Film shoot disrupted by wild elephant to resume Friday br/

Thiruvananthapuram, The shooting of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai starrer “Raavan”, disrupted when an elephant ran amok in the jungle where it is being shot, will resume Friday, cinematographer Santosh Sivan said here Thursday.

“We will resume shooting tomorrow (Friday),” Sivan told IANS.

The tusker, whose name is Kunju, killed 51-year-old mahout Andavan. After the incident, the road at nearby Athirapally forest was blocked and the cast and crew of Mani Ratnam’s film could not return to their hotel.

“We didn’t see much since we were shooting on the other side of the bridge… so we couldn’t cross over… we had to stop shooting, but I didn’t see anything except the confusion. We had to spend a few hours in a guest house in the forest,” said Sivan.

Neither the actors nor any crew member of the film was injured.

Later the elephant was chained and tranquilised by veterinary doctors.

Besides Abhishek and Aishwarya, “Raavan” also stars Vikram, Govinda and Manisha Koirala. It is being made in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously.

source: bollywoodworld.com

Hollywood make-up artist makes Aishwarya look old br/

Mumbai, From a glam girl to historical character — Bollywood screen diva Aishwarya Rai has played a variety of roles. Now for “Action Replay” she will don the look of an old woman and director Vipul Shah says he hired a Hollywood make-up artist to get the right make up on her face.

If certain media reports are to be believed, Aishwarya threw tantrums about getting her make-up done by someone other than her own make-up man, but Shah says otherwise.

“Ash did her old age make up with Paul, a Hollywood make-up artist. When we did it the first time, it didn’t work out well. When you are doing age make-up, you can’t correct it so it had to be removed fully and done again,” said Shah in a statement.

The filmmaker, who has made movies like “Waqt – The Race Against Time” and “Singh Is Kinng”, says the actress shot the scenes patiently.

“It took us six hours to get her look right. We started shooting at three in the morning and the shooting went on till 7 a.m.,” he said.

“Action Replay” also stars Akshay Kumar. The story progresses backwards in time.

source: bollywoodworld.com

Aishwarya Rai to crack down on ‘false’ write ups about her br/

Mumbai, Upset over “fabricated” media stories about her private life, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has threatened legal action against those responsible, a statement issued by her publicist said Thursday.

“Certain sections of the press have been behaving in a callous manner and have been putting together articles or pieces without any semblance of truth and furthermore they have been attributing quotes to the actor which are baseless and false. Previously our client preferred to remain silent to let better sense prevail be it the news when she was married off to a tree or otherwise. This silence should not be misconstrued as a weakness,” the statement read.

The statement was issued to counter an article titled “Career more important than family” by a website where one of the quotes attributed to the actress read: “If I want to remain in the film industry then I need to stay fit”, that implied that she will not have children. The article also stated that her actor-husband Abhishek Bachchan was in agreement with her stand.

“She is one actress who never made any statements that her marriage can wait and she will focus on her career. When she did, she got her family’s blessings and got married in the middle of a film and has been a thorough professional even after her wedding,” the statement said.

“We must not forget that besides being a star in every right Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is about a daughter, a wife, and a daughter in law, a symbol of our tradition and she has always believed and practiced values that govern our society. Irresponsible statements about her private life will not be left to grow without a strong rebuttal,” it added.

The statement also warned of strict legal action against those behind such stories about the 35-year-old.

“This may be read and understood in no uncertain terms that hence forth we would be forced to take legal recourse in any such event of a piece or article appearing without any credibility or which is an absolute fabrication of one’s imagination… We must respect Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for her stand to remain silent on such baseless rumors but it would be wrong to use her name to further a personal cause or career,” it read.

source: bollywoodworld.com

Imran Khan keen to work with Kareena, not Aishwarya br/

New Delhi, He is the latest heartthrob in tinsel town and there are many actresses who would love to be paired opposite him. But the two-film-old Imran Khan would rather share screen space with Kareena Kapoor than Aishwarya Rai.

“No,” said Imran when asked whether he is keen to work with former beauty queen-turned-actress Aishwarya. “I’m most keen to work with Kareena. Both of us shot for a chat show last week and I had great fun,” Imran told reporters here Thursday.

Dressed in a casual blue T-shirt and a tattered and torn pair of blue jeans, Imran was at his wittiest and generous best at an event to celebrate the success of FM Radio Mirchi’s show “18 Hamesha” along with RJ Stutee.

Imran, who also came here to promote his upcoming film “Luck”, not only hugged young girls but also 50 plus women when they screamed out his name in excitement and cheered every time he flashed a smile for the shutterbugs.

He even sang few lines of the hit song “Kabhi kabhi Aditi…” from his debut film “Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na” and did a jig on the song “Pappu can’t dance…” from the same movie on a special request by his young female fans. He also sang the original song “Jaane tu ya jaane na”.

Though Imran looked little embarrassed due to all the attention he was getting, he loved every bit of his interaction with the fans.

“I always love meeting my audiences and fans face-to-face and I love interacting with them at live events such as these. I feel I make fans for life,” Imran told IANS.

“Luck”, which releases July 24, also stars Imran’s childhood friend Shruthi Haasan who is debuting with the film. Apart from them, the action thriller, directed by Soham Shah of “Kaal” fame, has Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty and Ravi Kissen.

source: bollywoodworld.com

Aishwarya Rai is today’s ‘dreamgirl’, says Hema Malini br/

Noida, For Bollywood’s original ‘dreamgirl’ Hema Malini, beauty queen-turned-actress Aishwarya Rai is the only one who deserves the ‘dreamgirl’ tag among all the new age actresses.

“Whoever is on top is the dreamgirl. I feel it is Aishwarya Rai,” Hema told reporters on being asked who, according to her, deserves to be called the ‘dreamgirl’ nowadays.

Taking about the hardships an actress has to face, she said: “An actress’ life is the same – nothing has changed. It is what it was even 20 years back. They have to work very hard, make themselves look beautiful and need a lot of dedication to remain at the top,” said Hema, who was in this suburb of the national capital Monday to felicitate winners of supermarket Big Bazaar’s ‘Meet The Dreamgirl’ contest.

Snubbing the whole idea of having a size zero figure, Hema said: “There’s no need (for a size zero figure). I was not a size zero. You must have a flat stomach – not a pot belly – and a nice and beautiful face – at least a tolerable face – and you can be an actress.”

Dressed in a pale yellow, elegant sari, the 60-year-old actress was at her forthright best when asked about her future projects.

“I’ve signed one or two (films) which are held up because of the financial problems in the whole world. Otherwise I would have finished those two and they would have released by now.”

“One is with Nana Patekar which Deepa Sahi is directing, and the other is with another producer. It is not right to expose everything about a film,” she said.

Another film that Hema is working on is “Ek Thi Rani Aisi Bhi” – in which she will play a role based on the life of prominent political figure Vijayaraje Scindia.

Hema, who has delivered hits like “Seeta Aur Geeta”, “Satte Pe Satta”, and “Sholay” in the past, is also toying with the idea of getting into production and returning to direction after almost 17 years.

“I’m planning to start production. I don’t want to say much about it because every time I talk about these things, they never happen. It’s my desire to make lovely films because I am an artist and a very creative person,” she said.

“But filmmaking is not a joke…so many things are involved,” she added.

The actress, who had her first stint with direction in 1992 with Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Dil Aashna Hai”, says she would want to be a liberal producer and not want to impose her ideas on the youth.

source: bollywoodworld.com