ITV

Tag: Puja Gupta

  • ‘Badlapur Boys’…Breathless!

    ‘Badlapur Boys’…Breathless!

    MUMBAI: Like most Indian sports films, Badlapur Boys is more about underdogs taking the top spot. From Lagaan (the poster design resembles that of Lagaan) and Iqbal to Hawa Hawaai and many others in between, such themes are common now. The basic plot remains the same, only the sport in the question changes. Here, it is Kabaddi.

    Badlapur and neighbouring 42 villages were renowned for cultivating Basmati rice but the failing rains over the years has rendered the area barren and poor. The villagers want the government to build a canal to bring water to these villages. A number of representations to the local District Collector fail to bear any results; their file is stuck in the system and has not reached the CM of the state.

    During one of the representations to the DC, one of the villagers threatens to self-immolate if the DC does not move their file. On the 16th day he does so, leaving his young son and wife behind. The case has been closed declaring the man mad. The son, who loved playing Kabaddi, grows up to be NIshan. He now works as a farm labourer in the next village. Caught playing Kabaddi while the goats he was tending to destroyed some crop in a field, he is made to swear he will never play the sport again.

     

     

       
     

    Producers: Karrm Movies.

    Director: Shailesh Verma.

    Cast: Nishan, Saranya Mohan, Annu Kapoor, Kishori Shahane, Puja Gupta.

    NIshan grows up watching other kids playing Kabaddi from the side-lines. But, the problem is, their Badlapur team is a perpetual loser. They never win, so much so that they decide to play the next match with a team which is much worse than them to restore some prestige to their name in the village where everybody makes fun of them.

    During the village fair, an ex-national Kabaddi team member and the present coach of the Railways’ team, Annu Kapoor, is the chief guest. He seems to have seen a spark in the village team and offers to coach it. The team is na?ve and learns about 75th UP state Kabaddi championships in Allahabad. From total losers, they aspire to participate there and save their reputation once and for all. From then on, things work in their favour, especially that of Nishan. Once forbidden to play the sport, he is relieved of his promise when one of the members abstains.

    The tournament is between 32 teams from UP but, again, one team has met with an accident and can’t make it. Conveniently, Annu Kapoor wields a considerable amount of influence to change the basic rules and get the lads from Badlapur to fill in as the 32nd team! They need a name and he names them Badlapur Boys.

    The rest is like what we have been seeing since ages in films. The hero takes a beating initially only to bounce back later: Badlapur Boys go on winning bout after bout. In between, there has been some scheming and backstabbing. The hero, Nishan is hurt on purpose to disable him and to stop him from playing more matches. Playing any more could prove fatal for him but he is determined to play, win and meet the CM (who is the chief guest) face to face and tell him what his father did and why.

    The Badlapur Boys win the finals, the sacrifice of Nishan is rewarded a few years later with a canal for the village farmers.

    Kabaddi has started getting some attention recently with league tournaments with big shot team owners backing them. But the attention has not been enough to draw people to spend on watching the games. Also, the one watched at league level on TV is real pro compared to rather tame games played in the movie.

    ‘Main Aur Mr Right’…Wrong movie!

    Main Aur Mr Right is a kind of contemporary film where a group of young friends, all well placed in their lives, meet on regular basis and have a blast. Except one of them, Shenaz Treasurywala, all are taken: one couple is married, one is engaged and the one is together but not committed yet.

     

     

    Producers: Pooja Gujral, Aseem Raees.

    Director: Adeeb Rais.

    Cast: Shenaz Treasurywala, Barun Sobti.

     

    Shenaz Treasurywala runs a casting agency and looking at the kind of ‘talent’ she screens regularly, it would be surprising if her agency makes any money. Her friends always bug her with suggestions to find a man and settle down in life. However, Shenaz is too choosy, she is Ms Perfect and won’t plan to marry unless she meets her Mr Right.

    Shenaz’s opinion about herself is rather high and no man impresses her. But her friends just won’t let her be. And, just to stop them bothering her every day, she announces one day that she has finally found her Mr Right and she will present him to the gang soon. Being a talent manager, she is flooded with pictures and portfolios and remembers one of them of a good-looking lad, Barun Sobti. He aspires to be an actor in league with Salman Khan who is his idol and whose name he swears by.

    Things are not as easy as Shenaz imagined. Barun is a typical rough shod Punjabi who does everything that is gross. He lacks in style and class that Shenaz and her friends relate to. But, she takes it as a challenge to mould and polish Barun so that she could present him to her friends. Of course, he would have come from abroad to return soon. She offers a hefty sum for role playing to the struggler who, like most strugglers, is broke most of the time.

    Barun has perfected everything Shenaz wished and she is ready to take him to her friends. The presentation of ‘Mr Right’ finally happens; all are duly impressed. He blends with the group well and becomes a part of it. The bonhomie continues but Barun soon realises that the bonhomie is fake, all the friends are keeping their true feelings from each other and usually lying to keep the friendship going. His honest na?ve self begins pointing out the follies of every one of them. Till, one fine evening, while the friends are having a nice time at a restaurant, the bubble bursts; Barun is recognised by one of his struggler friends who is a waiter in the same restaurant. This was just when all the friends were confessing to their wrongdoings.

    The friendships are shattered, so are the pairs. As an outcome of this breaking of the clique, Shenaz finds her Mr Right within the group itself. That lasts for a few months until she starts missing Barun. The contemporary film then ends on a traditional note as the idea of Mr Right is dumped and Barun and Shenaz are the real item instead of role playing.

    Direction is average. The film tries to tell too many stories in one go. Bappi Lahiri has scored some hummable music. Cinematography is fair. Editing is lacking. Performances are generally passable except that of Barun Sobti who is impressive.

    Main Aur Mr Right shows no prospects at the box office.

  • Puja Gupta to feature opposite Abhay Deol in ‘SNAFU’

    Puja Gupta to feature opposite Abhay Deol in ‘SNAFU’

    MUMBAI: After a mega search for the leading lady opposite Abhay Deol in SNAFU, the makers have zeroed in on Puja Gupta. More than 50 fresh faces were auditioned over 20 days, pushing the shoot by a month. Every last member in the unit used their contacts and connections to contribute to the hunt. The director, Sethu Sriram really liked Puja for the role but had two more names in mind.  He discussed the situation with Abhay and in a joint call Puja Gupta got the highest votes.

     

    Puja essays the role of Aaniya who shares center stage with Abhay, closing business deals for him. She is an ambitious corporate highflyer who hails from a small town and moved to the city of dreams to pursue her career. After winning the Miss India crown in 2007, Puja made her debut in Bollywood with F.A.L. T.U helmed by Remo D’Souza and most recently she was seen in the zom com Go Goa Gone.

     

    Director, Sethu Sriram said, “It’s a relief that the hunt is over. This role is very critical to the storyline and the girl had to be much more than singing, dancing and looking good. After a lot of deliberations we have decided upon Puja.  Aaniya is an ambitious small town girl so we needed the vulnerability of a small towner along with high glam quotient who would be a head turner. I have auditioned a lot of promising fresh faces and a few upcoming names, some of them were brilliant but Puja fits the bill naturally.  With all humility, I want to thank Abhay who helped me in streamlining the process.”

     

    The shoot begins on 12 July and with no time left the crew is moving at a rocket speed, especially to put Puja’s fashion forward costumes together.

  • Micky Virus: There is a virus in my cinema ticket!

    Micky Virus: There is a virus in my cinema ticket!

    MUMBAI: Micky Virus attempts a contemporary theme of computers and hackers, weaving it around a murder mystery and bank fraud. The approach is kept on a lighter note for the most part, at least until the interval.

    Manish Paul (Micky) belongs to a group of computer geeks in Delhi, with each member specialising in some sort of computer trick. They are led by the Harvard educated Nitesh Pandey, referred to as professor. The other members of the group are Puja Gupta, Raghav Kakkar and Vikesh Kumar. However, Paul has mastered the art of hacking and can get into any computer anywhere in the world however safe and secure.

    Now, the ACP Manish Chaudhary and Inspector Varun Badola are looking for Paul not because hacking is a crime but because they need his expertise to crack a very tricky case. Two hackers of repute, both foreign citizens, have been found murdered in broad daylight and in a public place in the city with no obvious marks of harm. On investigation, Chaudhary learns that they were killed with a cyanide-tipped needle, both are non-Indians. Concluding that they were called to India to break into some computer, the cops want to enrol Paul to hack a site belonging to a gang of hackers.

    Paul is allergic to any kind of job; the idea of working for someone is not his thing. But, with a little arm-twisting by the cops and a sudden need to make a living, as he has fallen in love in the meanwhile, make him accept the assignment. Paul’s romantic interest is Eli Avram, an executive at an investment firm. By the time the romance is a month old, Eli makes her move and asks Paul to correct a computer error she made with a client’s account. So far neither the film nor its story has moved anywhere except the hero falling in love with a very willing heroine.

    Producer: Arun Rangachari, Vivek Rangachari.
    Director: Saurabh Varma.
    Cast: Manish Paul, Eli Avram, Manish Chaudhary, Varun Badola, Puja Gupta, Nitesh Pandey, Raghav Kakkar, Vikesh Kumar.

    By the end of the interval, the director finally feels the need to introduce some story in the film. Paul has been used by Eli to transfer rupees 100 crore from a government middleman’s account to another account. He has been framed. What is more, Eli is not around to tell him what happened because she has been killed the same way two hackers were killed earlier, with a poisoned needle. Paul finds out whose account the money is transferred to but that story ends as soon as it started as the man is killed in a very predictable road accident while being chased by Paul!

    All the key punching in computers of all kinds continues until Paul suspects the identity of at least one of the people behind the plot. And after 2 hour and 10 minutes of running around, dropping hints, punching computers and displaying lot of geekeryon screen, it is not the script that tells you the story but through verbal outpouring by the culprits that all the plots are revealed. Some hacker story!

    Micky Virus tries to fit in too much of effects without relevance or to any positive results. The film should have had an ideal length of 90 to 100 minutes. But it stretches by almost 30 minutes. The one time that the film generates some interest is when Eli is killed. Direction falls victim to a weak script. Paul acts the typical loud Delhi lad with set expressions throughout. Eli Avram is a misfit. Puja Gupta is good while Chaudhary and Badola are impressive.

  • Starcast of ‘Shortcut Romeo’ visits Cinépolis Ahmedabad

    Starcast of ‘Shortcut Romeo’ visits Cinépolis Ahmedabad

    Ahmedabad, June 12, 2013: Cinépolis, India’s first international movie exhibitor and Ahmedabad’s first international multiplex, yet again lived up to their promise of getting the movie stars close to their fans as the Star cast of the upcoming Romantic film -Shortcut Romeo visited Cinépolis with their lead actors Amisha Patel, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Puja Gupta.

    Thanking Cinépolis on the occasion Neil NitinMukeshadded, “We are glad to see such an overwhelming response of Ahmedavadi’s. We thank Cinépolis for giving us such a delightful experience and we hope our movie does well at the box office all around the globe.”

    Shortcut Romeo is an upcoming Indian romantic crime thriller directed and produced by Susi Ganeshan under the banner of Susi Ganesh Productions. It is the Hindi remake of the director’s own Tamil film Thiruttu Payale (2006), starring Neil Nitin Mukesh in the title role with Puja Gupta as his love interest and Ameesha Patel in a negative character.

    Responding to her fans, Amisha Patel quoted, “The love we have received at Cinépolis is amazing. I always love coming to this great city and meet my fans. I hope our hard work at this project will for sure entertain our fans and make it up to their expectations.”

    On the occasion,Manish Karanwal – Unit Head, Cinépolis Ahmedabad shared, “It’s a privilege to host the stars from Shortcut Romeo at Cinépolis. We have lots of expectations from the movie and I hope it would be enjoyed by all. We can make out from the excitement level of our supporters how much they enjoy meeting the stars. We will continue to provide such opportunities to our patrons.”

  • Neil Nitin Mukesh-Puja Gupta starrer Shortcut Romeo to be screened at Cannes Filmfest

    Neil Nitin Mukesh-Puja Gupta starrer Shortcut Romeo to be screened at Cannes Filmfest

    NEW DELHI: Shortcut Romeo, Hindi remake of a popular Tamil film, will be among the new Indian films to be screened at Cannes in the festival‘s 66th instalment.


    A new romantic thriller, it has been produced, written and directed by southerner Susi Ganeshan under his own banner, Susi Ganesh Productions. Much of the present film was shot in Kenya in East Africa.


    This is a remake of his own 2006 Tamil box office hit “Thirittu Paysale”. The current Bollywood version stars Bollywood hearthrob Neil Nitin Mukesh as Romeo, with Puja Gupta as his love interest. Ameesha Patel appears in a negative role.


    Ganeshan has already helmed half a dozen features in Tamil since 2002 and is a disciple of senior Tamilian director Mani Ratnam, who currently works mostly in Mumbai and is regarded as one of the most original and creative of all Indian directors whatever the language.