Going by the feedback that Ishaqzaade has received, the industry is quite upbeat about the arrival of the newest romantic pair on the big screen – Arjun Kapoor and Parineeti Chopra. In the meanwhile, Karisma Kapur’s comeback plans were dashed with Vikram Bhatt’s Dangerous Ishhq performing dismally at the box office.

While the makers of Ishaqzaade are said to have recovered their investments and earned over and above that, the trade is unanimous about Dangerous Ishq incurring a big loss to makers and distributors alike.

Pegging the first three days of the Arjun-Parineeti starrer at about Rs 16 crore, Komal Nahta said, “The initial is pretty good for a film with new actors. The music and the promotions definitely helped. The producers have earned over Rs 12 crore from satellite rights; they’ve nothing to worry about.” More

Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor says that he agreed to host the 13th edition of International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards in Singapore June 7-9 after a lot of people persuaded him.

“It took a lot of people to convince me that I could do this. I love performing in front of a live audience. IIFA and I go a long way back, but we were never able to come together. So I am very excited that now I am being able to do something,” Shahid Kapoor, who hosted this year’s Filmfare with Ranbir Kapoor and Shah Rukh Khan, told reporters on Monday.

Bipasha Basu, who will attend the event, said, “Right from the time when I was a debutant and till now, it’s been almost 10 years and I think I had a wonderful experience with IIFA. I will be performing at the event as well.” More

After making the comeback vehicle for Karisma Kapoor, Vikram Bhatt has another project in store for actor Aftab Shivdasani. The Dangerous Ishhq director has decided to veer his attention towards his next production – the sequel to his horror film, 1920 starring Aftab.

Both of them have already worked together in various projects such as Deewane Huye Paagal, Awara Paagal Deewana, Kasoor and Ankahee.

Vikram Bhatt was quoted saying, “My film with Karisma is out. It’s now Aftab for me. I will now concentrate on this project. The shoot is complete and in the coming weeks we will chalk out a strategy for it. The film has been directed by Bhushan Patel, who was my assistant. There is more evil than the first part in this one. The film depicts Aftab in new light. I am sure he will be noticed.”

Aftab’s film career has not been going great guns. He was last seen in films like Players and Bin Bulaye Baraati which failed miserably at the box-office and his attempt to turn producer also failed with the failure of Aao Wish Karein in 2009.

The sequel has been shot in Sweden and stars Tia Bajpai alongside Shivdasani.  Source

Katrina Kaif is currently working with Bollywood’s three leading Khans – Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan – in three different projects. So posessive is the actress about them that given the chance, she won’t let anyone else work with them.

But she was reticent on who her favourite Khan was. “This doesn’t make sense to me. It is unfair,” Katrina told reporters when asked to pick her favourite Khan.

“If suppose if you will ask them to choose one of the actresses, even I will feel bad. Everyone is different. All three of them are icons and legends in their own way. I am fortunate enough to work with them. It’s been great so far.

“If I had the chance, I would not allow anyone to work with them. But that is not possible as you cannot stop anyone from working with them,” she added. More

Vidya Balan after the resounding back-to-back success of The Dirty Picture and Kahaani, Vidya Balan has signed her No one Killed Jessica director Raj Kumar Gupta’s Ghanchakkar.

Unlike her characters of Sabrina Lall (in No one Killed Jessica), Silk (in The Dirty Picture) and Vidya (in Kahaani), Viday plays a housewife in Ghanchakkar.

“So far the roles that have defined Vidya’s career have all found her playing women placed in extraordinary circumstances. In Ghanchakkar she plays an average woman. Nothing dramatic like a murder or a mysterious disappearance happens to her in the script,” says a source close to the project.

“Both Raj Kumar Gupta and Vidya feel that playing an ordinary woman is a special challenge for Vidya at this stage of her career when she has played a number of extraordinary characters. However, Gupta is being pressurised to modify and amplify Vidya’s part,” says the source.

“I had decided I wanted her for Ghanchakkar even when we were working together on Jessica. It is only now there’s a growing anxiety about Vidya’s positioning in the audiences’ perception,” says Gupta. More

Nargis Fakhri is excited about bagging her latest Khiladi 786 with the original Khiladi of Bollywood, Akshay Kumar. However, rumors surfacing about Kumar coming to her rescue have left her miffed. Buzz was that Akshay came to her rescue with three films under his banner after Fakhri failed to get any offers post Rockstar.

When asked about this bit of news, she was quoted saying, “That is a strange statement, I don’t find it valid.”

However ask her about the film itself, in which she is sharing screen space with the Rowdy Rathore star, she is excited to bits. She was quoted saying, “I am glad I am getting to work with Akshay Kumar, that too in a comedy. At least the first of the three is a comedy. There were many scripts coming in but I wanted to do something fun. When I first came to Mumbai, I happened to see Akshay’s face on a bus, and I screamed, ‘I know this guy, he is a funny man, I like him’. Now it is so cool to work with him. Source

She might have tried every trick in the book to woo the audiences with her latest film DANGEROUS ISHHQ. But, the cruel fact is that none of her hard work has paid her in any sense. So much so that Karisma has been out rightly failed by her audiences.

It’s not only Karisma who is at the receiving end of the audiences taste, the same fate was witnessed by Madhuri Dixit too. In her case she even left the foreign shores in the spirit of making a comeback but unfortunately for her the audiences have given her a unanimous neglect.

The trend of Bollywood moms making a comeback seems to be a boring idea for the audiences. One of the industry veterans describes this trend in these words, “The hype surrounding the comeback of Bollywood moms seems to be based on a false premise. The fact remains that nobody is interested in watching an ageing heroine when it’s the era of sizzle and curves.” More

Farah Khan who just finished shooting for her acting debut in Bela Segal’s film Shirin Farhad Ki Nikal Padi, opposite Boman Irani has stated that though she thoroughly enjoyed working on this film produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, this will be her first and last acting project.

The Om Shanti Om director was quoted saying, “This one was a role of a lifetime, and now that I’ve tasted blood, I would never settle for anything less. So this well could be my first and last role as an actor. As for taking up a role in my brother Sajid Khan’s film, I am sure he will only give me some retarded role, which I would never take up.”

Farah, who has just wrapped this film reveals that her own directorial next Happy New Year, is all set to go on floors post October. The film starring, Shah Rukh Khan and Abhishek Bachchan, will be her next after the box-office failure Tees Maar Khan. ‘King Khan’ was roped in after the director-choreographer patched up with him, following his much-publicized fight with Shirish Kunder. Farah was quoted saying, “I am yet to finalize the casting and we will roll in the last quarter of this year.”

Be it choreographing, directing or acting, we know Farah’s going to be good at whatever she does! Source

Boney Kapoor, who now wants to make a film with his son Arjun Kapoor, will have to wait owing to his three-film deal with Ishaqzaade production house.

Though he did not launch him, filmmaker Boney Kapoor has now found a suitable script for Arjun. However, the project will have to wait owing to his three-film deal with the makers of his Habib Faisal directed debut.

A source states that Boney recently found the right subject to make a movie with his son.

“Arjun was often asked why his father didn’t launch him. And he had maintained that more than a launch, it was more about the right script and right team for his father to make the film with him,” says the source, adding, “A few days ago, the producer came up with the concept for a film. It’s a contemporary romance saga.” More

Aamir Khan took on the issue of child sex abuse in Satyamev Jayate Episode 2; spoke to several victims who told their story, and actress Sridevi made a special appearance.

Aamir Khan brought up the issue of child sex abuse in the second episode of “Satyamev Jayate” Sunday. Yesteryears screen diva Sridevi made a special appearance on the show, her first appearance with Bollywood’s Mr. Perfectionist.

The 48-year-old came to meet Harish Aiyer, one of the victims of child abuse who told Aamir that he was abused by a man for 11 years. He also said that when he tried to tell his mother, she didn’t take him seriously.

At that time his only support was his dog and Bollywood movies, especially the ones starring Sridevi. And that is why the actress was invited on the show. More

Filmmaker Karan Johar has denied reports that he took a dig at Katrina Kaif’s magazine poses, saying the actress is very talented and hard working.

“Absolutely crazy media report suggesting I have said something about Katrina! I have not! Its totally baseless and a lie,” tweeted the 39-year-old.

According to media reports, Karan was overheard joking about Katrina’s posing skills at a recent party and making comments on her monotonous looks for magazine covers. It was also said that he had mimicked some of her poses.

However, the filmmaker is upset with the news and finds the reports “ridiculous”.

“Katrina is not only a dear friend but also a supremely talented and hard-working megastar! And all this reportage is ridiculous,” he tweeted. Source

One of contemporary Hindi cinema’s most inventive filmmakers, Ram Gopal Varma, unites a who’s who of cross-generational acting heavyweights in his latest piece of cinematic artistry, Department, opening its doors in the UK on 18th May 2012 through B4U Pictures and presented by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

With all the markings of another classic and following the tradition of earlier superhits such as Company, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj, Varma takes audiences on another rollercoaster ride to the dark side – this time into the guarded inner echelons of the police ‘department’, where the unnerving power struggles quickly separate the men from the boys.

Testifying the film’s thematic mantra that ‘Real Power Comes From Real Men’, Department features acting heavyweights that transcend the generations as veteran actors Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt appear alongside Tamil artist and rising star of Hindi cinema, Rana Daggubati. Not for the faint-hearted, the film consistently packs a punch with state-of-the-art action sequences, a gripping, fast-paced narrative and powerful dialogues that will surely establish themselves as iconic lines that define the zeitgeist of Indian cinema. More