Bolllywoodwave

MUMBAI: Mani Ratnam’s Guru starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, R Madhavan and Vidya Balan, which was slated to release on 22 December, 2006, will now release next year on 12 January.

The publicist from Ratnam’s camp confirmed the new release date to Businessofcinema.com. “The release of the film has been postponed because the post production work is still in progress,” he said.

Incidentally, on 22 December (Christmas weekend) Priyadarshan’s Bhagam Bhag is also slated for release. What’s more, Bhagam Bhag’s release has also been postponed. Hence the Christmas weekend will now have no Bollywood film releases.

The worldwide distribution of Guru has been undertaken by Adlabs. Prior to Guru, the Abhishek – Aiswarya starrer Umrao Jaan too was released by Adlabs.

businessofcinema.com

“Yes, I am making a six hour long feature film on Mahabharat…I have planned to make a six hour film that will be divided into two parts. The first part will end with the Draupadi Cheerharan scene.” says Ravi Chopra

The recent news reports indicts that Amitabh Bachchan may star in Ravi Chopra six hour long movie based on the great epic Mahabharat. Amitabh may play the role of Bhishm Pitamah.

The movie is expected to cost 1.5 billion rupees (US$32.6 million; euro25.34 million), according to the news report.

This movie be longest movie in bollywood history. “I will release it in two parts – part one on Friday and the second part on the following Friday,” Chopra said. “We are going to get a special effects team from Hollywood and the movie will have an international look so that we can market it abroad also.”

Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar will be honored with the top French award Knight of the Legion of Honour in Mumbai next month for her contribution to cinema.

Ambassador of France to India Dominique Girard will personally confer the honour on Mangeshkar at a function in Mumbai in December, French embassy officials said in New Delhi on Monday.

Lata says that this is a huge honour for her having the French Government award her. “This was in the pipeline for some time now and they had contacted me some time ago. But they could not find an appropriate time for the ceremony and the matter was stalled. Then they contacted me again some days ago, saying the ceremony would be held in mid-December,” Mangeshkar adds.

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Vivah (romance)
Cast: Shahid Kapur, Amrita Rao, Aloknath, Anupam Kher
Direction : Sooraj Barjatya

There’s something about Sooraj Barjatya. Something uncanny. The man ostensibly tries to talk about the beauty of Indian traditions, customs, rituals, morality, chastity, purity, spirituality, virginity, family, clan, nation…Ostensibly, everything’s that good and great, needed and wanted. Then why do we end up feeling that all these hallowed words are actually a synonym for ‘regressive’.

Sample this. Midway between his murmurings (yes, Shahid Kapur literally murmurs through the entire film, and we’ll tell you why later), the groom-to-be realises that he is always talking, oops murmuring, about himself. Why don’t you tell me about yourself, about your feelings, your mindset, he asks his betrothed (Amrita Rao). Hm! Good observation. Well, the betrothed opens her eyes (yes, she keeps them closed whenever the guy talks to her), clears her throat and says: “Today, while serving pakodas to chachaji, I felt like crying!” That’s the first time she talks about HER feelings. Need we say more.

So, as we pointed out, Sooraj Barjatya actually has noble intentions. He wants to make a film about the sanctity of arranged marriages in an age when marriage — of all kinds — is becoming an endangered institution. But we, the poor janata end brainwhacked with endless hosannas to the ‘ideal’ jodi: a guy who mumbles because his bride-to-be might faint if he spoke in normal tones (can you imagine what she’d do if he behaved like a normal new millennium dude?) and a girl who doesn’t think it’s right to communicate with her fiancee neither through SMS nor e-mail. The rest, let’s just leave unsaid. Specially since, her most intelligent statement is about how one should not drink iced water during a cold. Like his earlier films, the film serenades the small town girl once again as the epitome of virtues as opposed to the contrasexual cosmo gal. But unlike his earlier films, which somehow managed to ride on the charisma of Madhuri and Salman, Vivah almost suffocates you with it’s holier-than-thou attitude.

More importantly, the film has no story whatsoever and is just a plain and simple documentation of something as banal as an engagement to a vivah , interspersed with the usual picnics and clandestine rooftop trips. All this unfolds against a ‘divya vatavaran’, (spiritual environment) as the hero puts it, with the heroine serving umpteen glasses of ‘jal’ to the sundry chahchaji , chahchijis , bhabhijis …

For those who still like their cinema smelling of Savlon, Vivah is a one-call stop.

TimesOfIndia

Microsoft CEO launches the revamped Yash Raj Films Website

Indian consumers can now shop for Yash Raj Films products online and worldwide users can download music in a digital format online.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s Worldwide CEO launched the revamped Yash Raj Films Website www.yashrajfilms.com at NCPA in Mumbai today, marking the advent of a new era for Indian entertainment consumers. Not only can they now place orders for their favourite Yash Raj Films audio and video titles online and have it delivered home, they can also download digitally songs from the latest YRF production, “Dhoom:2” as well as a whole host of audio content from the YRF archives ranging back to “Dil To Pagal Hai”.

The new Website is also India’s first DRM (Digital Rights Management) enabled online Webshop, through which users can buy and download audio tracks in a digital format, using Microsoft’s Windows DRM technology which allows safe download of digital content over the web. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who was in India to kick off IndiMIX ‘06 – Microsoft’s seminal web event of the year, unveiled the Website to an audience of over 1000 designers, developers, top corporate honchos and an estimated 100,000 viewers over the Internet, through the live webcast of this event. Yash Chopra (Chairman, Yash Raj Films) was also present on this occasion and was felicitated by Mr. Ballmer.

Said Mr. Chopra, “The Yash Raj Films Website has been popular across the globe. The revamped site opens the way for the discerning Indian viewer to purchase the best of Yash Raj Films content without stepping out of their homes. The DRM solution is the first of its kind in the country and we expect it to fuel a revolution in the entertainment industry. We also believe that the new Website will enable us to remain in close touch with consumer expectations, and we shall continue to adapt to the latest technologies to offer our consumers the best entertainment experience possible”.

The other key feature of site is its Online Store, which allows visitors to shop for their favourite video (DVD, VCD) and audio (CD, Cassettes) titles online, and have the same delivered to their homes. While this facility has been operational for overseas customers since 1997, when the YRF Website was originally launched, Indian users can now reap the full benefits of the revamped site www.yashrajfilms.com

Incidentally, Yash Raj Films also released the songs of Dhoom:2 on iTunes on the day of its store launch. The audio content of all YRF archive catalogue titles will soon be available for digital downloads on iTunes and other leading digital platforms of the world.

The YRF Website is one of the most popular Indian Websites generating almost 20 million hits per month and is immensely popular among all Indian film lovers worldwide. The new Website has been developed using Microsoft’s latest .NET technology.

yashrajfilms
– - visit yashrajfilms.com

“Baabul” music released without Amitabh’s theme song

The title song of director Ravi Chopra’s ‘Baabul’ is supposedly Amitabh Bachchan’s most poignant number ever and reduced even his pragmatic wife Jaya to tears. But what is possibly Amitabh’s career’s best song is missing from the album. Instead, it is rendered by Jagjit Singh.

A strange state of affairs since Amitabh has composed the song and took time off to record it.

Curiously, Bhushan Kumar of T Series, who has released the ‘Baabul’ album, has no knowledge of the Amitabh’s contribution to the theme song.

‘Has Amitji really composed the number? I wasn’t aware of this. All I know is that he has sung the number. I believe Aadesh Shrivastava recorded it. We’ve released the music that was given to us by the producers. And it contains Jagjit Singh’s theme song. We were told that Amitji will dub the song later and that we should add it in the second edition of the music,’ Kumar told IANS.

So, why the rush to release the music?

‘BR Films and Ravi Chopra had an event planned. The music release had to coincide with that,’ explained Kumar.

Aadesh admits the whole rush release has created an awkward situation.

‘Jagjit Singh did ask me what was the arrangement. I explained to him that there’re two distinct versions of the theme song. Each time Amitji comes on screen we’ll be playing his version.’

Will Amitabh be credited for his song?

‘He doesn’t want any credit. He just loves creating music with me. In fact, we’ll soon be doing a whole album of UP folk songs together. Amitji told me, ‘Aadesh, let’s get together and freak out’.’

indianews.com