Endhiran’s blazing climax

The shooting of Shankar’s ‘Endhiran’ is fast approaching its climax! Currently the team is busy in putting its heart and sweat into the making of the movie’s climax.

Being the significant part of the movie, the scene features a fire bursting out of a scientist’s laboratory. This is said to be only a 4-min scene, however an elaborate set has been erected in the city’s Prasad Studios.

The production team has specially flown down few Hollywood visual effects companies to supervise this fire scene. This expertise will decide as to how and where special effects would be applicable while editing later.

Now, did you know that this is something new and done for the first time in our Indian cinema? Well, this method was earlier followed by a famous American filmmaker George Lucas in several Hollywood flicks of his times. Shankar had recently highlighted the importance of special effects and graphics in movies.

A dedicated man he is, our Superstar has insisted on staying on the sets, to see the shooting; although he has no role to play in it.

Hmm, now if such interesting things are happening on the sets, one would be really thrilled to experience the happenings live! Right?

Courtesy: indiaglitz.com

AR Rahman is lonely in LA

This Chennai-based music composer who has been dividing his time between Chennai, Mumbai, London and Los Angeles, has now begun to miss the time he used to spend at home with his wife and children. So Rahman took a totally unscheduled break from his assignments in LA and was back in Chennai on Friday for two weeks.

Confirming the news, Rahman said, “The kids were always there with me when I worked regularly from home in Chennai. Now I get to spend less time with them. Even now when I’m here in Chennai, work for my pending Hindi films like Blue has to be taken care of. I’ve come at a time when I cannot afford to take a break. My first Hollywood soundtrack for Couples Retreat has to be ready because the film is releasing on October 6.”

Not that Rahman is complaining. He is used to being rushed. “I always liked to work at my own pace and that hasn’t changed. But now the volume and profile of the workload is so eclectic that I need to find more time to focus on the individual assignments more carefully. Yeah, it’s a tough balancing act. But I’m enjoying myself. After I finish the soundtrack of Couples Retreat, which is 80 per cent complete, I’ve an artistes’ album coming up. It is one of my biggest international challenges. It’s too early to talk about it. But yes, it will involve musicians from all over the world and I’ll be composing the music. Recently, I also got to work with the John Williams Orchestra and that was a dream-come-true. I guess my dreams are coming true,” gushed Rahman.

Rahman wants all his children to be adept at music. In fact, Rahman’s son, Ameen, who has sung in Couples Retreat, attends Rahman’s music academy in Chennai. Commenting on Ameen’s early start, Rahman said, “It’s just a small part of a song in Couples Retreat. We found his voice to be suitable for it. And that’s it. My son is certainly not embarking on a singing career at that age. He’s just a child. He has so many things to do and achieve before he decides on a career. I think he should be allowed to do what he likes. The final call will be his. No peer pressure.”

Rahman returns to LA in the second week of August. Tease him about being Dr Rahman and he says, “You will have to say the ‘Doctor’ thrice,” referring to the three doctorates that he has received since the Oscar triumph.


Courtesy: indiatimes.com

Rahman’s son turns singer

He is, his dad was, and his nephew now is, all his sisters are. So, what’s the big surprise in AR Rahman’s son Alim turning singer now? But yes, the Academy Award winning musician’s son has sung for a complete song in Rahman’s Hollywood flick, 'Couples Retreat'.

The film, touted to be a romantic comedy, is Rahman’s first complete Hollywood venture, as all his previous works have been for crossover movies. And last week, Rahman’s son Alim had recorded a song in the film.

It has been said earlier that Rahman’s children lent their voice for the chorus sections of a few songs, most notably “Dhinam Dhinam Deepavali” in 'Varalaaru'. But the composer is known to be highly protective of his children, not exposing them to the public eye.

But with this song and his son, he surely has signaled the arrival of gen next.

Courtesy: indiaglitz.com

Kailash Kher goes international

Singer Kailash Kher is all set to make his musical debut in Hollywood alongside Oscar-winner A R Rehman with the film 'Couples Retreat' even as he gears up for the worldwide release of his third album 'Kailaasa, Chaandan Mein'.

The singer, who will also begin his first international tour later this year said that he is excited about performing at coveted platforms like the Hollywood Ball in Los Angeles.

"I have been invited to perform at the Hollywood Ball and at the San Francisco and Brooklyn music festivals," Kher who was in the city to promote his third album said in an interview.

The 33-year-old musician has sung in the 'Couples Retreat' which is Rahman's first international project after 'Slumdog Millionaire' and stars Hollywood A-listers like Vince Vaughn and Jason Bateman.

"I have sung a 'tarana' in the film for Rahman and working with him is always a unique experience," said the singer while adding that he is open to other offers from the west but will only accept work of quality.

"I will not accept a project just because it is coming from the west. It should be interesting work that gives me creative satisfaction," said the artiste.

Kher said that the deal for his third album's global release fell into place after a successful show in New York.

Fame takes its toll on Rahman

The past year which spawned about a dozen Hindi and Tamil soundracks, and the whirlwind Slumdog Millionaire experience and its culmination with the Oscars, has taken its toll on the music maverick from Madras’ genius’ health. According to close friends of the composer, since his return home after the Oscars, Rahman has been very unwell, so much so that he had to cancel a scheduled trip to London last Friday night. 


Work back home has also been suffering. Rahman was not able to complete the song that was filmed on Sanjay Dutt, Kylie Minogue, Akshay Kumar and Zayed Khan in Film City for Blue. And, reportedly, a scratch recording is being used for the shooting. Confirming these developments, director Anthony D’Souza said, “It’s true. But what a song! Even a scratch recording by Rahman is worth far more than the final recording of many other composers.” 


Rahman fell ill and was bed-ridden this week, thereby further putting behind his pending assignments. “I’ve returned from LA to complete three film assignments — Mani Ratnam’s film, Shankar’s Robot and Blue. And then I’ve to go back to Hollywood,” said Rahman. He admitted that the song that Kylie Minogue danced to in Mumbai with Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar and the rest of the cast for Blue was actually a rough cut. “I’ll finish it soon,” he said. “I’m in Chennai for two weeks. Then I return to LA.” The question is, what happens to the pending assignments back home?


Courtesy: timesofindia.com

Kamal and Asin in Walt Disney film!

Bharath Bala and his Bharath Bala Productions (BBP) who makes television commercials, documentaries and music videos have now tied up with Walt Disney to produce a feature film in English. The martial arts film titled 19 Steps, will feature Kamal Hassan, Japanese superstar Tadanobu Asano, and Asin in the lead roles. It will be directed by Bharath Bala and will have music by A.R Rahman.

Remember Bala and Rahman combo have produced the unforgettable music video documentaries like Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram.

Bala's film is based on a script written by the best known writer in Malayalam M.T Vasudevan Nair or MT as he is popularly known, a Jnanpith award winner who has won five National awards for screenplay writing.

This period film deals with Kalaripayattu the martial arts form from Kerala and will trace its roots to the ninth century.

MT, the 75 year old literary giant has written on Kerala folklores and warlords in films like Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha and is now the script writer of Hariharan directed Pazhassi Raja, the costliest Malayalam film ever, a historical featuring Mammootty and Sarath Kumar.

MT's script is now being re-written by Hollywood script doctors to give 19 Steps an international look and suitable for an overseas audience.

In the film Kamal plays a character role of a veteran Kalaripayattu guru who trains Tadanobu Asano in his fight against his enemies. Asin will play a local princess and a martial arts expert who falls in love with Asano.

The shooting of the $ 50 million film is likely to start in the summer of 2009, and Walt Disney wants a fusion of Japanese and Indian martial arts in the film.

It will have versions in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Japanese. Recently Bharat Bala told a tabloid "It's too early to disclose anything. Currently we are in the midst of negotiations."

Courtesy: sify.com

Rajini's new hairstyle in Robot!

The superstar is almost done with his part in Kuselan and is all set to sail towards his next magnum opus Robot. Expectations are skyrocketing as Rajinikanth, for the first time, will be starring opposite Ashwarya Rai. Made on a mega budget, Robot is a joint venture by Ayngaran International and Eros International.

According to industry sources, director Shankar and Rajini will fly down to the US to finalize the make-up for the latter. While Rajini's make-up in Sivaji came in for some rave reviews, Shankar wants Robot to be even better. It is said that Robot will feature a younger Rajini sporting a different hairstyle. Also, the Robot team intends to bring in professionals from Hollywood to work on Rajini's make-up.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

Shahrukh challenging Rajinikanth?

For some time now, Shahrukh Khan has been thinking of coming up with a grand scale special effects movie. Enter Shankar: who approaches him for Robot, his sci-fi epic. But after a few creative differences, the duo part.

Shankar moves on, making his big project even bigger by roping in Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai, with the largest budget Indian cinema has conceived of so far.

Now, Shahrukh responds by announcing that his Red Chillies banner plans to make the most expensive film in India with a budget of $25 million. Was SRK provoked/inspired by Shankar’s grand ambition?

While at the Berlin Film Festival, Shahrukh recently spoke to the legendary Hollywood trade magazine, Variety: "We are dedicating the next eight or nine months to taking the best technicians from around the world and asking them to help us make the best VFX film India has ever made. It will be madcap, over the top. I want it to be as beautiful as 'Spider-Man' in terms of effects,"

The film is yet to be titled but we roughly know the plot: what happens when a bunch of children have all their wishes come true. Are wishes that come true always a good thing, or actually a nightmare disguised as a dream? The director of movies like Cash and Dus – Anubhav Sinha – will helm this mega project. What will excite VFX buffs is that Charles Darby, the man responsible for some of the special effects in Minority Report and The Matrix has been roped in. Apparently he has set up a VFX studio in Mumbai.

It will indeed be interesting to see what Shankar’s response will be. An even more grandly scaled movie than what SRK has in mind? After all, isn’t Shankar one of India’s initial special effects movie wizards?

Such healthy professional rivalry will only help in the betterment of Indian cinema.

Courtesy: Behindwoods.com

'Filmmaking is not for the faint-hearted'

With Jodhaa Akbar ready to roll out across over 1,200 theatres worldwide -- at least 125 of them in North America -- distributor and co-producer UTV expects another breakthrough hit. For UTV Chairman Ronnie Screwvala, there cannot be any real business without calculated risks.

Ronnie Screwvala

Screwvala is emerging as the first India-based film producer to co-produce films in Hollywood with film companies associated with Sony and Fox Searchlight.

In India, he is steadily emerging as a producer with rare vision, courage and success. 'He is 'the frontrunner in the race to become Bollywood's Jack Warner -- the man who transformed parochial American cinema into its modern global form,' declared Newsweek recently.


In June, Screwvala's biggest Hollywood venture yet, the sci-fi film The Happening, directed by M Night Shyamalan, will roll out to more than 2500 theatres in North America.

What is special about Jodhaa Akbar?

It is a visually stunning and superbly directed film about a little known aspect of Indian history. People know of Akbar, his rebellious son and Anarkali. People also know that Jodhaa was a Rajput wife of Akbar. But how many of us have known this great love story and the mystical bond between the two?

Aishwarya and Hrithik in Jodhaa AkbarSome people may say this is a period film, this is history and it may not be exciting...

The story of the film takes place in the 16th century but the film feels like a contemporary movie. It is a love story for our times. It was left to Ashutosh Gowariker to make a film of such huge magnitude and intensity that future generations may speak of Jodhaa and Akbar in the same breath they would talk about Akbar's rebellious son Salim and Anarkali, the dancing girl.

What is the buzz for the movie like?

I feel there is tremendous excitement for this film and for good reasons. Those who have seen the previews know they have glimpsed something unseen in Indian films. The word is out that the scale on which this film has been made is unprecedented. It is also Hrithik Roshan's first film in a year, and the audiences are expecting an excellent on screen chemistry between Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Jodhaa) and Hrithik (Akbar). And people expect Ashu to have made a film even more engrossing and timely than his best work to date, Lagaan [Images].

But the film also runs more than three hours...

It has so much of intrigue and drama, apart from romance, that there would not be any dull moment in it. What is Ashu excellent is at telling a beautiful story while the spectacle unfolds and the screen is filled with great visuals and that is the biggest strength of the film.

Why will the film resonate with audiences today?

One of the reasons, we expect the film to reach wide audiences is due to the important fact that it is more of a love story than a historical film. It is not what you think as a traditional period or historical film. History serves as a backdrop to tell a marvelous story that looks not only at an unusual alliance between Jodhaa and Akbar but also at the religious, cultural and political issues of the times.

What would be some of the issues it addresses?

The film also deals with the issue of arranged marriage. Arranged marriages are quite common across India even today but how many of them are successful like that of Jodhaa and Akbar? The film could ignite new discussions about arranged marriages and love marriages. We expect people to come out of the screenings, talking a lot about the old times and their own lives.

There will be a lot of curiosity how the film opens.

I feel it is not going to be a two or three week phenomenon. It could become a long running hit.

What kind of repeat value does the film have?

We expect people to enjoy the spectacle and romance the first time they see the film. But we also expect many to return to the theatres a few days later to get more of the story, character developments and various underlying themes of the film.

Such things happen in the case of literary mystery books. People rush through the book for the suspense and then return to enjoy its language.

Certainly. Among the many films we have released some have had strong repeat audiences. Rang De Basanti [Images] was one. And I expect a similar reaction to Jodhaa Akbar, too.

Who would be the audience for Jodhaa Akbar abroad?

It will be playing primarily in the Diaspora market. But I would not be surprised if the word about the film gets out, and there would be some crossover audiences. It has the scale and appeal of a mainstream Hollywood film.

You have produced films like Jodhaa Akbar, The Namesake [Images], Life In A... Metro and Rang De Basanti that many others would have shunned or considered risky.

These are calculated risks. Once we are convinced -- and a lot depends on the script and the commitment of the director -- we greenlight the project within a few days. When Anurag Basu came to us with the proposal for Life In A ...Metro, we liked the concept immediately. I was fascinated that a band would be featured in the film and it would be used to propel the story. The gut feeling worked out to be true.

What would you tell younger filmmakers who are planning to produce or direct a film?

Always remember this: Filmmaking is not for the faint-hearted

You also sign a director to one or more films...

If I am convinced that the director I have signed -- whether a newcomer or a veteran -- is passionate about the project and is capable of streamlined production, it makes sense to have a bond that goes beyond one film. And that is why when Anurag Basu came to us with the idea of making Metro, I said, let us make more films with him.

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra following Rang De Basanti is working on Dilli 6 and we are distributing the new film, too. We have made two films with Ashutosh Gowariker, Swades [Images] and Jodhaa Akbar. We released Aamir Khan's [Images] Taare Zameen Par [Images]. We are also releasing his next film as a producer though he is not in it; he did not direct it either.

Some directors including Basu and Mehra had made films which weren't successful before they approached UTV.

That tells something about the UTV philosophy. We don't really look at the past. Everything depends on the filmmaker's concept, script and commitment.

When someone like Mira Nair approaches with you with a project like The Namesake, which is based on a well-known book, do you make time to read the book?

I read the book, and, of course, I read the script. I have been telling those who had the fear that Mira may not do justice to the novel to see the film and read the book again or read it for the first time. I am sure you will end up appreciating the film better.

If you were to say in a few sentences what the driving philosophy behind UTV movies is...

We have made films that are beyond the song and dance routine. There are, of course, songs and dances in our films but they are truly situational and propel the story. We don't care for films which have songs for the sake of having them. We are looking at the bigger picture. And we are interested in being world players. Apart from the film projects we have signed with the production company of Will Smith [Images] and Chris Rock, we are also co-producing Night Shyamalan's film, The Happening.

You have often talked about transparency in business.

This is very important to me, and a small measure of this is reflected in the box-office grosses we put out, especially in North America and the United Kingdom, week after week. Just as Hollywood studios release the box-office information each weekend, we too do so, whether a film is a success or not.

Only a few movie companies in India seem to have your business concept when it comes to transparency.

There are good reasons for that kind of a business. Many films were -- and still are -- produced by family concerns. They looked at it as a cash flow business. We never really realise whether a film had made money or not because of lack of transparency. But at UTV we look at the films as a profit and loss business. We want accountability at every stage of the production and distribution.

You started your Hollywood career with a relatively low budget film, co-producing a Chris Rock comedy, I Think I Love My Wife (reportedly costing $12 million).

We are moving towards bigger budget films, too. We are clear on where we want to go. Our ambition is to be a global Indian entertainment company. And I don't see any reason why we can't make big-budget Hollywood films.

Do you think the kind of deals you are forging in Hollywood would have been possible two decades ago? You would have been expected to spend many months living in London [Images] or Hollywood then...

This is the age of globalisation. I come to Hollywood several times in a year. But given the rapid communication modes today, a lot of business can be done with Hollywood while one is in Bombay.

Courtesy: Rediff.com

Thank God, I'm not dancing: Hrithik

Killer looks, perfect physique and extraordinary dancing skills, Hrithik Roshan has it all.

But in his soon to release Jodhaa Akbar, the actor for the first time will not be shaking his legs on the big screen. Here’s the actor on playing Akbar, his pleasant break from dancing and Hollywood projects.

In Akbar’s shoes

I am a very shy person. Akbar was a commander. That gave me immense driving force. I read a lot about Akbar. I wanted the character to be my interpretation derived from what’s available. I wanted it to come within me.

So I put myself in his shoes, his surrounding keeping in mind his lineage and upbringing.

Period love story

The film certainly explores the love-relationship of a couple, who got married some hundreds of years ago. But the basics of a successful relationship are no different than now.

Akbar is somebody who is very identifiable. At least that’s the way I’ve portrayed him. We have shot the film when Akbar is breaking out of his shell and how this love-story stimulates that. Jalal-Jodha are very real and identifiable.

Pleasant break

Thank god, I'm not dancing at all in this film. I am an actor, not a dancer. If I was a dancer, I would be saying something else right now. In this film, Akbar’s life doesn’t motivate such a situation.

Ticket to Hollywood

Yeah, I have signed a contract with an actor management company. What’s the big deal?

I’m trying to explore what is out there, something that could possibly excite me to do an English language film. And I am equally looking for a good Hindi film. The language doesn’t matter.

Courtesy: Hindustantimes.com