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The film that will also star her father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan, and her husband, Abhishek Bachchan, will hit the screens on June 6, the film’s director said at a press conference Monday.Sarkar Raj is loosely based on the controversy around an Enron power plant built in India’s western state of Maharashtra a decade ago.Director Ram Gopal Varma however defended the movie as original.It “has no reference point and was a completely original script,” Varma said, according to the Press Trust of India.Yet the promos of Sarkar Raj show a striking similarity between Rai-Bachchan’s role and that of Rebecca Mark, former CEO of Houston-based utilities giant Enron, who pushed the power plant project.Enron was mired in a political storm in the mid-1990s over the building of a 2.9 billion dollar private power plant, India’s largest at the time.Majority share owner Enron closed the plant in 2001 after its lone client, the Maharashtra State Electricity Board, fell behind on payments.Enron went bankrupt in December 2001 following an accounting scandal. “I am representing a power company in the film that wants to set up a power project,” Rai-Bachchan told media in a video conference from Miami, where she was celebrating her first wedding anniversary.
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Bachchan expresses his unhappiness on the Aamir Khan film not being under contention for the awards. The movie industry has been unanimous in its approval for Taare Zameen Par. It has even won countless awards but the film’s producer-director Aamir Khan has consistently shunned all of these ceremonies because they go against his principles. Now, however, because of Aamir’s refusal to apply for the IIFA, TZP will not even be a contender. Brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan tells us more…
Taare Zameen Par hasn’t been nominated for the IIFA’s what’s your reaction?
IIFA rules and procedures, approved by the governing body, states that it is mandatory for a producer seeking nomination for an Award category, to make a formal application. If the formal application is not made, irrespective of the status and merit of the film, it does not become eligible for a nomination. Aamir as a producer did not put in that formal application making it very difficult for IIFA to consider TZP in any category.As a brand ambassador did you think of inviting him personally?
IIFA and I also as its Brand Ambassador spoke to Aamir personally on this issue, because we did not want his film to go unrecognised and possibly unrewarded. But he told us that it was against his principles with regard to award ceremonies. He wished to be excused and I think we should honour that. Much as though we would have wanted to accommodate his film, it would have gone against the principles of the IIFA regulations. It would have set a wrong precedent unfortunately, for producers, who were following the regulations of IIFA. I have expressed to Aamir how immensely we shall miss his presence.
Continue reading ‘Big B: I wanted TZP in IIFA’
Wizcraft, the people behind the Bachchan’s World Tour, have said that they intend to sue Bipasha Basu for breaking her contract.Says a source from Wizcraft on condition of anonymity, “What Bipasha did was completely unprofessional and in bad taste. It’s not just unethical but illegal too. How could she back out from the tour after signing the contract?” Continues the source, “When we refused to pay her that astronomical figure, she backed out. Not just us, even Mr. Bachchan tried convincing her but she didn’t budge. We had no option but to sign bigger actors instead. Though we’re too caught up with the tour, we can’t take it lying down. She can’t take us for a ride, now we have decided to sue her.”
Time and again Bollywood megastar, Amitabh Bachcan has been attacked for his loyalty to UP and his negligence towards Maharashtra. Recently, Shiv Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamna’, praised Rajnikanth for supporting Tamil Nadu in the Hogenekkal drinking water project controversy despite the fact that Karnataka is his birthplace. The editorial then criticized Amitabh asking what he had done for Maharashtra.
Although, seeing that the issue was getting inflated, Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray sidelined himself from the editorial and wrote that Amitabh is a national star and should not be dragged into regional controversies.
However, Big B was hurt and decided to retort this time by venting his feelings to the media. In an interview, the superstar quoted, ‘’I am not an outsider by any stretch of imagination. This land is my land as much as it is for every other citizen of our beloved country. I came to Mumbai in 1968 to pursue a vocation and I did not need a visa to come here as the city had been my home for the last 40 years.
I bought my first car here and my own house. I met and married my wife in this city and both my children were born here. My father and my mother spent their last years in Mumbai and died here.
They were put to flames here and their ashes have mingled with the earth of this city. This city gave me name and fame beyond anything that I may have deserved or hoped for.
I am not leaving this city and going anywhere. Let them (MNS) throw bottles and stones. Let them burn my effigies and bring morchas in front of my house — but I won’t budge.
I am a public figure, not a public official. I am not a democratically elected representative of the people, neither do I hold any public office. I am answerable only to the three C’s: Courts, Constitution and conscience.”
What has hurt Amitabh most is that his father-like Bal Thackrey too did not support him. Amitabh, who has always paid due respect to Balasaheb in every aspect, showed aptly that he was hurt saying, ‘’Balasaheb has been a father figure to us and shall remain so. In my growing up years, my parents taught me that when elders speak, the young listen quietly. I quietly accept whatever my elder or his outfit has expressed.’’
The already scheduled “Unforgettable” concerts as to be performed by Bachchans live across Europe and United States in July is now studded by more stars than Bachchans family. According to the resources close to the Bachchan family; Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit have agreed to be the part of the tour along with super star Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya at different venues across Britain and the US.
The source close to the family told, “Saif and Shahid showed absolutely no hesitation in joining the Bachchans on their tour. The price being offered was fine and the dates for venues where they’ll perform also worked out to their convenience.”
But there are many rumors prevailing in the air regarding the withdrawal of Lara Dutta from the tour as some sou
