Mar 082018
 

With Indian company Prime Focus bagging Oscar for Blade Runner 2049, CEO on replicating magic on home turf with Ranbir’s Brahmastra

Ranbir Kapoor
Ranbir Kapoor

As Ridley Scott’s Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling-starrer Blade Runner 2049 bagged the gong for Best Visual Effects at the recently concluded Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles, media company Prime Focus celebrated the win on this part of the globe. The Indian group’s Double Negative (DNEG) was the company behind the success of the fantasy.

Prime Focus CEO Namit Malhotra sees this win as a challenge to replicate the magic in Indian ventures too. “While once dominant in the American film industry, visual effects are now used in films from across the globe. It’s only fitting that a country like India, which has a 100-year-long history in the movie business, is at par with Hollywood. India is rapidly advancing in filmmaking technology. Our artistes are capable of producing quality work that matches the kind created by the rest of the world,” Malhotra says, adding that Indian artistes can expect to collaborate with the “best in the world” in the near future.

Still from Blade Runner 2049
Still from Blade Runner 2049

With Prime Focus co-producing the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer superhero fantasy, Brahmastra, Malhotra says his team is already aspiring to match international standards, as far as VFX technology is concerned. “With this film, we will hopefully set an example of what can be expected from India in the future. I have been committed to creating films with such visual effects since the onset of my career.”

Namit Malhotra
Namit Malhotra

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Sep 202017
 

For the past couple of years, Bollywood has been basking in the success of its treasured trick of producing biopics on prominent personalities. From ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’, ‘Neerja’, ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, ‘Mary Kom’, ‘Azhar’, ‘Dangal’ and ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’; each movie has proved that this mantra is a huge hit among viewers. In fact, we all love to watch movies that are made on athletes because it helps us experience and learn about the struggles that they had to go through in the early stages of their career and how their life changed after they found fame.

Sushant Singh Rajput Might Play The Great Khali In His Biopic© Fox Star Studios

Of all these biopics, ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story’ was one of the most successful movies at the box office, both commercially and critically (then ‘Dangal’ happened and things changed). Anyway, we can’t help but say that actor Sushant Singh Rajput did a fabulous job in playing ‘Captain Cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni on screen. Such was his popularity and impact that after the film’s release, every time we searched for MS Dhoni, Sushant Singh Rajput’s photos and information would pop up on our page. Well, after wearing the cap of a cricketer on screen, Rajput is now reportedly gearing up for another major biopic on wrestler Dalip Singh Rana. For those who don’t know who this legendary man is – you can also call him The Great Khali.

Sushant Singh Rajput Might Play The Great Khali In His Biopic© wikimedia

According to DNA, a source was quoted as saying “The biopic is on the life of wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, better known as Khali or The Great Khali in WWE circle. The studio has spoken to the Punjabi wrestler and he has given them the rights to make a film on his life. Sushant has been approached to play the titular role and he has in principle agreed to do the film.”  The best thing about any biopic is that one gets to witness things that were kept hidden under wraps, away from the public view. This movie too will shed some light on Khali’s struggles and his inspiring journey. It will be really interesting to see how the makers of the film recreate the journey of an officer for the Punjab state police, who struggled for years before turning into one of the most legendary wrestlers of his time. 

Sushant Singh Rajput Might Play The Great Khali In His Biopic© Instagram sushant singh rajput

However, there’s one thing we can’t help but wonder. The Indian-born American, semi-retired wrestler, Khali, is said to be fourth tallest wrestler in WWE history and is almost 7’1” tall and weighs around 157 kg. But, Sushant Singh Rajput stands nowhere close to Khali’s height and weight. So unless the makers seek help from some magician or someone who is hailed as the ultimate guru of CGI or VFX, we don’t think there’s any way that any Bollywood actor could look like Khali. In fact, a trade analyst was also quoted as saying, “What worked in Sushant’s favour during Dhoni was that he looked, walked and talked like MSD. Here, Sushant has no similarities with Khali when it comes to his body prototype and his height. Unless there’s a lot of VFX involved, it’s difficult to pull off a film on Khali. No hero in Bollywood will look convincing as The Great Khali, unless there’s CGI.” 

We don’t know what the makers will do, but this is exactly what intrigues us and will drive people to the cinema. Sushant will be seen in another biopic where he will play Paralympic gold medallist, Murlikant Petkar.

Sep 092017
 

Well, it’s a known fact that the fan following of ‘Game of Thrones’ spreads across all seven continents. People from different countries and languages are ardent followers of the HBO hit show. And we don’t need to give you thousands of reasons as to why show such a huge hit. It’s bloody amazing!

We can definitely say that it is one of the most watched shows in the world and every news or update about it goes viral within no time.

Conan Stevens(c) HBO

When we learned that GOT had an Indian connection, we couldn’t contain our happiness. From costumes to VFX, there were a lot of things where our people were involved in making of the show which is pretty epic if you think about it. But we bet none of knew that the show also had a Bollywood connection.

Don’t be surprised, but did you know Australian actor Conan Stevens, who was seen playing the character of Gregor ‘The Mountain’ Clegane shares a Bollywood bond with us? The man has done three Bollywood films and shared screen space with Akshay Kumar and Abhishek Bachchan. What’s astonishing is all this took place while we had no clue about it.

Stevens has played Asura in ‘Drona’, Joey in ‘Chandini Chowk to China’ and also the fighter Luca in ‘Brother’.

Recently in an Interview with Hindustan Times, he shared his experience working in Hindi films. He talked how he is a huge fan of Hindi films even before he started working in them.

Asura Drona(c) Twitter

When asked about his favourite films, he mentioned Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Black’ and said, “I had seen Amitabh in movies before but never really recognised him. Black was the first modern movie I saw him in, and wow! I know it did not do too well in cinemas but what a great movie. Very well received by the critics and rightly so. I think this movie raised international expectations of Hindi films from a mad rush to marry with song and dance erupting out of nowhere to that India can produce very serious dramatic films.”

Canon_Chandini chowk To China(c) Twitter

He also mentioned how he enjoyed watching ‘D-Day’, ‘Bhootnath’, ‘Ghajini’, ‘Ra.One’ and ‘Om Shanti Om’.

He also believes that Indian actors are very hard working and give everything it takes to play a role. He shared, “The stars of Indian cinema seem to take the job on as more than a job, it seems to me that they try to live as large as the roles they play. They sing and dance, do their own stunt work, they really take it upon themselves to work as hard as they possibly can at being the role model they pretend to be onscreen. And all whom I have met are absolute gentlemen in the traditional English sense. It really has been a pleasure to work with everyone I have so far met, and I must admit I have learned and do try to emulate them in this way.”

Conan Stevens(c) Youtube

When asked about the difference between Bollywood and Hollywood he gave a mind-blowing answer, “In India, reality is too close so when we go to the movies we want to escape reality, in the West they are so removed from reality that that is what they want to see in movies.”

Well, true that, Conan. We hope to see you in more Hindi films soon!!

 

 

Jul 192017
 

Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan just can’t stop doing each other favours!

First Shah Rukh Khan made a special appearance in Salman Khan’s movie ‘Tubelight’ and then we heard about how the latter is returning the favour with a cameo in for Aanand L Rai’s forthcoming movie starring SRK.

The two were recently seen shooting a song for the yet to be titled movie, which also stars Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif. When SRK was asked how difficult it was to convince Salman for this cameo, he said it was actually quite easy.

Salman Khan Surprised Shah Rukh Khan And His Kids With His New E-Cycles© Twitter

Talking about it, SRK gave a quote to PTI, “He is very kind. This (role) was written a long time back in the film, from the first narration onwards. Salman has also heard the script, I think Aanand wanted to make the film with him at one time. They didn’t have the time, things didn’t work out and VFX wasn’t ready.”

Apparently, the role was finalized when he was having a get-together at his home and Salman dropped by to give him a special gift. Salman surprised Shah Rukh and his children with his newly launched e-cycle.

Salman Khan Surprised Shah Rukh Khan And His Kids With His New E-Cycles© Twitter

“We were at home, Aanand was there when Salman just walked in to say hi to me. He got his new e-cycle for me and for Aryan and Suhana as well. Aanand said I should ask him. I said, ‘Salman, there’s one role’, he said, ‘Yeah, let me know’.”

And seems like that was it!

Salman Khan Surprised Shah Rukh Khan And His Kids With His New E-Cycles© Twitter

“Then, everything just worked out perfectly. He had two days off, we needed ten days to put up the set,” added Shah Rukh.