Sunday, October 5, 2008

Royal Bachchan snub to Salman Khan at ‘Drona’ premiere

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After Shah Rukh-Salman rift, our Bollywood has become the centre of conspiracies, face-offs, ego-clashes and what not. Clearly, the industry has been divided into two camps, that of SRK and Salman and the battle is going on. In this hotchpotch, Bachchans are the ones, who are making the most of these fights. They are relentlessly wooed by King Khan as well as Sallu Miyan, but a recent incident showed that SRK has an edge over his rival, when it comes to endearing the Bachchans. Amitabh extended an invitation to him for the premiere of Abhishek’s ‘Drona’, but completely ignored Salman.

It can be argued that Sallu was away for a shoot in London, but the invite was not extended to his family as well. Talking to a news daily, a source said, "That's true. Salman was not invited. As far as the film's makers (the Behls) were concerned no one who insults their family, gets invited to a big day in their life. The Bachchans are more than family to Goldie and Shrishti Behl."

According to sources, during the Khan Vs Khan face-off, Salman’s camp spread rumours that SRK made an inappropriate comment about Aishwarya Rai. But apparently, Amitabh did not believe the rumour-mills and called up Shah Rukh to invite him to the premiere. The rumours, spread about Ash did not go well with the senior Bachchan and he just ignored Salman and his family. Anyway, Ash was spared the embarrassment of having to face her ex-lover.

Meanwhile, the King Khan made the most of the opportunity, he appeared at his congenial best and threw an impromptu Eid party to further strengthen ties with Bachchans. Smart move Shah Rukh and Sallu, something is burning…

Salman Khan charms Punjabi fans

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Salman has a huge fan following wherever he goes, with or without his shirt on. When he returned to Punjab to complete the shooting schedule of Heroes, the buzz his arrival generated in the small village of Gharuan was phenomenal.

The location for the song Mannata was at the Akalgarh Sahib Gurudwara. The crew arrived at 5.30 am and by 8 am, word had spread like wild fire. When Salman arrived at the location, the crowd went berserk!

Director Samir Karnik recalls, "The children climbed the walls of the Gurudwara just to get a glimpse of him, the effect he had on the people was amazing. I have never seen anything like this before. Salman’s presence was larger than life. Somehow, the entire village and the surrounding villages got news of the shoot and we had an army of people pushing at the gates to get in and watch the shoot, We had to call in the police to handle the crowd and soon, they were out numbered too. It was sheer madness!"

But the best was yet to come. When Salman alighted from the vanity van dressed as a Sikh man, complete with the turban and the beard, the people greeted him saying "satsriakal praji" as he walked by and he would greet them back in character with the Punjabi accent.

Samir says, "That is the power of his performance, people would ask the crew, ‘Who is this new actor?’ and on hearing that it was Salman, the look in their eyes was priceless. However, Salman did not restrict his role to just the look of his character. He ensured that the entire cast and crew abided with the basic rules of the Sikh faith, which included not smoking and that meant no cigarette packets were carried on location."

We can only hope that the cinema halls will see the same mad rush with the release of the film Heroes.

John and Abhishek were cool acting gay!

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Dostana's director says Bollywood Hotmen John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan were not uncomfortable essaying their gay roles. Tarun Mansukhani, whose directorial debut is releasing on 14th November 2008, was assistant director to the films like Mohabattein and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. We spoke to Tarun about the movie.

Q: How did you meet Karan Johar?

A: “My sister and Karan were school friends. When Karan decided to start his film career, he asked my sister if I would be interested. In those days, Karan and I were assisting Anand Mahendru Sir in Dekh Bhai Dekh. During Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna when I was AD, I gave him the script of Dostana. He asked me to improve upon the script and this brings my first ever film.”

Q: What is Dostana about?

A: “It is about three friends -- Abhishek Bachchan(Sameer), John Abraham(Kunal) and Priyanka Chopra (Neha). Abhishek plays a male nurse at a hospital in Miami, John is a photographer, who is an illegal immigrant in Miami and Priyanka works with the Verve magazine in Miami. The story is about how the three strangers come together, live together in an apartment and have their moments of happiness and sorrow.”

Q: Do you think that this Gay concept will work among the Indian masses?

A: “This concept is not new in India though its bold concept and I think it’s the issue that needs to be touched upon while in Dostana both Abhishek and John act gay which will surely be remembered as the Kantaben of Kal Ho Naa Ho.”





Q: How did John and Abhishek react on knowing they had to act gay?

A: “They are cool, open-minded people and lives in the modern world and I remember I had narrated the story to John, he laughed and said, 'should I do this with Abhishek?' and that is all. Neither of them had any doubts.

Q: The old Dostana film had Amitabh Bachchan-Shatrugan Sinha in tough - guy roles. How is yours similar to it?

A: “No, this film and that film is completely different as the old Dostana is legend and I hope this film will also work as its tribute to Yash Johar uncle.”

Q: There are two item numbers by Shilpa Shetty and SRK, tell us about those.

A: “It’s not item numbers as both these songs will surely be the highlight of the film. I know SRK since Mohabattein and so I asked him during Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna to be part of my film and he said yes without any hesitation.”

Q: So, after Dostana what’s next?

A: “Let this movie get release then only I will work for another and it will under Dharma productions.”

Sallu hates romancing Katrina

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Off-screen love couples are the most cashable actors these days. Their demand is enormous and they are selling like hot cakes. They are the first preference of any filmmakers and the couples are taking full advantage of their togetherness and get busy signing films where they will get the opportunity to show their real love in reel. But there is one actor who not only hates to display his love in public but hates to love his real life beau on-screen. He is so called the bad boy of Bollywood, Salman Khan.

Yes, it is true that Salman hates romancing Katrina in films and never signs films where he requires shooting an intimate scene with his ladylove. Salman never attempts to make any public display of his personal emotions and always prefers to keep low-profile. Speaking to a news daily, the actor said, "I know who I like in my real life. The world doesn’t have to see me expressing my love for someone on screen! I am not very comfortable enacting intimate scenes onscreen for this very reason."

Salman has shared screen space with Katrina many times but never paired with her. In Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, Salman found real love in Sushmita and in Partner he romanced Lara while Govinda walked away with Katrina.

May be this is the reason why in spite of so much brawl, Kat and Sallu never loses their popularity.

Bollywood king Akshay Kumar performs daredevil feats

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To celebrate the festive season, Thums Up, India’s largest Cola brand is all set to launch a new look “Taste The Thunder” communication initiative. The launch of the new integrated marketing communication plan includes airing a powerful TV commercial, featuring Bollywood King, “Akshay Kumar”. The Thums Up brand ambassador is seen performing adventurous and thrilling feats like mountaineering and rollercoaster ride and reaching out for his Thums Up. The latest communication initiative brings out the “Anything For Thunder” attitude of the Indian male. The integrated communication initiative is shot in two series on a never-before seen scale and uses latest cutting edge computer graphics.

According to Kashmira Chadha, Director Marketing, Coca-Cola India “The latest Thums Up initiative being launched during the festive season aims at portraying the anything for my thunder attitude of the Indian male. He is a person who will do anything to get his favorite soft drink. Nothing can come in between him and his Thums Up. To drive this message, an integrated communication plan, involving both above and below the line initiatives are being rolled out.”

In addition to leveraging mass media, integrated communication plan is complimented by a range of on the ground initiatives - road shows and contests across all key markets. Conceptualized by Leo Burnett’s Executive Creative Director Sainath Saraban and shot by Malaysian Director, Farouk Aljoffrey. A similar initiative for Thums Up has been launched in the South market featuring Tollywood Super Star Mahesh Babu.

According to Bollywood King and Thums Up Brand Ambassador, Akshay Kumar, “It feels great to be associated with a brand like Thums Up. It is a brand which is all about energy and a go getting spirit, these are qualities which I closely identify with. What excites me even more is the thunderous taste experience offered by Thums Up. It is an experience which I am sure, would find a special appeal amongst all my fans in the festive season.”

The TV commercial shot in two series revolves around thrilling feats being performed by Akshay Kumar to get hold of his favorite soft drink-Thums Up. In the first film, a Thums Up bottle is about to fall into an abyss over a cliff, when Akshay Kumar, in a Mountain gear, jumps over the cliff to grab his bottle of Thums Up.

In the second film a Thums Up bottle falls from a rollercoaster and Akshay performs a brave feat by catching his bottle of Thums Up, while sitting in a rollercoaster. Both these adventurous feats bring out the “Anything For Thunder” attitude of the Indian male.

Commenting on the films, Sainath Saraban, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, said: “A Thums Up drinker’s thirst for his Thums Up is very different from any other thirst, which is why the challenge this time was to do something bigger and better than last year. And in this film we feel we have something that truly lives up to the stature of Thums Up. The stunts are amazing in the two part series. It’s unlike any other Thums Up film you would have ever seen.”