If Padmavati had released today as scheduled, there would be flurry of reports in the media and perhaps queues at the box-office. Unfortunately, Tera Intezaar and Firangi don’t generate any heat, so while waiting for the next big release, another installment of This & That.
The Rajput controversy has heightened some of the excitement around Padmavati and dulled some. How long can the media milk the story and how long will the public be interested? A Sunny Leone film gets released, with nary a yawn? Is the bombshell losing her fan following?
Haathi Mere Saathi to be remade with Rana Daggubati, only now the elephants will be computer generated. Meghan Markle behaves like an old school Bollywood film star and announces her retirement from showbiz to marry Prince Harry, while today’s Bollywood actresses don’t let marriage or motherhood come in the way of their careers. The most ridiculous piece of news is whether Priyanka Chopra will be Markle’s bridesmaid at her wedding; if she is, good for her resume; if she isn’t, will the Indian media gush any less over the royal wedding?
In an interview, Daniel Day-Lewis said he quit acting because his last film Phantom Thread overwhelmed him with sadness. Some of the films our stars do overwhelm the audiences with sadness, but nobody quits in Bollywood till they stop getting work.
If Nargis Fakhri is getting back with Uday Chopra, does anyone need to know? Some stars seem to give more interviews than they do films; two-film wonders talk like the industry would shut down without them.
If Nawazuddin Siddiqui starts giving gyaan on ‘mediocre actor’, somebody should remind him of Freaky Ali. Karan Johar and Rohit Shetty team up to a do a TV show to hunt for talent, about time they did something more that look into industry backyards
It’s nice to see Akshay Kumar step out of the spotlight and gamely let Twinkle Khanna shine in her role as bestselling writer. Our film stars land up at film festivals to dance and give news bytes…if they saw some films too, it would help them act better.
If Qarib Qari Singlle’s Parvathy had been a big Bollywood star, her best actress win at IFFI for her Malayalam film Take Off would have got more media mileage. Pahlaj Nihalani presented Julie 2, that sank without a trace in spite of the skin show
Never mind the success of Tumhari Sullu, Vidya Balan has to get fit (not thin—this is not fat-shaming)—she won’t keep getting to play middle-class housewives. Is Esha Gupta content with posing in skimpy costumes for her social media accounts? Surely there is more to life than being seen as ‘hot.’
TV stars wearing yards of bling on screen, and posing in bikinis off it. Do they think that’s a shortcut to success? Stars writing columns and books, stars painting, stars designing clothes and interiors, stars launching products, stars backing causes; stars are doing everything but acting.