Mr Vishal Bhardwaj, what have we done to you ? Why are you hell-bent on killing us slowly and softly ? If you dont believe us, check out the new song promo of Ishqiya….dil toh bachcha hai ji and the strategically placed “fatak” by Vidya Balan….thoda kaccha hai ji! Words by Gulzar and music by Vishal Bhardwaj. Can someone please tell us when the music is going to be out!

Ishqiya is directed by Abhishek Chaubey, produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi.

UPDATE – And like us, those of you who are still drooling over it, there is more. Here is the making of the song…

After a superb debut with Manorama Six Feet Under (though inspired/copied..whatever suits your sanity), Navdeep Singh is all set to roll his new film titled Basra. Earlier Akshaye Khanna and R Madhavan were supposed to star in it and Nikhil Advani was producing it. But now the film has a new cast and  a new producer too.

Abhay Deol is not only starring in it but is also producing the film under his banner Forbidden Films. Chitrangada Singh, Shahana Goswami, Nikhil Dwivedi and Soniya Mehra (Vinod Mehra’s daughter. Debut with Anant Mahadevan’s Victoria No 203) are also part of it. TOI has confirmed the cast and got the plot details of the film. You can click here or scroll down.

It is an out-and-out action film based on the drug racket and human trafficking. Basra is an edgy and dark film. Soniya will play a teenage hippie who is involved in drugs and eventually becomes a victim of human trafficking after being kidnapped. Shahana plays a journalist, while Nikhil is a cop. It is an ensemble cast and script.

The film is an action thriller. Abhay’s role is that of a secret agent. You can call him an undercover cop who exposes the entire racket. The movie has its base in Basra, a city in Iraq, notorious for its involvement in drugs. It will be shot in Dubai, Kuwait, Delhi and Mumbai.

The title Basra was chosen as it is a city in Iraq which is apt to the subject of the film. Probably the film will also be shot in one of the cities in Iraq. The movie will go on the floors in January and most probably release by the end of next year.

With that school boy looks and kiddie way of dialogue delivery, its bit difficult to imagine Abhay Deol as a secret agent in an action thriller. Or is he also going for those six-eight-dozen packs ? The rugged look with the moustache and disheveled hair did the trick in Manorama Six Feet Under. Hopefully we will be proved wrong. We trust Singhsaab! 

Like us, if you went to the 3D theatres, saw Avatar and had multiple orgasms at one go, here is something more. The much talked about movie performance capture technique simplified in the first video and the second video is all about James Cameron’s Planet Pandora….where the wild things are! Go play!

Gurinder Chadha is ready with her new film – Its A Wonderful Afterlife and the film is going to have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The festival starts from January 21st, 2010. Chadha’s earlier films Bend it Like Beckham (2003) and What’s Cooking? (2000) were also screened at the Sundance. With Shabana Azmi in the lead, it also stars Sally Hawkins, Goldy Notay and Sendhil Ramamurthy.

Its a Wonderful Afterlife is a comedy, about an Indian mother who takes her obsession with marriage into the world of serial murder. Its billed as My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Shaun of the Dead. And here is the story/plot/synopsis of the film….

Mrs Sethi, a widow, can’t bear the thought of her daughter being alone and unhappy. Okay, she’s a little plump and opinionated&but she’d make a great wife for some lucky man, if only she were given a chance. When Mrs Sethi can no longer stomach the rudeness of families who refuse her daughter, she takes matters into her own hands with the only way she knows…

Suddenly a police hunt begins for a serial murderer who cooks a killer curry. Mrs. Sethi doesn’t feel too guilty until the SPIRITS of her victims come back to haunt her – complete with tandooried bodies and kebab skewered heads, they’re unable to be reincarnated until their murderer dies.

Mrs. Sethi has no problem killing herself she’ll get to see her dead husband again but how can she go before her daughter is married? The SPIRITS realize that helping Mrs Sethi daughter find a suitable husband before the police catch her is their only chance for a wonderful afterlife.

It’s a big bloody wedding and a comic feast which takes the phrase ‘I could murder a curry’ to hysterical new heights.

Surprise! surprise! Someone has suddenly found a new love. Till yesterday he had a favourite hobby and every night before going to bed, he used to spare time and space for it. Just go to his blog and you can read all those lovely words dedicated to the hobby called media-bashing. Even the film Paa wasnt spared, though there was no sense to it.

Now that his home production Paa has managed to get some good reviews and making money at the box office, he has mailed love letters to media persons working in various newspapers, magazines, channels and portals, thanking them for their support and appreciation. All signed by him. Guess what happened to that good old hobby!!??? Though we cant reveal the person’s name but a good soul mailed us a copy of the letter. Have a look.

If you cant read the text of the letter, it says….

My Dear XXX,

I am writing to express my deepest gratitude towards you and your prestigious XXX for giving our film “PAA” support and appreciation.

The magnanimous affection demonstrated by the media has been most overwhelming. Our company and we wish to express our gratitude for this kind gesture.

                                                                     With warm regards

                                                                     Amitabh Bachchan

                                                                    Abhishek Bachchan 

Not very very long ago, the same Amitabh Bachchan wrote these lines on his blog…

You mention in your article under reference that I should not forget that the media has had a distinct hand in my stardom. Ho ! Ho Ho ! … now we are all laughing !

Firstly, I have never ever accepted or believed in this media created epithet of stardom or any other ‘dom’. And secondly, for 18 years under the ban of the media, Amitabh Bachchan ‘the actor’ that you admire, had his most successful run at the box office.  So get off your high horse and smell the dung. Media will be incapable of making or breaking an actor. Only the masses have that strength and you are still very far away from that criteria.

You can read the full post here. This was in reply to Abhijit Mazumder’s column in Mid-day.

Dear Mr Bachchan,

What happened ? Is the letter a mistake ? Why this change in stand suddenly ? Or is this a fake love letter ? An actor of your calibre surely knows how to fake it, and fake it well.

MFC

BTW, Big B’s next release Rann directed by Ram Gopal Varma also promises to expose the media. The remote controlled country! And he is the same actor who created that Patna based stupid monster SKJ, whose claim to fame is false reports, a mention by Bachchan on his show Kaun Banega Crorepati and Sonu Nigam! Talk about corrupting the media. Ho Ho Ho…now we are all laughing!

Dhan TeDan! Its here. The much awaited film of the year, Raj Kumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots is all set to release this friday. The film stars Aamir Khan, Kareena Kpoor, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Omi Vaidya. The screenings have started and two of our good friends (CA & MP) who have already seen the film wrote a mini-review for us.

In short, whatever you are expecting from Raj Kumar Hirani, he delivers and delivers it well. It will make only one man will be unhappy – Shah Rukh Khan. Here it is, first from CA…

Film has Munnabhai feel and Raju Hirani’s touch, which is simplistic yet very profound. Like the usage of day to day nuances is beautiful, including ‘all is well’. Good performances by the entire cast, and every charcter has been etched out well. Film takes few liberties and seems like any other regular masala hindi film, but it goes damn well with the film’s tone. The emotional graph of the film is really very well maintained, good mix of emotional scenes and really funny situations. Overall a great entertainer  – CA

And here is the mini-review by MP….

Living up to the hype of 3 Idiots, Raju Hirani does manage to dish out a complete entertainer for this year end. This edition of his movies takes a leaf out form the lives of students at the Imperial College of Engineering which epitomizes the mechanical competitive race that we have be become, leaving no scope for wisdom, thought and education. Having said that, the movie is a riot of humour and emotions. After the Munnabhai series, 3 Idiots does carve out Raju Hirani’s figure of a social commentator. The movies scores in all its departments. Performance of the ensemble cast, nuances of the jokes, cinematography, dialogues are all very well done. The pace of the movie is not marred by the songs and they do carry the story forward. All in all a movie not to be missed.The dialogues and the situations in the movie are to watch out for. Ramlingam’s (verify character name) speech on teacher’s day is hilarious and so is his performance. All the characters are belivable and I feel like I have met such people. Cranky professors, pranks, discussions, and the way students do “jugaad” is quite reminiscent of my own college days – MP

Time for SPOILER! Go ahead at your own risk. Should we do it ? or Shouldn’t we ? We love being nasty, but only to those whom we hate. And Hirani doesnt feature in that list. But see if we can crack it. Test Your CQ.

We are sure that you already know the synopsis of 3 Idiots. If you dont, click here. The surprise element in the film is Rancho’s story. So, the big question is who is Rancho (Aamir Khan) and why does he vanishes ?

1.  He is on a mission. A secret mission, much like what Shah Rukh Khan was doing in Main Hoon Na.

2. He gets completely disillusioned with the education system and charts out a new way where talent is given prefernce over merit.

3. He is posing as someone else and so cant reveal his identity to anyone. He returns back to his place because he has miles to go and promises to keep. Just another good soul doing good deeds!

4. Its a big set up to run away with the girl he falls for, Kareena Kapoor who is Boman Irani’s daughter, but unintentionally ends up teaching few lessons to everyone.

5.  He ends up commiting a BIG  BIG mistake (remember Ketan Mehta’s Holi) and with no option in hand he runs away from everyone. But truth is something else and he finally redeems himself.

Take  a guess, test you Cinema Quotient and put it in the comment section. And here are few more general observations by those who saw it and mailed us….

1.Boman Irani delivers it again. In spirit, he is much like Dr Asthana but in a new character.

2. Kareena Kapoor doesnt have much to do. 

3.The film belongs to Aamir Khan. It takes some time to settle down with his character and mannerism but once it happens, there is no looking back.

4. What doesnt work ? Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmm. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Few cinematic liberties, thats it!

5.The story starts with Madhavan narrating the story of Rancho, their college life and as expected, ends on a happy note.

6.Who is that fourth guy ? After the film, lot of people will ask this question and google his name.  Yes, a new actor! Omi Vaidya is Los Angeles based actor who makes his debut in bollywood with 3 Idiots.

BTW, if you still havent read Trash Adarsh’s review, click here.  And go book your tickets.

Call it a strange cocktail of reel and real life. When Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar were busy revealing the first look of My Name Is Khan, the screenwriter of the film Shibani Bathija was busy with Aamir Khan’s Bharat Darshan yatra. In the film My Name Is Khan, Shah Rukh Khan’s character goes out on a cross country tour chasing the President and now for the promotion of 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan is almost doing the same, the difference is, he is asking people to chase him. And both have one person in common, Shibani Bathija.

If the gossipmongers are to be believed, Aamir’s Bharat Darshan yatra have been planned and written by Bhatija. What, when, how, clues and everything else. She is also busy scripting a film for Bhanja-jaan and has been paid a fat cheque by Bhanja-jaan’s sasumaa! No prizes for guessing ki kiske pocket me rocket hai! So, has she switched camps ? or she is having the best of bollywood ? Our sources say that she prefers Aamir Khan much more than Shah Rukh Khan! So, dont be surprised if you see Aamir Khan in a film scripted by Bathija soon.

Check out this Varanasi video from 0o:14 to 00:40. If we are not wrong, the woman walking behind Aamir Khan is none other than Shibani Bathija.

Here comes the words of the year 2010! Phurrr…phurr…phur! If this year was Dhen Te Dan, then head back to Bhardwaj bhandaar again for next year’s. The first song promo of Ishqiya is out and its bit disappointing to see “haramzaadi” getting replaced by “sharifzadi” and “sex” is covered up through the phurrr sound! But we are waiting and how!

The film is directed by Abhishek Chaubey, produced by Vishal Bhardwaj and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan and Arshad Warsi! Check it out….ibn batuta….churrrr…phurrrr! Music by Vishal Bhardwaj. Words – Gulzar.

Seems like a day dedicated to My Name Is Khan. First, the Berlin Film Festival news, then a new poster and now finally its here. The first official trailer of Karan Johar’s new film My Name Is Khan. And it could not have been better. The Star Network block at 10 pm and then the theatrical trailer attached with James Cameron’s Avtaar. As Dhoni says, Aur bolo ? Karan Johar is back after four years. And the hit pair of Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol is also back, after eight years! Aur bolo ?

Fox Star India is pulling all possible strings to make sure that it doesnt get bigger than this. They bought the worldwide rights of the film for Rs 100 crore. And here it is….

And here is the unofficial synopsis of the film…

My Name is Khan is the story of Rizwan Khan, a man with asperger syndrome, whose son gets killed in a racial attack and he is branded as a terrorist. Rizwan then decides to  meet the President to clear his stand. Eventually it turns out to be a big campaign across the country and makes him famous. Rizwan’s punchline says it all – My Name is Khan & I am not terrorist! The story starts in Mumbai, with a middle class muslim family and then shifts to USA.

Having read the script, we are willing to bet that it has blockbuster written all over it. The big question is can Karan Johar pull it of ?

The journey continues, for the promotion of 3 Idiots. Call it real or fake, in activist or soul searching avtaar but one thing is for sure, its interesting. Much better than those million interviews where the stars say the same things trillion times.

And the clue for the next destination…