BOLLYWOOD- News & Gossips

Ileana going great in Bollywood, bags Saif's flick

Ileana D'Cruz, the Goan babe who rose to stardom in South films, seems to be going great in Bollywood. The actress, who entered Hindi film industry with blockbuster Barfi, is being showered with offers and she has now signed yet another B-Town flick. The 'Laska laska' girl started her career in Telugu film industry. She made her acting debut in Devadasu directed by YVS Chowdhary and starring Ram. After getting success in Tollywood, the Goan babe ventured into Tamil film industry in Jyothi Krishna's Kedi. Since then, Ileana has gone strength to strength in South films. Ileana, after working hard in South film industry, got a good offer from Bollywood in the form of Barfi starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Though she played the second fiddle in the Hindi film, her performance was well-received by audience and appreciated by critics. Following the success, offers started coming her way. In the process, Ileana signed her second Bollywood project Phata Poster Nikla Hero starring Shahid Kapoor. Now, she has given green signal for her third Hindi flick featuring Saif Ali Khan. 

Drop the Bollywood tag: Saif Ali Khan
If one looks at the kaleidoscope of luminaries in our history of Indian cinema, one feels admiration and awe at the achievement. I have lived a prince, and all that I have achieved I can honestly credit to the Indian film industry.

We could make a great story from our 100 years of Indian cinema as we’ve had some phenomenal personalities like Guru Dutt, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. Films like Kaagaz ke phool, Pakeezah, Sholay, Jewel thief, 3 Idiots are my favourites to name a few.

But let’s just not treat the completion of 100 years of Indian cinema as a mere number; we need to introspect because I think we are still a little regressive in our thoughts. I don’t think we have taken the mantle forward with honesty from our ancestors. I am sure the celebrations will be done to death, but we should understand that we have a responsibility to fulfill.

The first step should be to drop the ‘Bollywood’ tag. Why should we be happy with something that sounds like Hollywood! The people we are trying to reach cannot even speak English, so let’s just be the best we can be!

Some tremendous developments have happened in the world of cinema in the past few years, but we still need to achieve practical milestones. We have phenomenal talent, but few directors and fewer writers. In a county of billions, we talk about 100 crores when we should be talking about 700-800 crores. I think we should cater to countries like Morocco, Iran and Iraq, which we don’t. There is still a lot to be achieved. I look forward to the new talent coming in, when the first-borns will be directors and writers, and when the legacy of our masters from the past will be taken forward with sincerity.

As the Indian Cinema completes a decade, we look at some of B-Town's most shocking and scandalous stories.

Devika Rani elopes
Himanshu Rai, who ran Bombay Talkies, was left in the lurch when his wife, Devika Rani, ran off with the leading man of their latest production just four days before filming was to start!

Guru Dutt’s death
Guru Dutt was found dead on his bed in a rented apartment at Peddar Road. He is said to have been mixing sleeping pills and alcohol as he couldn’t rest. His death may have been suicide or just an accidental overdose. Incidentally, Asha Bhonsle was the last person he spoke to.

Dilip Kumar slaps Madhubala
Dilip Kumar apparently slapped Madhubala on the sets of Mughal-e Azam which they were shooting for the film. The reason surmised was that the actor was miffed with her diva-like attitude.

Divya Bharti’s death
Divya Bharati who was married to director-producer Sajid Nadiadwala died in 1993. Bharati fell to her death from a five-storey in Versova. There was much speculation by the media regarding Bharti's sudden demise including the possibility of suicide, accidental death, conspiracy or even murder. Some conspiracy theories involved her husband while other theories suggested mafia complicity.

Sanjay Dutt linked with bomb blast case
It came as a surprise when Sanjay Dutt’s name cropped up in the 1993 bomb blast case. After political intervention by father Sunil Dutt, he was eventually let off the hook. As of now, he is expected to serve three and a half years in jail.

Zeenat Amaan beaten
Zeenat Azaam was apparently dating Sanjay Khan and the couple was in a hotel when Sanjay reportedly slapped Zeenat. To make things worse, the actress was left with not only a black eye but a damaged one at that.

Salman-Shahrukh fight
Both the superstars fought at Katrina’s birthday party about five years ago. There are multiple reasons attributed to the bust-up. One being professional insecurity.

Salman-Aishwarya ruckus
Ash was shooting for Chalte Chalte, when Salman apparently landed up on the sets and created a scene which resulted in Aishwarya losing the film to Rani Mukherji. Salman also used to land up at her house late in the night and create fodder for tabloids.

Parveen Babi’s accusations
She was rumoured to have diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia — a genetic mental illness — although she regularly denied it and said that it was a conspiracy by the film industry and the media to malign her image and make her appear as insane so that they can cover up their crimes!

Amitabh Bachchan’s accident
Amitabh Bachchan had a life-threatening accident on the sets of Coolie. The actor remained clinically ill in hospital for many months, at times close to death. Nevertheless, he spent many months recovering and resumed filming later that year after a long period of recuperation. 

Priyanka's cousin Meerra Chopra enters Bollywood

The Bollywood diva, Priyanka Chopra’s cousin sister Meerra Chopra is all set to set her beautiful foot in Bollywood with her maiden film ‘Gang of Ghosts’. However, her going in Bollywood was not at all smooth. Meerra signed up for Vikram Bhatt’s 3^rd installment of the movie 1920. As her schedule was packed up she had to decline the role in Satish Kaushik’s film ‘Gang of Ghosts’. But, unfortunately the shooting of Vikram’s movie got postponed for couple of months and that gave Meerra the chance to sign up for Satish’s film. As luck would have it, now ‘Gang of Ghosts’ is going to be her first film to get released.

Speaking about the turn of events, Meerra tells, “I had met Satishji just a few days after I signed 1920. The film was to start on May 1 and Satishji was starting his project as well around the same time. However just a couple of days later, I got a call from Vikram’s office informing me that the film has been pushed back. I then called Satishji, we met and everything fell into place.”

A candid Meerra spoke about her cine star cousin, “Priyanka and I belong to the same family but we are not really close. I am very proud of what she had done in her career without having a godfather. She deserves all the success that she due to her hard work. It took me a year to get these two films and although there was a long struggle and there were frustrations, I am glad that I have these two films. I know that comparisons will be inevitable when my film releases. I have realised that until and unless you are good enough, the fact that you are a brother or sister or son of anyone doesn’t matter.”

She was also questioned about the long time she took to debut in Bollywood. Replying to the query Meerra said, “I have been looking for the right film for over a year now. However I have been regularly working in the South with my Telugu film releasing this Friday and one in June. I was confident that the moment I would land in Mumbai, I would sign multiple films. However, reality stuck me when I reached the city. After about a year, 1920 happened which is a career-defining role for me and I am thankful to Vikram for believing in me. I am so happy that I have two different films, which are distinct from each other.”