Countdown to November 15th: Ram Leela

 

Unconfirmed news of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone’s dating popping up at every corner. The boy keeps busy, eh? That’s good news. The better and more important thing is, after watching the trailer we are all hyped up over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s new film “Ram Leela”, which promises to score high on every Bollywood entertainment value. A hot hero, a cool heroine, a grand masala of action and romance: YES. That’s what we Bollywood aficionados are waiting for all year long. And it’s coming to hit us November 15th.

How do we know it’s going to be a spectacular movie? Easy. Sanjay Bhansali is a seasoned director/writer and producer. Whatever this magician touches starts to glow. His sets are lavish, exuberant, his actors inspired and becoming bigger versions of themselves.

Khamoshi: The Musical 1996

Straight From the Heart 1999

Devdas 2002

Black 2005

Saawariya 2007

Guzaarish 2010

 

 

 

 

 

PS, Dear Mr. Sanjay Leela Bansali

I could never forgive you  though the tremendous faux pas in Straight From the Heart. Filming in Budapest, using famous landmarks, whatsmore, and pretending it’s Italy… where we see mostly blond people strolling around in Lederhosen!!! supposed to be Milano? sorry but yeh Italy main nahi hai….  nor do we wear Lederhosen. Try Armani.

 

 

Okay, I got it finally off my chest :-) it’s been bothering me for years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, a Bollywood quilt

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani or formerly known as….

Each little patch of this quilt reminded me of some other Bollywood movies. or respectively reversing situations not to get blamed for plagiarism. I got caught in some vague deja-vus, reminiscent moments of Barfi, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Jab We Met and a gazillion revamped Bollywood cliches.. Plus: we  were  looking for hints about the REAL relationship between Deepika and Ranbir, the actors, not actees. We are curious, of course. Or, at least, I am. To a certain degree. After what transpired on the Koffee with Karan episode…

Hey, good news, you can take Grandma and Grandpa to see Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. They might object to the excessive alcohol consumption (they will need to complain about something, all right?) but there is no nudity nor smoking (hence no prior obligatory 10min graphic lung cancer commercial) and the screen kiss between Ranbir and Deepika won’t make anybody’s cherry pop by a mile.

In this charming coming of age saga, because charming it is, some people know what they want to do when they grow up, some don’t. Luckily for us, Ranbir, sorry, Bunny,  likes to travel. Deepika plays the studious pre-med Naina, who nobody notices because she is oh so shy. After graduating high school, the otherwise bookish Naina spontaneously decides to join a group of friends,  Aditi  (played by wild thing Kalki Koechlin) and Avi, (played by BW’s new hunk Aditya Roy Kapoor), and of course playboy Bunny (Ranbir Kapoor)  on a trek to Manali. Tip for Bunny: If you intend to hike mountains, preferably leave your 2feetx 2feet photo album behind. Bunny has his handy,  even on the peak of the highest mountain. It made me think, why not bring a sofa?

Well, guys, I don’t want to give too much away. See for yourself how high school dreams and first loves turn out eight years later. It’s an easygoing feel-good romance, with some great locations, fantastic backdrops which make you want to explore more of India’s treasures rather than travel abroad.

This movie has no great highs or great lows, other than mountain peaks and valleys, but the performances are fresh and alluring.

One thing that ticked me off and I need to get it off my chest:: We don’t get the pleasure watching Deepika practicing medicine, as the most accomplished member of the group. Eight years later she has a medical degree, but still sits at home watching TV? The camera follows Bunny’s cam through the second half of the movie..

Ayan Mukerjii, the director, who directed also Wake Up, Sid, is first and second counsin of Kajol and Rani Mukerji. And I bet even they would have liked to see a little bit more focus on the heroine’s accomplishment. But hey, I understand, you can’t drag guys into a movie where the heroine is the success story. Let’s dumb her down to manageable size.

But then calling the protagonist Bunny… ? I don’t know anymore what message this movie sends :-p nor what happened to the ghosts on the mountain and why they didn’t show up to stir a little drama for special effects

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in love with Deepika Padukone

I know I shouldn’t talk this way, being a woman and all. But I just can’t help myself.  Yesterday I went to see Cocktail, the new movie produced by and starring Saif Ali Khan and Wonder-Women Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty. All eyes were naturally on Penty, who made her Bollywood debut with this movie, an impressive one what’s more, but I couldn’t unglue my eyes from Deepika, who plays Veronica,  and who lives life in London’s fast lane camouflaging wounds from the past by acting out as a party queen, as the It-girl.

As Veronica, she is a tortured soul battling loss and abandonment issues and she hides a great deal of vulnerability under her contemporary, sleek fashionista appearance.  Audiences and critics were surprised that the hi-five feel-good movie morphed into melodram during the second half.  I wasn’t. I thought Deepika’s deeply-layered performance reflected already a storm to come. Not only did I love her character but she made me believe it.  Had Deepika been born roughly two millennia back in Greece or Rome they would have worshiped her as the goddess Artemis or respectively, Diana. Or at least she would have personified them in their amphi-theaters.

I was awe-struck when I saw her first in Om Shanti Om (2007) She showed such confidence and poise already in her Bollywood debut. Deepika puts meat into her roles!

Her performances shoot like arrows. Even in roles that show her vulnerability, she never wants to be pitied. And that’s her.  She can get angry, like any self-respecting goddess, she can charm you, seduce you, she can get hit by life, abandoned by her lovers, but she will not be submissive.  Not Deepika.  So I think she OWNED the movie, talking about Cocktail!

Diana Penty shows great promise and a real knack for acting.  She is doted with a gracious screen-presence and she reminded me a lot of this beautiful actress in Swades, Gayatri Joshi, who to fans’ dismay got married soon after the movie and vanished from the radar. Diana is exquisite, an elegant creature by all standards, but no match to Deepika whose acting skills keep you magnetized and breathless. Anyway, that’s just my five cents.

She could even pull it off making us believe her infatuation with boytoy Saif, who slowly starts lacking the sex appeal as a romantic hero, hmmm. Hrithik might have been better for that role..  but one thing is for sure, the actors seemed to be all very comfortable with each other, which is a strong point in the movie, the triangle story. Diana Penty though couldn’t pull off the falling in love part… hehe.  I didn’t buy it.

I really could relate to the rest of the story.. and I’ve seen more than one cases like these, where friendships are sacrificed for love. One of the hardest lessons to learn in life. Nothing hurts more and I thought that was somehow the more interesting part of the movie.  Again I could sympathize with Veronica, her disappointment and rage, pulling out all the stops to reverse the situation with “I’ll be anything you want me to be, just don’t leave me..FOR HER, Hello, my formerly best friend!!”

It also rings  true that we might go into a relationship thinking we are in control and it won’t mean much at first, but then we open ourselves up to love, gradually and unnoticeably,  and before we know it BANG! it backfires and MrWonderful-oh-so-fullofsh *t moves on to greener pastures. And for some reason they seem to gravitate towards our friends or sisters, as if the world didn’t have millions of other women to choose from…. Out of Laziness?  No, absolutely. Good movie. If you just start out in life, it’s an Education :-)

PS  WHO LOVED THE SHOES??

OMG, Deepika’s outfits? TO DIE FOR!!!

Music was good too.

 

Dee’s Wikipedia page:  Deepika Padukone

A Bollywood cocktail with a new ingredient

 

Isn’t she a beauty?  Diane Penty, a top model in India, is the newest filmi crossover. Luckily for us, Bollywood has never shied away of giving a pretty woman a chance to shine.

And with the substantial yearly output of Indian films, there must be a tremendous demand to discover new talent.  When I started taking the teenage son of my American friend to see Bollywood movies, who had enthusiastically embraced this new cinema experience initially, he started to object after the 10th movie  that he was getting tired to  see the same faces over and over.

Not that it ever bothered me, I like my intimate little Bollywood family, but he had a point. How often can you see the same hero and heroine, film after film in new but similar roles…

It feels good to see fresh faces especially when they are as pretty as Diane’s, who is playing Meera in the upcoming movie Cocktail.

I don’t know if Diana will stick with Bollywood movies.  She is probably making more money in advertisement and in fashion.  She appears in Maybelline and Garnier commercials. She has been in a Virgin Mobile ad with Ranbir Kapoor.  Diana has signed with Elite Model Management where she has worked for prestigious Indian designers, such as Ashish Soni, Sabayasachi, Wendell Rodricks and Rohit Bal.  In the USA she has worked with calibers like Neiman Marcus, Forever21 and Nordstrom.  Who needs movies with that resume? On the other hand, the gratification of becoming a recognizable face or even superstar must be alluring. It certainly makes the heart pump faster of a great many models waiting to get a chance to appear on the silver screen.

The romantic comedy Cocktail sails under the banner of Saif Ali Khan‘s Illuminati Films and stars Saif, Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty.

What gives this movie another interesting angle is the director, Homi Adajania. This is only his second movie venture but he has been hailed as being one of the most brilliant directorial  newcomers who made his debut with Being Cyrus, an off-beat psychological drama in English language starring Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, and Boman Irani.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cocktail

 

Cocktail – releases July 13th, and yes, that’s a Friday :-)

starring Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Randeep Hooda, Dimple Kapadia, debutante Diana Penty

Not only does the cast looks appealing, the trailer enticing, the story of a love triangle interesting, but reading up on the director

it really wants to make me see this movie: Homi Adajania

 

Homi Adajania is an Indian film director. His directorial debut Being Cyrus (2005) was an off-beat English-Language psychological drama film. Touted as one of the brilliant emerging directors coming from India, Homi Adajania was also the co-author of Being Cyrus, which was his debut as a director. Also a freelance Writer, one of India’s highest level SCUBA Diving Instructors, an intrepid adventure traveler, Homi Adajania has varied experiences on his plate. Some of his stranger projects have involved taking a fakir to Venice for La Biennale di Venezia and scouting cripples & mutants for a very controversial Italian project. A film “The International Fakir” based on a bizarre true life experience of Homi Adajania’s was made starring Indian filmmaker and actor “Farhan Akhtar” who plays Adajania in the film. He has finished writing the screenplay of his original comedy, Finding Fanny Fernandes and is currently having it written into a novel.

Homi Adajania is currently directing Cocktail under Saif Ali Khan‘s banner Illuminati Films. The film stars Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty and Boman Irani, Dimple Kapadia and is written by filmmaker Imtiaz Ali.

He is married to a fashion stylist and the Fashion Director of Vogue magazine (India), Anaita Shroff Adajania

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homi_Adajania

A second chance at love: Ranbir and Deepika

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder… and old lovers sometimes do reunite.. :-)and how can it not, given this movie is produced by none other than Karan Johar, the filmi relationship if not  love god…. But here comes Rajinikanth in his avatar as the Pandyan warrior king Arikesari Maravarmans carrying the bride away. The king with a matte on his hair

Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor part ways for Rajinikanth!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012, 15:56 [IST]

Destiny has given a second chance to Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone to reconcile and re-build their broken relationship. But, as it is said, one got to sacrifice a lot in love, so did happen with Ranbir and Dippy. Ex-lovers Ranbir and Deepika had buried the hatchet long back. Keeping in mind the tag of professionalism, the ex-couple will be seen again together in Ayan Mukherjee’s upcoming film Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. While both the actors were shooting happily in Manali for the film, Deepika had to leave Ranbir and fly to Kerala in order to shoot for Rajinikanth’s movie Kochadaiyaan.The Kochadaiyaan team is currently shooting in Trivandrum, whereas Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is progressing in Manali. So, Dippy is squeezing her dates to accommodate Kochadaiyaan, she is now busy shuttling between Manali and Kerala for her films. Bad luck for Ranbir and Deepika!

source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood/news/2012/deepika-ranbir-kapoor-separate-rajinikanth-240412.html

If you want to know more about the movie:

“Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Directed by	Ayan Mukerji
Produced by	Karan Johar
Starring	Ranbir Kapoor Deepika Padukone Aditya Roy Kapoor Kalki Koechlin
Music by	Pritam
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Not to be confused with Bollywood song from Jawani Diwani (1972).

For the 2006 film, see Jawani Diwani: A Youthful Joyride.

Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (Hindi: ये जवानी है दीवानी, English: This Is Youth, Crazy One) is an upcoming 2012 Bollywood romance film directed by Ayan Mukerji under Karan Johar‘s Dharma Productions. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone in lead roles^[1], who star in their second film together after Bachna Ae Haseeno. Aditya Roy Kapoor and Kalki Koechlin will play supporting roles.^[2] The film is said to be a tribute to the cinema of Nasir Hussain, who directed classics such as Dil Deke Dekho and Teesri Manzil.^[3]

Cast

• Ranbir Kapoor
• Deepika Padukone
• Aditya Roy Kapoor
• Kalki Koechlin

Casting

Ranbir Kapoor was the first to sign the film, and is working under Ayan Mukerji‘s direction for the second time after Wake Up Sid.^[4]

There was a lot of speculation about the film’s leading lady, with Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Anushka Sharma being considered.^[5] Padukone was eventually chosen for the role.^[6]

Filming

The film’s shooting began on March 20 in Hadimba Temple, Manali. In May, the cast is expected to shoot in Udaipur, where Kapoor and Padukone will also shoot for a romantic song.^[7]

Music

The music of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani will be composed by Pritam, who is composing the music for a Dharma Productions film for the first time.^[8]

Deepika Padukone: Race 2 or Race 2 Hollywood

Deepika Padukone walking out of Producer Ramesh Taurani‘s Race 2, unapologetically, after six days of shooting  to join a (probably) more lucrative Hollywood gig is a  risky business.

Bollywood is a small but powerful family business.  And Ramesh is shouting it from the rooftops. He’s filed already a complaint with the Cine & TV Artists Association (CINTAA) and Association of Motion Pictures & TV Programme Producer of India (AMPTPP).  The way she did it, ticked him off most, it seems. First she tells him she wants to talk to him and then she sends her agent instead.  Not a good idea. But  hey, we all make mistakes.

It looks like Deepika signed with  Atul Kasbekar’s  Bling! Entertainment, or  I am not sure if this is her old management.  Bling has some heavyweight clients like  Abhishek Bachchan,  Shahid and Sonam Kapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Madhavan, Vidya Balan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rahul Khanna…  I wonder if a reputable management would really push her not to honor a previous contract. I doubt it.  Too unprofessional.  So it must be a new management firm.  If it were Bling, wouldn’t it tarnish these other top actors?

And I am very curious to see which Hollywood production she might have signed up for.  I like the ravishing looking Deepika and I can see how Hollywood producers could be rolling over to get her.  But she better be sure who she risks her professional reputation for.  What’s the cost… well, I wish her only the best and hope she’ll succeed.  She is a wonderful talent and the sky is the limit.

Read more at: http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.aspx?Section=Movies&ID=ENTEN20120194265&subcatg=MOVIESINDIA&keyword=bollywood&nid=175457&cp

Deepika Padukone didn’t even apologise after quitting ‘Race 2′ – Director

Thursday, Feb 09, 2012

Filmmaker Ramesh Taurani is upset with actress Deepika Padukone for opting out of his “Race 2″ at the last moment following an offer for a Hollywood project and rues that she didn’t even apologise for her hasty retreat.

“I went to her shooting. We tried to reason it out with her. But she refused to even listen. Forget about anything else, she did not even apologise for her action. She seems to have no remorse” Taurani said in a statement.

The filmmaker says he is facing such crisis for the first time.

“I have been part of the Hindi cinema industry for 25 years. I have made several blockbusters. But I have never faced a situation like this before. Our directors and other actors are extremely annoyed with her,” Taurani said in a statement.

“Tips as a company in its last 25 years has never had a dispute with anyone. There is no single case in the association which involves us, it will be very sad and uncalled for if the matter goes to that level,” he added.

The actress, who had shot for a week for the film, is said to have backed out after being approached for a Hollywood project. Taurani was left fuming after learning that he was among the last to know about her decision.

“On January 27 people kept calling me asking whether Deepika was out of ‘Race 2′. I was clueless. I called her and asked her. She simply said that she would come to my office by 5 p.m. with her new manager to work out everything. At around 3 p.m., she called to say that she wouldn’t be able to keep the appointment. However, her manager would be present on her behalf,” said Taurani.

“Finally, when the manager arrived, he simply told me that Deepika wouldn’t be able to do our film. And that’s because she is doing a major Hollywood project,” he added.

Earlier, Sonakshi Sinha had walked out of the multi-starrer film and was replaced by Jaqueline Fernandes. The star cast of the film also includes Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham, Anil Kapoor and Ameesha Patel. – IANS

source: bollywoodworld.com  deepika-padukone-didnt-even-apologise-after-quitting-race-2-director-118484.html

This is an interesting article in the Economic Times:

Celebrity managers new bosses of Bollywood stars; turn actors into big moneyspinners

30363852_1_management-firm-bollywood-celebrity

 

 

Deepika Padukone back in Race!

Saturday, February 18, 2012, 11:08 [IST]

 

In a surprising development, Deepika Padukone seems to be returning to much-hyped Race 2. The actress, who opted out of the film due to date issues, is likely to return to the forthcoming Hindi movie if the movie bosses agreed for all her conditions.

It is believed that bowing down to the demands of Ramesh Taurani, Deepika Padukone has reportedly agreed to return if the movie bosses agreed for her conditions. It is said that the actress has made several things clear to the filmmaker for which they are yet to give nods. However, the issues are expected to be resolved within next 48 hours.

It was started after Deepika Padukone preferred Rajinikanth’s next project Kochadaiyaan to Race 2, which has been delayed for various reasons. Irked by her decision, producer Ramesh Taurani took the issue to CINTAA (Cine and TV Artistes’ Association).

Newest update of the Race2 saga:    It’s Bollywood triumphing over Hollywood.

deepika-padukone-race-180212.html