01.01.12 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Last Week Dhanush performed live in Mumbai, his first stage performance. Says the actor shyly, “Earlier I had sung a song for my brother filmmaker Selvaraghavan’s audio release. That’s my only live performance so far. I wasn’t nervous about performing this time. If I was a professional singer, I’d worry. But I’m an amateur, so it didn’t matter if I went off-key.”
Now this week Dhanush took Kolkata by storm. Says Dhanush humbly, “Kolkata was a great experience. It was an overwhelming experience.”
Next, Dhanush will perform live in Delhi. Says the actor, “God has been very kind to me. I had a great year. I couldn’t have asked for more. Now I’m just going to focus on shooting the song for my wife’s film. Let’s see where it goes from there. It will be shot in the first week of January.”
Dhanush’s wife, Aishwarya, is directing him in 3. And the song ‘Kolaveri Di‘ is already a big hit. “It seems the song has become bigger than the film. But the film has a solid and novel script. Once people see the film, they’ll see the song as just a part of the narration.”
Dhanush is refreshingly matter-of-fact about ‘Kolaveri‘. “It’s just a song, just a phase. It will pass. I am one of those people who don’t know how to speak proper English. But I manage. Speaking the English language was initially a huge problem for me, so I knew how to connect with people like me. I knew what words to choose so that they connect with people who are not fluent in English.”
Dhanush has no illusions about the quality of the lyrics. “It’s not poetry. Whatever silly words came to my mind I used it in the song. It’s just like any composition, nothing special. A group of us gen-next kids me, Shruti Haasan, my wife Aishwarya and the composer Annirudh were open to ideas. The tune was done in twenty minutes. As soon as I heard the song, the words simply came to my mind spontaneously. I wanted the words to be understood by everybody regardless of whether they know English or not.”
Watch the video:
01.01.12 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Good friends Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor are coming together to produce a love story with a twist. The film will be directed by newcomer Akshay Roy.
Ekta and Karan have been friends since a very long time and always wanted to produce a film together. It was Ekta who went to Karan with the script. Karan heard just one line of the script and decided to be on board.
The film is a modern take on love. It is a love story where the man and woman are taking each other on – in a powerful and sexy manner. There is a very strong man-woman chemistry based on a combination of sexual, social and political dynamics.
The cast has not yet been finalised but they are planning to rope in big stars to play the lead.
01.01.12 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
One of India’s greatest actors, Dilip Kumar, who just turned 89 this month, received the prestigious Lokmat Jeevan Gaurav (Lifetime Achievement) Award 2011 from the President of India Pratibha Patil at the Lokmat Maharashtrian of the Year 2011 Awards. Apart from him nine other Maharashtrains, including Amitabh Bachchan received this award. Dilip Kumar received a trophy, a citation and a cheque of Rs 5 lakh as a token of Lokmat Media’s appreciation of his immense contribution to the progress of to cinema.
The veteran actor shared his thoughts on his blog after winning the award.
Thought on Maharashtra:
Wednesday evening was a different experience. Received an award from the President of India, Mrs Pratibha Patil. The award rated me as the best Maharashtrian of the year-Lifetime Achievement. On my way home, I thought over it and yes…
In more ways than one it is Maharashtra that holds the roots of my life and career. I had my schooling at Barnes School in Deolali, Nashik, as a day scholar. The moderate climate, especially the cool summers attracted my parents to stay in Deolali since my mother was ailing with asthma. Years later, after I became known as actor Dilip Kumar, I revisited Deolali in the course of my search all over Nashik District for an ideal location to film Ganga Jamuna’s outdoor scenes.
People came to greet me wherever we stopped and were surprised and happy to converse with me in Marathi. It was exhilarating to travel all over Nashik by road taking in the natural majesty of the Sahyadri range. My brother Nasir and friend Mukri were with me and we enjoyed the small meals we tucked away at wayside eateries. Hot usal served with crushed papdis and ghati sev, poha, puris with potato bhaji garnished with green, finely cut coriander, jhunka with hot bakri… Maharashtra’s cuisine has its own identity. It titillates the taste buds but is never heavy in the tummy. Our cook of almost four decades is a Maharashtrian, Narmada, who has hooked us completely to puran polis, batata vadas, kanda poha etc forever.
One place I can never resist is Pune. I lived and worked in Pune (then Poona) for two years and earned my first “big” money there. I know every street and road in Pune city. One of my wishes was to build a house and live in Lonavala, enjoy the convenience of driving to Pune or Nashik whenever I desired and invite friends to spend weekends with me.
01.01.12 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Sanjay Dutt is one actor in B-town who definitely knows how to balance his personal and professional life. Dutt who is currently hosting the fifth season of Bigg Boss has reportedly cut short his New Year plans. Sanjay had planned a family trip to Bali from December 24 and was planning to return back sometime next year. But the makers of Bigg Boss planned a special episode on December 31 and the channel authorities requested Sanjay to be present for the same.
What next? Dutt cut short his trip and is now returning back on Dec 30. The actor will then be flying to Karjat on Dec 31 morning via chopper and will be shooting for the special episode.
Meanwhile, Agneepath‘s second theatrical promo released with Don 2 and was shown to the media at a special event in IMAX, Wadala. What added to the fun was that after seeing the promo the media cheered for Kancha Cheena and loved Sanjay’s irresistible presence on screen. Dutt’s fearsome look and menacing smile as the villain was definitely the talk of the event.
The following year is certainly rocking for Dutt. The actor will be playing characters inspired by real life cops in Zilla Ghaziabad and Ram Gopal Varma’s Department. He will be seen in another super cop movie produced by Dharam Oberoi and TP Aggarwal tentatively titled Thanedaar Returns. Sanjay will also return as Munna in the third instalment of Munnabhai. He will also team up again with good friend Ajay Devgn in Son Of Sardar. Also couple of Dutt’s home productions are in pipeline for next year.
31.12.11 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
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2011 has been quite a vibrant year what with films like Haunted, Shaitan, Ra.One and the varied genres releasing to either a good or unfortunately a bad place at the box-office. With all the 107 films released this year, remaining unique from another, one aspect that forms the common thread in the creative process is the post-production, playing a crucial part in making those films complete. Whether it is 3D stereoscopic filmmaking with ghouls coming towards you in Haunted or pulling off a heist in Berlin in Don 2, the industry is turning the spotlight to innovative filmmaking techniques and post-production process to unleash its inconceivable power. It may perhaps be its visual effects that can make a train destroy the iconic CST station in Ra.One or make Ranbir croon to a larger audience in Rockstar; Indian filmmakers are achieving bigger post-production feats every passing year with their films. Bollywood Hungama explores 2011 a visually effective year in story telling, collaborative efforts and what’s in store for the future of digital filmmaking.
One of the biggest accomplishments in Indian filmmaking and post-production this year was that, we saw the first 3D stereoscopic film coming to fore with Haunted, a horror film directed by the maverick Vikram Bhatt. The unconventional director shared a common fact that now 3D stereoscopy has become quite a stable platform to make films with since it is not an experimental platform anymore. The director also emphasizes on the fact that 3D theatres are rampant everywhere in the country streaming a lot of 3D content every week. With Haunted being the first stereoscopic film in the country, this trend of stereoscopic filmmaking will prominently gain momentum soon.
With the more recent Ra.One, being lauded for its VFX for being almost in par with some of the work churned out from Hollywood’s post-production stables, Indian productions are adopting the collaborative post-production effort to beckon better quality VFX and other post-production efforts. Merzin Tavaria, VFX supervisor of Ra.One from Prime Focus, shone light on the 3D conversion process which was conducted simultaneously along with the VFX process saying that with about 4400 shots, it was difficult to manage the conversion process, we broke down each shot and designed on what parts of the frame needs to be pulled up or pushed back. To achieve the VFX in the film, Red Chillies VFX studios and Eyeqube Studios collaborated along with Prime Focus and its global arm in delivering quality post-production work, in a span of six months altogether.
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One of the largest post-production houses in India, Pixion Studios, contributes VFX for most of the big banner Bollywood films like, Singham, Force, Shaitan to name a few. With Indian cinema leaving a hint of more stereoscopic conversion productions such as Ra.One, Viral Thakkar, CG VFX head of Pixion Studios Mumbai, downplayed the thought of Pixion Studios having a stereoscopic conversion setup in the country at the moment, due to an abundance of projects in its way. Pixion has not had the opportunity to look towards the stereoscopic fragment although the plan ultimately will include a state of the art setup available. With us inching closer to 2012, according to Viral, Indian cinema is going to expect a surge with VFX swinging upwards. He says, “I think most of the films are going to be in 3D, we have just delivered the VFX for Don 2; the film has been converted into 3D at Reliance Mediaworks. The quality plays a very big role if you are converting the films and if the quality is not right then the audience might experience these so called ‘headaches’. I think for 2012, Bollywood is definitely going the 3D way at least where the big VFX and Bollywood films are concerned.”
“The doors have already been opened with Ra.One and Don 2. I think we should see a jump in stereoscopic 3D productions for sure, with a lot of new theatres being equipped and the market witnessing the difference on the revenue that a 3D film can generate, I think there’s a big upward trend in here for sure. Although Rockstar does not have very loud VFX in it, it’s all invisible and very narrative. I give a, thumbs up to directors who are making this upward trend happen,” says an optimistic Merzin on the scale of projects and quality work to hit the Indian post-production scene. “Krrish 3 is going to go on floors in 2012, so there’s big movement towards that production and Agent Vinod is going to make a mark as well.” Merzin concludes with some of the projects in sight for Prime Focus.
