Desi Galaxy

Neetu Singh and Rishi Kapoor’s son, Ranbir Kapoor is debuting into the bollywood with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawaryia. Anil Kapoor’s daughter Sonam Kapoor is also debuting from this movie which is expected to be released in November 2007.

Saawaryia will be the first ever Indian movie produced by a Hollywood production house, Sony Pictures India. The movie is based on a short story ‘White Nights’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I feel that it is a little too complex story to be made into a bollywood movie. But you know Bhansali, he is different and zara hat ke.

Ranbir Kapoor’s first movie is yet to be released but being a Kapoor, he already has offers for some big movies. Like Munna Bhai series’ director Rajkumar Hirani has signed Ranbir for a sarcastic comedy based on the education system. Rumors are around that Ranbir has also signed a role in third movie of the Dhoom series.

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.

Angelina Jolie had taken over the media in India during her week long stay in the country. She is hot and coupling with Brad Pitt makes her even hotter. She was shooting her movie based on Mariane Pearl’s book “A Mighty Heart“.

Angelina wanted to film the movie in Karachi, Pakistan. She said in a weekend statement that she was disappointed not to be filming in Pakistan, “a country I love and have visited three times.” But security concerns pushed the filming to the western Indian city of Pune, which was chosen because it resembles Karachi, Pakistan.”

But ultimately she had to do it in India for security concerns. Security of the hottest Hollywood couple had been a serious concern for Indian authorities aswell. According to news reports some security guards threatened to kill journalists in Pune and one of the couple’s vehicles also bumbed a motorcycle rider.

Angelina’s decission to play Mariane Pearl has also caused criticism from some black rights group. Blogs on BlackLooks.org read, “I had assumed that the days when white actors took on the roles of black people had long passed away… There are mixed-race or black actresses who could have done a damn good job in this role.

“You can’t tell me that Halle Berry or other women of African descent wouldn’t have been a better choice - what is taking place here is an act of arrogance and whitewashing by people who think that because they are super-rich they can be anything they want.”

Angelina Jolie’s movie has also sparked an interest among the audiences for the HBO documentary “The Journalist and the Jihadi: The Murder of Daniel Pearl” and Mariane Pearl’s book “A Mighty Heart”.