Mira Nair took a great decision by not including Abhishek or Rani in the film. They would have the killed the movie in two ways, one they would not have acted as good as their replacements. Secondly, their glamour position in India would have tempted the filmmakers to modify the movie to suit their glamour image.
Mani Ratnam is a great director, but by falling for the charms of these superstars he has contributed to his own fall. Guru was crap. Yuva was good, but really every actor in the movie was as good as Abhishek, so there was no real credit for him.
Abhishek and Rani are good in movies like KANK where they play to an audience who appreciate that kind of candy floss cinema. They are not made for art house movies.
Mumbai, January 2, 2007 She was Mumbai moviedom%u2019s No. 1 heroine just last year. But today, Rani Mukherji is no longer being approached by frontline filmmakers. Once a favourite of every Khan, she hasn%u2019t been teamed with Shah Rukh, Aamir or Salman of late. From all evidence, she appears to have become an exclusive Yashraj heroine and her career is being re-scripted by Aditya Chopra... who coincidence or not, has split from his wife Payal Malhotra. The Aditya-Rani liaison is the hottest topic of discussion today, in studio corridors, beauty salons and ritzy star abodes. That the director and she are %u2018good friends%u2019 has never been denied by the 28-year-old actress. Aditya's marriage with his childhood friend Payal Malhotra %u2014 from a traditional Punjabi business family %u2014 hit the rocks. Aditya moved out of his parents' house in Juhu-Vile Parle In the wake of her three super hat-trick performances in Hum Tum, Black and Bunty aur Babli, Rani Mukherji had achieved what most actresses dream of. She had startled Aishwarya Rai out of the top rung of the heroine ladder..and it seemed there was no stopping her from acquiring strength and perfecting her performances. Her fan following was and is still tremendous but..a big but. Where is she heading? Is she reserving her dates essentially for the Yashraj banner. Not a bad thing that. Snag: the days of exclusive-to-one-studio practice no longer wash in a business that is becoming fiercely competitive. All of her earlier directors no longer rush to her with scripts. Also by some quirk of logic, she is in Yashraj banner's Ta Ra Rum Pum directed by Sidharth Anand, instead of repeating her success with director Shaad Ali in the same banner's Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. Shaad Ali had given her excellent roles in Saathiya and Bunty aur Babli. Trade talk is that since the actress was being linked with Shaad Ali, she was shifted to Ta Rum Pum Pum. The actress refused to comment on this twist of the plot..in fact, she stopped commenting on any matter under the sun to the press which had so lovingly lionised her till that point. Rani Mukherji became elusive to being downright rude to the media and it was conjectured that the lay-off from the press was in the style perfected by the Yashraj scion, genius producer-director-writer Aditya Chopra. No one can deny that Adi, as he is called by his friends, has become an important factor in the actress' life and career. Some insiders aver that they are "friendly" and leave it that. The events in his own life, however, have given rise to other sorts of whispers, which are no longer hush-hush. Aditya's marriage with his childhood friend Payal Malhotra %u2013 from a traditional Punjabi business family %u2013 hit the rocks. Aditya moved out of his parents' house in Juhu-Vile Parle to stay at the Grand Maratha Sheraton Hotel till the clouds cleared. Now they have, it seems. Payal who had flown off to Singapore, for a few months, has returned to Mumbai. A settlement, upwards of some Rs 20 crore, has been fixed, besides a five-bedroom penthouse in Juhu, close to the Prithvi theatre complex. Payal, an expert interior designer who was instrumental, in the upbeat look of the Yashraj studio in Oshiwara, has chosen to stay independently..instead of giving up her career. Aditya Chopra, from all accounts, has returned to his parents' old-worldly villa where he stays in a separate refurbished wing on the first floor. Rumours about the "incompatibility" of Adi and Payal had started some two years ago but had been quickly squelched. Then the Rani angle surfaced and she was made the target of rumours which insisted that she was a homebreaker. Not true, several friends of the family and showbiz insiders pointed out. At the same time, none of them denied that Rani is very "close" to Aditya Chopra. It is also said that Rani made special time for the Yashraj banner produced film directed by Pradeep Sarkar at Adi's advice. Consequently, Sarkar's favourite heroine Vidya Balan was out of the project and Rani was in. That thing called "luck" continues for the Yashraj banner in terms of the commercial success of most of its films. Conversely, Rani's luck has turned the other way, what with her Baabul coming a cropper. Also, her performance in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna was outshone this year by cousin Kajol's in FanaaSome other wrong moves made by the actress are rejecting such globally spotlight projects like Mira Nair's The Namesake, in which Tabu has delivered the performance of a lifetime. Another downer is the absolute silence on the project she was to do with Bela Sehgal, sister of Sanjay Leela Bhansali and the editor of Black which surely has the actress' finest performance to date. According to a trade soothsayer, who didn't want to be named, there is no likelhood that Rani is likely to quit her career for marriage with anyone, even if Aditya Chopra if he were so inclined. However, it is felt that the signs of arrogance which set in post the praise she got for Black and reports of her being obnoxious of late on the sets, are not likely to do her career any good. There is every likelihood that her caring parents cannot accept the topic that the entire industry is talking about, that they will move into the denial mode..but then that's the way it is in movie country where there's a thin line between the real and the rumoured.
RE:RE:Rani Mukherjee ruining her career
by Abhi Bhat on Mar 24, 2007 05:00 PM
Harsha, hope you are using an appreciating tone ..some people like to read a news line to enjoy a momentary entertainment while someothers want to study and analyse the facts. It is no surprise that one group will be 'amazed' at the other's point of view.
RE:Rani Mukherjee ruining her career
by lalita bang on Mar 24, 2007 02:56 PM
really, how she managed time to write this article(msg), god!!!!, i think she copied and pasted this msg.
RE:Rani Mukherjee ruining her career
by sanchita datta on Mar 24, 2007 01:00 AM
I am truly AMAZED!!!!People really have time and energy to follow the events in the lives of actors and actresses.Rediff has wrongly highlighted a stray comment in the article...abt Rani and Abhishek not being in the movie NAMESAKE.Wht abt the rest of the piece?Shd we be discussing the movie or how the book was written or how the movie was made....OR discuss why oh why Rani dint accept the role?
bollywood movies are a real load of trash. they are so far removed from reality. just take a look at films made in iran, germany and for that matter mexico. indian audience need emancipation from this so called "running-round-the trees" jamboorie.
RE:bollywood trash!
by Manoj J on Mar 23, 2007 11:40 PM
Very well said.Its depressing to see all the sub standard crap that gets churned out from 'Bollywood'. The last good movie i saw was 'Dil Chahata he'. Not a single good movie after that. Same goes for the people who star in these movies. I dont know how people can stand SRK..even for a minute.
Rani should have done a good job; the forum is quite right when it says that Karan J is a close friend and this is the first time when Rani has a "long lead" in his film. The one's before were small. She must have committed to Karan before but must have eyed such a great opportunity posed to her from Mira. Anyway, the main Samachar is that I believe taking "Kal Pen of Kalpen Modi" was definitely a better choise over AB Jr. Given the movie/situation, Kal can comes across as a true ABCD (for the uninitiated, American Born Confused Desi) who is struggling and confused between the cultures with the natural local accent. The audience in Western world connected it well, immediately. Overall, a good portrayal. Other first gen immigrants also face the same situation in some form or the other as we all understand.
I dont think abhishek could have spoken the english in the american accent as was needed in namesake.I also dont think abhishek to be a great actor that he could have been part of an award winning movie,yes he did act well in Yuva, did decent in Guru. But this movie needed some special acting.also not sure how the audience would have reacted to rani being abhishek's mother. Rani could have suited Tabu's role since she could have got the bengali accent easier.However full credit to Tabu. She really worked on her accent so well that it seemed she was a bengali.
RE:abhishek in kal penn's role?no way!!!!
by madhuri kelkar on Mar 23, 2007 09:42 PM
Hi !
I agree with u. It was a good decision that Abhishek was not the part of casting, as he is in the industry just because of his last name. Doesn't know anything about acting.
Ha ha ha
I have seen the movie and it is very very good, a must watch movie. Evevrubody in the movie performed very well. Tabu did a gr8 job, I don't think that role would have suited Rani, just an opinion.
RE:abhishek in kal penn's role?no way!!!!
by Ashley Raina on Mar 24, 2007 05:54 AM
I have never before in my life done this message thingie but hmm your message did get on my nerves..hm I am no relative of Abhishek but man you got some nerve...he's there because of his last name sure and how bout all the other crappy guys in the film industry..Shahrukh for instance..the ones who r good can be counted on fingers..Akshay Khanna..Kumar too at times..Anil Kapoor.Sunjay Dutt..Amir Khan..Saif well coupla times he's shown potential..Jimi Shergill..used to hate this guy but he's shown some potential too..Uday Chopra..now how bout that guy..jaisi shakl waisee hi acting..so Madhuri stay within your limits and go preach somewhere else..perhaps at your home..who else would be a better audience to your crap?
RE:abhishek in kal penn's role?no way!!!!
by Sunil Ponting on Mar 24, 2007 06:05 PM
y did u do it now u moron first impression is the last one n u screwed it go get a life man
RE:abhishek in kal penn's role?no way!!!!
by subha on Mar 25, 2007 01:32 PM
Sunil.....i don't mind u praising Abjr to the skies....even though i don't like him...but there is absolutely no necessity for u to rebuke others like Madhuri for holding an opinion different from yours....everyone is entitled to an opinion....after all variety is the spice of life....learn to respect other's opinions and think twice before pasting silly comments on a public forum like this
RE:RE:abhishek in kal penn's role?no way!!!!
by roy thomas on Mar 24, 2007 12:48 AM
I don't understand why mira nair even mentioned about rani and ABjr. when both tabu and kal penn had done a good job.
I saw the making of this movie on NDTV yesterday and I have read this article now. Often we scale our life between winning and losing,success and failure,entry and exit,starting and ending.Often we forget that life is to be lived bewteen these extremes. The life is not be lived in just these extreme moments but every moment.When I go through such class acts as this movie or the book, my heart and soul pleads my brain to strat roping in words out of my thoghts which I have stopped doing for a long time.If people like me have smile of belongingness on lips or at times drops of compassion in eyes, the credit goes to woderful creative people like you. Keep going as we are following you.
RE:Wow ...
by kavita Bhandari on Apr 01, 2007 09:08 PM
So True
Both the movies are made to drive the matra in life "be happy", in India women and men just choose to live life because of false social and family values, movies of this kind can really drive people to think out of the box and live life in a more meaningful way. We have few people in India who can digest such truth and therefore the reactions are very strong. I am sure many such interesting subjects are on its way to the new age India. Prejudice, hypocrisy, wrong value systems need to be out to make %u201Cbe happy%u201D the matra of life.
Rani being asked by Mira to do the Namesake is old news. Why is Mira even talking about it. She should concentrate on Tabu or is it that she is doing it to whip up more interest in her film. As far as Kank is concerned Rani made the right choice. It is a brilliant film and Rani's performance in it was so so good. I like her understated form of acting. To win awards is not the ultimate accolade of filmmaking and acting. Further whilst I don't doubt that the Namesake is a very good film to compare it and find it more worthier than KANK is pathetic. Films are always points of view and to categorise them as good or bad on the basis of whether we agree with the subject matter is not a sign of intelligence but narrow-mindedness.
I simply loved KANK the movie even though I do not condone affairs. It was good to see an aspect of real life which one does not necessarily approve off.
RE:The right Choice
by aryan acharya on Mar 23, 2007 05:14 PM
u r a loser...for buyimg into a disjointed candy floss film with more hamming than any real acting(KANK).... but to each his own
RE:The right Choice
by rahul dhar on Mar 23, 2007 05:25 PM
Dear Lady Just watch Namesake and you would repent what you have written here. But if you r used to watching Karan Johar Craps then i would recommend you to watch this movie. As far as comparing KANK and Namsake is considered it is like comparing an ASS and a Horse.
RE:The right Choice
by suraj kohli on Mar 23, 2007 05:26 PM
i dont have any problems with the theme of KANK. but it was one pathetically long, glossy tearjerker packaged with flashy songs et al, the usual KJo stuff. picking up a promising theme is not enough, the treatment matters a lot! there hv been 100 times better movies on extra-marital relationships like shekhar kapoor's masoom, mahesh bhatt's ardh satya, tabu starrer astitva to be name a few. kJo didnt present any novel idea to call it path-breaking. and rani spent most of her time shedding glycerine tears! infact preity's role was much better & had more substance. to be frank, rani has never taken risks or experimented. she's one camp obsessed actress. but maybe that works for her because the moment she breaks away frm camps, she will struggle to survive in the industry like she was just before saathiya(yashraj film) gave her career a big boost. tabu will still be remembered as an actress.
RE:The right Choice
by Reena Goel on Mar 23, 2007 05:49 PM
I expressed my personal opinion without putting anyone down but it seems some people lack the skills to express their opinions without resorting to name calling. Aryan in my opinion you are the "loser". I feel sorry for you. I seems like you can only enjoy serious meaningful (in your opinion) cinema. My world is open to new experiences and I am willing to be flexible in life.
And you my dear Rahul are the ASS. Yes I love Karan Johar movies. I'd watch his movies over the Namesake any day.
Suraj, you are wrong. If you think that Rani will be forgotten than you mark my words so will Tabu. You have obviously not watched Rani's more recent films if you feel that Rani has always played safe and not experimented. Anyway I know there's no persuading people like you. You only have monologues. So here's wishing you an enjoyable experience at the movies watching the Namesake.
I have read the book and enjoyed it immensely. I hope the movie does very well for Mira nair.
RE:The right Choice
by Sudhir Bisht on Mar 23, 2007 06:45 PM
It seems the real looser is Reena , who is pointing fingers to others one by one. Everyone knows what happen to KANK.
RE:The right Choice
by Reena Goel on Mar 23, 2007 08:46 PM
Gaurav with respect please check out your own English before you point the finger at others. I shall express my opinion as I see fit thank you. Suraj you seem to have an agenda against Rani. So be it. There are not many actors or actresses that make films devoid of producers and banners. I see you hold it against her that she finally proved worthy of being in their films. Presumably they chose her for her great acting ability. It must be her acting otherwise they would have chosen the far more beautiful and plastic girls innundating bollywood. Further you seem to forget Saathiya and Yuva! Mr. Bisht, I must seem like a loser to a person like you! Also I am not pointing a finger at anyone - I am merely replying to the many people on this thread . You may not have liked Kank but many people did and I am one of those who is not scared to say it. I loved it and by the way it did very well. What sort of movies do you like? Kyonki ki saas be kaabhi bahu the or Ghar ghar ki Kaahani types? You must learn not to try and silence people who hold views other than your own. After all we live in a democracy. Just because I seem in the minority does not make you right. In fact I know you are wrong.
RE:The right Choice
by on Mar 24, 2007 11:39 AM
Godddd.....what a bunch of idiots you all are...Reena, becoz you actually think that a movie like KANK has substance...and the rest of you for arguing with someone who thinks THAT...you all have way too much time on your hands...splitting hair over crap like KANK. Get a life Reena..go watch Namesake! I have wasted enough time writing this!
RE:The right Choice
by aprakash gupta on Mar 26, 2007 03:58 AM
It seems you are the real "Kyonki ki saas be kaabhi bahu the or Ghar ghar ki Kaahani types". Otherwise you would not have liked KANK.
RE:The right Choice
by suraj kohli on Mar 23, 2007 06:43 PM
well friend, u would rather wish i'm wrong. like u even i'm expressing my opinion. u havnt understood my post. i'll explain it again to u. i didnt say rani will be forgotten . she will be remembered by virtue of her big films with big banners. wat i rather meant was, had she not been a part of these camps & not done their films, she'd not have had a memorable career. but see tabu. i dont remember when was the last time she worked with the khans, yashraj or karan johar or did she ever work with them?? but she's still a revered actress. she's won 2 national awards, filmfare awards & is a benchmark. she's done everything on her own. wat abt rani? she can never match up to tabu. and it's highly probable that mira nair offered her namesake as she's a bengali & it's the role of a bengali woman & not because she's a great actress. and which recent films of rani are u talking abt? is it kank( we've discussed enough about it), baabul ( costarring amitabh & salman, the director's last film baghban was a hit), hum tum(yashraj), veer zaara(yash chopra), chalte chalte( SRK starrer, she nimbly stepped into aishwarya's role) ??? yes black was a change for which she was rewarded enough but again it was a sanjay bhansali film. and her forthcoming movie is tara rum pum, an yashraj film costarring saif khan( her hit jodi of hum tum). so whr's she experimenting? in her dreams? i saw the posters of tara rum pum. she's wearing a manish malhotra or whatever designed frock & wearing her chaltechalte days boots! the boots have remained throughout in chalte-2, hum tum and now tara rum pum. it's a pity that even in fashion, she sticks to formula. rani is an actor who lives for the box office.she's only as good as her box office status. when she delivered hum tum, veer zara, chalte chlate, black there was a lot of buzz about her. but last year when her baabul flopped bigtime & kank was a marginal hit & panned by critics suddenly there were much lesses talks abt her. ppl discussed more abt kajol's comeback in fanaa ,kareena in omkara,bipasha in corporate, priyanka in don & aishwarya in dhoom 2. rani was completely overshadowed. even a preity zinta whose career-path is similar to rani's has a kya kehna to her credit which she carried on her own.
i donno abt abhishek but rani mukherji had preferred KANK over namesake. she's one actress who plays safe. but unfortunately her playing safe didnt help. kank was panned by critics & managed to be just a hit in india due to huge 1st week initial. she also didnt win any filmfare award for it! now only if she had been adventurous or experimentative & done namesake instead. maybe she didnt want tp play irfan's wife & abhishek's mother !
RE:rani & namesake
by Kundan Kumar Lucky on Mar 23, 2007 05:03 PM
And that makes one think why it is Karan Johar who is a friend of Rani and not someone like Mira Nair. Well... it might be personal but doesn't her choice of friends reveal much about the kind of persons she is?
RE:rani & namesake
by suraj kohli on Mar 23, 2007 05:11 PM
c'mon. wat friendshiP?? she was wary that if she rejects kank, karan wont offer her his next film & it may go to his other "friends" like preity,kareena or kajol. she wanted to stay on in the camp. ofcourse rani will say she did it for friendship. and we dont expect her to be gutsy enough to speak the truth either! karan has no dearth of actor friends ,which is more for selfish reasons than unconditional friendship. if one friend says no he can readily offer his film to other friend.like it happened with kareena when she turned down kal ho na ho & it went to preity. and which actor wont like to be so called friend of kJO & chopras?
RE:rani & namesake
by Ketaki on Mar 23, 2007 10:14 PM
You are right suraj kohli read this article http://www.hindustantimes.in/2007/Jan/04/181_1885799,001100030003.htm
I think the main stream stars from our beloved Bollywood should actually never be given any chance to work in such movies......actually both Rani & Abhishek dont deserve to be a part of such a great movie...they are good only for stuff like KANK....where they get to wear designer clothes & only acting they need to do is shed loads n loads of Glycerine tears.
