Anil Kapoor, Abhay Deol approached for ‘Shutter’ remake?

Southern director Alphonse Putharen is set to remake Malayalam thriller “Shutter” in Hindi with a probable cast of Anil Kapoor, Anushka Sharma,Abhay Deol and Tusshar Kapoor. He says he is awaiting confirmation from the actors.

“I have already approached Anilji, Anushka, Abhay and Tusshar for the four lead roles in the film. I still haven’t heard from them. I should finalise the cast in about a month’s time,” Alphonse told IANS.

Alphonse, who is basking in the success of his last Tamil-Malayalam directorial venture “Neram”, says he will retain the same technical team for the Hindi project.

Directed by Joy Mathew, critically acclaimed “Shutter” is a satirical take on the plight of Indian workers in the Gulf.

Shahrukh Khan overwhelmed at Kolkata!

When Shahrukh Khan went to promote his movie Chennai Express“I love you Kolkata…I mean this is extremely overwhelming. I tour the whole country for my films but when I come here…this is.. you need to pass a law here that you adopt me and keep me here. I don’t want to go from here,”

he was overwhelmed by the turnout. He was so surprised by the reception he got, he said he didn’t want to leave his favourite city! The actor said,

Shahrukh Khan was received by thousands of fans who didn’t care about the rains and stood there just to get a little glimpse of the actor. Shahrukh Khan is the part-owner of the IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders and has a huge following from the city. Thanking the fans he said, “Thank you for supporting the cricket team, Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo”.

Like his mere presence was not enough, SRK had a surprise for the huge crowd. He waved and threw flowers at the crowd and was once again surprised by the response. Fans started to rush in a movie forward to get hold of one single rose for which SRK said,“be careful..don’t fight.”

That wasn’t it. Shahrukh Khan also performed on the popular number, one two three four, from his upcoming movie Chennai Express. HE was dressed in a grey shirt and a black hat with a hat that he donned in the movie.

My walk made me Dr. Dang: Anupam Kher

Anupam Kher reveals that it was his walk that got him the iconic role of Dr. Dang in Subh

ash Ghai’s 1986 “Karma.”

“I had gone for a party and I was walking towards my car. Subhashji saw me coming from one door to another door and said, ‘Come to my office tomorrow’,” the 58-year-old said at his acting institute Actor Prepares here.

“I was already asking everyone for work. So, next day I went to his office and he said, ‘You are doing the main villain in my film’. I was surprised and I said I have never played such a villain before. He said, ‘I saw you walk and I want my villain to walk like that’,” he added.

“Karma” starred yesteryear’s superstar Dilip Kumar in the lead along with Nutan. Anupam was the main antagonist, Dr. Dang, in the action-drama.

Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Poonam Dhillon, Sridevi, Dara Singh, Shakti Kapoor and Tom Alter formed the rest of the cast.

After watching ‘D-Day’, Big B speechless

Amitabh Bachchan, one of the finest performers in Hindi movies, says that he had such a wonderful experience watching Nikhil Advani’s spy thriller “D-day” that he is unable to comment on it.

Big B watched the film at a special screening Thursday.

“I had a wonderful experience watching the film and it will take me a lot of time to gather and understand my emotions and feelings for the film. Right now, I have no words to express my feelings for the film,” said the 70-year-old actor here at the screening.

“Everybody has done a brilliant job. Writers, director, music and all the actors have been wonderful,” he added.

Released Friday, “D-Day” features Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan, Arjun Rampal, Huma Qureshi andShruti Haasan

 in pivotal roles.

Self-made Richa Chadda happy about her space

Actress Richa Chadda, whose performance was appreciated in “Gangs Of Wasseypur” and “Fukrey”, is happy to carve a niche for herself on her own.

“It’s a wonderful time to be in the showbiz and now we can say that there is space for everyone in the industry,” Richa told IANS. The Delhi girl added that she is “more than happy and proud that I have made a space for myself without any filmy backup”.

“The journey has not been easy but it’s worth the wait,” said Richa, who will be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Ram Leela”, which is she considers her big ticket in Bollywood.

Currently, she is busy shooting in Udaipur for her next film “BAD”. Praising her team, she said that “it’s great to work with Randeep Hooda and Pooja Bhatt. It’s a very unusual film.”

Do it Salman’s way: David Dhawan tells son

Young actor Varun Dhawan did not watch the Telugu original “Kandireega” before plunging into doing the Hindi remake “Main Tera Hero”. Instead, he has been asked to emulate Salman Khan’s spontaneity.

Varun’s filmmaker father DavidDhawan asked him to interpret the character his own way, just like Salman does with all his roles.

David directed Salman in films like “Judwaa”, “Biwi No.1″ and “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi”, and the actor always got a free hand to play a character his way. Varun is being given similar freedom for “Main Tera Hero”.

David admits that his son will assume the spontaneous stance for the movie.

“I’m looking forward to directing Varun. But I won’t over-direct him. I’m giving Varun a free hand to interpret his role how he wants. If you see Salman in my films, you’ll find a lot of ‘Salmanisms’ in the characters. I want Varun to strive for the same kind of unrehearsed performance,” said David.

David will start shooting with Varun in July. They will shoot in Ooty, Bangalore, Mumbai and then in Bangkok.

Movie Review – Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Divya Dutta,Prakash Raj, Sonam Kapoor

, Pavan Malhotra

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Producer: Viacom 18, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

Plot: Paan Singh Tomar and The Dirty Picture were some really good efforts to recreate the lives of those memorable people hailing from India. But Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is definitely the best. Period. The movie starts off with the Rome Olympics of 1960, showcasing the heroic efforts of the legendary Sikh. Milkha kicks start the race and after leading it for almost 3/4th of it, he gets lost in the thoughts of his parents’ tragedy during the India-Pakistan post partition riots and finishes at fourth place. The movie constantly swaps time zones, helping us to know more about Milkha’s life and not just about his career. We see the little Milkha and his troublesome childhood after being separated from his parents and the hardship he goes through because of his elder sister, Divya Dutta’s husband. We see the young Milkha who grows up gambling and stealing coal from local trains and selling it off for some cash. He meets Sonam Kapoor and falls in love with her in a very typical ‘village’ style. Very few words spoken, yet infinite feelings exchanged. He promises Sonam that he would come back to her after becoming something in life and there he is, recruited for the army. And gradually, grabs the opportunity to become an athlete for the Army unit. After intense training and some really hard work which is shown brilliantly, Milkha Singh wins the gold in Asian and Commonwealth Games and achieves the title of ‘The Flying Sikh’, given to him by the then Pakistan General. The movie is very enthralling and depicts the story of Milkha beautifully. One of the movies that you’d regret not watching!

Technical-aspect: The movie has been laid out in the best way possible. The background score by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is just epic, the introduction of Milkha Singh and the music just creates the kind of atmosphere the movie requires. Energetic, patriotic and proud. The direction and screenplay is just impeccable. Dialogues in the movie are also pretty good, providing a hint of comedy whenever needed.

Performances: Farhan Akhtar. Farhan Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar. This man could and I believe should win several awards for his performance in this film. He has donned the character of The Flying Sikh with perfection. The way Farhan Akhtar ran in real life, his hand movements, his expressions and his finishes were exactly the same as Milkha Singh actually did. His performance is power-packed and just exceptional. Divya Dutta, who plays the role of the elder sister of Milkha has done a great job. Although Sonam Kapoor’s role was only for 15-20 minutes, she pulls it off pretty nicely with her innocent smiles. Prakash Raj, Pavan Malhotra and Dalip Tahil are all convincing in their respective roles but I’d still say Farhan Akhtar stole the show, which was of course, expected.

The Bottom Line: Such movies rarely find their way into the Bollywood film industry but when Bhaag Milkha Bhaag did, it blew the frigging roof off!

Abhay Deol: Production well thought-out decision

Active in Hindi filmdom since his debut in 2005 with “Socha Na Tha”, the 37-year-old has faced the camera to play various kind of roles in films like “Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.”, “Ek Chalis Ki Last Local”, Manorama Six Feet Under”, “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!”, “Dev D” and “Chakravyuh”.

With eight years of experience in showbiz, he now takes a plunge into production business.

“If I would have thought that I am taking this decision too early in my career, then I would have not become a producer. You will also get to know it once the film will release,” said the actor at the launch of a new Mercedes Benz car here Thursday.

Abhay Deol will be seen romancing his real life girl friend Preeti Desai in the film, directed by Devika Bhagat.

The actor was last seen in “Raanjhanaa” along side Sonam Kapoor
-IANS-AFP

 and southern actor Dhanush.

Imraan Khan and Anushka Sharma snapped during Bru Gold photoshoot

Imraan Khan and Anushka Sharma, the brand ambassadors of Bru Gold Coffee are snapped on the sets of the commercial shoot.

Former Miss World Yukta Mookhey files complaint against her husband

Former Miss World Yukta Mookhey has lodged a complaint against her husband Prince Tuli for alleged domestic violence as per the police department.
“In her complaint, Ms Mookhey alleged she had often been beaten up and troubled by her husband Prince Tuli. An FIR has been registered under Section 498A (cruelty and harassment) and Section 377 (unnatural sex) of Indian Penal Code after her complaint yesterday,” an officer at Amboli police station said.

Mr. Prince Tuli is a New York based businessman and a financial consultant. The actress was medically checked because of her complaint and no arrest has been made in the case as yet.

Earlier a number of non-cognisable offences had been registered by Ms Mookhey against Mr Tuli and by that, the police cannot register an FIR, investigate or arrest anyone without the permission from the court.

Anurag Basu and Ranbir Kapoor’s equation growing stronger!

Bollywood filmmaker Anurag Basu who has teamed up with Ranbir Kapoor for the second time for ‘Jagga Jasoos’ after ‘Barfi!’, will also be co-producing the film along with the actor and said their ‘business partnership
“The status is that the script is ready. There will be new dynamics this time as Ranbir and I will be partnering in business – we both are producing it. Everyone wants to work with him…so he will have to finish those two films and come to me,” Basu told IANS.

’ will bring new dynamics to their relationship.

Anurag Basu’s Barfi! which had Ranbir in the lead scored with the audience beautifully and won him several awards though the director admitted that he did not expect such a response.
“I was not expecting such a big response at award functions,” he said.
“When you don’t get an award, you say it doesn’t mean anything to us. But when you get it, you feel happy. As a child too, I loved keeping awards on the shelf. It gives inspiration to everyone around you as well. It is great. When I will be old, these awards will have more value,” he added.

Pulkit Samrat stressed after ‘Fukrey’ success

The success of “Fukrey” has actorPulkit Samrat stressed as he is now worried about the increased expectations and pressures from audiences.

Directed by Mrighdeep Singh Lamba, the film also stars Manjot Singh, Ali Fazal, Richa Chadda

 and Vishakha Singh.

“I am stressed as people now have more expectations from us. So all of us in the team are happy about the fact (the success) and realise the responsibility that comes with it. We just promise to be honest and work forward with the same honesty and fun,” Pulkit, who made his big screen debut with “Bitto Boss”, said here in a group interview.

Pulkit, who played east Delhi boy Honey in the film, says it was tough for him to pick the nuances of an east Delhi boy.

“Thought-wise it was easy because I knew what ‘Fukrey’ meant. But otherwise, language and body language-wise it was tough to work on the character because all the characters are from east Delhi and the way of speaking there is very different,” Pulkit said.

“So it was a bit tough to catch that. But we all just followed the director and that was the easiest way to do it,” he added.

Pulkit will soon be seen in comedy film “O Teri”, being produced by Atul Agnihotri.

‘Zanjeer’ promotions kick off, director misses Sanjay Dutt

The first look of director Apoorva Lakhia’s “Zanjeer” remake has been launched and the director says he is missing jailed actor Sanjay Dutt, who is essaying the role that was played by veteran actor Pran in the 1973 film.

Sanjay is currently serving his three-and-a-half-year jail term in the 1993 Mumbai blast case.

“We are missing him a lot. My film ‘Zanjeer’ promotions have also started. I am heartbroken that Sanju sir is not here. ‘Policegiri’ is also a very big film for him and we are missing him a lot,” Lakhia told reporters at the preview of the Sanjay-starrer “Policegiri” Thursday.

Director: ‘Shortcut Romeo’ to boost Ameesha’s career

“Shortcut Romeo” director Susi Ganeshan is so much impressed with Ameesha Patel’s work in the romantic crime thriller that he is confident it will give a great boost to her career.

In “Shortcut Romeo”, a remake of Ganeshan’s hit Tamil film “Thiruttu Payale”, Ameesha, who is known for films like “Gadar-Ek Prem Katha” and “Humraaz”, plays a negative role.

“It will create a wonderful name for her. Ameesha has done good and successful films, but this will give a great mileage (to her career) as a successful film and for a great performance (by her),” Ganeshan said here in an interview.

“I think she will get a lot of awards for the best supporting actress (for ‘Shortcut Romeo’),” he added.

Also starring Puja Gupta and Neil Nitin Mukesh

, the story will see Ameesha playing a crucial role in taking every scene forward.

“She (Ameesha) is the centre code of the film. She is a driving force for every sequence… she has given a wonderful performance,” said the director.

The film is slated for a June 21 release.

Movie Review – Ghanchakkar

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Vidya Balan, Rajesh Sharma, Namit Das.

Director: Rajkumar Gupta

Producers: Ronnie Screwvala,Siddarth Roy Kapur

Music: Amit Trivedi

Plot: Much was expected from this Rajkumar Gupta comic-thriller ‘Ghanchakkar’ and boy did it deliver! This Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan combination worked for The Dirty Picture and this odd-whacky pairing has done its trick yet again! The movie is about Sanju (Emraan) and Neetu (Vidya) and their monotonous nagging married life and how then comes a crazy turn in Sanju’s life. Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) and Idris (Namit Das) call Sanju one night and plan a bank robbery. And yes, he agrees, you know that! What you don’t know yet is the way they rob the bank. Outright hilarious with those Amitabh and Dharmendra masks. A highlight, I shall say!

And then comes the ‘twist’. They decide to let Emraan keep the money until three months after which he meets with an accident following the bank heist and suffers from ‘partial-memory-loss’. No, so they did not copy Ghajini

. Now Pandit and Idris decide to literally stay with him at his place giving him a week’s time to work on his memory issues. Followed by some stupendous comical punches and some funny sequences, the movie blemishes towards the end. But still a breath of fresh air!

Technical-aspect: The starts brilliantly but somewhere down the second-half, you just find yourself staring at the screen. The ending is not so witty and you feel a bit deceived unless you’ve enjoyed some really punchy dialogues and scenes. The music is just mediocre and the movie starts with the song ‘Lazy Lad’, maybe they are referring to the screenwriter who dropped the tempo towards the end.

Performances: Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan both give good performances though Vidya’s costumes were ridiculous. But, part of the movie. Anyway, Rajesh Sharma plays an intriguing character in contrast to his partner Namit Das and both have delivered in the right sense.

Sanjay cancels ‘Policegiri’ premiere for flood victims

Manyata Dutt has confirmed that her husband Sanjay Dutt, who is currently completing his three-and-half-year jail sentence, has cancelled Dubai premiere of “Policegiri”. Instead, he suggested to organise paid premiere to raise funds for Uttarakhand flood victims.

Produced by Rahul Aggarwal and directed by K.S. Ravikumar, the film is coming out Friday.

Manyata said she informed her husband in jail about the Dubai premiere through a letter.

“But he didn’t want to spend money on premiere and then there was no artist, Sanju is also not here. So, he said instead of a premiere in Dubai, we can have a paid preview and donate the money earned through it to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Uttarakhand victims and it would be better,” said Manyata Tuesday at the special screening of the film, which she attended with her twins.

Sanjay plays a tough cop in “Policegiri”, which also stars Prakash Raj

 and Om Puri in pivotal roles.

The actor was convicted for illegal possession of arms in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts 

Movie Review – Lootera

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Barun Chanda, Divya Dutta

Director: Vikramaditya Motwane

Producer: Anurag Kashyap, EktaKapor, Shobha Kapoor

Plot: Lootera is based on O Henry’s epic short story, The Last Leaf and is definitely one of the best movies of Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha’s career. The movie begins with an archaeologist Varun

 Shrivastav (Ranveer Singh) arriving in Manikpur, a village in West Bengal. He uses his confident personality and bold demeanor to impress the local Zamindar and wins his trust to excavate the temple grounds. Pakhi (Sonakshi Sinha), who is the daughter of Zamindar is drawn towards him and they start spending time with each other by labeling their meets as ‘painting classes’. They both eventually fall in love and Varun confesses his love for Pakhi to her father. Their marriage is fixed unbelievably soon (yeah, bollywood movies!) and before they get married the Zamindar and Pakhi discover Varun is actually a con who by then has robbed the antique treasure of the Zamindar and has left.

Technical-aspect: The plot is based on the epic short story of O Henry and has done justice to it. Very few romantic movies are as interesting and perfect like this one is. The story is tight throughout and never leaves it’s focus. Vikramaditya Motwane’s decision to cut short the movie paid off to a great extent. The dialogues and screenplay is great as well. The background score and music is in perfect sync with the movie’s plot and creates a magical ambience with impeccable consonance.

Performances: Both Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi Sinha’s performance is unmistakable and they have donned their respective characters with utmost sincerity. Barun Chanda who plays the Zamindar has done his role quite convincingly. Vikrant Massey who plays Ranveer Singh’s accomplice has  a thing for Dev Anand and is surely up for the bright future. His presence was very well received by the audience and his witty dialogues were well timed.

Bottom-Line: Overall, Lootera is a wonderful masterpiece to treasure for Ranveer Singh and Sonakshi and of course the director too! Go watch it if you love Romantic flicks!

Rating: 3.5/5

Ready to be your Mandakini, SRK tells Farah Khan

Picture King Khan clad in white, drenched under a waterfall! Shah Rukh Khan is ready to do the infamous Mandakini act, but only for his filmmaker friend Farah Khan.

The superstar made the confession on Zee TV’s “DID Super Moms” while promoting his film “Chennai Express

”.

On the show, he was blown away by flexibility and talent of contestants Cecille and Shivangi, who performed a Mallakhamb act which had them executing backward flips on a five-foot wide wooden block. On hearing Shah Rukh’s comments for the contestants, the show’s judge Farah, who had choreographed “Jiya jale” for the movie “Dil Se…” reminisced how she had tried to get Shah Rukh to do a few Mallakhamb steps for the song.

“On the shoot day, Shah Rukh vanished from the sets and was nowhere to be seen. I had specially ordered a white lungi and wanted him to be bare chested while shooting the song,” she recalled. To that Shah Rukh came up with a quick rejoinder.

“Don’t worry Farah, for your next movie, I promise I will do a Mallakhamb. If you dress me in white for it, I will also be your Mandakini and give you four days to shoot the song as well,” said the superstar with a naughty grin.

Ranveer’s look in “Lootera” inspired by Dev Anand and James Dean

Ranveer Singh reveals his look in “Lootera” has been inspired by late Hollywood actor James Dean and Bollywood legend Dev Anand.

“Vikram (director Vikramaditya Motwane) was very clear it had to be an amalgamation of James Dean and Dev Anand. So those were the references that he used to send me,” the 28-year-old said here Monday at a Cafe Coffee Day outlet where he was present to promote “Lootera.”

Ranveer said his input in the look was nil.

“I did not do anything, he knew the kind of look he wanted, the kind of hair he wanted. Every detail he looked into, so I really didn’t have any input this time, it was all Vikram,” he said.

Ranveer is happy with the appreciation his clean look is garnering, especially from his female fans.

“I am very happy everybody likes that clean cut look. I’ve got a lot of messages that are very appreciative of that look, especially from the ladies which is nice,” Ranveer said.

Sonakshi promotes ‘Lootera’ despite upset stomach

Sonakshi Sinha was not well during her visit to the capital Wednesday, but despie that she promoted her forthcoming film “Lootera”.

“My stomach has been keeping me unwell for the past few days. I hardly get the chance to visit the capital, so I made sure my health doesn’t hinder my visit. I skipped my Jaipur promotion because of health issues but coming to the capital always feels good to me,” she told IANS during her visit.

Looking gorgeous in a black top and matching leggings, she maintained her smile and enthusiasm while sharing her fondness for the capital.

“Lootera” is directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, whose last film “Udaan” won accolades at many film festivals. A period romance, the film also features Ranveer Singh.

Next halt for ‘Chennai Express’ at ‘DID Super Moms’

After travelling to various reality shows, the next stop for the “Chennai Express” star cast – actors Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone – was dance reality show “Dance India Dance Super Moms”.

As usual, Shah Rukh was at his best — he not only shook a leg with the grandmaster of the show, actor Mithun Chakraborty, but even met the 14 contestants and their families. He even danced, recited dialogues and sang songs on request.

Deepika, 27, was also seen having a gala time on the sets. She was the centre of attraction, especially for participant Shraddha Shah’s six-month-old baby, Maher, who made her grin from ear to ear.

The Zee TV’s show is judged by choreographers Marzi Pestonji and Terence Lewis. It airs Saturday and Sunday.

YRF to distribute D-Day in overseas markets

Yash Raj Films will distribute DAR Motion Pictures and Emmay Entertainment’s “D-Day” in the international market.

“YRF continues its pursuit for quality entertainment by hand-picking nothing but the top movies from well-known banners,” read a statement.