New Year’s eve happens to be a big time event for everyone- for the urban crowd who gets to do some hip-shaking with the view of his or hers favorite Bollywood star’s performance and for the Bollywood babes who pocket in a lucrative sum for a few minutes performance. Take a look at this:
Dusky beauty Bipasha Basu (who is making a new year performance for the first time this year) is reportedly charging Rs. 90 Lakhs for her performance at J.W.Mariott, Juhu.
The Drama Queen Rakhi Sawant alongwith her boyfriend, Abhishek Awasthi, and DJ Whosane will also be performing on New Year’s Eve at Tulip Star Hotel, Juhu. Rakhi is reported to have charged the organizers a whopping Rs. 51 lakhs for her performance.
Next in the queue are Koena Mitra and Tanushree Dutta, who will be joined along with the songster Mika in Sahara Star, Mumbai. Koena is supposedly charging the organizers Rs 27 lakhs for her 16 minute performance whereas Tanushree Dutta has been signed for Rs 15 lakhs for her 24 minutes performance.
There are other celebs too performing at different cities and charging as per their popularity. Amrita Arora (performing in Bangalore) is charging 12 lakhs, Malaika Arora (performing in Delhi) is charging 25-30 lakhs, Neha Dhupia (performing in Ahmedabad) is charging 15-20 lakhs, and Mahima Choudhary (performing in Kolkatta) is charging 5 lakhs.
With the start being this, the year will definitely bring further surprises for these Bollywood bombshells!
Things seemed starry for the newcomer Deepika Padukone when she was chosen for Hrithik Roshan’s next after a dizzing success of her debut ‘OSO’.
However, the film which is based on Latin dance, requires the leading lady to be skilled in Salsa. Where Hrithik’s dancing skills need no mention, Deepika failed to impress the Roshans on the dance floor. So, Deepika was opted out of this movie which will be directed by Anurag Basu.
To cheer up the lady, Rakesh Roshan has promised her that she would soon be signing their next production. How very kind of Mr. Roshan, right!
‘Nach Baliye 3’ has done to Sanjeeda Sheikh what ‘Jhalak Dikhlaja’ did to Prachi Desai. The winner of the dance competition has bagged in her ticket to Bollywood.
White Feathers team is producing ‘Paankh’ and they have roped in Sanjeeda for the movie. Bips will be adding star value to ‘Paankh’, and Sanjeeda will be seen playing a teenager, who is forced by her mom to join Bollywood.
Sanjeeda began her career as an ‘extra’ i.e. as a supporting dancer to the main lead. Then she got her break in the small screen with the lead role in Ekta Kapoor’s ‘Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka’. Now, after winning ‘Nach’ she gets a break in Bollywood.
Meanwhile, the director is reconsidering the script to rope in a dance number for Sanjeed in the movie. With her dancing talents receiving rave reviews, the director surely would want to cash it in.
She has just finished her shooting as a battered wife for Deepa Mehta’s ‘Heaven On Earth’ and now, actress Preity Zinta is off to Phuket, Thailand with her friends to welcome the new year.
Shooting for the film has drained Preity emotionally and she needs a break badly. “Deepa Mehta and ‘Heaven On Earth’ have proved eye openers for me. But the film was tough on me emotionally. In the month that I was in Toronto, I went out just twice and that too to maintain my sanity. I really need a break now,” says Preity.
Preity had only one release this year, “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ which bombed at the box-office. Preity will return from her vacation in the second week of January with a clear date diary.
“I haven’t said yes to any of the scripts I’ve heard. I’ll take a call when I return from my holiday. But yes, 2007 has been my year of unconventional films. So 2008 will probably be a year of hardcore masala movies,” adds the bubbly actress.
The little birdie is carrying it around that Bipasha Basu walked out of ‘Raaz 2’ because she did not want to pair opposite Emraan Hashmi. This has obviously hurt Emraan who has just returned from a 45-day schedule in South Africa for his forthcoming project ‘Jaanat’.
Emraan retorts, “Once the script is approved, we will start shooting. As far as Bipasha is concerned, it’s her creative liberty and decision who she wants to work with. My life doesn’t stop with her not being a part of my films.”
“I don’t care in the least who does Raaz 2. I am doing the film, I like my role and the film will do well with or without her!” adds the serial kisser of Bollywood.
Anyway, the actor beams talking about Vishesh Films’ ‘Jannat’, “Jannat’s tagline says in search of heaven he found hell. It’s a love story and will go down well with the youth.”
National Award winning director Shyam Benegal is busy these days in completing his romantic comedy ‘Mahadev’. After this project, Benegal is keen on making a big budget film based on the life of Gautam Buddha.
And guess who with play this lifetime role of Lord Buddha? It will be none other than the actor who will hit the screens soon in the role of ‘Akbar’. Yes, Benegal is interested in signing Hrithik Roshan for the role as he thinks that Hrithik’s face has a calm serenity and he is perfectly suited to play the role of Buddha.
Roshan has been approached by the filmmaker and the actor has expressed interest in the project and has asked for its script. Benegal and his team of writers are now putting the script together.
Shyam Benegal wants to start the film next year. By then, Hrithik also would have recuperated from his knee injury because of which Hrithik has taken 2-3 months’ break from work.
These days it is all about promotion of films. Now, the team of Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan starrer ‘Halla Bol’ has come up with a unique way of promoting their film. Instead of holding press conferences in five-star hotels or visiting plush multiplexes, the stars of the film will come down on the streets and perform plays to promote their film.
The plays will have subjects in tow with the film dealing with some social problem - be it eve-teasing, corruption, municipal problems or lack of proper healthcare for the poor. The plays will be performed on the streets of main cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata.
This unique promotion idea comes with the fact that the movie has Ajay Devgan and Pankaj Kapur as theatre actors who perform plays on the streets on several social issues. So the producer thought of promoting the film in the same way.
Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, ‘Halla Bol’ will hit the theatres on January 11, 2008.
Things are finally happening for the Sherawat girl. After receiving applauds for her performance in the hit ‘Welcome’, the jat girl is being considered for a leading role in director Kundan Shah’s political satire that he has been working on for many years
The film will be a satirical humour dealing with the story of a prostitute who is on the run. She goes through many testing circumstances and eventually becomes the chief minister of a state.
However, Mallika has not yet signed the dotted line. Even, Shah hasn’t yet confirmed Mallika’s presence in the film. All he says is that the cast is being finalized.
The debutants made a cute on-screen couple in ‘Saawariya’. Now the star kids Sonam Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor are heading towards an off-screen romance too.
Insiders reveal that Sonam and Ranbir are seeing each other. Recently Ranbir and Sonam were spotted at a five star hotel walking in together, holding hands. A source claims “Ranbir and Sonam were absolutely not conscious of the fact that they were holding hands. They were completely at ease. It was obvious that they are in love.”
The duos families’ friendship dates back to a long time. However, the love-birds built a rapport during the shooting of SLB’s ‘Saawariya’. Now-a-days Sonam makes frequent visits to Kapoor House and has grown quite comfortable with mom Neetu who admits that the kids go out together often.
2007 was a great year for Bollywood at box office with big banners taking most of the cream. If we look at the hits of 2007, OSO definitely is quite a few leaps ahead of all others. Let us brief it out along with the others:
Om Shanti Om
This was a mega hit of 2007 both within India and abroad. It’s perfect marketing strategy, the hype of reviving the golden past, the magic of SRK, the perfection of Farah Khan and the surprise package of Deepika Padukone oozing freshness and diva like appeal- all added up to make the film a huge hit.
Chak De India
This was another hit from SRK. The film is unique in itself owing to the fact that it has no female lead to add glamour and also dealt with a sport (hockey) which is not a big craze among an average Indian. Nevertheless, the perfect handling of the subject made it a surprise hit of 2007.
Partner
The magical combination of Govinda and Salman Khan worked wonders and this unofficial comeback of Govinda set the cash registers ringing for the producers. The film had foot tapping musical scores and gorgeous Katrina Kaif to add up to the factors contributing to it’s success.
Heyy Babyy
2007 was definitely an year of Akshay Kumar who emerged as the king of comedies in the year. Though Vidya Balan’s makeover look aroused negative critisicms, the film managed to come across as a majot hit of the year.
Namaste London
Talking about Akshay Kumar, this again was an average hit which dealt with the subject of romantic comedy. Along with Partner and Welcome, this added to make a hattrick of hits for Katrina Kaif in 2007.
Bhool Bhulaiyan
The magic of Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan worked yet again in ‘Bhool Bhulaiyan’ which was an experiment in the sense that it successfully managed to balance thriller with comedy.
Guru
This was undoubtedly the best movie of 2007 which gave a lifetime performance from Abhishek Bachchan blending well with a mature delivery from Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan). The year also saw this on-screen couple tying knots in real life too amidst much hype making them the most talked about couple of the year.
Jab We Met
Last but not the least, making it’s way to the top 10 was this love story from Imtiaz Ali. How much and in what way, the breakup of Shahid- Kareena affected the movie, is still to be worked out, but the movie managed to carved it’s niche at the box-office owing to the freshness and a superb performance from Kareena and Shahid.
After losing the Best Jodi title in Nach Baliye 3, prime contender Rakhi Sawant burst into tears and vanished away with her boyfriend. They did not even listen to special guest, Salman Khan’s request when he requested them to show some sporting spirit and come on to the stage. She did not even accept her silver trophy.
Later Rakhi went crazy and started blabbering, “I have been used. My name has been used. The results were pre-decided. It was fixed. I gave my everything to the show.”
Rakhi also complains that she did not win because she is not a ‘bahu’ in any serial, “I wonder why outsiders are taken if a serial’s bahu is only supposed to win. Even if Aamir Ali takes seven births, he cannot compete with my partner Abhishek Awasthi.”
A suburban Mumbai’s 7 star hotel was in news recently for denying entry to three Marathi actors because of their Kolhapuri chappals. Now, Celina Jaitley faces a tinge of racism in the same hotel where she went into the sports’ lounge with a gay foreigner friend of hers.
There a German guy made obscene gestures at her. Later he came upto her to tell her in German in picturesque detail what he’d like to do to her. Celina asked the hotel’s authorities to deal with the situation, since they hadn’t allowed her bodyguard in, but they coolly said that they did not even know him.
That was it. Celina left that day but returned the next day with three vans of cops, got the man out of his room and confronted him.
“He fell to his knees and cried and begged saying he has a wife and children back home. He should’ve thought of them when he treated me to such vulgar intentions.
I made him write an apology and then for his family’s sake decided not to press charges. The worst thing was, nobody in the hotel wanted to co-opearate with me in dealing with this situation,” says a fuming Celina.
She has appeared in Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar for the second time. She has also appeared in a music video with choreographer Ganesh Hegde. Now, the hot bod Shruti Agarwal, 25, is set to take her big leap to Bollywood. This half-Sikkimese beauty is taking her acting training at Anupam Kher’s academy.
“Bollywood is definitely a bigger platform,” says Agarwal. Well, that’s too obvious and too true!
Tusshar Kapoor was busy shooting for Golmaal Returns in Goa for the past 20 days, but is now back in Mumbai and is noticeably quite leaner. You cannot miss noticing the absence of a few pounds from his already lean physique. Don’t blame it on the hectic work schedule; apparently it was his diet which caused him to lose weight. The actor was on sea food diet and ate nothing but fish during his stay in Goa.
Now that he is back home, he is obviously being pampered to some ghee and butter rich ghar ka khaana, but Tusshar is keeping a keen eye on his daily calorie intake.
Guess who is ready to dazzle the big screens again! Its Urmila and that too with her favorite co-star Sanjay Dutt in their latest venture together EMI (Easy Monthly Installments). Sanjay would be singing again for Urmila Matondkar in the movie and this would be the third time he would be doing so with her as his co-star. Urmila has had a busy time lately with her appearances in reality shows on the Silver screen but is now ready to bounce back.
Urmila is all praises for Dutt. “I’ve always admired him as a human being and an actor. We go back a long way. We had great fun doing Daud and then in Khoobsoorat he even sang for me.”
With Sanjay in jail the crew finished most of the solo scenes with Urmila in EMI, and now that he is out the major chunk of the scenes are done with both of them together.
Malaika Arora Khan is set to sizzle on-screen again, but this time not in an item number but a full-fledged role and that too with her husband Arbaaz Khan. Produced by Ashok Kheny and directed by famous south director Indrajith, the film is tentatively tilted ‘Shaadi Ke After Effects’ and will also star Johnny Lever, Tara Sharma and Madhuri Bhattacharya.
Ashok Kheny claims that the basic theme of the film is marriage and infidelity.
“It’s a common occurrence that many married couples are attracted to their neighbour’s spouse after a period of time. After some years of marriage, they start thinking that the neighbour’s wife is more beautiful than their own and start neglecting their own. But here, the woman decides to teach her erring husband a lesson,” the newly turned producer adds.
Indrajith, meanwhile, is confident that the film will do well on the basis of the script and style. “It is a full length comedy film high on entertainment,” he says. “This film exploits Arbaaz Khan’s potential and after seeing him in this film, I’m confident that he will be in demand.
Actor Amitabh Bachchan’s 93-year-old mother Teji Bachchan passed away on Friday at Lilavati hospital where she had been for almost an year now owing to her illness.
The wife of the late Hindi poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan with two sons, Amitabh and Ajitabh she was an active social persona. With her demise, the last link of the Bachchcan-Nehru family seems to have broken.
Teji’s illness had resulted in the Bachchan family curtailing celebrations at their Juhu residence for the past few years on occasions like Holi and Diwali.
Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai had visited her in the hospital prior to their wedding earlier this year to seek her blessings. All major family events were usually conducted after seeking her blessings.
Rahul Gandhi will pay the homage from his family at Teji’s funeral. Sonia Gandhi shared a special bond with the lady and had also once called her her third mother (after her own mother and mother-in-law Indira Gandhi).
Anees Bazmee, who gave us the rib-tickiling ‘No Entry’ has once again shown his expertise in dealing with comedy. Fun filled absurd incidents and lot of commotion, the film has funny sequences and promises loads and loads of fun.
The storyline deals with Uday Shetty [Nana Patekar], Majnu [Anil Kapoor] and their boss, Sikander [Feroz Khan], who are comical gangsters based in Hong Kong. They want to get Uday’s sister Sanjana [Katrina Kaif] married into a respectable family.
Rajiv [Akshay Kumar] accidentally meets Uday who in turn is quite impressed by Rajiv’s merit as Sanjana’s grrom. Meanwhile, Sanjana also happens to fall in love with Rajiv but is unaware of her brothers’ plans. Then there is Dr. Ghunghroo [Paresh Rawal], Rajiv’s uncle who supports the couple but decides to go against the marriage when he comes to know of Sanjana’s background. The commotion and confusion reaches it’s climax with the entry of a sexy bombshell [Mallika Sherawat] who claims to be Rajiv’s wedded wife.
The entry of the three gangsters sets the pace of the film and the film is definitely better in the first half which is packed with tickling intelligent one-liners. Mallika’s performance with Nana and Anil are really funny. The film successfully does justice to the beautiful locations of Dubai and South Africa.
However, the film seems to be losing it’s grip in the second half which has some repetitive jokes. Also, the music fails to come up to the mark.
2207 has undoubtedly established Akshay Kumar as the king of comedies, but for the first time this veteran actor seems to be overshadowed by other co-stars: Nana Patekar, Anil Kapoor and last by not the least Paresh Rawal who are superb and brilliant in their roles. Though the female actors do not get much scope, Katrina Kaif manages to ooze freshness and appeal. In fact, in some places she seems to steal the show from Bollywood’s sex kitten Mallika Sherawat.
To sum up, the film’s well-planned advertisement strategy has created enough hype and also the festive mood of Christmas, has resulted in a remarkable and brilliant start at the ticket office, but the question is: Will ‘Welcome’ be able to reach up to the expectations of the ‘Junta Janaardhan’ and sustain it’s collections at the box-office? The ‘Welcome’ the film has got in the first week surely predicts that the film may be the last hit of the year 2007.
