BOLLYWOOD COLUMN
BY RAJNISH SHARMA & GITANJALI CHAK
(COURTESY KHABAR,ATLANTA, US)
Big B in Clint Eastwood’s shoes
After mesmerizing audiences with his superlative act in Black, Amitabh Bachchan
is getting ready to step into Clint Eastwood’s shoes. Yes, the Chopras of Baghban fame are set to remake
Eastwood’s The Bridges of Madison County in which he had acted as the dashing drifter who had swept Meryl Streep, a lonely
housewife, off her feet. And no prizes for guessing who Big B’s leading lady
will be — Hema Malini, of course! After Baghban, the two seem to be the hottest
post-mid age couple in filmdom and in Bachchan’s own words: “Hemaji is after
all, an exquisitely beautiful woman and we’re family friends. I'd like to believe that some of the warmth we share in real life spills over onscreen.”
Amitabh and Hema will also be seen in Babul. But don’t expect too many mushy
moments in this one. For here they play a couple ideologically divided on the issue of their
daughter-in-law’s remarriage. Incidentally, Bipasha Basu’s real life love John Abraham will be playing Rani Mukherjee’s second husband in the
film.
Kareena’s tryst with Don
Remember the yesteryears’ blockbuster Don with Big B and Zeenat
Aman in the lead roles? Well, there is a strong buzz that the film is being remade with Shah Rukh
Khan and is to be directed by none other than Farhan Akhtar. But according to the producer Ritesh Sidhwani, his Don shares nothing but its title with the 70s’
superhit. Guess one will have to wait and watch. And yes, there’s naturally no
Zeenie Baby this time, but Kareena Kapoor who stars opposite her Don.
While on Kareena, the actress is in the august company of Aamir
Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee. Like them before her, she simply can’t get over her
recent meeting with the jawans guarding India’s borders. “It has been the most
enriching experience of my life. They are the real heroes. We are just playing a
role out here,” gushes Bebo.
Jackie Shroff is Bhoot Uncle
This is for all you fans of Jackie Shroff who’ve been wondering where Jaggu dada
has been all this while. Well, after Devdas, Jackie has been perfecting his avuncular act for he will be back soon as… guess what — Bhoot Uncle! The last
time that he entertained kids was in Rakesh Roshan’s musical King Uncle and now
in his new avatar, Jackie plays a dead man who returns to take care of his children. The film which will be directed by Neeraj Pathak, will mark the debut
of singer-actor Baba Sehgal.
Talking of Rakesh Roshan, he has finally decided to call his next movie Krrish,
with his son Hrithik playing the title role of a superhuman character in it. Of
course, it is to be seen if his jaadu will work in this sequel to Koi Mil Gaya
too.
Mallika wishes she Cannes make it
Mallika Sherawat can’t stop smiling these days. The sex symbol has been invited
by Jackie Chan to accompany him to the Cannes Film Festival in May. The question
is: Cannes it all work out? There’ll be a party for The Myth on May 17. “I can’t
believe I’m being launched internationally by Jackie Chan. I really want to meet
Salma Hayek and Julianne Moore,” exclaims an excited Mallika. If it does work
out, it would be an interesting scenario indeed: A Chinese superstar introducing
an Indian actress to the American glitterati in the heart of France!
Mum’s the word!
Close on the heels of Madhuri Dixit Nene delivering her second baby, Karisma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon too became proud mothers. Both Lolo and Ravs gave
birth to baby girls in Mumbai in March. Congratulations!
MOVIE UPDATE
Director Tanuja Chandra's next venture Runway to be shot in a Gujarat village,
is based on the upheavals of the 1971 India-Pakistan war as witnessed by a woman. Sushmita Sen and Jackie Shroff will be starring in the "emotionally
intense" film which will be subtitled in several languages for global appeal. Chandra's other film Hope And A Little Sugar is also in the final stages of post-production. However, her Film Star is yet to be cleared for release.
Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai have been finalized for Rajkumar Santoshi's biopic
on Prithviraj Chauhan. The film will now be shot in Jaipur and Jodhpur. Ajay also has Karan Johar’s Kaal and Prakash Jha’s Apaharan in his kitty.
Chandraprakash Dwivedi, who made his big-screen directorial debut in 2003 with
the award-winning adaptation of Amrita Pritam’s celebrated Partition epic, Pinjar, is now working on a script woven around the life and work of Urdu short
story writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Manto chronicled the anguish and madness of the
post-Independence communal riots better and more starkly than anybody other writer.
Sanjay Dutt has reportedly been signed for a sequel to the mega hit Munnabhai MBBS. The Vinod Chopra film has been tentatively titled Lage Raho Munnabhai.
Cricket legend Kapil Dev is all set to make a debut in Hindi films. He will play
himself in a film on cricket to be produced by Subhash Ghai. Meanwhile, a film
on the life of Hansie Cronje, the late South African captain, will be shot in India, South Africa, Australia and England, but will not feature.any former or
existing players. The movie will feature the life of the once-revered national
captain from his childhood in Bloemfontein to the plane crash that killed him in
2002. The lead actor has not been finalized yet.
Shekhar Kapur’s first film to be shot in North America, Solace will star Bruce Willis. He will play a doctor with psychic powers in it. Kapur is also making a movie on Nelson Mandela, A Long Walk to Freedom.
MOVIE REVIEW
Lucky: No Time For Love
Starring: Salman Khan, Sneha Ullal, Mithun Chakraborty
Directors: Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru Music Director: Adnan Sami
Set against the romantic and majestic backdrop of St. Petersburg, Lucky is a love story with a difference, however clichéd that might sound. You see, the
heroine is a schoolgirl in pigtails and tartan skirts. And yes, her likeness to
Salman Khan’s erstwhile lady love Aishwarya Rai is uncanny. And no, Lucky is not
Salman’s but Sneha’s name in the film.
Lucky is trapped in some kind of a civil war that suddenly breaks across the serene Russian landscape. She takes refuge in fellow countryman Aditya’s (Salman
Khan’s) car and the two keep running from eerie graveyards to theater galleries
and cattle trains to reach home. Amidst all this, an Intelligence guy, the mysterious PD (Mithun Chakraborty) keeps surfacing off and on to help the duo.
As a schoolgirl, Sneha is adequately gauche, as the leading lady of a Bollywood
film, she shows promise, and as a fresh face, she is actually dewy. Sallu treats
her almost as a daddy would his favourite daughter. Calls her aap, sits thirty
paces away from her and often berates her. Sneha’s sequences with Salman, in the
post-interval portions especially, are cute. Salman Khan handles the emotional
part with amazing maturity. But Mithun Chakraborty, thanks to his badly written
role, comes across more as a buffoon than an Intelligence officer. His portions
seem forced in the screenplay.
Adnan Sami's lyrical melodies are soul-stirring. In fact, Lucky had everything
going for it — fresh pairing, breathtaking locales (cinematography by Sudeep
Chatterjee is brilliant), great action and melodious music — but the film slips
in the most crucial department: the screenplay and dialogues which are often pedestrian. Besides, what is the idea behind making the characters talk in
Russian to a large extent? With no sub-titles, how do the makers expect the
Hindi-speaking audiences to fathom what's being said?
Watch Lucky to enjoy the interesting juxtaposition of Salman’s brawn against
Sneha’s endearing innocence.
Current Top 10 Songs
1. Sun Zara (Lucky)
2. Tauba Tauba (Kaal)
3. Tinka Tinka (Karam)
4. Ek Bewafa Hai (Bewafaa)
5. Main Yahan Hoon (Veer-Zaara)
6. Dhoom Macha Le (Dhoom)
7. Bheege Honth (Murder)
8. Khoya Khoya (Shabd)
9. Let’s Play Holi (Waqt)
10. Yuhin Chala Chal (Swades)
Current Top 10 Movies
1. Lucky — No Time For Love
2. Black
3. Zeher
4. Tango Charlie
5. Page 3
6. Bewafaa
7. Socha Na Tha
8. Karam
9. Shabd
10. Fun Can Be Dangerous Sometimes
BOLLYWOOD PACKAGE BY GITANJALI CHAK & RAJNISH SHARMA
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