Monday, July 21, 2008
Katrina’s Big, Fat Birthday Bash
If you’re wondering where Bollywood was partying at on Wednesday night, well, practically the entire industry was at a Bandra nightspot. The occasion was Katrina Kaif’s birthday, and beau Salman Khan hosted a special party for his lady. Now when Sallu invites you, you don’t say no! So everyone from the other two Khans — Shah Rukh and Aamir — to Govinda, Rishi Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, even Karisma Kapur (who looked stunning) were all there. Karisma had come with good friends Sanjay and Maheep Kapoor while Gauri Khan was accompanied by Karan Johar. Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone came hand in hand. Neha Dhupia was seen with ‘good friend’ squash champ Ritwik Bhattachrya. The list of directors and producers who attended was endless too: Rajkumar Santoshi, David Dhawan, Subhash Ghai, Kunal Kohli, Prakash Jha.
Of course, the entire Khan parivar was there too, right from papa Salim Khan to Salma Khan to Helen to Sohail and Seema Khan to Alvira and Atull Agnihotri to Arpita Khan. Birthday girl Katrina came with her mother and her sister, and refused to be photographed... she even tried to cover her face, but in vain!
Other faces spotted in the crowd included Parmeshwar Godrej, Anu and Sunny Dewan, Arti Surendranath, Dino Morea (who looked rather thin), Inder Kumar, designer Anna Singh, Atul Kasbekar and Niketan Madhok. The party rocked on (not surprising, considering the guest list!) as the guests danced away till half past two. This was certainly one wild night!
Parmeshwar Godrej
What’s making Shaahid smile?
Boy wonder Shaahid Kapur is smiling a lot these days. The reason, apart from his film Kismat Konnection’s release, is the great time he had shooting for it. Now, before you start imagining him with Vidya Balan behind the scenes, let us inform you that he’s only cherishing his experience of working with Aziz Mirza. Turns out the actor’s been mighty impressed with the senior director and breaks into an adorable smile while recollecting the latter’s reserved, simple nature.
Apparently, an actor who was required for a couple of scenes in the film didn’t turn up for the shoot. So, Shaahid and the crew decided to rope in Aziz to do the cameo himself. They did all they could to convince him that as the scene was at the start of the film, it would prove lucky. “Just when I had personally started styling his (Aziz) hair for the shoot, he made an excuse and managed to cleverly wiggle out of it,” he laughs. Shaahid also captured a lot of special moments on location with his camera. “The best picture is of a 10-month-old Chinese kid,” he says with a crinkly smile.
From Chennai to Japan: Rajnikanth
Rajnikanth is going to Japan! In, and probably with, his new film Kuselan that was completed in a record five months, and in which the ageing actor has a rocking new image. Rushes from the film that has Japanese subtitles show that the flamboyant star looks younger and more dynamic than what he did in Sivaji — The Boss a year ago.
Rajnikanth has never been to Japan but the South superstar is already quite an iconic figure there. The Japanese believe he’s India’s answer to Jackie Chan. An actor who delights the audience with his exciting fighting skills, energetic dancing, and abundant talent for comedy, drama and emotion. No wonder they call him the Dancing Maharaja!
Japan has a sizeable South Indian population that, naturally, worships Rajnikanth; but surprisingly, the Southie legend’s following is also huge among the Japanese. Local stores have DVDs of all his movies. And the release of a new Rajnikanth film, is cause for celebration. Ten year ago his film Muthu ran for 23 weeks at a Tokyo theatre and was seen by over 1,27,000 Japanese.
Now Rajnikanth, at the invitation of the Tokyo International Film Festival, is preparing to take Kuselan to Japan. In it, he changes 20 costumes in two songs, which should amuse the Japanese considerably. But better still, Rajnikanth romances nine Japanese models in one song, and that should make him a household name.Modestly, the actor told BT from his home in Chennai, “I don’t know whether I can make it to Tokyo. It’ll be great if I can. Otherwise, I’m excited that the Japanese are waiting for Kuselan with as much passion as they had for my films a decade ago. They are high on emotional content and comic action, it’s a treat to be watched by them.”
Kuselan, incidentally, is also being made in Hindi as Billoo Barber with Shah Rukh Khan playing Rajnikanth’s role. Both films are based on friendship and are slated for release internationally in the first week of August to coincide with World Friendship Day.
Romance is my contribution: Katrina
Katrina Kaif has been a part of some super successful films in the past year or so. But it is alleged that her films almost completely rely on her co-actors — more often than not Akshay Kumar — for their commercial success. Katrina, according to the masses, is just eye candy. What does she have to say about starring in male-dominated, action-packed films like Singh is Kinng, with not much to do except gyrate and look beautiful? “Action and comedy undoubtedly make a film work, but Indian audiences are always looking for a romantic track, and that’s what I’m there for. My contribution is the romance,” she says pensively.
Kats is also looking forward, more precisely “hoping and praying” for a box office hat-trick with Namastey London, Welcome and now Singh is Kinng. “I’ve seen the film, it’s turned out wonderfully,” she says. We quickly move on to her regular, famous on-screen pairing with Akshay Kumar. Why is it that the duo’s first film together, Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, did so badly? She makes no effort to defend the dud in any way. “First and foremost, the film was too long. If we had the answers to why a film works and why it doesn’t, there would never be any flops.” We prodded her further with the regular on-screen pairing thing. Getting paired with biggies like Shah Rukh, Aamir and Hrithik is apparently more difficult for her than we thought. “Only actors like Akshay, Salman and Saif are regularly doing films. Actors like Shah Rukh and Hrithik only do one film a year, whereas Aamir does one film every two to three years. You have to be a part of the industry by working with people who are available.”
Meet Salman Painter Khan, says Aamir
Apart from his acting talents it’s only the Media, Art galleries and a few of Salman Khan’s fans who know about his inclination towards Painting and Arts. Recently, at girlfriend Katrina’s Birthday Bash, Aamir was in for a good surprise from Sallu. Apparently, after watching a couple of Salman’s art work during the party, Aamir was left speechless and couldn’t believe that it was Salman’s handiwork.
To this, Salman took a canvas and painted Aamir in his Ghajini look, then and there. The disbelieving Aamir walked home believingly!
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