Author Archive
Bypass Road has been the most physically exhausting film of Neil Nitin Mukesh’s career. “Both emotionally and physically, this film and character was a killer. I play a character confined to a wheelchair throughout the film. It wasn’t easy. I had to learn how to manoeuvre the wheelchair. And since it was a manual wheelchair my thumb got stuck in the wheel and it broke,” shudders Neil.
That was not deal Neil desired to crack. That wasn’t the end of his ordeal. “Worst was waiting for me. For a long stretch of shooting I had to crawl on the floor using only my hands, as I play a character whose legs are not usable. It was the most exhausting thing I’ve done in my life. But it’s all been worth it. Bypass Road has turned out exactly the way my brother Naman (who directs the film) and visualized it. It is original and it keeps audiences guessing till the end,” says Neil confidently.
Neil says the film is shot in India because the script demanded it. “My very kind producer Madan Paliwal wanted to shoot in London because we were promised subsidies. But that wasn’t what I visualized for my plot. I wanted to shoot it in Mumbai and explore the Mumbaikars’ relationship with Alibaug as the getaway place for the rich and propertied, much in the same way as New Jersey is for New Yorkers.”
Also Read: Miraj Cinema is 100 Screens strong and rolls out their next Bollywood film Bypass Road
India’s most iconic star-actor Amitabh Bachchan has been feeling a little under the weather lately. He was in hospital for a complete health check-up. And though he has been served an all-clear by the medical experts, the mega-star has decided to take it easy for a while.
Keeping this in mind, Mr Bachchan cancelled his appearance at the Sharjah International Book Fair on Wednesday, October 30. A big blow to his fans in the Middle East, many of whom had flown into the Book Fair from distant cities just to see the iconic star speak.
A source close to Big B says, “The cancellation can’t be helped. He has been working really hard in the past few years in spite of doctors’ warnings. He has now been given a final warning about his health. If he continues to push himself he may have a serious health lapse. He is now in the mood to relax for a while.”
Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan took to Twitter to apologise to his fans; here’s why
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s decision to go into his next project, a remake of the 1952 classic Baiju Bawra has aroused a whole lot healthy curiosity in the audience. That it would be a musical opus in the grand style of Bhansali’s Devdas goes without saying. The question is who would play the two main protagonists, the musical legend Tansen and the protégée Baiju, who outdoes his mentor thereby incurring his mentor’s jealous wrath.
Sources say Bhansali has offered the parts of the mentor and pupil to Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh. While Ranveer is fine with playing the passionate musical prodigy Baiju, Devgn apparently has reservations about playing the legendary Tansen.
Sources say he has been there, done it before. “In Vipul Shah’s London Dreams in 2009 Devgn played the jealous musician who feels threatened by his friend Salman Khan’s talent. Devgn is not keen to be seen in the space again,” says an informed source.
In the original Baiju Bawra in 1952, Surendra had played Tansen and Bharat Bhushan had played Baiju. The Oscar-winning Hollywood film Amadeus is also based on the same story of two talented musicians, the mentor being outdistanced by the pupil.
The challenge for Sanjay Bhansali is to create a semi-classical music score to rival Naushad’s monumental score in Baiju Bawra. The original had imperishable classic songs like ‘Tu Ganga Mauj Main Jamuna Ka Dhara’, ‘Oh Duniya Ke Rakhwale’, ‘Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj’ and ‘Bachpan Ki Mohabbat Ko’.
Also Read: Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh to fight evil along with Akshay Kumar in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s decision to go into his next project, a remake of the 1952 classic Baiju Bawra has aroused a whole lot healthy curiosity in the audience. That it would be a musical opus in the grand style of Bhansali’s Devdas goes without saying. The question is who would play the two main protagonists, the musical legend Tansen and the protégée Baiju, who outdoes his mentor thereby incurring his mentor’s jealous wrath.
Sources say Bhansali has offered the parts of the mentor and pupil to Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh. While Ranveer is fine with playing the passionate musical prodigy Baiju, Devgn apparently has reservations about playing the legendary Tansen.
Sources say he has been there, done it before. “In Vipul Shah’s London Dreams in 2009 Devgn played the jealous musician who feels threatened by his friend Salman Khan’s talent. Devgn is not keen to be seen in the space again,” says an informed source.
In the original Baiju Bawra in 1952, Surendra had played Tansen and Bharat Bhushan had played Baiju. The Oscar-winning Hollywood film Amadeus is also based on the same story of two talented musicians, the mentor being outdistanced by the pupil.
The challenge for Sanjay Bhansali is to create a semi-classical music score to rival Naushad’s monumental score in Baiju Bawra. The original had imperishable classic songs like ‘Tu Ganga Mauj Main Jamuna Ka Dhara’, ‘Oh Duniya Ke Rakhwale’, ‘Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj’ and ‘Bachpan Ki Mohabbat Ko’.
Also Read: Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh to fight evil along with Akshay Kumar in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala is done with the heat and dust of Housefull 4. He now flies off to Serbia with director Ahmed Khan and leading man Tiger Shroff to shoot action scenes for Baaghi 3.
Baaghi 3 would be the first Hindi film to be shot in Serbia. The point, we hear, is to shoot the kind of action scenes Tiger has never done before. For this purpose, the script needed rugged unexplored locations. Says Sajid, “We zeroed-in on Serbia for its freshness and virility, also because we are being provided with all support and co-operation by the country.”
Apparently, it is a very big deal for the Serbian government to have such a big production house from Bollywood shooting in their country. All precautions have been taken to ensure Tiger’s security. Says Sajid, “He has a massive fan following in every country. Now after War he is a rage in every corner of the world.”
The crew leaves on Wednesday for Serbia and hopes to complete major chunks of the shooting in record time. Says Sajid, “The best part of shooting abroad is there are no distractions. Like a good father accompanying his child to boarding school, I’m just going to settle the crew in Serbia and come back to Mumbai after four days.”
Also Read: Tiger Shroff and Krishna Shroff to inaugurate their second MMA accredited gym in Bareilly
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala is done with the heat and dust of Housefull 4. He now flies off to Serbia with director Ahmed Khan and leading man Tiger Shroff to shoot action scenes for Baaghi 3.
Baaghi 3 would be the first Hindi film to be shot in Serbia. The point, we hear, is to shoot the kind of action scenes Tiger has never done before. For this purpose, the script needed rugged unexplored locations. Says Sajid, “We zeroed-in on Serbia for its freshness and virility, also because we are being provided with all support and co-operation by the country.”
Apparently, it is a very big deal for the Serbian government to have such a big production house from Bollywood shooting in their country. All precautions have been taken to ensure Tiger’s security. Says Sajid, “He has a massive fan following in every country. Now after War he is a rage in every corner of the world.”
The crew leaves on Wednesday for Serbia and hopes to complete major chunks of the shooting in record time. Says Sajid, “The best part of shooting abroad is there are no distractions. Like a good father accompanying his child to boarding school, I’m just going to settle the crew in Serbia and come back to Mumbai after four days.”
Also Read: Tiger Shroff and Krishna Shroff to inaugurate their second MMA accredited gym in Bareilly
Kangana Ranaut doesn’t believe in half-measures. Her dedication to getting the character right is so bright that she leaves nothing to chance. For the role of Jayalalitha the iconic chief minister of Tamil Nadu in the film Thalaivi, Kangana is learning the Telugu language from scratch and will speak her own dialogues in Tamil in the bio-pic.
Sources say this is a task easier said than done. In Tamil Nadu audiences are fickle about accents. Says an actress who has worked repeatedly with Mani Ratnam, “I don’t know how she will do it. Because according to me, Tamil is the most difficult language in India. I’ve worked in a number of Tamil films. In the first few I allowed the dubbing artiste to do the needful, as I knew I couldn’t master the language. But now after so many years of experience in Tamil cinema I am still not allowed to dub my own lines.”
As for the venerated Jayalalitha, no slip of the tongue would go unnoticed or unforgiven. But Kangana is determined because she feels like Shabana Azmi that the performance at the dubbing stage is as important as the one while shooting.
Thalaivi producer Shailesh R Singh informs me that Kangana has been taking Telugu language lessons for three months now.
Also Read: Kangana Ranaut to begin prep for Jayalalithaa biopic in Manali
Mahesh Babu, his wife Namrata and their two children Gautam and Sitara have done an ad together. This is the first time the family will be seen together on screen. And they are naturally very anxious to know how their fans react. Says Namrata, “We didn’t want Gautam and Sitara to face the camera so early. So when the director Yamuna Kishore who is a friend of Mahesh, came up with the idea our first instinct was to say no. But then we heard the concept and the script sounded like fun .The kids were super-excited.”
Namrata says the team behind the ad agreed to let Mahesh and his wife have the final say on the ad. “If we didn’t like what was shot they agreed not to put it out. So it was like a trial space. This is something no ad maker would do normally. I suppose because their association with Mahesh is two years old they were very considerate. They narrated the idea to Mahesh and he really liked the script. He wasn’t sure if the kids would like to be part of this. But there were most okay with it. So we said, why not?”
Most importantly Namrata wanted this opportunity for the kids to know how it felt to shoot a film. “Mahesh and I just wanted them to get a feel of the camera space. We made sure the children were comfortable. And they had a blast on the sets. This is not to say we want Gautam and Sitara to be actors. It is their choice. And there is plenty of time to decide. But they really enjoyed the experience.”
As an anxious mother Namrata admits she had her pangs on the sets, “I have to admit I was nervous about how the kids would take to the camera, how they would look on screen. Without sounding biased I must say they are natural born actors.”
Incidentally Namrata returns to the screen with this ad after 14 years. “I haven’t shot anything since my marriage to Mahesh. I gave up films very happily. I was never career-driven. And I would have given up anything to marry Mahesh. Once I was married my only priority was my husband his family. And later my two children.”
So how did it feel to be facing the camera after 14 year? “It didn’t feel strange at all. Acting is like swimming. One never forgets it. Would I consider returning to full-fledged acting? No way! I did this ad because I got a chance to work with my husband and children and I didn’t have to worry about the children because they were with us.”
Also Read: Mahesh Babu and Namrata Shirodkar to feature in commercial with their kids during Diwali
Former actress Farha and her former husband Vindoo Dara Singh are now looking at their son Fateh’s career as a leading man. And its looks this genetically privileged star-son—he is the legendary Dara Singh’s grandson and his aunt is the formidable Tabu—is all set to be the next big debutante to be launched by Bollywood’s resident Christopher Columbus. We are talking about Karan Johar, of course.
Karan’s keen eyes have fallen on Fateh and the young actor is all set to be launched in the sequel to Dostana which is now on the anvil. Says proud father Vindoo, “Fateh has worked so hard for the past 4 years in every department of acting, so hard work always pays back.”
Sources from Karan Johar’s Dharma Production say Karan Johar has met and interacted the star kid and he thinks Fateh has the potential to make as big an impact as Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra.
It’s time for more new talent to emerge from Bollywood.
Also Read: Fateh Randhawa to play second lead in Kartik Aaryan and Janhvi Kapoor starrer Dostana 2?
Former actress Farha and her former husband Vindoo Dara Singh are now looking at their son Fateh’s career as a leading man. And its looks this genetically privileged star-son—he is the legendary Dara Singh’s grandson and his aunt is the formidable Tabu—is all set to be the next big debutante to be launched by Bollywood’s resident Christopher Columbus. We are talking about Karan Johar, of course.
Karan’s keen eyes have fallen on Fateh and the young actor is all set to be launched in the sequel to Dostana which is now on the anvil. Says proud father Vindoo, “Fateh has worked so hard for the past 4 years in every department of acting, so hard work always pays back.”
Sources from Karan Johar’s Dharma Production say Karan Johar has met and interacted the star kid and he thinks Fateh has the potential to make as big an impact as Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra.
It’s time for more new talent to emerge from Bollywood.
Also Read: Fateh Randhawa to play second lead in Kartik Aaryan and Janhvi Kapoor starrer Dostana 2?
Bypass Road has been the most physically exhausting film of Neil Nitin Mukesh’s career. “Both emotionally and physically, this film and character was a killer. I play a character confined to a wheelchair throughout the film. It wasn’t easy. I had to learn how to manoeuvre the wheelchair. And since it was a manual wheelchair my thumb got stuck in the wheel and it broke,” shudders Neil.
That was not deal Neil desired to crack. That wasn’t the end of his ordeal. “Worst was waiting for me. For a long stretch of shooting I had to crawl on the floor using only my hands, as I play a character whose legs are not usable. It was the most exhausting thing I’ve done in my life. But it’s all been worth it. Bypass Road has turned out exactly the way my brother Naman (who directs the film) and visualized it. It is original and it keeps audiences guessing till the end,” says Neil confidently.
Neil says the film is shot in India because the script demanded it. “My very kind producer Madan Paliwal wanted to shoot in London because we were promised subsidies. But that wasn’t what I visualized for my plot. I wanted to shoot it in Mumbai and explore the Mumbaikars’ relationship with Alibaug as the getaway place for the rich and propertied, much in the same way as New Jersey is for New Yorkers.”
Also Read: Miraj Cinema is 100 Screens strong and rolls out their next Bollywood film Bypass Road
India’s most iconic star-actor Amitabh Bachchan has been feeling a little under the weather lately. He was in hospital for a complete health check-up. And though he has been served an all-clear by the medical experts, the mega-star has decided to take it easy for a while.
Keeping this in mind, Mr Bachchan cancelled his appearance at the Sharjah International Book Fair on Wednesday, October 30. A big blow to his fans in the Middle East, many of whom had flown into the Book Fair from distant cities just to see the iconic star speak.
A source close to Big B says, “The cancellation can’t be helped. He has been working really hard in the past few years in spite of doctors’ warnings. He has now been given a final warning about his health. If he continues to push himself he may have a serious health lapse. He is now in the mood to relax for a while.”
Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan took to Twitter to apologise to his fans; here’s why
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s decision to go into his next project, a remake of the 1952 classic Baiju Bawra has aroused a whole lot healthy curiosity in the audience. That it would be a musical opus in the grand style of Bhansali’s Devdas goes without saying. The question is who would play the two main protagonists, the musical legend Tansen and the protégée Baiju, who outdoes his mentor thereby incurring his mentor’s jealous wrath.
Sources say Bhansali has offered the parts of the mentor and pupil to Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh. While Ranveer is fine with playing the passionate musical prodigy Baiju, Devgn apparently has reservations about playing the legendary Tansen.
Sources say he has been there, done it before. “In Vipul Shah’s London Dreams in 2009 Devgn played the jealous musician who feels threatened by his friend Salman Khan’s talent. Devgn is not keen to be seen in the space again,” says an informed source.
In the original Baiju Bawra in 1952, Surendra had played Tansen and Bharat Bhushan had played Baiju. The Oscar-winning Hollywood film Amadeus is also based on the same story of two talented musicians, the mentor being outdistanced by the pupil.
The challenge for Sanjay Bhansali is to create a semi-classical music score to rival Naushad’s monumental score in Baiju Bawra. The original had imperishable classic songs like ‘Tu Ganga Mauj Main Jamuna Ka Dhara’, ‘Oh Duniya Ke Rakhwale’, ‘Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj’ and ‘Bachpan Ki Mohabbat Ko’.
Also Read: Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh to fight evil along with Akshay Kumar in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s decision to go into his next project, a remake of the 1952 classic Baiju Bawra has aroused a whole lot healthy curiosity in the audience. That it would be a musical opus in the grand style of Bhansali’s Devdas goes without saying. The question is who would play the two main protagonists, the musical legend Tansen and the protégée Baiju, who outdoes his mentor thereby incurring his mentor’s jealous wrath.
Sources say Bhansali has offered the parts of the mentor and pupil to Ajay Devgn and Ranveer Singh. While Ranveer is fine with playing the passionate musical prodigy Baiju, Devgn apparently has reservations about playing the legendary Tansen.
Sources say he has been there, done it before. “In Vipul Shah’s London Dreams in 2009 Devgn played the jealous musician who feels threatened by his friend Salman Khan’s talent. Devgn is not keen to be seen in the space again,” says an informed source.
In the original Baiju Bawra in 1952, Surendra had played Tansen and Bharat Bhushan had played Baiju. The Oscar-winning Hollywood film Amadeus is also based on the same story of two talented musicians, the mentor being outdistanced by the pupil.
The challenge for Sanjay Bhansali is to create a semi-classical music score to rival Naushad’s monumental score in Baiju Bawra. The original had imperishable classic songs like ‘Tu Ganga Mauj Main Jamuna Ka Dhara’, ‘Oh Duniya Ke Rakhwale’, ‘Man Tarpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj’ and ‘Bachpan Ki Mohabbat Ko’.
Also Read: Ajay Devgn, Ranveer Singh to fight evil along with Akshay Kumar in Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala is done with the heat and dust of Housefull 4. He now flies off to Serbia with director Ahmed Khan and leading man Tiger Shroff to shoot action scenes for Baaghi 3.
Baaghi 3 would be the first Hindi film to be shot in Serbia. The point, we hear, is to shoot the kind of action scenes Tiger has never done before. For this purpose, the script needed rugged unexplored locations. Says Sajid, “We zeroed-in on Serbia for its freshness and virility, also because we are being provided with all support and co-operation by the country.”
Apparently, it is a very big deal for the Serbian government to have such a big production house from Bollywood shooting in their country. All precautions have been taken to ensure Tiger’s security. Says Sajid, “He has a massive fan following in every country. Now after War he is a rage in every corner of the world.”
The crew leaves on Wednesday for Serbia and hopes to complete major chunks of the shooting in record time. Says Sajid, “The best part of shooting abroad is there are no distractions. Like a good father accompanying his child to boarding school, I’m just going to settle the crew in Serbia and come back to Mumbai after four days.”
Also Read: Tiger Shroff and Krishna Shroff to inaugurate their second MMA accredited gym in Bareilly
Producer Sajid Nadiadwala is done with the heat and dust of Housefull 4. He now flies off to Serbia with director Ahmed Khan and leading man Tiger Shroff to shoot action scenes for Baaghi 3.
Baaghi 3 would be the first Hindi film to be shot in Serbia. The point, we hear, is to shoot the kind of action scenes Tiger has never done before. For this purpose, the script needed rugged unexplored locations. Says Sajid, “We zeroed-in on Serbia for its freshness and virility, also because we are being provided with all support and co-operation by the country.”
Apparently, it is a very big deal for the Serbian government to have such a big production house from Bollywood shooting in their country. All precautions have been taken to ensure Tiger’s security. Says Sajid, “He has a massive fan following in every country. Now after War he is a rage in every corner of the world.”
The crew leaves on Wednesday for Serbia and hopes to complete major chunks of the shooting in record time. Says Sajid, “The best part of shooting abroad is there are no distractions. Like a good father accompanying his child to boarding school, I’m just going to settle the crew in Serbia and come back to Mumbai after four days.”
Also Read: Tiger Shroff and Krishna Shroff to inaugurate their second MMA accredited gym in Bareilly
Kangana Ranaut doesn’t believe in half-measures. Her dedication to getting the character right is so bright that she leaves nothing to chance. For the role of Jayalalitha the iconic chief minister of Tamil Nadu in the film Thalaivi, Kangana is learning the Telugu language from scratch and will speak her own dialogues in Tamil in the bio-pic.
Sources say this is a task easier said than done. In Tamil Nadu audiences are fickle about accents. Says an actress who has worked repeatedly with Mani Ratnam, “I don’t know how she will do it. Because according to me, Tamil is the most difficult language in India. I’ve worked in a number of Tamil films. In the first few I allowed the dubbing artiste to do the needful, as I knew I couldn’t master the language. But now after so many years of experience in Tamil cinema I am still not allowed to dub my own lines.”
As for the venerated Jayalalitha, no slip of the tongue would go unnoticed or unforgiven. But Kangana is determined because she feels like Shabana Azmi that the performance at the dubbing stage is as important as the one while shooting.
Thalaivi producer Shailesh R Singh informs me that Kangana has been taking Telugu language lessons for three months now.
Also Read: Kangana Ranaut to begin prep for Jayalalithaa biopic in Manali
Mahesh Babu, his wife Namrata and their two children Gautam and Sitara have done an ad together. This is the first time the family will be seen together on screen. And they are naturally very anxious to know how their fans react. Says Namrata, “We didn’t want Gautam and Sitara to face the camera so early. So when the director Yamuna Kishore who is a friend of Mahesh, came up with the idea our first instinct was to say no. But then we heard the concept and the script sounded like fun .The kids were super-excited.”
Namrata says the team behind the ad agreed to let Mahesh and his wife have the final say on the ad. “If we didn’t like what was shot they agreed not to put it out. So it was like a trial space. This is something no ad maker would do normally. I suppose because their association with Mahesh is two years old they were very considerate. They narrated the idea to Mahesh and he really liked the script. He wasn’t sure if the kids would like to be part of this. But there were most okay with it. So we said, why not?”
Most importantly Namrata wanted this opportunity for the kids to know how it felt to shoot a film. “Mahesh and I just wanted them to get a feel of the camera space. We made sure the children were comfortable. And they had a blast on the sets. This is not to say we want Gautam and Sitara to be actors. It is their choice. And there is plenty of time to decide. But they really enjoyed the experience.”
As an anxious mother Namrata admits she had her pangs on the sets, “I have to admit I was nervous about how the kids would take to the camera, how they would look on screen. Without sounding biased I must say they are natural born actors.”
Incidentally Namrata returns to the screen with this ad after 14 years. “I haven’t shot anything since my marriage to Mahesh. I gave up films very happily. I was never career-driven. And I would have given up anything to marry Mahesh. Once I was married my only priority was my husband his family. And later my two children.”
So how did it feel to be facing the camera after 14 year? “It didn’t feel strange at all. Acting is like swimming. One never forgets it. Would I consider returning to full-fledged acting? No way! I did this ad because I got a chance to work with my husband and children and I didn’t have to worry about the children because they were with us.”
Also Read: Mahesh Babu and Namrata Shirodkar to feature in commercial with their kids during Diwali
Former actress Farha and her former husband Vindoo Dara Singh are now looking at their son Fateh’s career as a leading man. And its looks this genetically privileged star-son—he is the legendary Dara Singh’s grandson and his aunt is the formidable Tabu—is all set to be the next big debutante to be launched by Bollywood’s resident Christopher Columbus. We are talking about Karan Johar, of course.
Karan’s keen eyes have fallen on Fateh and the young actor is all set to be launched in the sequel to Dostana which is now on the anvil. Says proud father Vindoo, “Fateh has worked so hard for the past 4 years in every department of acting, so hard work always pays back.”
Sources from Karan Johar’s Dharma Production say Karan Johar has met and interacted the star kid and he thinks Fateh has the potential to make as big an impact as Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra.
It’s time for more new talent to emerge from Bollywood.
Also Read: Fateh Randhawa to play second lead in Kartik Aaryan and Janhvi Kapoor starrer Dostana 2?
Former actress Farha and her former husband Vindoo Dara Singh are now looking at their son Fateh’s career as a leading man. And its looks this genetically privileged star-son—he is the legendary Dara Singh’s grandson and his aunt is the formidable Tabu—is all set to be the next big debutante to be launched by Bollywood’s resident Christopher Columbus. We are talking about Karan Johar, of course.
Karan’s keen eyes have fallen on Fateh and the young actor is all set to be launched in the sequel to Dostana which is now on the anvil. Says proud father Vindoo, “Fateh has worked so hard for the past 4 years in every department of acting, so hard work always pays back.”
Sources from Karan Johar’s Dharma Production say Karan Johar has met and interacted the star kid and he thinks Fateh has the potential to make as big an impact as Varun Dhawan and Sidharth Malhotra.
It’s time for more new talent to emerge from Bollywood.