Blog | FunStylers

MUMBAI: Following the mega recession faced in the industry many top stars and makers resorted to their price reduction to maintain the right balance for everyone involved.

Like many top stars, Akshay Kumar too seems to have changed his rigid stand as far as his pricing is concerned. Apparently, after initially refusing to reduce his remuneration from Rs. 30 crore, the Kambakkht Ishq star finally brought it down to Rs. 20 crore.
But then there is a catch to it, tells our trade source. He reveals, “Akshay may have reduced his price but at the same time he also wants a third share in the under-production profit of the film. Now, since profit is arrived at after deducting the cost from the total sale price, Akshay insists on knowing the cost at the time of signing the film. There shouldn’t be room for going over-budget, you see! Now, whether producers are happy with the changed stand of Akshay Kumar or not, only time will tell!”

Well Akshay it’s like having your cake and eating it too! Huh!
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Today’s age where human life expectancy has come down to average 70-80 years, many are now seeing turning towards the ancient age old remedies, especially the ‘Ayurveda‘. Famous celebrities including the highest paid entertainers also are not away from it.

Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone, an academy award-nominated American actor, director, producer and screenwriter has now turned to Ayurveda to get rid of his persisting knee pain.

Recently, in an attempt to make east meets west Bollywood film titled ‘Kambakkht Ishq’, Sylvester Stallone, along with other actors like Denise Richards, Brandon Routh and Holly Valance appeared in cameos, playing themselves.

While having a chat about his enduring knee problem with the famous bollywood star and co-star of the movie Akshay Kumar , the ‘Rambo’ star cuddled the ancient Indian medicine on Akshay’s suggestion, as the bollywood star provided him the name of his favorite Ayurvedic practitioner as well, during the shooting of their venture & newly released film ‘Kambakkhat Ishq’.

The magic of thousand year’s old ayurveda seems to have attracted Stallone, where now the Hollywood actor intends to spread the word about Ayurveda to his Hollywood buddies.
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The second season of Salman Khan’s television show Dus Ka Dum seems to be doing well enough. Many top Bollywood names have been star guests at the show so far, and future episodes also promise to have lots of dhamaal and masti packed with the promise of many more stars coming in.

Amongst many other of his star friend, it is learnt that Salman had also invited friend Sanjay Dutt along with wife Manyata for the show. Sources inform, “Sanjay Dutt and Manyata were supposed to attend the show together and were invited by the channel to do so. However, at the last minute, Manyata was nowhere to be seen and Dutt made an appearance along with Jackie Shroff to promote his film; Luck. Dutt won 10 lakh on the show.

“There is a growing buzz that all is not well between Sanjay Dutt and Manyata these days. Ever since Manyata was keen to contest the elections, when Sanjay Dutt was refused a ticket there have been differences between them. Manyata had then left for a holiday to Bahamas all alone”, our source further added.

Dutt has quite a few films in his kitty presently and seems to be in a very comfortable position these days. He has Soham Shah’s Luck, which is up for release very soon. He is working in Rohit Shetty’s next along with Ajay Devgan and Fardeen Khan, and then there is Blue along with Akshay Kumar. He also has Bunty Walia’s Lamhaa on hand.
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MUMBAI: As 2009 moves into its second half, the Bollywood box office can look back at just a handful of success stories. While a film producers’ strike resulted in a virtual drought of movies for two whole months, the poor quality of the few that were released didn’t help either. From January to June, about 55 films hit the screens but only six were able to do good business.

Among them Kabir Khan’s directorial venture “New York” tops the list. This John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer is clearly the hot favourite. Not only is the audience still flocking in. Yash Raj Films has refused to divulge budget details as per company policy.

Next is “Dev D”, a punk and grunge version of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s “Devdas”. After making the film, Kashyap has ensured one thing - for the next few years at least, no filmmaker will think of remaking “Devdas” the old way.

Kashyap’s “Gulaal” also did well. Released after “Dev D” March 13, the film got a good initial courtesy.

Director Vikram K. Kumar’s small-budget horror film “13B” starring R. Madhavan too finds a place in the list.In this film, spirits use a TV set to create havoc in the lives of Madhavan and his family members, telling them a story and revealing a crime. What worked most for “13B” was its tight narrative.

Then comes director Zoya Akhtar’s directorial debut, “Luck By Chance”, which had her brother Farhan Akhtar in the lead.

“Luck By Chance” had everything going in its favour. Zoya made an excellent debut as a director, but surprisingly audiences didn’t really make a beeline for it. This was truly an insider’s take on the state of affairs, as evident in every dialogue, mannerism and costume.

If 2008 had “Phoonk” as a surprise success, then it was hardly surprising to see “Raaz - The Mystery Continues” as the bona fide hit of 2009 before “New York” arrived.

Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt did an excellent job in promoting the film, the songs were chartbusters and Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut lived up to expectations. And director Mohit Suri surely came out with a quality product.

It was the first hit of the year after much-hyped “Chandni Chowk To China”.

Now the second half of the year seems to have got a good start with “Kambakkht Ishq”. The Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor starrer has had a good opening.
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Release of Kambakht Ishq has made one thing for sure that Bollywood leading ladies, won’t be fixated with the concept of Size Zero. That’s because the biggest advocator of this ‘body killing’ phenomenon, Kareena Kapoor, has clearly sworn off it and is now ‘back in shape’.

Meanwhile other aspiring actresses, who could possibly have been following her footsteps, have taken a step back as well. Even Aarti Chabaria, who has been looking at making her presence, felt in Bollywood once again with her upcoming film Toss confesses that being Size Zero is hardly ‘cool’ and she would carry on with the shape that suits her most.

“I am quite happy about the way I am and love the way I am shaped. Blame it on my North Indian genes but I have no intentions to get that flesh off myself”, says Aarti who had started off her career with a bang with one of her earlier projects being Awara Paagal Deewana opposite none other than Akshay Kumar.

“Honestly speaking, I entered the industry when I was very young so I don’t think that I have missed out on the years. Yes, my looks have changed over the years and I am only happy about that because I guess I am only looking better”, smiles Aarti.

And what kind of fitness regime does she follow? “Well, I keep a normal gym schedule and love kicking and squatting.”

Feeling sexy is something that she believes is more of an inner trait.

“Having body beautiful is great but what matters most is if you are feeling sexy from inside. If that’s really the case then others will find it out by themselves; you won’t have to make an extra effort”, she signs off.
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Western producers and stars are lining up for a share in India’s global box-office bonanza. Anushka Asthana meets Akshay Kumar, whose new film features his idol Sylvester Stallone
To half the world’s population, Akshay Kumar is more famous than Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis put together. Now the Bollywood actor’s fame is about to spread to the west.
Kumar’s latest film, which opens this weekend, marks the first time that Hollywood’s leading stars have appeared alongside their Indian counterparts in a Bollywood blockbuster. Filmed at Universal Studios in LA and starring Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards, Kambakkht Ishq is an example of the growing desire among western actors, companies and financiers for a piece of India’s multi-billion-pound entertainment industry. After all, as Hollywood is fighting off a deep recession, Bollywood is booming.

Kumar already has his next collaboration in the bag. Later this year he will appear alongside Kylie Minogue in Blue. The singer recorded songs for the film, including the title track - all composed by the Tamil musician AR Rahman, who shot to fame after his Oscar success with Slumdog Millionaire.

For Kumar, who is one of Bollywood’s most recognisable heroes, with more than 100 films to date, collaborations between the film industries of the west and the east are set to accelerate. “I presume they must be seeing what is happening in India. They see what Bollywood was two or three years ago and then they see what it is today,” he said. “It has grown a lot and it has the capacity and capability to grow much more. If this collaboration works, then things will start moving towards Hollywood and Bollywood coming together again and again.”

According to a report published by PricewaterhouseCoopers last month, India’s entertainment and media market was worth $15bn in 2008. This is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 10.7% to more than $25bn by 2013. Bollywood - which has a 3.6 billion fan base around the world, according to the New York Times - is a major part of that industry. It is hardly surprising that Hollywood and others are taking notice.

Last year Disney took a 32% stake in the Indian media company UMP, and George Soros spent $100m on a 3% stake in Reliance Entertainment. The Indian entertainment group Eros International already has two joint ventures, one with Lionsgate and another with Sony Entertainment, that will see the two companies develop, produce and distribute Hindi films.

Kishore Lulla, chairman of Eros, said the “cross-pollination” of Bollywood and Hollywood was inevitable. “India’s entertainment industry is growing rapidly - and it will soon be a powerhouse. In a couple of years a Bollywood film might take $50m at the box office in India alone,” he said.

Lulla, whose company co-produced Kumar’s latest film, said collaborations worked best when the script allowed Hollywood actors to appear without taking major roles - as Bollywood budgets were significantly lower. In Kambakkht Ishq, Kumar plays a stuntman for Hollywood stars, one of whom is Stallone. Richards, meanwhile, falls in love with the Indian actor.

“Audiences across the globe want to see something different in this world of recession. People want escapism, and Bollywood movies give them that. Indians express themselves loudly,” said Lulla. “Kambakkht Ishq is just the start. A lot of companies have already approached us - they are very interested in Bollywood. I think Slumdog Millionaire was a huge part of that.”

For Kumar, it is an opportunity to meet one of his greatest heroes. Sitting in a plush London hotel, on his way from the US to India, the Bollywood star remembered his days as a waiter in Thailand. “I used to have a small cupboard on which I had a poster of Stallone and one of Sridevi [a Bollywood actress]. I am so fortunate in life that I have had the opportunity not just to shake their hands but to work with them both.”

He had expected Stallone to be “reserved”, but found the opposite. “I thought, what would a Bollywood action hero talk to a Hollywood action hero about when they met? Within a span of two minutes we were talking about the stunts we had done. He was telling me about his knees and I told him that I was doing yoga to help my back, which was broken. He told me that he was not great with heights, but he still did Cliffhanger, and about how careful they are in Hollywood.”

During his acting career Kumar has hauled himself on to a moving plane, clung to it in mid-air and then jumped aboard a hot-air balloon, swum with 40 sharks and leapt from building to building without any safety devices.

Until a few years ago Bollywood had no safety checks and no insurance, Kumar told Stallone. “The man’s face just dropped and he called me a madman,” said the actor, laughing. “Because I told him we used to jump from the fifth or sixth floor on to cardboard boxes and just pray that nothing would happen.”

Kumar admitted he was “terrified” by the stunt in which he leapt from a plane in mid-air. “Let me start the whole thing by calling myself foolish and stupid to do something like that,” he said with a smile. “Trying to catch a running plane, get up on it, attach myself to it, the plane goes up into the air, and then I jump from there into a hot-air balloon and slide inside to save the heroine.”

More recently, when filming Blue, Kumar was diving close to a shipwreck at a depth of 120ft when his head hit something sharp and started to bleed. “There were 35 or 40 sharks there,” he said. “I kept watching them try to bait the sharks away.

“From that depth you are supposed to bring someone up in four or five minutes, but they got me up in 12 seconds because it was so dangerous.”

Kumar said it was a pleasure to work with Kylie Minogue on the film. “I like the way she adapted herself to Bollywood,” he said. “She is such a huge star - loved by everyone. But she came there and she did exactly what she was told by the director. If she was asked to turn up at 7am in full make-up, then at 6.45am she was there, ready, on set.”

The actor has also worked with Snoop Dogg, who had been “dying to wear a pugdi [turban]” and dance to the Indian songs when he recorded the title track and a music video for the film Singh is Kinng.

“It is further testament to the fact that Indian cinema is establishing ever stronger links with the mainstream. It was brilliant that someone of Snoop Dogg’s calibre wanted to be involved in this project. And he was just as proud to sing, dance and look like an Indian as I am, bless him,” said Kumar. Calling it a day to remember, the actor described Snoop Dogg as a legend: “He’s so chilled and laid-back, a complete family guy. He even brought his uncle to cook chicken for absolutely everyone on set.”

In the future the actor, who used to be a martial arts teacher, would like the chance to work with another of his heroes, Jackie Chan.

Back in India, it is to Kumar that millions of young boys look up. He believes that celebrities should not complain about the attention from fans and the media. “You did everything for attention - when you get it, how can you run away from it? I enjoy a lovely life. I get first-class tickets to move around, sometimes maybe private planes, I get to go to the best places with my family - and I work hard for it.”

He also spends a lot of time and money indulging in his latest hobby, parkour, or free running. He is so into the sport, which involves jumping from one point to another, that instead of selling an old house he converted the entire place into a parkour gym, with rods, ropes and climbing areas. “My wife got upset,” he admitted. “She said: ‘Stupid, sell the house.’ But I really love that gym.”

For now, the actor is hoping that merging Bollywood and Hollywood in his latest project will be a success. “This is a typical masala Bollywood film, full of songs, colours, emotions,” he said. “When you say something is masala you mean it has all the ingredients: action, comedy and romance.”

Indian films are “one tone higher”, according to Kumar, with brighter colours and stronger emotions. If someone is crying, they are a little more hysterical, if someone is angry, they shout a little louder, and if someone is happy, they smile a little wider. That’s the difference between Bollywood and Hollywood.
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DELHI: Trust Akshay Kumar to put a kahani mein twist even in a routine happening like a press meet. On Thursday evening in Delhi to promote Kambakkht Ishq Akshay decided to conduct a press conference in a unique way. He opted to join the melee of press persons at the Citywalk mall by jumpimg down from the 10th floor.

Buzz up!
Laughs Akshay, “I think everyone was bored with just the routine questions and answers. So I decided to make the get-together exciting for both the parties at the press meet and for the onlookers.” Wasn’t it dangerous to jump down from such a high altitude? “All precautions were taken. Besides what’s life without taking risks?” quips Akshay
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Recently, Akshay Kumar said in an interview, “Both Kareena and Katrina are really good but who is the better among them depends on their roles in the films. Otherwise, both of them have sexy bodies and are absolutely wonderful actresses,” said Akshay when asked to choose his favourite of the two.

But that was Khiladi Kumar’s opinion; we asked our Indiatimes Movies surfers about which actress they think has the sexiest body and by the results tell that our surfers do not agree with Akshay Kumar. Flip on for the results.
Bipasha Basu

The sultry siren Bipasha Basu emerged as the sexiest of them all in the poll of the Sexiest actress in Bollywood winning 26% votes by Indiatimes Movies surfers. The lady who is a fitness freak has worked hard on her body since her ‘Jism’ days and the results are fab!
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New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Making a comedy became a sure-shot success formula at the box office in 2008, but it hasn’t worked well for filmmakers so far this year with biggies like “Chandni Chowk To China” and “Billu” biting the dust at the ticket window.

But many still feel that the genre hasn’t lost its charm and will prove its worth with upcoming films like “Kambakkht Ishq” and “Dil Bole Hadippa”.

Comic capers became box office favourites in 2008 when big-budget, multi-starrers like “Dostana”, “Golmaal Retuns” and “Singh Is Kinng”, small fry “Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye” and even the non-commercial “Welcome To Sajjanpur” turned into top grossers at the ticket window.

But none of the comedies released in 2009 have been able to do repeat the success story. When Akshay Kumar-starrer “Chandni Chowk To China” was released, trade pundits expected it to carry forward the trend and fans too anticipated another heavy dose of fun and frolic. But the film didn’t live up to expectations and fell flat at the box office.

Similarly, Shah Rukh Khan’s much-hyped home production “Billu”, starring Lara Dutta and Irrfan Khan along with special appearances by Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, too flopped.

Others that saw the same fate were films like Soha Ali Khan’s “Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge”, Fardeen Khan-starrer “Jai Veeru”, a film based on the Parsi community “Little Zizou”, Aftab Shivdasani’s “Aloo Chaat”, Vinay Pathak and Gul Panag-starrer “Straight” and “99″, which had Kunal Khemu and Cyrus Broacha in key roles.

Despite comedies flopping left, right and centre, filmmakers have not lost faith in the genre. Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who produced last year’s blockbuster “Singh is Kinng”, had told IANS that humour has to change it’s form to hit the bull’s eye.

“Slapstick, mindless humour will not work anymore, but intelligent comedy will make audiences laugh,” Shah said.

Veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal, who returned to comedy after 33 years with “Welcome to Sajjanpur”, feels comedies will be successful in the future because of a sociological reason.

“There is a sociological reason behind the success of the genre. Comedies work well when circumstances around us are grim. In such a situation, comedies play an effective role in providing people momentary escape from the harsh realities,” said Benegal.

The failure of the genre in the first half of the year has proved that it is not a cakewalk making a comedy that is crafted to amuse, entertain and provide enjoyment to all classes of people.

“People feel it’s easy to make a comedy, but that’s a myth. It’s very difficult to make people laugh. Plus in this age of cinematic experience, you have to take care of so many things like the look of the film,” said Rohit Shetty, director of last year’s hit laugh riot “Golmaal Returns”.

According to film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh, Bollywood churns out at least 20 comedies a year, some of them with a big star cast, but not all taste success at the box office because “audiences have learnt to separate the wheat from the chaff”.

“Just because you insert a few laughs, doesn’t mean you have a successful film on hand,” he said.

Now all eyes are on Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor’s lavishly shot romantic comedy “Kambakkht Ishq” and Akshaye Khanna and Arshad Warsi’s “Short Kut - The Con Is On”.

Other comedies that are scheduled to hit the screens later this year include big banner films like Ashutosh Gowariker’s Priyanka Chopra-starrer “Whats Your Rashee?”, Yash Raj Films’ “Dil Bole Hadippa” that features Rani Mukerji and Shahid Kapoor, Akshay and Katrina Kaif’s “De Dana Dan” and David Dhawan’s “Do Knot Disturb”.
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