What's the big deal in locking lips, asks Varun.

Actor Varun Dhawan has five kissing scenes in his forthcoming film "Main Tera Hero", directed by his father David Dhawan. The young actor finds nothing wrong in locking lips onscreen "in the 21st century".

In the promos of the film, the "Student Of The Year" fame actor can be seen locking lips with his co-star Ileana D'Cruz.

"I was okay kissing in front of my father," Varun told reporters here Thursday at the cover launch of Stardust magazine, featuring him with his second co-star in the film, Nargis Fakhri.

"It's an important part of the climax. There are five kisses in the film," he added.

The 26-year-old does further said that "it's high time" people stop creating hype over a kiss in a film.


"I think in today's age, in the 21st century, it's fine. What's the big deal in it," he asked.

"It is just a kiss. It is just an expression of love that the two characters are feeling at that time," he added.
The film is slated to release April 4.By Santa Banta News Network

Kahaani Mein Twist: Marriage not on cards for Kat and Ranbir?

Katrina Kaif is unfazed by rumours that she has plans to tie the knot with actor Ranbir Kapoor, and says she will continue keeping quiet about her private life.

At an event here Thursday, the actress was asked to comment on the latest rumours.

She said: "This has come in some newspaper, but there is no such thing. If there is something as such, I will let you know."

Katrina, who was earlier dating Salman, has been guarded about her personal life.

"As far as I am concerned, I have always been the same...I don't speak about my personal life. Now it (any rumour) doesn't bother me. With time, you get used to it...such small things don't affect," she added.

Meanwhile, Katrina was busy working with her rumoured current beau Ranbir in "Jagga Jasoos".


Having co-starred with him in movies like "Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani" and "Raajneeti", the actress said: "The films that we have done (together) have been extremely special films...not just successful. It's exciting for me as he is a great actor."

"The most exciting thing for me (in 'Jagga Jasoos') is to work with Anurag Basu as it's important for me to learn from him."byy santa banta news networkk..

Madhuri praises Shah Rukh, Salman for their devotion to work  

Mumbai: Actress Madhuri Dixit, who has shared the screen space with both superstars Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, says she admires the passion both the actors have for their work.

Madhuri, who worked with Shah Rukh in hit films like 'Dil To Pagal Hai' and 'Devdas', also performed with him during a recent tour 'Temptations Reloaded' in Malaysia.

"I really had a great time working with Shah Rukh Khan. He recently got his leg injured but still he has so much strength in him. I don't know from where he gets the strength and energy. He is always on fire and goes all out to be the best for his fans. He is very passionate and dedicated about his work even today," Madhuri told PTI.

She is also amazed with the work that her other co-star Salman is doing these days.

"I loved Salman in his earlier films like 'Saajan', 'Andaz Apna Apna', 'Hum Apke Hai Koun!' I see a completely different Salman now. Earlier, he was very mischievous but today he is more relaxed and wants to do good work. I find he is a lot more committed," Madhuri said.

"When you see him doing a character of Chulbul Pandey, there is a different maturity that he brings into it. I love his dancing too. Earlier, he would just dance but now he has got his own style and a swagger, which is really wonderful," she said, adding that she wants to do a masala entertainer film with Salman, provided she is offered one.

Surprisingly, Madhuri has no friends in Bollywood. "Everybody is so busy with his or her work. I am sure other actors must be having friends. Back in the 90s when I was completely into films, I hardly went for any parties. I would feel uncomfortable and completely out of place," she said.

Besides her acting abilities, Madhuri, who is known as a great dancer, likes the dancing skills of Deepika Padukone.

"I enjoyed watching Deepika Padukone's dance in 'Nagada Sang Dhol Baje' from 'Ram-Leela'. She is very graceful. I like Katrina Kaif too. She works really hard. I also like Priyanka Chopra and Anushka Sharma," she said.

Madhuri is quite happy the way her online dance academy is shaping up.

"It is coming along really very well. We have more than 88,000 students and we are planning to expand it. We want to introduce different dance forms. There are some minor problems as everything is on the internet, but otherwise we have got a very good response," she added.

Madhuri will be seen next in 'Gulaab Gang' alongside Juhi Chawla. The film is set to release on March 7 

Bollywood celebrities excited over IIFA 2014  

Mumbai: The film fraternity is ecstatic about the upcoming 15th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards to be held in the US, which they feel will provide a great opportunity for Hollywood and Bollywood to come together and put the Indian cinema on the global level.

"The IIFA awards is a great platform for us to showcase our work to the world. We will bring the magic of Indian cinema to America. I have not been to Tampa Bay and I am looking forward to entertain my fans there," Kareena said at the IIFA press conference at the US Consulate here.

Kareena was accompanied by her actor-husband Saif Ali Khan.

Saif said "cinema brings us together. It is a chance to give Indian and international audience opportunity to witness celebration of Indian cinema and culture".

Saif would host technical awards.

Actor Anil Kapoor said IIFA awards will create a merger between Hollywood and Bollywood.

"In my days as a teenager, I used to travel by bus and used to get fascinated seeing the US consulate in Breach Candy. I always wanted to go there and get a visa for the US. I got chance to go there while doing films and I am happy about it," Anil said.

Actors Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Bipasha Basu and music director Pritam were present today, along with the US Consul General in Mumbai Peter Haas, and others to show their support for the 15th IIFA at the consulate in Mumbai.

The IIFA will be held from April 23 to 26.

"I am excited by IIFA`s decision to hold this year`s awards ceremony in Tampa, Florida. Bollywood fans across the US will be thrilled that India`s biggest film stars are coming. We look forward to other Indian companies choosing the US as their travel destination and stand ready to assist," Haas said.

Film review: Gunday

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Film: Gunday Cast: Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan, Saurabh Shukla, Pankaj Tripathi, Manu Rishi; Director : Ali Abbas Zafar Rating: ** 

Gunday, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, begins on a visually intriguing note. 
Two kids, Bikram and Bala, struggle through the muck of the newly-formed Geneva Refugee camp in the aftermath of the 1971 Bangladesh-liberation War. The production design is outstanding here; the denatured palette coupled with the sheer ferocity of desperate partition victims makes you forget that this isn't a genuine war drama. It is understood that if these two oversmart kids are going to grow up to be famous bandits of Calcutta, they must become last-gasp refugees first. The journey sounds promising. You can even tell which one Ranveer is. Attention to detail (hairstyles). 

And then, that background music kicks in. The film slows down- literally. 
Already former gun carriers, the kids run in slowmo- inexplicably slow slowmo- with a coal train. This is to be repeated several times later on, even if they're two feet away from their destination. An authentic-looking 115 minute period film becomes a 153 minute no-holds-barred shirt-ripper of an action drama. 

This is also where they choose to become coal bandits- a decision that is supposed to fundamentally define their being. How, you ask? By being goons and Deol-ing entire gangs that dare to interrupt their ambition. 

They were honest helpers at a restaurant, but a demanding boss- so rare these days- forces them to reconsider their options. Transition to: Gangsters with a single cleavage (heart, too) of gold. So single that they fall for the same cabaret dancer, knowing that it will eventually tear them apart. Self-aware bad guys are a rarity, but you can never underestimate them in this post-Joker cinematic era. 

They're not the villains though; the cops headed by ACP Sarkar (Irrfan, on a stroll) are the real villains, because they want to stop our heroic bad boys. This can be done legally, but Sarkar thinks he's Moriarty to B&B's Sherlock. Or the other way around. The con is on. All too con-fusing. It's easy to see where most YRF productions slide off the rails. There is no precise moment. As soon as an electric guitar joins the orchestra and bronze oiled bodies begin to tangle in bazaars and coal mines, the actors spout lines like 'Rum? Ab dekh Dum!' 
This is not entirely implausible, but only if the actor already has a legion of diehard fans willing to watch anything he does. Arjun Kapoor isn't quite there yet, neither is Ranveer Singh, who seems to have stepped in from the neighboring Ram Leela set. Singh's greatest strength- his infectious energy- is fast becoming a jarring weakness. Their 'Dostana' moments don't fit in at all, as admirable as their choice of heart-stamped attire is. Going by Kapoor's scowls, giggles and snarls, the shooting schedule looked like a lot of fun, but there was arguably more chemistry when they recently appeared on a talkshow together. Unfortunately, they weren't acting then. Priyanka Chopra is equipped with a poorly written role, one that she primarily manages to pull off when she's dancing to Sohail Sen's OTT chartbusters. 

Most landmarks of Hindi cinema have invariably been buddy flicks. Though not always blessed with technical bravado, their hearts have been in the right place. Gunday fails to fulfill that basic aspect- leaving you mildly enraged with the hope of what could have been, especially given the inexhaustible resources at hand.                                                                   

Must know facts about Harman and Shilpa’s new song from Dishkiyaaoon!

The first look of Shilpa Shetty and Harman Baweja in the upcoming movie Dishkiyaaoon song Tu Mere Type Ka Nahi Hai has not just kept us hooked for the track but also the entire social media is going crazy about it.

So we decided to dig out some interesting facts about the song which will be featuring Shilpa and Harman;

1. Apparently the entire set was lit up with almost one lakh bulbs which were put up overnight, wondering how? Well.. over 200 workers were involved in the process!

2. If what we have heard is right, the cost of making the song alone is quoted to be almost at par with the budget of Dishkiyaaoon

3. The sets show as if a lot of inspiration was taken from Brooklyn, New York and London Broadway. Reportedly, art directors themselves visited Chicago and New York themselves to create and add relevant inputs and details into the sets!

Co-producer Shilpa Shetty-Kundra expressed her excitement on a microblogging site stating, “Check out the EXCLUSIVE teaser of my song Tu Mere Type Ka Nahi Hai.”

Review: Lone Survivor is Hollywood's Lakshya

Lone Survivor not only fails to engage the audience but it also seems conflicted about whether it wishes to honour the immense bravery of four individuals or whether it wishes to prove the US’s decision of interfering in Afghanistan correct, writes Paloma Sharma.

Peter Berg’s latest film Lone Survivor is based on Marcus Luttrell’s ghost written, eponymous memoirs of the same name that chronicle US Navy SEAL Team 10’s journey into the Afghan province of Kunar, where they are to carry out Operation Redwings, which was a mission designed to eliminate the notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah. 

Marcus Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) is part of a four-man reconnaissance and surveillance team -- the other members of which are Lieutenant Michael P Murphy (Taylor Kitsch), Danny Dietz (Emile Hirsch) and Matt Axelson (Ben Foster).

Marcus and his team are hiding in the mountains, waiting for a clear shot at Ahmad Shah (Yousuf Azami) when a group of goat herders discover them -- two boys and an old man. The Marines find a phone with the old man and suspect him, along with the boys, of being Talibani spies.

While the Rules of Engagement forbid them from killing unarmed civilians without proof of their complicity, letting them go might mean risking the success of a mission that will forever put to rest a merciless man who is responsible for the death of at least 20 US Marines.

As far as being a war film goes, Lone Survivor proves to be more war and less film.

Berg’s glorified version of war worships machismo and puts blood-soaked sacrifice up on a high pedestal. Lone Survivor looks at the US’s involvement in the Afghan civil war from a perspective so narrow that you’d think it was a propaganda film from the George W Bush camp. 

The politics of the film aside, it seems that Berg’s idea of an action sequence is limited to Taliban mujahideen falling back after taking a single shot in the head and the Marines tumbling down ravines, bullets grazing their limbs and their faces being torn open. 

Lone Survivor will surely be remembered for its bone-crunching, blood soaked scenes of war and it is here that Berg excels. He makes you feel the impact of every single bullet and piece of shrapnel that tears open a piece of human flesh and he does it so much, so often that you become immune to violence. 

You stop wincing after the first few times. 

It just doesn’t matter to you anymore. 

As Carl Denham said in King Kong (2005), 'There is still some mystery left in this world, and we can all have a piece of it for the price of an admission ticket.'

Unfortunately, even though you may pay for an admission ticket, you will find very little mystery here. 

Lone Survivor’s title pretty much gives away what the film is about and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which one will survive. (Hint: read the opening credits, one of the producers and lead actors have the same name). 

Despite some fairly amazing performances by the leads, not only does Lone Survivor fail to engage the audience but it also seems conflicted about whether it wishes to honour the immense bravery of four individuals or whether it wishes to prove the US’s decision of interfering in Afghanistan correct.

Lone Survivor is no Saving Private Ryan. It chooses to concentrate on gore rather than on bringing any depth to the story. The characters are 2D individuals. Nobody bothered to portray each soldier as an individual and instead, chose to lump them up as a group. Their stories are pretty much uniform -- loving family men, on the job, away from home, will do anything to protect their country.

That Berg decides to spend a whole of about 10-15 minutes in the beginning showing footage from the Navy training sessions and a discussion among the group about marriage and home, is quite generous of him. A majority of this 121 minute yawn-worthy saga centres around the four men hiking up mountains, hiding and blowing holes in the enemy’s heads.

It becomes quite difficult to connect with the characters or even feel the slightest touch of emotion for them.

Why Berg chose to make a film about one in a hundred more strategically important battles of a war that is not doing America any good, I will never figure out. It will take a particular fetish for war to be able to sit through Lone Survivor. You will find yourself struggling to make it to the interval.

Lone Survivor is Hollywood’s Lakshya -- except, without the spunk, the entertainment factor and Hrithik Roshan.

This is not a film.

This is a test;

And of all the people I sat in the theatre with, I think I have emerged the lone survivor.