Archives for September 2007

                                Siddhant Bhosle has turned full-fledged playback singer with Shemaroo’s Bal Ganesha. He has sung a duet with Hariharan about a little child asking about Lord Ganesha. Says Hariharan, “Siddhant at a young age of 13 has shown remarkable talent.” The music is by Shamir Tandon.

Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai will star in a movie by Ben Kingsley on the making of the Taj Mahal, India's famous marble monument to love, a report said on Thursday.The movie is likely to be filmed next year in Agra that is home to the Taj Mahal.The Taj Mahal, recently voted one of the new seven wonders of the world, was built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Soon after its completion, Shah Jahan was deposed by his son and imprisoned at the nearby Agra Fort."The movie is on the building of the Taj Mahal,'' said Kingsley, who is producing the film. "The romance will also include Shah Jahan's isolation for years in a prison cell.''Kingsley added that he had spoken to Ash about the project while filming The Last Legion with her.“She very generously agreed to do the movie with me. My production house is working with a screenwriter on the project. I have very clear ideas about how I want to approach the subject.” Kingsley is quoted as saying.The movie will be shot in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. The shooting will begin next year.Ben was born Krishna Bhanji in Britain. His father, Rahimtulla Harji Bhanji, was of Indian descent.Kingsley won the best-actor Oscar for Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi'' in the 1980s. He is well known in India for his portrayal of the independence leader and champion of nonviolence.

Abhishek Bachchan has been in the news recently for his weight loss. However, what no one has realized is that while he is shedding all the fat from the rest of his body, his paunch is getting bigger.The chhota B was recently seen at the Grand Hyatt, where he made an appearance to promote the brand, Flying Machine, of which he is the ambassador.However, he was not too willing to pose for the shutterbugs, and preferred to stay put in one place. This was most unlike him, and finally, the puzzled photojournalists figured out what the problem was – his big, fat belly!We wonder if it has anything to do with Aishwarya's cooking.

You could argue that one of Asia's most honest and transparent actors Naseeruddin Shah has been acting with puppets (of the human variety) all his career.But now the business of puppet acting is going to take on a more literal hue for Naseeruddin Shah.He's all set to act with real puppets in a television show called The Magic Tent."That's right," says the actor-extraordinaire who has just returned from London after filming Jagmohan Mundhra's Shoot On Sight."It's being produced by the same people who have been doing Sesame Street—the world's most avidly watched show for children—for the past 47 years. All the characters will be puppets. And the puppeteers will be the same people who are behind Sesame Street.I'll be the only human character on the show."says the actor-extraordinaire who along with his wife Ratna Pathak gave voice to a pair of puppets in Amol Palekar's Paheli."That's right. There I was a puppet. Now I'll be the only human character among puppets," says Naseer about the desi Sesame Street whose pilot he has just shot for. "The episodes will be canned in February."This is Naseer's second major foray into television. "My first was with Gulzar Saab on Doordarshan twenty years ago. I look back on our collaboration for Mirza Ghalib with much nostalgia and affection.I'd love to get together with Gulzar Saab again. But for now the thought of doing an Indian Sesame Street excites me greatly. There're no intelligent programmes for children on television."More excitement for the auteur. Naseer returns to stage again with his wife Ratna. "It's a rendering of the play Antigone who was was the daughter of Oedipus. Ratna plays Antigone. And no, I don't play Oedipus. I've already done that. I play the part of Antigone's uncle."The play will be directed by Satyadev Dubey."When you say I'll RETURN to stage with Antigone I don't agree with you. I've never been away from stage. A year-and-a-half ago I did Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet on stage. To me theatre is an enchanting extension of cinema. Only more fun."

Bollywood actor who starred with Sanjay Dutt in 'Munnabhai MBBS' and 'Lage Raho Munnabhai' says but for Sanju's help, he and Arshad Warsi wouldn't have been where they are today."Sanjay is a good soul and a generous person. Let me tell me you something, Arshad Warsi and I would not be what we are if we didn't have his generosity. Despite being the hero of the film, the two supporting actor who were not even parallel heroes got so much out of the films," he said, and praised his strength to have braved the tough times."He's been very tough mentally. I am amazed at his resilience. Not just last few month or fourteen years but all his life he has had a tough time. I can't comment on the legal battles in his life but I can pray for him and say that I am with him," says the lensman-turned-actor.Coming to films, the debacle of 'Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag', a remake of Ramesh Sippy's 'Sholay', has again sparked off the debate on - To remake or not to remake.Irani says creative expressions of all kinds should be allowed. "People should be allowed to do what they want to," says Boman, adding, "Do what you want. If you are good at it, you will succeed but if you do it wrongly you will fail."He adds, "We must remember that a film is not a sequel or a remake but a film." You must take a film - whether it's a remake, a sequel or original - by whether it is a good cinema and good entertainment, says the actor who plays a role in the Farhan Akhtar's remake of 'Don' by the same name.

While Kareena Kapoor is busy painting the town red with her latest arm candy, Saif Ali Khan, her now ex is still trying his best to get back together.Kareena, however, is not in a mood to indulge any efforts on Shahid's part, and clearly demonstrates that she has moved on – her recent birthday celebrations with Saif being the latest slap on Shahid's sorrowful face.Shahid is currently in Toronto, shooting for Aziz Mirza's movie, but he is expected to return to Mumbai soon.A source, on condition of anonymity said, "Shahid is hopeful that Kareena will get back to him. He has been sending her messages and e-mails, but she has responded as yet to any of them."This has led to Shahid withdrawing into a shell, and he has been unusually quiet and reserved on his sets.Rumours earlier had it that Shahid was planning a surprise birthday party for Kareena, and had even made arrangements with her sister, Karishma.According to the source, he dropped the idea when he saw the photographs of his beau and the Chotte Nawab, splashed all across the media. Apparently, Kareena has gone back to her non-vegetarian diet, something she had given up for Shahid. In fact, she is not even speaking with him at present."Kareena may soon ask, 'Shahid, who?' We never thought the relationship would die so soon," the source continues.Shahid, however, has not given up, adds the source. Kareena and Shahid will be seen in 'Jab We Met', a film by Imtiyaz Ali, due for release soon.

They are both lords of the ring-tones. Bappi Lahiri and Anu Malik entered the film industry at the same time…and carved very different places in the charts for themselves.Today after more than three decades in the film industry the two composing wizards from the 1980s have been brought together for the first time in Satish Kaushik's Tere Sang, though they're both quick to explain they're not collaborating.

Huh?

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It's not just the Diwali dhamaka, plus the importance of two super-biggies being released on the same Friday that makes the competition between Saawariya and Om Shanti Om so hot.Television too has taken to the impending war of the spectacles. This Saturday (September 29) while the Saawariya team will be seen on Star's Voice Of India, the Om Shanti Om team will appear at the same time on Zee's Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, thereby putting the average couch potato's remote-control in a state of perpetual anxiety.Says the Voice Of India producer –director Gajendra Singh, "Having Sanjay Bhansali and the two Saawariya debutants on our show was such a delight. Sanjayji is a complete music person.He hand-picked all the songs from the great Raj Kapoor epics on his own, and when one of the contestants Abhas excelled singing the title song from Satyam Shivum Sunderam, he spontaneously came forward to greet the contestant.It was a very emotional evening for all of us. Though this is the first time Ranbir and Sonam were recording for any show they were so confident."The Om Shanti Om special to be telecast simultaneously on Zee features Shreyas Talpade, Deepika Padukone and director Farah Khan. Shah Rukh Khan couldn't appear on the show because he is apparently contract-bound with Star."But he sent a list of requests for the contestants to sing. Those will be featured in the second-half of the show. During the first-half we'll have the contestants singing the Om Shanti Om tracks since two of our judges Vishal and Shekhar are also the music directors of Farah Khan's film," informs Payaol Patel of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Rani who's currently shooting with Pradeep Sarkar for Laga Chunri Mein Daag feels as though she's doing a Bengali film."We're all Bongs here….from Pradeep-da and his wife to Jayaji and Konkona. All you'll hear on the sets is a loud babble of Bengali voices. We're constantly jabbering in Bengali and cracking up at our own jokes. If you enter the shoot you'll feel it's a Bengali film."In fact the one outsider is Konkona's co-star Kunal Kapoor whom the two girls Rani and Konkona constantly torment by talking in Bengali.Rani cracks up. " It's so cute, really. Pradeep-da and his unit treat me like a family member. The entire day we're laughing and cracking up at our own jokes. Shooting is always fun. But this time it's something else."Isn't the bonding over a few schedules too little time to be treated as family members?"No no. It's not as though I got to know Pradeep-da only in this film. I've done many ads with him. It's my good fortune that I'm now doing a feature film with him. Pradeep-da has a stunning eye for detail. The other unit where I'm having as much fun right now is Sanjay Leela Bhansali's during Saawariya."She ponders and says, "Whether it is Pradeep-da or Sanjay, I love my directors People who are part of my life would never ever disrespect me or my family, or I theirs."

Actor Shilpa Shetty faced some unpleasant and embarrassing moments at the international airport here early Wednesday when an immigration official allegedly spoke rudely to her just before she was to leave for Germany for West End musical "Miss Bollywood".The immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport were apparently not informed of the Supreme Court clearance given to the Bollywood actor to travel abroad.Her spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar said: "The immigration authorities at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport just seemed to refuse to take note of this clearance of Shilpa's name by the Supreme Court.""She called me in the middle of the night and was in tears saying an inspector had treated her badly, and told her she could not travel out of the country as there was no clearance order from the court," Bhagwagar said."I can understand something like this if I'd committed a criminal offence. But what was my offence, when I'm just an actor, going to perform a musical on foreign land, representing my country? I don't need to be treated like this in my own country. It's terrible," said Shilpa before she left.

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