American music star Akon in Bollywood’s Ra.One
February 28, 2010
Senegalese-American musician Akon is reportedly recording a song for the soundtrack of the upcoming Bollywood superhero action film
Ra.One, starring
Shahrukh Khan. It’s rumored that Akon will also make an appearance in the film. The Grammy-nominated singer will join the ranks of other Western music artists who’ve contributed to Bollywood films in recent years. American rapper Snoop Dogg performed on the title track of
Singh is Kinng in 2008 and Australian pop star Kylie Minogue performed a song in
Blue in 2009. In
Ra.One, Khan plays a software engineer who becomes a video-game hero and combats a virtual monster he created. Indian actors
Kareena Kapoor and
Vivek Oberoi also star in the film.
Bollywood acting program offered at Toronto college
February 28, 2010
Wanna learn how to be a Bollywood actor without moving to India? North Americans, here’s your chance. The Canadian Institute of Management and Technology near Toronto now offers a Bollywood acting diploma program. Students must audition for the 16-week program, which costs C$9,000 for Canadians and C$13,000 for international students. The program is approved by Ontario's Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, and its first students will graduate in April. Graduates are guaranteed membership in the Senior Artists Association, a film trade union in Mumbai. The program director, Lucky Sanda, is a former child actor who appeared in several Bollywood films, including
Do Anjaane (1976) and
Mein Tulsi Tere Angan Ki (1978), before moving to Canada in 1992. The Canadian Institute of Management and Technology also offers diplomas in business and technology programs. The college is located in Mississauga, part of the greater Toronto area. About 300,000 Indians live in Toronto—about 12 percent of the population—making them the largest minority ethnic group in the city. Toronto is set to become the first North American city to host one of Bollywood’s major awards ceremonies, the International Indian Film Academy Awards, from June 16-19, 2011. The event, which honors artistic and technical achievement in the Hindi film industry, takes place in a different city outside of India every year in an effort to promote Hindi cinema around the world. For more information about CIMT’s Bollywood acting program, visit
www.bollywoodacting.com or email
bollywoodacting@cimtcollege.com.
Bollywood director to make English-language film debut
February 22, 2010
Acclaimed Indian director Vidhu Vinod Chopra is reportedly splitting his time between Los Angeles and Mumbai as he begins work on his next project,
Broken Horses, an English-language film—his first—about two brothers embroiled in the drug trade on the U.S.-Mexico border. Chopra has said there’s nothing Indian about the movie and he will cast Western actors in it. The film is being shot in New Mexico and New York and is expected to release later this year. Chopra’s most recent production,
3 Idiots, a coming-of-age comedy starring
Aamir Khan that released last December, is the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time, collecting more than $80 million worldwide, including a decent take from the U.S. market—$6.5 million—also a box-office record. Chopra, 53, said he learned English as a teenager by watching Hollywood films. Shortly after leaving film school, he made a short documentary,
An Encounter with Faces, about impoverished children in India, which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1979. He made his first feature film in 1981,
Sazaye Maut, a crime thriller. His most lauded films include
1942: A Love Story (1993),
Mission Kashmir (2000), and
Munna Bhai MBBS (2003).
India’s Eros and UK’s EMI forge music pact
February 21, 2010
The cross-pollination of Indian and Western pop culture continues—this time, with music. Indian movie distributor Eros International and British music company EMI Group have agreed to distribute each other’s music catalogs. Eros is a dominant player in the Indian entertainment market, and EMI has top Western artists such as Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Pink recording under its labels. Under the deal, Eros will market EMI’s catalog of 1.3 million songs in India, while EMI will market Eros’ catalog of Bollywood and South Asian music worldwide, except in India. The companies first worked together last year to obtain a license for “Beedi,” a song from the Bollywood film
Omkara (2006), as the theme song for the hit Brazilian television show,
Caminho das Indias, a program that has touched off a craze in Brazil for everything Indian, including Bollywood. Western music captures as small a market share in India as Indian music does in the West. The same is true of film—India and the West have yet to significantly penetrate each other’s movie markets. Indian composer A.R. Rahman has helped introduce Indian music to mainstream Western audiences with his Oscar- and Grammy-winning soundtrack for the film
Slumdog Millionaire. The Indian music and movie industries are highly intertwined—about 70% of music sales come from movie soundtracks.
‘Bollywood by the Bay’ at Supperclub San Francisco
February 20, 2010
Trikone and Asha for Education will host “Bollywood by the Bay” at Supperclub San Francisco on Friday, March 5 at 10 pm. The event will feature music by DJ Precaution and DJ Calvin Prasad and dance performances. Supperclub San Francisco is located at 657 Harrison Street, San Francisco, CA; (415) 348-0900;
www.supperclub.com. Tickets are $15 if purchased online at
www.trikone.org and $20 at the door. Trikone is a support and advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender South Asians (
www.trikone.org). Asha for Education is a nonprofit that helps provide education to underprivileged children in India (
www.ashanet.org).
‘My Name Is Khan’ breaks U.S. opening-weekend record
February 16, 2010
My Name Is Khan, a Bollywood love story set in the U.S. with a 9/11 backdrop, grossed more than $18 million worldwide during its opening weekend, according to distributor Fox Star Studios, including $2.3 million in the U.S., setting an American box-office record for a Bollywood film. Starring
Shahrukh Khan and
Kajol, the movie is about a Muslim Indian with Asperger syndrome who moves to San Francisco and marries a Hindu, but after the World Trade Center is attacked and his family becomes the victim of religious bigotry and violence, his marriage falls apart, and he embarks on a cross-country journey to meet the U.S. president and win back his wife. The film, which released February 12, breaks the previous U.S. opening-weekend record for a Bollywood film set by the coming-of-age comedy,
3 Idiots, starring
Aamir Khan, which collected nearly $2.2 million in the U.S. during its opening weekend last December.
3 Idiots went on to make $70 million worldwide—also a box-office record for an Indian movie and one that
My Name Is Khan could break.
My Name Is Khan was reportedly sold to Fox Star Studios last July for $21 million—the highest price ever paid by a distributor for a Bollywood film. Under the deal, Fox Star Studios—a joint venture between American film studio 20th Century Fox and India’s Star Group—acquired the worldwide marketing and distribution rights to the film. It was released in North America by Fox Searchlight Pictures, a division of 20th Century Fox.
Louisiana Bollywood Film Festival to roll in Shreveport
February 11, 2010
The Louisiana Bollywood Film Festival—the first of its kind—will be held at The Robinson Film Center in Shreveport, Louisiana from Saturday, February 13 to Sunday, February 21. Film selections include:
A Wednesday! (2008,
The Namesake (2006),
Devdas (2002),
Sholay (1975), and
Water (2005). The festival is organized by Friends of the Louisiana State University in Shreveport India Studies Program, the India Association of Shreveport-Bossier, and the Centenary Film Society. The program is intended to introduce the area to Bollywood films and generate interest in future monthly screenings. The opening night reception on Saturday, February 13 at 7 pm will include Indian cuisine, Bollywood music by DJ Abid Nazeer, and clips from the festival films. Dress is evening casual or Indian attire. Reception tickets are $50 each and can be purchased at The Robinson Film Center or by calling (318) 797-5179. For more information about the festival, visit
The Robinson Film Center.
Mallika Sherawat to star in ‘Love, Barack’
February 4, 2010
Bollywood babe Mallika Sherawat will star opposite
Avatar hunk Laz Alonso in the Hollywood political comedy,
Love, Barack, according to
Variety. Sherawat will play a volunteer coordinator on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, who falls in love with her counterpart on John McCain’s campaign, played by Alonso. Sherawat is appearing in another Hollywood film,
Hisss, along with Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan. The movie, directed by Jennifer Lynch, is in post-production. While working on
Hisss last summer, the actress made the rounds in Los Angeles. She was seen hanging out with the likes of Usher and Ozzy Ozbourne, visited Twitter’s L.A. headquarters (she’s one of the most followed Bollywood stars on the social-networking site), was made an honorary citizen by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and got a milkshake named after her at the famous West Hollywood ice-cream parlor, Millions of Milkshakes.
Shahrukh Khan, Kajol ring NASDAQ opening bell
February 1, 2010
Legendary screen pair
Shahrukh Khan and
Kajol became the first Bollywood stars to ring the opening bell of the NASDAQ stock exchange on Monday. The actors are in the U.S. to promote their upcoming film,
My Name Is Khan, to release on February 12. In the film, Khan plays a Muslim Indian with Asperger syndrome (a form of autism) who lives the U.S. and marries a Hindu single mother, played by Kajol, but their marriage crumbles post-9/11 and he sets out to meet the U.S. president for help in getting her back. The highly awaited picture reunites Khan and Kajol, who haven’t appeared in a film together since
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001. The film was shot in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Mumbai. It was directed by famous filmmaker Karan Johar and produced by his company, Dharma Productions.
My Name Is Khan was reportedly sold to Fox Star Studios last July for a record Rs. 100 crore ($21 million)—the highest price ever paid by a distributor for a Bollywood film. Under the deal, Fox Star Studios—a joint venture between American film studio 20th Century Fox and India’s Star Group—acquired the worldwide marketing and distribution rights to the film. It will be released in North America by Fox Searchlight Pictures, a division of 20th Century Fox, which has previously distributed many notable films about Indians, such as
Bend It Like Beckham (2002),
Water (2005),
The Namesake (2006), and
Slumdog Millionaire (2008). In a case of life imitating art, Khan, who is Muslim, was detained and questioned by immigration officials last August at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey while he was en route to an Indian independence celebration in Chicago. The incident made headlines worldwide and outraged many Indians.
My Name Is Khan will be screened at the 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival the week of its release.
Bollywood’s A.R. Rahman wins two Grammy Awards
February 1, 2010
Indian composer A.R. Rahman, known as the “Mozart of Madras” and renowned for his work in Hindi film, won two Grammy Awards Sunday in Los Angeles. For his song “Jai Ho” from the movie
Slumdog Millionaire and for his contributions to the film’s soundtrack, Rahman won in the “Best motion picture song” and “Best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture” categories. “This is insane, God is great again,” Rahman said as he accepted his second Grammy. The
Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack has earned Rahman two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe, and a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award. At the 81st Academy Awards ceremony in 2009,
Slumdog Millionaire won in eight categories, including Best Picture and Best Director. Three of the awards went to Indians, including Rahman.
Bollywood stars up for film adaptation of Rushdie novel
January 18, 2010
Canadian director Deepa Mehta is helming a film adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s 1981 novel,
Midnight’s Children, and Bollywood stars
Amitabh Bachchan,
Rani Mukerji, and Irrfan Khan are reportedly considering roles in the film. Mehta said she recently finished the screenplay, which she co-wrote with Rushdie, and will begin shooting the film in India in September. Confirmed cast members include Indian actors Shabana Azmi, Seema Biswas, and Nandita Das.
Midnight’s Children is about a baby born at midnight on August 15, 1947, the moment of India’s independence from Britain. The boy has magical powers that connect him with 1,000 other “midnight’s children,” who were born at the same time. The book won the prestigious Man Booker Prize for Fiction, a literary award given each year to an English-language novel. The Indian-born Mehta previously directed a controversial trilogy of films set in her native country:
Fire (1996),
Earth (1998), and
Water (2005).
Water received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, making it the first non-French-language Canadian film ever to be nominated in that category. Several Bollywood stars, including
Aamir Khan and
John Abraham, appeared in the trilogy. Her 2008 film,
Heaven on Earth, was set in Canada and starred Bollywood actress
Preity Zinta.
India’s Reliance Entertainment may acquire MGM
January 18, 2010
Indian media and movie conglomerate Reliance Entertainment, owned by billionaire Anil Ambani, is bidding for Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., according to the
Financial Times. About a dozen groups—Time Warner, News Corp., and Lions Gate Entertainment rumored among them—were reportedly considering bids for the debt-ridden MGM. Reliance is said to be one of the frontrunners. MGM, which made such classic films as
Gone With The Wind and
The Wizard of Oz and currently owns the rights to the James Bond franchise, has about $3.7 billion in debt. The famed studio faces a key repayment deadline on January 31. The bids are expected to be in the range of $1.5 billion to $2 billion. MGM generates about $300 million a year in revenue. Reliance already has a growing position in Hollywood—it owns a controlling stake in filmmaker Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks and has struck production deals with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Jim Carrey. Reliance produced the current Bollywood blockbuster
3 Idiots, which released at the end of December and
broke U.S. box-office records.
Ben Kingsley to make Bollywood debut in ‘Teen Patti’
January 18, 2010
British actor Sir Ben Kingsley—best-known for his Oscar-winning performance as the famous Indian independence leader in
Gandhi (1982)—will appear in his first Bollywood film,
Teen Patti, set to release on February 26. Kingsley, 65, is part of a star-studded cast that includes Bollywood legend
Amitabh Bachchan as well as such prominent Indian actors as Irrfan Khan, Boman Irani, R. Madhavan, and Sushmita Sen.
Ajay Devgan makes a special appearance. In the thriller, Kingsley plays a world-famous mathematician who meets Bachchan’s character, an obscure Indian math genius, at a casino in London, and the two scholars of probability become embroiled in Mumbai’s underground poker scene.
View the trailer. Kingsley is also set to play the emperor who built the Taj Mahal opposite Bollywood actress
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who will play the emperor’s beloved wife, in
Taj, a film about the legendary lovers. Shooting for the film is scheduled to start in July, primarily in the Indian city of Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located.
Taj is expected to release in 2011.
‘Delhi-6’ first Bollywood film available on iTunes
January 14, 2010
Delhi-6, starring
Abhishek Bachchan and
Sonam Kapoor, has become the first Bollywood film available for purchase from the Apple iTunes online store. It can be downloaded for $9.99. The film, which released worldwide in February 2009, is about a New Yorker of Indian origin who brings his sick grandmother back to her hometown of Delhi. Filled with gorgeous urban footage, the film captures the wonder of seeing India for the first time.
Delhi-6 was co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and the film’s director, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The Hindi-language film,
Saawariya (2007), starring Bollywood actors
Ranbir Kapoor,
Sonam Kapoor,
Rani Mukerji, and
Salman Khan, is also available on iTunes, but it’s technically not a Bollywood film because it was produced and released by a Hollywood studio, Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Preity Zinta moving to Hollywood?
January 11, 2010
Bollywood star
Preity Zinta is reportedly taking up residence in Los Angeles. Rumor has it that the actress is planning to hire an agent in the U.S. and wants to try her hand at Hollywood projects. On the heels of ending a four-year relationship with Indian businessman Ness Wadia, Zinta kept a low profile throughout most of 2009 and was visiting the U.S.—where her brother’s family lives—during much of last year. She appeared in only one film in 2009—a musical-number cameo in the box-office flop
Main Aur Mrs. Khanna, which starred
Salman Khan and
Kareena Kapoor. The word is that Zinta has not agreed to any new Bollywood projects so she can shift to her recently purchased home in LA and keep her calendar clear. The 34-year-old actress recently completed a short executive course on negotiating and deal-making at Harvard Business School in order to sharpen her business acumen as she’s been working to diversify her career. In 2008, she purchased an ownership stake in the professional Indian cricket team, the Kings XI Punjab. Zinta made her acting debut in
Dil Se in 1998 and won a Filmfare Best Actress Award for
Kal Ho Naa Ho in 2003. Her other commercial hits include
Koi...Mil Gaya (2003),
Salaam Namaste (2005), and
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). Recently, she has ventured into art film, appearing with Amitabh Bachchan in
The Last Lear, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. She won the Best Actress award at the 2008 Chicago International Film Festival for her role in the Canadian film,
Heaven on Earth, which was based on the true story of a battered wife in Canada’s Punjabi community. Zinta is not the first Bollywood star to put down roots in American soil. Actress
Madhuri Dixit lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two sons. The 42-year-old star of such films as
Dil and
Devdas has called the U.S. home since her marriage in 1999.
‘Kings of Bollywood’ film series at University of Wisconsin
January 8, 2010
The University of Wisconsin is hosting a “Kings of Bollywood” film series—a tribute to two of India’s biggest movie stars,
Shahrukh Khan and
Amitabh Bachchan—at its Madison campus in February and March. The series begins February 6 at 7:30 pm with a screening of
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (1995), starring Shahrukh Khan and
Kajol. DDLJ, as the film is known, shot Khan to superstardom and is still showing in theaters in Mumbai, making it the longest-running movie in history. Khan’s character in DDLJ became the archetype for the modern romantic Bollywood hero—brash, hip, and Westernized, but Indian at heart. Often referred to as “King Khan,” the actor has a fanatical following and outdraws Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt combined. Khan’s 2004 film,
Swades: We the People, will be shown on February 26 at 7:30 pm. If Khan is king, then Amitabh Bachchan is god. His 1975 film,
Sholay, the first “Curry Western” (the Indian version of the Spaghetti Western), is one of the most beloved Bollywood films ever. That same year, he appeared in
Deewaar, a groundbreaking film that established him as the “angry young man,” a character type that reflected the frustration and disillusionment of the times. Bachchan went on to excel in drama, action, romance, and comedy, making him the quintessential “masala” actor. The “Kings of Bollywood” series will show his 1976 film
Kabhi Kabhie on March 20 and his 1979 film
Kaala Pathar on March 27. The “Kings of Bollywood” series is part of the University of Wisconsin’s Cinematheque program, a coalition of academic departments and student film groups that showcases films which would otherwise never reach Madison theaters. The Cinematheque is the screening facility of the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research and a member of the International Federation of Film Archives. Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public. The Cinematheque is located at 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin; (608) 262-3627;
cinema.wisc.edu.
Honolulu Academy of Arts to host Bollywood film festival
January 5, 2010
Hawaii’s third annual Bollywood Film Festival will be held at the Honolulu Academy of Arts from January 23 to March 2 and will feature 10 of the best Hindi films of the last decade. The festival will showcase the thematic and stylistic diversity of Bollywood with romantic comedies, Shakespearean tragedy, Mumbai noir, socially-conscious cinema, and an indie production. The festival will include a tribute to celebrated Indian filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj with selections that show the director’s impressive range:
The Blue Umbrella (2007), an award-winnning children’s film;
Maqbool (2004), an astounding adaptation of Shakespeare’s
Macbeth; and
Kaminey (2009), a Tarantino-esque trip through the mean streets of Mumbai. Bhardwaj’s electrifying version of
Othello—
Omkara (2006)—was screened at the festival in 2008. Other films to be shown this year include
Dil Bole Hadippa (2009), about a Punjabi village girl who dresses as man in order to play big-league cricket, starring
Rani Mukerji and
Shahid Kapoor; the coming-of-age drama
Wake Up Sid (2009), starring
Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma;
Devdas (2002), an adaptation of a beloved Bengali novel, starring
Shahrukh Khan and
Aishwarya Rai;
Dev.D (2009), a modernized version of the classic
Devdas, starring Abhay Deol;
Jodhaa Akbar (2008), an historical epic about the Mughal emperor Akbar and his queen Jodhaa, starring
Hrithik Roshan and
Aishwarya Rai;
Swades (2004), a social commentary on Indian (and American) life, starring
Shahrukh Khan; and
Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (2008), a black comedy, starring Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal, and Neetu Chandra. The festival will be held in the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 900 South Beretania Street, Honolulu, Hawaii; (808) 532-8700. For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit the
Honolulu Academy of Arts.
Aamir Khan’s ‘3 Idiots’ breaks U.S. box-office record
January 4, 2010
The coming-of-age comedy,
3 Idiots, starring
Aamir Khan, has set a U.S. box-office record for Bollywood films. Since its December 23rd release, it has earned $4.8 million from nearly 120 American theaters. The film collected $2.2 million during its opening weekend here and ranked 12th at the American box office that week. Worldwide, it has earned $52 million so far—also a box-office record for Indian movies—and it’s still showing to packed theaters in its domestic market. Indian films gross considerably less than American films because ticket prices in India are much cheaper.
3 Idiots, which tells the story of three friends struggling at a competitive university, breaks the previous Bollywood records of $49 million in worldwide revenue—also set by an Aamir Khan-starrer, the psychological thriller
Ghajini, which released in December 2008—and $3.7 million in U.S. revenue—set in 2007 by
Om Shanti Om, a campy spoof about the Indian film industry, starring
Shahrukh Khan. Shahrukh Khan’s films have historically dominated the U.S. market—and he may reclaim the top spot here soon. His upcoming film,
My Name Is Khan, which is set in the U.S. and was filmed in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento, is expected to release on February 12. The film—about a man with Asperger syndrome who is wrongly accused of terrorism—is being distributed in North America by Fox Searchlight Pictures, which distributed the Oscar-winning
Slumdog Millionaire.
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006) and
Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham (2001), both starring Shahrukh Khan, are among the all-time highest-grossing Bollywood films in the U.S. Actor
Salman Khan, the third of the “big Khans,” as the trio is called, is also poised to take a crack at the record. His upcoming film,
Veer, an epic love story about a legendary Indian warrior, is set to release on January 22.
Anil Kapoor to appear in hit American TV series ‘24’
December 29, 2009
Bollywood actor
Anil Kapoor will play a Middle Eastern leader in the upcoming season of the hit American television series
24, which starts January 17 on Fox. The award-winning show stars actor Kiefer Sutherland as U.S. government agent Jack Bauer. Each season of the action/drama series depicts a 24-hour period in the life of Bauer. The upcoming season is the eighth in the series—and therefore called “Day 8.” In this season, Bauer must foil an assassination plot during an international security conference in New York City, which is attended by Kapoor’s character, Omar Hassan. Kapoor has been a film star in India for decades but became widely known to Americans only recently for his role as the sleazy game-show host in the Oscar-winning film,
Slumdog Millionaire. The 50-year-old actor will appear in 16 episodes of
24. The show will have a two-night, four-hour season premiere on Sunday, January 17 (9-11 pm ET) and Monday, January 18 (8-10 pm ET). The remainder of the series will run on Mondays at 9 pm ET.
‘My Name Is Khan’ to be screened at Berlin Film Festival
December 16, 2009
Bollywood film
My Name Is Khan, starring legendary screen pair
Shahrukh Khan and
Kajol, will be screened at the 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival in February. The festival, one of the oldest and most prestigious in the world, will run from February 11-21 and will feature the premiere of the Martin Scorsese film,
Shutter Island, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
My Name Is Khan will release on February 12th in India and more than 40 other countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and Australia. It will reportedly be the widest international release of a Bollywood film ever. The highly awaited picture reunites Khan and Kajol, who haven’t appeared in a film together since
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001. The story focuses on racial profiling of Muslims in the U.S. Khan plays a man with Asperger syndrome—a form of autism—who’s wrongly suspected of being a terrorist. Kajol plays his wife. The film was shot in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Mumbai. It was directed by famous filmmaker Karan Johar and produced by his company, Dharma Productions. In the past, Khan and Johar have collaborated on some of India’s most internationally successful films, including
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001),
Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003), and
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006).
My Name Is Khan was reportedly sold to Fox Star Studios last July for a record Rs. 100 crore ($21 million)—the highest price ever paid by a distributor for a Bollywood film. Under the deal, Fox Star Studios—a joint venture between American film studio 20th Century Fox and India’s Star Group—acquired the worldwide marketing and distribution rights to the film. It will be released in North America by Fox Searchlight Pictures, a division of 20th Century Fox, which has previously distributed many notable films about Indians, such as
Bend It Like Beckham (2002),
Water (2005),
The Namesake (2006), and
Slumdog Millionaire (2008). In a case of life imitating art, Khan, who is Muslim, was detained and questioned by immigration officials last August at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey while he was en route to an Indian independence celebration in Chicago. The incident made headlines worldwide and outraged many Indians.
Bollywood IIFA awards to be held in Toronto in 2011
December 11, 2009
Toronto, Canada is set to become the first North American city to host one of Bollywood’s major awards ceremonies, the International Indian Film Academy Awards, from June 16-19, 2011. The event, which honors artistic and technical achievement in the Hindi film industry known as Bollywood, takes place in a different city outside of India every year in an effort to promote Hindi cinema around the world. In past years, it has been held in London, Dubai, Amsterdam, Johannesburg, and Bangkok. A film festival and industry conference precede the ceremony. According to the Canadian government, the awards show is expected to attract 60,000 visitors to the city and about 350 million television viewers worldwide. About 500 Bollywood stars and industry insiders are expected to attend. Indian actor
Amitabh Bachchan is IIFA’s brand ambassador. About 300,000 Indians live in Toronto—about 12 percent of the population—making them the largest minority ethnic group in the city. IIFA has yet to announce the 2010 host as the organization is still in negotiations with several cities who are vying for the honor. Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world in terms of annual film output and global audience numbers. About four billion movie tickets are sold each year in India alone.
Aamir Khan’s film to compete at Sundance Film Festival
December 7, 2009
Peepli Live, an upcoming film produced by Bollywood actor
Aamir Khan, has been selected to compete at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in January. It is one of 14 films chosen out of more than 1,000 submissions in the world cinema category, and it will be the first Indian feature film ever in the running at the prestigious independent film festival.
Peepli Live is a black comedy about a debt-ridden farmer who creates a media frenzy when he announces that he will commit suicide so that his family can receive government assistance. The film is directed by Anusha Rizvi and stars Raghubir Yadav, Omkar Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Shalini Vatsa, and Farrukh Jaffer. Khan does not appear in it. The Sundance Film Festival—founded by Hollywood actor Robert Redford and held annually in Utah—showcases independent films from around the world. This year’s festival will run from January 21-31. Khan founded his production company, Aamir Khan Productions, in 2001 and its first film,
Lagaan (2001), starring Khan as a villager who takes on British authorities in a cricket match, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 74th Academy Awards—which was only the third time in history that an Indian film has been nominated for the award. Khan’s production company has released only two other movies since then,
Taare Zameen Par in 2007 and
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na in 2008—both were critical and commercial successes.
Aishwarya Rai to star opposite Ben Kingsley in ‘Taj’
December 2, 2009
British actor Sir Ben Kingsley—best known for his Oscar-winning performance as the famous Indian independence leader in
Gandhi (1982)—is set to play the emperor who built the Taj Mahal, and Indian actress
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will reportedly play the emperor’s beloved wife, in
Taj, a film about the legendary lovers. Shooting is scheduled to start in July, primarily in the Indian city of Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located. The film is expected to release in 2011. The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan ruled India in the 17th century. His third and favorite wife, Mumtaz, died giving birth to her 14th child, and the devastated emperor spent the next 20 years building her tomb, which is regarded as one of the architectural wonders of the world. Soon after the completion of the monument, Shah Jahan was deposed and imprisoned by his son. Bachchan—one of the most famous stars in India—played an empress once before in
Jodhaa Akbar (2008), opposite
Hrithik Roshan, who portrayed the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great. Bachchan, 36, and Kingsley, 65, worked together previously in
The Last Legion (2007). She has also appeared in the American films
The Mistress of Spices (2005) with Dylan McDermott and
Pink Panther 2 (2009) with Steve Martin. A former Miss World, Bachchan has garnered more high-profile publicity in the West than any other Bollywood actor, having appeared on
The Oprah Winfrey Show,
Late Show with David Letterman, and
60 Minutes. She is married to actor
Abhishek Bachchan, who is the son of Bollywood legend
Amitabh Bachchan. Kingsley's wife, Brazilian actress Daniela Lavender, is set to play Shah Jahan's first wife, the Persian princess Kandhari Begum. Kingsley’s company, SBK Productions, is producing the film.
‘Kites’ to be released in Hindi and English
November 30, 2009
Hindi and English versions of the highly anticipated Bollywood film
Kites will be released next year in international markets, including the U.S. The film is an intercultural love story, starring Indian actor
Hrithik Roshan and Mexican actress Barbara Mori. It was directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Hrithik’s father, Rakesh Roshan. American filmmaker Brett Ratner—best-known for his films
Red Dragon, the
Rush Hour series, and
X-Men: The Last Stand—is currently editing the English version to appeal to Western audiences. Only the Hindi version, which has been completed, will be released in India. The two versions were shot simultaneously during filming in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Los Angeles, and Mumbai. The film’s release has been repeatedly postponed, but it’s now expected to hit theaters worldwide next summer. There has been talk that Hrithik hopes to launch a career in Hollywood with this film.
Kites was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in France last May.
Akshay Kumar to carry torch for 2010 Winter Olympics
November 23, 2009
Bollywood actor
Akshay Kumar has been named India’s ambassador to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. The 42-year-old star will carry the Olympic Torch in Toronto on December 17th, as part of the torch relay from Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, where the flame arrived from Greece on October 30th, to the host city Vancouver for the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony on February 12th. More than 12,000 runners will carry the torch during its 106-day, 45,000-kilometer journey across the country. Kumar—a martial-arts expert and the Indian ambassador to the Special Olympics World Winter Games for the past three years—will be the only torchbearer from India for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Two Indian skiers, Tashi Lundup and Jamyang Namgial, will be competing in the upcoming games.
Indian father-daughter directing duo invited to meet Pope
November 16, 2009
Indian filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and his daughter, actress-turned-director Pooja Bhatt, have been invited by Pope Benedict XVI to attend a papal meeting with artists from around the world in Vatican City this month. The Bhatts will be among more than 260 artists—representing painting, sculpture, literature, music, dance, architecture, theater, and cinema—at the event, which will be held on November 21st in the Sistine Chapel—a room in the Vatican covered with Michelangelo’s frescos, which are arguably the most famous examples of Western art. Vatican officials said they hope the meeting will improve the Church’s relations with the global artistic community and create opportunities for collaboration. While the Catholic Church was once a primary sponsor of art, the two have become, in the words of a Vatican spokesman, “estranged” in modern times, both for ideological and stylistic reasons. The Vatican chose the invitees based on leadership in their fields, not religious background. However, the Bhatts are a fitting choice, given their interest in themes of religious identity and conflict. Mahesh Bhatt, the son of a Hindu father and a Muslim mother, has been a director since 1970. His films include
Arth (1982),
Saaransh (1984), and
Zakhm (1998). Pooja Bhatt made her acting debut in 1991 and appeared in several of her father’s projects. She made her directorial debut in 2003 with
Paap, starring
John Abraham, and went on to direct
Holiday (2006) and
Dhokha (2007). Other artists invited to the event include Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, U.S. installation artist John David Mooney, Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, French writer and actress Florence Delay, Irish poet Ciaran O'Coigligh, U.S. video artist Bill Viola, Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, U.S. actor F. Murray Abraham, and Algerian film director Rachid Benhadj. The date of the event marks the 45th anniversary of a similar meeting of artists in the Sistine Chapel held by Pope Paul VI as well as the 10th anniversary of a letter written by Pope John Paul II emphasizing the importance of art to the Church.
Actress Preity Zinta heads to Harvard Business School
November 12, 2009
Bollywood star
Preity Zinta will be gracing the classroom instead of the red carpet this winter—she’s enrolled in a short executive course on negotiating and deal-making at Harvard Business School. The 34-year-old actress has been diversifying her career beyond movies and wants to sharpen her business acumen. In 2008, she purchased an ownership stake in the professional Indian cricket team, the Kings XI Punjab. At the time, she was the youngest owner and the only female owner in the league. Zinta is currently hosting and producing a television reality show about her cricket team, called “Behind the Seams.” Zinta made her acting debut in
Dil Se in 1998 and won a Filmfare Best Actress Award for
Kal Ho Naa Ho in 2003. Her other commercial hits include
Koi...Mil Gaya (2003),
Salaam Namaste (2005), and
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006). Recently, she has ventured into art film, appearing with
Amitabh Bachchan in
The Last Lear, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2007. She won the Best Actress award at the 2008 Chicago International Film Festival for her role in the Canadian film,
Heaven on Earth, which was based on the true story of a battered wife in Canada’s Punjabi community. The release of her next film,
Har Pal, a love story about two neighbors, has been held up because her co-star Shiney Ahuja was jailed on charges of raping his maid. Zinta made a cameo appearance in the 2009 Salman Khan-Kareena Kapoor starrer,
Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna, which flopped. Earlier this year, she ended a four-year relationship with Indian businessman Ness Wadia and has since been spending a lot of time with her brother’s family in the U.S. Zinta, who has a master’s degree in criminal psychology, will reportedly live on campus while attending the Harvard course in January.
‘Laughter Bollywood Style’ at Chicago Humanities Festival
October 27, 2009
As all fans of foreign film know, jokes don’t always translate across cultures and comedies from other countries are often hard to appreciate. What makes Bollywood funny is one of the topics on deck at this fall’s Chicago Humanities Festival. Anuradha Needham, an English professor at Oberlin College, will give a talk on “Laughter Bollywood Style” and the cultural specificity of humor. Educated in India and the U.S. and a fan of both popular Hindi cinema and Indian art film, Needham is a leading scholar on the prolific Indian director and screenwriter Shyam Benegal. The event will take place on Saturday, November 14th at 2 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church at The Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington St., Chicago. Admission: $5;
www.chicagohumanities.org.
‘Aladin’ premieres at New York City’s South Asian film festival
October 17, 2009
The world premiere of Bollywood film
Aladin will open this year’s South Asian International Film Festival in New York City on Wednesday, October 28th.
Aladin, based on the fairy tale about a boy with a magical lamp and the genie who grants him three wishes, stars
Amitabh Bachchan,
Sanjay Dutt, and Ritesh Deshmukh. The festival will showcase full-length films, shorts, and documentaries in a variety of genres through Tuesday, November 3rd, closing with the premiere of
Harishchandrachi Factory, a feature film about the making of India’s first feature film,
Raja Harishchandra, and India’s official submission for the 2010 Academy Awards. The event, now in its sixth year, promotes established and emerging filmmakers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh;
www.saiff.org.
Irrfan Khan in ‘Indian Summer’ with Cate Blanchett, Hugh Grant
October 13, 2009
Awarding-winning Indian actor Irrfan Khan may be playing India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, alongside British actor Hugh Grant as India's last British viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, and Australian actress Cate Blanchett as the viceroy’s wife, Edwina, in an upcoming film called
Indian Summer, about the last days of British rule in India—and the supposed affair between Nehru and Edwina. The film is based on the book
Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire, by British historian Alex von Tunzelmann, which chronicles the transition of power from Mountbatten to Nehru in the summer of 1947. The Indian government has reportedly given its approval to the film on certain conditions, including the removal from the script of some intimate scenes between Nehru and Edwina and a statement by the filmmakers that the picture is a work of fiction. Filming is scheduled to begin in early 2010, and it will be shot primarily in Delhi, Punjab, and Kashmir. The film is expected to release in 2011. Khan has worked in Bollywood for two decades, but in recent years, he has also appeared in English-language films, including
The Namesake (2006),
A Mighty Heart (2007),
The Darjeeling Limited (2007), and
Slumdog Millionaire (2008). He has won two Filmfare Awards (the Indian equivalent of Oscars) and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Kajol and Kareena in ‘Stepmom’ remake
October 12, 2009
Cameras are set to roll on the Bollywood remake of the 1998 Hollywood film
Stepmom.
Kajol,
Kareena Kapoor, and Arjun Rampal will star in the yet-to-be-titled Indian version of the hit American movie about a divorced couple with two children and the husband’s new wife. Kareena will play the stepmother—the role belonging to Julia Roberts in the original—while Kajol will play the ex-wife, which was Susan Sarandon's role. Arjun will take on Ed Harris’ character, the children’s father. Kareena will reportedly wear no makeup and sport a new hairstyle to make her look like an ordinary woman who’s frazzled by her new stepkids. She’s said to be thrilled about the prospect of again working alongside an actress of Kajol’s stature—the two appeared together once before, playing sisters in
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham in 2001. Kajol recently finished shooting
My Name is Khan with co-star
Shahrukh Khan, and Kareena is close to finishing her work on
3 Idiots with co-star
Aamir Khan. Dharma Productions, which belongs to famous filmmaker Karan Johar, is producing the remake and in September it finalized the deal to acquire the rights to the original film from Sony. Shooting is expected to begin this month.
India’s ‘Orson Welles’ honored at New York Film Festival
October 7, 2009
In the first American retrospective of his work, Guru Dutt—an Indian actor, director, and producer from the golden age of Hindi cinema in the 1950s—will be honored at the New York Film Festival with a series entitled, “A Heart as Big as the World: The Films of Guru Dutt,” beginning Wednesday, October 7th. This sidebar to the festival will feature movies Dutt directed, produced, and starred in, as well as a documentary called, “In Search of Guru Dutt.” Dutt was a matinee idol who became one of the greatest Hindi filmmakers in history. A luminary artist within the glitzy commercial industry of Bollywood, he is often called “the Orson Welles of India.” He is revered in his home country and has a huge cult following among film buffs around the world. His masterpieces
Pyaasa (“Thirst,” 1957) and
Kaagaz Ke Phool (“Paper Flowers,” 1959) were named among the 100 best films of all-time by
Time magazine. Most of Dutt’s films have never before been screened in the U.S. The Dutt series will feature the crime thriller
Baazi (“The Gamble,” 1951), the pirate-adventure
Baaz (“The Hawk,” 1953), the underworld tale
Aar-Paar (“Heads or Tails,” 1954), the satirical comedy
Mr. and Mrs. ’55 (1955), the romantic melodrama
Chaudhvin Ka Chand (“Full Moon,” 1960), and the period drama
Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam (“Master, Mistress and Servant,” 1962). Also included are Dutt’s darker works, when he became the tragic artist both on film—from the lonely poet in
Pyaasa to the downward-spiraling film director in
Kaagaz Ke Phool—and in life. After the semi-autobiographical
Kaagaz Ke Phool failed at the box office, he quit directing (although he continued to act) and died of a drug overdose—a possible suicide—in 1964 at the age of 39. “A Heart as Big as the World” runs from Wednesday, October 7th to Sunday, October 11th at the Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street, Lincoln Center, New York City; (212) 875-5601,
www.filmlinc.com.
Austen’s ‘Emma’ becomes India’s ‘Aisha’
October 1, 2009
The appeal of English novelist Jane Austen has no boundaries—and her classic novel,
Emma, is about to get Bollywood treatment. Shooting is underway on the Indian film adaptation, in which Emma becomes
Aisha and the setting moves from the 19th-century English countryside to the contemporary metropolis of Delhi. Actress
Sonam Kapoor—the daughter of Indian film star
Anil Kapoor (of
Slumdog Millionaire fame)—is playing the title role, opposite actor Abhay Deol. Anil is producing
Aisha, but will not appear in the film. Hollywood did a traditional adaptation of Austen’s
Emma, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, in 1996, but according to Sonam, Bollywood’s modernized version will be a relevant depiction of Delhi’s present-day high society, which isn’t so different from the old English gentry, she said. Sonam made her film debut in
Saawariya in 2007, opposite
Ranbir Kapoor, and followed it up with a leading role in
Delhi-6 in 2009, opposite
Abhishek Bachchan. She’s on the cover of
People magazine’s October issue on India’s “Best Dressed.”
Aishwarya and Abhishek appear on ‘Oprah’
September 30, 2009
Two of Bollywood’s biggest stars, husband and wife
Abhishek and
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, couldn’t have picked a higher-profile venue to make their first joint U.S. television appearance than
The Oprah Winfrey Show. This week, the talk-show queen introduced Abhi and Ash, as they’re known, to her millions of viewers as the world’s most famous couple, who have, by her count, five billion fans across the globe. Aishwarya had appeared on Oprah’s show once before—shortly before her 2007 wedding to Abhishek—and this time, their marriage was the topic du jour. Abhishek related the details of his romantic proposal to Ash on a balcony in New York City, and he said spending time together is the best gift they can give each other, given their hectic work schedules (they’re currently working on four films apiece). Oprah quizzed Aishwarya about moving in with her in-laws after marriage—a common practice in India—to which she replied, “I lived with my parents before we got married, so it’s a natural thing.” Ash confessed that the constant barrage of pregnancy rumors is irritating. “People would be watching every little bulge…If you’re not in shape, you’re pregnant,” she said. Not that Ash ever looks out of shape—Oprah explained to the audience that the actress is often called “the most beautiful woman in the world,” and she added, Abhishek’s “not bad himself.”
Julia Roberts in India to film ‘Eat, Pray, Love’
September 28, 2009
While shooting her upcoming film
Eat, Pray, Love in India, American actress Julia Roberts is staying in the lap of luxury—at Pataudi Palace, the ancestral home of Bollywood actor
Saif Ali Khan. Only royal digs will do for Roberts and her three children, four-year-old twins Hazel and Phinnaeus and two-year-old son Henry, who will be in country until October 9th. Khan, the son of a nawab (an Indian prince), is the heir apparent to the house of Pataudi (a princely state near Delhi), and Pataudi Palace, like many former royal homes in India, is now a ritzy hotel. Khan and his girlfriend, Bollywood actress
Kareena Kapoor, are reportedly keen to fete Roberts during her stay, and word is that Indian stars are making the trek from Mumbai to join the festivities. Khan's mother, Sharmila Tagore, a former actress and head of India’s government film censorship board, has already met Roberts. Kapoor is set to play Roberts’ part in a Hindi remake of the Hollywood hit,
Stepmom (1998), being produced by famous Indian filmmaker Karan Johar. Roberts’ visit hasn’t been all fun and games, however. According to the
BBC, villagers were upset over the shooting of a scene in a temple during Navratri, one of Hinduism’s most important religious holidays, which includes nine days of worship in honor of the goddess Durga. Devotees claim they were prevented from entering the temple during filming. Ironically, the movie, which is based on the best-selling novel
Eat, Pray, Love, is about a woman who finds healing in Hindu spirituality after a painful divorce. There have also been reported complaints about the scores of policemen and private guards in Roberts’ security detail. The movie is a Brad Pitt production and also stars Javier Bardem and Billy Crudup.
‘Slumdog’ director courting Shahrukh, Aamir
September 15, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle may be close to achieving a casting coup—convincing Bollywood greats
Shahrukh Khan and
Aamir Khan to appear in a movie together. Rumor has it that Aamir has already agreed to star in an upcoming film being produced by Boyle, called
Bombay Velvet, and that Boyle is on the verge of signing Shahrukh as well. A long-standing feud between the actors has kept them from working together, and the potential thaw in their cold war is already generating enormous buzz about the project.
Bombay Velvet is said to be a thriller set in the 1940s and based on real crime stories. The movie is being directed by Anurag Kashyap, a gritty, experimental filmmaker in the same vein as Boyle. Kashyap previously directed such cutting-edge pictures as
No Smoking (2007), based on a short story by American writer Stephen King, and
Dev D (2009), a modernized version of the Indian classic
Devdas. The film is divided into three parts, each requiring a different protagonist. John Abraham, who starred in
No Smoking, is reportedly playing the third main role. Boyle has courted Shahrukh before—the actor had been offered the role of the game-show host in
Slumdog Millionaire, but he turned it down because of scheduling conflicts—a decision he must surely regret—and the part went to
Anil Kapoor instead.
Kylie Minogue to make Bollywood debut
September 9, 2009
Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue has collaborated with Oscar-winning Bollywood producer A.R. Rahman and singer Sonu Nigam on the song, “Chiggy Wiggy,” for the soundtrack of the upcoming film,
Blue, starring
Akshay Kumar,
Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan, and Lara Dutta. Minogue performs the song in the film as an “item girl,” which is a movie performer who only appears in a musical number. In the film, Minogue dances to the catchy tune on stage in a club, and as the song shifts into a pulsating bhangra arrangement, one of the film’s stars,
Akshay Kumar, drops from a chandelier and joins her, and to her consternation, launches into his frenetic Punjabi moves. The film—about treasurer-hunters who risk their lives to find a fabled cache deep beneath the ocean—is expected to release on October 16.
Toronto film festival to showcase Bollywood
August 2, 2009
Two Bollywood films—Dil Bole Hadippa and What’s Your Rashee?—have been selected to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Dil Bole Hadippa, a Yash Raj Films picture directed by Anurag Singh and starring Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukerji, is a comedy about a woman who dresses as a man in order to play cricket. What’s Your Rashee?, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja, is a romantic comedy about a man who must find the woman of his dreams in 10 days in order to save his family from ruin. The Toronto International Film Festival, the largest in the world in terms of attendance (300,000 tickets are sold), will run this year from September 10-19.
Hillary Clinton quips about Bollywood
July 26, 2009
U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed Bollywood during her trip to India in July. At a question-and-answer session with students from Delhi University, Clinton argued that Americans and Indians have a lot in common when it comes to perceptions of the two countries being distorted by media and entertainment. She said: “People watching a Bollywood movie in some other part of Asia think everybody in India is beautiful and they have dramatic lives and happy endings. And if you were to watch American TV and our movies, you’d think that we don’t wear clothes and we spend all our time fighting with each other.” The crowd reportedly roared with laughter at the remark. At St. Xavier College in Mumbai, Clinton shared the stage with Indian actor
Aamir Khan, who is the ambassador for an education campaign called Teach India, and Clinton praised his work. She said: “It is a great delight to be here with Aamir Khan, who is not only a Bollywood icon but also the great advocate for education … I am here to see how the U.S. and India can work for the common cause of education, which is the great equalizer and gateway to opportunities.”
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