John Abraham n Rachel Weisz In Deepa Mehta’s Luna

……………………………………………….A surprise announcement was made by Deepa Mehta at the Cannes Film Festival a few days back.ohn Abraham was in Cannes to promote his forthcoming film ‘Goal’ along with girlfriend Bipasha Basu and UTV’s Ronnie Screwvala. While Bips came back to Mumbai after just half a day’s stay in Cannes, John stayed there for long.During his stay at Cannes, he met filmmaker Deepa Mehta who, to everyone’s surprise, announced her next movie ‘Luna’. A Hollywood venture, ‘Luna’ is based on the American environmentalist Julia Hill, who lived in a small shelter atop a 180-foot-tall tree in California Redwood Forest for 738 days to protest against the felling of trees in the region. Hill named the tree on which she lived ‘Luna’, which is the title of Deepa Mehta’s movie. Two-time Oscar winner David Ward will write the script for the film. Deepa specifies that the film is very eco-friendly.

The film will have Hollywood actress Rachel Weisz in the role of Julia Hill. John will play an activist. Interestingly, the film will not reveal anything about John’s nationality.At Cannes, John also got to meet Julia Hill, who had come with Mehta. “The true-life inspiration for the film, Julia Hill, just loved John. Her approval was very important. She thought he looked like Antonio Banderas!”, says Deepa Mehta.

Said Deepa, “John, who plays an environmentalist in Luna, is not an Indian, nor an American in the film. His culture origins aren’t specified. Unlike in Water, in this film, he won’t be a man in a dhoti playing the basuri. This makes him Bollywood’s first actor to crack the West without playing an NRI or some exotic creature. He has a full-fledged role opposite Rachel.”

John says he was expecting a mature and serious woman. But in Julia he saw a young, feisty and passionate girl. Although John hasn’t met Rachel Weisz yet, he is an admirer of her acting skills. Besides ‘Luna’, John will also work with Deepa Mehta in her ambitious movie ‘Exclusion’ which will have Amitabh Bachchan playing a Sikh. Looks like Deepa has developed a liking for John. First Water, now Luna and then Exclusion!!! Wow that’s a Hat-trick !! And I am sure John won’t mind that.

Source : Movie tonic

Shilpa and Shamita Shetty on Koffee With Karan

Shilpa and Shamita Shetty on Koffee With Karan

From a forgotten actress to the most sought about actress in Bollywood, Shilpa Shetty’s life certainly has turned a full 360 degrees. With Big Brother this year, Shilpa Shetty well made a mark on the global arena. And to top it her recent release “Life In A Metro” got her rave reviews. So it’s all hunky dory in the Shetty household.

This week Shilpa Shetty will be seen chatting with Karan Johar on the sets of Koffee With Karan. She will be joined by her actress sister Shamita Shetty and her mom, Sunanda Shetty.

Here is an excerpt from this coming Sunday’s Show of Koffee With Karan. Do tune in on Star One/ Star World at 9.00 pm on 3rd June to catch the entire interview of the Shetty sisters.

Karan: Ok, how does it feel to be on the show… I know I am giving too much importance to myself by asking you this question, but how does it feel?

Shilpa: It feels weird

Karan: Weird? That’s a first… why would you feel weird?

Shilpa: Its feels weird because you know we have known each other as friends and you can get away with a lot… but, I really don’t know… the feelings are mixed …

Karan: But, it’s such a sweet innocent, almost like harmless show… So, why should you feel weird?

Shilpa: Am I still on Koffee with Karan?… (laughs)

Karan: What was the worst thing Jade Goody said to you…

Shilpa: I think behind my back… most of the things were said… that’s the reason, it created the furor it did… it became this whole international incident … I think we as a race … Indians, are pretty tolerant… we tend to forgive and forget more easily… and that’s exactly what I did… I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and even after those fights I just wanted to move on… because I was like, this is just a show and I am going to go back home and honestly Karan, I took up the show because, I didn’t think I would last that long … I told Anurag, I left Metro and I told him, listen this is a great opportunity, they have told an Indian to be on the show, Main jaaongi, bahut saara paise bhi de rahe hain, aur mujhe kya karna hain.. I just have to be myself… So, I am just going to have a good time and come back… and I said keep the shoot after two weeks, I will be out in 2 weeks … (laughs)

Karan: (laughs) So you never thought that you would ever ever win?

Shilpa: Not in my life … it was a dream …

Karan: What about Jade Goody… had you heard of her?

Shilpa: No, I hadn’t heard of her

Karan: Neither have I

Shilpa: Ya … people in the UK know her …

Karan: Have you been in touch with her… have you had any kind of interaction with her?

Shilpa: No …

Karan: Not at all

Shilpa: No… not as yet

Karan: But, tell me, how did it feel when Shilpa went through all if this… you back home… you and dad… and mum

Shamita: When we were not in touch with her?

Karan: Ya … because you know, she didn’t know what was happening in there? But, all of you did?

Shamita: None of us knew what was happening… in fact, when the press wanted us to comment… we actually kept away from the press for some time … because we didn’t want to make any comments till we saw actually what was happening …

Karan: Were you at all disturbed when everything was happening inside the house… there was so much being said

Sunanda: I think she is a very brave child and she did handle the entire situation with a lot of dignity… I was happy that she could walk out whenever she wanted to … since she stuck around … we knew she was in a position to cope…

Excerpts from indiafm.com

HEy BABY !! delayed

Producer Sajid Nadiadwala delays the release of Heyy Babyy! so that best bud Salman Khan’s films don’t face competition

Friendships are rare in the film industry. But the friendship between producer Sajid Nadiadwala and Salman Khan has stood the test of time (15 years).

So much so that Sajid has postponed the release of his next production, Heyy Babyy! starring Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Fardeen Khan and Vidya Balan by a month so that his friend Salman’s two biggies Marigold and Partner (Sohail and Salman’s home production) don’t face any competition. A chat with Sajid Nadiadwala on his ‘friendly’ act:

Have you postponed the release of Heyy Babyy!?

Yes, It was suppose to release on July 27 but then I discovered two Salman’s films, Marigold (on July 20) and Partner (on July 27) are releasing almost back to back. So I decided to push back the release of Heyy Babyy! to August 24 though we finalised the date three months ago.

There is no question of clashing my films with Salman’s films. I must say he never told me to do anything. We don’t discuss these things. Heyy Babyy! is Salman’s home production too.

Won’t delaying the release burden you with financial problems?

No. I won’t face financial problems though there will be some difficulties with promotion but we have sorted that out. I sat with my distributors, Eros, and worked out a promotion plan.

But this may upset your other heroes?

Why should they get upset? All they need is a good release.

You’ve known Salman for the last 15 years and have done many films with him. Was he upset when you signed Akshay Kumar for ‘Heyy Babyy!’?

With Salman, one never knows whether he’s upset or not. We’ve never had a fight till date. Also when Sajid (Khan) was finalising his cast for Heyy Babyy!, we were shooting in USA for Jaan-E-Mann. Sajid had finalised Riteish and Fardeen and wanted me to talk to Akshay.
Sajid Postpones Heyy Babyy for Sallu’s Sake
source : MID-DAY

Salman was there and I told him about it. He was absolutely fine with it. Then Jaan-E-Mann got delayed and we started work on Heyy Babyy! The other film with Salman also got delayed so people had this ‘nahin hoga’ attitude.

But what people don’t know is that Salman and I share a rapport that goes beyond work. From 1995, when we did Jeet till Jaan-E-Mann, Salman has never discussed a single script with me. For financial matters, I talk to his dad and that takes just three seconds. Salman is incomparable.

What’s so special about him?

His loyalty. People love him for it. Sometimes I feel he does not belong to this world. He is so different. I try to be a good human being and producer but I can’t match up to even 25 per cent of him.

Type rest of the post here

Movie Review : Fool N Final

Movie Review : Fool N Final

INDIAFM

Some rules you need to follow before you embark on a journey called FOOL & FINAL…
One, don’t wear your thinking caps. Here’s why: The film defies logic.
Two, don’t ask questions. Here’s why: It’s all about entertainment, not enlightenment. Three, don’t look for answers. Here’s why: The motive is to keep you in splits.

FOOL & FINAL is all about transporting you to a world of make-believe. The sole intention is to offer you loads of entertainment in those 17 reels / 2.20 hours.

But, wait, there’s a hitch…

Write your own movie review of Fool n Final
The execution of the material is done most stylishly, it’s akin to watching a comic book on screen. But the effort falls flat since there’s no script in the first place. The film packs in too many characters and too many incidents in those 17 reels. No issues with that, but director Ahmed Khan and his team of writers [Umesh Shukla, Abbas Hierapurwala] should’ve mixed, merged and unified the assorted characters and incidents skillfully so that the entire experience would be worth cherishing. Unfortunately, what happens here is that you root for a few individualistic sequences only, not the film in entirety.

What redeems FOOL & FINAL are the portions between Johny Lever and Paresh Rawal and a few splendid stunts in the narrative — Shahid’s bike chase at the start or Sunny’s fight to finish combat in the finale. But as you walk out of the auditorium, you strongly feel that Ahmed hasn’t utilized the golden opportunity of creating a paisa vasool entertainer.

To sum up, FOOL & FINAL disappoints!

FOOL & FINAL is all about a diamond that’s robbed by Chunkey Pandey in Mumbai and smuggled to Dubai. Chunkey’s uncle [Gulshan Grover], a don based in London, asks Chunkey to sell the diamond to his accomplice in Dubai, Asrani.

Arbaaz Khan, a don based in Dubai, gets to know of the diamond and also of Chunkey’s weaknesses — guns and gambling. Arbaaz asks Paresh Rawal to get on to the job. Paresh plans to carry out the robbery with his niece [Ayesha Takia], her boyfriend [Shahid Kapoor] and a cabbie [Johny Lever].

Viek Oberoi owes money to a don [Zakir Hussain], who conducts illegal boxing matches in Dubai. Meanwhile, Chunkey cannot resist the urge for guns and calls Arbaaz, who in turn asks Chunkey for a favor: Chunkey should bet on his behalf at Zakir’s illegal den. On Arbaaz’s instructions, Paresh, Shahid, Ayesha and Johny decide to kidnap Chunkey.

Sunny Deol has an altercation with Vivek’s fighter. Zakir asks Vivek to bring Sunny for the big fight. Sunny knocks down Zakir’s fighter. Zakir is seething with anger. In the meanwhile, Arbaaz walks away with the diamond. Subsequently, Zakir walks in and demands the diamond from Paresh and gang. Gulshan and Asrani also land up at Paresh’s place with Jackie Shroff and ask for the diamond.

FOOL & FINAL is meant to be a laughathon, but it excites in bits and spurts. The first half offers rich visuals and a few interesting gags, but the entertainment quotient isn’t high enough. It’s only when Johny Lever enters the frame that things intensify. The sequence in the car, with Ayesha’s dog swallowing the mobile, is hilarious and every time Paresh and Johny interact with one another, the smile on your face only widens.

But too many cooks spoil the broth. In this case, with so many characters around and so many stories running concurrently, the writer duo hasn’t been able to do justice to each of them. As a result, the viewer feels dejected because every sub-plot isn’t as interesting as the Paresh – Johny track.

Director Ahmed Khan tries to pack just about everything in those 2.20 hours. His fundas may be, let’s give the viewer a dash of everything that they expect from a masala movie. It’s like offering twenty well-garnished dishes to a foodie, but [a] most of the dishes [read, sub-plots] aren’t delicious and [b] the appetite doesn’t permit you to relish each and every dish in your plate.

Himesh Reshammiya’s music is in sync with the mood of the film. ‘Yeh Dooriyaan’ and ‘Tere Layee’ are visually enticing as well as superb in terms of choreography. Cinematography [Johny Lal] is excellent. The D.O.P. does complete justice to the eye-filling, glamorous locales of Dubai. Dialogues are witty at places.

FOOL & FINAL has a host of actors, but the ones who stand out are Johny Lever and Paresh Rawal. No two opinions on that! Johny is in form after a long, long time and the funster is the soul of the enterprise. The masses will simply love him. Paresh is excellent yet again and together with Johny, elevates the film to a major extent.

Shahid Kapoor is noticeable because he’s with Johny and Paresh all through. Even otherwise, he leaves a strong mark in dances. Ayesha Takia pairs off well with Shahid, but doesn’t have much to do really. Sunny Deol is okay, although his mukka will be liked by the hoi polloi. Vivek Oberoi hams in the little role that he has.

Sameera Reddy has no role either. Sharmila Tagore is wasted. Om Puri deserved a better deal. Jackie Shroff is hardly there. Chunky Pandey is passable. Ditto for Arbaaz Khan. Zakir Hussain does well. Gulshan Grover, Asrani, Vijay Raaz, Razzak Khan and Suresh Menon are mere gap fillers.

On the whole, FOOL & FINAL is all gloss, no substance. At the box-office, given the hype for the film as also the fantabulous promotion embarked by the magnanimous producer [Firoz A. Nadiadwala], the film will attract footfalls in the initial days, but the weak content will tell on the business in the initial weekend itself. Its sustaining power at the ticket window, therefore, is doubtful.