First Look : Paa’s first song promo (Mudhi mudhi ittefaq se)

The first song promo of Paa is out. The song is mudhi mudhi ittefaq se, in the voice of Shilpa Rao. Music is by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. Paa is directed by R Balki and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan & Paresh Rawal. 

After all the focus on Amitabh’s new look in the first promo of the film, the song promo is all about Abhishek Bachchan-Vidya Balan. The names in the credit list are quite big but the first song sounds quite unimpressive. Check it out.

 

First Look : The trailer of Amitabh Bachchan starrer Paa is here!

Ok, make that “almost” here! Because someone decided to have some fun by editing out just the last few seconds. Though the audio is very much there. Anyway, if you have been following Amitabh Bachchan’s blog and the wah-wahs that everyone is saying after watching the trailer, then you know why we are so curious! We might have to wait for one more day till we get to see the full trailer, till then have a look.

Paa is directed by R Balki and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan & Paresh Rawal. Music is by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. 

UPADTED – The full trailer of PAA is out today. Have a look.

Here’s one more tariler. Slightly different version of the first one.

And when Amitabh said Paa!

And as a friend said, Balki’s fascination with age factor continues. In Cheeni Kum, it was father-daughter-son-in-law mess with age. Here its father-son-son! Paresh Rawal is back again as the father!

In the film Paa, Amitabh Bachchan (Auro) suffers from a disease called Progeria, a rare genetic disorder in which a person ages three times faster than a normal person. Its a family drama in which Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan are parents to Amitabh Bachchan, their 13 year old son who looks 39, and its all about how they try to deal with it. The look has been designed after much research and the make up used to take almost 4-5 hours everyday. Strangely, the basic premise of Paa sounds similar to Francis Ford Coppola’s film Jack starring Robin Williams. Inspiration, plagiarism or just coincidence ?

First Look : Amitabh Bachchan starrer Paa (poster) & its all covered up!

Amitabh Bachchan starrer new film Paa is ready for release on Dec 4th. Its directed by R Balki and also stars Abhishek Bachchan, Vidya Balan & Paresh Rawal. Music is by Ilaiyaraaja and lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. The first trailer of the film will be out on 6th November 2009. Till then its all covered up! Here is the first official poster of Paa!

Btw, click here for the official website address of the film. So far not much there but just a bit of Ilaiyaraaja’s music.

And if you are too curious to remove the carton from the pic and see how Bachchan looks as a 13 year old in 39 years body, click here.

In the film Paa, Amitabh Bachchan (Auro) suffers from a disease called Progeria, a rare genetic disorder in which a person ages three times faster than a normal person. Its a family drama in which Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan are parents to Amitabh Bachchan, their 13 year old son who looks 39, and its all about how they try to deal with it. The look has been designed after much research and the make up used to take almost 4-5 hours everyday.

Strangely, the basic premise of Paa sounds similar to Francis Ford Coppola’s film Jack starring Robin Williams. To quote from IMDB….

The movie is about a boy with a unique aging disorder: one that makes him age 4 times faster than normal. Movie picks up when Jack (Robin Williams) is 10 years old, but looks 40. He tries to go to public school for the first time, and tries to become friends with kids his own age. His physical appearance causes him lots of problems, however.

So, is Paa really Jack ? Inspiration, plagiarism or just coincidence ? Few more days and we will have the answer.

Aishwarya Rai & Abhishek Bachchan come together for Lux commercial!

Aishwarya Rai & Abhishek Bachchan have been paired together on the big screen (Guru, Sarkar Raj) but so far no joint endorsement. Now for the first time the couple has come together for Lux soap. The first tv commercial featuring them is out today.

Its conceptualized by JWT Mumbai, shot by Stephen Meads (of London-based production house Short Films) and has music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Also the voice sounds like Shankar’s. Not sure. Check it out.

WTF! Nothing impressive! We didnt get whats the big deal is all about!

The rumour is they have been paid Rs 25 crore for the deal. Huh! Our bet, somebody must have heard it wrong. Going by their endorsement fees, it cant be more than Rs 2 & 5 cr for Abhishek & Aishwarya respectively. And here is the video of them talking about the commercial…

Talking of TVC’s, the two commercials which is making us smile these days are of Vodafone Diwali offer and Max New York Life Insurance. One has the killer Dadduji with “meri rai mein” quote and the other has Mummyji with “gande underwear alag rakhna” dialogue. Nothing extraordinary but they get the ordinary life pitch perfect! Two scenes which are very common in Indian middle class families. Click on the video to play.

Amitabh Bachchan’s Paa – new poster!

A new poster of Paa is floating in the blogosphere. A reader mailed it to us. Though it doesnt say much, but this is the one which they put out as full page ads recently on Bachchan’s birthday.

The film is directed by Balki and stars  Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan.

Raavan – Is it Mani Ratnam’s Apocalypse Now ?

For as long as we can remember, the film has been in the making! And its still making headlines for all the wrong reasons! Incidents, accidents, cast and crew replacements, animal welfare board, notice, arrest, permission issue,  rains, schedule getting delayed, health problems – just think of any problem that can happen to a film and Raavan had it!

The recent news is that Bipasha Basu is out of Raavan! For more details click here. First, her casting came as big surprise. From the beginning, it was not mentioned anywhere. And by july-august, the cast and crew members happily announced that the film is almost complete. Suddenly Bipasha’s name pops out! We are sure it must be for an item number. Cant be more than that. And now, she is even out of it!

Before Bipasha, it was DOP Manikandan who left the film and Mani got his good friend Santosh Sivan behind the camera. Recently they had shooting problem because of the heavy rains in the Malshej Ghat area. Before that it was elephant scare, notice from animal welfare board, permission issue in the jungles of kerala and Ratnam’s heart attack.

And Mr Asif, where are you ? Asif, who ? Asif from this post who thought we were putting out fake news! Earlier we had put a post on the rotal mess of the shooting schedule of Raavan.  Click here to read our earlier post.

The hindi version of the film has Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Govinda & Vikram. In the tamil version, Vikram potrays Abhishek’s role and has Aishwarya Rai, Prithviraj and Priya Mani in the lead.

If its going like Apocalypse Now, we sincerly hope that it turns out to be one Apocalypse Now! We want to get rid of the memory of his last film corporate film on Reliance which was masked as Guru!

Abhishek Bachchan & Aishwarya Rai on Oprah Winfrey Show – High on IQ!

He is so funny! She is so fake-y! Together they are so fucking irritating. And those million dollar giggles, at every 20 seconds! Add to that the new accent. And their reaction to the marriage video (at 2:43, 2.50), OMG, they had no clue all these while that it ever happened. People are getting beaten up..ooh la la! This video rates damn high on IQ! Yeah, thats Irritating Quotient.

Here are two videos of Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Rekha was ego trip for Amitabh says Susmita Dasgupta!

Enough to make an explosive headline ? Here’s more -

I feel that Amitabh has never been a loyal friend. Loyalty has never been his characteristic trait.

And some more -

 But slowly as Amitabh got involved in his career, he himself became the centre of all attention which was very difficult for Jaya to swallow. After all, at the time of their marriage she was the star and he the also-ran. The change in the power position within the marriage as Amitabh became successful also changed the soft, intense and emotional romance which Jaya and Amitabh had.

Dont know who is this Susmita Dasgupta but feel like giving her a bear hug! Because finally someone has dared to speak up on BIG B. She has written a book on Bachchan, who is also the subject of her PhD.

Have always felt that Bachchan is damn fake and manipulative, on every aspect of his life, much like his fake wig which is on 24 X7! He just pretends to be holier-than-thou. Scratch the surface and you see a completely different person. Dont get me wrong. Am not talking about the actor, just the man called Amitabh Bachchan. Wish Khalid Mohamed would write a book on his Dadduji someday. I would be the first one too book a copy! Anyway, back to the topic. Click here (or scroll down) to read the full TOI interview of Susmita Dasgupta. On Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Rekha, Abhishek Bachchan and more! 

Is there an Amitabh ‘before’ and ‘after’ ABCL?
There is definitely a before and after ABCL Amitabh. The ABCL tragedy, like all stupendous failures have split Amitabh into a before and after image. The trauma of having failed appears to have drastically changed the person whose image was that of the invincible.

What is Amitabh, the husband, like?
As I could observe, and at that point of time I was nearly 20 years younger, that Amitabh and Jaya were ideologically apart. For Jaya, there was a distress about why Amitabh did the films that he did. Jaya would have loved it were Amitabh to remain in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee camp and graduated later to Satyajit Ray (Manik Kaku for her; Jaya is exceptionally well-connected). But Amitabh went into rather “cheap stuff” with which she was not comfortable. To the best of my mind, this was the basic reason for a kind of stand-off. Jaya and Amitabh were dutifully husband and wife but I felt that the romance in the marriage was lacking. Also Jaya is a ‘Bong’ woman, the oldest among three sisters, and most probably the brightest, daughter to a doting father and that too an important one. She is Bhaduri, an upper caste Barendri Brahmin, who are very proud people. But slowly as Amitabh got involved in his career, he himself became the centre of all attention which was very difficult for Jaya to swallow. After all, at the time of their marriage she was the star and he the also-ran. The change in the power position within the marriage as Amitabh became successful also changed the soft, intense and emotional romance which Jaya and Amitabh had.

How is the superstar with his kids? Is his rapport different with Abhishek and Shweta?
With his children, Amitabh is doting, pampering, blind with affection and only pretending to be firm, but very interested to be a part of their lives and eager to go to any lengths for their well-being. The daughter is interesting, I am not so sure that she feels the same way towards her parents as they feel towards her. I get this strange feeling that Shweta is seeking to move out of her parents’ very doting shadow and that marriage helped her have some independence that her extra protective parents robbed her of. Abhishek loves and would love to continue to be under the parents’ protection.

What about the Rekha episode? Is there reason to believe the affair happened, despite Amitabh’s denials?
Yes, it is a matter of great speculation for me as well. I always sided with Amitabh when he denied all on Rekha. But, only recently, I saw this television footage in which Amitabh suddenly got up and moved away as Rekha came near where he was seated. This makes me believe that yes, they did have an affair. The sudden getting up and moving away was a giveaway. It was almost a pose of fleeing from Rekha… why would a man want to do that if he is not guilty of something? I believe Amitabh knew from day one that he wasn’t serious about Rekha. Also, he’s very, very class conscious… Rekha was perhaps an ego trip.

How do you think Abhishek fares, being Amitabh and Jaya’s son, and now Aishwarya’s husband?
Abhishek reminds me of Prince Salim and he has the Prince Salim syndrome. In today’s world, Abhishek’s appeal lies in a certain sense of being chaperoned, someone who seeks and has security and, on the basis of an assured lifestyle, can afford to be nice to one and all. Just as Amitabh’s image crashed with failure, Abhishek’s image can crash if the shadows of persons chaperoning him are taken away. The image contains the shadows of the biggies that he nests among.

Was he behind Abhishek joining films?
Yes, he was totally behind Abhishek’s joining films and if I were to have my opinion, then to push him to cinema. That’s why I say that Abhishek is prince Salim, the reluctant heir of Akbar when his heart was away in Venice, Rome and even Spain.

Amitabh is projected today as the loyal friend… what drives his friendships with the Anil Ambani and Amar Singh?
I feel that Amitabh has never been a loyal friend. Loyalty has never been his characteristic trait. Anwar Ali and Amjad Khan are at least two who Amitabh never even acknowledged. I have seen him rather stand-offish with Javed, Salim, Prakash Mehra, the persons who made him. Amitabh never attended Hrishida’s funeral. He refuses to acknowledge Desh Mukherjee or Tinnu Anand. So, he looks for friends as far as he has something to gain from them.

The Amar Singh episode is strange. He must be really gaining something out of Anil Ambani and Amar Singh and that “gain” has some connection with the “loss” in terms of money.

Why do you think he is still working? Is it insecurity, to consolidate a space for Abhishek or love of acting?
Amitabh is still working, yes, what you suggest to consolidate Abhishek’s career, but to the best of my understanding, Amitabh is Bhishma, he wishes to prove that he is immortal as a star. I think that Amitabh is seeking immortality by constantly reinventing his image to suit each new age that he lives in. 

The Hangover’s bollywood makeover!

Ages ago, we told you so! Here is the post where we wrote about how bollywood biggies are desperate to remake The Hangover.

And according to Mumbai Mirror, Firoz Nadiadwala has purchased the remake rights of the film. But according to our sources, the final deal is still not done and negotiation is on. Papers not signed yet.

The remake will be directed by Anees Bazmee. Abhishek Bachchan will play Bradley Cooper’s role and Paresh Rawal will step into the shoes of Zach Galifianakis. Ritesh Deshmukh, Sanjay Dutt and Katrina Kaif might join the gang too. The 4o plus actor whom we mentioned in our earlier post is Sanju Baba who is damn interested to get the remake rights for his production house.  

All we can say is what happens in Las Vegas, should stay in Las Vegas. And should never come to bollywood! 

Xclusive – Mani Ratnam’s Raavan – more than 100 days of shoot, less than 20 percent of the film

Mani  Ratnam’s Raavan has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. And if a lil birdie from Kerala’s jungles is to be believed, the film’s schedule is in a royal mess!

Ratnam has already shot for more than 100 days and when he saw the rushes, believe it or not, it turned out to be only 20% of the film. He chucked the rest. Some 600 cans have already been exposed and with so lil output! Now Ratnam has decided to re-shoot major portions of the film.

Shooting permission issues in Kerala & Ooty, had a heart attack and then he wasn’t happy with Manikandan’s work. Everything went wrong. Manikandan has been replaced with his old favourite Santosh Sivan.

With Reliance’s big money, he surely doesn’t need to worry about the finances but the problem is with the actors’ dates. The hindi version stars Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Govinda & Vikram. In the tamil version, Vikram potrays Abhishek’s role and has Aishwarya Rai & Prithviraj in the lead. The actors have been asked to give fresh dates.

Ratnam is going back to the jungles of Kerala soon to re-shoot the portions. And after that, there is shooting schedule of more than 180 days to be completed. At this rate, they should rename the film as Such a Long Road to Perdition!