Bollywood Whisper- gossip, news from Bollywood: July 2008

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Is Yash Chopra serious?

“The Indian audience today is too intelligent to be fooled by just glitzy packaging. I strongly feel that films are made by stories and not by stars, technicians, directors or producers. And that is why this blind spot in Indian cinema needs to be overcome soon”

Guess who said that last weekend? I bet you didn't answer Yash Chopra! But, surprise suprise, it was the old doyen himself while accepting the 'Officer de la Legion d'Honneur'-- the highest French civilian award last week .

Is Yash Chopra serious? If he does think that films are made by stories and not by stars, technicians, directors or producer, then how does he explain Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Aaja Nachle,Ta Ra Rum Pum , Laaga Chuneri Mein Daag, Tashan, and now Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic?

I find it hard to believe that the man who made Waqt, Deewar, Trishul, Kaala Pathar, Kabhi Kabhi, Chandini, Silsila, Dil To Pagal Hai could churn out these recent duds.

I can think of only three reasons why he would do so. One, he thought that the YRF current duds were actually good scripts. Two, he thought they were bad but was overruled by Aditya Chopra. Three, Chopra was joking at the award ceremony.

The last seems most likely. Here is Chopra again at the French ceremony.

''There is intellectual bankruptcy in Indian films.... I get a bad story, I make a bad film,'' he said, laughingly.

Should we laugh too?

Monday, July 7, 2008

Stupid promos

Am I stupid or what? Can anyone please explain why do the first couple of promos of most of the new releases feature a dance or a song?

I can understand if the film is a musical. Or if its a montage of scenes which a song nicely highlights. But a dance? I mean would I go to watch Govinda because of that inane dance number in Money Hai to Honey Hai or because the film is funny? Mission Istanbul is an action thriller about international terrorism and what do I see? A love song or a rap number with Zayed Khan and Viveik Oberoi jiving, with some random explosions throw in between!

I can understand the rationale of the Kabhi Kabhi Aditi song promo of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na-- it gave me a glimpse of a relationship between a bunch of collegians. I was glued to the promo because most of the cast was newcomers (yes, it is a lovely A R Rahman song too). But I wouldnt have cared for it if the promo featured SRK, Rani Mukherji and a whole bunch of NRIs.

This why the Bachna Ae Haseeno promo does not work for me. To me it looks like a long commercial of a deo. Else, why the hell does everyone in the film stretch their arms and sing? Just because SRK did it in DDLJ, you think its going to be lucky for Yash Raj Films again?

How a hero is made!

This apocryphal story, courtesy a well-known filmmaker, is a wonderful example of how bruised egos and coincidences make a Bollywood hero.

Almost two years ago, Adlabs owner Manmohan Shetty went to meet Shahruh Khan at Mannat. Shetty's car was stopped outside the gate and not let in 'cos just a day ago SRK's pup had been run over by a guest's vehicle while driving up the portico. SRK had lambasted the security chaps. Next day thanks to the overenthuasistic guards, Shetty, flush with funds from the Reliance investment, had to wait for almost twenty minutes outside the gates of Mannat. He was fuming would be an understatement.

When Shetty returned to the Adlabs office, Harry Baweja was waiting to meet him--to see if Adlabs would finance Love Story 2050, Baweja's launch vehicle for son Harman. Shetty said yes and okayed a budget of 30 crores--unheard in Bollywood for launching a newcomer.

Shetty's backing of Love Story 2050 had a ripple effect. Another producer stepped forward and announced a 25 crore project with Harman in the lead. Others followed, each upping their project cost. Financially Shetty's gamble had paid off 'cos everybody other producer thought, and they still do, that its okay to do a 30 crore Harman film.

Love Story 2050 has bombed.

And Bollywood has a new star.

Vada Pao Question

1.Why do we ask if a film is a hit or a flop? How does it matter to us? Do you ask if the drink or dish you order is the most popular in the restaurant?

2. The Indian television industry earns almost three times more than Bollywood. If TV is the idiot box, then what should we call the big screen?

3. Why is that no child or parent of a superstar actor is a superstar?

4. Why is that the films which feature Shah Rukh Khan in a guest appearance always (except Saathiya) fail at the box office?

5. Amitabh Bachchan and Khalid Mohamed were at one time very good friends. Today they have fallen apart. Can a journalist and a celebrity be friends ONLY as long as they don't criticise each other in public?

6. Salman Khan was born in Indore, has never lived abroad, and his father Salim speaks with him in Hindi. So where does Salman get his heavily accented English from?

7. If Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, Hulk Hogan and John Cena can be movie stars, why not 'Khali' Dalip Singh Rana?

8. Mukesh Ambani bid the highest ($111.9 million) for the IPL Mumbai franchisee. Yash Raj Films Tashan is one of the most lavishly mounted and star studded films to release this year. Why have both of them failed?

9.When film stars can own cricket teams, why can't they own award ceremonies? After all, Amitabh Bachchan is the brand ambassador of IIFA and Ekta Kapoor hosts her own television award show.

10. Marriage is such a big thing for us that when we get married, we don't screw up the "procedure" or the "ceremony". So how do you explain Sanjay Dutt and Manyata getting it wrong thrice?

Out Takes

“A technician makes a minimum of 10,000 rupees a day. So if he is a member of the jury, he would have to sacrifice 3 weeks pay at least. We get Rs 500 rupees sitting fee and Rs 150 dinner allowance! Who is going to be a member of the jury then?” Rahul Dholakia, director and National Film Awards jury member
"I think Aamir realised that I was getting somewhat bothered with what my contemporaries were doing, especially the way films like Omkara, Black Friday and Chak De!India were pushing the envelope. So he would constantly rein me in by telling me to just “shoot the bloody script you narrated to me”. As for Mansoor, he’s a saint. I would marvel at the fact that he would be on the sets and speak only when he felt he really needed to. On the first day itself, he told me, “I’m not here to do your job. I’m available to ensure you get all the stuff you need”. Mansoor never once said that this is how he would’ve shot a scene." Abbas Tyrewala (Indian Express)
“Say you are watching a Tamil film. It has a well-defined catchment area. So the location of the characters, caste, class, everything is very clear. The problem for Bollywood is this. Who is its natural audience? Who speaks Hindi? Nobody does. When I had two minutes of Hindi as its spoken anywhere in Rajasthan in Manorama. People complained that it’s a dialect and that they couldn’t understand it. So we have movies about nowhere for people from nowhere.” Director Navdeep Singh (Tehelka)
"Aamir is an original film and I am yet to see Cavite. I started writing my script in early 2005 and completed it in 2006, while Cavite’s DVD was released in India in 2007. If it were a copy, the script would have been done in one night, not one year" Director Rajkumar Gupta (Indian Express)
“Often I hear the question ‘how come a filmmaker does not realize how bad a film he is making?’ The truth is that the filmmaker will be the last to know how the film is shaping up or shaped up.” Ram Gopal Varma (in his blog)
“The problem is the assumption that if I am selling the movie — because I’m selling me — that I’m being egotistical. If Will Smith did the same thing, it would be perceived very differently. You’re supposed to be hidden if you’re a director. That’s a rule that who said in the movie business?”- Manoj Night Shyamalan (New York Times)
"It is not impossible to make mainstream films which are really good. Costa-Gavras once said that accidents can happen.” Director, producer, actor, Sydney Pollack
"The corporates haven’t brought in the professionalism at all. The change is coming in as a result of younger talent entering the industry. They have ambitions and their own filmmaking ethic is shaping Bollywood now. The corporates don’t have the talent or the vision; they only try and sell a script, and somehow decide that a Rs 3 crore budget with Irrfan Khan is ‘safe’ or a Rs 40 crore budget with Akshay Kumar is ‘safe.’”- Vishal Bhardwaj (Tehelka)
“I am probably the highest paid writer in the world, and I wasn't even the smartest kid in my class, and I am not the strongest writer, and I had no connections anywhere in cinema, so how do you explain that? Other than luck, put luck aside for a second, so what's going on? I have an answer -- I am more me than they are them” Manoj Night Shyamalan on the importance of sticking to your own unique voice or style.
“From among 4000 entries they just take 20 films, and we don’t come remotely close to the top list. What’s the contribution of stars like Shah Rukh Khan to the world cinema? They made Aishwarya Rai represent India because a substantial part of the film festival was funded by L’Oreal and she is its brand ambassador. Do we just need cosmetics to represent us there? Aren’t they laughing at us by doing that? We can’t send good films, so they take a beautiful face from here!” Director Shaji Karun on why Cannes ignores India.
“It’s like saying if you are an airhostess, you get to meet many people, but the big question is, do you really want to? There is a downside to everything. If we take ourselves too seriously, we actors will definitely need a psychiatrist.” Kamal Hasan on leading an exciting life as an actor (DNA)
“My film has not impressed the critics because Tashan does not follow a set formula – the narrative style. The film is for the masses. I had hoped the probably the sharper brains would also like it. But I was wrong.” Director Vijay Krishna Acharya
"We hear Hindi films are not doing well. Maybe the exhibitors should pull out Tashan and screen Aamhi Saat Pute instead," Marathi film maker Satish Kulkarni (TOI)
“I think the whole magic of Amitji has gone now. I think he should gracefully retire." Anurag Basu (Stardust)
“I could do many of the most dramatic scenes in one shot, like the climax (of nearly 10 minutes) and most of Kajol’s scenes. There was no need to keep cutting. I had placed multiple cameras. It’s not that I want to show off but being an actor helped,” Ajay Devgan (The Telegraph)
“Unlike individual producers, corporates are bringing in better understanding of exploitation. Movie business is about three things – making movies, marketing and distribution. If you get any one of them wrong you are dead. Today marketing and positioning a movie is as important as selecting the right release date.” – Sandeep Bhargava , CEO, The Indian Film Co (businessofcinema.com)
“Good acting comes from honesty, I really thinks so. I think that you can never lie to the camera, you can try and convince the camera but at the end of the day you have to believe in each and everything you do in front of the camera otherwise it doesn't work and honesty is difficult.”- Kajol (NDTV)
"A blockbuster, today, is one which makes crores within the first few days of its opening. It is not determined by the number of weeks it runs,” -- Yash Chopra (Business Standard)
“One, I make sure the actors have something to do when they talk. Many actors don’t know where to place their hands. Give them something to do and their performances become more real. Second, I make sure actors are not just standing, facing each other and talking. I always make them move so they relax physically. I never use the same angle again in a scene.”- Priyadarshan on his method (Tehelka)
"Why can't our producers buy remake rights?" Ravi Chopra after buying the rights for My Cousin Vinny to make Banda Yeh Bindas Hai
“First you write Om. That’s what I always do. Then comes dedication, which is followed by talent. Subtract arrogance. Divide it by luck. That is equal to hit machine. But, tell you what, prayers work much better than this formula or maths.” Akshay Kumar on his success formula (CNN-IBN)
“I keep the budgets so low, that the film no longer depends on the box office draw and I don’t have to compromise my creative freedom.” Rajat Kapoor (The Hindu)
“I still continue to make films only for myself. It’s a myth you can make films for the audience. You don’t know who the audience is. So my films are going to be far more experimental than before. Contract (my new film) takes me into areas I haven’t gone into before.” Ram Gopal Varma (Mid-day)
“God has given me status and money. And instead of buying a plane and living an extravagant life, I want to invest money in sports." Shahrukh Khan (CNN-IBN)
“ There’s still a feeling among writers that for a good film you just need a good writer and a good cinematographer. The director’s job is to bring the sulking actress out of the trailer”- Ian McEwan, author, Atonement (Hindustan Times)
The difference of being famous from television and famous from film is, when you are famous from a television series, people feel they know you personally because you're in their homes. I remember getting off a plane with Mel Gibson. I was doing "ER"; Mel Gibson was Mel Gibson! He was 20 feet high, and you paid $12 to go see him. And everyone is whispering, "Mel Gibson, Mel Gibson!" And they're like, "George!" (He imitates someone putting him in a headlock.) There is such a difference between the two- (George Clooney, The Hollywood Reporter)
Amol Gupte, who had acted in one of Aamir Khan’s directions in college, had wanted to cast Akshaye Khanna in Nikhumb’s role and asked his college junior, Khan, for help. “We had to have a mainstream star to attract the audience.” Khanna was unavailable and Khan showed an interest. “He wept and wept at the first narration. I could see him reacting to the story not like a star, but like a parent and an individual; he had the vision to understand the script and that was half the job done,” recalls Gupte (Indian Express, Jan 13, 2008)

Bollywood Whisper- gossip, news from Bollywood