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Tag: Bollywood

  • Bollywood finds a new found fan in Kelly Rowland

    Bollywood finds a new found fan in Kelly Rowland

    MUMBAI: Indian music and Indian cinema has been receiving worldwide recognition lately with more and more Indian artists carving a niche for themselves on the international scene. Hence, it is no surprise that former Destiny’s Child and global singing sensation Kelly Rowland is all praises for Bollywood and Punjabi music in particular. The new judge of The X Factor USA, which currently airs on Big CBS Love, recently spoke about ‘Bhangra’ and ‘desi’ movies amongst other things.

     

    On the topic of Bollywood movies, the singer-turned-actress surprisingly revealed, “I watch Bollywood films, I mean I love Bollywood films! They are some of the best films. How detailed they are, how much fun they are, how much colour there is and how there’s so much going on, it’s just really entertaining.” On plans of being a part of the Indian film industry in the near future? To this the Commando singer excitedly replied, “That would be very cool!”

     

    Next up, she talked about her area of expertise – music – and revealed that Punjabi music has grown on her. Commenting on the Punjabi tracks she had recently heard she added, “Across the board it’s like jamming. If I hear this, I will start dancing, that’s fun! I don’t know what the lyrics say but whatever it is it has a nice little swing to it. I love the beats in between”, she said.

    By the looks of it Indian fans might just catch a Honey Singh style chart topper from the Grammy- Award winning artist.  Kelly will be the new judge on The X Factor USA season 3, every weekend exclusively on Big CBS Love premiering on 21 September every Saturday and Sunday at 10:00 pm.

  • Bollywood war breaks out over Middle Eastern skies

    Bollywood war breaks out over Middle Eastern skies

    MUMBAI: Very soon, Hindi film fans in the Middle East are going to be spoilt for choice. Here’s how.

    After launching Zee Aflam in 2008, Zee Entertainment Enterprises yesterday premiered the Dubai-based Zee Film Hindi, which boasts a repertoire of over 500 movie titles and up to 1,500 hours of entertainment every year. Zee Film Hindi has an operational office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and can be accessed through the Arabsat Badr-4 satellite on frequency 12111. What’s more, mid-October will see the Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC) launch MBC Bollywood, a free-to-air channel available via Nilesat and catering to the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region, with a portfolio of over 300 Hindi films – dubbed in Arabic or sub-titled.

    While this promises a visual feast for Bollywood fans, what cannot be ruled out is the severe competition it will spark.

    About Zee Film Hindi, Zee Entertainment president – Middle East, North Africa, Turkey & Pakistan Mukund Cairae says: “Since its inception, Zee has worked towards widening the reach of Indian cinema to audiences across the world. We started Zee Aflam five years ago to re-introduce Bollywood to the Arab world. The acceptance from the viewers has led to a huge growth of the genre itself. The launch of ‘Film Hindi’ is a testament to our efforts to continue to bridge and unify audiences in the Middle East, by building on the similarities with the Indian Subcontinent.”

    Cairae points out that  between Zee Aflam and Film Hindi, Zee plans to offer a variety of movies straddling Bollywood and Indie cinema.

    About MBC Bollywood, which is expected to give other Bollywood channels a run for their TRPs, a Dubai-based source says: “With the MBC group already capturing 80 per cent of the advertising market in the Middle East, the new entrant may impact the fortunes of  even Zee Aflam and B4U Aflam.”

    The latest addition to MBC’s existing bouquet of 10 channels, MBC Bollywood, promises to cater to the huge demand for Bollywood movies in the Middle East.

    “Zee Aflam is presently the number one bollywood movie channel in the Middle East, with an estimated $ 9 million per annum  advertising revenue. This will surely get impacted with MBC Bollywood,” the source said. And if reports are to be believed, MBC Bollywood may be one of the reasons why  UTV Movies Arabia could be going off-air by the end of this month.

    A trip down MBC lane

    Historically speaking, the satellite transmission for MBC first started from London in September 1991, making it the first-ever, independent Arabic satellite TV station, and a market leader – delivering news and quality, family entertainment programming to over 130 million Arabic speaking people around the world.

    The channel recently moved its headquarters to Dubai Media City, bringing production closer to its Arab viewers.

    The group’s channel bouquet reach out to nearly 300 million Arabs across the Middle East, Europe, Africa and South America.

    Among these figure: MBC1 (general family entertainment), MBC2 and MBC MAX (24-hour movies), MBC3 (children’s entertainment), MBC4 (entertainment for new Arab women), MBC Action (action series and movies), MBC Persia (24-hour movie channel dubbed in Persian), Al Arabiya (the 24-hour Arabic language news channel), Wanasah (24-hour Arabic music channel) and MBC Drama (Arabic drama).

    The group also has two radio stations: MBC FM (Gulf music), and Panorama FM (contemporary Arabic hit music) and O3 Productions (a specialised documentary production unit).

    For all purposes, it is the Goliath of the middle east. Can the Davids measure up?

  • Stars rally to promote Mickey Virus

    Stars rally to promote Mickey Virus

    An established television anchor and actor Manish Paul’s debut film – Mickey Virus is ready to grab a larger eyeball before its release. Manish Paul and director Saurabh Varma have launched a unique kind of celebrity promo of the movie which has never been seen in Bollywood.

     

    In the promo, many Bollywood celebrities who are friends of Manish Paul like Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Karan Johar, Farah Khan, Remo D’souza, Kapil Sharma were seen talking about Mickey Virus film.

     

    Dabangg Salman Khan was seen asking ‘Who is Mickey Virus…?’, and gave his advice to people to be aware of this virus. Ranbir Kapoor also shares his views on Mickey Ideas. Bollywood’s Lakhan, Anil Kapoor also featuring in the promo, was seen telling Mickey Vela Kahi Ka Dekhte hai..? Choreographer Farah Khan was seen shouting Mickey and said, “Mickey Arora internet par koi Qutub Minar bejata hai?”

     

    Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit blushed and said whatever he is but he is the cutest guy I have seen. Bollywood director Karan Johar praises Mickey for his ideas. Kapil Sharma describes the names and said, “Naam hota hai Chaddha, Khurana, Sharma ye koi Naam hai Mickey Virus”. Choreographer Remo can’t stop explaining Mickey’s nature, he said, “Din me aate Bejata hai aur raat me logo ko aate me leta hai”.

     

    Mickey Virus is set against the backdrop of hacking where Manish Paul is playing a character of Mickey Arora. He is a smart guy who runs a grocery store in the day time and creates viruses for antivirus companies in the night. Mickey Virus also marks the debut of Elli Avram, now a contestant in Bigg Boss 7 house, who is half Greek and half Swedish.Mickey Virus is all set to hack people’s brain and will soon enter in everyone’s heart. The movie is stated to release on 25 October.

  • Stars rally to promote Mickey Virus

    Stars rally to promote Mickey Virus

    MUMBAI: An established television anchor and actor Manish Paul’s debut film – Mickey Virus is ready to grab a larger eyeball before its release. Manish Paul and director Saurabh Varma have launched a unique kind of celebrity promo of the movie which has never been seen in Bollywood.

    In the promo, many Bollywood celebrities who are friends of Manish Paul like Salman Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Karan Johar, Farah Khan, Remo D’souza, Kapil Sharma were seen talking about Mickey Virus film.

    Dabangg Salman Khan was seen asking ‘Who is Mickey Virus…?‘, and gave his advice to people to be aware of this virus. Ranbir Kapoor also shares his views on Mickey Ideas. Bollywood‘s Lakhan, Anil Kapoor also featuring in the promo, was seen telling Mickey Vela Kahi Ka Dekhte hai..? Choreographer Farah Khan was seen shouting Mickey and said, “Mickey Arora internet par koi Qutub Minar bejata hai?”

    Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit blushed and said whatever he is but he is the cutest guy I have seen. Bollywood director Karan Johar praises Mickey for his ideas. Kapil Sharma describes the names and said, “Naam hota hai Chaddha, Khurana, Sharma ye koi Naam hai Mickey Virus”. Choreographer Remo can’t stop explaining Mickey’s nature, he said, “Din me aate Bejata hai aur raat me logo ko aate me leta hai”.

    Mickey Virus is set against the backdrop of hacking where Manish Paul is playing a character of Mickey Arora. He is a smart guy who runs a grocery store in the day time and creates viruses for antivirus companies in the night. Mickey Virus also marks the debut of Elli Avram, now a contestant in Bigg Boss 7 house, who is half Greek and half Swedish.Mickey Virus is all set to hack people‘s brain and will soon enter in everyone‘s heart. The movie is stated to release on 25 October.

  • Ravi Kishan dons a woman avatar in Tigmanshu Dhulias Bullett Raja

    Ravi Kishan dons a woman avatar in Tigmanshu Dhulias Bullett Raja

    Things haven’t changed much since Shakespeare’s times – when young male actors used to don women’s garbs and play Cleopatra or Desdemona.

     

    With cross dressing getting immensely popular in B-town, actors such as Aamir Khan, Ritiesh Deshmukh, have created a new trend altogether! One of the most popular actors in Bhojpuri, Ravi Kishan will also be seen making a grand entry in this list!

    Ravi Kishan who made an entry into Bollywood a few years back, will be seen in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Bullett Raja which stars Saif Ali Khan and Sonakshi Sinha in the lead roles.

     

    Buzz is that, this popular Bhojpuri actor, will be seen donning a woman’s look for a particular seen in the movie. Ravi Kishan who will be playing a woman for the first time on screen, is seen in a green and pink choli along with a lot of jewellery including bangles, earrings and necklace.

     

    Ravi Kishan had this to say about his look of a woman in the film, “I have never done something like this before and I would give all the credit to Tissu bhai (Tigmanshu) for this. He makes it so easy for an actor, thanks to his sheer clarity. I liked taking up the challenge and I hope the audiences will love my new ardhnareshwar avatar in Bullett Raja”

     

    Fox Star Studios Presentation, A Brandsmith Motion Pictures and Moving Pictures Production. Bullett Raja releases on 29 November 2013.

  • Besharam to get the widest release with 3,600 screens

    Besharam to get the widest release with 3,600 screens

    Shahrukh and Deepika starrer Chennai Express set a record by booking 3,500 screens in India. And now Ranbir Kapoor’s much awaited film Besharam is set to create a new record by releasing in 3,600 screens in India, leaving Chennai Express behind in the race.

     

    This will make Ranbir Kapoor’s comedy action drama the biggest release in Bollywood till date.

     

    However, Reliance Entertainment distributor head Utpal Acharya is slightly disappointed since they were looking out for 4,000 screens but the Telugu movie Attarintiki Daredi which has already released had already gained popularity in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other southern states.

     

    Besharam is slated to hit the big screens on a Wednesday i.e 2 October and will also star Ranbir’s parents – Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor along with Pallavi Sharda playing the female lead.

  • Abhi-Aish to celebrate Happy Anniversary

    Abhi-Aish to celebrate Happy Anniversary

    Ad maker Prahlad Kakkar, best known for his work on the famous Pepsi TV commercial with Amitabh Bachchan and Sachin Tendulkar is planning to dip his hands into Bollywood filmmaking.

     

    His upcoming flick will see the comeback of the gorgeous diva Aishwarya Bachchan. The film tentatively titled Happy Anniversary will be produced by Gaurang Doshi and will explore the anatomy of marriage.

     

    Ash’s hubby Abhishek Bachchan will be playing the male lead and the two will be seen sharing the screen space after a span of five years since their last film Guru in 2007.

     

    Happy Anniversary will be shot in Africa and is slated for a release in January 2014.

  • Veena Malik Supermodel city tour

    Veena Malik Supermodel city tour

    Movie Promotion is the most important part of every movie and in this competitive world no actors want to take any chance which fails their movie. Bollywood Supermodel Veena Malik was seen showering her glamour all over the Indian through her city tour for promoting her upcoming movie Supermodel which is stated to release on 27th of September. She reached the city of joy Kolkata to promote her movie where she posed for photographers and after that she travels to Delhi, Jaipur and Ahmadabad where she was seen interacting with the media about her movie. Veena was overwhelmed with the gestures of her fans.

    Veena Malik said, “I am very happy my movie Supermodel is going to release which is based on real story. I am glad to visit different cities of India and happy to meet my lovely fans all over cities. I hope people would love it and appreciate it.”

    Veena Malik is playing a glamorous role in the Movie which is based on the story of Fashion World which reveals truth of Models life. Veena plays the role of a middle class girl who reaches superstardom.

  • Actress Sneha Upadhyay at Sydenham College’s Simsree Simerations 2013

    Actress Sneha Upadhyay at Sydenham College’s Simsree Simerations 2013

    Actress, model, DJ, Pantaloons Femina Miss Fashionista 2012 and Kingfisher Calendar finalist Sneha Upadhyay (Madhu Sneha) is on a high this year after having walked the ramp at Lakme Fashion Week for Ritu Kumar and as a Pool Model; as well as for Shantanu & Nikhil at IIFA Rocks 2013.

    Sneha was on the jury of Sydenham College’s Simsree annual fest Simerations 2013 along with Bollywood superstar Salman Khan’s favourite choreographer Mudassar Khan (Dabangg, Bodyguard, Bol Bachchan and Boss amongst others) and Dancing Curve’s Itika and Raunak. Sneha, who found the Simerations show too ‘filmi’, crowned Beat Breakers from Chinai College as the winners along with the second runners up from NK College.  

    Incidentally, Sneha is also finalising a very unique show on a niche channel where she is playing herself as a successful model – well, she really is the Tyra Banks of India when it comes to films, fashion and television.  

    This mesmerizing model was born in Howrah (near Kolkata) and was a studious conservative middle class family geek till she participated in the Bhawanipur College Fest and her entire life changed! The scintillating Sneha Upadhyay is the first runner up of the Kingfisher Calendar Girl 2012 hunt in association with NDTV Good Times and chosen in the Top 3 after a long hunt for a talent race among contestants from all across India. The girl, who had not even worn track pants is now scorching the ramps across India with what ace lensman Atul Kasbekar calls is the ‘perfect body’.  And renowned Bollywood designer Manish Malhotra chose only this Kolkata girl for his shows. The diva now aims to model her career a la Trya Banks and wants to replicate the global icon’s success in India.  

    Sneha started off with an audition as a ‘Cat Woman’ and the model with ‘Rhythm in her Body’ had leading  fashion choreographers drooling over the Indian equivalent of Hollywood star Halle Berry! In fact, Sushma Puri from Elite Model Managemetn chased her all the way upto the Kolkata Fashion week in order to sign her on. And ace designer Nandita Thirani chose her as the lucky opening mascot for showcasing her Lakme Fashion Week collections.  And then followed a string of fashion designer fans including Manish Malhotra (he only chose Sneha from Kolkata she closed for him in the Kolkata Fashion Week), Jaya Misra  and Shantanu-Nikhil amongst others.  

    “I always had a feeling of being extraordinary and rising above my surroundings but didn’t have any clue. I strode the normal path for a girl of my background till my teens. My letter from the engineering college got misplaced and I was mulling entering dental college. When suddenly a new avenue of ramp modeling opened up in my life. It created a ruckus in my conservative household and my parents were very upset. My elder sister stood by me and gave me the confidence and courage to pursue it,” says Sneha. When 5-6 hoardings with my face were put up across Kolkata, my parents finally relented when people appreciated my work. And yes, she has not taken a single penny from them for her pursuits.

    On the Kingfisher Calendar show, Sneha was initially very disturbed with the emotionless approach of the crew! “I was just another candidate with a lovely body. I wanted to tell them that I had an equally intelligent mind to back my body up. I am proud that it was seen in the tasks that I did. The other candidates found my reading habits and my religious chanting from my rosary very weird. And while they used to diet, I used to eat quite a lot and still maintain my demure size zero tall frame. But when I started posting success after success, they started taking me seriously,” says Sneha.  She adds, “Others were competing while I was really enjoying myself.  I am very happy to win the Most Beautiful Body and the Most Photogenic Body titles. My mantras were confidence, determination and focus.”

    In fact, Sneha’s biggest fear on the show was that she was frightened of water and scared she might be asked to swim. “There was an accident in Chennai where I literally lost my life and was scared of swimming and going underwater. I joined this contest to confront my biggest fears and showcase my inborn talents. In the early rounds, they gave me an underwater task and I had to channelize all my resources to complete the task. I did well and proved a point to myself and peers. I won the maximum tasks and surprised myself and others. I have become very carefree and fearless.”   

    An ambitious young fresh face, Sneha quit her marketing job in the fast-paced city of Mumbai to change her career course to the glamorous world of fashion. A true believer in herself, Sneha swears that soon the world will know and believe in her! She is the most confident about “Myself as a whole” and her asset is her “confidence that has got her quite a lot at a young age.  She reads quite a lot and is a linguist with English (literature graduate with honours), Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. And she claims that she is a born dancer. She has dabbled in copywriting and thinks of writing scripts during her leisure time. She has also tutored the contestants of the Indian Princess contest organized by the Mumbai-based Atharva Group. She enjoyed the task of grooming and tutoring young raw contestants and elevating their self-esteem, self-confidence and self-belief.

    An extremely spiritual human being, Sneha philosophises, “I get bored very quickly and keep looking for new challenges and frontiers of expressing myself.  I still feel I haven’t expressed myself fully and am still in the process of discovery. I continue to get plum assignments without really auditioning or striving hard. I continue to meet greater human beings and aspire to match their greatness with my latent talent and abilities. I believe that an actor lies hidden within me. I always fantasise about giving several expressions for a particular situation. I am Power Woman and will be the one that will make a difference to the lives of millions of Indians.” Incidentally, her father was an amateur actor and used to do a lot of theatre and encourage her to watch serious cinema.  But no one else in her family has any remote connection with showbiz. And Sneha is determined to make it on her own steam.   

    As in sync with her Kolkata mindset, Sneha dreams of doing meaningful globally crossover films in the mould of actress such as Aparna Sen, Smita Patil and Madhuri Dixit amongst others.  She is still adjusting to the metropolis of Mumbai in terms of films, finance and fashion.  And Sneha Upadhyay is very clear that she is here to be and carve a niche for herself while leaving her footprints in the sands of time. ..

  • Molecule Communications presents Cinema Beyond Boundaries

    Molecule Communications presents Cinema Beyond Boundaries

    Keeping up the trend that started last year, Molecule Communications (P) Ltd. proudly announces its second annual conference Ticket to Bollywood II “Cinema Beyond Boundaries” for film industry professionals from the East and West at New York.

     

    This event is a platform for the filmmakers from around the globe to recount experiences in the field and discuss the tricks of the trade. Film professionals who define the new global cinema movement and have given rise to the new globally interconnected film industry would be a part of the symposium.

     

    This year producer and director Madhur Bhandarkar who is known for films like Chandni Bar, Satta, Page 3, Corporate, Fashion, Jail, Heroine and Advaita Kala, writer of Kahaani and Anjaana Anjaani would represent the East. Brooklyn based director Micheal Canzoniero known for Don Peyote (2013) starring Anne Hathaway and Josh Duhamel; actor, comedian and singer and co-writer and co- director of Don Peyote, Tony Award winner Dan Fogler who starred in Balls of Fury, director and producer Vladan Nikolic and actors Saritha Choudhry, Ajay Naidu and Reshma Shetty from the west would grace the event. Other speakers would be Dylan Marchetti of Variance films and Elliott Kanbar, president of the Quad Media in New York. Wayne Sharpe, the versatile music composer from New York who has composed music scores for Gangaajal, Apaharan, Raajneeti would also be a speaker at the event.

     

    Continuing the last year’s format for the event where the filmmakers gave insights, talked openly about their successes and failures, the mistakes they made and the lessons they learnt; the event aims at ensuring that the invitees would gain enough knowledge.

     

    “Bollywood is in my blood and my passion however the event is not restricted to song dance or action, it is beyond that. I love dhinchak sequences from Bollywood, larger than life visuals of Hollywood and Pakistani music. We are audiences who like content and for us entertainment isn’t restricted to countries and their boundaries. Redefining world cinema is what we aim at. Thanks to my brother Ajay Shrivastav (New York) who took this initiative,” said Kiren Shrivastav, CEO Molecule Communications.

     

    This three- day event would focus on the global influence of Indian cinema, forecast changes in the fast growing and rapidly evolving filmmaking industry. Actors, directors, writers and music directors would gather to share how it is to make cinema by blending different cultures and to bring them beyond the Indian Diaspora.

    Excited about this conference, Madhur said, “Indian cinema is no more limited to audiences in India. We have viewers all around the world and hence understanding the global perspective is a must. Molecule Communications’ Cinema Beyond Boundaries would get the viewers and the filmmakers together and would help us in serving them with good quality cinema.”

     

    As Indian cinema celebrates its 100 years of existence, Cinema Beyond Boundaries (CBB) would capture the flavours of Bollywood, take a look at the past and discuss what would be in store for Indian cinema in the next 100 years. CBB would focus on screenwriting trends, co- production opportunities and international film financing to connect the world’s most important film industries.

     

    “Whether on-screen or over the airwaves, SAG-AFTRA members bring to life unique experiences and perspectives and share universal truths with a global audience,” said national director of equal employment opportunities and diversity Adam Moore from SAG-AFTRA which is the sponsor and partner for the event along with The School of Visual Arts (SVA).

     

    “These projects should accurately reflect the entire world around us and depict all of our communities in authentic and meaningful ways. So the opportunity to work with Molecule Communications for Ticket2Bollywod: Cinema Beyond Boundaries to achieve our mutual goal of telling these stories by utilizing union talent and union agreements is a perfect fit,” he added.

     

    “As one of the top film schools in the world we see this partnership as a way of broadening the knowledge of our students and offering them an understanding of international film and media collaboration. Molecule Communications TICKET2BOLLYWOOD: Cinema Beyond Boundaries continues to create opportunities for both the professional and the next generation of storytellers,” said chairman of the film, video, and animation department at SVA, NYC Reeves Lehmann. He is also a director, producer, and writer and he is the new member of The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.