Amitabh Bachchan was at Wimbledon and went online to question the disparity between what the women and men earned in prize money.
It obviously had not dawned on him that Roger Federer and Serena Williams bagged the same amount of 850000 pounds for winning. The Big B, who is shooting for Paa in London, also questioned the disparity in trophy sizes, remarking on his blog “The large silver golden cup for the men… the semi-gold, silver tray for the ladies”.
But before you think he is championing gender equality he also adds… “for those that continuously make themselves vocal on the disparity and make politically correct noises, let them know that this a manifestation of our age old history and tradition.” Perhaps he realised that in his own profession the men earn more than double !
More money matters… the best way to tell a director “thanks, but no thanks” is to quote an exorbitant fee. That worked for Priyanka Chopra who has been dumped from Sanjay Gadhvi’s 7 Days In Paris because she demanded a whopping 50-million rupees (R10m). That’s 20-million rupees more than she’s being paid for Pyaar Impossible for Yash Raj. Gadhvi’s last film, Kidnap, was abysmal and not even the attraction of working opposite Imran Khan was enough for Chopra to consider a role that Katrina Kaif had previously turned down.
Katrina Kaif describes herself as “exactly like Akshay Kumar”, saying she strives to make things work. “I’m not ruthlessly ambitious, but there is greed in me to want to do better work. I admire that quality in Akshay. He has done more than a 100 films, yet he still has the hunger to strive to do better.’’ As long as it’s purely professional, Akki’s wife, Twinkle, won’t have anything other than a twinkle in her eye!
According to Arshad Warsi Munnabhai Chale Amerika will roll sometime in 2010. He’ll reprise the role of Circuit with Sanjay Dutt back as Munna. The script for this third installment in the series has been ready for sometime now but shooting was put on hold as Sanju needed to sort out his criminal case for possessing illegal fire- arms. In the meantime, director Rajkumar Hirani has begun filming 3 Idiots.
The movie New York has had its desired effect for director Kabir Khan with Ameri- can critics praising his (politically correct) approach to the issue of terrorism, expect more of the same from two other movies that dabble in the same subject, both Karan Johar productions. First up is Renzil d’Souza’s Jihaad, which Karan produces with Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapooor and Vivek Ob- eroi, with Saif playing the suspect, and in My Name is Khan, Karan directs his favourite, Shahrukh, who plays an Asperger syndrome victim who is treated as a suspect because of his naive social skills.
Aftab Shivdasani and Aloo Chaat co-star Aamna Sharif are an item. He ushered in his 31st birthday with her and although he won’t openly acknowledge that they are together, he has conceded that for the first time in his life he is contemplating marriage. Aftab was previously linked to two hot beauties, Esha Deol and Yana Gupta, both the antithesis to demure Aamna.
Composer Ram Sampath, who cost Rakesh Roshan a 200-million rupee fine for plagiarising a song in Krazzy 4, is now busy composing music for two Aamir Khan productions, Dhobi Ghaat and Delhi Belly, and describes AK as a man with an ear for “insane sounds” as the songs he has chosen are completely eclectic. Delhi Belly stars Imran Khan, while Aamir himself is in Dhobi Ghaat that his wife, Kiran Rao, is directing.
MORE musical chairs — Anil Kapoor was originally cast in the role that Akshaye Khanna plays in Short Kut but couldn’t say “no” to his mentor Subash Ghai who offered him Black and White, and although Short Kut is his own production, Anil withdrew. Akshaye then moved from a secondary role which went to Arshad Warsi. That displeased Paresh Rawal who wanted the role. So he withdrew from the third lead, leaving Anil to turn to Chunky Pandey. That’s the long cut on Short Kut, which sees Amrita Rao in a new sexy light, thanks to Anil who convinced her to shed her demure image.
After more than a dozen announced release dates, this year’s most eagerly awaited film, Kandhasamy, has had its release rescheduled and will now release worldwide on July 31. Traditionally, the Tamil month of Aadi (July and August) has been considered inauspicious by producers and few, if any, films have released in the past. This year, however, presents a vastly different picture with many of the biggies being released during this period. These include the action thriller Vaamanan (with Subramaniapuram-fame Jai in the lead role), the Vijaya kanth-Vikranth thriller Yengall Aasaan and the film that has already made waves worldwide, Achchamundu Achchamundu, which has bagged two major international awards.
It can no longer be denied. On her recent trip to Dubai, a nifty camera caught the incriminating tattoo on Nayanthara’s forearm, with the name Prabhu written in Tamil script but beginning with “P”. It is a signi- ficant fact that neither party has denied a relationship with each other. The fact that Nayanthara is still accepted by the film public is a sure sign of how tolerant Tamil Nadu society has become.
The cast and crew of Goa have moved location from the western sunny city to the Langkawi islands of Malaysia. With the heavy rains now hampering shooting in Goa. Director Venkat Prabhu and producer Soundarya Rajnikanth agreed that the shooting should move to Malaysia, where the goal of wrapping up in 40 days would still be attainable.
Director Samuthirakani’s latest film Nadodigall has created new records after only a week on circuit. Remake rights have already been sold for a Telugu version and the film’s producers plan to make the film in Hindi as well. While a small section of the critics have slammed the film as stylised, the majority have had nothing but praise for it. The box-office, meanwhile, shows early indications of the film being a hit.
