Bollywood Bites Plus

New Trailer :: Amitabh Bachchan in The Great Gatsby

Amitabh Bachchan plays the role of Meyer Wolfshiem in Buz Luhrmann's film of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel, The Great Gatsby. The film is set to release December 2012.

Unlike Anil Kapoor who did not feature in the first trailer of MI:4, Amitabh Bachchan's 'blink-and-miss' performance has been given prominence in the trailer of his debut Hollywood movie The Great Gatsby.

The actor looks dapper in a grey-coloured suit teamed with a white hat. He looks classic as he sports a beard and moustache.

"I still do not have the liberty to talk of the film in a personal capacity. Contracts bind me, but this I can say that it was a sheer delight to work with someone of such great genius as Baz Luhrmann and a host of co-stars that have astronomical presence in the world of cinema - Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire and the other greats," Amitabh posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com.

"And everyone works as a family and a large portion of this attitude should be credited to the master of the scenario, the director Baz Luhrmann," he added.

The Great Gatsby is Amitabh's debut Hollywood venture where the actor makes a friendly appearance. Though for a short while, the 69-year-old will share screen with Hollywood stars Leonardo (Jay Gatsby) and Tobey (Nick Carraway).

He feels the film will take viewers back in time.

"The attention to detail, the amount of research and finesse on recreating the 'times’ of NYC in the those early years, was simply brilliant," Amitabh said.

"I am certain that when you shall see the film, you will realize that you have indeed been transported to another decade of the early years with such authenticity that you begin to feel as though you were present there yourself," he said.

This article first appeared HERE.

Check out the theatrical trailer for The Great Gatsby below!

 

Cannes Film Festival 2012: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan And Other Bollywood Celebrities To Walk The Red Carpet

The 65th Cannes International Film Festival kicks off on May 16. Several B-Town celebrities, including Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, are set to walk the coveted Cannes red carpet this year.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the most famous Indian face in Hollywood. The former Miss World will walk the red carpet for the 11th year in a row. However, there is a lot of hot air about her five-month old daughter Aaradhya, also called Beti B, accompanying her at Cannes this time.

Bollywood celebrities Sonam Kapoor and Freida Pinto will represent the cosmetic giant L'Oreal Paris at the festival.

The 26-year-old actress is the brand ambassador of the cosmetic brand and will walk the red carpet at the closing ceremony on May 27, for the second consecutive year.

"The Cannes film festival is the oldest and most prestigious film festival where the best in cinema gets showcased,” Sonam said in a statement. “I am excited to be at the closing ceremony where the best films will get awarded."

Actor Arjun Rampal, along with his wife, former supermodel Mehr Jessia will also attend the Cannes film festival opening ceremony this year. Rampal is the brand ambassador of liquor giant Chivas Regal and will be there promote the brand.

"It is an absolute honour to walk the haloed red carpet with the international superstars and filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival and I am happy to represent Chivas at this global event," he said in a press statement.

In addition, other Bollywood stars like Mallika Sherawat and Bipasha Basu are also expected to mark their presence at Cannes 2012. Basu will promote her Hollywood debut “Singularity,” along with co-star Josh Hartnett.

This article first appeared HERE.

Bollywood careers to make or break this Friday

Dangerous Ishhq and Ishaqzaade - both films releasing this Friday - will play a pivotal role in the careers of their actors. While the former marks the comeback of Karisma Kapoor after a sabbatical of six years, the latter is the launchpad of filmmaker Boney Kapoor's son Arjun.

Directed by Vikram Bhatt, Dangerous Ishhq hits the screens in 3D format and features Rajniesh Duggall, Jimmy Sheirgill and Divya Dutta.

The film tells the story of supermodel Sanjana (Karisma) and her boyfriend Rohan (Rajniesh), son of one of the nation's biggest business tycoons. They are the most popular couple on the social circuit. However, their life takes a turn when Rohan gets kidnapped.

The high-profile kidnapping creates chaos in Sanjana's life. The kidnappers demand Rs.50 crore, but the police believe that even paying the ransom will not bring Rohan back.

In this extreme trauma, Sanjana discovers something extraordinary. She sees visions of them together, sometime in the past, in different eras. In her visions lie definitive clues that could lead her to save the love of her life.

The suspense thriller will see Karisma's character going through a period of 500 years through past-life regression.

The 37-year-old actress has made sure she makes a flawless comeback and trained in five dialects for the film. She took various workshops to clear her diction for the demanding role, which will see her in different avatars.

Director Vikram Bhatt has rubbished reports that Dangerous Ishq is a horror film, and said it's a mystery set with the backdrop of reincarnation.

Last seen in Mere Jeevan Saathi in 2006, Karisma is eagerly looking forward to the release of the film as it would help decide her fate in the industry.

The fate of Arjun Kapoor's acting career also depends on this Friday with the release of his debut film Ishaqzaade. The Yash Raj Films (YRF) project will also be a test for Ladies v/s Ricky Bahl actress Parineeti Chopra, for whom Ishaqzaade will be her first solo release.

Directed by Habib Faisal, Ishaqzaade narrates the tale of 22-year-old Parma (Arjun) an immature, short tempered bully, who idolises his grandfather and his twisted love story with Zoya (Parineeti).

Zoya is a twenty-something, boisterous girl from an affluent political family and she dreams of becoming an MLA. Parma and Zoya are born to hate, but destined to love.

Arjun had to shed 50 kg to get fit for the role he plays in the film, made at a budget of Rs.25 crore.

The actor is all praise for superstar Salman Khan, who prepared him to jump into the world of acting. Arjun credits Salman for being more than a mentor.

Who will win at the box office? Take your pick this Friday!

This article first appeared HERE.

Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bollywood-careers-to-make-or-break-this-friday/1/188014.html

Bollywood beckons its married heroines

Publicity for Karisma Kapoor's comeback film Dangerous Ishq is on a roll. And then there will be a slew of movies marking the return of other married actresses, be it Madhuri Dixit or Manisha Koirala. Bollywood once considered marriage the death knell for its female leads, but IANS lists the women who are now set to revive their careers in B-town:

Karisma Kapoor: Karisma ruled the roost in the 1990s but cut down on her film projects after marrying Delhi-based businessman Sanjay Kapur in 2003 to focus on her family. Last seen in the 2006 film Mere Jeevan Saathi, Karisma, 37, hopes to return with a bang with Vikram Bhatt's supernatural 3D thriller Dangerous Ishq, where she will be seen in different avatars.

Madhuri Dixit: The Bollywood diva bid adieu to showbiz after marrying US-based surgeon Sriram Nene and shifted to Denver from Mumbai to start a family. After making a uneventful comeback with 2007 release Aaja Nachle, the 44-year-old is set to create magic in her new innings with Dedh Ishqiya and Gulab Gang. Vishal Bharadwaj's Dedh Ishqiya is a sequel to Vidya Balan's 2010 film Ishqiya, while Anubhav Sinha's Gulab Gang will see her playing a female gangster.

Manisha Koirala: One of the most beautiful actresses of her time, Manisha is also reviving her career post-sabbatical and marriage. She played a cameo in Onir's National Award winning film "I AM", but now the 41-year-old will be seen in a full-fledged role in 3D horror movie BHHOOoo.!, a sequel to Ram Gopal Varma's 2003 film Bhoot. While Bhoot narrated the story of a couple in a haunted apartment, the sequel is about a six-year-old child named Allayna.

Sridevi: She was the queen and vacated the throne after marrying producer Boney Kapoor. Her goodbye movie was the hit family drama Judaai. But now Sridevi, 48, a mother of two daughters - Jhanvi and Khushi - is making a comeback with English Vinglish, directed by R. Balki's wife Gauri Shinde. In the film, Sridevi plays an Indian woman married into an American household, who enrols in an English learning programme to please her family.

Raveena Tandon: Post marriage Raveena, 37, didn't completely disappear from the scene and made her presence felt with movies like Sandwich and Bbuddah Hoga Teraa Baap as well as TV reality shows Chak De Bachche and Chhote Miyan 2. However, she is now set to play a protagonist and her first such endeavour is Shobhna's 7 Nights, in which she will be seen in a bold avatar.

Juhi Chawla: She is one of the few actresses who have been active even after marriage. The 44-year-old juggled both the roles - homemaker and actress. However, post-marriage, Juhi turned to offbeat films like My Brother Nikhil, Bas Ek Pal and I AM. She also worked in Punjabi film Des Hoya Pardes. Now she is gearing up for the release of her new film Son of Sardar.

(IANS)

Jannat 2: Movie Preview

Directed by Kunal Deshmukh and produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt, Jannat 2 is an upcoming romantic thriller and a sequel to the exciting 2008 hit.

WIN the original soundtrack of Jannat 2 + BONUS CD! Click HERE for contest details.

SYNOPSIS:

One ordinary man Sonu’s (Emraan Hashmi) quest for his personal heaven creates hell for all around him until, with the help of a cop Pratap (Randeep Hooda), he breaks away from it all and does something extraordinary to make things better for the greater good of the community. Sonu is a smooth talking street-smart gun runner, who has the gift of the gab and knows his trade inside out. ACP Pratap is a hardened maverick cop, who has a personal vendetta against the gun nexus. He will go to any lengths to crack down this nexus and he handpicks Sonu to do this job, as he is the perfect candidate to enter this racket undercover and make his way to the top and expose everybody involved in the illegal gun trade. Sonu falls in love with a beautiful young doctor Jhanvi (Esha Gupta) along his journey and that throws his life’s course into a tailspin with unforeseen and far-reaching consequences for all three of them. 

Watch the theatrical trailer for Jannat 2 below!

 

Sunny Leone makes use of Bollywood popularity to expand her porn career

On April 1, Sunny Leone revealed to Mail Today that she was in no mood to quit her original calling - porn films - despite her big Bollywood break with Jism 2.

It has now become obvious that the Canada-based adult film star of Indian origin would rather use her new-found popularity in India to expand her porn market.

Now that Jism 2 has earned her adequate mileage among Indian film buffs, Sunny has gone ahead and uploaded high definition format version of all her existing videos.

"All videos now showing in HD format," claims the siren on her website, www.sunnyleone.com. Prices per view have naturally been jacked up, considering the escalated number of hits she has been getting ever since her outing on Bigg Boss 5 last year and her subsequent signing of Jism 2 made her a household name in India. Her website charges viewers around $1 (Rs.51) per day and rates could be steeper depending on what kind of porn you want to watch.

"Sunny has proved to be the smartest marketing brain among all budding stars in Bollywood right now. She seems to be aware that online porn has a huge market in India and has therefore desisted from hiding her identity as a porn star," a trade insider in Bollywood said.

Speaking to this newspaper earlier this month, Sunny had for the first time said she has no intention of quitting the porn industry that has made her a celebrity in the West.

"I haven't shot for any adult film after Bigg Boss but that doesn't mean I am quitting the adult industry. I can never be sure enough to give it up. I cannot predict the future and one film in Bollywood does not guarantee I will get many other offers. Working in the adult film industry is not something I am ashamed of. I cannot deny that is where my roots are. It's my job and I have been a dedicated professional. My company SunLust Productions will continue to produce adult films and I will continue to remain associated with the industry," she said then.

Sunny, born Karen Malhotra, will star opposite Randeep Hooda and Arunoday Singh in Jism 2, the latest offering of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt. It is a sequel to the 2003 hit Jism but bears no connection storywise with that film.

Sunny has described the story of Jism 2 as "the journey of a woman whom the audience will love and hate at the same time".

Shooting for the Pooja Bhatt-directed film started earlier this month, Jism 2 is scheduled to open later this year.

This article first appeared HERE.

India launches first Bollywood walk of fame

Often accused of ripping off plot lines from Hollywood, it was perhaps only a matter of time before India’s Bollywood launched its own Walk of Fame in the style of Los Angeles’ iconic boulevard.

Indian cinema’s Walk of the Stars was officially opened Wednesday on a seaside promenade in the Bandra district of Mumbai, the country’s entertainment capital — the first of two competing projects under way in the city.

Like the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Mumbai’s new pathway will bear handprints and signatures of numerous actors — along with a handful of life-size brass statues depicting some of the Indian greats.

From one of Bollywood’s acting dynasties, movie star Kareena Kapoor was the main guest at the launch in a nearby hotel, where she unveiled a statue of her legendary grandfather, the late Raj Kapoor, sitting on a bench.

“I think people should come to actually dance with the stars. Some stars that are not here today with us, we can get to dance with them, touch them, feel them and actually realise what they were”.

Describing herself as a “proud granddaughter”, she and her father, actor Randhir Kapoor, perched with the statue for photographs — as fans will soon be able to do on the promenade.

“Acting is something that the Kapoors have just lived for. Cinema is something that is in our veins, it’s in our blood, and we’re very, very proud to say that,” she said.

This article first appeared HERE.

Why Vidya Balan's Kahaani should be a success?

Actress Vidya Balan, who is the current reigning queen of the tinsel town, has proved her calibre with her remarkable show of talent in back to back films. Parineeta, Paa, No One Killed Jessica, The Dirty Picture have fetched instant fame to the actress. Vidya's upcoming and much-awaited flick Kahaani is yet again a challenge for her.

1) Bollywood has realised the true meaning of women's power, as females are no more portrayed as weak and submissive in films. Today's women are more realistic, vibrant and unconventional. Similarly, after setting the Box Office on fire with her stupendous performance in The Dirty Picture, Vidya Balan is yet again heading towards success with her another female-centric film Kahaani. Vidya is one such Bollywood actress who has the audacity and calibre to carry out a film successfully without any male star back-up. Such female-centric movies are definitely spelling its magic slowly and gradually all over.

2) When we go to watch a movie, the first question that hits our mind is “who is the actor/actress?” Keeping in mind the unexpected success of The Dirty Picture, the name 'Vidya Balan' is more than enough to pull the audience to the theatres for her upcoming Kahaani. Movies are all about entertainment, and Ms Balan herself is 'ENTERTAINMENT' (as she referred herself in The Dirty Picture).

3) Another very crucial point that would work in favour of Kahaani, is its unusual story line. It's about a pregnant woman, who flies from London to Kolkata, in search of her missing husband. The film is a mystery story. There is a point where Vidya will pacify herself by believing the fact that her husband doesn't even exist. Such an interesting story line is quite unconventional, unlike other happy-ending love stories. This story will provoke the audience to watch the movie and clarify the truth hidden in it.

4) Kahaani can also be considered as a treat to all the Amitabh Bachchan fans. Surprisingly, Big B has lend his voice for a particular Ranbindra Sangeet track 'Ekla Chalo Re.' On his blog, Big B wrote: "May I just say that singing Rabindra Sangeet for the first time was the greatest revelation. The beauty of the language, the lyricism of the tune and its 'dhun' (music) are outstanding.”

5) As the film is set against a menacing backdrop of Kolkata by-lanes and alleyways, it will surely pull a large chunk of the Bengali population. Kahaani is a treat to all the Bengalis residing abroad as it is all set to give them the flavour of the city's culture and festivals once again. So, all the Bongs out there, get set to relive your Kolkata memories once again.

Kahaani that is all set to release on March 9, 2012. Click HERE for more information about the film.

This article first appeared HERE.

Chandigarh becomes Osama's Abbottabad - for Hollywood film

For the shoot, some markets in the city have been made to look like a bazaar in Rawalpindi or Islamabad in Pakistan (Photo courtesy of Hindustan Times)

The two places may be 600 km apart, but Oscar-winning Hollywood director Kathryn Bigelow has chosen Chandigarh and its surroundings in Punjab to depict the Pakistani city of Abbottabad - where Al Qaeda mentor Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces - for her new film.

On Thursday, her unit shot at a dhaba and some shops in Mani Majra, an old town suburb of Chandigarh, for the movie "Zero Dark Thirty" or "ZD30".

Sources in Bigelow's film unit say some of the film scenes will be shot in and around Chandigarh and some places in neighbouring Punjab. They had Wednesday shot some scenes in the city's busy Sector 15 market which is frequented by youngsters owing to its location in the education zone.

To give the feel of a Pakistani town, the shops have signboards written in Urdu, the language commonly used in Pakistan, while three-wheeler auto-rickshaws and other vehicles too have got a brightly coloured layer of paint and Pakistani registration numbers.

A local hardware shop, Ramgarhia Hardware store has been renamed 'Shahzad Hardware and Paint Store' in Urdu. An internet cafe and a phone call centre have also been given Pakistani names for the shots.

"While the supporting actors in the backdrop are mostly hired locally or from Delhi, their clothes and appearance has been made to match with life in Pakistan," a member who accompanied the unit from Delhi, told IANS here.

"Given the security environment in Pakistan and the strained US-Pakistan relations, too many risks were involved in shooting the film inside that country."

Bigelow, who hit a high in 2010 by becoming the first woman director to win the Academy Award for her film "The Hurt Locker", depicting war-ravaged Iraq, has chosen locations in north India to shoot her movie on the elimination of bin Laden.

Bin Laden was hunted down by US special operation forces in a midnight raid at a 'safe house' in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May last year. It saw the special forces landing at a compound and killing the Al Qaeda chief who masterminded the 9/11 attack in the US in 2001 and other terror operations across the world.

Incidentally, the shooting for the film began here just days after the Abbottabad 'safe house' was demolished by the authorities in Pakistan earlier this week.

Police sources here said the Hollywood film unit, which is taking the help of production companies in Chandigarh and Delhi, is expected to shoot in the area for a week.

The film is expected to be released at the end of this year.

(IANS) Chandigarh

Bollywood posters go dare bare with women

- Radhika Bhirani

Bollywood has seen an array of films with suggestive posters

Chiselled abdomens, cleavage, the body contour...Bollywood filmmakers are zooming in on women's curves to create titillating posters, aimed at crucial first week collections, perhaps emboldened by today's liberal censors.

The first look of Vikram Bhatt's production Hate Story creates a mystery about the woman in the picture but sends out the right message about the film's content - bold and daring. It has a mystery girl with her bare, tattooed back visible and a gun placed strategically at the back of her jeans.

"Hate Story is a brave film. Of course, everyone wants eyeballs for the film, but one can't have a sizzling poster and then have nothing inside the film. I feel the poster is a very tame representation of a film and so I have to say that Hate Story is really brave and pathbreaking in its content," said Vikram.

Until the Hate Story poster was launched on Wednesday, the first look of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt's Jism 2  and Blood Money were the talk of the tinsel town.

Film historian SMM Ausaja, who has a book Bollywood In Posters to his credit, has an interesting observation.

"Over the years, it is the first week's collections that matter the most now. All filmmakers are desperately trying to cover their costs in their first week. To cover that, they uncover women in posters," said Ausaja.

"Titillating through posters is not a new thing. Years ago there was a movie called Chetna. It had a very bold poster. But I feel now the film industry has come to a stage where even if it has 10 percent sensual content, filmmakers try to cash in on it with such gimmicks."

The peekaboo into Jism 2, a movie which promises to be more sensual than its prequel "Jism", has a well-endowed woman, Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone, lying naked with a wet white sheet covering her. The shot is bold, yet subtly seductive -- enough to generate curiosity.

While the poster of Blood Money is more direct and in-the-face, with Amrita Puri dressed in a bikini, striking a suggestive pose with a bare-chested Kunal Khemu, and both lying in a pool of money.

This article first appeared HERE.