Posts for 'Interviews' Category

It takes a lot to juggle a great acting career with the need for breaking free and biking, but John Abraham has managed to make a mark in both areas.

His down to earth personality goes to show his biker genes and coupled with the drool factor this man draws from the female population, there is no arguing the charismatic personality that John Abraham has come to be. Vikram Gour caught up with John for a quick chat about bikes, cars and movies....yeah, we left the women out this time!

ZW: So, what is the latest addition to your garage? John: I have just bought a Suzuki Hayabusa from Suzuki India. I am back to the bike I love and even when I was getting the delivery of the bike the only condition I laid down was that no one would ride it before me. I wanted to be the person who gets to take the wraps off the bike.

ZW- And just what does your garage contain now? John: Well, there is my Yamaha R1, my newly acquired Gypsy and my Audi Q7, plus the Hayabusa which I just got. ZW- In that case, what is missing from your garage?

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There is a strong buzz going on in industry circles that Ashutosh Gowariker is re-shooting a majority of his film What’s Your Rashee’s main lead Hurman Baweja’s portions.

Sources reveal, “Shoot for the film first began on December 6th. It was meant to be a start to finish shoot but then certain production delays changed the original plan.

The shooting then got spread over with gaps in between. In the meanwhile Hurman Baweja’s second film Victory released in January end and flopped badly.

A bigger blow came for Hurman when Sanjay Leela Bhansali dropped him from his production Chenab Gandhi immediately after its flopping.

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She was missing from the scene for a while now. But here she comes with a bang, loaded with plump projects and roles that will make her contemporaries envy her. Lara Dutta is all geared up with Priyadarshan`s.

Billu Barber and a spate of other releases that will see her in the theatres almost throughout the year. The former Miss Universe talks about Billu Barber, acting alongside Shah Rukh Khan, her career and forthcoming films.

You have a phenomenon 2009 ahead of you and life seems too good to be true. But did you have any resolutions this New Year's eve?A. No resolutions really, every year I hope that the following year is as exciting as the previous year and I am very happy with the way my professional life is going and I just hope that this year is the same for me. I always hope that I remain happy because I think happiness is very important.You celebrated your birthday some days ago. And if reports are anything to go by, you visited a temple in Mumbai. Did you party at all?

No, partying is not my thing, I preferred spending time with my family and yes I did visit a temple in the morning, that's generally how I start my day on my birthday and generally do things that I enjoy doing, so I spent time with my family and also worked a bit, so I managed to balance out both.

Any birth-day wishes?Well...what better way to start the year with a big film? My film CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA is going to release soon, so I hope that it does really well.CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA was your first action movie. Was it tough to film?Yes, it was tough, but I am glad that I went through the extensive training - physically and mentally it was important. So I was well prepared.

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Aadesh's first international track 'Bollywood Meets Hollywood' with American rapper Wyclef Jean and Abhishek Bachchan hits stores in the India in July. To be released under the Sony –BMG label, the song is expected to be a big hit.

To promote the song Aadesh has tied up for a commercial with Motorola, which will feature Abhishek, Aadesh and Wyclef Jean. Says Aadesh, "The track is part of my album with Wyclef entitled Carnival 2. As you know Wyclef and I flew down to Miami to record the number with Abhishek who was shooting there for Karan Johar's film. 'Bollywood Meets Hollywood' is already a craze abroad. Youtube is filled with the song. We've big plans for the song in India. I hope it would be like a singing launch for Abhishek."

Aadesh plans to tie up with other international super-artistes like Justin Timberlake in the near future. "I missed the chance recently because I was busy judging a reality show in India. Never mind. Justin's company is very keen to tie up with us."

Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (TPTM) is not a great work of art. It doesn't cause ripples of revolution across the cinematic stratosphere. It does something even better. It makes you feel warm and comforted about the quality of contemporary life. No matter how awful things seem, there is always that core of goodness in the human heart to count on. This one makes you count your blessings.

Kunal Kohli taps that noble core, so elusive in our cinema. The last film, which was as nobly intended as TPTM, was Ashutosh Gowarikar's Swades. And Gowarikar for all his acute sensitivity and storytelling acumen was awfully out of breath dealing with the child actor in Swades. Kohli is delightly at-ease with his four child actors who have been selected not for their overt cuteness but their propensity to play the characters that they're allotted with restrain and understanding.

Each of the four brats, forced by law to come and live with the man who accidentally killed their parents, sparkle with a spontaneous credibility. Kohli treats the kids as young adults. And he treats the audience with as much respect. He gives us what we apparently want (emotions, laughter, drama). But he makes sure his plot doesn't become a slave to conventional prescriptions. It's not easy to desist from using a patronizing tone for the children when they are orphans trapped in an adult situation that they don't understand. Kohli does a fantasy-spin where the sassy and spiffy words and storytelling offset the quaint Arcadian story of the four orphans and a cantankerous tycoon who we soon discover is constantly unhappy on account of a girlfriend who only talks about designer clothes and Sunita Menon.

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John Abraham's last hit was Dhoom (2004) and since then he has given 14 flops in a row. And if that wasn't bad enough his Aashayein has been delayed again. The film which was earlier scheduled to release on May 9 and then June 20 has now been postponed to September 12.

Informs our source, "After the success of Jannat, we don't want to take any risk by releasing the film in July and August. Jaane Tu, which is a love story based on college life is a much awaited film while Love Story 2050 has lots of special effects. So these two films will divide the audience's attention."

Adds the source, "Our film is very serious and John plays an intense role so to fetch more money from the box-office we have decided that finally the film will be releasing in September. Also, John is busy shooting for Dostana in Filmcity so he was not able to give time for the promotion of Aaashayein."

Aashayein is the story of a compulsive gambler who faces a lot of trauma in his life as he suffers from cancer. The film is directed by Nagesh Kukunoor whose last hit film was Iqbal.

Once upon a time Amitabh Bachchan had the total copyright over the anger matters. Later on heroes like Sunny Deol and Ajay Devgan shared few bits of the losing control.

On screen sweeties like Salman and Chichi have even created off screen hunguma either by knocking ladies’ doors or by slapping news guys. But sweet babies ire-ing and firing in the industry is quite an offbeat catch.

Though hard to believe but it’s true that it hardly takes few seconds to ignite anger in Priety. We all are aware of this tamed lioness’ angry side. Once this pretty actress gets angry then she is not the one who would back out from the fight.

Recently producer Tito Juneja’s son Sonny Juneja had to face the storm from this lady when he dared to throw comment on Priety’s acting capabilities while she was dubbing for Tito’s film Har Pal.

Priety got so bugged up with the continuous comments from Sonny that she decided to quit dubbing session and took a seat in a nearby park.

In the end director Jahnu Barua had to arrive on the sets to convince the angry actress for resuming the dubbing. Preity did so but only after Sonny was asked to leave the studio.

Whether reports of cold vibes between films cast Shiney Ahuja and Preity Zinta or Shiney’s balding problems, Har Pal has always been associated with these kinds of negative stories. But as you say in Bollywood, negative or positive, B-town personalities always welcome free publicity.

Maybe the uncontrollable anger fuming in the babe is just a part of that!

Coming soon to a cinema near you: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone on screen together for the first time. What's more, it's brought to you in association with Bollywood.
The two titans of 80s action movies have famously never appeared on screen together before, but are now scheduled to appear in the Bollywood movie Kambakkht Ishq (Incredible Love) alongside star Akshay Kumar.

News of the casting has already been interpreted as the advent of Bollywood as a global player in the movie industry, despite the fact that Stallone and Schwarzenegger will only take cameo roles. "We have signed Sylvester Stallone to be a part of Kambakkht Ishq. We have a certain vision for our production house," producer Sajid Nadiadwala said.

Who is John Abraham? What do I know about him? The answer to that is almost nothing till yesterday. Being someone who doesn’t watch Bollywood films and not familiar with Bollywood stars, I honestly didn’t know much about John Abraham except that he is an model turned actor. So when his interview was aired in NDTV this week, it was natural curiosity that took me to watch it. Titled Euro Mania, it was a casual chit-chat with John Abraham with a special impetus on the ongoing Euro2008 and football. I was aware of his interest in football as he comes in one of the ads for EPL in ESPN and also being an official ambassador for Euro 2008. But the next one hour of his interview was very impressive- his attitude, his humility and his striking realism.

In India or for that matter anywhere in the world, celebrities are always a thing of enigma. Be it their ego, their jazzy styles, their cool self-branded dresses or their sheer wealth and lifestyle, it all contributes to a love-hate relationship with the common man. Either you love them or you hate them. There are usually no middle grounds. There is the usual perception of celebrities having big egos and not knowing much about the common man’s lifestyle. Though these perceptions, in most cases, are purely based on media gossip, it is striking how true some of these things actually are. And it is in this regard that JA completely bowled me. For once here was a popular and successful actor who came across as strikingly honest in what he believes in. There were no complications. No egos. No fiddling around with his hair style. His enthusiasm was addictive, almost school-boyish you may be tempted to say.

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