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.

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.

WTF : Sanjay Leela Bhansali to get 35 cr for Guzaarish!

Woohooo! We are not sure who all have gone mad but we surely are going insane since we heard the news. And since its directly from horse’s mouth, we have no choice but to believe it.

Rs 35 crore!!!! And that too, post-Saawariya! Welcome to Bhansali Blues! Some men have all the luck to do all the Leela! And some like UTV make it possible too.

UTV is producing the film Guzaarish. The budget of the film will be Rs 60-65 crore and the major chunk will go to director’s pocket. It seems Bhansali also managed to convince Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai to take a pay cut and so extra goodies will go to  SLB’s account.

Btw, a huge set of the film has been erected in Mumbai’s Mehboob Studio. If gossipmongers are to be believed, the story is set in Goa.

Also, because of Guzaarish, Vibhu Puri’s Chenab Gandhi, to be produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been postponed to next year. Vibhu assisted Bhansali on Saawariya. Chenab Gandhi will star Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan and Rajeev Khandelwal.

We at FC, have an interesting history with Guzaarish. Click here and here to know more. Story, plot details, denials, headlines and some more.

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!

Aishwarya Rai’s new pics and why we think its double standard!

We have never understood this. Aishwarya Rai’s dressing style. In India and outside India. Its completely extreme. As soon as she goes outside, the neckline goes low making sure that cleavage is clearly visible. But in India, she is dressed up from head to toe. Is it becuase of Papa & Momma Bachchan who doesnt approve of any bit of skin show! Atleast not when its Bahu Bachchan! We think so. Anyway, take a look at these pics of Aishwarya Rai. She recently attended the Royal Ascot 2009 in United Kingdom as Longines’ brand ambassador.

(click on the pics to have a better, bigger & closer look)

 

Mr Gowariker, you have to laugh at the joke when you are part of the joke!

According to reports in today’s Mid-day, director Ashutosh Gowariker was damn pissed off at the IIFA Awards (Macau) because Boman Irani and Ritesh Deshmukh took dig at many actors and films while hosting the awards.  On stage, he also questioned how Priyanka Chopra can win the Best Actress Award for Fashion.  The links to the stories are here and here. And we are ROFL since we read these two reports. Why ? Read on, a letter to Mr Gowariker.

Dear Ashu,

Hope you dont mind it. Calling you Ashu. For us and many others, this whole award business is a big farce. Only three kind of people attend the awards – 1) Those who are going to win 2) Those are going to make money by performing some naach gaana 3) Those who don’t have any kind of work.

Mr Gowariker, is this something new to you ? Something that you don’t know ? Itsn’t it all a big joke and simply money making business ? Otherwise why would an award function will have a brand ambassador ? And that too Amitabh Bachchan.

Who handles IIFA Awards ? Its made to sound like some heavy film body  ( India International Film Academy or some shit like that)but at the end of the day its Wizcraft. Just an event management company! With just a single aim – Make money and more money! Indian cinema it isn’t. Its not even hindi cinema. Its just the popular hindi cinema. Films that are all about the stars. Nothing beyond that.

Dear Mr Gowariker, what are you cribbing about ? When you participate in such a farty show, you are part of the joke and when you are part of the joke, just shut up and laugh at the joke. You don’t have a choice.

And talking about wrong choices, did it bother you because Aishwarya Rai didn’t get it ? Or was it because Aishwarya Rai was the main lead in your film Jodha Akbar ? If you are so holier-than-thou, why not raise voice against all the wrong choices ? Why not boycott all the awards show ? Thats much better! The shows which still don’t bother to respect the talents but just the stars.

Its just a TV show, Mr Gowariker! Get it in your head. Or if its already there, stop pretending!

The more stars they get, more money they will make from tv rights. They have to do naach gaana and crack jokes to make it entertaining. That’s it. So WTF are you talking!

fightclub

ps – This is without any kind of bias against you. We love your films. Lagaan and Swades score high on our list of all time favourite films. No conspiracy theory here!

IIFA Awards Macau 2009 – full winners list

For those who care, here is the full list of the winners of IIFA Awards 2009, Macau. It doesnt bother us much. We just go through the list once to check how many winners have “Bachchan” surname or how many surnames are “FOB”, ok thats  Friends Of Bachchans,  thats our cheap thrill !

Best Actor – Hrithik Roshan ( Jodha Akbar)

Best Actress – Priyanka Chopra ( Fashion)

Best Film – Jodha Akbar

Best Actress in Supporting Role - Kangana Ranaut ( Fashion)

 

Best Actor in Supporting Role - Arjun Rampal ( Rock On )

 

Best Director – Ashutosh Gowariker ( Jodha Akbar)

Best Actor in a Negative Role – Akshaye Khanna ( Race )

Best Actor in a Comic Role – Abhishek Bachchan ( Dostana )

 Style Diva Award – Bipasha Basu

Style Icon Award – Hrithik Roshan 

Best Music – A R Rahman ( Jodha Akbar )

Best background score – A R Rahman ( Jodha Akbar)

Best Lyricist - Javed Akhtar ( Jodha Akbar)

Best Male Playback Singer - Javed Ali ( kehne ko jashn bahara hai – Jodha Akbar)

Best Female Playback singer : Shreya Ghoshal ( Teri aur - Singh is King)

Best Story – A Wednesday ( Neeraj Pandey)

Best Screenplay – A Wednesday ( Neeraj Pandey)

Best Dialogue – Manu Rishi ( Oye Lucky Lucky Oye)

Best Costume designer – Neeta Lulla ( Jodha Akbar)

Best Sound Recording : Resul Pookutty ( Ghajini) 

Best Action - Ghajini

Best Special Effects – Ghajini

Best Editing – Jodhaa Akbar

Best Make-up – Jodhaa Akbar

Best Art Direction – Jodhaa Akbar

Best Debut (Female) : Asin

Best Debut ( Male ) : Farhan akhtar

Outstanding contribution to Indian cinema – Rajesh Khanaa

Outstanding achievement by an Indian in International cinema – Aishwarya rai.

Star of the decade ( female) -  Aishwarya Rai 

Star of the decade ( male ) –  Shah Rukh khan

Movie of the Decade- Lagaan

Music director of the decade -  A R Rahman

 

Director of the decade - Rakesh Roshan 

For IIFA Macau pics, click here – got all the possible pics from various IIFA events

IIFA Awards Macau 2009 – all the possible pics

Here are some pics from the IFFA Awards Macau – 2009. Pics of Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Anil Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse, Govinda, Sushmita Sen, Arshad Warsi, Amrita Rao, Sonam Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Madhur Bhandarkar, Akshaye Khanna, Hrithik Roshan, Lara Dutta and Bipasha Bashu.

These are pics from various events at IIFA Awards Macau 2009 – the fashion show, green carpet, film workshop, unveiling of Bachchan’s wax statue ( again ??) , press conference of David Dhawan’s Do Knot Disturb and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail. Enjoy!

Aishwarya Rai – new pics from her film Robot & a hilarious interview

Here are some new pics of Aishwarya Rai, from her upcoming film Robot. She stars with Rajnikanth in the film.

Do check out the link after the text, has a hilarious audio clip from Rajeev Masand’s review show Now Showing, where he is talking to Aishwarya Rai on the phone. Its a must watch! And there is a quiz too. Since we could not post the video here, click on the link.

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