Bollywood News

Perhaps you have heard many times that Bollywood movies are the number one source of entertainment for people in India. Bollywood is very popular in South Asia and Middle East too. So, there is a lot of money involved in this industry. Mehdi Hassan has written an excellent article in South Asia Blog and I am quoting small part from the entry.

The fall of Bollywood:

After seeing an unprecedented growth Bollywood took a major blow in 2008. Because of the credit crunch, production houses cut their budgets and went for major overhaul. Banks and corporations, who previously invested in movies, scrapped many projects due to tight budget.

Normally, it takes around 40-50 crore to produce a high profile movie and Rs.5-15 crore for a medium budget movie. Reliance Big Entertainment, Mukta Arts, Studio 18 are some of the top production houses who produced majority of the high-profile movies in the last couple of years. They lost 50-80% of their capital in the last one year. The situation became further worse when high budget movies like Drona and Yuvraaj failed at the box office last year.

Bollywood star Salman Khan wants to be an owner of any of the teams of Indian Premier League. He has shown his interest to buy a team from this domestic tournament and be an honorable member of it. That is why, he met with IPL Chairman Lalit Modi. It is heard that IPL members will increase its team members from 8 to 10 for 2011. It has been revealed in a statement given by Lalit Modi to The Times Of India.

However, Salman Khan is not new in IPL. There are some stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty have already become the owner or co-owner of IPL teams. However, we can see Salman to buy a team along with another bidder.

Some say that Bollywood is killing the essence of cricket. I do agree with this matter. However, it seems to me a new clash between two Khans in cricket field. Now, their fans are eagerly waiting to see new and exciting clash between them.

Shah Rukh buys Calcutta team. On the other hand, two actresses Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty jointly buy the Punjab and Rajasthan teams.

Related article:

BBC NEWS

On 7^th November of this year, one of the top actors in Hindi movie, Amitabh Bachchan, will celebrate his glorious 40 years of Bollywood. In his long career, he has given many hit movies and made a place in the deep of his fans heart. He is now 66 year old and he will touch 67 years on October 11. This day will be very special day to his fans. To his fans he is known as Big B and also treated as god. So, I have no doubt about it that it will be celebrated all over the India as a festival. Many top actors and actresses will participate in this function. His son Abhishek Bachchan and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Bachchan will try their best to make it memorable and that is why, they should not leave any stone unturned. What will Amitabh Bachchan do? He will recite a poem which was written by him late father Harivanshrai Bachchan.

I personally like Amitabh Bachchan. In my eyes, he is great actor. He is a very enthusiastic person.

Related article:

samaylive.com

It happens after long time that any Indian contestant could not make her place among top 15 in the beauty pageant contest like Miss Universe. This year, Ekta Choudhry from India took part of this prestigious competition but failed to make her proceed as a favorite contestant. However, India’s famous fashion designer Ritu Kumar said that Hindi movie fans will see her in Bollywood. Ritu Kumar designed the costume which Ekta was supposed to wear in the national costume round. However, Ekta Choudhry early elimination not only shocked her but also millions of South Asian people disappointed for this decision. Though, she had everything to attract the people but that did not work well. According to Ekta’s mother, blonde beauty got much importance in this beauty pageant contest. However, it is not true in fact. It seems that this worst performance may create some pressure to Pooja Chopra who will participate for Miss World crown. However, I think that Ekta Choudhry will soon be a famous Bollywood actress.

Related article:

THE TIMES OF INDIA

The 49-year-old Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff has come under spot light after giving his emotional quotient about new released Hindi movies. According to his statement, it has become clear that Bollywood movies are losing its Indian pattern. Indian movie people are missing the emotions and family bond in the movies. I also agree that Bollywood movies are becoming less Hindustani in flavor.

He has acted some famous films like ‘Parinda’, ‘Karma’ and ‘Border’. For his role in ‘Parinda’, which was released in 1989, he was awarded Filmfare title. In his 26 years career, he has acted in 150 films. In this time, some of his movies moved throw more than 25 weeks. Now a day, if any movies run just two or three weeks then it is titled as successful movie.

In the last few years, I can not see any movie that attracted fans. It is all about business. I can not understand if Bollywood movies are progressing or degrading. He said this thing when he was in capital to promote his film ‘Kisaan’.

Related article:

Indian express.com

The Bollywood heartthrob super star Shahrukh Khan is one of the most talked topics after he had been asked some bizarre questions by the U.S. officials at customs in Newark, NJ. He has returned to India. Now, Hindi movie fans are eagerly waiting to hear the notorious incident that King Khan had to face in the US customs office. He said that he had been criticized by the customs officers.

He was supposed to go to U.S to promote his next released movie “My Name is Khan”. He is a famous and house hold name for South Asian people. But there is hardly anyone in America except Indian origin people who know him. As he is Muslim so, he was suspected as the member of terrorist. It is the time to give the answer for this humiliating treatment with Shahrukh Khan.

Related article:

The Seattle Times

Bollywood star Aamir Khan and Oscar winning Hollywood superstar Kate Winslet will be seen sharing screen space in a Hollywood film based on the short story titled “’Toba Tek Singh’” written by Saadat Hassan Manto. Reports out in the media suggest that Bollywood’s Mr. Perfectionist Aamir is pretty much impressed by the script. This would be Aamir Khan’s first Hollywood film. The story is based on the theme of India-Pakistan partition of 1947.

Aamir Khan is an actor of sheer talent and skill, while Kate Winslet of Titanic fame needs no introduction to the movie fans across the world. So, it seems that the yet-to-be-named film would be a surprise package for both Hollywood and Bollywood fans.

Related article:

samaylive

My Name is Khan is an upcoming movie in which Karan Johar is the director and Shahrukh Khan and Kajol are in the lead roles. The trio have produced some of the biggest hits in Bollywood  in the last 11 years. I found an interview of Koran Johar about My Name is Khan and I giving a small part of that interview:

You’ve inked a deal with 20th Century Fox for an astronomical never-heard-of amount of money?

Let me tell you the amount mentioned is nowhere near being a realistic one. The deal between Star Fox Studios, my company and Red Chillies is an internal matter and can’t be discussed in public. What makes this deal so historic is not the money involved but the attempt to cross the diaspora with a Hindi-language film My Name Is Khan. We’ll reach out in places where Hindi-language films have not gone before.

Why Fox Studios?

The Fox guys read the script and have followed the project. They’re close enough to it to know what it’s all about. I’ve shared a comfort zone with them from day one. Both Shah Rukh and I believe they are the best people to handle My Name Is Khan. They have faith in our brand power and content creation. It’s not about money. It’s all about mutual respect.

You can read the full interview here: My deal with Fox Studios is historic: Karan Johar

Shahrukh Khan recently went to USA and in airport, he was questioned. Normally, it should not be a big as it is perhaps standard procedure in a country like USA. However, what became a big deal was the way it was carried out. He was separated and kept 90 minutes- according to Indian media reports. Now, he has come back to Mumbai and in the airport, he talked to the journalists in a press conference.

He is eager to end the story and he said: “I don’t mean to sound pompous but Shahrukh Khan doesn’t need publicity.”

“I am too big a star for that.”

I guess that some people thought that Shahrukh Khan tried to make an story out of the incident because his next movie, My Name is Khan is somehow related to this theme- the suffering of Muslim people in USA after 9/11 event. He also stated that he would go to USA less because of this incident.

You can find more detailed information about it in LA Times report: India movie star Shahrukh Khan gives his side of airport encounter

So, read it and know more about the reaction of SRK.

In Bollywood, it is some Khans like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan who have been ruling for many years. Although there are many pretty actresses but it is the ultimately the three Khans who are considered to be more successful male actors and a lot of movies became super hit because of them. There is Saif Ali Khan who is not that much successful but he is also considered to be one of the Khans. Anyway in the past, it was suggested that the Khans maintain some kinds of personal friendship against the Bachchans. This matter became evident when in the marriage of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan none of the Khans were invited. Now, in the recent month we have seen bad relationship between Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan. Now, against it seems to me that they are becoming friends again. Recently, Shahrukh Khan said that he is a friend of Salman Khan. It is good news for both of them and their fans but I am not sure that for how long they will remain friends. What I understand is that both of them are becoming old and their time is almost finishing. So, this has been creating some kind of mental crisis in both of them which is normal. That is why, most probably they are suffering a lot of pressures and sometimes they get engaged into fighting with each other.