Remembering Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson with his stop-on-a-dime dance moves and sensual soprano influenced generations of musicians. The King of Pop stood for much more than pop greatness or tabloid weirdness. One of entertainment's greatest icons, he was a ridiculously gifted, equally troubled genius who kept us captivated at his most dazzling and his most appaling. Jackson had announced a series of comeback concerts at London's O2 arena before he passed away on June 25. Here's a look at the most important things that surrounded the life of the King of Pop.

Critics all praises for Ranbir Kapoor’s performance in ‘Rajneeti’

Ranbir Kapoor has successfully displayed his diverse acting skills successfully portraying various shades as a chocolate boy, a spoilt brat, a salesman, and now, a mature Samar Pratap Singh, the ruthless manipulator in ‘Rajeenti’ who reminds you of the strong performance of Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather’.
‘Ranbir is fabulous in ‘Raajneeti’… He has a natural talent for acting. His screen presence is strong and engaging and he interacts very well with the camera. The best part about Ranbir is that he has no artifice,’ said film critic Anupama Chopra adding, ‘He is young and should do every role - from that of a psycho man, romantic hero, action star, negative roles, everything.’
Despite the presence of stalwarts like Nana Patekar and Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor stands out with his performance. ‘He is actually the backbone of ‘Raajneeti’. He brings a reined-in, steel-edged ruthlessness to his character. For sure there is no other actor from his generation who could have played this character,’ said critic Subhash K. Jha in his review.
Another film critic, Omar Qureshi, says, ‘If one looks at Ranbir’s career graph and pulls out any review, he has always been praised universally. He takes a very intelligent choice of script whether that is of a goofy romantic in ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’, an unconventional pairing, a coming of age story in ‘Wake Up Sid’ or a grey character in ‘Raajneeti’. He is here to stay. He is the future.’
However, Ranbir Kapoor is keeping his head in place and says, ‘I am too new to have an image and I really don’t care for it also. All I am doing is working in good stories, with good filmmakers, playing interesting characters and then leaving it for the audience. There is no plan in my head; so I am just going with the flow and enjoying the journey.’

Rains disrupt the shooting schedules of Bollywood stars

Though rains bring a wave of relief for the scorching heat of Summer, they have nevertheless spoiled some of the shooting schedules of Bollywood stars. Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Mausam’ shoot, currently going on in Scotland, had to be shifted from outdoors to indoors, thanks to the heavy incessant downpour. Again Priyanka Chopra’s plans, too, went for a topsy turvy as her shooting of ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ faced a long delay due to the wrath of the rains.
At present, Shahid Kapur and Sonam are shooting in Edinburgh, Scotland for Pankaj Kapur’s ‘Mausam’. Shahid plays an Air Force pilot in the film and will be seen sporting a uniform for most part of the film.
Check out some of the snapshots from ‘Mausam’ which got leaked into the cyber world with Shahid sporting shades and a blazer decorated with stripes and medals, and Sonam dressed in a bright red dress and a wig giving a hint of yesteryear beauty Madhuri Dixit.

John Abraham mobbed by 2000 Girls

When John was delayed Shankar Mahadevan kept the audience entertained with songs from Nagesh Kukunoor's films."And then it happened," Elahi recounts. "John sang Ab mujhko jeena. There was a deathly silence and then the roar 'Once More Once More' began.- until it grew into a deafening crescendo.Salim-Suleiman's band had already packed up and left. They had to be called back to unzip their equipment and accompany John's singing."Yes, John sang an encore on the audiences' request.A playback singer in the offing?The other surprise of the evening. Nagesh Kukunoor joing John for impromptu singing.By then the audience had got more than what they had bargained for..The unconventionally-planned music release of Aashayein at the Heritage Property in Bandra turned it to be far more unusual than planned.After John sang the number he had diligently rehearsed, the girls forced him and the band back on stage."It was simply crazy," says the executive producer of Aashayein Elahi Hiptoolah."We hadn't planned a big music launch and we certaintly had no clue there was another music launch (for Love Story 2050) the same evening. We just wanted to do something different.So we thought of making all the singers including John perform their tracks from Aashayein live on stage. We never thought there would be such a massive turn-out, or that John would take his first live performance so seriously."Laughs Elahi, "I think we underestimated John's pull. And his pursuit of excellence. I thought he'd come on stage croon a few lines, shake his hips in tight trousers, blow kisses and melt into the night. No way.John arrived at 3 in the afternoon for the technical rehearsal. By the time the evening came he was fully prepared. And so was the audience. It was all calm peaceful and romantic with a 3,000-strong audience waiting quietly by the seaside.

John refuses to work with Asin

John Abraham has refused to work with Asin in a remake of a Telegu movie to be directed by to be directed by Vipul Shah.
Looks like John has started getting choosy about his female co-stars.
John would be playing the role of an encounter specialist in the movie.
A source reveals, “Vipul Shah was very keen to have Asin as the lead actress of the film. She and Venkatesh were the lead pair in the Telegu original. Vipul was also impressed by Asin’s performance in London Dreams and hence spoke to her about his forthcoming venture. But on suggesting the same to John, he was shocked as the actor refused to be paired opposite Asin.”
A source also revealed that, according to John, Asin is not fit for the role and prefers a sexier looking actress for the movie. He would ideally prefer Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor or Bipasha Basu.
However, Vipul Shah says that John has no issue with Asin and that it is purely a date problem and he is hopeful that it can be worked out. He also confirmed that Asin will play the lead actress in the movie.

Aamir-Kareena’s magic to be revived soon

Kareena-Aamir’ on screen magic will soon be seen in Mani Ratnam’s passionate period film Lajjo.
Mani, Lajjo was earlier set aside because of some budget issues.However, the songs had already been written by Gulzar and composed by AR Rahman.
As Aamir and Kareena’s jodi in 3 Idiots proved to be a rage, there were discussions with Mani to look into the project again. According to a source, Mani plans to go into Lajjo before he begins his film with Ranbir Kapoor.
An elated Kareena says,
“I will be too happy. Giggly, girlie, Barbie doll roles don’t bring out the actor in me. I want to be challenged. I can’t play the singing, dancing mannequin any more. I’ve realised that as an actor, playing varied roles is what I enjoy the most. I’m starving for good roles. My characters in Ra.One and Saif’s home production Agent Vinod are powerful roles,” .
Bebo actually took basic tips from her sister Karisma and co-star Kajol to play a mother in Ra.One and Stepmom.
Kareena says she feels being an aunt to Karisma’s kids has prepared her for a more mature phase in her career.

vivek urges bollywood to come to sri lanka

Vivek Oberoi

Vivek Oberoi has urged Bollywood stars to come to Sri Lanka.
Amidst reports that after the request made by Tamil groups both in India and Sri Lanka asking more and more stars to boycott IIFA awards, no big star plans to be in Colombo this week, Bollywood star Vivek Oberoi has come forward in support of the organizers and asked the Hindi film industry to come to Sri Lanka and attend IIFA awards ceremonies between June 3-5.
While promoting IIFA awards, Vivek, who has already reached Colombo said, “I request all Bollywood stars to come to Colombo since I do not believe in boycotting awards. Bollywood films believe in building bridges, not putting up walls against people."
Vivek said that by its presence at the event, Bollywood can play a significant role in building the economy of the country that has seen an internal war and also do something for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka, who are in desperate need of help.
Though Vivek does not hold a position of  influence in any case, his urging stars to come to Sri Lanka to attend IIFA awards has not made much difference as more and more Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan have already made clear that they have no plans to book their tickets to Colombo this week.