Film Industry

Remember the earlier Hema Malini film (that starred Shah Rukh Khan and Divya Bharti) called Dil Aashna Hai? It's a story about this girl who is on a mission to find out who her real parents are and goes through various experiences which forms the storyline of the film. In this film too, the basic storyline is the same. Esha Deol learns that a tragedy had separated her from her real parents and so she embarks on a journey to find her them. The same old plot — now rehashed into a better one. This time, in her effort to find her real parents, Esha first goes to Rajasthan (meets Vinod Khanna), then to Turkey (meets Rishi Kapoor) and finally comes to Goa (meets Dharmendra) to find the answer to the question 'Mere Daddy Kaun?'. The film would have been a good film had there not been some basic flaws.
One, there is too much focus on Esha. The film revolves so much on her that there is actually no hero in the film. In the earlier film too, Shah Rukh played a friend to 'father-finder' Divya, but here Arjan Bajwa's role is reduced to even less than a character actor's, and is equal to his colleague Chandan Roy's role (playing Esha's friend).
Two, the film is slow. Esha cries so much in the first few scenes that you feel like saying 'It's okay! This is Hindi cinema. It happens, baby. Now get on with it.' Even the scenes where the film should be lightning fast (like the camel race sequence), is surprisingly slow.
Three, the film's climax has Dharmendra, Farroukh Sheikh, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor facing the villains. It was definitely a challenge for these 'heroes' to do the action sequences and the dummies were too fast to not be recognised. Hema too returns in the climax to claim her space during the climax. Some young blood would have helped here of course.
A little bit of tweak here and there and the film could have been a far better. It would have scored better had it been a single release, but then, it decided to compete with Ra.One.

Shah Rukh Khan and director Anubhav Sinha seemed to have cared a damn as they have borrowed in generous doses from wherever they felt it was necessary for their own magnum opus. The biggest inspiration seems to be Terminator 2 — right from the black sunglasses, the villain chasing a kid and running into his saviour, the signature neck movement of the villain, bike chase sequences, the villain running faster than a car, the robot eye scanning, liquid metal fusing back to form the villain's shattered body, the robot imitating human acts and emotions, the disfigured face before the final fight… the list is endless and this Hollywood film's remnants are sprinkled lavishly all through the movie.
Shah Rukh and Anubhav have genuienly done their best to make a Bollywood version of an American superhero. Shah rukh, ofcourse, has u sed all his 'connections' to increase the star value of the film (remember the Om Shanti Om song?) so there's Amitabh Bachchan lending his voice, Rajinikanth making an appearance as Chitti (his Robot avtar), Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra too.
This he has topped up with his SRK sense of humour that will leave you smirking (At one point he fights three female warriors, who he calls sisters of Bruce Lee, named Iski Lee, Uski Lee and Sabki Lee). Corny jokes, many of them cliched too, hilarious situations — some forced, some natural, an assortment of stars, top-of-the-line special effects, action — the film has not left out on any department to cash in on the popularity scale (it's the costliest Bollywood film, after all). The storyline is also very simple: The guy is a clumsy geek who can't seem to get anything right and is trying real hard to be a hero for his own son. He builds a videogame and the villain jumps out of it into reality…
But the real story is the way the film is carried forward and the special effects. Barring the sequence where CST station is shown crumbling down (it's a Mumbai landmark associated with a recent tragedy, the superhero should have saved it, but surprisingly he doesn't), all the special effects are a visual treat. Arjun Rampal disappoints a bit, while Kareena looks good. The film's 'science fundas' have been simplified for the aam janta.
So, go ahead and watch it. It's worth a worth. It might be not be a good idea to watch it for the second time around though.

all out to celebrate Diwali and the festive
season this time around. Quite unlike last
year, when the actor was stranded at the
Singapore airport, this year she’s excited
about getting to celebrate it with her family
right here in the city. Says a source
close to the star, “This time Bipasha was
keen on making sure that she got to bring
in Diwali with her loved ones. So she even
wrapped up her shoots in Greece to make
it back home in time.”

According to the source, Bipasha’s
quite a home-bird when it comes to festivals
and takes part in the household
chores too. “Despite returning from a grueling
schedule, she immediately got busy
with the decoration of the house, including
the cleaning up part,” the source
adds.

What’s making the festivities all the
more special for her is the fact that she’s
recently also gifted her parents a new
house quite near to her own residence.
Tweeting about it, she wrote: “I feel very
happy as I bought another house for my
Mom and Dad. Now they will be living
very close to me.” The actor admits that
she’s having a lot of fun this time
around, now that she’s celebrating with
her family. “I love this entire festive season,
right from Ganeshotsav, Durga
Puja, Dussehra, Navratri, Diwali and
now Bhai dooj… it’s beautiful,” she says.

Why so secretive, Aamir?

The actor is keeping the details of his upcoming show, as well as his films a closely guarded secret



His contemporaries — actors Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have already got a firm foothold in Tellyland. But that hasn't deterred actor Aamir Khan from making plans of debuting on the small screen as a host and also as a producer. The latest actor to join the TV star bandwagon, Aamir however confesses that it wasn't an easy decision to make, as he doesn't know much about TV shows and the industry. However, now that he is set to come up with his show soon, the non-conformist actor-filmmaker is keeping the details of his upcoming show a secret, just like his roles in his upcoming films and even their titles.
The star is secretive and is keeping mum on his show's concept or what it will be called. "Firstly, my show isn't like Oprah (Oprah Winfrey's chat show)! I hardly have seen that show. When I was in America, I must have watched it a couple of times, but that's it. And of whatever I recollect of it, my show isn't like it. In fact, my show is a different concept and not ripped off from anything, therefore I have been intellectually and personally challenged more than ever. But I have not come to a conclusion about the name of the show yet, so I can't say anything on that for now," says Aamir.
Ask him about his upcoming film starring actors Rani Mukerji and Kareena Kapoor and Aamir quips, "I'm not very good at marketing. So I don't know if I should even start talking about a film that will only release in June. And as far as the name of the film is concerned, it's a suspense thriller. And hence we thought for a suspense film, why not keep the name of the film in suspense for now. Film's name apart, my show's name too is in suspense for now, so suddenly I feel that there is too much of a suspense in my life."
As for his debut on TV, Aamir feels that may be the beginner's charm would make things right. "Every thing has two sides — good and the bad. Likewise in my case too, there are a few drawbacks. One of them is that I don't know much about TV industry, I lack in terms of knowledge. And the advantage is that because I don't know much, I will love to do things my way. But then that sometimes surprises people around and they tell me it doesn't happen like this here. So I question them back and ask why it doesn't happen this way here?" he smiles.

Sibling Love

B-Town gears up to celebrate Bhai-dooj on Friday, a festival which marks the end of Diwali



Diwali is that time of the year when people spend time with their families and soak up the festive spirit. Just after Dhanteras and Laxmi puja, comes Bhau beej or Bhai dooj, which marks the end of the five-day affair. The festival is essentially celebrated by Hindus and it is on this day that sisters pray for their brothers' long life and happiness. The brothers, in turn, gift their sisters something special.
In B-Town too, Bhai dooj is also an important aspect for actors and their siblings in Bollywood, especially for actor Tusshar Kapoor and his sister producer Ekta Kapoor. Though Tusshar confesses to not being a very firm believer in rituals and traditions, he still celebrates Bhai dooj each year without fail with Ekta. According to Tusshar, the TV czarina is the more sincere of the two, as Ekta is the one who diligently follows all the customs and traditions.
"Each year we have a Bhai dooj puja which Ekta does in the morning. She is very particular about all these rituals, and makes sure she does it each year. Though I am not very cued into all this, I do it for her sake. She does the aarti and then I have to touch her feet. It is all in good fun", he says about the Bhai dooj celebrations at his house.
One thing Tusshar is very particular about is giving sister Ekta a special gift. "I make sure I give her something she wants or likes. It could be cash or I just take her out and she buys whatever she feels like. I do it each year but this year I haven't yet thought of what I should gift her. I will think of something," he adds.

Who's the real story-teller?


Stories of reputed directors getting 'inspired' by newcomers and then completely forgetting about them abound in Bollywood. But when it involves a filmmaker like Imtiaz Ali and his film Rockstar with Ranbir Kapoor in it, it is a little hard to digest.
Apparently, when Imtiaz visited filmmaker Subhash Ghai's acting institute some years back, he met a struggling scriptwriter called Muazzam Beg, who was working with Ghai. Everyone was aware that he had written a great script and was looking out for a director turn into a film. Imtiaz, apparently, called Muazzam to listen to the story. It was over several cups of coffee and hours that the struggling writer narrated the story, most of which were his personal experiences. Imtiaz, apparently, said that the story must be turned into a film.
"Rockstar is the first story I ever wrote. I believe that every writer starts writing something based on his own personal experiences, Rockstar is the birth of my own experiences of heart break. It is the interpretation of my own journey when I was studying film making in Jamia Milia. I got an opportunity to narrate this story to Imtiaz Ali when I was working with as an in-house writer for Subhash Ghai's production. Nothing much happened that time, but later a production house decided to make the film with John Abraham playing the lead protagonist 'Rockstar' in it. Unfortunately, the project got shelved. I reworked on the story and decided that I will not allow it to get shelved and make a movie on it in the future," says Muazzam.
"Before the release of Love Aaj Kal, Imtiaz called me for a meeting. He said that 'if you are not making Rockstar, I will make it. Because this story is so close to my heart.' He wanted to write the screenplay on his own and said that he didn't want to hear my version of the screenplay… Imitaz is one of my favourite directors and a person who understands the emotion of love so well that I gave the story to him and sacrificed my own wish to make the film on it."
So what is it that Muazzam wants now? He says that he only wants 'due credits.' He wants people to know that he had written and conceived the story.
"Even now my friends call me up and say 'Arrey yeh tera college wala kahani hai na? Tera naam kidhaar hai?' I keep quiet as I want Imtiaz to answer to them," says the writer.