Diwali will light up box-office (Bollywood)

MUMBAI :: Bollywood is pinning its hopes on three new films that opened in cinemas on Friday to rev up a lacklustre box-office ahead of the festive Diwali season.

The industry, the world's largest by ticket sales, is waiting eagerly to see if "Blue", "All the Best" and "Main Aur Mrs Khanna" can reduce losses in a year most big productions have bitten the dust and only a few ventures have tasted success.

"All three are big films, with big-ticket stars and the kind of films that will go well with audiences," says Vajir Singh, an editor at 'Box Office India', a trade magazine.

Weeks of publicity have built up huge anticipation for the three films opening a day before Diwali, Bollywood's most important moviegoing season coinciding with the Hindu festival of lights.

"People are in a festive mood, they want to go out and have a good time and be entertained, so Diwali is a great time to release your film," said actor Ajay Devgn, whose home production "All the Best" hit cinemas on Friday.

Filmmakers are hoping the festive season, when most big-ticket films are released, would help turn around Bollywood's fortunes in one of its worst years in recent times.

Earlier this year, the Mumbai film industry was also hit by an impasse between producers and multiplexes that stalled new releases for six weeks.

"The strike has meant that there has been a huge pile-up of films in the latter half of the year," Singh said.

"This has been a bad year for Bollywood, no doubt about it. Hopefully, we should have some good news."

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Nude-photo scandal determined Madonna to succeed

'Queen of Pop' Madonna has revealed that the nude photo scandal in the early stages of her career made her determined to succeed.

The 'Material Girl' hitmaker's raunchy fame skyrocketed when the photos showing her in the buff surfaced in Playboy and Penthouse magazines in 1985.

The 51-year-old star admits she was so outraged at criticism of the photos, she developed a steely attitude that helped her survive in the music industry, reported Rolling Stone magazine.

"That was the first time I was aware of speaking with my attitude. 'You're trying to put me down because of this?' I (wasn't) going to let public opinion dictate my own feelings about myself. I (wasn't) going to apologise for anything I've done," said Madonna.

Industry experts had feared back then that the scandal would end the singer's career, but she turned it to her advantage and became one of the most famous stars in the world.

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Blue (2009)

Bollywood goes underwater and comes up a winner. Blue is fresh and fulsome, boasting of some great deep sea shots ( by Pete Zuccarini, cinematographer, Pirates of the Caribbean fame), stunning above sea level action sequences, a crackling background music score and sound design by India's two Oscar winners (AR Rahman and Resul Pookutty), a short and engaging reel length that keeps the proceedings pithy, two hot girls (Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif too in a glam guest role) and a whole lot of guy stuff....Like, bare-bodied Akshay swimming with the sharks and stingrays, lean and mean Zayed blasting away on designer bikes, Sanjay Dutt, sadly with a paunch, sparring with Akshay in the boxing ring and the threesome donning their diving gear to discover a hidden treasure in picture postcard Bahamas.

All this, when they are not pumping up the adrenalin with some rumbustious chiggy wiggy with Kylie Minouge who gets to shake a leg to the quintessential bhangra beat too, with our desi Singh is King.

Yes, Blue, touted as Bollywood's most expensive film (Rs 100 crore) dazzles with style more than substance. More than the storyline, it is the action sequences, the chases, the marine splendour and the opulent canvas of the film that gives you bang for your buck. Of course, you do wish the sharks were meaner, the treasure hunt more perilous, the danger more palpable instead of a climax that wraps up tamely. But the underwater ease with which the trio discovers the sunken loot is compensated with some stunning biker mayhem, atop trains, forests and the alleys of Bangkok and the Bahamas. Add to this, some neatly choreographed song-dance sequences, coupled with moodswings between dosti and dushmani amongst the main protagonists and you have a film that keeps the popcorn crunchy till curtain call.

Most of the drama springs from the unpredictable friendship between fisherman Akshay Kumar and his employee Sanjay Dutt who happens to be the best diver in the Bahamas. Is Akshay truly his buddy or does he need his diving skills to unearth a treasure that lies hidden in Lady in Blue, a British ship that sank in 1949 enroute to India? The entire first half is spent by Akshay in cajoling a reluctant Sanjay Dutt to jump into the ocean and retrieve the treasure. But Dutt has a sordid past which precludes him from taking the big leap, until it becomes imperative to do so...He must fish out the moolah to save his errant kid brother, Zayed Khan, from a biker gang that is desperate for its pound of flesh. Needless to say, the happiest person in this troika is Akshay, the archetypal gold digger who believes greed is truly good. Or does he have another motive up his dapper sleeve?

Amongst the lead players, Sanjay looks a bit out of shape, Zayed is fresh and adequate, while Akshay keeps you guessing about his ethical moorings. The girls, Lara and Katrina, sashay down the screen with aplomb, adding the requisite oomph in this high-on-visuals drama. Go, feast your eyes on brawn and cheesecake.

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Nicole Richie secretly weds beau?

American singer-actress Nicole Richie is rumoured to have secretly married beau Joel Madden.

A source close to the couple revealed that they obtained a marriage licence and tied the knot in a secret ceremony Wednesday, reports mirror. In September, Richie gave birth to their second child - a boy named Sparrow. They also have a daughter - Harlow was born in January last year.

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Naomi Watts thinks her children are going to be "f**ked up".

The Hollywood actress - who has sons Alexander, two, and 10-month-old Samuel with actor and director Liev Schreiber - is making the most of her kids' "innocent" years because she thinks they'll be troublesome in the future.

She said: "They're so surprising and endlessly fascinating and soon they're going to have problems. Now they're just innocent little beings, learning and growing, but soon they'll be all f***ed up."

Despite having children of her own, the 41-year-old beauty is still confused as to how babies are made.

She told Britain's Independent newspaper: "I'm a mother and the whole concept is science fiction. It is just bizarre. I still can't believe when I look at my children that they came from one little moment and they're people. They're babies and people and they learn and figure out all these things and you go, 'God, I can't believe it.' "

The blonde beauty also revealed was unsure she wanted children when she first started out as an actress and didn't change her mind until she fell in love with Liev.

She explained: "Certainly, at the beginning, when things were taking off for me in America, I was on the treadmill and I didn't want to have a relationship particularly. I come from a background where work seemed like a good option. But now I've changed a lot. I've slowed down and have a family now. When I met Liev, things changed."

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