KICKING UP A STORM

Salman Khan's song Jumme ki raat, released recently as a teaser to his upcoming film Kick, has gone viral. Released appropriately on a Fri day (jumma), the video shows a hunky Sallu romancing a ravishing Jacqueline Fernandes It seems to have done its job, which was to whet the appetite of Salman fans across the diaspora eager ly waiting for the Eid re lease of the fi l m.

The song sung by Mika and Palak Mucchal is composed by Himesh Reshammiya. Of course you can't help noticing the similarity to that other famous jumma number, Big Band Kimi Katkar'sJumma chumma de de from Hum (1991).

Salman himself agrees the similarities are there "I love Jumma chumma; every time it p l ays on TV I watch the whole number!"

But his number is filmed differently, he hastens to add.

Regardless, the song has definitely kicked up a storm, with near ly 8 million views on YouTube for the film's trailer by the next morning We wait to see if it trans l ates to bums on seats, come Ei d. A recent SRK-Kareena Kapoor pre -release of a song went similarly viral, but alas, did nothing for the film when it was eventually released.

Expectations from Sa lman and Kick are huge, especially since Salman's last release Jai Ho under-performed at the box office

Pretty Preity in Ness mess

Preity Zinta's allegat ion of molestation against her fo rmer beau and business partner Ness Wadia has not got much reaction from the film fraternity. Many like directorTanuja Chand r a feel it's better to wait for the legal process to move forward and "avoid playing judge and jury ourselves;'while Moon Moon Sen feels"it is entirely their business''.

Chandra, who directed Preity in author -backed film Sangharsh, says, " I imagine she must have thought a great deal about it and hasn't done this on an impulse Like all women i n the country she has every right to approach authorities if she feels her individua l space has been violated We must wait for the legal process to move forward and avoid playing judge and jury ourselves''.

The outspoken Pooja Bedi has decided to sit on the fence

She says:"Neither Ness nor Preity come across as a liar. Both are such lovely people. So it is just very unfortunate that it's all turning out the way it is Having said this I feel it is for the courts to pass a verdict, not us ''.

Neetu Chandra feels the matter is personal. However, she also fee l s Preity is not the kind to raise a hue and cry unnecessarily.

"As far as I know, she is a no-nonsense person and leads her life with dignity. A break-up is never p l easant Both the partners have to be very careful about preserving each other's self-respect in public after the break-up, for the sake of what they shared in the past''.

Preity lodged a written complaint againstWadi a with the Marine Drive police station on June 12. She accused Wadi a, her former beau who co-owns the IPL team Kings XI Punjab with her, of grabbing her hand and abusing her during a cricket match in Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 30. Wadia has denied the al l egations, term ing them "totally false and baseless''. H is fri ends have suggested that Preity is jealous because Ness has moved on and is now in a new relationship

Actress -parliamentarian Moon Moon Sen feels the two should sit and ta lk it out, even though she says she admires Preity's courage here.

"Maybe there's a history of abuse and now it has erupted in a public place to embarrass both of them. Surely the two can sit down and sort it out. No matter how we look at it, it is entirely their business''.

Movie guru Shailendra Singh finds the incident unfortunate

"It's unfortunate that a girlfriendboyfriend fight has national import ance. There are far more serious matters awaiting the nation's attention".

The battle of t he newbies

Fresh -faced Armaan Ja in will soon make his acting debut w i th fello w newcomer Deeksha Seth and first-time director Arif Ali, in LekarHum DeewanaDil

The number of fresh faces continues to ri se in Bollywood and Armaan Jain wishes them alI the best of Iuck or so he says

"There are a lot of youngsters, around l0to lS, ofmy age group doing the same genre of films;' he states

" I believe in healthy competition I hope we all work hard and have healthy competition Hopefull y, people accept my first film first an d we al l grow together''. Yes you l ike healthy competit i on, we get it. but do we believe it?

Jai n has worked with two former assistant directors Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan, who are now successfu l actors, and says that he bonded with them while assisting filmmaker Karan Johar on My Name Is Khan.

"I was an intern, joini ng towards the end of the schedu le I gotto spend a l ittle bit of time with Sidharth and Va run during shooting schedule It was great bond i ng with them,"says Armaan

While he feels he is too young to explore the filmmaking part of the industry, he is not against it.

"When I started assisting, I wasn't aware of how films are made, what happens. Once I got involved with technica ls, I started making short fi lms. I used to try and get my hands i nto editing I directed a short fi Im to understand the craft practica ll y al so My ma in concentration is to get this film r ight and act for now.

Definitely at some point of t ime, I wou ld love to direct a film I love editing as well;' adds the forme r intern, assistant, editor and wannabe director.

Armaan is the cousin of actor Ranbir Kapoor, and has also shown interest in RK Films, the banner establi shed by his late

Preity Zinta

late grandfather and actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor.

"At some point, if my uncles or Ranbir do [revive the banner] and if they want to involve me in some way, I would be honoured to do so If someth ing comes up, then definitely,"says Armaan Lekar Hum Deewana Oil will release on July 4.

Lost in translation

Ukranian ballroom dance expert Maksim Chmerkovskiy is visiting India to be the first internationa l judge of reality TV show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, the Indi an version of Dancing with the Stars.

However, it seems that the housewarming was not so warm with reports claiming Maksim is already unhappy as a judge on the show as he cannot speak or follow Hindi.

Maksim was quick to deny the reports "That's not true. I am having a blast And that report is bull - ;' he refutes.

"I came to India to embrace a new language and culture This is a once-ina- lifetime opportunity for me And I am enjoying every moment of it''.

Sounds legit. But he still can t understand a word of what the contestants and fellow judges say, with his own statements ticker -translated on screen

Armaan Jain

Luckily, with a bit of help (and by that, we mean an entire production team), the ballroom prodigy battles on " I had hoped that the production team would understand there would be d ifficulties And everyone is helping out I sit between Madhuri Dixit and Karan Johar They're constantly telling me what 's going on It helps that the show is taped and doesn't go on air live So, they stop the shooting and explain what's going on The experience I am getting her e is not something you get in a classroom;'he affirms

At least something is going his way, with Maksim claiming that Bollywood contestants have a lot more respect for the judges on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa than on Dancing with the Stars.

First step to being a better judge on Indian TV: Hindi lessons!

The key to a healthy relationship: Breaking box office records

Movie star Akshay Kumar's latest film Holiday -A Soldier Is Never OffDuty has minted Rs 102 62 crores in three weeks at the domestic box office and producer Vipu l Shah could not be happier

The Shah -Kumar partnersh i p has once again struck gold with this fi lm adding to thei r co ll ection of hits incl uding Aankhen,

Maksim Chmerkov S Ki Y

Waqt - Race Against Time, Namastey London and Singh Is King.

However every relationship has its rough patches, fo r examp le the Action Replay fiasco.

"It has been a fantastic journey with Akshay;· Shah said, when talking about his partnership w ith the superstar.

" Holiday is our sixth fi lm together and four out of five films were successful. What is very i mportant is that all films got a lot of credibility from the audience''.

Holiday i s about terrorism in which director A R. Murugadoss focuses on sleeper cells and how quietly they merge into their target society before unl eashing havoc.

The thrilling drama featured a new style of action directed by renowned British stuntman Greg Powell, known for his work in Hollywood's super hit franchises such as Harr y Potter anc;t James Bond

The filmmaker said the successes have helped them in w inning a "good reputation''.

"My relationship with Akshay has reached that stage where we constantly want to do better wor k together It has become stronger by the day;' said Shah We sincerely hope you've been buyi ng him flowers But we wonder, who pays for dinner?

No more Bipasha : Vashu Bhagnani

Producer Vashu Bhagnani is so upset with Bipasha Basu, one of the female leads in his just released Humshakals, that he has decided not to work with her agai n

Directed by Sajid Khan, Humshakals, which also features Riteish Deshmukh, Saif Ali Khan, Ram Kapoor, Esha Gupta and Tammannaah Bhatia, hit the theatres in mid-June

The dusky beauty, who was m i ssing from all the promotional events of the film, stated that she was dissati sfied with the end resu lt of her role i n the fi lm

Bhagnani says that he never misled her about her role

"I asked Sajid myself to cast Bipasha," Vashu says. "She is a lovely lady But I don't know what her probl em i s It's not like we told her something and del ivered something else''.

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Is the feisty Bipasha too much of an alpha-woman fo r Bollywood's misogynist ways?

Seniors nearing seventy set the new scenario

Itis d1e year 2035 AD aod Australia is now a Republic.

With the era of entidement weU and uuly over, the country is fuJJ to the brim w ith pollies retired on the public purse.

A chosen few are e lected every three years by mug punters fet:vend y hoping to be governed better, rather than be b itterly clisappointed.

\'{lidi d1e o ld age pens ion pushed further to seventy, d i e national scen e has taken o n a new loo k

The car parks at Geelong's Ford and Adelaide's Holden factories, that were once crammed with employees' cars, are now fuU of die ir gophers

The average age of assembly line workers is well past m id60s Wi th trem bling hands, diey continue to assemb le wheelchairs made from im p orted parts, for d1e mom1tiog aged population.

Some o f the wo r kers d1emselves are in wheelch airs wid1 the.i r carers srancfu1g behind them to take them to the next task on the conveyor be lt.

With d1e golden o ldies s till glued to d1eir jobs, there i s growing youth unemploym ent. So the government decides ro imp lement the carers corps.

Friday farewells are the favourite moments for d 10se mrning seventy. Those who are a few years in side d 1ar milestone w ish to grow older soon so they can pass diro ugh the pearly gates to pe n sion paradise.

Since purchasing power has shifted to the elderly emp loyed, retailers and boutigues have trained their sights on them. Advertising gurus are the barome ters of emerging tre nds. They now scouc nursing homes for models w ith fur rowed foreheads and crow's feet fo r fashion magazines and TV commercials. The \Vead1er g irl loo ks weU and uuly weathered.

Our mode.I worker! He worked t i II his last breath!

The 'old is go ld' wave has seen new acro n yms coined.

Like DOME (Don't O\1erlook Matured Experience) of the 90s, DOSE (Don't Over look Senior Employees) is in vogue.

OWL5 (Old Worke rs Love Servin g) represent mainly whitecollar workers and profess io n als like lawyers and doc tors who get better with age and experience

Pressure groups like SWAP (Senior Workers Awaiting Pension) and WOW (Worn Out Workers) vow co gain early entry to the pension portal s

To p lease them, the Industries l'vlinister, on remrn from an Indian s cu dy cour, tells them how hard peopl e work in India

He cites d1e examples of A m itabh Bachchan and R ajnikanth, who even after turning one hundred, are still working as heroes in Bollywood, dancing with girl s and fighting with chugs

L1 order co ramp up e m p loyment while als o facing an election, Prim e Minister Gavin R eed orders w heelchair ramps and disabled toilets fo r every house, whether the resident is an infant or infirm.

L1 the rush to fix new flush ing S)'S tems, some shonky o perators e m p loy inexperie nced youth and as a resul t houses get flooded. A disaster that can be likened to the p ink batt fires two decades ago.

The Opposi tion leader Sony

Ascot promises to bring the boats back, die orange ones u sed years ago to return d1e refugees, since smart Sum atran smugglers now use them to sh ip refugees safely to our shores at a much h igher pric e.

With an eye on voces from fringe groups, 'green graru1y' R osa Hanson -Old r olls her b ig, bead y eyes, while she opens basket weavi ng communes to up -skill the unemployed.

Edu cation is now the n ation's primary expor t earner Primary studen ts from Shanghai and South Korea stream into our sc hoo ls co escape their tiger mums and cough maths lessons, prefer ring the easy

Aussie option

After mo st of d1e min erals shipped out, the mines are a mega mirage. A portly coal magnate and politician plans to start

With the old age Rension Rushed further. to seven!}', the national scene has tal<en a new loo!<

Queens land Mlrage- type reso rts by filling die empty open-cur mines w ith sea water for tourists to swim and surf.

Some twenty years earlier, the editor of the April 2014 i ssue of Tndia11 I.ink, ad v ised young Indian migrants who came in their mousands to plan their financial future ca refuUy since t h eir chance of getting a pension is likened to lndia winning t he Soccer World C u p, His words have become so prophetic.

Those same young m igrants, skilled in IT and engi n eering, are now in the ir sixties, working as hard as ever plying their o ld (cleaning) carts in s hopping ma.Us and aged care homes. ft is 2035. The golden age of Oz has dawned.