Bipasha to glam up Rocket Singh with a special song

Shimit Amin's Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year starring Ranbir Kapoor has got a shot of spice in the arm. The film, which is supposed to have no female lead opposite Ranbir, will feature Bipasha Basu in a special song in a glam avtaar.

Sources confirm that Bipasha's song will be the only glam part of an otherwise male lead-dominated film.

A source reveals, "Rocket Singh is a character driven film with no clear lead pair. Suddenly, after they began shooting, the idea of no oomph in the film didn't seem right, Aditya Chopra had a word with Shimit and bounced an idea of an item number with Bipasha in it.

The source adds, "The director liked the idea and Bips was roped in for a song and a few scenes. Another reason for Bips being in the movie is that Yash Raj really liked her chemistry with Ranbir in last year's Bachna Ae Haseeno."

Bipasha will shoot for the film in two weeks on a set in Yash Raj Studios. A spokesperson for Yash Raj says, "Not true at all." The film hits cinemas worldwide on Dec 11 this year.

Bips went glam in
Aankhen (2002)
No Entry (2005)
Humko Deewana Kar Gaye (2006)
Omkara (2006)
No Smoking (2007)
Rab Ne Bana De Jodi (2008)

MORE HERE >>>

Meet Mr. Rocket Singh

Director Shimit Amin has begun shooting for Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year. The film has Ranbir Kapoor playing the lead role of a Sardarji.

The film marks the coming together of the Chak De! India director/writer combination of Shimit Amin and Jaideep Sahni.

MORE HERE >>>

Imran and Ranbir in YRF next

Shimit Amin is back in the director’s chair for Yash Raj Films and this time he has signed on Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor for his movie. The two young stars were quite keen to work together and now finally YRF will be giving them the opportunity.

“Imran and Ranbir believe that the two of them should be cast together. They got on well with each other and have been searching for scripts and directors who would take them on both. Finally they have managed to get YRF to take them on,” informs a source.

In fact Imran and Ranbir had been doing the rounds of various directors’ offices to convince them to sign them both.

“For months now Imran and Ranbir have been meeting with various directors telling them to sign them up. They have met with Subhash Ghai, Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt, Vipul Shah as well as their own respective directors that they have worked with. But unfortunately they were not getting a decent response considering the condition of the markets right now.”

“They were so keen that they finally decided to float their own production company as a partnership and find a director who will make films with them. In fact they approached both Imtiaz Ali and Shimit Amin to come up with good scripts in which the two could star. While Imtiaz is working on a script, Shimit who was keen to go back behind the camera has got Yash Raj to back his film with Ranbir and Imran in the lead,” adds the source.

MORE HERE >>>

Chak De India invited for the Tokyo International Film Festival

The Chak De India team continues on its victorious march! After having swept India, UK and the US, Shah Rukh Khan and his team have now set their eyes on winning over Japan. The film has been invited to be a part of the 21st Tokyo International Film Festival, to be held in Tokyo from the October 18 - 26, 2008. The Tokyo International Film Festival is one of Asia's most prominent and vibrant Film Festivals. It is renowned for showcasing alternative cinema from all corners of the globe. Chak De India will be showcased in the Winds of Asia-Middle East section. This section features the best films from East Asia, South East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East.

This year's edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival is as comprehensive as ever, featuring 790 films from 72 countries in competitive section plus special sections devoted to world cinema Japanese cinema and many more. It will be even more memorable for Indian film lovers if Chak De India manages to woo Japan in a manner that not many previous Indian movies have succeeded (other than Rajnikanth movies of course). Shimit Amin, the Director of Chak De India will be traveling to Tokyo for the screening and said, "We are truly honored. It is a wonderful pat on the back for everyone associated with this film."

And given that the film has such universal appeal; it's highly probable that Chak De India will manage to leave a permanent mark on the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Screenings Dates:

19 Oct '08, 15:30 - 18:28 (open 15:10)
Roppongi [TOHO CINEMAS ROPPONGI HILLS SCREEN5]

22 Oct '08, 11:20 - 14:18 (open 11:00)
Shibuya [Bunkamura Le Cinema 2]

MORE HERE >>>

Sonam gives Yash Raj film a miss

Is Ranbir Kapoor responsible for Sonam Kapoor not doing the Yash Raj film?

Director Shimit Amin was keen to cast the “Saawariya” stars for Yash Raj's next project. Ranbir was inked first and then Sonam was to be signed.

However, Sonam started having second thoughts about the film and ultimately refused to do it.

It can be recalled that all was well between Ranbir and Sonam till Deepika entered Ranbir's life. Post that, Sonam and Ranbir even stopped talking.

They recently patched up, but Sonam reportedly is still not comfortable shooting with Ranbir and hence she refused the project.

MORE HERE >>>

‘Chak de India’ rules the roost at IIFA

Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Chak De India,’ a sports film, stole the show after winning nine honours at the IIFA awards last night

Bangkok: ‘Chak De India,’ starring Shah Rukh Khan, stole the show after winning nine honours at the IIFA awards last night.

Shah Rukh Khan, who won the best actor award, may have skipped the ceremony last night, but he ruled nevertheless with his home production ‘Om Shanti Om’ bagging five awards.

Film producer Yash Chopra collected the awards on his behalf. Similarly, the film’s director Shimit Amin received the best director’s award. Jaideep Sahani received the best story award for the film.

The technical awards won by the film were: cinematography, Sound recording and sound re-recording, editing. Jaideep Sahani shared the screenplay award for the film with Anurag Basu (Life in a Metro).

Om Shanti Om picked up awards for art direction, costumes, special effects and make up. Javed Akhtar won the best lyricist award for ‘Main Agar Kahoon.’

Kareena Kapoor received the best actress award (Jab we Met) while Irrfan Khan and Konkana Sen Sharma were adjudged the best actor and actress in a supporting role (Life in a Metro).

Shaan (Jab se tere naina, Saawariya) and Shreya Ghosal (Barso re megha, Guru) were adjudged as best playback singers. A. R. Rahman received the best music composer award for the background score (Guru).

Vivek Oberoi won the best actor in negative role (Shootout at Lokhandwala) while Govinda received for the best actor in comedy role (Partner).

Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone were awarded the best debutants of 2007. The Idea style icon trophy was given to Abhishek Bachchan and the glamorous diva went to Katrina Kaif.

Neil Nitin Mukesh (Johnny Gaddar) received an award for the fresh face of the year. Noted actress Mumtaz, filmmaker Shyam Benegal and music composer A R Rahman were felicitated for their outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.

Scintillating performances from Govinda, Katrina, and Kareena marked the nearly three-hour extravaganza. However, the highlight of the finale was Akshay Kumar who performed a number from his forthcoming film ‘Singh is King.’

The awards ceremony was held at the Siam Niramit in Bangkok. Ritesh Deshmukh and Boman Irani were the hosts for the evening.

MORE HERE >>>

Nokia 14th Annual Star Screen Awards 2008 - Winners

Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par bagged six key awards at the Nokia 14th Annual Star Screen Awards on Thursday, January 10, Mumbai.

Aamir Khan shared the best director award for the film with Shimit Amin for Chak De! India. He additionally won awards as Best Supporting Actor and for Best Dialogs.

The three other awards won by Aamir’s film were - Best Story (Amol Gupte), Best Child Actor (Darsheel) and Best Lyricist (Prasoon Joshi).

Shah Rukh Khan was adjudged the best actor award for his performance in Chak De! India.

The best actress award went to Kareena Kapoor for her spirited performance as Geet in the Imtiaz Ali directed film Jab We Met.

AR Rahman's musical score for Guru earned him the award for the Best Music Director.

Shah Rukh and Deepika Padukone were named as the Best Pair onscreen in Om Shanti Om

Deepika was additionally adjudged the Best Newcomer (Female) beating Sonam Kapoor

More predictably Ranbir Kapoor walked away with the Best Newcomer (Male) Award.

Shah Rukh Khan performed the ‘Dard-e-Disco’ number from Om Shanti Om at the event.

Others who performed included Shahid Kapur, Katrina Kaif, Urmila Matondkar, Riteish Deshmukh and Dia Mirza.

Other winners at the awards were:
Irfan Khan Best Comedian Award for Life…In a Metro
Anurag Basu Best Screenplay Award for Life…In a Metro
Soham Best Playback Singer (Male) in the film Life…In a Metro
Priya Ghosal Best Playback Singer (female) for Guru
Pankaj Kapoor Best Negative Role
Chak De girls Best Supporting Role (female)
Manoj Kumar Star Screen Lifetime Achievement Award

MORE HERE >>>

No new projects for Shimit post CHAKDE! INDIA

Director Shimit Amin spent his growing years in the US, finishing his school and college education. But instead of settling down there, the iconoclastic director shifted to Mumbai and made his first foray into Bollywood with the hard-hitting, AB TAK CHHAPPAN (2004). He followed it up with the cult movie, CHAKDE! INDIA. Defying popular belief, lack of Bollywood formula in his films did work for him, twice over!

His first movie, AB TAK CHHAPPAN, portraying the life of an encounter specialist, did not get its due recognition (box-office wise). After his first outing, it took Shimit, a Yash Raj-Shah Rukh Khan combination to take India by storm, in the award-winning (V Shantaram), CHAKDE! INDIA. The movie is tipped to sweep most of the popular awards and make a strong claim for the Nationals too.

However, unlike many others in his profession, who would have gone on a signing spree (after a blockbuster success), the non-conformist director is taking it easy. When asked about his future projects, the man of few words disclosed unabashedly that there was nothing to talk about, adding that if anything concrete comes up, he would go public with it.

Certainly Bollywood will go places by embracing superbly talented yet unassuming directors like Shimit Amin.

Abid, Bollywood Trade News Network

MORE HERE >>>