By Fuad Omar
This week's roundup of Bollywood Happenings brings you exclusive news on
anything and everything to do with our favourite film industry!
First up, the Hrithik-Aftab-Arjun-Karisma-Kareena world tour has been
postponed. But don't worry because the dates have been announced and tickets
are already on sale! Instead of kicking off the tour in the UK then heading
to the States, the Hearththrobs have decided to go that side first and end
the tour here. This means the new dates are for June end and the venue in
London is the Excel Arena, Docklands. Many are complaining about this shift
and no reason has been cited, but if previous experience is to go by this
means the UK definitely does get a better deal. The last show to end in the
UK was Millennium Masti 2000 which brought Salman Khan, Bobby Deol, Saif Ali
Khan and Raveena Tandon to our shores and by the time they got here the
routines were perfected and the gang were buzzing on energy and wanted to
give their best to the final show of the tour. The show was a huge success
and it paid off being the crowd who the gang wanted to say goodbye to. Also
some will remember when the Shah Rukh-Sanjay Dutt tour started in London it
didn't go without technical glitches and so patience will hopefully pay off!
Onto the star of the nation: Aamir Khan! He was back in Mumbai recently and
is now holidaying with family in Calcutta. The actor who gave so much to his
film in the past year and took it to uncharted territory is promoting the
book of the film entitled "Spirit of Lagaan" by Satyajit
Bhatkal. The book
is a behind-the-scenes account of the film that was conceived long ago and
has finally been realised given the mammoth steps Lagaan has taken. Aamir,
director Ashutosh Gowariker and the author made an appearance at Granth
Bookshop in Mumbai to sign copies of the book. An Aamir-hungry crowd waited
patiently and screamed as he waved, smiled and told them 'I love you all!'.
Many told their hero how proud of him they were and Aamir was reassured of
his rewards for his efforts despite not bringing the golden statuette home.
Also on Lagaan, the film won the top prize at the prestigious Nightfilm
Festival Award in Denmark. Up against 142 movies in total, the blockbuster
clean bowled all competition in advance of its release across Denmark later
this year. The Nightfilm Festival and the Danish Film Institute gave the
film an Audience Prize of £8300 (approx). Karan Johar's K3G came in third in
the Audience Prize, which again is another achievement for Indian cinema.
Shah Rukh's Asoka and Shyam Benegal's Zubeidaa were also part of the
festival and received positive responses.
And the final bit of Aamir news is that he and Ram Gopal Varma have patched
up. Their rift made headlines years ago at the time of Rangeela, when
allegedly Varma criticised Aamir for his obsession with perfection and even
went as far as saying in post-release interviews how he thought the waiter
in Rangeela performed better than Aamir. An uncalled-for statement that
obviously held little worth was enough for the rift to widen and the two
apparently haven't spoken in a long while. Destiny brought the two together
last week at Boney and Anil Kapoor's party thrown for Dr. T Subbarami Reddy.
Ramu and Aamir made their entry separately and stuck to different groups
initially. But as the party warmed up, Ramu decided to walk over and speak
to Aamir. "We are friends again," laughs Ramu and adds, "First of all there
was no such problem. It was just blown out of proportion. We just bump into
each other at this party and started talking to each other". Aamir was
apparently as warm and accommodating as Ramu and for the remainder of the
party the two stuck together like popcorn to seats. Let's hope they get
together and make a film soon!
Hrithik's new film, Aap Mujhe Achchey Lagne Lage (AMALL) has not opened to
good reports. Fans argue it gives them the song, dance and action they need
and has almost all the commercial elements of a hit story, but then so did
Tumko Na Bhool Paayenge. TNBP was the topic of many discussions with
prominent film personalities when it released and many journalists alike.
Whereas those journos who hate Salman with a vengeance (and not justifiably
may I add...) ran his film into the ground, the filmi duniya were quite taken
aback with the film. It's not perfect, but the bottom line is
Salman has carefully constructed a story around every commercial element
there is and done it slickly too. The final product didn't win and make the
cash registers chi-ching but it was a good try. AMALL is being criticised
for being another run-of-the-mill and badly executed film. Where the
expectations were sky high by media and fans alike due to the pairing of
Hrithik and Amisha and of course that Vikram Bhatt has been tagged a
commercial goldmine too after Ghulam, Kasoor and Raaz. Vikram Bhatt is an
intelligent man and he signs people he believes will work and so he signed
Aftab during a bad phase and launched Lisa Ray, and he also signed Hrithik
and Amisha before KNPH too, so he's a brilliant businessman. Where he was
hailed as the new genius in town after Ghulam, as many will point out, it
could be the Aamir factor. Aamir is fantastic at what he does. He gave
Vikram Bhatt a Ghulam and Ashutosh Gowariker who had a Pehla Nasha behind
him a Lagaan, and John Matthew Matthan a Sarfarosh, and none of these
filmmakers have before this or since repeated the magic. I'm not in any way
taking from their talent, just saying add Aamir to a project he's already
passionate about and the result is gold. He had the guts to tell Mahesh
Bhatt he felt he was the wrong director for the job since he wasn't giving
Ghulam his all and argue with John on placing a phone in a police office
where it shouldn't be so it would create a slightly awkward visual hinting
to the audience something's wrong here. That's just a spark of Aamir's
brilliance. AMALL may not be a classic or match the success of KNPH but are
expectations starting to get too high for films? Filhaal in India was stated
as "not matching expectations", ditto TNBP and Devdas is frightfully eagerly
awaited. Maybe we as a film audience need to say at some point, it's just a
film and let's just go, forget everything for three hours and appreciate the
efforts on screen. Most films that carry few expectations do better like
KNPH which came out of nowhere and took the world by storm, and if you
analyse it, it's an average film that's well made with two very good
performers. Read the label: high expectations will result in disappointment.
Madhuri Dixit is one of my all time favourite actresses and that's obviously
no secret and meeting her was a dream come true. Sanjay Leela Bansali got
his own dream come true too when Madhuri said yes to playing Chandramukhi in
his epic, as he previously stated every story he comes up with he envisions
with Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit.
"Working with Sanjay Leela Bansali, who had the guts to make a film on this
celebrated and oft-filmed theme, was a very good experience. It should work
up some magic on the big screen again," she said.
Devdas comes after Gaja Gamini and Lajja both of which could be seen as new
roles for an actress of Madhuri's calibre and in both she walked away with
accolades.
"I am playing a courtesan for the first time in my film career. It is
without a doubt a very challenging role especially since Sanjay Bansali
does not compromise on quality. The self-effacing of the character really
appealed to me," she said flashing that Dixit-smile. Devdas is dripping with
softly-lit shots and typical Baansali camera angles, so expect a visual
feast. The film releases on June 14th.
Subi Samuel is one of India's top photographers and is working round the
clock lately to put the final touches to preparation for his second
exhibition entitled In2 the Soul. Held at the poolside pub The Embers next
week the event is all set to be one of the media events of the year, and you
can count on coverage right here on Asiangigs.
Subi had his first exhibition two years ago which many of you will know was
exclusively covered on Asiangigs for the UK at the time. This year's
exhibition is all set to stun as I've had a sneak peek at some of the stars
and models he's shot and the results are awesome. Subi is an innovative
photographer who does a lot of experimental work and concept shots and
believe me you've never seen some of your favourite stars like this before!
"I have tried to capture celebrities as human beings rather than demi-gods
that they are usually projected as," he says. "In2 the Soul is a sequel to
my earlier exhibition which was called The Soul. In my day-to-day
interaction with celebrities, I often get to see a side to them which is not
usually projected. Even when people project emotions, they are carefully
controlled. to look beautiful, to look acceptable. In2 the Soul is an
attempt at breaking this norm. While some of the pictures do project beauty,
it is more an attempt to show celebrities in a lighter and sometimes crazier
mood, with their defences down".
Asiangigs readers have already seen some of his work and read of the
photoshoots he did with Sushmita Sen and
Shilpa Shetty as the catwoman, well
trust me when I say he's really outdone himself! I'm dying to tell you about
the pictures but he's told me to keep quiet until the exhibition, so wait
and see!
And keep watching this web site for some great Bollywood news and exclusives
coming soon and even the chance for you to own a piece of Bollywood
memorabilia. Don't forget you can buy all your Bollywood DVDs here too!
Until soon.
Fuad Omar.
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