A movie on Abu Salem with the man himself

Now this is an interesting piece of news. Abu Salem's lawyer Ashok Sarogi and his wife, Saria, are producing a movie on the life of Abu Salem. The movie may feature Abu Salem himself for a few shots if the court grants permission to film him under heavy security. The cast and title of the movie have not been announced. The good folks at M&C give us this-

'The film will capture Salem's rise from a small-time street vendor in suburban Andheri to a dreaded mobster. I got the idea of making the film on Salem's life after I interacted with him in jail,' said Salem's lawyer Ashok Sarogi.

'During my interaction, I found that there was a tale behind his life's story. The film will project him as a man with a gentle heart,' Sarogi said.

The untitled three-hour Hindi movie is being produced by Sarogi's wife Saria and directed by N. Chandra with an Rs.40 million budget.

The cast includes leading Bollywood actors who would be playing the roles of Abu Salem and his love interest Monica Bedi, a former actor. But Sarogi is not disclosing the names at this stage.

The Sarogis are hopeful of roping in the mobster for some close-in shots, provided the TADA court grants permission.

'We want him for some close-in shots to be filmed within the city. We would move the TADA court to allow him to come out of the jail under police escort,' said Saria.

'However, if the court turns down our plea, then we will have to do the shots with a duplicate.'

I understand there is novelty value in getting the real life gangster appear in a movie and the authentic touch it would lend to the enterprise. As much as I would like to see Abu Salem play himself in front of the camera, I believe the court will be opening a Pandora's box if they allow this. Think about it - if they grant approval for Abu Salem, they will be setting a precedent that would be hard to reverse. Sooner or later, any film star who goes behind bars is going to want to continue working on their movies under the same pretext. Not only would this be unfair it would make the entire legal system a joke from an actor's perspective if they knew they could always get out of jail for a day behind the camera.

[via M&C]

Technorati Tags: bollywood, bollywood news, abu salem

Afghanistan government supports movie piracy by banning Kabul Express

Two days ago, news broke that Kabul Express, in it's third week of release, has been banned by Afghanistan because an ethnic minority of the country has been portrayed in poor light. The good folks at Dawn give us this-

“The film has some sentences which were very offensive towards one of Afghanistan's ethnicities, namely the Hazara,” said Minister of Culture adviser Najib Manalai. “For this reason it has been banned.”

Hazara people are believed to make up about 10 per cent of the Afghan population. A Shia Muslim minority, Hazaras are thought to be descended from remnants of Genghis Khan's invading army and have at times faced persecution.

Banning the movie only makes the Afghan government look like fools because they supported the shooting of the movie in their own country by providing heavy security to the cast and crew. That aside, does banning a movie ever actually work? Publicly banning a movie only draws more attention to it and raises the curiosity of the casual movie-goer. These movies usually end up grossing big at the box office because of this curiosity factor. Look what happened to Gadar when it was banned in some states in India.

News is coming out now that, despite the ban, pirated copies of Kabul Express are available in the black market with the prices of these copies jumping since the ban was issued. The good folks at Apun ka Choice give us this-

Four days after the Afghan government banned the John Abraham – Arshad Warsi starrer’s screening in the country due to fears that certain derogatory remarks in it about Shia Hazaras might offend the minority community, the rental rate for ‘Kabul Express’ has shot up to 30 Afghanis as against 10 Aghanis for other films in the local market.

The price of a DVD of the film has jumped from 50 Afghanis (one dollar) to 100 Afghanis, but people said getting hold of copies was no problem.

At the end of the day, the ban has hurt the makers financially but it has not stopped the viewer from obtaining copies of the movie. All the Afghan government has done is supported the growth piracy. Well done!

[via Dawn | Apun ka Choice]

Technorati Tags: bollywood, bollywood news, kabul express, afghanistan

Winners of the 13th Star Screen Awards

The Star Screen Awards have announced their winners for the year. The list below contains all the nominations with the winners in bold and my picks underlined. I must say that they did a fantastic job of picking the winners - all well deserved in a year full of great movies from Bollywood. I was not able to obtain a complete list of winners at the time of this writing so the winners of some categories have not been indicated.





Best Film

Krrish (Rakesh Roshan)

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Vidhu Vinod Chopra)

Omkara (Kumar Mangat)

Rang De Basanti (Ronnie Screwvala, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra)

Vivah (Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Rajkumar Barjatya, Ajit Kumar Barjatya)

Best Director

Anurag Basu (Gangster)

Nagesh Kukunoor (Dor)

Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti)

Sooraj Barjatya (Vivah)

Vishal Bharadwaj (Omkara)

Best Actor

Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti)

Ajay Devgan (Omkara)

Hrithik Roshan (Krrish)

Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom 2)

Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Shahid Kapoor (Vivah)

Best Actress

Aishwarya Rai (Dhoom 2)

Amrita Rao (Vivah)

Ayesha Takia (Dor)

Bipasha Basu (Corporate)

Kajol (Fanaa)

Kareena Kapoor (Omkara)

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Male)

Amitabh Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Arshad Warsi (Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Atul Kulkarni (Rang De Basanti)

Kunal Kapoor (Rang De Basanti)

Nana Patekar (Taxi No. 9211)

Sharman Joshi (Rang De Basanti)

Best Actor In A Supporting Role (Female)

Gul Panag (Dor)

Kirron Kher (Rang De Basanti)

Konkona Sen Sharma (Omkara)

Ratna Pathak Shah (Yun Hota To Kya Hota)

Seema Biswas (Vivah)

Best Actor In A Negative Role (Male/Female)

Aamir Khan (Fanaa)

Esha Deol (Ankahee)

Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)

Shah Rukh Khan (Don)

Shiney Ahuja (Gangster)

Best Actor In A Comic Role (Male/Female)

Om Puri (Malamaal Weekly)

Ranveer Shorey (Khosla Ka Ghosla)

Shreyas Talpade (Dor)

Tusshar Kapoor (Golmaal)

Uday Chopra (Dhoom2)

Best Background Music

Dor (Salim-Sulaiman)

Fanaa (Salim-Sulaiman)

Gangster (Raju Singh)

Omkara (Vishal Bharadwaj)

Rang De Basanti (AR Rahman)

Best Music

Aksar (Himesh Reshammiya)

Fanaa (Jatin Lalit)

Jaan-E-Mann (Anu Malik)

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy)

Rang De Basanti (AR Rahman)

Omkara (Vishal Bharadwaj)

Best Playback Singer (Male)

KK (‘Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai…’ – Gangster)

Sshaan (‘Chand Sifarish…’ – Fanaa)

Sonu Nigam (‘Bawri Piya…’ – Baabul)

Sukhwinder Singh (‘Omkar…’ – Omkara)

Shafqat Amanat Ali (‘Mitwaa…’ – Kabhi Alvida naa Kehna)

Zubin Garg (‘Ya Ali…’ – Gangster)

Best Playback Singer (Female)

Alka Yagnik (‘Tumhi Dekho Naa…’ – Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Anusha Manchanda (‘Golmaal, Golmaal…’ – Golmaal)

Rekha Bharadwaj (‘Namak Ishq…’ – Omkara)

Shreya Ghoshal (‘O Saathi Re…’ – Omkara)

Sunidhi Chauhan (‘Beedi Jalayale…’ – Omkara)

Best Lyrics

Gulzar (‘Beedi Jalayale…’ – Omkara)

Javed Akhtar (‘Mitwaa…’ – Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Prasoon Joshi (‘Subhanallah…’ – Fanaa)

Mir Ali Husain (‘Ye Hausla…’ – Dor)

Swanand Kirkire (‘Bande Mein Tha Dum…’ – Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Best Story

Gafla (Sameer Hanchate)

Gangster (Mahesh Bhatt)

Khosla Ka Ghosla (Jaideep Sahani)

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Rajkumar Hirani / Abhijit Joshi)

Rang De Basanti (Kamlesh Pandey)

Best Screenplay

Gangster (Anurag Basu)

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijit Joshi)

Malamaal Weekly (Priyadarshan)

Pyaar Ke Side/Effects (Saket Choudhary)

Rang De Basanti (Rensil D’Silva, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra)

Best Dialogue

Fanaa (Kunal Kohli)

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Rajkumar Hirani)

Malamaal Weekly (Manisha Korde)

Omkara (Vishal Bharadwaj)

Rang De Basanti (Prasoon Joshi, Rensil D’Silva)

Best Editing

Gangster (Akib Ali)

Lage Raho Munnabhai (Rajkumar Hirani)

Rang De Basanti (PS Bharathi)

Taxi No. 9211 (Aarif Sheikh)

Best Sound

Don (Andrew Belletty)

Gangster (Adil Ali)

Krrish (Jitendra Choudhary)

Omkara (K J Singh)

Rang De Basanti (Nakul Kamte)

Best Cinematography

Anthony Kaun Hai (Hemant Chaturvedi)

Don (Mohanan)

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (Anil Mehta)

Omkara (Tassaduq Hussain)

Rang De Basanti (Binod Pradhan)

Best Special Effects

Alag (EFX - Prasad)

Dhoom 2 (Tata Elexi – Pankaj Khanpur)

Don (Red Chillies VFX)

Jaan-E-Mann (Prime Focus Ltd. – Merzin Taveria)

Krrish (Marc Kolbe, Craig Mumma – USA)

Best Art Direction

Don (Aradhana Sheth)

Jaan-E-Mann (Sabu Cyril)

Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (Sharmistha Roy)

Omkara (Samir Chanda)

Rang De Basanti (Samir Chanda)



Best Choreography

Dhoom 2 (‘Dhoom…’ – Shiamak Davar)

Don 2 (‘Main Hoon Don…’ – Ganesh Hegde)

Jaan-E-Mann (‘Humko Maloom Hai…’ – Farah Khan)

Omkara (‘Beedi Jalayale…’ – Ganesh Acharya)

Rang De Basanti (‘Masti Ki Pathshala…’ – Ganesha Acharya)

Best Action

Dhoom 2 (Allah Amin)

Don (Sham Kaushal)

Krrish (Tony Ching Siu Tung (Hong Kong), Sham Kaushal)

Most Promising Newcomer (Male)

Siddharth (Rang De Basanti)

Upen Patel (36 China Town)

Vinod Sherawat (Gafla)

Most Promising Newcomer (Female)

Kangana Ranaut (Gangster, Woh Lamhe)

Onjolie Nair (Holiday)

Most Promising Debut Director

Dibakar Banerjee (Khosla Ka Ghosla)

Kabir Khan (Kabul Express)

Naseeruddin Shah (Yun Hota To Kya Hota)

Saket Chaudhary (Pyaar Ke Side Effects)

[via India eNews]

Technorati Tags: bollywood, bollywood news, star screen awards

Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana - Movie Review

'Why should BOYS have all the FUN?'



The film is set in Mumbai and revolves around the relationships of four women Mayuri (Rekha), Natasha (Vasundhara Das), Kanika (Kim Sharma) and Anjali (Mahima Chaudhary) -even though the four of them aren't of the same age, they've grown to be the best of friends...their common meeting point is not a coffee shop or a kitty party (in fact they hate them!) but the beauty salon the four of them go to pamper themselves at...in between the facials, manicures, pedicures and endless back rubs, they have become the best of friends!



Anjali is the cause of much envy for the remaining three...carefree and fancy-free Anjali dates men all the time, and has a lot of fun...the other three married and bored, miss the fun she has. Another habit of Anjalis' that really annoys her friends is that she always bets with them, on almost anything and everything under the sun, and wins! The three of them so want to beat her just once...and make her shut up!



And so the conspiracy begins...!



Anjali had once bet that she would never marry till she's 25, and so Mayuri, Natasha and Kanika decide to find a man for her, and win this one bet! but things get out of hand when each of the girls decide to outdo each other and find a man themselves for Anjali...along the way Anjali meets Amar (Ashmit Patel) and falls in love with him which further adds to the chaos!



Anjali now has not one two or three but four men wooing her, each with a secret agenda!



Things get out of hand when Anjali realizes the conspiracy... a dramatic confrontation tears the friends apart as deep secrets are revealed where not all is as it seems...



Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamaana is a fun and warm film about how you're best friends can sometimes be your worse enemies!



But most of all it's about friendship and true love!



Release Date: January 5, 2007



Indiafm - 1/5

Apun ka Choice - Uninteresting







Tags: kudiyon ka hai zamana, movie review, bollywood

Anupam Kher in a Chinese movie

Anupam Kher has been roped in by Ang Lee, the Oscar winning director of Brokeback Mountain, to play an Indian in his next Chinese movie Lust, Caution.



The good folks at Indiafm give us this-

The Oscar-winning director has made movies like Brokeback Mountain and the Oscar winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. And now, he is all set to direct his Chinese film Lust, Caution- which is an espionage thriller set against the backdrop of World War II.



Kher plays an Indian in the movie, and will begin shooting next week.

This is good news for Kher who is on a high after the box office success of his recent movies like Khosla Ka Ghosla, Jaan-E-Mann, Apna Sapna Money Money, and Vivah. I wish him all the best for the future.



[via Indiafm]



Technorati Tags: bollywood, hollywood, anupan kher, ang lee, lust caution

Mallika's "obscene" performance at New Year's eve

Mallika is in the news again for her performance on New Year's eve at the J.W. Marriott and this time I am on her side. A social activist was offended by her couture and is gunning to to have her charged with obscenity.

The good folks at Indiafm give us this-

Onlookers raised eyebrows when the actress performed in a body-hugging skin suit and a silver bikini to top it. Social activist Vinod Jain has written to the Mumbai police, urging them to take immediate action against Sherawat for wearing suggestive clothes. He saw Sherawat's performance on certain television channels on New Year’s Eve and found it very offensive to the Indian culture. He said that the manner in which Mallika was dancing was very distasteful, and it portrays the Indian woman indecently.

Who the hell is Vinod Jain? Do I care what he thinks is tasteful and distasteful? Absolutely not. Has he heard of a remote? I don't think so. If he is offended against her suggestive clothes how hard is it to change the channel? This is the one thing that bugs me about India - people and groups out to get attention. No event, performance, concert, movie, or anything else for that matter, goes unprotested in India. Typically the protesters are a bunch of morons vying for media attention and Vinod Jain is in the same category. I hate it when insignficant entities like him try to become censors. I hope Mallika wins this one and slaps his sorry ass with a law suit.

[via Indiafm]

Update: Rediff has published an interview with Vinod Jain who "vows to pursue the case with police till they admit his complaint". The interview is insightful because it shows how clueless this guy is. On being asked why he didn't just change the channel, he says that he is a news addict and all news channels were showing Mallika dancing. Therefore, he sues Mallika. Go figure!

Technorati Tags: bollywood, bollywood news, mallika sherawat, vinod jain

Mallika is too precious

I have heard of a lot of celebrities do bonehead things, but boy this one takes the cake. Mallika is officially the stupidest and unprofessional celebrity in all of Bollywood. She walked out of her New Year's Eve performance at J.W. Marriott in Bombay because the organizers recorded more than 10 seconds of her act.



The good folks at nowrunning have this quote from Mallika's representative-

"It was a clear breach of contract, and not on Mallika's part. According to the contract, only 10 seconds of her performance on the stage that evening were meant to be televised. This is to say Mallika was clearly given to understand that the brief 10-second footage would be used for news clippings, etc.



"When she realised that the whole show was being telecast, she simply walked out."

I agree that if the contract explicitly stated that she would be taped for only 10 seconds then she has full right to demand that the organizers remove the extra footage. It is highly unprofessional of her to have walked out the way she did based on "understanding". She is also not planning on returning the money she was paid for the gig. Does she really think that she is that precious?



[via nowrunning]



Technorati Tags: bollywood, bollywood news, mallika sherawat