Kicking up a storm
Salman Khan’s song Jumme ki raat, released recently as a teaser to his upcoming film Kick, has gone viral. Released appropriately on a Friday (jumma), the video shows a hunky Sallu romancing a ravishing Jacqueline Fernandes. It seems to have done its job, which was to whet the appetite of Salman fans across the diaspora eagerly waiting for the Eid release of the film.
The song sung by Mika and Palak Mucchal is composed by Himesh Reshammiya.
Of course you can’t help noticing the similarity to that other famous jumma number, Big B and Kimi Katkar’s Jumma chumma de de from Hum (1991).
Salman himself agrees the similarities are there. “I love Jumma chumma; every time it plays on TV I watch the whole number!”
But his number is filmed differently, he hastens to add.
Regardless, the song has definitely kicked up a storm, with nearly 8 million views on YouTube for the film’s trailer by the next morning. We wait to see if it translates to bums on seats, come Eid. A recent SRK-Kareena Kapoor pre-release of a song went similarly viral, but alas, did nothing for the film when it was eventually released.
Expectations from Salman and Kick are huge, especially since Salman’s last release Jai Ho under-performed at the box office.
Pretty Preity in Ness mess
Preity Zinta’s allegation of molestation against her former beau and business partner Ness Wadia has not got much reaction from the film fraternity. Many like director Tanuja Chandra feeling it’s better to wait for the legal process to move forward and “avoid playing judge and jury ourselves,” while Moon Moon Sen feels “it is entirely their business”.
Chandra, who directed Preity in author-backed film Sangharsh, says, “I imagine she must have thought a great deal about it and hasn’t done this on an impulse. Like all women in the country she has every right to approach authorities if she feels her individual space has been violated. We must wait for the legal process to move forward and avoid playing judge and jury ourselves”.
The outspoken Pooja Bedi has decided to sit on the fence.
She says: “Neither Ness nor Preity come across as a liar. Both are such lovely people. So it is just very unfortunate that it’s all turning out the way it is. Having said this I feel it is for the courts to pass a verdict, not us”.
Neetu Chandra feels the matter is personal. However, she also feels Preity is not the kind to raise a hue and cry unnecessarily.
“As far as I know, she is a no-nonsense person and leads her life with dignity. A break-up is never pleasant. Both the partners have to be very careful about preserving each other’s self-respect in public after the break-up, for the sake of what they shared in the past”.
Preity lodged a written complaint against Wadia with the Marine Drive police station on June 12. She accused Wadia, her former beau who co-owns the IPL team Kings XI Punjab with her, of grabbing her hand and abusing her during a cricket match in Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 30. Wadia has denied the allegations, terming them “totally false and baseless”. His friends have suggested that Preity is jealous because Ness has moved on and is now in a new relationship.
Actress-parliamentarian Moon Moon Sen feels the two should sit and talk it out, even though she says she admires Preity’s courage here.
“Maybe there’s a history of abuse and now it has erupted in a public place to embarrass both of them. Surely the two can sit down and sort it out. No matter how we look at it, it is entirely their business”.
Movie guru Shailendra Singh finds the incident unfortunate.
“It’s unfortunate that a girlfriend-boyfriend fight has national importance. There are far more serious matters awaiting the nation’s attention”.
The battle of the newbies
Fresh-faced Armaan Jain will soon make his acting debut with fellow newcomer Deeksha Seth and first-time director Arif Ali, in Lekar Hum Deewana Dil.
The number of fresh faces continues to rise in Bollywood and Armaan Jain wishes them all the best of luck… or so he says.
“There are a lot of youngsters, around 10 to 15, of my age group doing the same genre of films,” he states.
“I believe in healthy competition. I hope we all work hard and have healthy competition. Hopefully, people accept my first film first and we all grow together”.
Yes you like healthy competition, we get it… but do we believe it?
Jain has worked with two former assistant directors Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan, who are now successful actors, and says that he bonded with them while assisting filmmaker Karan Johar on My Name Is Khan.
“I was an intern, joining towards the end of the schedule. I got to spend a little bit of time with Sidharth and Varun during shooting schedule. It was great bonding with them,” says Armaan.
While he feels he is too young to explore the filmmaking part of the industry, he is not against it.
“When I started assisting, I wasn’t aware of how films are made, what happens. Once I got involved with technicals, I started making short films. I used to try and get my hands into editing. I directed a short film to understand the craft practically also. My main concentration is to get this film right and act for now. Definitely at some point of time, I would love to direct a film. I love editing as well,” adds the former intern, assistant, editor and wannabe director.
Armaan is the cousin of actor Ranbir Kapoor, and has also shown interest in RK Films, the banner established by his late grandfather and actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor.
“At some point, if my uncles or Ranbir do [revive the banner] and if they want to involve me in some way, I would be honoured to do so. If something comes up, then definitely,” says Armaan.
Lekar Hum Deewana Dil will release on July 4.
Lost in translation
Ukranian ballroom dance expert Maksim Chmerkovskiy is visiting India to be the first international judge of reality TV show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, the Indian version of Dancing with the Stars.
However, it seems that the housewarming was not so warm with reports claiming Maksim is already unhappy as a judge on the show as he cannot speak or follow Hindi.
Maksim was quick to deny the reports. “That’s not true. I am having a blast. It’s all good, don’t worry. It’s going really great. And that report is bull****,” he refutes.
“I am a very adaptable person. I am open to all kinds of experiences. I came to India and to Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa to embrace a new language and culture. I want to understand Bollywood dancing. This is a brilliant once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to get acquainted with a new culture. And I am enjoying every moment of it”.
Sounds legit. But he still can’t understand a word of what the contestants and fellow judges are saying, with his own statements being ticker-translated on screen.
Luckily, with a bit of help (and by a little, we mean an entire production team), the Ukrainian ballroom prodigy battles on.
“But I was prepared to face all of this. I had hoped that the production team would understand there would be difficulties. And everyone is helping out. The judges are constantly helping me out. I sit between Madhuri Dixit and Karan Johar. They’re constantly telling me what’s going on. The hosts are also helping me out all the time. It helps that the show is taped and doesn’t go on air live. So, they stop the shooting and explain what’s going on. The experience that I am getting here is not something you get in a classroom,” he affirms.
At least something is going his way, with Maksim claiming that Bollywood contestants have a lot more respect for the judges on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa than on Dancing with the Stars.
“I’ve just begun to realise that Madhuri is a legendary figure. And Karan Johar has a track-record of successful films. I had come here for a new experience. I thought I’d be a good judge on the show. But now I’ve to be even better than just a good judge in order to live up to the standards on the show,” he says.
First step to being a better judge on Indian TV: Hindi lessons!
The key to a healthy relationship: Breaking box office records
Movie star Akshay Kumar’s latest film Holiday – A Soldier Is Never Off Duty has minted Rs.102.62 crores in three weeks at the domestic box office and producer Vipul Shah could not be happier.
The Shah-Kumar partnership has once again struck gold with this film adding to their collection of hits including Aankhen, Waqt – Race Against Time, Namastey London and Singh Is King.
However every relationship has its rough patches, for example the Action Replay fiasco.
“It has been a fantastic journey with Akshay,” Shah said, when talking about his partnership with the superstar.
“Holiday is our sixth film together and four out of five films were successful. What is very important is that all films got a lot of credibility from the audience”.
Holiday is about terrorism, in which director A.R. Murugadoss focuses on sleeper cells and how quietly they merge into their target society before unleashing havoc.
The thrilling drama featured a new style of action directed by renowned British stuntman Greg Powell, known for his work in Hollywood’s super hit franchises such as Harry Potter and James Bond.
The filmmaker said the successes have helped them in winning a “good reputation”.
“My relationship with Akshay has reached that stage where we constantly want to do better work together. It has become stronger by the day,” said Shah.
We sincerely hope you’ve been buying him flowers. But we wonder, who pays for dinner?
No more Bipasha: Vashu Bhagnani
Producer Vashu Bhagnani is so upset with Bipasha Basu, one of the female leads in his just released Humshakals, that he has decided not to work with her again.
Directed by Sajid Khan, Humshakals, which also features Riteish Deshmukh, Saif Ali Khan, Ram Kapoor, Esha Gupta and Tammannaah Bhatia, hit the theatres in mid-June.
The dusky beauty, who was missing from all the promotional events of the film, stated that she was dissatisfied with the end result of her role in the film.
Bhagnani says that he never misled her about her role.
“I asked Sajid myself to cast Bipasha,” Vashu says. “She is a lovely lady. But I don’t know what her problem is. It’s not like we told her something and delivered something else”.
Is the feisty Bipasha too much of an alpha-woman for Bollywood’s misogynist ways?
Caption Contest
What’s the chitchat between Padmini Kohlapure and niece Sharddha Kapoor?
Send in your responses to win@indianlink.com.au and win a surprise prize.
LAST ISSUE CAPTION CONTEST WINNING ENTRY
What’s the chitchat between Priyanka Chopra and Katy Perry?
Katy (to herself): I’ve got to do a tuk-tuk ride… Brad and Ange did one too while they were here!
Priyanka (to herself): But for this firang, I wouldn’t be caught dead riding on a scooter like this.
Puneeta Sharma
Chipping Norton NSW
Puneeta wins a ticket to new Hindi release Holiday