Bips aka Bipasha Basu is all set to cast her “jaadu and nasha” on screen once again. This time it is in Sanjay Gupta’s Pankh directed by Sudipto Chattopadhyay. Interestingly, Bipasha is a mere fantasy of the 20-year-old protagonist Jerry (Maradona Rebello) and does not actually exist in the film.

Explaining the complexity of the story director Chattopadhyay said, “Bipasha is Jerry’s fantasy who exists only his mind. She is his alter-ego and loves to provoke him at a drop of her hat.” Sudipto further explains, “The character of Jerry is very complexed. The film shows him as a famous child artiste who crossed dressed as a girl. Thus he is confused about his identity. There’s a song, Jiya na
Jala, sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, where he fantasizes Bipasha seducing him, creating confusion in his mind about his real identity whether he is a man, woman or an eunuch. But Bipasha seduces him completely and is his sexual fantasy. Bipasha is his only solace from the ugly reality of life.”

The director reveals that he and designers Rocky S and Gavin Miguel worked hard on Bipasha’s look in the film. “We wanted Bipasha to look like a Diva a la Sophia Loren and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. Also we had lengthy discussions on the scenes. And during the shoot Bipasha got so in with her character that as if she was visible only to Jerry and completely unaware of the actor’s presence on the sets. Her entire attitude and behavior while playing the character made the entire experience very interesting.”

Right from my childhood I had a fascination for tough guys. I used to look up to the bullies in school as they were my earliest exposure to violent power which slowly graduated to street toughs. When I was doing my B.Tech in Siddharth Engg.College in Vijayawada I had a pretty tough guy reputation. The irony was that I never beat-up anyone myself but I managed to create an illusion that if need be I can. Around 6 really tough guys who used to be with me knew that I am not even worth a punch in a real fight. But in spite of that they used to be under my command and the reason for this was I made each one of them believe that the other 5 will violently defend me come whatever. So for the outsiders, because of those 6 guys, I was a formidable force and for each one of the 6 because of the other 5 together being with me, I was a formidable force. All I used to do was to take care that they won’t have a reason to get together behind my back. Anyway, pretty much this is the basic principle on which all street gangs, underworld factions, political regimes etc operate.

Most of my understanding of politics of violence and criminal psychology which I extensively applied in ‘Shiva’, ‘Satya’, ‘Company’, ‘Sarkar’ etc primarily came from my experience in Siddharth Engg. College and not from my underworld contacts as popularly perceived.

The opening scene of ‘Shiva’ where they come in a car and bash up some students in front of the college actually happened in front of my college. That atmosphere of ‘Shiva’ primarily came from my Engg college and the protagonist I based it on a person called Golla Ravi who used to live in Punjagutta area in Hyderabad. He used to have a combination of a super tough and a super nice guy image.

The plotline of ‘Shiva’ was a direct rip-off from Bruce Lee’s ‘Return of the Dragon’ in which Lee comes from Hong Kong to work in a Chinese restaurant in Rome where the local goons are trying to intimidate the owners. As he tries to take care of them and fight the goons, they get tougher and tougher and in the end he has a one-to-one fight with the toughest Chuck Norris in the coliseum. Likewise Nagarjuna comes from another town to attend a college where the local goons are intimidating the students. As he tries to take care of them and fight the goons they become tougher and tougher and in the end he has a one-to-one fight with the toughest Raghuvaran on top of a terrace. Ha! Ha! So much for originality!

Taking such a simplistic plot line I wanted to create characters and scenes and present them in a way as never been seen before, though there were quite a few scenes I copied from various films. A few examples are; the Ganapati chanda collection scene has been taken from Dilip Shanker’s ‘Kaalchakra’, Amala giving coffee to Nagarjuna before the song is from Sanjeev Kumar’s some film, the cycle chase is from Rahul Rawail’s ‘Arjun’ and the scene where Nagarjuna’s dead friend’s mother slaps the inspector is from Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’, to name a few.

The shooting went quite well and uneventful mainly because of my extreme clarity in what I wanted to achieve. Only after the final edit trouble started. When we arranged a projection two outside people who were not involved in the making saw the film, said it’s too slow and boring with no drama. The excitement in all concerned came down quite a bit in spite of me saying that it is the lack of background score and sound efx which is making them feel that. Without them it looked like a silent film. In those days they were not used to such underplayed performances and subtleties and hence understandably disturbed. Nagarjuna was the only guy who understood and stood by me like a rock in that entire period.

When the films first trial happened many distributors felt it was too violent and feared that women and family audience will stay away as the industry generally believed that they constitute the majority.

Surendra and Venket felt that at best the film will do a very average business and I told them that it will be big hit.

The film released and the first day report Venket got from a distributor was that the audience was watching the movie silently without any reaction. We couldn’t make out what the means, till the same guy called again in the night and told us that he finally figured out the reason for that and told us the audiences are simply stunned.

It created a furore at the box-office and for the sheer impact I became a household name in Andhra Pradesh.

I was very glad that my confidence proved the distributors, Venket and Surendra wrong.

P.S: I was even more confident of ‘Raatri’ (Raat) and it became a disaster. 

By Ram Gopal Varma

After being the host of a talk show in the popular page 3 channel Zoom  which has now been declared as a hit and one which is steadily climbing up the popularity charts, Rakhi Sawant is gearing up for another interesting way to entertain people.

This time it will be the chance of cricket lovers to see the hot B-Town babe dancing live shaking her perfect figure encouraging the cricketers whenever they are at their best during the matches.

Rakhi will be soon be seen as the leading lady of the cheerleading pack for the second season of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) that gets flagged of at Hyderabad on October 10.

The cheerleading team has been baptized as Zeebras and will be present at every match of the league.

She got the privilege of not only been selected as the one to lead the Zeebras but also was able to select her squad members by conducting auditions.

With the new found global interest in films from Indian, Japan, China, Korea, Iran, the Middle East and other Asian countries which are constantly setting new trends and carrying out brave experiments in the cinema world, there has never been a better time for the film makers from these places.

The time when the films from Hollywood always managed to be technically superior is a fact of the past and the mainstream commercial films from the strongest film industries in Asia are matching the American films in every step thus slowly but surely climbing higher.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) started two years back is the best example to convey the growing unity and interaction between the established film making countries of Asia and the increasing missions to give the deserved recognition to the films from this part of the world which constitutes three-fourths of the world cinema.

The film awards was started by the State Government of Queensland in association with CNN International, UNESCO and the International Federation of Film Producers Associations with a motive to recognize movies that present the flavour of the culture of the countries in which they are made as well as to appreciate the excellence in the craft of film making.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is owned and operated by Asia Pacific Screen Awards Ltd, a subsidiary of Queensland Events Corporation Pty Ltd

For this year’s APSA to be held in Queensland in November, over 180 films representing 43 countries will be competing.

Awards will be given for the best feature film, best cinematography, best actress, best children’s film, best screenplay, best actor, best animated film, best director and the best documentary.

‘A Jihad For Love’ made by Parvez Sharma, ‘Lakshmi And Me’ by Nishtha Jain and ‘Yes Madam, Sir’ directed by Megan Doneman and based on the life of the famous police officer Kiran Bedi are some of the works that will compete for the best documentary prize.

Other than the regular awards two additional awards are to be given for outstanding achievement.

These awards are: The International Federation of Film Producers Associations Award for outstanding achievement in film in the region of Asia Pacific and the Unesco Award for outstanding contribution to the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity through films.

Aamir Khan’s directorial debut ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ of Aushutosh Gowariker, ‘Colours of Passion’ made by Ketan Mehta, ‘Firaq’ which is directorial debut of the versatile Nandita Das, ‘Return of Hanuman’ created by Anurag Kashyap, Leena Manimekalai’s ‘Goddessess’, K.Kanade’s ‘Mahek’ and ‘The Prisoner’ by Prayas Gupta are the entries from India.

There are 12 awards in APSA of which the final entries for each category will be announced on October 1 and November 11 is the date for the Awards ceremony.

Trouble seems to have taken a liking for Ram Gopal Varma.

Another legal notice has come seeking the maverick film maker after film financier Bharat Shah issued a legal notice sometime back.

Mr. Jayant Pandya, the chairman of non governmental organization Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha is the person behind the latest legal notice.

He alleges that the director has cheated people by promoting blind faith claiming that ‘Phoonk’ cannot be seen alone by anybody in the cinema halls.

Mr.Pandya has said he was willing to take on Ramu’s challenge but was not able to do it as he was informed that he can only watch the film in a theatre in Mumbai.

He says that Varma for getting publicity for his film was really misleading the people not only by giving blind promises but also by using a theme which showed a tantrik winning over a doctor at the end of the film.

The war between the two leading Khans of Bollywood has become history and the enmity most probably will stay on ever.

Two leading musicians have taken over the reins of war from the Khans and the time has not yet come to analyse how this duel is going to end up.

The protagonists of this new story are music composer Aadesh Srhirvastava and singer/composer Adnan Sami.

Aadesh is accusing Adnan of having no respect for Indian laws and regulations.

What is the reason for Aadesh to suddenly point the finger at Adnan is not known but what little is known is that this entire friction episode was fired off some days back at BJN Banquets in Mumbai during the birthday party of Richa Sharma.

During the party Aadesh has insulted Adnan in front of the whole crowd by addressing him as a non singer who has no right to continue his career in India.

Aadesh who is the Vice President of the Cine Music Directors Association further adds that singers from Pakistan come to India and work charging very less remuneration just because they get a global platform and get noted.

He also says that Adnan Sami does not have the required legal documents to stay in India.

Aadesh further adds that if the living music legends of India like Lata Mangeshkar, Javed Akhtar and Jagjit Singh are not given visa to go to Pakistan, why should the Indian music and film industries welcome and give a chance to artists from Pakistan not taking into consideration the great talent that lies in abundance in India.

Aadesh along with other members of the music director’s association also plans to inform the different film makers that for a music director or singer to work in films, he or she has to be a registered member of the singers and composers associations and this has to be strictly followed.

One of the main points Aadesh lays down in support against Adnan is that when a person who intends to work in USA has to get the proper permit exclusively meant for the activity that the person wishes to do there, why India should go soft and allow people like Adnan to make a mockery of its rules.

Adnan Sami has not yet responded to the allegations thrown at him.

Pyramid Saimira has now decided to shut down its operations in Northern and Western Indian in view of its operational expenses. Presently the margin in the entertainment industry is not so lucrative in view of the high inflation, respite of demand for entertainment and food products.

Pyramid Saimira has already closed down 33 screens in western and northern India. But this does not hamper their operations in China, Malaysia and US.  Apart from this, Pyramid have operationalised their USA acquisition, acquired Dimples Cine Advertising, India’s largest cine advertising company and recently added Aurona Technologies to the group, to score their incursion into the gaming sphere.

They are now consolidating distribution and production segments, which will lend solidity and propel their margins, going forward. Pyramid Saimira’s focus on food and beverage segment has already started yielding dividends. In India Pyramid Saimira will totally focus on South Indian media and entertainment sectors.

Shreyas Talpade usually cannot be seen in the numerous social events and parties.

But when it comes to events conducted in support of a humane cause, he will surely let his presence to create an advantage and importance to it.

The immensely talented actor was seen gracing such an event at Prabhadevi.

The programe was conducted to give cancer patients a platform to perform and show their skills.

Shreyas after the presentation by the patients talked about his concern for the numerous people who are struggling with the disease as well as applauded the great spirit of the performers who gave a very impressive show.

Eros International stands at the forefront of pioneering content production in India and Dronaheralds the first film of its kind, combining state-of-the-art special effects with an engaging magical adventure, which will indulge audiences with a rollercoaster ride of entertainment never experienced before in Indian cinema.

Drona sets a new benchmark for Indian cinema and will present to international audiences a fascinating Indian hybrid of Harry Potter and Indiana Jones. Directed by Goldie Behl and produced by Sunil Lulla and Shristi Arya, Drona features Indian film superstars, Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra as they have never before been seen on screen. With a dramatic departure from the personas they have portrayed in any of their previous films, Dronarecreates the stars in a ‘look’ that cinemagoers will be seeing for the first time in Indian cinema. The film also sets a precedent with regard to breathtaking location filming, leading Indian cinema into new territories as far a field as Namibia, Czech Republic and Prague.

Drona also celebrates India’s foray into the celluloid realm of visual effects and the first collaboration between two respective heavyweights in the global film industry: Eros International– the leading integrated company within the India media and entertainment sector; and Charles Darby – the international pioneer of cinematic special effects, whose credits include ‘Titanic’,‘The Matrix’, ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’, ‘The Fifth Element’ and ‘Minority Report’, who together formed EYEQUBE Studios, India’s first company that is built from the ground-up for film effects supported by world-class training from renowned international experts in the field.

Commenting on the release of Drona, Mr. Sunil Lulla, President of Eros International, Indiasays, “Eros International is immensely proud to release a film of Drona’s calibre to a worldwide audience and one that has given Eros the opportunity to further push the filmic boundaries of Indian cinema and explore new territories with our unparalleled collective imagination. Drona is one of the biggest budget films to emerge from India and unequivocally the technical best. With this film, we have once again taken the decision to plunge into ever deeper creative depths and to treat our audiences to innovative and original film content.”

Inspired by the rich tapestry of Indian mythology and translated to the modern day, Drona is a compelling tale of one man’s spectacular journey through the labyrinth of mystic myths and legendary legacies. The lead protagonist, ‘Drona’ (Abhishek Bachchan), takes a voyage that forces him to confront his fears and to become the hero he was destined to be. 

The biggest magical adventure film ever to emerge from India, Drona releases in the UK and worldwide on 2^nd October 2008.

We know that when Aamir Khan associates with a film project, he makes sure that each and every other aspect relating to that film is executed in utmost perfection with shades of variety which can increase the curiosity element.

For his much awaited forth coming flick ‘Ghajini’ releasing on December 26, Aamir Khan has thought of a novel promotion idea which has never before been tried out in Bollywood.

A special and exclusive trailer of the film is being made to be exposed only through the medium of Internet.

The film lovers will be able to see the promo video in an interactive website of the film.

It is also heard that Aamir has been giving his personal opinions and suggestions on making the film’s website truly one of its kind.

 When the reach and power of the internet in today’s world is considered this is indeed a great way to promote the film and it may become a trend setter in taking the promotional activities of a film to the next level.

When the money factor is also considered, getting a platform in internet comes much cheaper when compared to beaming the promos through the television channels.