Monday, February 27, 2012

Bollywood Music maestro A.R.Rehman now a regular performer at Oscars!

Hans Zimmer and Pharell Williams with A.R.Rehman, Sheila E and Ann Marie Calhoun


 A.R. Rehman in the pic with Ann Marie Calhoun


Music maestro AR Rahman, who had performed at the Academy awards last year, returned to the prestigious ceremony as a part of the Oscars house band this year! At the 84th Academy Awards, 2012 , composer Hans Zimmer was the show's musical consultant with Pharell Williams, and the team of A.R.Rehman, Esperenza Spalding, Sheila E, Giorgio Moroder, and Junkie XL.

This years ceremony  had great  cinematic music  with a little spice in the sound and vocals. Performing from the Kodak Theatres balconies , the interesting mix of star musicians played in between each award and during  the commercial breaks along with the orchestra below the stage.

With lack of music performances at the Oscars this year, the house band with some recognizable talent was a crucial move by the academy .  The only performance was  Grammy-winner Esperanza Spaulding‘s rendition  of Louis Armstrong's 'What A Wonderful World' for the  “In Memoriam” segment with The Southern California Children’s Chorus, as a tribute to the dozens of entertainment industry professionals who died in the last 12 months. 

A.R.REHMAN, the bollywood composer and music director, who won two Oscars in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire besides performing  on the Oscar stage in 2009, also had performed last year 2011 at the Oscars, playing  his tracks from the film 127 Hours.

He tweeted  “Oscar sangamam - If you are watching the Oscars live, catch our Oscar superband headed by Hans Zimmer perform tonight”. He also posted the  picture with the oscar house band  on his Facebook.





The compilation is called Celebrate The Music
 http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/celebrate-music-84th-academy/id505624696
The 84th Academy Awards – Celebrate The Music (2012)
01 – Hans Zimmer – Celebrate The Oscars
02 – Pharrell Williams – It Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got Pharrell
03 – Esperanza Spalding – Sunrise On Bleecker Street
04 – Giorgio Moroder – Giorgio’s New Dancing Shoes
05 – Junkie XL – D Generation
06 – Sheila E. – Bump The E.
07 – A.R. Rahman – Oscar Sangamam
08 – Esperanza Spalding & The Southern California Children’s Chorus – What A Wonderful World








Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hollywood actresses in Bollywood Spirit ;)


Uma Thurman and Debra Messing were seen in traditional Indian costumes of Saree and Salwar Kurta as they filmed scenes for  the new musical 'Smash' in New York City today.

The actresses apparently were very pleased to walk in NYC in their Indian clothes in Bollywood spirit!  The trend seems Bollywood actresses wear western clothes in Indian movies, while Hollywood actresses wear Indian outfits in Hollywood productions ;)

The musical series Smash is due to hit TV screens in America this week Feb 6,  2012, before it airs in the UK later this year. Smash is the behind-the-scenes look at a team preparing to put on a Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. Debra is said to have a starring role in the drama, while Uma is a guest appearance in  just one episode. 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2095173/Uma-Thurman-Debra-Messing-sparkle-Indian-dress-film-scenes-Smash.html#ixzz1lByAqjLp

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Bollywood Movies Releases- January-February 2012


Players:
Cast: Abhishek, Sonam Kapoor, Bobby Doel, Bipasha Basu , Neil Nitin Mukesh, Omi Vaidya, Vinod Khanna
Director: Abbas Mastan
Screenplay: Rohit Jugraj
Music: Pritam
Inspired by Italian Job
website: http://playersgoforgold.in.com/
Genre: Action thriller
Release: Jan 6th







Agneepath:
Cast:
Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt, Rishi Kapoor
Director:  Karan Malhotra
Producer: Karan johar
Screenplay: Ila Dutta Bedi, Karan Johar
Music: Ajay-Atul
Based on Mukul Anand's Agneepath (1990) starring Amitabh Bachchan
Genre: Action, Drama
Release: Jan 26
website: http://www.agneepaththefilm.com/







Ek Main our Ek Tu
Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor, Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah.
Director: Shakun Batra
Producer: Karan  Johar, Hiroo Yash Johar, Ronnie Screwvala
Music: Amit Trivedi
website : http://ekmainaurekktuthemovie.com/
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Release : Feb 10






Tere Naal Love Ho Gayya
 Cast: Ritesh Deshmukh, Genelia D’Souza
 Directed by Mandeep Kumar
 Produced by Kumar Taurani
 Story by Abhijeet Sandhu
 Music by Sachin-Jigar
website:http://www.tips.in/
 Genre: Romance, Comedy
 Release: Feb 24







Jodi Breakers
Cast:  Madhavan, Bipasha Basu, Omi Vaidya, Dipannita Sharma
Director: Ashwini Chaudhary
Music- Salim-Sulaiman
Genre:  Romance
Release: Feb 24









Saturday, December 3, 2011

Legendary Actor Dev Anand passes away.

Legendary actor Dev Anand, the 'evergreen romantic superstar' of Indian cinema, who was 88,  died following a cardiac arrest. Dev Anand was known for movies, Jewel Thief, Guide, CID, 'Johny Mera Naam',  'Hare Rama Hare Krishna' etc 

 Song from Guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V-wefxMxDY&feature=relmfu
Song from Jewel Thief
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5OXj62qJUQ
 Song From Hare Rama Hare Krishna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygeZfOExejA

Friday, December 2, 2011

Bollywood Movies Releases- December 2011



 The Dirty Picture

Directed by  Milan Luthria
Produced by Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor
Screenplay:  Rajat Arora

Starring : Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor
Music:  Vishal-Shekhar

Genre: Biographical film/  biopic  on the life of South Indian Movie Actress  Silk Smita
Release date:  December 2, 2011








Don 2

Directed by Farhan Akhtar
Produced by Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Shahrukh Khan
Screenplay: Ameet Mehta, Amrish Shah
Story: Farhan Akhtar, Ameet Mehta, Amrish Shah
Starring: Shahrukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Om Puri, Kunal Kapoor
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy 


Genre: Action Thriller
Sequel to  Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006) which was a remake of Don(1978)
Release date: December 23, 2011


Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Baby Bachchan Born ;)


 Princess Bachchan  is born. The much awaited baby in the Bachchan family was born Nov 16 th 2011. The Bollywood star and former Miss World  Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gave  birth to a baby girl  at the seven Hills hospital in Mumbai, India.

 Her husband Bollywood actor, Abhishek  Bachchan announced on Twitter (@juniorbachchan)  "IT'S A GIRL!," While Amitabh Bachchan, India’s Biggest bollywood star and  legend   announced  on twitter(@SrBachchan) : "A dada ji (a grandfather)...Ecstatic!", calling his new granddaughter "the cutest baby girl".

 Because of the hype created by media to cover the Bachchan baby delivery, the media has been asked to show restraint   where the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) issued a 10-point advisory for responsible coverage of the development.  The  Information and Broadcasting Ministry had  also asked the electronic media to respect the privacy of the Bachchan family.

Hence further details about the baby will be released only by the Bachchan family.

Here are pics of  Abishesk Bachchan  and Aishwarya in their childhood and Bachchan family pics which will preview how the baby Bachchan may look like ;)

Abhishek Bachchan with  mom Jaya Bachchan
Ash with her mom


Amitabh Bachchan with Sweta and Abhishek
Aishwarya with Rai parents
 Jaya & Amitabh Bachchan with  daughter Sweta's family and abhishek
Aishwarya as baby
Amitabh and jaya with kids

Aishwarya with her brother
Bachchans

Pregnant Aishwarya
Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan



 more details: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Aishwarya-Rai-Bachchan-blessed-with-a-baby-girl/articleshow/10751518.cms

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Shahrukh Khan Is Super Hero!





 He is not Superman or Batman or Spiderman. He is G-One pronounced as ‘Jeevan’ which means ‘ Life’!   Seeing the potential to make a super hero like Batman, Spiderman… in Bollywood movie Industry, Shahrukh Khan created an Indian  Super Hero- G.One.   Having been quoted as saying "Why should Indians be wearing only Batman T-Shirts or our kids collect toy merchandise from Hollywood movies."  Shahrukh Khan now will personify the character of this new super hero ‘G-One’.  G-One is the superhero of the movie ‘Ra-one’ the most expensively produced sci-fi movie of Bollywood industry.

"Ra.One is the modern, new age technology version of our mythological "Raavan", who was a mixture of ten different evil characters. I am essaying the role of G.One or better say "Jeevan", a superhero who saves the mankind from Ra.One’s torment. Through this film, I want to prove that Indian superheroes can also be as cool as the international ones."—Shahrukh Khan on Ra.One


In spite of the Indian film industry being the largest producer of films in a year, we haven’t ventured much into futuristic or scifi or even super hero kind of movies earlier. The Indian films have been made is almost every genre like romance, action, drama, historical, mythological, political, social … and now venturing into sci-fi!


It’s not that super heroes were not created before in Indian movies. We always had action adventure movies with angry young man superheroes, or hero’s saving a damsel in distress!  But we also had some savior super heroes,   masked vigilantes and heroes with super powers:  Amitabh Bachchan as  Shehenshah, Anil Kapoor  as Mr India, Hrithik Roshan  as Krish,  Abhishek Bachchan as  Drona, and Rajnikanth as  Enthiraan and Robot.

But finally its Shahrukh Khan who may be creating Indias first ‘SuperHero’ in the likes of Superman, Spider man and Batman!   Taking it one step ahead Shahrukh’s , Red Chillies Entertainment  tied up  with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe  to build a full cycle game of the film on PlayStation- "Ra.One - The Game" ; and also  created the superhero G-One’s  graphic novels and comics  which he has apparently scripted himself! Shahrukh Khan  also tied up with Seventymm to market a variety of merchandises related to the film, like G.One tee shirts, coffee mugs, wrist bands, watches, mobile pouches, video cameras etc.

 G-One is a total super hero package, we just have to wait and watch how much of a hero he will become in India and abroad!

Ra-One official Website: http://www.raonemovie.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO9uR3ggcd4


Also check out making making of 'chamak chalo' the popular song with Akon from movie Ra-One:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAHagot7RIQ

The  popular Song 'chamak chalo'


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh2K9VlGj9Q&feature=relmfu



Release date : 26 Oct 2011

Genre: Scifi
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Armaan Verma, (Special appearance- Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rajnikanth,), Satish Shah, Dalip Tahil, Shahana Goswami, Suresh Menon, Tom Wu
Producer: Gauri Khan
Executive Producer / Co-Producers: Sanjeev Chawla, Prashant Shah, Anil Sable
Writer/Director: Anubhav Sinha
Screenplay:Anubhav Sinha, Mushtaq Sheikh,Kanika Dhillon
Music Director: Vishal Dadlanim, Shekhar Ravjiani


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Bollywood Movie Releases: October-November 2011


Ra One
Release date : 26 Oct 2011
Genre: Scifi
Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Kareena Kapoor, Armaan Verma, (Special appearance- Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Rajnikanth,), Satish Shah, Dalip Tahil, Shahana Goswami, Suresh Menon, Tom Wu
Producer: Gauri Khan
Executive Producer / Co-Producers: Sanjeev Chawla, Prashant Shah, Anil Sable
Writer/Director: Anubhav Sinha
Screenplay:Anubhav Sinha, Mushtaq Sheikh,Kanika Dhillon
Music Director: Vishal Dadlanim, Shekhar Ravjiani





Rockstar

Release date : 11 Nov 2011
Genre: Romance  /  Drama
Cast; Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri, Shammi Kapoor
Producer: Dhillin Mehta
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Music Director; A R Rahman





 




Desi Boyz
Release date : 18 Nov 2011 / Nov 25 2011
Genre: Comedy/ Action
Cast: Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone, Chitrangda Singh, Omi Vaidya
Sanjay Dutt(special appearance)
Producer: Vijay Ahuja, Krishika Lulla, Jyoti Deshpande,
Executive Producer / Co-Producer: Manoj Mittra, Ram Mirchandani
Writer/Director: Rohit Dhawan
Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty
Screenplay: Milap Zaveri Rohit Dhawan





Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Bollywood Influence on Western Commercials


Bollywood song for Heineken Beer!




I was watching  The Daily Show with Jon Stewart  last night when an interesting commercial of Heineken got aired.   This high energy, extremely well made commercial is complimented by a musical score from the 1960’s Bollywood track “Jaan pehcaan ho”. Having been a copy writer with advertising background and being a Bollwood blah writer, I got intrigued into finding out more.

 The commercial I am talking about is Heineken’s “The Date”, the second film from their advertising campaign “Open Your World”. Their earlier film from the campaign was the Clio award-winning film 'The Entrance'.
The “Date” is a beautifully crafted, yet incredibly high-energy story following the Heineken® legend as he woos his stunning date on an epic journey, a glamorous tribute to all magical dates and legendary night-outs. The hip atmosphere of ‘The Date’ is complemented by a musical score featuring the catchy 1960s Bollywood track “Jaan Pehechaan Ho”.

Check out link for the advertisement film;
http://wkamst.com/#/work/heineken/the-legends-campaign


Also check out the song in full from the movie Gumnam; 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyEnG_DEB1I

The original song Jaan pehchaan ho was  sung by Bollywood legendry playback singer Mohammed Rafi  in the 1965 movie "Gumnaam". "Gumnaam" (Hindi for "unknown" or "anonymous") is a 1965 Indian horror thriller film directed by Raja Nawathe, produced by N N Sippy, starring Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Helen and Mehmood. The music for the film was composed by Shankar-Jaikishan The story is apparently based on Agatha Christie's novel “And Then There Were None”.

The film and the song  came to wider attention when  the song "Jaan Pehechan Ho" ( translated as "We should get to know each other") was in the opening credits of 2001 teenage  comedy-drama  movie Ghost world.
The movie  Ghost World,  features one of the characters Enid watching  and dancing  to the song.

The song is incidentally also featured on the CD Bollywood Steel Guitar[3], a various artists compilation released in 2008 by the Sublime Frequencies record label.


The Heineken ad was made by the advertising agency: Wieden+ Kennedy .

The Date Film was developed at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam by executive creative directors Mark Bernath, Eric Quennoy, art director Alvaro Sotomayor, copywriter Roger Hoard, broadcast director Erik Verheijen, agency producer Tony Stearns, associate producer Niko Koot, planners Stuart Parkinson and Martin Weigel, group account director Clay Mills, account director Jasmina Krnjetin, account manager Dan Colgan, project manager Sharon Kwiatkowski, business affairs manager Karen Crossley, working with Heineken global brand director Cyril Charza, global communications team 
Sandrine Huijgen, 
Josefien Olij and 
Rachel Ijzendoorn.
Filming was shot by director Fredrik Bond via Sonny London with director of photography Mattias Montero, producer Alicia Bernard and executive producer Helen Kenny. The Making Of the Legend team also included digital content directors Zak and Dan, producer Jack Beardsley, and digital content photographer Hugo Stenson.
Editor was Tim Thornton-Allan at Marshall Street Editors.
Sound Designer/Mixer was Raja Sehgal at Grand Central Studios, London. Music is “Jaan Pehechaan Ho”, performed by Mohammed Rafi, through Agoraphone, with music supervisor Beth Urdang.
Post production was done at The Mill, London, by Flame artist Jay Bandlish, 3D artist David Lawson, colorist Adam Scott, and producer Paul Schleicher.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Bollywood Movie Releases- September 2011


Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

Directed by Ali Abbas Zafar
Produced by Aditya Chopra
Story by Ali Abbas Zafar
Starring Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar
Music by Sohail Sen
Release date:  September 09, 2011
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Website : http://www.yashrajfilms.com/microsites/mbkd/index.html

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSwvdvRx8cg






Mausam
Directed by Pankaj Kapoor
Produced by Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Sunil Lulla
Screenplay by Pankaj Kapoor
Starring : Shahid Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anupam Kher
 Music by Pritam
 Release date:  September 16, 2011
Genre: Romance
 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cILw5BlRk9I&


Tell me O KKhuda

Produced by  Hema Malini
Directed by Hema Malini, Mayur Puri
Starring: Esha Deol, Vinod Khanna, Rishi Kapoor, Dharmendra, Arjan Bajwa, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Sudhanshu Pandey, Farooq Sheikh, Hema Malini,  Deepti Naval, Salman Khan(Cameo), Johny Lever, Gurbachan, Madhoo
Music Director: Pritam Chakraborty  Release Date: September 30, 2011
Genre: Drama






Speedy Singh/ Breakaway
Producer: Akshay Kumar, Ajay Virmani
Executive Producer / Co-Producer: Russell Peters, Pauline Dhillon, Paul Gross, Clayton Peters
Director: Robert Lieberman
Starring: Vinay Virmani,  Akshay Kumar(As Himself), Anupam Kher, Camilla Belle, Gurpreet Guggi. Russell Peters, Noureen Dewulf, Sakina Jaffrey, Rob Lowe,
Music Director: Sandeep Chowta, Anjjan (Meet Bros), Harmeet (Meet Bros),Manmeet (Meet Bros)
Screenplay: Vinay Virmani
Story / Writer: Vinay Virmani, Noel Barker,Jeffrey Schechter, Matt Simmons
Release Date: September 23, 2011
 Genre: Family Drama




Force
Directed by Nishikanth Kamath
Produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah
 Screenplay by Ritesh Shah
Story by Gautham Menon
Starring;  John Abraham,Genelia D'Souza
Music by Harris Jayaraj, Lalit Pandit
Genre: Action, Romance.
Release Date : Sept 30, 2011
 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYyH6ujINzU&feature=relmfu
   



Soundtrack
Starring: Rajeev Khadelwal,  Soha Ali Khan, Mrinalini Sharma
Directed by Neeraj Ghosh
Music : Midival Punditz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ8rH8trxGE&feature=related
Release date: Sept 30 ,2011
Genre: Musical