Priyanka Chopra to launch Mary Kom trailer Tomorrow...

Priyanka Chopra will be seen in and as Mary Kom very soon and the talented dame has promised to reveal the trailer of the much-awaited biopic to her fans on July 23.

Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor won’t perform on New Year’s Eve

The babes plan to indulge in happy family time rather than earning big bucks at some lavish New Year bash

Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor will not be seen performing in happening New Year parties this year. The actors are firm about spending time with their near and dear ones. While Kat is reportedly planning to join her family in London, Bebo will be spending quality time with husband Saif Ali Khan. We hear that they both were offered a whopping Rs 2 crores approximately for live dance shows, but looks like the two ladies simply want to sit back and relax with their loved ones.

Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Kangna Ranaut and Sunny Leone are some of the top names in the organiser’s list. Although none of them have given a confirmation yet, buzz is that PC might shake a leg with Salman Khan at a show in Dubai. And Bong babe Bips and Kangy have been offered around Rs 1 crore for grooving at a high-end party. Jism 2 babe Leone has also been offered Rs 26 lakhs. As the season of earning a mighty amount of moolah approaches, we wait to see which of them give their nod to the desperate organisers.

Shahrukh Khan: Priyanka Chopra is close to my heart

The Jab Tak Hai Jaan superstar speaks out about how his ‘close’ friend Priyanka was treated unfairly. Is Shahrukh hinting at KJo’s remarks about her?

Looks like Shahrukh Khan wants to put his bitter past behind him. Last year has been traumatic for the King Khan as his name was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Be it his slap-gate episode with frenemy Shirish Kunder or his infamous brawl with a security personnel at Mumbai’s Wankhede stadium, Shahrukh has remained one of the most notrious and controversial figure of 2012. But the one news that hurt SRK’s wifey, Gauri Khan and the coterie of her friends (including Sussanne Roshan, Twinkle Khanna and Karan Johar) the most was the Baadshah Khan’s alleged affair with Priyanka Chopra.

But now, when SRK looks back at the whole issue, the 47-year-old actor feels that PeeCee was not treated fairly by ‘some’ people. Shahrukh also maintains that his Don 2 co-star will always remain close to his heart. “(I) Feel extremely sorry, for she (Priyanka) wasn’t shown the respect I show her, or other women. Priyanka Chopra is one of the closest friends that I have, she is very close to my heart, and always will be,” said Shahrukh during a recent TV interview.

Clearly, SRK is hurt too and he’s on PeeCee’s side. Does it mean that KJo’s stinging remark and Gauri Khan’s unfriendly attitude towards Priyanka has not gone down well with Shahrukh? Is the superstar Khan referring to a tweet by Karan Johar, in which KJo had taken on Priyanka following an article that quoted an anonymous friend of Priyanka’s saying that if women are insecure about their relationships with their husbands, they should sort it out with them. “Using their hired PR machinery and hiding behind so called “friends” to get news into tabloids is nothing but spineless and lame!!!” Karan had tweeted after the article appeared.

A little birdie chirped to us that KJo and Piggy Chops resolved the issue at the latter’s 40th birthday party, but they have been maintaining safe distance from each other. Now SRK’s generous quote (Priyanka will always be close to my heart) obviously indicates that the superstar still has a soft spot for his dear friend and has been hurt by the way people around him treated the whole issue.

Interestingly, one of PeeCee’s fans sent a copy of the recording of this interview to Priyanka who is currently shooting for Zanjeer in Hyderabad, and we hear she was quite touched by it. Will SRK’s candid confessions bring the two friends closer and shut up their detractors? Guess so!

Will Barfi! be disqualified from the Oscar race?

The film might find passing the originality test of the Academy Awards jury next to impossible. Is there still any hope for it to win a trophy? Read on to find out…

Insiders say that when Mani Ratnam’s Nayagan starring Kamal Hassan was sent as India’s official entry to the Oscars in 1987, it was disqualified by the jury and did not make it to the nominations for Best Foreign Language Film because one scene in the film had uncanny similarities to the classic Hollywood flick The Godfather. But some believe that cannot have been the only reason.

This makes us wonder if Barfi which clearly has copied several scenes from classics like Singin’ In The Rain (1957) and Charlie Chaplin’s short The Adventurer (1917), should be sent for the Academy Awards, considering there is a big chance that it will not make it to the nominations.

Irrfan Khan has been quite vocal about how the Ranbir Kapoor-Priyanka Chopra-Ileana D’Cruz starrer is the wrong choice, for the same reason. “How can Barfi! stand a chance of making it to the nomination list of Oscars? In spite of knowing that few scenes from Barfi! have been copied, our film federation chose it over original. Only original films should be sent to the Oscars,” said Irrfan in an interview.

And Irrfan is probably right. The Academy Awards selection committee in India has chosen Barfi! as this year’s official entry from India, but it stands a great chance of being thrown out at the start because of the plagiarism charges that have already been heard dogging it. The negative buzz back in India won’t help it either.

What could probably save the movie is a written clarification at the beginning which says ‘Inspired from classics like Singing In The Rain, Charlie Chaplin’s The Adventurer and City Lights and The Notebook‘ or ‘A tribute to great cinema made by legends like Charlie Chaplin, Gene Kelly and Nick Casavetes, which inspired me to make Barfi! –Anurag Basu’.

But there are several more copied scenes, including from Mr Bean’s Holiday, Back To School, The Goonies, and more. So how many clarifications will UTV Motion Pictures manage to put in? And even if it is done, there is no guarantee that the film will pass the jury’s originality test.

On the other hand, there is still some hope for the film. Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist, which won the award for Best Picture this year is said to be inspired from several sources. The breakfast table montage in the movie was clearly lifted from Citizen Kane and the music took inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. In fact, The Artist is said to be a remake of the 1954 musical A Star Is Born, directed by George Cukor.

Leaving the objective principles of fair selection aside, if the jury believes that the artistic inspirations ofBarfi! are appropriate and the end product is marvellous, these copied elements may be condoned.Barfi! is definitely walking on thin ice. Perhaps that coveted statuette can save it from breaking through and drowning.

Is Aamir Khan impressed with Priyanka Chopra?

Is Aamir Khan impressed with Priyanka Chopra?

After Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan, the Doom 3 actor too seems to have loved PeeCee’s first single, In my city

Salman Khan tweeted some time ago saying that Priyanka Chopra‘s first single In My City was fabulous. “Omg! Jst heard priyanka chopra’s english track 3 times bak to bak, called in my city. Its fab, outstanding! SALAAM miss chopra.”

Shahrukh Khan too made a statement that he thought PeeCee had the potential to become the first crossover star from India. “Priyanka has the capacity and talent to become the first crossover star from India, our first creative export. She has a super team backing her and she is truly an international brand and will make India very proud,” he said.

Now it seems that B-town’s third Khan, Aamir – who is shooting in Chicago for Dhoom 3 currently – is also mighty impressed with Priyanka. A source from the sets of Dhoom 3 said, “Aamir Khan saw the song playing regularly during the National Football League playoffs. He was surprised at the magnitude of the launch.

 He called the song ‘awesome’.” Aamir was also overheard telling those present on the sets that the song sounded international.Looks like Priyanka has floored the three Khans with her song and we are sure she is quite flattered with all the praise. None of the heroines have been vocal about PeeCee’s achievement though…we wonder why?

Barfi! selected for Oscars

Barfi! selected for Oscars

The Anurag Basu film will be sent as India’s official entry to the Academy Awards 2013

The Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D’Cruz starrer Barfi! that released last week has been named India’s official entry to next year’s Oscars. It’s a big victory for this Anurag Kashyap film as it beat 19 other films – including Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar, Soojit Sircar’s Vicky Donor and Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani – to get selected for the Academy Awards 2013.

Barfi! revolves around a happy-go-lucky deaf and mute character played by Ranbir, who falls in love with an autistic girl played by Priyanka Chopra. Ileana makes her Bollywood debut with this movie.

The film has music by Pritam Chakraborty. The heartwarming romantic comedy won over the critics and the audience, and has already earned over Rs 60 crore at the box office. Let’s wait and watch if the film that has been loved in India manages to impress the Oscar jury to get into the final five!

Barfi! Has Excellent Weekend

Barfi! Has Excellent Weekend

Barfi had an excellent weekend of around 34 crore nett as per early estimates. The film opened very well at multiplexes on Friday and the multiplexes which opened lower jumped huge either on Saturday and Sunday. By Sunday the film was doing well all over apart a from a few single screen dominated areas.

The film was released on around 1300 screens on 700 theatres and these collections are phenomenal for such a release. The occupancies were huge at multiplexes with houses running at capacity or near capacity. Other big openers are being released on 2500 screens nowadays with likes of Ek Tha Tiger even going close to 3500 screens.

The trending on the weekend suggests it will hold up very well on Monday as multiplexes will see very strong collections. The weekend has emerged the biggest for a Ranbir Kapoor starrer edging out the multi-starrer Raajneeti which collected in the 33 crore nett range.

Salman Khan gives ‘salaam’ to Priyanka Chopra’s ‘In My City’

Salman Khan gives ‘salaam’ to Priyanka Chopra’s ‘In My City’

Salman Khan is in awe of Priyanka Chopra’s newly released single In My City and it seems he can’t stop listening to the foot-tapping number

“OMG! Just heard Priyanka Chopra’s English track three times back to back, called ‘In My City’. Its fabulous, outstanding! SALAAM Miss Chopra,” wrote Salman Khan on microblogging site Twitter. Looks like Salman is doing what it takes to encourage and promote the Barfi! babe. Khan raving about PC’s new number is proof enough that he has taken a liking to the Chopra bombshell. The two catch up at an unearthly hour, PC expresses her desire to do more films with Sallu, Mr Khan goes gaga over Priyanka’s voice – Now don’t all these things imply that PC is the Dabangg dude’s new BFF. And if what we are thinking is right, then we must say that there are chances that the two will make fairly good friends. After all both are the creative types. Salman loves to paint and PC loves to croon, so the two artists can come together and engage in some stimulating conversation about arts, music and so on and so forth…

Barfi! Has Strong Start At Multiplexes

Barfi! Has Strong Start At Multiplexes

Barfi had a strong start at multiplexes all over. The film opened to 80% collections in Delhi city, Kolkata was fantastic with 90% and even Jaipur collections were 70%.  Smaller centres like Meerut and Moga also managed excellent collections in the morning shows. The single screens will open lower but the releases is very limited with just 300 odd single screens with most of the screen space in multiplexes. The biggest opening for a solo Ranbir Kapoor starrer till date is just under 10 crore nett of Ranbir Kapoor and the chances are there that Barfi! could match or even beat it on the strength of business at multiplexes.

Barfi! Amongst Biggest Multiplex Openings Of 2012

Barfi! Amongst Biggest Multiplex Openings Of 2012

Barfi! has taken the third biggest opening of 2012 at multiplexes of 2012 after Ek Tha Tiger and Agneepath, both holiday releases. The occupancies at multiplexes at chains like PVR and Inox are even better than Agneepath.

The film has opened to 85% collections in Mumbai city multiplexes and the only teo other films to open here were  Ek Tha Tiger and Agneepath.

The first day all India multiplex business of Ek Tha Tiger was around 17-18 crore and Agneepath around 12.50 crore nett and none all the other films released this year managed to cross 8 crore nett and Barfi! should surpass 8 crore nett on day one from all India multiplexes.

The single screen contribution will be limited due to a lower opening and limited release.

Release Dates 14-Sep-12

Release Dates 14-Sep-12

	14-Sep-12
1	Barfi!
2	Jeena Hai Toh Thok Daal
3	Qayamat Hi Qayamat
4	The Lost Tape

Barfi On Jhalak Dikhla Jaa

Barfi!

Ranbir , Priyanka & Ileana promote 'Barfi!' at R City Mall.

Release Dates 14-Sep-12

Release Dates 14-Sep-12

	14-Sep-12
1	Barfi!
2	Jeena Hai Toh Thok Daal
3	Qayamat Hi Qayamat
4	The Lost Tape