My Name Is Khan’s writer Shibani Bathija is Aamir Khan’s Bharat Darshan guide!

Call it a strange cocktail of reel and real life. When Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar were busy revealing the first look of My Name Is Khan, the screenwriter of the film Shibani Bathija was busy with Aamir Khan’s Bharat Darshan yatra. In the film My Name Is Khan, Shah Rukh Khan’s character goes out on a cross country tour chasing the President and now for the promotion of 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan is almost doing the same, the difference is, he is asking people to chase him. And both have one person in common, Shibani Bathija.

If the gossipmongers are to be believed, Aamir’s Bharat Darshan yatra have been planned and written by Bhatija. What, when, how, clues and everything else. She is also busy scripting a film for Bhanja-jaan and has been paid a fat cheque by Bhanja-jaan’s sasumaa! No prizes for guessing ki kiske pocket me rocket hai! So, has she switched camps ? or she is having the best of bollywood ? Our sources say that she prefers Aamir Khan much more than Shah Rukh Khan! So, dont be surprised if you see Aamir Khan in a film scripted by Bathija soon.

Check out this Varanasi video from 0o:14 to 00:40. If we are not wrong, the woman walking behind Aamir Khan is none other than Shibani Bathija.

Aamir Khan’s Bharat Darshan. Destination – Kolkata. Sourav Ganguly & Kiran Rao joins him!

The journey continues, for the promotion of 3 Idiots. Call it real or fake, in activist or soul searching avtaar but one thing is for sure, its interesting. Much better than those million interviews where the stars say the same things trillion times.

And the clue for the next destination…

Aamir Khan’s Bharat Darshan. Destination – Chanderi. Kareena Kapoor joins him.

After Varanasi, Aamir Khan landed up in Chanderi. This time in activist avtaar, to speak for the weavers and their problems. Whats more, Kareena Kapoor also joins him. Aamir Activist Khan tries out weaving and adds a thread to the saree, to be auctioned later on. This is part of the Alternate Reality Game to promote 3 Idiots.

For Varanasi post and videos, click here. And here is the clue for the next destination…

Aamir Khan’s Bharat Darshan. Destination – Varanasi

Aamir Khan went missing and landed up in Varanasi. This is part of the reality game to promote his new film 3 Idiots. Click here to know all about the game. And click on the play button to check out the visuals, Aamir Khan in a new avtaar roaming on the streets of Varanasi, looking for his ammi ka aangan.

And here is the second clue for the next destination -

 

Aamir Khan gone missing!

Why ? For the promotion of his new film 3 Idiots. But still why ?

Because in the film also, Aamir Khan’s character suddenly vanishes one day and his two freinds, played by R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi, goes out to look for him! Welcome to the world of concept based film promotions! They are calling it Alternate Reality Gaming (ARG). Aha! Though the idea is not original, as it has been tried out successfully many times in the west but its first time in India! So play on.

Aamir will be travelling across the country and hints will be given out to locate him. And every time you spot him, you get one point. The person/group who gets all seven points will be declared winner. And the winner gets to spend the new year with Aamir Khan. Naah, we dont have any dreams of spending the new year with him but the game sounds exciting for sure!

The first clue will be given out today by Sachin Tendulkar. Our sources say he is in Delhi today!

Here’s the video about the game, everything in Aamir’s words…..

Check out the song promo of behti hawa sa tha to join the dots about this promotion…

Our bet – He is going to be in Leh/Ladakh or wherever he goes in the film! They cant go beyond the concept of the film. Lets see.

For more details, log on to www.idiotsacademy.zapak.com or click here.

If an Aamir Khan film is up for release, you cant even pee peacefully!

And here is the proof! Our good friend Deepak is 4th Idiot!

Aamir Khan’s Peepli Live to compete with 13 films at Sundance Film Festival

Produced by Aamir Khan and directed by debutant Anusha Rizvi, Peepli Live has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival. The film will compete with 13 other films in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Total 1022 international narrative features were submitted for this category.

And this one is real big! Not the fake olive leaves that everyone loves to put on their poster for every gulli-nukkad festival and keep on counting the numbers. Some even boast of 30-40 festival rounds, except, ofcourse the top five. Its been  ages since an indian feature made it to the competition section of any top rated international film festival. And Sundance is rated among the top five film festivals. 

To quote the official synopsis…

Peepli Live / India (Director and screenwriter: Anusha Rizvi)—A satirical look at the predicament of a poor farmer who creates a media frenzy when, beset with debt, he announces that he will commits suicide so his family can receive government compensation. Cast: Omkar Das, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Farukh Jaffer.  World Premiere

And here is the one the Screen published….

Peepli Live, is not just a take on farmer suicide but also on media’s obsession with ‘breaking news’ and publicity-hungry politicians. While Raghuvir Yadav plays the role of a farmer who announces his suicide days in advance, Nawaz (last seen in New York) essays the role of an aspiring hotshot reporter who decides to go town with Yadav’s announcement. His news catches the attention of news channels and politicians, which in turn results in Yadav’s character failing to commit suicide. The story’s irony lies in the fact that Nawaz’s character, which unknowingly acts as a catalyst in saving the farmer’s life, kills himself after he finds himself disagreeing with the ethical standards being practised by certain sections of the media. Interestingly, while shooting across homes, fields and roads at Badwai village near Bhopal, the unit managed to keep reporters, shutterbugs as well as locals at bay.

The details of other 13 films are as follows….

“All That I Love” (Poland) – Directed and written by Jacek Borcuch, about four small-town teenagers who form a punk rock band in 1981 during the growth of the Solidarity movement. With Mateusz Kosciukiewicz, Jakub Gierszal, Mateusz Banasiuk, Olga Frycz, Igor Obloza. North American premiere. 

“Animal Kingdom” (Australia) – Directed and written by David Michod, which centers upon a 17-year-old boy who, in the wake of his mother’s death, is thrust precariously between a criminal family and a detectives who hopes to save him. Stars Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, James Frecheville. World premiere.

“Boy” (New Zealand) – Directed and written by Taika Waititi, a study of how two young brothers reconciles fantasy with reality when their father returns home after many years. Features Waititi, James Rolleston, Te Aho Eketone. World premiere. 

“Four Lions” (U.K.) – Directed by Chris Morris, written by Morris, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, a comedy about some self-styled British jihadis. With Chris Wilson, Kevin Eldon. World premiere. 

“Grown Up Movie Star” (Canada) – Directed and written by Adriana Maggs, which spins on a teenage girl left to care for her rural father when her mother runs away. Features Shawn Doyle, Tatiana Maslany, Jonny Harris, Mark O’Brien, Andy Jones, Julia Kennedy. U.S. premiere.

“The Man Next Door” (Argentina), written and directed by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat, about two neighbors who clash over a wall separating their properties. With Rafael Spregelburd, Daniel Araoz, Eugenia Alonso, Ines Budassi, Lorenza Acuna. International premiere. 

“Me Too” (Spain) – Directed by Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro, about the unconventional relationship between a 34-year-old college-educated man with Down syndrome and his free-spirited co-worker. With Pablo Pineda, Lola Duenas, Antonio Naharro, Isabel Garcia Lorca, Pedro Alvarez Ossorio. International premiere. 

“Nuummioq” (Greenland) – Directed by Otto Rosing and Torben Bech, written by Bech, a contemporary story of how a young man pieces together aspects of his past and gets on with his life while journeying through Greenland’s imposing landscapes. Stars Lars Rosing, Angunnguaq Larsen, Julie Berthelsen, Morten Rose, Makka Kleist, Mariu Olsen. World premiere. 

“Son of Babylon” (Iraq) – Directed and written by Mohamed Al Daradji, the tale of a young Kurdish boy and his grandmother as they travel through Iraq searching for the remains of their father/son in the wake of Saddam Hussein’s fall from power. With Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir Al-Majid. International premiere. 

“Southern District” (Bolivia) – Directed and written by Juan Carlos Valdivia, a look at social change that envelopes an upper-class family in La Paz, Bolivia. Toplines Ninon del Castillo, Pascual Loayza, Nicolas Fernandez, Juan Pablo Koria, Mariana Vargas. North American premiere. 

“The Temptation of St. Tony” (Estonia) – Directed and written by Veiko Ounpuu, which centers upon a mid-level manager with an aversion to being “good” who confronts life mysteries as he loses his grasp on his once-quiet life. Features Taavi Eelmaa, Rain Tolk, Tiina Tauraite, Katarina Lauk, Raivo E. Tamm. World premiere. 

“Undertow” (Colombia-France-Germany-Peru) – Directed and written by Javier Fuentes-Leon, an offbeat ghost story in which a married fisherman on the Peruvian seaside tries to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within the town’s rigid traditions. Stars Cristian Mercado, Manolo Cardona, Tatiana Astengo. North American premiere. 

“Vegetarian” (South Korea) – Directed and written by Lim Woo-seong, about a housewife whose strange dreams and resulting meat aversion cause trouble with her husband and attract the interest of her artist brother-in-law. Toplines Chea Min-seo, Kim Hyun-sung, Kim Yeo-jin, Kim Young-jae. International premiere.

Script of Lage Raho Munnabhai & other VVC films to be out soon!

Quentin Tarantino’s script of Inglorious Basterds was out on the net much before the film released. Nobody was bothered about the twists and the turns. Call it confidence, great promotional tool or the maverick’s way in movieland. But for us, it was a great treat.

Its easy to locate the script of many hollywood/world cinema titles on the net. But when it comes to desi films, we are miserable at documenting our cinema. Forget the script, we dont know how to take care of the print also. For fans of Lage Raho Munnabhai, there is some great news. And if you are writer, look no further. According to Sunday Mid-day, the screenplay of Lage Raho Munnabhai will be out soon. To quote….

Om Books International is releasing the 350-page screenplay (priced at Rs 395) on December 7, at a function that is expected to have Lage Raho Munna Bhai’s producer-writer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, director Rajkumar Hirani, actor Sanjay Dutt and 3 Idiots star Aamir Khan in attendance.

The book will be in Roman script, with the Hindi dialogues as they appeared in the film. Says Om Books International head, Ajay Mago, “When I met Vinod (Chopra), we thought it would be a great idea to publish all his films in screenplay form, starting with Lage Raho Munna Bhai. In August 2009, we began it all.

You can read the full report here. And excited by the idea, Vidhu Vinod Chopra is now planning to release the script of all his feature films, starting from Parinda to Eklavya. And even the ones that he produced (Parineeta, 3 Idiots). To read Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s interview on the same issue click here. (BTW, do notice the way in which he is still dropping names…David Lean, Pual Schrader. Aur bolo ?)

Aamir Khan & Kareena Kapoor’s zoobi doobie in 3 Idiots!

Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor. Mani Ratnam wanted them together, Vishal Bharadwaj also wanted them, but for some or other reason the films never happened. The two actors are working together for the first time in RajKumar Hirani’s 3 Idiots. A new song from 3 Idiots, featuring both the actors is just out. Those of you who love dissecting the chemistry (or physics/biology) check out the video and let us know what do you think. 

The music of the film is by Shantanu Moitra and lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. The song zoobi doobi has retro sixties  club number feel to it and the intial hook sounds a lot like Main Hoon Na’s gori gori, which we love. There are few things which nobody does better than Farah Khan!

And if this rewind to bollywood’s sexy sixties club number is a genrae, then our favourite is Woh ladki hai kahan from Dil Chahta Hai. This song is also choreographed by Farah Khan. Bollywood is in her blood! Enjoy!

POTD : Aamir Khan’s middle finger!

Trust Mid-day to spot what others dont! Here is the Pic Of The Day (POTD), Aamir Khan with his butt chair and his fingers doing the tricks. One up in the nose, the other down the base. Clicked during one of the promotional events of 3 Idiots.

Pic courtesy : Mid-day!