Posts for 'Scandals' Category

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan has denied media reports that his son actor Abhishek Bachchan lost his temper and slapped a spot boy on the sets of his film Drona.

"This is a laughable matter. Abhishek does not have the ability to strike a fly. He does have the ability though to attract incongruous and totally incorrect press. There has been absolutely no such incident on set. It is a fabrication of the highest order," he wrote on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com.

Amitabh also rubbished the earlier incident when Abhishek had beaten up a photo journalist.

"The earlier incident with a press photographer was another complete fabrication," Amitabh stated.

The Big B has been posting a lot of complaints against the media on his blog lately.

Blogging is just a baby in India, with people learning to show their true personality to those who matter the most, be it friends, family or colleagues.

What evolved as a means to communicate with fellow net surfers has been given a new definition by Bollywood. From Amitabh Bachchan to Amir Khan to Ram Gopal Verma to Tom Dick and Harry, everybody is expressing their opinions through blogs.

Whatever is in the blog is national news be it Amitabh Bachchan's criticism of other game shows or Amir Khan calling his dog Shah Rukh.

Looks like they are completely fascinated with this latest sensation of personal writing as they rightly get the response they might have expected.

The current trend indicates that the list of Bollywood bloggers might go up soon.

Blogs are seen as a means to express opinion and not to take it as an opportunity to bring down others. It's absolutely fine as long as the content is of national, social or human interest. But here dirty linen is being washed in public and the whole purpose of blogging is getting lost.

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At the IIFA awards in Bangkok, Abhi Ash went out of their way to woo Kareena and Vivek. It has been a Bachchans vs The Rest Of The Stars (read Aamir, Shatru, SRK, Kareena Kapoor etc) scenario for quite some time now. It now appears that they want to make peace with as many as they could, as was evident at the recently held IIFA awards in Bangkok.

Says a source, "Ever since Karisma Kapoor broke off with Abhishek Bachchan, the Kapoors and Bachchans haven't been on talking terms. In fact, Abhishek kept refusing films with Kareena. But this time at Bangkok, a change was noticed in the Bachchans attitudes.
Kareena was shocked when she found herself being invited to an informal get-together in Abhishek and Ash's room at 3am! Abhishek was very warm and gracious in his invite. It was as if nothing had happened. But Bebo is still smarting from the Bachchans' rebuffs and rejected their olive branch and hung out with Saif and her friends like Manish Malhotra, Karan Johar and Shabina Khan."

Kareena was not the only person the Bachchans wooed in Bangkok. When Aishwarya Bachchan broke off with Vivek Oberoi he became persona non grata for the Bachchans. But Vivek broke the ice when he attended Teji Bachchan"s funeral.

This time, at the IIFA, where VO behaved discreetly, and shied away from the TV media who quizzed him about his ex. He stayed in his room rather than answer uncomfortable questions and whip up more publicity. Adds a source, "Abhishek personally invited Vivek to the party in his room. But Vivek didn't take up the offer. He hung out in Zayed Khan's room with Fardeen Khan and Apoorva Lakhia and gang instead."

The famous rivalry between Big B and SRK continues with a fresh chapter in which their global entertainment tours are clashing.

Amitabh Bachchan’s Unforgettable tour which will also have Abhishekh , Preity Zinta, Riteish Deshmukh, Madhuri Dixit and Akshay Kumar kick starts on July 18 in Toronto. Shah Rukh has decided to begin his own Temptations Reloaded tour on June 21 at Amsterdam.

In Shah Rukh Khan’s Temptation reloaded tour, SRK, Arjun Rampal, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor and Ganesh Hedge will perform.

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The first family of Indian cinema, led by film legend Amitabh Bachchan, kicked off celebrations Friday for the "Bollywood Oscars" with the star-studded premiere of their new political thriller.

"Sarkar Raj" (Absolute Ruler) unites Bachchan with the megastar couple of his son, Abhishek, and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.

Their star power drew so many fans to the premiere at a theatre in a luxury Bangkok shopping mall that security guards could not keep back the crowd.

Masses of people spilled alongside the carpet to take pictures as their favourite celebrities walked by, with men in office wear screaming as loudly as teenage fans.

The famously debonair elder Bachchan strode into the cinema in a sharp black suit and red tie and praised Indian film in a country where audiences tend to favour Hollywood blockbusters or South Korean dramas.

"Cinema is a universal commodity, and it needs to be seen by as many people as possible," he said.

"Promoting cinema, that's what we're here to do," his son Ambhishek added on arriving with his superstar wife.

Their movie is a sequel to the 2005 film "Sarkar," considered a homage to the American classic "The Godfather." It is loosely based on the controversy around an Enron power plant built in India a decade ago.

The premiere kicks off a weekend celebrating Indian cinema, including fashion shows and dance performances, all leading up to the awards on Sunday.

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When a superstar-turned-'national figure' like Amitabh Bachchan starts toting graphs and pie charts to show that he is far ahead in television show ratings than a much younger colleague, Shah Rukh Khan, it reveals a great deal about the icon.

A few days on, when the same superstar announces that it was not his intention to indulge in comparisons with colleagues, it reveals a few more layers of the famed star make-up.

These actions are an involuntary admission on Bachchan's part that his iconic status notwithstanding, he is a brand in the market and has to fight for his place in that mercurial space, like anyone else.

Like Shah Rukh, for instance, who consistently trails him in 'all-time popular star' polls. Khan is so damnably comfortable being a brand in the market and having a price.

He thinks being priceless is a waste of time in an age of convergence when cinema, television, advertising and live shows form a giant entertainment block, feeding off each other, and offering blockbuster revenue models to he who dares.

This space demands a different kind of star. In the late 1970s and early 80s, when Bachchan became a big name, television was a cottage industry. The big screen was the big turn-on; a star's aura depended in part on mystique born out of his/her remoteness.

But life in the coiled times of 24-hour television, 24-hour entertainment and 24-hour advertisements, promotions and endorsements is totally different.

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Bollywood mega superstar Amitabh Bachchan has gone on the offensive on his blog yet again, this time on behalf of his gorgeous daughter-in- law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

Reacting to an article that calls Ash a "demure bahurani" the Big wrote: "You speak of Aishwarya as a ‘demure bahurani' who chooses to ‘stand behind quietly'. This is insufferable and I will not remain silent on such a serious issue as women's liberty and equality in our society.”

Bachchan continued, “Aishwarya has continued an independent career since her marriage with the full family sup- port... Her mother- in-law is a Senator in the Indian Parliament, hardly a role model for a quiet bahu."

Meanwhile, after giving his voice to Hanuman Chalisa, Bachchan is now all set to recite Bhagwad Gita – the compilation of his late father, the famous poet Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

Bachchan believes that Bhagwad Gita is one of the unknown works of his late father and that is why he has chosen it to pay a tribute to his genius.

Reports are that music director Aadesh Shrivastava is already working on the tunes of Bhagwad Gita and discussing the same with the Big B.

After directing two thrillers “Ek Hasina Thi” and “Johnny Gaddar”, Sriram Raghavan is ready with his third script, which is a romantic film. The director says he is waiting for dates from Aishwarya Rai and John Abraham to start the film.

“I wanted to start the shoot in March but the script was not ready. Now, I am waiting for the dates from the actors,” Raghavan told IANS.

He also said that Aishwarya had glanced through the script and given her consent. Taking a break from his favourite thriller genre, Raghavan is attempting a love story which will be produced by Rohan Sippy.

Apart from this, Raghavan is also working on actor Saif Ali Khan’s first production titled “Agent Vinod”.

About the status of “Agent Vinod”, Raghavan said: “I can only tell about this after I get the dates of shoot for Sippy’s project.”

Saif will play the lead in the film, which is again a thriller.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan today pooh-poohed the reports in a section of the press that he had been paid Rs 115 crore by server ''bigadda.com'' to write his blog.

''This in entirely incorrect. I use the services of the server bigadda.com and nothing else, there are no finances involved at all'', the Bollywood actor said.

Writing in his blog after attending the opening night of the Cannes film festival, Amitabh has challenged the Mumbai-based tabloid to show him receipts of the payment made or any contract signed by him and disclose the source that has confirmed the information to it.

Besides Amitabh, his wife Jaya, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan also attended the opening night function at Cannes, where the film 'Blindness' was screened.

Amitabh Bachchan says he is puzzled over the falling TRP ratings of game shows like Panchvi Pass , hosted by star like Shah Rukh Khan.

Writing on his blog, Bachchan referred to reports that SRK hosted Panchvi Pass , was Panchvi Fail, after its not too encouraging numbers saying that he wished to find out reasons of lower ratings and would like to have inputs from bloggers.

Bachchan, who virtually revolutionalised television game shows with Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) wondered whether such question-answer game shows are losing the interest of the audience or whether the growing number of television channels are responsible for the decline in their TRPs.

The Bollywood icon was also sceptical of the format of question-answer game shows.

"Why is there a depleted performance despite the presence of the biggest name in the business?" he asked. The actor also wanted to know if TV ratings are a correct indicator of the popularity of a particular show.

He said TV viewership has exponentially gone up. Does this reflect positively or negatively on the ratings. Is the fall in ratings due to the increase in the number of channels? Bachchan asked.

He said, "KBC 1 ran non-stop for almost two years and then with an adequate break the 2 and the 3. I am unable to understand its falling interest as the graphs show despite the fact that they were presented by bigger and more popular stars, namely Shah Rukh,