Bollywood Roundup: Amitabh, Ileana D’Cruz, Sooraj Pancholi, Abhinay Deo, and more..

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Amitabh Bachchan
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Amitabh back to Mumbai, to promote, shoot new films

Mumbai– After a gruelling shooting schedule for “Thugs of Hindostan” in Jodhpur, megastar Amitabh Bachchan is back to Mumbai, where he will gear up for the promotions and shooting of his other projects.

Amitabh Bachchan

Big B, whose shooting experience for the action-heavy film took a toll on his health briefly, wrote about it in an early morning blog from Jodhpur at around 5.30 a.m. on Thursday.

“The intense schedule gives a cheer from the crew on a schedule wrap for Mr B… only to rejoin them in a few days for another, and hopefully the last schedule for the TOH film.

“Meanwhile, back in the ranch the preparations for the promotion of ‘102 Not Out’ would begin and the shoot for ‘Jhund’ and ‘Brahmastra’,” he wrote.

Earlier this month, the 75-year-old actor had revealed his health was not up to the mark, and that’s why doctors were called in from Mumbai to “fiddle around” with his body.

“Thugs of Hindostan”, being directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, also features Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Sheikh. Parts of it have been shot at Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort, which caught Big B’s fancy.

Ileana D’Cruz named Tourism Fiji brand ambassador

Mumbai– Actress Ileana D’Cruz has been appointed Tourism Fiji’s brand ambassador for the India market. She says the warmth and hospitality there makes her feel like it’s “home”.

Ileana D’Cruz

Following a successful campaign with Ileana in 2017, Tourism Fiji witnessed a spike in interest from Indian travellers for the destination. Now aims to showcase more of its unique offerings to potential travellers from India through more engagements with Ileana.

The actress, known for films like “Barfi!”, “Rustom” and the latest “Raid”, will be travelling to Fiji to experience a wide range of activities next month.

“I’m so happy to be associated with a beautiful country like Fiji. The warmth, hospitality, and love the Fijian people have shown me make me feel like I’m home. I cannot wait to go back and explore more of this lovely paradise,” Ileana said in a statement.

Fiji has been receiving steady positive growth in visitor arrival numbers from India over the past five years. For the year ending December 2017, Fiji saw 30 per cent increase in arrivals from India as compared to 2016.

Urmila is a massive star, not an item girl: Abhinay Deo

Mumbai– Bollywood’s “Mast” and “Chhama chhama” Urmila Matondkar will be seen in a special song “Bewafa beauty” in the movie “Blackmail”. The film’s director Abhinay Deo says they were not looking for an “item girl” for this song.

Abhinay Deo (Photo: IMDb)

Urmila, who started her movie career as a child actor, has been away from the silver screen for a while. But she will be seen in the song “Bewafa beauty”, the first look of which came out on Thursday.

Its music and lyrics mock lead actor Irrfan Khan, who is dealing with an unfaithful wife. The song is set inside a bar and offers a glimpse of the place where he recites his life’s tragic turn to a friend.

Urmila was cast because Deo wanted the song to revive the memory of similar songs from the past.

“Firstly, Urmila is a massive star, she is not an item girl. We were not looking for an item girl for this song. We wanted a performer, someone who has tremendous value as a star in the audience’s mind. We also wanted someone who has not come in front of the silver screen for a while now.

“From all the names we came up with, I personally believe that the biggest and best name is Urmila. She fit the bill perfectly, is gorgeous, and is an incredible dancer – a perfect match for the song and film,” Deo said in a statement.

Producer Bhushan Kumar of T-Series, said they wanted a song that would be naughty and humorous without being vulgar.

Sooraj Pancholi to star in dance-based film

Mumbai– Actor Sooraj Pancholi is set to work on an untitled dance-based film, which will be written by “ABCD: Anybody Can Dance” director Remo D’souza.

Sooraj Pancholi (Photo: Facebook)

A director for the upcoming film is yet to be roped in.

“I have always been passionate about dancing. When I got to know that the film is dance-based and I will be learning different kinds of dance forms for this movie, I was thrilled beyond words,” Sooraj said in a statement to IANS.

Meanwhile, D’souza, who is helming “Race 3”, is excited to be a part of the hit “Race” franchise.

“Ten years of ‘Race’ …. I am so happy to be a part of the ‘Race 3’ family. I hope I am able to live up to all your expectations and match up to legends like Abbas Mustan, Ramesh Taurani and Salman Khan,” the director, also an ace choreographer tweeted on Thursday.

Raxstar, Amar Sandhu team up for new track

Mumbai– Britain-based Indian musician Raxstar is releasing a new track titled “Rewind” in collaboration with Punjabi artiste Amar Sandhu.

The track will be released on Saavn’s Artist Originals.

With lyrics in both Punjabi and English, “Rewind” is a fusion of Punjabi sounds with British rap for a catchy interpretation of long-lasting relationships with a rich history.

Raxstar has songs like “Jaaneman,” “Sun raha” and “Ankhiyaan” to his credit, while Sandhu has created tracks like “Viyah nu” and “Maade time”.

“I wanted to create something that was anthemic in nature and can transcend genre boundaries,” said Raxstar, who has earlier collaborated with Indian rapper Badshah on the song “Bandook”.

“The world is a lot smaller now, thanks mostly to the internet. So, creating a sound which is representative of who I am and where I am from was imperative. It’s exciting to partner with Saavn with their global reach and integrity to allow our song to connect with such a large potential audience,” he added.

Nasir Khan goes bald for ‘Laado…’

Mumbai– Actor Nasir Khan went bald to play a lawyer on the show “Laado-Veerpur Ki Mardaani”.

Dr. Nasir Khan

“I am playing the role of a senior lawyer on ‘Laado-Veerpur Ki Mardaani’. This is the first time that I have gone bald on Indian television. After the leap, my character will be the only link between the past and the present,” Nasir said in a statement.

The Colors show is heading towards a leap that promises to have lots of twists in the plot. So far on the show, the audience has seen Anushka avenging her younger sister’s sufferings by punishing Rantej and his gang. Malhari is hell bent on taking revenge from Anushka for castrating Rantej. Yuvraj, who learns of his family’s wrongdoings, stands by Anushka but dies trying to protect her. This will be a turning point in Anushka’s life who jumps off a cliff, only to find herself waking up in the influential home of a family that calls her Juhi. An all new ensemble cast, including actors Nasir, Manini De, Ashu Sharma and Charu Asopa will play pivotal characters on the show.

I’m not ambitious: Masumeh Makhija

Mumbai– Actress Masumeh Makhija, who has a pivotal role in the ensemble cast film “3 Storeys”, says she is not an ambitious person and has a creative bent of mind.

Masumeh has received a positive response for her performance in “3 Storeys” and she is happy about the projects she has done so far.

“I have worked with some of the very good filmmakers so far — whether it is Vishalji (Vishal Bhardwaj) in ‘Maqbool’ or Mahesh Bhatt saab (producer of ‘Woh Lamhe’) because they come up with a clarity that they look for in the character.

“I think that is what helped me to perform. I am really thankful to people who loved my performance. I am not traditionally ambitious,” Masumeh told IANS.

That is also perhaps why she does not appear in films often.

“I am more of a creative person rather than ambitious. So, the journey is quite internal. I want to try out new things as a creative person… So, the length of a role never matters to me, but the challenges and substance of it do,” she added.

In “3 Storeys”, Masumeh plays a housewife named Varsha, who is abused by her husband all her life.

On her role, she said: “While I connected with the character immediately during the narration of the film, I think the best part of her is when she fights back and retaliates by informing the police about the domestic violence she faced.”

As for her future in films, Masumeh said she is reading a lot of scripts.

Varun Thakur wants marijuana to be legal in India

Mumbai– Actor-comedian Varun Thakur says if given a chance, he would like to legalise marijuana in India.

Asked what would he do if he had inside access to parliament currently, Varun said: “I would legalise marijuana.”

Varun, who will be seen getting candid in an upcoming episode of “Vh1 Inside Access”, also spoke about feminism.

He feels the concept is “relatively new in mainstream Bollywood”.

“It’s not pseudo feminism, it is feminism because feminism just means equal opportunities for both men and women. It’s just a realisation that now men need to have, which is, what you do – women can do it as well, if not better.

“And, it’s just equal opportunities for all,” he said, adding that it would take some time before it impacts the way the industry functions.

The creator of the Amazon exclusive show “Shaitaan Haveli” added that if he had inside access to Hrithik Roshan and Kangana Ranaut’s email accounts, he would delete all the mails “so (that) we can move on from the controversy”.

“I don’t know why it is making so many headlines. Just let it be,” he added.

Jackie has done full justice, says Salman on ‘Ek Do Teen’ remake

Mumbai– Bollywood superstar Salman Khan believes that Jacqueline Fernandez who has performed on the re-made version of “Ek Do Teen”, originally performed by Madhuri Dixit, done full justice to the famous song.

Salman Khan

Sharing the link to the video on his official Twitter handle, Salman wrote, “Loved the song, Jackie has done full justice to the legendary moves of Saroj Khan. Difficult to match Madhuri. Nice to see Varun and Jackie to our songs make us proud n keeps d songs alive n fans listening, dancing n having a blast. Makes me proud. Enjoy Karo!”

He also praised Varun Dhawan who played the double role in “Judwaa2” that released last year; the remake of Salman’s cult film “Judwaa”.

The remake of “Ek Do Teen” featuring Jacqueline and Prateik Babbar is a part of the upcoming film “Baaghi 2”. The song was originally picturised on Madhuri in the film “Tezaab”, choreographed by Saroj Khan. After the song released on YouTube on Monday, the video received much negative feedback from fans on social media.

Jacqueline will soon to be seen in the upcoming film “Race 3” opposite Salman. (IANS)

 

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