Top 10 Most Expensive Films in Bollywood, well at least for the time being..

By Amreena Khan/Thaakat Foundation

 Since big budget is the mantra for success nowadays, let us have a look at the Bollywood biggies whose budgets have touched the skies!

10. Jodhaa Akbar – Ashutosh Gowariker’s gargantuan epic based on Mughal emperor Akbar’s life and his relationship with his Hindu wife Jodhaabai costed about 40 crores. Elaborate sets, huge war scenes and Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai as stars push the budget upwards.

 9. Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham – Karan Johar’s multi star studded film had Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, SRK, Kajol, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor. The film was shot in the US and UK, apart from India, and with designer wear and huge sets, it was one of the most expensive movies made during its time. It had a budget of about 42 crores.

8. Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna – Karan Johar again, this time minus Kareena, Hrithik, Kajol but including Rani Mukherji, Abhishek Bachchan and Priety Zinta made the whole of his movie in his favourite location, Manhattan, in New York. Thus, the budget was bound to shoot up just like the New York skyscrapers, to about 44 crores. Though the film did not much on the lines of a story, but it did have a good music score, always a presence in a Karan Johar movie.

7. Om Shanti Om – Farah Khan’s comical and over-the-top take on Bollywood was a colorful extravaganza filled with technical mastery. With SRK and Deepika in lead roles, the film was famous for its songs (the one with 31 stars from the film industry) and its reincarnation theme. It cost about 45 crores, out of which a large chunk must have surely been allotted to the publicity campaign, which was highly extensive.

 6. Singh is Kinng – Vipul Shah’s comedy flick involving a happy go lucky sardar was shot entirely at foreign locations, with only some reverts to India. The hit jodi of Katrina Kaif and Akshay Kumar spelled magic at the box office. Snoop Dogg also sung a song for the film, which costed about 50 crores.

 5. Krrish – Rakesh Roshan’s sequel to Koi Mil Gaya was replete with stunts and special effects. The film also involved a lot of foreign shoots and was packaged by special effects people brought in from Hollywood. This Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra starrer cost about 50 crores.

 4. The Hero: Love Story of a Spy -This Anil Sharma film had Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta, and Sunny Deol was the most expensive film of its time. It did quite a decent amount of business, given the performances and the plot was nothing to brag about. It cost about 55 crores

 3. Kambakht Ishq – Mind-numbing storyline (or the lack of it), below the belt jokes, Hollywood stars with no roles to play but eye candy, and vulgar show of skin characterized this movie. But the shooting was in exotic locales and the start studded cast and the hugely extensive (and forceful) publicity campaign ensured that the budget touched 60 crores.

2. Ghajini – Aamir Khan’s remake of the smash South Indian movie made huge profits for him, raking in about 180 crores in revenue. The movie itself is a really bad remake of the awesomely made Memento. The movie cost about 65 crores, which will surely include the nationwide PR programme, which also involved some bizarre concepts like giving the signature Ghajini haircut outside theaters and the war of words between SRK and Aamir.

1. Love Story 2050 – Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are finally  at No. 1. Harry Baweja’s launch vehicle for his son Harman, was packed with blue sets, special effects and a robot called QT (who proved to be a better actor than Harman). We saw him dance (Harman that is), we saw him trying to act and we saw Priyanka Chopra in red hair. The film promised to be a sci-fi extravaganza but turned out to be a damp squid. But it cost daddy Harry a whopping 80 crores.

 

Where Did These Stars Come From?

By: Amreena Khan/ Thaakat@gmail.com

Most of us know that stardom may come with luck and the right connections. Even though that may be the case for many of the stars in Bollywood, there are some have worked their way up the ladder of success. Here’s a look at some of some of those stars!

Shahrukh Khan
This may be common knowledge to most of you by now ; however, it still amazes everyone. The King Khan many struggles before being declared the Badshah of Bollywood. Before making his debut on the big screen in Deewana, SRK appeared in several television serials. SRK’s life story brings hope to all actors struggling to make it big. If he can do it then there is no reason someone else with the same amount of talent (and of course, luck) cannot

Akshay Kumar
This is one actor who has worked hard and has climbed a very long ladder to reach where he is today. But, prior to stardom, he has studied martial arts in Bangkok. And more surprisingly, his occupation at the time was a chef. Yes, you read right, the action hero we know today was the king of taste buds on a cruise ship!

Ritesh Deshmukh
Many don’t know that Ritesh also has a very serious side to him. Qualified as an architect, he has studied architecture in New York City. However acting was forever on his mind because, even while he was practicing architecture, he studied acting at The Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.
John Abraham

To many people’s surprise, the dashing actor started off his career with media planning with a firm called “Time & Space Entertainment Promotion LTD” which closed down due to financial difficulties. Later on he joined “Enterprises Nexus”. It was when he was working at Enterprises Nexus that he got the chance to model; a model had backed out and his boss suggested he fill in. And the rest like they say is history

Shahid Kapoor

The young actor whose first movie, Ishq Vishk, was actually seen prior to his launch as a background extra in Subhash Ghai’s Taal (Kahin Aag Lage sequence). Also before making his big debut, Shahid was seen in a Pepsi advertisement alongside Shah Rukh and Rani. But wait there’s more! He also featured in some music videos!

Soha Ali Khan
Since she hails from a “filmi” family, you wouldn’t expect Soha to have thought of a career apart from movies. But we were wrong! After graduating from The London School of Economics and Political Science with a masters in International Relations, Soha worked for the Ford Foundation (charitable organisation in NY to promote democracy) and Citibank. Along with acting, she serves on the Advisory Board for a new public entrepreneur group, Res Publica. I bet that’s something most of you didn’t know!
Mallika Sherawat
She’s one of the most talked about actresses of Indian cinema today. However it comes to everyone’s surprise when they discover the nature of her first profession. Prior to pursuing her acting career, Mallika was serving tea and coffee on planes. Yes, she was an air hostess! This woman is forever full of surprises!

The stars described above show that it is possible to reach stardom through talent, hard work and sheer determination alone!

Shah Rukh Khan & His New Muse

By: Amreena Khan

Shah Rukh Khan is known for never uttering a bad word about anyone. In fact, he is always full of praise and gratitude to God, his family, co-stars, friends and of course, his loyal fan base. The same is for his new muse, the twenty year old Anushka Sharma. In a recent interview, he was all praise for the debutant. “To be really honest, when I met Anushka I felt that she’s got an amazing amount of confidence, she’s a very pretty girl,” he said.

After working in the industry for over a decade now, Shah Rukh believes that working with the fresh new talent helps him improve his acting skills too.”I think I am from a different generation and maybe I am getting a little old fangled, maybe I am getting what people call stylized and mannerised in my acting,” he explained. He believes that Sharma helped him by being different. “I would say she has kept me on my toes and I think she has done a wonderful job because we really needed a new character for this film.”

The promotions had been cut down to a minimum for the last two weeks as the Chopra-Khan tag team did not feel it was correct to publicize their movie with such hoo-haa when the country was mourning over the latest 26/11 attacks.

What’s with the secretive lifestyle of Aditya Chopra, does he really exist?  Of course he laughs before replies, ” He’s always busy with work. He comes back home from work after midnight, at one o’clock maybe and plays games till five in the morning…I know him the best, but Karan knows him best of all”

SRK is always full of great answers, and definitely knows how to keep his audiences hooked! Well, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is now out ladies and gentlemen. So do watch it and see if SRK has done justice to his maiden solo release this year.

Music Review: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

By: Amreena Khan

For most Bollywood fanatics, December 12th is going to be a historic date. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi marks the return of Aditya Chopra as a director after a ridiculously long hiatus lasting eight years. Has there ever been such hype for a film by a director with only two films behind him? However, such grand expectations are expected considering that Chopra is responsible for creating one of the most magical films in Hindi cinema’s history-Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.

Not to mention, Shahrukh Khan is venturing into a simplistic out-and-out romance after quite some time. These two personalities are enough to create the unbelievable buzz surrounding Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.

In this film, he entrusts the great task of creating musical magic to unpredictable composer duo Salim-Suleiman. These two are responsible for some outstanding work, and some very average tunes. Does the composer jodi live up to the hype surrounded by the biggest album of their career?

If you were to judge solely based on the track Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai, then the answer is yes. Salim-Suleiman have created one of the most romantic tracks in ages. Jaideep Sahni’s lyrics are pitch-perfect and Roopkumar Rathod’s vocals are very refreshing. You’d normally expect a Sonu Nigam or Shaan to sing this type of track, but a different voice comes as a welcome change.. This is real music. However, I do have one complaint-the female version should have been far longer! Even in such a short duration, Shreya Ghoshal makes you wish there was more of her to listen to.

Haule Haule also has a very simplistic tune. Sukhwinder Singh does justice to a very well-composed track that keeps you entertained. Unfortunately, it’s missing that certain ‘zing’. But not to worry, it’s still an excellent piece of work that keeps you attentive throughout.

Dance Pe Chance is completely average and is neither lyrically nor musically special. Sunidhi Chauhan is so used to these upbeat tracks that she pulls the entire thing off with complete ease. The song is drastically different from what the album has presented thus far so it’s nice to hear something different. Luckily, it isn’t downright horrible so you can easily listen to it and move on. It is one of my favorites off the album for some reason.

In the recent past, there have been several tracks that have been lifted from classics but Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte is the only one to merge several tracks so uniquely. Salim-Suleiman deliver what is one of their most creative compositions ever, effortlessly seaming together the lyrics of popular hits like ‘Jai Jai Shiv Shankar’, ‘O Haseena Zulfon Waali’, ‘Jab Pyaar Kisi Se Hota Hai’ and ‘Pyaar Hua Iqraar Hua’ amongst several others. What’s so great about it is that Salim-Suleiman don’t simply re-make the songs, but they have re-arranged the tune completely. It would have been easy to make a song like this go haywire, but the composers keep everything together perfectly. Sonu Nigam is fantastic throughout the song and was the perfect choice. The track might not catch on immediately, but as soon as it hits screens with Bipasha, Preity, Rani, Lara and Kajol dancing away with SRK, I guarantee it will shoot straight up to number one.

The album concludes with Dancing Jodi which is instrumental for the most part and merges the tunes of several tracks in the album.

It’s hard to believe that an album we have been waiting for has already released and been judged by listeners around the world. Some are hailing it as the greatest album in years while others claim it is way below expectations. Of course, opinions will vary, but if we were to detach the tracks from the hype that they are associated with, there are several songs in the album which are truly extraordinary and others that are very average. For the most part, the music of

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has done the trick and Salim-Suleiman can breathe easy. Even if all the tracks won’t go down as classics, they can rest assured that there are at least a few gems in this album. As listeners, that’s really all we can ask for. It may not have that magical touch that Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge boasted of, but give this jodi [Salim-Suleiman] a chance and, like myself, you may just find these tracks on repeat sooner than you think!