Desi Galaxy

John Abraham attended the Oscar, it was definitely a big night for him and director Deepa Mehta as their movie ‘Water’ was nominated for the Oscar. But John’s big night was not the big night for Bipasha. She didn’t accompany John to the awards ceremony. When asked why she was not there on the red carpet with John, Bipasha replied:

People don’t seem to realise that my life is not entirely John-centric. We are two individuals with work commitments. Besides, it’s his time, his due and I wanted him to enjoy it on his own. It’s not my film, so why should I be there?

John Abraham said:

Bipasha is shooting in South Africa. I think the producer, director and cast of Water are required to be there for the Oscar night. So here I am with Seema Biswas, Lisa ray and the rest of the crew. Lucky Deepa. Her soul mate is also the film’s producer, and will best with her.

Fans of this hot and sexy bollywood couple would be able to see them together with another hot bollywood couple Hema-Dharmendra in Mahesh Manjrekar’s upcoming movie ‘Hum Aise Hi’. The chemistry between John and Bipasha worked great in Jism and there is no doubt that audience would like to see them together. But then again, as Bipasha puts it, they are two individuals with career commitments.

Directed by Ram Gopal Verma, the movie is based on Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. This is story of an affair between a 60 year old married man and an 18 year old girl. Amitabh Bachchan is playing the lead role against the new comer Jiyah Khan. Hollywood has made lolita and there is no doubt that sex plays an important role in the story. We don’t know how Ram Gopal Varma is going to treat the movie, but still shows that we would be seeing lots fresh meat.

In a press conference after the music release of the movie, Amitabh said that the movie is not about sex:

The film dwells with the genuine emotions of the man and the effect it has on his family when confronted with such a situation and how they deal with it. The audience understand the honest and genuine feelings of my character in the film rather than sex and sensuality.

The newcomer Jiah Khan told news conference that she plays her age in the film.

My character is of different shades who is extreme in her thoughts. It was interesting to play such a role.

Jiah Khan is originally from London where she learnt acting, dancing and singing. It is rumored that she is daughter of Tahir Husein which makes her Aamir Khan’s stepsister. However, Tahir Hussain publicly accepted that Jiah Khan’s mother Rabiya is a close friend but denied that Jiah Khan is his daughter.

The Hollywood version of Lolita is a critically acclaimed movie starring Jeremy Irons and Melanie Griffith. The movie had an R rating for aberrant sexuality, a strong scene of violence, nudity and some language. I think Ram Gopal verma has shown violence in his movies, he created one of the sexiest songs ever made for a hindi movie ‘Tanha Tanha’, where he showed Urmila running on the beach wearing a shirt. But I don’t think that there would be any nudity in the movie. What I can see from the stills and posters is that Jiah is trying hard to copy Charlotte from the hollywood version.

Since Nishabd has Amitabh Bachchan, the movie is going to be a must watch for people who want to see good cinema. However I doubt that Ramu would be able to maintain balance between sexuality and romance. I also doubt that he would be able to convince the audience of the relationship, the bond and the love between the two characters.

I was wondering what Karan Johar is doing these days. Yes sure he is busy doing Koffee with Karan, whatelse? Khalid Mahmood asked him the same question for Hindustan Times.

I’m into the research mode for my next film, it’s the first time I’m into in-depth research.. Then I’ve shot 12 episodes for Koffee with Karan, I’ll be shooting 13 more, hopefully for everyone’s coffee fix. I’ve directed an ad film, I’ve just shot with Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) after a break of five to six years.

He said exactly the same thing for KANK (Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna). Research wasn’t visible in the movie at all. If I were Khalid Mamood, I would have asked Karan to tell us more about his research work and how he does this research. I would also like to know which scenes in his movies are a result of intense research into human emotions. Definitely Karan comes up with nice dialogues and an emotional story, but a person needs to watch too many movies to do Karan kind of films. Is this what Karan does to research on his topics? In real life, a couple crying at a railway station and reassuring each other of emotions they share is weird not entertaining but in movies when mixed with dramatic dialogues, nice locations, costumes, music and handsome actors the same thing creates super hit movie. Go a head with your research Karan, but please consider releasing a DVD version with Director’s notes appearing at the bottom of the screen, telling us how you crafted this particular moment for cinema.

This year the awards were presented in a totally different format. The show was exclusively for film fraternity. Celebrities wore formal black-tie soiree. Most dance performances were filmed and recorded days before the show. Performances included dances by Sridevi, Amrita Rao, Rani Mukherji, Bipasha Basu and Hrithik Roshan. Music director A.R. Rehman performed live during the event. The event was held on 24th February and broadcasted exclusively by Sony Entertainment television on 25th February. The show was hosted by Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar, Juhi Chawla and Priety Zinta.

Hrithik Roshan won the best actor award for Dhoom2 and Kajol won the best actoress award for Fanaa. Abhishek got the best supporting actor for Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Konkana Sen Sharma won the best supporting actoress award for her role in Omkara. Konkana Sen Sharma is a very talented actoress and I felt really happy for her. Saif Ali Khan earned award for the negative role in Omkara. Arshad Warsi got the Best Comedian for Lage Raho Munnabhai. Rang De Basanti was named the Best Film for 2006.

Stars appreciated the new formal style of the Filmfare award ceremony:

Speaking about the new format of the 52nd FairOne Filmfare Awards 2006, Preity Zinta said, “Filmfare being a black-tie event is news that we completely welcome. This time it is going to be special.” Adding to this, Shahrukh Khan who was also the emcee for the evening, commented, “This is a step in the right direction. Change is most essential.”

Check out Salman Khan talking about his passion, love life, God and upcoming projects. Remember Salman Khan is not an easy to get interviewed celebrity he has had troubles with media in the past so he usually avoids media.

India Times followed and has recently interviewed Salman Khan. I hate India Times website but I love Salman Khan.

In other Salman related news, Hrithik Roshan has made an on screen joke about Salman Khan and Aamir Khan while answering rapidfire questions at Koffee with Karan.

Also check out Salman Online a fansite dedicated to Salman Khan. It has lots of photos, images, wallpapers, shirtless pictures, and videos of Salman Khan. I loved their Saltoons section.

Please Click To Enlarge Images:

Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World and currently one of the top actoress in India, married a tree and a God’s idol as a part of religious rituals to remove the bad effects of planet Mars on her astrology. Aishwarya Rai is going to marry Abhishek Bachchan, an actor and son of legendary Indian superstar Amitabh Bachchan. Aishwarya Rai is a Mangleek, an astrological term used for people under the influence of Mars. A San Francisco Bay Area Vedic astrologer Pandit Parashar explained that it means Ash’s marriage to Abhishek could either end in divorce or his death. Marrying a tree and god’s statue would remove the bad impact of Mars from her future.

There are millions of people who follow these super stars, they read about them in newspapers and watch news on television. May be all this is just part of creating a hype around Abhishek Aishwarya marriage, or may be the two families really believe in these rituals. It is their right to practise religious rituals, but they are something of an Idol themselves in India. Their acts may effect the lives of millions who look at them as role models. In a country where astrological match making is still considered important such acts would push back the enlightment efforts carried out by numerous reform organizations in the country. A lawyer in Patna has filed a lawsuite against Aishwarya Rai for practicing the ‘untouchability’ service, which is associated with the caste system, because such ceremonies are in violation of the Indian constitution and are deemed offensive to women. The petitioner wants Aishwarya and Bachchan family to publicly apologize for ‘false marriages’.

I also believe that the Bachchans and Rais have a right not to apologize for practising their beliefs, but marrying trees and statues is just too much of stupidity.

Salaam-e-Ishq is a crappy Indian copy of “Love Actually”. Nikhil Advani is a talented director, but embedding six stories into one love marathon is a difficult job. He tried and he failed. What this movie lacks is a witty plot with surprises and twists. Some thing that surprises the audience and keeps them captivated during a three and a half hour long movie.

The abstract style of story telling that Nikhil introduced in ‘Kal ho na ho’ didn’t work out for Salam e ishq. The six stories needed to be joined together and Nikhils no surprises and typical hindi film approach to the climax fails him to successfully attach the stories together. Taran Adarsh discussed the plot of movie in his review on IndiaFM.

Music was not at all bad. Shankar Ehsan Loy did a good job, specially the experimentation they did with songs like ‘Babu ji Dheeray chalna‘ and ‘Qawwali Saiyaan Re’. They also attempted to mix indian musical instruments with caribbean in the songs ‘Dil Kya Kare‘ and ‘Tenu Leke’. These elements make the music quite pleasant and surprisingly good. But unfortunately Nikhil failed to picturise the songs with something equally new and beautiful.

You can watch the movie trailor here:

http://www.salaam-e-ishq.com/

Some pictures, images, posters and movie stills:

http://123india.santabanta.com/wallgallery.asp?catname=Salaam-e-Ishq

Cast:
Priyanka Chopra
John Abraham
Salman Khan
Anil Kapoor
Akshay Khanna
Ayesha Takia
Govinda
Vidya Balan

Story: Nikhil Advani
Screenplay: Suresh Nair
Script: Saurabh Shukla

Costumes: Vikram Phadnis

Well you must have read about the Mallika Sherwat’s performance at J.W. Marriot Hotel in Mumbai. A 49 year old businessman cum social activist Vinod Jain has sued Mallika for obsenity. You can read Vinod Jain’s interview on Mallika is caught pulling down the trouser of a man and the man appears quite embrassed about that. There are Millions of men who would love to get their trousers pulled away by Sherawat, but unfortunately that night became nightmare for Malika because it seems like that this unknown man is already on the list of Mr. Vinod’s list of witnesses and most probably he is going to tell the court that Malika attempted to molest and seduce him in front of a huge crowd.