Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Imran Khan captures Kareena Kapoor


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MUMBAI: It’s official. Imran Khan is set to hold an exhibition of Kareena Kapoor’s candid photographs on February 3. While the venue is yet to be decided, it is expected to be one of the art galleries in Bandra. Currently, Khan is sifting through around 60 photographs to zero in on the final 20.
For the uninitiated, Imran who has always called himself a huge Kareena Kapoor fan clicked pictures of Bebo while working together on Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu. Imran feels that Kareena’s natural beauty brought out the best in his photographs.
“I think Kareena is simply gorgeous. Sometimes, I feel she has inspired me to become a good photographer,” says Imran with a laugh.

Interestingly, the Delhi Belly (2011) actor clicked all the random photographs on his mobile phone. But some of them came out really well.
“I feel I have clicked some very nice pictures of hers. When Karan saw them, he thought it will be a good idea to have an exhibition of the photographs,” says the actor.
At the moment, Imran is touring Dubai, New York and London to promote his new film.
“Once he is back in town, he is expected to decide on the final pictures and venue for the exhibition. Kareena will, of course, be present besides his close friends and family members,” says a team member from Imran’s entourage.
Imran, on his part, has been paired with Bebo for the first time in his career in director Shakun Batra’s maiden venture.
Kareena, however, has worked with his mamu Aamir Khan on 3 Idiots (2009) and the upcoming Talaash, which releases on on June 1.

I’ll never dance at a wedding: Kareena Kapoor


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MUMBAI: Last week, Kareena Kapoor sizzled on stage at two award functions after missing the first three shows of the awards season. “I was away on a vacation with Saif (beau Saif Ali Khan) so I missed them. But once I came back from Europe, I was game for some live performances. I like to dance and make some money,” she says with a smile.
At the Apsara Awards, Kareena flagged off her act with Akon’s Chamak challo… from RA.One (2011), even retaining the sexy red sari and the nose-ring.
The sari changed colours, from red to black to gold, but the nose-ring stayed in place as the Bollywood star moved into Ringa ringa ree…, the Telugu song from Allu Arjun’s Arya 2 (2009) that had inspired the Salman Khan-Asin’s Ready (2011) chartbuster, Dhinka chika….

She then got dirty with Nakka mukka… from Nakul-Sunanina Tamil hit, Kadhalil Vizhunthen (2008), before rounding up the evening’s showpiece with the song of 2011, Dhanush’s Kolaveri di…, from his upcoming Tamil movie, 3.

Quiz her on whether the masala medley is a prelude to a movie down south and Kareena laughs, “Oh, I have been offered several movies down south, but never thought about doing one. With all the Hindi movies I am doing, I barely have time for friends and family. The last year was so hectic, that the break in Switzerland was well deserved for both Saif and me. The reason we zeroed in on two Tamil and one Telugu song was because they are quite the rage today. It was the first time a female actor was dancing to Kolaveri di.. and I really enjoyed myself.”
So, where will she head to next? The IIFA Awards?
“Well, they haven’t approached me yet and it would depend on whether I have dates to spare. It already promises to be a hectic year. I’ve only shot for Heroine for 11 days and have another 80 to go,” she sighs, adding brightly, “It’s always fun being on stage in front of the film fraternity. But I would never dance at weddings.”

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Small, simple tales for moviegoers this week


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NEW DELHI: Moviemaking is about telling interesting tales and this Friday not-so-big Bollywood directors are offering four simple but seemingly exciting tales in the form of black comedy Staying Alive, Hinglish comic thriller Love You To Death, laugh riot Gali Gali Chor Hai and thriller Married 2 America.
Last year real life stories became box office's favourite recipe and now Anant Mahadevan brings another such tale on the big screen in Staying Alive.
It is based on the true story of a journalist, Aditya (Anant), whose third heart attack sends him to the intensive cardiac care unit of a hospital, where he shares the room with an underworld kingpin, Shaukat Ali (Saurabh Shukla), a kebab fanatic whose is recuperating after his first heart attack. The climax unfurls how a man from the wrong side of law tries to transform.
Love You To Death offers a potent mix of thrill and comedy. Director Rafeeq Ellias has tried to bring a wild, whacky comic thriller in Hinglish that pokes fun at the crazy times we live in.
Inspired by newspaper stories, it revolves around a bunch of bumbling murder attempts with characters as crazy as a doctor who is a sexpert by day, a rockstar by night and a theatre director who also organises supari deaths. The film culminates in an art gallery with loads of blank guns, a single loaded pistol and some unexpected results!
The cast has some unknown names like Yuki Ellias, Carl Sequeira, Leonid Kudryavtsev, Sheeba Chaddha, Sohrab Ardeshir, Nicholas Brown, Uday Chandra as well as Suhasini Mulay, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Kallol Banerjee. But never mind, as long as the story is engaging and engrossing.
It is the common man who has to bear the brunt of the corrupt system and this is central to the script of Gali Gali Chor Hai. In the film, Akshaye plays a part-time Hanuman at the local Ram Lila and works as a full-time cashier in a bank. His character represents the quintessential common man and his problems.
Bharat's life goes upside down when he finds himself stuck in a hilariously vicious circle of corruption, having to bribe his way from cops to criminals, witnesses to lawyers, and even the judge, all in an effort to get out of the rut that is the Indian system.
Out of the four films, Gali Gali Chor Hai has some big names. If Rumi Jaffery has directed the film, the cast also boasts of Shriya Saran and Mugdha Godse. The film is a small budget project, and interestingly has been set in the small town of Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
Annu Kapoor, Satish Kaushik, Akhilendra Mishra and Vijay Raaz will also be seen adding flavour to the story and Pakistani actress Veena Malik has been roped in to spice up the script with her item number.
Scams and corruption had dominated the news headlines last year and Married 2 America throws light on something similar. Directed by Dilip Shankar, the film is said to be sensational and thrilling and the cast has names like Jackie Shroff, Archana Joglekar, Shweta Tiwari and Raghuveer Yadav.
The story is about architect Ravi Malhotra is an NRI, who lives in the US, works for Larson & Jason. The company's recent contracts was the Darbhanga Dam project in Saurabhpur district in Bihar, India and Ravi was the brain behind the project which has a 100-year warranty.
But within a few years, three of the dam's gates burst open, leaving hundreds of people dead, thousands homeless and public property worth crore washed down. The Indian government is contemplating suing the company for damages worth millions.
So the company sends Ravi to India to investigate what exactly caused the damage and he hands over the report that contains a shocking truth to the authorities, but after that he goes missing. When he doesn't show up for three months, his distraught wife Anjali decides to fly down to India and search for him.
Marathi actress Archana Joglekar will be seen in a Hindi film after a long time. She had earlier featured in Aatank Hi Aatank (1995) and Sansar (1987). She also worked in TV serials.