Cast: Akshay Kumar, Bipasha Basu, Celina Jaitely

Synopsis

Aditya (Akshay Kumar), an automobile engineer in a car company, is engaged to Sonia (Bipasha Basu), a fashion designer about to make her mark in the field. As individuals, Aditya and Sonia were not on the same wavelength. Sonia was a 21st Century woman for whom career came first and she believed in changes. And as much as Aditya tried to overlook those facts, they kept coming in the way.

Though the marriage date is fixed, Aditya had to leave for Canada to learn about the technique of a new car model, to be launched in India; while Sonia had to leave for Paris for a fashion show.

Aditya arrives in Canada where his sister Simran (Bhagyashree) is living. In between work, co-incidence or destiny makes him bump into Jia (Katrina Kaif) more than once. Jia, daughter of business tycoon Yashwardhan Birla, has come to Canada all alone to shop for her wedding with the business giant, Karan Raichand.

Jia was a simple girl with simple needs. She had got everything she could ask for in her childhood, but never time from her ever so busy father. And now the man her father had chosen for her hardly had any time to spend with her too. And that is when she found a friend in Aditya. Aditya and Jia manage to spend time with each other and as time passes, the friendship between them grows.

Being an amazing driver, Aditya gets a chance from his company to participate in a car rally. And somehow he persuades Jia to participate with him, and wins it too. On returning from the destination of the rally, their car gets stuck in the snow and they have to spend the night together. They share intimate moments, which make them forget that they were engaged, but not to each other.

With passing time, they fail to realize when they start falling in love with each other. But a misunderstanding with Aditya and prior commitment with Karan makes Jia go back to India to get married with Karan. Aditya also comes back to India to get married with Sonia and does not attempt to meet Jia ever again. But fate makes them meet for the last time – at Jia’s wedding…

Rumour has it that the relationship between actress Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan is more than just a friendship.

When it comes to the talk of Aishwarya’s personal relationship, we ought to be very discreet, considering the fact that the former beauty queen hardly utters a word about her private life. Which boils the things down to speculation, and that is how this piece of news ought to be treated.

And now there are whispers of a romance that link Bollywood’s most eligible and hottest bachelor to the world’s most beautiful and sought after woman. When girls lusted after and swooned over Abhishek, they wondered who would ultimately be lucky enough to win his heart and his parents’ approval. For it was a known fact that Abhishek would not get serious about any girl, without his parents’ tacit approval. And now, as per reports in Mid Day, Abhishek and his Umrao Jan costar, the exquisite Aishwarya Rai, have got real cosy on the sets of the movie and might even be dating.

Mid Day says that even when she was going around with Vivek, she would keep sending Abhishek SMS messages.

The grapevine got a whiff of the affair when the reticent Jr. B invited the former Miss World home for dinner. Amitabh Bachchan has often voiced his admiration of Aishwarya before the media. And it seems likely his wife, Abhishek’s mother, can’t find fault with the perfect Miss Rai either.

With her impeccable English, her prim and proper demeanour and her clean reputation (inspite of the Salman link-up), and her fierce determination to protect her personal life and keep it under wraps, she obviously is Bachchan “bahu” material.

If rumours are to believed the two mothers have already met and horoscopes have been exchanged. After the Karisma fiasco, Jr. B would understandably like to take it slow this time, and be absolutely sure of his lady love’s affections.

Miss Rai was, as usual, unavailable for comment.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Male
Abhishek Bachchan (Sarkar) *
Amitabh Bachchan (Bunty Aur Babli)
Naseeruddin Shah (Iqbal)
Salman Khan (No Entry)
Sanjay Dutt (Parineeta)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Female
Ayesha Kapoor (Black) *
Juhi Chawla (My Brother Nikhil)
Sandhya Mridul (Page 3)
Shernaz Patel (Black)
Shweta Prasad (Iqbal)

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Amrita Singh (Kalyug)
Kay Kay Menon (Sarkar)
Nana Patekar (Apaharan) *
Pankaj Kapur (Dus)
Yashpal Sharma (Apaharan)

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Anil Kapoor (No Entry)
Fardeen Khan (No Entry)
Ishaa Koppikkar (Kya Kool Hain Hum) *
Rajpal Yadav (Main Meri Patni Aur Woh)
Riteish Deshmukh (Bluffmaster)

Best Playback Singer – Male
Atif Aslam – Woh Lamhe (Zeher)
Himesh Reshammiya – Aashiq Banaya Aapne (Aashiq Banaya Aapne) *
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan – Jiya Dhadak (Kalyug)
Shaan and KK – Dus Bahane (Dus)
Sonu Nigam – Dheere Jalna (Paheli)
Sonu Nigam – Piyu Bole (Parineeta)

Best Playback Singer – Female
Alisha Chinai – Kajra Re (Bunty Aur Babli) *
Alka Yagnik – Kyon Ki Itna (Kyon Ki)
Asha Bhosle – Huzoore Ala (Page 3)
Shreya Ghoshal – Piyu Bole (Parineeta)
Sunidhi Chauhan – Kaisi Paheli (Parineeta)

Best Lyricist
Gulzar – Kajra Re (Bunty Aur Babli) *
Javed Akhtar – Hum Hain Is Pal Yahan (Kisna)
Sameer – Aashiq Banaya Aapne (Aashiq Banaya Aapne)
Swanand Kirkire – Piyu Bole (Parineeta)
Asim Raza – Jiya Dhadak Dhadak (Kalyug)

Best Music Director
Himesh Reshammiya (Aashiq Banaya Aapne)
Himesh Reshammiya (Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya)
Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy (Bunty Aur Babli)
Shantanu Moitra (Parineeta)
Vishal – Shekhar (Dus) *

Most Promising Director
Imtiaz Ali (Socha Na Tha)
Kabir Kaushik (Sehar)
Onir (My Brother Nikhil) *
Pradeep Sarkar (Parineeta)
Siddharth Anand (Salaam Namaste)

Most Promising Debut – Male
Abhay Deol (Socha Na Tha)
Kunal Khemmu (Kalyug)
Randeep Hooda (D)
Shiny Ahuja (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi) *
Shreyas Talpade (Iqbal)

Most Promising Debut – Female
Chitrangda Singh (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi/Kal)
Katrina Kaif (Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya/Sarkar)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Page 3)
Tanushree Dutta (Aashiq Banaya Aapne/Chocolate)
Vidya Balan (Parineeta) *

Best Choreographer
Bosco Ceaser Dus Bahane (Dus) *
Farah Khan Kangna Re (Paheli)
Howard Rosemeyer Kaisi Paheli (Parineeta)
Shiamak Davar Nach Baliye (Bunty Aur Babli)
Vaibhavi Merchant Kajra Re (Bunty Aur Babli)

Best Background Music
Monty Sharma (Black) *
Amar Mohile (Parineeta)
Amar Mohile (Sarkar)
A. R. Rahman (Mangal Pandey – The Rising)
Samiruddin (Yahaan)

Best Story
Prakash Jha (Apaharan)
Sudhir Mishra/Ruchi Narain/Shivkumar Subramaniam (Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi)
Nagesh Kukunoor (Iqbal) *
Jahnu Barua (Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara)
Madhur Bhandarkar/Nina Arora/Manoj Tyagi (Page 3)

Best Screenplay
Prakash Jha (Apaharan)
Sanjay Leela Bhansali/Bhavani Iyer/Prakash Kapadia (Black) *
Nagesh Kukunoor (Iqbal)
Nina Arora/Manoj Tyagi (Page 3)
Ram Gopal Varma (Sarkar)

Best Dialogue
Prakash Jha (Apaharan)
Nagesh Kukunoor (Iqbal)
Sanjay Chauhan (Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Maara)
Rekha Nigam/Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Parineeta) *
Sanjay Pawar (Viruddh)

Renu Saluja Award for Best Editing
Santosh Mandal (Apaharan)
Bela Segal (Black) *
Amarjeet Singh (Dus)
Hemanti Sarkar (Parineeta)
Nipun Gupta/Amit Parmar (Sarkar)

Best Cinematography
Ravi Chandran (Black) *
Ravi Chandran (Paheli)
S. Natarajan Subramaniam (Parineeta)
Aseem Bajaj (Shabd)
Jakob Ihre (Yahaan)

Best Art Direction
Omung Kumar (Black)
Sharmishta Roy (Bunty Aur Babli)
Muneesh Sappel (Paheli)
Keshto Mandal/Pradeep Sarkar/Tanushree Sarkar (Parineeta) *
Ratnakar Phadke (Taj Mahal)

Best Action
Jai Singh (Apaharan)
Allan Amin/Gary Bexly (Dus) *
Abbas Ali Moghul (Elaan)
Parvez Khan/Peter Haynes (James)
Jai Singh (Tango Charlie)

Best Costumes
Aki Narula (Bunty Aur Babli)
Subarna Rai Chaudhuri (Parineeta)
Shalini Sarna (Paheli)
Mamta Anand/Surily Goel (Salaam Namaste) *
Anna Singh (Taj Mahal)

Best Publicity Design
Rahul Nanda – Himanshu Nanda (Black) *
Yash Rai Films Design Cell (Bunty Aur Babli)
Rahul Nanda – Himanshu Nanda (Garam Masala)
Rahul Nanda – Himanshu Nanda (Paheli)
Rahul Nanda – Himanshu Nanda (Parineeta)

Best Film Processing
Adlabs Films (Black) *
Adlabs Films (Bunty Aur Babli)
Adlabs Films (Paheli)
Adlabs Films (Parineeta)
Adlabs Films (Salaam Namaste)

Best Audiography
Rajendra Hegde (Apaharan)
Resul Pookutty (Black)
Dileep Subramaniam (Kisna)
Anuj Mathur (Paheli)
Kunal Mehta/Parikshit Lalwani (Sarkar)

Best Re-Recording
Anup Dev (Black)
Leslie Fernandes (Lucky)
Parikshit Lalwani (Naina)
Anup Dev (Lakdawala’s Sound City) (Paheli)
Leslie Fernandes (Parineeta)

Best Song Recording
Audieus (Aashiq Banaya Aapne)
Empire Studio (Bunty Aur Babli)
Town House Bunt Starford Clark (Dus)
Media Mind (Vishvadeep Chatterjee) (Parineeta)
Strings Recorded At Chennai (Salaam Namaste)

Best Visual Effects
V. G. Sarmant (Hanuman)
Pankaj Khandpur (Kaal)
Biju D (Naina)
Eagle Video/Vishal Punjabi (Paheli)
Prime Focus (Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi) *

* My guesses what are yours

Cast: Nana Patekar, John Abrahim, Sameera Reddy, Sonali Kulkarni

As the tilte suggests, it is yet another con-movie troding the path of last year’s Bunti Aur Babli and Bluffmaster. With the bizzare starcast combination of Nana & John in a comedy with Nana’s slick & style look surrounded by bevy of babes seems bollywood got new man for this season.

The film is about John, who needs to prove in court that he is the right heir to his father’s property worth Rs 300 crore. Nana Patekar is the taxi driver in the film, who needs money to pay off his loans. Nana has changed 23 jobs in the last 15 years, and done everything he could to support his family.
A chance encounter brings John and Nana together. The two can’t see eye to eye on anything, but still have to stand together because of a bizarre situation they find themselves in.
The sizzling Sameera Reddy is all set to tango with John, whereas Nana will be seen with Sonali Kulkarni, who plays a traditional Maharashtrian woman.

Taxi 9 2 11 has been directed by Milan Luthria. While Luthria showed promise with his first film, Kachche Dhaage, he has since squandered it with disasters like Chori Chori and Deewar: Lets Bring The Heroes Home.
The film is a Ramesh Sippy production. A filmmaker with blockbusters like Sholay and Shaan to his credit, Sippy has since taken a backseat in terms of direction, and ventured into production.

Taxi 9211 releases on February 24.

Cast: Aamir Khan, Soha ali Khan, Waheeda Rehman, Kiron Kher
Rating:

RDB is divided into two halves.
The first is about a group of friends, their bonding, the carefree lifestyle they lead. The second plot pertains to the past, when freedom fighters sacrificed their lives during the pre-independence era.
Mehra draws parallels between Indians ruled by the British and Indians ruled by corrupt politicians today

Synopsis

Sue [Alice Patten], a young, London-based film-maker chances upon the diaries of her grandfather, who served in the British Police Force in India during the freedom struggle. Excited about these memoirs, she makes plans to shoot a film on the Indian revolutionaries mentioned in the diaries.

She flies to Delhi and casts a group of five friends to play the pivotal roles of these revolutionaries. The youngsters are DJ [Aamir Khan], Karan [Siddharth], Aslam [Kunal Kapoor], Sukhi [Sharman Joshi] and Sonia [Soha Ali Khan]. One of their foes, Laxman [Atul Kulkarni], also joins them subsequently.

However, products of modern India, the five youngsters initially refuse to be part of the project as they don’t identify with these characters from the past. Not surprising, considering that they are a part of a generation of Indians that believes in consumerism. To them issues like patriotism and giving one’s life for one’s beliefs is the stuff text-books are made of. They would rather party than be patriots.

In the film, both the 1930s British India and the India today run parallel and intersect with each other at crucial points.

On the whole, RANG DE BASANTI will have its share of advocates and adversaries. A well-made film, it caters more to the elite and the thinking viewer than the aam junta or the masses.

Remember Kal Ho Na Ho(2003), yes its from the same director – A tribute to Love. After big fight with Mr.(or Ms.) Johar, Advani came with this genuine idea of giving try once again with love story. But this time not just a love story, but a whole bunch of love stories.

(more…)

Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee were adjudged the stars of the year for their performance in ‘Black‘. Bachchan’s award was collected by his wife Jaya Bachchan , at the glittering ceremony in Mumbai on Sunday.

Thespian Dilip Kumar was felicitated with the lifetime achievement award and Rekha was presented with the role model trophy.

The event also witnessed performances by singer Shaan and actresses Priyanka Chopra , Rekha, Katrina Kaif and Rani.

Music composer Himesh Reshammia and Mohana Sarkar won the new playback sensation awards for the songs ”Ashiq Banaya Aapne” ( Aashiq Banaya Aapne ) and ”Maar Dala” ( D ) respectively.

Swanand Kirkere and Shantanu Moitra (both for Parineeta ) were awarded standout lyricist and standout music director trophies, respectively.

Actor Zakir Hussain was given the ‘new menace’ award for his negative role in film Sarkar .

Ayesha Kapoor, who played Rani’s childhood character in ‘Black’ was given the Max exciting new face award.

Katrina won the breakthrough performance (female debut) award for Maine Pyar Kyon Kiya while Shiney Ahuja won the same in male category for ‘Hazaron Kwaishe Aisi‘.

Pradeep Sarkar won the hottest young filmmaker award for ‘Parineeta’.

Akshay Kumar who was seen in films like Waqt – A Race Against Time , Garam Masala and Dosti – Friends Forever won the best actor of the year award.

Vidya Balan was adjudged the superstar of tomorrow for her performance in ‘Parineeta’ while Kunal Khemu bagged the same in male category for Kalyug .

Shefali Shah won the best actress in supporting role award for ‘Waqt’ while Ritesh Deshmukh won the same in male category for Kyaa Kool Hai Hum .

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh presented the lifetime achievement award to Dilip Kumar.

People who are hell-bent on scaring you in Darna Zaroori Hai

Episode 1:
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh
Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Episode 2:
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat
Director: Jijy Phillip

Episode 3:
Cast: Manoj Pahwa
Director: Sajid Khan

Episode 4:
Cast: Randeep Hooda, Zakir Hussain
Director: J D Chakravarthy

Episode 5:
Cast: Suniel Shetty, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav
Director:Vivek Shah

Episode 6:
Cast: Bipasha Basu, Arjun Rampal, Makrand Deshpande
Director: Prawal Raman

With such a massive team, kya Ram Gopal Varma ko Darna Zaroori Hai?