# Bollywood News and Bollywood Gossip // 11

Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan go sky-diving!

	MUMBAI: What’s up with Bollywood ladies? One after the other they are jumping off the planes for an adrenaline pumping sky-dives. Just a few days back, Deepika Padukone’s free falling experience in Mauritius was reported. Now, it’s the lead actors of this week’s release I Hate Luv Storys who have taken the plunge. While shooting the film in Queenstown in New Zealand, Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor opted for the most enthralling of adventure experiences - sky diving from 15 thousand feet above the breathtaking scenery and mountains of Queenstown. Sonam said the sky-dive was “simply so fabulous”. “From an altitude of 15,000 feet, I was excited at the sight of the surrounding clouds and mountain peaks; from up there it all looked truly amazing! I was euphoric!” she said. Imran and Sonam also went for a jet boat ride, but both of them admit that sky-diving was the most exhilarating trip for them.

Bollywood tackles Maoist rebels

Bollywood is taking another step away from its song and dance traditions to tackle more topical subjects, with the release this week of a film about the country's Maoist rebels.

Red Alert: The War Within, starring Suniel Shetty and Sameera Reddy, hits screens in India on Friday and has been dubbed into English, Telugu and Chhattisgarhi, which is spoken in one of the areas most affected by the unrest.
The thriller is the latest to tackle the realities of modern Indian life, as Bollywood searches for a successful formula to reverse its fortunes after a disappointing 2009 and a lack of box office hits so far this year.
Lamhaa (The Moment), about life in the disputed Indian Kashmir region, comes out later this month, while Peepli Live, a satire on the divide between rural and urban India, the media and politicians, is released in August.
Film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh said that although traditional "masala" love stories were still hugely popular with Indian cinemagoers, audiences now also appreciate contemporary subject matter.
"I think our cinema is getting more real. People are looking to watch movies they can relate to with characters that they've seen or heard about," he told AFP.
"It ('Red Alert') is a very interesting film and very topical at the same time. The Maoist movement is dominating the front pages of the newspapers. It's portrayed very realistically."
India's government has said the Maoists - often known as "Naxalites" after the village where the movement emerged - are the gravest threat to the country's internal security.
They have fought state and government rule in eastern and central India for decades, drawing support from landless tribal groups and poor farmers left behind by economic development.
Director Ananth Narayan Mahadevan's film is billed as being based on a true story and claims to use actual dialogue between police and the Maoists.
It follows a poor farm labourer, Narasimha - played by Shetty - whose life is turned upside down when he is forced to join the rebels to fund his children's education.
Sameera Reddy said the film had been a learning experience, admitting that, like many people in urban India, she was largely ignorant of the Maoist issue.
Her character, Lakshmi, is raped in the film, and Maoists storm the police station where she is held.
"The system (police) that had to protect her violated her. The Naxalites saw that and took her in their gang. She is groomed to become a Naxalite," she said in an interview with www.bollywoodhungama.com.
"There is a story behind everything. There are things that drive you to do something."
R.R. Patil, the home minister of Maharashtra state, whose eastern border is a Maoist stronghold, has said he hopes the film can raise awareness of the issue - and even deter the rural population from joining the insurgents.
But Mayank Shekhar, national cultural editor at The Hindustan Times newspaper, said real-life subject matter was no guarantee of hard-hitting accuracy or depth and that Bollywood film-makers were still concerned with entertainment.
"I'm not expecting Red Alert to be incredibly researched... None of these films are art house films in the traditional sense. There's elements of amusement in these films regardless of what the subject is," he said.
"They don't let research get in the way of a good story, so long as the film flows.,,

A DISAPPOINTMENT!

By K N Gupta

Eye TV India Bureau

Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor

Director: Satish Kaushik

Critic's I-view

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This Friday, July 9, 2010, has only two movies releasing. The much-hyped and awaited 'Milenge Milenge' and the other based on today's Naxal problem titled 'Red Alert'. 'Milenge Milenge' stars Bollywood's once most romantic lead pair of Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor that rocked box office by their 'Jab We Met' then. However, the movie disappoints the audiences who have since changed their taste. Writer and director Satish Kaushik took five years to complete his cherished project; hence the movie became outdated in all respects. One wonders if it would have clicked had it been released then. It's neither Satish's fault nor lead characters'. In fact, much has changed in Bollywood since it was conceived. Not only the lead pair's chemistry has changed, but also their environment. Who would believe today when the means of communications have revolutionized that the long lost Shahid and Kareena wouldn't have met sooner than in the movie (three years)?

According to the movie's story, Amit played by Shahid Kapur and Priya played by Kareena Kapoor meet at a Bangkok youth festival. They instantly fall in love with each other; she meets her ideal in a teetotaler and a non-liar. They spend a lot of time together in the Bangkok city. But, soon she finds that Amit has manipulated her all along. And then Satish who has had a bright past in the industry this time opts to remake the Hollywood film Serendipity instead of borrowing from the south, presumably for the rest of the film's story. However, he didn't know that his stars (both playing characters and also in the sky) wouldn't cooperate. Bravo, he continued with the same lead stars for full five years to complete his project.

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Before leaving for home in Delhi after the end of the festival, Amit loses Priya's trust and she decides to determine whether they are made for each other. Amit tries to regain her trust by telling her that are destined to be together and Priya decides that if it is so they would find each other in Delhi again. Phone numbers are written on a book and a currency note. However, they don't exchange their Delhi contacts. ` Time passes and both get ready to marry but hope that their old partners in love would meet again. Though they miss several opportunities yet they don't lose hope and want to make last attempt. As the title 'Milenge Milenge' suggests, they hope after hope to meet again.

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While critically analyzing the movie, we feel that the story wasn't only outdated in all respects but needed thorough overhaul. Today, the audience looks for crazy kind of romantic comedies with a lot of masala. Who would care for a tarot card reader forecasting that a girl would get back love in next 7 days, at 7am, and his guy will be in 7 colors clothes? Satish Kaushik shows it in the movie though.

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Performance-wise, Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur look like the old pair with no less chemistry between them. But, they lack the one they showed in their 'Jab We Met'. In 'Milenge Milenge', Shahid plays the lover-boy with his usual expressions and Kareena continues with fizz. But others like Satish Shah, Delnaz Paul Panini Rajkumar, Aarti Chhabria and Sarfaraz Khan have no big roles to play. Some of them don't mark their screen presence at all. Overall, the movie disappoints. It has neither humor of a comedy nor the crazy masala of a romantic movie.
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