Kabir Singh is an official remake of 2017 Telugu blockbuster ‘Arjun Reddy’

New Delhi: Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani starrer ‘Kabir Singh’ took the box office by storm on day one. The film, that released on June 21, has received positive reviews from fans and is unstoppable on day two as well.

Noted film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the latest collections on Twitter.

He wrote, “#KabirSingh is unstoppable and unshakeable… Continues its heroic run on Day 2… Scores big numbers, despite #INDvAFG #CWC19 cricket match… Eyes ₹ 70 cr [+/-] weekend… Fantastic trending PAN India… Fri 20.21 cr, Sat 22.71 cr. Total: ₹ 42.92 cr. India biz.”

The film is an official remake of 2017 Telugu blockbuster ‘Arjun Reddy’. It is helmed by Sandeep Vanga who also directed the original. Shahid is said to have delivered his career best performance in ‘Kabir Singh’ and the film has also emerged his biggest opener till date.

On day one, it had collected Rs 20 Crores, thereby surpassing the opening day business of Shahid’s latest outing, ‘Padmaavat’.

Film Review By: Rizwan Asad & Shaheen Raaj Bharat “Bharat Is A Super Entertainer With Emotions As Its Strong USP” Banner: Real Life Productions, T–Series & Salman Khan Films Producers: Atul Agnihotri, Alvira Khan Agnihotri, Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar & Nikhil Namit Director: Ali Abbas Zafar Star Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Tabu, Disha Patani, Sunil Grover, Satish Kaushik, Jackie Shroff, Sonali Kulkarni, Mushtaq Khan, Brijendra Kala, Anant Vidhat Sharma, Aasif Shaikh, Nora Fatehi, Manav Vij, Shashank Arora, Kashmira Irani, Ivan Sylvester Rodrigues, child artiste Barbiee Sharma, Kabir Sajid, Aaryan Prajapati & Matin Rey Tangu, Kumud Kumar Mishra, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Rajiv Gupta & Meiyang Chang Music: Vihal-Shekhar & Julius PackiamIn Bollywood, a film that covers an entire lifespan of a character is very rare & is only seen in biopics. Hollywood has done that quite often in fictional films but in our cinema, it has rarely been witnessed. Blockbuster director Ali Abbas Zafar, after delivering 2 of the Rs. 300 crore grosser’s, is now back with Bharat.  It stars Salman Khan in the lead & he is seen in variant of avatars as he ages through the film. The looks of the superstar Salman Khan has indeed been appreciated.  So the scripted scenario of Bharat unfolds the journey of a man & a nation together. The story begins in the year 1947 in Mirpur village near Lahore, Pakistan. Bharat (Salman Khan) is a kid & his father Gautam Kumar (Jackie Shroff) dotes on him. This is the time of the Partition & Bharat & his family is compelled to leave for India. At the railway station, Bharat is climbing on top of the train with his sister Gudiya (Barbiee Sharma) when she falls down on the railway platform. Gautam Kumar has already managed to safely climb atop the train but he goes down to search his Gudiya. But before that, he gives his watch to Bharat & assures him that he’ll be back. He also tells him to go with his mother Janki (Sonali Kulkarni), brother & sister to Gautam Kumar’s sister Jamuna’s (Ayesha Raza Mishra) shop, namely the Hind Ration Store in Delhi. Bharat & his family cross over to India & thus go to the ration shop as asked by Gautam Kumar. They are quite poor & Bharat starts doing odd jobs. Bharat soon grows up as a dashing young man (Salman Khan) & he & his childhood friend Vilayati (Sunil Grover) join a circus. Here he comes across the sizzling Radha (Disha Patani). Both Bharat & Radha get into a relationship while also doing death defying stunts. However when Bharat realizes his stunts might be influencing youngsters to do the same without proper training, he quits the circus. He goes to an employment exchange office where he meets Kumud (Katrina Kaif) & gets smitten by her. Bharat & Vilayati are sent to the Middle East to work in the oil fields. The money is good but not as much as he expected to earn. Hence, Bharat decides to work in the dangerous underground mines. Kumud who is now in love with Bharat stops him from taking up the project since she’s aware that the risk is quite high. Bharat however still takes up the work. All is well at first but 21 days later, an explosion takes place in the underground mine. It seems near impossible for Bharat & his other colleagues to come out alive. What happens next forms the rest of the crux of the film. Bharat is based on the 2014 Korean flick named Ode To My Fatherwhich was directed by Yoon Je-Kyoon. The story has been Indianised very well & the important events of the post-Independence India like the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, rise of unemployment, 1983 Cricket World Cup finale, era of liberalization & globalization, emerging trend of redevelopment et al are well inserted in the narrative. Director Ali Abbas Zafar & Varun V Sharma’s screenplay is effective & keeps the viewers engaged from start to finish. The emotional sequences especially are quite well written. Ali Abbas Zafar & Varun V Sharma’s dialogues are simple & sharp & even quite funny at some places. That apart Ali Abbas Zafar’s direction is topnotch. Unlike his previous films, Bharat is in a different zone altogether but Ali Abbas Jafar handles it all like a pro. The film changes tracks every 15 to 20 minutes & to handle such a film is not a cakewalk. For instance, after the tragic Partition scene, the film gets a bit comic & even quite colorful in the circus sequences. The switch however happens quite seamlessly & this can be seen throughout the film. On the flipside however, the humor is forced in a few scenes & doesn’t make the desired impact. Also, the National Anthem scene seems unwarranted for & could have been written in a better way. Bharat begins very well, showing the 70 year old Bharat & his life in Delhi. One might feel that the makers perhaps have shown too much at this point. But one need not worry because there’s a lot that the principal character goes through in his life & it slowly gets unveiled. The childhood portion is moving while the circus scenes are vibrant & entertaining. The real fun however begins once Bharat meets Kumud & later when he starts working in the Middle East. Till this point, there hasn’t been much conflict in the tale. But it finally enters the narrative once Bharat & his teammates get trapped. The manner in which the film goes on a high at this point is seen to be believed. The 2^nd half gets better thankfully. The scenes of the ship are quite good & watch out for how the humor is so well infused in the sequence where the pirates attack the vessel! The best however is reserved for the pre-climax. An interesting development takes place here & it’ll surely bring tears to the eyes of the viewers, a la Bajrangi Bhaijaan which was released in the year 2015. Besides the film ends on a justified note! Vishal-Shekhar’s music is good but could have been better. “Slow Motion”is the top song of the lot followed by “Chashni”. “Aithey Aa”is well choreographed. “Zinda”is exhilarating. “Tupreya”, “Aaya Na Tu” & “Thap Thap”are okay. Julius Packiam’s background score is better & exhilarating, especially in the emotional scenes. Vaibhavi Merchant & Adil Shaikh’s choreography is appealing, especially in the “Slow Motion”& Aithey Aa”. Marcin Laskawiec’s cinematography is captivating & some scenes are very well captured. Rajnish Hedao’s production design is quite rich. Ashley Rebello, Alvira Khan Agnihotri, Veera Kapur Ee & Lolveen Bains’ costumes are authentic & also very, very glamorous. The ones worn by Katrina Kaif & Disha Patani stand out. SeaYoung Oh, Parvez Shaikh & Dave Judge’s action is not too gory & is appropriate. Rameshwar Bhagat’s editing falters in a few places but overall, it’s commendable, considerable the expansive storyline. Performance wise Salman Khan as expected rocks the show. He is dashing & entertaining in each & every avatar. And he seems convincing in all these makeovers. In the circus scene, he’s supposed to be below 30 years ago & it comes out just right. Even as an old man, he fits the part & makes subtle changes in his speech, body language et al. His fans are surely in for a treat! Katrina Kaif looks ravishing & performance wise, she is first rate. She gets to essay a very well-written part & she does justice to it. Her conversation with Salman Khan while munching on shawarma, a muslim non-veg dish is quite memorable. Sunil Grover gets a lot of screen time & is almost like the 2^nd lead of the film. And he makes good use of the opportunity & would surely be appreciated. Jackie Shroff’s screen time is very limited but he has a crucial part & he makes his presence felt. Disha Patani is sizzling & has a fine screen presence. Tabu as Mehek has a powerful cameo. Aasif Sheikh as Mehek’s husband stands out with his characterization & humor. The kid actors namely Barbiee Sharma, Kabir Sajid as young Bharat, Aaryan Prajapati as young Vilayati & Matin Rey Tangu as young Jimmy are adorable. Nora Fatehi as Sussan looks quite hot but is wasted. Sonali Kulkarni, Kashmira Irani as Mehek, Kumud Kumar Mishra as Keemat, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Shashank Arora as Chhote, Rajiv Gupta as Gulati & Ivan Sylvester Rodrigues as Gupta are quite decent. Meiyang Chang is hardly there but his look is quite badass. Tail Piece: On the whole, Bharat is a super entertainer with emotions as its strong USP & Salman Khan like never before. The superb combination of Salman Khan, emotions & the release period coinciding with Ramzan Eid will ensure fireworks at the ticket windows. At the box office turnstiles, it will fetch bumper profits for all concerned. Period!

“Ananya will be working in Bollywood now”: said Chunky Panday

Ananya Panday with her parents Chunky Panday and Bhavna Panday (courtesy Instagram)
NEW DELHI: 

HIGHLIGHTS

1. “Right now Ananya’s focus is on films,” said Chunky Panday
2. “I was all set to go to college”: said Ananya
3. “Wanted to give it one shot before I left,” she added

“Ananya is a great student, but right now her focus is on films,” says actor Chunky Panday of his daughter Ananya Panday, who has just made her Bollywood debut with the film Student of the Year 2. Apart from her acting stint, Ananya recently got talked about when some girls, who claimed to be Ananya’s schoolmates, shared on social media that the actress lied about her admission to international universities, stating she never applied for them.

The comments came earlier this month via an Instagram account after Ananya reportedly spoke about it in an interview how she gave up admission abroad for Student Of The Year 2.

“I was all set to go to college. I was going to USC (University of Southern California) to study, but wanted to give it one shot before I left. So I went and auditioned for the film. And luckily, I got it. This is a dream come true,” Ananya was quoted as saying.

Chunky told IANS he wasn’t aware about the social media buzz around his daughter’s education. “Yes, she got into two universities, but did not go because she got the film… I don’t think she will be going to the university now. She will be working in Bollywood now,” he said.

Chunky also praised his daughter’s first on-screen performance. “I am so proud of her. She performed well. I was scared if she would be able to perform well or not… But she did a good job. I am happy about her achievement. She is an intelligent person. She has a long journey ahead,” he remarked.

On the work front, Chunky is gearing up for the release of his short film Tap Tap, one of the films from anthology Shuruaat Ka Twist.

Katrina Kaif’s first film as producer is expected to go on the floors by the end of 2019

Katrina Kaif photographed during the promotions of Bharat.
MUMBAI: 

HIGHLIGHTS

1. Katrina Kaif will next be seen opposite Salman Khan in Bharat
2. Katrina bought the rights of French film He Loves Me He Loves Me Not
3. I would like to put my name for which I feel very strongly about: Katrina

Actress Katrina Kaif who is gearing up for the release of her forthcoming film Bharat, hopes that she will start shooting of the film under her production house by this year. Katrina was interacting with the media to promote Bharat on Friday in Mumbai. There were reports that Katrina Kaif has bought the rights of the French film He Loves Me He Loves Me Not a while ago but the project couldn’t take shape earlier due to undisclosed reasons. However, it has now taken off and is being developed.

Notably, Katrina is the latest leading Bollywood heroine to get into production. Actresses Priyanka Chopra (Purple Pebble Pictures), Anushka Sharma (Clean Slate Films) and Swara Bhasker (Kahaaniwaaley) already have their production houses going, ensuring a greater, better presentation of women in Indian cinema.

Talking about the development, Katrina said, “That French film is a story on which we are working on for quite a sometime. It’s not a French film actually but there were few ideas which had come to me. I really liked it and I might put my name to it as a producer. I would like to put my name for which I feel very strongly about. There are few discussions happening so, hopefully this year will start shooting for the film.”

Katrina is one of the actors who joined social media very recently but in short span of time, she has millions of followers on multiple social media platforms, when asked Katrina how she feels about it, she said, “I am happy. I think it’s been a nice decision for me. I don’t know why I was stressed about it. I was really against coming on social media. I remember when Twitter first came to India, my manager told me that Twitter wants me to join this platform and that time, it was an endorsement kind of a thing and nowadays, everybody is posting on Twitter for free and I was not much interested in coming on this platform and now everybody is on Twitter so, I feel sometimes I lack foresight and the vision.”

Katrina added, “For me, the deciding factor to join social media was there was a phase where everything I was reading about myself, I was like this is not a correct representation of me and I used to feel very helpless about it. Then, I started thinking about why it is happening with me more so than other people then, I realised that everyone has a platform on which they used to speak so that made me join social media.”

Terribly Tiny Talkies & Tipping Point Come Together To Create 6 Path-Breaking Short Films

Terribly Tiny Talkies & Tipping Point, the digital content arm of Viacom18 Studios come together to create 6 path-breaking short films.

2 short films from this lineup are Ishq Ki Googly & Glitch featuring Amol Parashar & Mona Singh respectively. They have already been released. These films are now live on TTT’s YouTube channel & the streaming platform Voot under the umbrella Shortcuts.

Ishq Ki Googly is written & directed by Neeraj Udhwani & also features Manu Rishi (of Ankhon Dekhi & Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! fame). The film is a quirky comedy, which centers around a husband’s plan gone awry to murder his wife’s illicit lover.

Written & directed by Shubham Yogi, Glitch is a heartwarming tale of a 12 year old boy who travels back in time to try & stop the break-up of his parents.  

Terribly Tiny Talkies is India’s premier short films studio which has produced over 30 films in the last 3 years, many of which have travelled to film fest’s across the globe & have also won prestigious awards.  

Their repertoire includes the Jio Filmfare Short Film Awards 2018 winner Khujli starring Jackie Shroff & Neena Gupta, Kheer featuring Anupam Kher, Amit Masurkar’s L starring Pankaj Tripathi & Agli Baar which features Rasika Duggal.

Viacom18 Studios is one of India’s premier motion pictures Studio which has produced critically & commercially acclaimed films such as Andhadun (2018), Padmaavat (2018) & Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013).

The collaboration between Terribly Tiny Talkies & Tipping Point, the digital content arm of Viacom18 Studios marks yet another exciting chapter in the ever-evolving space of short films that has been consistently offering path-breaking content to the audiences.

Bollywood Celebs Bagged The 10^TH Newsmakers Achievers Award 2019

 Just recently Bollywood Celebs like singer Asha Bhosle, Actress Moushmi Chatterjee, Pandit Ajay Pohankar et al received the lifetime achievement awards at the 10^th Newsmakers Achievers Awards 2019 at YB Chauhan Auditorium, Mumbai.  

Group Editor of NBC Vaidehi Sachin averred, “We organize this award ceremony to acknowledge & facilitate the unsung heroes who selflessly contribute to the society in their respective fields.”

The few prominent award baggers are as follows: Lifetime Achievement–singer Asha Bhosle, 

Lifetime Achievement–Pt Ajay Pohankar, Lifetime Achievement–Moushumi Chatterjee, Best Director–Raj Kaushal, Best Film Critic–Kamaal R Khan, Best Actor (Marathi)–Rajesh Shringarpure, Best Actress (Marathi)–Chhaya Kadam, Best Choreographer–Geeta Kapoor, Best Comedian, Kiku Sharda (The Kapil Sharma Show), Best Social Reformer–Zingubai Bolke, Best RJ & Anchor–Salil Acharya, Best Actress-Ankita Lokhande for debut film Manikarnika, Best special Kid-Daksh Bhaskar, Best Entertainment Editor-Prashant Shishodia for Best Show Ye Film Nahi Hai Asan (ND TV India), Best Astrologer- Jitendra Patel, Best News Channel-Mumbai Tak  (Sahil Joshi), Transgender-Navya Singh & Best child artist-Akriti Sharma for the serial Kulfi Kumar Bajewala.

The organizers this year have dedicated this day to help the “Orphan Girls of Kashmir” towards their education; the thought is inspired from & in support with our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana”. The small girls were present at the event whose parents were killed by militants & of them lost them in riots. Music Director Bappi Lahiri, actor Makrand Deshpande & Abha Singh came specially to present the award.