Bheja Fry actress Bhairavi Goswami took to Twitter today with some strange (and if true, tragic) gossip.
"Nauseating 2 read superstars givg interviews abt wanting a girl baby whn she has gone 2 Bangkok to an IVF clinic which specializes in boy babies. Height of hypocrisy. They knw damn well its a boy, aftr all she has to produce a male heir at any cost - Typical UP mentality, no wonder that state has such high female foeticide."
She was clever enough at least not to specifically say who she was talking about but we all know she's referring to Aishwarya (Amitabh is from UP).
I'm of two minds on this. Bhairavi hasn't offered any proof of her claim, and I'm sort of inclined to think it's a wild claim made up for media attention. And yet...I don't find the idea of it either shocking or surprising. After a weekend spent watching The Tudors (where Jonathan Rhys-Meyers spends 24 episodes in a row demanding a son and divorcing and beheading the women who aren't able to give him one) the idea of a woman (particularly one who lives in a still-patriarchal society) going to the ends of the earth (or in this case Thailand) to make sure the child she's carrying is a boy isn't out of the realm of possibility.
A non-Bollywood, non-India post, if you'll indulge me...
Nokia held a competition recently which challenged participants to make a film using only Nokia cell phones. The winning film, by JW Griffiths, is called Splitscreen: A Love Story, and it's nothing short of remarkable.
The story line is simple and the editing is superb. There's nothing incredibly original here, the wonder is in the way it's done. It's a cute little project that shows that a film needn't be three hours long to pack a punch.
Steven Baker over at Digital Spy is basically my favorite person in the world right now, because he brought me some fab news and I love him for it.* Uday Chopra is finally going to stop torturing us with his attempts at acting! (After Dhoom 3 that is, which...ugh...I can't even...ugh.)
*If I ever see Uday in another film after Dhoom 3 (aka Doomed 3) I'm going to withdraw my love and have you expelled from my kingdom. For I'm Henry VIII I am I am, and I'm fickle like that.
I unashamedly love Aamir Khan's "item number" from Delhi Belly. It's hilarious. The jumpsuit. The chest hair. The scarf. THE DANCING. If you ask me there's a criminal lack of dancing going on in Aamir Khan's world these days, and "I Hate You (Like I Love You)" is the perfect remedy.
I didn't follow any of the casting shenanigan stories when it came to Heroine, and I'm still not that psyched about the film--Aishwarya's a mediocre actress on all but her very best days and after having seen Page 3 and the hot mess that was Fashion I'm not really digging the idea of sitting through yet another Madhur Bhandarkar "deep dark industry expose" film (unless there's a drinking game involved). I'll do it though, because I love Arjun Rampal and Arunoday Singh, and because I'm more than mildly curious how they're going to deal with Aishwarya's pregnancy.
From the looks of this just-released shot of Aishwarya in costume it looks like they're dealing with it by wrapping her in a silver sack.
Another film I haven't been following all that much (a Bollywood blogger who doesn't really follow films...novel concept) is Singularity. There was a time when I considered myself a Josh Hartnett connoisseur, but 1999 is in the past now and the only reason I know about this film at all is because of my love love love for Abhay Deol. I have to say it just sounds...wrong...to put Abhay in a period film (well, a period part of a film at any rate). I'm sure he can pull it off but he's a modern actor with a modern look and I'm not sure how I feel about this look on him...
Yeah, that's Abhay Deol, with a beard and long hair. I...don't know what to say.
The rest of Singularity's B'Town cast is ok. Bipasha Basu stars as Josh's love interest (or the love interest of the dude who looks like Josh Hartnett who Josh Hartnett dreams about while he's a vegetable in a hospital) and I'm guessing the casting session went something like this:
Producer 1: Find me a hot Indian actress.
Producer 2: Well there's this actress named Konkona...I hear she's pretty badass.
Producer 1: Can she act? She can? Ok, she's probably too expensive for us then. How about this Bipasha person, who can't act but has a nice rack?
Producer 2: Done and done.
Atul Kulkarni's in the cast as well which is...awesome? I think that's the right word. I've always had this little crush on him...I even halfheartedly started sketching a little script where he and Vijay Raaz play small-town buddy cops who have a "you distract this guy while I go flirt with his wife" routine.
It's been a long time since I've posted here hasn't it? I have a bit of an excuse--I was in Jamaica, playing bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my best friends (and meeting so many fantastic people!), then in San Juan, Puerto Rico, exploring Old Town and getting a wee bit tipsy (true story) with some more friends, and then finally on a Caribbean cruise with my dad and sister.
I'm so spoiled.
Congratulations Danielle and Omar! <3
Anyways, now I'm back, and I'm slowly catching up on all the awesome (and not so awesome) goings-on in Filmiland.
What's not so awesome? Ready. I'm soooooo over hearing about Ready. I'm just...not interested. Asin's great and Salman's occasionally entertaining but when you watch three or four trailers in a row for a film and are still hard pressed to remember what it's about...well, that's a bad sign. Looks like another mass-produced formulaic bore. Yawn.
What's awesome? I'm glad you asked.
This is awesome:
Let's talk about this. Because I wasn't super excited when I heard about the project, and I wasn't super excited when someone sent me the trailer. But then I watched it. And I watched it again. And I decided I was kind of intrigued.
Politics of Love is about an Obama campaign worker (played by Mallika Sherawat) who falls in love with a McCain campaign worker. Craaaaaaazy, I know. And not just any old McCain campaign worker. A black McCain campaign worker (I know I know, but it's a movie so it doesn't have to be realistic.)
Anyways...drama drama, etc etc. It's your standard girl meets boy, boy happens to work for the spawn of Satan film where everything works out in the end with the help of sassy family and friends and a "can't we all get along" speech (or not...I haven't seen it but I'm assuming there'll be one of those in there somewhere).
So why wasn't I super excited about it? Because even a few years later I still have freaking Obama fatigue. I'm one of those super liberals who isn't really an Obama fan...you know the drill. Anyways. I wasn't sure how much "zomg isn't Obama amazing?!" I could take in one two minute trailer, but I was pleasantly surprised. The fact that I was able to set my political fatigue aside and get (albeit oh so briefly) involved with the rest of the trailer is a good sign. I'm not a big Mallika Sherawat fan either but I'm willing to give this a try.
Plus, come on, Loretta Devine? I fucking love her.
Continuing with things that are awesome, let's talk about Chammak Challo. You know the one. Akon doing his thing on a track that got leaked and made Shahrukh Khan cry?
Three things. First, this track is HOT. Like...I've listened to it a hundred times in two days hot. Second, a note to SRK: if it makes you feel at all better, I had absolutely no intention of seeing RA.One at all until I heard Chammak Challo. Now I'm willing to go just to check out the picturization. So see? Life's not all bad. :) Third, Akon could become a Bollywood playback singer in a heartbeat. His Hindi sounds better when he sings than mine does, and I've been studying Hindi for damn near five years now. If he and Vishal ever did an album together...just sayin'...
Akon. So hot right now. Akon.
Ahem. Moving on...
Another trailer, this time for Breakaway, the new Russell Peters/Rob Lowe film about a desi ice hockey team. Think The Mighty Ducks meets Bend It Like Beckham. It has all the things I look for in a film: Rob Lowe, Russell Peters, Anupam Kher, and Sikhs on ice.
And finally, the official trailer for Aarakshan is out, and it looks like a humdinger. I'm excited to see Saif finally do something that looks interesting. Add in the riveting Prateik Babbar and you've got a film I'm dying to see.
Not a bad group of things to be excited about!
There is one thing I'm starting to get a little nervous about, and that's Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. I have exceptionally high hopes and expectations for Zoya's second film, based on both how absolutely amazing Luck By Chance was and on the ZNMD cast. Other than Katrina Kaif, the film has a cast you simply can't go wrong with. Hrithik, Farhan, Abhay, and Kalki are all favorites of mine and are phenomenally talented. And of course I'm drawn to anything set in Spain. Which brings me to my concern:
Spain. I love it. The best times of my life have been in Spain. Every once in a while I swear I can still smell it.
And I'm afraid that it's about to be turned into a film cliche. La Tomatina? Running with the bulls? I worry that my beloved Spain is being used as an exotic backdrop rather than as a legitimate character in the film.
That, along with the fact that I'm horribly underwhelmed by the soundtrack, is bringing down my expectations just a little bit. Who knows, it could end up being a phenomenal film. But I'm getting a bit worried...
Oh oh oh! Forgot to add the trailer for My Friend Pinto, which looks HILARIOUS and stars Prateik Babbar (swoon) and Kalki Koechlin (total girl crush). I can't wait for this one!
