Tuesday, June 13, 2006

IndiaGlitz - Ash to be part of IIFA finally - Bollywood Hindi Movie News
The speculation over whether Aishwarya Rai will or will not be a part of IIFA Awards this year in Dubai was cleared when Rai agreed to be present during the premiere of her film ‘Provoked’. Although she is busy shooting for Mani Ratnam’s ‘Guru’ in Chennai, she will catch a morning flight to Dubai and will be back the same night.
According to her secretary Hari Singh, Ash would want to be present during the premiere because she couldn’t attend the premiere of her other film ‘Mistress of Spices’ as she was shooting for ‘Guru’ in Badami. The undue criticism from the certain sections of media had hurt her immensely then and she didn’t wish to go through the same grind again.
Wizcraft, the organizers of the IIFA Awards also wanted Ash to perform during the awards night. But she excused herself and in the bargain had to forfeit a huge sum of money. Maybe she didn’t wish to give a scope to the rumour mongers to spread the word that she was performing in the event because her alleged boyfriend Abhishek Bachchan’s father is the brand ambassador of the event.
Whatever may be the case, IndiaGlitz applauds Aishwarya Rai’s professionalism
No decision yet on Big B and Aishwarya as brand ambassadors
Kochi, June 13. (PTI): The Kerala Government is yet to take a decision, on whether or not to rope in Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai as brand ambassadors to promote the State.
'The matter is under the Government's consideration and no decision has been taken,' official sources said.
Tourism officials have held discussions with both Bachchan and Aishwarya and they have reportedly expressed intrest in the project, the sources said.
Bachchan was recently in Munnar in kerala to shoot for Ram Gopal Varma's 'Nishabd'.
The department's proposal to have Bachchan and Aishwarya was following the huge success of Kerala Tourism commercials featuring Hindi television stars Smriti Irani and Mona Vasu in driving tourists from North Indian states to Kerala.
The commercials were a great hit in popular entertainment channels including Zee,Star Gold, and Star Plus,the sources said.
Hoping to cash on in the popularity of the two big names in the entertainment industry, the tourism officials had drawn up plans to have the two stars as brand ambassadors.
In 2005, the foreign and domestic tourist arrivals to the State were 3.46 lakh and 59.46 lakh respectively. During the current year, the department was targetting a growth of 20 per cent for international tourists and five per cent for the domestic tourists.
The foreign exchange earnings from tourism in the State during 2005 was Rs 1552.31 crore, while the total earnings from tourism during last year was about Rs 7738 crore. "

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Celebrities: Aishwarya Rai , Winner in Provoked
Provoked is the real life story of a battered Indian woman who went on to become a role model for all victims of domestic violence in Britain. The movie stars Indian beauty Aishwarya Rai & has been previewing in Cannes Film Festival this year.Provoked has had positive reviews both for it's filming and for Aishwarya's performance, which proved to be sensitive & beyond what was expected of her.
Aishwarya Rai: Provoked to hit Indian screens in 3 languages
Aishwarya Rai starrer Provoked is all set for a world wide release after receiving rave reviews for its volatile and relevant content in the Cannes film festival. The film will also be dubbed in three Indian languages for Indian audiences.
Producer J Murli Manohar told IANS: “Since the theme of domestic violence is as relevant in the West as in a remote village of Punjab or Bihar or Tamil Nadu, we’d like ‘Provoked’ to go into places that are ideally not seen as commercially viable for English language films. We therefore plan to dub ‘Provoked’ into Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.”
‘Provoked’ in its three Indian versions will have a background score completely separate and far more dramatic than the original English version.
A.R. Rahman, who will compose the music, said: “I don’t think this has ever been done before. But when Jagmohan Mundhra (director of ‘Provoked’) and I got together for the background score in ‘Provoked’, we felt it was too underplayed for the Indian market.
“Here, we like the music to emphasize every scene. We spoke about it, and I got another background score ready for the Indian market. It is more in keeping with the mood required in our cinema,” added Rahman.
‘Provoked’ is the harrowing real life tale of a lady named Kiranjeet Ahluwalia, who unable to bear the brutality and repeated rapes by her alcoholic husband, kills him unintentionally by setting him to fire.
Aishwarya Rai plays the role of the protagonist in the film. The film also starrs Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, Nandita Das and Steve McFadden in pivotal roles.
The film is expected to hit Indian screens in August.
Free Articles for Reprint - Aishwarya Rai- Aishwarya Rai's 'Provoked' to be screened at IIFA: "After its entry in Cannes, screening of the Aishwarya Rai starrer Provoked will be the highlight of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards ceremony to be inaugurated on June 14 in Dubai. "