Is Diwali always a Crackling Feat for Bollywood?

Diwali has not always brought in wealth and happiness in Bollywood.
This year’s Diwali releases look more than merely interesting and has too many expectations from them. Yash Chopra’s untimely death has quadrupled the expectations from his last directorial venture Jab Tak Hai Jaan which has been deemed as the climax and culmination of his legendary career as a film maker.
Son Of Sardaar despite seeming to miniscule in comparison to that has left no stone unturned and have ensured that this Diwali box-office entertainment will be to the hilt.

Trade Analysts confirm that both the films were walking neck to neck in terms of publicity, till the death of Yash-ji who succumbed to Dengue shortly before the ‘King of Romance’ was all set to shoot the last song sequence in the Swiss Alps, a destination he popularized in Bollywood films. Jab Tak Hai Jaan has an obvious edge as being the last gift of Yash Chopra to his audiences providing them with YRF kind of magical passion and romance.

With such buzz building around the films and the publicity hypes almost warring with each other, we can’t help but look at the Diwali releases of the past few years. Diwali doesn’t necessarily mean crackling happiness for Bollywood. 

Thankfully this Diwali does seem to be excessively appealing but taking a close look at the past Diwali releases, they have often gone a step forward in dampening the festive spirits of the audiences. Alpesh Sharma brings to you a list of the biggest Diwali flops in Bollywood –

Foreign Stars in Bollywood

Scarlett Mellish Wilson is all set for a Bollywood debut with Dibakar Banerjee’s film Shanghai. Dibakar has been qouted as saying “Someone recommended Scarlett for our item song. I couldn't believe how well she danced! Scarlett is by far one of the best dancers in the Bollywood form I've seen.
Usually when foreigners do Bollywood dancing, there’s a certain amount of stiffness in their movements. Not Scarlett. She takes to the rhythms as though she was born to the desi beat.” 

2012 Kingfisher model Malika Haydon is debuting in Bollywood with 'I'll do the talking' from 'Agent Vinod'.

 

 

American dancer Lauren Gottlieb, who is all set to act in Remo D'Souza's next film is on a strict prep mode.

Young film maker Rajshree Ojha's English multi-starrer 'Chaurahen' is finally up for release marking the Bollywood debut of Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter Kiera.

Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone hopes that with "Jism 2",
She can at least match the standard that Bipasha Basu set with the prequel.

 

 

 Nathalia who has managed to impress all the boys in the film with her latka jhatkas has now bagged a role opposite the hot hunk Rana Daggubati in RGV's next.

 Kingfisher model Angela Jonsson, without a single film to her credit, has landed a role opposite no less a person than Bollywood's alpha Khan.

 

The model-turned-actress Nargis Fakhri was launched in Bollywood by director Imtiaz Ali as Ranbir Kapoor's love interest in the hit movie 'Rockstar'.

Sex only with Hubby: Sunny Leone

No matter what you think, Sunny Leone says she has sex only with her husband and manager, Daniel Weber.

“I don’t work with any other men at all,
I just shoot with him. So it’s not really awkward,”
says the 31-year-old adult-film actor in the latest issue of HT Brunch Quarterly.

Many of Leone’s fans were left disappointed with her rather ‘clean’ act in Jism 2. Obviously, for behind that title of a porn star, she is your ordinary Punjabi kudi — Karenjit Kaur Vohra — whose engineer father grew up in Delhi, who ate desi khaana all week, went to gurudwara every Sunday and only had pizzas on weekend at home in Canada.

“Friday and Saturday were American nights when we ate pizza or pasta or something,” she reveals. And she, who reiterates her ordinariness with “relax, I’m human,” admits that doing Bigg Boss was a great thing to have happened to her, even though she never saw herself doing anything in India.“Doing that show was the best decision, ever! And I never in a million years thought that I would be in a Bollywood movie!”


The reason behind the initial reservations is not surprising. “I thought India had a really conservative culture. I told Daniel, ‘The public’s going to hate me. The fans are ... well, there aren’t going to be any fans there!’ Where I lived, I didn’t have to think about people not accepting who I was — everybody already did!”

Student of the Year | Movie Review

Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Rishi Kapoor, Kayoze Irani, Sana Saeed, Ronit Roy
Direction: Karan Johar
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 26 minutes
Avg Readers Rating : 4.5


Story: The tracks are ready and the race is on. What's at stake? Love, friendship and the coveted 'Student of the Year' trophy.

Movie Review: It's KJo-Wala Love! Served fresh and piping hot from the Dharma college canteen of romance. And it's a high (class) school that you'd never want to miss a lecture of, ever. Except that it has its own set of Karan rules.

Read the prospectus:
1. Leave your text-books at home but ensure you're carrying your designer bags and heels.
2. Drive a Ferrari to school, or if you're poorer, take a bike.
3. Dating, mating, separating and love lessons shall be part of the syllabus. 4. Girls, don your shortest minis, and guys, rip off the shirts. Welcome to St. Teresa's. Rest assured, it'll be a well-rounded entertainment experience.

ST is run by a happy and 'gay' Dean - Yogendra Vashisth (Rishi), who drools over John Abraham, and when he sees the much-married hot coach ( Ronit Roy) usko 'coach coach' hota hai!. The hotshot student of the school is rich brat Rohan Nanda (welcoming Varun Dhawan), who zips around in his hot-wheels, flirts, and dreams of being a Rockstar. 

His childhood sweetheart, another super rich kid, Shanaya (super filmy intro, Alia! Alia! Alia!), is Ms. Popularity and Drama Queen (don't miss the red pout) known for her brands and beauty. Enter (grandly) Abhimanyu (Sidharth), a middle-class boy with mega dreams, a chalta-phirta KBC (Mr Know-it-all), and the in-house Milkha Singh.

There's a typical rich-poor division in school, the Richie Rich Tatas v/s the bechara gareeb Batas. But with Abhimanyu's entry the competition heats up - With both boys showing ample abs & attitude (teeny-weeny trunks, for all you drooling women!), chasing the same gal (Shanaya), and aiming for the same trophy - Student of the Year! Their equations from friends-to-foes changing quicker than their school grades. Their muscles rippling more than their egos; the competition gets tougher and the boys - leaner and meaner. Their loyal friends adding chaos to campus - Eg. Tanya who tries everything in the 'date- bait-book' to seduce Rohan (including push-up bras); the Parsi 'Pseudo' - the 'minority report'-card in this bunch; Jeetu - Rohan's chamcha; tomboy Shruti - Shanaya's other half (minus her designer do).

This is what we call grandiose debut(s)!!! Karan's definitely swooshed his cane for this one. The trio has done him proud and has set a high 'bench-mark'. Varun expresses and emotes with superb confidence and storms the dance floor with swag. Sidharth stands equally tall, has amazing screen presence and is man of few words and many smouldering emotions. Alia wins your heart with her cuteness, effervescence and naivete. Yes, she reminds you of Kareena's Poo days (with all that oomph), but she comes into her own. The chemistry between the three (even outside the lab) grows on you.

Shabhash! SOTY's supporting cast is brilliant, each have favourite subjects and score high in those areas. But the star who scores a straight A-Plus is undoubtedly Rishi Kapoor - simply superb. The other guy who can take a bow is the director.

The film is full of KJo-isms - it's larger-than-life, colourful, lavish, beautifully shot and directed. With medleys, dance, drama and everything good-looking (from cast to couches, dorms to discos).

Vishal-Shekhar have caught the right beat with this high-school musical, and the songs are as fresh as the leads. The story is simple and entertains throughout, though it's not the first time this marathon of an idea has run past the screen. 'SOTY' takes you back to your books and sinks you in true-blue Bollywood syllabus, following the 'formula' - Two boys, one girl, one glorious trophy and lots of testosterone.

If this one doesn't pump you up with nostalgia, it's time for you to go back to school already!

Tip Off: You may not like this movie if bubble-gum romances, picture-perfect worlds and candy-floss clouds are not your idea of a movie-going experience.

Saifeena to Go to Gstaad for their Honeymoon

Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor are expected to return to Mumbai by October 21 after the reception and ceremonies in New Delhi and Pataudi. As reported earlier in TOI Bebo will shoot her first item song post marriage with Salman Khan in Mumbai from October 22. After November 1 she will start promoting Talaash with Aamir Khan, while Saif will start shooting for Tigmanshu Dhulia's Bullet Raja in Madhya Pradesh. 

The couple will fly to Gstaad, Switzerland in December for their annual vacation that will also double up as a honeymoon this time around. They will return to India by January 7, 2013 because Bebo starts shooting for Prakash Jha's Satyagraha on January 10 in Bhopal and Saif will promote Race-2 that releases on January 25, 2013. 

The hotel in Gstaad where the couple spends their annual vacation is exclusively meant for royalty. In fact Saif is enrolled there as the Nawab of Pataudi. Even in the past years, Saifeena have been registering in the hotel as Mr and Mrs Khan. This time around, it will be no different.

Movie Review: English Vinglish | Act Sridevi

Movie Review: Shashi Godbole(Sridevi) is your average, upper-middle-class mother of two, whose special skills also include making ladoos. In fact, she's so good in her sweetmeat that she even markets it.

But one skill that Shashi lacks is speaking English. This makes her the constant butt of jokes and rebuttal with her husband ( Adil Hussain) and teenage daughter (Navika Kotia). The film drives home the point that those who speak English fluently usually adapt a condescending attitude towards those who don't.

Mind you; Shashi is not your average Jane. When opportunity takes her to New York for a niece's wedding; the sari-clad Shashi, steals a few hours each day and enrolls for a four-week crash course in English.

Here begins a hilarious yet heart-rending tale where Shashi and a motley bunch of a Spanish nanny, Eva (Ruth Aguilar); a Tamil software engineer, Rama (Rajeev Ravindranathan), a Chinese beautician, Yu Son (Maria Romano), a French cook, Laurent ( Mehdi Nebbou), and a Pakistani cabbie, Salman Khan (Sumeet Vyas), an African dancer, Udumbke (Damian Thompson) guided by an English tutor, David (Cory Hibbs) show you spunk and determination which can help you overcome obstacles anytime or anywhere.

The students of the English class also act as a support system to the protagonist, who despite her own dedication, finds that complacency has slipped into her marriage and there's self-respect lacking in her relationship with her teenage daughter.

In Laurent, the Frenchman's attraction for her, Shashi rediscovers her own self-worth. Equipped with his attention and her now new found knowledge of English, she finds wings to soar.

Easily one of the best films of 2012; is tale of women empowerment (actually it is bound to empower every viewer) because it strikes a chord, right from the start to the end titles.

Debutant Gauri Shinde, who made advertising films before she ventured into the feature area; proves she's an ace cinema writer-director. The result is a sweet, sensitive and superlative film that makes you laugh, cry and smile. Every emotion is identifiable, every nuance is balanced. The characters are real, the performances effortless.

Amit Trivedi's music is hummable. The title track, Gustak dil, the Marathi remixes of the Navrai Mazhi; all of it is mesmerising. The beauty of the soundtrack is that flows naturally, without disturbing the narrative. Trivedi's track also gets you to question—why other mainstream filmmakers—make such a song-`n'-dance of bawdy lyrics and item songs, when there is such joy in simplicity.

Sridevi is the backbone of EV. Anxiety, anger, arrogance, anguish, attraction, the actress conveys emotions effortlessly with or without words. Returning to the silver screen after a 15-year hiatus; Sri's performance here is a master-class for actors. So much so, that you keep applauding her, long after the lights come on. One must also put in a word of praise for the performances of Sri's son-Sagar (Shivansh Kotia); an adorable moppet who you want to take home with you. And her ma-in-law, Mrs Godbole (Sulabha Deshpande); a delight to watch, as always.

Tip-Off: English Vinglish has the feel-good factor. It's the movie to which you must take your grandmother, mother, sister, wife, sweetheart and saas.

Final Word: Request you to make a little place next to you, Rajkumar Hirani; Gauri Shinde has taken a bow in mainstream Bollywood.

Critic's Rating:

 4 out of 5

Cast: Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou, Amitabh Bachchan (interesting cameo)

Direction: Gauri Shinde

Genre: Drama

Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Avg Readers Rating:

3.5