Freida’s tryst with Trishna

Actress Freida Pinto’s star continues to ascend, and seems to shine even more brightly with her new film Trishna. This month she was in n ew York, for the red carpet premiere of the film at the IFC Centre in Manhattan.

She describes it as a “beautiful yet tragic” tale of a village girl torn between her traditional upbringing and the dreams of a girl from modern India. Based on Thomas Hardy’s classic Tess of the d’Urbervilles, British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom’s newest film is set in rural Rajasthan. It has Pinto playing the title role of Trishna, an auto-rickshaw driver’s daughter who falls for a rich boy.

“Trishna goes from being really innocent to being in a situation of almost desperation and finally to redemption. It’s quite an intense journey for one girl to go through”.

Freida felt Trishna was a tough role to play “because it’s so different from what I am in real life,” yet she claimed she would love to do something like this again.” n aturally, she considers Danny Boyle with whom she made her debut in Slumdog Millionaire, and Winterbottom as “absolutely amazing filmmakers,” with definitely different working styles.

To prepare for her role, Freida spent some time in Rajasthan’s Osian village in a family setting and interviewed a number of girls who worked at hotels and one who worked as ground staff in an airline.

“It was very interesting that all the stories were different from the other, but the bottom line came down to ‘whatever dad thinks is probably right and we’ll just follow that or whatever our future husband thinks is right is going to be our life from then on,’” she said.

“And that for me was the startling reality that I had to just come to terms with to understand my character better,” said Freida.

For one thing they are “very completely different films”, explained Freida. “Slumdog is a love story that has a beautiful message of hope at the end of it. And the other one is a tragic love story which can be very sad.”

Freida is also full of praise for her co-star Anurag Kashyap, who has made a mark for himself in Indian cinema as a brilliant director, and is a “really good” actor too. She hopes some day she’ll get a chance to work with Kashyap “because he is such an eclectic filmmaker, who is not afraid to take challenges upon himself, and is so brave”.

Asked if she feared being typed as an ‘exotic Indian beauty’ by Hollywood, Freida said, “I am not afraid of that any more because I have made sure people don’t look at me like that.”

And what about working with Bollywood?

“Well, when people use the term ‘Bollywood’, I hope they are including Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and all these wonderful filmmakers as well, because definitely, I would love to work with them,” said Freida adding, “Why not?”

Although she lives in Los Angeles these days for convenience’s sake, Mumbai will always be number one for Freida because “it has made me the person I am today - very outspoken. There is no comparison. Mumbai is Mumbai!”

Spoken like a true Mumbaikar…

“dara was a gem of a man, earthy and robust, with a heart of gold. i pray for his soul and for the family to bear the loss with fortitude,” tweeted dilip Kumar. amitabh remembered dara singh as “one of the finest humans” and anupam Kher said he was “ the strongest and the humblest. a hero all the way.” in his over five-decade long acting journey, dara singh featured in over 140 films, among the most memorable were Anand and Mera Naam Joker the pehelwan, who had won the title of ‘Rustam-e-Hind’ for his wrestling prowess, appeared in t V serials too. an overwhelming number of people attended his funeral, eager for a final glimpse of their hero. dara singh’s last journey was a celebration of the great and genuine man that he was - his body was taken to the funeral spot in a mini truck decked up with colourful flowers. actors like raza Murad, rishi Kapoor, fardeen Khan and dolly Bindra attended his last rites. top national leaders, including Vice President hamid ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan singh expressed deep grief over the death of the former rajya sabha member. several Bollywood stars, including veteran actors amitabh Bachchan and dilip Kumar, took to micro-blogging site twitter to pay tribute to the actor, who first tasted success as a wrestling hero before moving into showbiz.

Best known for his portrayal of hanuman in ramanand sagar’s Ramayan and in Br Chopra’s Mahabharat, for fans across the country dara singh was the face of Lord hanuman.

“ the warmth in his eyes when he smiled as hanumanji connected me to him the very first time as someone good hearted,” tweeted divya dutta. he was last seen in the 2007 release Jab We Met, in the role of an affable grandfather - an image that will perhaps stay as a happy memory in the hearts of fans, who adored this man of steel. indian cinema will miss this strong stalwart with a heart of gold. rest in peace, dara singh!

Different strokes for Jayasuriya

sanath Jayasuriya can wield a mean bat, but when it comes to shaking is booty in front of dhak dhak queen Madhuri dixit, he can be forgiven for getting cold feet. the sri Lankan master blaster was recently eliminated from reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 5, but the experience has left him thrilled. Jayasuriya has gone back with happy memories, but says he was especially overwhelmed with the great actress’ warmth and the whole experience, which was “amazing” though “tough”. “ the show is completely different from what i do in life but i enjoyed it thoroughly. the contestants are talented and hard working. the three wonderful judges (Madhuri, Karan Johar and remo d’souza) were really warm towards me, especially Madhuri”.

Madhuri was generous in giving points to Jayasuriya, matching steps with him and teaching him the right moves of indian classical dance.

the 43-year-old surprised his friends, family and fans with his decision to participate in the celebrity dance show, but he took up the challenge, working hard to learn legwork on a different pitch. he even managed Bollywood’s popular snake dance step.

so if you see Jayasuriya working on some funky moves when next on the pitch, don’t be too surprised. he’s probably putting all his dance practice to good use!

no worries Vivek the 35-year-old is now gearing for the release of his new film Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story, which is about two completely opposite people and also stars neha sharma. so let’s hope that the film takes off and puts Vivek in the position of frontrunner again. good luck to him!

Vivek oberoi has been in Bollywood for over a decade now, and he hasn’t made much of an impact within the industry. But the actor claims that he has no regrets about the highs and lows in his career. and he finds encouragement from his wife Priyanka alva, whom he married in 2011.”no regrets, my wife still feels that i am the best,” said Vivek with admirable optimism.

Vivek made his debut with Varma’s 2002 film Company role won him critical acclaim. earned cheers for his work in but films like Kyun Ho Gaya Na, Fool N Final, Kaal, Mission Istanbul, Kisna and Prince were pretty much nonstarters.

“Jayanta is a very different character. the film is about two people from different world. is chemistry, there is attraction but they are as though from two different planets,” Vivek said.

“ the girl is educated and polished, while Jayanta is someone who is streetwise. he does not even know how to talk to a girl and that is the fun of it,” he added about the film which is slated for an october release.

Sunny times for Shekhar Suman

indo-Canadian porn star sunny Leone is making quite an impact in Bollywood. her career took off on the small screen with reality show Bigg Boss 5, but skyrocketed into the big screen with Pooja Bhatt’s Jism 2 and now actor shekhar suman is seeking sunny’s talents as the leading lady in his directorial venture Heartless, a medical thriller which also features his son adhyayan.

While sunny showcased her obvious oomph factor to the hilt in Jism

2, shekhar says that this is not the reason why he wants to cast her. “ the role demands her, hence i want to cast her. the role that i have envisaged, requires a girl like her. she is very pretty looking girl,” said the actor, confiding that he will begin directing the film this year. that’s a cryptic statement as its still quite uncertain exactly what shekhar’s looking for – a reality t V star, a porn star or simply a pretty face.

When Farah danced to Geeta’s tune

Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi will be a film of many firsts. i t marks sanjay Leela Bhansali’s sister Bela sehgal’s directorial debut, as well as choreographer-director farah Khan’s foray into acting. also, for the fist time geeta Kapoor has directed her mentor farah in an item number for the romantic comedy.

“ yes, geeta is choreographing the promotional song for Boman irani and farah Khan. feel geeta is a very good choreographer besides she has worked with farah so she is very comfortable with her,” ehgal said recently. t’s a superb song. the lyrics will be aggressive. i t’s a surprise.” s for Boman, when asked if he is finding it difficult to match steps with farah, he quipped, think i am better than her in dancing!” nd how does farah feel about her new role? he bad thing about turning actress is that i have to start my day with something i detest! Makeup and hair! and end it with worse - removing it all,” arah tweeted. he romantic-comedy is slated for an aug 24 release. ivya Bharti shot to fame at a very young age with films like Shola Aur Shabnam and Deewana. she died at a tender age of 19 in 1993, and the cause of her death remains a mystery. er story has a connect andhu’s film, but he don’t want to say whether it’s a biopic can say is that it is the story of a young girl who becomes a star at a very young age and also dies at a very young age,” andhu replied when asked. “i have never said that the film is a biopic. he media has been saying so”. et he admitted, divya Bharti has been my alltime favourite actress,” he added. am just back in india after auditioning for the leading lady for my film. i have been to London, i taly and

And now, a biopic on Divya Bharti irector Vikram andhu denies that his movie Dream is a biopic on divya Bharti, but admits he is scouting for a look-alike of the late actress to play the lead role in his project.

Currently he is busy casting for his film.