Tag: Boman Irani

“It’s all about Happy Dancing!”, says Shah Rukh Khan

MUMBAI: Having scaled the pinnacle of dancing with Dance India Dance (DID), Zee TV has now launched another talent show ‘Maruti Suzuki Alto K 10 Dil Se Naache Indiawale co-powered by Askmebazaar.com & L’Oreal Paris Fall Repair 3X’, in partnership with Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment & ZEEL’s production arm Essel Vision.

To be hosted by the King of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan, the show is positioned as India’s first ever multi-city dance tour in search of the ‘happiest dancer’. Conducted through a joyride on a special ‘Happy Dancing’ bus, the tour will reach Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Indore in the coming days.

Present on the road-shows with the contestants will be the cast of the Happy New Year called the ‘Agents of Happiness’ including Shah Rukh Khan, DeepikaPadukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Farah Khan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Vivaan Shah.

The tour will kick off in Mumbai on October 7 and the show will go on air from the first week of the month. Spanning across five weeks, the show selected contestants from each city will compete in a finale to win the title.

Coming up with yet another creative technique for marketing and promotion of his latest flick, King Khan said, “For our film, Happy New Year, we wanted to move away from the conventional format of city tours. This time we wanted to go out there and thank them by entertaining them and giving back the love they always give us. When Zee approached us with the concept of a show that celebrates the sheer happiness of dancing as against selecting the most trained and technically sound dancers, it instantly appealed.”

“The concept also holds well with our film. This will be our unique way of promoting our film in different cities. All of us will be performing and judging in this show. The idea is to spread cheer and happiness wherever we all go!” he added.

The participants on the show will be shortlisted from the ‘Happy Dancing’ videos that dance enthusiasts send in from across the country.

These dancers will then get the opportunity to showcase their acts in front of the star-studded panel. The show will serve the dual purpose of promotion for Happy New Year and festive entertainment for viewers.

Talking about the exclusive show, Zee TV programming head Namit Sharma said, “With Dance India Dance, we celebrated dance as an art form. With ‘Dil Se Naachein Indiawaale’, we celebrate it as a ‘heart’ form. We’re extremely pleased to partner with Shah Rukh in bringing this proposition alive.”

“The core idea behind the show is to look at dance as a means and an outlet to express all the joy, life, spunk and happiness you have within you. We are not looking for trained dancers who’re perfect with their technique, we’re looking for that contestant who can bring a smile on to people’s faces with their happy dancing,” he added.

With the hottest celebrity panel ever on Indian television, an all-new genre of dancing and the first-of-its-kind dance tour with a mission to spread joy and happiness across the country, the show promises to be the biggest entertainment extravaganza this Diwali.

Red Chilies will be returning to television production after almost three years. It has in the past produced shows like ‘Tere Mere Beach Mein’ (on Star Plus), the talk show hosted by director-choreographer Farah Khan, ‘Ye Parindey’ on Channel V, a chat show hosted by the designer duo of Abu Jaani and Sandeep Khosla on NDTV Good Times and ‘Ghar ki Baat’ on NDTV Imagine.

September 27, 2014
Deepika Padukone in a new avtar in ‘Lovely’

MUMBAI: While already in news for the ‘cleavage row’ and her acting in Finding Fanny, Deepika Padukone continues to stay in focus for a different reason this time.

After the sneak peak of the Deepika Padukone’s item song ‘Lovely’ was released on Happy New Year’s music launch, the official video of the hot and spicy number is finally out.

Composed by Dr. Zeus, ‘Lovely’ has been penned by Jiwan Mann, Kumaar and crooned by Kanika Kapoor, Ravindra Upadhyay, Miraya Varma and Fateh.

‘Lovely’ features the actress in an avatar that is poles-apart from what she is portrayed in other HNY songs like ‘Manwa Lage’ and ‘Indiawaale’. The song, being touted as the ‘item song of the year’, will be Padukone’s entry song in the film.

Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sonu Sood and Vivaan Shah, HNY is dance heist film and follows the story of six oddballs set to loot a ‘handful of diamonds’. Slated for a 24 October release, it is director Farah Khan’s third film with SRK after Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om.

The Happy New Year team, along with singers Yo Yo Honey Singh, and Kanika Kapoor are currently busy with their world tour.

September 20, 2014
Another first for ‘Happy New Year’- music launch streamed live

MUMBAI: After launching the first teaser of the film on WhatsApp, the king of Bollywood Shah Rukh Khan known for his innovative marketing techniques, launched the music album of his latest movie Happy New Year online in order to benefit millions of his fans all over the globe.

The worldwide music launch event was streamed live on YouTube and on the official website of Happy New Year. The movie which has already released two of its songs, ‘Manwa Lage’ and ‘Indiawaale’ amassed huge appreciation.

Along with the entire cast of the movie, the director, Farah Khan, music directors Vishal-Shekhar and singers including Neeti Mohan, Sukhwinder Singh, Kanika Kapoor were also present for the event.

Hosted by Rithwik Dhanjani and Kunwar Amarjeet , the Bollywood extravaganza showcased a number of mind blowing performances by the singers and cast of the movie. It began with singer Neeti Mohan’s performance on the already super hit song from the film ‘Manwa Laage’. The ‘Chhaiya Chhaiya’ fame singer Sukhwinder Singh also performed on the song ‘Satakli’ from the movie.

After Sukhwinder, rapper Dr. Zeus and ‘Baby Doll’ singer Kanika Kapoor gave a sneak peek into the song ‘Lovely’ picturised on Deepika Padukone in the film followed by the biggest and the most awaited performance of the evening where the whole cast shook their leg on ‘Indiawaale’.

With the entire star cast, the director and the team behind the music present on stage, the album was officially launched by chanting the magical words- ‘Abraa ka Daabra.’

Touted as one of the biggest hits of 2014, Happy New Year is all set to hit the silver screens this Diwali.

September 16, 2014
‘Happy New Year’ trailer to be on Whatsapp

MUMBAI: In keeping with the tradition of innovatively marketing its films, Red Chillies Entertainments yet again comes out with a unique way to promote its movie ‘Happy New Year.’

For the first time an Indian film will send its trailer via WhatsApp to the users of the application. Simply by giving a missed call or dropping in a WhatsApp message at +91 9819020202, the audiences will get the trailer on their mobiles and tablets. Also, the restriction by WhatsApp on a broadcast message has specially been removed for this campaign.

Talking on the first-of-its-kind trailer release, Red Chillies Entertainment CEO Venky Mysore said, “As a company there is a special focus on constantly improving fan experience through innovation. Whether it was the first look of the movie at the beginning of the year through one of the biggest Twitter innovations with fans receiving customised posters from their favourite artists, which received close to a billion impressions as a campaign, or the new innovations with WhatsApp and Twitter for the upcoming movie – ‘Happy New Year’, our endeavour is to delight fans.”

“With over 50 million active users on WhatsApp in India who every day share millions of videos and images with individual friends and groups it was an obvious choice to use WhatsApp as a platform. The only challenge was the restriction by WhatsApp where a broadcast message cannot be sent to more than 250 friends/WhatsApp users but WhatsApp has specially removed this restriction for this campaign,” Mysore added.

Directed by Farah Khan, the eagerly-awaited ‘Happy New Year’ brings back Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan together, after their last blockbuster `Chennai Express.’ The movie also stars Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Vivaan Shah and Boman Irani and has been shot in Dubai. The trailer is scheduled to release on 14 August 2014, on the eve of Independence Day.

The film is produced by Red Chillies Entertainments and distributed by Yash Raj Films worldwide. The film will release this Diwali in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages across the globe.

August 11, 2014

Bhootnath Returns…….Ghost Samaritan

MUMBAI: It has become a trend for a film to end with a threat of a sequel. Good or bad or outright disastrous, most films leave open the possibility. That is like hoping to build a high rise on a weak foundation since most of these films promising sequels are flops. In that event, what led to the sequel to Bhootnath which was rejected in cinemas though it did better on TV and DVD circuits? Whatever the inspiration, here goes:

Bhootnath, Amitabh Bachchan, has been referred back to ghost land like a bounced cheque since he has failed to scare people on his first outing with earthlings. Ghosts laugh at him because of his failure to scare humans. Amitabh has eons before he can return to earth as a human and he feels belittled at this treatment by fellow ghosts. He asks the boss of ghost land to give him one more chance to go back and successfully scare people. After all, scaring living beings is what ghosts are supposed to do!I know as much about ghosts as ghosts know about me but this is what the film professes.

Back on earth, Amitabh uses his ghostly powers to scare some kids playing cricket in a deserted place. The kids are not the kind to believe in ghosts, let alone be scared of one. He comes across a kid, Parth Bhalerao, who can see him and is not scared of him since he does not believe Amitabh to be a ghost; the kid is street smart. A street smart kid led to Amitabh’s failure on his last trip on earth but, this time, the kid and the ghost both decide to use each others’ strengths.

Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Chopra, Renu Ravi Chopra.

Direction: Nitesh Tiwari.

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Parth Bhalerao, Boman Irani, Usha Jadhav, Sanjay Mishra, Brijendra Kala, Usha Nadkarni.

It seems the area where Partho lives, Dharavi, is the most neglected and deprived in Mumbai. Bhootnath decides to make his return to the earth at Dharavi, his bad luck! Soon Parth teaches the ghost the game of using each other. While Parth uses Amitabh to first help scare the convent school gang of cricket players and get into their league, Amitabh, in return, earns secrecy about his being and the fact that he is not all that scary a ghost. With a little help from Parth, Amitabh becomes a good neighbourly ghost helping people get their due justice. It is all fun so far but it is also time to introduce the villain.

Boman Irani is an ex-local goon turned politician and has been ruling the area assembly seat for the last three terms. His is a reign of terror, corruption and exploitation. His voters abhor him but also vote for him. Nobody would contest an election against him and, finally, it is left to Amitabh to do it. The law is silent on weather a dead man can contest an election and his lawyer, Sanjay Mishra, asserts as such. So, it is an electoral fight between Amitabh and Boman. This is where the film loses its purpose and direction and, mainly, its target audience: the kids it is aimed at.

The film entertains with its witty one liners delivered by Parth but, once the election issue is introduced, it becomes another film altogether. The light moments vanish and moralising lectures take their place, which is boring. On that count, the script loses its purpose. Direction is fair with quite a few liberties taken. There is no scope for songs except for sermonising kinds. Cinematography is good. Dialogue is well penned. The film has sourced a few of its actors from Marathi films. Parth is impressive. Usha Jadhav as his mother is very good. Amitabh Bachchan is his usual self, one who does not have to act to convey his part. Boman Irani goes a bit overboard at times. Sanjay Mishra and Brijendra Kala are good as always. Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor make brief cameos to no effect.

On the whole, the problem with Bhootnath Returns is that it turns out to be a children’s film with an adult theme coming as it does in the multiplex era where waiting for a DVD works out more economical than sending kids to cinema halls (as has been proved by the performance of Bhootnath on this count).

April 11, 2014

Disclaimer ends the PepsiCo vs. MSM dispute

MUMBAI: The case filed by cola giant PepsiCo against MSM Motion Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani-owned Pooja Pictures over use of the title ‘Youngistaan’ for their upcoming movie starring Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma, Boman Irani and late Farooq Sheikh, has been dissolved with both parties agreeing to a settlement.

Following a hearing at the Delhi High Court by Justice A K Pathak, it was agreed upon by both parties that a disclaimer will be displayed not only at the beginning of the movie when it releases in theatres on 28 March but also in non-theatrical trailers, the official website of the film, the official twitter account, official facebook account and the official YouTube page. The disclaimer reads: “This movie is not related to or associated with, sponsored or promoted in any manner by Pepsi or Pepsi’s Youngistaan Campaign” and will be effective 15 March onwards.

Apparently, there was talk of the disclaimer even yesterday but PepsiCo finally relented only today. Asked about the same, a spokesperson for Singh & Singh, the law firm representing the cola company, simply said, “The defendants (MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures) worded the disclaimer the way we wanted it to be. Hence, we agreed to it.”

It was in January this year that Singh & Singh sent legal notice to MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures, alleging that the title of their upcoming film, Youngistaan, was an infringement of their client’s (PepsiCo’s) registered trademark.

The objections raised by PepsiCo notwithstanding, MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures went ahead and announced the launch of their film on 6 February. PepsiCo then moved the Delhi High Court on 12 February, and its plea said, “Restraining them (the producers) from launching their movie under the impugned title ‘Youngistaan’ which is nothing but a blatant imitation of the plaintiff’s (PepsiCo) registered trademark.”

The hearing was earlier slated for 24 February however, it was postponed to 3 March as the judge was on leave. On 3 March, the case was adjourned as MSM Motion Pictures and Pooja Pictures had sought more time.

March 5, 2014
PepsiCo vs MSM hearing postponed to 3 March

MUMBAI: The hearing for the PepsiCo dispute with MSM Motion Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani-owned Pooja Pictures over the title of the film, Youngsitaan, has been postponed to 3 March.

The matter was scheduled to be heard on 24 February in the court of Justice A K Pathak. But with Justice Pathak on leave, the matter has been pushed by a week.

PepsiCo alleged that its registered trademark ‘Youngistaan’ has been violated by the co-producers of the film as they chose to go ahead with ‘Youngistaan’ as the film’s title.

Singh&Singh, a law firm representing PepsiCo, last month sent a legal notice to the co-producers of the film against the use of the title.

But the film that stars Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma, Boman Irani and late Farooq Sheikh was announced on 6 February.

Pepsi has pleaded for an order from the high court “restraining them (the co-producers of the film) from launching their movie under the impugned title ‘Youngistaan’ which is nothing but a blatant imitation of the plaintiff’s (Pepsi) registered trademark”.

February 24, 2014
MSM Motion Pictures unveils first look of its new movie Youngistaan

MUMBAI: It will be the third film from its slate to hit Indian screens when it releases on 28 March this year. Youngistaan, a collaborative venture between Multi Screen Media (MSM) Motion Pictures and the Vashu Bhagnani owned Pooja Pictures, is scheduled to be simultaneously rolled out on 1,000 screens nationally and shows the studio’s commitment to bring out medium to small budget films which are likely to find a connect with India’s urban youth.

Directed by Sayed Ahmed Afzal, the movie is about Abhimanyu Kaul played by Jackky Bhagnani who after the sudden turn of events is expected to fill his father’s shoes as the Prime Minister of India. The film has been shot in several locations including Japan, Lucknow, Agra, Indore, Gurgaon and Noida. Apart from Jackky, the film also stars Neha Sharma, the late Farooq Shaikh and Boman Irani.

“Youngistaan is a movie that should appeal to the youth. It is not about who you vote for but it’s about your right to vote and that you must exercise that franchisee,” says MSM Motion Pictures CEO NP Singh. “Vashu Bhagnani, the co-producer of the movie, approached us some six months back. We have earlier acquired a lot of movies from his banner for our TV channels. So our association goes long back. The best way to do a business is to completely trust your partner and this is the relationship I share with Vashu and so got into producing this movie with him. The script was powerful and we wanted to make a movie with a message. This was the right kind of movie for our banner.”

Adds Jackky: “The movie is a complete entertainer that caters to the fervent and enthusiastic youth of our nation. It centers around the lives of today’s youth, who want to be heard and want to make a difference. The movie is special because I believe in it.”

Singh points out that the film has pan India appeal. “So we are not after a particular market, but targeting all the markets. Though no final decision has been taken, but the movie will be released to close to 1000 screens,” adds Singh.

A push across several media has been planned for Youngistaan. Right from using all MSM network channels to using various digital media. “We will not leave any stone unturned in marketing the movie. We are planning a city wise promotion tour as well as several shows aired on Sony will see be used to integrate the film and its actors,” he informs.

A Youngistaan campaign has also been created as a mobile app for promotions. “For the first time ever, the app will contain photos and trailers of the movie with a watermark. This is to help youngsters interact with each other through the app which will be launched on all the platforms,” adds Jackky.

MSM Motion Pictures’ has taken dainty and cautious steps into the business of movies over the past year with its first venture being Bajate Raho. Its second title, a horror film, Darr at the Mall will release on 21 February pan India in around 800-1000 screens, while Youngistaan will be followed by Mango. Its fifth offering Ghoom Ketu has signed up the new darling of several film makers – Nawazuddin Siddiqui. “This should release in July. And with that we will have five films on our slate. Then in the next couple of months we will get into commissioning other films,” reveals Singh.

Is its film catalogue helping MSM make money? Its debut film Bajate Raho did not really get the cash registers ringing. “We have just had one commercial release so far which was Bajate Raho. So it is too early to comment on whether we are making money. We can talk about it only after all the five releases,” confesses Singh.

With most movies being aired on television now, will we see a world television premiere of Youngistaan sooner than later? “It is true that the windows today have shrunk but we will take a call on Youngistaan’s TV premiere post its release in cinema halls, ” concludes Singh.

January 31, 2014
Imtiaz Ali launches Tisca Chopra’s debut book ‘Acting Smart’

MUMBAI: With few character roles on TV and films, actor Tisca Chopra has proved her worth to the entertainment fraternity of the country. It was time for her to tell the world that she is much more than that and thus Tisca took to writing. The pre-launch of the actor’s book, Acting Smart was held at the Indian Non-Friction Literature festival with director Imtiaz Ali.

Tisca has always been a book lover and voracious reader with her favourites including the likes of PG Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde and Stephen King. However, her book, Acting Smart is more of a guide for all the newbies in the industry, cinegoers and movie buffs. The actor took over a few months to come up with ideas that are fresh and unique.

Imtiaz Ali, who is a very dear friend of Tisca not only unveiled the book but has also contributed a few episodes and anecdotes in the book along with Raju Hirani, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani and many more.

The event saw Tisca Chopra and Imtiaz Ali talking to the audiences and sharing few of their personal and interesting experiences which they have come across in the course of their careers.

Also present at the event was Tisca Chopra’s husband Sanjay Chopra who is also a writer and cheered and supported Tisca throughout the event.

January 27, 2014
Happy New Year’s poster out, trends on Twitter

MUMBAI: The year ended with a promise of a Happy New Year ahead. And literally so, the first poster of Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt Ltd’s next film directed by Farah Khan, Happy New Year (HNY) launched on 2 January. The poster was first sent to all fans and fan clubs on the social media sites as a gratification for their support. Interestingly, the hashtag #HNYposter started trending on Twitter soon after the poster was released.

The film stars Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani, Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood and Vivaan Shah in lead roles. The film that will release during Diwali is under-production and has an interesting genre that of a Musical Heist.

Farah said in a release, “My dream project Happy New Year takes another step towards realisation with the first poster being launched today. I believe in cinema that entertains and with a dream cast like this we hope it will be the most entertaining film of the year. Shah Rukh and I have had a dream partnership always and with this our third collaboration we hope it will be a very Happy New Year indeed!”

The film has taken a step ahead in promoting the film by tying up with Digigraph that is a preferred technology/App partner of Twitter based in Los Angeles. Digigraph, on special request from Twitter India agreed to undertake this first of its kind initiative for any film ever across the globe. Any Twitter user who is a fan of the movie or the cast as well as the director has received a personalised poster signed by the artist of their choice addressed specifically to the fan in his name in the artist’s own handwriting as well as language delivered to each fan on his/her twitter handle.

Digigraph.me co-founder & COO Tom Smart said, “We are humbled and honoured to help renowned Indian film studio, Red Chillies Entertainments Pvt. Ltd. in building awareness for the release of the poster of their new film, HNY fans from around the world will now be able to personally take part in the moment by requesting, claiming and sharing personalised, and collectable digital photos, digitally autographed by the stars in the movie and delivered instantly into Twitter newsfeeds and other social media networks.”

January 2, 2014