Miley Cyrus rumoured dead

Teen actress Miley Cyrus is not dead as rumours of a fatal car crash posted by a hacker in the form of a video from her YouTube account had claimed that the “Hannah Montana” star was killed by a drunk driver.

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Celina, Tusshar & Shreyas

Looks like all the actors of the GOLMAAL RETURNS had a blast not just on the sets but also off the sets! Especially Celina, Tusshar and Shreyas who are known to have become great friends during the shoot. The camaraderie was very evident during the promotions of their movie.

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I worked hard in DRONA & LS2050 too - Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra may have seen a HIT in FASHION and is staring at another potential winner in DOSTANA. Still, she is no mood to disown some of her recent box office failures, notably DRONA and LOVE STORY 2050. However, the fact that cannot be denied is that in DOSTANA and FASHION, she has indeed looked her best. Of course, there must have been some real hard work that would have gone into shaping her body for DOSTANA, isn’t it?

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There is excellent chemistry between Abhishek & me - John Abraham

“We enjoyed each and every minute on as well as off the sets while being together for the shoot of DOSTANA. Miami was an excellent place to be in and now it has indeed become my most favorite city”, gushes John Abraham while remembering his stint in the beach capital of the world where most part of this Tarun Mansukhani directed film was shot.

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Despite his MISSION ISTAANBUL falling like a pack of cards at the ticket window, Vivek Oberoi is not unduly worried and the reason behind his cool and calm composure are his upcoming projects with top directors and producers of the industry. One such venture that he is very confident about is Karan Johar

Despite his MISSION ISTAANBUL falling like a pack of cards at the ticket window, Vivek Oberoi is not unduly worried and the reason behind his cool and calm composure are his upcoming projects with top directors and producers of the industry. One such venture that he is very confident about is Karan Johar’s Rensil D’Silva directed untitled film opposite one of the most famous and talked about couple of Bollywood, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

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Bollywood box-office report of the week

This Friday’s exciting new releases include Karan Johar’s Tarun Mansukhani directed DOSTANA and Vinay Pathak’s Shashant Shah directed DASVIDANIYA. While the Abhishek, John, Priyanka and Bobby (special appearance) starrer DOSTANA will embark on a good start, more so in the cities, the Vinay, Ranvir, Rajat and Neha venture will appeal to the niche multiplex audience of A and B centres. Both DOSTANA and DASVIDANIYA apparently appear to be on a safe pitch thanks to some super publicity and honest teasers. In case of DASVIDANIYA, its very reasonable 3.5 crore budget is an added advantage. The third release of the week is actor–producer Kamal Khan’s DESH DROHI which has created enough buzz.

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GOLMAAL RETURNS joins Indian Films

The Indian Films released comedy, GOLMAAL RETURNS fired up the Indian new–year weekend with outstanding grosses from 1,050 locations worldwide.

The multi–starrer registered approx. $10 million at the box office within five days of its theatrical release on Wednesday 29th October, 2008, emerging as the numero uno release of the Diwali season.

At the Indian box office, “Golmaal” returned with a record–setting blast as it grossed approx. INR 45 cr., the biggest 5–day opening weekend ever.

In Pakistan, the long weekend produced an outstanding result of approx. 8.6 million Pakistani Rupees, breaking the record of the industry’s top openers, SINGH IS KINNG and KIDNAP, previously released by Indian Films.

In the UK & Ireland, just the opening surpassed the lifetime gross of Part 1 of the GOLMAAL series – approx. £0.2 million from 42 play–dates catapulted the title to the coveted UK Top 10 sharing ranks with Hollywood biggies as QUANTUM OF SOLACE, HIGH STREET MUSICAL 3, MAMMA MIA, GHOST TOWN and SAW V.

In the Middle East, GOLMAAL RETURNS mopped up approx. 1.4 million Dhs. from 20 locations, while in the US & Canada it raked in approx. $0.20 million from 60 locations.

The figures from the principal markets above exclude takings from the day–and–date release in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, Fiji Islands, Australia, New Zealand, East Africa and West Africa.

As Indian Films owns the rights of GOLMAAL RETURNS for 10 years, the monetization of existing and new platforms will additionally boost the bottom–line on the title.

The release of GOLMAAL RETURNS marks one year of Indian Films’ dream run and dominance at the worldwide box–office with three historic industry grossers (JAB WE MET, WELCOME and SINGH IS KINNG) and two landmark openers (KIDNAP, GOLMAAL RETURNS).

“On GOLMAAL RETURNS, we hit our number right on for the weekend. It was what we anticipated,” remarked Sandeep Bhargava, CEO of the advisory to Indian Films. “All the films from our stable have been received with enthusiasm by the audience and have consistently outperformed at the box office raising the bar for the industry to emulate.”

Rajnikant to join Politics after Robot

Chennai, Nov 3 (IANS) Tamil thespian Rajnikant Monday ruled out a political career for himself till further notice.

“I will take a serious look at a possible political future only after the release of my forthcoming film ‘Robot’ (’Enthiran’ in Tamil) and not before,” Rajnikant said during an interaction with his fan club mainstays here.

Though no release schedule has been announced so far, the movie is expected to be screened only 2010.

“Capability, hard work and keen intellect are not enough to make a successful political career. Circumstances play a major part. Further, while nobody can force me into jumping into politics, nobody can prevent me from taking the plunge either,” the film star said.

“Like a forced marriage will not do a couple any good, forcing a political career on me when I am not ready will not work either. Though the nation’s present political climate is not conducive for any constructive activity, I, however, do not rule out anything. I am always guided by god and my conscience,” Rajnikant asserted.

Rajnikant denied that he had ever apologised unconditionally to hooligans in Karnataka.

“I said something a few months back to pacify people in Karnataka because the situation so demanded. Since Tamil cinema assets are always attacked by those jealous of their reception in that state, I made strong remarks on the assaults in Bangalore. After all, I am human. However, my stand on violence is well known and has never been compromised,” Rajnikant added.

Rajnikant’s interaction was conducted in a marriage hall in the southern part of the city in the form of a catechism - after fans raised relevant queries.

Ten main functionaries of fan clubs from each district participated strictly by invitation.

The venue was under heavy police and private security guard.

The matinee idol avoided direct comment against some of his fan clubs’ functionaries who started a political party in Coimbatore district a few weeks ago. The party features a picture of the actor in its flag.

Germany invites Bollywood

Mumbai, Nov 3 (IANS) In a recognition of the increasing popularity of Hindi movies and stars, a German delegation met Bollywood filmmakers here to persuade them to shoot movies in their country as well as go in for Indo-German co-productions.

The delegation comprised the officials of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, which facilitates foreign production companies to shoot their movies in Germany.

“Although we welcome Bollywood filmmakers to shoot their films in Germany, we are basically keen on Indo-German co-productions to make the bond between Bollywood and the German film industry more stronger,” Fven Hraparing, the business head of Medienboard, Sunday told reporters.

Earlier, Christiane Raab, head of the Berlin Brandenburg Film Commission (BFC), had said in her letter to the Bollywood producers’ associations that they also arrange funds for foreign production companies shooting in Germany.

She had also informed that Medienboard gives subsidy up to 30 million Euro ($39 million) for foreign projects found suitable for the grant.

The meeting was attended by a number of Bollywood filmmakers, including president of the Film and Television Producers’ Guild, Manmohan Shetty as well as Ravi Chopra, Ramesh Taurani, Ratan Jain and Surinder Kapoor

“We will study their proposals and the Guild would be glad to act as a via media if any Indian filmmakers come forward for an Indo-German co-production,” Shetty told IANS later.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has a huge fan following in Germany. While attending the premiere of his movie “Om Shanti Om” at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival in February this year, the actor said that he wants to make a sequel to “Don” against the backdrop of Germany.

In 2007, India and Germany had signed the first Indo-German agreement on audio-visual co-production.

Of late, the German film industry is showing interest to benefit from the rapidly-evolving audio-visual market in India, as also to cooperarte with the Indian film industry, including Bollywood, considering the fact that it is not only the world’s biggest, but also the fasted growing film industry.

Indo-German cooperation in filmmaking, however, dates back to 1937 when Bombay Talkies’ “Acchut Kanya” starring Ashok Kumar and Devika Rani was directed by a German called Franz Osten. He had earlier directed silent movies like “The Light of Asia” (1925), “Shiraz” (1928) and “A Throw of Dice” (1929) for the production house, which was owned by Himanshu Rai.

Incidentally, it is not now that Bollywood movies have begun to win over the audiences abroad. Even when Indian diaspora never existed, “The Light of Asia” ran in a London cinema continuously for 10 months, aver the film historians.

David Dhawan, Mahesh Bhatt appreciate Arjan

It was an almost surreal moment for Arjan Bajwa when film makers of different sensibilities and outlook towards making films called him up after watching FASHION. They were David Dhawan, a man behind innumerous non–sensical ‘masala’ entertainer and Mahesh Bhatt, a man who expores a dramatic subject every time he kick starts a project. No wonder, Arjan Bajwa is on cloud nine since he has managed to impress varied set of film makers with his brief, but impressive performance which was critical to the plot of FASHION.

“It isn’t everyday that you get to hear some genuine feedback by people from the industry. You have to differentiate between those who are appreciating you just because your film has released on a Friday gone by or you happened to cross their path v/s those who actually mean it when they compliment an actor. This is why it was a huge moment for me when I got a call from Dhawanji and Bhatt saab”, says Arjan who is happy with the screen time he had to his credit in FASHION, especially the first half.

With compliments coming in, what happens from here on? “Of course, you want all the good word and best wishes to translate into good work. Madhurji gave me a good platform to showcase to the world what I could do and it’s on me now to consolidate upon it”, he says honestly.

Talking about his thought process around signing a new project, Arjan reveals, “I have to choose very good projects from here on without making a compromise. If at all I had to compromise on a role, I could have signed number of projects which started coming my way after GURU. But I choose to wait for the best. FASHION has been quite beneficial and its success is helping me with continued visibility. Let me not throw it all away.”