Salman's 'Character Dheela' a tribute to Raj, Dilip and Dharmendra

Director Anees Bazmee and superstar Salman Khan say that the song 'Character Dheela' from their upcoming film 'Ready' is a tribute to legendary Bollywood actors - Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dharmendra.

In the song Salman and Zarine will be seen paying tribute to these yesteryear actors of Hindi cinema. Both will play different hit movie pairs of the past. "We often use this word 'character dheela hai' in a negative way. We were trying to make it sound good. Eventually the song should look good and presentable. Personally, my character is less 'dheela' as you can see my average is very less...and I am 46-year-old," said Salman.

In one act, both will be seen playing Shahzada Saleem and Anarkali like Dilip Kumar and Madhubala in Mughal-e-Azam; in another act Salman and Zarine will be seen in the black and white era playing tribute to the showman Raj Kapoor along with Nargis. Yet another sequence will see the two recreate the magic of the 'Sholay' pair, Viru and Basanti on screen. "It is our way of paying tribute to Raj Saheb, Dilip Saheb and Dharamji. We are not one per cent close to their performances," Salman said.


The song has been choreographed by Mudassar Khan, who has previously choreographed Salman in 'Dabangg'. "I was an assistant to Raj Saheb in 'Prem Rog'. I respect him a lot. I am a huge fan of Dilip Saheb and Dharamji entertained us a lot. Salman and me love and respect them a lot. So he is in their get up," said director Anees.

"Our intention is not to hurt anyone. They are all our seniors and we have grown up seeing their films and have learnt a lot from them. We have not done anything that would disrespect them and their work towards cinema," he said.

The romantic comedy, starring Salman and Asin, is all set to release on June 3.

No, Salman Khan won't turn superhero soon!

Unlike his contemporaries like Hrithik Roshan and Shah Rukh Khan bollywood actor Salman Khan is not fascinated by 'super hero' films and says he is not doing any film of that sort.

"I am not doing a superhero film. I don't want to be bitten by a spider. I don't want to be a spider man. I don't want to wear red underwear from outside. I want to be 'Sal man'," the actor told reporters at the music launch of his upcoming film, 'Ready'.

There was a buzz in B-town that Salman would be playing a spy agent with super powers in Kabir Khan's next. The film will be produced by Yash Raj.

A spokesperson for Yash Raj said, "The cast is not final yet. We will make an announcement when it is finalised."

Earlier, Hrithik Roshan broke the mould with the first Bollywood super hero flick 'Krrish'. Now, Shahrukh Khan is doing it in 'Ra.One'.

In a gala event at Film City, Salman released the music of his upcoming film, 'Ready', alongside leading lady Asin Thottumkal, Zarine Khan, Anees Bazmee, Sohail Khan, and producer Bhushan Kumar. The film's music has been created by Pritam and Devi Shri Prasad.

Khan even went ahead and performed on a song from the film 'Dhinka Chika' from the top of a colourful bus designed for the event.

The special item song 'Character Dheela' along with Zarine Khan and 'Dhinka Chika' is already creating waves among the masses. Apart from these two groovy numbers, the album has a melodious romantic track called 'Humko Pyaar Hua' besides a wedding song 'Meri Ada'.

The album contains a total of eight songs and has remix versions of four songs.

Ready features Paresh Rawal, Arya Babbar and Mahesh Manjrekar in supporting roles. While Ajay Devgan, Sanjay Dutt, Kangana Ranaut, Zarine Khan and Arbaaz Khan will make cameo appearances.

"I don't know whether this film will be at par with 'Dabangg' or not. We make every film with the intention that the audience will like it. Insha Allah the film will click," Salman, who took everyone by storm in 'Dabangg', said.

The film is scheduled for release on June 3.

In a touching gesture, Khan also felicitated the employees of Film City while launching the music of his upcoming film 'Ready'.

While the female employees were given sarees, their male counter-parts were given shirts by the actor at the function attended by hundreds of workers from Film City on Monday evening.

Salman saluted the security guard of Film City, greeted kids besides and also offered them chocolates. "While I was shooting here (Film City) for my film 'Body Guard' I realised that there are so many people working hard here. When we do events there are people who do not appreciate it. I thought why not appreciate the work of those who help us all here," Salman told reporters.

Recollecting his early days of shooting at Film City, the 'Dabangg' actor said, "I remember when I was shooting for the song - 'Dil Deewana' from the film 'Maine Pyaar Kiya' in a temple here... women used to come and offer us water. They all work hard for all of us."

indian express

Watch Bollywood films to know Indians – Rani Mukerji

Sydney, Cinema can go a long way in promoting positive bilateral relations between Australia and India, especially Bollywood films as they are “all about heart”, said Rani Mukerji, who was here as chief guest at the 2010 Indian Film Festival – Bollywood and Beyond.

“Cinema showcases different cultures and Indian films are all about our culture, our traditions, human relations and all about heart. So when Australians watch Indian films, they will get to know Indians better and that will help in knowing each other better,” Rani told IANS in an exclusive interview.

So will she act in a film on racism? “As an actor, I would be part of any film that inspires me as an artist. If there is a great character for me to play, if I feel there is something interesting in the film about racism and if there is a positive outlook towards changing the mindset, I would hundred percent do it.”

She would like to do diverse, challenging roles. So does she feel socially responsible while doing a movie?

Giving the example of her role as a deaf, dumb and blind girl in “Black”, she said, “I do expect that people who do not know about the deaf and blind get more aware of people like them. You should never pity them because they are such spirited, lively, fun people and there is so much to learn from them.

“Michelle McNally did graduate despite her handicap. The sheer fact that if you have the passion, nothing is impossible in life. That is what my character in ‘Black’ and the film taught me and that is what I would like to portray to the hundreds and millions of my fans who watch the movie”.

The festival, which opened with “Black” and “Dil Bole Hadippa” in Sydney, is screening a retrospective of Rani’s distinctive films alongside recent Bollywood hits, some regional cinema gems and documentaries.

For Rani, every role is a dream role, but the role that debutant director Anurag Singh gave her in “Dil Bole Hadippa” was “wonderful”.

“It is wonderful being a man and to feel like a man and get attracted to beautiful women. It was a dream role because I could never imagine in my life that I would cross dress as a man. I also got to experiment with cricket, a sport I had never played in my life. I trained for eight months and fell in love with the game. And, of course, being a man and tying your hair up in a turban was the most relaxing part!”

Being a Bengali, was it difficult for her to play the role of a Sardar?

“Punjabis and Bengalis make a great combination; even marriages between them are lovely,” said Rani, relating an interesting episode about how she was exchanged with a Punjabi baby at the hospital and her mother had to fight to get her back.

“I still have to crack the code whether I am a Sardar or Bengali,” she said.

Rani also revealed that if she weren’t an actress, she would have been “a housewife with my sari tucked in my waist, making chapattis for my husband, raising two kids probably in Allahabad or Kolkata or somewhere where my parents would have married me off!”

So is she ready to direct films after a career spanning 17 years as an actress?

Rani was forthcoming: “I would like to do a lot of things in life, but you never get to do everything that you want to do. When an actor probably completes 10 years, you are often asked would you like to direct or write?

“I didn’t want to become an actress, but I became one and so I have this thing in my head that ‘Never say never’. It is not something I have planned, but if I do get an opportunity and have this energy rush in my body to take up the responsibility of a director some day, I would definitely love to direct.”

Asked if she dreams about winning an Oscar, the multi-award winning actress said: “I would dream about everything and as an actor our greed never stops for awards, recognition, fame, and love and warmth from people; so it is a never ending process for an actor.”

The actress, who chooses her roles with care and takes what inspires and excites her, is looking forward to “No one killed Jessica”, a film based on the murder of Delhi model Jessica Lall in which she plays the journalist.

“It is a very different film that I am doing after a long time. It is a very different and powerful role; so I don’t know how my fans are going to react to it, but I am looking forward to it because it is an interesting movie based on a true life story.

(BollywoodWorld.com)

Veer – Film Review

Movie: “Veer”
Directed by: Anil Sharma
Starring: Mithun Chakraborty, Salman Khan, Neena Gupta, Sohail Khan, Zarine Khan

“Veer” is one of those intended epics that goes wrong. Horribly wrong.

Director Anil Sharma had combined history and kitsch with compelling consequences in “Gadar Ek Prem Katha”. But In “Veer”, the khichdi of fact and fiction runs amok, creating a blend of babble and bloodshed that is more hysterical than historic.

“Veer” wallows in primitive valour. Father Mithun Chakraborty (the only tolerable performance in the litany of the unbearable) and son Salman Khan often mock-fight, as the burly members of their tribe urge them on like animals in a zestful zoo. Even Neena Gupta who plays Mithun’s wife (and has apparently forgotten she was once a good actress) joins in the macho revelry.

There are no smoking guns. Only shining swords slicing across the epic canvas with fashionable bravura.

Costume dramas are very tricky cinematic efforts. How do the makers know if the clothes and props suggesting periodicity are going to work? In this case, they just don’t!

The ‘research’ that seems to have gone into the colossal fiasco is at best scratch level. At worst the detailing suggested by the art director (Sanjay Dhabade) and costumes (Anna Singh) smack of amateurish stage plays where the actors create characters purely through props.

And here the props include the Buckingham Palace where our valorous hero Veer (Salman Khan) and his brother-sidekick (Sohail Khan, behaving as though he was in the sequel to “Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya”) teach those ‘Gora Log’ a few lessons on how to treat us Indians with respect and dignity.

Where would independent India be without such strident architects of freedom? It is doubtful that a man like Veer actually existed in the history of our freedom movement. But does anyone really care?

“Veer” is not really a freedom fighter. He’s Salman Khan with long hair and costume jewellery (the diamond ear-tops could be the envy of all his leading ladies) scowling with the same intensity into the panoramic camera as he did earlier in “Wanted”.

Clothes definitely maketh this man, although Veer in one of the unintentionally funny sequences of the film reprimands the gora professor in London (teaching the most motley crew of colonists seen in any film) saying, “Clothes do not make the man, the man makes the clothes” – a quote on he says he borrowed from George Bernard Shaw.

Where did he learn about Shaw? In school? Do such questions really matter when the intention is to create an optical illusion merging myth and history in a claustrophobic clasp that leaves no breathing space for introspective punctuations?

“Veer” is one sweeping rush of blood, sweat, gore, adrenaline and saliva. It is meant to sweep audiences off its collective feet. But its takeoff point, namely the ideological slant, is so faulty, you wonder what these blood-thirsty warriors are fighting for.

Most of the time the characters’ motivations are superimposed by a passionate but pedestrian melodrama.

Director Anil Sharma’s inherent sense of drama comes with the blood-soaked territory. While in the father-son sequences he manages to create a scale and range that merge rugged machismo with a junk food version of patriotism, the love story featuring the nomadic warrior and the bereft princess from the enemy tribe is driven into a zero-chemistry zone by the pair.

Forget mutual passion, there’s very little drama or romance in the dialogues and the visual props for them to share.

“Veer” gets details of the period and locations in place. But the inner conviction and a genuine passion that made Anil Sharma’s “Gadar: Ek Prem Katha” so special are completely absent in this film.

Source:http://www.bollywoodworld.com/category/movie-reviews

Zarine Khan: the new stunner in Bollywood

Mumbai, January 15-- The heroine of Veer, Zarine Khan, is now the talk of tinsel town. The lady who looked stunningly beautiful in an Ashley Rebello green and red sari turned more than a few heads when she walked into a promotional event recently.

Slightly resembling Katrina she carries herself in style in her own charming way.

Zarine is very much Indian
The starlet who came in fashionably late for a promotional event apologized stating that, "The more you try to hasten, the longer you take to get ready. Since it is my first public appearance, I was all the more cautious about looking pretty."

After a few conversations, Zarine changed to Hindi and added that, "I don't understand this speculation about the country of my origin. I am very much Indian. I have lived in Mumbai all my life. "

When asked about her resemblance to popular actress Katrina Kaif
, the lady quickly responded that though she is flattered and thinks that Katrina is very gorgeous she felt there was no similarity between them.

Zarine talks about Salman Khan
And when asked about Salman Khan, Zarine said that he had been more than supportive. “They say he's a man with a short temper, but I don't think so at all. In fact, every time I wouldn't get a scene right, he'd act it out for me," she said.

The lady who had to put on weight to look healthier for her role as an Indian princess now intends to lose all that weight since she thinks that it would not suit every film.

When asked whether she was planning for a size zero figure, she was quick to deny, “No way! I am a Pathan. No matter how much I lose, I'll still have a big frame."

Source:http://www.totalfilmy.com