Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Actors lose VIP status at Indian temple

TIRUPATHI-- The spectacle over a recent celebrity wedding so stung leaders one of India's most sacred Hindu temples they will no longer treat Bollywood stars as VIPs. Speaking to the Press Trust of India news agency Wednesday, B. Karunakara Reddy, head of the trustee board of the Lord Venkateswara Temple in southern Andhra Pradesh state, apologized to the devotees, who throng the temple by the tens of millions every year. Reddy cited the inconvenience caused by the "over enthusiasm" of some temple officials for receiving Abishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai when the two visited the facility prior to their wedding. Reddy said "stringent measures" would be taken to ensure no such treatment is given hereafter to visiting celebrities such as actors and business tycoons. The temple, situated on high hills, is so sacred to Hindus around the world that a visit there is almost a must. Everyday starting about 3 a.m. in the morning, hundreds of thousands stand patiently in lines for hours to get a view of the idol, a form of the principal deity Vishnu, for gaining salvation. Crowd management is so critical, even a slight change such as for a VIP visit can cause massive disruption.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Is Bollywood bigger than politics, health and any other significant news? Are the byte hungry television crews and daily tabloids overdoing it?

“There was something utterly pathetic about how a hundred television cameras went scrambling for a nanosecond of footage each time the gates at Jalsa opened to let a car inside. Is this peek-a-boo-voyeurism now the future of Indian journalism?,” questioned Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor, NDTV 24 * 7 in her weekly column in The Hindustan Times on 21st April. Richard Gere's innocuous kiss on Shilpa Shetty's rouge-friendly cheeks was another bit of 'saleable' news last week that attained gallons of news space on national channels and news papers. So, is the media (especially the byte hungry television crews) overdoing it?

The answer is a BIG YES. Let's recount the events of the past week. A few of them were as big (at least they were made out to be) as the ghastly shootout in Virginia University where two Indians were unfortunate victims of madness. The first one is Abhi-Ash wedding tamasha that continues to doggedly pursue attention. And somehow Bachchans are as much responsible for this mayhem as the media. Media tents were dug outside their two bungalows Prateeksha and Jalsa in Juhu. Neighbours were constantly inconvenienced, security (Amar Singh's guards are causing a big embarrassment to Bachchans) measures made sure that the traffic snailed through.

The Sangeet, the Mehndi, the marriage, the bidai and that periodic visit to ailing matriarch Teji Bachchan in hospital (Remember they decided not to have ostentatious celebrations because of her ill health and hence the guest list was mindlessly pruned) was covered with an efficacious zeal. Every glimpse of any-n-every celebrity was Breaking News. Prem Chopra would never have felt so important in life until he saw his bald pate getting zoomed-in-encircled-haloed effect on every channel worth its salt. A prominent English news channel traced the 'Halwai' who was supposed to make sweets for the wedding and showed his interview on prime time. It couldn't have been more absurd than that.

On the D-Day another big drama unfolded. And it seemed the news channels had landed up with the biggest, most coveted secret since Hitler's mysterious sex life. A starlet Jahnvi Kapoor in a script written by 70s Bollywood scriptwriter gave a suicide angle to Abhi-Ash dream wedding by claiming that she is the first wife of Junior B and that they had been in love since Dus Bahane

More was still to follow. A few overzealous photographers in their true filmy daring style got a wee bit too close to Abhi-Ash car as they were being driven by Babul Bachchan back home. The security guards belonging to Amar Singh cavalcade roughed them a bit too hard. Next day Big B apologized to the media. On being asked why media was kept away from all the proceedings, he stated that it was a personal occasion and that the family wanted it to be a private affair. The rumours of television rights of the marriage being sold to a foreign channel for a whopping Rs 40 crores are doing the rounds. Even the still photograph rights have reportedly been sold to a high profile magazine. Truly, Bachchans seem to be taking the trade prediction on Bachchan Brand very seriously. It's showbiz after all! The cameras followed the Bachchans to religious ablutions in Tirupati and obviously the conjectures on the Abhi-Ash honeymoon shall surely occupy prime time serious discussions very soon.

Shilpa Shetty was a victim at Big Brother house. But the moral police now feels she is bringing the western culture into our homes by allowing Hollywood's delight Richard Gere to kiss-n-dance her in full media glare at an AIDS awareness programme in Delhi for the truck drivers (a segment that is most affected by the killer disease). Her effigies were being burnt and shooting of her next film Metro was forcibly stopped in Mumbai. Obviously SMS campaigns were launched by the dutiful news channels to get the country's opinion on whether what Shilpa did was right or wrong. Shilpa blasted the media and held them responsible for blowing a 'trivial' thing into something bigger than what it should have been. Incidentally, Sunny Deol who was also present at that event was completely upstaged by Gere's getting-fresh act with Shilpa.

The latest on that 'scoop' is that a court has restrained Shilpa Shetty from going out of the country for the time being. And if proven guilty she can be punished for six years imprisonment for obscenity. “There are more important issues like AIDS, bride burning etc than Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty on cheeks. Things were misreported. There is a section of media which is highly irresponsible. It is highly presumptuous of media to say that I was aware of what was going to happen,” said a furious Shilpa on Barkha Dutt's show 'We The People' yesterday.

So, what do you say, is the Indian media overdoing it? Is Bollywood bigger than politics, health and any other significant news? It seems it is. What's your opinion on the tabloidisation of Indian Media. Do let us know your opinion.
days. She slit her wrist, gave bytes to the smallest and the biggest of news channels. Some created special programmes trying to show every aspect of this 'scoop' forcing the nation to think if Aby Baby really had a quickie, fling-on-the-sides. The very same evening they were back at Bachchan doorsteps desperately hungry for anything-n-everything. The Kapoor starlet by then had been thrown out of her Andheri one room pad, her mother disowned her and her first husband's family disclosed the loose character details.

Indiafm

I want to take optical illusions further: Shah Rukh


He has just wrapped up his quiz show "Kaun Banega Crorepati" and now Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is about to take a long-due sabbatical to spend time with his family and work on a special project.

"I want to take time off with my kids and also work on a project that's very precious to me. I want our production company to become truly FX-savvy," Shah Rukh told IANS in a rare interview.

Shah Rukh is currently looking at various creative and business options for this project.

"When I am asked what next, then I guess this is what I want to do next. This is where my heart is at the moment. I want our FX to be comparable with the best in the world. 'Dhoom 2' and 'Don' got it right. I want to take optical illusions even further.

He now needs to take a break but with a specific purpose.

"I want to spend the next three months honing up the FX in our production house. Have you seen films like '300'? That's the level of special effects (FX) we should be aiming at. And I'm going to go for it," said Shah Rukh with characteristic enthusiasm.

As excited as ever, SRK says, "For me, there're no real challenges. I need to create them."

He has been in too many places at the same time. His hugely enjoyable stint as the host of popular KBC on STAR Plus is over.

"I'm just about done with all the episodes. I had myself a good time, I don't know about the others," he joked. "But I wouldn't mind returning with another season. Let's see, talks are on."

Talk veers to contestants acting cocky or nervous on the show.

"It happens...I took it all in my stride. For example, the lady who chose to say she wasn't a fan of mine. That's her choice and I respect it. She was a schoolteacher and probably thought of actors in a particular way. I respect that. What is there to get upset about it? Incidentally, she spoke to me after the show and explained her point of view to me.

"I was also asked why I gave away watches to some contestants who were eliminated and not to others. My watches, my choice I guess."

But Shah Rukh was very clear about the motive and purpose behind his interactions on KBC.

"I wanted the contestants to carry back that experience with them as a special one. Otherwise, there would be no real purpose behind the exercise. Yes, I knew most of the answers to the questions. But when I didn't, I made sure I asked Siddharth Basu - he and I go back a long way to the time both of us did English theatre together in Delhi, or someone else on the sets."

King Khan says KBC was fun.

"Yes, I like my work to be fun and I make sure it is. That's why I don't want to do the kind of films I don't enjoy watching. With due respects, I don't want to be in the so-called offbeat films. I'd rather do my enjoyable stuff. Farah Khan's film 'Om Shanti Om', which I'm now shooting, is again a lot of fun."

ut family gets top priority. "I decided to see you now while my son has gone to his friend's birthday party."

We're in Shah Rukh's newly done-up office. And he is looking as boyish, exuberant and ultra-energetic as the last time I met him.

There are innumerable activities awaiting his attention. But Shah Rukh has the ability to make it all look disarmingly basic and simple.

"Sooner or later everything does come together. And there's no point in fretting over. I lost both my parents very young. That made me kind of fearless about life and death. Now I fear for those who are close to me. I fear for what such a loss would do to my friends. My father was a freedom fighter. He gave a lot to his country. Now it's my turn...but with the added perk of getting recognition in return."

He then pauses.

"People say I've gone through a lot and that the health and other setbacks are god's way of equalising my success, stardom, whatever. I think that's rubbish. God doesn't have an accounts department.

"I don't think my neck injury was in reaction to the successes I've had. Now I'm asked, what next? Frankly I've no clue. My journey hasn't been mapped or planned. Whatever had to happen has happened."

Coming up is another book on Shah Rukh, this time by journalist Anupama Chopra.

"It's a journey through Indian cinema in recent decades as seen through my career. Interesting and insightful because of the amount of rigorous research Anupama has taken on. I'm still amazed at the amount of interest my work generates.

"Either we talk about these interesting aspects of cinema vis-à-vis my career. Or sensational quotes comparing me to Changez Khan or unnecessarily harping on my so-called differences with Amitabh Bachchan can be attributed to me. The choice is entirely yours."

Shah Rukh also has his own memoirs on the anvil.

"I've been working on that for sometime. But I feel the need to add new chapters constantly. I'll just have to find a place to stop it."

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