‘Bol Bachchan’ joins the 100 crore club!

Director Rohit Shetty’s latest comedy movie Bol Bachchan starring Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan and Asin in leads, has finally crossed Rs 100 crore mark at the Indian Box Office in its third week of release. The film has raked in Rs 100.26 crore nett at the collection centres in the country in 20 days. Bol Bachchan opened to an overwhelming response and collected Rs 66.72 crores at the domestic Box Office in the first week. Made on a budget of Rs. 70 crores, this is Rohit Shetty’s third film after ‘Singham’ and ‘Golmaal 3′ to have crossed the 100 crore mark!

Enjoy a few interesting facts of the film:

1. It is an official remake of the 1979 comedy film, Golmaal by Hrishikesh Mukherjee
2. Veteran actor Utpal Dutt’s iconic character in Gomaal in missing in Bol Bachchan
3. Director Rohit Shetty wanted Actress Asin, who lost lots of weight during Housefull 2, to gain weight and look ‘Healthy’ on screen. During the film’s shoot in Jaipur, he would often order a huge ‘Thali’ (A meal served with a great variety of items in small quantities) for her to eat.
4. Abhishek Bachchan played a double role for the first time in his career.
5. Hollywood super hero movie ‘Amazing Spider Man’ was rescheduled to June 29th, 2012 as its original release date (3rd July) was close to Bol Bachchan’s release date.

6. Asin was roped in for the first female lead after Bipasha Basu rejected the role. Prior to that actress Genelia D’Souza was signed to play the second female lead, but due to her differences with the makers, she opted out of the project and the role went to Prachi Desai.

 

‘Heroine’ – Bhandarkar’s Magnum Opus

After a string of woman centric films like Chandni Bar, Corporate, Fashion, Page 3 and Satta, acclaimed Bollywood film director, Madhur Bhandarkar is gearing up for the release of his next project, ‘Heroine’ which has Kareena Kapoor as the protagonist. This is the film Bhandarkar has been subconsciously preparing for ever since he joined the industry and one which he considers his magnum opus.

Made on a budget of Rs. 18 crores, the film traces the life and times of Mahi Khanna, a superstar heroine. The film is a daring, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind the scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour and the true stories of our glamour idols. For a country like India, which is obsessed with films, the film will give audiences a peek into what actually happens in make-up rooms and vanity vans. The back biting, back stabbing, politics, secrets, lies that come with the pinnacles of success and depths of failure have been portrayed in the film.

‘Heroine”s posters are out. The posters show Kareena Kapoor dressed in a shimmery tank top and shorts lying down on a bed surrounded by magazines and photos of herself and an empty wine glass. Kareena in an interview described her character in Heroine as a “bipolar” and “schizophrenic” personality. “Presenting the 1st poster of Heroine to all my well wishers. Hope you like it,” Bhandarkar tweeted. The film also stars Arjun Rampal as a popular filmstar and Randeep Hooda as a cricketer. Apart from them, the film is supported by many other actors whose characters are essential to the film.

A few interesting trivia for ‘Heroine’

 

• Kareena Kapoor was the original choice for the film, but Bhandarkar offered the role to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan owing to Kareena’s reservations about the boldness of the role. Aishwarya shot for a few days, but quit due to her impending pregnancy and the role fell into Kareena’s lap all over again!
• Kapoor, who described her character as being “bipolar and schizophrenic”, refrained from taking on any other projects as she found Heroine to be “very aggressive and tiring”.
• Bhandarkar described the film as a “contemporary film which reveals the underbelly of the movie industry and its well-kept secrets”.
• In order to prepare his protagonist for the film, the director prepared a three-hour documentary on Hollywood actresses Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner and Vivien Leigh.
• The first look of the movie was released as part of the 64th Cannes Film Festival.
• Designer Manish Malhotra was signed on to design the costumes.
• Kareena Kapoor has gyrated to an item number, ‘Halkat Jawani’ in the film.

 

                        

Ek Tha Tiger : Set To Rock The Box Office!

Bollywood superstar, Salman Khan who is at an all time high of his career, is all set for another mega release – ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ that coincides with Eid. It is for the first time that Salman Khan is working under the Yash Raj films banner, in which he plays the lead protagonist named Tiger Boss, while Katrina Kaif aka Zoya plays his love interest! The story of film has been penned by Aditya Chopra while Kabir Khan has directed the film.

Ek Tha Tiger is a romantic thriller which is about a Trinity College scientist suspected of selling missile technology secrets to Pakistan. The Indian government sends a secret agent, code named Tiger (Salman Khan), to find out about the professor’s activities. Tiger falls in love with the professor’s caretaker Zoya (Katrina Kaif) who is studying at a fictional dance academy located at TCD, and together they embark on a roller-coaster journey that takes them from Dublin to Istanbul then to Kazakhstan and Chile.

With Salman Khan’s back to back hits at the box office, the expectations from this film are very high. Also Salman and Katrina will be seen together on screen for the first time after their break up. Going by Salman Khan’s score at the box office, this surely will be his biggest hit so far and this time Katrina Kaif will be alongside to add that extra factor to it.

Here are some interesting facts about the film that will surely make you want to catch it at the theaters:

• Reportedly this movie was supposed to be released on 1st June 2012 but on Aamir Khan’s request, who wanted to release hi movie ‘Talaash’ on the same day, Salman shifted the release date of his movie to Eid of 2012 which is in August.
• Salman Khan has been offered a whopping amount of Rs. 32 crores for this movie
• Pritam was supposed to compose the music of this film, but when he opted out, Aditya Chopra roped in Sohail Sen to compose the music of his film. Sajid Wajid and Julius Packiam have also contributed to the music of the film.
• The entire crew had to encounter with an earthquake while in Turkey, but thankfully no-one was hurt.
• The shooting of the film started on 10 August, 2011 and the first shooting schedule was completed in Trinity College of Dublin, Ireland.
• The promo of the film got overwhelming response from the film fraternity as well as the audiences; it almost crashed the hosting server of Yashraj productions.
• The theatrical trailer received more than 10 lakhs views within 2 days thereby making it the largest Bollywood film till date as far as viewership is concerned on the limited period.
• For the film shooting locations, total 10 countries have been identified including Cuba, Iraq, Ireland, Turkey and India.
• Katrina Kaif has performed challenging action sequences for the first time.
• The cast of the movie: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey and Girish Karnad.
• Music has been given by Sohail Sen, Sajid Wajid and Julius Packiam.

                         

SRK Reinvents Romance!

Come Diwali, and Indian audiences will be in for another romantic film from the Yash Raj banner. The film which is yet to get a title, has Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma in the lead roles. Shah Rukh Khan will be seen reinventing his romantic avatar with this film. The star cast makes it obvious that it will be another love triangle directed by the king of romance, Yash Chopra who has donned the director’s cap after eight years, his last film being Veer Zaara. The film has been shot in London and will soon be heading to Ladakh for its climax. Amongst various other Yash Raj releases, this is undoubtedly their biggest release of the year and will hit the screens in Diwali, on November 13th.

Yash Chopra’s films have always had mesmerizing music which have left imprints on the minds Bollywood music lovers. This time around, Yash Chopra has roped in music maestro A.R. Rahman for creating the tracks for his yet-to-be-titled film, while veteran lyricist Gulzar will pen the lyrics. The plot of the film is about a happily married musician who meets a woman who turns out exactly like his imaginary muse.

Says Yash Chopra, “It’s been 7 years since I directed Veer-Zaara and as I begin work on my new film I hear my inner voice asking me a lot of questions. Are you sure you want to direct again, you are nearly 80 years old and the audience is getting younger day by day. Can I really speak from my heart and still expect today’s youth to listen to me? Will I be able to live up to the blind faith that Shahrukh Khan has in me and give him yet another memorable romantic film? Will I be able to present the beautiful Katrina Kaif and the very talented Anushka Sharma in a way they have never been seen before? Will I be able to inspire Rahman and Gulzar Bhai enough to create their best work yet?

The honest answer is… I DON’T KNOW! All I know is that I’m making a film that I believe in, a film that is about love and nothing else. A film which has an old soul but a young heart. A film which is classic in its look but contemporary in its language. A film which I’m making on one simple faith… the love that my audiences have given to me over the years. They have tolerated my indulgences for the past 50 years, I’m sure they will indulge me one more time.”

We wish Yashji good luck and hope that audiences go back home with another memorable love story in their hearts!

 

                       

‘Barfi!’ : Sweet & Fun!

Earlier titled, ‘Khamoshi and Silence’, Anurag Basu’s upcoming film, ‘Barfi’ is one of the most awaited films of the year. Anurag Basu is an ace film maker known for the unconventional content of his films. The film is a love triangle and is set in the 1970s. The film brings forth the message that love is an emotion that is beyond the societal norms of the normal and abnormal.

Ranbir Kapoor plays, Murphy, a deaf and mute lad, who falls in love with a normal girl, Shruti, portrayed by Ileana D’Cruz. However, Shruti has to succumb to parental pressure and marry a normal man and lead a normal life. They cross paths many years later, when Murphy is now in love with Jhilmil, Priyanka Chopra. Jhilmil is an autistic and is on the run from the cops and Murphy is desperately seeking her. Upon learning Jhilmil’s reality, Shruti realizes that true love is indeed blind and also that she is still in love with Murphy. Shruti is at cross roads about choosing her own love or Murphy’s happiness.

D’Cruz is also the narrator of the film. Basu confirmed that Katrina Kaif was the original choice for the narrator, but Katrina opted out of the project. Priyanka Chopra had visited mental asylums to get into the skin of her character of an autistic girl. Set in Bengal, sets were created in a studio in Chandivali, Mumbai to recreate the look and feel of Kolkata of the 1970s. The film will be in theatres on 14th September.

The YouTube trailer received fantastic responses with all the leading stars. The trailer has no dialogues and had only comedy gestures and actions. The film looks like a fun ride coupled with pain and comedy. “Its not a silent film. The people who can speak in the film do talk. You have to understand that I have great actors who could convey a message without saying a word. What you saw in the trailer is what you can expect,” Basu told reporters about the first look of Barfi.

“I would say that one should not associate this film with disability… This film is not about disability. It is a coincidence that these two characters are deaf, mute and one is autistic. But one will not feel that it is a disability film. It’s about enjoying life, giving happiness, feeling love. It’s a love story,” added Ranbir after the trailer was released.

 

                     

Housefull 2 – The Dirty Dozen

Housefull 2, that released earlier in 2012 was a sequel to Housefull (2010). Directed by Sajid Khan and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, Housefull 2 was an absolute entertainer which also set the cash registers at the Box Office ringing!

The film had Akshay Kumar, Asin Thottumkal, Jacqueline Fernandez, John Abraham in the lead roles, whilst Ritesh Deshmukh, Zarine Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Shazahn Padamsee, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty and Boman Irani play supporting roles. Inspite of receiving mixed reviews, it had a better opening than its prequel and the film was declared a super hit at the BO.

A few facts and figures about Housefull 2 for you:

Housefull 2 was made on a budget of Rs. 75 crores.

It grossed approx Rs. 202 Cr worldwide.

It became the highest grossing Hindi film in New Zealand grossing NZ$2,60,000 surpassing 3 Idiots and My Name is Khan.

It was also Akshay Kumar’s second highest grosser overseas after Singh is Kinng.

The film was inspired by 2003 Tamil film Banda Paramasivam.

Chintu is the nickname which is used for Rishi Kapoor in the Bollywood industry and Dabboo is also the nickname of Randhir Kapoor – same as in the film.

Rishi Kapoor and Randhir Kapoor are brothers. This is their first movie together.

In each of Sajid Khan’s Films, Akshay Kumar’s name is Arush – except for this one.

This is the first Sajid Khan movie not to feature music composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Sajid Wajid made an appearance in a music video to promote the movie for the song, ‘Right now, right now’. Sajid has acted in Wanted before. But, it is for the first time the brothers came together in front of the camera for a video.

                      

Rowdy Rathore : ‘Chinta Ta Ta Chita Chita Chita’ all the way to the BO!

Rowdy Rathore, starring Akshay Kumar in a double role and Sonakshi Sinha was an action packed Bollywood entertainer with all the ingredients of a typical Hindi masala film! It is a remake of Telugu film, Vikramrkudu.

Akshay ‘Khiladi’ Kumar made his comeback into action films after seven years with Rowdy Rathore, during which he tried his hand at comedy films. Rowdy Rathore declared a blockbuster after an overwhelming response at the BO and is one of highest grossing films of all times in Bollywood. Made on a budget of approx Rs. 40 Cr, it raked in a huge Rs. 178 Cr Nett (approx) at the BO.

Take a look at some interesting trivia from behind the scenes of the film:

Akshay Kumar learnt a special technique Combat Karate for his character role in the film.

Akki said that he had accepted the role in Rowdy Rathore since his son loved to watch him in action roles.

This is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s first film as a solo producer and the very first in action genre.

Famous Tamil actor Vijay, Prabhu Deva and Kareena Kapoor all made appearances in cameos.
During the shooting, while shooting for a climax scene Akshay hurt his shoulder.

The police denied permission for shooting of Rowdy Rathore at the World Heritage Site Hampi, on the basis of protests from local activists and artists.

The film unit faced opposition for shooting at several other heritage sites like the Vijaya Vittala temple, Lotus Mahal, Maha Navami Dibba and several other historic places of 15th century capital of Vijayanagara Empire.

The trailer of the film was launched in an open stadium in Worli, in suburban Mumbai on 2nd April, 2012.

The trailer received over 2,295,756 views in just under one month on YouTube.