Saturday, September 30, 2006

Superstar Shahrukh says his next movie will be a comedy


Indian cinema's superstar Shahrukh Khan says he has enough of playing nice roles.

He is now aiming for something totally wacky, like a nonsensical comedy!

Shahrukh shared his plans with Channel NewsAsia in an exclusive interview in Singapore.

The heart-throb is in Singapore as the global brand ambassador of India's second largest bank, ICICI Bank Limited.

He visited the bank's office in Republic Plaza and Raffles Place, where he met the staff and took questions on his career and his latest movie which is about to be released next month.

Shahrukh also signed autographs and posed for photographs with the staff, most of whom said it was their lifetime dream to meet the actor who has starred in nearly 60 films and has billions of fans from around the world.

Suvek Nambiar, General Manager, Chief Executive of ICICI Bank Limited (Singapore Branch), said: "He's created a terrific fan following all over the world. His appeal crosses national borders. We feel we are in the phase where we are going out; we've been in the international market for three years and the association is going to do wonders."

Shahrukh said: "As far as my greatest achievement is concerned, I like to get up in the morning and believe I yet have to do it and I truly believe that. I don't think what I have done, achieved.....rest on it...is going to achieve any purpose. I think you have to wake up every morning and say, 'ok, today I'm going to achieve the greatest thing of my life'."

You can catch more of that interview on Channel NewsAsia's Primetime Morning, soon.

Courtesy : Channel News Asia

Friday, September 29, 2006

'Stalin' does little for Chiranjeevi's image


Film - "Stalin"; Cast: Chiranjeevi, Trisha, Prakash Raj, Khushboo, Sunil, Mukesh, Pradeep, Suman and Brahmanandam; Director: A.R. Murugadoss; Producer: K. Nagendrababu; Music: Mani Sharma

"Stalin" - unlike what the title suggests - has been inspired by Hollywood hit "Pay It Forward". Director Murugadoss borrowed the basic plot from the English take, but ended up making the film too "preachy".

After a silly comedy like "Jai Chiranjeeva", superstar Chiranjeevi could have been more careful in choosing his next role. He puts up an average performance as an ex-serviceman, but the issues he confronts do not really gel with his larger-than-life screen image.

Bubbly Trisha plays the typical female lead in a hero-centric film. She chases Chiru long and hard before capturing him. But she does help to make "Stalin" less dreary.

Veteran Khushboo returns in a tearjerker role.

Villain Prakash Raj's metamorphosis as an old man is the only surprise in the film, which is otherwise loaded with stereotypes. He does impress.

Murugadoss, who showed promise in Tamil hits "Ramana" and "Ghajini", fails to live up to the expectations.

Producer Nagababu, the brother of Chiranjeevi, with classics like "Rudraveena" to his credit, attempts a commercial film, but without success.

Cinematographer Chota K. Naidu captures the various moods elegantly, while top composer Mani Sharma disappoints with ordinary tunes.

Courtesy : Telugu Portal

A Season full of Aishwarya ...

Aishwarya Rai may have lost Sexiest Aisan Woman crown to Priyanka Chopra but millions of hearts still skip the beat when Ash dazzles on silverscreen.

Come November and the talented actress would be seen in two strikingly different avtaars in Dhoom 2 and Umrao Jaan. Interestingly, Aishwarya’s look in Umrao Jaan is completely opposite of her suave and slick avtaar in Dhoom 2.


If she’s looking like a million bucks in the exquisitely designed costumes as Umrao, she’s at her sizzling best in the skimpily clad outfits in Yash Raj Film's sequel.

Anna Singh who designed clothes for the actress in Dutta's epic tells, "To dress Ash is the ultimate dream because her beauty supersedes the most stunning creation. Her costumes matched the phases of her life—from being a simple girl to the glam mujrewali Umrao Jaan Ada to her being heartbroken and finally growing old."

Even though she has not had a big hit film in a long time, yet the actress has her own high brand value. Another interesting thing is that both the films have Abhishekh Bachchan. If he’s romancing her in Umrao Jaan, he’d be seen chasing her in Dhoom 2.

The two will be also be seen together in Mani Ratnam’s Guru and Sarkar 2.

Sarkar 2’ will also be the second film to bring Amitabh Bachchan , Abhishek and Aishwarya together on the big screen. The trio previously jammed together for the song “Kajra Re” in the last year’s hit Bunty Aur Babli.

In Ramu’s film, however, their roles will be properly fleshed out. It'll show Abhishek becoming the head of the clan. Amitabh will have relatively lesser footage. Aishwarya will play the woman who loves Abhi and opposes his involvement in the underworld activities.

But will they create the Kajra Re magic again only time will tell....

Courtesy : SantaBanta

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Kamal Hassan makes changes to the Dasavatharam team


Kamal is a stickler for professionalism. His commitment for excellence is well known. It takes a special talent and equal energy levels to work with him. Those who slip on this have to make way for others who can.

Dasavatharam, Kamal magnum opus, has already seen cameraman Jeeva make way for Ravi Verman.

Now the art director has also been changed. It seems, had some disagreement as to where to source the raw material for the sets. His approach had lead to production costs shooting up.

Now, Prabhakaran has removed him. Prabhakaran had done a phenomenal job in Kamal’s Virumandi and knows the standards that Kamal expects.


Source :IndiaGlitz

Monday, September 25, 2006

Colourful Kollywood tribute to Karunanidhi


An evening of typical Kollywood bash marked the felicitation of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Saturday. Starting with music director Deva who sang with a live orchestra, the top young artists obliged the Chief Minister with a dance number or two in front of an audience of nearly 10,000 people at Nehru Indoor Stadium.

Director S.J. Surya was singing his "Kushi" number `Oru Ponnu Onu' when the Chief Minister arrived along with Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran. While contemporary stars performed on stage, it was up to the yesteryear artists to do the compering.

Cheran introduced the song written by Pa.Vijay, set to the music by Vidyasagar and danced by visually and physically challenged persons while Sathyaraj announced the fusion dance by children. Dance master Lawrence ably choreographed the dance.

Ramesh Khanna compered the `Manjal Veil' song-and-dance routine from "Vettaiyadu Villaiyadu" performed by Prasanna and Sindhu Dulani. Loud cheers went up when Kushboo announced Sibi and Nandhitha would perform Sibi's Student No.1 song `Mammy Chellama'.

More details.... from The Hindu

Sunday, September 24, 2006

STALIN sets Foreign Shores (Screens) Afire


Unlike in the Indian Sub continent, in most foreign countries watching movies is largely confined to weekends.

If the swelling crowds near 18 cinemas in as many cities of USA are anything to go by on Wednesday, 20th September, one would conclude that the Megastar has perfected the art of bettering his best. Incidentally Stalin's first day net aggregate revenues exceeded 50 million INR all over.

In USA, a total of 6021 people have watched STALIN on day 1. The movie was screened in 15 locations on day 1. Apart from these 15, the movie will be screened in 15 more locations by the end of the first week.

A total of 12200 online tickets are sold through secondshows.com, out of which 4000 were sold on the release day - Wednesday alone.

For the first time a Telugu film had a simultaneous premier in Sydney, when STALIN was screened at 10.30 pm at the World Cinema theatre, to a packed crowd of 320. All the shows scheduled for 22nd to 25th in both Sydney and China town cinemas- Melbourne are sold out.

In the Middle East, STALIN premiered in Kuwait on 20th to an astounding crowd of 1500. Shows are scheduled in Dubai, Sharjah, Ras-al-Khiemah, Masqat and Kuwait from 21st onwards.



Courtesy : totaltollywood.com

Amitabh Bachchan now a Ghost!


Amitabh Bachchan will soon be seen in the role of a ghost in Ravi Chopra’s next production Bhootnath that will be directed by Vivek Sharma.

Courtesy : Desifans.com