Bollywood Today

IIFA Awards 2011 going to Canada
After having moved to far-off places like Britain, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and Thailand, the organizers of the Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) has zeroed in on Toronto, Canada, for the 2011 edition. Toronto would be the first North American city to host the IIFA. The name of the venue for the 2010 is, however, yet to be finalized though. The IIFA organizers termed it an unprecedented move to name the 2011 venue over the 2010 one, but said that Toronto’s excitement and passion to host the mega awards event for 2011 has been the basis for this exclusion. They also said that negotiations are on with quite a few countries about the 2010 IIFA and the final announcement would be made very soon.

The brand ambassador of IIFA – Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan conveyed his best wishes and pledged his full support to Toronto for making the 2011 event a mega success.

Lata Mangeshkar Presented With Highest Civilian Honor Of France
The French embassy will honor singing legend Lata Mangeshkar with the Officier de la Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian award, for her contribution to music. The award function will be part of the French Film Festival. The Nightingale of India was actually conferred the honor three years back, but she could not receive it then due to poor health. Incidentally, Amitabh Bachchan received the award earlier to Lata, though being selected at a later occasion. Prior to Lata and Bachchan, it was eminent film personalities like Satyajit Ray and Sivaji Ganeshan who has been presented with this prestigious honor.

The 80-year-old says she feels extremely honored to be chosen for the honor. “I don’t know why god continues to shower his largesse on me when I’ve reached an age when I’ve received more love and honor than any human deserves. But the French are a class act. And I feel honored to be chosen by them”, Lata told newsmen on receiving the news.

Amitabh Bachchan conferred Asian Film Cultural Award
The French embassy will honor singing legend Lata Mangeshkar with the Officier de la Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest civilian award, for her contribution to music. The award function will be part of the French Film Festival. The Nightingale of India was actually conferred the honor three years back, but she could not receive it then due to poor health. Incidentally, Amitabh Bachchan received the award earlier to Lata, though being selected at a later occasion. Prior to Lata and Bachchan, it was eminent film personalities like Satyajit Ray and Sivaji Ganeshan who has been presented with this prestigious honor.

The 80-year-old says she feels extremely honored to be chosen for the honor. “I don’t know why god continues to shower his largesse on me when I’ve reached an age when I’ve received more love and honor than any human deserves. But the French are a class act. And I feel honored to be chosen by them”, Lata told newsmen on receiving the news.

Boney Kapoor, Adoor Get Lifetime Achievement Awards At Cairo Fest
Bollywood producer Boney Kapoor and noted Malayalam filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan have been conferred with the lifetime achievement award at the 33rd Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) 2009. Kapoor’s actress-wife Sridevi and brother-in-law Sandeep Marwah were also honored for their contribution to cinema and media at the gala event.

While Boney Kapoor has produced super hit Bollywood flicks like Mr. India, Company, No Entry and the recent Wanted among others; multiple National Award winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan has to his credit movies like Naalu Pennungal, Swayamvaram, Kodiyettam, Mathilukal, Vidheyan and Kathapurushan. While Sridevi needs no introduction, Marwah is the founder and president of Asian Academy of Film and TV (AAFT) in Noida and has produced many short films.

India is a special guest of honor at the festival and around 25 Indian movies will be screened during the 11-day affair that opened with Yash Raj Films’ New York. A retrospective section is also being held where five movies of filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar – Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate, Traffic Signal and Fashion – will be screened

A Round-Up Of What Went Past And What Is To Come
2009 was particularly not a good year for Bollywood. Crippled by a number of factors, the film industry could not deliver the results as was expected and several high budget films bit the dust for want of audience. It is said that the film industry alone suffered a tumultuous loss of Rs 700 Crores or $ 140 Million. However, amidst the ruins were some hit

The figures are approximate collections till early December and does not include recent releases like Kurban, Rocket Singh or Paa.

However, things look hopeful in the coming year as a number of big films are about to hit the screens in the n ext few months. Some of the prominent forthcoming releases are:-

Madhuri Dixit To Play Indira Gandhi In Biopic
It is indeed a sensational news. Asian-American filmmaker Krishna Shah is set to make a biopic on Indira Gandhi and has roped in Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixit to play the role of India’s first and only woman prime minister. Titled Mother: The Indira Gandhi Story, the film was announced on the late prime ministers 92nd birth anniversary. The pre-production of the film has already been done. It will go on floors in mid 2010 and be shot in India, Britain, US and Russia. Apart from Madhuri, Bollywood actors Dharmendra, Abhay Deol and Nana Patekar have been approached to play Motilal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi and Jayaprakash Narayan respectively. Hollywood star Tom Hanks is likely to be a part of the film as former US president Lyndon Baines Johnson. Tommy Lee Jones is also being approached for a pivotal role in the film.

Mother: The Indira Gandhi Story will be made in two parts. While the first part will unfold the story from her birth to her emergence as Maa Durga (goddess of War) after her victory against Pakistan in the 1971 war, the second part will cover her political journey from the rise of her son Sanjay Gandhi to her assassination in 1984.

Filmmakers Corner
Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar is going to take a breqk from his tried and tested genre of films. After hobnobbing with burning social issues in films like Chandni Bar, Satta, Page 3, Corporate and the recent release Jail, Bhandarkar will now try his hands in comedy. He plans to do a film on the lines of what Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s comedies were. In January next year, the director will launch five films under his banner Bhandarkar Films. Among these, he will direct two of them – which would be a comedy and the other one – a social film on women’s issues. The other three would be directed by debutantes, whom the prodigal director would launch. Finally , an interesting piece of news on Bhandarkar is that – he happened to meet Ben Kingsley at the 40th International Indian Festival Of India in Goa and the Oscar winning director expressed a keenness to watch his films. He has arranged for them on DVD.

Aclaimed filmmaker Priyadarshan is b asking in the success if his recent laugh riot De Danaa Dan. Now, he wants some serious isues to be taken up for film-making and hence has zeroed in on a very sensitive subject. He now plans to make a film on AIDS with Aamir Khan in a way that’s palatable to the public. Always a man to sense the pulse of the cine-going audience, Priyan’s forthcoming films too involve subjects that the audience can relate with. It includes films like Khatta Meetha with Akshay Kumar, which is based on a construction mafia or Trisha with Ajay Devgn, Bipasha Basu and Akshaye Khanna – which involves theme like the stigma attached to inter-caste marriages. Priyadarshan is known for his hit films like the Hera Pheri series, Garam Masala , Bhagam Bhag and Bhool Bhulaiyya .

Veteran actor Ben Kingsley, who won accolades across the world with his performance as Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi, was in Goa to raise money for his forthcoming dream project Taj apart from gracing the 40th edition of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The Academy award winning actor is expected to portray the character of Shahajahan in the film was accorded Z category security and had been escorted by a specially designated police escort vehicle, a personal security guard and a quick reaction team (QRT) during his stay in Goa. Kingsley, a guest of honour at the IFFI also walked the red carpet at the ceremony.

The fear of having a face-to-face clash with Amitabh Bachchan scares even one of the most successful filmmaker of Bollywood. In order to avoid a clash with Amitabh Bachchan starrer Teen Patti, the release date of Farhan Akhtar’s Karthik Calling Karthik has now been pushed ahead. Now Karthik Calling Karthik will be released a fortnight later to Teen Patti – which is expected to hit the screens on February 12. Karthik Calling Karthik is a romantic thriller starring Farhan, where the story involves the life of the protagonist Karthik, which changes with the help of someone who also claims to be of the same name. The film is being directed and written by Vijay Lalwani and also stars Deepika Padukone, Ram Kapoor and Shefali Shah.

Boom director K aizad Gustad’s next film will feature three of the finest actors of Bollywood – Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah and Sanjay Dutt. Now while industry sources say that while Kaizad is strapped for a producer, Sanjay Dutt is expected to be the guardian angel as he feels a strong sense of empathy for Kaizad.. He has assured Kaizad that he will either produce the film himself or get a producer for Kaizad.

Rajkumar Santoshi has just given a huge hit in Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, a romantic comedy with youngsters Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, but he’s not the kind to repeat a genre because it struck gold. He now plans to work with Sunny Deol with hopes of rekindling the magic of Ghayal and Damini. The film’s genre would be centred on action drama and would come with a hard-hitting punch. In his two-decade journey as a filmmaker, Santoshi has dabbled in different genres – from laugh riots, action thrillers to drama flicks. While Ghayal and Damini were action and drama movies, Andaz Apna Apna was a cult classic comic affair. Ghatak was an emotional action film, Pukar was an espionage thriller, Lajja spoke of womens empowerment while Halla Bol was revolutionary in approach.