14.10.11 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Kangna Ranaut is one babe who needs no introduction. After having made her presence felt in Bollywood, the actress is also a hot favourite in the brand endorsement circle.
This year seems to be a rocking one for this curly haired babe! According to Bollywood Hungama’s reliable sources, Kangna Ranaut is now all set to be the brand ambassador of Ajnara Reality.
Kangna indeed seems to be the flavour of the season.
14.10.11 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Nissan India and Ranbir Kapoor are searching for 20 passionate members of the public to star in the world’s first Bollywood movie auditioned entirely on Facebook.
From October 19, movie-fans will be able to join in one of the world’s largest on-line talent hunts by uploading a short clip of themselves dancing for a chance to appear alongside Ranbir in the 3-minute Bollywood blockbuster – New Star of India.
Members of the public will vote to decide who the 20 lucky Ranbir co-stars will be, and will also help produce the movie by shaping the plot, choosing the music, picking the wardrobe and naming the characters.
As well as being screened to millions on Facebook, New Star of India will be premiered at exclusive red carpet events in cities across India in January 2012, where there will also be a chance to win one of six all-new Nissan Micras.
Ranbir said, “I’m incredibly excited to be involved in this ground-breaking movie with Nissan – no-one’s attempted anything like it before”.
“Speaking to all Bollywood fans out there, this is your once in a lifetime opportunity to join me in the magic of the movies. I’m looking forward to seeing your auditions and can’t wait to meet my co-stars, so get dancing, get voting and get involved!”
Taking part couldn’t be easier. All would-be stars have to do is record a 45-second audition of themselves via their webcam, smartphone or video camera showing off their best Bollywood moves and upload it to the dedicated New Star of India page on Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/nissanindia.
There are just three steps to stardom…
1: Choose your favourite soundtrack on the Facebook page
2: Get dancing – either solo or with up to nine friends
3: Upload the clip to the site and wait for the votes to pour in.
Nissan will also be taking New Star of India on the road and will be touring shopping malls across the country to film live auditions in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Kolkotta, Pune, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad & Aurangabad from October 22nd – check the Facebook page for details.
Even non-dancers can get involved. Everyone who votes, shares or takes a test drive from Nissan’s model range will be entered into a competition to win one of the hottest tickets in town – a chance to attend one of the movie premieres and win a Nissan Micra.
Kiminobu Tokuyama, Managing Director of Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd said, “Nissan is all about innovation. It’s in the cars we build, the way we do business, and now we are offering members of the public a genuine world’s first – an opportunity to become a Bollywood star.”
Ranbir added, “I love that this movie is going to take 20 people from their living room or bedroom and onto the movie set in three simple steps. If you’ve ever wondered if you have what it takes to make it in Bollywood, now’s your chance to find out!”
14.10.11 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
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As we see rescue operations post a bombing attack being carried out in slow motion, the soundtrack goes almost inert in a show of frozen protest…And you know there and then that Aazaan has something out-of-the-ordinary to offer to the action genre.
Tackling global terrorism and Islamic isolation as seen through the eyes of a tormented Muslim secret agent, Aazaan heads towards its flaming phases of flash-points with the least amount of fuss or ostentation. The narrative knows all the sign posts.
The screenplay by Shubra Swaroop is gritty and gripping, ensuring that every episode stays a step ahead of the audiences’ expectations. The characters speak a language that belongs to the world of terror terrorism and anti-terrorism. And yet the spoken words in various languages including Israeli and French do not obtrude or impinge on the harmony that the narrative creates in the discordant disembodies world of serial bombing across the world.
Explosive as the theme is, no one is here to have a blast. The most remarkable aspect of the action in Aazaan is the lack of flamboyance. The hero (debutant Sachiin Joshi, decent and modest) is a one-man army but no super-hero. He bleeds, he hurts, he feels the lashes on his soul of a world hell bent on destroying itself .We feel him feeling all of this, partly because the screenplay doesn’t shy away from emotions when required. Men do cry. But not for long. Really, guns don’t go with violins.
There is a touching but distant story about two brothers ideologically separated by extremism in Taliban-torn Afghanistan who come together towards the end in a show of strength where the script emerges the real hero.
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Post-interval the clenched tactile plot (no comic relief here) introduces a brief romance between the hero and Caucasian woman who we are told, practices a very unusual vocation. Afreen (Candice Boucher, eye-catching) is a sand designer (not to be confused with a sound designer who does a fine job on this film). Afreen’s little daughter could possibly save the world from a deadly viral terrorism. Don’t ask how. The action moves with quiet dexterity from Morrocco to Agra. The Taj Mahal is under threat. Luckily the action genre is safe.
The merger of the themes of global terrorism and the personal demons that drive the characters beyond the edge, is achieved with a surprising lack of brouhaha. Though Aazaan is arguably the best-looking action film shot in India, it neither flaunts its resources nor takes the narrative on a world tour just for the heck of it.
Every location from Morocco to Germany to Hong Kong and Poland is shot by cinematographer Axel Fischer to stunning minimalist effect. What we are looking at is not the countries and cities that the protagonist visits. But the country of the soul where a battle rages between religious and cultural allegiances and a quest to come to terms with a civilization that needs to stop killing in the name of God.
Aazaan takes the action genre in this country to a new level of finesse and restrain. The script is layered, though not quite free of inconsistencies and of questionable moral and political tenets as it would like us to believe. The action is implosive opting for understatement where extravagant mayhem would have been the more obvious choice. The editing (Amitabh Shukla, Humphrey Dixon) is razor-sharp. There is no room for humbug in the narrative. Every character that populates the swarming plot has a job to do. It’s done by actors who know their jobs.
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The background score by Salim-Sulaiman and the sound design are remarkably bridled.
Debutant Sachiin Joshi knows his limitations as an actor and works way around them by playing a character who would rather be closer to realism than larger than life. The other performances particularly Aarya Babbar, Ravi Kishan and Aly Khan too are in keeping with the films less-is-more mood. But what on earth is the talented Sarita Choudhary doing in a role that looks like James Bond’s Madame M on steroids.
As for Prashant Chadha’s direction, not for a second does it allow us to feel we’re watching a film that tells us, terrorism is not a formula for entertainment and violence is not an occasion for choreographed splendour. Style and substance come together in an explosive clasp that doesn’t give us a chance to gasp.
Aazaan is not a film which wastes time in self congratulation after staging one more terrorist explosion. It moves in relentlessly. The world has to be saved. Self-importance is miraculously averted.
Go for it.
14.10.11 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Film music sales play a big role in finally deciding the fate of a film and well for the soon to be released Shah Rukh Khan starrer Ra.One too, the music is extremely crucial. While the ‘Chammak Challo’ track is already a rage, one is waiting with bated breath to see how the audience takes up to other tracks of the album as well.
Meanwhile, director Anubhav Sinha has placed a bet with SRK that the ‘Criminal’ track will eventually turn out to be a bigger hit than even ‘Chammak Challo’ once the film releases. Says Sinha, “Yes, we did wager that ‘Criminal’ will be bigger, but you must know that it is a bet between two friends. In fact we were discussing the film when I told Shah Rukh this and he immediately asked me to place a bet on what I was saying, so we did.”
As for the penalty of the bet, Sinha says, “The penalty of losing the bet is that if I lose then I pay Shah Rukh Rs. 5000/-, however if he loses the bet, he has to pay me Rs. 5 crore.”
14.10.11 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar and his wife Divya Khosla Kumar were blessed with a baby boy earlier this week. This is the couple’s first child. Both mother and child are doing fine.
With the arrival of the baby boy, the mood is certainly upbeat at the Kumar household.
We at Bollywood Hungama extend our congratulations on this joyous occasion.
