Browsing: Bollywood

Salman Khan is moving to New York! Uh-oh, before you get over-excited, I’d better add it’s the waxwork Salman Khan that is moving to Times Square, New York, joining his buddies Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan in the Bollywood Zone set up in Madame Tussauds famous atelier.

One has to say, it’s about time! After all, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has such a fevered fan following across the world and his latest film Bodyguard is the second highest grossing Bollywood film of all time.

The grand unveiling of the Salman Khan figure is on August 2 and fans should catch him while they can, as this waxwork is on loan from the London Madame Tussauds and will surely add punch to the Bollywood zone which has the other two biggies, Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Two lucky Lassi with Lavina readers can win tickets to see their hero in the wax-flesh.

Gladys Perint Palmer, executive director of the School of Fashion, Academy of Art University, and noted fashion illustrator, turned her pen on the charms of Bollywood actor Sonam Kapoor, spotted in the front row at the Paris shows. The drawing will feature in her book “Adam & Yves” (Firefall Editions) to be published later this year.

Palmer’s pen has caught the work of many fashion rajas and ranis from Jean Paul Gaultier to Zandra Rhodes. She says: “It is hardly surprising that when I saw Sonam Kapoor at Elie Saab in Paris, glittering with sequins, bugle beads and embroidery, I had to draw her!”

He was India’s first big superstar, the one for whom that title had been virtually created. In fact, with his stylish mannerisms and his heart-stealing smile, he had gone where no other major Indian movie star had gone before. Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand had fans – but Rajesh Khanna had fevered followers. His female fans were legion and there was a new word invented especially for him – The Phenomenon. Women, it is said, married his photograph, applying sindoor of their blood to their foreheads. His romantic eyes, his matchless smile did something insane to them.
And that brings us to the point: when and where does the pact between actor and audience end? Does the connection end as the reels roll off and the screen goes dark or does the audience pursue the actor into the real world?

It’s a place where life and death have no value. In an encounter with the Gangs of Wsseypur, the audience is transported quite literally to the wild, wild world of Wasseypur where human blood gushes like water, gunshots ring out as freely as birdsong, and no one is burdened with a conscience of a moral compass.

Anurag Kashyap, architect of this unforgettable, hellish world, received a standing ovation at Cannes for his 5-hour plus epic ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, a juggernaut of revenge set in rural India. An interview with the Godfather of Wasseypur…

2012 marks the 100th year of Indian Cinema, so what better time to go on a filmi marathon?
Luckily, the 2012 New York Indian Film Festival is just around the corner, so we can eat, drink and dream cinema for 5 days!
But Indian cinema is so much more than just Bollywood and here are 10 tips to help you get the best of this multifaceted festival which brings you a rich mix of regional and Hindi cinema.
The 12th annual New York Indian Film Festival is presented by Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) and runs May 23-27

Who are Shah Rukh Khan fans? No anthropological thesis this, but anecdotal evidence and what my eyes saw at the recent Yale event where the Bollywood Badshah was honored with the Chubb Fellowship, I would have to say SRK fans are an ageless lot, going all the way from babyhood to Golden Oldies.

Actually maybe it starts even earlier with Shah Rukh-mad moms watching his movies during their pregnancies, giving their unborn babies a taste of Chammak Challo while still in the womb!

Love is the four-letter word most used today on Valentine’s Day and who knows how to use it better than A.R. Rahman.? On this day of love and one-ness, listen to the Maestro’s new song. It covers all the shades of joy and sorrow, togetherness and separation, wanting and denial which make up the high drama of love.

Zenobia Shroff, the talented actress who starred in Sooni Taraporevala’s splendid ‘Little Zizou’ is back on the big screen, this time in a real, dyed in glitz, Bollywood super-starrer ‘Ek Main aur Ekk Tu’ starring Bollywood royalty Kareena Kapoor and Imran Khan and produced by none other than Karan Johar. The film has a great ensemble cast and New York based Zenobia gets to play Kareena Kapoor’s mother, a fun, cool mom to be sure!

Here she talks about ‘Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu’ and the hilarious, catchy item number ‘Auntyji’ which seems to be dominating the air waves and Youtube videos.

Is Madhuri Dixit, Bollywood Superstar, really moving back to India?

Economies and nations can fall, but there is frenzied speculation in the Indian media about this earth-shattering move. The reasons for the move are being analyzed with much indepth analysis by media seers and gossip columnists. Chill, folks! This is the new global age when anyone who can buy an air-ticket can fly wherever they like and for whatever reasons they like!

Meanwhile, one lucky fan in Denver managed to come face to face with the Superstar – in the shoe store! And she heard it right from Madhuri’s mouth – yes, she is moving back to India! This story has all the old-fashioned magic of a fan meeting an unreachable star…truly the world is full of random surprises….

“Right from my childhood, when I would be getting ready for school, my mom would be getting her makeup done for her shoot,” recalls Esha Deol, star daughter of super stars Dharmendra and Hema Malini. “So instead of being in uniform, I would try on her wig, put on her lipstick.
I used to love watching ‘Seeta Aur Geeta’ which I saw every day. I loved dancing on all Hindi songs of the 80’s, so I knew that this is what I have always wanted to do.”

“Salman was my first boyfriend. I had a huge crush on him as a teenager. The crush led me to leave Florida and move to India and join films just so I could find him and get married to him. You have a license for doing idiotic things when you’re 15. However, I do not have a single regret of pursuing my first love.”

Somy Ali chats about Salman Khan, the Single Life, and her non-profit No More Tears on ‘Sex and the Single Desi’

Being single, sexy and fabulous is a choice that only the strongest and most confident desi women make. Amin Dhillon, Miss India Canada, was named amongst the Top 10 Indian Models along with Padma Lakshmi and Deepika Padukone. Here she talks about dating, romance and being single on Sex and the Single Desi blog.

“Ink to paper is thoughtful
Ink to flesh, hard-core.
If Shakespeare were a tattooist
we’d appreciate body art more.
~Carrie Latet”

“As I get older, I find myself trying to rediscover some of the values of our Indian culture which shaped my childhood and still run as an uneasy undercurrent through my adult psyche, but for the most part have been suppressed in the desire to adapt to the New York lifestyle.
As with all value systems, of course, not everything is desirable and it’s necessary to pick and choose the best of both Indian and American values in order to be truly happy.” – Sanjay Sanghoee

In the city of reinvention, what better way to stand out from the crowd than to reinvent yourself?
As the film festivals focusing on South Asian films have multiplied in the Big Apple, the oldest and most noted showcase of them all, the MIACC Film Festival, is now known as New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) and is focusing on independent and regional films, while still being open to Bollywood blockbusters. The opening film ‘Do Dooni Chaar’ is a Disney film with Bollywood stars but imbued with the indie spirit.

Americans had gone Indian for a day and there were enough turbans, kurtas and jewels to outfit a Bollywood film production as over 250 guests, clad in Indian outfits and headgear, danced to the music of Om Shanti Om and Jai Ho with the Bollywood Axion dancers.
One of the most eye-catching sights was the Imperial Court, a fundraising group for gay and lesbian charities, fabulous entertainers resplendent in over-the-top Indian finery and jewels, clad in sarees for the first time. This fantasy evening was Bollywood Gala, the biennial fundraiser to support the cause of HIV/AIDS by Red Ribbon Foundation which is one of the top 25 grantmakers for HIV/AIDS organizations worldwide.

If you’re sitting in front of your television set in America, it’s as good as being in India! That’s because of all the Indian programming available here now – and the latest to join the party is Times Television Network, part of one of India’s largest media conglomerates, the Times Group. It launched its news and entertainment channels – Times Now and Zoom – on Dish Network with a bash at the Marriot Marquis in New York.

If you’ve been enjoying Lassi with Lavina, now it’s time to make some of your own too!

If you have insights, ideas, thoughts – provocative, funny or plain offbeat – you are welcome to be a guest blogger at the ol’ Lassi Guesthouse. We’d love to hear your perspectives on India and all things Indian or South Asian. Take an Indian thread and spin a silken tapestry!

Lassi with Lavina was featured in Global Glam, a lifestyle magazine

Bollywood, Hollywood, art cinema, documentaries and shorts all came together in that swirling melange of new and exciting films at the Mahindra 2010 Indo American Art Council Film Festival known as MIAAC.