (December) on COLORS.”
But wasn’t Mahesh Bhatt and Pooja Bhatt upset with this decision? “Mr. Mahesh Bhatt was completely in sync with me. In fact he only suggested that we should
go ahead with the satellite release as he also knew that at this point of time, people are not really excited to go to the theatre and watch a Himesh
Reshammiya starrer. Hence, it’s better to have a technical release as a formality and then release the film via satellite medium.”
The move however didn’t go down too well with Himesh Reshammiya who seems to have had a fall out with Bhushan Kumar. Commenting on this, Bhushan says, “To be
honest, no artist would be ready to accept that his market value / market standing has gone down. The same is the case with Himesh too. But it was not that
he was not kept in the loop about this decision. In fact two weeks before the release, we explained to him that since the promos aren’t creating any buzz and
even the music too isn’t doing well, we don’t see any reason in spending huge amounts of money on publicising the film for a theatrical release. We would
rather have a limited technical release so that we can then have a satellite release and it reaches across maximum audience. He was obviously not very happy
about it but didn’t object to our move either.”
Finally, where does that leave another Himesh starrer A New Love Isshtory which is directed by John Matthew Mathan and again produced by T-Series.
“A New Love Isshtory is 90% complete. But I have to see the film in totality and only then will I be able to take a call,” signs off Bhushan Kumar.
In the memory of Sanjeev Kumar
He broke all the rules of stardom and yet was a star, a romantic hero and an all-rounder par excellence. 47 was no age for one of Hindi cinema’s brightest talents to go, but on November 6, 1985, Sanjeev Kumar passed away, leaving fans, friends and the Hindi film shell-shocked.
Gulzar remembers Sanjeev Kumar
“For me, he was the complete actor. I have always said that I had two anchors – one was Sanjeev Kumar, and the other was R.D.Burman.
What most people do not know is that I knew Haribhai (as I called him) from the late 1950s. We were both with the Indian National Theatre where I would write for the plays and he was a stage actor. Sanjeev was a student of P.D.Shenoy, who was also teaching at the Filmalaya School of Acting and later turned film director.
Sanjeev was just over 20 years old, and he was playing a father! Leela Chitnis was playing his wife and Manvendra Chitnis his son, and what a performance Sanjeev gave as the old man! We struck a rapport somewhere, began sharing cups of tea – which was the best way to cement friendship and practice economy simultaneously! We also began to discuss acting, and realised that he was quite a knowledgeable man.
Sanjeev was born for excellence and for getting compliments! One day, after the performance, Sanjeev happened to meet Prithviraj (Kapoor)ji, who did not recognise him without make-up and told him, “That old man was really wonderful!”, thrilling Sanjeev no end!
Then one day, he overheard a Gujarati lady say, without knowing that Sanjeev was a Gujarati too, that he looked a lot like Joy Mukerji, who was a big name and was the son of S.Mukerji, the Filmalaya chief! Sanjeev was so happy that he resembled a successful film hero as he thought that he thus had a brighter chance of becoming a star!
So far as movies are concerned, our first film together was Sunghursh, in which I was the dialogue writer. To say that Sanjeev Kumar matched both Dilip Kumar and Balraj Sahni was an understatement! I still recall the first shot he gave – a chess sequence with Dilipsaab. What confidence he displayed – and what precision! I overheard Dilip Kumar asking H.S.Rawail, the producer-director, “Iss ladke ko kahaan se dhoond ke laaye aap? He is such a good actor!”
As an actor and as a human being, Sanjeev Kumar earned immense respect from everyone right from his theater days. Far from being the miser he was said to be, he quietly helped out everyone who needed assistance, right from his theater friends to his staff and others. I know that he bought a taxi for someone, a machine for someone else and so on.
After Sunghursh, we came together in Aashirwad and then I approached him for Vinod Khanna’s role in my directorial debut Mere Apne. He told me, “You know that I can’t say ‘No’ to you. But please try and understand, this film belongs to the actress who will play the old lady.” But I always felt that jo aur koi nahin kar sakta hai woh Sanjeev to kar hi lega, so I approached him next for the cameo of Jaya Bachchan’s father in Parichay and he accepted it. After that, he would never ask me for the story and would blindly trust me.
An interesting story followed. I knew that no one else could play the deaf-mute to perfection in my third film Koshish. The gap between these two films’ releases was a month, and the main theatres in Mumbai for them were a few buildings apart as Parichay was still running. Sanjeev came to me and voiced his apprehensions, saying that he was playing Jaya’s father in Parichay but her husband in Koshish. How could the people accept that? I conceded that he had a point and went to producer N.C.Sippy. And Sippysaab simply said, “You forget what a good actor he is! People forget who Sanjeev is because he becomes the character. This will be a test for him and of my faith in him.”
As it happened, Koshish was also a hit and Sanjeev even got his second National award for it. In the same year, he was Jaya’s boyfriend again in Anamika. Among their later films, he also played her father-in-law in Sholay! Mausam, Namkeen, Angoor for me and Faraar, Arjun Pandit and Devata in which I was only the writer – Sanjeev was always a dependable force for me, and I also wrote lyrics for his Anubhav, Grihapravesh and Swayamvar.
On the sets of Namkeen, Sanjeev upset all the four ladies – Waheeda Rehman, Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi and Kiran Vairale – because he would always report late. They would also blame me because I never chided him, so they would not speak to him when he arrived. Sanjeev would instinctively sense this, but remain completely indifferent! But the shot he gave would bowl them over and break their resolve! They would end up teasing him, suggest improvements in his wardrobe, bully him affectionately and finally tell him, “We forgive you only because you are such a terrific actor!”
Sanjeev had a great sense of humour – a must if one has to do all those comic roles that he did so brilliantly. Comedy is all about timing – you either have it or you don’t. Sanjeev was a rare actor – he was attracted only to roles. It did not matter what role it was. Like his nine roles in Naya Din Nayi Raat – who else could have done them with such distinction? One day, after his bypass surgery from which he never really recovered, he was standing late at night outside his home with Boney Kapoor – he never really changed his lifestyle for the better – and I was passing by and asked him how he was. He said, “They have put a vein from my leg in my heart, so it is learning to kick!” Earlier, he would drop into my home as late as 1 a.m. in the night and needed a Black Label every time. “If you can’t afford it, I will get it!” he would joke. My sister lived with me then and would love to cook a non-vegetarian meal for him that late. Sanjeev was mad about non-vegetarian food as it was never cooked at his home!
Another incident I recall was of Noorjahan, the famous singer, coming down to Mumbai – she adored Sanjeev and invited him for dinner at a famous restaurant. She was accompanied by her sister and brother-in-law and Sanjeev coaxed me into accompanying him, stating that he would need me if she began to speak in chaste Urdu that he would not undrestand! It turned out to be a memorable experience and I owe Sanjeev the privilege of meeting that great lady!
Lots has been written about why Sanjeev never married, but the truth was that he firmly believed that there was a curse on his family that the males would never live beyond the age of 50. His father had passed away early, and Sanjeev, as the eldest of three brothers, was very attached to his mother, because of whom, despite his success, he did not move to a bigger house but lived with her and youngest brother Nikul or Baba, and his family. In the ’80s, he helped Nikul launch a film, Do Waqt Ki Roti, which never released. Then suddenly Nikul died, strengthening his belief in the curse. Sanjeev died at the age of 47, and less than two years later, the second brother Kishore also died. It was strange!
Well, what else can I say? Sanjeev always knew his capability and would plan what he would do with the number of sequences he had in a film. He was a hero of his own kind, not in the cliched sense of the definition of a film hero. And I miss him!
(As told to Rajiv Vijayakar)
A torrent of talent
Like water, Sanjeev Kumar simply took on the shape of the role and film in which he was placed. The master of natural acting in the Ashok Kumar-Pran-Motilal-Balraj Sahni mould, Sanjeev Kumar had paradoxically dabbled in theatre before entering cinema. Coming from a lower middle-class family, Harihar Zariwala (his real name) got his first break in the cameo of a cop in Filmalaya’s Hum Hindustani (1960), since he was also a student of the Filmalaya School of Acting.
The stunt film Nishan (1965) was his first solo lead. The first turning-point came in 1968 when he stole the scene as the inspector in the Asha Parekh-Dharmendra murder mystery Shikar. In the same year, L.V. Prasad’s swashbuckling Raja Aur Runk was Sanjeev’s first A-grade solo hit, and the film saw the first of his many chartbusters, Phirkiwali tu kal phir aana. Both films proved Golden Jubilees.
Slowly, A-grade directors (Prasad again, Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Asit Sen, Dulal Guha, A.Bhim Singh, H.S.Rawail, G.P.Sippy, N.N. Sippy, Govind Saraiya) were coming forward to sign him in lead or parallel roles (Aashirwad, Anokhi Raat, Chanda Aur Bijli, Jeene Ki Raah, Bandhan, Satyakam) and Sanjeev even did his first negative turn in the Shammi Kapoor-Sadhana-starrer Sacchai.
In early 1970, H.S.Rawail’s Sungharsh was a box-office dud, but the world noticed that Sanjeev Kumar loomed very tall in the triangular histrionic confrontation with powerhouse performers Dilip Kumar and Balraj Sahni. Weeks later, Prasad’s Khilona hit the screen. As the lover-boy-poet who goes insane, it still ranks among the most magnificent essays of both his career and that decade.
In 1971 and 1972, the actor clinched two consecutive National awards for Dastak and Koshish. Haribhai’s simple looks never came in the way of powerful and variegated performances, like the lighthearted doctor boyfriend (Seeta Aur Geeta), the old musician (his cameo in Parichay), the middle-class husband in a discord with his wife (Anubhav) or the philandering executive (Pati Patni Aur Woh).
In the mid-’70s, Sanjeev did a whole parade of multi-hero films, unworried by what footage he had or whether the film would benefit him. Shashi Kapoor, Jeetendra, good friend Shatrughna Sinha and Amitabh Bachchan remained his favourite male co-stars.
And though he became a saleable hero only after Anubhav, Seeta Aur Geeta, Koshish, Anhonee and Anamika in the early ’70s, it was a rare filmmaker like B.R.Chopra and Mahesh Bhatt, who worked only once with Sanjeev Kumar. Besides Prasad, Atma Ram, A.Bhim Singh and Hrishikesh Mukherjee, even Yash Chopra, Subhash Ghai, Ramesh Sippy, Gulzar, Shakti Samanta, Ravi Tandon and many more went that extra mile to cast him, or conceive subjects with him.
In 1974-’75, Sanjeev Kumar’s remarkable essays of nine roles in A. Bhim Singh’s Naya Din Nayi Raat (a remake of Sivaji Ganesan’s 1964 Navarathiri) and his magnificent portrayals as the husband of a political leader (Aandhi) and the Thakur of Sholay proved more landmarks. Not surprisingly, in 1976, Sanjeev was signed by Satyajit Ray for his first tryst with Hindi cinema, Shatranj Ke Khiladi, in which he again dazzled as Mirza. And let us not forget that K.Asif, in his only film after Mughal-E-Azam, chose Sanjeev for Love And God. Sadly, the film was to release only after both Asif and Sanjeev had gone. But Sanjeev was known never to leave his house for work without paying respects to Asif’s framed photograph in his living room.
The super performances Sanjeev gave in multiple films in middle-aged/old man roles (Arjun Pandit, Mausam, Zindagi, Trishul, Hum Paanch) outshone his ‘young’ roles later. But one could never typecast this actor in whose dictionary the word “limitation” did not exist. Apart from his “old” roles, the crème-de-la-crème of his oeuvre, included his comic roles in Seeta Aur Geeta, Manchali, Pati Patni Aur Woh, Nauker, Biwi O Biwi, Angoor and Hero, with his uncanny excellence at comedy through deceptively-casual tweaks of his voice, eyes and even hands! And for a man who neither had a romantic image nor was an adept dancer, Sanjeev Kumar inspired his composers to come up with amazing songs like Khilona jaan kar tum to / Khilona, Tere naam ka diwana / Suraj Aur Chanda, Hawa ke saath saath / Seeta Aur Geeta, Tere bina zindagi se / Aandhi and Dil dhoondta hai / Mausam. Mohammed Rafi even tweaked his voice to suit the actor.
When he died suddenly of a massive heart-attack, the actor had eight films on hand! Sanjeev Kumar proved conclusively that true talent always writes its own rules.
Screen India
Bipasha’s role slashed in Aakrosh but the actress isn’t complaining
It’s never happened to her before. Though once in Phir Hera Pheri, her voice had been dubbed without her permission and she was understandably upset, in her new release Aakrosh, Bipasha Basu’s role has been cut substantially.
And Bipsha is not sulking! In fact she seems quite happy to be in the shadows.
Chuckles the actress, “I knew from the start that my role was comparatively small. But I wanted to be part of this film because I believed in it. When I saw the complete film for the first time with my family and friends earlier this week, I realized my role had been edited out even more. Now I’m hardly there. Important things that I had shot have been removed.”
Naturally Bipasha’s family and friends were disappointed.
Says the actress, “I quickly took charge of the situation in the theatre and told them to watch Aakrosh as an Ajay Devgn film. I told my friends, ‘Hey guys. just enjoy the film for Ajay. Forget I’m there’. Sometimes it’s important to be part of a film that says something important. We live in the cities and half the time we don’t even know what’s going on in the backward areas. We city folks live a blinkered life. As an actor, I am ashamed to say I’m not aware of the world as much as I should be.”
Aakrosh opened Bipasha’s eyes to a reality she didn’t know existed. “Though my role is the blink-and-miss kind, I’ve no regrets about doing it. The greatest of actors do walk-on parts when they believe in a project. Aamir Khan entered Taare Zameen Par at mid-point. And John (Abraham) insisted on being a small part of Sooni Taraporewala’s Little Zizou because it was about football.”
john cazale
May 31, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Richard Shepard’s touching documentary short, “I Knew It Was You,” celebrates the impact of the too brief life of a most brilliant actor, John Cazale, on American film and some of the best thespians alive today.
Cazale was a fellow native of Revere, Massachusetts, where I lived in my first home on Alice Street until age four. Cazale was a townie born the same year as my dad (1935) and he knew the joy of standing in line for a Kelly’s Roast Beef and the beauty of the Revere Beach sweep, especially on those cold, grey days where the outline of Nahant bore left off in the distance, and Winthrop on the right.
In this moving film, interviews and film clips are entwined as we hear from Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Olympia Dukakis, Francis Ford Coppola, Gene Hackman, Sidney Lumet, Israel Horovitz, Carol Kane, Richard Dreyfuss as well as fans Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi and Sam Rockwell.
This film is an intimate recollection by the actors, playwrights and filmmakers who knew him best and loved him very much. The only five films he was ever cast in, “The Godfather,” “The Conversation,” “The Godfather,” “Part Two,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “The Deer Hunter” – were nominated for Best Picture by the Academy; all of them are considered classics. In total, those five films netted 40 nominations (14 were for acting awards), and Cazale received none.Stage: Appeared as Angelo in William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” for Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival. The play opened at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park on July 29, 1976 and closed on August 29, 1976 after 27 performances.
Stage: Appeared in Israel Horovitz’s play “Acrobats & Line” at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, opening February 15, 1971 and closing Date March 14, 1971 after 31 performances.
Stage: Appeared in his first Broadway play, Joseph Papp’s production of Aeschylus’ “Agamemnon,” which began previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre on April 29, 1977. Cazale was replaced during the previews before the show opened on May 18, 1977.
Miss Michigan 2010 winners of Miss USA 2010
Miss USA | Rima Fakih | Miss America 2010 | Miss USA 2010 Contestants
Miss USA 2010, will be the 59th Miss USA competition. It will be held at the Theatre for the Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on 18 April 2010.
The winner will represent the USA in the Miss Universe 2010th Miss USA 2009, Kristen Dalton, from North Carolina, will crown her successor at the end of this event. 50 states and the District of Columbia will compete for the prestigious title and the competition will be broadcast live on NBC.
2010 Miss USA contest was held yesterday evening at the Theatre of Performing Arts at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. And if you wonder who was crowned the new Miss USA in 2010, it was Miss Michigan Rima Fakih.
The 51 participants were quickly reduced to 15 and then to five. The lucky women chosen to participate in the last five, including Miss Michigan, Miss Virginia, Miss Maine, Miss Colorado and Miss Oklahoma.
Our personal favorite from the beginning, Miss Michigan, so we are not surprised she won. Not only has she left impressive from a small drop during the evening gown portion of competition, but she also gave a shout out to her mother and her teacher during her interview questions. Miss Michigan was the only woman to do so throughout the competition.
Not only has Michigan (Rima Fakih) have the most grace, elegance and beauty throughout the competition, but she was also the most true. Her answer does not seem rehearsed, and her smile seemed forced, much as the other finalists.
Time for someone who deserves to win actually wins. Let’s hope she does not end up in the middle of the dispute that former Miss USA contestants - Tara Conner, Carrie Prejean.
Akshay fined by Canadian cop? The real truth
Guess this is how the game of Chinese Whispers is played. The only difference is that this time around, despite the fact that there was no whisper whatsoever, a rumour turned into a full fledged noise. So much so that no one touched by it is overtly pleased with the turn of events.
Earlier this week it was ‘reported’ that Akshay Kumar was fined in Canada by a cop because his car had hit latter’s during the shooting of Thank You. Though this was all a part of the scene, the cop didn’t realise that and assuming that Akshay had broken law, he issued him a ticket.
“What nonsense, there was no such instance whatsoever, let aside a ticket being issued”, says a senior member from the film’s production unit, “Kahin se bhi kuch bhi khabar aa jaati hai jab overseas shooting ho rahi hoti hai. It is the work of some idle brain that has just been fed to media. There was no mishap or any fine at all. In fact we out here in Canada got to know about such ‘incident’ only after Anees Bazmee (the director) and other started getting calls from Mumbai.”
Though it is being stated that the cast and crew of Thank You was left amused with this incident, in real life no one is sounding half as amused today with this frivolous piece of information.
“How can one be”, questions the unit member, “Kuch toh sach hona chahiye? If you do put one and one together, you can still come up with eleven. But here there was nothing at all. No such scene was even being shot, let aside Akshay’s car hitting someone else’s. Aur yeh cop kahan se aaya?”
However, not just the cop’s presence was confirmed, it was also reported that he had his picture clicked with Akshay after realising his true identity as a Bollywood superstar.
Laughs our source, “This is not India where some law and order officer in uniform can possibly get a picture clicked with a celebrity during office hours and get scot-free. In Canada, you can’t expect that to happen. If at all such a picture would have been clicked, this cop would have been pronto taken to task by his senior. No one dares to get this adventurous.”
Well, that should pretty bring all speculations to rest.
Anupam Kher invited to be on Peschardt’s People
If we start off saying that the legendary Anupam Kher is on a roll will truly be an understatement, for he is one man who has ‘been there and done that’. There’s hardly anything that this man is not a part of, be it films, commercials, serials, theatre, charity, teaching acting etc… The recent achievement is in the form of him being invited as a guest on Peschardt’s People, a TV documentary which profiles fascinating people all over the world. This show on BBC is being presented by the famous host Michael Peschardt.
‘Peschardt’s People’, for starters gets broadcasted to more than two hundred countries and has today become a centerpiece of the BBC World News Television schedule. A list of guests who have already been featured on the show include the likes of Robert De Niro, Sir Edmund Hillary, the Royal Family of Bahrain, Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.
Speaking about this ‘invitation’, a visibly excited Anupam Kher exclusively told Bollywood Hungama, “It’s a great honour to be on the show. I don’t represent myself as in individual, but the whole of Hindi film industry. What has got me so very excited is the fact that the interview will be done in the house where William Wordsworth wrote his world famous poem ‘Daffodils’. Besides all of this, I am also looking forward to the release of my upcoming film, a super comic sleuth called Bhatti On Chutti, as we shot the film there.”
All in all, legends like Anupam don’t get made everyday!
Special screening of 3 Idiots for UN
What could be better than having a nation talk about your film? Well, for Raj Kumar Hirani its having the world speak about it. To be more precise Raj Kumar will be screening his superhit film 3 Idiots today at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The film was screened this year in Melbourne, Australia, as well as part of the Indian Film Festival 2010.
It is learnt that, the department of management at the United Nations got in touch with Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s office in Mumbai regarding the screening of the film. Following the screening, a two-hour long post film session with the UN members will take place which will focus on how the film has impacted mindsets
On being notified about the special screening, Raj Kumar said that he and his team were honoured to hold this special screening for United Nations in New York. The film’s writer Abhijat Joshi and Hirani would be attending the screening and a question and answer session that is expected to follow.
Madhavan to star in Vashu Bhagnani’s Faltu
He has completed almost a decade in the industry and yet he is termed as a newcomer, he is none other than R Madhavan. Following his super success with the film 3 Idiots, Maddy has been signed for Vashu Bhagnani’s Faltu alongside Jackky, Akshay and others.
Speaking to Bollywood Hungama, Vashu Bhagnani said, “Madhavan has said yes to Faltu and will be in the film.” There was also a buzz that Maddy will replace Akshay Kumar in the film. “I am making it clear that though Madhavan has been signed for the film, he will not be playing the role that was to be played by Akshay. Akki still remains in the film; in fact we are yet to finalize 2 to 3 more actors. Contrary to reports that have come earlier, if one new actor is selected or finalized it does not necessarily mean that another has quit,” states Bhagnani.
He further adds, “As of now, we are in the final stage of scripting the film, and within the next couple of weeks, we will begin the shoot of the film.”
Faltu will star Jackky Bhagnani and newcomer Pooja Chopra. The film will be directed by Remo D’souza.
