Wednesday, September 8, 2010

[ItzToday.com] Karan Johar says Delhi is growing fast

[ItzToday.com] Karan Johar says Delhi is growing fast

Karan Johar says Delhi is growing fast

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 12:06 AM PDT

Karan Johar says Delhi is growing fastWell known filmmaker Karan Johar is mighty impressed by Delhi's infrastructure and says he hopes the Commonwealth Games are a success and helps to establish India's name globally.

Karan, who was in the capital last week for the launch of premium lifestyle store The Collective, says he has been observing with interest the developments in the capital over his recent visits.

"I haven't really been to the shopping malls part of Delhi except for my past two visits... but of what I have seen... I can say that the scale of the city has immensely changed. I have always thought Delhi has tremendous kind of infrastructure and it is growing from strength to strength. It is always good to visit it and experience the growth," Karan told IANS in an interview.

On the Oct 3-14 Games, he says: "It is an international platform and all eyeballs are on India for the CWG. I hope and pray that we treat it as an important step ahead globally and not take it back one step."

The filmmaker, who is popular for hits like "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai", "Kabhie Khushi Kabhie Gham" and "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" apart from others, says he will not be in the country during the mega event.

"Unfortunately I am travelling internationally around that time....part of the trip is professional and part of it is personal. So I won't be able to come to Delhi," he said.

The 38-year-old director said he will be teasing his brains once again for an idea for his next directorial. His last trip to New York in June only helped him clear his head, but "nothing new came on it". But now he will start thinking afresh.

"I am going to go out to take time out and think about what should I make next. My New York trip helped me clear my head. But after clearing it, nothing new came on it. You cannot force creativity...it either seeps its way into your head or doesn't."

Meanwhile, he is busy amassing compliments galore for his latest production "We Are Family", which is the official remake of Hollywood film "Stepmom".

"I have been hearing great things about 'We Are Family'. It's a family film after a while and of what I am hearing...it's a true blue tear-jerker. Women and family are feeling the emotion of the film. It is very sensitively handled and the performances are definitely one of the USPs of the films. We are very happy as a production that

we have finally put up an official remake of a Hollywood film," said Karan.

Next up from Karan's stable Dharma Productions will be a remake of Amitabh Bachchan's 1991 hit "Agneepath" and another film starring Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor. But a Karan Johar directorial is what everyone's waiting for ever since

"My Name Is Khan", which released earlier this year.

Ajay Devgan caught smoking in prohibited area

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 12:02 AM PDT

Ajay Devgan caught smoking in prohibited area Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn was puffing cigarettes in close vicinity of regulation-size "No Smoking" sign boards, officials in Goa said Wednesday.

Manoj Srivastava, the chief executive officer of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), which conducts the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), has countered Devgn's claim to the media Tuesday that smoking was permissible in the ESG complex.

The actor was found smoking in the ESG complex in May this year and subsequently fined Rs.100 for violating the provisions of the Control of Tobacco Products Act (COPTA).

"We have displayed proper boards there. As per the law, it is banned to smoke there. Devgn must not have seen the boards," Srivastava told reporters.

Devgn was shooting for "Once upon a time in Mumbai" when he was photographed in smoking in the complex. After the photographs appeared in a local newspaper, the National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), a vigilante group, complained to the police and the state health authorities.

After nearly five months of the complaint, the actor was fined Rs.100 for the violation.

Reacting to the fine, Devgn Tuesday said: "I don't want to discuss this but I would like to say that smoking was allowed in the place where I was doing that." The actor also said he was trying to get rid of the habit.

Speaking to IANS, Shekhar Salkar, general secretary of NOTE, which in the past has taken Bollywood's leading men Shahrukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan to court for indirectly promoting smoking, said: "I am glad that Devgn knows there are places in Goa where smoking is prohibited. He should have verified with the people around whether it was a no-smoking zone he was standing in or not."

Aamir Khan starrer 'Dhobi Ghat' will go global

Posted: 07 Sep 2010 11:56 PM PDT

Aamir Khan starrer Dhobi Ghat will go global'Dhobi Ghat' is a rare movie to come out of Bollywood and it is meant for the global stage, says Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) where the film will be premiered this week. It is the first non-masala, non-song-and-dance film from Bollywood to make to the world's premier film festival which opens here Thursday to showcase about 300 films from around the world.

Set in the monsoon Mumbai season, the film revolves around intertwined lives of Aamir Khan (Arun in the lead role), and Monica Dogra (NRI girl Shai) and Prateik Babbar (washerboy Munna).

Praising director Kiran Rao and her husband Aamir Khan in the lead role for doing a "terrific, terrific job,'' Bailey told IANS: "'Dhobi Ghat' is really not a masala move. It has no song, no dancing. It's really an independent film - a story that's a love letter to Mumbai, it's very much about the people of Mumbai. And it has Aamir Khan in a role of an artist that you often don't see him in - he has done a terrific job. The film's three intertwined stories really give you the feel, the texture of Mumbai today.''

Asked why he picked up the film for the festival, he said, "I love the film - it's that simple. I have talking to them for months. When I saw it in July in Mumbai, I fell in love with it. It is very beautifully done. It's very provocative, romantic. It really captures the feel of Mumbai - the things I love about the city, the vibrancy of the place, the feel of its streets, and the people. And it all happens in the monsoon season so that you get the texture of the rain, and how it feels to be there at that time of the year.''

Bailey added, "It is a film of great ambition - it is doing things that we don't see in Indian cinema very often. Then you have Aamir Khan - who I think is really one of the national treasures of India - in the lead role. All these things combined made it a movie we had to have here.''

With 'Dhobi Ghat,' the Toronto film festival boss said, Kiran Rao has made a dream directorial debut.

"This is her first directorial effort, though she has been working on films for years. I think she is part of a generation of filmmakers that we are seeing come up now in India - a new school in international cinema. This generation is not making films out of the Indian commercial cinema context, but making films that are referencing American independent cinema or European cinema or Asian cinema.

"Kiran has talked to me about being influenced by a couple of Asian film makers - Tsai-Ming Liang from Taiwan and Wong Kar-wai from Hong Kong. So I find that there is now a kind of dialogue happening among filmmakers in different parts of the world.''

He said, ""Dhobi Ghat' is a film that will work on the international stage, and I think she (Kiran) is a super talented filmmaker.''

Apart from 'Dhobi Ghat,' Anurag Kashyap's 'The Girl in Yellow Boots' is another main Indian entry at this year's film festival.
Posted by Suresh at 7:17 PM

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