BOLLYWOOD (Hindi)

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Mahesh Bhatt: Sunny Leone is very honest and beautiful

Sunny Leone knows that she has a language problem but still agreed to work in "Jism 2", filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt says, adding "she categorically told me that choosing to be a porn star was her personal choice".

"She is well aware that language could act as barrier, but is ready to put in that extra effort. She has agreed to do 'Jism 2', which will be made under Pooja Bhatt's banner, Fish Eye Network. Now they will work out things with Sunny's agent and work out the nitty-gritties," the 61-year-old told after his brief visit into the "Bigg Boss 5" house.

Born to a Punjabi family in Ontario, Sunny has appeared in various reality shows in the US, and was named among the world's top 12 porn stars by fashion magazine Maxim in 2010.

"It was a memorable meeting with Sunny. Loved every bit of my stay in that house. She is such a sweet girl, she is very honest and beautiful -- not only physically but her heart is also very pure and genuine," Bhatt told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

"She says things the way they are. I didn't find her manipulative or hiding behind any fake mask. Very categorically she told me without any hesitation that choosing her profession (being a porn star) was her personal choice and she has no regrets about it."

Bhatt also says the 30-year-old is keen to make a mark in Bollywood.

"She is very keen to make a mark in Hindi film industry. She spoke to me at length that - in a year she shoots for two adult films and the rest of the time she wants to do here."

Released in 2003, "Jism" was an unexpected box office success and made debutants John Abraham and Bipasha Basu known names in the film industry.

Sunny, who was born as Karen Malhotra, wants to win Color' reality show "Bigg Boss 5". But at the same time she is concerned about her image, informs Bhatt.

"She is very competitive and wants to win the show. She is also very concerned in what light she is being shown to the viewers and how people are taking her.

"There was a moment when I and Sunny were talking and suddenly she got very emotional. I touched her head and she was on the verge of crying but managed to control her tears," he said.

Bhatt also revealed that only two people know about Sunny's professional reality in the house.

The episode showing Bhatt's entry into the house will be aired Thursday.

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Where's realism in today's cinema, asks Javed Akhtar

Realism is a far cry in new age Bollywood, says veteran lyricist-scriptwriter Javed Akhtar, who feels the depiction of the common man in today's films is misleading and the quality of songs and language has deteriorated quite a lot.

"Where's realism in today's films? Maybe yesteryear films were more dramatic in treatment, but they had more realism. They had a common man's depiction the way the common man was, unlike today's films," Akhtar said in a group interaction.

The 67-year-old has been active in the Hindi film industry since 1964. He penned several successful scripts like "Zanjeer", "Deewar", "Sholay", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Seeta Aur Geeta" and "Trishul" with his erstwhile writing partner Salim Khan in the past, and wrote meaningful songs for movies too.

Even as the wizard of words continues to spin his magic till date, he hopes Bollywood would wake up to the common man's miseries rather than going urban all the way.

"If we see some yesteryear movies, as modern viewers we can understand and figure out what were the pains of the common Indian men 50 years ago. But that depiction has undergone a lot of change.

"Today's hero is hardly a working class man. He is born rich, sometimes not even born in India, the heroine is all about designer lehengas in weddings and Karva Chauth, the location is about a big, palatial house, the honeymoon is nothing short of Europe...so at least filmmakers need to retain the realism of society. They should bring the 'gareeb ki samasya (poor man's problems)' to the fore," said Akhtar.

The rural connect must not vanish, says the writer, who will talk about 13 cinematic icons and their landmark contributions to Indian cinema in Zee Classic's new show "Classic Legends".

"The middle class, rural culture seems to have no relation to cinema nowadays. I am an urban person, have always stayed in metros, never ever lived in a village, but I can write Awadhi...but in today's writers that connect is missing," he said.

With today's films highlighting drugs, sex and alcoholism, Akhtar feels the change in cinema is evident with the change in "morality and aspirations" of society.

"When people's morality and aspirations change in society, the hero's image -- be it in reality, a play or a film -- changes. What's working today is because today's generation is praising the directors for it, and cinema will continue to be influenced by the changing morality and aspirations of society year after year.

"So if the quality of cinema is changing, society is responsible. When we see new and better changes in society, it will be mirrored in movies once again," he added.

In recent times, Akhtar has penned touching lyrics for films like "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", "Wake Up Sid" and "Karthik Calling Karthik", many of which touched the right chord with youngsters. However, Akhtar points out how filmmakers underestimate youth's choices.

"I don't understand why filmmakers feel that anything with a little depth and sense will not make any sense to youth. They feel youth are not interested. But I feel any good writing will be appreciated by all kinds of people," said Akhtar, who feels the tremendous response to his poetry in "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" proves his point.

Nevertheless, Akhtar, father of popular filmmakers Farhan and Zoya, hopes to see a positive change in the Hindi music industry.

"I am quite upset with the songs nowadays. They are quite cacophonic and one can't understand the lyrics because of the heavy dose of percussion. Every song cannot be such that it has to be played in a rock concert! It's not right just to create item songs either...we need songs which are soft and subtle too.

"Today's songs are just to hear, and not to sing...and what's sad is that India is a singing nation. Everyone, whether he or she can sing or cannot sing, wants to sing. So we must also make songs with that intent," he said.

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Kareena Kapoor: Hero No 1 for me is Saif

Kareena Kapoor had Imran Khan for company at the event held to reveal the first look of Karan Johar's Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, but she definitely had another Khan on her mind.

The two, however, had a ball answering the questions of the media persons present. Imran was at his animated best much to the pleasure of the shutterbugs. Karan was seen joking and bonding with his buddy Bebo after the event ended.

MERA HERO NO 1: When asked who according to her is the Hero No 1, she said, "I may be having a great working relationship with the Khans, but the only Hero No 1 for me is Saif."

MARRIAGE ON HER MIND: When asked about her impending marriage, Kareena was found on the same page as Saif who has been saying that they will definitely marry post the release of their film.

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IFFI and M.F Husain

The Hindu : Opinion / Letters : IFFI and M.F Husain

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thanks kiran panditji

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Ash & privacy (The Hindu report)






Wonderful article written by Shashi Baliga in The Hindu. Very well researched and to the point.
Some stars will tell you they are “really very shy”, then proceed to bare their hearts to the dictaphone you have placed in front of them. Some will send out feelers through their publicist or agent, others will call you when a controversy erupts because they want you to print “my side of the story”. Many will insist, “no personal questions, please,” when what they really mean is “No inconvenient personal questions, please”. For, they will have no problems talking about their diet, their children or what their first kiss was like so long as you don't ask about the relationship they don't want to talk about. Others will insist that you give them the latest gossip before they tell you what they have up their sleeve. And of course, all of them will give off-the-record tidbits. There are just a handful of stars, such as Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor or Karan Johar, who love the media attention and are not hypocritical about it; Shah Rukh will even sportingly admit he overdoses us during his carpet-bombing publicity blitzes. At the other extreme are those such as Sridevi, Rani Mukerji or Katrina Kaif, who are fundamentally wary of the press, give few interviews and are always guarded.
And then there are some intrinsically private people who genuinely do not wish to go public with their personal lives (in the larger sense and not just in terms of relationships). Aishwarya Rai is one of them. Right from the beginning of her film career, Aishwarya has not opened up about any of her relationships. She rarely talks about her family, her clothes, her holidays, her diet, or what-have-you. While Shah Rukh, and even Aamir Khan went to town with how they got their six-packs, Aishwarya did no such thing when she got in shape for Dhoom 2. You won't find her commenting on politics, other film stars or celebrities, unless it is in a work-related context. If at all she opens a window into her personal space, it will be for the briefest glimpse.
In short, she talks about her work and little else, really. And she will keep it professional. I remember that during an interview with her at her home, she shut the door, allowed no distractions and had not even brought her cell-phone into the room (stars not organically linked to their cell-phones is a rare sight indeed in Bollywood).
It would also be fair to say Aishwarya has rarely courted the press over the last decade or so. For the simple reason that she has not needed to; the cameras and journalists follow her unrelentingly anyway. This is not to say she hasn't used the press. Of course she has, especially in her early years in the industry; every aspiring or rising star does, legitimately so.
But somewhere during her turbulent relationship with Salman Khan, as the controversies and scoops got wilder and the questions more difficult to face, she started clamming up. The Vivek Oberoi phase didn't help either and with each passing year, she gave fewer interviews, though she did enough cover pictures and glam photographs to keep her visibility going. By the time she was seeing Abhishek Bachchan, she refused to talk about her personal life almost entirely. The photographs dwindled away too.
OFFENSIVE RUMOURS
The transition was understandable. Few film stars… okay, make that no Indian film star …has suffered the kind of intrusions into their personal space and offensive rumours about the most vulnerable aspects of their personal life that Aishwarya has.
For sheer variety and colour, the stories surrounding her tempestuous affair with Salman Khan will be difficult for any star (except Salman himself, of course) to match. She has been allegedly married off to a tree, supposedly to ward off any bad luck accruing to her husband on account of her being a manglik. Wild surmises about her ‘efforts' to get pregnant have been bandied about in all seriousness. She was said to be afflicted by “tuberculosis of the stomach” which reportedly hampered her chances of conceiving a child (she was enraged enough to demand a retraction from the publication that printed that piece).
Aishwarya's response to most of these recent intrusions has been, in one word: silence. When pushed to the limits of her endurance, she hasn't, like most stars, handed out an ‘Exclusive!' interview to give her side of the story, she has issued a press statement, as she did when the Salman Khan story got particularly problematic after their break-up.
MUM'S THE WORD
During her marriage preparations, we heard nothing from her about what she was wearing for the wedding, her designer trousseau, her jewellery or her honeymoon. She did not announce her pregnancy; she left that to her husband and father. She gave no mushy interviews, did no lavish photo-spreads. In fact, she was rarely seen in public and the paparazzi got just a handful of photo-ops. Despite this — or perhaps because of it — the curiosity about her delivery reached levels unprecedented for any Indian celebrity.
Though her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan and husband Abhishek have been far more forthcoming, Aishwarya has kept mum, if you'll pardon the pun. While Abhishek has nicknamed the baby ‘Beti B' and tweets about her, his wife keeps her silence.
So, perhaps it is fitting that, in an extraordinary move, the electronic media and much of the print media as well, decided to allow Aishwarya her privacy during her entry into motherhood. It is an extraordinary gesture not merely because it has not been offered to any other film star, but because it has been offered to a film star at all.
When Sonia Gandhi — another very private woman — had her recent surgery, an omerta ruled the Congress, other political parties and much of the media as well (even if the rumours about what surgery she had still swirl without rest). I found this somewhat strange and unfair, for two reasons. One, the state of Sonia's health could have a direct impact on the country's destiny. Two, if the country is spending crores of rupees on her, surely it has the right to be told about her illness.
In that sense, film stars don't really owe it to us to open up about their personal life. They are not public servants, they make no claims to be ready to sacrifice their lives for the country. If they entertain the press, that is their generosity, weakness or smarts, depending on your view. Yet the press hounds them, often uncharitably and inhumanly, shows them little consideration even in their most vulnerable moments and will freely speculate on everything from their Botox jobs to the state of their marriages or even wombs.
The restraint shown in Aishwarya's case was duly acknowledged by the Bachchans, who obliged by holding a press conference when the baby and mother came home. This is a pact that could change the rules of the game.
Now let's see if the media will show the same grace to other film stars. And if they will finally grant film stars the same consideration they show our far more scandalous politicians.

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