Posts Tagged ‘Bebo’
WHERE ARE THE ROLES? Lara Dutta, Bipasha Basu, Sonam and (above) Vidya Balan
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; January 5, 2010)
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; January 4, 2010)
Like a cat that has swallowed the cream, Kareena smacked her luscious lips and said, “There I was licking my wounds when God above answered my prayers. Honestly, I’m delirious. To think that I started 2009 with a whimper and ended it with a bang. Someone up there heard me.’’
Just before she set off on a tour of England with Saif Ali Khan, the incorrigible Bebo said, “2010 has a lot of promise. I sincerely wish the Midas touch continues. I’ll start the year with my idol, Shah Rukh Khan, with whom I’m travelling to Miami for RA 1. Then I’m going to be traipsing the globe with Saif in Agent Vinod. And, if Aamir keeps up his promise to me, the two of us will end up in a romantic film by the end of the year.’’ Jumping like a child, she asked, “Listen, is it wrong to love more than one Khan at a time? I’m guilty of just that. Shah Rukh and Gauri are my close friends. I love Saifu. And as for Aamir, well, what can I say? He’s the new Khan on my block.’’
Gamely she takes the blame for her duds. She knows the critics dipped their pens in poison when she did KI and MAMK. “My funda is simple,’’ said Bebo. “Actors should be like scientists, always willing to experiment. I experimented and I failed. That doesn’t take away from my acting abilities. If I don’t experiment, the same guys will write — she’s a plastic doll on screen. One does take chances with one’s roles and if the films fail, I’m more heartbroken than anyone else. Don’t forget films are all I live for. I give my films everything I have. So failure does affect me. But to write me off each time I have a flop is unfair.’’
Maybe, but that’s the way things in Bollywood work. One Friday you’re a handmaiden, the next Friday you’re the Queen. And, if you’re lucky, you can get an extended lease at the box-office. Like Bebo just managed. meena.iyer@timesgroup.com
Bebo or Ranbir?
Posted on: December 22, 2009
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; December 21, 2009)
The same dilemma has come back to haunt two major filmmakers now. Rumours have it that Sajid Nadiadwala, who is making his next film Anjaana Anjaani with Bollywood’s current heartthrob Ranbir and Priyanka Chopra, was heard telling an insider from the Kareena Kapoor camp that he would have ideally liked to work with Bebo and Ranbir. But, of course, since they are first cousins the pair would get audience rejection.
It is also reported that the Mehtas of Ashtavinayak will go on the floors with their film directed by Imtiaz Ali with Ranbir on April 1, 2010. Once again, this banner that loves Bebo because she is their Jab We Met heroine, wanted her in the lead. However, since they have had to choose between Ranbir and Kareena — both of whom are the current hot favourites — they have chosen to cast Ranbir.
But Bebo is not entirely at a disadvantage. There is a third film corporation that wants to cast her with the light-eyed youngster Imran Khan, who is another Bollywood hottie.
• You have got some good reviews for your role in Kurbaan.
Yes. I have not stopped smiling since the film’s release. At one of the trials, Bebo (Kareena Kapoor) and Saif (Ali Khan) did tell me that I was good in the film. Then Karan (Johar) and Rensil (D’Silva)also told me the same thing. I had not seen the film till then as I was shooting in Hyderabad. It was a nice feeling when Karan told me ‘finally you make me proud.’ I saw the film just a day before its release and I had knots in my stomach. I was very nervous but I was with people who have always been kind to me. There were Shah Rukh and Gauri, Imran and his fiancée Avantika, Yash uncle, Davidji (Dhawan). They all hugged me and said I was good.
• Why have you not done a romantic film after Saathiya?
Honestly, I really don’t know. Kurbaan has got a romantic track but Mission Istanbul and Shootout At Lokhandwala had zero romance. I have not done an out-and-out romantic film and I am really looking forward to doing one.
• People are saying that you have changed and that you want to leave the controversies behind and concentrate only on your work.
I wanted this for a really long time. However, after Shootout… things did not fall in place. Almost four years ago, when I did Omkara, I saw Saif getting under the skin of the character Langda Tyagi. I loved the work ethics. That’s when I thought that I should stop doing what I was doing, but I had a backlog to finish. Then my close friend Amit Chandra sat me down and helped me streamline my life so that I could practically achieve what I was trying to. Now, I have learnt not to take anything for granted.
• How did Ramu and you patch up?
I don’t think patch up is the right word as we were never at loggerheads. I will never have the audacity to say anything against Ramu and as an artiste, I will always be indebted to him for giving me Company. But when he called me and told me ‘I will never work with you again’, I was shocked. Now, when he called me and said that he had something for me, I was so happy. When I met him, he said that he could see the same passion in my eyes again and gave me Rakta Charitra. I felt exactly the same on the first day of Rakta Charitra that I felt on the first day on the sets of Company. Ramu made me feel so comfortable.
• You have done some amazing stunts in Prince, something which you are not known for.
Yes. Kookie Gulati is quite a whiz kid. I did so many things that I cannot possibly explain — right from learning how to skateboard, doing parkour, learning cable work, to action training. I had to put so many things into my system that after the training session, things became easier.
• You have said that you are done with apologising to people.
I made a mistake and it is human to make mistakes. Personally, I think it’s humbling and it’s also building character to stand up and say I made a mistake and please forgive me. It is always an ego-based thing to say that why should I apologise. It is a real man who can say ‘I am sorry’ and that too in public. I have said sorry to the assistant director whom I was rude to, I have said sorry to the movie star whom I had a fight with and I even said sorry to the director I snapped at.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK (BOMBAY TIMES; November 13, 2009)
Karan Johar is back to doing what he’s best at! Grilling stars over coffee. And guess who he’s got in on the barbequecouch in front of him? India’s hottest pairings, Saif and Kareena. The king of coffeeconversation had the real-life jodi squirming in a special tête-à-tête for ZOOM. And from coffee to conversational chemistry, KJo rocked it along with Saifeena for this exclusive Date With Kurbaan, Excerpts from the conversation:
KARAN: Everyone is talking about your steamy scenes in Kurbaan. Would you guys have been able to do it with any other actor?
KAREENA: I’m a professional but since I have seen the scenes, I realise it may not quite have turned out this way with anyone else.
Saif: I would’ve done it, but then there would have to be more accountability and I would’ve had to explain to myself that this was a part of my job. Since it was Bebo, there was no accountability and it was done more intimately and with abandon.
KARAN: Does your past come up between you two?
SAIF: It can and it should come up. I think the most important thing to remember is every part of your past has brought you to your present. Instead of worrying about it, you should thank it for bringing you to where you are.
KAREENA: I felt the need to know everything about Saif first, considering the Casanova he was! I was petrified that I was getting into a relationship with him… but today, I can say, he’s a changed man.
KARAN: What about marriage?
SAIF: Some days she asks me, “Are you going to do that ever?” And I say “In time”. Marriage does impact an Indian acting woman’s career. Kareena has always worked; and very few want a focussed career as badly as she does. Sachin Tendulkar wanted to play cricket as badly as Kareena wants a career, that’s a fact! Emotionally we’re growing and we’re in love. Marriage is not a way to tie somebody down.
The Bollywood Merry Go Round
Posted on: November 13, 2009
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; November 13, 2009)
When Hrithik Roshan blazed into Bollywood with Kaho Na Pyaar Hai in 2000, he almost wrested the reigning Badshah Shah Rukh Khan’s throne. With the paparazzi adding to their woes SRK and Duggu started out on a wrong foot. And SRK, who was hanging mid-air at a Filmfare Awards’ night event, joked saying, “Come Hrithik… come and pull me down.” However, that was another day. Today both Duggu and SRK are bonding big time. Sources say, “Every other night, the King and the Prince are dining together.’’ What makes their friendship more special is the fact that the girls, Gauri Khan and Sussanne Roshan, are also thick.
Aamir Khan admits that he didn’t approve of Salman Khan’s cavalier attitude to his work when they were filming Andaz Apna Apna. Said Aamir, “I even ticked Salman, Raveena Tandon and Paresh Rawal off during AAA because they had issues to resolve with the producer. And, they were treating the project badly.’’ Today Salman and Aamir are very good friends. Salman’s sketches on the Ghajini superstar are the piece de resistance at Aamir’s residence, and the boys often bond over a drink when AK’s wife Kiran Rao is out on her work assignment. Aamir even said, “That confrontation we had years ago has actually strengthened our bond.’’
Akshay Kumar admits that Suniel Shetty and he shared a hatelove relationship when they started out and now they have a love-love relationship which was in full force during the shoot of De Dhana Dan. Suniel said, “We were immature, yaar, now we’re men in our 40s. Where is the question of us fighting? It all seems so silly. Akki and I are not the best of friends but we do enjoy a camaraderie that is there for everyone to see.’’ If the Bollywood men are bonding big time, the women too have left their previous grievances aside and become friends. Kareena Kapoor and Bipasha Basu who argued like cats during Ajnabi are now friends. And so are Bebo and Preity Zinta. Guess when the boys and the girls realise that they aren’t hunting the same game, they let their guard down.
‘Khan’ decide who to Choose!
Posted on: November 9, 2009
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; November 9, 2009)
After Kambakkht Ishq and Main Aur Mrs Khanna this year, both of which didn’t do anything for her, Kareena’s performances in Kurbaan and 3 Idiots are generating a deafening buzz already… and Bollywood’s most powerful actress is literally running between real life beau Saif Ali Khan (Kurbaan) and good friend Aamir (3 Idiots) between November 9-15 … because that’s how her dates have been allotted for promotions.
Says Bebo, “Both Saif and Aamir are very dear to me. I think I’ve created magic with both co-stars and it is impossible for me to choose one over the other.” She recently shot a supererotic, romantic number with Aamir in artificial rain. Insiders say that though the focal point in 3 Idiots is not the Aamir-Kareena romance, it is still a very endearing part of it. While Saif maintains that there is a tremendous curiosity about his pairing with Kareena because they are a real life couple too, Aamir says, “Kareena is one of the most beautiful actresses that we have today. She is also a very good friend and we have both worked very hard on this rain song. I hope people like it.” He’s done wet songs before with Sonali Bendre in Sarfarosh and in Fanaa with Kajol, in which his chemistry with both actresses was highly appreciated… but with Kareena, well, Aamir feels the chemistry is combustible. Any wonder Bebo is smiling like a Cheshire cat that has got the cream.
