Namo Venkatesha’movie audio releasing on January 4th

Producers are planning to release the audio of Venkatesh-Trisha starrer “Namo Venkatesha” on January 4, 2010.By Jan 6th, the film’s shooting part would completely be finished,” producers Ram, Gopi and Anil told the media.Namo Venkatesha’, with Venkatesh-Brahmi’s delightful combination and Srinu Vytla’s direction promises to be a laugh-riot, non-stop entertainer!

’Namo Venkatesha’is Made on Suresh Productions Private Limited and 14 Reels Entertainment jointly. Movie releasing on Sankranthi. Music by Devisri Prasad.

The new comers of 2009

Fresh faces failed to make a smashing debut in Bollywood this year. But actors like Mahie Gill, Kalki Koechlin, Giselli Monteiro and Shruti Haasan did stand out. Here are 10 newcomers who made a mark:

Mahie Gill: She may well hold the record for being a debutante with the most number of releases in a single year. First, she managed to catch everyone’s attention as the new age Paro in Dev.D, a modern-day take on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Devdas. Later, she impressed in Anurag Kashyap’s next film Gulaal. She is a complete natural and one would love to see more of her. She also featured in the duds Aagey Se Right and Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas.

Kalki Koechlin: Born to French parents, Kalki as the modern day Chandramukhi showed off her talent in Dev.D. Unusual good looks certainly didn’t harm her cause either!

Giselli Monteiro: She was the hidden treasure for the entire team of Love Aaj Kal. With her identity being unveiled only after the release of the film, she made countrywide news once it was declared that she was a Brazilian in the garb of a Punjabi ‘soni kudi’.

Chandan Roy Sanyal: Pretty much following the route that was laid out for Prateik Babbar when he made his quiet ‘supporting actor’ debut with Jaane Tu Ya… Jaane Naa, Chandan was hardly in the news until the release of Kaminey. He was truly discovered when he played his part of Mikhail to perfection in the dark crime thriller, alongside Shahid.

Jaccky Bhagnani: Even though Kal Kissne Dekha didn’t work, Jackky did deliver. Quite confident in front of the camera, he neither overplays nor underplays his part. Though a better script would have helped, Kal Kissne Dekha did act as a showreel for young Bhagnani.

Sheena Shahabadi: For Sheena, what worked most was the author-backed role that she got in Tere Sang. Playing a 15-year-old who was looking at exploring life to the fullest, she was easily the star of the show and came up with a bravura act that made Tere Sang believable.

Sohum Shah : The film Baabarr went largely unnoticed, but debutant Sohum Shah stood tall as he impressed most with his dialogue delivery. He is bound to be noticed in a big way from here on, though it would be interesting to see how he looks clean shaven!

Shruti Haasan: If there was anyone quintessentially Bollywood material who arrived in 2009, it was Shruti Haasan. However, the really poor script of Luck ruined the pretty girl’s chances of starting off her Bollywood outing with a smash hit. She has the body, the looks and the attitude. All she needs now is another good opportunity on a decent enough platform.

Nausheen Ali Sardar : In a small film, Three – Love, Lies, Betrayal, which unfortunately went totally unnoticed, Nausheen made a good switch from TV (Kkusum) to the big screen. Her role demanded her to look sad and worn out in every scene, but she didn’t complain. However, she didn’t miss a chance, when she found a good stage, to demonstrate histrionics, especially during the final moments of the film.

Jacqueline Fernandes: Jacqueline’s task was pretty much cut out in Aladin. She had to look good and this is where her Miss Sri Lanka crown came in handy. Moreover, she was indeed good in the couple of scenes where she was required to mouth dialogues in addition to just smiling. Just like Katrina Kaif, who started off her career with her good looks and fair acting capabilities, Jacqueline too seems to have a future in Bollywood.(TNN)

Sadie Frost splits from boyfriend

Even as actor Jude Law enjoys a re-union vacation with actress Sienna Miller, his ex-wife Sadie Frost is spending a lonely festive season after breaking up with her boyfriend.

The 44-year-old actress-turned-fashion designer is set to ring in the New Year alone following a break-up with Welsh actor Andy Jones, reported Sun online.

Frost reportedly called off their relationship because Jones was too starstruck by her celebrity friends.

"Sadie is upset but Andy was too green to hang around the Primrose Hill set (Frost’s friends). Every time he met Kate Moss or Jude he got starstruck and tried to impress them," said a source.

And things are getting worse with Frost ever since Law has rekindled romance with Miller.

The ’Shopping’ star was said to be furious after the British actor took their three children to Barbados the day after Christmas to soak up the sun on the Caribbean beaches with Miller.

"Knowing (Jude) is rekindling his romance with Sienna is not helping," the source added.

Frost and Law divorced in 2003 and are parents to sons Rafferty, 12, and Rudy, seven, and daughter Iris, nine.(PTI)

Big B as a news reader

After playing Auro from Paa in a number of off-screen events, Amitabh Bachchan now assumes the role of media magnet Vijay Harshwardhan Mallik from his forthcoming movie Rann and will appear on a TV channel
to do a year-end news round-up.

"And we aren’t just talking about entertainment-related activities," said the film’s co-producer Sheetal Talwar who was present when Big B donned the garb of a news anchor holding forth on events of the year from the world on the news channel Times Now.

"And it was events from the world of global politics. Mr Bachchan just took over the television space as though he had done news analysis all his life. It was an amazing experience," said Talwar.

On Thursday night the megastar will reportedly be heard talking on roughly six global issues of 2009 - Indian national politics, terrorism, cricket, swine flu, recession and Obama on an hour-long segment.

This would be the first of several media-related activities that the Big B is scheduled to participate in before director Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann hits the screens on Jan 29.

Apparently he intends to assume whatever character he plays in his forthcoming films and promote the film as the character rather than ’Amitabh Bachchan’.

Record releases in 2009 for Kollywood

The good news first —the number of Kollywood releases for 2009 has broken all records and stands at 131 as of December 31, 2009.

It is the highest ever number in two decades and has also broken last year’s record of 120 releases. The bad news — the hit ratio has come down to 14 percent against last year’s 18 percent and a peak of 24 percent in 2006. It is the lowest hit ratio in the last five years (see box). It is clear that the boom in production has led to a fall in quality of content and audiences are losing interest. Tamil Film Distributors Association president Kalaipuli G Sekaran said, “The more the number of releases, higher the flop ratio. I wish the Tamil Film Producers Council regulates the number of releases per week.”

According to a conservative estimate, the industry has invested approximately Rs 600 crores in 131 films and lost over Rs 125 crore. The trouble is that those who were making viable films within the commercial format last year (2008), on an affordable budget of Rs 3 to 4 crore, required Rs 7 to 8 crore to make their films this year. This has ruined the winning ‘small is beautiful’ formula, and rendered producers bankrupt. At the other end, superstar films which were made on Rs 15 to 18 crore budgets, now cost around Rs 25 to Rs 30 crore, as salaries of superstars have increased by 100 to 200 percent. This has led to a cascading effect with all-round increase in production cost as heroines, comedians, villains, music directors and other technicians too have demanded a salary hike.

The market for Tamil movies has also shrunk due to recession, lack of quality content, high cost of movie tickets and easy availability of pirated videos. Concludes leading producer G Dhananjayan, “With shrinking revenue opportunities, due to low or no competition in most areas including music, overseas and satellite rights, the commercial success of a film, today, largely depends on theatrical collections in Tamil Nadu. This is a highly risky proposition in the current scenario where at least two to three films release a week. The budgets will have to be slashed as must the salaries of stars. At the same time, each film should have a strong and innovative theme for the industry to survive

Shakeela is not a virgin

Sex bomb of kerala Shakeela is going to get marrying soon with her boyfriend, who is a industrialist. Sexy baby Shakeela speaking to a Malayalam daily stated that her would be husband is one of my biggest fans in Kerala and he is marrying me after watching all my movies. He never feels that I am a virgin and he is not marrying me for the sexual pleasure or breaking by virginity. We both fell in love just within a span of one week after we met together.

Shakeela stated that she does not want to make big news of her first night because when I am not a virgin, then no special thoughts of my first night. I feel pity and treat a person as fool who still believes in my virginity. Who will say like that openly, any way hats off to Shakeela for her open and broadminded like she is seen on the silver screen?

Abhishek will die in Delhi-6!

A year after the release of the ill-received Delhi-6, director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra is set to release the film with a new tragic ending.

The film was originally planned with Abhishek Bachchan’s character’s death at the end. Mehra, apparently with considerable pressure from his producer, UTV, decided to alter the ending to a happy one. Incidentally, Abhishek had strongly advised his director-friend against the ending.

A member of the cast says, “Abhishek and Rakeysh had many arguments on the subject. The producers felt that audiences will react adversely to Abhishek’s character dying. Although Rakeysh was unhappy with it, he shot the alternate ending.”

Now a year later, the character Roshan will die in a new version of the film to be released very shortly. Confirming these developments, Rakeysh says, “I made a mistake. I should have gone with my original script with the tragic ending. Going by the reactions I got after I showed the newly edited film at the Venice Film Festival in September, I am sure this is the right version of Delhi-6.”

The new version will coincide with Rakeysh embarking on his next directorial project, apparently the historical Mirza Sahibaan, which the director is now in the process of casting.

Rakeysh is also set to begin a professional story bank within his production house. The director says, “While there is an acute shortage of writers in our cinema, new writers seem to have no access to the mainstream banners. We want to give these writers a chance to bring their talents to our company.”

Rakeysh will also be introducing new directorial talent. “I am surprised at the number of new talented writer-directors who are coming to us with wonderful innovative ideas. I want to make these talented filmmakers a part of my team. I can’t make all the films that I want to. These directors can make some

Kelly Brook strips off for a play

Former model Kelly Brook has fans goggle-eyed as she strips off in West End’s play Calendar Girls. The posters portray matured members of the cast hidden behind large bouquets of flowers or pieces of furniture. Brook, who has taken over the part of Celia that was previously played by Jerry Hall, is the only one who is just 30. In the posters, the actresses mimic the tongue-in-cheek humour of the 2003 film, posing nude but covering their modesty with household objects like large bouquets of flowers or pieces of furniture, reports guardian.co.uk.

Mohanlal invites Bachchan to act in Malayalam movie

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal has invited Amitabh Bachchan to act with him in a Malayalam film after the Bollywood icon expressed his desire to work with the National award winning actor.

"We will be inviting Amitabh Bachchan to act in the film and we hope that he will not reject the invitation," Mohanlal who is a self confesses Big B fan told reporters.The actor hoped that Bachchan would find time to play the role by taking out a day or two from his busy schedule.

The two stalwarts had shared the screen in the 2007 flop ’Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag’ with Mohanlal playing Thakur Baldev Singh and Bachchan playing his nemesis Gabbar Singh.
Mohanlal, who was last year conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in Indian Territorial Army, said that the film by director Major Ravi, a former army man himself, will revolve around the life of soldiers.

The four time National Award winning actor who will complete three decades in the film industry next year, said that feels lucky to have played characters remembered by the audiences.

"It is my good fortune and a blessing that I have been able to do a lot of good roles. I owe it to producers, directors and writers who chose me for such roles," he said. (PTI)

Biggies ready for January 2010 war

Coming January is a fully occupied with big and small movie releases. Including the December postponed movies like NTR’s ’Adhurs’,Shekar Kammula-directed Leader and Venkatesh’s ’Namo Venkatesha’, Ravi Teja’s ’Shambo Shiva Shambo’,Nagarjuna’s ’Kedi’ as the month’s biggest releases.

Apart from these much-awaited ones, there are films like Deva Katta’s ’Prasthanam’, Three Angels-produced ’Om Shanthi’, Manchu Manoj-starrer Bindaas, Nikhil-starrer Kalavar King, Geetha Krishna-directed Koffi Bar are in the list.

Heroin charges Rs 2 Crore per night (gossip)

The Bollywood sexy and hot actress Bipasa Basu is welcoming the year with full of masty. She is going to perform in hotel Sahara star. The CEO says that “Hotel Sahara Star bids goodbye to the year gone by and lures you into the New Year with Seduction 2010- the happiest, happening and most sought party of the year, with none other than the dusky diva- Bipasha Basu, who will be performing on the evening of 31st December.”

It is heard that they have paid her a hefty amount to make the event successful.It is rumored that Bipasha is charging a whopping Rs 1.5 crores for her performance at Sahara Star hotel in Mumbai.

Successful actress in 2009

Priyanka Chopra is riding high on success. The year has been good for the actress as all her films have done well at the box office. The lady has also bagged several endorsements. There are reports that Priyanka Chopra is ahead of Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, MS Dhoni and Aamir Khan where endorsements are concerned.

Industry pundits attribute Priyanka’s success to her glam image as well as her girl next door looks. On her success this year, Priyanka says that 2009 has been a good year for her career.

Katrina Has a Date With Ranbir in New York! (gossip)

While the whole world believes that Katrina is recuperating in London with her family, a reliable London source tells Times of India that she is actually in New York.

Incidentally, Ranbir Kapoor is also in New York shooting for Sajid Nadiadwala’s Anjaana Anjaani. Coincidence? Not really, says sources.

Post her surgery in Mumbai, Katrina flew off to London claiming to spend New Year’s Eve with her family. Katrina, who ushers in the New Year with her mother and siblings each year, was particularly thrilled about the family reunion this time round, because she was looking forward to playing with her sister’s little son. But apparently, family has been sidelined in favor of some companionship.

Deepika Padukone dinner with PM

Recently, Deepika was invited to the PM’s residence at 10 Janpath, Delhi to have dinner with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi and 20 cabinet ministers. The dinner was in honor of the Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama and his wife, Miyuki Hatoyama. They are presently visiting India and are huge fans of Bollywood films.

They liked Deepika in ‘Om Shanti Om’ (2007) a lot and wanted to meet her. The PM’s office then called Deepika and asked her if she would like to come to dinner. The actress, who was shooting for Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se’ in Goa, readily agreed and took a day off from shooting.

She was very excited and nervous and felt that she was privileged and honored to be invited to the occasion. She wore a Manish Malhotra saree for the event.

Uday Kiran’s new film titled as ‘Nuvvekkadunte Nenakkadunta’

Uday Kiran’s upcoming film is expected to hit the screens by Sankranthi. Shwetha Basu Prasad plays the heroine in the film. Uday Kiran, Swetha Prasad’s film that is being made in the direction of Tamil director Shubaselvam is titled ‘Nuvvekkadunte Nenakkadunta’.Subha Selvam is the director of the movie. It is produced by D Kumar and Eashwar Varaprasad. Ashish Vidhyarthi, Nalini, Rajya Lakshmi, Aarthi, Subbarao and others are in the cast. Music is scored by Pradeep Koneru. Camera is handled by Raghavan.