B-town caught by Navratri spirit

The festival of Durga Maa is celebrated all over the country and our Bollywood is not way far behind in the celebrations. Here are some of the B-town celebrities caught in spiritual mode; turning out in their traditional best.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who of late has not been in the public eye following her pregnancy, surprisingly visited Sanjay Dutt's Mata Ki Chowki along with her parents-in-law - Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.

Also there were Kajol with Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor with mom Neetu Singh, Lisa Haydon, Karan Johar, David Dhawan and many others.

Kajol was seen at yet another Dussehra celebration, held at North Bombay Sarbojinik Durga Puja. The B-town favourite who is usually dressed in casuals was seen in elegant sarees at both the places.

Kajol's cousins Rani Mukherji and Sharbani Mukherjee, Ashutosh and Sunita Gowarikar had also come there to seek blessings from the almighty.

In the other part of the city... Himesh Reshammiya, who is totally charged up for the release of his film 'Damadamm', went to three Navratri Pandals to promote his film - first Kora Kendra, Vardhaman Ekta Navratri and finally went to Malpani grounds.

Koena Mitra visited a Durga Puja celebration held in Nasik.....

On this note, IndiaGlitz extends all of you warm Navratri wishes...

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Force' is okay, 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster' tries, rest fail

Yeh toh hona hi tha. And it's doesn't really require a trade person or an industry expert to claim so; after all any person on the street can be expected to state that when as many as five films clash with each other, there are bound to be losses for most involved. This is what has happened for majority of films that arrived over the weekend gone by. As things stand out today, only 'Force' and maybe 'Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster' would be able to cover their costs with the rest - 'Hum Tum Shabana', 'Tere Mere Phere' and 'Chargesheet' turning out to be all around disasters. Let's begin with 'Force'. It's 16 crores weekend has only ensured that the film stays afloat. Now whether this Nishikant Kamat directed film would see any further escalation is something that is waited with bated breath. Reason being that for it to reach shores comfortably, there is some distance yet to be covered. Having said that, in the bigger scheme of things where John had disasters like 'Jhootha Hi Sahi' and 'Aashayein' behind him with Vipul Shah not quite seeing good success with 'Kucch Luv Jaisa', 'Action Replayy' and 'London Dreams', these are still the results that are reasonably heartening at the least. The other prominent release of the week, 'Saheb Biwi aur Gangster', has enjoyed an all around appreciation and if the film has taken a sub-par opening of just 4 crores, it has it's makers to be blamed entirely. There was hardly any awareness created and audience were not even sure about the film's release till it hit the screens. The film has potential to hang on but then there is competition ahead with as many as three new films in the coming weekend. Now that's disappointing since this Tigmanshu Dhulia film could be well enjoying a cult outing in years to come. As for 'Hum Tum Shabana', the film has proven to be a shocking disaster. Frankly, one expected an opening in the range of 50% at the least despite the fact that it's promotion had seen a downfall during the fortnight leading to it's release. Still good music coupled with fairly amusing promos made one feel that this Tusshar Kapoor-Minissha Lamba-Shreyas Talpade film would see at least decent footfalls. However a mere 20% opening with just 1.25 crores coming in means that the film would be one of the biggest disasters of 2011, hence joining the likes of 'Game'. 'Tere Mere Phere' was made at a much lesser budget though but it's 1 crore opening weekend isn't something to cheer about either. Just like 'Hum Tum Shabana', even this Vinay Pathak starrer couldn't rake in good reviews and found complete rejection from the audience. As for 'Chargesheet', the only people who saw the film were special invitees and friends and family members of Dev Anand. The film merely saw a token release and didn't even make it to appropriate show timings in mainstream theatres.

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Sony Music bags 'Osthi'

Sony Music has bagged the audio rights of Silambarasan's forthcoming 'Osthi'! 'Osthi' that features Simbu, Richa Gangopadhyay and Sonu Sood in lead roles is gearing up for a Diwali release and is directed by Dharani. The music is scored by Thaman.

The songs of 'Osthi' are said to be power-packed, like how STR's songs always are and sources vouch that 'Kalasalla...', an item number featuring Simbu, Mallika Sherawat and Sonu Sood and crooned by T Rajendar and LR Eswari will rocket up the charts.

The film's audio will be unveiled at a grand scale on October 6 along with a trailer release. 'Osthi' is the remake of Bollywood super hit 'Dabangg' that had Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha essaying the lead roles.

With a director who knows his commercial mantra like the back of his hand, Simbu who is at his mass best, a heroine who has shot to fame even before her debut, Mallika for an item  number and Thaman with peppy tunes, 'Osthi' sure boasts off many USPs

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Pithamagan' to roll in Hindi with Hrithik, Saif?

Another Tamil movie is making its way up north to see a remake. Satish Kaushik who successfully remade Bala's 'Sethu', as 'Tere Naam' starring Salman Khan, is now eyeing on another Bala venture, 'Pithamagan' that features Vikram and Suriya, which shot them to fame and a whole new level as actors.

The filmmaker has bagged the copyrights of 'Pithamagan'. This Vikram and Suriya starrer was a big hit down south and Kaushik is very excited about its copyrights.  The film had a rustic feel to it and portrayed the bond between the protagonists and even fetched Vikram a National Award for his performance as Chithan.

Says Satish, "I had watched Pithamagan at the big screen in 2003. I was moved by the story and especially the character played by Vikram. Ever since I wanted to remake it and now I finally can!" Other B-town producers, Boney, Vashu and Sanjay Dutt were also keen for the remake rights but Satish grabbed the deal beating them all.

Although the film revolves around Vikram, Suriya, Sangeetha and Laila, its Vikram's character that formed the crux of the plot and Bala received much acclaim for the etching of Chithans character.

While the cast and crew haven't been finalized by Satish Kaushik, rumour mills have it that Hrithink Roshan or Saif Ali Khan will be roped in to essay Vikrams role in the remake.

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Ajith in Director Shankar’s Film as ‘Indian 2’?

‘Thala’ Ajith is basking in the big success of his ‘Mankatha’ and being considered the coveted top star of Tamil cinema with the raise of his popularity and commercial value as this actor is now commanding a salary of more than 18 Crore for a film now.

While Ajith is currently acting in Chakri Toleti directed ‘Billa 2’ the actor is also holding talks for his next film with big directors and producers. It is been reported that the actor’s next would be directed by his favourite director Vishnuvardhan and the movie would be produced by A M Ratnam.
But, the latest report is that Ajith is being considered by director Shankar for his next film that could the sequel of the blockbuster movie Kamal Hassan starrer ‘Indian’. As Shankar had already expressed his idea of doing the sequel when Anna Hazare, the real life ‘Indian’, was leading the crusade against corruption and producer A M Ratnam, who produced ‘Indian’, had also said that he would be interested in doing the sequel of ‘Indian’. If things fall in line as per the wishes of these big names then it is ‘Thala’ Ajith, who is all set to don that ‘Indian’ in the proposed film ‘Indian 2’!

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Vimal turning hot star in Kollywood.

Vagai Sooda Va is doing good business at the box office and its hero Vimal is turning out to be a hot star in Kollywood.

His next film is titled Ishtam in which he is paired opposite Kajal Agarwal’s sister Nisha Agarwal. Incidentally, Nisha is making her acting debut in Kollywood with Ishtam, the remake of the Telugu flick Emmayindhi Ee Vela.

Soon after completing Ishtam, Vimal will shift his attention to a movie that is to be directed by newbie R Ravi. It may be mentioned here that Ravi had apprenticed under Mysskin. The heroine for this film is yet to be finalized. Speaking about this film, Ravi said that it will be produced by S Nandagopal and the title will be announced soon.

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Vasantha Balan gets AR Rahman and Mani Ratnam

Director Vasantha Balan’s Aravaan is in the last leg of shooting. The director has done a thorough research for this film which stars Aadhi and Pasupathy in the lead roles with popular Bollywood star Kabir Bedi in a cameo.

The music for Aravaan has been scored by Karthik, a well known playback singer. The songs are said to have come out well and the audio launch is scheduled on October 5. Oscar winning music director AR Rahman will release the CD and director Mani Ratnam will receive the first copy from him, say sources.

Aravaan has created lot of expectations with the few stills that were released for the public eye. Moreover, being a Vasantha Balan film, movie buffs can expect something novel in it.

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Dhanush continues to write

National award winning actor Dhanush turned into a lyricist with Mayakkam Enna, a film directed by his brother Selvaraghavan. This song also went on to become a huge hit. Encouraged with the response that he had got for his lyrics, Dhanush now plans to continue penning the lyrics.

He has also written a song for 3, a film that is directed by his wife Aishwarya Rajinikanth. Apart from writing the lyrics, Dhanush has also rendered the song along with the film’s leading lady Shruti Haasan. Newcomer Anirudh has scored the music for this film.

The star says that he took to writing lyrics for Mayakkam Enna and the great response from his fans has encouraged him to continue with his newfound passion.

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