Entertainment Archive

New Delhi, Oct 29 – Bollywood actors Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif sashayed down the ramp at the grand finale of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) for designer Rohit Bal, bringing down the curtains of the five-day event in style.

Dressed in an embroidered white sherwani, Kapoor Wednesday night managed to steal the hearts of many girls in the audience, who couldn’t stop gushing about the star’s chocolaty looks. Pretty Katrina Kaif, attired in a short white dress, looked like a Barbie doll.

Another highlight of the show was a live performance by Orissa’s Prince Dance Group that recently won the dance reality show ‘India’s Got Talent’.

Since Bal is always associated with grandeur, the sets reflected flamboyance and style.

The glass ramp had gold lotus flowers underneath. The main show area was draped with golden curtains.

Complementing the ambience perfectly were the clothes that talked about the Mughal era when India was the land of maharajas (kings).

The collection was appropriately called Yasas, which means grand in Sanskrit.

Talking about his collection, Bal said: ‘The collection is a reflection of incredible talent that we have in India in terms of artisans and craftsmanship. The line is an ode to India’s rich heritage.’

‘It is about India, which was once known as the ‘Golden Peacock’. Through this line, I am bringing that golden era back to India,’ he added.

The collection had a mix of brocades, velvets in the pre-Mughal and Mughal designs like long and short anarkalis, sherwanis, jodhpuri pants, dresses and long coats.

The collection will also be retailed through Wills Lifestyle outlets across India.

New Delhi, Oct 28 – As an actor he loves to experiment and as he turns producer with ‘Basra’, Abhay Deol promises to be high on content. He says the action thriller will not only keep audiences on the edge of their seats but also make them think.

‘There are three genres — romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I’m doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit,’ Abhay told IANS in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’ to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

‘ ‘Basra’ is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats,’ he said.

‘The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning. That’s when ‘Basra’ came in,’ he added.

The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with ‘Socha Na Tha’ in 2005. He then went on to prove his mettle with films like ‘Ahista Ahista’, ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’, ‘Ek Chalis Ki Last Local’, ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd’ and more recently ‘Dev D’.

When asked what motivated him to don the producer’s hat, Abhay revealed: ‘I had bad experiences in the past, with ‘Manorama…’ being the classic example where the director did his job – he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer’s turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

‘Not just ‘Manorama…’, I had been through this for some of my other films too. I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work.

‘I also realised I need to protect myself,’ he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content.

‘The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make — probably high on content, low on budget. Let’s see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there,’ said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian’s Cinefan film festival where two of his films, ‘Dev D’ and ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ were screened.

So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions?

‘I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them. So I don’t think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely,’ said Abhay.

Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film ‘Road’ with Dev Benegal and his romantic film ‘Ayesha’ with Sonam Kapoor.

(Ruchika Kher can be contacted at ruchika.k@ians.in)

New Delhi, Oct 27 – Her voice is husky and sensual, very different from that of the singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, but playback singer Rekha Bharadwaj still considers the nightingale of India her idol and describes Lata as Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning.

‘Lataji is my Saraswati. I am very fortunate that I got a chance to see Lataji’s recordings and the way she prepares for a song. She is something else. Nobody can be her. We cannot reach that level,’ Rekha told IANS.

The singer says every song by Lata is a lesson in itself. ‘Whenever I need to learn something, I listen to her songs and see where she breathes out, where she breathes in, etc,’ she said.

Rekha feels that such was Lata’s talent that she used to lift even mediocre compositions with her voice.

‘Even at that time there were some mediocre compositions, but when someone like Lataji used to sing it she used to take it to some other level altogether – such is her talent.’

Rekha, who is married to filmmaker-composer Vishal Bharadwaj, has musical roots that lie in Sufi, folk and classical genres. She released her first album ‘Ishqa Ishqa’ in 2004 to critical acclaim. However, it was her song ‘Namak ishq ak’ in her husband’s directorial venture ‘Omkara’ that really won her accolades.

The singer has carved a niche for herself and is known for hits like ‘Genda phool’ from ‘Delhi-6′ and ‘Pehle baar mohabbat ki hai’ from ‘Kaminey’.

When asked what took her so long to showcase her talent to the world, Rekha said that she was waiting for the right songs.

‘I am very glad I started getting songs that I like and fit my style and understanding. I waited and it paid off,’ she said.

‘Today there are no limits or confines for a singer. Any singer can sing any song. So even though I have a different voice, I can sing a romantic number or may be something else, provided I like it,’ she added.

Rekha, who is planning to launch her second album next year, was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian’s Cinefan film festival and to give a surprise performance of selected Gulzar songs at the inaugural ceremony in honour of the lyricist.

‘I am attending this festival for the first time. Gulzar saab got the lifetime achievement award here. It’s an honour to be able to do something for Gulzar saab. My performance was a surprise and we managed to keep it a surprise till last moment – that was a great thing,’ Rekha said.

The singer will be next heard in films like ‘Radio’, ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘Raavan’.