I am not here for charity: Vidya Balan

MUMBAI: Rumours abound that heroines Vidya Balan and Kareena Kapoor have hiked their fees per film to Rs 7 crore. But Vidya, who’s enjoying the success of The Dirty Picture (TDP), laughs the news off, saying, “Wow! I would love that. But honestly, I have not even had script sessions with directors or producers after the film released. How could I graduate to talking about the money?” She adds, “I am looking forward to see what kind of scripts come my way. But if that’s (Rs 7 crore) what people think I deserve, I am more than happy.”

After playing brazen Silk Smitha in The Dirty Picture, it’s safe to say Vidya’s on-screen confidence has rubbed off. The actor admits she is “business-minded,” saying, “As much as I give my heart to it, acting is a profession for me. I am not here for charity, so I definitely command a good price.” Though, she’s quick to clarify, “I have not asked for Rs 7 crore. 

For now, I am grateful for the kind of roles I have and the chance to work with directors who bring out the best in me.”

It’s known that all top male actors have a profit sharing agreement with producers, besides being paid a fee for their films. Until now, no female actor has enjoyed this luxurious arrangement. But Vidya’s confident the status quo is set to change, saying, “It’s about time a share in the profit of films become a reality for female actors too.” In response, producer Ekta Kapoor says, “If the heroines are talented, bankable and bring the audience in, then they have a right to the profits too.”

Balan to be booked?
While The Dirty Picture recently received reprieve after Pakistan reversed a ban on the movie being shown in theatres, a court in Andhra Pradesh has now directed the police to book Vidya Balan under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and also under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, for posing indecently in the film’s posters and promos. This was after hearing a petition filed by an advocate, who said the posters were causing harm to society. When asked about the petition, Vidya broke into a song, “Kucch toh log kahenge, logon ka kaam hai kehna. (People will pass comments, that’s their job)”.

Bollywood’s Battle of the sexes means big bucks
Salman Khan: Rs 20 crore
Aamir Khan: Rs 10 – 12 crore plus profit share
Shah Rukh Khan: Rs 10 – 12 crore plus profit share

Kareena Kapoor: Rs 2-3 crore
Katrina Kaif: Rs 2-3 crore
Priyanka Chopra: Rs 2-3 crore
Deepika Padukone: up to Rs 2 crore
Vidya Balan: Rs 1.5 to 2 crore
*Figures are rough trade estimates.

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Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT

Bollywood’s He-Man Turns A Year Older

MUMBAI: The very first handsome hunk of Bollywood, Dharmendra turned 76 today. Dharmendra Singh Deol was born in the year 1935 in Punjab to an arya samaj jatt family. One of the famous and top Hindi film star for more than three decaedes, he has appeared in more than 247 hindi films as of 2011. Often referred to as the ‘Action King’ Dharmendra was considered as the most handsome actor and a matinee idol.

Dharmendra had fascinations for films since a very young age, he often used to travel miles to frequent the touring cinema. 

He got noticed in Filmfair’s spot the talent contest and came down to Bombay to be an actor. He was signed by Arjun Hingorani for the film Dil Bhi Tera, Hum Bhi Tere (1960) as his first lead role. The film also starred Balraj Sahni, Usha Kiron and Kum Kum. But to his irony, after all the struggle and hard work he put up on that film, he was left unrecognized on the premiere of the film.

However his strong and romantic roles in women oriented films like Anpadh (1962) with Mala Sinha, Bandini (1963) and Soorat Aur Seerat (1962) both with Nutan bought him to the fore. He made a very strong impact particularly in Bandini.

He has worked in several romantic hindi films in the 60’s. But it was Phool Aur Patthar (1966) that has made Dharmendra a star.

The film Phool Aur Patthar with Meena Kumari is a love story between a criminal and a widow. This film has one of the most sensuous scenes in hindi cinema where Dharmendra leans over a sleeping Meena Kumari only to finally cover her up. This film became the higest grossing film of 1966 and Dharmendra received his first Film-fair nominations for Best Actor. It is said that during this film Dharmendra and Meena Kumari came close to each other and afterwards shared a steamy and romantic relationship.

Most of Dharmendra’s earlier films were soft romantic film most of which represented secularized Hindustani versions of the literally Bengali stereotypes, starting from Bimal Roy’s Bandini upto Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s 60’s socials – Anupama (1966), Manjhli Didi (1967) and Satyakam (1969). Dhramendra mainly played the nice, sensitive, romantic, handsome hero in his films. And for such good looks, he was voted as one of the most good looking men in the world in 1960’s. Satyakam was perhaps his greatest ever performance. This film sadly failed to do well.

Dharmendra has successfully formed good on screen pairing with actresses like Meena Kumari, Saira Banu, Sharmila Tagore, Mumtaz, Asha Parekh, Rekha, Zeenath Aman and Hema Malini. His pairing with Hema Malini went on to further steps in his personal life up to marriage. They formed a super hit pair and delivered some phenomenal hits like, Raja Jani, Seeta Aur Geeta, Sharafat, Tum Haseen Main Jawan, Jugnu, Dost, Charas, Maa, Chacha Bhatija, Azaad and Sholey.

With the emergence of the angry young man and a shift towards the action genre, the 1970’s saw a new Dharmendra who took up the action genre as fish to water. He was the perfect pistol packing hero threatening and knocking down the villains in fight. No one in the industry could shout at the villain, “kutte, kamine main tera khoon pee jaunga” more convincingly than him. Due to his this angry young image he was nicknamed as Garam Dharam in the industry.

One of the best film of his carrier is undoubtedly Sholay, which went on to become one of the biggest hits in the history of Indian cinema and is listed by Indiatimes as one of the “top 25 must see Bollywood films of all time”.

Though Dhramendra has worked in a number successful hindi films for over three decades he was never critically recognized and awarded any Filmfare awards, until 1997 when he received the Filmfaare Lifetime Achievement Award. While receiving the awards from Dilip Kumar and his wife Saira Banu, Dhramendra became emotional remarked that despite working in so many successful films he never received any Best Actor awards, and he is happy that finally his contribution and work has been recognized.

Dharmendra has been an altive politician also. He was elected as the Member of Parliament in the year 2004 general elections, from Bikanerin Rajasthan.

Dharmendra’s personal life has also been very interesting. He had maintained two relationships at the same time. In the year 1954 he got married to Prakash Kaur at the age of 19 only. From that marriage he has two sons Sunny and Bobby both of them are successful actors and two daughters Vijeeta and Ajeeta. His second marriage was with Hema Malini, he was still married to his first wife when he married Hema. According to some reports he converted to Islam and then married Hema. Both of them have two daughters Esha and Ahana. Esha is an actress and Dharmendra is working up to launch Ahana in films soon.

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