Aishwarya wants a junior Bachchan Now

Aishwarya Rai who is quite busy these days with promotions and movies wants to prepare herself to become a mother.

Aishwarya apparently wants to complete all her work by 2010 so that she can concentrate on motherhood.

A source close to Ash says, “This no doubt is the busiest phase of Aishwarya’s career. Such a flurry of assignments has never been seen before in any married actress’ life and she’d be foolish to let such opportunities slip by. Luckily, Abhishek is thoroughly supportive of her career. She wants to complete as many of these assignments as she can to before she becomes a mother. Because once she gets into that role she wouldn’t want any other distractions. That, Aishwarya is sure of.”

So junior of Junior Bachchan is not far away.

Shahrukh Avoids Big B

How much Shahrukh Khan shouts from the roof top that he shares a good camaraderie with Amitabh Bachchan or whatever Amitabh Bachchan writes on his blog stories about his friendship with Shahrukh, the truth is something else. The duo still does not share a good rapport.

In order to avoid Amitabh Bachchan who is the brand ambassador of IIFA, Shahrukh Khan has decided to skip the event. That he will be invited for the event has already been known to SRK when Big B publicly said that he would invite Shahrukh to IIFA. But grapevine abuzz that Shahrukh Khan to stay away from the event and from Amitabh has planned for a 10 day vacation to London with his family.

Shahrukh Khan knows very well that being the brand ambassador of the IIFA, Big B will steal all the limelight and he will not get the required amount of attention which is unacceptable on his part. Shahrukh also did not return to South Africa to cheer his team.

Bachchan Opens India Pavillion

Indian actor Abhishek Bachchan opened the India Pavillion on the Cannes beach front today amid great fanfare even as festival’s Deputy General-Delegate Christian Jeune hoped that India would soon end its dry run at the French festival.

Bachchan drew a crowd of photographers, pen pushers and autograph-seekers, who elbowed one another to get closer to the star, who was clearly the man of the moment.

His superstar wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and veteran actress Sharmila Tagore who is on the festival jury, failed to make an appearance disappointing the assembled crowd but the event was attended by Subhash Ghai, Deepti Naval, Manisha Koirala, producer Bobby Bedi and Christian Jeune, Deputy General-Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival amongst others.

In a brief speech, Jeune hoped that India’s dry run at the Festival, now on since the 2002 Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Devdas”, would soon end.

Deepti Naval is here to screen her debut feature, “Two Paise for Sunshine, Four Annas for Rain”, in the market tomorrow along with Manisha Koirala, who plays the lead in the film.

Mehra Named son after me: Big B

What is it about death that draws one away into a vacuum and then starts filling it up with memories and nostalgia?

It was early 1971 when I met Prakashji for the first time at RajKamal Studios. He had come to ask me to work in his first home production film, Zanjeer. Salim-Javed that had written the script, had suggested my name to him. He had had a few successes as an individual director with the stars of the day — Dharamji,

Shashiji and now wanted to go independent. That first meeting translated itself into a relationship, much documented now, in the annals of Hindi cinema history.
Prakash Mehra was an allrounder in his craft. He was first a writer and coming from the North had great sense of the language and its temperament. Writers gain recognition because of their inert story-telling capacity. That was Prakashji’s forte. He was a great storyteller.

A teller of stories that imbibed the qualities of drama and emotion and the farcical — all within the context of our rich national morals, culture and ethics. All of his films contained sufficient quantities of this. He was also a gifted lyricist, which many were unaware of. His contribution to the songs in his films were never credited, but there was never a moment in them, where he had not made significant contribution.

And, he was a musician; his knowledge of the craft ably reflected in the music scores that adorned his stories and his films. Many of the tunes that were selected were at times actually sung by him to give an idea to the music directors on what form or tenor he wanted from them.

What he did not possess and what he paid scant respect to, was technology. Complicated camera angles through the use of sophisticated equipment, editing jugglery, excessive reliance on cinematic calisthenics, were distasteful to him. “Log kahani dekhne aayenge, camera ki kabaddi nahin!” was his oft-repeated refrain. His frames were simple therefore, steady and respectful to what the artists were doing; never distracted by excessive zooms and trolley movements. He would place the camera at a spot and allow the scene to progress for as long as the artists could go.

When we erred, he would not ask for a retake. He would merely cut the shot and move closer or at a different angle and ask us to continue from where we had last stopped. His early years of apprentice with some of the most prominent makers of the time had perhaps insulated him from any of the more modern techniques.

But his investments in other modes of modernisation in filmmaking were most relevant — the first Arriflex camera with the blimp, interesting lenses, a dubbing studio with state of the art facility, being some among them.
He was a simple man who had come from very humble beginnings. His commercial successes never ever betrayed his respect for the people that he grew up with or with those that remained with him during his phenomenal journey.

He addressed me endearingly as ‘Lalla’ as did I him and each time he would be impressed by a shot that I gave, he would quietly walk up to me and kiss my forehead. He had an air of fun and comedy about him. Many a humorous moment in his films were on the spot instinctive introductions; though his own suppressed laughter, during the time of its enactment once the cameras were rolling, remained a perennial distraction for the artist and more particularly for the sound recordist! On many an occasion we had to plead with him to leave the set in order to be able to ‘can’ the shot without interruption.

He remained my neighbour throughout his film career; sympathetic and caring in moments of distress and exuberant in our moments of joy. He named his second son Amit after me and remained a proud father to his other two, Sumeet and Puneet. He bore the trauma of his ailing wife, lying in coma for years at his house, with great fortitude.

We have lost a great filmmaker and a wonderful human. Lalla, I shall miss you. May you remain in peace wherever you are.

Prakash Mehra, the mind behind Bachchan's 'angry young Man'

He was the brain behind popular Bollywood coinages like 'angry young man' and gave Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan his biggest break with Zanjeer. Prolific filmmaker Prakash Mehra, who passed away on Sunday, will always be remembered for his blockbuster movies and super-hit dialogues.

Born in Bijnore, Uttar Pradesh, on July 13, 1939, Mehra started his career in the late 1950s as a production controller. He ventured into filmmaking in 1968 with the Shashi Kapoor-starrer Haseena Maan Jayegi, followed by the 1971 hit Mela, starring brothers Feroz and Sanjay Khan. His next was Samadhi (1972) with Dharmendra.

He struck gold at the box office with the 1973 action flick Zanjeer, with Bachchan in the main lead. The success of the film made Mehra a name to reckon with as a director and established Bachchan as the 'angry young man'.

Zanjeer laid the foundation for the top director-actor duo, who later teamed up for Hera Pheri (1976), Muqaddar Ka Sikandar (1978), Laawaris (1981), Namak Halal (1982) and Sharabi (1984). Their last film together was Jaadugar, in 1989.

While the first five proved to be hits, the last one was a dud. The failure of the film is also said to have soured the relationship between the two, a rumour Bachchan put to rest by visiting Mehra while he was in the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in the city.

"Prakash Mehra, the director of some of my most significant and most successful films, lies in the ICU. When I went to him, he had difficulty in recognising me. It is most depressing to see my contemporaries in this way. This wizard of a director, now lying inane and without response, eyes open but closed for all purposes, ventilator breathing for him - just so unimaginable," Bachchan posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com after his visit.

Singer Adnan Sami also stopped by, as his father was admitted to the same hospital. "I walked into Prakashji's ICU to quietly take his blessings. He recognised me even in that condition and did the popular hand movement from my song 'Lift kara de' with the Big B. It was an utterly endearing gesture acknowledging me and my love for the movies that he did with the Big B," Sami said earlier.

Mehra also wielded the baton for duds like Aakhri Daku (1978) and Zindagi Ek Jua (1992). His last film, Bal Bramhachari (1996), launched late actor Rajkumar's son, Puru.

In the 1990s, Mehra's only successful film was Dalaal (1993). In 2006, the Indian Motion Picture Directors Association (IMPDA) honoured him with a Lifetime Achievement award. He was also among one of the first Hindi film directors to have joint ventures with Hollywood filmmakers. He collaborated with director Frank Yandolino for The God Connection in the late 1980s, but the project never took off.

Mehra's health was said to have worsened after his wife's death over two years back. He died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure at 7.50 am on Sunday. He was 69.

Mehra is survived by two sons, Sumeet and Amit.