SoggyCornflakes - Bollywood

Hi all, guess what? Today, SoggyCornflakes Bollywood has reached the 1000th post mark. Why am I celebrating this? I'm not sure, probably because I forgot when SC had a birthday, so I just need an excuse to celebrate something on this blog.

And since I have to take the day off tomorrow, I'm pulling the Shahid Friday post to today. So in Shahid news today,

Did you know that Kismat Konnection and Ram Gopal Verma's Contract are set to be released on the same day? But honestly, I don't think July 18th is going to be a huge problem, since both movies appeal to different kinds of audiences. If you want a fun, sweet romcom, you're going to see KK. If you want to see terrorists and fighting, then you'll see Contract. They're not in direct competition with each other.

An older story about Shahid shooting in Canada, he even has enough fans there to be mobbed by a group of more than 2000 people, of which 99% must have been screaming girls. Since shooting was impossible in that crowd, Shahid had to wait for a few hours in a nearby hotel and only emerged at 3AM to finish the scene.

Well, at least directors and producers can be happy at that attention. Kismat Konnection should be worried about Contract? I think not.

And I'm out, have a good Friday and Saturday and Sunday. Oh, and thank you to all the readers who have read this blog and other sections of SoggyCornflakes, it's you who've allowed us to be one of the top 550 000 websites on the internet. It sounds bad but when you think about the 20 million websites around, those numbers are kinda OK. Hopefully it'll get better.

Cheers all!

And I don't mean she's just talking. Shilpa Shetty was recently at a charity auction in London where things like a date with the British Prime Minister were up for grabs but since not a lot of money was being bid, Shilpa walked onto the stage, took the mike and announced,

"Come on people - this is for charity. The winner will get a kiss from me...But it will be on the cheek. I don't want my effigies burnt again."

That would be in reference to the huge debacle of Richard Gere's kiss when they were both campaigning for AIDS awareness in India and people tried to arrest her for public indecency.

Anyways, the dinner date with Gordon Brown was eventually won with a bid of 12500 pounds and the guy who won got a few kisses from Shilpa, on the cheek.

By the way, do you know that someone paid 25 000 pounds to meet Amitabh Bachchan? Along with a walk-on role in some movie and a trip to India...but the point is, Amitabh Bachchan is worth more than the British PM!

Nikita Anand, Miss India 2003 still has to make her mark in Bollywood but until she does that (if she does that), she's making her mark at the local gym. Apparently she distracts or intimidates the men at her gym that her instructor recently told her,

"My instructor came up to me and asked me to slow down my daily workouts because it was intimidating the men who came there,"

Nikita is amused by this, but apparently, she's a serious health and fitness freak, so such a degree that her friends have encouraged her to write a book about it. She's considering it, but first wants to finish her next two films.

Yes, it's a boring story, it's a slow news day.

Calm down Rahul Bose fans, he's only retiring from the Indian national Rugby team. He'll still be making movies.

The Pyaar Ke Side Effects actor has decided to hang up his boots and retire from professional rugby...he gives his reasons below,

"It's sad but true that I am finally giving up what I like the most. I am quitting this rugby tournament from this year on".

"For International Tournament because they normally take about six week and I don't have the time to give.

Second thing, the youngest person on the team is 18, so the signs are loud and clear that I should quit before I start playing with my friends children on the team.

It's better to quit when people say why, than to quit when people say why not."

Can't argue with him there, leaving in a cloud of glory is better than being forcefully removed from the grounds. Rahul enjoyed the whole experience however and talks about the lessons he has learned from playing rugby,

"All the three things that rugby has given me that no-one else has given, not even my parents.

The first thing, rugby teaches you how to give your 100 % to the game whether you win or loose. The game has taught me how to loose gradually, and enjoy the score not the result.

The second thing rugby has taught me is to be a team player because by nature I am an individualist. Rugby has taught me the hard way that if we try to play alone, you are bound to get hurt.

The third thing, rugby has taught me to have a hot heart and keep a cool head, that's why I genuinely believe that rugby has given me what parents have not."

What about the cuts, bruises and broken teeth? C'mon, rugby also gives people that!

You can also check him out in Shaurya and Maan Gaya Mughal-e-Azam.

For all those who liked seeing Rishi Kapoor in those tight, sparkly white clothes, you might get a whiff of the past as Rishi joins son Ranbir Kapoor in his second movie Bachna Ae Haseeno in a updated version of the song of the same name.

There's a lot of maybes in this report however since director Siddharth Anand still hasn't asked Rishi to take part in the song. There was no guarantee that we'd even see that song unless it lived up to Siddharth's expectations...it did, now he just has to shoot the video, which obviously includes Ranbir, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu and Manissha Lamba.

Sid says,

"Though I'm too scared to ask him as yet,"

"The only time Yashraj have done separate music videos for their films is for Dhoom. It's the project that determines the promotion. I think we had a great title song and it was waiting to be used as a music video."

While Siddharth is looking forward to the release of the movie, he doesn't want to give anyone any expectations, except that Ranbir that is a very good actor. He's just going to keep it a light romcom film...well, you can never really go wrong with those...

Shah Rukh Khan will next be seen in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, but for NRI's who can't wait so long, you'll still get to see the Main Hoon Na actor in 'Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass se Tez Hain?' on their own TV's.

Read here for more details.

A nice way to treat your uncle who's trying to launch you in Bollywood. Imran Khan, nephew of Aamir Khan and lead of almost-released Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, recently spoke about his uncle's apparent perfectionism (that probably got him to the top of Bollywood) and his increasing age and receding hairline.

“Perfectionists are boring. Aamir is so irritating. He is perfect. Sometimes that is a bore. I can’t be that good really,”

“I call him old man sometimes. And he gets angry at that. Recently he pulled a hamstring, I SMSed him ‘serves u right ol’ man. You should play your age now - a father,”

Ah real family love and affection right there, Vaah!

Imran recently appeared with Aamir on Salman Khan's 10 Ka Dum and Aamir specially asked Sallu to let them have a rehearsal before shooting the real show. Salman agreed and apparently the three Khan's had a nice bonding session. Salman asked Imran what he called Aamir and he said "Aamir Mamu" and when asked what he calls Salman, he replied "Chachu".

Since Imran beat Aamir on the show, Salman asked (in Hindi) "So if you needed advice about marriage, would you go to your Mamu or Chachu?".

I don't know what he replied but I would have said 'neither'. I mean, Mamu already has one failed marriage and Chachu has been avoiding the big commitment for years. Not exactly the best people to go to.

We've all kinda gotten use to Bebo-Saif's fights but this is the first time that a marital dispute has been reported between Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. Strangely enough, this fight also took place during the IIFA weekend but it took them so long to report it.

The story is that Ash is kind-of a loudmouth and this got on Abhi's nerves while he was with her. Even though he told her to calm down and speak more lowly, she ignored him and continued to squawk and squeal.

When the left the festivities and returned to their hotel, it was there that Abhishek supposedly confronted her about her need to draw attention to herself (touchy) and they hashed it out in the middle of the foyer and eventually Abhi asked security guards to escort Ash out of the building back to her room. And no one says when he returned there himself.

Oh well, I lost my bet that they would break up within a year a while ago...maybe they're in it for the long term and we can tell our kids about them as my parents talk about Amitabh and Jaya.

Let's see, Ranbir Kapoor:
Movies acted in: 1
Hits: None
Price: 7 crore rupees plus per film

Shah Rukh Khan:
Movies acted in: +/- 66
Hits: +/- 20
Price: 20-30 crore per film

Akshay Kumar:
Movies acted in: +/- 87
Hits: +/- 15
Price: 20 crore per film

Ok, these stats are not perfect, I did almost no research on it but you can see the huge discrepancies with what Shah Rukh and Akki have achieved and what Ranbir Kapoor thinks he'll achieve.

A source reports,

"When TIPS approached Ranbir for Rajkumar Santoshi's Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, opposite Katrina Kaif, he demanded a staggering Rs.7 crore plus a share in the profit of the film,"

"It surely is the highest paycheck ever demanded by a newcomer in Bollywood. TIPS gave in to this demand and also got an oral agreement with him for 2 more films!"

Stupid filmi kids, now I hope Bachna Ae Haseeno is a flop...yup, I'm bitter like that.

Hrithik Roshan is a method actor and even if he has to research history (Jodha-Akbar), practice on wires (Krissh) or hunt out aliens (Koi...Mil Giya), he'll do it! Ok, I may be exaggerating the alien part but the point is, Hrithik works hard to make his characters work.

Now his new role in Kites involves Hrithik playing an American-Indian (is that even a classification?) and to get it right, he's learning how to speak English in an American accent. He's getting special lessons and an instructor is teaching him how to achieve the perfect American twang.

Kill me, kill me now before I have to listen to that. No offense to any Americans on this blog (please don't hate me) but most Americans have very annoying accents...on the other hand, South African accents can be annoying too. Is it OK to insult other people if you insult yourself as well?

By the way, speaking of accents and talking, what do you guys think of a Bollywood podcast? Nothing hectic, like a 5-10 minute podcast every month or so? Leave your opinions in the comments.