Hundreds of Indian stars prepared to dazzle their fans Sunday at the ‘Bollywood Oscars,’ a glitzy awards ceremony expected to attract 600 million television viewers.
The gala event launched by the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) just eight years ago has become one of the film industry’s most-watched events. Celebrations began Friday with the premiere of ‘Sarkar Raj’ featuring newly-wed superstars Abhishek Bachchan and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, performing with his father Amitabh Bachchan.
The celebrity couple are up for Best Male and Best Female awards for their roles in ‘Guru’ — a rags-to-riches story of an Indian businessman.
Vying for the coveted Best Picture award are ‘Guru,’ ‘Chak De India,’ ‘Jab We Met,’ ‘Om Shanti Om,’ ‘Life in a Metro’ and ‘Partner.’
At least 500 of Bollywood’s biggest names including Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Govinda — have arrived in Bangkok to promote their unique brand of film-making outside India. But the ceremony at a lavish Bangkok theatre, decorated in traditional Thai style, will highlight films that go beyond India’s traditional song-and-dance fare.
A new Bollywood film on a shrewd businesswoman’s plan to build a power plant caught up in development politics is drawing comparisons with the controversy behind the failed Indian project of U.S. utilities giant Enron.
“Sarkar Raj,” starring Bollywood’s first family the Bachchans, has an uncanny resemblance to the real-life drama involving powerful politician Balasaheb Thackeray, whose party opposed a $2.8 billion power plant built by Enron in the 1990s.
The controversy surrounding the private power plant, India’s largest then, highlighted the politics of development and the difficulties of doing business in a country replete with corruption, political intimidation and red tape.
A couple of years ago, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta were the ruling troika of queen bees in Bollywood.
Almost overnight, you have new favourites Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif being labelled as the soon-to-be queens, thanks to their box-office successes in recent months.
Rani, who’s had a bad innings last year ( Ta Ra Rum Pum and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag ), was tinseltown’s blue-eyed girl until her films crashed at the box-office. Rumours of her marriage to Aditya Chopra didn’t go down well with the audience either.
Close rival Preity seems to have shifted gear to meaningful films and has become a franchisee owner of IPL, giving her no time for films. The Bachchan bahu has wrapped up for Sarkar Raj co-starring hubby Abhishek, walked the red carpet in Cannes Film Festival again and is exploring fresher avenues in Hollywood.
In such a scenario, it is inevitable that filmmakers would move on to newer stars who can offer bulk dates, commitment and box-office guarantee as well. Unlike male superstars, women stars never had that kind of sway over ticket windows anyway. While married male superstars are welcome, attached women superstars are almost outcasts even in 21st century Mumbai tinseltown. Why do top female superstars have such a limited shelf life? Says filmmaker Sanjay Gadhvi, “Globally, a film is sold mainly because of the male actor.
Bachchan, his son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya started walking in the very early hours of Tuesday from their residence ‘Jalsa’ at around 2:00 am.
The street leading to the temple witnessed serpentine queues of fans who wanted to have a glimpse of their favourite stars.
Amitabh’s wife Jaya Bachchan joined them at the temple.
According to reports, the actor along with the team of ‘Sarkar Raj’ went to seek the blessings of the deity for the success of the film.
Ash is going to Hollywood once again and this time she’ll team up with Oscar winner Meryl Streep.
The movie is an adaptation of a French film, Chaos, and focuses on the distress that upshoots when a young prostitute, unintentionally, intrudes into the life of a modern middle class couple.
Reports add that Ash will be playing the role of a prostitute, who suffers physical and mental torture. The film emphasizes on the struggle that the prostitute has to make for her survival, her resurrection and dignity.
Although the film’s name has not been officially announced since it has first to be adapted for American audiences, reports confirmed both Ash and Meryl as a part of the project.
Loading ...
