‘Diploma in Bollywood acting now from Canada’

A management institute in Canada is reportedly offering Bollywood Acting Course headed by an instructor who claims to have trained the likes of Hrithhik Roshan, Kareena Kapoor, Imran Khan, and Priyanka Chopra.

Canadian Institute of Management and Technology in Mississauga (Ontario) is said to be giving this 16-week course to be taught by a team of “industry professionals”.

With English proficiency as pre-requisite, it will instruct students in subjects such as dance, body language, action, diction and improvisation, memory and voice styling, yoga, etc., costing 9,000 dollars with additional 500 dollars for books.

Graduates will receive Bollywood Acting Diploma.

Acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA), urged that with the increasing prestige of Bollywood worldwide, Bollywood filmmakers should use original Indian themes and stories instead of blatantly copycatting of Hollywood and other foreign cinema.

Imran in love with Shenaz Treasurywala!

Everyone is so tightlipped about the cast of Aamir Khan Productions Delhi Belly that it becomes hard to say whether they’re making a film or designing the blueprint for the national defense.

We all know that the film’s leading man is Aamir’s nephew Imran Khan. Beyond that everyone is silent on the cast, including Imran himself.

When asked about the cast he chuckled, “Sorry I’m not at liberty to talk about the rest of the cast, besides myself.”

Ask him if it’s Lisa Ray who was to earlier play the female lead when Ranbir Kapoor was to play the lead.

“No it isn’t Lisa Ray. Beyond that you won’t get anything out of me,” Imran laughs.

The cloak of secrecy further deepened recently when veejay-turned-part-time-actress Shenaz Treasurywala was mysteriously quoted as saying, “…It’s a fantastic production. And my costar…there is not a single young lady in India who doesn’t believe he’s the most adorable thing around.”

The “fantastic production”, as it turns out, is none other than Delhi Belly. And the “the most adorable thing around” is Imran Khan.

Shenaz, who made her screen debut opposite Shahid Kapoor in Ken Ghosh’s Ishq Vishq, also did a walk-on part in Kunal Kohli’s Hum Tum.

Imran Khan in Kannada super hit remake?

Producer Boney Kapoor’s penchant for picking up South film industry super hits continues with Kannada blockbuster Mungaru Male (2006). Presently Boney is ready with his Hindi remake of Tamil–Telugu mega hit Pokkiri titled Wanted starring Salman Khan. Sources close to Boney reveal to us that he is trying his level best to rope in Imran Khan to play the romantic lead in his Mungaru Male remake with ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan directing it. The film’s rights for remaking it in Tamil-Telugu were sold for Rs. 1.5 crore and Boney seems to have paid around Rs. 3 crore for its Hindi rights.
Our source continues, “Yograj Bhat directed Kannada film Mungaru Male (Monsoon Rain) starring Ganesh, Sanjana Gandhi and noted actor Anant Nag was made at a modest budget of around Rs. 90 lakhs but it went on to do a rip roaring business of more than Rs. 50 crore. In fact it made a National record by running for one full year in a Bangalore PVR multiplex property. Boney apparently has presented these facts and figures and the wonderfully translated script to Imran and now it is all depending upon Imran to take his call. Imran hasn’t done any romantic film for a long time now since he shot for his debut film Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na and Boney is therefore hopeful that Imran may give his nod.”
Interestingly, the Kannada original was shot almost 80 percent in the rains.
So what’s Mungaru Malle all about?
For richie-rich Pritham (Ganesh), it is love at first sight when he spots Nandini (Sanjana) outside a mall. Circumstances conspire to foil his every attempt to meet her till he goes to Madikeri where he meets his love, who alas, is about to be married shortly. Stung by her remarks, Pritham vows to win her heart and succeeds too. When Nandini’s scandalised mom (Padmaja Rao) seeks his help in identifying her daughter’s secret lover, he senses his chance to reveal the truth.

Imran Khan keen to work with Kareena, not Aishwarya

He is the latest heartthrob in tinsel town and there are many actresses who would love to be paired opposite him. But the two-film-old Imran Khan would rather share screen space with Kareena Kapoor than Aishwarya Rai.
“No,” said Imran when asked whether he is keen to work with former beauty queen-turned-actress Aishwarya. “I’m most keen to work with Kareena. Both of us shot for a chat show last week and I had great fun,” Imran told reporters here Thursday.

Dressed in a casual blue T-shirt and a tattered and torn pair of blue jeans, Imran was at his wittiest and generous best at an event to celebrate the success of FM Radio Mirchi’s show “18 Hamesha” along with RJ Stutee.

Imran, who also came here to promote his upcoming film “Luck”, not only hugged young girls but also 50 plus women when they screamed out his name in excitement and cheered every time he flashed a smile for the shutterbugs.

He even sang few lines of the hit song “Kabhi kabhi Aditi…” from his debut film “Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na” and did a jig on the song “Pappu can’t dance…” from the same movie on a special request by his young female fans. He also sang the original song “Jaane tu ya jaane na”.

Though Imran looked little embarrassed due to all the attention he was getting, he loved every bit of his interaction with the fans.

“I always love meeting my audiences and fans face-to-face and I love interacting with them at live events such as these. I feel I make fans for life,” Imran said.

“Luck”, which releases July 24, also stars Imran’s childhood friend Shruthi Haasan who is debuting with the film. Apart from them, the action thriller, directed by Soham Shah of “Kaal” fame, has Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty and Ravi Kissen.

Biharis and Bikini steal Imran’s Luck

It seems nothing is well between Luck director Soham Shah and his hero Imran Khan.

A Bollywood insider reveals, “Apparently both Imran and Soham; earlier had quite a few differences on the sets and Soham had to put his foot down on several occasions to make it clear that he was the boss on the sets. But then as days passed by, things seemed to have sorted out, as the two merrily posed for pictures at a promotional event for the movie recently. But despite that, there’s a complete communication breakdown between the director and his actor.

Our insider elaborates further, “The reason for Imran being miffed on Soham now is because of the promotions of Luck. First it is the Bihari star Ravi Kissen who is hogging all the limelight in the promos and now Shruti Hassan’s bikini act is stealing all the thunder away from Imran, who is left struggling to find space on the billboards with the rest of the cast. It is learnt that Imran is mighty upset with his director and feels that the promotions are damaging his image as a leading hero.”

We just hope things get sorted out between the two as both; Imran after a dud like Kidnap, and Soham after a debut flop like Kaal desperately need a hit.

Imran burnt his lashes, skin while doing ‘Luck’ stunts

From going underwater with sharks to jumping from a helicopter on to a burning train, Imran Khan has done it all in his forthcoming film “Luck”. But he had his share of injuries for showing such daredevilry in the action flick.

“Shooting an action film can lead to plenty of injuries. A muscle pull, certain bruises are quite usual. In ‘Luck’, I sustained an injury while shooting the train scene. When the train was on fire, the flames went up a little too high and my eyelashes and the skin under my eyes got burnt,” Imran told.

Imran had to then cover up the burnt skin with an extra layer of make-up for two weeks while he let the eyelashes be as he feels “people don’t tend to notice them often”.

While his daredevilry in “Luck” has been the talk of the town lately, the young actor reveals he had to use a body double for an aerial stunt in the movie directed by Soham Shah.

“There was one scene in the film where I have a body double. It required me to jump with a parachute around 1,000-1,200 feet off a helicopter and I didn’t know how to skydive. Though I did jump off the helicopter myself with a harness, the real stunt in the air has been performed by my body double,” he said.

Apart from this particular scene, Imran has performed all the stunts in the action thriller himself with the assistance of popular stunt director Allan Amin.

The 26-year-old has even jumped off an airplane on to a train on fire and went underwater for a scene with deadly sharks.

“The film required a lot of action stunts, jumping, running, kicking, etc. I got to do a variety of stunts.

“There was an underwater sequence where we had to shoot with sharks and a cage. For that we were trained in scuba diving. Then there was another one where I had to jump on to a speeding train that was on fire and fight on the train - those were exciting,” Imran said.

On the insistence of the director, Imran and other actors of the film, including Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissen and debutante Shruti Haasan, underwent a one-week theory and practical course in scuba diving in Durban, South Africa, he revealed.

“Soham was very particular about one thing - he wanted each of the actors to perform his or her stunts and so we trained in scuba diving for the underwater scene. It was a strenuous exercise. We used to spend six to eight hours in the water in the mornings, then go for theory classes and then back into the water.

“But it feels great to be a certified scuba diver now,” said Imran, who had subscribed to a three-day beginner’s course in scuba diving for his earlier film “Kidnap”.

Despite the danger involved, Imran agreed to do the stunts on his own.

“Allan has a great fondness for me and he would want my inputs on it (the stunts) every time. While deciding upon a sequence, he would discuss it with me and ask me if I can do it or not and I would just say - ‘Yeah, I can do this’. So in a way, we designed the stunts together,” he said.

After “Luck”, which will release July 24, Imran would be seen in “Delhi Belly” and “Seven Days in Paris”.