Katrina used to copy homework from her schoolmates

Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif longs for the carefree time of her college life when she even did not need to get concerned about homework thanks to her friends, a Pakistani newspaper reported Thursday.

"When I entered an engineering college at 16, I had not even thought of a Bollywood career. In this time, I had no need to get worried about homework as my friends themselves let me copy their homework, " Urdu daily Jang quoted Katrina as saying.

Katrina said she felt nostalgic for those days "free from any check and full of merriment".

"But now, it is not like that. Everything has changed. Having become part of the filmy and modelling community, I have to think a lot before taking any step, " she said.

Bipasha happily take the cut for Ajay Devgn

It's never happened to her before. Though once in Phir Hera Pheri her voice had been dubbed without her permission and she was understandably upset, in her new release Aakrosh Bipasha Basu's role has been cut substantially.

And Bipsha is not sulking!

In fact she seems quite happy to be in the shadows.

Chuckles the actress, “I knew from the start that my role was comparatively small. But I wanted to be part of this film because I believed in it.When I saw the complete film for the first time with my family and friends earlier this week I realized my role had been edited out even more. Now I'm hardly there. Important things that I had shot have been removed.”

Naturally Bipasha's family and friends were disappointed.

Says the actress, “I quickly took charge of the situation in the theatre and told them to watch Aakrosh as an Ajay Devgn film. I told my friends, 'Hey guys. just enjoy the film for Ajay. Forget I'm there'. Sometimes it's important to be part of a film that says something important.

We live in the cities and half the time we don't even know what's going on in the backward areas. We city folks live a blinkered life. As an actor I am ashamed to say I'm not aware of the world as much as I should be.”

Aakrosh opened Bipasha's eyes to a reality she didn't know existed. “Though my role is the blink-and-miss kind I've no regrets about doing it. The greatest of actors do walk-on parts when they believe in a project. Aamir Khan entered Taare Zameen Par at mid-point. And John (Abraham) insisted on being a small part of Sooni Taraporewala's Little Zizou because it was about football.”

Deepika or Priyanka - Stalemate over 2 (hot) States

While 2 States director wants Priyanka Chopra, producer wants Deepika Padukone

Producer Sajid Nadiadwala and his director Siddharth Anand have locked horns over who to cast in their next, an untitled flick based on Chetan Bhagat novel 2 States: The Story of My Marriage.

While Anand wants Priyanka opposite lead actor Saif Ali Khan, Nadiadwala prefers Deepika.

Says a source, "Before Anjaana Anjaana's release, Anand and Nadiadwala decided to repeat PC in their next flick a Saif starrer.

They discussed it and a verbal commitment was made. After the film released, things changed. The director still wanted Pranks, but the producer lost faith in her and wanted her replaced."

Sid in denial

According to the source, "Then, the news about Deepika doing Siddharth's next came as a shock to Priyanka.

PC called her AA director from Berlin, where she is shooting for Don 2 and asked him what was happening. When PC confronted Sid, he denied having approached anyone."

In a fix

A source close to Siddharth says, "He's in a fix because he has verbally committed to PC and can't back out.

At the same time, he needs Sajid to be on the same page because he's producing the film. He can't take Saif and PC to an outside banner."

The director confirms, "My next is the 2 States remake with Saif and Priyanka, " adding, "It's only PC that I want, not anyone else!"

Sajid says, "Priyanka is part of the family of my production house. If Siddharth wants PC, he can get her or whoever he wants."

In Two Minds...

A source close to Nadiadwala says, "He is in two minds about producing the film at all as he's not sure whether he would be able to devote time and attention to it.

Sajid already has four biggies lined up next year, Kick with Salman Khan, Sajid Khan's House Full 2, Sabbir Khan's Heer Ranjha and Imtiaz Ali's next (probably with Hrithik Roshan).

He wants to complete them before he starts on Siddharth's next."

The Battle of the Hotties: Kangna v/s Sushmita

With government policies clamping down heavily on the participation of foreign entertainers in Bollywood the days of Kylie Minogue and Snoop Dogg going jiggywiggy with Akshay Kumar (in the films Blue and Singh Is Kinng, respectively) are now over.

Recent efforts to get international artistes into India have been far from fruitful. The latest example being Shakira who it was being touted as the item girl in Anees Bazmi's No Problem as too the lead in a film based on Hindu goddess.

A reliable source exposes the sham behind all these Bollywood announcements about international stars. “99 percent of the time these international stars are not even aware of these lofty plans in India.

Filmmakers in Bollywood have access only to international entertainers' agents and managers whose polite non-commital response to the Bollywood invitation is quickly and conveniently construed as approval by Indian filmmakes and announced as such.”

Anees Bazmi tries to play down the Shakira card when asked about her participation. Says Anees, “There was no time to get any international celebrity.Our film is complete.Our first trailer was out with Anjaana Anjaani.We just decided to add an extra title song. And we felt we don't really need outside contributions.Sushmita and Kangna are fabulous dancers.”

No international dancefloor hottie? No Problem! For his comedy of that name which is all set for a December release director Anees Bazmi has decided to shoot an additional song with the two sizzling leading ladies of the film Sushmita Sen and Kangna Ranaut who it might be said at the outset, have adopted each other as sisters.

But the number that Ahmed Khan will choreograph wll be anything but sisterly. The two lovely ladies will pull out all stops in front of the camera to dance like two devilish divas out to outdo each other.

Apparently the role models given to Ahmed Khan go back to Vyjanthimala and Helen in the sizzling dance combat in the 1960s Prince and Hema Malini in Parveen Babi in the 1970s' spectacle The Burning Train.

Interestingly both the actresses enjoy dancing at pubs and even at home.The idea would be to make their moves as casual and cool as possible.

More more Bollywod hotties would be seen performing item songs in coming months.

The rest of the male cast—Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor and Sunil Shetty—are also expected to join the two sizzling seductresses.

I was a reckless girl: Kangna Ranaut

She started her Bollywood career at the age of 17, and over the period of four years, Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut says, the industry has helped her realise the importance of being disciplined.

"I have definitely changed a lot. I mean from a reckless teenager, I have become a very very well organised and disciplined person, " Kangana told in an interview.

"Moreover, when you are working, and for the fact that young people like me who have started at 17, they cannot afford to be themselves. You have to really change with the time, " she added.

The actress made her Bollywood debut with Mahesh Bhatt's "Gangster - A Love Story" in 2006, which won her critical acclaim. She was later seen playing a mentally unstable girl in Mahesh Bhatt's another movie "Woh Lamhe".

Her stupendous performance as a drug addict model in Madhur Bhandarkar's "Fashion" won her a national award. The actress was last seen in Hrithik Roshan-Barbara Mori starrer "Kites".

Although Kangana admits that her journey has so far been good, she says as an outsider she had to work really hard to make a place for herself in the industry.

"It is very difficult as an outsider as people don't support you, media also accepts those who come from a film background, it takes time, eventually you have to work very hard to sustain and if you are good at your work, you will succeed, " said Kangana, who was present at Kingdom of Dreams to promote her new film "Knock Out", which also stars Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan Khan.

Asked if in any way the industry has changed her outlook towards things, she said: "I am nobody to be judgemental, what matters more to me is what is the industry's perception about me, what do they think of me."

In most of the films, Kangana was seen doing tragic and serious roles, but with a slew of light-hearted films like "No Problem", "Rascals", "Double Dhamaal" and "Tanu Weds Manu", the actress is set to change her so-called serious image.

"It was great working in a different genre. Although it is said that it is difficult to make people laugh, everything is tough. You have to really develop your skills, you are not born with dancing skills, comedy or serious acting, you have to make an effort to learn it, " she said.

Kangana aspires to do characters that are completely different as well as challenging.

"I want to do a lot of different characters. They are not in my mind. I wish people come over to me with something challenging, something that is out of the box and not run-of-the-mill characters. I like this place (Bollywood). I want to be here, " she said.

She might have played matured characters in her films but in real life, she is like any other normal girl, although she doesn't like to mingle a lot.

"In real life I am like any other girl, very, very chirpy, talkative for my family and friends but I don't mingle a lot, " she said.

Rakta Charitra Cinema Review : History Told In Extremes

(రక్త చరిత్ర సినిమా రివ్యు)

Film: Rakta Charitra
Banner: Cinergy productions
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Kota, Radhika Apte, Zareena Wahab, Sushant Singh, Tanikella, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Rajendra Gupta, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kitty and others
Dialogues: Nageswara Rao
Music: Dharam- Sandeep
DOP: Amol Rathod
Editing: Bhanodaya, Nipun Ashok Gupta
Story, screenplay, direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Producers: Madhu Mantena, Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Rajkumar
Release Date: 22nd Oct 2010

Ram Gopal Varma is back after a long hiatus into the Telugu circuit and he chose his favorite genre of violence, intensity and bloodshed. Let us see how far RGV is successful in convincing audiences. Let us peep into good and bad in the movie:

StoryNoted MLA Narasimha Reddy (Kitty) has got a trusted aide in the form of Veerabhadriah (Rajendra Gupta) in Anandapuram area.
 
However, Narasimha’s relative Nagamani Reddy (Kota) is unable to take this for reasons of caste and losing his presence. He plants a seed of friction and in no time, Narasimha Reddy gets Veerabhadriah killed. This enrages Veerabhadriah’s elder son Shankar Ravi (Sushant) and he gets into a killing spree and operates from forests.
 
Veerabhadriah’s younger son Pratap Ravi (Vivek) who is away from all this gets to know of this and before he realizes, Shankar Ravi also gets killed. He vows revenge on his father and brother’s killers and in this process, Narasimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy and others are brutally killed. Nagamani Reddy’s son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu) who is insane to the core is unable to take this and he becomes Pratap’s main enemy.
 
Meanwhile, the rise of Pratap as opposite force to Bukka Reddy is noticed by Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan) who sets a new party and he decides to lift Pratap to put an end to Bukka Reddy. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.
 
Performances:
Vivek Oberoi is an apt choice, his eyes deliver the sufficient emotion of revenge and his body language is intense. He has done full justice to his role.
 
Abhimanyu Singh is a complete show stealer. His menacing looks and his cold blooded performance will give some spine chilling moments.
 
Shatrughan Sinha was contained and it must be said that traces of real life N T Rama Rao are quite prominent in his gestures and dialogue delivery.
 
Kota was perfect, Radhika was naturally appealing, Zarina was neat, Tanikella was impressive and he made his presence felt, Rajendra Gupta was adequate, Sushant was brief, Ashish Vidyarthi was alright, Subhalekha Sudhakar was standard, Subrat Dutta was good, the others did their bit as required and added value.
 
Highlights:Symbolism shots with respect to showing a cycle in Shivaji Rao (Shatrugan Sinha)’s place (recalling TDP and NTR), usage of left had, addressing as ‘brother' are impressive.
 
Showing a dog barking after the death of Naga Mani Reddy (Kota) depicts ‘kukka chaavu'..That’s impressive.
 
Ram Moorthy (Tanikella) saying to Pratap Ravi ‘to shave beard as a politician should look clean at face although dirty at heart'
 
Bukka Reddy’s introduction scene
 
Disappointments:RGV’s voice over is overflowing. It’s not a radio drama to explain everything with a voice over. Whatever RGV is saying in voice, is being conveyed visually! It disturbed the mood to some extent.
 
Pratap Ravi stays in forest as per the dialogue. But he stays in a dusty hill area that hardly looks like a forest. It may sound trivial, but when such observations linger in mind, some audience gets distracted from the mood.
 
Why Dabbunnoda song? The context is not convincing.
 
Challenges:The subject chosen is quite hard hitting so one needs to have some background information before actually connecting to the film.
 
Facing criticism with respect to Shivai Rao’s (a replica of NTR) characterization and converting it into publicity element.
 
Facing criticism and questions with respect to ‘pedda sir' (implying YSR) and again converting it into a publicity element
 
Mood is suddenly dropping down at the conclusion point of the movie. Waiting till Part-2 to get completeness in feeling is a challenge for audience and it’s challenge for maker to sustain interest for 1 month till Part-2 release.
 
Analysis:“Goodness or badness can never be anyone’s property. They are situational.
If a man is hunger free, he showers only goodness. But if any sort of hunger (be it lust, power craving or greed or vengeance) hits him, he spells badness'. 
Rakta Charitra is a fiction based on historical facts.
It’s rather powerful to say that it’s a true depiction of human emotions.
It’s a tour to extreme human beings.
 
Ramayan or Mahabharat or any chronicled history in dramatic form depicts the extremities of emotions in every character. For example if Karna is known for generosity, its shown with eccentricity of chopping off his own armored skin to offer for a beggar. If Bheeshma is known for sacrifice, its shown in extreme point of choosing life time celibacy to keep himself and his legacy far from kingship. Any drama holds grip only when the characterizations are strong. This fact was known for dramatists right from Veda Vyasa and Valmiki. Similar path is now chosen by Ram Gopal Varma is depicting a historical fact in dramatic form.
 
He has shown Bukka Reddy as a determined rapist (!) and dedicated murderer (!).The incidents canned around this characterization are extreme in imagination. Pratap Ravi is shown as a bad guy, but for a true reason (since he is chosen to be the hero of the plot).
 
Ram Gopal Varma is a master of movie making and an expert storyteller. This is seen here yet again. As such, the storyline can be understood in few words and there is nothing unpredictable about it but then it is the way Ramu takes off with each scene and how he gets the viewer into the film which counts.
 
His screenplay techniques and shot compositions are one of those dexterities he possesses. Perhaps a layman might find the visual appeal to be dim but then there are few flashes of his brilliance which are seen on and off. The focus was more on the emotion of the protagonist and the villain so that is a challenge to handle for more than two hours.
 
On the other hand, it is not a typical Varma characterization where most of the actors give hard expressions, talk less and convey more. Here the characters speak sufficient and sometimes little verbose!! But still there is a rhythm in their performance and it connects to the regular audience.
 
On a whole it’s a movie about the raise of a leader.
 
Bottom-line: For the lovers of realistic violence.

‘ రక్త చరిత్ర ' సినిమా రివ్యు : History Told In Extremes

(రక్త చరిత్ర సినిమా రివ్యు)

Film: Rakta Charitra
Banner: Cinergy productions
Cast: Vivek Oberoi, Abhimanyu Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Kota, Radhika Apte, Zareena Wahab, Sushant Singh, Tanikella, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Rajendra Gupta, Ashish Vidyarthi, Kitty and others
Dialogues: Nageswara Rao
Music: Dharam- Sandeep
DOP: Amol Rathod
Editing: Bhanodaya, Nipun Ashok Gupta
Story, screenplay, direction: Ram Gopal Varma
Producers: Madhu Mantena, Sheetal Vinod Talwar, Chinna Vasudeva Reddy, Rajkumar
Release Date: 22nd Oct 2010

Ram Gopal Varma is back after a long hiatus into the Telugu circuit and he chose his favorite genre of violence, intensity and bloodshed. Let us see how far RGV is successful in convincing audiences. Let us peep into good and bad in the movie:

StoryNoted MLA Narasimha Reddy (Kitty) has got a trusted aide in the form of Veerabhadriah (Rajendra Gupta) in Anandapuram area.
 
However, Narasimha’s relative Nagamani Reddy (Kota) is unable to take this for reasons of caste and losing his presence. He plants a seed of friction and in no time, Narasimha Reddy gets Veerabhadriah killed. This enrages Veerabhadriah’s elder son Shankar Ravi (Sushant) and he gets into a killing spree and operates from forests.
 
Veerabhadriah’s younger son Pratap Ravi (Vivek) who is away from all this gets to know of this and before he realizes, Shankar Ravi also gets killed. He vows revenge on his father and brother’s killers and in this process, Narasimha Reddy, Nagamani Reddy and others are brutally killed. Nagamani Reddy’s son Bukka Reddy (Abhimanyu) who is insane to the core is unable to take this and he becomes Pratap’s main enemy.
 
Meanwhile, the rise of Pratap as opposite force to Bukka Reddy is noticed by Shivaji Rao (Shatrughan) who sets a new party and he decides to lift Pratap to put an end to Bukka Reddy. What happens after that forms the rest of the story.
 
Performances:
Vivek Oberoi is an apt choice, his eyes deliver the sufficient emotion of revenge and his body language is intense. He has done full justice to his role.
 
Abhimanyu Singh is a complete show stealer. His menacing looks and his cold blooded performance will give some spine chilling moments.
 
Shatrughan Sinha was contained and it must be said that traces of real life N T Rama Rao are quite prominent in his gestures and dialogue delivery.
 
Kota was perfect, Radhika was naturally appealing, Zarina was neat, Tanikella was impressive and he made his presence felt, Rajendra Gupta was adequate, Sushant was brief, Ashish Vidyarthi was alright, Subhalekha Sudhakar was standard, Subrat Dutta was good, the others did their bit as required and added value.
 
Highlights:Symbolism shots with respect to showing a cycle in Shivaji Rao (Shatrugan Sinha)’s place (recalling TDP and NTR), usage of left had, addressing as ‘brother' are impressive.
 
Showing a dog barking after the death of Naga Mani Reddy (Kota) depicts ‘kukka chaavu'..That’s impressive.
 
Ram Moorthy (Tanikella) saying to Pratap Ravi ‘to shave beard as a politician should look clean at face although dirty at heart'
 
Bukka Reddy’s introduction scene
 
Disappointments:RGV’s voice over is overflowing. It’s not a radio drama to explain everything with a voice over. Whatever RGV is saying in voice, is being conveyed visually! It disturbed the mood to some extent.
 
Pratap Ravi stays in forest as per the dialogue. But he stays in a dusty hill area that hardly looks like a forest. It may sound trivial, but when such observations linger in mind, some audience gets distracted from the mood.
 
Why Dabbunnoda song? The context is not convincing.
 
Challenges:The subject chosen is quite hard hitting so one needs to have some background information before actually connecting to the film.
 
Facing criticism with respect to Shivai Rao’s (a replica of NTR) characterization and converting it into publicity element.
 
Facing criticism and questions with respect to ‘pedda sir' (implying YSR) and again converting it into a publicity element
 
Mood is suddenly dropping down at the conclusion point of the movie. Waiting till Part-2 to get completeness in feeling is a challenge for audience and it’s challenge for maker to sustain interest for 1 month till Part-2 release.
 
Analysis:“Goodness or badness can never be anyone’s property. They are situational.
If a man is hunger free, he showers only goodness. But if any sort of hunger (be it lust, power craving or greed or vengeance) hits him, he spells badness'. 
Rakta Charitra is a fiction based on historical facts.
It’s rather powerful to say that it’s a true depiction of human emotions.
It’s a tour to extreme human beings.
 
Ramayan or Mahabharat or any chronicled history in dramatic form depicts the extremities of emotions in every character. For example if Karna is known for generosity, its shown with eccentricity of chopping off his own armored skin to offer for a beggar. If Bheeshma is known for sacrifice, its shown in extreme point of choosing life time celibacy to keep himself and his legacy far from kingship. Any drama holds grip only when the characterizations are strong. This fact was known for dramatists right from Veda Vyasa and Valmiki. Similar path is now chosen by Ram Gopal Varma is depicting a historical fact in dramatic form.
 
He has shown Bukka Reddy as a determined rapist (!) and dedicated murderer (!).The incidents canned around this characterization are extreme in imagination. Pratap Ravi is shown as a bad guy, but for a true reason (since he is chosen to be the hero of the plot).
 
Ram Gopal Varma is a master of movie making and an expert storyteller. This is seen here yet again. As such, the storyline can be understood in few words and there is nothing unpredictable about it but then it is the way Ramu takes off with each scene and how he gets the viewer into the film which counts.
 
His screenplay techniques and shot compositions are one of those dexterities he possesses. Perhaps a layman might find the visual appeal to be dim but then there are few flashes of his brilliance which are seen on and off. The focus was more on the emotion of the protagonist and the villain so that is a challenge to handle for more than two hours.
 
On the other hand, it is not a typical Varma characterization where most of the actors give hard expressions, talk less and convey more. Here the characters speak sufficient and sometimes little verbose!! But still there is a rhythm in their performance and it connects to the regular audience.
 
On a whole it’s a movie about the raise of a leader.
 
Bottom-line: For the lovers of realistic violence.