Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Britney dating Bollywood choreographer!!!


London (ANI): Popstar Britney Spears is reportedly dating Bollywood dance instructor Sandip Soparrkar, who choreographed her raunchy 'Womanizer' video. Apparently, the 27-year-old flew to Jodhpur for a romantic three-day Christmas break with Sandip who is a pin-up in his native India.

The couple has been dating for three weeks. The Mirror has learnt that the couple even exchanged homemade pressies under the tree. A source said: "It's early days but their romance is going from strength to strength. Britney and Sandip tried to keep their reunion in India hush-hush as they're determined to have a relationship just like any other couple.

"Sandip is very down to earth and keeps Britney grounded. He's also quite spiritual and sensitive, which is a side of him she adores. For Christmas, Sandip or Sandy as Britney calls him presented her with a traditional Indian sari. She wore it during a candlelit dinner. The pair were whispering and giggling all night. Sandy ordered local delicacies including chicken tikka and a cottage cheese curry. Britney was nicking the dough balls from his plate. It was really cute."

Britney, who met Sandip at a party thrown by Madonna earlier this year, is spending the New Year back in Los Angeles.
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Source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Bollywood King: SRK goes on power trip


Actor Shah Rukh Khan has been labeled the world's biggest movie star by the US based magazine Newsweek. SRK has been rated among the 50 most powerful people in the world along with Sonia Gandhi, Dalai Lama and many more.

SRK has been ranked 41st in the 50 most powerful people in the world by Newsweek.

King Khan is ahead of international biggies including Oprah Winfrey, the Dalai Lama and Jim Rogers among others.

Newsweek described Shah Rukh as the 'King of Bollywood' and applauded his secularism. The magazine quoted "Khan makes devoutly secular films where love trounces bigotry".

"I've never thought of myself as that special. I just thought I'm a mere actor who is doing his job. But this is quite amazing. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I just have maintained that I have already got much more than I deserve, so I need to be returning back by doing more work," said SRK.

"I tell everyone; don't give me numbers, only telephones have numbers. Don't give me stars, only hotels have stars so I'm neither of the two. I just try and do my best and work as hard as I can do and entertain people. I've always like sports. So I've always said that if I do any kind of social work. Socially relevant work more than social work it will be towards sports in India," he said.

With his latest release Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi winning the audience over, SRK indeed is the King of Bollywood.
Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Bedtime Stories: Adam Sandler, Keri Russell and Russell Brand


The Walt Disney Pictures adventure comedy Bedtime Stories stars Adam Sandler as Skeeter Bronson, a hotel handyman whose life is changed forever when the bedtime stories he tells his niece and nephew (Laura Ann Kesling and Jonathan Heit) -- left in his care by his sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) -- start to mysteriously come true. On hand to try to curb the madness and help with the children is Wendy’s responsible friend Jill (Keri Russell) and Skeeter’s friend and sidekick Mickey (Russell Brand). As the stories get wackier and wilder, Skeeter attempts to take advantage of the phenomenon, incorporating his own aspirations into one outlandish tale after another, but it’s the kids’ unexpected contributions that turn his life upside down.

Funnyman Adam Sandler, a father of two young children, recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine, along with co-stars Keri Russell and Russell Brand, about making his first family film.

MediaBlvd Magazine> Adam, because you’re a dad, was Bedtime Stories a personal movie for you? Was it inspired by wanting to tell your kids stories on the big screen?

Adam Sandler> Matt Lopez wrote a great script. I read it and I must say that the thing that stood out the most was the gumball scene. I do have kids now. I’ve always wanted to do a family movie. I loved that, every Sunday night, we’d watch a Disney movie with Kurt Russell. I was a big fan of Kurt Russell, growing up. I always wanted to be the modern-day Kurt Russell.

Keri Russell> You are. You’re so alike.

Adam> I live in his old house. I have his old muscles. And, he has a very Semitic look, just like me. No. I loved Lopez’s script. I thought it was sweet. And, I knew Adam Shankman was there to bring a great visual and creative look. He has great style. He’s a great man. A lot of times, the kids end up seeing my movies anyways, but some of their mothers yell at me and tell me I have corrupted their child and influenced them to pee on walls, so I wanted to make sure that I did one movie in my career that mothers hug me for. This could be it.


MediaBlvd> Which genre of the fantasies did you most enjoy doing? Had you always wanted to be a cowboy, a spaceman or a gladiator?

Adam> I looked great in the cowboy hat. I think I was fantastic in the leather pants, in the space scene. I really looked good in the Gladiator costume too. I had my broken ankle for two months of the shoot. I was playing basketball with my nephew and I broke my ankle. Shankman wasn’t happy, but I can handle pain. A lot of times, when I would finish a scene and Shankman would scream cut, in exhaustion, I would fall into Russell’s arms.
Source: http://www.mediablvd.com/magazine

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 trailer


In Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009 players become new recruits in Jillian's boot camp where they enroll in a unique training program composed of challenging fitness tests and an ever-changing series of workouts.

Players choose their workout from four types-Weight Loss, Strength Training, Intervals and Hill Climb-and set the intensity to light, medium or hard for a duration between 10 and 60 minutes.

By completing exciting Wii Remote and Wii Balance Board motion-based challenges that range from crossing monkeybars to climbing ladders and rowing, players can also unlock lifestyle and fitness video tips from Jillian.

Players can even track their progress based on calories burned and workout intensity.

In addition, a Competitive Party Mode lets two players race against each other through entertaining individual challenges or through the entire Physical Training course to earn the winning time.
Source: http://www.3news.co.nz/News

Monday, December 15, 2008

'Slumdog Millionaire' in Time magazine's top 10 movie list

British filmmaker Danny Boyle's critically acclaimed "Slumdog Millionaire", about an Indian game show starring Anil Kapoor and Dev
Slumdog Millionaire
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Patel, has featured in Time magazine's top 10 movies list of the year.

"Slumdog Millionaire", which stands on the seventh position on the list, is based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's novel "Q&A". Set in Mumbai, the film revolves around a slum kid who wins a jackpot on a quiz show called "Kaun Banega Crorepati".

Topping the Time magazine's list is animated film "Wall-E".

"Slumdog Millionaire" received critical acclaim post its limited release Nov 12. Also, it wowed audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as the Telluride Film Festival.

Recently, the film's music director A.R. Rahman won a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score.

Within the first week of its release in the US, "Slumdog Millionaire" grossed $418,000 in six cities, registering the highest average of any movie during the first weekend.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

Thursday, December 11, 2008

‘Chandni Chowk To China’ to premier in Los Angeles



Warner Bros., which has come together with R S Entertainment and Orion Pictures to make ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ is positive that the film would get a huge release all over. Not just would it have a wide release in India, it will also have a truly international release across the globe while being the biggest ever in US when it comes to a Bollywood flick.

Confirms Warner Bros India country manager Blaise Fernandes, "For us, ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ is not a film which would be restricted to the Indian shores. We are treating it as any other international film and will be taking it across the globe. In US alone, we are making sure that it is the biggest ever Bollywood release. The scale at which we will be unleashing the flick there, while beginning with a premiere at none less than Los Angeles, will be unprecedented."

In India as well, the banner has plans for an extraordinary release. "We are aiming for a 1400 screens release for ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ in India", reaffirms Blaise.

A wide release like this makes sense still it would be the first major release of 2009. At the moment, only ‘Horn Ok Pleassss’ has been singled out as a release on 9th January and the probability of it arriving on the same day is dicey as well. Moreover, with a 16th January release, ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ would have given ‘Ghajini’ enough space to make money after it's 25th December release. A three week gap would have made audience hungry while asking for more and by that time ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ would be all set to satiate the appetite.

Earlier this year, ‘Singh Is Kinng’ too was released at 1400 screens in India alone. In 2007 and 2008, Akshay Kumar films have been fetching huge releases in not just India but also overseas, hence making him a formidable force. While in India, he is pretty much neck to neck with Shah Rukh Khan, in overseas too he is gaining quite a name for himself after Shah Rukh as well as Hrithik Roshan who have enjoyed a steady market there. When asked what prompted the makers of ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ to premiere the film in Los Angeles, Akshay Kumar quipped in his trademark tone, "Arrey bhaiyya, the producers are Warner Bros. here. And if they would have belonged to Nepal, we would have held the premiere there too. No questions asked!"

Well, of course, when it comes to Akshay Kumar, there indeed are no questions asked! For the records ‘Chandni Chowk To China’ is being released across Japan, Germany and Scandinavian countries like Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Norway. In addition, there are also efforts being made to premiere the film in New York, London, Dubai, Mumbai and Delhi apart from Los Angeles.
Source: http://www.screenindia.com/

Monday, December 8, 2008

Hollywood calling

Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester in London's tony Park Lane is the kind of pricey restaurant dealmakers go to when they want to shake hands on a really big one.

That's where Fox Filmed Entertainment Co-Chairman Jim Gianopulos, Fox STAR Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, and producer-director Vipul Shah met earlier this month before announcing to the media Fox Star Studio's first of a series of co-production and acquisition partnerships in Bollywood.

At about $25 million for two films over the next 18 months, it's small change for a Hollywood studio whose parent company made $28.7 billion in revenue last year.

But a small step for Rupert Murdoch's News Corp is a giant leap in the ongoing love affair between an embattled Hollywood where revenues are plateauing and a cash-rich Bollywood with a growing domestic market.

Part of the increased interest from Hollywood is because despite efforts to dub their films in Hindi, running a blitzkrieg marketing them, and even going big with the release (for instance Sony is releasing over 600 prints of the new Bond film, Quantum of Solace), foreign movie revenues have not grown.

As Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, puts it, "They've realised they need to be a long-term player here and build relationships." So though Murdoch may have been the prime mover in the West's chalo India strategy, having bought Star TV in 1993 from Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, he is not the only media mogul to look east.

Akshay Kumar (left) and Deepika Padukone in Chandni Chowk To China
Akshay Kumar (left) and Deepika Padukone in Chandni Chowk To China
American majors are not new to Indian television but Hollywood is just waking up to Bollywood's potential, having put down $100 million in it cumulatively so far.

Walt Disney, after several false starts, including one bitter fallout with Indian Premier League's current hero, Lalit Modi, back in the days when he was chairman of Modi Entertainment Network, is a strategic investor in UTV with a 32 per cent stake bought for $200 million.

Apart from that, it has a three-animation movie deal with Yash Raj Films, the first of which, Roadside Romeo, releases this month. Viacom, apart from its interests in television, has a joint venture with TV18 in the Indian Film Company (IFC), which last year raised $112 million at London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market.

IFC is also in negotiations with CIT, a middle market lender that has done substantial deals in Hollywood, for a $150-million line of credit. That's not all. Warner Bros is waiting for the release of its first coproduction in India with Ramesh Sippy Entertainment and Orion Pictures, the extravagant Chandni Chowk to China, even as Sony Pictures Entertainment is recovering from the tanking of its first Hindi film, the $8-million Saawariya, and has announced a co-investment deal with Eros International.

Walt Disney has signed a three-animation movie deal with Yash Raj Films
Walt Disney has signed a three-animation movie deal with Yash Raj Films
And, oh yes, big shots from talent agencies such as the powerful CAA and the pedigreed William Morris have made several rounds of movie producer offices in Bandra and Andheri.

Add to that interest from a whole range of banks and hedge funds which are in the market for co-production deals, though less so after the global meltdown, and clearly everyone seems to want a piece of the India action.

Not because of Hollywood movie revenues in India certainly, which even in the best of times are not more than 3 per cent to 5 per cent of the total annual box-office revenue, compared to 88 per cent in a nation like Britain, but also because of the domestic market, which sells 3.7 billion tickets, compared to just 1.4 billion in the US.

The revenues currently from India may seem puny, but the studios and film funds are betting on an India of the future where ticket prices will be more than the current average of 20 cents (the US average is $6), where there will be more than 12,000 screens, and where there is huge potential of growth of the home video market (which currently contributes 8 per cent to the market, compared to over 40 per cent of the total revenue in the US).

As Sanford Panitch, president of the newly established Fox International Productions, puts it, "Hollywood studios will become the force for transparency in India." They will also, he believes, be able to raise the bar on scriptwriting and visual effects. Or as an agent at William Morris puts it, "Bollywood will make more westernised movies but in the Indian genre, culture and language."

Chris Rock (centre) in I Think I Love My Wife
Chris Rock (centre) in I Think I Love My Wife
Is it any wonder then that News Corp chairman Murdoch, Walt Disney chairman Bob Iger and Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard Parsons have officially declared India to be the winner in the India vs China debate for Hollywood?

In 2005, Parsons, while speaking at a lunch with the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, called China "a very tough market for a media and entertainment company. It's hard to make long-term investments if you don't exactly know what the playing field is going to look like."

Globalisation is the order of the day in Hollywood. Disney, whose businesses range from movies to theme parks and resorts, made almost a quarter of its $35.5 billion revenues outside North America last year.

And only last month, Iger said, "the best way for Disney to grow in markets such as India, China and Russia is for those markets to have a sense of ownership". As for Murdoch, he has repeatedly pointed out the advantages of India's rule of law, despite it being an "imperfect democracy".

Source: http://indiatoday.digitaltoday.in

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Slumdog wins three awards at BIFAS

London (PTI): Slumdog Millionaire, an English movie based on the award-winning novel of Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup, won three awards at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAS) ceremony here.

The story of the Danny Boyle's film featuring Anil Kapoor revolves around a Mumbai teenage boy who astounds all by doing well on 'Kaun Banega Karorpati', Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire quiz show.

The film won the award in the category of best film, best director and best newcomer (for its British lead actor).

The former artistic director of the Royal Court theatre, Boyle, was talk of the night and is already on many pundits' Oscar prediction lists.

Earlier, he has directed films like Trainspotting showing Edinburgh heroin addicts and The Beach in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the main role.

The young lead actor of Slumdog Millionaire, Harrow-born Dev Patel, best known to British audiences as Anwar in E4's Skins, won the best newcomer award.

The film tells the story of a Mumbai street child. As he does well on the quiz show, flashbacks chronicle his life, the realities of which Danny Boyle does not flinch from showing.

Boyle's film, a third of which is spoken in Hindi opens in the UK on January 9 but has already down well on the festival circuit and opened to fantastic reviews in the US.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/