The Dirty Picture Review

Cast: Vidya Balan, Naseeruddin Shah, Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Rajesh sharma

Producer: Ekta Kapoor

Director: Milan Luthria

Rating ***1/2

First: a disclaimer. If cheesy one-liners, ample cleavage displays and orgasms - fake or otherwise - make you uncomfortable then stay away from this film.

‘The Dirty Picture’ not only thrives on these traits but literally celebrates them like never before in its 144 minutes of unabashed, in-your-face entertainment, entertainment and entertainment.

Undoubtedly, it is Vidya’s one of the finest outings in which she portrays the role of a troubled item queen Silk, 'inspired' from the real-life story of Silk Smitha.

Here’s a sneek peak into her tragic tale:

Reshma (Vidya) is a non-conformist who leaves her home to become a star in the big bad world of Tollywood. She has no qualms about her sexuality. She is brazen enought to put her neighbours to sleep with her fake moans. She is well aware that everything comes at a price, especially the much-vaunted fame.

After a series of rejections at the hands of casting directors, she finally lands up a solo-dance number but the ‘artistic’ director of the film Abraham (Emraan Hashmi) robs her off that big-ticket to silver screen. Heartbroken, she is ready to go back to her sleepy village, when the producer (Rajesh Sharma) restores her risqué jig in the film to pep up the tepid collections and sets box-office on fire.

The world wakes up to Silk and now no film is complete without her ‘dirty’ antics. Be it Suryakant (Naseeruddin Shah) her childhood crush and now aging superstar or millions of wolf-whistling frontbenchers, no one seems to keep their eyes, minds or hands off Silk.

She relishes in every bit of attention coming her way and treats every strand of criticism with utter disdain. Magazines and gossipmongers damn her as the scum of this planet but Silk won’t budge. She belittles them on their own turf with her raw charm.

But as they say, success without honour is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good. And Silk learns this bitter truth the hard way.

Though people lap up her every act yet she remains their dirty secret only, stashed somewhere in their closets, baths or dark bedrooms not deemed worthy of their company. She chooses not to pay attention but reality comes to bite her at last when her own mother spurns her and slams the door on her face. And so does rest of the world, one day.

Series of failed love/lust affairs with Surya and his younger brother Ramakant (Tusshar) leave her bitter and Silk smashes all the remaining pretence of decency and decorum in public as well. In her last ditch effort to salvage her pride Silk takes on her nemesis, Abraham, in a triple-role extravaganza but eventhat turns out to be a flameout and she sinks further into the abyss of depression.

The two hardest things to handle in life are failure and success and Silk stands miserable and exposed on both counts. Ironically, Abraham - the man who hated her the most, is now the only solace in her troubled life. But even his affection is too little too late to resuscitate her decrepit soul...

With ‘The Dirty Picture’ director, Milan Luthria tries to explore the dirty underbelly of the Indian cinema and excavates a gem in the form of Vidya Balan. You can’t help but appreciate the effort she puts in to make her Silk look authentic.

In the age where majority of leading ladies won’t dare to look ugly or overweight, Vidya carries her ample love-handles and haggard looks with aplomb. It’s the role which is bound to earn her some of the most prestigious awards in town

Here are a few things you’ll like about the film, apart from Vidya:

A taut first-half replete with Rajat Arora’s witty and at-time borderline one-liners. Naseer Saab’s slithery lothario Surya and Emran Hashmi’s understated yet powerful Abraham.

What you may not like is the dragging second-half where the film seems to run out of steam. Unlike the situational ‘Ooh La La’, both the songs in the second half seem forced. Silk’s fall from the grace looks a bit too simplistic as well, though Milan does redeem himself in the climax as she meets her tragic end.

All in all, ‘The Dirty Picture’ may not be your perfect family outing but it sure is the ‘Silk’ route you must take this weekend.

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Kareena steps out in the 'nude'

Kareena Kapoor has been stepping a lot in the 'nude' of late. I mean her nude footwear.

Looks like Bebo's footwear closet is dominated by the neutral shade that she can carry off with almost any outfit.

She definitely has an impressive collection of nude heels which include straps with baubles and even ankle straps to jazz them up.

We like!

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'Violent' Pooja Missra to re-enter Bigg Boss as Symonds' translator

After being thrown out of "Bigg Boss 5" for her aggressive behaviour, VJ Pooja Missra is now set to re-enter the reality show albeit as a translator for Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds, who stepped into the house in Karjat Wednesday.

"Pooja will enter the 'Bigg Boss 5' house today (Wednesday). She will enter as a translator for Andrew Symonds and she will help him in communicating with other participants as he doesn't know Hindi.

She will not be there as a part of the game and will leave once Symonds is evicted from the show," a source from channel Colors confirmed with.

Pooja became a talked about contestant during her stay on the show, as she was extremely argumentative and her reactions were unpredictable.

She picked up fights with almost everyone and retaliated violently towards co-participant Siddharth Bhardwaj due to which she was asked to leave the house.

When Pooja left the show, she told she felt victimised. Now one has to wait and watch what new arguments will she ignite after her re-entry.

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Are Veena Malik and Ashmit Patel staying together?

Mumbai: Pakistani actress Veena Malik, who has sued popular Indian men's magazine FHM for millions of dollars, has stated her address as that of model and actor Ashmit Patel's residence in Bandra leading to speculations that she is living with him.

Interestingly, her legal notice states that she is residing in Bandra and the address is the same as that of Ashmit Patel's house. Also, her nude snapshots did the rounds around the same time as her photo shoot for her new reality show's launch. Controversy and publicity go hand-in-hand.

Says a source, "Veena has been staying in a Bandra (house) which belongs to Ashmit. It is clear that he has been a great source of support to her in every move she has made in India."

Ever since Ashmit and Veena bonded in a reality show in which they appeared as lovebirds and continued their relationship even after the show, there has been a great deal of speculation about them.

Though the starlet has maintained that he was special, she has now agreed to be part of a reality show to find a prospective hubby a show in which the participants don't actually tie the knot.

Adds the source, "Whether she really marries or not is to be seen. But in the past, the Rakhi Sawant and Ratan Rajput-marriage on the show ended up only as an engagement meant to be broken."

While the mag front, Veena maintains in her legal notice that there were no nude photographs taken nor was there any video shots taken of her in the nude. However, the magazine folk state that they have video evidence of the shoot.

Veena remained unavailable for comment.

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EXPLOSIVE! Veena Malik's rejected cover

Veena Malik has found herself in the eye of a storm with the FHM cover page. Another rejected version of the magazine cover has surfaced that could have landed the Pakistani actress, model and reality TV star in more trouble.
Kabeer Sharma, the Editor of FHM tells International Business Times, "We had two options for the shoot. The first was the one that appears on the FHM cover of December. The other, where Veena poses nude with a grenade in between her teeth, was deemed slightly explosive, so we rejected it."

“We had approached Veena directly instead of going through her publicists and most of the correspondence was done via emails. While shooting for the photo-op Veena seemed very happy and comfortable. In fact, we shoot with celebs regularly and I must say she was one of the celebs who have been easier to shoot with," said Sharma, who was present at the shoot," he tells the paper.

 

“She was very comfortable with her sexuality. Every detail including the ISI tattoo concept had been clarified to her and we went ahead with the shoot only after she okayed it. The idea to have ISI written on her arm was mine, and it was Veena's idea to have it in block letters,” Sharma told the daily.

Sharma insists they don't need to resort to controversy by morphing the pic. He told the daily,  "At FHM, the biggest lifestyle magazine here, we do not need to resort to controversy… For us, it is another beautiful cover," clarified Sharma, when talking about the accusations of the shoot being a publicity stunt."

Veena Malik’s father, however, has disowned her and demanded that she be punished, because of her nude photo. Veena Malik has filed a defamation suit against FHM, seeking Rs 100 million ($2 million).

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Anil Kapoor gets emotional about Tom Cruise

Anil and Tom took their bonding further at today’s 'MI4' press conference in Dubai

Tom Cruise and Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor and Tom Cruise are in Dubai today (December 7) for the world premiere of their new movie 'Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol', and at a press conference at Burj Khalifa this morning, it was plain to see that the friendship between the stars is getting stronger. In fact, Anil Kapoor got so emotional describing the experience of working with Tom Cruise that he was almost close to tears!

The Bollywood star told Masala.com, “It was the greatest joy to work on the film with Tom Cruise. They’ve been the best days of my life and I will cherish those moments for the rest of my life. I mean that.”

Awww! Anil’s certainly made a connection there, and the outpouring in Dubai today follows the sentiment that he displayed while Tom was in India to promote Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol earlier this week. Masala.com has been reporting on how Anil and his family - wife Sunita and daughters Sonam and Rhea – played hosts to Tom on his trip to India. Tom and Anil seemed practically joined at the hip as they visited the Taj Mahal in Agra,partied with Bollywood A-listers and rocked at the film’s Mumbai premiere.

Anil even got Tom to say his own trademark Bollywood phrase ‘Jhakaas’ at the Mumbai premiere of 'Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol'!

A significant part of 'Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol' is set in India, but those scenes were actually shot in other locations, including the new Zabeel Saray hotel in Dubai. At the 'MI4' press conference in Dubai, we asked director Brad Bird why they hadn’t filmed in India, and here’s what he told us. “Our very talented production designer found Zabeel Saray (in Dubai) even though it was not quite open yet. Basically, any move in a film takes a big financial toll. So if you can find a location that works well and is closer, it’s a bonus.”

Tom Cruise added, “We were disappointed as we always want to film in the actual places that we feature, but that’s the nature of films.”

We had to ask Tom Cruise what it was like shooting those amazing scenes for the film at the Burj Khalifa, where he abseils off the world’s tallest building. The superstar revealed, “The first couple of times I just kept slamming into the building - it was difficult to work out how to avoid hitting the building head-first.”

Tom also showed off his bravery, with a cheeky sense of humour. “I am not afraid of heights - I am afraid of falling!” he joked.

Tom put his faith in preparation more than hope though. “I trained for months, and I had the team build model sections of Burj Khalifa, which I climbed for hours and I had the temperature of the building tested to see if it was going to burn my skin.”

He continued, “The difficulty was getting the shot for Brad (director) – his shots are so beautiful, so that was the hard part, to keep it elegant. If I turned too quickly I went headfirst into the building. I knew people were worried but I know how good my team is and I knew was safe.”

How did Tom’s wife Katie and daughter Suri handle him doing those super-scary stunts? Well, it wasn’t all pretty. Tom said, “Katie knows I like climbing and hiking and climbing and riding motorcycvles. She is so supportive and helpful. I couldn’t do what I do without her.”

But Brad Bird interjected, “Katie and Suri came in when we were filming Tom falling from the building. They were there for two takes and then Katie was like, ‘Okay, we’re done. We’re going shopping.’ It is too upsetting. It really is nerve-racking to watch.”

All of the UAE will be waiting for the experience though. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol has its world premiere in Dubai tonight, and Tom Cruise will be on the red carpet starting 5pm. For details on the opening night gala, visitwww.dubaifilmfest.com

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Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Gupta at war

Dutt may be the cause for stars refusing to act in ‘Shootout at Wadala’.

Gupta and Dutt - friends or foes?

Rumour has it that Sanjay Dutt used his influences to make sure that certain stars were not a part of Sanjay Gupta’s film, ‘Shootout at Wadala’. And now it seems that he is trying to make sure, apparently, that Vivek Oberoi does the same.

Dutt’s animosity seems to date back to a TV interview where Gupta said that he would never work with Dutt again. This was obviously not taken too well especially since Dutt and Gupta used to be good friends. Gupta refuses to talk about this and does not want to be questioned anymore.

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Ash back to work already?

Allegedly motherhood hasn’t stopped superwoman Ash from signing new films

Rumour has it Ash has already signed a couple of films

Motherhood spells doom for any woman; not for Mrs Bachchan supposedly! Just weeks after giving birth to a baby girl, the 38 year old beauty is already tired of resting at home. So, apparently, when her director friend, Sanjay Leela Bhansali paid her a visit to discuss a movie, Ash was overwhelmed with joy and she immediately agreed to start working on a film with him. Sources reveal that the yummy mummy has one other project in the works, namely, Raj Kumar Santoshi’s ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’ co-starring with her better half, Abhishek Bachchan. If rumours are to be believed then Ash is already in a fit to shed her pregnancy weight and look her best in her upcoming movies.

We aren’t surprised at all that the lady is ready to get back to business already. After all, she didn’t let marriage (which often spells doom for any actress’ career) stop her from being one of he highest paid actresses in Bollywood. Just a few months after her marriage she started working on her Hollywood Project ‘Pink Panther 2’ and ‘Enthiran/Robot’; the latter went on to become an enormous hit at the box office. 2010 became a whirlwind year for the former Miss World with back-to-back releases: Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan,’ Sci Film ‘Enthiran/ Robot,’ the Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Action Replayy’ and finally the critically acclaimed film ‘Guzaarish,’ in which she played a nurse to a quadriplegic, Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan).
Yes, Ash is unstoppable and we are more than impressed indeed! Here’s wishing her luck and a ton of hits.

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Abhishek Stands Up For Dhanush

The ‘Kolaveri Di’ singer, Dhanush, seems to be getting the short end of the stick.

Abhishek Bachchan takes up for Dhanush

Amitabh Bachchan and Rajinikanth are really good buddies and like the seniors in their families, Abhishek and Dhanush have also developed a very strong bond. Abhishek is rather upset that Dhanush’s success is just being associated with the hit song, ‘Kolaveri Di’! He feels that he has always been a sensational actor and singer from Chennai and has done some amazing work but is unfortunately only being recognized for this song’s success.

Having said that, ‘Kolaveri Di’ has received over 17 million hits on Youtube and Abhishek thinks it is one of the greatest songs of the year! He praised his dear friend Dhanush and his wife Aishwarya, on making this song as well as music director, Anirudh.

Let’s hope that Dhanush gets the recognition he deserves for all his work from now on!

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Surrogacy and Bollywood

Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao's baby boy through surrogacy has brought the procedure into public focus. A look at how Bollywood tackled surrogacy

Adoption and surrogate motherhood have been a part of Indian cinema and Bollywood for as long as we can remember. Off late, there has been a spate of adoptions in the industry.

Besides Sushmita Sen who adopted a second girl-child, there are directors like Nikhil Advani, Dibakar Bannerjee and Kunal Kohli who have brought home a nanhi pari and are in a state of blessed bliss ever since.

Aamir's decorous declaration of his surrogate parenthood has imbued an all-new dimension to the concept of non-traditional motherhood.

A friend of the couple said on condition of anonymity, "None of us knew about this beautiful development in Aamir and Kiran's life.

The grace and joy with which he has shared the news with everyone is something only Aamir can manage. And by adopting surrogacy he has actually given legitimacy to an unconventional route to pregnancy."

Subject

One hears Aamir and Kiran intend to celebrate the new arrival in their family. At the moment, the film industry is still absorbing the gravity of the announcement, trying to come to terms with it.

One top leading man was honest enough to admit sheepishly, "Mujhe to yeh bhi nahin maloom surrogacy kya hota hai.

(I do not know what is surrogacy). Thanks to Aamir, I found out. But I still don't understand what it entails." The best comment came from a producer who said wryly, "Trust Aamir to push the envelope when it comes to production of any kind."

Ignorance

Ignorance on the subject of surrogacy comes as a surprise. Bollywood and surrogacy have shared a long kinship. Way back in 1983 the underrated director Lekh Tandon made Doosri Dulhan.

This was a film about a childless couple played by Victor Bannerjee and Sharmila Tagore who bring home a prostitute played with blizzard like bravura by Shabana Azmi, to bear them a child.

The film claimed its origins in a play by Anil Barve. Shabana Azmi who played the surrogate mother in Doosri Dulhan, says, "The movie was made in 1982 way ahead of its time. I did a lot of research on the character who was picked up from Kamathipura, but didn't do research on surrogacy.

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Katrina looks so beautiful when she is sleeping: Anushka Sharma

Anushka Sharma has changed her profession…she is no longer the wedding planner from Band Baaja Baaraat, but a con woman all set to floor Ranveer Singh in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl. Sreya Basu in conversation with the actor in Mumbai days before the film’s release

Your film Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl releases this Friday. Is there too much pressure?
The film is releasing Dec 9…so things are hotting up for sure.

It’s all happening…as we are getting closer, the intensity is increasing…the pressure is there, but the excitement is higher. And let’s just wait and watch…fingers crossed.

This is the second time you are pairing up with Ranveer Singh post Band Baaja Baaraat success. Do you think you can cope up with people’s expectation from your pairing with Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl?
We have shot Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl with as much dedication as we did Band Baaja Baaraat, we promoted the film good…as much as we did for Band Baaja Baaraat and all our films.

I think what happens before a film releases is exactly the same for every film…you work that hard.

You don’t say before Band Baaja Baaraat there was not so much pressure, but now let’s work hard. It doesn’t work that way. But what happens post the film’s release, is left to the people who decide the verdict. We are hoping that the verdict will be a positive one.

What effect did Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl have on your on-screen relationship with Ranveer? 
We have become a lot more comfortable with each other. Ranveer and I are very different actors where the approach to scenes is concerned.

In our first film together (Band Baaja Baaraat), we could not adapt ourselves with each other’s approach to acting.

And it would trouble us so much…I used to wonder: What the hell is he doing? And he used to think: What the hell is she doing? We just could not get over that.

He used to do rehearsals and kapal bharti before takes, while I don’t rehearse much…I am a more spontaneous actor. But with this film (Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl), we have gained a lot more respect for each other. We worked better as a team in this film than Band Baaja Baaraat.

What does Ranveer has to say about your equation with him? 
That you have to ask him. But he keeps saying that he doesn’t know much about equations as he kept failing in chemistry throughout his life.

And when I came in his life, he passed with flying colours. That’s Ricky Bahl for you ladies…pakhandi. (Laughs)

You are doing a film (Matru Ki Biwi Ka Mann Dola) with Vishal Bhardwaj? 
Yes, I am going to do Vishal Bhardwaj-ji’s next film and I am really excited about it because he is one director I always wanted to work with.

I always admire his work, the way he thinks and the way he portrays his thinking on cinema.

You are also going to work with Katrina Kaif in Yash Chopra’s directorial next. Now do we expect some cat fights since things are generally not very smooth when two pretty girls work together?
I was watching Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara sometime back, and there’s a scene where she (Katrina) is sleeping…and the camera goes over her face…and I exclaimed: Wow…she looks so beautiful when she is sleeping.

Katrina is stunningly beautiful and more than that she has managed to make a place in everybody’s heart all over the country. And people love her… children, old people…all adore Katrina Kaif.

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Veena Malik disowned by father after nude photo scandal

Veena Malik

LONDON: Pakistani actress and model Veena Malik's father has disowned her and demanded that she be punished, after nude photos of her appeared on the cover of a men's magazine.

Malik has denied modeling for the magazineFHM and has insisted that the pictures were fake.

But her father Malik Mohammad Aslam has made it clear in an emotional outburst that he is not impressed with the situation.

He has also demanded that she make a promise not to visit India once the scandal is over.

"I have disowned her," the Mirror quoted him as saying.

"I have severed all ties with her and I don't want her to have any share in whatever meagre assets I have until she is cleared of the controversy and pledges not to visit India again," he said.

He went on to suggest that he hoped his daughter would be punished if found guilty of stripping off for the racy images "so that no other woman would think of doing such thing".

"I can ignore if she disobeys me but I cannot tolerate anything against my country and my faith," he added.

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Eros International joins hands with Dharma to release AGNEEPATH internationally

Eros International Media Ltd (EIML), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, has announced that it shall be releasing Dharma Productions'AGNEEPATH, one of the most eagerly awaited releases in the New Year in the international markets on January 26, 2012.

Announcing the deal, Pranab Kapadia, President - Marketing & Distribution, Eros International plc said, "AGNEEPATH marks the first of the big ticket releases next year and Eros is excited about associating with Dharma Productions to present this thrilling action film on a global platform. Audiences are looking forward to Hrithik's portrayal of the legendary Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, made famous by Amitabh Bachchan while Sanjay Dutt's villainous look has stirred up much curiosity. The promos have evoked very good reactions and we are anticipating a very encouraging response to the film."

CHECK OUT: AGNEEPATH Movie Preview

Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions added, "We are delighted that Dharma Productions is collaborating with a leading studio like Eros. We have always been appreciative of Eros' endeavour in the world of commercial cinema and we hope this coming together for the first time helps both of us to take a giant leap in the coming years!"

AGNEEPATH directed by Karan Malhotra is homage to the cult 1990 classic directed by the late Mukul S Anand. The action drama stars Hrithik Roshan playing the role of Vijay Dinanath Chauhan originally played by Amitabh Bachchan. The film also starsPriyanka Chopra, Sanjay Dutt as the menacing 'Kancha Cheena' and Rishi Kapoor who also essays an antagonist in the film.

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Ranveer - The Ladies' Man

Ranveer plays a hot conman who dupes ladies in his new movie

Ranveer and Anushka co-star in 'Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl'

Actor Ranveer Singh hopes he can recreate the magic of 'Band Baaja Baraat' with co-star Anushka Sharma in their film, ‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl.’ The romcom is the latest produce from Yash Raj Films and is loosely based on the Hollywood movie ‘John Tucker Must Die.'

Ranveer plays a suave seducer who gets women to fall head over heels in love with him as a means to get to their money. The victims in his quest for money are actress Aditi Sharma ('Mausa'm), Asamese model turned actress, Dipannita Sharma and Priyanka Chopra's cousin, Parineeti Chopra.

We are excited to see if the on-screen chemistry between Ranveer and Anushka is as sizzling as it was in Maneesh Sharma’s ‘Band Baaja Baaraat’ along with Pareeniti Chopra's acting chops. If she has Priyanka's genes, then we really have a star worth watching out for!

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