Images from Bol Bachchan (2) (updated)
comments got messed up in the previous thread but here are the previous images.
thanks to Bliss..
thanks to Kassam..
thanks to Bliss..
SATYAMSHOT 
May 17, 2012 at 2:59 PM
As I said fun poster. Could really get Abhishek back in the game in an important way. He hasn’t let his hair down in a while! They really should have had Boman Irani here instead of Devgan and it would constituted truly great chemistry. Devgan though does look funny in an absurd sort of way with that thing he’s holding (I know what it is, don’t know what it’s called). Otherwise I’ve always thought he should stay away from comedy! The thing with making him a tough wrestler and so on is that you need a more over-the-hill-looking star. Heavier and so on. An older Dharam from the mid-late 80s would have been great.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:15 PM
‘it’ is called as ‘gadaa’ in hin hindi- the one held by hanuman and also by vishnu in one of his 4 hands
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May 17, 2012 at 3:23 PM
yes.. that’s it. thanks.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:31 PM
Satyam Sir, Please dont tell me you didnt know what is a “gadda” common man. Have you not seen Mahabharat or Ramayan? LOL.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:39 PM
I of course know what it is! Said so in my earlier comment. Didn’t know or didn’t at least remember what it was called. It came back to me when Saurabh mentioned it but it’s not a word that is otherwise commonly in my head!
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May 18, 2012 at 2:34 AM
No Satyam.. here i disagree with you… Ajay was more correct and intelligent choice. Having Boman with Abhishek chemistry might be more better than this but right now Ajay-Rohit jodi is much more important to Abhishek so as to make the movie hit and give the much wanted relief to Abhi.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:11 PM
Looks like an out and out ajay devgun film.The left abhishek looks straight out of dostana sets 😉
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May 17, 2012 at 3:18 PM
agreed… the title and the two Abhisheks right below it make that point very obviously.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:24 PM
Ha ha ha ha
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May 17, 2012 at 3:29 PM
ajay is the centrestage.abhishek has been sidelined,standing behind in unmanly postures.ajay is like this king who has an authoritative posture.After his G3 and singham,will this will be his third solo 100 cr grosser?
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May 17, 2012 at 3:29 PM
whatever makes your day..
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May 17, 2012 at 3:31 PM
LOL
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May 17, 2012 at 3:12 PM
this is actually creative poster considering rohit shetty is at the helm here. and i will stick my neck out and say this- it will easily do 100 crores- and considering they have taken inspiration from golmaal, it will be much better than an average shetty film. btw dutt instead of devgn wouldn’t have been a bad idea. i have always felt that abhishek shares a very good screen camaraderie with dutt- their scenes in ‘dus’ were quite good. on that note Satyam, what do u think of S.Ramathan’s ‘bombay to goa’?
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May 17, 2012 at 3:17 PM
yes I forgot Dutt. that’s true, in current from Dutt would have been a pretty good idea here. In some of the stills Devgan looks heavier. Maybe it’s just the look but in any case he’s too fit to play that traditional wrestler type.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:24 PM
I know you dont consider Sunny D for anything, But Sunny D would be a good choice as well, After Yamla Pagla Deewana (he was actually surprising here, funny in parts) this would have been a perfect one for him.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:25 PM
Yeah can’t say I could endorse Sunny Deol! haven’t seen Yamla.. though. Dutt would have been right as Saurabh said. He’s also worked with Shetty in All the Best (where again he was truly funny as opposed to Devgan). But Devgan’s also producing this one! And of course he adds more box office safety than Dutt given Abhishek’s current run.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:28 PM
Check it out Satyam Sir, you will be surprised by Sunny D. He has actually done something different here. Something you never expect him to do. Not just acting, felt his body language did bits of comedy as well. Check it out if you have free time. Also, If you think Dharam is good here then why not sunny? After all his career (or image atleast) has followed the similar path as Dharam? Dont you think so?
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May 17, 2012 at 3:36 PM
Will check it out at some point.
On Dharmendra and Sunny I see them as poles apart in every sense to be quite candid. don’t think they’ve had the same career trajectories either. A very important part of Dharmendra’s career was about family films. In the late 60s and early 70s he also did a lot of campy thrillers. He had good stuff with Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee. Eventually he too moved on to masala because that was the only game in two but he was never the sort of persona Sunny was. Of course by the 80s Dharmendra was more or less washed out. Had some triumphs later on but he was essentially done. Sunny was always extremely wooden. Still he was alright in some of his more ‘moody’ outings of the 70s. Was never expressive enough to capitalize on this but the films were worthwhile. Later on he got into that whole jingoistic, reactionary phase and it was totally downhill. Even otherwise I’ve never quite regarded him as an actor. Ever! Even in Ghayal he’s screaming a lot of times and people consider this a good performance. Again not being dogmatic about this. There are many stars I don’t like but I at least see why others would. With Sunny I don’t quite get it. Then again maybe I’m not in the minority. For all this retrospective rewriting of his career he’s had few successes in his career and these have often been separated by years. I’ve analyzed this in great detail before.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:41 PM
Thanks for the summation on their respective careers, I dont deny that. But, what I was referring to here (which I should have been clear about) was their image. Both Dharam and Sunny D have that Pehlwaan or Macho man image, Not many remember Dharamendra as the Hero of the lighter Hrishida movies, He is still known as Garam Dharam and for Sunny D’s dhai kilo ka haath is well known to all. And considering the theme of Ajay’s character here (a pehlwaan) I felt Sunny D would have been apt for it. Don’t mind devgan either. My ideal choice would be Boman as you suggested.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:30 PM
BTW, Like the poster here. Just what this type of film requires. A little mischievous side and a serious one as well. Good look over all.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:30 PM
Satyam, not being sarcasting but i am really curious that why r u always so condascending of sunny. U call him a non-actor but do u believe is someone like salman is a better actor than him. And i agree that no other film awards make any sense but the guy has 2 national awards (i am not saying he completely deserved it) but he must have done something right in his performances to get them
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May 17, 2012 at 3:35 PM
I am with you on this one, I always wanted to have a longer discussion on this with Satyam, Never had the courage to bring it up haha. Glad you did. I did admire him in Ghayal, Border, Ghatak, Arjun, Dacait. Even Gadar he wasn’t too bad ( bit loud but his softer side scenes were well portrayed). Aaj to doodh ka doodh aur pani ka pani kar satyam ji. Bol do, kya hai jo aapko sunny d itna khatak ta hai? Bol Bachchan..lol.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:41 PM
Courage?! I must be more monstrous than I thought!
I like many of the films you mention (nor Border) and some others. Just that Sunny doesn’t do anything for me.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:44 PM
Haha, I was j/k. But, I hear you either you in or your’e out. No matter how much I get forced. I have not watched a SRK film since DDLJ and refuse to. Exception was KANK and Mohabattien (heard that in VZ bachchan didn’t have a bigger part so gave that a skip, Yes I dont love bachchan as much as I can’t stand SRK..lol)
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May 17, 2012 at 3:42 PM
Arjun remains easily my fav sunny performance. and rgv cited arjun as inspiration for his shiva. and Satyam, if u r in a mood to check out a Sunny u should see ‘Right yaa wrong’-he does not even scream once here. also has irrfan and konkana. quite a good and enjoyable suspensible thriller
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May 17, 2012 at 3:47 PM
I believe I’ve seen Right yaa wrong! And Arjun is probably my favorite Deol film too followed by Yateem. Among his worthwhile films I’d list Arjun, Yateem, Ghayal, Dacait, Gunaah, Narasimha, Kshatriya (the film has many problems but some strong bits too), Damini (if one wants to count this smaller part). Don’t think I’m forgetting anything. If I wanted to be even more strict about the ratings I’d say Arjun, Ghayal, Yateem, Dacait are really all one needs to see of Sunny!
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May 17, 2012 at 3:56 PM
completely agree with ur choices and glad that u mentioned ‘gunaah’ (the 1st scene where he is lying unconscious and is picked by fishermen is well-filmed). i think u r forgetting his debut ‘betaab’. and i do like his ‘samundar’ and ‘sultanat’ too. i believe rahul rawail brought the best out of him
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May 17, 2012 at 3:43 PM
I’m not a Salman fan at all as everyone knows but he at least seems more ‘alive’ than Sunny! Must say I don’t quite mind Salman in his current phase (quite liked him in Dabanng). But I’m not even talking about good or bad actors necessarily. Sunny is just so incredible non-expressive.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:33 PM
I’d have liked Arshad Warsi in Devgan’s place here. Just a funnier actor and the kind of actor who could conceivably play off Abhishek very well. In any case this, unlike Game, unlike Players, presents a most audience-friendly side of Abhishek’s screen persona. I’ve said it innumerable times but directors really don’t exploit his gifts in working with light material enough, and this should do the trick for him in a big way.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:44 PM
This is probably the worst Abhishek has ever looked- from the poster it looks like he is going to play the effeminate sidekick/ foil to Ajay Devgn’s macho hero. And I say this as someone who likes as someone who likes Abhishek- particularly in a comedic avatar- especially in a comedic avatar- but has never cared for Devgn.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:52 PM
As for Devgn being wrong for this film- it’s not like this is going to be a classic anyway- the one thing that Abhishek will gain from this is that it is a sure commercial success and it will re-establish his status as a saleable hero- and if you replaced Devgn with Arshad Warsi or Boman Irani- that would not be the case.
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May 17, 2012 at 3:57 PM
I’d say that’s arguable. But what’s not is that the addition of either of those two actors in Devgan’s place would safely assure a more entertaining film.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:05 PM
I do agree that either Boman or Arshad in Ajay’s place would make for a more entertaining film and I think that they would both share good comedic chemistry with Abhishek- but no matter what the cast is- how good is a Rohit Shetty remake of Golmaal going to be?
And look at Abhishek’s recent box office record- he almost definitely needs a two hero film with a proven combination like Devgn-Shetty to get him back into the game. A film with Boman or Arshad as a co-star is not going to do it.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Not arguing the commercial prospects. But I do think it’s debatable that Devgan is some formidable box office force. Let’s just say the more “proven” side of the Devgan-Shetty combination is Shetty. I think this is a filmmaker who has a strong populist sensibility that could sell any film with the right cast and in the right format. So you’re probably right that Boman or Arshad wouldn’t quite sell this but I also don’t think Devgan is irreplaceable here. As someone above said put Dutt here and you’d pretty much get the same box office results.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:36 PM
Agreed on the Devgan thing. He’s done well for himself in recent years but it’s a total exaggeration to make him into some potent box office force. Golmaal with dozens of people can hardly be one’s calling card! All the Best did not even open that big and had a relatively modest gross, proving this point. OUATIM did well but far less than even TDP even accounting for some inflation. Singham is his best calling card and a very creditable 100 crore grosser for him but it did so by trending. Otherwise on the opening he wasn’t even close to some of the other benchmarks. But add to this the dismal fate of Rascals, the disastrous Aakrosh (admittedly the subject was a killer but it did nothing), and the truly shocking non-performance of Tezz recently which the last time I checked was only going to do 50-60% of the Players gross!
So while he’s been doing well in this phase overall his box office narrative has been exaggerated a great deal, and now even more so since Bol Bachchan was announced (!).
In any case the point here is that when there’s a film like Bol Bachchan with that title and Abhishek doing some kind of double part no one shows up for the film if they detest Abhishek. In other words if you don’t buy that premise you don’t show up for the ‘Devgan also’ bit since this isn’t a Singham kind of film (the same holds for the Golmaal series). It’s true that Devgan is doing way better than Dutt at the box office but sometimes these combos produce their own initials if they seem more authentic. All this is again not to deny the obvious — that Devgan is of course in a way better box office position that Abhishek at the moment. But to make him into something close to Salman or even a Hrithik on his best day is going too far!
The truth is that other than Aamir Khan who gets everyone in it’s really the ‘circus’ that gets big numbers these days. It can be a combination of stars and genres and subjects but a ‘purer’ film rarely gets it done. Hence even Singham was very far from the Agneepath numbers, it was actually quite far from even the HF2 opening. and so even though we debate top stars and so on if one looks at the films and separates those that have lots of frills from those that don’t a certain split emerges in box office terms which even the top stars don’t transcend (RNBDJ for example opened relatively week, OSO was very strong). There are lots of examples. Now Salman would seem to be another exception here and this is partially true except that in this case the film itself is like a circus and it suits his latter day persona. The more sober or streamlined commercial film even when it does well is generally way behind.
Again this is to put Devgan into some perspective here and not to compare him with Abhishek’s current form where the differences are obvious. But since this film has been announced Devgan has become Salman is one listens to some of the trade and of course many bloggers! If the film works it’s all Devgan, if it doesn’t everyone will be accepting my logic of the title and so on. LOL! As Rajen said the best thing that happened to Vikram was Raavan. He never had more Hindi fans! Similarly Devgan will be bigger than Aamir by the time this one releases!
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May 17, 2012 at 4:19 PM
i agree with Ami here. devgn- shetty combo is a safe bet and the fact that it will be a blockbuster is a given. though as GF said i would have preferred dutt/boman to devgn. not warsi bcos he simply cannot look like a wrestler. actually rishi kapoor would not have been a bad idea provided the get his comic timing from ‘akbar’ days
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May 17, 2012 at 5:21 PM
“But since this film has been announced Devgan has become Slamans if one listens to…many bloggers! If the film works its all Devgan, if it doesnt everyone will accepting my logic of the title and so on. LOL!.”
That’s a little harsh Satyam- like I said I find Abhishek to be a very enjoyable comedic actor but I’m pretty indifferent to Devgn. I’m just stating what I perceive to be the box office draws of Devgn and Abhishek based on their recent record. With Devgn he’s not an absolutely bankable star by any means- but when surrounded by a box office ‘circus’ or crowd pleasing material- he can deliver- and this looks to be the sort of circus setting that he can make a box office success.
But Abhishek hasn’t been able to deliver recently even with films that happen to be box office ‘circuses’- he had a slickly packaged multiplex film like DMD which was well made with a massively hyped item number and then a more massy actioner in Players- again a well-packaged film from the very commercial director duo of Abbas-Mastan- but neither film did anything as much as a Singham or a Golmaal.
I do think that Devgn is a vital part of the box office equation if the film is to succeed. But that doesn’t mean I’m trying to pull Abhishek down with some ulterior motives or that I’m reluctant to give him credit where due- I don’t understand what you think I would get by trying to establish that Abhishek is a failure.
I like Abhishek as an actor and I would be happy watching him in films like Delhi 6, Yuva, Guru and Bluffmaster regardless of their fate at the box office. I even really like all of his silly, comedic roles in films like Bunty Aur Babli, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Dostana- he is tremendously entertaining on that sort of a terrain. But a Shetty film I cannot muster enthusiasm for and neither can I pretend that his recent record at the box office is not dismal-but these two things alone do not mean that I have some sort of a conspiracy to malign him!
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May 17, 2012 at 7:18 PM
Ami, I wasn’t referring to you at all. I was referring to a certain trade narrative and a certain thread on Abhishek’s box office that has manifested itself in many different mutations over the years. The current one involves some of the stuff referring to but in earlier years there was other stuff as many here are well aware. He’s always provoked this anxiety which is why the ‘denials’ have always been severe. This is not about liking him as an actor or not but something else. Getting back to the current example Nahata asked him twice when he was on for Players whether the ‘Bachchan’ in the film’s title was the same as his name. Isn’t that a bizarre question to ask and then to repeat? When Rohit Shetty had already said as much. Surely Nahata was aware of this? Similarly everytime the film has been mentioned by these folks (and some others) it’s almost as if the title need not even be mentioned. As I’ve said before don’t Abhishek’s box office woes suggest exactly the opposite story? Why doesn’t the film have a different title?! Who says ‘I’m going to make a film with a star who I don’t think can get it done at the box office, I’ll have another star with whom I have gotten it done, but nonetheless I will use the former’s name in the title and will double down in the film and will even have his actual name in the film’?! This is the kind of stuff I’ve been referring to. To keep saying that Bol Bachchan is a 100 crore film as everyone from Taran to BOI seem to be saying but to nonetheless play the anti-Abhishek card Devgan’s box office status has to be exaggerated beyond belief. I’ve never been in the business of denying facts but I am certainly in that of arguing against these agendas.
I am myself not eagerly waiting for Bol Bachchan. It isn’t my kind of cinema at all. I’ve said so multiple times. Nor do I have a problem saying that there’s a gap between Devgan’s and Abhishek’s box office record to state the obvious. But there’s a lot more nuance to these things also. The same was true for the two when Yuva released. Who walked away with the film? But also even for people who aren’t Abhishek fans who goes to a film called Bol Bachchan thinking Abhishek will just be inconsequential here and that it will really be all about Devgan?! I know you’re not saying this which is why I’m not arguing against you. But there’s a general anxiety Abhishek breeds which manifests itself in such strong ways even when he’s going through such a rough time at the box office (where itself the picture is more complicated than the trade pretends.. in other words you can argue for great failure on his part if you accept he’s meant to be a defining star and has had success before.. but if you say that he’s nobody anyway and never had a box office track record then these failures are nothing out of the ordinary and many stars have done far worse). Note how the trade is not even willing to grant him the supporting part honors. So they’re not saying it’s about Devgan and Abhishek adds to the equation. They’re saying he’s not part of the equation at all. In which case Rohit Shetty is at least as daft as Satyam!
And again there has to be nuance. When Abhishek shows up in a DMD irrespective of how low his box office fortunes are one expects certain things. However low the expectations are they’re not zero. To suddenly now say that they are zero in such a commercial film where he seems to have a winning part and has the title role and what not is to grossly overplay the ‘resistance’ and this is what continues to interest me.
On the circus bit DMD cannot be called one by any stretch. It had some elements going for it but it can hardly be compared with the likes of OSO or HF2! Players is a fairer comparison. But again I just said that most of the big grossers have a circus element attached to them. It does not follow that every circus will then do well!
To reiterate that criticism wasn’t directed at you at all.
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May 17, 2012 at 5:54 PM
*but I cannot muster enthusiasm for a Shetty film
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May 17, 2012 at 6:06 PM
LOL Ami, same here, though i liked shetty’s ‘all the best’. but i like devgn (as u must have known by now) too much to miss this film. and the surname infront of abhishek’s name always does it for me- it ‘s a crime for me to miss a bachchan film since i was a child.btw i hope u watch those devgn films i recommended u- i will then like to know ur changed opinion of him…lol. but trust me u will like them. also if u get a chance do watch sunjay dutt’s ‘naam’- u should like it
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May 17, 2012 at 7:30 PM
‘Ami I wasn’t referring to you at all.’
Ah ok. I’m sorry- I misunderstood your comment. And I agree that the trade analysts are very biased and unfairly harsh on Abhishek.
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May 17, 2012 at 7:32 PM
Satyam u r right.but don’t u think trade was harsh on Devgn too until OUATIM and Singham happened.i still believe that the guy is never given his due. and he does have a calling card and strong box-office when does certain roles which relate to a certain demographic. he is extremely popular in the north belt of u.p. and bihar and even in malwan region/ interiors of maharashtra. unless something like tezz, for which there was zero buzz, these people always show up for his films.
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May 17, 2012 at 7:38 PM
actually I don’t. When he was doing well for a while the trade called a number of average/above average films hits. When he wasn’t doing well they were silent on him. They didn’t say much at all. Which has actually been true for most stars. They might fall under the radar but they don’t face any negativity. When they come back with hits it’s like they had never gone at all! What happened with Tezz? Is anyone talking about it?! A true blue disaster but they called it a flop and moved on.
On the rest though I’m sure he’s popular in many parts but I have never quite seen extraordinary numbers for him. Singham is a different matter. This did well in a number of small centers and really drove the gross. Of course he had the Jha films earlier. Not doubting what you’re saying but I just doubt he has a truly strong base. Because those Jha films were not super even the heartland. Did well but not extraordinarily so. And Aakrosh got zero viewership even in those parts of the country.
But getting back to the other point they’re harsh on Abhishek or plain lie about stuff even when his films do well.
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May 17, 2012 at 7:52 PM
of course trade is most harsh on abhishek. for instance they don’t even count dhoom 2 as an abhishek hit. but then the biggest hindrance abhishek faces is that he does not have that ‘one crowd pulling’ factor/ X factor. there r people who simply refuse to turn up for a film with abhishek as a lead and no other circuss stuff. lots of people refused to go for players, even though it was an abbas-mustan film, simply bcos it starred abhishek. something similar happened to a damn good film like KHJJS
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May 17, 2012 at 3:51 PM
Ami, for the 1st time i have seen ur observation being so off-the mark. abhishek looks really good here and i am quite sure he is going to swallow devgn (who is actually one of my fav). ‘i never cared much for devgn’- i am not being sarcastic here but u can only care for them enough good performances of them. on devgn u need to check out-legend of bhagat singh, zakhm, company, khakee, apaharan, gangajal, hddcs
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May 17, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Saurabh- I’ve seen Gangajal and Apaharan- Devgn was good in both- I’m just not fond of him- OTOH I really like some of Abhishek’s performances in comedies.
As for Abhishek looking good- you have to be joking! They’ve made him look as clownish as possible- I’m not doubting that he has an important role- the film title makes it clear that he does. But from this first poster it does seem like Devgn is going to play the conventional hero while Abhishek will rpivide comic relief- obviously this is just what I’m getting from the first look and I could be wrong- but I feel like there is almost a deliberate attempt to ’emasculate’ Abhishek in this poster.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:07 PM
well Ami i dunno whether u have seen Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Golmaal as bol bachchan is inspired from it though it has been tweaked ‘quite a lot’. but still it is very clear abhishek’s character is inspired from amol palekar’s which was the lead character in the film. and devgn here is playing the utpall dutt’s character which was the supporting role. though obviously knowing shetty, he would have upgraded devgn’s character to ‘sumwhat’ of a parallel lead.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:13 PM
And Ami u still have not seen easily 3 of devgn’s best acts- order-wise- zakhm, the legend of bhagat singh( these 2 r his ‘national award’ winning roles) and company. khakee, hum dil de chuke sanam and raincoat deserve special mention here.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:15 PM
moustache angle was repeated recently ( with again golmal as loose inspiration ) by srk in rab ne bana di jodi
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May 17, 2012 at 4:16 PM
Yes- I’ve seen the original- but I honest cannot envision a Rohit Shetty remake that manages to stay true to it’s original material when that original material happens to be a film like Golmaal! Shetty is completely out of his league here.
As for Abhishek having a lead role- yes, of course- the film title makes that clear! And then you have an Amitabh Bachchan song and so on- so it’s obviously going to have a substantial part for AB. But from the poster it looks like Devgn is going to be presented as the macho, tough, heroic lead while Abhishek will play the funny, effeminate, silly lead. Again- one poster is hardly enough material to form these assumptions- but like I said it feels like a deliberate attempt to emasculate Abhishek- Devgn is seated on his throne in a regal stance and there are two, effeminate looking Abhisheks flanking him on either side like court jesters.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:27 PM
Ami, i don’t think shetty will present Abhi in an emasculated avatar simply bcos shetty shares a very good relationship with amitabh. shetty himself declared on one of the kbc episodes how bachchan bailed his family out when they were going thru a financial crisis after the death of shetty’s father. and when rohit made his 1st film ‘zameen’ he had abhishek alongwith devgn. again abhi played the quintessential hero there as he was paired with a heroine (bips) but devgn got a very strong supporting role
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May 17, 2012 at 4:32 PM
btw u made a fine point regarding devgn having a macho role. in zameen too devgn got the more more macho role.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:35 PM
shetty was ad in major sahab which was an ab corp movie right ….aside haven’t seen that much bad blood which abhishek totally overshadowed ajay in yuva
still very much in doubt with shetty ability to pull of a good movie (don’t rate his movie highly though they had commercial sucess)
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May 17, 2012 at 4:38 PM
The story here according to the director is that Devgan plays a simpleton sort of wrestler who gets duped by everyone in the film and chiefly by Abhishek who’s this guy called Abbas who pretends to be ‘Abhishek Bachchan’ (not the actor, just a guy called that). So Devgan is going to be the tough guy here but I suspect in a somewhat deconstructive way.
I don’t agree with the effeminate bit but I could accept your characterization at the end except that the film then seems to be very much about the jester(s) and his (their) tricks. The director certainly seemed to focus a lot more on Abhishek in his interviews than Devgan. Obviously this film has two leads. But Abhishek looks to have very much the active part.
of course completely agree that it is sacrilege to even mention Shetty in the same breadth as Mukherjee and this film as Golmaal. The original is to my mind the greatest Hindi comedy. I personally wish they had never touched even the general idea of this film. Now I am just in it for an enjoyable Abhishek performance or better. If Shetty can surprise me somewhere great! But I’m hardly expecting this. Specially given the circus he too puts on display. Some other comedians here as well. Then there’s the Bachchan song. He too throws everything at the viewer. Do think they should have had a girl in that song (said this on Bachchan’s blog too) as opposed to Devgan who seems out of place there.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:45 PM
lol abbas was the guy who introduced amitabh bachchan in saat hindustani and here abbas introduces abhishek bachchan
btw they replaced mature utpal dutt with much younger ajay which is pretty unusual … ya he was authotirian but not muscualar(may be show brain is indirectly proportional to body) ….
may be shetty is ready again to kill a classic
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May 17, 2012 at 4:50 PM
And the thing is that the whole authoritarian bit was also a gentle satire on the cultural pretensions of many. In fact Mukherjee approached this subject twice, first in Chupke Chupke of course but here you have the very Anglicized guy so big on certain elements of Indian culture which then adds to the fun.
On Shetty killing the classic he even has action sequences here! LOL!
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May 17, 2012 at 4:50 PM
satyam, u r bang-on regarding devgn being macho in a deconstructive way. but i hope u have not forgotten shetty’s debut ‘zameen’. there abhishek was the so called ‘hero’ but devgn clearly got a better and stronger ‘macho’ role- i just hope this is not the case here
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May 17, 2012 at 4:56 PM
but there Devgan did have the symbolism working for him even if Abhishek had the stronger role. Of course the film here didn’t have enough of a script to really do justice to he Kaala Pathar-like angle here. It didn’t do too badly at the time. In any case Devgan for the most part had the active part there. Here I think it’s the opposite. All said and done these things get politicized too much on blogs and in the media. In Golmaal both actors were equally brilliant. I couldn’t say Amol was better or Utpal Dutt was superior. But here there just isn’t match of comparable talents even if everything is equal.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:54 PM
Saurabh if this movie is anything like Zameen, Shetty’s got a lot more to worry about than one actor out-macho-ing the other.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:56 PM
LOL!
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May 17, 2012 at 3:59 PM
i meant ‘but u can only care for them if u have seen enough good performances of theirs.’
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May 17, 2012 at 4:06 PM
I have an inkling this might be the most watchable Rohit Shetty film in a while. The designers have done a wonderful job with the poster. can already sense the curiousity that’s about to be built up surrounding this.
Might well be Abhishek’s comeback film..
Looking forward to it 🙂
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May 17, 2012 at 4:42 PM
I like this. The mustachioed Abhiskek is going to be the funny one, I think, along with Ajay.
I guess, unlike hindi loving, and ‘be Indian’ loving Utpal Dutt, he’s going to be wrestling loving freak.
Looking forward to it.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:47 PM
In Golmaal Palekar was great in both shades though admittedly better as the slick guy. Of course here there was also the implausibility of this very un-hero-like Palekar pretending to be this suave, cool guy. So he’s putting on an act for Utpal Dutt but it’s funny even at this other level. I find Amol Palekar pitch perfect here. And the redoubtable Utpal Dutt was of course great in any case. The ‘pair’ here is one of the best of Hindi cinema. still think that had they gone in for a more sincere remake Boman Irani would have been fantastic. He had great chemistry with Abhishek both in BM and also the one superb scene they shared in Dostana.
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May 17, 2012 at 4:54 PM
take golmal and bol bachchan aside for a few minute….ya palekar was the main show in golmal but utpal dutt naturally was a more powerful actor infact one of the best we had in indian cinema
the poster of bachchan’s last lear which you have in your main page is again based on one of his plays
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May 17, 2012 at 4:57 PM
Wouldn’t say Utpal Dutt was overshadowed by Amol Palekar here. If anything he had the more imposing presence in the film (as he usually did). It was really a fair match except that Amol Palekar as the younger guy was the ‘hero’ and thus had more scenes and so on. Here though they have an actress for Devgan as well.
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May 17, 2012 at 5:05 PM
>the poster of bachchan’s last lear which you have in your main page
Satyam, what main page is this?
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May 17, 2012 at 5:14 PM
it was image of the day yesterday:
http://bardfilm.blogspot.com/2011/07/king-lear-and-tempest-in-last-lear.html
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May 17, 2012 at 5:07 PM
couple of days back in auteur corner he had the poster of last lear which is replaced now
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May 17, 2012 at 5:26 PM
OH. Thanks. Of course I saw that, but was confused by ‘main page’ as in ‘front page’.
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May 17, 2012 at 5:35 PM
Is this manjwrecker-bachchan proposed film not similar to the last lear
Has anyone here seem the last leer-was it a good adaptation
Probably one of the most modern (yet obscure) bachchan films
Oldgold-pray don’t get confused
Btw what are the books uve been reading recently -if any at all
🙂
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May 17, 2012 at 4:47 PM
For abhishrek, it’s unfortunately iimmaterial really what his length of role is etc etc
About the moustache or the ‘effeminate’ bit or the ‘sidey’ or central role
He needs A box office hit and NOTHING else matters
Yes-one can’t be so defintive abut most things but there is something ‘absolute’ about the prescription here!
Things like ‘prestige’, ‘credit’, ‘quality’ all look relatively trivial!
He’s a guy with no clothes currently given some piece of clothing…
He has to try and make the best use of it….
Ps–btw again this sounds harsh but some situations NEED strong medicine
And some folks NEED /DEMAND to be pushed against a wall (literally!!) to come up with a yuva..
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May 17, 2012 at 4:50 PM
“He needs A box office hit and NOTHING else matters”
Agreed. But he’s nonetheless lucky to get these opportunities where he gets the hit and more. So if you have your back against the wall and want a film for commercial reasons you could a lot worse than land Rohit Shetty, have Devgan in it for safety and the film still be titled Bol Bachchan! The trade will of course try and make it an ‘anyone but Abhishek’ story as always as will some folks online. Unfortunately for them Abhishek’s career hasn’t exactly been dependent on the bad press!
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May 17, 2012 at 4:56 PM
^^even all this analysis can wait for another day
To take the ‘nude guy’ analogy further,
Would extend it to a similar female who won’t exactly be debating about the merits of ‘wonder bra’ or Victoria’s secret
In these scenarios, the whys and wherefores of the ‘anyone but Abhishek’ can wait for another day (if it comes!)
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May 17, 2012 at 5:06 PM
LOL, Alex far be it from you to ever avoid the lewd analogy!
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May 17, 2012 at 4:57 PM
Alex and Satyam, i am saying this again-u guys can chill out, bol bachchan, at bare minimum, will do 100 crores.
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May 17, 2012 at 5:05 PM
Oh I’ve predicted 100 crores for more than a few Abhishek films. I guess I’m a gambler who can’t leave the table till he’s completely ruined!
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May 17, 2012 at 5:11 PM
LOL! but i am cery serious satyam. i have ‘never’ and i mean never seen such a buzz among teenagers for an abhishek film since dhoom 2. but i must regretfully add that most of the people i have met r talking abt devgn and shetty and not abhishek. btw i wish they would have released this film a month earlier june as during that time school kids in india have their summer vacations going on- and kids r a very important demographic for a shetty film. they could have also had a diwali release
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May 17, 2012 at 5:13 PM
Minor and Satyam —
I now pray for your well being genuinely
Bigger stalwarts have tried this ‘save abhishrek’ campaign and are still struggling somewhere in the company of jp dutta, bhalla, bahl, shaad alis and can’t even remember who else
Pray god save yor souls 🙂
Ps–now when I look at rohit shetty, can’t help but feel….
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May 17, 2012 at 5:15 PM
ha! I don’t give up!
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May 17, 2012 at 5:20 PM
and i can never get over the shock of Game’s dismal performance at the box-office- i remember watching the film in a theatre on a sunday night where there was just another couple (who had not come to see the film and were busy doing sumthing else) in the theatre apart from me- no one showed up from my college. but i love the film, saw it twice in the theatre.i guess i am one of the very few fools who liked it- even some of abhi’s harcore fans detested it.
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May 17, 2012 at 7:18 PM
Don’t think enough people saw it to detest it going by the numbers!
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May 17, 2012 at 5:26 PM
and i will be truthful here. i never find abhishek a great actor(find devgn better than him) but i must say he is one of the very few whom i have never seen act badly. he actually has never ruined a film on his own. and the fact that even after so many failures he just refuses to go down.he is a fighter in the true sense of the word and this quality of his has won me over. heck i was even rooting for ‘players’ even though i found the film atrocious
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May 17, 2012 at 8:05 PM
Another poster (the top is cut off for some reason)
[added to post]
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May 17, 2012 at 10:00 PM
looks more of a CD cover..
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May 17, 2012 at 10:18 PM
its another poster. The full ad is in Fridays Hindustantimes. It’s a two page ad with these two posters
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May 17, 2012 at 10:20 PM
so we’ll see the proper one soon enough..
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May 17, 2012 at 8:10 PM
thanks kassam. this looks cool. but i wonder since when has rohit shetty become so creative?
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May 17, 2012 at 10:03 PM
they all start getting inspired with Abhishek which in turn is often not the best thing for the box office!
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May 17, 2012 at 8:20 PM
I don’t want to sound repetitive here- but again that poster features Devgn in the centre- in an authoritative stance- dangling two Abhisheks upside down. But perhaps this is an attempt to deliberately subvert the audience’s expectations by positioning Devgn as the strong, macho hero and then revealing him to be a brawny but gentle simpleton who is duped by the seemingly non-threatening AB.
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May 17, 2012 at 10:01 PM
yes but they’re so cartoonish, surely they can’t be taken as a serious expression of machismo?!
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May 17, 2012 at 10:09 PM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/My-film-needs-no-brain-exercise-Rohit-Shetty/articleshow/12133591.cms
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May 17, 2012 at 8:28 PM
Ami, from what shetty said in his interview, devgn plays a wrestler whom everyone makes a fool-off. btw from both the posters shetty seems to have understood one thing from the original golmaal- the ‘double’ angle. and even if he is able to do what hrishida did with the ‘double trope’ i will be more than happy. anyway by the superb posters itself, i am more than assured that this one is going to be a much better film than golmaal trilogy
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May 17, 2012 at 10:05 PM
Abhishek in double role with Ajay in Bol Bachchan
Source: DailyBhaskar.com | Last Updated 01:18(18/05/12)
The first poster of one of the most anticipated film of the year Bol Bachchan has been unveiled. Abhishek Bachchan surprises with a double role along with Ajay Devgn in the poster.
While Abhishek poses in two different avatars; one is a macho man sporting a moustache and other is soft delicate look quite similar to what he portrayed in Dostana. Ajay Devgn on the other hand, looks ultra-funny with funny glares and ‘Bhim ka gadha’ in his hand.
Besides the two rocking stars, the film also features Amitabh Bachchan, Asin and Prachi Desai in lead roles. BB directed by Rohit Shetty is inspired by the 1979 comic flick, Golmaal and is slated to release on July 6, 2012.
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May 17, 2012 at 10:54 PM
“Besides the two rocking stars, the film also features Amitabh Bachchan, Asin and Prachi Desai in lead roles.”
amitabh is in a lead role??!! thought it was just the song…
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May 18, 2012 at 6:44 AM
It’s just the song.
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May 17, 2012 at 10:52 PM
i think abhishek will get his first hit since DMD. after the two debacles or was it three? anyway, this looks like a very safe film for him to do(sort of like when Aamir did Fanaa with a big banner production company). im not sure how good the film will be though, i’ve watched ATB and Golmaal 3 and they both sucked big time. usually im a harsh critic of hindi comedies anyways.
getting back to abhishek, this does seem like a “supporting” role rather than an equal role. i don’t think this’ll do 100cr but probably in the 70’s or 80’s(which would be HUGE for abhishek). the music has to be REALLY catchy for it to do 100cr. looking forward to the amitabh/abhishek/ajay naach gaana.
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May 17, 2012 at 11:14 PM
Satyamji, Great to saw super awesome poster of ” Bol Bachchan” . Rohit Shetty ‘s film poster always colourful. Super like. Abhishek Ji & Ajay Devgn looking great. Is Abhishek ji playing Double role in the film? Waiting for watch the film……Thanks
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May 18, 2012 at 6:46 AM
It’s a loose Golmaal remake. He’s doing Amol Palekar’s role. If you recall this film Amol Palekar pretends to be two brothers in the film and keeps fooling Utpal Dutt.
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May 19, 2012 at 9:16 AM
Satyamji, Yess! Ram Prasad & Laxman Prasad ( Lucky ) , Golmal one of my favorite film . Waiting for the film Bol Bachchan.Thanks a lot.
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May 18, 2012 at 12:48 AM
Its a smart ‘first look’ by the makers, probably keeping in mind Abhishek’s current box-office status and how uninteresting the audience in India generally finds him. There’s no doubt Abhishek has the more interesting part here but they haven’t shown him as someone ‘rubbing shoulders’ with Devgun / having the same stature as him. At the same time the fun and curiousity factors havenn’t been compromised.
So even the hardcore Abhishek haters might eventually turn up for this one, at least for Rohit Shetty who’s become a known name among the masses by now., if not for anything else.
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May 18, 2012 at 2:27 AM
Poster provides for good interpretation:-
The without moustache abhisekh is down on the floor, a bit bended in insulting position or a position say having less respect from eyes of Ajay Devgn’s character.
The Moustache guy is holded above the other abhisekh, and and is comfotable in air, means the ajay’s character approves of him.. but even his approval is that of domination and only keeping him above ground but not further more…
And ajay becomes insaaf ka tarazu as a person who judges everyone…
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May 18, 2012 at 2:57 AM
Great first look and its funny overall. Abhishek needs this film then any other at this point of time as he is way behind in the game. Comedy is what he did well in Dostana and this is what is gonna do it for him. As for the other suggestions of replacing Ajay Devgan …thats unacceptable. Here its Ajay in a Shetty film that people will come for and Abhishek will reap benefits out of it. Commercial film has to be sold in all out commercial way..no point of resurrecting careers with taking actors like Boman Irani and Arshad..they would do no good.
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May 18, 2012 at 3:00 AM
& By poster..Ajay Devgan will get the top credit for this one. Abhishek is the 2nd lead here and will help greatly by he platter provided to him. This could be a second launcher for him.
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May 18, 2012 at 4:07 AM
On d move folks…
The new poster with devgun lifting the 2 abhishreks ups th interest somewhat..
And also tries to clarify who’s the main man here..
OT-
Not sure if there are any fans here
But Donna summer is dead..
Retorpectively have come across sown of her 70s ‘disco’ pop -think she owned a decade of thy space –eg luv2luvubaby
Rip
Bak to the wheels…hectic
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May 18, 2012 at 6:59 AM
ok here it is, the complete second poster.
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May 18, 2012 at 7:48 AM
An earlier comment of mine relevant here given some of the puzzling responses to the posters (!) where it’s remarkable that some people seem to be missing the obvious cartoonish element and considering it some contest of ‘machismo’:
[I actually disagree with the basics of that proposition on Bol Bachchan. I start with a very simple, very obvious assumption that many anti-Abhishek partisans and even many who are fans seem to be completely missing. Rohit Shetty could have made another solo with Devgan after Singham. Or he could have made a two hero film that wasn’t called Bol Bachchan, where the director in every interview on the film didn’t talk about Abhishek more than he did about Devgan, where he concede it was a loose Golmaal remake with Abhishek doing the Amol Palekar double and furthermore being a guy called Abbas (some important Bachchan symbolism with that name) who pretended to be one ‘Abhishek Bachchan’ (not the actor, just someone with the same name). furthermore the director said explicitly the name in the title was the same as Abhishek’s name. So the question then arises: what other film can one think of where the main guy (if you will) is not the recipient of all these ‘benefits’? Wouldn’t it be rather bizarre on the part of the director to do this if Devgan was the main show? Wouldn’t his distributors find it crazy? And what about the audience? Does a general audience go into a film with that title with a reasonable expectation that Abhishek is.. er.. central to the film?! Doing things this way would be a complete mystery!
In many ways we get back to the same old issue with both the partisans and the fans. The inability on their part to explain Abhishek’s connection with some important projects (whether defined as prestigious or commercially big or both). The thing (as I’ve always said.. perhaps with some smugness) is that if I am wrong in my entire estimation of Abhishek’s career the rest should not follow. And those on the other side agree with this which is why they resort to increasingly improbable explanations. In other words when there’s no other hero one insinuates it might be about someone pulling strings, it might be about a quid pro quo, and so on. When it’s a two hero film now it’s easy enough to ‘explain’ this by saying ‘hey it’s all about Devgan’! Except that Rohit Shetty isn’t making Singham 2. He is doing just the opposite! In fact couldn’t it be very plausibly argued that he really wants to do a film with Abhishek in an important, probably ‘the’ central part (he plays a double character after all), and that Devgan is really his insurance plan? So any questions that you might have about Abhishek’s initial are solved this way. But it does not at all follow from the box office argument in terms of generating the initial that Devgan therefore has the more important part here. In fact one would have a much harder time proving the opposite. Which is why people just don’t address this stuff. They ‘ignore’ it. They just don’t have an answer. Much as they cannot provide other examples where something as blatant as this happens but the guy is not the main hero or at least not one of two main stars.
So I just refuse to concede the central claim here. It seems to follow from the premise that someone who’s in box office trouble ought not to be able to get such projects. True. But there are mediating factors here, precisely the ones I’ve discussed many times. Clearly the industry shares my estimation of his abilities and his potential to some degree, otherwise he would have been out of the game long ago. Of course people come up with absurd responses to account for this but that’s another matter.
Now in a D3 I can at least ‘see’ the point. Because here you have a film where at least in the previous installment there was an imbalance. Given Aamir’s vastly greater box office standing one could make certain assumptions (though I don’t really share them here for different reasons). Bol Bachchan is a completely different scenario. What happens is that with each failure folks think that the game should be up for Abhishek and because it isn’t they find it hard to make this square with what are in many cases completely dogmatic assumptions about not just Abhishek but about the movie business in general. So I would argue for example looking at the careers of a number of stars over the last twenty years for example that it isn’t only about the box office as a science but the larger standing of a star in the public imagination. For example Sunny Deol has had some extremely lean patches that lasted years and years (I’ve gone into this in great detail before) and where no one really thought he wasn’t a major star. Could say the same for Dutt. With Sunny there was also far more prestige projects that didn’t work. but one could go back even further. The idea that a star’s survival is perfectly aligned with the box office is in some ways the greatest fiction around. It depends on what the nature of the star’s overall appeal is or what his (or her) narrative is about. The same standards don’t apply across the board. We know there can’t be complete failure and clearly overwhelming success also makes for an easy call. But most stars are in between. If the market perceives the star to have no brand value (whatever that brand value is premised on) the star simply cannot survive. This is true even for someone like Tushar Kapoor because for the films he gets or for the parts he plays the market makes a decision that he adds some minimal value. In other words rather Tushar than ‘x’. But of course he’s at the lowest end of the food chain in this sense. The problem again with the partisans and even many of the fans is that (leaving aside their poor grasp on the history) they’re not even willing to concede that Abhishek is ‘some’ kind of star. They’re saying he’s close to nothing. In that case his career becomes a massive mystery!]
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May 18, 2012 at 8:02 AM
In Amar Akbar Anthony Bachchan’s character’s name comes last in the title, he also gets beaten up by Amar in the film. But this was a comedy. It didn’t matter. Even Akbar had a far better role than Amar.
How one can keep suggesting that the character who sets the whole ball rolling by pretending to be two people, has practically a double role, has the title to himself, has his father in a song which recreates a Kajra re kind of atmosphere (according to one of the stories), where the director keeps referring to Abhishek’s part more than Devgan’s.. after all this overwhelming ‘claim’ of both reason and evidence I am not sure how one could keep believing something else? I am not talking box office here, just referring to the film.
And again I don’t argue all of this as an Abhishek fan. I’ve made similar arguments in many other contexts too. The most ‘disturbing’ thing is always the absence of reason in certain claims. I am not naive about these things. I know how it works when a star is down on his luck and so on. I know the narrative doesn’t favor him (though in Abhishek’s case it didn’t even when he was doing well), all that is fine but a film with that title and everything else I’ve mentioned?!
Once more the problem isn’t the partisans as much as it is those who are not biased if not fans. If one has a problem explaining why Abhishek keeps getting films it’s a bit harder to do so with Players where there’s no one bigger than him. Similarly so with some other choices. But with Bol Bachchan the obvious ‘excuse’ is there. And which is perfectly valid as far as the box office is concerned. A distributor looks at this and says Abhishek might be a problem but Devgan isn’t, at least in a Shetty film (the distributor otherwise knows about Tezz and Aakrosh and Rascals!).
Throughout this tough period Abhishek has never lacked for important projects. How and why that has happened is a different debate. But with Bol Bachchan the ‘excuse’ is there though it’s a particularly problematic one given all the factors I’ve mentioned a number of times and to which no one ever seems to have an answer beside repeating the same claim! Even this new poster after going through the box office record of Devgan/Shetty says they’re teaming up with Abhishek. Not really sure what more could possibly said or done to suggest this is at worst a two hero film and more likely one where Abhishek plays the more ‘active’ lead.
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May 18, 2012 at 8:24 AM
Bol Bachchan will be turning point of Abhishek career. I hope he will chose wise scripts from here on. Dhoom was his first turning point in 2004 and that phase continued till 2006/2007(Guru). After that it was again dark phase with 1 or 2 small success in between (Paa, Dostana).
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May 18, 2012 at 8:45 AM
yes I too think the pieces are all falling in place for him here. Having said that and no matter how much success he gets doing this stuff I wouldn’t want it to be the future for him. He needs a few, that’s fine. But I’d want him to get back to the other stuff eventually. In a smarter way perhaps and he should have more of a mix. But it shouldn’t just be about this sort of stuff (or Businessman or whatever).
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May 18, 2012 at 8:08 PM
Bol Bachchan will be a success but again he is not going to get credit for the Bo performance. He is very good at comic roles, this is something he must exploit if he wants to be a bankable star.
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May 18, 2012 at 8:37 PM
Given the projects he gets when he has a bad run at the box office I would think that a blockbuster here would only help him whether the trade gives him credit or not. Of course initials also come with repetition. Which is why he’s looking to do safe films at the moment.
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May 18, 2012 at 10:06 AM
More posters .. http://lockerz.com/s/209879645
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May 18, 2012 at 10:14 AM
These look great, Thanks Yakuza. Especially where there are 4 to 5 diff Jrs. Now I am thinking, Looks like shetty did not stop at 2 characters for Abhishek or is it somethng beyond? Now we are talking.
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May 18, 2012 at 11:15 AM
It is too characters but they might have different getups at points.. but yeah this looks like one for Abhishek to hit out of the park.
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May 18, 2012 at 11:46 AM
Come to think of it satyam, We are forgetting the actual character Abbas (seems to be the first one next to Ajay) thats one and the 2 that he plays to fool him. So 3 are already there. And you maybe right, maybe just a getup change of sorts like Bunty Aur Babli. But not a complete sketched out character.
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May 18, 2012 at 11:51 AM
there’s already all sorts of speculation on the double online:
http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/bol-bachchan-poster-does-abhishek-bachchan-have-a-double-role/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Abhisheks-double-dhamaal-in-Bol-Bachchan/articleshow/13261167.cms
Looks like most people writing about the film have not seen the original Golmaal. Because if one knows the plot there shouldn’t be any question about what’s going on. Of course the role is a ‘functional’ double though of course not actually so. The point is that the actor does have to play two different characters one way or the other. In any case this is the buzz-generating feature on the posters one way or the other.
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May 18, 2012 at 11:56 AM
Oh yeah I have seen the original golmaal umpteenth time, But knowing shetty god knows what he has done with the characters. I am not even thinking of this as a golmaal remake. Just the plot being inspired from there. Yes, Agreed they are functional double roles. Amol was a gem here. Another movie of Amol I really admire is Daamad, Directed by Hrishit Dixit or something. Awesome movie. Do you have anything written on that?
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May 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM
No I haven’t. Golmaal I think is the greatest Hindi comedy. Beyond this my favorite Palekar film is Choti Si Baat on which I did write something probably a decade ago:
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May 18, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Oh Yeah, Hands Down Golmaal and Angoor are superior to many comedies (read intelligent) that came out of Indian Cinema. Ofcourse, Choti si baat was a gem in itslef. Damaad had that extra effect on me as well. There are many more that I have enjoyed over the years. Can’t say anything in recent years have impressed me beyond a few chuckles. Below is a list of some of my favs. No order.
1. Chalti Ka Naam Gadi
2. Half Ticket
3. Tera Mera chacha Zindabad
4. Ek Phool Chaar Kaante (Remade as Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge)
5. Padosan
6. Chupke Chupke
7. Golmaal
8. Angoor
9 Choti Si Baat
10 Katha
11. Damaad.
12. Aankhen
13. Coolie No.1
Nothing in recent years. A special mention to Awaara Paagal Deewana and Hera Pheri.
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May 18, 2012 at 12:13 PM
Not a fan of Angoor at all. My favorite Hindi comedies (not counting masala ‘comedies’) are Golmaal, Chupke Chupke, Khubsoorat, Choti Si Baat, Piya Ka Ghar.. not necessarily in that order but Golmaal would top the list.
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May 18, 2012 at 12:11 PM
I will also add Bombay To Goa, Hera Pheri (both bachchan one and priyan) and Shaukeen to those. Also thanks for mentioning Coolie No. 1- the last film which understood Desai’s legacy
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May 18, 2012 at 12:22 PM
Aaah, I am hurt Satyam, You are not a fan of Angoor??? I need to walk away for a few minutes here. LOL> But yea fan of those others that you have mentioned as well. (And many more, but these tops the list).
Thanks Saurabh, and agreed on your observance there. It was a riot when I first saw it. Though have to say, bit biased about it cause of Govinda (Please dont hate me for this, Govinda is Govinda yaar..lol)
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May 18, 2012 at 11:11 AM
I must say the posters have been quite good for the terrain. These cannot be enlarged so will wait for proper ones.
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May 18, 2012 at 10:19 AM
First Look- Barfee starring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka and Illeana D’ cruz
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May 18, 2012 at 10:25 AM
These looks like fan made, The shots of leads you see here are shots from the sets, Not actual footage from the film.
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May 18, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Yes, u r probably right Kash.
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May 18, 2012 at 11:14 AM
you’re probably right.
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May 18, 2012 at 10:11 PM
yeah saurabh. dont think anurag will settle for such first look for his film..
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May 18, 2012 at 10:26 AM
First look of Neil Nitin Mukesh starrer “Shortcut Romeo”- remake of Tamil film Thiruttu Payale
Cast- Neil Mukesh, Amisha Patel, Puja Gupta, Ashutosh Kaushik
Director- Susi Ganeshan- who directed the Tamil original
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June 1, 2012 at 6:49 AM
looks interesting with NNM looking good in a different role
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May 18, 2012 at 12:41 PM
Now this is for good laugh ::D
YRF’s international wing, headed by Uday Chopra, will co-produce Olivier Dahan’s GRACE OF MONACO, starring Nicole Kidman in the lead.
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May 18, 2012 at 1:01 PM
what the….
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May 18, 2012 at 1:04 PM
Chk GOW trailer Thread 🙂
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May 18, 2012 at 9:53 PM
dekha maine.. bohot khoobsurat lyrics hain !
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May 18, 2012 at 10:06 PM
btw, there are some people in the trade and otherwise who think of Ajay as some kind of a box-office force, which I dont really agree with. Even Rohit Shetty has lately been projecting him as one but when left alone, he cannot even guarantee a minimum opening as seen in Aakrosh and Tezz. The latter did almost half of Players at box-office. But wonder why these sort of failues are easily ignored by the media and twitter etc jumps on to criticize Abhishek only for his failures. did read some user comments on some random website in which they were calling this the first flop for Shetty in a long time just coz Junior’s in this one!
Anyways, I have an inkling Abhishek might usurp Ajay in this one, if his role is anything to go by. Really hope for this to be the turning point in junior’s career..
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May 19, 2012 at 12:49 AM
I think Bol bachchan will make around 60-65 cr only.Do not think it will anywhere be close to 100cr..Recent failures of Abhi may keep away many people.
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May 19, 2012 at 3:50 AM
Looks more like Sony’s Comedy Circus poster but creativity is something you cant ask from Shetty. Could be the Hit Film Abhishek is searching for
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May 19, 2012 at 9:27 AM
gotta feeling that Abhishek’s presence will be a turn-off….
Let’s hope that doesn’t rub off on D3
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May 19, 2012 at 11:35 AM
lol That has Aamir so D3
will be safe
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May 20, 2012 at 8:35 AM
most of the media coverage so far has centered around the Abhishe ‘double’. This headline (and story) has been carried by very many outlets:
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/250401/abhisheks-double-dhamaal-bol-bachchan.html
Many think the character with the pink shirt is reprising the Dostana one. Some suggested it here as well. The rumor is that one guy pretends to be gay or at least has those mannerisms while the other one is the tougher sort. In any case the double has been attracting most of the buzz.
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May 21, 2012 at 6:55 AM
Is Abhishek turning gay for BOL BACHCHAN?
Monday, May 21, 2012 3:25:50 PM (IST) | Bollywood Trade Editorial
Is Abhishek Bachchan turning gay for BOL BACHCHAN and returning with his DOSTANA act? Well, if the poster of the Rohit Shetty directed film is any indication then this is pretty much the case.
”Film’s poster has Abhishek Bachchan in a dual appearance while standing behind Ajay Devgn. While one of the characters played by him seems to be quite rustic and attached to the roots – a la BUNTY AUR BABLI – the other Abhishek seems to be a riot. One look at him and you can make out that he is enacting a gay character,” says an observer.
The traits, as projected in many a stereotypical Bollywood film (including DOSTANA) are all there. Even as his hand is precariously placed over his chest with a body language which has feminine touch to it, the clincher is a pink floral shirt which he is happy to wear.
”Just like DOSTANA, even in BOL BACHCHAN Abhishek is clearly having fun while spoofing a gay character,” says a source, ”It isn’t supposed to be taken seriously at all since he is not supposed to be gay in the film. In the film’s original – GOLMAAL – Amol Palekar had played a smart alec and ‘seedha-saadha’ kurta-pyajama clad simpleton. It is clear that the simpleton has been replaced by a funny gay character here.”
However the makers aren’t willing to go on record about this characterisation. When contacted, Rohit Shetty was unavailable for comment.
Perhaps he and Abhishek will talk once the promo would reveal it all.
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May 21, 2012 at 6:55 AM
according to Taran the trailer will be out May 24.
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May 20, 2012 at 8:45 AM
dont know but find the devgn poster lifting the two abhi shreks a bit derogatory on abhishrek..though it is fun and increases the curiosity factor
@ the end of the day–abhishrek is/was a fullblown ‘leading hero’
guess he is not in a position to negotiate and infsact mybe happy for a break here
but not really happy with the way he is being projected here by devgun…
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May 20, 2012 at 5:57 PM
The media is usually not the most positive on Abhishek but I must this line of reasoning hasn’t been picked up even by them on any of the writeups so far.
Some other posters here that are not available yet in better or bigger resolutions:
http://lockerz.com/s/209879645
check out the Devgan one on the far left. Does this strike you as being serious?! The one on the far right has Abhishek dressed in the clothes of both characters (half and half). There’s one with five Abhisheks as well.
Looking at all the advertising so far I just don’t find a number of ‘opinions’ expressed here reasonable (in addition to all the other already available signs from the title and so on.. wonder why Devgan agreed to this title if he had other plans in mind!). To put it differently if Devgan was supposed to be the main show here someone forgot to tell Shetty as well as the media which has so far been focusing on Abhishek’s ‘double dhamaal’!
And again it’s not about what I’m saying. No one else has been able to offer a counter-reason that relies on anything like elementary logic! And what we’re left with is ‘feelings’. But aren’t the same people at a loss to describe how Abhishek has got this far and come up with something more bizarre with each new film (as to how he landed those roles and so on)?!
All of this doesn’t contradict the box office reality of Devgan v Abhishek at all. In fact isn’t it far more sensible on Shetty’s part to make the film that he wants to with Abhishek and have Devgan as ‘safety’?! And this is a film Devgan’s producing. He wasn’t doing so with some others he worked on with Shetty! So even as producer he’s not making it about himself despite the fact that he knows he’s doing much better than ABhishek at the moment.
Again one can keep slicing and dicing this a number of ways but it seems to me that the ‘he Abhishek is being side-lined’ here posture has not a shred of evidence going for it!
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May 20, 2012 at 5:47 PM
Love the first image. Only quibble is that Bachchan could have been given something better than that attire.
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May 20, 2012 at 5:50 PM
satyam, i have mailed u the article
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May 20, 2012 at 5:59 PM
thanks.
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May 21, 2012 at 9:14 AM
Asin ready for action
Riding high on the success of Housefull 2, Asin is sad that she won’t be doing any action in her next release, Rohit Shetty’s action comedy Bol Bachchan (BB). The actor says, “I have a grudge against Rohit as he got Ajay (Devgn) and Abhishek (Bachchan) to do all the cool stunts and had none for me. All my action was off the sets. I went paragliding in Panchgani, which was fun.”
Shooting in Wai and Panchgani was tough for the unit, given the hot weather. Asin says, “Though the locations sound cool, we were shooting with the sun at 40 degrees. Being in this film was literally blood, sweat and hard work. Next time, I will ask Rohit to shoot in a cold place like Switzerland.”
Asin adds that co-star Ajay ensured there was laughter off the camera too, and that Rohit, who has a commanding appearance with a stern look, has a great comic sense.
About her role in BB, Asin reveals, “I play a girl called Sania Bachchan who is paired with Ajay. The film is interesting for me as there is a generation of Indians who missed out on some of the fabulous films of the ’70s, including Gol Maal.”
Rohit bought the rights of Amol Palekar’s 1979 film and picked up the basic idea of casting Abhishek Bachchan in a ‘double’ role.
With two Abhisheks and one Ajay in the film, what kind of role would she have?
“One should look at a film in totality. I have a good part to play in BB, which Rohit has fleshed out very well. Also, the way I have been styled in the film is very different, so that should be interesting.”
As Asin hasn’t signed on any other film post BB, she says, “As an actor, one feels most insecure about the kind of scripts you get. I
am ready to take risks in my career and hope that different kinds of roles come my way soon.”
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May 21, 2012 at 9:17 AM
If Abhishek is a guy called Abbas Ali pretending to be Abhishek Bachchan why does his sister have the latter name? I guess she pretends to be the second guy’s sister.
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May 21, 2012 at 9:21 AM
yes, even I believe. I just have a feeling Rohit Shetty might end up making a mish-mash of mistaken identities- it’s an easy thing to master. And I don’t why people can’t see the obvious that Abhishek has the active part here. But one think which is slightly jittery, Devgn has been given one ‘solo poster’, Abhi has not gotten a single solo one- isn’t it odd?
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May 21, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Don’t think we’ve seen all the posters at this point. On the other hand people don’t follow their own logic. When Devgan is placed in front it somehow means something significant, when the reverse happens it doesn’t! when there are 5 Abhisheks with different looks versus one Devgan that too apparently doesn’t mean much.
Again I’m not saying all of this as an Abhishek fan. As I’ve made clear before what is disturbing about a lot of opinion on this front is just how much it operates in an alternate reality. If had no background on anything and one just looked at the posters and the title what would one think? THat’s as basic a test as any. As I said even the media coverage has almost totally revolved around the Abhishek ‘double’. But this happens in other matters too. People get dogmatic about certain things (and unfortunately the online universe fosters these attitudes because you can always find like-minded people in some forum or the other), they see no reason to change their views even slightly despite all evidence to the contrary and this is the result. With Abhishek we’ve seen in the past how every new release invites a new conspiracy theory and/or a new absurd explanation. So directors who sign his father or wife are signing him, AB Corp is investing in the films secretly, so on and so forth. When it’s a genuine multistarrer as it is here and when the other guy is obviously doing way better at the box office it becomes easier to say this stuff except of course that here again things have to be stretched. Why? Would a Munnabhai film be called ‘Circuit MBBS’ or ‘Lage Raho Circuit’?! Of course not. The star here is given the title role. Of course there’s only one star here. But even if the Circuit role were played by a proper star the film would still be called Munnabhai. If the film were called Circuit the film would be more about Circuit!
And here it’s not just about footage but about who carries the symbolic weight of the film. In Zameen as I suggested the other day even though Abhishek probably has more footage than Devgan and has the more author-backed narrative the symbolic weight of the film rests with Devgan. This is partly because the script is poor and doesn’t quite justify Abhishek’s character enough. perhaps Abhishek at that stage of his career is not able to take over the film anyway. But in any case Devgan gets to do his gesturality and he seems like the ‘pro’ in the film. In Amar Akbar Anthony it doesn’t matter what footage everyone has. Akbar and Anthony are simply the heart of the film. Amar is clearly the tough guy here, he even beats up anthony whereas the opposite never happens but it doesn’t matter.
So now in Bol Bachchan you have Abhishek carrying the symbolic weight. Otherwise the film wouldn’t have that title. I’ve said this many times before but I’m all ears for anyone who can provide me an example of a multistarrer that carries the supporting star’s (supposedly the case here!) character name in the title! here it even goes beyond this because it has his actual name! Bachchan too makes an appearance in a song. There’s the other stuff I’ve referred to. Again if someone can come up with another example like this one I’m ready to change my mind! Even the Dhoom films where there was parity in the first one, lopsided in the second still had a generic title. As an aside I should say that while D2 was lopsided in some ways even the villain getting the glamorous part is not necessarily definitive. All the Bond films have a certain emphasis on the villain. Some of the greatest films went by the title of the villain! And it was equally about the new girl(s) in each film. But it was still very much the Bond franchise because he carried the symbolic weight of the film. Even in the lopsided D2 there is an element of this (Abhishek is still onto the villain at the end, he doesn’t escape as in the first one — whether suicide or whatever — but the cop lets them go.. the rest of the film is lopsided in some ways but some of these elements are still there). But in any case Bol Bachchan doesn’t even fall into this category.
The problem is that the partisans follow a narrative that they tinker around a little bit for the other releases anyway. The fans are sometimes spooked by the trade narrative or what others tell them and start getting nervous! The day the film had that title and the day I heard it was inspired from Golmaal I knew there was no issue here. And the media surprisingly has been focusing on Abhishek. Which might be a good sign for him in terms of the reviews. The media in any case always praises the ‘obvious’ performances far more. So for example he got a great deal of praise for Dostana. The trade or those like BOI will sing a different tune but it won’t matter.
In terms of the box office of course Devgan being here helps in a big way. Of course Abhishek doesn’t do this sort of thing much anyway. Even when he did Dostana the gay theme was a turn off for many and in any case it was a multiplex film. My point is that no one goes to such a film saying ‘hey I’m only going for Devgan’. People do that for Singham. I don’t even think people do it for Golmaal actually. Which is why the initials of those films kept increasing with each sequel. It wasn’t as if Devgan started out with big initials here, even though comedies were in even when the first one came out. And as I discussed the other day while Devgan has had a good run he’s had some very important failures in between and the successes haven’t been big enough (not in Salman’s terrain in terms of the initial, not even in the HF2 kind of terrain so far). Singham is obviously his big one, it too didn’t open even close to most of the other 100 crore grossers. So a lot of this Devgan-Shetty combo narrative is fed by the trade. And in any case leaving aside the initial the film has to sustain over time and it cannot happen with this sort of film (Bol Bachchan) without Abhishek being a huge part of it.
The point though is that it’s not about Abhishek here. It’s about the complete lack of evidence or reason behind most if not all of the counter-claims. I don’t mind a good debate. Unlike many I am also not in a ‘war’ against the facts. But there has to be a solid claim made and not just silliness.
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May 21, 2012 at 10:04 AM
Agreed completely. And it seems many of these people who are making such bogus claims of Abhishek being a side-kick here, have not sen the original Golmaal. Otherwise it does not require quantum physics to understand that Abhi is playing Palekar’s role
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May 21, 2012 at 10:06 AM
every single thing is arguing against such a claim. And there’s an obvious gap in the logic here. if everything they’re saying is true why does the film even have that title? Why not do a generic one or something?!
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May 21, 2012 at 10:11 AM
Satyam, actually media has spread so much of negativity against Abhishek that these kind of stupid notions have been ingrained in the minds of majority of audiences too. As i said before a lot of teenagers just refuse to go for an Abhi film if it has him in the lead.
on that note I have a prized possession- a T-shirt with the three stooges of Amar Akbar Anthony painted on it- bought it at a veru cheap prize from a downtown market of Mumbai
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May 21, 2012 at 11:28 AM
I agree and disagree. I’ve always said this on Bachchan’s blog too that one cannot overlook the general narrative even if these things don’t define box office hits or flops. Nor do these define an audience reaction. In 2005 for example everything Abhishek touched was working. The trade was still negative (even on BnB) but it didn’t work. It’s partly also the case that the media is generally on the side of success. So they might engage in partisan writeups otherwise but they generally like to go with the flow otherwise as they’re catering to a larger market. In this sense by and large Abhishek has got vastly better coverage here when he’s been successful or even half-successful than with the trade. There is often this split but even leaving this aside the trade cannot dictate the success or failure of a film. as we’ve seen with other stars too where the trade’s championing and spin on tons of films doesn’t really make them successful. Nonetheless the contours of a larger narrative can be defined and get ingrained. But even with the latter my sense is that those narratives work most which also speak to the beliefs people already have in some sense.
And so (also responding to Tony’s comment) I don’t think it matters who’s given the credit in the trade if the media’s giving credit in the right place. That’s the first thing. But also by and large very many people who follow Taran or Nahata or whoever also have the impression that these guys are crooks. so it works both ways. There’s also a larger cynicism about the media. Plus there is a much more splintered market. After the release of JA and this was some weeks after I had trouble convincing many people under 35 that the film worked. They either didn’t want to talk about it or felt the media was juicing it up. Because though JA trended well its support did not come from that demographic. Conversely some months later the same demographic was big on Race even though that will didn’t trend the same way (both had similar numbers because of a much bigger opening for Race).
Now in terms of people who are extremely skeptical about Abhishek currently if not wholly negative it’s not just about the narratives one way or the other but principally his own films. If he had tons of films like BnB or Sarkar or what have you whether they all worked or not the narratives wouldn’t have mattered. The thing isn’t about just giving hits or flops but that many of his films occupy a certain grey are so that they cannot instantly be embraced. And then when he does try the more commercial route he often goes half way. Trying to do the moderately more intelligent film on that terrain and so on. This if often not what the audience wants. More importantly one film is often completely unconnected with the next one not just in genre terms but also with the characterizations. Moreover because he’s a sincere actor you often don’t get the cynical star performance irrespective of the part. Hence there is no ‘signature’ the audience can attach itself to. This has been in some ways his biggest issue. And I’m not commenting on this negatively, just being descriptive. with Bol Bachchan he probably has the rare chance of doing something commercial with no strings attached, which is to say it’s not the Dostana kind of deal where many are turned off or some other such thing. In most of his films since Guru for one reason or another, and even on the good day, he’s often left the audience with a sense of incompleteness. So either the films were just those they outright rejected. This was a particular problem with key efforts like D6 and Raavan (these were crucial to his narrative) but also the JBJ-like stuff. Or else when he did films where he was liked or appreciated like SR or DMD the ‘death’ moments left the audience feeling cheated. Or it was something like Paa where even though it was about Auro many felt this was an Abhishek they’d like to see doing a different kind of film. And then there were subjects like KHJJS that no one was interested in. So you add it all up and it’s not surprising a lot of the audience has been turned off. When this point is reached the audience isn’t suddenly going to say that one Bol Bachchan clears away everything. They have to be persuaded and then there has to be some follow-up. Unless Bol Bachchan is getting to a really unexpected gross one film even when very successful cannot erase these failures precisely because they’re certain kinds of failures. Which is why the risky venture is always trickier than just the box office question. When you fail doing genre people get your ‘act’ but they don’t like the film. When it’s a different sort of venture people might not get both.
and so when some of your friends say they’re in it for Devgan and shetty one shouldn’t always take these things at face value. Plus this statement doesn’t mean very much anyway. What they just might be saying is ‘we’ll take silly comedies with stars’! In other words they wouldn’t show up for Aakrosh or Tezz or even Rascals necessarily but they’ll show up for Devgan if he’s with the Golmaal director or with the guy who did Singham. So this combo but applied here (another trade narrative) is misleading. It’s not like Yashraj-SRK or something where each side makes a substantial contribution. Does anyone believe the fate of Golmaal would be different with Akshay instead of Devgan?!In fact the films would probably gross more. But Devgan certainly couldn’t be imagined in many of the Akshay comedy hits. Singham is a fair example though because here Devgan has to really carry the film. Except of course that right after Singham Shetty makes a comedy again where he seems more interested in the other guy!
Again one should also see what the directors actually do. So Agneepath was all about Hrithik doing the Bachchan part and so on. You go the film and it’s much more about Dutt and Rishi with Vijay Deenath Chauhan being kept under the radar! My proposition is a simple one – Shetty could have made Singham 2, some other action film with Devgan or Golmaal 4! He went down this route and made his intentions clear with a neon sign. No one is saying Devgan is immaterial here. But Warsi is crucial to Munnabhai as was Utpal Dutt to the original Golmaal. You replace them with a star and the equation changes but not when you nonetheless make it clear with the title where the impulse of the film lies (even if Devgan is in clearly better box office shape).
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May 21, 2012 at 9:32 AM
Abhi has never been accused of over acting and hopefully that should end with this movie.
Boxoffice apart this one will be a real test of his over & under performing capabilities and timing.
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May 21, 2012 at 10:11 AM
we stay among a general audience that doesnt follow BO trends as passionately as we do. They go by what Taran n Komal n BOI say, because these are the guys who’re quoted most often in newspapers and television. So if Komal for instance has an agenda against Abhishek then the viewers cant tell his intentions.
He might just give all the credit to Devgn and Shetty’s track-record. Poor Abhishek despite getting a good role would be ignored..
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May 21, 2012 at 10:17 AM
Tony, I like Devgn more than Abhishek but i can bet on it that here Abhishek will easily trump him just like Sanju did in All The Best.
And you are quite right that trade circles may just refuse to give Abhishek credit. But then on the other hand he did get a lot of credit in films like DMD and even muti-starrers like Yuva and Dostana
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May 21, 2012 at 11:11 AM
Yuva is the best example here.. you had both in serious dramatic roles, Devgan had the same kind of footage, even had the fight at the end where he finally beats up Abhishek. But it didn’t matter.
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May 21, 2012 at 11:13 AM
Exactly. Actually from what i have heard from most teenagers, they like Abishek in a Bluffmaster kind of role- this remains Abhisheks’s cult-film
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May 21, 2012 at 11:52 AM
Specially with women I think. In 2005 Abhishek had three aspects to his success. The metrosexual ‘cool’ (BM, Dus, Dhoom), the more rooted masala type (BnB, Yuva), the overman kind (Sarkar, later Guru). so the safe way would have been to keep focusing on one of these three ‘bases’. Note how much he was liked in KANK and even got better press than SRK quite remarkably, and in a film where here it was clearly a supporting part. But eventually for one reason or another none of those bases was kept satisfied. Since then he’s kept people relatively happy everytime he’s tapped into one of these types. SR, DMD, Dostana. He either gets good media attention or relative success or both. He was liked in paa too, not exactly the metrosexual here but perhaps the metrosexual politican, representing a certain Congress type and so on.
Right now people fall into two groups. Either they’ve given up on him or they are jilted fans (!) who keep waiting for the right part. There’s one sense though that transcends both groups which is that he doesn’t really take on the Bachchan legacy in the obvious ways. This is a somewhat complicated question though. It’s clear that the multiplex audience isn’t exactly clamoring for authentic masala just its ‘stupid’ ‘fun’ variant (usually the contemporary Southern manifestation or one should say the Telugu manifestation.. in other words the films that work big with Salman or whoever are usually the kind that work big in Telugu but have actually not been the biggest grossers in Tamil for at least half a decade barring rare exceptions.. or if they are there are mediating factors.. Surya ‘dressing up’ for masala, a Vikram getting a big initial or something.. the attention though has shifted toward smaller new wave fare or else some of the hotter directors are doing unusual subjects even with bigger stars.. in any case the quintessential film isn’t Ready the way it still is for most of the big stars in Telugu). What they really want from Abhishek is latter-day equivalent for the father’s work. In other words it could be Sarkar, it could be Guru, it could be DMD or it could be something like Bol Bachchan (if it pans out) but something where he carries symbolic weight and isn’t just about entertainment. And here Rohit Shetty has had the right idea at least intuitively. I’ve long argued that Abhishek could never work in a film without there being a symbolic dimension attached to him, even in a relative sense. Shetty could have just remade Golmaal with a different title. He didn’t need to add the Bachchan reference to the title or to the character.
This too is something that is always missed. For very many of his directors the Bachchan ‘temptation’ is hard to resist. Which actually proves the obvious of what many partisans claim. The directors think a certain Bachchan terrain can be revisited quite profitably with Abhishek. except that these are usually not completely dumb attempts aimed at simple repetition but those that at least try to carry the signature forward. This has been true for Rathnam and RGV but equally some other directors. With Bol Bachchan the film looks to be a circus for sure and I’m not expecting too much here other than a good Abhishek act but his premise here in terms of highlighting the Bachchan signature is already a more interesting premise than any of his previous films (note how even Zameen references Kaala Pathar with the Abhishek back-story). Which is why it’s a pity that there wasn’t a more interesting director to really exploit this aspect. Dhawan on a very good day (which was very rare!) could be genuinely zany. It remains to be seen whether Shetty can pull off something similar here. He’s never worked with a lead who has Abhishek’s comic talents and he’s full aware of this!
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May 21, 2012 at 10:20 AM
OT,
SUMMER HUES
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date:
And often is his gold complexion dimm’d;
And every fair from fair sometime declines.
-William Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII
It’s May. Its long days sometimes make you feel that the month will never end. In public imagination, summers can make cities look uglier. From aesthetics to sheer physical discomfort, summer may leave too much for the elite, neo-rich and upwardly mobile middle class to negotiate in public spaces. Beyond their first world cocoons of regulated temperature at homes, cars and plush offices, they find something very Third World about the scorching summer heat. It’s some sort of disillusionment. A painful realisation that globalisation could not bring the European and trans-Atlantic climate to this country. Geography has denied them the ‘fringe benefits’ of the global package. ‘Oppressive’ heat is the operative phrase they use to describe this geographical divide. It is no coincidence that summer days have got short shrift in the nostalgic trips down ‘seasonal’ lanes (unless the hill station trips or those clichéd vacations at grandmother’s place are being spoken of).
But summer heat hasn’t escaped the poetic gaze. For the poet ‘oppressive’ has an entirely different meaning. Walking through the lanes of Allahabad in the summer of 1940s, legendary Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi Nirala observed a woman labouriously breaking stones under the hot sun. Nirala sensitively described the grace of the toiling woman and used the scorching heat as a metaphor for the exploitative heartlessness of the rich. He wrote:
वह तोड़ती पत्थर
देखा मैंने इलाहाबाद के पथ पर –
वह तोड़ती पत्थर ।
कोई न छायादार
पेड़, वह जिसके तले बैठी हुई स्वीकार;
श्याम तन, भर बँधा यौवन,
हथौड़ा हाथ
करती बार बार प्रहार;
सामने तरु – मालिका, अट्टालिका, प्राकार ।
चड़ रही थी धूप
गरमियों के दिन
दिवा का तमतमाता रूप;
उठी झुलसाती हुई लू
रुई ज्यों जलती हुई भू
गर्द चिनगी छा गयी
प्रायः हुई दुपहर,
वह तोड़ती पत्थर ।
देखते देखा, मुझे तो एक बार
उस भवन की ओर देखा छिन्न-तार
देखकर कोई नहीं
देखा मुझे उस दृष्टि से
जो मार खा रोयी नहीं
सजा सहज सितार,
सुनी मैंने वह नहीं जो थी सुनी झंकार ।
http://www.newslaundry.com/2012/05/summer-hues/
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May 21, 2012 at 2:35 PM
brought tears to my eyes. I remembered the construction worker, family of three, next door in India, mother-father and infant. In the long hot summer days…the baby outside, under a tree, while we were inside in a/c and still complaining of the heat….I used to wonder how the baby feels. Of course we offered the mom to come inside. Come and use veranda at night for sleeping. But they never did.
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May 21, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Bliss cannot thank you enough for this. Nirala has even done the unthinkable of making a sweltering smmer seem beautiful. Alongwith Gopaldas Neeraj (whom I had the pleasure of taking his interview when he came to perform in my school), Nirala is my fav Hindi poet
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May 21, 2012 at 12:30 PM
the kinda lengthy articles satyam comes up with, lets not be surprised if Shetty comes up with a sequel called: Bol Satyam
Sorry – terrible joke..
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May 21, 2012 at 1:19 PM
LOL! Do think he’ll probably make a sequel if the film worked.
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May 21, 2012 at 12:46 PM
Not that it makes a difference, But Abhishek is in the same age (36) time, when Amitabh was in 78 (36), Do I really need to spell it out what 1978 means to Bachchan fans?
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May 21, 2012 at 1:28 PM
It’s not just about age but about trajectory as well. It’s true that Abhishek is still a young guy and has time on his side. But he doesn’t have too much of it at this point. Leaving this aside Bachchan once he got Zanjeer just went from strength to strength. So through ’78 (your date) he didn’t have a moment of weakness at all. With Abhishek this was through Yuva through Guru. Even the D2 ‘public relations’ disaster (at least with his younger male audience) was washed away by Guru. But since then it’s been very rough waters for him one way or the other. So it’s not really like his father at all (leaving aside the other obvious distinctions). However if he could pick up the box office thread today and deliver big ones he’d have lots of time to cement on it and diversify once again. Which is by the way what the opposition knows as well and why they keep arguing against all of his films. As I’ve always said if he were nobody and if he were really finished why would anyone need to argue ‘against’ him whether it’s bol bachchan or anything else?! Surely no one needed to argue against the other actors Devgan starred with?! And this has always been the case. In the industry things can always be turned on a dime with the right success but it is equally important for a star to keep his narrative alive. Here in a weird sense I wish he had hung on to the Jha film even though 95% it wouldn’t have worked with that subject. Because it would have been an intangible buttressing his larger prestige narrative. Put differently I don’t think Abhishek can just be the Bol Bachchan star. It would mean a certain loss of prestige if this became his only game in town. Of course if one becomes a Salman doing this no one complains but that would be a pity. Because one wouldn’t want to see an actor of his talents wasted this way. Don’t think he’d ever do this but sometimes the logic of too much box office success concerns me as well. But again I agree he has time but I don’t think the Bachchan comparison holds at this point even in the loose sense. I myself used to argue for it for quite sometime but one has to accept facts beyond a point. This might change tomorrow. The signature is precisely what always holds great potential for him. But he really needs some big ones. I totally buy the trade narrative on him either but he’s shown some real box office weakness post-Raavan in terms on an initial which wasn’t the case earlier. And a star is always most in trouble when this happens.
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May 21, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Agree with you, And I wasn’t trying to prove the History Repeats istelf theory here. Just in the hopes that hey @ 36 AB had some canonical success, Maybe the age factor will work here as the good luck charm in the Bachchan household and holds true for this bachchan as well and hoping that BB beats even 3I (its just a fan talking and dreaming I guess).
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May 21, 2012 at 12:54 PM
Kash, u may just need to spell it out because there r some anti-abhishek people here who cannot even see basic facts. btw have u seen bachchan’s ‘aetbaar’. that alongwith kasauti, yaar meri zindagi and gangotri remain the only bachchan films i have not seen
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May 21, 2012 at 1:00 PM
Aetbaar. With John and Bipasha? Was OK. For the most part AB is a helpless father and people dont like seeing him helpless.
Kasauti was good fun. One if the most popular things about the film was a song picturised on Pran – Hum bolega to bologe….
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May 21, 2012 at 1:05 PM
thanks much sir. will check it out then. from that period i also like his raaste ka patthar and bansi birju
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May 21, 2012 at 1:10 PM
Sad news- Gavin Packard passes away- http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/news/view/id/1439602- man this ‘firangi’ was one of the finest tough henchman i have seen in bwood after bob christo. his hand-to-hand fight scene with sanjay dutt in sadak was awesome
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May 21, 2012 at 3:58 PM
Sad news. I guess he was the first personal trainer the star actors of the 90s took the services of – Sanjay Dutt is known to train under him. Salman too, I suppose.
RIP..
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May 21, 2012 at 1:28 PM
Sajid Khan’s next is “Himmatwala Remake” with Ajay Devgan filling Jeetendra’s shoes.Devgan himself confirmed this in a live interview.The female lead is expected to be South star Tamannah Bhatia. The movie is expected to go on the floors in mid-August but the producers have already decided on a release date – soon after IPL 2013 kicks off.http://www.boxofficecapsule.com/news-specific.aspx?news_id=996 and here is devgan confirming the news in an interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhFT-hzLAcA
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May 21, 2012 at 2:30 PM
will put up a post on this later. Too many today already. But I guess they’ve all figured out that the remake route is an easy and lucrative one. specially once you start getting those minimal initials you’re going for 100 crores. The Himmatwala remake could be a potential goldmine because this film has really acquired cult status over the years. Of course it’s also true that many of these stars don’t have too many other options. And this is where the sycophantic trade narrative evades the truth. So yes Devgan is doing very well. But he pretty much has either comedies or masala remakes. Most of the time both with Shetty! In an earlier phase he was doing some prestige stuff, some author-backed roles and so on. All that has whittled away. Take Akshay. He has the endless comedies and now he’s finally joined the masala bandwagon. Again it’s not as if there are too many other options. Salman at least reinvented himself in a big way. He made Dabanng iconic and he’s been getting some very massive numbers since. So even though he’s technically doing the same thing if you can maintain it at that level you become your own narrative. So salman can’t be faulted here. Devgan to be fair is also making the most of his chances. Not blaming him at all. My point just is that it is also a kind of compromise with reality to reduce oneself to just this. And here I think there is an irrelevant kind of box office story that the trade pretends not to see. In other words Devgan doesn’t define any equation even though he’s doing very well for himself. Akshay was in the Salman-like position for a while or he could have taken it to that level but he undid himself with some terrible films. Now it’s too late in the day to get ahead of Salman or whoever even if he gets a big one. And again it’s always about doing either the prestige film that then doesn’t have to be the absolute biggest grosser, if it’s iconic that’s a bonus (like RDB), or you have to do the commercial that’s either unusually successful and/or iconic. Which is why Dabanng was the perfect bang (yes it’s an atrocious pun).
Even on blogs people think this is just about plain mathematics. You add up all the grosses and that’s all there is to it. It’s never that simple. Except of course if a star is that utterly dominant as to end all debate. In this sense the Bachchan record besides the obvious was also unusual in that the box office was combined with the critical and both in historic ways. This never happens otherwise. Or to be more precise you don’t have mass stars who are also fine actors.
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May 21, 2012 at 2:39 PM
Satyam, u r very right that even devgn has succumbed to this commercial bandwagon. i think the failure of ‘aakrosh’, a very fine film, just did him in. i got around to seeing tezz- a horrible film and as priyan later stated the producer never gave him any creative control over the film. abhishek, to his credit, still has not compromised on the quality aspect of the project. i wish he would not have lost out on UTV’s Ghanchakkar (raj kumar gupta film) with vidya which now has emraan hashmi in it
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May 21, 2012 at 4:01 PM
You’ve seen Halla Bol? I thought that was also a fine film that deserved to work at the box-office. I found it much better than No One Killed Jessica, both films dealing with the infamous Lal case.
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May 21, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Halla Bol was a very good film despite some short-comings. found it better than NOKJ. Had a briiliant act by both pankaj kapoor and devgn. and santoshi was in form. on that note the only devgn films i have missed r platform and divyashakti i guess
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May 21, 2012 at 4:07 PM
i really believe that you can recall the hindi films that you haven’t watched from the top of your mind!
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May 21, 2012 at 4:20 PM
well tony living in an average north indian family as a child, for the first 13 yrs of life the only source of entertainment was watching/playing cricket, films and reading books and general knowledge stuff apart from the fact that i was hugely into academics always.i had hardly seen any english films by then. when i changed my school and went to doon my taste diversified. but still i don’t anything abt ray, french and world cinema, tamil films etc.
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May 21, 2012 at 4:22 PM
You forgot one name, “Kanti Shah” 😛
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May 22, 2012 at 2:57 AM
Kanti Shah ke angoor !
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May 22, 2012 at 2:56 AM
my interest in anything beyond hindi films grew only in the past two years..
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May 22, 2012 at 2:03 AM
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May 22, 2012 at 7:33 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
Watched the first promo of Rohit Shetty’s #BolBachchan. Amazing, amusing, loads of fun. Another winner on the way, most definitely.
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May 22, 2012 at 7:36 AM
will be out May 24.
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May 23, 2012 at 6:04 PM
taran may not be liked by many – but his B.O. predictions generally comes true – so Abhi might have a winner at the bo at last
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May 22, 2012 at 10:16 AM
Now there’s a vote of confidence….
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May 23, 2012 at 2:38 PM
Rohit Shetty reveals Abhishek, Ajay’s secrets
Upala KBR, TNN | May 24, 2012, 12.00AM IST
The first official trailer of Rohit Shetty’s Bol Bachchan releases across all television channels today. The film boasts hilarious gags and action sequences that are Rohit’s trademark. Says the director, “I am not nervous at all. I am confident it will be enjoyed by everybody.”
While Ajay plays a pehelwan called Prithviraj Raghuvanshi, Abhishek plays… well… Abhishek Bachchan, a character who works for the pehelwan. Is AB Jr’s character a spoof on his gay act in Dostana? Rohit clarifies, “When I narrated the character to Abhishek, I told him he had to be completely besharam and not come with baggage. He plays a completely different character from what he’s done before. The scenes between Ajay and him, especially the one in which they are introduced to each other, is outstanding!”
Elaborating further on the characters, Rohit says that Ajay’s pehelwan speaks incorrect English very proudly, while Abhishek plays a raw, earthy guy. He has many shades to his character, including an emotional angle. While you laugh at his antics – he lies a lot to get out of tricky situations – you also end up sympathizing with him. Ajay’s pehelwan is the most lovable character in the film. He translates Hindi into English and speaks it literally. One such dialogue is when he tells Abhishek, “Tujhe paake meri chaathi chaudhi ho gaya hai!”, which means he has become proud. However, he translates that into English and says, ‘My chest has become a blouse after meeting you’.”
Is Abhishek playing a double role then? “That’s for you to watch the film and find out. People will be shocked to see Abhishek in this avatar. Apart from the comic capers, there are some stunning action sequences too. In fact, there’s more action in this film than in Singham. Abhishek has worked hard on the action sequences. One of my favourite scenes is the hand-to-hand combat Ajay and Abhishek indulge in while fighting some goons. A glimpse of these scenes will be seen in the trailer.”
Bol Bachchan is presented by Fox Star Studios, produced by Shree Ashtavinayak LFS Infra Ltd and Ajay Devgn Films. Directed by Rohit Shetty, the film stars Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin and Prachi Desai, and is scheduled to release on July 6.
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May 23, 2012 at 3:19 PM
will be looking forward to the trailer tonight!!
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May 23, 2012 at 3:01 PM
Tamanna denies starring in ‘Himmatwala’remake- http://www.cinemahour.com/gossips/tollywood/29415/tamanna-denies-starring-in-himmatwala-remake.html
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May 23, 2012 at 3:20 PM
Looking forward to the trailer. Abhishek’s face in the latest image promises things to come. Really really looking forward to it. The last time I waited so anxiously was for Raavan. Though a flop, I liked it very much.
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May 23, 2012 at 3:51 PM
“The last time I waited so anxiously was for Raavan. Though a flop, I liked it very much.”
Oldgold we know u have a good taste (ESP in men)
🙂
Ps–good to know your ‘Internet access’ has been resorted by your ‘tormentors’
Imagine oldgold in one of aamirs programs ‘exposing’ those around her troubling her
Cheers-joking
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May 23, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Why are your jokes so unfunny.
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May 23, 2012 at 4:14 PM
🙂
og-was just playing with u
C’mon gimme a smiley 😉
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May 23, 2012 at 4:45 PM
Here’s something to smile about.
http://www.gfmag.com/tools/global-database/ne-data/10294-the-happiest-countries-in-the-world.html#axzz1vjBGhh4e
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May 23, 2012 at 5:06 PM
Thanx Oldgold that’s an interesting link
Costa rica and Dominican rep @ top?
Do u live there?
Ps-where’s the ‘smiley’ 🙂
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May 23, 2012 at 5:34 PM
ooops. No.
Here’s the link I wanted to give.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-happiest-countries-in-the-world.html
that
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May 23, 2012 at 5:46 PM
Useful info there Oldgold
Though it is not film related, deserves a thread …
Cheers
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May 23, 2012 at 5:55 PM
a well-known writer’s memoir is titled ‘Why be Happy when you can be normal?’!
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May 23, 2012 at 5:56 PM
I’m amazed Israel is on that list!
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May 23, 2012 at 6:01 PM
Unlike popular sentiment, Israel is more than about gaza strip…
Scandinavian countries unsurprisingly rank high in all measurable indices -though there is something ‘bland’ & ‘sterile’ about em sometimes…
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May 23, 2012 at 6:15 PM
What’s even more interesting is that 7 out of 10 are from Europe.
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May 23, 2012 at 6:30 PM
Good point OG-didn’t notice earlier…
So let’s have the smiley now..
Ps-Think the caribbean ones are also quite laid back n happy-have rarely seen a frowning stressed Caribbean …
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May 23, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Oldgold -asked U to gimme a ‘smiley’
As in ’emoticon’ in a comment
Not
‘blushing’ in person 🙂
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May 23, 2012 at 6:31 PM
Btw
Investors sue Facebook …lol
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May 24, 2012 at 4:32 AM
waise maine Raiders of the Los ARK download kar li.. By God bada maza aayega dekhkar.. uske baad Kickass dekhunga aur beech mei dekhunga Bol Bachchan ka trailer.. 😀
—————–
One such dialogue is when he tells Abhishek, “Tujhe paake meri chaathi chaudhi ho gaya hai!”, which means he has become proud. However, he translates that into English and says, ‘My chest has become a blouse after meeting you’.”
— hahahahaha
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May 24, 2012 at 6:30 AM
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#BolBachchan promo will be launched at 8.59 pm on Star Network tonite and from 9.30 pm to 10 pm across all GECs, news and music channels.
taran adarsh @taran_adarsh
#BolBachchan promo: According to Fox Star, the promo will be aired on 43 channels and will be reaching more than 20 million viewers.
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May 24, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Saw the 57 sec teaser… average and typical RS teaser, cars, buses n men flying … one dialogue uttered by comic artist krishna.. sharp colors as in all RS films.. seems Golmal teaser 🙂
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May 24, 2012 at 11:43 AM
“average and typical RS teaser, cars, buses n men flying”
LOL this is the most accurate description of Rohit Shetty’s work!
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May 24, 2012 at 11:56 AM
there is ‘mustache’ angle ….
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May 24, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Komal Nahta @KomalNahta
Saw promo of Bol Bachchan. Too good, too colorful, too exciting. Seems Rohit Shetty, a genius director, will do it again this time.
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May 24, 2012 at 11:42 AM
this is the normal level of discourse in Bollywood. A guy like Rohit Shetty is called a genius! Nahta should have added though ‘I will now have to convert Devgan into a combination of Bachchan and Rajnikant so as to not give Abhishek any credit! I am already very confused about the film’s title since I asked Abhishek twice about this in an interview. Never knew ‘b-a-c-h-c-h-a-n’ spelt his name.’
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May 24, 2012 at 11:45 AM
to add to this I don’t really have a problem with ‘silly’ entertainment. But this kind of mindless celebration (I suppose par for the course) which tries to attach a greater value to these things is to quote Cory Booker truly nauseating!
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May 24, 2012 at 11:52 AM
I’m sure that Shetty is giving sleepless nights to fellow geniuses Johar, Dhawan and Sajid Khan.
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May 24, 2012 at 11:54 AM
LOL. but GF c’mon Dhawan , on a good day, is far better than Sajid and Kjo
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May 24, 2012 at 12:06 PM
Ha!!!!!!
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May 24, 2012 at 11:41 AM
ROFL at Rohit Shetty, a genius director
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May 24, 2012 at 12:09 PM
“One such dialogue is when he tells Abhishek, “Tujhe paake meri chaathi chaudhi ho gaya hai!”, which means he has become proud. However, he translates that into English and says, ‘My chest has become a blouse after meeting you’.”
Nothing more needs to be said bout this 1…
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May 24, 2012 at 12:10 PM
woh sa to theek hai, but where is the traier? when’s it unveiling?
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May 24, 2012 at 12:25 PM
just saw the teaser.it makes singham and gomal series look less crappy.But for whatever the film is worth,it looks like an out n out ajay devgan film as was clear from the posters released.rohit shetty has sidelined abhishek completely.Not that we didnt know about it but some fans were still in denial,not anymore.
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May 24, 2012 at 12:50 PM
just saw the longer version.Overall poor acting from all.
But ajay devgan is harsh.He took the bigger herione asin opposite him and gave abhishek the smaller actress prachi desai.Also the movie has a singham narrative going for him.he is smart.
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May 25, 2012 at 1:01 PM
‘But ajay devgan is harsh. He took the bigger heroine asin opposite him and gave abhishek the smaller actress prachi desai.”
LOL! Seriously? I mean- Archana Puranas Singh has more to do in the trailer than either of the actress- it’s quite obvious from the promo and posters that they are both absolutely inconsequential to the film- I highly doubt that Abhishek getting Prachi as opposed to Asin means anything much.
And Asin has been in a bunch of blockbusters but she is hardly an established star heroine like Katrina/ Vidya/ Kareena- so it doesn’t really make any difference who gets paired with whom. Is that the only one thing you could find fault with in the trailer?
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May 25, 2012 at 1:30 PM
You’re probably right about that because the mother too plays a significant part in the original Golmaal as she too pretends to be a ‘double’! Also Asin is Abhishek’s sister here so he probably gets screen time with both actresses.
In fairness Asin is still the bigger star all said and done because she has a Southern pedigree and she’s had bigger breaks in Bollywood than Prachi Desai but yes it’s not like a huge difference. The difference would be magnified with an important Bombay actress doing her part. Leaving this aside Prachi Desai is closer to the girl next door image that Bindya Goswami (though I can’t stand her in any sense) exemplified in the original. So here shetty wanted Genelia D’Souza originally who’s also closer to this model (much cuter though!) but she eventually decided not to do it.
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May 25, 2012 at 1:37 PM
Oh good point- I didn’t think of that- I was so distracted by all the cars crashing and men being punched that I totally forgot this was a remake of Golmaal!
‘Though I can’t stand her in any sense’
Ouch- I would have thought that Prachi was too bland to evoke such a strong reaction in anybody. 😛
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May 25, 2012 at 1:34 PM
of course the humorous thing about this entire brand of attack is: if you’re protesting who the potential hit belongs to then Abhishek is already doing better than in many recent films! And here too the problem is exposed. One can absolutely detest Abhishek, not like him as an actor but then when one goes beyond this and tries to establish the terms for his box office ‘non-success’ irrespective of the kind of film there’s something else going on. Oddly the folks who are that partisan or that disturbed by such a potential are willing to come with every dishonest reason bordering on the insane except for the one honest reason that would explain everything! Which is that they just don’t want him to succeed. When people dislike DMD and Bol Bachchan equally something’s up!
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May 25, 2012 at 1:40 PM
Abhi was awesome in players,why the hec that film flopped i have no idea,its when your luck is down even good film will shy away from you…let see if this works
very very dissapointed Department,best performance by Amitabh turns out to be worse film of 2012…when the luck is out nothing will work.
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May 25, 2012 at 1:50 PM
Wait- Abhishek is playing Ram/ Lakshman right? So then he falls in love with Ajay’s sister who is played by Prachi- don’t think Asin plays his sister.
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May 25, 2012 at 2:43 PM
they’re both sisters..
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May 25, 2012 at 2:08 PM
Ami, shetty has tweaked the original story a lot so there is no point in us applying our brain. on that note i find praachi much better than bindiya goswami- actually i much preferred vidya sinha to her
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May 25, 2012 at 2:44 PM
Vidya Sinha was atrocious too. I suppose preferable to Bindya Goswami.
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May 25, 2012 at 2:59 PM
actually he’s taken the central idea of the film to make a completely different work which has utterly no resemblance to the original in any reasonable sense. I know Shetty isn’t that kind of director but there was a Hirani way of doing this. The subject would still be very commercial and so on but a lot more sane and intelligent. And when you do it right you can get as much of a gross. The thing with Shetty is that despite some suggestive ideas revolving around Abhishek (playing with the names and so on) he is the ‘lowest common denominator’ guy simply trying to make the kind of outrageous stuff that sells with everyone.
Here one should also add that this kind of diseased box office reporting system which then informs the media coverage becomes a liability in more ways than one. So yes it is true that in any age more restrained films don’t make as much as more over the top commercial ones. But once upon a time no one blamed Hrithikesh Mukherjee or thought he was less of a director for making hit comedies that nonetheless grossed a fraction of the Desai films or what have you. Today it’s all the same. Any and every film is judged using the same yardstick. So you disincentivize someone who just wants to stay at All the Best level (to use another Shetty example). Because the entire narrative favors bigger numbers irrespective of how profitable such a film might or might not be. And again I’m not even against zany, outrageous films. But these too can be done with more taste. You don’t have to yell and scream and have the subtlety of a sledgehammer at every turn! Take Bol Bachchan, the subject already involves lots of situational comedy. There is no reason to make it so over the top. But in any case the debate shouldn’t be hijacked by a false opposition of ‘either Shetty or Mukherjee’. There’s a lot one can do on Shetty-like terrain without choosing the tone he does. Unfortunately this formula has become one of the dominant ones today.
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May 25, 2012 at 3:14 PM
nothing against abhishek and ajay are competent actor but will be harsh on rohit shetty….the thing with him he had always copied old films and script without giving its due and with past history golmal looks no exception infact all his present golmal series are rip off of old movie(without giving credit) but to give him credit he took indian movies as inspiration …the forgotten one and milked it
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May 25, 2012 at 3:48 PM
Satyam, fully agree with u. but what we r forgetting here is a simple fact that one needs to have the basic talent to do the remake the Hirani way and Shetty simply is not good enough to follow that template. btw in golmaal 3 the central idea resembled basu chatterjee’s ‘khatta maatha’. i think one of the best comedy caper i have seen in recent times was kunal khemu’s 99- intelligent yet entertaining while retaining the situation-cum-physical comedy flavour
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May 25, 2012 at 4:10 PM
golmal 3 was copied from khatta meetha and golmal 2 from relatively unknown aaj ki taaja khabar
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May 25, 2012 at 1:31 PM
looks good,it has to work to lift abhsekh career
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May 25, 2012 at 4:18 PM
OT:
Petrol Prices rise again. this time its a jump of Rs. 7.5!
God save us..
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May 25, 2012 at 4:22 PM
‘mehengai daayan khaaye jaat hai”- btw cbse class 10 board results came out yesterday
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May 25, 2012 at 4:49 PM
yeah my mother was telling me about it. Its a scary thing though – CBSE
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May 25, 2012 at 4:56 PM
well i knew bcos my sister also had given the board exams- have to save pocket-money to buy her a gift now-
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May 26, 2012 at 8:34 AM
This piece from HT has been syndicated in the ‘desi news’ section of the NY Daily News:
Why Bachchan?
Saturday, May 26th 2012, 12:00 AM
Mumbai, May 26 — Abhishek Bachchan has two distinct roles in his forthcoming comic caper, Bol Bachchan. While one character is loud and over-the-top, the other is a sober dancer. And neither, director Rohit Shetty insists, is modelled on Amol Palekar’s dual avatars Ramprasad or Lakshmanprasad Sharma in Gol Maal (1979).
“When I revisited Gol Maal three years go, I felt it could lend itself to an interesting script. We’ve taken the basic plot idea of a man lying to save himself from Hrishida’s (Hrishikesh Mukherjee) movie, but given our screenplay a completely different spin. But we wanted to acknowledge our inspiration. That is why we have bought the rights,” explains Rohit.
He admits that he wrote the film with Abhishek in mind and that’s why one of the characters is called Abhishek Bachchan. The film’s title, Bol Bachchan, came about after a plot-changing incident.
“When I was narrating the script and the name popped up, Abhishek looked at me and said, ‘This must be your idea,'” Rohit says, adding that Amitabh Bachchan too had a ‘What-are-these-kids-doing’ reaction when approached to sing and dance in the title track. “He gave us five days and while picturising the song, he got nostalgic and reminisced about how Abhishek
had turned up in a pram on the sets when ‘My name is Anthony Gonsalves…’ from Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) was being canned. Also, during Trishul (1978), my father had been behind the camera the same way that I was now.”
Rohit is quick to refute rumours that not just Abhishek’s double role, but even Ajay Devgn’s Prithviraj Raghuvanshi is nothing like Utpal Dutt’s Bhawani Shankar from Gol Maal.
“Ajay can’t be the father of the bride, can he?” Rohit argues. “In fact, we’ve done away with Bindya Goswami’s Urmila and brought in Asin and Prachi (Desai) as the romantic interests.”
That apart, Bol Bachchan has a lot more action. And after five superhits Golmaal (2006), Golmaal Returns (2008), All The Best (2009), Golmaal 3 (2010) and Singham (2011) when Ajay and Rohit come together, kids invariably ask what new car stunts they can expect in their upcoming films.
“We have a thrilling bus sequence. Our audience won’t be disappointed,” promises Rohit, who will flag off an action film with Ajay soon.
HT Media Limited
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May 26, 2012 at 9:10 AM
note once more an interview that focuses entirely on Abhishek. And of course the media’s questions mostly go in this direction as well. Nothing illogical here. That angle of the double drives the story. As I’ve said before there is a question of footage in a multistarrer but even when this is settled there is the one about who bears the film’s symbolic weights. In this sense some of the rabid anti-Abhishek folks are more on the money when they say Abhishek will sink the film or whatever. That possibility can only occur when a star is that key to a film!
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May 26, 2012 at 9:14 AM
Yes, Satyam, as we had expected, it’s clear from the trailer that it is a double-hero film. But we can also see that it is not just Abhishek who has the active part here, Devgn has an equally active role
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May 26, 2012 at 8:53 AM
Hmmm-well this seems quite massy ad will churn money but it’s not a sureshot blockbuster yet
Besides
Both the male leads have some ‘ghosts ofthe past’ to carry
Anyhow unrelated-when one gets stuck with sudden immense work load an deadline -two options-surrender or attack
Glad I attacked this time and have sealed it in a 48 hour marathon 🙂
No bigger ‘high’ or bliss
Bigger High than love sex or alcohol or drugs 😉
One even forgets sleep deprivation
Cheers
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May 28, 2012 at 12:34 AM
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May 28, 2012 at 10:29 AM
Sajid gears up for Himmatwala
By Joginder Tuteja, May 28, 2012 – 02:51 IST
Sajid Khan The weekend gone by was special for Sajid Khan. His Housefull 2 completed 50 days at the box office and is still running at many centers of the country. Not just that as he is going ahead full steam with Himmatwala, the shooting of which would begin in the second half of the year.
“For Sajid Khan the super success of Housefull 2 was very important since after Heyy Babyy and Housefull, he had to make it three in a row to prove that he could deliver what he promised”, says a friend of the director, “For Himmatwala he is gearing up well. Now that he has a hat trick of successes behind him, at least no one would challenge him for his claims when it comes to commercial cinema. In any case he had never bothered regarding what critics had to say about his films. Now with Housefull 2 crossing Rs. 175 crores in collections worldwide, there won’t be any noise at least till the release of Himmatwala.
With Ajay Devgn reprising the role played by Jeetendra in the original, Himmatwala goes on floors in the latter part of the year and would be released in 2013. Though there have been quite a few names being thrown around for the part of the leading lady, Sajid Khan as well as his producer Vashu Bhagnani are keeping all cards close to their chest before making a revelation. However, what Sajid is willing to promise is another commercial entertainer for the masses in the form of Himmatwala.
“See, the only rule that I have learnt ever since I started watching movies is that cinema should be only about entertainment. Each of my three films has been about entertainment and Himmatwala would be no different”, says Sajid.
As for Housefull 2 completing 50 days at the box office, especially in the times when films hardly stay in theatres beyond three weeks, Sajid is elated about the long run that the film has enjoyed.
“This goes on to show once again what the audience wants”, he says, “I feel that they should never be treated foolishly by thinking that they would buy anything. You have to treat them with a certain degree of respect and that’s what I have done in each of my films. I have never promised to change the way they live their lives. I won’t be doing that for Himmatwala either.”
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May 28, 2012 at 10:50 AM
Should be an easy hit for Devgan.. notice how some of these old-timers have reinvented themselves as remake specialists! Not a bad way to do things at all and I’m certainly not blaming them but it also highlights some of the limitations. I just wish that something more sane would be attempted. Aamir’s Ghajini hint is one that no star has picked up so far. They’ve all gone the extreme lowbrow way. A Himmatwala remake directed by Sajid Khan should define the absolute pits in this sense. Devgan should in my view stick more with the Singham kind of script. Something at least moderately more sensible. With Salman I can more understand the Ready kind of thing or whatever. He wouldn’t be plausible doing it straight like Singham. But Devgan could. Of course these guys are old war horses who’s seen it all, all the ups and downs, all the years spend being ‘nothing’ pretty much and they’re not going blow these late age career opportunities, no matter how woefully lowbrow, in the service of something better that is also trickier. and here it must be said that the audience today rewards more pedestrian entertainment every day! Once upon a time the old canard was that certain kinds of films were made for the ‘front-benchers’. Today evidently the real front-benchers occupy multiplexes where they lap up Sajid Khan all the time!
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May 28, 2012 at 10:54 AM
“Once upon a time the old canard was that certain kinds of films were made for the ‘front-benchers’. Today evidently the real front-benchers occupy multiplexes where they lap up Sajid Khan all the time!”-ROFL, u r bang-on. Somehow Devgn has suddenly stopped doing the ‘other’ kind of films. He left Bharadwaj’s Matru ki Bijli Ka mAndola which was a bad decision.It’s happened since Aakrosh flopped- he is going commercial with a vengeance
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June 1, 2012 at 7:28 AM
Satyam,
Agree with you that Aamir was just doing something different with Ghajni whereas nearly everyone else (Salman/Ajay/Akshay) thought this is the new blueprint for success. Whereas Aamir moved on, these guys are glued to it.
I agree with your earlier comment as well about Devgan that he was not a box office warrior in his earlier days…..it’s only due to Rohit Shetty that he has had consistent success.
In his earlier days, Ajay would release 3 films a year. 2 which would be rubbish, but he would give 1 gr8 performance whereby the fanbase grew. I also believe he’s a fantastic actor….and he’s become an all-rounder with his own brand of comedy per se.
His record is more of gr8 performances, rather than huge BO hits. He’s always been behind the Khans and even Akshay in terms of BO success. I would say he’s in the 2nd league of BO stars, because he doesn’t have the fanbase to give huge numbers/something extraordinary.
In hindsight he would have wished he was more ruthless in the selection of films/roles he undertook. He didn’t have the looks or the universal appeal of the Khans/Roshan but he definately has the acting chops. He’s an actor who with a controlled movie budget and more selectiveness could have become a real force, because an avg. actor does not give performances like HDDCS/Zakhm/TLBS/Singham (and many more).
You can see he’s become more ruthless now, because he’s now going for the BO and has acquired the killer instinct, but due to his smaller fanbase cannot get the HUGE numbers. Imo SRK was extremely ruthless and had the killer instinct from 93 – 2005.
Fast forward to the present Salman on the other hand has got the big fanbase, the massy movies, momentum and above all killer instinct.
I was wondering whether Aamir by being absent for 2yrs has lost that killer instinct (due to SMJ) or he is supremely confident that Salman is only no.1 because of his absence. I don’t think Talaash will outgross ETT or Dabang2 because of its genre. However 2013 will be a different story imo, because Salman has to find good enough vehicles to beat D3 & PK. I get the feeling that YRF believe that D3 has the potential to cross 300cr.
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June 1, 2012 at 8:45 AM
With Ghajini my more important point also is that it is still the only dramatic masala film that Bollywood has tried in contemporary times. There was Khakee in 2004 and of course santoshi has always been rooted in this sense. But Aamir in any case did unapologetic masala which is to say a film with real tragedy and loss and where everything doesn’t end happily. Similarly the violence here is real. The other films are all masala comedies. Rowdy Rathore doesn’t disturb anyone much like Wanted or Dabanng or what have you. Basically Bombay has discovered this Southern half-way house. Now in the South you have the other stuff too, certainly in Tamil cinema and so neither Ghajini nor the masala comedies mean quite the same thing. In Bombay though the latter option is a way of avoiding the former one. Which is why I still consider the Ghajini result most impressive leaving aside the numbers where it is still superior to every other film all things considered (with the exception of 3I.. though in some ways even here a subject of that kind getting to 115 crores is arguably more impressive than 3I’s 200 where every bit of the audience was completely on board). Now I’d rather have these masala comedies than not. But the point is that whether it’s Golmaal or Rowdy Rathore it’s more or less the same spectrum. A certain cartoonish world without ‘real’ consequences. This isn’t the case with Ghajini. And I long for someone to do this sort of thing. personally I think that if done right it would trend better than the other stuff. Agneepath in this sense something of an exception because the original could hardly be reduced to masala comedy even in the most debased remake. It was a circus in some ways but the very least that can be said if that it wasn’t a comedy even if very inferior to Ghajini (barring at the level of certain visuals). But of course the license here was provided by the remake aspect. Otherwise no one touches drama in masala.
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June 1, 2012 at 9:01 AM
Satyam, one remake, which is releasing this August, if done rightly, can be worthwhile-“Chashme Buddoor” remake”- It is helmed by David Dhawan- stars Ali Zafar (farooq sheikh), siddharth (ravi baswani), divyendu sharma (of pyaar ka punchnama fame- rakesh bedi), tapasee panu (deepti naval), rishi kapoor (saeed zaffery) and anupam kher (double role)- now obviously it would not be a patch on the original but it can be good on its own terms
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June 2, 2012 at 5:56 AM
Satyam,
I was wondering whether Aamir by being absent for 2yrs has lost that killer instinct (due to SMJ) or he is supremely confident that Salman is only no.1 because of his absence. I don’t think Talaash will outgross ETT or Dabang2 because of its genre. However 2013 will be a different story imo, because Salman has to find good enough vehicles to beat D3 & PK. I get the feeling that YRF believe that D3 has the potential to cross 300cr.
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June 2, 2012 at 12:56 PM
This reminds me of something, and for those who think I exaggerate Abhishek’s box office in 2005 and so on. Aamir in late 2005 was asked who he thought was the top star. He said that Abhishek was very strong. The interviewer was surprised and Aamir’s response was more or less ‘who’s the last star who had four hits in a row?’
With respect to Salman I don’t think Aamir is being insincere when he says that. First off he’s very friendly with Salman. But the more important point here is that Aamir unlike some of his fans has a very precise and realistic sense of what his strengths are and what his position is. He follows these things very closely, even on the box office he looks at some very unusual things. To put it my way he’s never interested in the most obvious narrative. If he were he wouldn’t have reached where he is! At any rate he knows that he doesn’t quite have the SRK or Salman fan following in terms of being that sort of iconic star. As I’ve argued before he walked away from that path relatively early in his career. He walked away from his iconic appeal. And so even as he’s become the top star and has been so for many years in my estimation for all the reasons I’ve discussed before it’s happened because he’s established a certain trust with the audience. So there’s a flip side here as well. The distributor of course doesn’t care how he gets his money so he bets on Aamir or prefers betting on Aamir more than anyone else because Aamir is safe in every genre he attempts. However if one analyzed the appeal of every star Aamir’s is not like Salman’s. People will show up for a barely watchable film of Salman’s as long as they think they’ll get his iconic self in it. This does not mean as many anti-Aamir partisans suggest that Salman is a bigger star while Aamir is project-dependent. Not at all. Because Salman would fail miserably in most of Aamir’s ventures. So people love Salman (or for that matter many iconic stars) with that caveat. Aamir has established overwhelming prestige, people have great regard for him and the films that he does. So he is very much a brandname but one that is premised on something different than the sort of ‘instant iconic connect’ most stars depend on. But that is very far from saying ‘hey he can only last in good films’. But even if one wants to be so incredibly reductive one should also say ‘SRK can only last in love stories’.
Now getting to Talaash this is of course a serious, dramatic subject where even the songs are part of the background score. But this is where Aamir’s brandname comes in. Assuming a strong film here I think he will get a big initial simply because most people will show up for it. Whether it can get to ETT levels in terms of initial is a different question. Probably not because it isn’t a mass film. Nonetheless I think if anyone has a shot to do it in a different subject it’s Aamir. The other thing here is that it’s not just about a good different film. Talaash is the sort of thing that will likely create a lot of buzz. So this sort of film should trend very well too (Aamir’s generally do in any case). what I’m saying here is that I’m uncertain whether it can get the ETT kind of numbers on day 1 or 2 or whatever but I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up outgrossing most of the 100 crore grossers. If it opened to 70 crores or so it could easily do 150. Depending on what kind of competition surrounds the film. Even if it opened to 60 it could get to a very huge number.
I don’t see Aamir as being very concerned with the idea of who is the very topmost star. Just don;t think he’s very bothered about this. I think he has a clearer idea of how well or not everyone is doing, he knows where the competition is, but I don’t believe it’s ever been his ambition to be proclaimed the top guy. But yes he does have a certain hostility towards certain elements of the industry. Other than this I don’t think he minds if Salman or Akshay do better than him. Some other stars could be added to this list too.
In a sense this question is even beside the point. As I said I think he’s been the top star since 2006. I haven’t changed my view on this. I concede Salman is getting initials as big as anyone and he’s doing it within a compressed period of time. So this means a lot. But it’s also a much more limited world he rules over. But also he still hasn’t matched Ghajini as a combo of initial and trending (all of this counts), nor has he (or anyone else) been within striking range of 3I. Eventually inflation will make this possible but that’s another matter. So it’s not as if Aamir’s highest benchmarks have really been crossed. But leaving this aside his singularity also depends on the kind of stuff he’s doing. This does carry great weight. So for a star to take him on it would have to be big grosses but also great success in these prestige films. Otherwise even if the others outgross him somewhere the uniqueness of his achievement remains intact.
On D3 crossing 300 crores I’d be stunned if that happened. Don’t see how that’s possible even. Take 3I. The film opened around 80 crores. Most films even with holidays and what not are not crossing this by much if at all. With all these advantages and extended weeks you can get upto 90 or so. Let’s say a very strong film that is liked a lot gets upto 100 in the same period. Doubling the initial would get the film to 200. Very few films do this but let’s say D3 did (it could based on the trending of the first two films), let’s even say it did 2.5 times the initial much like 3I. You’re still at 250, in the best imaginable scenario. To do more you need a HAHK kind of deal with tons of repeat viewers keeping the film afloat much longer. That’s not really a reasonable assumption specially with a genre like D3’s. Even 250 crores I think is not very likely. Sustaining a frenzied box office pace for that long is not easy. Note how even the biggest openers peter out around 120 or 140 or something at the most. To add 50 crores to this would be remarkable. Anything more would be astonishing. But even for that possibility to be there (for 3I to be crossed in some meaningful way) D3 would need a very strong script and become actually very different from what it’s been so far.
Also one thing should be remembered about Dhoom. Aamir in this franchise is not like Aamir in 3I or RDB. This isn’t his scene really. He cannot be for example more effective in this film that say Hrithik all else being equal. So they will of course tailor the role to his strengths but being a flamboyant villain or being that sort of charismatic star on screen in a larger than life outing has again never been his scene. Note how even MP relies on a much more realistic format for the hero’s characterization. It’s not a larger than life deal here (part of the ‘problem’ with the film in terms of is masala registers). But now we get to this absolute prestige. Of course no one goes to Dhoom relying on ‘this’ factor with respect to Aamir. They are already convinced by the franchise! In this sort of situation the big star obviously adds to the potency of the film but the other factors have to kick in too. Abhishek for example is much weaker here than when the last Dhoom released (unless bOl Bachchan does something enormous for him just in time for D3). When that film released Hrithik was hot, Abhishek was coming off a great period, Ash was hot, and so on. For a franchise sequel where one of the leads keeps returning he has to be on his game. Now this might not matter in terms of the initial but it does matter for the repeat viewers. Much as Aamir in D3 is not likely to get the repeat viewers Hrithik did for D2. So then it comes down even more on the script (of course not forgetting Katrina here). But you can’t make it too serious either or else the audience might not accept it for this ‘bubble gum’ franchise.
In any case there are lots of counter-intuitive things here. Which is why I’ve been interested in the Aamir choice. Specially so since Abhishek is already here. You don’t have a John-Hrithik kind of guy in the franchise for the very first time. The pure eye candy element. But the genre begs for this at every turn! Abhishek himself in the first film was part of this element. His problem in the second part (besides the imbalance) was precisely that he looked too ‘real’ to fulfill that eye candy requirement. This idea that hrithik looked better and so on misses the point. But either way Aamir in D3 is not like Aamir in a Hirani film. here he is on terrain that has never been natural to him even in a loose sense. He’s never been the flamboyant star even loosely speaking. For all these reasons I am interested in what happens here on all these scores. But my larger point is that in this franchise Aamir’s presence makes it a candidate for the highest possible gross but I’d bet much more on his Hirani venture doing this (though D3 is certainly in the running for biggest initial by quite a margin).
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May 28, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Satyam, just check ur mail
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May 28, 2012 at 10:57 AM
thanks Saurabh.. checked it.. will look into it in more detail later..
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May 28, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Like this poster the most so far. Also suggests more of a BnB ethos for Abhishek’s character. Note how even in the posters Devgan is essentially the same in everyone. Abhishek keeps appearing in different guises and so on. Love that moment in the trailer on that note (as a student and admirer of the Bachchan signature) where the guy with the mustache morphs into the Muslim guy with the prayer cap (and of course eventually into the ‘gay’ character).
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May 28, 2012 at 1:26 PM
Is there someone else too in that both AB’s song? The face and part of body seems to be cropped out in that image where both AB is seen.
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May 28, 2012 at 5:23 PM
From acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker “Johnnie To” (Election, Election 2, Exiled, Mad Detective, Throw Down, Vengeance, Triangle, Sparrow, PTU) comes an award crime film “LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE”- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M7jj-SgyaI
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May 28, 2012 at 11:04 PM
What in God’s name is happening with this motion poster?!!
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May 28, 2012 at 11:10 PM
HT
New Delhi, May 28, 2012
First Published: 18:56 IST(28/5/2012)
After hit Golmaal series, Rohit Shetty will be directing Bol Bachchan, which is inspired by the 1979 comic flick, Gol Maal. The filmmaker is out with a digital poster of the film.
It features Ajay Devgn and Abhishek Bachchan in his two avatars. Abhishek Bachchan is expected to play the role of Ram Prasad, essayed by Amol Palekar in the original and Ajay Devgn will be seen as Bhawani Shankar (Utpal Dutt).
Its official trailer got released on May 24 and has got a good response.
Prachi Desai and Asin will also feature in the comedy film.
Amitabh Bachchan, along with son Abhishek and Ajay Devgn, has shot a song for Bol Bachchan, sparking off speculation that the track was a retake of one of his chartbusters from Amar Akbar Anthony (1977). However, he refutes the rumour. “No, we most certainly did not shoot My Name is Anthony Gonsalves… We only shot the title track for Bol Bachchan which has an introduction shot of me emerging from an egg and blabbering English gibberish, much the Anthony song, before getting on with the rest of the song,” he clarifies.
The film will release on July 6.
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May 28, 2012 at 11:11 PM
Have Rohit Shetty-Ajay Devgan-Abhishek Bachchan Taken Gol Maal Way Too Seriously?
May 28th, 2012 by Joginder Tuteja
This is one ‘golmaal’ that has ended up surprising one and all. Bol Bachchan, which was supposed to be an official remake of Amol Palekar starrer Gol Maal, has turned out to be anything but the original. The unveiling of the Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan starrer has revealed that the film is miles away from the out and out comic saga that had made the original Gol Maal special.
Bol Bachchan and Gol Maal Movie Poster
Bol Bachchan and Gol Maal Movie Poster
“In the original Gol Maal action appeared only in the climax when a car chase ensued. On the other hand Bol Bachchan seems to be an action fare from start to finish”, says an observer who couldn’t help but rub his eyes in disbelief after seeing the promo.
Gol Maal was about a man (Amol Palekar) who puts on a disguise of an imaginary twin brother in order to fool Utpal Dutt. By the look of things, it is just this very pretext which has been retained with Abhishek Bachchan in a dual role while everything else in the script, screenplay and dialogues has been changed.
There are many though who feel though that director Rohit Shetty is catering to today’s audience and is giving them the kind of masala entertainment that is pretty much in vogue.
“On one hand we say that Bollywood should get more creative. On the other hand when someone does bring on changes to the original, we start questioning their action. What Rohit has done is to make his film highly commercial viable. Moreover with his brand of humour and unseen action, Bol Bachchan should only turn out to be Rohit’s third Rs. 100 crore winner in a row after Singham and Golmaal 3. Aakhir public ko yahi chahiye“, says a trade veteran.
Well, for that we will wait and watch!
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May 28, 2012 at 11:12 PM
Actually Shetty said very many times that his film was loosely based on the original but that he had nonetheless acquired the copyright. No one ever called it an ‘official remake’!
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May 29, 2012 at 8:29 AM
OT
Amar Singh’s interview with Tehelka where he describes how the Media dragged and hounded him in the Bofors Case
http://tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ne020612Amar.asp
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May 30, 2012 at 10:48 AM
New poster- https://p.twimg.com/AuJAgrxCMAAxqTV.jpg:large
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June 2, 2012 at 6:55 AM
Satyam, First Look of “CHASHME BUDDOOR REMAKE”- is helmed by David Dhawan- stars Ali Zafar (farooq sheikh), siddharth (ravi baswani), divyendu sharma (of pyaar ka punchnama fame- rakesh bedi), tapasee panu (deepti naval), rishi kapoor (saeed zaffery) and anupam kher (double role)-release date – Aug 31, 2012 http://www.boxofficecapsule.com/galleryimgbig/chasme%20buddoor%20shoot.jpg and http://www.bollywoodwiki.in/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/imagefromurl.jpg
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June 14, 2012 at 1:51 AM
siddharth (ravi baswani)…this is strange…disappointed..
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June 6, 2012 at 6:48 AM
Rohit Shetty drives bus for Abhishek
By Bollywood Hungama News Network, Jun 6, 2012 – 12:51 IST
Director Rohit Shetty whose name is synonymous with action packed masala blockbusters is back again with yet another comic caper Bol Bachchan.
Shetty is known as a perfectionist and ensures that each shot of the action sequences which include cars and buses are perfectly executed. In fact, on several occasions in his previous movies, one has seen the director himself driving the vehicles which include stunts with the actors such as Kareena Kapoor’s entry shot in Golmaal 3 where she’s standing on the bonnet of a red sports car.
This time around too in Bol Bachchan, the director will be seen driving a bus which has Abhishek Bachchan, Prachi Desai and Krushna along with many actors seated on the roof. Says a source from his unit, “Rohit always showcases some larger-than-life and high power sequences but at the same time ensures that the stunts are performed keeping in mind the actor’s comfort level and also the safety of the unit. Whenever he feels that the stunt is even slightly dangerous, he takes charge.”
So if you see this daredevil director seated in the car or bus that’s doing some mean stunts, don’t be surprised.
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June 7, 2012 at 11:49 AM
Even Asrani! Shetty really rounds them up!
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June 7, 2012 at 12:00 PM
I’m very glad to see Asrani’s comeback in BW, have always loved watching him onscreen.
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June 7, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Never liked him..
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June 7, 2012 at 1:47 PM
Looks like that Krushna kid has a good role here, He is seen in almost all the pictures with Jr. Many times you see these stand up comedians get promised a role in a movie which they do get, but end up in a movie without even a single line. Like that guy in Hera Pheri 2 (dont know his name, he is really dark and won some prize or something). But, here Shetty may have given this kid something to talk about to his friends and fans. No matter what kind of cinema shetty makes, he seems like a genuine guy. No nonsense.
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June 10, 2012 at 7:06 AM
I usually enjoy Rohit Shetty’s films(Except for Golmaal 2). Hoping this one does really, especially for Abhishek. Everytime an Abhishek Bachchan film releases I feel optimistic about it and then somehow end up being disappointed. Really hope that that is not the case with Bol Bachchan, Abhishek really deserves a hit.
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June 13, 2012 at 2:44 PM
We Bachchans are not a package deal: Abhishek Bachchan
Meena Iyer, TNN | Jun 14, 2012, 12.00AM IST
Clearly, Abhishek Bachchan needs no introduction. He is to the manor born and in his 12-year-long career, he has a body of work that automatically qualifies him as a pedigreed actor, and yes, even a superstar in his own right. Excerpts of an interview with Junior B:
One can see from the photograph that there’s two of you in ” Bol Bachchan”. How much fun was it?
If memory serves right, this is actually my first ever double role. I have done films in which I have had one character donning various avatars, like I did in “Bunty Aur Babli” (2005), in which I played a con man. But “BB” is the first bona fide double role that I have done. It was challenging.
Challenging? Why would you say that of what seems like an over-the-top comedy?
I have been very lucky that in a relatively short career of 12 years, I have had the opportunity to do some really interesting roles. “Yuva”, “Guru”, “Bunty Aur Babli”, “Paa”, “Raavan”, “Bluff Master” are just some of the names that come to mind immediately. I’m fortunate to have had many opportunities where I could depart from roles that people would normally not expect of me. “Bol Bachchan” is also one such opportunity. That is one of the reasons why I said yes to the film, because I knew it would be very exciting. I was fascinated that I would get to play two very different characters in the same film. I can’t name any actor who’ll say no to this film. The only place where I went wrong is that I thought I would have a breeze making this film. Instead, it turned out to be the most difficult film of my career.
Why do you say that?
I have to digress a bit before I actually answer your question. We have to understand, our film industry is very different to other film industries in the world. According to me, there is a certain amount of uniformity in the rest of the film industries; the kind of cinema they make. But our audience demands are diametrically different. In the Indian film industry, especially those of us who are in mainstream cinema, we invariably play a typical hero’s role. More often than not, we cater to the public perception. However, there is a latent desire in most actors to do a role where you can go all out and experiment. In England or America, actors do not have to cater to an image. In India, it is almost demanded of us. Very seldom do you get a film where you can walk away from your image. This film gave me the opportunity to break stereotypes (sighs).
Go on, admit you had fun doing it…
It was my most difficult film to date. You see, my approach to comedies is completely different from what Rohit Shetty had in mind. When I came on set, I came prepared to perform in a particular way. Rohit made me realise that there is a particular pitch and tone that is required for this kind of a film. We both agreed after much discussion that the approach I had brought in was incorrect. My style of comedy is more deadpan. My timing in comedy is slightly off and it suited a film like “Dostana”. However, for “BB”, a more physical kind of comedy was required. This, I learnt from Rohit. And after the “BB” experience, I doff my hat to evergreen comic greats like Mehmood saab, Johny (Lever) bhai, Asrani sir. One has to maintain an unbelievable level of energy to see a comic film like “BB” through.
Which of the twins was more demanding – Abhishek Bachchan or Abbas Ali?
Both Abhishek and Abbas Ali have unique characteristics. They couldn’t overlap in any which way. Keeping the divide was difficult. They are poles apart. They are not identical twins with similar traits. I have literally played two separate characters. If you must know, between Abhishek and Abbas, the most demanding was Rohit Shetty.
On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate your “BB” performance?
I’m dubbing the film now. I’d give my final performance a five. I’m very harsh with myself.
You’re with your dad again in the title track. From what one sees of the video, you are not nervous around him.
It is weird, but dad is the one co-star with whom I have done the maximum work. We’ve done “Bunty Aur Babli”, “Sarkar”, “Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna”, “Sarkar Raj”, “Paa”, “Bbuddha Hoga Tera Baap”, “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” and now this song in “BB” – I have a feeling I’m missing some film. Coming to the bit about my not being nervous around him – actually I was not nervous around him even when we did our first film together. It is every actor’s dream to work with Amitabh Bachchan. And dad’s greatest quality is that he puts you at ease. Being an actor and having the kind of experience he has on his side, he understands that for an actor to perform at his/her optimum, he has to be completely at ease. If there is any tension, an actor just folds up and closes in. He is aware that people get gobsmacked in front of him, so he goes out of his way to make them feel comfortable. He does it for the sake of the film. Also when he is shooting a song, he likes to have a lot of fun.
Who is more fun to work with – dad, mom or Aishwarya?
All of them are fun actually. I’ve enjoyed my films with all of them.
How soon will we see Ash and you together in a film?
I have done some of my best work with Aishwarya – “Guru”, “Raavan”, “Sarkar Raj”. I’d love to work with her; but there has to be a script that would appeal to both of us as individual actors. I have always maintained this. In between there was talk of the four of us – mum, dad, Aishwarya and me – doing a film together. We Bachchans are not a package deal. All decisions on a movie involve four individual creative people. So unless and until all of us like the parts written out for us, there will not be a film like that.
Presented by Fox Star Studios, produced by Shree Ashtavinayak, LFS Infra Ltd and Ajay Devgn Ffilms, “Bol Bachchan” releases on July 6.
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June 13, 2012 at 3:59 PM
“It’s the modern version of the old GOLMAAL. And yes, I was getting to work with Abhishek Bachchan for the first time, so I said yes immediately!”
http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/12/jun/13-news-asin-bol-bachchan-is-the-modern-version-of-old-golmaal-051202.asp
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June 13, 2012 at 4:02 PM
The Remake Debate
One of art critic and writer Sadanand Menon’s most vivid memories of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Carter Road residence is heading in the direction of the washroom, only to find actor Utpal Dutt rehearsing his lines in an easy chair. The case of such confusion: Mukherjee had converted the washroom into an office space. Working on low-budget often made Mukherjee redesign his bungalow to suit the purpose of a set.
Today, however, Gol Maal (1979) — one of his popular movies made on a modest budget — has been remade on a grand scale as Bol Bachchan, and is releasing on July 6.This heart-warming story of a young man trying to please his boss is now a high-action comic caper with Abhishek Bachchan as a conman. “Many people have a sense of humour and comic timing, but Hrishida’s cinema was unique and there has been no real successor to him,” says Menon.
Menon may be right. But the trend of remaking popular Hindi films is now looking beyond the action-packed Don or Angeepath. So, the current crop of filmmakers are looking at Mukherjee’s contemporaries, including Basu Chatterjee and Sai Paranjpe, to give their movies a contemporary touch. In Bol Bachchan, Bachchan plays Amol Palekar’s characters Ramprasad and Lakshmanprasad, whereas Ajay Devgn steps into Dutt’s rather large shoes as Bhawani Shankar. David Dhawan, meanwhile, is keen on remaking Chupke Chupke (1975) even as he readies to release a contemporary version of Sai Paranjpe’s Chashme Buddoor (1981).
Dhawan says that as a comedy filmmaker, to be influenced by Mukherjee’s works is inevitable. “He gave cinema a streak of humour in the ’60s and ’70s when melodrama ruled. However, the new generation may not connect with them. The remakes with contemporary settings may introduce them to Hrishida’s films,” he explains.
Bhavna Talwar, director of the slice-of-life comedy Happi, with Chaplinesque Pankaj Kapoor in the lead, confessed to have imbibed the simplicity of the plot from Mukherjee’s movies. Raghav Dar, who directed My Friend Pinto, too owns up to similar influence. “He viewed the everyday problems of the common man with a special lens. So a tyrant boss in Gol Maal or a cynical doctor in Anand (1970) would become ‘villains with hearts of gold’ in his stories,” says Dar.
Mukherjee moved to Mumbai in the early ’50s and started assisting Bimal Roy. Later on, Mukherjee edited latter’s movies such as Do Bigha Zameen. Mukherjee’s early films Musafir (1957), Anuradha (1960) and Anupama (1966) were inspired by Roy’s cinematic style. “Raj Kapoor, one of his closest friends, also impacted Hrishida’s work,” says Menon. The director worked with most top actors of his time, including Guru Dutt, Dev Anand, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Rekha and Jaya Bachchan. Amol Palekar, Farooque Shaikh and Deepti Naval also worked with him later.
The director suffered from severe arthritis which left him bedridden for weeks. Therefore, by the ’70s, he had nearly stopped penning his own scripts. He remade several Bengali films. For example, Chhadmabeshi was remade as Chupke Chupke. His illness also made him shoot several films, including Gol Maal, at his bungalow.
Even though there is a buzz around Chupke Chupke being remade soon, such attempts are being eyed with skepticism.
Director Basu Chatterjee believes that very few can do justice to the originals. Menon adds, “The way Hrishida paced his films gave the characters their comic timing.” Dar points out that after initial marketing, the makers are playing down the fact that Bol Bachchan is modelled on the 1979 classic. “That innocence of the ’70s is lost — a young man from a small town no longer feels lost on his first job in the urban jungle,” reasons Dar, adding, “Young audience has exposure to cinema from across the world. Indian cinema today is a battle of avant-garde films with little space for simplistic storytelling like Hrishida’s.”
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June 14, 2012 at 1:24 AM
Abhishek Bachchan at the 24-hour Le Mans race
By Subhash K. Jha ,Jun 14, 2012 – 10:31 hrs IST
#
Abhishek has a secret passion. Besides wife Aishwarya and daughter Aaradhya, that is. Abhishek loves fast cars, especially those that burn up the race tracks. Unlike his contemporaries from the film fraternity who rush to the Grand Prix races every year, Abhishek has chosen to attend a far more elitist race event.
He left on Tuesday night for the 24 Hours Of Le Mans car racing event to be held on 16th June in the scenic town of Le Mans in France.
Apparently, Abhishek had been planning to attend this 80-year old annual racing event for some years now.
“But he never got around to it until now. Every year something or the other would come up putting a roadblock in the way of his secret fantasy. This year Abhishek was determined to make it, come what may. He virtually stayed awake nights to complete the dubbing of Bol Bachchan so that he would get time off for a few days before he returns for the promotion of the film,” says a friend of Abhishek’s.
Interestingly, Le Mans is the only car racing event in the world where the cars are on the tracks uninterrupted for 24 hours.
“Abhishek will be glued non-stop to the tracks for 24 hours. He’s as excited as a schoolboy about realizing one of his secret dreams.”
Abhishek left on Tuesday night. He returns at the end of the week
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June 15, 2012 at 11:35 PM
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June 27, 2012 at 8:48 PM
“I don’t read reviews any more and i don’t watch ur show”
lol..this was a nice interview…couldn’t believe Rajiv Masand interviewing Rohit Shetty…
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June 19, 2012 at 3:18 PM
Talking of dev gun,
Just stumbled upon a dev gun film on telly
Dil hai to bachcha ji-any good?-let’s see
Btw why is this padamsee girl not getting any roles?
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June 19, 2012 at 4:05 PM
Did not like DTBHJ.. too predictable and boring
Padamsee got a role in Housefull 2
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June 20, 2012 at 2:59 PM
devguns extra-marital affair !!!
Seems devgun seems to be trying to ‘match’ srk in all aspects…
http://www.india-forums.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=3040922
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June 26, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Satyam- Please have Bol Bachchan release in US on July 4 …….will help it a lo..
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June 26, 2012 at 11:51 AM
sometimes on a long weekend films do release a day or two earlier in the US. Not sure if that happens here.
If I had any influence on release dates though I’d have a roadshow version of GoW!
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June 27, 2012 at 7:47 PM
Abhisekh bachchan finally gets to play abhisekh bachchan on screen.lets hope he is able to act this time…..but i have doubts!
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June 27, 2012 at 8:00 PM
Anjali -good one..@ abhishrek playing abhishrek- that should make it easy..
Gud nite folks.,,
C’mon oldgold and anjali -Let’s find some ‘outdoor locations’ 🙂
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June 28, 2012 at 6:13 AM
Abhishek’s interview with Faridoon:
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/more/videos/view/id/1458101
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June 28, 2012 at 6:17 AM
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June 28, 2012 at 6:23 AM
like this Devgan interview.. always have a weakness for the modest, unassuming star..
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June 28, 2012 at 6:42 AM
Satyam, i have always noticed a genuine camaraderie between Devgn and Abhishek and also between Devgn and Bachchan. It’s also a well known fact that Devgn is considered one of the most humble and nicest person in bwood. Btw Satyam, is Abhishek and Jaya starrer bengali film “Desh” any good (have not found a hindi version of it) ? what abt Antarmahal ?
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June 28, 2012 at 8:05 AM
I haven’t seen Desh. I quite like Antarmahal. I’ve never been a fan of Rituparno Ghosh but Antarmahal is one of his better works. It also features one of Abhishek’s best outings as a more or less mute character.
Did see his Choker Bali in the theater. This too was interesting at some level though I saw the 2 hr version and I have ever since wanted to see his 3 hr director’s cut (which only played at a few festivals).
The thing with Ghosh is that he can sometimes be visually interesting, he even has the right thematic material more often than not but his filmmaking otherwise tends to be very sterile. Raincoat is a classic example of this but truthfully I’ve not seen any film of his where this problem did not exist to some degree. The ‘lyric’ moment or the ‘precious’ instant is not that easily captured in film. It’s a rather delicate balance which if not struck renders the moment bland if not ‘dead’.
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June 28, 2012 at 1:33 PM
for me antarmahal was a semi porn nothing more but ya liked abhishek bachchan as bihar(i guess this was his only bengali movie) and he was subtle and this guy can act
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June 28, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Satyam ur last para is so beutifully written- actually very few filmmakers get that precious moment right all the time- Hirani is one such guy. Also thought that Bhansali achieved that consistently in Khamoshi. and i am with you on Raincoat- i mean it’s a film which i admire but i am not sure whether i liked it. have not seen Chokher Bali. what did u think of his Last Lear ?BTW it’s interesting to note that apart from RGV, Ghosh is the only director to have worked with all 3- Bachchan, Abhishek and Aish
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June 28, 2012 at 2:10 PM
didn’t much like Last lear either though did like Bachchan in many ways. Again a rather dull film.
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June 29, 2012 at 7:57 AM
even though I dont really like Raincoat as a film it has a suoerb soundtrack which is one of my personal favourites
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June 29, 2012 at 8:27 AM
Glad you said that Ragav1, it is indeed one of my favorite soundtracks from the last 10-15 years. Shubha Mudgal’s voice, and the superb lyrics, in songs like “Mathura Nagarpati” and “Akele Hum Nadiya Kinare” are to die for…
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June 28, 2012 at 8:45 AM
Devgan and the Bachchans are extremely close. He was one of the very few invited to the actual wedding ceremony. Not the somewhat selective function that followed but the actual mandap event. Dutt was part of the proceedings too. Also it must be said that it’s an extraordinarily generous gesture on Devgan’s part to have this film with that title and the way everything else has proceeded. Don’t think he’d do this for just anyone! It testifies to the relationship they share but it is nonetheless generous, specially when he’s also partially producing it.
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June 28, 2012 at 1:49 PM
Yes i think among the actors apart from Devgn and Dutt, only Riteish and Sunil Shetty were invited. But i was disappointed that other self-confessed great friends of Abhi like Uday Chopra, John and Hrithik were left out
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June 28, 2012 at 1:53 PM
don’t think Ritesh was there but could be wrong..
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June 28, 2012 at 2:22 PM
Wonder why Hrithik did not invite Abhishek to his wedding? Ditto with Aamir? Maybe except the Bachchans everyone else has a right to invite whom they want !!!! Just bored of this Abhi-Ash wedding Guest List Debate
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June 28, 2012 at 2:26 PM
I think everyone was invited to the Hrithik wedding as far as I know..
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June 29, 2012 at 7:54 AM
Nope only Dimple Kapadia, Rishi and Randhir Kapoor and Jeetendra attended Hrithik’s wedding
http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2000/dec/20hrit6.htm
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June 28, 2012 at 1:50 PM
was not aware about desh thanks for recommending and just checked it got some great reviews
http://www.youtube.com/movie/desh?feature=topics
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July 3, 2012 at 1:29 PM
Filmmakers once again explore double role formula
Published: Tuesday, Jul 3, 2012, 8:49 IST
By Aakanksha Naval-Shetye | Place: Mumbai | Agency: DNA
Bollywood’s love for double roles is an old one. Right from Hum Dono to Ram Aur Shyam to Seeta Geeta and later Mahaan, Chaalbaaz, Bol Radha Bol, Kishen Kanhaiya, Gurudev, Duplicate, Judwa… there’s never been dearth of such films in the past. But it’s only more recently that filmmakers seem to have stumbled upon this formula once again and are not shying away from cashing on it. So, the recent superhit Rowdy Rathore had Akshay Kumar play a double role, while Saif Ali Khan is gearing to play two roles in the sequel of Judwaa and Kangana Ranaut in Tanu Weds Manu sequel. There’s also buzz that Katrina Kaif may be reprising Hema Malini’s iconic roles in a remake of Seeta Geeta. Not just A-listers, starlet Veena Malik who made her debut in a recent release, too playeda double role.
Trade observers say that double roles have always been lapped up by film lovers here. “There’s already more scope for entertainment in such films, be it action or comedy. Double roles naturally lend themselves to very interesting situations that work in favour of the films. So, it’s a tried and tested formula that has high success rates,” explains trade analyst Taran Adarsh, but adds that since the kumbh ke mele mein bicchade bit is a bit too done to death, filmmakers also have to be more innovative when it comes to presenting them.
Filmmaker David Dhawan, who has explored the subject in the past agrees. Admitting that it’s an interesting concept to tap into, he too says that at the same time it’s important not to fall into the clichéd trap. “Whether it’s comedy or action or serious drama, you can’t give the audience situations that they have seen already even if the formula is an old one,” adds the filmmaker.
For actors too, besides being good fun is nothing less than an achievement of sorts. “Not many actors can boast of having done a double role. In a way it’s a comment on a star’s market viability, so every actor whether they accept or not, would want to have done a double role at least once,” says trade analyst Bharti Pradhan. “Not just that, it’s also a challenge for an actor to pull off two drastically different roles in one film itself, while it’s a challenge for the filmmaker to show them convincingly in the same frame. It’s technical, but today it’s also far more easier than it was earlier,” adds Bharti.
Double roles apart, the concept of the same actor playing multiple roles like in Krissh, where Hrithik Roshan played the role of both the father and the son too has been quite popular and the film’s sequel may see Hrithik play two roles once again. In Bol Bachchan too, Abhishek’s character plays a dual life, though it’s not a double role. And trade analysts and industrywallahs give it all a thumbs up too. “After all its double fun at single price and that’s always a draw hard to reisist,” they say. “It’s the best way to present a star in more than one avatar and the scope is limitless when it comes to what can be done with exploring an actor’s potential, so it’s a win win for all involved,” they add in unison.
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July 4, 2012 at 9:27 AM
Abhishek Bachchan Q&A
4th July 2012
Abhishek Bachchan is set to return to the big screen in his new movie Bol Bachchan, which is directed by Rohit Shetty.
– One can see from the photograph and trailers that there’s two of you in Bol Bachchan. That must have been fun?
If my memory serves right, this is actually my first ever double role. I have done films in which I have had one character donning various avatars, like I did in “Bunty Aur Babli” (2005), in which I played a con man. But “BB” is the first bona fide double role that I have done. It was a challenge.
– Director Rohit Shetty has enjoyed huge commercial success. You have worked with him in his debut film Zameen (2003). What is the difference that you see in him since he directed you for the first time?
I think Rohit has become more confident now. He is as hard working and humble as he was when we were making Zameen. He is one of the most successful directors that we have in our industry and his track record speaks for itself. He is like a machine who works for like 20 hours a day.
– Abhishek Bachchan or Abbas Ali – which character was more challenging?
Both Abhishek and Abbas Ali have unique characteristics. They couldn’t overlap in any which way. Keeping the divide was difficult as they are poles apart.
They are not identical twins with similar traits and I have literally played two separate characters. If you must know, between Abhishek and Abbas, the most demanding was Rohit Shetty.
– This is your second song with your dad after ‘Kajra re’. Are you nervous at all around him?
It is weird, but dad is the one co-star with whom I have done the maximum work. We’ve done “Bunty Aur Babli”, “Sarkar”, “Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna”, “Sarkar Raj”, “Paa”, “Buddha Hoga Tera Baap”, “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” and now this song in “BB”.
Coming to the bit about my not being nervous around him – actually I was not nervous around him even when we did our first film together. It is every actor’s dream to work with Amitabh Bachchan.
And dad’s greatest quality is that he puts you at ease. Being an actor and having the kind of experience he has on his side, he understands that for an actor to perform at his/her optimum, he has to be completely at ease.
If there is any tension, an actor just folds up and closes in. He is aware that people get gobsmacked in front of him, so he goes out of his way to make them feel comfortable.
He does it for the sake of the film. Also when he is shooting a song, he likes to have a lot of fun.
– How would you define your style of comedy?
My style of comedy is more deadpan and straight-faced whereas the comedy that I did in the film was very demanding, as a lot of energy was required. We all had to keep our energy levels high all the time.
It took me a week to adapt to Bol Bachchan. The first week of shooting was really tough for me. I came with a particular mind-set for the film and Rohit wanted something exactly opposite to it.
I thought this will be the easiest film to do and it turned out to be the most difficult film of my career.
It looks like a fun film and I thought it is a comedy film where I will enjoy, but I was proved completely wrong. I have told Ajay if the film does well he has to send me on a holiday (Laughs).
– Ajay Devgn said that they literally had to groom you into their style of comedy. What was that experience like?
Ajay and Rohit taught me that there is a pitch behind every film and you have to match it. I cannot repeat my characters as it will not suit the script.
My style of comedy was very different from what Bol Bachchan required me to do. The two literally made me unlearn what I already knew and adopt a different style of comedy, which was very difficult for me.
– How are you doing post your accident on the sets of Bol Bachchan?
These things keep happening. I had a small accident…cut my eye and injured a finger. But I am okay now. All good!
– On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your performance in Bol Bachchan?
I’d give my final performance a five. I’m very harsh with myself
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July 4, 2012 at 9:42 AM
The team of Rohit Shetty’s Bol Bachchan is soaring high on the huge buzz created thanks to its hilarious trailers and promotions by the team with some of the most unique and innovative events. Continuing the promotional blitzkrieg, in one of the first of its kind, Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan and Rohit Shetty recently visited the famous ‘Master Chandagiram Akhara’ in Delhi.
The 40×40 feet akhara which has seen the presence of many international wrestlers was the special arena for the team of Bol Bachchan to witness three different rounds of fights organized to entertain them.
The team announced the winners of the three fights and gifted 30 kilograms of almonds. In the end Ajay Devgn presented 200 liters of milk to the Akhara when he got to know that 6 wrestlers will represent India in London Olympics. “Master Chandagiram was one of the best-known wrestlers of India. I am privileged to have witnessed such a magnificent feat of strength and have thoroughly enjoyed our experience here”, said Devgn, who essays a pehelwan in the highly anticipated comedy flick.
Director Rohit Shetty too expressed his appreciation for the wrestlers, “These people are fabulous and played really well. I must say that they gave tough competition to each other. I feel proud that they are soon going to represent India in the next Olympics. Superb energy they have”.
Well, we are sure the akhara team was left touched by the special presence of India’s biggest stars with them. Bol Bachchan hits screens on July 6.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/features/type/view/id/3652
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July 5, 2012 at 7:52 AM
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July 4, 2012 at 4:46 PM
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July 4, 2012 at 4:57 PM
this is worth watching.. check out Devgan’s remarkable comfort level with Abhishek towards the beginning and then later Abhishek of course but more notably Devgan offers Bachchan quite a tribute.
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July 5, 2012 at 1:34 AM
Taran Adarsh review is out. And the rating is as expected (4 stars). Don’t think people here would be interested in ‘reading’ the review 😛 but anyways here is the link.
http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/moviemicro/criticreview/id/545484
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July 5, 2012 at 6:50 PM
Q: And Ajay?
A: Oh, he is like my elder brother. I had this group when we were kids comprising people like Goldie Behl who would look up to Ajay and his gang as cool dudes. Our dads had long associations too, and I was assistant on our ‘90s home production “Major Saab” when Ajay took the trouble of teaching me a lot about trolley moments, facing camera and many more things on his own. He was like a teacher! And he’s not changed one bit. So many times I have felt that he was giving me better footage or angles or lines that what were there in the original script that I signed. He does not talk much, while I talk too much! By the way, we have only a wall separating our houses that are behind each other’s even today!
Q: Because most of your films have not done well, do you regret doing any?
A: No way, because I felt like doing all of them. No one put a gun to me and made me work in them. Mani Ratnam is my mentor even if “Yuva” and “Raavan” did not do well, for example, and I would do even a one-minute walk-on part in any film of his!
http://indiawest.com/news/5354–bol-is-bachchan-s-most-challenging-role.html
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July 5, 2012 at 10:17 PM
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