ITV

Tag: Amitabh Bachchan

  • Big B to lead Indian film delegation for MIFF

    MUMBAI: Legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan will lead the delegation of Indian artistes and filmmakers for the 12th edition of Marrakech International Film Festival, Morocco.

    While the exact dates for the event has not been finalised, the festival will be held in November-December.

    The list of the attendees to the festival also includes Bachchan’s wife and actress Jaya Bachchan, besides son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

    The delegation also boasts of the Khan trio Shah Rukh, Saif and Aamir Khan, former minister and Congress leader Shashi Kapoor, ace film-makers Yash Chopra and Shekhar Kapur, Nandita Das, Preity Zinta and Aparna Sen.

    The festival will have events dedicated to Indian cinema including screening of Indian films and felicitation of Indian talent. Every evening the festival will be invited to the Jemaa el-Fnaa Square of the city to watch outdoor screenings of a selection of recent films from India.

    The Marrakech International Film Festival held under the patronage King Mohammed VI is run by a foundation headed by Prince Moulay Rachid.

    The festival had in the past promoted Indian cinema, which is celebrating its centenary year this year.

  • Luxor Nano Technology ropes in Amitabh Bachchan as brand ambassador

    MUMBAI: Luxor Group‘s Luxor Nano Technology has appointed Amitabh Bachchan as the brand ambassador to endorse their newly launched product Luxor Nano Clean.

    Bachchan will be seen endorsing Luxor Nano Clean products in an all India multimedia campaign estimated at a marketing budget of Rs 150 million. He will feature in TVC created by Lowe Lintas and directed by Lowe Lintas chairman and CCO R. Balki.

    Luxor Nano Clean (cleaners and protectors) are based on the revolutionary Nanotechnology, a 2 in 1 technology which not only cleans but also protects the object, and is being introduced in the world for the first time by Luxor Group.

    Luxor Group chairman and president D.K. Jain said, “I am very pleased to announce our association with Mr. Bachchan to endorse our newly launched product in the market called Luxor Nano Clean by Luxor. We could not have found a better choice since his acting and skills was a start of a new era in the Bollywood industry and with our product we tend to repeat the same- a 2 in 1 revolutionary technology which will definitely surprise the Indian cleaning products industry. Mr. Bachchan‘s association with our brand has done wonders to us and we hope to continue the same way.”

    Balki said, “Just like Mr. Bachchan, Luxor Group has been evolving over the years and have tried to remain pioneers in terms of technology, with varied product offerings. In order to capture the target audience for Luxor Nano Clean, we wanted to take help from someone who has a spotless personality and who better than Mr. Bachchan”.

    Bachchan added, “My association with Luxor Group goes back a long way and I have seen the brand evolved in India in a big way. A pioneer in writing instruments Luxor has brought few world-famous brands like Parker, Pilot, and Waterman in India to serve the Indian consumer market. I wish them all the very best for their new venture and hope they continue to lead the market as pioneers.”

  • Hindi remake of Kaksparsh will have Amitabh Bachchan in lead

    Hindi remake of Kaksparsh will have Amitabh Bachchan in lead

    MUMBAI: Just last month it was announced that Amitabh Bachchan would play the role of an aging Shakespearean actor in the on-screen adaptation of Natsamrat, MaheshManjrekar’s literary masterpiece in Marathi.

    And now comes the news that Manjrekar is all set to roll his remake of his latest Marathi project Kaksparsh, soon with Bachchan playing the part that Sachin Khedekar had essayed of the fiercely protective patriarch.

    The film is about a young widow’s fight for her individual space in which she is helped by her dead husband’s elder brother.

    The remake of the film will be shot in the same village in Konkan where the original was shot.

    Said Manjrekar, “The film has to be shot in the Konkan village. I want to preserve the flavour and mood of the story. Amitji is the only actor who can do justice to the role of the patriarch who fights for the young widow’s rights.”

    Ketaki Mategaonkar and Priya Bapat play the character of the widow at different stages in the original. “As for finding the right actors to play the part, I am sure we’ll find them. It was difficult to find capable actors even in Kaksparsh but we did it,” added Manjrekar.

  • Sujoy Ghosh’s next is Badla with Amitabh Bachchan

    Sujoy Ghosh’s next is Badla with Amitabh Bachchan

    MUMBAI: Basking under the super success of his Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani, filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh is currently in the process of writing two scripts.

    While the first would star Ghosh’s favourite star Amitabh Bachchan, the second would star Vidya Balan. Regarding Bachchan, Ghosh has already made it known that no film of his would go without the veteran associated with it.

    Ghosh has gone one step further when he revealed the name of the film as Badla. While the tagline of Badla was to be ‘Only God Forgives’, the director won’t be able to use it since a film has been announced with the same name, according to Ghosh.

    The film will also star Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan in prominent roles. “The script that I‘m writing for Sir (Amitabh Bachchan) is called Badla, which, if I write well, will have Sir and Naseerji and Vidya Balan. All depends on the script,” posted Ghosh on his Twitter account.

    Ghosh averred that once he finishes off with both the screenplays, he will decide on which project he would start working first.

  • Big B adds Maggi Noodles to his ad diet

    MUMBAI: Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan has added Nestle‘s instant noodle brand Maggi to the list of brands he endorses.

    The actor has recently shot a one-minute advertisement for the popular snack. This is the first time Maggi Noodles has roped in a celebrity as an endorser.

    Bachchan first appeared in BPL commercials in 1996 and has since then been associated with brands across categories. Some of the brands that senior Bachchan has been associated with include Pepsi, ICICI, Parker Pens, Cadbury, Nerolac, Dabur Hajmola, Himani Fast Relief, Navratna, Emami Boroplus, Eveready, Reid and Taylor, Save Our Tigers Campaign, Gujrat Tourism, Zen mobile, Binani Cement and ICICI Prudential.

    Maggi Noodles is a 27-year-old brand that has become synonymous with instant noodles. The brand‘s proposition has been ‘the two minute noodles‘. In 2009, on completing 25 years, the brand initiated a campaign which invited consumers to share their experiences with it.

    Maggi‘s sub-brand Soupy Noodles is endorsed by Bollywood actor Kajol. Other notable association with Maggie was Javed Jaffery for its ketchup brand which carried the tagline ‘Its Different‘.

  • Remake of Chupke Chupke in offing

    Remake of Chupke Chupke in offing

    MUMBAI: When David Dhawan announced the remake of Chasme Baddoor, everyone thought that the remake of the 1975 Hrishikesh Mukherjee‘s Chupke Chupke was not far away.

    And now, days after it was announced that Viacom 18 Motion Pictures would release Chasme Baddoor on 31 August, Dhawan has come out with the news that his next would be the remake of the Dharmendra-Amitabh Bachchan-Sharmila Tagore-Jaya Bhaduri rip roaring comedy Chupke Chupke.

    While the casting of the new Chupke Chupke is yet to be decided, it is said that the role of the heroine‘s suspicious brother-in-law played by the late Om Prakash would likely be essayed by Rishi Kapoor.

    It may be recalled that Kapoor has already had a stint of working with Dhawan while working on the remake of Sai Paranjpye‘s Chashme Buddoor.

    Chupke Chupke is to be co-produced by Fox Star Studios and White Stripes, an entertainment company focused on film and TV production.

  • Vivek Agnihotri to cast Bachchan and Naseer in his remake of 12 Angry Men

    Vivek Agnihotri to cast Bachchan and Naseer in his remake of 12 Angry Men

    MUMBAI: Vivek Agnihotri, who had earlier directed films like Chocolate (2005) and Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, has signed Amitabh Bachchan and Naseeruddin Shah for his next film Twelve, a remake of Sidney Lumet‘s 1957 American drama film 12 Angry Men.

    The filmmaker is also planning to cast Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Boman Irani, Pankaj Kapur and Annu Kapoor for the film.

    “It‘s a brilliant story, the action of which takes place within the confines of a single room. It‘s a classic play and every time it‘s been made into a film, it has won laurels,” said Agnihotri in a statement. The filmmaker has also conceded that he‘s spoken to every single person he has in mind.

    Interestingly, the film also marks the comeback of Ashutosh Gowariker to the acting field. Having started off with Kundan Shah‘s Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa in 1993, Gowariker also played a part in the detective series CID.

  • Eros to release English Vinglish on 21 September

    Eros to release English Vinglish on 21 September

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media Ltd is gearing up to release R. Balki’s Sri Devi-starrer, English Vinglish, worldwide on 21 September.

    A slice of life film, English Vinglish explores the impact of not knowing the English language in everyday life. The film, directed by debutante Gauri Shinde (Balki’s wife), marks the comeback of Sridevi after a 14-year sabbatical.

    Eros International Media Ltd managing director Sunil Lulla said, “With English Vinglish, we are excited for Sridevi’s return to acting and with Balki and Gauri at the helm. We believe there’s a lot of anticipation around the film.”

    In the film, Sridevi plays the central role of a housewife, who enrolls for an English speaking course in order to please her husband and family.

    “Sridevi is such a natural and was the perfect choice for this role. Not knowing English in our country is a big deal. Three things differentiate people here — fame, money and the knowledge of English. The film deals with her insecurities and how she shows the world that speaking the language isn’t a big deal. I am pleased to tie-up with Eros International who will present this film on a global platform,” said Balki.

    The film also features French actor Mehdi Nebbou, Adil Hussain and Priya Anand. Amitabh Bachchan makes a guest appearance.

    A trilingual, the film has been shot in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

  • Anupam Kher, Jayaprada to produce Hindi version of Pranayam

    Anupam Kher, Jayaprada to produce Hindi version of Pranayam

    MUMBAI: Anupam Kher and Jaya Prada will produce the Hindi version of Pranayam.

    The film has director Blessy, more of a serious filmmaker, making a mark with the Mohanlal-Jaya Prada-Anupam Kher starrer that not only won critical acclaim for the actors but to Blessy as well.

    Blessy, who would be reportedly wielding the megaphone for this project also, is keen to rope in Amitabh Bachchan to portray the role played by Mohanlal in the original.

    Though the talk of the remake has been going on for some time now, it couldn’t gather steam as Jaya Prada was busy with the UP elections.

    Pranayam is a portrayal of the great emotion ‘love‘ which binds man to one another through life‘s journey. It is a narration of the different dimensions of love capturing the joys and pain, loss and gain, the present and the past and so much more in between.

  • Yet another disappointment from RGV

    Yet another disappointment from RGV

    MUMBAI: When Ram Gopal Varma makes a film, one is a bit sceptical. He has not made a sensible film in a long time after all! When you go to a movie expecting nothing, you do usually come out happier than if you expected a masterpiece.

    Producer: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Uberoi Line Productions.
    Director: Ram Gopal Varma.
    Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Rana Daggubati, Deepak Tijori, Vijay Raaz, Abhimanyu Singh,Anjana Sukhani, Laxmi Manchu, Madhu Shalini.

    This, however, is not the case with Department, the latest Ram Gopal Varma film. One does go in expecting nothing but one comes out exasperated and mentally fatigued. Department is an exercise in senility: it tries your patience, it tests your nerves and it challenges your sensibilities. After a run time of 2 hours 13 minutes, you come out not knowing who was who in the film, what his motives were and, to top it all, you are threatened with a sequel!

    There are some cops on a killing spree in order to get the better of the underworld. Rana Daggubati, one of them, is singled out for suspension for being trigger-happy. The other one, Sanjay Dutt, knows to hide his tracks well. Since there is too much of underworld, some unknown and unexplained face decides to form a special task force called Department, which will not be answerable to anyone and which will not exist on paper.

    But, this being a Ram Gopal Varma film, all and sundry know of its existence the moment it is formed. That includes a crazy looking Mumbai don, Vijay Raaz, and a secretive Dubai-based kingpin, Ghouri Mohammed. Rana and Dutt both embark on a shooting spree killing some random faces to reach Vijay Raaz. The charade goes on until a little before the interval, when Amitabh Bachchan makes his entry. He is an idiosyncratic character who ties a small bell to his wrist and has a weird story to tell about it which he never really tells. He is some sort of a minister who pulls all the strings even as he behaves like he is off his rocker. He is a don turned politician after attaining sakashtkar under Dharavi Bridge.

    The Department, which is a small band of shooters, soon has different sponsors. Sanjay Dutt obeys the faceless don in Dubai, Rana listens to Amitabh Bachchan and the rest, including Deepak Tijori are incidental.

    Having killed most of the Mumbai underworld, the Department heroes end up killing each other: long live the Don in Dubai; he is spared for Department 2 if you care.

    Department has a sequence of events but no cohesive script. Ram Gopal Varma grossly misuses his artistes and takes the audience for granted. He makes this narration into a perfect torture device. Dialogue is pedestrian. Music is irrelevant and forced. Ram Gopal’s experiment with student cinematographers becomes a joke as he goes overboard. Editing is nonexistent.

    As for performances, only Rana Daggubati looks sincere. Amitabh Bachchan’s character and getup are designed to make an impact; all they do is make him look like a psycho. Sanjay Dutt is his usual self. Vijay Raaz is unlike any don one has known or heard of. The characters of Abhimanyu Singh and his girl, Madhu Shalini, border on insane. This bunch shows the maker’s taste for the macabre.

    Department is a rank bad film with poor box office prospects.

     

    Lacklustre scripting, doomed to go unnoticed

     

    Producer: Chandra Pemmaraju.
    Director: Chandra Pemmaraju.
    Cast: Melanie Kannokada, Arjun Gupta, Levrenti Lopes, Michael Derek, Rob Byrnes, Ryan Vigilant, Aaron Katter, Leah Kavita, Carolyn Korale.

    Love Lies And Seeta (English with few Hindi dialogue) is directed by Chandra Pemmaraju, who clearly has a passion for filmmaking. An Indian-American, his two earlier shorts have been a part of various film festivals. The film is a shoestring-budget love story about an Indian-origin girl, Seeta (Melanie Kannokada, a former Miss India America), and three boys who fall in love with her.

    The boys, Arjun Gupta, Levrenti Lopes and Michael Derek, are all students who vie with each other to win Seeta’s love and attention. They get into a silent war of deception amongst them, which verges on violence. Seeta dates all three simultaneously which further adds to the misunderstandings among the boys.

    Seeta, who was adopted as a child by an American couple, seeks counsel from her father, Rob Byrnes, after which she decides to tell all three boys that she likes them as friends but is not in love with any of them. She also discovers her true love in Ryan Vigilant, with whom she had played in her childhood and who has been in love with her since then. Seeta also has her two close friends who are nursing a silent love for two of the boys but can’t open up since the boys are in love with Seeta. Eventually, all end up getting their partners.

    Chandra Pemmaraju chooses the New York summer as the backdrop of his narration and presents some pleasant visuals of the New York landscape. The drawback is with his scripting which is like oral storytelling and is slow without dramatics. Music is apt and soothing.

    Love Lies And Seeta, released without any sort of promotion, is fated to pass unnoticed.