Fenil and Bollywood

Posts Tagged ‘sexually charged

Bollywood lets its hair down as 2009 comes to an end and raises its hopes for 2010

TEAM BT Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; December 31, 2009)

AMITABH BACHCHAN: In the New Year, the entire family is hoping to do the kind of work that would please the audience and carry the company forward. Our New Year wishes? May 2010 bring peace and well-being. May it fill us with pride as a nation. May our glory spread further. May we progress in all walks of life. And may the year keep me alive to witness the country, the film industry and my family prosper and progress. I look forward to the coming year passing peacefully.
KATRINA KAIF: I couldn’t hope for a better New Year’s day. I’m in London with my sisters and brother having the time of my life. We have lots of fun when we all are together. After I started working I have hardly seen my siblings. So meeting them is always special and a festival to mark our meeting, is the cherry on the cake. My mother forced me to leave my cell phone behind in Mumbai, so I’m almost cut off from Bollywood. What hopes for 2010? Lots of hard work and hopefully hits.


SHAH RUKH KHAN: I will be at home (Mannat) with Gauri, Aryan, Suhana and a couple of close friends like Karan Johar. Being with close family is the one thing I truly cherish.


AKSHAY KUMAR: Tina, Aarav and I are in Goa. I normally take a vacation from December 29 to January 2 because it includes a double celebration. Tina’s birthday on December 29, and then the New Year’s eve party. Honestly what can be better than spending time with your loved ones? This is a commitment I have made to my family.


DEEPIKA PADUKONE: I will be home in Bangalore with my parents and my sister. Then I go to Goa to wrap up the last fortnight on Ashutosh Gowarikar’s film. Every year I hope that the following year is as exciting as the previous year and I’m very happy with the way my professional life is going. Hope 2010 is the same.


RANBIR KAPOOR: I start shooting for Siddharth Anand’s film in the US from January 2. Since I didn’t wish to be in an aircraft on New Year’s eve, I left India on December 27. My entire family is in Dubai as tomorrow is my paternal grandmother’s birthday and the family is treating her to a one-week holiday there. I wish I could join them!


KAREENA KAPOOR: Saif and I are in England. We are catching up with Saif ’s Oxford batchmates and their spouses. I’m dying to wear my fur coat and sniff the English chill… looking and feeling every inch a diva. We work hard all the year around to make this happen, so let me enjoy myself.

BIPASHA BASU: I’m performing tonight. Then there will be a small get-together with friends. I always like to keep my New Year’s plans uncluttered. Home is the best place to be on any special occasion. And New Year will be a nonfilmy evening at home. Beyond that my only resolution for 2010 is, love yourself.

VIDYA BALAN: I bring in 2010 with my birthday tomorrow… no one can forget it! What hopes do I have for 2010? Oh plenty! After watching Mr Bachchan at work in Paa, I realised being focussed on your work to the point of shutting out everything else is not something I need feel guilty about. Now I’m all set to be seen as this full-blown, seductive, sexually-charged woman in Ishqiya. It brings an entirely new perspective to my personality for the audience. That’s what I’m hoping for in 2010… to find new aspects to my personality through the roles I play.

AJAY DEVGN: Kajol, Nysa, my parents, cousins, sister and her family and I will all be at our Karjat farm house. We’re planning an extended holiday. I start work only from January 2, so does Kajol. So in the meantime it is going to be a huge, long party.


AMRITA RAO: I wonder what 2010 has in store for me… Resolutions sound nice to the ears but adhering to them is a matter of destiny!


AMISHA PATEL: I have a show in Dubai. I will be working and then I will take a holiday. I always like working on New Year’s day because I feel you will then be working throughout!

RITESH DESHMUKH: Friends and I are contemplating how to ring in the New Year. It’s not compulsory to indulge in anything fancy, even a quiet time with good friends does the trick!


ARSHAD WARSI: I am looking forward to three releases in 2010. Will start Raju’s film next year so it’s going to be an eventful year. I haven’t a plan for New Year as yet. I’ll be with family and friends.


ANUSHKA SHARMA: I don’t do much for the New Year. Actually I do nothing. I just wish my family and go to bed.


SHABANA AZMI: As usual I’ll be with my family and a few close friends for the New Year.


IRRFAN KHAN: On every festive occasion I try to visit my mother in Jaipur. But for the New Year I made plans to be home. Beyond the New Year I’ve made no plans. I’ve noticed every time I’ve chalked out a plan for myself, life has humbled me. I leave all my plans to God.


MUGHDA GODSE: I am dancing at a live performance in Delhi tonight and will spend New Year with family and close friends. I’ve a horror film tentatively titled Help coming up for release. My co-star Bobby Deol is such a sweetheart. I hope to find a guy like him this year. Where are all the gentlemen?”


HEMA MALINI: I won’t be doing anything much for New Year. I’ll be with my family and rehearsing for my dance show which is on January 2.


POOJA BEDI: I’m having a small get-together on the terrace of my beachfront penthouse with flowers, candles and an incredible view of the entire city, with my father, my children and a few loved ones.

SUSHMITA SEN: I normally travel overseas. However, Alisah, my younger daughter, can’t travel abroad yet because she doesn’t have a passport. Hence it will have to be a beach resort in India.

ASIN: For me it will be a quiet New Year with family. I wanted to make it for Christmas itself, however I will ring in the New Year at my family home in Kerala.

BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL: (From top) Stills from Luck By Chance, Kaminey, Love Aaj Kal

Heroines today are much more comfortable with their sexuality than ever before

DEEPALI DHINGRA Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; September 29, 2009)


Did you cringe with discomfort when a seemingly innocent child woman Isha Sherwani seduced Farhan Akhtar into bed in Luck By Chance? Or, more recently, when a salwar kameez-clad Priyanka Chopra managed to convince a reluctant Shahid Kapoor to have sex with her in Kaminey, by telling him that she knows ‘homescience’ and that it’s ‘safe to do it’? More likely than not, you smiled at their boldness and prepared for more to come. Seduction was a game played by vamps in Bollywood in the 70s and 80s. Much later, lead actresses like Bipasha Basu and Priyanka Chopra were sexually charged in Jism and Aitraaz respectively. But even then, they were the ‘bad girls’. Well, times have changed — even the ‘good’ girls are taking a turn for the ‘bad’ and the audiences are lapping it up!


Watch newcomer Mahie Gill throwing herself in full abandon at Abhay Deol in a mustard field in Dev. D and you’ll know what we’re talking about. Trade analyst Komal Nahta says he isn’t surprised at this change. “Films, after all, are a reflection of today. Girls are proposing to guys, they are using seduction as a tool even in real life. The major composition of the audience comprises youth, so they have to show what the young generation identifies with,” he says. So Kareena Kapoor playfully hands Akshay Kumar her
bra in Tashan and Konkona SenSharma suggests a quick bout of love-making to Rahul Bose in Dil Kabaddi before they turn in for the night and Deepika Padukone has no qualms with Saif Ali Khan kissing her full on the mouth in the car in Love Aaj Kal. Agrees Mahie, “Reel life follows real life. Women today are more vocal about their sexual desires than what they were about a decade back. The audience today wants to see characters they can identify with. That’s why the boldness depicted by the newer lot of actresses has been accepted.”

According to film director Onir, a growing section of audiences in urban centres are accepting this change. “Independent working women watch these films with their male friends and colleagues who treat them as equals and therefore, accept their portrayal on screen as well,” he says. Also, the younger generation of filmmakers who have grown up seeing women as friends and colleagues, are showing female characters as they are, says Onir.
deepali.dhingra@timesgroup.com