|
-: Advertisement :-
-: Advertisement :-
Headlines
|
News:
Tum Bin maker's next
Dharam, Sunny, Bobby together
Bollywood Stars Stranded in the US
Ahmed to direct Vashu next
With Asoka, Bollywood Displaces Art Cinema From Global Circuits
CHANDNI BAR: Honesty conquers all
Smita Thackeray signs Hrithik
|
News
|
Tum Bin maker's next
After TUM BIN, Anubhav Sinha's new film will revolve around the clash between a father-in-law and his son-in-law. A different subject indeed. "Yes, I am working on the script right now," Sinha tells me, adding in the same vein, "But I've not kept any actor in mind while scripting it. Let me complete the writing first, everything else will fall in place later."
Meanwhile, Priyanshu, the lead man of TUM BIN, has left for New York to do a course in acting.
Top
Dharam, Sunny, Bobby together
While on Deols, their period film will go on the floors early next year, some time in March/April. "Sunny bhaiya was toying with the idea of making a period film almost six years ago, but period films were not in vogue those days. But GADAR and LAGAAN have changed the equations," says Bobby, continuing in the same breath, "It will be the most ambitious film made by our family."
Meanwhile, the three Deols Dharam, Sunny and Bobby will star in another project produced by the Deols themselves. In another development, Jeetendra and son Tusshar will also come together in their next home-production (Siddhivinayak Films' new film).
Top
Bollywood Stars Stranded in the US
Some leading Bollywood stars were in the US shooting or on personal work when terror struck in New York and Washington. They were shocked by the incidents, and their schedules stood disrupted. They were, however, keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that things would get back to normal soon so that they could resume work.
Shahrukh Khan was a few miles from the World Trade Center when the twin towers collapsed. After attending the Venice film festival, he had to stop over in New York for a couple of days before proceeding for another film festival in Toronto. Santosh Sivan, the director of 'Asoka' and wife Gauri and his two kids were with him. "I'm in Manhattan right now. I can see the smoke billowing across the skyline from the window of my hotel room. It's really shocking! And very, very sad. I can't believe it, it doesn't seem to register. We've been glued to the television, watching the horrific scenes again and again, but it doesn't seem to sink in," Shahrukh said from New York. He was forced to stay put in his hotel for three days. "The airports are closed. I don't know when the flights will resume. I won't leave my family and go to Toronto anyway. Not in the present situation. Instead, I'll get some time to spend with my son Aryan," the actor said looking at the brighter side. Hopefully, he will get back in time for 'Asoka's music release in Mumbai.
Sunil Shetty was in Los Angeles for the shooting of Sanjay Gupta's 'Kaante'. He said. "I had taken a month off for this schedule of 'Kaante', and if it doesn't happen, I won't know what to do. The atmosphere here is of complete shock. We have been scouting for another location nearby. Sanjay had planned to shoot in Los Angeles, but that won't be possible now. Let's see what happens. You can't remain unaffected when you are here, right in the middle of a disaster."
Bunty Walia, the organizer of the 'Lagaan' shows in the US, confirmed that most of these had been cancelled, and that there would be a fair amount of loss as a result. Anil Kapoor, one of the participants in the shows along with Aamir, Aishwarya and Preity, was on his way to Atlanta along with the group when the terrorist strike took place and their flight was suddenly cancelled. "I didn't believe it when I first heard of it," Anil remarked. "It's a terrible, terrible thing to happen." Anil's mother was worried sick till she got through to her son. His daughter Sonam, who's studying in Singapore, called her mother after she got the news and wanted to know if she had spoken to Anil. Sunita herself was in Tirupati. Aamir, who was to go to Toronto for the film festival, couldn't take his flight for the same reason.
Sushmita Sen, who is in the US for personal reasons, is planning to go to the site of the disaster in New York and volunteer for relief work. "You just feel so completely helpless at such times that you want to do something, anything, whatever you can. I'm going to be in New York for almost a week and I'd like to spend my time doing whatever little I can to help."
Top
Ahmed to direct Vashu next
After Kamal, Chinni Prakash, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Farah Khan, Ahmed Khan is the latest choreographer to turn director. Ahmed has been signed by Vashu Bhagnani to direct one of his next ventures. Ahmed is currently in Spain and says that he would talk about it once he returns to Mumbai. But Vashu was more than forthcoming when we called him to verify the news. "It's true that I have signed Ahmed to direct one of my forthcoming films. Right now, we are working on the script, but we have yet to finalise the star cast," he reveals.
Top
With Asoka, Bollywood Displaces Art Cinema From Global Circuits
A new trend is being noticed of late---Bollywood is making its presence felt at international film festivals, replacing the 'art cinema' that hitherto found its way there. The latest Bollywood venture to make waves abroad is Shahrukh Khan's 'period film' 'Asoka', starring Kareena Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan, which was premiered at the Venice Film Festival recently, sharing the honors with Steven Spielberg's 'Artificial Intelligence'.
Producer Shahrukh and cinematographer-turned-director Santosh Sivan say that gone are the days when peasant stories from Bengal, poverty sketches from Bihar, and social problems like sati, divorce and remarriage of widows dominated Indian presentations on the global cinema circuit. A whole new breed of Indian producers, directors and actors are not the least bit embarrassed in doling out Bollywood entertainment for viewers abroad.
'Asoka' is now poised for a big commercial release in Japan. The distributors who want to buy the film are not expatriate Indians but the Japanese themselves.
Shahrukh, who plays the title role in the film, says that the film is not a historical biopic in the strict sense of the word. It is a film about the human aspect of King Asoka. Sivan views 'Asoka' as the story of a man who undergoes a metamorphosis after the war of Kalinga.
Interestingly, Shahrukh is very popular in Japan, with two of his previous films, 'Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman' and 'Yes Boss', running to packed houses over there.
Sivan had estimated a modest Rs.2 crore budget for the film, but the final tab that he picked up was for Rs.20 crore. 'Asoka' was totally shot in India, with location-hunters tracking down sites in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. Kareena Kapoor dished out bulk dates for the film and the film was shot in 80 days flat.
'Asoka' is being seen abroad as a crossover film, a bit like Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. It may be recalled that Aamir Khan's 'Lagaan' also achieved the same status in England. It was entered in the prestigious Pizza Grande section of the Locarno Film Festival where it won the 'Prix du Public' award (given to the most popular film), edging out biggies like 'Planet of the Apes' and 'Bridget Jones' Diary'. For director Ashutosh Gowariker, it was a screening of a lifetime. On a cold August night, at an enormous open-air auditorium in Locarno, a crowd of 6,500 French, German and Italian film buffs saw 'Lagaan'. The screening was punctuated with constant applause. When the songs 'Mitwa' and 'Ori Joree' came on, the audience got up and started dancing, recalls Gowariker. Locals who had been attending the festival for the last 15 years said that they had never witnessed such scenes before.
Shahrukh is already going places with 'Asoka' and is planning to screen it for the Dalai Lama in Paris. The film will be part of several film festivals prior to its release on October 26. Co-producer Juhi Chawla, Shahrukh's wife Gauri, the couple's son Aryan, Kareena Kapoor and director Santosh Sivan will accompany Shahrukh on his travels across the world with the film. Richard Gere and Steven Spielberg will be present for the Paris screening. The film's music, according to Shahrukh, belongs to the popular genre and is due for release in India soon.
Top
CHANDNI BAR: Honesty conquers all
Cast: Tabu, Atul Kulkarni, Srivallabh Vyas, Ananya Khare & others
Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Rating: ***
Director Madhur Bhandarkar tells a very true story in Chandni Bar. He is to lauded for choosing a subject about bar dancers and sincerely trying to depict their trials and travails. And to do that, he has depicted the world just as it is: dark, depressing, violent and sleazy. He has not tried to dress it up and make it palatable. In that sense, the film's low budget seems to work to its advantage. Paradoxically, the problem with the film, if one can call it that, is just that: it is too stark and real. In Bhandarkar's films, the bar dancers remain victims. Things happen to them. Bhandarkar holds out no hope for them at the end of Chandni Bar. It is too real for reel. There is no scope for the play of the indomitable human spirit.
The film centres around the character of Mumtaz, rendered to perfection by Tabu. A victim of the communal riots in Uttar Pradesh, Mumtaz escapes to Bombay with her maternal uncle. Her parents have perished in the riots. In Bombay, her uncle sends Mumtaz to work in bar. Mumtaz is thrown into a brutal world of sleaze and filth. A world where women are literally treated as commodities. Before she can even come to terms with all this, she is raped by her uncle and is forced to continue living with him. Meanwhile a underworld gangster Potya (Atul Kulkarni) falls in lust with Mumtaz. After hearing her story, he kills her uncle and marries her. Life takes a marginally better turn for Mumtaz. She has a son and daughter. But tragedy strikes again when Potya is bumped off by the cops in a fake encounter. Left again to fend for herself, Mumtaz goes back to being a bar dancer. But she doesn't want her children to ever know this side of her life. But as luck (bad luck) would have it, Mumtaz's son gets picked up by the cops on suspicion just because he is Potya's son. In jail the son is sodomised by other inmates. A distraught Mumtaz contemplates soliciting old customers for money to get her son out but her daughter overhears the transaction and lands up at Chandni Bar. Out from prison, the son has been scarred for life. He takes to the gun and the cycle of violence, exploitation, sleaze begins anew.
Tabu gets under the skin of the character of Mumtaz. She plays out her stoic acceptance of fate to perfection. Ananya Khare as one of the bar dancers and Tabu's confidante is quite outstanding too. But despite being Tabu's film, the showstealer is Atul Kulkarni as Potya. Kulkarni, whom Hindi moviegoers would have seen and applauded in Kamalahasan's Hey Ram, is absolutely electrical to watch. His is a really charged performance as Potya. It would not be farfetched to say that he is the life of the film.
To his credit, Bhandarkar manages to stay away from the temptation of inducting an original musical number in film. He manages to keep his focus right too, in Chandni Bar. Despite a few glitches in the screenplay and treatment, one has to give this young director credit for honesty and sincerity. That wins the day for Madhur.
Top
Smita Thackeray signs Hrithik
Smita Thackeray has just started a project with Govinda, but the enterprising lady is all set to start two more projects in the coming months. The first will star Hrithik Roshan in the lead, while Vikram Bhatt will direct the second project.
"I've yet to finalise a director for the Hrithik film," she tells me, adding that negotiations are in progress with a leading director. Similarly, the star cast of the Vikram Bhatt-directed project is under finalisation, she divulges.
Top
|
-: Advertisement :-
-: Advertisement :-
|
Admin Message
Features
Do you own an Internet cafe or provide internet access for web surfing?
If so, please contact us.
new!
74 images with descriptive text showcasing the
Mumbai Ganesh festival 2001
new!
Justice?
- a poem by Sanjeev Naik
new!
Travel restrictions to
Mexico
new!
WTC Plane 'bombings' and me - a graphic first-hand account of a 'nukkad' subscriber
new!
Vigil - a poem by Arya. Dedicated to our Brothers and Sisters buried
under the Towers, struggling for survival
Irani Chai Wala - an evocative
description of a typical Irani restaurant in Bombay
new!
Online hotel reservations for all
the major Indian cities.
Easier procedure for non-immigrant U.S. visas - via the Mumbai Grapevine
Latest Bollywood news
Puraani
yaadein - lyrics of old Films Division cartoons (via nukkad).
The wonder that is the Mumbai
tiffinwalla
Mumbai Us Zamaney Ka
- a walk down memory lane (via nukkad)
Refuse, Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle plastics
List of places to see in Mumbai (with pics). Any corrections/additions/suggestions? Send them in.
Make Mumbai Central your start page! Step-by-step instructions here.
Message boards
Bollywood Masala: Review: Dil Chahta Hai
Business and Money: Data Entry Jobs
Education: 154-yr-old
Roorkee Engg College to finally be an I
Twentysomething: Bars and Clubs in Mumbai
nukkad
Re: height of it
Interesting museum exhibit
A Wise quote....but not paid heed to...:(
RE: kutchhis
Indian Influence : 9
please advise
(More info on the 'nukkad' mailing list, including subscription info is at:
http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/ )
About the Mumbai Grapevine
The Mumbai Grapevine is a daily newsletter with news and info
from the city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay. The newsletter also
has weekly editions of international news.
To express your opinion about a particular story or news item,
write to:
news-editor@mumbai-central.com
These opinions may be published on the newsletter. If you do
not want your name/address to be published along with your
letter, please indicate clearly.
Instructions to unsubscribe are at the end of the newsletter.
Please feel free to forward this message to your friends and co-workers
who might be interested in it. The instructions to join the Mumbai
Grapevine are at the end of the message.
|