Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label marriage. Show all posts

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Casting Ouch: Shilpa Vs Ash

'Pink Panther 2' casting has now become the hotly debated issue in Bollywood. Contrary to latest media reports, Aishwarya’s international agent Simone Sheffield says, "Ms Rai was the first and only choice to play Sophie in the Hollywood film Pink Panther 2."

The casting director Ilene Starger too endorses this fact by saying, "We did not offer the role to anyone other than Aishwarya. Period. Ash was the actress I envisioned when I read the script. Her intelligence, beauty and sophistication are just what the role requires. She fits in wonderfully with our fantastic ensemble cast, and all of us are thrilled to work with her.”

A couple of actresses claim to have refused the role Ash is starring in. It’s sad. If either of them had been offered a role in such a big budget international film, they’d have jumped at the opportunity instead of passing it up.”

Giving her side of story to SantaBanta, Simone says, "Please look at the original document received from Shilpa and you will see a standard letter signed by an office assistant and NOT by Ilene Starger."

"NO WHERE in the letter is there an offer for Shilpa to read, appear or even consider appearing in the film.....it is merely an invitation for Shilpa to submit a tape of herself. PERIOD.....this process is standard in the industry," she adds.

Last week, Ash shot for the film in Paris shooting alongside Steve Martin (who reprises his role as Inspector Jacques Clouseau) and Andy Garcia (Vincente) and has now returned to Mumbai to complete Ashutosh Gowariker’s Jodha Akbar and Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj.

- SantaBanta.Com

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'I wanted none other than Aishwarya'

Refuting rumours about other Bollywood actors being offered a role in "Pink Panther 2", its casting director Ilene Starger said they only considered Aishwarya Rai.


"Most emphatically, we did not offer the role to anyone other than Aishwarya! Aishwarya was, when I first read the script, the actress I envisioned for the role," Starger told from Los Angeles in an e-mail interview.

Aishwarya shot for a day with Steve Martin and Andy Garcia in Paris Aug 20 for the film by Harold Zwart.

"Her intelligence, grace, beauty and sophistication are just what the role requires. And, of course, she has a touch of mystery too. She fits in wonderfully with our fantastic ensemble cast, and all of us involved with the film are thrilled to work with her."

Rumours had it that Celina Jaitley was offered the role first but rejected it. Also, Hrithik Roshan was asked to play detective Clouseau's assistant Vincent in part two of the comedy, but he too turned it down.

However, Aishwarya's international manager Simone Sheffield dismisses the reports.

Sheffield said: "Negotiations went on for a month to secure Aishwarya and her dates. The script is absolutely wonderful and the wardrobe is great.

"The film's costume designer Joe Aulisi has chosen some really hot items from Dolce & Gabbana. If any one of the actresses mentioned had really been offered this A-level role in such a big-budget international film, they would have jumped to join it and not have passed on the opportunity as they state, believe me.

"What I love about Aishwarya is that she just calmly continues along the path she has chosen, does her work, lives her life and never has a bad word to say about anyone."

Sheffield also has a lot to say about the actresses' absence at the unveiling of her statue at Times Square and for the promotion of her latest international film "The Last Legion".

"I see this trend happening more and more in the media with events falsely confirming Aishwarya's attendance to boost sales and media attention.

For one, Aishwarya was never confirmed to appear at the unveiling in New York City, nor did we confirm she was appearing on the late night talk show and a morning news programme during her brief visit to Los Angeles.

"She did, however, confirm she was appearing at India Splendor celebrating the 60th anniversary of India's Independence. When Aishwarya confirms an appearance, it is confirmed and she will without fail attend and always has.

"As for the promotions for 'The Last Legion', it is up to the producers and distributors of the film to make such arrangements and in this case numerous phone interviews with the international media took place over the past two months. There was nothing else requested of Aishwarya prior to the film's US release."

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Sunday, August 12, 2007

THE GREAT BOLLYWOOD GOSSIP

They always deny it when the news leaks out, but then shut up and look sheepish when the news goes public. They say that marriages and relationships in Bollywood are easily consumed. Indeed.


These relationships do not last long. So no one wants to talk about it, because they are never sure about it in the first place. They do not know whether a one-night stand would result in an affair, followed by an engagement and a marriage and then even by a divorce. Sex, casting couch, one night stands, second wives, Bollywood denizens have denied them all a little too often.

Tanushree Dutta has still been denying that she and director Aditya Dutt are dating.

Ditto with Mahima Chaudhary, who continued to deny her marriage until she got pregnant and delivered the child of Bobby, a business man.

Mahesh Bhatt has often said that he is a "bastard" as his father Nanabhai Bhatt had married his mother despite having a first wife. Hence he was an illegitimate son. Nanabhai Bhatt denied that Mahesh was illegitimate as his marriage to Mahesh's mother was before 1955, when the Hindu Marriage Act came into place. Strange story!

Aamir Khan kept on denying a little too hard that he had no affair with anyone and that he and first wife Reena were together, till the time the papers of his divorce came out in the open. Interestingly, he even denied that, but went ahead to marry Kiran who is much younger to him.

Rishi Kapoor once said, "We act as if we are in love with each other while doing a few scenes in the films. It is not difficult for two artistes to fall in love with each other." A sentence like that coming from an actor who has acted opposite the maximum newcomers in Bollywood is rather symbolic of the pitfalls the relationships of a married actor has in Bollywood.

Even as Viveik Oberoi's girlfriend Gurpreet cried herself hoarse that Bollywood had consumed her relationship with Viveik, one can remember how Pooja Bedi shouted from the rooftops that Aditya Panscholi had raped her maid and thus ended her relationship with him.

They say that Sushmita Sen broke Vikram Bhatt's house, Rani Mukerji broke Govinda's house, Mahima Chaudhary almost broke Ajay Devgan's marriage to Kajol and now Kiran Rao has broken Aamir Khan's household. It was also said that Meenakshi Seshadri and husband Harish Mysore had broken up. But Meenakshi's father was quick to deny everything, putting things in the right perspective.

Karisma Kapoor must have gone mad trying to deny that she was married to Abhishek Bachchan till the time she got engaged to the lad and the news came out. No one was ready to believe her. Indian film stars like politicians have no credibility. No one wants to believe them. The reason being, all these film stars have lied through their teeth about their affairs, marriage etc.

Raveena Tandon denied that she was engaged to Akshay Kumar. When he got married to Twinkle Khanna after ditching her and later Shilpa Shetty, Raveena had to accept the engagement part.

When Juhi Chawla got pregnant, she had to agree that she was married to industrialist Jai Mehta. She had denied the entire episode till that time. When a journalist broke the news of Boney Kapoor marrying his 'rakhi sister' Sridevi, Kapoor called and abused the journalist. He also asked the newspaper to tender an apology which they refused. A month later when it was discovered that Sridevi was pregnant, Boney Kapoor came around.

But Sridevi never agreed that she was earlier married and then got divorced from the already married Mithun Chakraborthy. They fought and broke up after Mithun in an interview to a gossip journalist revealed that he had married Sridevi.

Saif and Amrita Singh also did not reveal their marriage. When a journalist wrote about it in a popular Mumbai tabloid, they called up and abused the newspaper stating that it was false. Their denials also appeared in the columns of some so-called star columnists. But these columnists too fell flat on their face for supporting Saif and his much older wife when the news was confirmed later.

Denials come very easily to the stars. One can recall the most famous denials of all - Dilip Kumar's lie about his once paramour Asma. He denied his second marriage to Asma. And when his 'nikaahnama' was published as proof, he had no answer!

Ditto with Raj Babbar. He denied his marriage to Smita Patil. But his wife Nadira threatened that she would have him and Smita arrested. At that time Smita delivered a child and died. It was a cruel way of dispelling justice. Smita's child was accepted by Nadira. Later, there was news of Rekha marrying Raj Babbar, which appeared in Evening News, an eveninger from the Times of India group. Rekha denied the wedding, but Babbar preferred to remain silent. Rekha, however, has never denied her love for Amitabh, though Bachchan has never accepted that in public.

Dharmendra's wife Prakash Kaur never said anything when he married Hema Malini. So Dharmendra or Hema never had to deny the marriage. The Zeenat Aman-Sanjay Khan marriage was also denied by the couple. Sanjay alias Abbas Khan was already married to Zarine. The split also happened after Khan beat up Aman in a hotel in full public view. Zeenat then married the much-married Mazhar Khan. The affair was denied till she actually married him.

But Nana Patekar has never denied his relationships. Luckily no one dares to ask him about his affairs thanks to his temperament. He is still married to Neelkanti, though they never live together. He has had affairs with Vaishali Dandekar, Manisha Koirala and Ayesha Jhulka, but never married any of them, as a divorce would affect his son Malhar.

In the Kapoor family Randhir Kapoor and Babita have separated, as they could not get along. But Rishi and Neetu have stayed together, despite the latter alleging that he beat her up often. Raj Kapoor and wife Krishna have been together till the showman's death. Ditto with the maverick Shammi and his first wife Geeta Bali. Shammi is still holding on dearly to his second wife Neela Devi, who he married after Geeta's death. These Kapoors have always been silent about their family matters just like the Deols and the Bachchans who have maintained a studied silence when it comes to their relationships. Strange are the ways of show biz.

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Saturday, August 11, 2007

Aishwarya Rai is not Pregnant!

Refuting the reports about Aishwarya Rai's pregnancy, Abhishek Bachchan has made clear it amply clear that his wife is too busy to start a family.

In fact, she is going to be very busy shooting for the next two years. Just after completing the shooting of Sarkar Raj, the actress will fly to Europe for her third Hollywood venture which is a sequel to Hollywood blockbuster Pink Panther.

It is also reported that the actress will be playing the female lead opposite Steve Martin. Actors Andy Garcia, John Cleese and Alfred Molina have also joined the crew of Columbia Pictures/MGM's ‘The Pink Panther 2’.

Ash will star as a detective along with ‘Spiderman 2’ villain Molina and Garcia, who join forces with bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau, to be played by Martin, to catch the thief who has been stealing artifacts around the world.

Cleese will play Clouseau's superior chief inspector Charles Dreyfus in the movie, according to reports.

Agent Cody Banks director Harald Zwart will be directing the film, which was penned by Scott Neustadter, Mike Weber, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel and Steve Martin.

The film will be produced by Robert Simonds and Ira Shuman will be executive producer.

It is also learnt that Ash will start shooting for a film with Abhishek Bachchan to be directed by Tarun Mansukhani for Karan Johar's Dharma Productions early next year.

With a such packed shooting schedule ahead Ash might just be glowing with work only.

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