Meet Bollywood's 600-Crore Baby, Ali Abbas Zafar. He's 33.

Ali Abbas Zafar

MUMBAI:  Early on a rainy Mumbai evening, Ali Abbas Zafar is in his sweats. This, I'm told, is often the result of spending long stretches with Salman Khan. 

Ali knows all about long stretches with Salman. He directed Sultan, easily the biggest blockbuster of the year, collecting a cool 600 crores. At this time, it's the fourth-highest grossing Indian film. Ever.

The number that has been less discussed though is 33. Which is how old Ali is.

Granted, Bollywood is not unfamiliar with precocious proteges. Aditya Chopra was just 24 when Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge released. By the time Farhan Akhtar was 35, he had unpacked the path-breaking Dil Chahta Hai as also Lakshya and Don. At the same age, Karan Johar had triple-threatened us with Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham and Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Ayan Mukherji, by 30, had popped out Wake Up Sid andYeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Much before that, Subhash Ghai released Karz at 35. And at the other end of the spectrum, Satyajit Ray was 34 when Pather Panchali hit screens. 

But unlike many in the credit roll above, Ali Abbas Zafar was not hot-housed in a family-owned or linked studio. And 600 crores, you will agree, is substantial. Enough to make you wonder how Ali Abbas Zafar does what he does. So in a small, carpeted meeting room at the Yashraj Corporate Office, he agrees to some story-telling. He wears his success lightly - unshaven, easy-going, understated.

Where he does fit in with Bollywood is in his enthusiasm for crediting his leading man - "SK" as he calls him - as the force majeure not just of Sultan, but everything surrounding it. If Khan hadn't agreed, "I wouldn't have made the film," he says. "The traits Sultan as a character has, the only star who could've pulled this off was SK. There's a scene where he takes off his shirt and finds himself completely out of shape and he breaks down. If there had been any other star, then the impact of the scene wouldn't have been this powerful. (But) Salman is known in this country as the Bible of body-building. So for him to be out of shape and then crumble has a double impact with the audience."

There's bound to be a surplus of young film-makers, however, who claim they have the perfect role for Salman. Virtually none of them will get within breathing space of the 50-year-old superstar. Not to pitch a script, anyway.

For Ali, that route was paved by another close friendship. "I knew him through Katrina because Katrina is one of my closest friends and she was in my first film. He kind of liked both (my) films Mere Brother Ki Dulhan and Gunday. And then I interacted with him briefly on Ek Tha Tiger. We kind of had this thing that this is the cinema we would like to make and the kind of star he is blends in because I like main stream film-making: there has to be songs, there has to be drama."

When SK agreed to a script-narration, Ali had been ready for about three years. It was during his second film, Gunday, that Sushil Kumar won a silver medal in wrestling at the 2012 Olympics. "That's where it all started. I felt I needed to make a film about a Haryanvi wrestler who goes through ups and downs. The story is not about winning medals; it is about a fight within. I wrote ten pages and I went to Adi (Aditya Chopra, Chairman YRF) and Adi said 'Yaar, wrestler wali picture kaun dekhega?'"

Ali said that everything he had learnt about film-making so far tied him to the need for an Indian connect to the theme. That connect, he was sure, would come from Indian sport. Adi Chopra, the very next morning, approved the idea. "He said he couldn't get it out of his head". And is probably very glad (600 crores worth of glad) that he did.

And make no mistake, his essential pragmatism and easy affability does not cancel out his fierce drive, his belief in his instincts. It's what powered a boy who made the move to Mumbai from Dehradun via Delhi University in finding his feet very quickly in a city where territory is aggressively guarded and newcomers tested rigorously. Talk to his ADs (Assistant Directors) and the words they use to describe him are: bright, grounded, humble, chilled out. On set, they applaud him for being a quick thinker, a detail man, cool under fire, a people's person. 

He is clear that for all the romanticism that film-making is infused with, his fidelity lies not just to its art, but to the unmistakable commerce that Bollywood lives for. "How I look at it is that film-making is a business like any other: there's money spent on it. We are in the market with creative content, and as film-makers what we need to do is to balance that. I feel that the inherent commerce of film-making lies within the story - and then everything else follows, like the stars and then the kind of music you'll have, the kind of route you'll take to tell that story."

Ali grew up with his grandparents in Dehradun. His father was an army man and then worked for ONGC; his mother was a teacher. He moved to Delhi for college. And it was then that things began to change: the Biochemistry student strayed from the science labs to the "The Players", the theatre group at Kirori Mal College with an alumni list that famously includes Amitabh Bachchan. In 2003, he began attaching himself to films being shot in Delhi. Amu by Shonali Bose. A short schedule on Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya. "I kind of worked on those films and realised that this is where I get some kind of happiness and satisfaction. And that's the time I decided - this is 2005 and 2006 - that I need to move to Bombay."

He worked as an AD (Assistant Director), the Holy Grail for those who want to eventually direct their own films. His break came when, in 2006, he got a chance to assist Shaad Ali who was then directing Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. A long stint within Yashraj Studios followed. It was on New York that he met and became inner-circle gold for Katrina Kaif. And then he wrote Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, which he pitched to Adi Chopra, who agreed to make it. Katrina starred. Not a blockbuster, but a neat little hit for his first time out the stables. 

Katrina and Salman will star in his next project, Tiger Zinda Hai - the sequel to Kabir Khan'sEk Tha Tiger (2012). "It's a big film with the weight of a blockbuster franchise - the second weighs on you!"  

"My major challenge is that today, there is this man, Salman Khan, who is a phenomenon and he is at the peak of his game...if I don't match up to the standards of what people are expecting, people will ask why is he working with these young boys?"

But as he kicks back with his standard cup of green tea, or heads out to shoot some ball, or into a script session for his next there's no sign of nerves about his next step. Ali Abbas Zafar's Bollywood game is strong. He just has to keep doing it.

Courtesy _ http://www.ndtv.com      

Vishwa Sahni’s Digits in the Digital Era art show inauguration at Artist Centre, Kala Ghoda

Lesle Lewis, Vishwa Sahni and Soma Ghosh at Vishwa Sahni's exhibition showcasing hands at Artists' Centre Gallery, Kala Ghoda

Madhusudan Kumar, Sonalli Iynegar, Gautam Mukherjee, Vishnu Sonawane, Mudasir Ali, Vishwa Sahni, Sirf Sona, Sirf Kash, Lesle Lewis, Soma Ghosh & Kiran Chopra at Vishwa Sahni's art show at Artists' Centre Gallery, Kala Ghoda

Veteran artist Vishwa Sahni used the humble ballpoint pen as his instrument, artist Vishwa Sahni brings to the world a story that unfolds through hands and digits… love, faith, trust, compassion, togetherness and above it all, humanity…

Musical genius Lesle Lewis inaugurated veteran artist Vishwa Sahni’s Digits in the Digital Era art show at Artist Centre, Kala Ghoda. Classical singer Soma Ghosh, singer Mudasir Ali, Sirf Kash, Sirf Sona, writer-director Anusha Srinivasan Iyer and artists like Prithvi Soni, Madhusudan Kumar, Kiran Chopra, Sonalli Iyengar, Vishnu Sonawane, Gautam Mukherjee among others graced the event.

"To me, hands are the mirror of our soul," says Vishwa. "They have a language of their own. And no matter, how much we observe or speak; it is the humble hand that needs to do the deed."

Mother Teresa, Amritananda Mai, an infant held by by a hand that rocks him, the hand that gives shape to turn a lump of clay into a beautiful pot, a hand that spells hope, a hand that awaits with hope, the hands that rise to ring the temple bell... Vishwa Sahni's hands don't just speak -- they scream with their silence.

The unmisseable exhibition of the unique ballpoint works by the veteran artist is on at Artist’s Centre, Kala Ghoda from Oct 3-9.

Weight and watch this Vidhi Kasliwal film!

Vidhi Kasliwal, Sachin Kundalkar, Sai Tamhankar  and Priya Bapat

When Sachin Kundalkar came to producer Vidhi Kasliwal with a  Vazandaar concept, she was game. Only thing is she wanted the story to be set in a younger age bracket. The director agreed, and seeds of Vazandaar, the Marathi film were sown. Today, as Vazandaar is set for a Nov 11 release, producer Vidhi Kasliwal is elated.

“The idea was to keep the film as real as possible, with the actresses putting on and losing weight in real as well as reel life. I was worried that no top actresses would agree to it.  But Sachin was sure and rightly so!”  Both Sai Tamhankar  and Priya Bapat agreed instantly. “The only thing was that both the actresses loved the opposite roles. The actresses liked the other characters, and got cast in the role of their choice.”

Vazandaar is a simple story on how we should love ourselves and look beyond our body image because self image is bigger than body image. “You have to look beautiful to yourself and accept yourself as you are. This film is bigger than just a film,” elaborates Vidhi who feels that though the protagonists are women, the film has universal appeal.

“Self image or body image is gender-blind. Men have equally had issues with their body... either receding hairline or shoulders are not that broad or not tall enough... the list could go on” Kundalkar, avers Vidhi, understands women psyche really well. She cites the references of Aiyya and Happy Journey. “He is a very sensitive person, attuned to feelings. That makes a very big difference.”

Vazandaar is about the friendship of two girls who are from different backgrounds, and how both of them help each other out. Their weighty issue almost costs them their friendship. how, both the women work to restore the friendship and keep that bond and girl power alive, forms the crux of the story.

NEZ Global Icon Award for Bappi Lahiri

Actress Rokeya Prachy, Bappi Lahiri, Director Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar & Producer Rita Jhawar at the opening ceremony of NEZ International Film Fest where Bappi da received the Global Icon Award at iLead Campus 

Bappi Lahiri and Director Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar share a moment at the opening ceremony of NEZ International Film Fest where Bappi da received the Global Icon Award at iLead Campus

Four and half decades in the industry and yet rediscovering himself… fresh with every attempt... From Zeenat Aman to Parveen Babi to Vidya Balan… they all go Ooh la la over Bappi Lahiri... And now, Kolkata once again lauded its musical genius son Bappi Lahiri by bestowing on the prestigious NEZ Global Icon Award at the NEZ International Film Festival. Bappi da received the award in the hands of award-winning filmmaker Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar, Producer Rita Jhawar and actress Rokeya Prachy from Bangladesh. 

Enthused Bappi Lahiri, "I have won accolades from around the globe but to be here in my own city Kolkata and to be appreciated and honoured here is a different feeling altogether. I am overjoyed to have received the NEZ Global Icon Award today. I have been associated with filmmaker Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar for a while now and I am really looking forward to work with him in future."

"Bappi da has composed over 5000 songs in over 600 films in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Odia,Bhojpui, Assamese. He is also the Guinness Book of Records holder for recording over 180 songs for 33 films in 1986, a record he has since beaten many times over. And he is also a prominent face in Hollywood making India proud there… Therefore we thought there be could no one better than Bappi da for the Global Icon Award," averred filmmaker Sudeeep Ranjan Sarkar who is also the Director at NEZ International Film Festival.

JAS Motion Pictures’ auspicious launch on Ganesh Chaturthi

Jeetu Shankar with Nasirr Khan at the launch of JAS Motion Pictures on Ganesh Chaturthi 

Jeetu Shankar, Somji R Shastri, Punit Chopra, Arvind Agarwal, Manish Begrajka and Bhadra Kanaiya at the launch of JAS Motion Pictures on Ganesh Chaturthi


Ganesh Chaturthi marked the logo launch of JAS Motion Pictures, an interesting venture to promote new talent alongside veterans. The brainchild of famous Tabla exponent Jeetu Shankar, Arvind Agarwal, Somji R Shastri, Marques Xavier, Manish Begrajka, Bhadra Kanaiya & Puneet Chopra, JAS Motion Pictures aims to promote new talent in music, acting and all creative aspects and also JAS Motion Pictures will be venturing into TV serials.

The logo launch was attended by veteran music-makers of the likes of Virendra Shankar Raju Shankar, Deepak Pandit, Ram Shankar, Pradeep Pandit, Sarangi Nawaz Sabir Khan, Sanjay Vidyarthi, Surinder Khan, Kertikeya Tiwari, singers Sujata Trivedi, Aishwarya Majmudar, Sukriti Kakkar and Prakriti Kakkar, actor Nasirr Khan, comedian Shakeel Siddiqui among others. Performances began to herald Lord Ganesha post the launch and went on till wee hours of the morning.

The first offering from JAS Motion Pictures will be with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan on the vocals, set to tune by Piyush Shankar and Rishabh Shankar both of whom are young talented artists.

Post this, five films will be announced by Ravi Rai, Nasirr Khan, Shivam Nair and Marques Xavier. Albums by new singers will follow. Carnival Cinemas will also be a part of the venture.

OZVAGANZA MELBOURNE OFF TO A GREAT START

Sonalika Pradhan, Rajpal Yadav and Vishwajeet Pradhan at Ozvaganza Melbourne party at Magazine, Bandra

Vishwajeet Pradhan, Sohail Khan and Sonalika Pradhan

Chinagate Group's Magazine was abuzz with masti, music, mazaa and  Ozvaganza Melbourne, a  Meilleur Events presentation. The hoi polloi of Mumbai was naturally there with actor Vishwajeet and wife Sonalika Pradhan, their Australian associates Eshwar Lakhawat and Raj Chopra, Smita Thackeray, Sohail Khan, Rajpal Yadav, Ruhan Mahendra Kapoor, Krishna Tamang, Vinod Kambli, Rohit Verma, Asif Bhamla, Ram Kadam, Archana Kochhar, Alexx O’Nell, Lesle Lewis, Madhushree, Mudasir Ali, Kavitta Verma, Eijaz Khan, Brinda Parekh, DJ Beyond 120, Allwyn Rodrigues, Purva Rana, Rehan Shah, Priyanka Shah among others.

Ozvaganza Melbourne, the brainchild of Sonalika and Vishwajeet Pradhan, will see Preity Zinta, Abhay Deol, world-famous DJs , Brazilian dance troupe, singers and performers among others swaying to Bollywood beats in Melbourne. The event also spells the confluence of leading designers from India, Pakistan, UAE, Sri Lanka and Australia, and is in collaboration with Smita Thackeray’s Mukkti Foundation.

Says Vishwajeet Pradhan, “Ozvaganza Melbourne aims to bring together the best of South Asia and Australia, and strengthening the India-Australia intercultural relationship and our motto of empowering women.”

Adds Smita Thackeray, “We for India is the new social initiative started by my NGO, Mukkti Foundation. I believe that the only way to empower women is by developing their skill sets, making them financially independent and capable of standing on their feet, to walk tall in society and with their heads held high. For this endeavour, we are proud to associate with Ozvaganza Melbourne, to take our cause further.”

Ozvaganza is powered by 90bids Official Online Portal, Exhibit Official Tech Magazine and managed by 3^rd Rock Entertainment.

Buddhism goes the global way with Umformung – The Transformation

K K Goswami, Bappi Lahiri,Mudasir Ali,Dillzan Wadia, producers Saharsh Khaitan & Rita Jhawar, Aamir Dalvi, director Sudeep Rajan Sarkar and Sushil Bhosale at the Umformung poster and book launch even

Not long ago, criminal psychologist-filmmaker Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar’s Hindi feature film Umformung – The Transformation made news when monks and sex workers came together under one roof at Kolkata to watch the film. Now, Mumbai witnessed a celeb-studded Poster Launch of the film that speaks of equality among all of God’s creations. Besides Director Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar and Producers Rita Jhawar and Saharsh Khaitan, music director Sanjib Sarkar, actors Sushil Bhosale, Neha Kapoor, Parijat Chakraborty, Yogesh Anand of Reincarnation India, present at the do at Bora Bora Club in Andheri West were chief guest Bappi Lahiri, and celebs Shaleen Bhanot, Mudasir Ali, Gaurav Chopra, Aamir Dalvi, K K Goswami, among others.

The story of intense dimensions, two parallel stories juxtaposed in one world Umformung – The Transformation is about a Buddhistmonk in search of the ultimate truth on one hand, and a ruthless entrepreneur who knows that power is the ultimate truth on the other.

Languid and unbiased, the film unfolds as Karma unfolds. The journey of the monk from the idyllic monastery set in the mountains to prostitutes at a city brothel and his movement into the path of self-actualisation, alongside the transformation of the builder when life comes half way to meet her on her path of self-destruction,  forms the crux of Umformung – The Transformation.

                               

And that is all that Dr. Sudeep Ranjan Sarkar set to achieve  along with social entrepreneurs Rita Jhawar and Saharsh Khaitan, when he made his maiden film based on Buddhist principles. Umformung – The Transformation, interestingly,  the film is the winner of Best Story – Indian Cine Film Festival, Best Background Score – Noida International Film Festival, Best Director and Best Background Music –10^th Free Spirit Festival, Merit for Newcomer Director – World Film Award, and Merit for International Film – World Film Award, Jakarta, Best Background Score – 5^th Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival,   Official Selection – 4th Washington DC South Asian Film Festival, Maverik Movie Awards, Khajuraho International Film Festival, Miami Independent Film Festival among others. Umformung – The Transformation is distributed by Yogesh Anand Reincarnation India.

Unfazed by the accolades and worldwide acclaim, Sarkar is humble.  “Umformung – The Transformation isn’t just a film for me. It is a marriage of poetry, philosophy of life and a painting of moving images,” confesses the director, adding that the diverseness of the audiences of  the screening was a simple way to illustrate the open arms of Gautam Buddha and his tenets.

“Guided by Senior Rimpoche from McLeodgunj, Himachal Pradesh from His Holiness Dalai Lama’s temple, the film looks at Buddhism as a way of life and how detachment is the ultimate truth. A sex worker in that sense is no different from any of us in the so called respectable society, and by her straightforwardness and honest approach to life, is actually an inspiration to a monk to find Nirvana!”

Now that is one concept we are looking forward to see on celluloid!