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A knight in comic armour

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on January 17, 2010

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Film director Raju Hirani’s incredible life story. Shoma Chaudhury in Tehelka:

Hirani’s latest film, 3 Idiots, has been having what stock markets would call a historic bull run. In just 18 days, it has mopped up Rs 350 crore — double the entire business of the last record-holding film Ghajini (which in turn had done 50 percent more business than all the films that ranked below it). Numbers aside, the film seems to have uncorked a dormant emotion in society, and its upbeat slogan “All is well” has become the unchallenged anthem of the season. The film had 21 nominations at the Screen Awards and won 10, including best film and best director. Hirani is undoubtedly the big man of the moment.

Yet the affable, mild-mannered man sitting unassumingly at a coffee shop in Delhi under the TEHELKA office seems peculiarly untouched by the applause around him. He’s been quite happy to trek across the city for his interviewer’s convenience rather than insist on the star’s prerogative that we go to him. Sundry people are swarming around him, jostling for autographs. For a film man, it should have been a cinematic moment. More than 20 years earlier, Hirani had opened his autograph book in the anon – ymity of his room in the Film and Television Institute in Pune (FTII) and signed with quiver of excitement: Raju Hirani: editor, director, producer, 1988. The world lay headily at his feet, he was sure he was going to conquer it. What a self-fulfilling proph – ecy it had turned out to be.

But for Hirani, of the many major “plot points” in his life, the public success of 3 Idiots features nowhere. His idea of success lies in other, much more poignant, autobiographical moments. The moment he first told his father that instead of studying to be an accountant, he wanted a career in cinema. The exact moment he received a tele g – ram from FTII telling him he’d been selected for the editor’s course (NSD and FTII had both rejec ted him first time round when he applied for their acting course). The first 5-min – ute student film he made on a Chekov story, The Bet. Powerful moments of escape, selfrecognition, arrival — many of which imbue his film with the searing conviction and tension of lived experience. More:

Zoobi Doobi

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on January 11, 2010

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From the Bollywood movie 3 Idiots:

I am a filmmaker, not a businessman: Aamir Khan

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on January 11, 2010

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From Economic Times:

On the success of his movie Three Idiots

You can never imagine that. Actually I was just hoping it would cross Ghajini, because Ghajini itself is so huge and to try and come close to it itself is a huge task. I was happy with the way the film had turned out. But I never imagined that it would be so big. The movie is still running and its gross revenues can go anywhere between one-and-a-half to two times more than Ghajini’s revenues.

On marketing the movie:

Film making is all about communication. You are telling a story to someone. So once you are ready with the story, you will have to tell people that you are making this story and would they like to hear this. That’s what marketing is at the end of the day So if I don’t tell anyone that I am about to tell a story how will people know? So certainly marketing is important. But the best that marketing can do is to get you a good opening on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Big stars or the goodwill of a director can only get you a good opening. Ultimately, what’s going to take your film forward is the film itself. More:

An idiotic controversy

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on January 3, 2010

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More on the 3 Idiots controversy:

Author Chetan Bhagat is pissed at the makers of the film 3 Idiots for not crediting him enough for the story based on his book Five Point Someone. Bhagat sold the rights of his book, a national bestseller, to producer/film-maker Vidhu Vinod Chopra (VVC) but then sparked off a controversy after he posted a blog claiming that the makers of the film had been ‘unfair’ to him. He said that the pre-release claims by the film’s makers that 3 Idiots was only ‘loosely’ based on his novel was a lie. Yes, he said there were changes and deviations, but ‘it is no way an original story’.

Meanwhile, the 3 Idiots gang led by VVC and followed closely by actor Aamir Khan accused Bhagat of being ‘publicity hungry’ now that the film has become a blockbuster hit. At a televised press conference in Delhi’s satellite city of Noida, Chopra lost his cool, telling a journalist to ’shut up’ after he was asked about the controversy. Chopra apologised a few hours later but the damage was already done.

It was left to director Raj Kumar Hirani to clarify that:

1. “We legally purchased the rights to the novel” with complete authority to alter the text. “We have always said that if we had not read the book we wouldn’t have made the film. But it must be remembered that the screenplay that has evolved from the book is very different from the book and has a life of its own,” he said at the same ’shut up’ press conference.

2. Hirani denies Bhagat’s claim that he was not shown the final script, saying there was a four-hour narration at the end of which Bhagat was made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

3. Hirani says Bhagat was never told that he would get more than credit in the rolling credits. So why crib now one week post-release.

At the heart of the war, writes Vir Sanghvi in the Hindustan Times is the question of ‘grace’.

Here are two images you may remember from television. The first was the Oscar ceremony. Simon Beaufoy won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for Slumdog Millionaire. It is no secret that Beaufoy’s script differed significantly from the book by Vikas Swarup on which Slumdog was based. But Beaufoy made it a point to thank Swarup on stage and to say that without his book there would be no screenplay, no movie, and no Oscars.

Later that same night Slumdog director Danny Boyle, while accepting his own Oscar, apologised to the choreographer Longinus, whose name had been left out of the end credits of Slumdog. When the film won the Best Picture Oscar, the entire unit went on stage including Vikas Swarup who had been flown in to Los Angeles by the makers of the film at their expense. more

Previously on AW:

Chetan Bhagat and Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots row

The instinct of Aamir Khan

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on January 3, 2010

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Manu Joseph in Open:

It is said that getting Aamir interested in a film has the excruciating agony of waiting to win a girl’s affections, and his acceptance comes with the greater torments of a woman’s terrifying obsessive love. “He is involved in every aspect of a film,” a director says, “Some might not like that. He does not trust anyone, it seems.”

Most of the time, though, Aamir rejects the scripts. One such writer who was rejected remembers a whole evening he spent in Aamir’s home trying to sell him the idea. “I was nobody then, but Aamir spent a lot of time with me discussing the story. He had so many questions. So many doubts. ‘Would this work, would people find this convincing… I know people and the people won’t accept it’. He didn’t know me at all, but we went to the toilet together and we peed standing side by side, talking about the script. In the end, he said ‘no’.”

Aamir says that he does not waste the moments of his life doing anything he does not love enough. “When I am choosing a script, I don’t think of the audience. I think of myself. I have to love it. Then I think of the audience. I wonder how can we tell this story without boring anyone. I have only one interest in a film. The message is not important to me. What is important is that I don’t bore you. I know what you want is entertainment. The only responsibility of a film is to provide it.” More:

Chetan Bhagat and Aamir Khan in ‘3 Idiots’ row

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on January 2, 2010

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From the Times of India:

`3 Idiots’ may be creating box-office history. But all’s certainly not well between Chetan Bhagat, the author of the book from which the movie has been adapted, and its hero Aamir Khan, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and director Rajkumar Hirani.

An `idiotic’ controversy has broken out over accusations of credit poaching. The film credits the story to Abhijat Joshi and Hirani. Bhagat’s name appears at the film’s end.

Bhagat is miffed that the film does not give him due credit. Khan claims that Bhagat is trying to take away the credit from the film’s scriptwriter, Joshi. More:

From Mint:

Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Hirani, 3 Idiots created box office history by fetching Rs175 crore just days after it was released in 1,750 theatres across the world on Christmas day, which makes it the biggest opening for a Hindi film this past decade.

While Bhagat believes that around 70% of the film is based on his book, the makers of the film have previously said that only 2-5% of it is based on the book and that it was like an original script after the changes. On Thursday, Bhagat said in a blog on his website www.chetanbhagat.com that the film-makers had been unfair.

He alleged in his blog that, contrary to what the makers have said, much of 3 Idiots is from his original. More:

Aamir Khan on his new role and turning producer

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on December 26, 2009

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Sanjukta Sharma in Mint:

On the eve of the release of 3 Idiots, the only film of 2009 with Aamir Khan in a lead role, the actor’s residence at Pali Hill, Bandra, wasn’t exactly bustling with pre-release activity. He had already completed a tour across India, promoting the film, and All is Well, the film’s anthem, was already in advertisements and Top 10 lists of radio channels. Khan spoke to Mint in his study, crowded with books and files and a painting recently painted by and gifted to him by Salman Khan. Edited excerpts:

Such a long promotional tour for ‘3 Idiots’ across the country, and that too in disguise. You must be tired?

I am actually a bit under the weather. But, today, for the premiere, all the people that I visited are coming to Mumbai. After this, I’ll have to go and meet them.

You do few films. What makes you decide which films you want to be a part of? Why ‘3 Idiots’?

I choose films based on my excitement about the script and my level of confidence and faith in the director and producer of a film. At that time, I am the audience. I move towards roles instinctively, there is no great thought behind it.

I loved the script of 3 Idiots. I have been very keen to work with Rajkumar Hirani for some time now. The only doubt I had and still have is the age of the character. He’s 22 and my own age is 44 now. The audience will decide whether I’ve been able to pull it off nor not. But the character of Rancho, which I play, is someone who Raju (Hirani) felt was close to who I am in real life. I have taken some bizarre decisions, have followed my own rules. More:

Bollywood’s election porn

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on April 10, 2009

in India, Indian elections 2009 and Politics

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Vrinda Gopinath in The Indian Express:

Why does adult franchise suddenly sound like election porn today? Because Bollywood buddies Karan Johar , Aamir Khan, Rakyesh Mehra, Prasoon Joshi and others now want to make you believe that casting your vote is the most arousing political act for all consenting young adults over 18 years, of cerebral machismo and hardihood.

On the eve of general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha, as the gigantic, electoral machine rolls out yet another great drama of mass democracy, out leaps Aamir Khan -- self-conscious superstar (not to be confused with conscience) from your television screen, poking his head at you, and tch-tching for not prudently exercising your franchise.

The three-part series shows a fresh-faced, clean-shaven un-Gajini Aamir testily asking parents if they would hand over their daughters to grooms without crosschecking every detail of the suitor’s background.

Here’s the ilnk to the website of Association for Democratic Rights

‘I’m charmed by SRK’

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on January 4, 2009

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Bollywood star Aamir Khan on being a marketing monster, feeling powerful, doing bench presses, ganging up with Salman Khan on Shah Rukh Khan and handling flops. From the Sunday Express:

What was it about Ghajini that made you do it?
I found the Tamil version extremely engaging and entertaining. It intrigued me but I made up my mind when I met the director, AR Murugadoss. Frankly, I was completely taken in by his infectious positive energy and childlike excitement.

Has Ghajini been your physically most demanding film-more than Mangal Pandey or Lagaan?
Every film has its demands but yes, Ghajini was physically daunting as I had to train very hard. I had to keep at it and not lose patience. I had an athletic body but the director wanted me to bulk up with eight packs which was a challenge because I didn’t know if I could achieve it. Ghajini made me resilient.

Post 26/11, isn’t the timing of its release unfavourable, keeping in view its violent content?
Personally, the attack is far greater and serious an issue for me than the release of my film. That said, I was very clear that if the film is good, it’ll work. The collections prove it.

Bollywood’s boys bulk up, add brawn to brooding

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on December 18, 2008

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An AFP report at the Smart Set:

Bollywood’s leading actors are hitting the gym as never before, adding brawn and biceps to their on-screen repertoires and winning a legion of new fans in the process – including other men.

The latest weight-training convert is Aamir Khan, who enlisted the help of physical trainer Satyajit Chourasia two years ago to get in shape for the film “Ghajini”, which is released on December 25.

His daily four-hour regime appears to have paid off.

Giant advertising hoardings show a shaven-headed Khan, who plays a man with memory loss who tattoos himself and takes Polaroid pictures to remember people and places, stripped to the waist, exposing a finely-ripped torso.

On now at Aamir’s blog: citizen, heal thyself

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on December 4, 2008

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After Amitabh Bachchan’s blog post on the Mumbai terror attack, actor-producer Aamir Khan blogs with his views. It’s not enough to blame the politicians for being corrupt and inefficient, citizens too are to blame for dodging taxes and not bothering to vote.

As I had expected various politicians have tried to use this traumatic and tragic attack to their advantage. I only hope that people see through them this time.

Quite clearly both the major political parties have failed to tackle terrorism. There have been repeated attacks on us during both their reigns which neither has been able to either anticipate or deal with well. While what happened in Mumbai recently clearly exposes the incompetence of the Congress, the hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight 814 during the BJP rule shows them in even worse light. They actually NEGOTIATED with the terrorists and RELEASED 3 dreaded terrorists from Indian jails. All the 5 hijackers and the 3 terrorists released from India by the then BJP government were allowed to escape to attack us another day.

Pappu can fight, saala

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on July 31, 2008

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In The Indian Express, Harneet Singh on the Bollywood ‘fight of the year’ between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Are the gloves really off? Is politically correct Bollywood finally coming into its own?

Bollywood scribes are already terming the recent spat between superstars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan as the ‘story of the year.’ For the uninitiated (though with 24X7 electronic media carpet-bombing, they’re a rarity), it all happened at Katrina Kaif’s birthday bash in a suburban Mumbai hotspot. Apparently banter between the two Khans turned ugly when professional comparisons regarding their television shows cropped up — the numbers of SRK’s Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain have not met expectations, while Salman’s 10 Ka Dum has got a favourable response. Tabloids tell us that the heated discussion took a turn for the worse when SRK allegedly made an inappropriate comment about Salman’s ex-girlfriend, Aishwarya Rai.

But it’s not just the two warring Khans — the normally reticent Amitabh Bachchan recently blogged about “being privy personally to a design by certain sections of the media and the fraternity to bring down” his world tour, The Unforgettables. Meanwhile, in an unprecedented fiery tone, Akshay recently claimed to a Mumbai newspaper that negative stories about his personal life are being circulated by certain “back-stabbing, insecure people that try and ruin me.” He goes on to say that he’d “never knight them, but I’d definitely hire them for Friday night entertainment,” and that it amazes him to see how “low some of those dogs will go when they feel I’m too hot for them professionally.” Ahem, please note the knight and the dog dig. If you recollect, Aamir Khan had kicked off a storm with his (in)famous dog blog post where he said that he owns a dog called Shah Rukh who among other things, also “licks my feet.”

Bollywood stars on Forbes list: stars and cellphones

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on July 17, 2008

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Three Bollywood actors make it to one of Forbes’s lists, a place where you’d usually find the likes of Lakshmi Mittal or the Ambani brothers. The list — powerful celebrities who endorse cellphones — features Shah Rukh Khan (Nokia), Abhishek Bachchan (Motorola) and Aamir Khan (Samsung). India, says the article by Elizabeth Woyke, is the global capital of celebrity cellphone promotions, thanks to the fact that it is the world’s fastest growing cellphone market and that it is rich with a plethora of homegrown superstars. Read the full story here.

For the story in pictures:

SHAH RUKH KHAN

Occupation: Actor

Region/territory: India

Brand ambassador for: Nokia phones

The world’s largest phone manufacturer doesn’t work with many celebrities but makes an exception for Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, who says he has used Nokia phones for more than a decade. After pairing on a popular commercial last December, the company began sponsoring Khan’s cricket team this spring.

Dark horse, white knight

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on July 12, 2008

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His arrival was dream-crafted by his uncle Aamir Khan, but Imran Khan, Bollywood’s new love, knows where he’s going. A profile in Tehelka:

The feverish speculation around a young person poised for stardom in Bollywood is one that only people who follow racehorses would understand: the endless studying of form, of bloodlines, of gossip from the stable. There’s no telling which odds-on favourite will stumble, or which robust survivor of indifference will astonish on a Friday evening. And somewhere in the center, almost obscured by the harsh light and gathering crowds, is the one who must run.

Imran Khan, star of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, the freshest romantic comedy we have seen in years, will never have a week like this again. In a week, he has gone from complete anonymity to Aamir Khan’s nephew to someone whose girlfriend’s romantic history is being read about across the country. On the streets in Mumbai one evening, an autograph-hunter magically multiplied into an alarming mob. A woman threw herself at him begging him to marry her. And all this before Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na actually hit the theatres, all this only because of his astonishing good looks. Once audiences sampled Jaane Tu’s soufflé-like charm, there was no holding back the enamoured hordes. And somewhere in the centre is a 25-year-old who rarely speaks a superfluous, thoughtless word.

Starship enterprise

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on May 12, 2008

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Favourite all-time female star? Most accomplished actor of all time? The best funny man? Outlook readers vote for their favourites. Namrata Joshi checks out the results.

Outlook’s Bollywood Special this year looks at the very core of commercial cinema—the Hindi film star, the one who makes or breaks a film, box-office records, and people’s hearts, whose appeal is of the moment, and enduring, time-tested and timeless, give or take a bomb or two.

And who better to tell us about it than the Hindi film audience—that unknown, amorphous mass of people who vote with their feet every Friday, first day, first show. We sought them out in Delhi and Mumbai, Lucknow and Jaipur, Bhopal and Chandigarh, and asked them to cast their vote for their favourite star of all time. We had no dearth of names, old or new, starting from post-Independence India. Towering over them all was, of course, the Big B. With 32 per cent of the votes, he won this round of the Big B-srk rivalry; Khan was a distant second with just 14 per cent votes. Big B daughter-in-law Aishwarya pipped yesterday’s diva (though some would dispute that) Madhuri Dixit to the post with 21 per cent votes to the latter’s 18 per cent. Sadly, the great stars of yore seem to have faded from the memories of our moviegoers—Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor figured behind the bland lookalikes of Gen Now.
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Why the torch must go on

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on April 16, 2008

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From Namita Bhandare: my column on the Olympic Torch in Mint

In just a few days from now, the Olympic torch will arrive in Delhi, bringing to a head the debate whether it is right or wrong to carry it.

The debate, in fact, was kicked off weeks before the torch was anywhere in sight. Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia’s early decision to opt out of the Olympic torch relay to protest China’s crackdown in Tibet was hailed nearly unanimously as an “unusually conscientious decision”.

On the other hand, film star Aamir Khan’s decision to run with the torch with a “prayer in his heart for the people of Tibet” has met nearly as unanimously with derision and condemnation. Over the next few days, the debate will only become more strident and shrill.

It seems clear to me that the Tibet cause has left most middle-class Indians cold. These are the same middle-class Indians who turn a blind eye to routine abuses by state power whether in the form of encounter killings or brutal crackdowns on public protest as seen in Nandigram, West Bengal.

With great glamour, great responsibility?

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on April 3, 2008

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In The Indian Express, Amrita Shah says Bhaichung Bhutia’s refusal to carry the Olympic Torch is an ‘unusually conscientious action’. What does this say about Aamir Khan?

In an environment that encourages the promotion of self over community, Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia’s decision to opt out of the Olympic torch relay in protest against China’s crackdown in Tibet comes across as an unusually conscientious action. Carrying the torch for the most prestigious sporting event in the world is an honour that most people can only dream of. For a sportsman, especially, to deny himself that opportunity must involve no small sacrifice, and by doing so, Bhutia has raised contentious issues.

The first of course involves the Tibetan demand for autonomy, a subject that, despite the recent demonstrations and widespread media coverage, has failed to engage the average Indian. The second is the connection between sport and human rights issues, with people like Aamir Khan, P.T. Usha and Leander Paes insisting that the two must be kept separate. The third — is the person given the torch a mere carrier, playing a role crafted by others or is he a person who must answer for his participation in a public event? Or, to put it another way, is a celebrity just a famous face or a person with social responsibility?

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And in his blog, Aamir Khan says the Olympic Games do not belong to China

Over the last few days I have received several requests not to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay. Requests through members of my family, personal friends, people who are associated with the Tibetan struggle, and my blog. I have gone through and read each and every letter, message and post pertaining to this issue.

I would like to state that I have the highest regard and respect for the struggle that the people of Tibet are going through. I completely empathize with them. Similarly, I have the highest respect and regard for the struggle that the people of Iraq, Kashmiri Pundits who have been displaced, Kashmiris in general, and the people of Palestine, are going through. I have named above just a few instances of human rights violations. Across the world, and indeed within our own country too, there are several instances and examples of atrocities and human rights violation, which are still continuing. I categorically state that I am absolutely against any form of violence, and certainly I am deeply upset whenever the basic rights of human beings are violated anywhere in the world.

However, I feel that the Olympic Games do not belong to China.

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India’s most powerful people

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on March 3, 2008

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In its annual power list, India Today mixes new names with old to come up with a list of those who matter most in the creation of a new India. Some of the names, Ratan Tata (at #1) and Mukesh Ambani (#2) are now standard bearers on the list. Anil Ambani inches his way up to #3.

Media barons continue to matter. Brothers Samir and Vineet Jain (#9) of the Times of India group, Raghav Bahl (#18) of TV18 and Prannoy and Radhika Roy (#22) of NDTV continue to be on The List, while Ronnie Screwvala (#24) of UTV is the new entrant.

Other names debuting on the list include former President APJ Abdul Kalam (#7), K.V. Kamath (#13), managing director of India’s largest private bank ICICI and Lalit Modi (#29), BCCI’s powerful vice president and the creator of the Indian Premier League.

Film stars continue to make the list with Shah Rukh Khan (#6) way ahead of Amitabh Bachchan (#16), Rajnikant (#28) and Aamir Khan (#38). And cricket, the other religion of India along with films, rules with Sachin Tendulkar (#25) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (#35).

For a complete look at who’s on the list, and why, click here.

Writes of passage

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on January 31, 2008

in Books and India

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Namita Bhandare in the Hindustan Times questions the wisdom of film star Aamir Khan’s presence as a delegate at the Jaipur Literature Festival

I yield to nobody in my regard for Aamir Khan as a fundamentally decent human being. I doff my (metaphorical) hat at his courage to follow his politics and I applaud from my heart at Taare Zameen Par (TZP) as a sensitive, socially-relevant film that every parent, teacher and thinking adult should watch.

Yet, even I have to question the wisdom of Khan’s opting to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival recently, not as a participant — because surely it was his right to attend an event that has free entry for all — but as a delegate.

Now Khan may be a fine actor and a sensitive director, but he’s no writer; not at least to the best of anyone’s knowledge although he does post occasionally on his blog. His conversation with Tehelka’s Shoma Chaudhury had little to do with books (though someone from the audience did ask what he had read in recent times) and more to do with films, particularly TZP. Quite clearly, even Shoma, a lit fest veteran, was aware of the awkwardness, beginning her conversation by wondering aloud what Aamir was doing at a festival that celebrates literature.

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Stuffed into a washing machine: the Aamir Khan blog

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on January 24, 2008

in India, Movies and Terrorism

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Actor Aamir Khan on his New Year resolutions, shooting for his new film, and India’s cricket win against Australia — all in his blog

My God! The past few months have been quite a ride. And the last month the most exciting, nerve racking, exhausting, rejuvenating, draining, enriching. Am I ever going to recover? I feel like I’ve been stuffed into a washing machine which doesn’t have an off button. After this I really need to be put out to dry in the sun and left alone. But no such luck. I start shooting for GHAJINI on the 22nd. So…

Let me take baby steps towards recovery.

First things first… I have just smoked my last cigarette before sending this post. YES I HAVE FINALLY KICKED THE BAD HABIT!!! I know I know, I can already hear all of y’all scream and shout. I was supposed to give up on 31st. But I didn’t (which is one of the reasons I was avoiding posting). I tried my best… but I”m sorry I couldn’t then… but I have now… so please don’t give me grief… instead support me now.
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