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Saturday, December 31, 2011

Abhishek Bachchan's 'Players' The first Indian movie to be shot at North Pole







 Abhishek Bachchan who is gearing up for the release of his new film ‘Players’, an official remake of Hollywood film ‘Italian Job’, said the story of 'Players' is the same as of ‘The Italian Job, but its screenplay is completely different. Apparently, the screenplay is written keeping in view the suitability of the Indian audience. Speaking with the media during the promotion of the movie in the Capital, Abhishek said he didn’t think the remakes make any trend. After all, India produces a thousand films a year and, out of this, four or five are remakes. He believes ‘Players’ is more of a creative choice than following a trend.




Tracing the background of the movie, he said when Abbas-Mustan saw ' The Italian job’; they felt like producing this for the Indian audience. When asked about the social Networking becoming platform to promote the film, Abhi said he didn’t think so. “Social networking isn't just for promotions. It is a platform to exchange ideas and interact with fans... A little bit of promotion is fine but he didn't think promoting the whole film is advisable”, he said.



At a packed South Delhi mall on Thursday, it was all Baby B ka Bowlbala. That was because Abhishek Bachchan stood out among his colleagues and 'bowled' the crowd over as he, Bipasha Basu, Sonam Kapoor and Neil Nitin Mukesh promoted their upcoming film "Players" at a bowling alley there.


They had to change their shoes to start with. "Oh God, I'm going to look crazy in these shoes with this dress," Sonam said to Abhishek, who was also changing sitting next to her. "Oh, you mean you don't look crazy otherwise?" retorted Abhishek, laughing. After some more good-natured ribbing, AB decided a warm-up session was in order. He bowled... and scored a strike! There was a huge round of applause as AB swaggered around, arms spread out in triumph, and told Sonam and Neil, "You guys should quit now, I think."


Finally, Sonam decided to go barefoot, as her size of shoes was not to be found, and the teams were announced - Abhishek and Bipasha, and Sonam with Neil. That's when AB discovered Bipasha wasn't playing! We later heard her tell Sonam, "You're not as short-sighted as I am, so go ahead." So we guess that's the reason she chose not to play. Either that, or the lady was too much in love with her bubblegum pink stilettos! But she cheered the players from the sidelines.


So poor Abhishek had to play for Bipasha too, but he took to the task seriously. So intent was he on the game that after the eighth round, he removed his jacket, and shooed Neil away so that he could concentrate. But it paid off - beating his co-stars by a whisker, AB won the 'tournament'!


There was a quick press conference post this, amid squealing kids and squabbling parents. In fact, in the middle of all this, one little something was heard telling a guard, "Aap toh bodyguard ho. Aap dila do autograph. Aapko kaise nahin denge?"


Anyway, the questions ranged from who their inspiration is (to which Bipasha said her mother, and Neil said Nutan and Waheeda Rehman!), to whether there were any catfights between Sonam and Bipasha. AB had to leave midway, but someone asked Sonam, Bipasha and Neil if they were to be a part of a game, which game it would be. "WWF," said Bipasha promptly, "These precision games are not for me, lekin kisi ko maar-vaar ke kuch karna ho toh jeet jaungi!" "Talking competition," said Sonam. "I can talk to anyone about anything and I can talk a lot!" "Shooting or archery," said Neil, to which Bipasha interrupted with, "Not WWF?" Promptly, Neil said with a wicked look, "Sure. If I'm fighting with you, I'd welcome all the punches and kicks and beatings."



Soon after this, they all stood up to leave and they were followed till the lift by screaming kids, onlookers and the shutterbugs. As they left, the actors were discussing what time to meet to go to a party! Some energy, wot say?




Bachchan Jr added he loves performing thrilling stunts and will be seen doing a few in Players. “I loved my role in Dhoom and Dum Maaro Dum. For this movie, we travelled around the world and you will see some major stunts being shot in New Zealand, Russia and Auckland. Action-thrillers fascinate and excite me no ends,” he shared.

In Players, Abhishek, Bipasha and Sonam will be seen depicting the characters of auto experts who make money by stealing gold through Internet while Neil plays the character of a hacker who skillfully helps them in these activities. “I can assure you that twists here are more than what you would have seen in other movies so far. Since the movie involves a lot of action, you would see the coming together of thrills, some daredevil stunts and suspense. It will definitely hold the audience and one won’t be able to predict anything before hand. You would be continuously guessing about what would happen next,” informed Abhishek before bidding goodbye for he had a flight to catch. “I got to go as Beti B is waiting,” said he. Has the Bachchan family decided on a name for the latest entrant to their khandaan? “Not yet,” he replied.

































Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Naseeruddin Shah The versatile actor will now be seen in his seriously comic avatar in the movie ‘Chaalis Chauraasi’.


After his lusty image in Ekta Kapoor’s ‘The Dirty Picture’, the versatile actor Naseerudin Shah will now be seen in his seriously comic avatar in Hriday Shetty’s directorial movie ‘Chaalis Chauraasi’. According to genre of the movie, the first look poster does impress the viewers and looks interesting on the whole. It as well has a very catchy tag line, which is been written as ‘One night….One hell of a ride’. Hriday Shetty’s directorial and Naseerudin Shah starrer movie ‘Chaalis Chauraasi’ is currently scheduled to release it on January 13, 2012.





              NASEERUDDIN SHAH as MIRZA GHALIB 



Naseeruddin Shah , born 20 July 1950) is an Indian / Bollywood film actor and director. He is considered to be one of the finest actors of Indian cinema. In 2003, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.





He is a descendant of the 19th-century Afghan warlord Jan Fishan Khan, and related to the Afghan writer Idries Shah, the famous Pakistani actor, Syed Kamal Shah , Director General of IB, Pakistan, Shah Mahboob Alam and the cricketer Owais Shah.[1] Naseeruddin Shah did his schooling at St. Anselm's Ajmer and St Joseph's College, Nainital. He graduated in arts from Aligarh Muslim University in 1971 and attended National School of Drama in Delhi.





He has seen success in both mainstream Bollywood cinema as well as in Parallel Cinema. He also appeared in many international films, most notably playing Captain Nemo in the Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.





Shah has acted in movies such as Nishant, Aakrosh, Sparsh, Mirch Masala, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Ata Hai, Trikal, Bhavni Bhavai, Junoon, Mandi, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho!, Ardh Satya, Katha, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, etc.[4] In the very early stages of his career he acted in a film Dil Aakhir Dil Hai directed by noted director Ismail Shroff, with Rakhi where she played the character of Naseer's elder girl friend kusumji whom he was forced to marry unwillingly because he is quite younger to her(in the film). One of his most important films Masoom (1983) was shot at St Joseph's College, Nainital.



He became active in mainstream Bollywood cinema with the 1980 film Hum Paanch. His next major success in mainstream films was the 1986 multi-starrer film Karma where he acted alongside veteran Dilip Kumar. Starring roles for films such as, Ijaazat (1987), Jalwa (1988) and Hero Hiralal (1988) followed. In 1988 he played opposite his wife Ratna Pathak as Inspector Ghote, the fictional detective of H. R. F. Keating's novels in the Merchant-Ivory English language film The Perfect Murder.





Later, he starred in international projects such as Monsoon Wedding in 2001 and a Hollywood comic book adaptation The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003 (co-starring Sean Connery) where he played the role of Captain Nemo. His portrayal of Nemo was very close to the design of the graphic novel, although his Nemo was far less manic. He worked in an Indian adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth, titled Maqbool and Rajiv Rai's Asambhav in 2004. He then went on to work in The Great New Wonderful. He was most recently seen in Ishqiya. Shah's upcoming films include The Hunt where he plays a recluse growing marijuana in his forest retreat.


“I guess that’s what makes life worthwhile. I want to try everything that I feel I should…grab every dream I have. My earliest dream was to be an actor. I also wanted to be a cricketer; dreamt of being a filmmaker, and always wanted to be on the stage. So I feel pretty much blessed to get the opportunity to try my hand at all these things.”




“As luck would have it, when at Class IX, my father pulled me out of my first school and put me in a school run by Indian Jesuit priests (St Anselm’s in Ajmer). There I got a group of friends and we enacted scenes from The Merchant of Venice where I played Shylock in close imitation of my all time favourite actor Geoffrey Kendal. And suddenly, my whole life changed. I was terrified for the first two seconds I was on stage…staring at black space in front of me (audience), with lights shining on my face. But as I started speaking, I could hear a bit of laughter and a bit of approval from that black space. Honestly, that was the first taste of acceptance that I had in life and realized this is the place where I belong.”
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He is married to Bollywood actress Ratna Pathak Shah with whom he has two sons, Imaad and Vivaan. They have co-starred in the films like Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Mirch Masala and The Perfect Murder. He has a daughter, Heeba Shah, from his first marriage. Naseeruddin Shah married Ratna Pathak after the demise of Heeba Shah's mother.

He made his Pakistani film debut in the critically acclaimed and controversial film Khuda Ke Liye by Shoaib Mansoor where he played a short cameo.


His performance in Sarfarosh (1999) was widely acclaimed. He played the villain with dual identity of a Ghazal singer and Pakistani spy who supports terrorism in India.




He was the first of several celebrity actors, who played the role of narrator in the popular audiobook series for kids Karadi Tales,. He was also the narrator in the film Paheli - the Indian entry to the 2006 Academy Awards .


He has been awarded the life membership of International Film And Television Club of Asian Academy Of Film & Television.




In 1998, he played the role of Mahatma Gandhi in the play Mahatma Vs. Gandhi, (which looked at the Mahatma's relation with Harilal Gandhi, his first son). With this, he achieved his objective of portraying Mahatma Gandhi, a role he had auditioned for Richard Attenborough's Gandhi. Incidentally, in 2000, he again portrayed the Mahatma, this time on film, in Hey Ram.




Awards

Award   Film        Year       Status
Civilian Awards
Padma Shri         India's fourth highest civilian award         1987       Won
Padma Bhushan               India's Third highest civilian award            2003       Won
National Film Award
National Film Award for Best Actor          Sparsh  1979       Won
National Film Award for Best Actor          Paar       1984       Won
National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor   Iqbal      2006       Won
Filmfare Award
Filmfare Best Actor Award           Aakrosh               1981       Won
Filmfare Best Actor Award           Chakra  1982       Won
Filmfare Best Actor Award           Masoom              1984       Won
Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award    Sir           1993       Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award          Mohra  1995       Nominated
Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award    Naajayaz              1996       Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award          Chaahat               1998       Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award          Sarfarosh             2000       Nominated
Filmfare Best Villain Award          Krrish    2007       Nominated
Filmfare Best Actor Award           A Wednesday    2008       Nominated
Venice Film Festival
The Volpi Cup (Award for Best Actor)     Paar       1984       Won
[edit]Other Awards

2000: Won: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
2000: Won: IIFA (International Indian Film Academy) Award — Artistic Excellence for Performance in a Negative Role for Sarfarosh.


























In 1988, he acted in the eponymous television series based on the life and times of Mirza Ghalib, directed by Gulzar and telecast on DD National.