Fashion Fever turns into Fashion Fear

Bollywood has its own version of judging a book by its cover - prettier the cover, the better the book. And by cover, we obviously mean the stylish evening gowns, swanky cars, pricey accessories and high-flying lifestyle.
The 'judging', however, comes with the lack of these things. And no actor wants to be at the receiving end. They're all too enthusiastic to flaunt their stunning stilettos, dazzling jewels and designer labels, whether on the red carpet, ramps, at parties or shows. But then comes the dreaded reality - the fashion police who's always on the prowl, whether it's a 'slip', a miss, too much or too less. All the beauties are given the final verdict. This week, Bollywood Big Story debates 'Kyun Fashion Fever Bana Fashion Fear?'
Tune in to Bollywood Big Story this Saturday, Febryary 25 at 12:30 pm only on zoOm - India's No 1 Bollywood channel.
Bipasha Basu, Actor: "Showbiz is all about looking good, everybody retains their style statements. But I don't take any pressure about dressing up."

Kareena Kapoor, Actor: "Being casual is more stylish than those fashion labels and evening gowns, it's all in the attitude."

Raveena Tandon, Actor: "Fashion faux pas, and the style police is a new trend. It was easier back in our day. We'd wrap a shoot and head to the awards. There's a lot of media attention today."


sources from: Tha times of india

Prateik, Amy not ashamed to be linked

Talk about being brutally honest, Bips isn't the only one who's great at that. Even the younguns know how to cut the c**p and get to the point. No diplomacies, no political correctness and no 'right' answers.
For instance, the bold and beautiful jodi Prateikand Amy Jackson.
The lovely couple was at the zoOm studios to promote their film, and when quizzed about their alleged link-up, Prateik nonchalantly confessed, "Rumours are bound to do the rounds. We're super close, and we have a great chemistry. Amy is gorgeous, and we're not ashamed to be linked!"
Amy quickly added, "Prateik is my best friend in Mumbai and we're pretty close. As far as rumours go, you can't stop them, you just have to be thick-skinned."
Now that's a refreshing change... a couple that doesn't plainly deny it. Kudos!

sources from: Tha times of india

Bollywood posters go dare bare with women

Chiselled abdomens, cleavage, the body contour...Bollywood filmmakers are zooming in on women's curves to create titillating posters, aimed at crucial first week collections, perhaps emboldened by today's liberal censors.
The first look of Vikram Bhatt's production "Hate Story" creates a mystery about the woman in the picture but sends out the right message about the film's content - bold and daring. It has a mystery girl with her bare, tattooed back visible and a gun placed strategically at the back of her jeans.
" 'Hate Story' is a brave film. Of course, everyone wants eyeballs for the film, but one can't have a sizzling poster and then have nothing inside the film. I feel the poster is a very tame representation of a film and so I have to say that 'Hate Story' is really brave and pathbreaking in its content," Bhatt told IANS.
Until the "Hate Story" poster was launched Wednesday, the first look of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt's "Jism 2" and "Blood Money" were the talk of the tinsel town.
Film historian S.M.M. Ausaja, who has a book "Bollywood In Posters" to his credit, has an interesting observation.
"Over the years, it is the first week's collections that matter the most now. All filmmakers are desperately trying to cover their costs in their first week. To cover that, they uncover women in posters," Ausaja told IANS.
"Titillating through posters is not a new thing. Years ago there was a movie called 'Chetna'. It had a very bold poster. But I feel now the film industry has come to a stage where even if it has 10 percent sensual content, filmmakers try to cash in on it with such gimmicks."
The peekaboo into "Jism 2", a movie which promises to be more sensual than its prequel "Jism", has a well-endowed woman, Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone, lying naked with a wet white sheet covering her. The shot is bold, yet subtly seductive -- enough to generate curiosity.
While the poster of "Blood Money" is more direct and in-the-face, with Amrita Puri dressed in a bikini, striking a suggestive pose with a bare-chested Kunal Khemu, and both lying in a pool of money.
In recent times, Bollywood has seen an array of films with suggestive posters: " The Dirty Picture", "Sahib Biwi Aur Gangster", "Dum Maaro Dum", "Dev D", "Kurbaan", "Julie", "Paap", "Sins" and the long-awaited "Rang Rasiya".
"The Dirty Picture" had bold and beautiful Vidya Balan in a cleavage-baring, itsy-bitsy red blouse, standing undaunted even as three men - Naseeruddin Shah, Tusshar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi - were clicked too close for comfort in the poster.
Dusky beauty Deepika Padukone's wild side was unleashed when the first look of "Dum Maaro Dum" was unravelled. The poster had a zoomed in side look at her washboard abs, and her long, curly tresses resting stylishly over her bosom.
Kareena Kapoor bared her toned back for the poster of "Kurbaan", in which she was seen getting up, close and personal with her beau Saif Ali Khan.
The poster of Emraan Hashmi-Jacqueline Fernandes-starrer "Murder 2" was steamy too, and so was the glimpse into Ketan Mehta's "Rang Rasiya", with Randeep Hooda and Nandana Sen seen in a suggestive position.
Bhatt notes: "Bollywood per se has always flirted with the bold film. But now with liberal censors, people are able to try bolder stuff -- adult content for an audience that is not judgmental, for an audience that is not embarrassed to watch sensuality."

sources from: Tha times of india

Don't call me chocolaty: Rishi Kapoor

High on the success of "Agneepath", when actor Rishi Kapoor was in the capital recently, he told an amused audience that it'd be better for his rooh if they call him romantic instead of chocolaty, though he preferred the term 'whisky role'. 

On 'Agneepath' Main pehle yeh picture nahi kar raha tha. Par shukar karein ki humari film toh chali aur humari izzat bach gayi. I told Sanju you're the main villain and I'm your sidekick. Picture zarur chalni chahiye. We're very glad that the film is doing so well. The thing is, you have worked in a film in which people didn't expect that you could do such a role. People are shocked ki Rishi Kapoor ne aisa kaam kiya. We are happy ki main aur Sanju kharab aadmi hain, lekin picture achchi hai.

Somebody asked me online that this Rauf Lala in "Agneepath" is a Muslim bad man, isn't that casteist? But I told them that the main antagonist of the film is a Hindu who recites shlokas from the Gita, so there's nothing like being casteist. We are very secular in our thinking.

On his role being chopped There was a scene that even I felt shouldn't have been there. I play a kasai in the film jo bakri ke daant dikha ke bechta hai. Aur ek scene mein main ek ladki ke daant dikha ke usko bechta hoon, which was, I think, very derogatory. I'm glad the censor board cut it out. So isme maine hasi-mazak kar diya ki ek toh role chota sa hai, usme bhi tumne aur chota kar diya.

On doing a negative role when he was young Jaise bachcha ma ka kajal laga ke daadhi mooch bana ke darane ki koshish karta hai, waise lagta main. Main jab chocolaty tha, toh kaise daraata Rauf Lala ke role mein?

On remaking PrithviRaj Kapoor's films Meri tauba, we can't do what he's already done before. We cannot make such legendary epics. What he has done should be kept for posterity.

On remakes Apna apna nazariya hai. Karan made "Agneepath" because his father had made it 22 years back, and it didn't work that well. It was a cult film, but he was very disheartened that it didn't work. After so many years, a new director gave him his version of the film, and he wanted to fulfill his father's dream. Remakes don't mean an exact copy. Even this film was moulded, like my character wasn't there in the original film. So I had no reference point. See, world mein kahaniyan toh saath-aath hi hain, problems toh woh hi hain. Humein banana toh wahi padta hai, so I don't think there's any harm if you can dabble with remakes.

On Bollywood not doing well internationally Perhaps when we design our films we keep in mind the mathematics of the film. Meaning humein gaane bhi chahiye, romance bhi chahiye. Ab woh zamaana chala gaya jahaan villain hote the, maar dhaad hoti thi, comedian hota tha. So when you design a film to incorporate all these things, the story gets lost on an international platform. Hum desion ko ye bahut pasand hai. Humari sabhyata mein naach gaana hai. It's part of our ethos. Gaana to humare maran janam, har jagah mein hai. So we Indians want to live by that. To compete internationally we have to alienate ourselves from this, and this we cannot do. We basically pitch our films for the Indian audience.

Being a character actor Because of many socio-economic reasons, our films are changing. Earlier we wanted to make films that reached out to the autowalas, to paanwalas. But now because of the multiplexes mushrooming everywhere, where tickets are so expensive, people who are expected to buy them are expected to like a different kind of cinema.

So when you don't make the routine stuff, senior actors are wielded into the plots to appeal to a wider audience. Jaise pehle zamane mein har actor ke paas do-teen films hoti thi. Bachpan mein bichde, climax mein mile. But those things have changed now. Aur meri journey toh abhi shuru hui as far as being a character actor goes. I'm a very big optimist. Isse better time kya hoga? You cannot rest on your past laurels. Kaam to ab achcha hone wala hai.

Rohit Shetty involved in a road accident

Rohit Shetty, who is known to be passionate about his two cars, recently got involved in a road accident. 

Says a source, "RS loves driving his sports car to his shoots, and on that particular morning, he was driving to Film City when a driver banged into his car. An enraged Rohit was all ready to step out and give the driver a piece of his mind when the driver defused the situation by saying, "I know you! You are the " Singham" director. I loved your film."

Rohit dismissed the incident as a small one. "It was a small dent on the door. I was upset, but he said sorry even though it wasn't his fault and he was driving slowly. We resolved the matter then and there."

Sanjay didn't misbehave with me: Ameesha Patel

Ameesha Patel and Sanjay Dutt had a fracas at Rohit Dhawan's sangeet in Goa last week.
The incident irritated Dutt so much that he returned to Mumbai, without attending the wedding.
Here's what happened. Ameesha came to the sangeet wearing a chaniya-choli that left most of her cleavage exposed. Dutt who is protective about the actress as she was good friends of his wife Manyata until recently, and also has been his co-star in several films, asked her to cover-up. Then he went a step ahead and took her dupatta from her shoulder and draped it around her to make her look 'decent', an act that didn't go down well with Ms Patel.
It is learnt, that the actress felt it was not his business to tell her how to dress. She felt he'd overstepped a boundary for one, she and his wife were barely on talking terms, and recently Dutt refused two films that she had offered to him.
Last month, she had approached Sanju to do a film directed by David Dhawan and the other byPriyadarshan, but the actor refused both citing unavailability of dates. Things between them got strained further after this.
Says an industry insider, "Sanju is a very traditional guy who doesn't like women wearing revealing outfits. He politely told her that she was like his sister and shouldn't dress like that. He also took her duppatta (which she had taken on the side) and covered her bosom. He never imagined that she would have a problem with that. But Ameesha just took off. She started screaming and yelling at Dutt asking him who was he to tell her such things and what she did was none of his business. Sanju was taken aback and quietly walked off from the scene of the 'crime'. The next day he flew back to Mumbai."
Later, when the actress was asked why she had created a scene, she told them that Dutts touched her inappropriately.
This got back to Sanju and Manna, and they are fuming. Dutt says, "I have always thought of Ameesha as a sister. I would've done the same with my sisters Priya and Namrata if I felt that they were dressed unsuitably at an event. I would never disrespect a lady. I have never ever done that in my life. I have always tried to help Ameesha and be like an older brother to her. If she has been saying this, I will never respect her and she will lose a well-wisher for ever."
Ameesha says, "Sanju is very protective about me. He's such a dear friend that he can never ever misbehave. In fact, Sanju would himself kill if someone would try to touch me. He wouldn't allow even a fly to hurt me. All these cheap rumours of 'misbehaviour' is sheer nonsense and spread by jealous losers."

Kareena Kapoor is 2011’s most desirable woman

India has voted and chosen the Times 50 Most Desirable Women of 2011.The 3.74 lakh votes received online on www.itimes.com/polls along with our vote decided the winners.
Kareena Kapoor tops the list. Bebo, who is currently in London holidaying with sister Karisma Kapur, tells TOI what her most desirable quotient is and why Saif Ali Khan is the most desirable man for her.

You are the Most Desirable Woman today. How does it feel to have topped the list?
It's a matter of taste, and people's tastes change from year to year. It's like food - sometimes you like Indian, sometimes Chinese, sometimes Continental. I'm thrilled that this year I've topped the Most Desirable list. People have been kind to vote for me. My co-stars should feel excited to be working with me now, as they will be working with the Most Desirable Woman!
What are your most desirable qualities?
I am fun and spunky, and have always lived life on my own terms. I am a modern girl, and being bold means being elegant, beautiful and yourself.
And your desirable quotient?
My eyes.
What are the most desirable qualities a woman should possess?
Beauty, elegance, dignity and sex appeal. I think what helped my desirability quotient was that even though I wore saris in Chammak Challo (RA.One) and Teri Meri Prem Kahani (Bodyguard), I still looked sexy. One can be fully covered and still be desirable.
Who, according to you, is the most desirable woman?
The late Maharani Gayatri Devi. She had the perfect blend of beauty, elegance and personality.
Last year, Katrina Kaif topped the Most Desirable list. Do you feel a sense of achievement having replaced her?
l Tomorrow, somebody else will replace me, so I just want to enjoy the moment rather than waste it on thinking about others.
Who is Saif Ali Khan's most desirable woman?
If it's not me, then he's in trouble!
Who is your most desirable man?
It has to be Saif. He has that rare combination of wit and intelligence put together in a very good-looking package!