Movie News

• 

  "Abhishek became 'Drona' for Drona" - Joydeep Sarkar

  Name Joydeep Sarkar is a relatively new entrant to the world of Bollywood. And though the story writer has a Shaurya to his credit early this year, the young 20 something lad is looking at Drona being his calling card to the big league.

• 

  'Om Shanti Om' amongst 5 Indian films nominated for Asia Pacific awards

  "Om Shanti Om", "Jodha Akbar" and "Taare Zameen Par" are amongst five Indian films nominated Wednesday for the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the highest accolade for film in the region.

• 

  'Kites' brings out Hrithik's sensuous side

  Hrithik Roshan sizzles with Latin actress Barbara Mori in "Kites". The film by Anurag Basu is being touted as featuring the Bollywood superhero's most sensuous role till date.

• 

  Sanjay Gadhvi to hold screening of 'Kidnap' for Aditya Chopra

  Sanjay Gandhvi, who's ready with his latest release "Kidnap", might have parted ways with Yash Raj Films after the successful "Dhoom" series, but the director says he owes it all to the Chopras, for whom he will hold a special screening of his new film.

• 

  'Hello' needed a star like Salman: Atul Agnihotri

  Actor-turned-director Atul Agnihotri says he cast brother-in-law Salman Khan in his forthcoming film "Hello" not to increase its commercial value, but because the character in the movie demanded a star like him.

• 

  Bollywood titans to clash this festive season!

  Tinsel-town denizens have been dishing out entertainment both on and off screen for the last three quarters of year 2008, but the heavy-weights who have been saving the best for the traditional festive season include Salman Khan starrer "Yuvraj", Aamir Khan's "Ghajini" and Abhishek Bachchan's "Dostana".

• 

  Sanjay Dutt's 'EMI' role inspired by real loan recovery agent

  Sanjay Dutt plays 'Sattarbhai', a bully who collects loan instalments from bank debtors, in his forthcoming film "EMI". The character has been inspired by a real-life collecting agent and the Bollywood actor spent a lot of time with him to get his act right.

• 

  Sudhir Mishra announces his next film Sikandar

  After Khoya Khoya Chand, the maverick scriptwriter cum director Sudhir Mishra is all set to produce his next film titled Sikandar. The film will be directed by Piyush Jha.

• 

  I liked the final script of 'Three Idiots': Chetan Bhagat

  Writer Chetan Bhagat, whose book "Five Point Someone" is being made into a film titled "Three Idiots" by the acclaimed director Rajkumar Hirani, said he was not involved in writing the film's script, but he liked it.

• 

  Adhyayan, Anjana, Shahana, Humayun confirmed for Jashn

  Principal cast of Mukesh Bhatt's next film has finally been locked. Titled Jashn, the film would now star Adhyayan Suman, Anjana Sukhani, Shahana Goswami, and Pakistani import Humayun Saeed as the four principal protagonists.

• 

  Vipin Sharma takes TZP to Canada for Oscar lobbying

  Vipin Sharma, the man who played the role of Darsheel Safary's father in Taare Zameen Par is mighty excited. His first stint with acting in Bollywood is now reaching out for a global platform. Naturally he prides himself on that and is more than happy to lend a helping hand in lobbying for the film.

• 

  Business Talk with Taran Adarsh: Not much hulla this week!

  The month gone by has been an eye-opener, what with a number of small films standing tall despite a substantial chunk of movie-going audience abstaining from watching movies.

• 

  Age of Bollywood Bombast!

  "Mumbai kisi ke baap ka nahin hai," growled the city's joint commissioner of police K.L. Prasad recently. He was briefing the media on the alphabetic agitation -- M is for Mumbai is for Maharashtra Manoos is for Marathi -- launched by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray against actress-MP Jaya Bachchan's alleged anti-Marathi remarks, made in Hindi.

• 

  Sanjay Dutt signs Soham Shah to direct an adventure sports film

  Sanjay Dutt has probably become the busiest man in Bollywood. With Kidnap releasing next week and Dutt busy shooting for Blue, we only wonder how he manages to find time to do anything else. Busy or not, Sanjay is all ready to start films under his own production house.

• 

  "Raksha isn't a dubbed version of Phoonk; it's a totally original remake" - RGV

  Last week saw the release of the Telugu remake of Phoonk in Hyderabad entitled Raksha. Says Ramu, "We waited three weeks after the Hindi release. We released the Hindi version only in Hyderabad and not the rest of Andhra Pradesh.

• 

  "'Drona' is my biggest, my best" - Abhishek Bachchan

  The countdown has begun for the two biggies that are slated for release this Idd: DRONA and KIDNAP. A lot is riding on these two films. In terms of economics, both are expensive films.

• 

  Does Taare Zameen Par stand a chance of making it to the Oscar shortlist?

  Bollywood celebrities talk about TZP and its chances in the Oscars!

• 

  "Rock On isn't like Don or Singh Is Kinng" - Ritesh Sidhwani

  Team Rock On is still not in mood to arrive at the final verdict for their beloved film. While the film is already a hit, there are speculations if it would go on to enjoy a superhit tag for itself.

• 

  Mani Ratnam's next is a love triangle!

  Mani Ratnam's projects are always a well-guarded secret. In fact, those associated with the film are sworn to secrecy. Right from the star cast to the subject, everything about the film is kept under wraps, away from the prying eyes of the media.

• 

  'Hello' team to visit cities where book was well received

  Chetan Bhagat's bestseller 'One Night @ The Call Centre' has been adapted into a film, HELLO. Since the book was extremely well received all over, more specifically in certain pockets of India, like Bangalore, Delhi, Pune and Ahmedabad, HELLO director Atul Agnihotri and Chetan Bhagat have decided to tour these cities to promote the film.

• 

  11 Indian entries for Asia Pacific Screen Awards

  "Taare Zameen Par" and "Jodhaa Akbar" are among 11 Indian films entered for the 2008 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the highest accolade for movies in the region.

• 

  Darsheel Safary's second film set against Assamese Militancy

  Priyadarshan is all set direct the Taare Zameen Par star Darsheel Safary. And he has completely revamped the original Iranian film which he's supposed to remake. Says Priyan, "I'm not blindly adapting the Iranian film Children Heaven.

• 

  Bollywood wakes up to great Indian epic

  With Abhishek Bachchan starrer "Drona" ready to hit the screen and nearly a dozen cinematic interpretations of mythological literature of ancient India under production, it seems Indian filmmakers have woken up to the magic of epics that have enough drama to outmatch all the Harry Potters and Aslans ("Narnia") put together.

• 

  Farhan thrilled with 'Rock On', but doesn't want sequel

  Farhan Akhtar is still surprised by the overwhelming response to "Rock On" and says the movie has not only set a benchmark for other music films but also spurred an Indi-rock revival. But the actor-director-singer is not too keen on a sequel.

• 

  'Big B was supposed to look like Tagore in 'The Last Lear''

  Even though filmmaker and fashion designer Muzzaffar Ali says that Amitabh Bachchan's look in "The Last Lear" was styled on him, the director of the film Rituparno Ghosh maintains that Big B was supposed to look like Rabindranath Tagore.