Brad Pitt on location in Chandigarh for Bigelow’s new film

 

 

Yes, Brad Pitt is in India, but not exactly for a Bollywood movie.. this one won’t come with song and dance, I am afraid.  Directed by Kathryn Bigleow,  the director from the movie The Hurt Locker.  (I wonder if  Bigelow hired an Indian crew. I don’t know if she did but it  probably would make her life much easier)

It was supposed to be secret, but I guess it’s not so secret anymore…  I read about it yesterday on twitter.  Bigelow is shooting a movie  about “Mission Geronimo” (code name given to the secret mission to capture or kill  Osama Bin Laden  in his compound in Pakistan).  No official title yet, or maybe Zero Dark Thirty. It was only a matter of time until somebody made a movie of it and I am glad it’s coming from Bigelow. Hurt Locker was an amazing and honest film.

 I only hope they got a good security team set up for the shooting of this film. I myself still have mixed feelings about what went down there,  the killing part, to be exact.  Pakistan wasn’t too happy about the whole operation.  Dear Kathryn and Brad, watch your backs.  We don’t want anything to happen to you guys.

 here is what I found digging:

 

 

 

Kathryn Bigelow to recreate Osama bin Laden town in India

 

Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker, is to recreate the Pakistan Army garrison town Abbottabad in India for her new film on the US Navy Seals who tracked and killed Osama bin Laden.

 

by Dean Nelson, New Delhi

Kathryn Bigelow  Photo: PAUL GROVER

 

Her eagerly-awaited film, which is understood to be titled Zero Dark Thirty, is due for release in December this year, tells the story of the US Navy Seal team which trailed the notorious al-Qaeda leader before finally killing him, his aides and one of his sons in a night raid on his secret compound in the heart of a Pakistan army establishment town.

Its cast is understood to include Jessica Chastain, star of The Help, British actor Mark Strong, Aymen Hamdouchi and Kyle Chandler.

The raid, which was carried out without the knowledge of the Pakistan army and government, caused widespread anger at the violation of the country’s sovereignty and remains a source of anti-American feeling in the country.

The doctor who used a fake immunisation campaign to help the team pinpoint the bin Laden compound is still in custody.

The producers decided in the current security climate it would be impossible for them to film in Pakistan and looked for alternative locations.

One of the film’s actors, Jessica Chastain, who recently starred in the Tree of Life and The Help, revealed filming had been under way in Jordan and was set to move to India.

“I’ve been working on Bigelow’s movie in Jordan after the Oscars I go to India to shoot more,” she said on a celebrity website earlier this week.

Indian officials confirmed the producers are filming in Punjab state in Chandigarh and Patiala, and possibly close to Jaipur in Rajasthan, where they will recreate Abbottabad where bin Laden, his wives, children and aides hid for more than six years.

While Chandigarh is a 1950s modernist town created by the French designer Le Corbusier, its outskirts have villages which resemble Thanda Choha, the hamlet of dusty lanes and ugly walled mansions where bin Laden hid on an illegally-built upper floor. Patiala is a historic royal town which has fine colonial buildings similar to some found in Abbottabad, the hill town named after the 19th British conqueror of the North West Frontier, Major James Abbott.

The film has already caused controversy in the United States where officials in the Obama administration have been accused of leaking details of the bin Laden raid to the producers.

The row prompted the CIA to release a statement detailing its long-standing role of helping artists and film-makers. “The CIA has been open that as part of our public outreach, the agency has over the years engaged with writers, documentary film-makers, movie and TV producers, and others in the entertainment industry,” a spokeswoman said recently.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/9098344/Kathryn-Bigelow-to-recreate-Osama-bin-Laden-town-in-India.html

 

 

 

 

 

Yash Raj films invents the clever “Y awards”

 

Either the banner is desperate for publicity or  somebody ingenuous in the company came up with a great idea, something I can see myself happily partake in.

They will start giving out their own awards for their house productions, where they will honor technical  excellence, for once, but in addition they came up with a bunch of interesting new categories people can vote for, such as  Most Absurd Lyrics, Most Outrageous Move, Best One Liners, Most Invisible Cameo, Most Overacting Extra, Best Suiting & Shirting  among others. On their website  you’ll be able to vote daily for a new category, a new nominee, based on video links they stream. I think that’s quite fantastic and a great marketing gimmick. Bring it on, Yash Raj! :-) We are ready.

 

I love the most overacting extra category…

 

MovieLanding.aspx

 

London Paris New York generating already buzz on social media

 

 

From first time director Anu Menon.  Starring: Ali Zafar and Aditi Rao Hydari

 

 

 

London Paris New York   creates already excitement and it was just released TODAY.  This is what you want a movie to do.  Get all twitter tingly in the first two hours after release.  I can’t wait until it hits the theaters here on Friday! 

I wiggled my way out of Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya after watching Jodi Breakers, or if you allow me this analogy, ball breakers.  (Rompipalle as they say in Italy.  google it if you want to know what it means. :-)  one down of two.  Maybe I’ll wait for the DVD to watch TNLHG..  from what I read it doesn’t strike me as worth a whole afternoon. I could be wrong, of course.

Right now I need a good Bollywood movie . And this one comes right in time to fight my blues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Here is Taran Adarsh’s review on Bollywoodhungama.com:

 

London Paris New York

By  Taran Adarsh, 28 Feb 2012, 14:41 hrs IST

Rom-coms appear to be the most preferential genre, notwithstanding the fact that you can foretell where the narrative is headed a few minutes into the film. But what sets most rom-coms apart is the implementation of the theme. It all hinges on how persuasively the narrator recounts and executes the plot, how compelling the central characters are, how mesmeric is their chemistry on screen and most importantly, does the cinematic account have soul? The Hindi film industry is famed for churning out rom-coms by the dozens year after year, but just a handful of films dare to defy the stereotype. LONDON PARIS NEW YORK, directed by first-timer Anu Menon, is, in all honesty, one of those flicks that dares to be diverse. LONDON PARIS NEW YORK is a chic rom-com that’s filmed — no prizes for guessing — in three hot-n-happening cities of the world. But unlike the rom-coms churned out in the past, this one’s more for spectators with urban receptiveness and a refined taste for cinema, on the lines of say an EK MAIN AUR EKK TU or a WAKE UP SID. What also sets this film apart is the fact that the story unfurls in eight years in three of the world’s most thrilling cities, with the viewer getting a foretaste of everything that’s allied with a rom-com in this globe-hopping voyage.

LONDON PARIS NEW YORK mirrors the torment and ordeals of the twenties, the most vivid segment of one’s life — when you are taking a call on what course your life ought to take, you have your first momentous relationship and most significantly, structure your personality in this world. This is the story of Lalitha [Aditi Rao Hydari], a middle class South Indian girl from Chembur [a suburb in Mumbai], who is on her way to New York to study politics, and Nikhil [Ali Zafar], a rich Punjabi kid from Bandra [a posh western suburb of Mumbai], who’s going to study film making in London. They decide to hang out together one evening in London and find that they are completely drawn to each other even as their future lies on separate continents.

The film follows their special voyage and their love story as they meet in London, Paris and New York over eight years. The film is in three subdivisions and each chapter is shot in a manner that mirrors the psychological state of Nikhil and Lalitha.

Armed with an inventive and ingenious plot, LONDON PARIS NEW YORK owes its allegiance, to an extent, to the Hollywood movie [500] DAYS OF SUMMER than to the atypical Bollywood rom-com. The director makes an endeavor to be as bona fide and natural as possible, illustrating sentiments that adolescents go through when they fall in love and also all that comes with it, including pain, angst and torment when heartbreak occurs. That’s what makes LONDON PARIS NEW YORK an unblemished and credible take on relationships, with authentic and identifiable circumstances, germane and relevant dialogue [Ritu Bhatia and Anu Menon] and no overstated styling of the actors’ attire or hair/tresses.

Besides, like I indicated at the outset, Anu Menon chucks away the time-honored prescription of exaggerated drama that we are so acclimatized to watching in Hindi movies. Instead, she makes the narrative spirited and vivacious by depicting characters that you witness in factual life. In a way, the film emulates what one is so used to watching in our everyday life and that’s where the exquisiteness of the film lies. A contemporary romance that’s so credible, so realistic, so coherent.

However, LONDON PARIS NEW YORK is not devoid of its share of hiccups. The languid tempo in the first hour, with the narrative getting a little too verbose and talk-heavy, is a deterrent. Above and beyond, there’s not much of advancement in the story after the two central characters are introduced. It’s only a few minutes preceding the interlude that the wheels start undulating. What transpires in the second hour shoots the graph of the movie northwards. The exhilaration builds up magnificently, leading to an explosive culmination. In fact, the concluding moments — I’d like to single out Ali Zafar’s flare-up — are worthy of additional brownie points. The sequence is so brilliant that it reverberates even after the movie has concluded.

Filmed in three most dazzling cities of the world, the movie boasts of some enchanting visuals. The director and also the DoP [Sameer Arya] have the aptitude for fitting camera placement, bestowing the film with a certain added charm.

Ali Zafar shoulders multiple responsibilities in this movie, which comprises of composing the songs as well as writing the lyrics. The actor/composer sticks to the theme of the film and comes up with tunes that uphold the synergy with the plot and setting of the movie. ‘Woh Dekhne Mein’ is, of course, the cream of the crop. The title track is racy and ear-pleasing.

In TERE BIN LADEN, Ali Zafar made the spectator break into guffaws and in his subsequent outing MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN, he made you grin and beam. Perceptibly, one would imagine Ali Zafar to get into the jocular and frivolous zone yet again in LONDON PARIS NEW YORK. Ali gets to depict a character that’s a far cry from the hackneyed characters one is so used to watching and I must add, he glows luminously all through the film, particularly towards the concluding installment in New York. This motion picture will motivate even his staunch critics to structure an elevated estimation of him as a performer and revere him as an artiste of immense caliber.

Aditi Rao Hydari looks stunning, but more significantly, she appears to capture every moment, every scene most radiantly in this coming-of-age love story. She has an unadulterated take on how to construe a scene. What you get to witness is much ahead of the customary expressions and rejoinders. She appears so unflustered and unperturbed even in the most intricate moments, which only goes to prove her remarkable credentials as an actor. Besides, the intimate moments between Ali and Aditi are aesthetically filmed, not looking forced or an aberration in the scheme of things. Dalip Tahil and Mantra appear in a cameo.

On the whole, LONDON PARIS NEW YORK is akin to a lungful of fresh air amidst the hackneyed and passe rom-coms. It’s a quirky, witty, coming-of-age movie that takes a conventional premise and twirls it into something delightfully unconventional, designed to charm and magnetize the urban youth. The movie speaks their lingo, mirrors their objectives and depicts the anguish and elation of falling in love. If you are young or young at heart, celebrate your weekend by leaping on to this feel-good earth hopping romance.

 

 

 

Akshay Kumar – Chitrangda: after Desi Boyz back to the drawing board

 In Desi Boyz,  Akshay Kumar and Chitrangda put the screen on fire.  The best thing of course was watching Akki and John Abraham team up  again after the hilarious Garam Masala in 2005.  Rohit Dhawan‘s entertaining directorial debut Desi Boyz had a few flaws, a few bumps on the road but on the overall it was a fun watch.   Akki and Chitrangda were the icing on the cake.  They had great chemistry, so any future collaboration is WELCOME! 

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Chitrangda – Akshay Kumar In Rohit Dhawan’s Next?

MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar, a self-confessed Smita Patil fan, is very impressed by  the new-age Smita, aka Chitrangda. Chitrangda is “under serious consideration” with Vipul Shah and Nikhil Advani.She  has apparently been finalized for Rohit Dhawan’s next film with Akshay again.Says a source, “The chemistry between Akshay and Chitrangda is incredible in Desi Boyz. As soon as Rohit saw the rushes of Desi Boyz he made up his mind to cast the pair in his next which would take him, and the pair, into another zone altogether.”Akshay’s interest in Chitrangda is intensely professional.Says a source, “Akshay’s pairing with Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif ran their course after a strong of blockbusters. He feels Chitrangda  could be the Next Best Co-star in his career.”

In the coming months there are bound to me some announcements of films featuring Akshay with Chitrangda.

When asked about her pairing with Akshay, Chitrangda enthused, “Oh, he has been very helpful. There have been times when I have been kind of lost in the commercial language. Akshay was right there to show me the way out.I am looking forward to a lot more films with him.”

http://businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=19955

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” Akshay’s interest in Chitrangda is intensely professional.”

THAT’S CUTE.  We certainly hope it’s purely professional,  for the sake of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star….  We will concede perhaps a slight infatuation, that is of course, only with Twinkle’s approval.

Shruti Hassan admits to nose job. The girl has guts and a good nose now.

 

It’s a rare occurrence for actresses to come clean on what kind of jobs were done on them to make them look perfect.

They should admit to cosmetic surgery, for our sake already, women who don’t want to go under the scalpel and can’t compete with the perfection of a surgically enhanced human being. We need to pay the price at the end, feeling miserable about our imperfections. These models and actresses they walk around knowing that they cheated nature but withholding it.  They get sculpted, photoshopped,  dewrinkled, deflated after pregnancies, hair-volumized, extended. I mean it’s not fair.  The whole world is in on this big Houdini act, the big illusion. I resent that :-)

When you look at Priyanka’s nose in her early movies…. THAT WAS THE REAL THING!  maybe then we saw already something slightly modified.  This big secretive club of the surgically enhanced  is  very Illuminati and it’s time to wikileak it, to demystify so that we ordinary women don’t have to feel miserable about ourselves.

To blame nose-jobs on deviated septums is the new It-thing. I have the feeling it’s something plastic surgeons recommend their patients to say to explain why they look so different all for sudden.

I liked Shruti Haasan before and was actually happy to see that she had a nose that gave her face some character.  She is such a beautiful girl. Oh well… I shouldn’t be throwing stones perhaps. I wear eye make-up, lipstick, I trace my eye-brows and I give it my best shot to cheat,  in my own little way. But hey, that’s not cheating because it’s obvious and I don’t pretend I don’t wear make-up :-)

And look at this pretty face there, I am so jealous, Shruti doesn’t need anything, just a little lip-gloss. Darn, I am so jealous,  haha. I am proud of her though that she admitted to a nose job.  She’s got guts.

 

shruti-haasan-admits-getting-nose-job-118679.html

 

 

I liked her in Luck. That was a promising debut for her.

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1599046/

 

 

 

also not Bollywood related but of utmost importance to over 90% of people who like Bollywood movies. when you invite over people for their first BW film, serve a chai together with maybe a samosa :-)

Ek Garam Chai

I had to write my first post in the cuisine or food &drink section on Chai. After all, I named my blog after this humble drink.

“Would you like to have some chai?”

“Do you know how to make chai?”

Confronted with questions like this from non-Indians, I did not initially understand what to make of it.

View original post 963 more words

The Shahrukh Khan Song – Neha Kakkar

I can’t understand the lyrics, they might be fantastic and highly inspiring, but I would like to suggest to people who want to compose anthems to take singing lessons too :-)

I love Shahrukh Khan and I love Shahrukh Khan fans. They are really adorable. The most loyal bunch you can find on this planet. But Neha, please! not a song that will put us asleep… and sounds doomsy.

 

she sounds just like my cat when he wants to go out

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give Gay Rights a voice in India!

 

 

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The debate is on.  I feel very close to India and it’s my country of choice. I realize though that with my liberal Western attitude I wouldn’t be loved back with the same enthusiasm. This becomes obvious to me in the discourse of homosexuality, for instance. I am heterosexual but I feel very strongly that one should have the choice to be who you are regarding your sexuality, without repercussions and prosecution unless you are HARMING an individual. I don’t condone pederasts and rapists and the law should protect the individual from these kind of offenders. However to criminalize consensual sexual practices among adults, I don’t think the state has a right to dictate that. Homosexuality exists as long as humanity does. The early cradles of civilization offer a glimpse.  It was practiced in Ancient Greece and Rome and no, those civilizations didn’t collapse because of it, but states getting ahead of themselves thinking they can control the world.

I am trying hard with my blog to stick to Bollywood movies and topics, so please forgive me for occasional transgressions.

I truly hope that the government in India will find it in their hearts to be tolerant towards individuals who don’t fit the mold. I would hope Indian filmmakers come forward and start making statements and give Gay Rights a voice.

 

I have been sitting on a draft on wordpress about Gay Rights in India for the last two weeks and the government has been flip flopping around like mad. The gay debate in India is like giving birth to a rhino with ten heads.
So I am GLAD to see actors take part in the debate and express their opinion, Kudos to Hrithik

Salman Khan supports Saif

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Watching this press conference on “BollywoodHungama” reminds me of why we love  him  and why so many actresses get weak knees around him.  He is  unapologetically Salman. I wonder how the situation with Saif Ali Khan and Iqbal Sharma would have ended up in that restaurant  if Salman had been present. Ten ambulances? Helicopters?

Salman talks his mind, and walks the talk. There are actors who can fabulously beat around the bush. You will never know what they REALLY think. Not so Salman Khan. He’s the beacon of  unafraid and head-on. You look at him, you might wanna hate him even but you can’t.  The same way you will love a Simon Cowell.  Acutally, he IS the Simon Cowell of India. Or lets’ say Simon Cowell IS the Salman Khan of the West. Celebrities  who have strong opinions and don’t care if you agree or don’t  are sort of rarities in a world and era of political correctness. It’s refreshing to see people  free themselves of public opinion and stick to their guns. I appreciate that. Would I marry them? No. :-)

oh wait a minute….