Saturday, January 1, 2011

[ItzToday.com] Kangana Ranaut has her way with 'Tanu Weds Manu'

[ItzToday.com] Kangana Ranaut has her way with 'Tanu Weds Manu'

Kangana Ranaut has her way with 'Tanu Weds Manu'

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:51 PM PST

Kangana Ranaut has her way with Tanu Weds ManuMumbai, Dec 31 (IANS) "Tanu Weds Manu", which will see the fresh pairing of Kangana Ranaut and R. Madhavan, was initially titled "Manu Weds Tanu" but the name was changed at the lead actress' behest.

Director Anand Rai felt "Manu Weds Tanu" was an appropriate title, but Kangana who plays Tanu in the film, insisted that the title should be "Tanu Weds Manu" and not "Manu Weds Tanu" because the narrative unfolds from Tanu's point of view, said a source.

The director was taken aback, but Kangana explained her point saying Tanu, a small town, wild girl, is the one in the commanding position compared to Madhavan's character Manu who is shown as a simple NRI guy in the comedy.

When the director spoke to Madhavan, thinking he would get upset, the actor saw the point immediately and readily agreed with Kangana.

"It's true that the film was earlier titled 'Manu Weds Tanu'. However, we felt that 'Tanu Weds Manu' was a more suitable title, according to the demands of the script. So we decided to go with 'Tanu Weds Manu'," said Rai.

The film will release Feb 25.

Veena Malik denigrating Pakistani women

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:40 PM PST

Veena Malik denigrating Pakistani womenNew Delhi, Dec 31 (IANS) Pakistani actress Meera is not happy with the way her fellow actress Veena Malik conducted herself on Colors' reality show "Bigg Boss 4" and accuses her of portraying Pakistani women in poor light.

"Veena Malik is acting very cheap. The way she presented herself in front of Indian audiences is not right. She is denigrating the image of Pakistani women. This is not how women in Pakistan are," Meera, who is in India to shoot for diector Faizal Khan's Hindi movie "Om Allah", told IANS in an interview.

Her liplocking courted controversy after people in Pakistan raised objections and she was apparently fined for this. But right now she feels Veena has crossed all limits.

"If you come over to Pakistan, you will see how sensible and how cultured Pakistani women are. They respect their family values and are not how Veena has portrayed herself," said the actress who herself became controversial after her kissing scene with with Ashmit Patel in her Bollywood debut "Nazar".

Veena came into limelight after her name popped up in match-fixing allegations against Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif. She was the cricketer's girlfriend. She then entered the "Bigg Boss" house and her intimacy with Bollywood actor Ashmit Patel caused quite a stir, sending the TRPs soaring.

Meera alleges Veena's behaviour is a lousy way to garner publicity.

"She's doing all this because she is hungry for fame. She has no self-respect and is ready to do anything to become famous," Meera said.

"She's like that even in Pakistan. She tries to copy everyone. She can never be her own self. This is not the right thing to do as there are many other nice ways to become famous. Why stoop down to cheap tactics," she asked.

Meera claims she was also approached to be a part of "Bigg Boss" twice, but she refused it.

"I was approached to be the part of the show before and even for this season but when I came to know that Veena will also be a part of it, I refused," she said.

Apart from Veena, the fourth season of "Bigg Boss" featured well-known Pakistani cross-dresser Begum Nawazish Ali.

After "Nazar", Meera featured in another Bollywood moive "Kasak" with Lucky Ali.

After doing "Kasak" in 2005, this is Meera's first Bollywood movie in five years.

"After 'Kasak', I went back to Pakistan. Later my parents did not allow me to act here as I was too young and they thought I might just fall for someone here (India) and get settled permanently," she said.

"Moreover, the tension between India and Pakistan also kept me away. But now I am back and hope to sign more Bollywood projects," she said.

Back home, Meera has been actively involved in charity work and has been working with former cricketer Imran Khan to raise funds for Pakistan's flood-affected victims.

"We would like to rope in Rani Mukerji for helping us to raise funds for the flood-affected victims in Pakistan. I plan to meet her during my trip here," she said.

She has also expressed a desire to do charity work with Salman Khan and his Being Human organisation.

Singer Annie Lennox to receive Queen's honour

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:33 PM PST

Singer Annie Lennox to receive Queen's honourLos Angeles, Dec 31 (IANS) Singer Annie Lennox will be honoured with the Order of the British Empire (OBE) medal in Queen Elizabeth II's New Year's Honors list for her charity work for AIDS.

"I'm genuinely honoured. As somewhat of a renegade, it either means I've done something terribly right - or they've done something terribly wrong. I was never much of one to win prizes and certainly never placed too much value on their acquisition," aceshowbiz.com quoted Lennox as saying.

"Therefore, I take this as more of an appreciation for the gentle turning of the years for someone who's enormously grateful for being able to breathe more or less freely in a totally insane world.

"In any case, whatever powers-that-be have deemed me worthy of such a recognition, I'm getting my fake leopard pillbox hat dusted and ready (for a meeting with the Queen)," she added.

'Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji' more challenging than '3 Idiots': Omi Vaidya

Posted: 31 Dec 2010 09:18 PM PST

Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji more challenging than '3 Idiots': Omi VaidyaMumbai, Jan 1 (IANS) He may be better known as Chatur from the blockbuster "3 Idiots" but Indian American Omi Vaidya, who steered away from being typecast, is ready to move on with a more "challenging" role in the forthcoming comedy "Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji".

"After '3 Idiots', I wanted to be very careful. I was getting offers, but most of them were roles that were very similar to Chatur. I didn't want do those. I wanted to take up something new," Omi told IANS in an interview.

"Then Madhur Bhandarkar offered me this role, which was quite different. Initially I was scared because my Hindi is still not very good, but he assured me that I would be able to do it.

"This role was more difficult to do because I had to play a Maharashtrian, who has no accent... so that was quite challenging. But it was fun," added the 28-year-old, who did television stint as the host of STAR Plus' singing reality show "Chhote Ustad" after his big success on the silver screen.

The film releases Jan 28.

Omi, who grew up in Joshua Tree in Yucca Valley, California, started acting when he was six. After finishing his studies and doing a course from New York University, he featured in American shows like "Arrested Development", "E-mail Surveillance" and "Fun Run".

His big ticket to Bollywood came with director Rajkumar Hirani's super hit movie "3 Idiots".

"Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji", Omi's second release and Bhandarkar's first comedy, also stars Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Shruti Haasan, Shraddha Das and Shahzan Padamsee. The film is about three guys and their encounters with love.

Though this was Bhandarkar's first attempt at comedy, Omi had no apprehensions.

"I heard the script and I knew Madhur was behind it - and that was it; I didn't need anything else. I have full confidence in him. The problem is that everyone wanted to put me in run-of-the-mill-comedy stuff and I didn't want to do that. I wanted something good and well-written and that's what Madhur gave me; so I had no reasons to doubt him," he added.

He had a great time shooting with the director.

"We had an enjoyable time with Madhur on the sets because he is unlike his movies. He is quite a riot on the sets. He is constantly making everyone laugh. He says very funny things and keeps the atmosphere light," he said.

The actor is also working on a couple of other films. He will feature in Reema Kagti's next directorial venture that has Aamir Khan in the lead role. He is also a part of the Abbas-Mustan multi-starrer "Players" and Rohit Dhawan's "Desi Boyz".

Bollywood was not the actor's first preference.

"I never thought that I'll become a Bollywood actor because I couldn't speak in Hindi and it is one of the perquisites of being a Bollywood actor. I just thought that I'll be this Indian actor in America, doing roles there. But then '3 idiots' happened and things changed," said Omi.
Posted by Suresh at 6:08 PM

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