Hrithik at the IIFA
November 30, 2006
Hrithik, Sussanne and dad Rakesh Roshan are in Goa for the screening of Krrish at the International Film Festival. IBN-CNN has a report and a video clip, download here (flash player required). Commenting on the success of Dhoom 2 he said, "I'm very happy. I think the primary reason for such a happy ending is that nobody was competing. It was just like going back to school with the boys - Abhishek, Uday, and I. It was teamwork, nobody was competing, and in the end that hit home." 'Dhoom 2' may rock the box office, but for Hrithik, 'Krrish' holds a special place in his heart. "Nothing beats a superhero," he said with a smile.

Hrithik on Hey Baby?
November 30, 2006
According to Business of Cinema, one of today's top superstars will make a special appearance in Sajid Nadiadwala's Hey Baby, it could be Hrithik or Salman Khan or any of the other Khans.

'Dil Laga Na' song promo
November 30, 2006
Yash Raj Films has posted video clip of 'Dil Laga Na', watch here or download here (right click and save)

Hrithik is the next Superstar
November 29, 2006
Movie Talkies has written an article about Hrithik, calling him the next superstar, he's already one in my book.

Dhoom flashback
November 29, 2006
Fuad Omar visited Yash Raj Film Studios and met Hrithik on the set of Dhoom 2, he described Hrithik's rehearsal for 'Dhoom Again' song and they later talked about his family and his dolls, he sent his report

Dhoom machayi!
November 29, 2006
An interview with Hrithik where he talks about his Adlabs' three movies deal which will not be directed by papa Rakesh Roshan, Jodha Akbar shooting and Dhoom 2. He also said that he's recuperating from elbow pain, poor thing, but it's not serious. Read the Dhoom 2 mania that is gripping the nation.

Dhoom 2 reviews
November 29, 2006
Dhoom 2 reviews, here and here, it's a fun, pop corn movie people, leave your brains at home when you go watch the movie. But I love this review from North Carolina's Indy Weekly who gives it a four stars

DHOOM 2—A breathlessly entertaining movie of monumental silliness, Dhoom 2, continues Hindi film's premiere action movie franchise, following 2004's Dhoom (Noise). Now, straightlaced cop Jai (Abhishek Bachchan) has permanently teamed with bad boy cycle racer Ali (Uday Chopra).

But, Hrithik Roshan (just named one of People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive) has snatched the spotlight as master thief, Mr. A. Of course, the plot is nonsense. Well-funded heists of unfenceable rare objects occur almost by magic. Action guru Allen Amin has devised a dizzying array of stunts for Hrithik, whose superb balance and sinuous dance moves dominate the swift three hours of jet skis, parasails, snowboards, rollerblades, motorbikes and cliff side plunges.

The cast is exquisitely styled, and all (including seductresses Aishwarya Rai and Bipasha Basu) radiate a superhuman level of gorgeousness, beautifully lit, primped and moistened. Abhishek, Hrithik and Uday, all sons of industry power houses, grew up together and have great chemistry. This giddy international caper encourages you to rev your engines, check your brain and dhoom, dhoom. Not rated.—LB

Overseas Box-office: Dhoom macha diya!
November 28, 2006
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh has the details and the numbers of Dhoom 2 performance at the overseas box office.

Director collapses after shouting rage
November 28, 2006
CNN-IBN reports that director Ashutosh Gowariker collapsed on the set of Jodha Akbar, after a shouting rage. Report says he was enraged as people in modern dress kept wandering on to the set and collapsed soon after. He was given first aid and returned to work later in the day. In another report, Mumbai Mirror reports that two junior actors fainted during the shooting of a battle scene because of the heat.

Amin holds forth on action in Dhoom:2
November 28, 2006
An interview with D2 stunt director Allan Amin where he talks about the action sequence in the movie

The action film genre was written off from mainstream Bollywood in the mid 90s. So much so that these were neither considered 'classy' films nor family entertainers. At that time, who ever dwelled on the notion that there would ever be a time in Bollywood, where, this same action film genre would be revived in a style, which would be at par with the Hollywood films? What's more, this revival and conceptualization has been done devoid of any assistance from Hollywood technicians. Yes, we're talking about Dhoom:2 and its action director Allan Amin.

"For the conceptualization of Dhoom:2 actions, I did not take any assistance from Hollywood technicians. Neither did I take any reference from any English films. All that I knew was that I wanted the entry of all my characters to be as impactful as the entry of characters in any James Bond films," says Amin. Sample this...

Hrithik Roshan's entry via parasailing and the train sequence followed by sand boarding.

Uday Chopra's entry vrooming on his bike atop a boat in the middle of a lake.

Abhishekh Bachchan emerging in a speed boat from under the water.

Bipasha Basu showing her shooting prowess in a police control room.

Aishwarya Rai's stunning entry in the heavily guarded fort to steal the sword.

A subsequent question that comes to mind pertains to the cameo of the bikes stunt in Dhoom:2, to which Amin says, "The audiences would come to theatres to watch Dhoom:2 expecting much more than just the bikes. But of course deep down everyone would expect to see the bikes too because they add an element of nostalgia to the film. Hence we decided to keep a short bike sequence in the tunnel, which we shot in Filmcity."

Justifying his statement of 'short bike sequence' he says, "According to me, the timing of the action sequence of bike is sufficient. If we made it longer than that then establishing the scene would consume a lot of time."

He further adds, "In the bike sequence, the shot when the bikes go on one wheel has been done by doubles. The experts who came down from Australia to do that scene are a part my team. Even in the roller blade scene a duplicate has been used. Other than that all the scenes have been done by the actors themselves."

Hrithik trained for three months for the roller blade sequence. Also he trained for snow boarding and sand boarding in Dubai for the sequence in which the train runs at a speed of 60 kms per hour and Hrithik sand boards and skims behind it. Abhishekh too trained for the jet skiing for his opening shot.

Amin currently operates with a team of 12 people. "From designing to execution, my team had 100 per cent involvement in the action scenes of Dhoom:2. This included story boarding the sequences and designing the angle for the shots. All action scenes that were shot have been put together in the film," states Amin. So how did the cameraman cope with shooting such deadly scenes? Amin says, "We shot on the IMO camera, which has been used in Bollywood for the first time. It is a small camera operated on film. It is easy to use and the cameraman can even jump along with it to shoot action." -- Rohini Bhandari

Muscle men, bikini babes
November 28, 2006
The Telegraph checks out the D:2 oomph quotient and it's all thumbs up for Hrithik

Dhoom 2 is a hit
November 27, 2006
It's official, Dhoom 2 has been declared a hit at the box office. The movie opens in US at #17, netting $979,001 over the weekend. In UK, it debuts at #6. More details on it's US box office abroad.

Ashutosh Gowariker
November 27, 2006
Ashutosh Gowariker talks about Jodha Akbar, saying that it is 20 per cent history and 80 per cent his imagination.

What made you cast Hrithik and Aishwarya as Jodha and Akbar?
There's a certain royal quality to Hrithik's face and body language. As for Aishwarya, to me she's the quintessential princess…straight out of Amar Chitra Katha….the distressed princess waiting in her chamber to be rescued. Aishwarya has the elegance and of course the beauty. Calling her beautiful is an understatement. Though we've seen her in so many avatars as Jodha she's something else. Hrithik and Ash are amazing together.

What about the objections raised by the Animal Welfare Board?
I've been in touch with them and I've all the required permission with details of how many animals and of which livestock I'm using. I've specified in my letter that I'm using 69 elephants, 50 camels and 100 horses. Every four hours the animals are allowed to rest. A member of the animal welfare board visits the sets. I wanted everything worked out on paper. But I have to know beforehand what I am not supposed to do.

Do you think the no-smoking clause is a killer for filmmakers?
It depends. In Jodha Akbar Emperor Humayun smoked the hookah. You can't tell me I can't show him smoking. That's history and I'm being allowed to show that.

Are you tired after the extensive researching of history?
No no! I'm enjoying myself. I feel very excited. All the detailing was done to make sure no time was wasted when we actually started shooting. To me direction is 80 per cent on paper.

Why did it take you so long to start shooting?
Hydar Ali, whose story Jodha Akbar is based on, narrated it to me right after I finished Lagaan. Since then Hydar and I were working on the screenplay. I had the option to start making Jodha Akbar before Swades. But I thought this one needed much more detailing. Though Jodha Akbar took me back in time, it wasn't the same as Lagaan where I could give a free rein to my imagination. Bhuvan in Lagaan and Mohan Bhargava in Swades were my characters. Jodha and Akbar are not.

You must be working on getting the Mughal history right, for fear of the historians coming down heavily on you?
That's the first thing I did. I met a whole lot of historians. After Swades, Jodha Akbar just took shape effortlessly. The research helped me arrive at a place where my imagination was completely unfettered. I'm sure that I'm not making a historical document. At the end of day Jodha Akbar has to be a good story told in an interesting manner. I don't want to make a bio-pic. The background is seeped in history. But the characters are mine. No one knows how Jodha or Akbar behaved. I've to imagine their romance, the palace and harem politics. I'd say 20 per cent is history while 80 per cent is my imagination.

Are you ready to deal with the purists?
The eminent historian Irfan Habib of Aligarh University heard my plot and thought it was a fabulous idea. He told me to forget about history, or else I would not be able to make my film. Then I had script sessions with the Maharani and Maharaja of Jaipur who are the direct descendents of Jodha. They're extremely excited about the film. They did the film's mahurat at the Jaipur City Palace. I've also met historians from Jamia Milia and Mumbai University and I've got the well-known Omar Khayyam Saharanpuri as my cultural advisor. These are experts on the subject of Akbar's own secular religious order Din-e-Ilahi.

There's a growing feeling that costume dramas don't work at the box-office?
To me the period is not relevant. The story has to connect with me emotionally, romantically and dramatically. Besides how many of the films set in present times work? So if I've to fail, I might as well do so while doing what I want to do.

How different is Jodha Akbar from K Asif's Mughal-e-Azam?
You'll have to see the film to figure it out. Without trying to explain what I'm doing, I'll say I'm not competing with Mughal-e-Azam at all. It's a mountain of a classic. No one can surpass it. Jodha Akbar is not a remake of any film. I'll just tell my story as best as possible. I want to tell an intense love story. I'm making my own discoveries about the love story as seen through the eyes of history. I hope to carry the burden lightly. -- Subhash K Jha

Roshan owns Bollywood cops-&-robbers caper Dhoom 2
November 27, 2006
A review of Dhoom 2 from Bloomberg

In hindsight, Sanjay Gadhvi's most crucial decision when planning the sequel to 2004's "Dhoom (Blast)'' was the casting of Hrithik Roshan as the "villain.'' "Dhoom 2'' belongs completely to Roshan, who effortlessly oozes star power whenever he's on screen. Coming after the box-office success of ``Krrish'' in June, clearly Roshan is best placed to take over from Shah Rukh Khan as Bollywood's No. 1 leading man. Stunt director Allan Amin's action scenes are stylish and spectacular, with the kind of flourishes that only a star can pull off, like the wave Roshan signs off with as he falls backwards off a height in slow motion, Rai in his arms. Derivative yes, but oh so splendid. -- full review

Hrithik creates a fabulous 'Dhoom 2'
November 27, 2006
Back in Mumbai to enjoy the respond of Dhoom 2, Hrithik talks a little bit about his next, Jodha-Akbar and his childhood buddy, Abishek Bachchan.

'Meet Hrithik' contest photos
November 27, 2006
50 lucky fans got to meet Hrithik at the Krrish contest organised by Hungama mobile before and after the release of the movie. Hrithik freely mingled with his fans who had won the contest for maximum downloads of multimedia content of the Krrish film like ringtones, wallpapers, images, movie clips and games on their WAP-enabled mobile handsets. Some photos from Click here for photos. Update: More pics Radiosargam and Now Running

Making of a star
November 27, 2006
Subash K Jha talks about Hrithik and Ash saying that the two define sexy and cool in our cinema.

Look out for Hrithik
November 25, 2006
When you go see Dhoom 2 in theatres be on the look out for Hrithik because Mumbai Mirror reports that he will visit theatres and will interact with audiences.

Sealed with a kiss
November 25, 2006
Sanjay Gadhvi talks about the execution of the kissing scene between Hrithik and Ash in Dhoom 2.

Hrithik rules again!
November 25, 2006
Another nice review of Hrithik's performance in Dhoom 2, I could just kiss this writer right now, the way he/she describes it is, as Mr. A would say, Perfect! Update: more clips of fans' opinions and reviews 1 and 2 and critics review

Dhoom:2 music on superior DVD-Audio format
November 25, 2006
Whoa! Yash Raj Music has released Dhoom 2 music in the DVD-Audio format, also included are lyrics which can be viewed on screen thus enabling karaoke sing along and four additional tracks, Chand Sifarish (Fanaa), Kajra Re (Bunty aur Babli), Salaam Namaste (Salaam Namaste) and Halla Re (Neal 'n' Nikki). Glad I haven't bought a copy yet.

Ashutosh plays the pacifier
November 25, 2006
Director Ashutosh Gowariker had to calm down an irate mob during the shooting of Jodhaa-Akbar. It happened when the crew was shooting a scene of Hrithik (as Akbar) making a grand entry into the Fort. Reports says Hrithik and other actors were rushed to their vans for fear of being mobbed.

New John Players pics
November 25, 2006
Check out the new John Players fall/winter 2006 collection, Vani has uploaded them all here

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