Shah Rukh Khan & Katrina Kaif

Shah Rukh Khan & Katrina Kaif Kiss

Katrina Kaif seemed to be in shock after she was kissed by Shah Rukh Khan at a recently held award function. Getting a kiss from a super-star is no less than any award!

Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma & Vidya Balan

Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma & Vidya Balan Kiss

Vidya Balan and Anushka Sharma were excited when Shah Rukh demanded a kiss on his dimples from both, also at an award function, held last year.

Abhishek Bachchan & Aishwarya Rai

Abhishek Bachchan & Aishwarya Rai Kiss

Abhishek Bachchan had left no stone unturned to make Raavan a success but unfortunately even a sweet kiss during the promotion of the film failed to save the film from sour results at the box-office.

Shilpa Shetty & Richard Gere

Shilpa Shetty & Richard Gere Kiss

Shilpa Shetty was left embarrassed by Richard Gere, after he kissed her during an AIDS awareness event in 2007; it was also one of the biggest Bollywood controversies of 2007.

Vijay Mallya & Sameera Reddy

Vijay Mallya & Sameera Reddy Kiss

Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya was spotted kissing Sameera Reddy at Kingfisher Calendar launch. Now don’t say he was drunk!

Siddharth Mallya & Deepika Padukone

Siddharth Mallya & Deepika Padukone Kiss

Papa kehte hain aisa kaam karega, beta hamara… Vijay Mallya’s son Siddharth was spotted kissing Deepika Padukone as they celebrated their team’s victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL-4 cricket match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 22, 2011.

Mallika Sherawat & Jackie Chan

Mallika Sherawat & Jackie Chan Kiss

No discussion on controversies is complete without the mention of Mallika Sherawat. This well-mannered girl asked for the permission from press photographers before planting one on Jackie Chan’s cheeks. Both were promoting their film The Myth in Singapore.

Bipasha Basu & Cristiano Ronaldo

Bipasha Basu & Cristiano Ronaldo Kiss

Even though she denied the incident by saying that he was just leaping forward to whisper a few words, but Bipasha Basu kissing Manchester United superstar Cristiano Ronaldo at a Portuguese club was a hot topic in India.

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Chandrachur Singh Back To Films With Chaar Din… & The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Vidya Balan Turns Item Girl For Ferrari Ki Sawaari

Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Stardom isn’t exactly a cakewalk for our celebs. Take the handsome couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan for example. The duo have  had a busy year churning one release after the other and now they don’t even have time to take a holiday off for their fourth wedding anniversary!

Abhishek, who is looking forward to the relase of his film Dum Maaro Dum on 22^nd April, will be busy promoting the Bipasha Basu, Prateik Babbar and Rana Daggubati starrer. And to add to his cramped dates, he will immediately start shooting for Abbas-Mustan’s Players after DMD with a huge star cast of Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Deol, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Omi Vaidya.

Last year, Abhi had taken Ash to the US on their anniversary. The year before that, the two were busy with Mani Ratnam’s Raavan but had managed to take some time off for themselves. On their first anniversary in 2008, Aishwarya had joined Abhishek in Miami as he was shooting for Dostana with John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra.

But this year, Aishwarya Rai is taking it a bit easy and doesn’t have any projects in hand. We’re sure she can have a nice surprise planned for her hubby on 20^th April. Any ideas?

To its advantage, Game comes to theatres after a month of no films in theatres. Films were delayed because of the cricket world cup and exams. Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta tells how ‘Game’ and F.A.L.T.U have the same advantage. Though ‘Game’ is a thriller, the Abhishek Bachchan starrer has not excited anyone yet and the songs haven’t caught on too well either. Abhishek Bachchan’s last two films, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey and Raavan, were flops; therefore this is not the best of time for this Bachchan.

Abhishek added that he had a long way to go in the industry. Incidentally, while many of Bachchan’s previous performances, especially in Yuva and Guru received applause from the audiences, the last year has proved a tad unlucky for him, with many of his films flopping at the box-office. Think Raavan and Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey. Abhishek must definitely be looking at Game and Dum Maaro Dum, both of which are releasing in April to gove a new boost to his career.

In the meantime, wife Aishwarya Rai goes from strength to strength. After shooting with international stars, she will be welcoming Hugh Jackman to India!

Nikhil and Gauri have been seeing each other for the five years and have had the nod of both their families. There will be an intimate ceremony in Mumbai, attended by close friends and family. After the wedding the couple will host a reception party attended by friends, co-stars and acquaintances in the film industry.

One of Nikhil’s friends says, “They met at a common friend’s party and immediately hit it off. She’s very media-shy, which is why they haven’t gone out in public.”

While Nikhil has acted in Hindi films like ‘Raavan’ and My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, Gauri is a model and has been in Telugu films like Andhrudu and Kasko.

Akshay Kumar also got a lot of flack for his choice of films (Khatta Meetha, Action Replayy. Luckily for him, Housefull worked at the box-office and Tees Maar Khan at least took a flying start. Anil Kapoor poured water over his new-found success as actor in Hollywood films and TV (Slumdog Millionaire, 24, under-production Mission Impossible 4) by delivering two duds produced by him – No Problem and Aisha.

RELEASES
The year saw a total of 250 films hitting the screens, which was almost the number of films which were released in 2009. Of the 250 films, 87 were dubbed in Hindi from English or other languages. There were 6 English films and 1 film in English-Bengali. That means, there were 156 straight Hindi films. While 244 were live action films, there were 5 which were animation films and 1, live action-animation.

HITS AND FLOPS
Dabangg was the biggest blockbuster, doing a combined business (from all sources) of a little over Rs. 100 crore. Golmaal 3 was the next biggest hit, followed by Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai and Raajneeti. Two small, non-star cast films – Peepli Live and Love Sex Aur Dhokha – doubled the investments made in them, putting to shame several big-budget and star-studded fares like Kites, Action Replayy, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Guzaarish, Raavan and Veer. There were other debacles too, just like there were other success stories.

NET RESULT
Given the low success ratio (a little over 7%), the industry suffered a net loss of around Rs. 475 crore (Rs. 4750 million) during the year. The break-up: profits in successful films were to the tune of Rs. 125 crore; losses in flop films were in the region of Rs. 600 crore!

Detailed analysis:

AA (Super-Hit)
Dabangg

A1 (Hit)
Golmaal 3
Peepli Live

A (Semi-Hit)
Love Sex Aur Dhokha

BB (Overflow)
Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai
Raajneeti

B1 to BB (Commission-Earner to Overflow)
Housefull
I Hate Luv Storys

B1 (Commission-Earner)
Robot (dubbed)

B to B1 (Coverage to Commission-Earner)
My Name Is Khan
Badmaash Company
Tere Bin Laden
Udaan
Band Baaja Baaraat
Narnia – Ek Adbhoot Safar (dubbed)
Iron Man 2 (dubbed)
Knight & Day – Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena (dubbed)
Resident Evil 4: Maut Ke Baad Bhi… (dubbed)

2010 Bollywood Box-office At A Glance

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey

Ashutosh Gowariker returns to the patriotic theme with Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which is all set to release on December 3^rd. The Abhishek Bachchan – Deepika Padukone starrer is based on the Chittagong Uprising of 1930. While the leggy Deepika has had a busy year with four of her films releasing in 2010, Abhishek hasn’t been as lucky (or busy). Abhishek’s last two films as a solo hero, Raavan and Delhi-6, didn’t click at the box-office; all his hopes must be resting on ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’.

Komal’s Take:

While the promotions of the film are lacking, the music, composed by Sohail Sen, has also not caught on. As previously mentioned, Abhishek is not that ‘hot’ a star right now. Had the promotions been more intensive – with a better marketing campaign – it might have helped. Now, of course, the filmmakers will have to depend on the merits of their film. To be sure, the buzz of ‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ is a little low key.

Rakht Charitra 2

Whatever the box-office fate of Ram Gopal Varma’s films might be, the maverick director doesn’t stop churning them out. Varma, who filmed Rakht Charitra and its sequel, Rakht Charitra 2, at one go, is now all set to release the latter on December 3^rd.

Komal’s Take:

Rakht Charitra 2 is probably the first sequel of a flop film. Generally sequels are made after a film clicks. Unfortunately for Ram Gopal Varma, he shot the sequel along with the first film, without waiting for the first part to release. Therefore, he is saddled with the sequel.

Total Releases -246!

A total of 246 films were released between Diwali 2009 and Diwali 2010. In the corresponding period last year (Diwali 2008 to Diwali 2009), there had been 240 releases. Of course, the number of weeks between Diwali 2008 and Diwali 2009 was 51 whereas it was 55 between the festival of lights in 2009 and 2010. Of the 246 films released, five were English films, 86 were dubbed from South or foreign languages, one was a Bengali-English film and 154 were made in Hindi. Of the 154 Hindi films, six were animation fares.

Hits & Flops

Among the noteworthy hits during the period under reference were 3 Idiots, Dabangg, Avatar (dubbed), 2012 – Pralay Ki Shuruaat (dubbed) and Peepli Live. All these films more than doubled the investment made in them. There were other films too which did well, but barely 18-20 films succeeded during the period, including the aforementioned five blockbusters.

The list of debacles between the two festive occasions was headed by Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna and Knock Out. Although Kites, Raavan and Rakht Charitra did not lose as much money as the earlier two named films, they came to be regarded as the dampest squibs because of the hype surrounding their release as also because of their massive budgets. The Tamil version of Raavan did very well whereas the Telugu version of Rakht Charitra was not as bad as the Hindi version. There were other disasters like London Dreams, Aladin, Kurbaan and Jhootha Hi Sahi, which lost the box-office race.

Find out the common ties between the two movies in the making of the song ‘O Bekhabar’ from Action Replayy.

Star cast: Animation film with dialogues dubbed by Juhi Chawla, Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Mukesh Rishi.

Plot: The story is from the epic Ramayana. It talks about the 14-year exile of Lord Rama; Sita’s kidnap by Ravana; and her ultimate release by Lord Rama with the help of Hanuman.

What’s Good: Sets; some part of the animation.

What’s Bad: The screenplay; the other part of the animation.

Verdict: Ramayana The Epic will be an ‘epic’ disaster at the box-office

Loo break: Anytime!

Watch More: Ramayana – The Epic Movie Stills And Wallpapers

Watch more: First Look Of Ash-Hrithik In ‘Guzaarish

At the first look launch, a particularly nosy reporter asked Aishwarya how she felt about having worked with both older actors (Salman Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgan) and younger one’s (Hrithik Roshn) in each of Bhansali’s films. A miffed Ash replied that it didn’t matter whom she worked with as long as the director was okay with the casting. “I don’t know whether there was a question or a point he (the journalist) made. The fact is that most of the directors I worked with don’t get in to chronology, or statements, or sensationalizing casting,” Aishwarya said.

Immediately – the wonderful man that he is – Sanjay Leela Bhansali, came to Aishwarya’s rescue and clarified his position. “I would like to cast Aishwarya with Ranbir Kapoor also. Some people are timeless and it (their career) doesn’t just end with a decade ending.”

Read more: Hrithik Roshan: “‘Guzaarish’ Was A Life Altering Experience”

Then what? Aishwarya praised her favourite director to the hilt. “I have had the pleasure of working for Sanjay Leela Bhansali thrice but let me tell you that ‘Guzaarish’ is a beautiful piece of cinema,” she gushed. But we feel that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan might just be trying a little hard this time around. Although she’ll end the year with three big releases, Raavan flopped, while her film Endhiran – The Robot with superstar Rajnikant faces stiff competition from Anjaana Anjaani, which also releases on October 1^st. In ‘Guzaarish’, Aishwarya plays the love interest of Hrithik, who plays a paraplegic magician.

Or is the declining brand value of his actors, Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone, making Ashutosh feel nervous about the prospects of his film? After all, Abhishek Bachchan’s Raavan and Deepika Padukone’s Lafangey Parindey did not fare very well at the box-office. Gowariker had also launched an extensive search for the lead role in his film Buddha but is said to have given up on it for the time being, because he is unable to find a suitable actor for the lead role.

‘Kheleinge Hum Jee Jaan Sey’ is a period drama based on the Chittagong uprising of 1930 and stars Abhishek Bachchan and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles. The film is set to release on 3^rd December.

This, in spite of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) having then restrained the KFCC from taking action against any exhibitor releasing Reliance Big Pictures’ ‘Raavan’ and ‘Raavanan’ in Karnataka. The CCI had ordered that the KFCC had no right to take any action, direct or indirect, to prevent any exhibitor from exhibiting ‘Raavan’ or ‘Raavanan’ if the exhibitor was willing and desirous of screening the films.

- By Komal Nahta

If Salman Khan is the fearless cop in Dabangg, then he is also a saviour in real life. The handsome actor recently spoke out in support of yesteryear actor Sadhana after she alleged harassment by local builders. Go Salman!

Talking about Salman, is Aishwarya Rai jealous of Katrina Kaif. Word around is that the green-eyed beauty has strictly forbidden hubby Abhishek Bachchan from working with hottie Katrina Kaif. After the disaster called Raavan we’re not sure who the loser is here…

Kangna Ranaut needs to step out of those depressed and brooding roles of hers. After Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, we really had hope. But the slender actress has given the thumbs down to the role of Emerald in Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s book ‘Midnight’s Children’. NO fears, at least she’ll flash those lovely smiles of hers in Double Dhamaal.

After Kanye West’s humiliating interruption of Taylor Swift at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards, the rapper has apologized to the young singer on Twitter. Better late than never!

- By Koimoi.com Team

Nothing but ego! If a producer himself admits that his film has bombed, the truth will get repeated by the media and others in the trade and among the public far more than it would if the producer kept defending his film and saying that he didn’t lose money in it.

Producers allow their films to be aired on satellite channels within weeks of their theatrical release when they bomb at the box-office. No doubt, they get paid more for early telecast than for a delayed telecast, but why do they publicise the fact of telecast so much in advance? When the public becomes aware of the impending telecast, why would it go to the cinemas to watch that film?

It is not in the producer’s hand to monitor the promotion of a film’s telecast on a satellite channel. Once a channel buys the rights, it can’t be prevented from promoting this fact alongwith the date of telecast. After all, the channel has to publicise the date to lure both, eye balls and advertisers. Besides, very early telecast happens only when a film bombs in the cinemas (eg. Kites and Raavan in recent times). And when that happens, the morale is so low that neither the producer nor the corporate distributor (in case the film is distributed all over by a corporate) has the inclination to talk about the film!

- By Komal Nahta

Amitabh Bachchan & Shatrughan Sinha

Amitabh Bachchan is back to television as the benevolent host in the fourth season of ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, while Shatrughan Sinha will soon return to the silver screen as the charismatic N. T. Rama Rao in Ram Gopal Varma’s Rakta Charitra. While Amitabh’s son, Abhishek, recently received flak for his performance in Raavan, Shatrughan’s son, Kush, made his debut in the movie Sadiyaan this year. The movie sank without a trace. The ‘Betaaj Badshah’, however, is looking forward to his daughter, Sonakshi Sinha’s debut with Salman Khan in Dabangg.

Let’s take an indepth look at the changing equation between the two megastars stars…

Rise: For Shatrughan Sinha, Amitabh Bachchan was not a father figure. Rather Shatrughan, who is fondly known as Shotgun, had overseen Amitabh’s rise from struggler to superstar. Both of them came together on screen in Parwana (1971), Shatru just made a guest appearance in the film. The real chemistry between the duo was seen in Bombay To Goa (1972) where Amitabh played a cool, fun-loving guy who came between the leading lady Aruna Irani and the suave villain Shatrughan. They reportedly shared a good rapport off-screen; encouraging producers and directors to cast them as a combo, as opposed to a Amitabh-Vinod Khanna or Amitabh-Dharmendra. Even with all the Amitabh-Shatru movies, Shotgun was never really overshadowed by Amitabh’s stardom. Their next film, Kala Patthar (1979), is the prime example of the classic Bachchan-Sinha camaraderie. Shatrughan Sinha had a role with better lines and even won the audiences’ sympathy with his character dying a brave death. Amitabh, on the other hand, had a silent brooding role. But when they came on screen together, it was pure entertainment.

Soon, as Amitabh moved towards the ‘larger than life’ image, many of his contemporaries refused to share screen space with him; except Rishi Kapoor.

Fall: Sources maintain that the trouble began at the time of Dostana (1980). With their growing egos, neither Amitabh nor Shatru wanted to work together. However, things looked better when, keeping their personal differences aside, Shatrughan appeared in the next Bachchan-dominant movie, Shaan (1980). It was apparent that Shotgun didn’t have a great track in the film. Unfortunalely, the film could not repeat the magic of their previous films and the rift between the two one-time good buddies came out in the open. A Ramesh Sippy project with Amitabh and Shatru, and newcomer Kanwaljeet, was wrapped unceremoniously.

Come back:

The stars never crossed paths again and maintained their distance, till at the ‘IIFA Awards 2010’, where Shotgun broke the silence by commenting on Amitabh and his family’s absence at the awards. Soon enough, Amitabh reverted with his newfound weapon, Twitter. Though the war of words was entertaining for the media, it was a painful scene for industry stalwarts. Later, a truce was called from both sides. The uncomfortable truce ensues…

Koimoi Jodi Verdict:  Looking at both the veterans, one can expect a warm hug soon. Till then, it’s Khamosh!

- By Koimoi.com Team

Gaiety-Galaxy and the other cinemas in the complex at Bandra in Bombay are considered excellent for the masses because they are located strategically and admission rates there are more affordable to the middle-class public than in many other cinemas and, of course, multiplexes. In other words, films generally fare well at these cinemas even if they may not work at many other screening places. It, therefore, comes as a surprise that around eight or ten shows of Raavan had to be cancelled at Galaxy cinema in its third week (July 2-8) because there was no audience for the Mani Ratnam film. Wonder why, in the first place, the cinema continued the Abhishek-Aishwarya starrer in the third week!

It all began when Akshay Kumar paid a visit to the legendary cartoonist R.K. Laxman at the Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai, to promote his film his movie Khatta Meetha. Akshay’s grinning picture alongside the bed-ridden Laxman was pasted on the pages of a supplement of a national daily. Rajeev Masand criticized this by tweeting, “Need innovative ideas to promote films in competitive times. But Akshay Kumar grinning like a jackass at R.K. Laxman’s hospital bed is a new low.”

Amitabh Bachchan, who having a conversation with NDTV’s Barkha Dutt on journalistic ethics, immediately got into the thick of things. It was evident that Big B had taken offence. “Would your fraternity have spared Akshay if he were to address you as one? Never expected this language from you!” Amitabh wrote to Rajeev Masand.

If that wasn’t enough, Amitabh went on to detail the entire incident on his blog. Rajeev Masand kept his stand with a long tweet, “…I don’t remember your fraternity pulling you up for the attack on photographers by security outside your house during Abhishek’s wedding. I don’t remember your fraternity so much as expressing outrage when Abhishek ‘allegedly’ bashed up a photographer on a film set…”

Journalists, critics, directors, and editors: Amitabh seems to be stepping on too many toes nowadays…

Incidentally, Twitter has become the new battle ground for many Bollywood battles in the recent past. Sonam Kapoor and Punit Malhotra were at loggerheads with Shobhaa De, Ram Gopal Varma and Karan Johar are at their usual love-hate stories and Pooja Bhatt took serious offence at Shabana Azmi’s criticism of her father, Mahesh Bhatt: all on Twitter.

By Koimoi Team

Box Office Collections for the week of July 2 – July 8, 2010 (Figures in Rs.)

By Komal Nahta