India Today Group Online
 


January 22, 2001 Issue




COVER
  The Plot Thickens
The arrest of Bharat Shah for aiding and abetting the activities of underworld don Chhota Shakeel shakes not just filmdom but the stock markets and the diamond trade as well.


 
THE NATION
 

Ram's Laxman
Vajpayee's every pronouncement is fast becoming a new theme song of the BJP, reaffirming his grip over the party and the NDA. Quite a change for the party that once claimed that personality cult was the prerogative of the Congress.

 
BUSINESS
 

It's On, It's On, It's Enron
Enron's Dabhol Power Corporation continues to generate more controversy than electricity.

 
Columns
 

Fifth Column
by Tavleen Singh
Clean Up Officialdom

 
  Kautilya
by Jairam Ramesh
Goldilocks Loses Sheen


 
 

Right Angle
by Swapan Dasgupta
End of the Durand Line

 
 

Flip Side
by Dilip Bobb
The Year Ahead ...Sort Of

 
Other stories
  PM's Tour  
  Himachal Pradesh  
  Orissa  
  Religion  
  Sports  
  Li Peng's Visit  
  Science  
  Health  
  Entertainment  
  The Arts  
NewsNotes
 

Border Pangs

 
 

Bye Line

More...

 
 



 
  Home  
 

ENTERTAINMENT: CINEMA

Shyamalan Unveiled

Lesser known facts about M. Night Shyamalan and Unbreakable.

  • That he was 12 when Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark inspired him to be a director. Eighteen years and six Oscar nominations later, Spielberg asked him to write the fourth instalment of Raiders.
  • That Bruce Willis and Samuel Jackson were committed to working in Unbreakable without even knowing what the film is about.
  • That he kept the chronology intact. The last scene of the movie is actually the last scene filmed.
  • That Shyamalan wants to "make movies for the world". When he writes, he has in mind his family and cousins.
  • That he has "another cool film idea", with a surprise twist at the end.

Q&A: JACHIE SHROFF

"I am tired of being cute"

After 18 years of acting, Jaggu dada is playing villain. He follows his chilling Hilal Kohestani in Mission Kashmir with Gava Firozi in Farz.Shroff on Bollywood and going bad.

Q. What do you do in Farz?

A. This is basically a guy with high-tech gadgets who believes in the bad things of life. His brother is bumped off and then he decides to take revenge.

Q. So how come you are switching tracks from hero to villain?

A. Actually, I started my career playing a bad guy in Swami Dada. And in Hero, I was an anti-hero. I stopped worrying about my image after that. I'm tired of being cute and doing synchronised dances. I want to wipe these sweety, sweety smiles off faces. (Laughs). Just kidding.

Q. So what's most fun about being bad?

A. It's fun when you work with technicians of a high calibre. They can make your villany stand out. I'm just looking for interesting roles, not necessarily bad ones. I just blindly follow the director into the film.

BOLLYWOOD IS BUZZING ABOUT:

Kajol's frumpy governess in Raju Chacha which has raised eyebrows. The actress, revamped by master stylist Manish Malhotra, was inexplicably badly dressed throughout the film. But the grapevine has it that Malhotra makes up in the forthcoming Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi, in which he glams up not one but two Kajols. The actress plays twin sisters, one feisty, one frail. So one wears nose rings and the other is in pastel salwar-kameezes. But, thankfully, neither one is dowdy.

NO SONGS NANDITA

Hardly had Nandita Das said yes to pairing with Sanjay Dutt in Mahesh Manjrekar's Pita than pundits started proclaiming that the arty actress was "going commercial". Not so, she insists. "Firstly, I never said that I wouldn't do commercial cinema. I said I wouldn't do the typical mindless films just as I won't do boring arty films. Pita is a realistic film about a family's fight for justice." So does she get to sing any songs? "There's definitely no scope to go to Switzerland," she says. Thank God.

BOX OFFICE

RAJU CHACHA
Weeks in release: 1
Collections: Rs 66,67,035
The exorbitantly expensive film impresses neither the children nor the adults.
Verdict: Average

KHILADI 420
Weeks in release: 1
Collections: Rs 42,26,806
It's time for Akshay Kumar to look for a new franchise.
Verdict: Flop

CHAMPION
Weeks in release: 2
Collections: Rs 24,01,161
Sunny Deol 's back in action mode but the audience doesn't seem to bite.

Verdict: Flop

Mumbai collections only
Source: Trade magazines

-with Natasha Israni

Top

 
 
 
     METRO TODAY
  MetroScape  
   


A Fancy For Words
"I don't think I could be called a poet," insists Feroze Gandhi with a shy smile.
more...

Looking Glass

Chennai: Mall


Calcutta: Home Library

Pune: Hotel

Delhi: Restaurant

Delhi: Play

 
    Web Exclusives
COLUMNS  


Sagarika Ghose's The Gin Drinkers is easily the best diaspora novel set in India and an account of existential dilemmas of Indian PLUs , writes INDIA TODAY Deputy Editor Swapan Dasgupta in Day Dreams.

 
DESPATCHES  


Cooking gas prices go up, derailing Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's populist plans in Andhra Pradesh. INDIA TODAY Associate Editor Amarnath K. Menon reports on the flaming out of Deepam, a hyped scheme of subsidised gas connections in
Despatches.


 
XTRAS!

Full coverages
with columns, infographics, audio reports.

» 1971: The Untold Story
» Veerappan Strikes Again
» Mission Impossible
» The SriLankan crisis
» The Kashmir jigsaw
»The Nepal Gameplan

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