Hollywood & Bollywood

Monday, October 28, 2013

Mandira Bedi needs a break!

two-year-old son - all this is taking a toll on Mandira Bedi and she confesses she is craving for a break before starting anything new.

"There is `24`, there is saris and there is my son. That`s all I can do right now. There are talks about new seasons of both the shows - `Indian Idol Junior` and `24`," the 41-year-old said here at the launch of her sari store.

"Right now, I just want to breathe because since March I have not rested, I have not slept, I have not had even a minute of me time. I need a little bit of a break before I take on anything else," she added.

Mandira is playing an Anti-Terrorist Unit officer in the TV show `24` produced by Anil Kapoor, who also plays the lead in the show.

Madhuri Dixit's best song canned at night

Madhuri Dixit's best songs canned at night

Mumbai: She may not like shooting after sunset, but Madhuri Dixit confesses that some of her best songs were shot at night.

The actress is currently shooting for director Abhishek Chaubey`s `Dedh Ishqiya`.

"The shoot for the last song of `Dedh Ishqiya` starts tonight. Don`t like night shoots, but my best songs were shot at night," Madhuri posted on Twitter Monday.

A sequel to the 2010 `Ishqiya`, `Dedh Ishqiya` also features Arshad Warsi, Naseeruddin Shah and Huma Qureshi.

Kangana met courtessans of Nagpade for 'Rajjo"

Kangana met courtessans of Nagpade for 'Rajjo"

Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut, who plays a nautch girl in `Rajjo`, says to get into the skin of her character, she met some of the courtesans of Nagpada, a place in South Mumbai.

Directed by Vishwas Patil, `Rajjo` is based on the life of a prostitute and Kangana`s character is based in Nagpada.

"My director (Vishwas Patil) gave me all the research material when I signed the film," Kangana revealed here at the music launch of the film.

"Besides, I also made two-three visits to Nagpada, where my character in the film is based. I talked to some of the courtesans there to understand their character, their state of mind, how do they think, what kind of life they live, and what kind of places they live in...," said the National Award winning actress.

"Besides, I did the research that any regular actor does," she added.

Kangana said the way her character speaks even the boldest things with elegance, posed a huge challenge to her.

"The biggest challenge was the kind of dialogues that were given to me. She is a very bold courtesan. It was totally a different character than what I had imagined."

"Her way of talking is such that she speaks even the boldest things with such an ease and elegance that you cannot make out whether you have to get angry or get away from her," the 26-year-old said.

"It was very difficult for me to understand this kind of nature and hold it," she added.

In the regular masala movies, courtesans are stereotyped, but films like `Pakeezah`, `Umrao Jaan` and `Devdas` saw them as refined human beings.

And `Rajjo` is expected to carry the same trend forward.

"If you will meet the known courtesans of the area (Nagpada), you will see that their way of talking is so gentle and nice that they can capture anyone`s heart with that," she added.

Produced by Four Pillars Entertainment, `Rajjo` also features Mahesh Manjrekar, Prakash Raj, Jaya Prada and newcomer Paras Arora. It will hit the theatres Nov 15.

kareena Kapoor receives whopping amount for her dance gig?

kareena Kapoor receives whopping amount for her dance gig?

New delhi one of the leading Bollywood heroines - kareena Kapoor, who has danced at successful dance numbers like- Fevicol se and Halkat jawaani- has been paid an enormous amount for a TV dance performers.

According to a tabloid, the 33 year-old actress has recently raked in Rs 1.5 crore for dancing on a reality TV show `Arab`s Got Talent` in Lebanon. It is said that Kapoor was holidaying in Beirut, Lebanon, when she was made the offer for a dance performance.

“Bebo performed the opening act on the show and also attended the launch of a new channel the next day. She had also been promoting her upcoming film `Gori Tere Pyaar Mein` but managed to take some time off,” a source said.

Amidst the promotion of her upcoming film opposite Imran Khan, Kapoor was able to demand this enormous amount given her popularity in the Middle East.

“Kareena is immensely popular in the Arab countries. The organisers also went home happy as they received a great response from the audiences,” a source from the show revealed.

Well, this is what we call a win-win situation for both the parties.

At 71, Amitabh bachchan hits the gym everyday

At 71, Amitabh bachchan hits the gym everyday

Mumbai Megastar Amitabh bachchan does not associate himself with lethargy and the exhaustion that come with age. He still makes it a point to workout at the jym every day....

in a post no his blog Sunday, big B talked about the struggle behind him going to the gym and how he tries not to miss it

"Despite the pain, despite the inconsistency, despite the ‘aalasya’ - the lethargy of human, despite all else... the push to gym, come what may," Bachchan posted late Sunday night.

"Bear it, struggle with it, allow it to tear into the body, scream out the music with effort... and conclude with that something satisfaction of fighting an oddity," the 71-year-old added.

The pain and the struggle of going to the gym motivates him to go back the next day as well.

"Be that as it may, the following day there shall be effort again. Stubbornness … yes! At least in some respects, but the ultimate gain shall remain - of having continued even when there was no evidence of any prescribed continuity," he said.

On the work front, Bachchan is currently hosting the seventh season of quiz show `Kaun Banega Crorepati..

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Saif Ali Khan, Sajid Khan to team up

Saif Ali Khan, Sajid Khan to team up second time for a comedy film

Saif Ali Khan and Sajid Khan are presently working on `Humshakals`, in which Saif is playing a triple role. The duo recently completed the first schedule of their first film together.

And now, they have decided to work on another film, the duo will work together again in a comedy film.

"After the release of `Humshakals` on June 20 next year, we will start work on my next film. It will be a multi-starrer comedy with Saif in the lead. It will be produced by UTV," Sajid said.

The film will be produced by Disney-UTV and it is likely to go on the floors at the end of next year. Apparently as of now only Saif and Sajid have been confirmed for the film.

Big boss ...7 Salman Khan & big boss ..............dhamakas..........

Zee Media Bureau/ Aparna Mudi

New Delhi: The beginning of the latest episode of the reality show Bigg Boss 7 shows Salman Khan in a `Caravan` parked in a set. He also indicated 5 new entrants. Exciting as that proposal was, this episode was full of Dhamakas.

Salman blasted some of the contestants for misbehaving with Tanisha Mukherje

Fans of the `Dabbang` star, on social networking websites have come out blaming him of taking sides with actress Tanisha. But, Salman put a Tweet in his defence.

“According to BB fans n wat u saw both shld hv been out but thr was a lot more than wat u saw. Thr can only b that much put on TV. (sic), ” he put on the popular networking site.

e. Model Gauhar Khan also retaliated to Salman’s allegations, escalating the episode into an argument between Salman and her. Gauhar’s reaction was explosive, but the fans have reacted even more explosively.

What is Bollywood?

What is Bollywood?

Back in the 1980s and 90s when I gave talks to various groups about contemporary cinema, one question that often came up in the discussion periods was "What does it mean when a film is called a "noir?" That question sprang from a new spate of darkly-toned, psychologically-oriented crime thrillers that began with Lawrence Kasdan's landmark noir "Body Heat" (1982) and culminated in the 90s with other noir hits like "The Usual Suspects" (1995) and "L.A. Confidential" (1997). The antecedents for the these films came from the 1940s cycle of noirs that included "Double Indemnity" (1944) and "The Big Sleep" (1946). There have now been dozens of new noirs, including ultra-violent "neo-noirs" typified early on by Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (1992) and "Pulp Fiction" (1994). Filmgoers today seem to know a noir when they see one.

So what am I asked about these days? One question is: "What does Bollywood mean?"

The general perception is that Bollywood stands for Indian filmmaking. While Bollywood is a reference to popular Indian cinema, it is only a part of the picture of film in India today. The word Bollywood derives from an allusion to Hollywood filmmaking and its penchant for turning out motion pictures with mass-audience appeal.

The "B" in Bollywood comes from Bombay (Mumbai), the capital of the expansive Hindi-language film industry in India. The wide acceptance of Bollywood as a catch-all term for Indian cinema can be attributed to the increased distribution and popularity of Hindi films around the world—by television broadcast and on DVD. Critics and media have popularized the term.

A central figure in the movement toward mass-appeal Hindi films was Raj Kapoor (1924-1988), a director-producer-performer. In his early landmark films "Awaara" (1951) and "Shri 420" (1955) Kapoor introduced Indian audiences to amusing common-folk heroes whose antics and resilience merited comparison with Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp.

In "Awaara," Kapoor incorporated songs into the narrative, as well as previously-taboo romantic candor such as on-screen kissing. He cast beautiful women as co-stars and for one film brought Russian circus performers to India for added entertainment in the picture. In time Kapoor's wildly popular films grew in length. One was four hours fifteen minutes long. Liberal inclusion of music by the duo Shankar-Jaikishen and song lyrics by the poetic Shailendra were a part of every film produced by Kapoor.

Kapoor helped set the sound stages for what would eventually be characterized as Bollywood film—mass-oriented, formulaic, often epic in length and proportion, populated with glamorous superstar actors and beloved character players, and infused with music, song and dance.

Music, perhaps more than any other element, is the essential characterizing ingredient of a Bollywood film. Few Hindi films are made without songs, and the popularity of a film's music can determine the extent of a picture's success at the box-office. (Of local note, University of Michigan graduate Sheena Sippy, granddaughter of the founder of Bombay's Sippy Films, has worked on the CD releases of songs from Sippy productions, a major sideline of Bollywood enterprise.)

The genre range in Bollywood film is wide: westerns, samurai, crime, law-and-order revenge films, action epics, domestic drama, coming-of-age stories, teen-age and adult romance. While there may be considerable repetition and stereotyping in the various Bollywood genres, creativity and innovation within the songs, music and dance can overcome narrative limitations and more than satisfy audience expectations.

Want to watch an example of Bollywood at its best? Try the much-acclaimed "Lagaan" (2001), an epic set near the end of the 19th century in a small Indian farming village. The film's plot includes injustices brought on by a British military officer, youth romance, a cricket match, and a wealth of songs, folk music and dance. "Lagaan" runs a robust 222 minutes.

You can see that the term "Bollywood" does not work as an umbrella for all Indian film. India offers a much fuller extent of cinematic expression, and other regional production centers (as well as various Hindi filmmakers) turn out motion pictures that are distinctly different in content and form than Bollywood's mass-appeal Hindi cinema. The great Bengali director Satyajit Ray paved the way for alternative Indian cinema with films whose humanistic narratives and realistic styling (as in "The Apu Trilogy" of 1955, 1956, 1959) were inspired in part by his work as an assistant for the Italian neo-realist director Vittorio de Sica. Lower budget, art house films with a broad range of social, political and personal subject matter continue to be very much a part of Indian cinema today.

But just like in the US, humble films in India get a lot less attention than the splendor and spectacle that typify Bollywood.

HOLLYWOOD

HOLLYWOOD

HOLLYWOOD. An area of the city of Los Angeles famous primarily for its association with the film industry,

Hollywood was originally a small independent agricultural community. It merged with Los Angeles in 1910 in order to obtain an adequate water supply. At approximately the same time, the film industry began to locate in the region, seeking to take advantage of natural sunlight that allowed year-round filming and a diverse southern California landscape that provided cheap scenery.

In 1914, the director Cecil B. DeMille decided to locate his studio in Hollywood permanently, and other companies followed. By the 1920s, Hollywood had beaten out rivals such as Culver City and Burbank as the place most associated with the film industry, although in fact movie lots were scattered throughout the Los Angeles area.

The growing power and romance of film made Hollywood a cultural icon and a major tourist attraction. In the 1950s and 1960s, Hollywood also began to attract television studios and record companies. While still home to many entertainment-related companies and remaining a popular destination for starstruck visitors, the area's actual role in film production began to lag in the 1970s. Soaring production and living costs in Los Angeles led many companies to seek opportunities elsewhere, and Hollywood itself struggled with problems associated with urban blight.