Komal Nahta

Koimoi.com Editor Komal Nahta answers your Bollywood queries. To ask a question, follow Komal on Twitter or comment below.

Does Twitter as a platform help a star draw his fans to the cinemas when his/her film releases? Do the posts of such stars on social platforms like Twitter/Facebook impact collections?
Komal Nahta: Not really! Unless the film is good, not many will spend money to watch it merely because the star posted comments on Twitter and Facebook.

Why don’t you have separate reviews for films, based purely on the aesthetics and other non-commercial aspects?
Komal Nahta: Such reviews confuse our readers who are more concerned with the business of films and, therefore, the box-office reviews of films.

Why is there such craze among youngsters to join the media industry nowadays?
Komal Nahta: Glamour has always attracted people. Besides, the taboo associated with the film industry has slowly been wiped off from people’s minds. As for the media industries other than the film industry, their importance has been highlighted enough in the last decade, thanks to the growing influence of TV on people to lure youngsters to them.

Komal Nahta, the Editor of Koimoi.com, is Bollywood’s most trusted trade analyst & film reviewer. You can follow him on Twitter and check out his Video Blog.

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Bhairavi Goswami’s Jibes At The Bachchans

Bhairavi Goswami, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya rai Bachchan

In a desperate bid for attention, starlet Bhairvai Goswami tweeted, “Nauseating 2 read superstars givg interviews abt wanting a girl baby whn she has gone 2 Bangkok to an IVF clinic which specializes in boy babies. Height of hypocrisy. They knw damn well its a boy, aftr all she has to produce a male heir at any cost – Typical UP mentality, no wonder that state has such high female foeticide.”

Hinting at the Bachchans (Aishwarya Rai was pregnant then), Bhairavi soon became the talk of town for her “Breaking News” tweet. Now that Aishwarya and Abhishek are parents to a bonny baby girl, Bhairavi has her lips sealed.

Bipasha Basu Accused Of Child Labour

Bipasha Basu

In an effort to show how mortal she is, Bipasha Basu posted a picture of two girls tying her shoelaces and tweeted, “I need to learn to tie shoe laces ASAP! Embarassed that I can’t! No patience.. grrrrr! Promise I am not spoilt! Will learn soon.” One look at the picture and you’ll not be surprised to know that Bips was accused of child labour and the matter was blown out of proportion. The disgruntled heroine refused to apologize but removed the accusatory picture.

Too Much Cricket For Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha

Cricket fever caught up with Sonakshi Sinha during the Cricket World Cup earlier this year. A harmless pic tweeted by the heroine offended many of her Pakistani fans. But in true Dabangg style, Sona shrugged it off and asked fans to take it with a pinch of salt.

Get Well Soon Salman Khan

Salman Khan

For all his random, unconnected and weird tweets, Salman Khan does have an unquestioned fan following even on the social networking site. When it was rumoured that the actor was to undergo an angioplasty, the sorrow of his fans knew no bounds. But it was finally revealed that the hero was suffering a nerve disorder, trigeminal neuralgia. Before leaving for the US for his surgery, he tweeted, “Challo c u guys . On my was to fix the short circut in my nerve , take care n hope u like body guard.”

Shirish Kunder’s Jibe At Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One

Shirish Kunder, Shah Rukh Khan

The rumoured tense relations between Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan weren’t eased when Farah’s husband, Shirish Kunder tweeted, “I just heard a 150 Cr firework fizzle”. With mixed reports about Ra.One, this wasn’t exactly the smartest move.

Ram Gopal Varma’s Praise For Amitabh Bachchan

Ram Gopal Varma's, Amitabh Bachchan

Ram Gopal Varma is like a juggernaut on Twitter. So when he tweeted, “Just watched Bbuddah nd am. angry with bacchan that hes such a ch***iya not to do films like this nd am such a l**d not to realize this” on watching Amitabh Bachchan, few were surprised. After all, RGV is used to shooting from the hip.

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Rohit Dhawan’s Desi Boyz shows the two heroes, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham, resorting to the oldest profession to make money. Do you think, the Indian audience is ready to accept heroes playing male escorts?

Komal Nahta: Akshay Kumar and John Abraham play male escorts in Desi Boyz only a few reels of the film – and for a reason. Those who’ve seen the film feel, those scenes have been handled carefully so as not to hurt the audience’s sensibilities.

Probably no producer wanted to be sandwiched between Desi Boyz & Rockstar.

Will Eros cover its investment in Rockstar?

Komal Nahta: Eros may well cover its cost in Rockstar but the additional money Shree Ashtavinayak spent (over and above the budget) may not be recovered because collections have dropped dramatically.

Why did no big film release last week?

Komal Nahta: Probably, no big producer wanted to be sandwiched between Rockstar (two weeks ago) and Desi Boyz (of this week)!

Komal Nahta, the Editor of Koimoi.com, is Bollywood’s most trusted trade analyst & film reviewer. You can follow him on Twitter and check out his Video Blog.

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 Desi Boyz Take Pole Dancing Too Far

Akshay Kumar & John Abraham have been pelvic thrusting on every visible platform.

None of us are new to in-your-face promotions of movies, courtesy Ra.One, and it looks like Bollywood stars are far from getting deterred in this trend. Take Akshay Kumar and John Abraham for instance. Just because they play pole dancers in their upcoming film Desi Boyz, you would expect them to come up with something innovative. But no, the actors jump on the stage/table and start their pelvic thrusts at every event.

And if that isn’t enough, Akki literally pushes the word ‘Desi’ in every tweet. This one for instance, “Nervously waiting outside my son’s school about to give all the kids a reading on karate for literacy week! DESI Tip ‘Dont mess with a DESI BOY’ :) #DesiBoyz.” Seriously, Akki? SERIOUSLY?!

Ritesh Deshmukh & Genelia D’souza’s Wedding

Ritesh Deshmukh & Genelia D'souza will finally tie the knot!

In what has to be Bollywood’s worst kept secret, Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D’souza have announced that the two will finally be tying the knot. Genelia and Ritesh made their debut in Bollywood in the film Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003. While rumours about the two have been making rounds since donkey’s years, it’s just last week that the two finally made it public. Genelia tweeted, “Thanks so much for ur overwhelming response. It’s a exciting new chapter in our lives and all ur wishes and blessings make it even more beautiful and special for Riteish and me.” Ritesh, on the other hand, replied sweetly to friends who congratulated him on the social networking site.

How Anurag Kashyap Won Over Rockstar Detractors

Imtiaz Ali’s Rockstar opened to mixed reviews, but filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was one huge fan of the movie. While he raved about the film on Twitter.com, he also faced detractors of the movie. Rather than ignoring them or abusing them (like some other celebrities), Anurag managed to have a meaningful conversation with most of them. In the end, he offered 10 eople who disliked the film to watch it with him in a theatre in Mumbai. After the film, Anurag and director Imtiaz Ali carried out a detailed discussion about the film and fielded questions from those who had come. Now if only most filmmakers were like this…

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s Media Block

The hullabaloo around Aishwarya Rai Bachchan‘s delivery is yet to reach its zenith, but looks like the press and the Bachchan have been preparing for it. Reports were being circulated that the Bachchan family had asked the I&B Ministry to block media news of Aish’s delivery. Ridiculous as it may sound, Amitabh Bachchan still tried to dispel rumours about his alleged clout. The amused senior Bachchan took to Twitter.com to clear his stand, “Absolute rubbish ! Firstly I have no such intention ever, secondly do you really think I&B would listen to me !?? No way baby !… And the message from the journalist of electronic stated : ” .. to respect ur family’s privacy n women’s dignity all tv news networks decided not to follow aishwarya’s pregnancy or delivery. Not a single line news till official announcement. No camera’s and OBs will be stationed at your place or hospital. Regards ..” So who does one believe ? The self proclaimed etiquette and decency of the electronic, or the dictat of the I&B Ministry ???” While both sides may be waxing eloquently, we’ll still wait for D-Day (no pun intended) to see how things go.

But we genuinely wish Aishwarya and her family could enjoy a little privacy in this happy moment of theirs…

Rockstar Support

Talking of camaraderie, we saw Mahesh Bhatt genuinely reach out to his fellow director Imtiaz Ali on Twitter. “Going to watch Imtiaz Ali’s ROCKSTAR at Gaiety (Bandra). I hear that the film’s openining is outstanding. Congrats to the entire team! Have to call Imtiaz after the show. How vulnerable a film maker is on the first day of his release. It requires courage to be an entertainer.” Nice to see at least directors support each other.

Sonam Kapoor Goes Pink

Sonam Kapoor in an ad of the Breast Cancer Awareness camapign.

Glad that some of our celebrities actually stand up for a cause, though it might be with just a pink ribbon. Sonam Kapoor, who is the brand ambassador for spreading breast cancer awareness in India, urged her followers on Twitter.com to support the cause. Dressed in pretty pink with a pink ribbon, the fashionista also asked her fans to wear pink to raise awareness about the disease. Way to go, girl!

Shah Rukh Khan Can Take A Joke

Will it ever come down to this for Shah Rukh Khan? Nah!!

Shah Rukh Khan’s incessant promotions of Ra.One have been anything but unnoticeable. And the folks on Twitter have had a gala time ripping his marketing efforts apart. Indira Rangarajan had us rolling on the floor with, “Srk is jumping out of every ad, every serial, every award function. Half expecting him to jump out my salad and say this is a raw-one!” And there’s Sidin’s, “Switched off TV. But it switched itself back on and played a Ra.One trailer.” If you thought SRK would have taken these comments badly, you couldn’t be more mistaken. The above picture was being circulated with the note saying, “What SRK might have to do if Ra.One flops”. A good humoured Shah Rukh posted the picture on his Twitter page with the tweet, “Now I know we have got it right…online is good…merchandise on road is awesome…bangalore thanx.” Good sport!

Priyanka Chopra Wants To Sing Along

Priyanka Chopra recording her album in LA.

We all know of Priyanka Chopra’s ambitious project to launch an international album (if you didn’t know, well, here’s BREAKING NEWS for you). The actress is already in Los Angeles recording her album. Strangely, just before she left, PC tweeted, “First day in studio….gosh..id forgotten how much fun this is!! so what do u guys think i should write my songs about..? any ideas?” Shouldn’t she have thought of this before she went for recording?

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“Bollywood stars have completely shattered the myth of the director being the captain of a ship..a star is truly the only captain of the ship. Whether its Abhinav or Anees or Siddique or Sohail or Arbaaz no matter whoever the director is Salman’s films become superhits anyway,” he tweeted.

After targeting the directors of Salman Khan’s recent films, RGV trained his guns on Shah Rukh Khan’s magnum opus, Ra.One, “The most awaited Ra.One’s director has only a negative record.. whether Ra.One is directed by Anubhav Sinha or Karan Johar people wil still see.”

Varma rounded it up by including Aamir Khan too! “The director of Tashan touted as yashraj ki aag is directing Dhoom 3 ..if Aamir makes even his dog a director I willl b 1st in queue for a ticket. If I myself as a director m not caring about who’s directing these films and m running 2 the theatre what do the audience care about directors?”

Varma summed up his diatribe by adding, “I always blvd that director’s importance has been always there only because stars had an illusion of their importance and so producers followed the same. But now that illusion has been broken the rest should wake up and kick the high flying directors out and make that money also for themselves.” Harsh words, especially coming from a person who is a director himself. Wonder what RGV’s stars will think the next time they work with him?

Salman Khan with the Irish press while shooting in Trinity college, Dublin.

Ek Tha Tiger director Kabir Khan was not impressed with Salman Khan’s fans earlier this week. When he found out that fans of Salman on Twitter were tweeting photos and videos of Sallu and Katrina Kaif from the sets of ETT, the angry director tweeted, “This will destroy the novelty of the film. Pl stop posting & retweeting these. I will keep u posted of all developments…” Much to his relief, the group apologized and have promised to stop leaking pictures and videos from the film.

Bollywood Wants Blackberry!

Amitabh Bachchan, Shirish Kunder

When BlackBerry’s messaging and email service got disrupted on Monday (October 10), the “BlackBerry boys” of Bollywood had kicked up a row on Twitter. You would have thought that most of them had their pacemakers connected to their phones! A frustrated Amitabh Bachchan said, “T 524 -BLACKBERRY …!!! What does one do to get you up again ..!!?? Stifled frustrated and just soooo ….” Of course, there were the ones who managed to keep their good humour. With fake BlackBerry broadcasts doing the rounds, Shirish Kunder added his twist, “I WANNA GET BU** F**ED BY A RHINO. Broadcast this & your BBM will get repaired. If you do not broadcast this, you will be cursed by BB.” Now that its services are improving, we’re can hear an audible sigh of relief from B-Town.

Skipping Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha has time and again reiterated that she’s no slave to the “size-zero” figure and is happy with the way she looks. While this seems to be healthier from her Dabangg days, looks like she’s hitting the gym with vengeance. Sample this tweet of hers, “New record at my gym. 100 skips in 28 seconds. Trainers in shock, me in pain.” Did she get a motor installed in her knees?!

Shah Rukh Khan’s Ra.One Overkill

Shah Rukh Khan promoting Ra.One

Stars can sometimes go on an overkill while promoting their movies. But do they even realize that? Well, someone does. While Shah Rukh Khan is spending sleepless nights promoting Ra.One, looks like the marketing overdrive has begun to get on his nerves as well. “Attended so many press meets in last 4 days…all journalist & me r feeling we r deja vu (ing) or stuck in the ground hog’s day.” The view is different from this side of the lens, SRK!

Sidhartha Mallya Gets Too Cozy With Katrina Kaif

The morphed pic doing the rounds on Twitter.

Dopey left us speechless when he posted the above picture. We kept wondering how the mainstream media had missed the pic. Thankfully, the clarification came soon enough and poor Sidhartha Mallya and Katrina Kaif did not have to face their fans and others. All because Sidhartha was sporting enough to tweet, “@BollywoodGandu @nullinterface @dopesquare haha, where do u come up with this stuff?!”

Here’s the original image:

The real photograph.

Priyanka Chopra – The Next Oprah Winfrey?

Priyanka wants to be the next Oprah

You’d think Priyanka Chopra would have her hands full with films, endorsements and her newfound fledgling career in singing. But the actress hasn’t had enough. In a tête-à-tête with her Twitter followers, the bubbly actress admitted that she is open to hosting a show a la Oprah Winfrey, “wud love to..something like Oprah” So is PC ready to take on the Queen of talk shows? Priyanka went on to praise Preity Zinta for her show, “I looove the promos of the tv show that @realpreityzinta is doing.. I think she’ll make a killer host! Dying to watch..Way to go chica!!” Are the television people listening?