BHOOTNATH

But it’s because of Banku’s love for Bhootnath that the amicable ghost leaves Banku with an option of appearing in front of Banku whenever he wishes from the core of his heart.Even god changes his mind for the sake of true and honest love. This film is not about the triumph of a child but the success of true love and faith.It’s the second time where Amitabh is posing as a ghost and his look in “Bhootnath”, though unintentionally, reminds of his look of Gabbar Singh in “Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag”. If that is some bad news, the good part is that his acting always sweeps away the feeling of looking alike.At the same time his intimidated being with the presence of his son lets audience recap his character in Baghban”.Aman Siddiqui has depicted Banku’s character very well. Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh’s couple still reminds the same freshness that they show in their very first film.Writer-director Vivek Sharma has proved his prowess in hisjob. His beautifully mingled presentation of entertainment and spirit has started a new vogue in Bollywood. If “Bhootnath” is not so well a children film as “Taare Zamin Par” was, it definitely helps spending few hours in the air conditioned theaters while summer is blazing outside.At last, if not the least, children may well accept the line of Amitabh saying, “Zindegi me jadoo nehi, mehnat se safalta pai jaati hai” (success is all about hard work, not magic). Bingo Bhootnath! - Rajnee Gupta.Casts: Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Aman Siddiqui, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Satish Shah, Rajpal Yadav
Guest appearance: Shahrukh Khan, Nouhid Sairesi, Ashish Chowdhury, Neena Kulkarni
Music: Vishal Shekhar, Salim Sulaiman
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Producer: Ravi Chopra
Director-Writer: Vivek Sharma
Ratings: **1/2

Nath Villa. Night. A couple enters the villa with an intention of spending the night. But unfortunate for them, it’s the house where Kailash Nath (Amitabh Bachchan), oops, the spirit of Kailash Nath enjoys his days and nights in his airy appearance. Predictably enough, the couple, intimidated with Kailash, zooms away from the house.Next incident. Mr. Sharma (Shah Rukh Khan), a marine driver by profession, comes to Kailash’s den, with his family. He leaves his family behind at the Nath Villa and plods back to join his job.While residing in the Nath Villa, Mr. Sharma’s wife Anjali (Juhi Chawla) and son Banku (Aman Siddiqui) experiences strange incidents. In the mean time Banku befriends the spirit of Kailash Nath and names him as “Bhootnath”.Banku’s presence eliminates all the hazardous factors that polluted Bhootnath’s mind against human beings. One day, Anjali comes to know about Bhootnath being the angel in Banku’s life.At the same time Anjali comes to know from Bhootnath about the painful incident that made him a spirit. So, to let Bhootnath’s spirit free from the bondage with the earth, Sharma family arranges for a shradh, a Hindu tradition that Bhootnath’s son, Priyanshu Chatterjee, avoided in past.Ultimately, it’s through Banku that Bhootnath gets his desired freedom from the earthly bondage.

John Abraham mobbed by 2000 Girls

When John was delayed Shankar Mahadevan kept the audience entertained with songs from Nagesh Kukunoor's films."And then it happened," Elahi recounts. "John sang Ab mujhko jeena. There was a deathly silence and then the roar 'Once More Once More' began.- until it grew into a deafening crescendo.Salim-Suleiman's band had already packed up and left. They had to be called back to unzip their equipment and accompany John's singing."Yes, John sang an encore on the audiences' request.A playback singer in the offing?The other surprise of the evening. Nagesh Kukunoor joing John for impromptu singing.By then the audience had got more than what they had bargained for..The unconventionally-planned music release of Aashayein at the Heritage Property in Bandra turned it to be far more unusual than planned.After John sang the number he had diligently rehearsed, the girls forced him and the band back on stage."It was simply crazy," says the executive producer of Aashayein Elahi Hiptoolah."We hadn't planned a big music launch and we certaintly had no clue there was another music launch (for Love Story 2050) the same evening. We just wanted to do something different.So we thought of making all the singers including John perform their tracks from Aashayein live on stage. We never thought there would be such a massive turn-out, or that John would take his first live performance so seriously."Laughs Elahi, "I think we underestimated John's pull. And his pursuit of excellence. I thought he'd come on stage croon a few lines, shake his hips in tight trousers, blow kisses and melt into the night. No way.John arrived at 3 in the afternoon for the technical rehearsal. By the time the evening came he was fully prepared. And so was the audience. It was all calm peaceful and romantic with a 3,000-strong audience waiting quietly by the seaside."

Harman or Hrithik look alike?

Harman Baweja, better known as the boyfriend to Priyanka Chopra, starts his filmy career with Love Story 2050.Special features of the budding star make him having some resemblance with the famed name Hrithik Roshan, but his dancing steps in the promo of the film help people find another similarity between them.On the eve of the audio release of Love Story 2050, Harman snapped to the issue of semblance between him and Hrithik.“If I look like Hrithik then more than me my parents are responsible for that. Believe me, if I could have chance then would have traveled in a time machine to change everything,” helplessly explains Harman.However, it’s not new in Bollywood to have similarity of faces. While Madhuri Dixit has similarity with golden age actress Madhubala, Shah Rukh Khan was mostly known as the look alike of Dilip Kumar. But they both proved and created their own identity with their prowess in acting.For the time being the same pressure of creating own identity has come to Harman who has to create his own space where only his name will be tagged well. We guess Harman can do that very well. Isn’t it!

Casting couch? No way, people are afraid of me : Rimii Sen

Q. Are you doing any Bengali film?A. As of now I am not doing any Bengali film. But in future if something good comes up then I will definitely do it.Q. Have you ever faced the situation of casting couch?A. No I have never fallen into such situations ever because I am very straight forward person and say anything on one’s face. People are afraid of me due to my nature.Q. How many times do you make your producers run after you to say 'ok' for a film?A. I don't make any one run; rather I look for signing films because I like working and keep myself busy.If I like the script, I will sign the film immediately and if I don't understand the character or something, then, I generally take two to three days to sign a film.Q. Any plans on commercial ads?A. I am waiting for some nice offer. If nice offer, good product combined with a good amount comes up, then I will definitely be doing ads.Q. What about “Dhoom” the film? Why did you opt out of the next series of Dhoom?A. I opted out of Dhoom because I am tired of doing guest appearances. I don’t want to be seen as furniture in films.
Q. Your other projects…A. I am doing Santosh Gidvani’s Shagird. I don't have much role in the film but I liked the idea of the film, so wanted to be a part of the film. I am playing a journalist in it. - Sabir Rahman.After been appreciated for her remarkable performance in Johnny Gaddaar, Shubhomitra Sen aka Rimii Sen would now be seen playing her career’s first double role in Rakesh Sarang’s Horn Ok Please.Rimii talks about her experience doing a double role and also shares why she hasn’t yet been involved in casting couch.Q. What is your character in your film “Horn OK Please”?A. I am playing double role in the film. In one of them I am paired against Nana Patekar while another one against Muzammil. Both the characters are quit similar.Q. This is your first film in a double role, how difficult was it to portray both the characters?A. The only difference I found was in the body language of both the characters. Otherwise the two characters were almost alike.Q. What was it that made you accept this film?A. I really found the story to be quiet interesting and different. That’s the reason, I couldn’t say no to Rakeshji after hearing the script.Q. How did you accept your roles in the initial stage of your career?A. Earlier I did not give much importance to roles. I only used to see the banner, who is the hero and the director.Because at that time I thought I won't get recognized if I do experimental films. So I looked for big banners with good star cast.Q. So, what kind of film’s you like to do now?A. I would like to work in thriller kind of films. But unfortunately, as of yet no such film have come to me.

anuska to star opposite SRK

Model Anushka Sharma will play Shah Rukh Khan's leading lady in "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi", which is being directed by Aditya Chopra.Yash Chopra, Chairman, Yash Raj Films, Thursday announced that the 19-year-old from Bangalore has been selected to play the female lead. "We were looking first and foremost for someone who could truly embody the spirit of small town Punjab and we know we have found her in Anushka,” said Yash Chopra. "And while she has no previous acting experience, we have seen that unique spark in her that makes us confident that she will be a standout even opposite Shah Rukh," he added.
Chopra said that "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" will go on the floors May 16 and will hit theatres worldwide on Dec 12. So far Aditya has wielded the megaphone for two films - he debuted as a director with super hit "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" and his second film was "Mohabbatein".

SRK to challange Ekta Kapoor

Anybody hardly can forget Shah Rukh Khan’s first appearance in television with shows like Dil Dariya, Fauji and the much popular Circus.With a long journey in Bollywood the merely known face attained the kingship in the tinsel town and banged back on television with entertaining quiz show “Kaun Banega Crorepati”. The booby box allured the King Khan again and he is back with list of questions for his fans on another Star Plus show “Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tej Hai?” But this is not all that the King seems to end with paying homage to his first introducer to the glittering industry. So, what else he has in mind for his favourite entertainer, the television?Shah Rukh promptly replies to the quiz saying, “yeah, it has been my wish to make some programmes for television through my production house. I have even finalized a name for that as ‘Red Chili Idiot Box’. I would like to request all my friends from the television industry to help us out as we don’t have that experience of working in television.” He proves his polite nature adding, “We deal with films and know little about films only. So, we would like to make something based on filmy issues. But I would like to make clear that my show will not be based on interviews of actors or actresses.
There will be fiction that you can call light movies of short duration. We would love to make it our USP as HBO runs mini-series of short films.”Along with audience, media also will be waiting for Red Chili to come up with this new show. So, when Shah Rukh is expecting to start producing the show?
“We expect to start working on our dream project within three or four months”, explains Shah Rukh. The glam boy, in his early forties, praises his production team saying, “I used to teach the people whom I employed in my company at the very outset and now they teach me.

Lewd sms?I didn't send it to Shahid

Female power is in. Deepika Padukone is busy matching Akshay Kumar's kicks and somersaults in Bangkok for Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China. Nearer home in Hyderabad Jiah Khan matched stunt strides with Aamir KhanThough thankfully she hasn't had any mishaps yet, Jiah's lithe stunts in Murughadoss' Ghajini are every bit as heart-in-the-mouth as Aamir Khan's.The only reason Jiah's action scenes aren't being talked-about are because she isn't talking about it. "I can't! I'm not allowed to," she quakes with contractual terror. "But yes I've done a lot of action scenes in Ghajini. They've been extremely unnerving."The action sequences require Jiah to match Aamir kick for kick. "And they are one reason I had to lose so weight," she admits having returned from Hyderabad where the Ghajini shooting was wrapped up earlier this. "The schedules don't suffer because of Aamir's accident at all. We resume in the middle of May as per schedule."On Tuesday Jiah started shooting in Mumbai for Ken Ghosh's film with Shahid Kapoor. "That's the film I'm not supposed to do," she jokes. "It's so cheap to send compromising messages in someone elese's name," Jiah suggests that the sms messages that embarrassed Shahid Kapoor and almost had her out of the project were sent off by someone else in her name. "I've never sent sms to people in the industry beyond work. I'm so new to all this manipulation scheming and negativity. I'm just so happy to be doing two films like Ghajini and Ken Ghosh' s film where I've completely different roles."

Now long hair six-pack Shahid

Shahid Kapoor will be opting for a new long haired look for his upcoming project, a musical to be directed by Ken Ghosh for UTV. The music video maker had turned filmmaker with Shahid's debut film, Ishq Vishq and had followed it up by bringing Shahid – Kareena Kapoor together for the first time with Fida. Confirming the news Ken stated that the project is on and Shahid is indeed making changes in his physical appearance. While Ken refuses to divulge any further details, our sources inform us that it is an out and out dance film which will be on the lines of a larger than life Broadway musical. The Jab We Met star is all set to fly abroad to learn different dance styles as well as work on his body to make it look like a trained dancer. He is also sporting a six pack for a dance sequence which will be choreographed by a Hollywood dance specialist.Shahid Kapoor had first sported long hair for a soap detergent TV commercial way back in 2001. It featured him in two looks – one a long haired one and other in a trimmed look. The actor, post his Jab We Met success, has become extremely choosy and aims to do only one film at a time, a close pal of his revealed to us. "That is why he is taking liberty to experiment with his looks," the friend added.Presently Shahid is looking forward to the release of Tips films Kismet Konnection opposite Vidya Balan directed by Aziz Mirza. The film is set for a July 11 release!

Ranbir: Message for my Mom

. Perhaps that's the reason why she passed away when I was shooting abroad because she knew how my heart bled every time I saw her wriggling in pain at the hospital.
Honestly speaking, I don't miss her because I never forget her. Even today I can literally feel the warmth of the godi (lap)-the best bed to rest on. Oh, I don't believe in the concept of Mother's Day and yet believe in it.I think every day in the year is Mother's Day. Just as you can't confine the sky in a bottle, you can't confine Mother's Day within 24hours." Hrithik Roshan on Pinky Roshan: My mother is the Bourn vita of our family-her sheer presence makes all the difference to our lives. Mother's Day this year is even more special with two mothers in our family-my mother and the mother of my two kids, Suzzane.
Generally it's Suzzane who take scare of all the arrangements for a celebration. But since this day is meant for my mom and her, so I guess the males have to tie up their aprons to please the ladies of the family.Esha Deol on Hema Malini: Whenever I think of perfection I think of my mom. Every day she surprises me with a new dimension in her character. She grows intellectually every day. I can never look or dance or act so beautifully like her. It won't be wrong if I say I live Mother's Day every day with my mother.
Well, even after all the free-flow of emotions, if your dil maange more, then grab a DVD of the film Mother India and watch it this Mother's Day (the latest buzz is, DVD-wallahs are giving a compilation of Nirupa "Mother of Bollywood" Roy's films for the early birds).What are the two factors that make up Bollywood?- Maa and Cine-ma. So Shashi Kapoor was indeed on strong ground when he said in Dewaar -Mere paas maa hai (I have my mother with me) if there were no filmy mothers around. But we won't be discussing filmy moms…Rather we can hear about the moms who are behind many a Bollywood sensation. Let's hear the daastan-e-maa (story of mother) from some of the biggest names of Bollywood Ranbir Kapoor on Neetu Singh Kapoor: Mother's Day to me is an opportunity to keep on telling my mom how special she is to me. My mother gave me the freedom to take decisions when I was in Class V. She is so special! Not only for me and my sister but for the entire family. She never interfered in my space. All she would say is that –Do whatever you want to. But just remember your origin, the royal blood in your veins. And that's more than enough for me to think and rethink before taking a decision.Of course I will get her the cutest gift on Mother's Day. She is too figure conscious. So can't give her chocolates. I think she will be happy if I gift her a new gym. Rekha on her mother Pushpavalli Ganeshan: My mother was, in fact is, my guardian angel. It's all because of her that I am in this industry. I still remember how every morning at 6 she dragged all of us to the temple in our house. The fragrance of her mogras mixed with that of agarbattis, camphor and other flowers created a heaven for us-the fragrance still lingers every day when I pray at the temple in my bungalow Sea Springs. She was the best cook I have ever known.The recipe of her upma and poha was famous among our friends and relatives. I never had to communicate with her verbally.She looked at me and understood what I wish to say.