IT'S THE POWER OF THE PEN THIS EID!

e bigsilverscreen winner this Eid is Vijayendra Prasad. You manynot have heard that name before, butyou've mostdefinitely eard ofhistwofilms, both ofwhich released thisfestiveseason. Prasad is thewriterofthetwo mega hitsthathavetakentinseltown bystorm thisfortnight, the bilingual Baahubali and the Hindi Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Prasad's son S.S Rajamouli directed the Telugu-Tamil historical fction film Bahubali, starringsouthern stars Prabhas and Rana Daggubati. The film also released in Malayalam and Hindi. Itgrossed overRs. 350 crore worldwide injust ten days, a record ofsorts.

Ifthe Mahabharat was the inspiration behind Bahubali, Prasad's otherfilm, the Salman Khan starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which raked in overRs. 100 crore injust three days, is inspired from an old Chiranjeevi film and also based on a real life story.

"Chiranjeevi's 1987 Telugu film Pasivadi Pranam moved me a lot. I wanted to rehash it and give it a contemporary touch. I had also learnt about thestory of a Pakistani couplewho came to Indiafortheir daughter's heartsurgery because theycouldn't afford it in their country," Prasad said.

"The parents weretouched bythegenerosityofthe Indianssomuchthatthey couldn'tstoptalking about it. Thisgotme thinking. I decided towork on a story that connected people over India-Pakistan border," he added.

Theflm was offered toAaamir Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Rajinikanth, Puneeth Rajkumarand Allu Arjun. But Prasad admitsSalman wasthe best choice forthe film.

"Allthework he'sbeendoingthrough hisBeing Human foundation, particularly, the 2,000 heart operations he recentlyfunded, made him aptforthe lead role of Pawan/Bajrangi. Andthanks to his humanitarian acts, Salman gave the character a realistictouch," he said.

And so it'sbeen a Happy Eid all around!

probably when they embraced Hey, it's possible!

SALMAN, SRK'S BROTHERHOOD ON EID

On the piousoccasionofEid, superstarSalman Khan displayed true brotherhood by sharingtheteaser of his contemporary Shah Rukh Khan's upcomingmovie Raees.

Earlier, Shah Rukh had come forward to unveil thefirst lookofSalman's Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Stayingtruetothe valuesof his Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which hinges upon brotherhood, Salman asked hisfans andfollowers toturn their attentionto the teaserofSRK's Raees.

"Raees ah raha hai. Filhaal teaser dekho aurenjoy karo behaad," Salman tweeted, after sharingtheflm's name via a string of posts.

Harshaali has already doneTV seriessuch as serials like Quboo/ Hai and LautAao Trisha, and many advertisements.

SIMPLE ROLE FOR SALMAN, CAR STUNTS FOR SRK

My, my how things are changing in B-Town. Firstthetwo Khansgo and make up, and startsomething of a bromance. Then, theytake on each other's personas.

See, Salman Khan hassaid hefound it hard to break his macho image in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

"After the action-packed roles in films like Kick, Dabangg and Wanted, itwas challengingto play a simple character," the 49-year-old actor said. "My role is simple and all heart. We'veshown a typical Hindustani (Indian) guythat makes peoplego, bechara "

On the other hand, SRK,the supposed kingofromance, hasbeen doing dangerous carstunts in Bulgaria forRohitShetty's directorial Di/wale.

"Doingsome really cool carstunts and have tothankthe team ofguys who take such high risksto getthe shots. Quite Awesome. #Dilwale," the actor, also 49, tweeted recently.

Someone is probably taking notesfor the next Bollywood blockbuster, about twosiblings whowere lost in childhood, grew uptobe absolute opposites and hated each other's guts,thenthere was a family reunion, and then their souls intermingled as ifby osmosis,

It's interestingto note that Salman's Sultan will be clashingwith Raees on Eid nextyear. And both the actors have emphasised on several occasions that they are looking atthe competition positively.

Shah Rukh has turned into a liquor baronfor the Rahul Dholakia directorial,which is set in 1980s Gujarat, and tellsthestoryof a bootlegger whose business is thwarted by atough policeman. Thefilm also features Nawazuddin Siddiqui and marksthe Bollywood debutof Pakistani actress Mahira Khan.

AND THE PRESSURE IS ON!

It used to bethe Rs.100 crore club, but now the bar is raised to the 'Rs.300 crore club'. Nothanksto Bahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan! While most flm-wallahs are relishingthe trend the industry has taken this season, there are those who are feeling a trife nervous.

One such is Riteish Deshmukh, whose Bangistan issetto release shortly.

"Every film has a budget and a certain target audience in mind and the Rs. 100 crore mark is notnecessary for every film to besuccessful," Ritesh said recently. "Whenyousign a film, you are awarewhat range thefilm cantouch. Ifyou do Houseful/ and Grand Masti and they collect Rs.100 crore, you can expectthe next one to do similar business. Butwith Bangistan, we're not expecting the film to touch Rs.100 crore becausefor thisfilm to besuccessful, it doesn't need to reach thatfigure."

Hmm, ok!

Bangistan, directedby debutant KaranAnshuman,alsostarsJacqueline Fernandez and isreleasing onJuly31.

WHAT'S COMING UP IN INDIE FILMS

While there'smuch hype for big-name productions like BB and Raess, the smaller indiefilmsstruggle to get the same level ofmediaattention.So let's give them some love here.

Look outfor Raja Dasgupta's directorial debut Choukath: The Threshold. The film exploresvarious aspectsofwomen's empowermentand portrays thestruggle of women in the modern world.

And then there's Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat in a completely different genre. Thefilm isa quirkysituationalcomedy that tickles yourfunnybone, based on a proxy wedding. Itstars Vijay Raaz, Raajpal Yadav, Sanjay Mishra andTia Bajpai, andwill hit the theatreson August7.

BOLLYWOOD GOES HI-TECH WITH ONLINE CASTING PORTAL

Thefilmindustryhaswelcomedanew online castingportal BombayCasting. com, forstreamlining talent andfor givingfilmmakerseasieraccessto freshfaces.

The platform allowsuserstosimply log on and have atook at the talent's profiles, availability and other vital details.It catersfor allkinds of talent skills and craftsmanship, offering a structured pipeline to reach theright people at therighttime.

Production housesandfilmmakers can post their requirements and get multiple optionsfor a rote, be it fora lead role or cameo. Aspiring actors can upload their audition andfulfilthe casting need of a production house.

A mobile appwill be launched next month.

With the e-commerce boom and tidal wave of internetsweeping every industry at itsstride, itwastimefor the Indian film industry to go digital. With Bombaycasting.com, the first of its kind onlinecasting portal Bollywood can officially say that ithasgone digital. Here's hoping new technology encouragesuntapped talent to fourish.

Shakespeare In Bollywood

'Shakespeare 400', a year-long cultural programme marking 400 yearssince the writer's death, is going to include a hint of Bollywood.

In a new lndo-British initiative,six Hindimovie ideas have been generated to revisit themesfromWilliam Shakespeare'sworks.

Indian productionhouseCinestaan Film Company along with Film London, afilm andmedia agency, have come together to develop projects involving writers, directors and producers

WORE IT BETTER?

+ Share your views with us on our Facebookpage /lndianLinkAustralia from Britain andIndia, developing projectswhich draw on the work of Shakespeare.These include Rajat Kapoor (Monsoon Wedding) andSmriti Jain (The Lunchbox).

Theselectedprojectsare: Realism (basedon 'Macbeth'); Caesar(based on'JuliusCaesar'); The Heart of the City (basedon 'TheTaming oftheShrew'); Mathura (basedon 'AsYou Like It'); The Crorepatis (basedon'TitusAndronicus'); and Love and Longing in Rohtak (based on 'The Merchant of Venice').

ROMANIAN GRANDMA COMESTOAKSHAY'S RESCUE

AkshayKumarwasinthemidst of shootinghisnewfilmSinghis Bling in Romaniawhenhissuitsuddenlyripped. Thisoutfitwasparticularlydesignedfor hisclimaxscene in thefilm,but ittore unexpectedly, andthe crewhadto look fora tailorthatcouldfixthedamages instantly.Itwasa local Romanian grandmother that came to Akshay's rescue. Shewent home, brought back hersewingmachine andfixedthe tear, a!lowingfilmingtoresume.Shemust have beenextremely talentedtofixthe tear,since itwasaspecificallydesigned suitforthescene.Seemslike Akshayhas many devotedfansallaroundtheworld!

Whattweety Bird Told Us This Week

Matchthe tweet to thestarswho tweetedthem.

Priyanka Chopra, Amitabh Bachchan, SalmanKhan, Parineeti Chopra, Deepika Padukone

#AB16Million TRENDING!!

#AB16MILLION ALRIGHT time to get to 20millionnow!!

WHATANHONOUR! Brandambassador for the "beti bachao, betipadhao" campaign inHaryana!!

Onrouteto begin work on #Quantico ! Butfirst. there'sthis an exclusive look at the official poster! U like?

WldIv nrespect if the leadersof lndoPak see Bajrangi Bhaijaan bcozIv for children isabove all boundaries @narendramodi #nawazsharif

BAJIRAO NE MASTANISE MOHOBBATKlHAI. AIYASHI NAHi. #BajiraoMastaniTeaser

What'sthechitchat betweenSALMAN KHANandSRK?

Sendin yourresponsesto win@indianlink.com.au andwin asurpriseprize

What'sthechitchat betweenANIL KAPOOR anddaughterSONAM?

SONAM: Dad,you'vegot to buy me thisforthe Melbournegigin August. ANIL: Pricetagdekha hai?!

Shama Sinha Nayyar Hornsby NSW

Shama winsaticketto Bajrangi Bhaijan

Anothergood one: ANIL: Awkward,Sonam youlooktallerthan me.

SONAM: Daddy,justlook atthecamera.Youstill lookyoungasme.