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Tag: Vidya Balan

  • Relief for Ghosh as Metro officials clear scene of Kahaani

    Relief for Ghosh as Metro officials clear scene of Kahaani

    MUMBAI: The makers of the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani have heaved a sigh of relief with the Kolkata Metro Railway authorities clearing the scene where the actress is shown being pushed before a speeding metro train.

    “They have promised us that there is nothing in the film that will tarnish the image of the metro railway or prompt people to commit suicide on the tracks. We are happy with their explanation and have removed objections,” Kolkata Metro‘s general manager P B Murti said.

    Glad to have been able to convince the railway officials, director Sujoy Ghosh said, “I have spent my childhood in Kolkata and will never do anything that will harm the city. The film is meant to increase the curiosity about the wonderful city that Kolkata is.”

    The trailer of Kahaani shows a pregnant Vidya waiting on the platform to board a metro train at the Kalighat station. As soon as the train arrives, she is pushed onto the tracks by a man standing behind her.

    Worried that the scene would remind people of the frequent acts of suicides on the tracks that has been tarnishing the image of India‘s first tube railway, the Metro officials had written to Ghosh asking him to remove the scene from the trailers as well as the film theatres this Friday.

  • Kahaani runs into controversy as Kolkata Metro wants sensitive scene removed

    Kahaani runs into controversy as Kolkata Metro wants sensitive scene removed

    MUMBAI: With the Kolkata Metro railway authorities objecting to a scene in Sujoy Ghosh‘s Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani where the actress is shown as being pushed perilously before a speeding train, the film has run into a controversy.

    The Metro authorities have asked producers of the film to remove the particular clip from their trailers as well as from the film. The film‘s trailer shows a pregnant Vidya Bagchi waiting on the platform to board a train at the Kalighat station. As soon as the train arrives, she is dangerously pushed onto the tracks by a man standing close to her.

    “We are opposed to the scene as we are very concerned about the rate of suicides on the Metro tracks. We know how people get ideas for committing suicide and for other criminal activities,” said Kolkata Metro‘s General Manager P B Murti.

    The Railway authorities wrote to the film‘s producer claiming that the scene would not only harm the image of the Metro but also leave a negative impact on the audience.

    Rubbishing the same, Ghosh said: “The scene in the film is not meant to remind people of suicides. Anyways, if anybody has to commit suicide, he will not do it because of my film. As a filmmaker I need to show all sides of a city, including the darker aspects.”

    A source close to the film said the shot was part of a dream sequence and had been shot using CGI (computer-generated imagery) technique.

    It may be noted that the Metro authorities had allowed the film unit to shoot for four days last year at the busy Tollygunje and Kalighat metro stations.

    Kahaani releases on 9 March.

  • Sujoy Ghosh mulls sequel of Jhankaar Beats

    Sujoy Ghosh mulls sequel of Jhankaar Beats

    MUMBAI: Sujoy Ghosh has revealed that he was toying with the idea of making a sequel to his 2003 film Jhankaar Beats that he had made for Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC).

    Said Ghosh, “We were thinking of making a sequel from quite some time. Now I have a story, which I would be comfortable turning into a sequel. Jhankaar Beats was made ten years ago and in these 10 years I have gained some experience, having seen enough of life. Now I can share it with all.”

    Ghosh will start with the sequel once he sees the release of his upcoming Vidya-Balan-starrer Kahaani. “I will then focus on the sequel of Jhankaar Beats,” he added.

    Ghosh plans to repeat the same cast for the sequel. “It has to be the same star cast for the sequel. However, for the sequel I want to stick to more of life and less music. You can‘t escape life,” he added. In the original, the focus was on music as it was a tribute to legendary composer Rahul Dev Burman.

    In the 2003-made film, Ghosh had paid a tribute to the late R D Burman by way of him featuring some of the maestro’s good songs in the film. The film starred Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Rahul Bose, Rinke Khanna, Riya Sen and Shayan Munshi among others.

  • Viacom18 to release Kahaani on 9 March, Kolkata premiere a day before

    Viacom18 to release Kahaani on 9 March, Kolkata premiere a day before

    MUMBAI: Viacom18 will be releasing the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani on 9 March.

    Reports in trade papers had said that director Sujoy Ghosh, who had wanted to host a premiere of the film in Kolkata because the film has a Kolkata connection, was aggrieved that it could not be held on 8 March.

    The reason that was attributed was that some prominent Bengali directors and actors whom Ghosh wanted to invite for the premiere would be away for an award ceremony in Bangkok. Slamming such reports, Ghosh quipped,” There is no truth in the news. I will indeed hold the premiere of my film in Kolkata only and on the appointed day and time.”

    Kahaani is the story of Vidya Bagchi who arrives in Kolkata from London to find her missing husband Arnab. Seven months pregnant and alone in a festive city, she begins a relentless search for her husband. With nothing to rely on except fragments from her memories about him, all clues seem to reach a dead end when everyone tries to convince Vidya that her husband does not exist.

    She slowly realises that nothing is what it seems. In a city soaked in lies, Vidya is determined to unravel the truth about her husband – for herself and her unborn child – even at the cost of her own life. The rest forms the crux of the film.

  • UTV signs Vidya Balan for Ghanchakkar

    UTV signs Vidya Balan for Ghanchakkar

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has signed Vidya Balan for the quirky comic-thriller Ghanchakkar. The production major had earlier signed Emraan Hashmi and director Rajkumar Gupta.

    UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “It is a pleasure to announce Ghanchakkar, our third film in a row with Rajkumar Gupta. With Emraan and Vidya in the lead roles, we have managed to get our dream cast for roles that were virtually written with them in mind.

    “Rajkumar and Pervez Sheikh have written a fabulously quirky comic-thriller that will surprise audiences with its many twists and turns. We are confident that this explosive combination of Emraan, Vidya and Raj Kumar will take audiences by storm in Ghanchakkar.”

    Ghanchakkar narrates the story of the protagonist (Emraan) who is an ex-conman. He is laid back and has a taste for finer things in life. He has an ambitious wife (played by Vidya) with her own notions of the world and, therefore, gets sucked into a ‘chakkar‘ and has to suffer two thugs in the process – one with a bad ailment and one with a bad sense of humour, leading to madness, confusion and chaos and unleashing some mad cap characters in his life. Will Sanju survive the madness and prevent himself from turning into a Ghanchakkar, is the crux of the film.

    Also Read:
    UTV signs Rajkumar Gupta and Emraan Hashmi for Ghanchakkar

  • Ranbir Kapoor, Vidya Balan top Apsara Awards

    Ranbir Kapoor, Vidya Balan top Apsara Awards

    MUMBAI: The Film and Television Producers Guild of India-sponsored Apsara Awards picked up Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan as best actors for their performance in Rockstar and The Dirty Picture respectively (male and female) at the star-studded seventh edition of Chevrolet Apsara Awards.

    While the best film award went to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Zoya Akhtar was acclaimed the best director for the film and Farhan Akhtar took home the best supporting actor award for the same film.

    The best supporting actress award went to Parineeti (Priyanka Chopra’s cousin) for her portrayal as a spoilt Delhi girl in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl. She also bagged the best debutant (female) award. On the other hand, the best debutant (male) award was lapped up by south actor Rana Daggubati for his maiden film Dum Maro Dum.

    While Mohit Chauhan walked away with the best singer (male) award for the song Sadda haq from Rockstar, Shreya Ghoshal took the honour in the female category for her rendition of Teri meri from Bodyguard.

    A highlight of the awards ceremony, the Guild kick-started the celebrations of 100 years of Indian cinema wherein they were to honour veterans. Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman and Jaya Bachchan came up to the stage to collect the same while others were absent.

  • Balaji to expand screens showing The Dirty Picture

    Balaji to expand screens showing The Dirty Picture

    MUMBAI: Production house Balaji Motion Pictures will expand the number of screens showing The Dirty Picture to 100 in a bid to penetrate deeper.

    Said Balaji Motion Pictures, Distribution and Acquisition head Girish Johar, “The movie is doing well. We have almost thrashed a deal to increase the number of screens the film is showing from around 40 to 100 from this Friday.”

    To a question as to why was the home video rights given at a time when the film was still going strong, Johar quipped, “ Normally, the home video rights are given away after the fourth week and our film is already six weeks old. We decided to bring out the film on home video for we knew that people will lap it up and in the process, we would be able to monetise on that front too.”

    The Dirty Picture, which released worldwide on 2 December in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, has Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi and Tusshar Kapoor among others.

  • Shemaroo acquires digital & home video rights of The Dirty Picture

    Shemaroo acquires digital & home video rights of The Dirty Picture

    MUMBAI: Leading content provider and aggregator in the Indian digital space, Shemaroo Entertainment Ltd, has acquired the digital and home Video rights of Balaji Motion Pictures’ Vidya Balan-starrer, The Dirty Picture.

    Confirming the news, Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada said: “Yes, we have indeed acquired the digital and home video rights of the year’s stupendous hit, The Dirty Picture.”

    However, Gada remained non-commtital on the price his company acquired the right for and for how long a period Shemaroo could show it. “We are bound by a non-disclosure agreement with Balaji,” he quipped.

    Shemaroo will distribute the film on various digital platforms like Internet, IPTV and mobile worldwide. The home video release will be in January itself.

    The film is performing well at the box office. According to three-week data available with Indiantelevision.com, The Dirty Picture netted Rs 794.5 million at the box office.

    “To further continue with the grand success of the film, we feel it is the right time to bring it out on the home video,” observed Balaji CFO Srinivasa Shenoy.

  • Players and Agneepath to release in January

    Players and Agneepath to release in January

    MUMBAI: Breaking away from the practice of keeping away from big ticket films in the opening month of the year till yet, filmmakers are gearing up to release the films in January net year.

    Slated for January are two mega-budget films, Abbas-Mustan‘s Players that releases on 6 January and Karan Johar‘s Agneepath that releases on Republic Day. Meanwhile, the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani and Ratan Jain‘s Tezz have been pushed ahead.

    “Though the year would have started on a cracking note if Agneepath would have clashed with Tezz, but unfortunately that has been averted. But there‘s enough buzz about Players to keep the anticipation high,” observed trade analyst Taran Adarsh.

    Apart from these two, there are almost eight to 10 mid to small-budget films that would release in the opening month. They are 3 Bachelors, Chaalis Chauraasi, Chaar Din Ki Chandni, Ghost, It‘s My Life, Sadda Adda, Tutiya Dil and Ghantey Mein 5 Crore.

    Filmmakers have for long been wary of releasing their films in the month of January, but now they have realised that a well-marketed, good product will work no matter the time of the release while a bad product will flop no matter how auspicious the date of release.

    But all that finally changed this year, after four of the seven films released were declared hits thus breaking the January jinx.

  • Vinod Chopra Films ties up with Talenthouse

    Vinod Chopra Films ties up with Talenthouse

    MUMBAI: In its quest to find out a screenwriting talent to work with it from among the country‘s vast budding screenwriters, Vinod Chopra Films, makers of Parinda, the Munnabhai series and 3 Idiots has tied up with Talenthouse India for the same.


    Speaking on the initiative, Vinod Chopra Films‘ CEO Sameer Rao said, “Our filmography is testimony to three decades of commitment to achieving excellence in cinema. We believe that the starting point for every great film is in an outstanding story.


    “We are entering into this initiative, in collaboration with Talenthouse India, to discover new screenwriting talent who will have the potential to contribute to the creation and development of our brand of cinema.”


    It may be remembered that the production house was instrumental in bringing the likes of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi, Boman Irani, Vidya Balan, Shantanu Moitra among many others in the limelight.


    Averred Talenthouse India CEO Arun Mehra, “The internet is buzzing with creativity and talent. Talenthouse is a platform that looks to source this talent and bring it to the right audience. Vidhu Vinod Chopra has always backed creative excellence and this collaboration with Talenthouse will help him identify that genius from the millions of aspirants.”


    The submission deadline for this hunt is 22 January. The voting for the entries will begin from 23 January while the winner will be announced on 15 February.