Bollywood News

Sunday, January 18, 2009

First Day First Show Of 'Chandni Chowk To China'

Check Out The Public Opinion 1st Day 1st Show

"Chandi Chowk To Chaina"

Kajol On The Cover Of M

"Blue eyes say, Love me or I die; hazel eyes say, Love me or I kill thee."

If the above statement is even one percent true, then be ready for the kill as Kajol is all ready and already on the prowl with her killer eyes, all this and more only in the latest issue of the magazine 'M'. With the magical hands of the ace shutterbug Jatin Kampani at the helm of things, it's totally needless to say that Kajol looks like a million bucks and like never before!

Kajol speaks all about her pre and post marital life, in the article that's aptly titled 'Forever Fantasy'. She also lets the cats loose as she speaks about the things that she is passionate about, her cooking, nightmares etc... With her being all set to make the comeback innings with My Name Is Khan, Bollywood is all set to sway again to her tunes! Till then, 'M' is the way to go!

B.O. Update: 'CC2C' Is Below Expectations!

The much-awaited CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA was expected to fetch a stupendous start, but producer proposes, audience disposes. The paid previews were below the mark at several screens, while the Friday numbers were best in North, Delhi-NCR specifically, but average at best at several places.

A section of the industry [read exhibitors] was of the opinion that CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA would embark on a similar start as GHAJINI and SINGH IS KINNG, but forget being at par with GHAJINI, the film was lower than SINGH IS KINNG almost everywhere. This doesn't go well for a film like CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA, since it stars a hugely popular star, Akshay Kumar, whose standing in the industry is at par with SRK and Aamir Khan today.

The reports of CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA are outright negative and a fall in business is expected on Saturday or Monday. But a fall is imminent!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Winners: Bollywood Hungama Surfers Choice Music Awards 2008

Best Soundtrack

Here's the first award, which is for the 'Best Soundtrack', and which quite deservingly goes to

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na! The film's music was composed by none other than music maestro A.R. Rahman himself. The soundtrack of this film swayed back the listeners to a nostalgic trip of the melodious 'Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak' days! Even though the chartbuster track 'Aditi' (sung by the debutante Rashid Ali) got itself the honour of being hailed as the sweet love anthem, all the other tracks in the album equally struck the right chord

with the listeners.

While Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na walked away with the top honours, we have the first runner up in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (with Salim Sulaiman as its composers) and the second runner up in Ghajini (Rahman again!). Even though the talented duo of Salim-Sulaiman faced some early criticism, they sailed their way into the hearts of the listeners 'Haule Haule'.

On the other hand, when you have the divine magical fingers of Rahman calling the (musical) shots in Ghajini, one can never go wrong on the tracks that simply gets (read 'mesmerizes') the listeners under its sway.

Based on the votes provided by our surfers and the validation done by us, the Award for the 'Music Company of the Year' goes to T-Series. While the Award for the 'Music Director of the Year' goes to A.R.Rahman.

Best Male Playback Singer

After having crowned the Best Soundtrack, its time for us to move onto the next category, which is the 'Best Male Playback Singer'. While Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi missed the trophy in the earlier category, it has more than made up for it by winning the 'Best Male Playback Singer' award for the 'busier-than-ever' crooner Sukhwinder Singh for his breezy rendition of 'Haule Haule'. They say that you can take man out of India, but cannot take India out of a man. But with Sukhwinder, the case is totally different, as you simply can neither take this man out of music, neither the music out of this man. Needles to say that Salim Sulaiman have extracted one of the best tracks from Sukhwinder once again.

When spoke to Salim (of the duo Salim-Sulaiman), he said, "'Haule Haule' was composed keeping the character of Surinder in mind. As always, we've tried to do our best while composing the Rab Ne... album, but it is the audiences who are responsible for the success of the music. Of course there's a team effort of everyone involved with the film. But it's only because of people understanding and appreciating the music that it has become a super-hit. We thank the audiences for this success."

While the first runner-up of this award happened to be Atif Aslam, whose 'mellow-dious' rendition of 'Pehli Nazar', till date, reignites the magic of first love, the second runner-up was the debutante Rashid Ali, whose rendition of 'Aditi' not just gave all the Aditis the world over a reason to smile about, but also the listeners a reason to feel proud about!

Best Female Playback Singer

Third in the category of music awards is 'Best Female Playback Singer'. This one was a toughie as the contenders included newcomers like Shruti Pathak, Monali, Dominique Cerejo to veterans such as Alka Yagnik, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal. Finally, ladies and gentlemen, hold your breath as we spill the beans by announcing the winner, who is none other than the lady whose 'sweeter-than-honey' voice and extremely 'down to earth' nature has not just got her immense work, but also made her an inseparable family name. Friends, please put your hands together for the young and supremely talented Shreya Ghoshal who bags the Numero Uno position in the 'Best Female Playback Singer' category for the smash hit track from Singh Is Kinng - 'Teri Ore'. If one has to listen to this song with their eyes closed, the magic of this crooner's voice transports you to a different magical world altogether!

Talking about the first runner up in this category, will be equivalent to holding a torch before the sun. We are indeed talking about Alka Yagnik, whose rendition of the soulful 'Tu Muskura' from Yuvvraaj, gave the listeners reasons to smile aplenty. As far as the second runner up is concerned, it is the very versatile Shruti Pathak, about whom, one can confidently say that, Fashion's music would have been incomplete without the resonating vocals of this talented singer! Way to go, Shruti!

Best Lyricist

It's that section of the awards, when one is simply forced to give the nominees a standing ovation, by merely hearing their names, for this is the award for the 'Best Lyricist'. The contenders included the likes of Javed Akhtar, Prasoon Joshi, Abbas Tyrewala, Jaideep Sahni, Sayeed Quadri, Anvita Dutt and Munna Dhiman to name a few.

Ultimately the winner was a name which is none other than the Master of Poetry himself, Javed Akhtar for the song 'Jashn-E-Bahaara' from Jodhaa Akbar. Speaking to Javed saab said, "I am so very happy to be getting this award. It really acts as a mirror to the work that all of us have put in."

Jaideep Sahni, who bagged the second spot for his 'Haule Haule' from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, "I love writing songs as much as I love writing films, and have been fortunate to have my lyrics too appreciated by the audience. Regarding this compliment, films being a collaborative in nature, it really belongs to our entire 'Rab Ne' team, beginning of course with Salim-Sulaiman and Sukhi, and then Shah Rukh, Anushka, Vaibhavi, and of course, Adi, whose vision our work was a part of."

Prasoon Joshi, whose 'Guzarish' from Ghajini bagged the much coveted third spot, said, "I think that the 'Guzarish' track will go even higher on the popularity charts. According to me, it's on its way up. Still, whatever the people feel, I am happy with it. For me, being appreciated directly by the audiences is what makes every bit of effort worthwhile. I write for the audience and if the work connects with them and moves them, it is fulfilling. I hope to continue writing for them and that it makes a small difference in their lives. I thank each one of you for making this song so likeable. It's indeed a reflection of your sensitivity."

Best Music Video

For the 'Best Music Video' category, there were some really wonderfully picturised songs. Be it the grand 'Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah' from Jodhaa Akbar or the funky 'Desi Girl' track from Dostana each one of these songs were vying for the Top Honors in this category.

As for the winner... it was indeed the brilliantly shot 'Azeem O Shaan Shahenshah' track from Jodhaa Akbar that came out triumphs in the end. The picturisation of this music video was so very impeccable that a mere look of the delicately crafted sets and the lavish locales, simply transported the cine goers to an era gone by. People, who found history as a boring subject, changed their opinion, especially after watching this Song Royale!

While 'Haule Haule' from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi bagged the second place, 'Pappu Cant Dance Saala' from Jaane TuYa Jaane Naa, came third

When the ace director Abbas Tyrewala, as to how he felt about 'Pappu Cant Dance' being featured in the Top 3 in the Best Music Video category, he said, "Frankly speaking I don't know how I feel. I don't think I've shot 'Pappu Can't Dance' really well but I guess it's due to the popularity of the song that it featured in the Top 3 in the 'Best Music Video' category. Honestly, I am much happier about 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' bagging the Best Song award. That means a lot more to me."

Best Song

They say 'If Music be the food of life, then play on'. Well, it's indeed 'Play On' time for the entire gang of Jaane TuYa Jaane Na, for the reason that it's 'Aditi time' again at the winner's desk and this time, it's for the 'Best Song'. Well, with names like Aamir Khan, A. R. Rahman, Imran Khan, Genelia D'Souza and the icing on the cake being in the form of the sea-breezy cool vocals of the debutante Rashid Ali, can things evergo wrong !

While its 'Kabhi Kabhi Aditi' at the top, let us also put our hands together for the first runner up: the super melodious 'Haule Haule' from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, and also for second runner up position, that's gracefully held by the 'Love-meets-eternity' song of the decade 'Guzarish' from the super hit film Ghajini.

All Eyes On 'CC2C'

GHAJINI and RAB NE BANA DI JODI continue to dominate the international

markets, although the collections, expectedly, are on a decline now. GHAJINI hasn't had a good run in U.K. [due to the 15 certificate, which kept a section of the audiences away], but is fantastic in U.S. On the other hand, RAB NE BANA DI JODI is good in these two markets, although the expectations were higher, keeping in mind the SRK - Aditya Chopra combo. Everyone's keenly awaiting the new biggie this Friday -- CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA.

Weekend: January 9 - 11, 2009.

U.K. BOX-OFFICE

GHAJINI [last weekend: No. 14, this weekend: No. 19]: In its third weekend, the film has collected £ 34,013 on 27 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 1,260. Total: £ 6,82,815 [approx. Rs. 4.95 crores].

RAB NE BANA DI JODI [last weekend: No. 16, this weekend: No. 20]: In its fifth weekend, the film has collected £ 23,064 on 26 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 887. Total: £ 14,61,993 [approx. Rs. 10.59 crores].

DOSTANA [last weekend: No. 58, this weekend: No. 75]: In its ninth weekend, the film has collected £ 423 on 2 screens, with the per screen average working out to £ 212. Total: £ 9,80,724 [approx. Rs. 7.10 crores].

THIS WEEKEND IN U.K.
[Based on screen averages]

U.S.A. BOX-OFFICE

GHAJINI [last weekend: No. 25, this weekend: No. 32]: In its third weekend, the film has collected $ 1,10,955 on 60 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 1,849. Total: $ 23,55,778 [approx. Rs. 11.48 crores].

RAB NE BANA DI JODI [last weekend: No. 39, this weekend: No. 53]: In its fifth weekend, the film has collected $ 20,058 on 25 screens, with the per screen average working out to $ 802. Total: $ 20,74,346 [approx. Rs. 10.11 crores].

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Is It Dhoni Or Sehwag Who Inspired 'Victory'?

Is VICTORY based on Dhoni or Sehwag's life? Does Harman Baweja's character in the film bear a striking resemblance to these two icons? That's the rumour floating around! "Not true," VICTORY director Ajitpal Mangat clarifies, "The only similarity is that like some of our cricketers, Vijay Shekhawat [the role enacted by Harman in VICTORY] hails from a small town. In fact, I'd say it's the story of an underdog, who rises from ashes to glory."

VICTORY is a make-or-break film for both Ajitpal and lead man Harman. Having dabbled in acting and later, directing ad films, Ajitpal decided to try his hand at film-making. "The script of VICTORY was ready way back in 2000. Much later, when I narrated the story to Manmohan Shetty, my mentor, he suggested that I should not only direct the film, but also produce it. Manmohan-ji also suggested Harman for the project and when I met him, I knew I had found Vijay Shekhawat," Ajitpal says.

Getting cricketers on board was tough, but once Ajitpal signed Brett Lee, it was easy convincing other cricketers. Come to think of it, he could've cast actors in those roles. "I wanted the matches to look authentic. With actors, it wouldn't have looked natural. That's why I chose real-life cricketers for those parts," he reasons. So why Harman? Why not someone like Dhoni in the central role? "Most of them may be fabulous cricketers, but they aren't good actors," he smiles

Harman, labeled a Hrithik look-alike, will now face Hrithik and Farhan Akhtar [LUCK BY CHANCE] on 30th January. What are the prospects of VICTORY then? "There's space for everyone. I genuinely believe that two films can co-exist easily. I'm sure, they've made a good film. VICTORY is great as well," he says.