Archive for Fari
The New Indiana Jones and the Long Knives of the Internet
By MICHAEL CIEPLY
Published: May 10, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Now comes the part where Indiana Jones dangles over the snake pit of public opinion.
Ramu interview
Link
Do you fear anything?
I’m like the Fearless Nadia. I never take anything seriously. On second thoughts, I’d say I fear being put on a pedestal. If Mani Ratnam makes a flop, Revathy politely says where Mani Sir went wrong. But when my films flop, Revathy simply sends me a message saying: “A kick on your b***”.
We hear that you and Mani Ratnam share a great friendship…
Yes, we share a lot, including a glass of beer. It’s just that we don’t like each other’s films. If someone calls me Ramuji or Ramu Sir, I’ll run to the basins of the Congo. I’m happy being called by my nickname, Ramu After having made Aag,
people won’t place me on a pedestal for the next 10 years. Thereafter, I’ll remake Aag and that will ensure that they don’t address me as Sir for another couple of years either (laughs).
After Aag, do you think you will get financers to produce a remake of Aag?
I’m one super crazy film-maker. I’m sure India has at least another super crazy financer to pump in money.
Will Big B agree to feature in your remake of Aag?
Michael Caine has said that one should remake flops. Remaking Aag can be seen from two perspectives. One is like the spider who perseveres to spin a web. From another perspective, it’s like trying to straighten a dog’s tail. While making Aag, I had a certain vision in the beginning. Then things got tweaked around because of legal hassles. It’s always a problem to change a script during the making of a film. Then, there was an arrogance of trying to get into the one-upmanship business. I wanted to give a shot-by-shot and scene-by-scene interpretation. Mr Bachchan will beat me up if I suggest this remake.
Ramu on the buzz about Ash’s character
Link
Ram Gopal Varma doesn’t know who Rebecca Mark is or what Enron is. Rebbeca had resigned from Enron in 2000 after a series of failed infrastructure investments that eventually cost the company more than $2 billion.
Enron’s Dabhol project in Maharashtra was the centre of a major controversy and grabbed headlines.
In a chat with Ramu we catch up on what Rebecca Mark means to Ramu and why Ash stunned the filmmaker:
The buzz is that Aishwarya’s character in Sarkar Raj is based on Rebecca Mark of Enron.
Desi pirates steal a billion from Bollywood
Washington, May 4 (IANS) Pirates are robbing Bollywood of a billion dollars in revenue annually in the US, says veteran Indian filmmaker Bobby Bedi, lamenting that “the face of the Indian films pirate is Indian”.
“The home video market in the US is bleeding massively with close to 95 percent of Indian films pirated,” he says. “Go to any Indian store in the US and you’ll see stacks of pirated Indian films,” adds Bedi who has himself seen five varieties of a single film in an Indian store.
“The same fellows will never sell pirated American products,” Bedi told IANS, regretting that American enforcement agencies were not forceful enough in helping plug losses suffered by the Indian entertainment industry in the US.
Bedi said the Indian home video market in the US made up 15 percent - about $2 billion - of India’s entertainment industry valued at $13 billion, “which is really huge.”
People will love Abhishek in Drona: Goldie Behl
Filmmaker Goldie Behl chats with HT City on Drona…
Why didn’t you make a film all this while?
There were several reasons —hunt for a script and a unique idea that could break through the clutter. I needed to make an impression on my audience because I couldn’t do that with my debut film.
I wanted to do a film with an idea that could make the audience lap it up and something that would help me make a mark. While making Bus Itna… we were very young. Although we enjoyed the process there were lessons learnt for both Abhishek and me. It served the purpose that way because it helps us grow up.
Rajiv Menon next with Aishwarya and Abhishek
Mani Ratnam’s is not the only Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan film in the works.
Talk is that Chennai-based adman, cinematographer and director Rajiv Menon has zeroed in on the star couple in his second Hindi project tentatively titled Dhun.
According to our source, Abhishek and Aishwarya have been finalised for Rajiv’s movie, which will be produced by Eros Entertainment.
Making movies with Mani Ratnam
April 30, 2008
It’s not everyday one gets to have a long chat with Mani Ratnam. But when one does, it’s always interesting. The director discussed his movies and much more with Maria Giovanna.
How did the concept for Nayagan come to you?
I had done it as an outline for a different producer. It was just an idea, I didn’t go beyond it. Later, when the opportunity came, I drew up in a full script. It’s loosely based on a real-life character based in Mumbai (Varadarajan Mudaliar).
Ekta gives a blank cheque to Ramu
…for their joint production based on Veerappan’s life
Posted On Monday, April 28, 2008
Vickey Lalwani
All is well between Ram Gopal Varma and Ekta Kapoor. Contrary to recent reports that Ekta went to RGV’s office and had arguments with him, the two have joined hands to co-produce RGV’s next - the film based on the dreaded forest bandit Veerappan, who was killed by The STF (Special Task Force) headed by Vijaya Kumar (ADGP Tamil Nadu) in the dark hours of October 18, 2004 near Dharmapuri.
When contacted, Ekta confirmed that she is co-producing the film on Veerappan with RGV. She says, “After seeing the rushes of Sarkar Raj (Balaji Motion Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights of Sarkar Raj, which is directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The rights include India and overseas theatrical and satellite rights), I asked Ramu if he had a biopic in mind. Sarkar Raj is so true to life and I felt that he would do a fantastic job with a biopic. Ramu told me about his idea of making a film on Veerappan and I felt that it was a great idea. So, Balaji Motion Pictures is co-producing the film on Veerappan with Ramu. The film will star new faces.”
Blog review of Tashan
(I’ve come across a few blog reviews and the comments are not very encouraging for this one.)
The much awaited Bolloywood flick of 2008, ‘Tashan’ (Style) made me return to writing posts. On visiting the official website of Tashan, I found that there are communities on Orkut and Facebook for this movie! I watched the first day and first show of this movie and decided to warn anybody before they even plan to watch this movie! The tag line ‘The Ishtyle… The Goodluck… The Pharmoola’ has no relevance to the movie!!!
Lakhan Singh aka Bhaiyyaji (Anil Kapoor), a Don from Kanpur hires Jimmy Cliff (Saif Ali Khan), a call centre executive to teach him English. Pooja Singh (Kareena Kapoor) works with Bhaiyyaji and her motive is to kill her father’s murderer. And where does Akshay Kumar fit into all this? He plays the role of Bachchan Pande, a follower of Bhaiyyaji from Kanpur, who is hired by Bhaiyyaji to murder Jimmy and Pooja for deceit.
By the first half an hour of the movie, one will really wonder what the hype was all about. Debutant director Vijay Krishna Acharya, the dialogue writer for Dhoom and Dhoom 2, should stick to what he does best. The movie suffers from a very poor script. There are long fight scenes that are absolutely unnecessary. Throughout the movie, the actors utter the word ‘Tashan’ just to bring back the attention of the viewers. Akshay Kumar has done a few good stunts which have been poorly taken. A few of the dialogues delivered by Anil Kapoor are worth laughing and become obsolete by the first half of the movie. Kareena Kapoor looks just appalling. Saif Ali Khan has barely any role to play. The only saving grace is the songs by the music director duo Vishal-Sekhar. Kudos to them for doing such a fantastic job!
Varma gets candid and Bachchan’s address media
If he first look of Sarkar Raj reminds you of a Bachchan family album, we wont blame you. And this Bachchan bonding was visible throughout the promo launch of the film as well. Coinciding with Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya’s first wedding anniversary the media was in for a double treat at the JW Marriott, Mumbai. But when addressed as the first family of Bollywood, Big B was quick to add that they were not in the US Parliament and saw themselves just as actors.
The event started with a press conference to unveil the first teaser of Sarkar Raj. Director Ram Gopal Varma called his film “another situation in the lives of the Nagre family”. He said unlike most sequels this film wasn’t a continuation of the first part, bearing no relation to Godfather (Sarkar was a self confessed tribute by Varma to Coppola’s gangster classic). “Sarkar Raj is a far more complex and lavish film with no reference points. It’s an original script,” Varma added.
Amitabh Bachchan said though some his projects with Varma had missed the bus, those films were extremely challenging for him as an actor. The promo opens with a familiar scene of Sarkar waving his hand to the crowds from his balcony. Another hand is visible next to him as he introduces his successor Shankar (Abhishek Bachchan). Enter Aishwarya Rai, a powerful industrialist who wants to set up a power plant in rural Maharashtra. While she is looking at it purely as a business opportunity, Abhishek is convinced the project will help in the progress of the state. Sarkar however is apprehensive of the proposal.
As Abhishek and Aishwarya set out to mobilise support for their power plant they are caught in ugly state politics that pits father against son. The look and feel of the film is similar to the first one, but this time there are many more explosions and mob riots. The theme track Govinda returns in a remixed version. While some dialogues have been retained from the prequel there are many more applause worthy lines from Bachchan Sr. For example: “Jaan lena jurm hai, sahi waqt pe jaan lena rajneeti hai“. The tagline of the film goes: Power cannot be given, it has to be taken. None of the scenes suggest a romantic track between Abhi-Ash while Tanisha returns as Abhishek’s wife.
Though I think your taking Aamir lightly here (for once!) 
Satyam Says:
May 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
The apology again! I wrote about this a couple of posts ago ...
It is actually pretty good except for the last two sentences which do not make sense. 
Nice piece that Bachchan has written in his Day 28(i) blog on his relationship with SRK.
Maybe some of the SRK ...
In my opinion Naam was Sanjay's finest hour. He was never able to recapture the portrayal of a rebel at ...
Even the readers/viewers grunt in boredom. Big B's blog is some entertainment though. 
NAAM is he serious , the vulnerability and fragileness which baba displayed in naam was awesome(may be some incidents ...
This is a fascinating read Qalandar..
To add to Jay's comment such signs become alll the more worrying when a female ...
rks - you and me will never agree on this. or to quote kipling - O East is East and ...
