Movie Review: Bhagam Bhag

Starring Govinda, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Paresh Rawail, Rajpal Yadav, Jackie Shroff
Directed by Priyadarshan
Rating: No Clue!

In a Priyadarshan comedy one is always comforted in the chaos of colliding characters by the thought that somewhere in the on-going blizzard of bacchanalia there’s a rhythm and a rationale.

It’s that thought which keeps you smiling through the exasperatingly juvenile games of one-upmanship between Govinda and Akshay Kumar in the prolific director’s latest ode to rude- awakening calls from the shudder-world.

While Bhagam Bhag lacks the working-class anxieties of Hera Pheri, it certainly captures some of the colour, flamboyance and friskiness of a dance troupe from Mumbai which arrives in London for a performance without a heroine. Both the heroes, tongue-in-cheekily named Bunty(Akshay) and Babla(Govinda) as tribute to Abhishek and Rani’s ongoing boisterousness from the back-waters in Bunty Aur Babli, are asked to get a girl for the play.

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Neha Dhupia Will Leave You Wanting For More

She is sizzling hot. She is utterly tempting. She is delicious. She is Julie. Our very own Bollywood Actress Neha Dhupia promises to leave the audience “wanting for more” when she performs at a New Year party.

Neha recently inaugurated Country Condos, service apartments of Country Club India Ltd (CCIL) in Mumbai, and will be performing at a New Year party organised by the firm. This is the first time Neha is performing for CCIL and she will groove to a medley of foot tapping songs.

“I’ll dance on a few songs from ‘Garam Masala’ and ‘Chup Chup Ke’. I’ll also be dancing on other hit tracks that have done well in the last few months like ‘Crazy kiya re’ (’Dhoom 2′), etc. I am looking forward to it and I’m going to leave you guys wanting for more,” said Neha who is thankful to her choreographers Pappu and Maalu for training her.

Talking about her association with the club, Neha said: “CCIL is one of the biggest family entertainment club chains of India and I am proud to be a part of it. They are a great set of people and were very humble in their approach. I felt I could make a difference and here I am.”

Neha has an interesting line-up of films in 2007 including “Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local”, “Delhi Heights”, “Mithiya”, “Shootout At Lokhandwala” and “Dus Kahaniya”.

Koena Mitra Is All Excited To Perform With Nelly Furtado

This is definitely big occassion for Koena Mitra. Not only for her, but for the nation also i guess. Nelly Furtado is not a small name. Atleast i am her fan!
Item girl Koena Mitra is thrilled at the prospect of performing along with international pop diva Nelly Furtado on the New Year eve.

She along with Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapur is gearing up to sizzle the stage with the international singer Dec 31.

“I’ll be grooving to all my songs including my latest tracks from ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’. Varied artists like Nelly, Canada-based Punjabi band JOSH, A.R. Rahman, Shahid and Priyanka are performing so, it’ll be a great fun. With a combination of such diverse artists, the show is bound to be a lot spicier,” said Koena.

So, is she not anxious about sharing stage with Grammy winner Nelly Furtado?

“I’m pretty used to shows, especially solo shows, so I’m not nervous. In fact, I am excited and looking forward to Dec 31. The grand finale will be a medley of songs. It’s a live show and an opportunity to reach out to an international audience,” she adds.

Furtado’s debut album “Whoa Nelly” was released in 2000 and spawned the hit single “I’m like a bird”. Her songs “Promiscuous” and “Maneater” from her new album “Loose” are topping the charts.

On the work front, Koena has two films with Sanjay Gupta and Subhash Ghai in her kitty. But the actress is currently kicked about her role in Ananth Mahadevan’s “Anamika - The Untold Story”.

“It’s a romantic thriller loaded with suspense. It’s based on three characters - Dino Morea, Minissha Lamba and me. Ananth has worked really hard in shaping our respective characters.

It’s a serious role minus singing and dancing. The look of the film is spectacular since we’ve shot in Bikaner and Gajner,” said Koena who plays Dino’s childhood sweetheart in it.

Sherlyn Chopra As Santa Claus (In Shorts)

All throughout the charity event where newbie Sherlyn Chopra, dressed as Santa Claus, distributed gifts, sang “Jingle Bells” and narrated jokes to around 400 under-privileged kids of the ‘Hamara Foundation’ NGO this week, she giggled and laughed and laughed and giggled and giggled and laughed.

So much so, the abounding happiness was completely infectious. Along with the kids, even the organizers, the peons and media persons present got thoroughly engaged in a laugh riot. It was like a magnified Christmas Laughter Club.

SIDELIGHTS:

· The male Santa wears Pajamas while the female Santa wears short pants. Or at least that is what Santa Sherlyn dressed in the red velvet hot pants told the kids.

· Santa Sherlyn carried quite a few gifts in her sack such as toothpastes, lunch boxes, towels, colour pencil sets, soft toys, shirts, watches, notebooks, pens and cakes. The kids didn’t stop asking for more! She’s now planning to get herself a magic wand.

· The kids could barely pronounce the name Santa Sherlyn. They kept calling her Santa Sholay.

· Santa Sherlyn asked the kids for a kiss or hug in return for the gifts. A lil girl walked upto her and said she was confused and didn’t know whether to plant a kiss on Santa’s cheeks or to hug her. Santa Sherlyn quickly kissed and hugged the little angel.

· While Santa Sherlyn was giggling and laughing with the kids, one of the lil boys whispered in her ear, “Are you Bipasha?”. She held him close and whispered back in his tiny ear, “Are you John ?”

Shahrukh Khan Has KBC At Home Now

Looks like SRK is working hard at getting into the skin of his new job. One part of his bungalow, Mannat, has been converted into a virtual set so that King Khan gets ample time to do his homework by practicing with dummy contestants.

Some of his friends who have sat on the hot seat include Farah Khan, Karan Johar, musicians Vishal, Shekhar and choreographer Ganesh Hegde.

The choreographer confirms saying “yes I was there and I couldn’t resist the temptation of testing my general knowledge. I won Rs.1, 60,000 and didn’t use any of my four lifelines. It’s great fun to play with SRK as the quizmaster”

Star India’s COO, Sameer Nair confirms saying “He was in Australia when we asked him if he would prefer a mock set at a studio near his house. But he said it would be better if we could arrange it at his house itself.

We have given him the chairs, the computerji, the graphic system, the sound system and even mock participants are sent so that he plays with them. Everything is there except the lights. Often Khan’s close friends from the industry and other guests at his house sit on the hot seat and play the game with him.”

SRK’s KBC is set to hit the screen early next year.

It’s Official. Krrish Is Coming Back

Here is a new twist in the Krrish tale. The news is that papa Roshan will be making a third part of his super-hero series in the second-half of 2007 but this time junior wants to play the villain instead of the superhero.

“I wish I could play the villain in Krrish 3. I’m really excited about the villain’s role, so much so that I feel like giving up the super-hero’s mantle to play the villain,” says Hrithik.

“But won’t that make it a triple role, because I’ll already be playing the father, son and the villain,” he jokes.

May be Rakesh Roshan would have to throw in some angle of human cloning in the film’s plot and produce an identical clone of Krrish to play the villain in the movie to fulfill Hrithik’s wish.

The dates for the third part of the adventures of Rohit/ Krissh are now being worked out.

Hrithik would also love to be seen in the third series of Dhoom as he feels the film can only get bigger and better. Hrithik says “The point is to find new challenges. I only want to do make-or-break films and Krrish 3 falls into that category.”

Hrithik is also extremely excited about his epic film Jodha Akbar and says “It takes me to a place where I’ve never traveled, not even in my imagination. The journey has already become very fascinating for me.”

Shilpa Is 31 And Yet Single

She may be known for her figure and good looks, but Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is still single and spends most evenings at home watching television, a news report said on Thursday.

“I’m a complete TV addict,” she told The Times of India. “I’m totally out of the party circuit.”

Amid continuing rumours of marriage, Shetty said, “If the media keeps writing about my marriage, what can I do?”

“There must be guys out there who want to date me, but obviously retract after reading all this nonsense.”

Shetty, 31, has acted in more than 40 movies, most of them romances, since her debut in 1993.

In a departure from her usual characters, she played an HIV-patient in a 2004 movie “Phir Milenge,” or “We’ll Meet Again,” India’s first mainstream movie dealing with AIDS. Well on a serious note  i never heard about this  movie. But i have a strong feeling that Shilpa must have done a great job in the film. And  kudos! to her for the great decision to do such a role. Miss you Shilpa.

Judgement Day For Sanju Baba On January 18th

The fate of popular Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted for possessing illegal arms, will be decided Jan 18 when an anti-terror court here will hear arguments on the quantum of his sentence.

Special Judge P.D. Kode of the designated court Thursday decided to take up on Jan 18 the arguments on the quantum of sentence to Dutt and six other convicts of the 1993 Mumbai serial bombings, while extending their bail till that date.

The judge ordered all seven to surrender before him Jan 18.

While hearing arguments on duration of their sentence, the court will also dwell upon whether Dutt and the six others could be set free “on probation” for their good conduct under the Probation of Offenders Act after their sentencing.

Six others, whom the court, set up under the now-repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), ordered to surrender included Russi Mullah, Zebunisa Qazi, Yusuf Nalwallah, Rubina Bhivandiwala, Keris Adjania, Imtiaz Ghawte and S.N. Thapa.

While fixing the date for next hearing, the court said it was giving time to both sides to submit their arguments on the quantum of sentence to the convicts and on the issue of providing relief to them under the Probation of Offenders Act.

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Baabul Is Now Exempted From Tax

Director Ravi Chopra’s recently released film “Baabul” about widow remarriage has been exempted from tax by the Delhi government, market sources said here Thursday.
I think it’s a good move. This way more and more people will be willing to have a go for this movie. This movie is not entertaining at all. But it has a very strong message to pass. The movie is a must watch. And finally, some good news for Baabul.

The film which is doing well both in the country and overseas has a star cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan, John Abraham, Rani Mukherjee and Hema Malini.

Guru Will Be Premiered In Toronto. Cool!!

Writer-director Mani Ratnam’s much-anticipated “Guru”, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, will have its world premiere in Toronto on Jan 11.

The film will be screened at the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre Centre, where most Hollywood films are premiered, with the cast and crew in attendance.

Roger Nair Productions has acquired the Canadian rights of “Guru” from Bobby Bedi’s Kaleidoscope Entertainment. It is touted as a path breaking deal between Canada and India, in the process making Canada an official territory for Bollywood films.

The company has entered the distribution market in a big way for Canada territory and will be buying Bollywood films for North America and Europe as well.

It is also in negotiations with some other top Indian filmmakers for acquiring the rights of their films. The company, which is acquiring absolute theatrical, video and TV rights, will also ensure legal right to curb piracy with the help of local police and the justice system.

It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved taking Bollywood to global arena.

I personally have lot of expectation from this movie. Let’s hope Guru rocks the charts and do well…Not only in India, but in international halls as well.

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