Namastey London Dreams

Rajkumar Santoshi, who is well-known for his penchant for announcing films and not completing them, is chewing his nails these days. Remember his desi tribute to Amadeus, the ambitious London Dreams starring Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan announced in 2006? Santoshi had even shot a sequence with two actors at the Golden Temple, Amritsar. Then Salman shaved off his head, went to jail, Devgan got busy, Santoshi announced more films.... and the poor producer PJ Singh was left twiddling his thumbs.

Now thanks to Salman's interest the film has been revived minus Santoshi and Devgan, and with some changes in the script. Vipul Shah is directing it with Salman and most probabaly Katrina and the film is expected to go on floors in June.

Shah has built an enviable reputation at the box office--Aanken did average business, Waqt and Namastey London were hits, and Singh is Kinng (directed by Anees Bazmi) has been sold for more than double its production cost.

After London Dreams, Shah will team up with buddy Akshay Kumar and start Action Replay by the year end.

Trends 2008: the VFX gamble

This year visual effects (VFX) is changing how movies are being made and stories being told in Bollywood. Three films, Aladdin, Drona and Love Story 2050 all set for release this year have set the ball rolling. VFX movies are different from animation films. In these films live action is integrated with computer imagery.

The making of Sujoy Ghosh's Aladdin, Goldie Behl's Drona and Harry Baweja's Love Story is already posing challenges. For starters, scenes can't be changed mid-shooting 'cos of the CGI work. Actors and crew have to spend more days shooting these films-- beween 100-150 days. That means they do lesser films in a year. More sets have to be constructed and used for larger amounts of time. And post production of these CGI intense films takes much more than the usual two months.

As a result VFX films are a costly gamble. Aladdin's budget is approx 45 cr, Love Story is 35 cr, and Drona, thanks to its numerous delays, is expected to cost almost 60 cr.

Now you know why Shankar's Robot starring Rajnikanth and Ashwariya is going to be the most expensive Indian film to be made with a budget of 100 crore! Eros International which is the producer of Alladin, Drona and Robot must surely have ants in its pants!

Ghai Vs Kukunoor

Subhash Ghai whose Mukta Arts produced Bombay to Bangkok is pissed with Nagesh Kukunoor because a) Nagesh was directing multiple films instead of concentrating on just one; ergo, his creativity flagged on B2B. b) Kukunoor tried comedy which is not his forte.

If the film had done reasonably well at the BO, I wonder what would have been Ghai's reaction. That Nagesh is great at multitasking (duh, does Mukta Art as a company suffer when Ghai directs a film?) and that he had earlier also made a successful comedy Hyderabad Blues?

Hmmm, this is the same Ghai who decided that shareholder's of Mukta Arts should be insulated against the failure of Iqbal which is why he produced it under the Mukta Searchlight banner.Of course, the moment Iqbal fared well it was quickly transferred to the Mukta Arts portfolio.

Trends 2008: Get ready for parkour!

This year action films is going to be one of the two dominating flavours in Bollywood (will write about the other flavour in my next blog). Films like Akshay Kumar's Tashan and Chandni Chowk to China, Aamir's Ghazni, and to a lesser degree Viveik Oberoi/Zayed Khan's Mission Istanbul--all of them will have action stunts as their USP.

If the Dhoom series and Cash was all about blowing up cars and bikes, it is parkour that will be the toast in 2008. Parkour in French means the art of displacement: it is the ability to move from one point to another as efficiently and quickly as possbile, using the human body. The best example of it in movies is the must watch film District B13 , Casino Royale (opening chase sequence) and to some extent Live Free or Die Hard (4.0). In India, the recently released Vikram's Bheema (Tamil) also had some nice parkour sequences.

If you know of any other good parkour action films write in.

Thought Bubble

Heath Ledger about how having a child changes life (New York Times)

“You’re forced into, kind of, respecting yourself more. You learn more about yourself through your child, I guess. I think you also look at death differently. It’s like a Catch-22: I feel good about dying now because I feel like I’m alive in her, you know, but at the same hand, you don’t want to die because you want to be around for the rest of her life.”

The Vada Pao Question

Why are producers or actors (forget NRI directors) so hesitant to sign up the current lot of Indian authors for a film deal? Is it because there are no good contemporary books that can be made into films? Or is it because producers and actorsdon't read books? Please dont give me an example of Chetan Bhagat's book being made byAtul Agnihotri...!

Mandira's Googly

India's victory in Australia has done wonders to many people. Here in Bollywood it may revive the fortune of a floundering film company and an even more floundering career of an actor. Remember Mandira Bedi, the one whose noodle strap blouses left a indelible impression in our minds rather than her expert comments on the game whenever it was telecast on Set Max?

Well Mandira's hubby, Raj Kaushal, thought if she was so popular why not make a film with wifey as a cricket fan who has the hots for Anil Kumble! PNC, who have announced more films than they have made and released, said yes promptly. The film, Meerabai Not Out, was made. And the first copy collected dust for two years. PNC thought they would release it after India's 20-20 World Cup victory but then there was no Kumble, and sadly no distributor too. Now that Kumble has done wonders Down Under, the film's hoardings have sprung up and it should be released next month. Wonderful as long as we don't see Kumble with noodle straps and Mandira bowling googlies.

Director's Cut

Guess who is Bollywood’s highest paid director? It is none other than Anees Bazmi who is being wooed with a Rs 15 crore cheque these days. Bazmi’s Welcome is a huge hit and trade circles acknowledge that it is far more profitable than SRK’s Om Shanti Om. In two weeks Welcome has grossed approx Rs 43 crore in India compared to OSO’s Rs 35 crore in 8 weeks.

The only problem signing up Bazmi today is that after 2005’s No Entry he had signed up for almost six films and, ahem, had even pocketed a hefty advance. But trust Bazmi to come up with a creative solution. He has invested the advance money smartly in real estate. Now that realty prices have doubled, he is coolly returning the advance money he had pocketed and renegotiating deals on his new found market rate!

Better Saif

If you have been wondering how Anurag Kashyap and Karan Johar (spitting venom till recently) have now made up, you must thank Saif Ali Khan for it. Chotte Nawab who has turned producer these days, had signed up Kashyap to revive his forsaken project Allwyn Kallicharan.

Kashyap’s pet project which had been dumped by Anil Kapoor many years ago will now be made starring Saif. Meanwhile, Saif and Kareena were approached by Karan Johar to star in Rensil D Silva’s new film. Saif said yes and also promptly recommended Kashyap for writing the dialogues, much to Rensil’s delight since the film has terrorism in its background. That’s what friends are for, hai na?

Meanwhile, 2008 seems to be wonderful year for Saif. Up for release are Abbas Mastan’s Race, YRF’s Tashan and Kunal Kohli’s romantic drama. He is also producing and starring in a romantic comedy directed by Imtiaz Ali with Deepika Padukone cast opposite him. You see, it’s not just chips Saif is munching these days.

The Vada Pao Question

Why can't a corporate do a Nano in Bollywood? Why can't you make a film for 1 cr (mktg and promotion costs extra, just like VAT for the Nano)? Remember Bheja Fry? Why cant you rope in the major cast and crew with sweat equity?

Pagli Aur Ugli

The joke in Bollywood is that if you dislike someone then ask him to make a film featuring Mallika Sherawat or Irrfan Khan. And if you really hate him, then ask him to make a film featuring both! Mallika is literally leaving a trail of broken purses rather than hearts in her trail. She recently walked out of a Studio 18 film to be directed by Kundan Shah (yup, the man who made Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron). She has also put on hold further shooting her of film Ugli Aur Pagli, produced by PNC.

Meanwhile, the list of incomplete Irrfan Khan films is also piling up Recently the actor walked out of the set of Right Ya Wrong, when he saw that the spotlight on a scene was more on Sunny Deol than him. With the buzz growing strong that friend Brad Pitt will rope him for Ocean’s 14, Khan is giving the heebie-jeebies to his producers. Sigh. Welcome to the world of crossover (pun intended) stars?

Some Chillies?

What do stars do when they have no films to shoot? If you are Shahrukh Khan you work on your business plans. SRK has no solo film releasing in 2008; he appears with a mere special appearance tag in producer Ravi Chopra’s Bhootnath and producer Vivek Vaswani’s Dulha Mil Gaya. Khan, the film directed by Karan Johar, will go on the floors late this year and will release in 2009.

So what is SRK busy with? Well, for starters, he has teamed up with investment bank Goldman Sachs and is drawing up a 1000 crore plan for owning BCCI’s Indian Premier League team, featuring friend Sachin Tendukar. Secondly SRK also is a stakeholder in friend Rajiv Shukla’s BAG Films soon to be launched lifestyle channel. And yes, he has also bid for the 500 crore Advertsiment Oasis, a digital amusement park floated by the Delhi municipal body. Don’t be surprised if SRK’s Red Chillies ties up with George Lucas’ special effects firm Industrial Light Magic soon for an Indian edition.