Bollywood makes Osama bin Laden spoof

MUMBAI — India's Bollywood cinema, known for its exuberant song-and-dance sequences and romantic plots, is to explore new territory with a satire on Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The movie, "Tere bin Laden" (Without you, Laden), is a story set in Pakistan about a young reporter who seeks to migrate to the United States in search of fame and fortune.

The reporter, played by Pakistani actor-singer Ali Zafar, is denied entry and his visa rejected after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

The farce follows a storyline in which the reporter makes a video with a bin Laden look-alike and becomes the centre of a major White House investigation.

"People want new concepts, not commercial films," director-writer Abhishek Sharma told AFP.

Kim Kardashian dating Cowboys star?

Kim Kardashian has reportedly started dating Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin.

The 29-year-old, who split from ex-beau Reggie Bush two months ago, is said to be taking things slow with Austin, reports US Weekly.

"They are dating but she doesn't want to rush anything," a source said.

"Kim wants to date someone who gets her busy lifestyle."

Kardashian recently admitted that she had an "innocent" flirtation happening with Justin Bieber.

Is Bollywood coming to Hollywood?

 "Slumdog Millionaire" took home eight Oscars on Sunday night, a surprising achievement for a film once thought to be straight-to-DVD fodder.

"Slumdog Millionaire" with Dev Patel and Freida Pinto has a "rags-to-riches" storyline with wide appeal.
more photos »

The colorful story, which mixes the gritty life of Mumbai's poor with the shiny aspirations of the new India, features no stars recognizable to Western audiences, but it may have made one of its native country.

Salman Khan takes away Shah Rukh Khan's friends

Is everyone, who has had some problem with Shah Rukh Khan, trying to prove a point to the Bollywood Badshah by becoming pally with his friend-turned foe, Salman Khan? Riteish Deshmukh used to be his good friend till SRK replaced him with Arjun Rampal in Ra One. The friendship turned sour and Riteish is now seen hanging around with Salman.

Even Nikhil Dwivedi, who had solid backing from SRK in his first film My Name is Anthony Gonsalves, is nowadays singing praises of Salman who gifted the struggling actor a watch. Mushtaq Shaikh, who had written a coffee-table book on SRK, and who was constantly seen in his company, now drops by on Salman’s sets just to say ‘Hello Brother’. And Farah Khan, who earlier was the mainstay of King Khan’s camp, has shifted her support to Akshay Kumar and Salman now.

Kareena Kapoor has no time for Karisma now

Flies to Morocco almost as soon as she lands in Mumbai from Hyderabad, has asked mom, sis and niece to meet her at airport

Kareena Kapoor cannot take time out for sister Karisma Kapoor's birthday (on June 25). In fact, she is so busy that her mother Babita is packing her bags for an overseas schedule ahead of the actress' return to Mumbai.

Says Kareena, "I am shooting in Hyderabad till June 23. I land in Mumbai at 9 pm and from the domestic airport, go to the international terminal.

I board a flight to Marrakech, Morocco for Saif's Agent Vinod in a couple of hours after that. It's so hectic that I won't be able to go home and pack. In fact, I have told mom to pack my stuff and meet me at the airport."

The actress says she's sad, as it is one of those rare occasions that she will miss sis Karisma's birthday as well.

Bollywood Upcoming Movie Race 2: After Bips, John Abraham goes bad

Bollywood hunk John Abraham shot to fame with his negative character Kabir in Dhoom. He was accepted and appreciated by the audience for the role. Now, he is going to play the same villain avatar in the Abbas- Mustan sequel of the hit movie Race.

The filmmaker duo is happy with the inclusion of John as they think he is perfect for the role. Saif Ali Khan and Anil Kapoor have already signed to play the lead roles.

Interestingly, John’s girlfriend Bipasha Basu was a vamp in the first movie and he will appear in the sequel when she is not a part of the project anymore.

Producer Ramesh Taurani is also very pleased with the casting. Recently, John earned accolades for his negative role in New York. The film is slated to go to the floors in 2011. The team is looking for exotic locations to start shooting. The first movie was shot in South Africa and Dubai.

It will be interesting to see how John looks in the film!

All you wanted to know about Manisha Koirala wedding

For the guest list, the venues, khaane mein kya tha, what she wore and more, read on...

WHAT WE HAVE HERE: Are pics of Manisha Koirala's private wedding to businessman Samrat Dahal and the reception thereafter.

B-TOWN SE KAUN THA? Jackie Shroff, Vivek Mushran (Manya's first co-star; in Saudagar), Deepti Naval, Sahara's Subroto Roy, actress Suman Ranganathan, and designers Ana Singh and Shaahid Aamir were all in attendance.

MEHENDI WAS AT: Manisha's home in Kathmandu

WEDDING SOLEMNISED AT: The Gokarna Forest Resort in Nepal

EAT UP! Charcoal pork, papaya salad and spicy peanuts.

Sara Khan quits Bidaai for Ritesh Deshmukh?

It's now well known that Sara Khan will be leaving 'Bidaai' for the greener pastures of Bollywood. It is believed that Sara Khan will feature in a film that is being produced by her boyfriend. However, we hear that there is a slight twist in her tale.

Apparently, we learnt that while Sara is all set to step into Bollywood, it's not going to be in her boyfriend's film. Instead, she's said to be featuring opposite the popular Bollywood actor, Riteish Deshkmukh.

A source says, “Contrary to the popular perception, Sara is not doing Ali Merchant's film. That project is said to have been shelved. Instead, she is doing another film. I do not know its name, but it's confirmed that Sara will be paired opposite Ritesh Deshmukh in this film.”

Adding further, the source says, “Riteish hasn't succeeded in the films where he's played the sole lead. That's why no popular actress wants to be paired opposite him in such a film. For Sara, it will be a good break, so she's accepted it.”

Both Sara Khan and Ali Merchant remained unavailable for comment.

Kareena's Stunt entry atop moving car in Golmaal 3

When it's a Rohit Shetty film, you can be sure of some high octane action sequences which include the likes of cars blasting, actors standing on top of moving bikes, etc. While his actors are expected to do some heavy-duty action sequences in his films, this time for his latest film Golmaal 3, Rohit Shetty decided to get his actress Kareena Kapoor also to do a dhamakedaar stunt sequence.

Kareena, who was also seen in Rohit's Golmaal Returns, will now be seen making a dramatic entry by standing on the bonnet of a moving car in Golmaal 3 Bebo insisted on performing the daredevil stunt scene herself and ended up doing the scene like a pro. Says a source who was present on the sets, "It was a very difficult scene.

Twitter bans Sherlyn Chopra from posting 'bold' pictures

Mumbai: Actress Sherlyn Chopra has become the first Indian celebrity to be banned by Twitter from putting up images which authorities in the microblogging site fear might be provocative enough to raise a controversy.

Chopra had posted her nude pictures on the site a few days ago. This caused many eyebrows to be raised, after which the small-time actress took the pictures off from her profile.

Chopra also faces the threat of legal action by a rights group in Mumbai for her act.

A source said, “Sherlyn Chopra has converted her account (@SherlynChopra) into an exhibition of her images. This public display has attracted eyeballs resulting in an increasing number of followers each day.

"But these provocative images have been condemned by a section of the followers who claim to be social activists.

"Not only have they threatened online to lodge an FIR against her but have successfully managed to inform Twitter about her act and lodge an official complaint against her.

"The site has now asked her not to upload bold images.”

Chopra said, “Nice, beautiful girls get bullied online because all it takes is one jerk with a log-in and a grudge to launch a vicious, nameless attack.

"These people resent women because they feel outpaced by them and express it anonymously.

"Is there no freedom of expression anymore? My images are sensual, not suggestive. I’m an Indian and I shall not do anything that goes against my ethos.”

Aamir Khan ropes in Gustavo for Dhobi Ghat

Bollywood’s perfectionist Aamir Khan, has roped in the Argentine music composer Gustavo Santaolalla for his wife Kiran Rao’s directorial debut film Dhobi Ghat.
The Golden Globe Award winner Gustavo is well known for scoring music for the films Brokeback Mountain, Babel and The Motorcycle Diaries. He had won Academy Awards in 2005 and 2005 for ‘Best Original Score’ in Brokeback Mountain and Babel respectively. His music also earned him the Grammy and BAFTA awards.
Now, the director has moved to Bollywood in order to offer some excellent music to the Indian audience. Speaking about his visit to Mumbai, Gustavo said, “Both Kiran and Aamir believed that I can give perfect music to the film. Kiran, was in Los Angeles to show me the film. I liked it and came here.”

In case of the film, Brokeback Mountain, Gustavo composed the music by just going through the script and meeting the director. But for Dhobi Ghat, he preferred to watch the film. He said, “This movie is a reflection of the identity of Mumbai. I liked the way the characters are presented by Kiran in the film, I liked the story.”

Gustavo has tried to give the Indian feel by using instruments like sarangi, veena and the Carnatic flute. The composer added, “I am trying to combine various Indian instruments with my aesthetics to compose music that goes well with the film and also establishes my identity as an artist.”

He further added, “I never knew that people here know my work so well and I even have some fans here.”

We hope that the music of Dhobi Ghat earns him more Indian fans!

Raavan doesn't get an epic opening

Reliance BIG Pictures and Madras Talkies extensively released their film  Raavan  in around 2200 screens worldwide making it the first Indian film to release simultaneously in Hindi Tamil and Telugu versions. The opening was average on Friday and with negative reports the business clearly dropped on Saturday.

As per the figures disclosed by the distributors, the opening day worldwide gross comes to Rs 20 crores and the first weekend worldwide gross collection is Rs 53 crores. But one has to take into consideration that this is the revenue generated from all the three versions of the film put together - Hindi ( Raavan ), Tamil ( Raavanan ) and Telugu ( Villain ).

The film worked primarily in multiplexes in metros but the business was poor in single screens and interiors.
The negative word of mouth affected the film adversely in a massive way. Mani Ratnam faced a similar backlash when his film Yuva was released in 2004. The film opened to negative reviews and fared badly at the box office though it subsequently acquired cult status.

Sadly, prospects don’t seem to be any good for Raavan as the business that the film did is much lower to that of other recently released biggies. So though the film has no big opposition in its second week with considerably smaller releases in the form of Krantiveer – The Revolution (sequel to Nana Patelar’s 1994 hit Krantiveer ) and Mr Singh and Mrs Mehta (Aruna Shields – Prashant Narayanan), Raavan doesn’t seems to have any scope at the box office.

Subhash Ghai gung-ho over Imran-Sonam jodi

Their pairing is quite fresh and adorable in ‘I Hate Luv Storys’… And Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor seem to have already found a big fan in Subhash Ghai.

The ace filmmaker is said to be in fact so impressed with the pair that he considers them as the new age Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit!

Said Ghai to sources, “They’re like Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit, a pair that has terrific chemistry and will sustain.”

Moreover, the filmmaker reported to have bought the distribution rights of the film in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, under his banner Mukta Arts. He said to have purchased the rights from UTV for Rs 3.5 crore.

Meanwhile other source from Mukta Arts believes that the film will do very good business and they expect to recover the money in the first week itself.

Hmmm, we hope this jodi proves to be lucky enough…. Let’s see if this ‘Luv Story’ clicks at the box office.

I was apprehensive about doing Tere Bin Laden

Pakistani singer Ali Zafar, who makes his Bollywood debut as an actor with Tere Bin Laden, was initially apprehensive about taking up the film fearing that it would hurt the sentiments of people.

"When I received the offer I was apprehensive, as the title of the film goes Tere Bin Laden. But when I read the script I found it was a comedy. It is a satire and does not hurt anyone's ideology," Zafar told PTI. "The idea excited me and the script was hilarious. It was fun to do this film," he added.

The pop singer and actor, who has delivered hit numbers like Sajania and Masty, is playing a journalist in the Abhishek Sharma-directed movie. "I play a journalist from Pakistan, who is desperate to migrate to the US. He fails to get there because of visa problems post 9/11. So he decides to produce a fake video of Osama Bin Laden to attract attention, but lands in trouble," Zafar said.

The 30-year-old versatile artist prefers doing "intelligent cinema" and likes the work of Bollywood actors Akshay Kumar and Govinda. "I like the work of Akshay Kumar and Govinda, their comic timing is superb. With regards to films, I love the Munnabhai series, My Name is Khan and Rajneeti," he said.

Besides acting in the film, Zafar, also known as 'Prince of Pop' in Pakistan, has also lent his voice to two songs. "I have sung two songs in the film - I love Amrika and Ullu da pattha. Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy have given fabulous music (in the film)," he said.

Tere Bin Laden is set for a worldwide release on July 16.

Big B blames ‘Raavan’ editing for son’s failure

While the Tamil version of Mani Ratnam’s Raavan continues to do well at the boxoffice, a mini-Mahabharat is brewing over the Hindi version. Amitabh Bachchan, irked by the poor response to the film, on Sunday blamed its bad editing for spoiling his son Abhishek Bachchan’s role.Although the veteran actor later did a turnaround and tweeted “Mani Ratnam is one of the finest directors, and we should respect this vision’’, the director is said to be upset about this mudslinging on a public platform.

On Sunday Amitabh Bachchan tweeted, “Lot of merited film edited out, causing inconsistent performance and narrative. Abhishek’s erratic behaviour was due to symbolic 10 heads visually appearing and each giving him different attitudes to adopt for a situation, he would then finally shake them off and decide... It’s sad, in the edit you only see the aftereffect of that thinking process, hence inconsistent. In the edit, all the visual heads got cut and you see a confused Beera expression and wonder why?’’

Though Mani Ratnam has chosen to remain silent, both actor Vikram and cinematographer Santosh Sivan sprang to his defence. Sivan told mediapersons, “Everyone is entitled to his opinion but at the end of the day, it’s the director’s call.’’ Actor Vikram, who is part of both the Hindi and Tamil versions of the film, said, “Mani Ratnam is the best person to answer the question about the film’s editing. The same editing was done in Raavanan and it is doing well in the South. It is the audiences that decides the fate of the film. Even some of my scenes were edited out.’’

Another actor from the film said, “I agree the film has gone wrong but it’s not some national catastrophe for people to over-react in this manner. Let’s not forget the same director gave Abhishek Bachchan a Yuva and a Guru.’’ Another industry source said, “Amitabh Bachchan’s love for his son has made him hit out at Mani Ratnam. Why can’t he just accept that Abhishek failed to live up to the director’s expectation?’’

The distributors of the film Reliance Big Pictures have claimed the film has grossed Rs 53 crore worldwide.

Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan 'held' at US airport

Indian Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said he felt angry and humiliated after he was detained and questioned at a U.S. airport, sparking an uproar in India among his fans.
Khan, 43, one of India's best known actors, was enroute to Chicago for a parade to mark the Indian independence day on Saturday when he was pulled aside at Newark airport Friday, he said.
"I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn't let me through," he said in a text message to reporters in India.
After a couple of hours' interrogation, he was allowed to make a call, he said, and he got in touch with the Indian consulate who vouched for him and secured his release...

"Absolutely uncalled for, I think. I felt angry and humiliated," said Khan, who had just finished a month-long shoot in the United States for his upcoming film "My Name is Khan," which is about a Muslim man's experience with racial profiling.
A U.S. consul official in India told a television channel they were inquiring into the matter.
As news of Khan's detention broke on Indian television channels, which have played up attacks in Australia on Indian students, fans and actors began posting angry comments on the Internet.
"Shocking, disturbing n downright disgraceful. It's such behaviour that fuels hatred and racism. SRK's a world figure for God's sake. Get real!!," tweeted actor Priyanka Chopra.
Indian Information Minister Ambika Soni told a television station that while she could not say if Khan had been detained "on religious grounds, there have been too many instances like these in the U.S. concerning Indians."
Last month U.S-based carrier Continental Airlines apologized to former Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam for frisking him at New Delhi airport.

Warner makes Bollywood debut with kung fu comedy

Director Danny Boyle's Indian foray paid off with the award-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire," and now Warner Bros. Pictures hopes its debut Bollywood film will reap some U.S. box office success.
Billed as the first ever Bollywood kung fu comedy, "Chandni Chowk to China" opens on Friday in India and on more than 125 screens in the United States and Canada -- the largest Bollywood release in North America, says Time Warner Inc's Warner Bros.
"Chandni Chowk to China," starring veteran Bollywood star Akshay Kumar who has made more than 120 films, tells the tale of a poor cook who travels to China to become a kung fu hero. The film, whose title refers to the bustling Chandni Chowk market of Delhi, is the studio's first Indian production.
"There have been lots of Bollywood films in the past which had have the potential of crossing over, but could not cross over mainly because they did not have a studio backing it with a strong distribution network," said director Nikhil Advani.

"If this one succeeds, even if it marginally succeeds ... I think there will be a wave of more Bollywood films," he told Reuters in a recent interview.
Bollywood, as the Indian film industry centred in Mumbai is called, churns out about 1,000 movies a year and is known for its colourful sets, extravagant costumes and elaborate song-and-dance sequences.
The new film, which Kumar said cost about $8 million (5.5 million pounds), is also being released in 30 other countries, but Richard Fox, executive vice president Warner Bros international, said the studio doesn't have grand expectations.
"This one, we think, will play broadly, but to the Indian diaspora. We're not fooling ourselves," Fox told Reuters.
"Our film is totally in Hindi, so we're going in especially in a market like this (in the United States), in the U.K., in Australia. Our audiences here don't like subtitled movies so we're going in with a handicap right away," he said.
NO 'SLUMDOG' BOOST
Advani and Fox said Fox Searchlight's Golden Globe Award winning "Slumdog Millionaire" -- the story of a boy searching for love on a quiz show which pays tribute to Bollywood with a dance number -- is not expected to boost to their film.
"It's great that they're both in the marketplace because one is a pure Bollywood film and the other one is a really brilliant film that takes place in India, in Mumbai. They complement each other," Fox said.
Advani, who met Boyle when they were filming their movies on sound stages next to each other in Mumbai, said that while Bollywood is attracting more international directors it would be difficult for foreign directors to make a Bollywood film.
"It's very important for you to be able to understand the Indian culture for you to be able to make a Bollywood film," he said. "People will be a little shocked when they see the film for the first time ... by the kind of in-your-face emotions, whether its comedy or heroes crying. You have to get used to watching a Bollywood film."
The Bollywood industry has, in recent years, been moving from a notoriously inefficient family-based business to a more corporate structure in finance, production and distribution, modelling itself after Hollywood.
That has brought more investors, including Hollywood studios, such as Warner Bros, Walt Disney, Fox Searchlight, NBC Universal, Viacom and Sony Pictures.
While Hollywood is easily the No. 1 film industry in the world, Bollywood is one of the fastest growing with some experts forecasting it could double in size by 2012.

Aishwarya refuses to kiss Brad Pitt

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is one of the most desirable Bollywood actress in Hollywood. Lots of promising Hollywood offer comes her way but Aishwarya Rai Bachchan prefers to give them a miss following tight schedule. She has so many to do in Bollywood that she won’t be able to do justice to overseas projects. One interesting project that came to her doorstep was ‘Troy’ but Ash rejected the offer as the film includes some intimate scenes with Hollywood star Brad Pitt.

Regarding the offer, the 36 yr old actress said, "One of the reasons I declined ‘Troy’ was that there were some very explicit lovemaking scenes in the script, and a lot of kisses. I was like, `Oh my God! I`m not sure`. I couldn`t imagine being comfortable with it".
Ash was also the top choice for ‘Hancock’ and ‘Seven Pounds’ in the past but she chose to say no. Confirming the news, Aishwarya said, "It wasn`t about an attitude I had, or any inverted ideas about working overseas, it was simply about scheduling. I just didn`t have the time".
Hollywood directors like Brett Ratner wanted her for ‘Rush Hour’ and Wolfgang Petersen persuaded her for ‘Troy. Speaking about her international projects, she quips, "Michael Douglas came to India and did a press conference where he confessed that he had brought a script my way. And Will Smith was generous enough to be persistent twice over, for ‘Hancock’ and ‘Seven Pounds’.”

However, Ash is not interested to go westward.

It was such a pleasure to shoot with SRK" - Sonal Chauhan

Sonal Chauhan, the dusky beauty who was last seen in Jannat opposite Emraan Hashmi, is back with a

'brand' in a new advertisement for Dish TV with none other than the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan.

B4utoday caught up with the beautiful actress to find out more, who willingly tells us, "Yes actually, we have finished with the shoot for the ad about 25 days ago and currently it is being aired on TV networks."

Talking about working with SRK, she says, "It was such a pleasure to shoot with SRK. Firstly, I am a big admirer of his, so when I was approached for the ad by the ad director, I was more than willing. There was no way I was going to say no."


"The ad itself was shot very fast. I think the reason for this is that Shah Rukh is such a magnificent person that all his shots were done in just a single take, besides one more thing I noticed while shooting at Yash Raj studios was that SRK is such a gentleman."

Coming to her films, Sonal says, "My film with Owais Hussain is ready, and currently it is being edited since we have finished shooting. However, I cannot tell you anymore as Owais is the best person to speak to about this. Apart from this, I have another film lined up but again, I can't tell you much as it's still a bit too early."