Hollywood stars eye Indian cinema:
 
 
Jackie Chan, who was part of the audio release of 'Dasavatharam' recently, expressed his desire to act in a Tamil movie alongside Kamal Haasan.

While releasing the audio, Jackie Chan said, ' I would love to act in a Tamil movie very soon. Hope Kamal does the action and I do the romance'.

Now joining the list is Will Smith who is on a high after the terrific opening of 'Hancock'. The acclaimed Hollywood actor, who had been part of several blockbusters, says, 'I am an ardent admirer of Indian culture. The reception for my movies in India has been phenomenal'.

'I would love to work in an Indian film soon. The people are friendly and have a lot of warmth. There is so much of creativity in India and I'd love to act in Indian movies'.

Hope Indian producers and directors are listening to these greats and taking them seriously!

Source: Indiaglitz.

Shakira shakes legs with Shah Rukh:

Earlier there were rumors that Shakira would be performing an item number in Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming flick Om Shanti Om. But director Farah Khan was maddened by false hearsays about her film. Contrary to wandering gossips, she asserts, "Shakira is not doing an item number in my film. This is just a rumour". The latest buzz is that international pop singer Shakira might dance to the song that was our Telugu item girl Mumaith Khan did for Pokiri. Titled, Wanted: Dead or Alive, the film is now being remade in Hindi with Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia.

Rajini meets Mani , What’s cooking cup ?

Rajinikanth-Mani Ratnam’s recent secret two hour meeting at Mani Ratnam’s office raises to a question, will there be another film from this combination ? Though neither of the sides made any announcements about the meeting there are many speculations going on.  Few says that the visit was purely a courtesy call where Superstar offered his condolences to Mani Ratnam on his brother's untimely demise. Besides this, Rajnikanth has also reportedly discussed about Sivaji being dubbed in Hindi and also about Sultan. Some speculations say that  Mani Ratnam had narrated a story to Rajini and he could next be acting under Mani Ratnam's direction. Earlier the ace director and the superstar worked together for Dalapathy. 

Source: Telugudreams.

Vikram’s Mallanna Movie reaches Guinness Book:
 
The digital invite made exclusively for actor Vikram’s upcoming film Tamil Kanthaswamy, which will be dubbed in to Telugu as Mallanna could make it to the Guinness Book of Records as the most unique and  expensive film invite in history. The invitation, which has been designed to resemble a laptop has two buttons, and at the press of a button, an eight-minute trailer of the film starts playing on the monitor.

 
A 48-page album of the film is also part of the invite.  Each invite cost the producer Rs15,000 and producer Thaanu made 1,500 copies for the mahurat of the film which is scheduled for September 23.  “This is the first time in the history of cinema, that such an expensive and unique invite has been made for the launch of a movie. Hence we are sending it as an entry for the Guinness Book of Records,” said Thanu.

Source: Telugudreams.

When Mani Ratnam blackmailed Rahman:

In the first part of an exclusive interview with A R Rahman, the maestro spoke about how Shah Rukh Khan was made a 'bakra,' and how he made Bappi Lahiri sing in Guru.
In the second and last part, Rahman talks more about Mani Ratnam's Guru, and his other projects.

On dedicating the song Tere Bina to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

When I began working on the soundtrack of Guru, I happened to listen to one of Nusrat saab's softest songs called Sajna Tera Bina. It is simple and heart stirring. There is great beauty in it. I was inspired by it and started composing Tere Bina about eight months ago.

Originally, the song was about 25 minutes long. You know I often write six or seven mukhdas and then there are many variations. I also recorded the song Ay Hairathe for the film but Mani sir felt it was too heavy to be at the start of the film. He thought of using Tere Bina.

Suddenly, the song got a life of its own. But there was one hurdle (chuckles). I had recorded it in the voice of Qadir Khan and he did an excellent job. But Mani sir wanted me to sing it. I said, Qadir will get hurt, and I did not want to hurt him. But there was no way of getting out. It became something like: Either you sing it or it won't be there.

So it was a blackmail?

But in a good way (chuckles). I also told Mani sir that I was fasting then and didn't have the energy to sing it. He said he would wait. (The song as it is has some of Murtaza Khan and Qadir's voices in the Dham Dara Dham Dara part at the beginning. Chinmayee joins Rahman later in the song.)

Interview: Arthur J Pais in New York.

Exclusive! A R Rahman on SRK, Guru and music 
On working with Shah Rukh Khan:

I decided not to compose the music for his film, Om Shanti Om because I was refused the publishing rights of the film. But we could surely work in future. There should be no hard feelings in this business. Shah Rukh is warm-hearted and a smart producer but he was misled in this case.

The concept of music publishing is new in India and his advisors did not understand what it meant. They made him a bakra with their wrong advice.

As a composer, it is important for me to own some rights to the music, so that I could use it any way I want 20 years from now. For me, owning these rights is more important than owning property. Anything can happen to property but music rights will not collapse.

This is not an uncommon thing in the West. But in India, some producers have begun understanding the concept. Aamir Khan is giving me the music publishing rights to his next film. Rajnikant's daughter, who is producing a Tamil film called Hara, is going to do it too.

On his own label

I want to publish not only my non-film compositions but also the songs of legends like Ustad Ghulam Mustafa Khan saab. So many singers, including Sonu Nigam, have learned from him. He is my guru too. There are so many gems of his that are unpublished. Even people who are acquainted with Hindustani music are not aware of this music. I want to do it. There is no commercial consideration in this venture. Over the years, I have composed music for films that are not big in the traditional way. Films like MF Husain's Meenaxi or Shyam Benegal's films.

Exclusive! A R Rahman on SRK, Guru and music
On Bappi Lahiri singing the song Ek Lo Ek Muft in Guru:

The tune for this song had been ready more than three months ago and I wanted Abhishek Bachchan to sing it. But he was abroad and by the time he would return to India, I was going abroad. So there was a dilemma. I felt it was a special song and wanted it to sound fresh.

Just then, I happened to watch some award function on television, and there was Bappida singing a song and getting a lot of applause. I contacted him in Kolkata the next day, and he was in Chennai in a day or two.

It is amazing that he could record the entire song, which is quite wordy and long, in less than two hours and then he went back to Kolkata. The song has been picturised very well on Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai. It is going to be even more popular after the film's release.

On singers Chinmayee, Shreya Ghoshal and Madhushree

Chinmayee sang a beautiful song for me in another Mani Ratnam film, Kannathil Muthamittal, called Deiva Tande Poove. It became very popular. She has won many awards in Tamil Nadu including state awards. I was surprised to see how she could change her voice for this film (She joins Rahman in Tere Bina, one of the most haunting numbers in Guru). There is more strength in her voice than I had thought and it is huskier too. I love singers who are capable of surprising the composers.

When I first heard Shreya a few years ago, I liked her voice but I thought it was a bit shrill. Now, it is full bodied. Apart from singing Barso Re in Guru, she has also sung other numbers for me, like in the Tamil film Jillunu Oru Kathal. The music became very popular and the film did well in cities.

As for Madhushree, she is growing in strength from film to film. She is one of those few singers who are capable of taking a good composition to the next level and make a big difference.

Mani Ratnam signs Rs 120 crore deal:
 
According to sources, Mani Ratnam has signed the biggest ever deal to do a three-version film in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and  his production company Madras Talkies is supposed to be in the final lap of negotiating a whopping Rs 120 crore deal with the Anil Ambani run Reliance Entertainment Big Picture, for all negative rights for three languages. Industry pundits say that if the deal takes place, it will be the biggest for a south Indian film producer and director.
 
The Hindi version will feature Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Govinda in a negative role.   The Tamil and Telugu version will have Vikram doing Abhishek’s role while Aishwarya Rai will be the common heroine for all the three versions. It is going to be a tight rope walk for Ash as she has to juggle her dates with Shankar’s Rajinikanth-starrer Robot during the same period.

Source: Telugudreams.

Johnny Depp’s item number in a Bollywood film:
   
The buzz going around is that the director-composer Vishal Bharadwaj has got the music assignment of Mira Nair's Shantaram. The composer has been asked by Mira to compose a masala Bollywood item number for the film. It is learnt that the item number will be pasteurized on Depp, a source said. Meanwhile Depp, it is learnt, may arrive in India after Christmas for the shooting of the film. Mira Nair has asked Amitabh Bachchan who plays a pivotal role in the film to block his dates for the film at that time, adds the source.

Source: Telugudreams.

Rajinikanth's statue at Madame Tussaud's museum:

Rajnikanth's wax statue will be unveiled at Madame Tussaud's museum ,London this December. Rajnikanth will be leaving for London in August for a session with the Madame Tussaud's sculptors. The life-size wax statue will be opened to public during Christmas.

With this, Rajnikanth joins other Indian superstars Shah Rukh Khan,Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai at the wax museum of Madame Tussaud's London. The museum, every year, unveils a total of just 15 statues.

Source: Telugudreams.

AR Rahaman’s best of ten from his heart:
 
Recently, A R Rahman was asked to shortlist his 10 best compositions. These are the films he chose:

Roja: starring Arvind Ramaswamy and Madhu Bala, Roja marked his debut and led to a long-lasting impact in film industry.
Rangeela: Urmila Matondkar redefined fashion for heroines with her gorgeous costumes in Rangeela. Aamir Khan was at his best, and Rahman's music was outstanding.
Bombay: Mani Ratnam and Rahman paired up once again after Roja. Unfortunately, this film was mired in controversy as it explored the relationship between a Hindu boy and Muslim girl.
Dil Se: Lyricist Gulzar and Rahman teamed up for this, one of the best albums of the 90s. The train song, Chhaiya Chhaiya, rendered by Sukhwinder, established him as a singer overnight.
Taal: It was an association between Bollywood showmen Subhash Ghai.
Kandukonden Kandukonden: The film had Aishwarya Rai, Tabu, Ajith and Mammooty. It was directed by Rajiv Menon and the songs were outstanding.
Zubeidaa: Directed by Shyam Benegal, this film yielded actress Karishma Kapoor's best performance to date.
Lagaan: The only Indian film to be nominated for a Best Foreign Film Oscar in recent memory.
Rang De Basanti: Only a genius like Rahman, can make singer Daler Mehendi sound the way he did in Rang De Basanti.
Guru: Guru became the first big hit of 2007, and the song Tere Bina sung by Rahman went on and on during the Abhi-Ash wedding.

Finally Shankar settles down with Aamir Khan:
 
Apparently, Aamir Khan is all set to play the lead in director Shankar's sci-fi, Robot. If sources are to be believed, Shankar met Aamir a few days ago. Aamir is interested, and Shankar is busy with the film's pre-production. However, it is still not known if Aamir will produce the film as well, or Shankar will rope in some other producer.  

There was a lot of talk about Shah Rukh Khan doing the film under his banner, Red Chillies Entertainment. However, due to creative differences between SRK and Shankar, the two decided to part ways amicably. Aamir will play a scientist who creates a robot with whom his physically challenged child can play with. However, things turn bad when the robot begins to kill people. Aamir then has to terminate his state-of-the-art invention.

Source: Telugudreams.

Salman Khan slaps Katrina Kaif:
 
News of a break-up between Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif were just about dying down and now reports of the couple having a huge fight, in a coffee outlet has come to light.  According to sources, “last Thursday, Salman and Katrina walked in for their coffee fix at around 2.30 pm.

They were chatting when suddenly the argument got heated. Salman got up and slapped his girlfriend across her left cheek. It wasn’t a hard slap but it made a cracking sound, leaving the actress and the onlookers stunned in shocked silence.  Instead of making a scene, she quietly got up and walked out, without uttering a word.”

Source: Telugudreams.

Posted by: Dennis Zach.

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