Group items tagged

It was 16th Anniversary celebration of Prime Focus that made a memorable occasion. Bollywood’s two legendry actors Amitabh Bachchan and Prem Chopra were seen sharing a delightful time with each other in the event. They had a hearty conversation as they shared a warm handshake and a laugh. Amitabh Bachchan looked handsome as he partook in the anniversary celebrations of Prime Focus. Prem Chopra appeared as lively as he looked in the 80s time at the event in his black-sherwanni style suit. They were sitting at the front row accompanied by veteran actor Rishi Kapoor. Amitabh, too, had a warm conversation with Rishi that was clearly seen on his face in the stills.Amitabh and Prem seem to have sharing their old days that they had spent during the shoot of film like Do Ajnaabi. Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his blog, “Prime Focus which started with four young entrepreneurs has now become an institute of perfection in post production and digital work for all the largest entertainment industries in the world. Most of the Hollywood special effects are done at Prime Focus in Mumbai - Clash of the Titans, Gatsby and the recent sensational hit film Gravity, to name a few.” He added, “Truly a most informal and educative evening, with just the right doses of each. My thanks to the owners of Prime, for this wonderful evening.”

Attending the three day fest, Cinema beyond Boundaries in New York, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar feels good with the international film dignities. He is exchanging notes with Hollywood directors, writers and music composers on understanding the global perspective in cinema. The director also said that Indian film industry and Hollywood can learn a lot from each other as the two industries seek to cater to the evolving nature of cinema.“There will be something that I take from them and they will take from us. While Hollywood has had a huge influence on the Indian industry, Bollywood and its actors too are garnering a lot of attention in the western film world,” said the filmmaker, who is well-known for his films like Chandni Bar, Page 3, Fashion and Heroine. The event would focus on the global influence of Indian cinema, forecast changes in the fast growing and rapidly evolving filmmaking industry. “Cinema has changed drastically over the years and films are now being made in different genres like commercial, edgy and radical to cater to the tastes of an evolving viewership,” he added.“Indian cinema is no more limited to audiences in India. We have viewers all around the world and hence understanding the global perspective is a must. Cinema Beyond Boundaries would get the viewers and the filmmakers together and would help us in serving them with good quality cinema,” Bhandarkar said. Well said Madhur Bhandarkar!

Shraddha Kapoor was a little known actress before Aashiqui 2 came her way, however, with the release of this Mohit Suri directorial, starring Aditya Roy Kapoor opposite her, life took 180 degree turn for her, and today she is one of the most in-demand actresses.The lean-beauty is well-aware that now as she is on top position, so competition with her contemporaries are bound to happen, and the actress is looking forward to it. As of now, she is concentrating on her work and wants to improve the art of acting."Comparisons are inevitable whether I like it or not. I think the best way to go about it is to concentrate on what I do and not shift my focus. I only want to better myself as an actor because I am here living out my childhood dream. I want to look back and say that yes I made it happen my way," said Shraddha.After playing a wannabe singer in her last film, Shraddha is now keen on exploring her act, so that she can successfully mould herself in any character. "I would like to do any kind of role. I would like to believe that I can be molded into any kind of role. There is nothing in particular that I want to do," said Shraddha.She will be next seen in Rensil D’Silva’s Ungli and Punit Malhotra’s Gori Tere Pyaar Mein!

Miss Lovely marks the first release for Easel, the brainchild of distribution executive Abhishek Gautam and filmmakers Bikramjit Gupta, Atanu Mukherjee and Pooja Gupte. Veteran distributor Sunny Khanna is in with Easel and Eagle to release Miss Lovely, according to Screen Daily.“We hope to release across 200-300 screens,” said Abhishek Gautam. “As a team we want to focus on distributing independent cinema in India.” The company will also release Sangee Thongdok’s Crossing Bridges, made in the north-east Indian dialect of Sherdukpen, that premiered at Mumbai Film Festival.Meanwhile, former IFC Films executive Ryan Werner and distribution agency Required Viewing are working on the US release of Miss Lovely, which is scheduled for March 2014. Cinetic Media’s FilmBuff is handling digital distribution for North America.Miss Lovely premiered at Cannes in Un Certain Regard in 2012 and won best film in the India Gold competition at last year’s Mumbai Film Festival. Fortissimo Films sold the film to France’s Ad Vitam in Cannes 2012.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan recently attended annual lecture at the Penguin in New Delhi where he unveiled about the thoughts of his father Mr. Harivansh Ray Bachchan. He said he remains puzzled by his father's habit in his last days of watching Hindi films rather than turning to his greatest companion his beloved books.Bachchan said his father had called him his greatest poetry. “My biggest problem in my life I do not know whether I am a free verse or a couplet, a chaupai or a shloka. I don't know what he saw in the flickering darkness it had to be more than Hindi cinema's excessive poetic justice in three hours! Did he see a flame that burns itself up lighting up the fire of the written word within? We are our own monster an animal of many animal parts.”During the conversation, Big B also confessed that he would try and build a girls’ school. “True equality can only exist if the whole society embraces it,” he said. Bachchan referred to feature films as the great passion of India cutting across all other performing arts and the Indian film industry as absorbing all religions, languages and cultures in it.“The filmy ambrosia's nectar so intoxicating that it has achieved what that no Indian politician has ever done,” said Bachchan before posing the question "In our cinema bad guys always come to no good what about in India itself? “Indian cinema has no nuclear bomb never suffers a recession but people call it is degenerate, trebling, trashy, flashy hocus-focus,” said the actor.

B-town beauty Lara Dutta, who is currently away from Bollywood, so that she could focus on raising her child, is set to put forth her designing skills as she will soon launch her own sari collection. She says that designing is her new baby."I have done films for 10 years. This is something new that I have forayed into; so it's my new baby. I am excited about the response from the customers," said Lara, who was in Delhi to launch her second sari range in association with Chhabra 555. Married to tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi, Dutta, 35, started designing last year, and it was then she created a whole line of saris. "The second collection is far more traditional. Personally I am a big fan of Benarasi saris and many other old-age fabrics; so I wanted to make those weaves younger and contemporary. Normally, we associate Benarasi saris with our aunts and our mothers, but I wanted to give it a younger and trendy feel," she said. Even though she is seen less on silver screen nowadays, Lara has no qualms. "I think each thing has its own space in life. I enjoyed being busy. My priority is my daughter. That will always be my number one priority. Now she is getting older, so I am getting more time to celebrate and concentrate on my own work; so here I am promoting the brand as much as possible," she said. Wish you luck!

Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali is quite a task-maker and everyone is well-aware of the fact. His upcoming film is Ram-Leela, which stars actors like Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, and Richa Chadda, who was appreciated for her act in Gangs of Wasseypur and Fukrey.While promoting the film recently, Richa was all praises for her director. ''I learnt a lot from Sanjay Sir. Working with him, I learnt that one must work hard every day, one should be always grounded & have craving for knowledge. One must always be humble in order to grow and become a better person and better actor. One should never let ego clash into one's craft or let petty distractions lose the focus because eventually it will affect your performance,'' says the 24-year old actress.Everyone knows that SLB keeps on losing temperament and even Deepika faced his wrath, however, Richa didn’t become victim of SLB's stringency or temper. ''Fortunately all of my directors have been tough taskmasters....Bhansali sir may be known for his eccentricity and temper but I felt nothing of that sort or came across that side of his. He was, on the contrary, very understanding and loving. He would scream at the whole world except me,'' says Richa. Ram-Leela is all set to release on November 15, 2013.

Fukrey actress Vishakha Singh believes in doing quality work; that is the reason that she has rejected back-to-back films, which came her way after the success of Fukrey, which also starred Ali Fazal, Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Manjot Singh, Richa Chadda and Priya Anand.Also seen in films like Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey and Ankur Arora Murder Case, the actress is keen on doing roles, which offer her to prove her mettle in acting. "Post Fukrey, I have refused seven scripts. It's important to do what you completely believe in," Vishakha said. "I am game for anything - from drama, comedy, to thriller, romance and family entertainer. I want to try my hands at everything. I want to focus on good scripts where I have a pivotal role," added the actress, who will soon make her Malayalam debut with Rajesh Pillai's Motorcycle Diaries."The divide between the film industries is diminishing. I am comfortable in multiple languages. Once in a while, if good scripts like Motorcycle Diaries in Malayalam or a romantic comedy ValebRaja in Tamil comes my way, I will take them up," she said.Even though she is quite a known her in film industry, but doesn’t let that take a toll in her personal life. "I am not part of the rat race. At the end of the day, I know I did it on my own without a mentor, godfather or recommendations," Vishakha said. "I have seen the lows of the career very early on and have come to the conclusion that a Friday can change everything. The only thing you can do is work hard, listen to your gut and be patient," she added.You’re sure one amazing actress as well as wonderful person!