The list was created to honor women executives of South Asian background who have excelled in various roles in the media and entertainment business.

“It is our honor to celebrate each and every woman executive on the list for their unrelenting passion in bringing the best in entertainment and media to the global marketplace,” Bill Simon, senior client partner and managing director of Korn/Ferry International’s Global Media & Entertainment Sector, stated to the press in announcing the prestigious list, who will be formally honored at next month’s Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.

“This past year has seen a substantial growth in Indian companies in Hollywood.  Indian entertainment is no longer a niche industry but a burgeoning global business that has expanded into the mainstream,” he added. “These remarkable women have each contributed much to bridge east and west, and their continuing efforts will benefit all in the entertainment and media for years to come.”

The list of the Most Influential South Asian Women Executives in the Media and Entertainment Industry was developed by Korn/Ferry International in consultation with IFFLA.

A reception and dinner will be held during the eighth edition of IFFLA, which runs from April 20th through 25th at ArcLight Hollywood.

“The achievements of all the honorees have a continuing impact on the growing success of Indian entertainment throughout the globe, and we’re thrilled to spotlight and host these remarkable women during this year’s festival,” festival director Christina Marouda stated to the press.

The list of honorees includes the following:

•    Farah K. Ahmed, Assistant General Counsel, Personal Care Products Council
•    Deepa Mehta, Director/Writer/Producer, Hamilton-Mehta Productions, LLC
•    Vishakha N. Desai, President, Asia Society
•    Zarina Mehta, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, UTV Networks
•    Indu Jain, Chair, Times Group of India
•    Sujata Murthy, Senior Vice President, Public and Artist Relations, Universal Music Enterprises
•    Shibani Joshi, Analyst and Reporter, Fox Business Network
•    Mira Nair, Director/Writer/Producer, Mirabai Films
•    Superna Kalle, Senior Vice President, Sony Pictures Television
•    Indra Nooyi, Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo, Inc.
•    Ekta Kapoor, Creative Director, Balaji Telefilms
•    Aparna Pande, General Manager, U.S. Consumer Magazines, Disney Publishing Worldwide
•    Roma Khanna, President, Global Networks and Digital Initiatives, NBC Universal International
•    Saijal Patel, Analyst and Commentator, Asia Squawk Box and Market Watch, CNBC
•    Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, HSBC India
•    Priti Shahani, Senior Vice President, The Indian Film Company
•    Anju Jain Kumar, Director, Counsel – India Legal Affairs, The Walt Disney Company (India)
•    Latha Sundaram, Executive Vice President and Global Account Director, Starcom Worldwide
•    Jhumpa Lahiri, Author and Member of President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities
•    Deborah Tellis, Senior Vice President, International Distribution, Summit Entertainment
•    Vandana Malik, Head, Studio 18
•    Selina Tobaccowala, Vice President, Product and Engineering, Survey Monkey

Priyanka Chopra

Indian cinema was in full stride on Friday evening, as the largest country in the South Asian region recognized some of the biggest names in cinema, fashion, music and the arts at the 56th National Film Awards ceremony held in New Delhi on March 19th, it was reported.

Hindi film star Priyanka Chopra reportedly led the way for Bollywood, which claimed 13 National Awards in all at the prestigious event.

Other key names announced as National Award recipients on March 19th included Bala, Farhan Akhtar, Kangana Ranaut, Neeta Lulla, Chinni and Rekha Prakash, and Arjun Rampal, among others.

“I feel elated. I really don’t know what I feel. I can’t put words to it,” Chopra told an Indian television news network after claiming Best Actress for her role in the 2008 film Fashion.  “It’s huge — you feel like such a small part of something so massive. I love cinema — everything about it. I’m doing all kinds of cinema and all kinds of different genres.”

Also claiming an award from Fashion was Ranaut, who was announced as Best Supporting Actress.

Bollywood star Rampal was announced as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Rock On!, while the film’s director, Akhtar, reportedly accepted the National Film Award on behalf of the same production for Best Film.

Other award recipients included:

- Best Choreography: Chinni and Rekha Prakash, “Azeem-o-shaan shehenshah” in Jodhaa Akbar
- Best Costume Designer: Neeta Lulla, Jodhaa Akbar
- Best Editing: A. Sreekar Prasad, Firaaq
- Best Art Direction: Gautam Sen, Firaaq
- Indira Gandhi Best First Film: Neeraj Pandey, A Wednesdsay
- Best Animation Film: Roadside Romeo
- Best Popular Film (Wholesome Entertainment): Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
- Best Special Effects: Nishikant Kamat, Govardhan
- Best Child Artist Award: Shams Patel, Thanks Maa
- Best Screenplay: Sachin Kundalkar, Gandha (Marathi film)
- Best Audiography: Pramod J. Thomas, Gandha (Marathi)
- Best Film (Family Values): Sooni Taraporewallah, Little Zizou (English)
- Best Children’s Film: Gubbachigalu (Kannada)
- Best Direction: Bala, Naan Kadauul (Tamil)
- Special Jury Honor: Bioscope (Malayalam)
- Best Actor: Upendra Limaya, Jogva (Marathi)
- Best Film (Social Issues): Jogva (Marathi)
- Best Playback Singers: Shreya Ghoshal and Hariharan, “Jeev dangla gungla rangla,” Jogva (Marathi)
- Best Music Composers: Ajay and Atul, Jogva (Marathi)
- Best Feature Film: Antaheen (Bengali)
- Best Cinematography (Film): Antaheen (Bengali)
- Best Lyrics: Antaheen (Bengali)
- Best Singer (Song): Shreya Ghoshal, “Pherari Mon,” Antaheen (Bengali)
- Best Feature Film (Assamese): Mon Jei
- Best Feature Film (Bengali): Shob  Charitro Kalponik
- Best Feature Film (Kannada): Vimukthi
- Best Feature Film (Malayalam): Thirakkatha
- Best Feature Film (Marathi): Harishchandrachi Factory
- Best Feature Film (Tamil): Vaaranam Ayiram
- Best Feature Film (Telugu): 1940 Lookagramam

Hindi film star Salman Khan will reportedly be joining forces with Siddique for Bollywood’s remake of the Malayam smash hit Bodyguard, it was announced this week.

Neither the film’s title nor the leading actress were announced, as the production staff reported neither have been confirmed.

Khan’s brother-in-law, Atul Agnihotri, was announced as the film’s producer; both Khan and Agnihotri had previously worked together in Dabang.

“Even though we are still adapting the script to fit the Bollywood audiences, we have confirmed Salman to play the lead role in it, while for the leading lady, we are yet to decide and are keeping the options open,” Agnihotri informed reporters on March 16th. “As for the direction of the film, I have known Siddiqui for quite some time now. In fact, we were in talks when he was making the film down south. And now, after it has acclaimed fame, I think there is no one better to direct it than him.”

Agnihotri also told the press that a rough production schedule for development, film shoot and release has already been mapped out.

“Right now, we are working on the adaptation of the film. Once this is complete, we will launch the making and finalize the lyrics for the songs,” the announced producer added in his comments to the press. “Since most of the film has a lot of outdoor shoots, we are looking to start the shoot somewhere in the last three months of this year, while keeping in mind a tentative summer release for the film.”

The Malayalam (or Mollywood) version of Bodyguard released in South India on January 23rd with Dilip and Nayantara co-starring as the film’s leads and is about a man who tries to emulate the characteristics and lifestyles of people he admires. As part of his admiration, he makes an attempt to move in with his new-found idol and act as their bodyguard.

According to unconfirmed news reports, Kollywood was also considering a Tamil remake of Bodyguard, with South Indian actress Asin announced as a potential leading lady in India’s third leading film industry.

Bodyguard was reportedly considered among one of the best-grossing films in Mollywood.

Like many of his Indian brothers and sisters, Aanaahad chose a lifestyle free of eating formerly living animals. Considered a violent means of nutritionally sustaining oneself, the last thing the rising star ever figured he would have to give up is vegetarianism for an acting gig many may find barbaric – a violent decision, one may say, in and of itself.

Still, here he is, delivering the performance of a lifetime, even though the 25-year-old Aanaahad probably still has a long way to go before Father Time calls his number.

To be sure, Father Time will not be knocking on his door anytime soon because he forewent his vegetarian lifestyle in order to play make his on-screen debut in this weekend’s release of Lahore. Ironically enough, when that knock came at the door a few months ago, Aanaahad was pleased to find it was Bollywood calling.

“The film chose me, not the other way around,” the fresh new Bollywood face told Times of India as he promoted the film this past week. “I was in college in Delhi when I realized my calling was acting. I came to Mumbai and started assisting a director. Later, I met director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, who narrated the script of Lahore to me.”

After listening to Singh Chauhan’s reading, Aanaahad was more than pleased to accept his new calling, although his role in the kickboxing film Lahore came with a catch: becoming lean and flexible.

That meant having to change his diet, which started off becoming a piscetarian before gradually incorporating other forms of meat into his life.

It was a diet he had to start almost immediately, after he temporarily moved to China in order to train in the martial art-form of Wushu.

“In China, I could not really find many vegetarian options,” Aanaahad told The Times of India in Hindi, adding it took him about three years to prepare and train for his kickboxing role in Lahore. “So I started with fish and graduated to other stuff.”

When all was said and done, Aanaahad had more than graduated in his diet – he also moved up quite high as a thespian, thanks to his training and his opportunity to work with the likes of Farooque Sheikh, Sushant Singh and the late Nirmal Pandey.

“From Farooque, I learned that if you want to be successful, you should do your work with complete honesty,” he humbly told the press.

Perhaps that honesty will pay off, as not only has Lahore impressed attendees at various film festivals where the movie screened, but may be well-received by Indian moviegoers, despite fierce competition at the box office this weekend.

Lahore opened on March 19th and is now playing in theaters.

In what is probably the most controversial Bollywood release in recent memory, Love Sex aur Dhokha hits the silver screen this weekend, and despite audiences watching an abridged version of the film courtesy of the country’s infamous Censory Board, the Banerjee film does not disappoint.

Despite its “sleazy” premise, Love Sex aur Dhokha strikes a chord on so many levels, ultimately entertaining audiences with a fine balance between dramatic climaxes and comedic interplay between characters and off-the-wall situations that are relatable or understandable by everyday people, even if they do no want to admit it.

Even more, the film is full of perfectly timed twists and turns.

Yet, what makes Love Sex aur Dhokha work is its ability to penetrate the minds of not just the audience but ultimately the psyche of the human race. A story told in the most provocative manner, Banerjee shot the film in a way that makes it feel as if audiences were watching a documentary on humanity’s dichotic view of sexual relations.

Indeed, it is quite scary to see how well the film presents people’s two-sided views on all things intimate and beyond, contrasting people’s communal thoughts of sexual relations against personal expectation of entitlement and desire behind closed doors. If that were not enough, Love Sex aur Dhokha even explores the engulfed gap between one’s mentally private expectations of entitlement versus their desires.

It is this documentary-style revelation of personal truth – coincidentally applicable to just about anyone who is not asexual – that gives Love Sex aur Dhokha its unique edge.

What makes the film even better is it is filmed against the backdrop of modern India. It is there where the citizenry is caught in very real crossroads, pitting old-school principles of keeping sex in the bedroom and a more technology-savvy, Western-influenced younger generation that is both growing in numbers and becoming more accepting of living their private lives in the open.

Along the way, Love Sex aur Dhokha is emotionally detached, cold and so truthful it will indeed “hurt” many. Ironically, such adjectives are not a negative against the film, especially with Love Sex aur Dhokha being positively bold, visually stylish and ultimately a sexy social commentary that is bound to be as intriguing and accurate as it is controversial and difficult to swallow.

Told through three independent stories of a filmmaker-actress affair, a supermarket porn junkie and an covert operation couple, Love Sex aur Dhokha manages to touch upon sexual thoughts or fantasies that have entered the heads of billions at one point of their lives, whether they want to admit it or not.

Whether such thoughts are of a forbidden love affair, risky business or personal loneliness despite being surround by tangible pleasures, it is rather scary just how true the film’s messages are closely grounded in reality.

Presenting a fresh cast of outstanding performances by relatively new faces including Anshuman Jha, Shruti, Raj Kumar Yadav, Neha Chauhan, Amit Sial, Arya Devdutta and Herry Tangri, Love Sex aur Dhokha is quite the accurate testament of real-life sexual relations on so many levels — it will be as if the audience is watching their own intimate thoughts play out on the silver screen as if it were a mirror.

With a tight, cohesive and intelligent script that is as funny as it is dramatic, the film is well-shot and perfectly paced while also featuring impeccable choreography. Even the now infamous “blurred-out” sex scene will speak volumes to audiences despite its forced lack of clarity.

Quite the innovative film that manages to both take itself seriously and not, Love Sex aur Dhokha is truly the first must-see production of 2010 and will be talked about for months, if not years, to come.

Love Sex aur Dhokha releases on March 19th.

Which is the bigger cliché: Pakistan banning a Bollywood film from screening within its borders, or a production company trying to capture the triumph of the human spirit through sports?

To be fair, Pakistanis do have an appetite for Hindi cinema, and Lahore is not your everyday sports flick, but something about South Asia’s most populous Moslem nation not allowing the screening of a kickboxing film titled after one of the country’s largest, most internationally renowned cities just doesn’t seem so abnormal to the casual eye.

Indeed, Lahore is far from being a cliché film, since, as the title would otherwise imply, it does delve into Indo-Pak relations. Accordingly, on its surface, it would seem standard protocol for Pakistani officials to ban the film from its citizenry (presumably) in the name of protecting them from potential pro-India scenes.

Ironically enough, Lahore is probably the last film that should be banned from Pakistani audiences, as the very fabric of the film is both conciliatory and a break from the norm. The film explores Ind0-Pak relations in the most cleverly unique means possible — competitive sport.

For starters, the film is painted against a backdrop of kickboxing, not exactly the most popular sport in India. That alone separates Lahore from its sport-film and Indo-Pak content brethren, what with most films on either subject either focusing on war or South Asia’s more popular competitive events such cricket, boxing, hockey and football (soccer).

Heck, one film featured carom as its storytelling device, but never has a Hindi film presented kickboxing as its front-and-center plot vehicle.

Even more, Lahore strays from the proverbial political and religious entanglements between India and Pakistan, instead choosing to tell the relationship-themed story of two brothers torn by two nations.

Not at all present are patriotic slogans or Pakistan-bashing statements. Visibly absent are militaristic scenes or tense meetings with overly zealous politicians who cannot be reasoned with. The worst things about Lahore, when it comes to Indo-Pak relations, are the very real observations about the current state of affairs between both nations.

Instead, Lahore is quite the heartfelt story laced with strong messages worthy of being endorsed and lauded by people on both sides of the audiences, irrespective of whether they watch the film.

The story itself is quite interesting, featuring a series of intense kickboxing scenes in both Kuala Lumpur and, eventually, Lahore; the Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan film balances a fiercely competitive international tournament with bonding (and divisive) relationships surrounding a minister (K. Jeeva), a coach (Farooque Sheikh), two sibling competitors (Sushant Singh and Aanaahad), two strong competitors (Mukesh Rishi and Kelly Dorji) and a proverbial love interest (Shraddha Das).

As Lahore unfolds through a series of competitive kickboxing events, full of twisting drama and politics, the film sets itself up to be quite the underdog-style film, pitting India and Pakistan against each other in the way both nations should – a toe-to-toe battle innocently set against the pure thrill of competitive sport.

Throughout, Lahore is quite the vividly told tale of balancing one’s personal ambitions with their personal and professional relations, and how two countries can go to battle with each other in a fair environment without costing lives.

Combined with some very well-shot kickboxing scenes that feature gripping emotion and edge-of-your-seat action far exceeding any film Jean-Claude Van Damme has ever done, Lahore also features well-acted performances by Shaikh, Singh, Das, Jeeva and Dorji. Also doing well on screen are supporting cast members Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Shraddha Nigam and Mukesh Rishi, yet the standout performance is clearly delivered by Aanaahad, portraying a role that was made for him with near reckless abandon – and the resulting rendition and character development is phenomenally spectacular.

Overall, Lahore will be one of Bollywood’s earliest surprises, which bodes well for Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s debut performance as director. The film opens on March 19th.

Hindi film star Shah Rukh Khan was honored at the FICCI Frames 2010 Excellence Awards in Mumbai on March 18th, as the actor was presented with the Global Entertainment and Media Personality award, it was reported.

“Thank you so much to FICCI for bestowing this award on me, and the job that you guys are doing is absolutely outstanding,” Khan reportedly announced after receiving the honor.

Also awarded at the event was Oscar and Grammy Award-winner A.R. Rahman, who was publicly announced as Global Icon of the Year.

Others awarded at the ceremony included Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan, both of whom were reportedly named Best Actor and Best Actress for their respective roles in Paa.

Bollywood film director Raju Hirani was announced as Best Director for his work on 3 Idiots, which was also announced as Best Film.

FICCI Frames also announced Pritam Chakraborty as Best Music Director for the Love Aaj Kaal soundtrack, while Ranbir Kapoor was reportedly awarded with the Best Entertainment award.

Pakistan bans ‘Lahore’

No, Pakistani officials did not place a ban on one of its own cities, but movie audiences within the Moslem country will not be able to watch kickboxing film Lahore over the weekend, as it was banned from the country’s theaters, the Indo-American News Service reported.

“We were very keen that it releases there (in Pakistan), but now we are disappointed,” the film’s debutant director, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, told IANS after he was informed of the ban. “Lahore is not a typical Bollywood commercial film. It’s not a Pakistan-bashing film. It is a very different and balanced project with no negativity or biases against any country.”

One of India’s first-ever films on competitive kickboxing, Lahore attempts to address the tougher-than-rocks Indo-Pak relations through organized sport.

Still, Pakistan’s Censor Board reportedly denied the film from screening inside the country.

Chauhan added, in his chat with IANS, that the Pakistan Censor Board rejected the film despite his attempts to amend it as best he could without sacrificing its message.

“We were told that the authorities aren’t pleased with certain portions of the movie, but every film has certain tones without which it will lose its essence,” Chauhan frankly told IANS. “We were kept on hold for a long time and they kept delaying the process. We got foreign crew, mostly from the Netherlands, and then we had to employ local crew. We could only take exterior shots, as we were told by locals that shooting with Indian actors could create hassles.”

Produced under the Sai Om Films Pvt. Ltd. banner, Lahore was shot in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Lonavala, Lahore and Kuala Lumpur; in fact, the film’s climaxes occur in Lahore.

The film was well-received at various film festivals, reportedly claiming the jury award for Best Feature Film in its world premiere at last year’s 42nd World Fest International Film Festival in Houston, Texas.

Pakistan has had a history of banning Indian films in the past, though in 2008, the country’s former president, Pervez Musharraf, reportedly lifted a ban on movies from its Hindu neighbors that existed for about four decades. When the ban was lifted, about 16 Bollywood films released in Pakistan.

Recently, Paa, 3 Idiots, My Name is Khan and Right Yaa Wrong were among the more popular Hindi films released throughout Pakistan.

It seems like every week now, a Bollywood new release has a horror or thriller theme attached to it. Unfortunately, many of those films have not been scary-good. Factor in the general aversion among Hindi film fans to the horror genre, and the year has been off to a rather disappointing start for those who truly want to see the bone-tingling genus of films find its way into mainstream Bollywood.

It is only fitting to see this upcoming weekend (which features a slew of new releases) to include a horror flick on marquees across India.

This weekend, it is Shaapit’s turn to freak Bollywood audiences out of their collective seats, and to make things even more interesting, the film’s production and marketing team advertised the movie with the following tag-line: “Warning: Extremely Frightening.”

A tall order — one which Shaapit does not fully meet but still comes close.

Perhaps the one thing Shaapit does that its predecessors failed to do in recent weeks was follow the most basic rule of horror-genre film-making: scare audiences at the right moments with the level of fear (and perfectly placed climaxes) increasing as the film’s story progresses.

The film’s only true weakness is it can be lengthy at times, which may water down certain portions of the film. Alas, the overdrawn scenes can be forgiven, what with the frequency of bone-chilling moments and steady dose of spine-tingling sequences.

Shaapit centers around Aman (Aditya Narayan) and his to-be fiance Kaaya (Sweta Agrawal). When Aman places the engagement ring on his love’s finger, a world of negative energy invades their collective lives – thanks to a 300-year curse dominating the groom’s family’s past.

With the curse haunting both Aman and Kaaya, the couple must face their fears and discover if their love for each other is strong enough to rid themselves of their superstitious twist.

Both Narayan and Agarwal deliver solid performances and are believable as a cursed couple, never screaming too much and avoiding cheesy responses to tense situations as best they could.

Directed by Vikram Bhatt and also starring Rahul Dev, Shaapit opens on March 19th.

She said she was cold, despite it being noontime with the sun’s warmth just hitting its stride in filling the streets of central Pomona with a beautifully bright glare and sunshine-basking ambiance.

Perhaps she really was cold, but Mallika was probably also tired, as filming on-set at the Masonic Temple on the fringes of the Inland Empire was coming to a close in a few hours. Even worse, Mallika was in need of medical attention – prior to filming her lead role in Love, Barack, the film star known as the Bollywood Marilyn Monroe had injured her hamstring during a training session at the gym — an injury that was apparently re-aggravated on the final day of shooting.

After spending a couple hours in an impromptu physical therapy session, Mallika was finally in perfect condition to trek through the Masonic Temple, which doubled as a headquarters for John McCain’s presidential campaign, and find her way to a comfortable chair in a quaint downtown storefront across the street that served as Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters.

It was in there were Mallika shared her excitement with Buzzine about portraying Aretha Gupta in Love, Barack, a romantic-comedy film about two campaign workers – one Democrat and one Republican – finding love amidst a heated presidential election. The film is scheduled to be released later this year.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for me because Love, Barack is a romance between a Republican and a Democrat, and for the first time, an Indian actor is playing a Democrat in a movie,” Mallika excitedly told Buzzine. “I’m also playing a character that is all-American in a movie, so that was definitely very exciting for me.”

She was also excited about working with a talented group of filmmakers and actors who helped make Love, Barack the type of movie that, she believes, is perfect for families to watch over and over again after it releases.

“Getting an opportunity to work with a veteran Hollywood director in Bill Deer, having Ruby Dee as my grandmother and Loretta Divine as my mother … it is a dream,” Mallika told Buzzine with an air of excitement. “It’s a great story. It has great comedy, it has romance, (and) it has family values. This is a movie which families can watch; it brings families together. It’s a lot of fun.”

The one-time Bollywood actress also had as much fun working with her co-star, Brian J. White (Men of a Certain Age), who she said was as easy on the eyes as he was talented and instructional.

“Brian J. White is fabulous (as a co-star). He has a six-pack that we are exploiting, (but) he’s a very giving actor,” Mallika shared. “He (taught) me a lot of local American politics; I knew about the Democrat side of the story, but I was really getting to know about the Republican side of the movie (through Brian).”

Even more fabulous for Mallika is the opportunity she is seeking out as an actress. The 32-year-old thespian that pushed the envelope in Bollywood since 2002, starring in films such as Murder and Kis Kis Ki Kismat, has since ventured out beyond India’s shores and is now seeking to define herself as an international superstar.

“I’m just looking for great work and great scripts, and nowadays it seems to be coming from Hollywood and from America. That is all it is for me,” Mallika candidly announced to Buzzine as she pondered where she would like to go next with her acting career. “If tomorrow I get a script from Korea, from China or Hong Kong, or from anywhere else, I’ll do a movie there. It just so happened my last two movies, like Jennifer Lynch’s Hisss and this movie, Love, Barack, are both by American directors.”

Alas, as much fun as she is having with her Love, Barack co-stars while also seeking new production opportunities around the world, Mallika said happily that she was still touched by the simplest, most noblest of actions, adding that she truly feels at home in Hollywood.

“We had a couple of fans (college students) come in and bring Indian food for me. They brought in Gujarati Dhokla — it was so sweet,” the crossover actress jubilantly declared. “They are showing me a lot of love here.”

In a few months, Mallika hopes many of those same fans will share that same love when Love, Barack opens in theaters around the world. Until then, Mallika will be spending her post-production days staying warm and nursing her hamstring injury.

Talking about sex in India is about as welcome as rekindling debates of partition along the present-day India-Pakistan border. No matter how one slices it, a mere discussion of anything sexual is quite taboo in just about every corner of India, even in Bollywood.

So when Dibaker Banerjee’s Love Sex aur Dhokha dove headstrong into voyeurism and lovemaking, the filmmaker should have totally expected an air of controversy as the film prepares to release this week.

However, despite a late approval from the Censor Board, which only came in after he had to make five cuts while toning down a sixth sex scene in Love Sex aur Dhoka, Banerjee told the press he was kind of taken aback by the current reactive climate surrounding his film.

“I made a film I believe in without the intention of creating a controversy; the controversy is an after-effect,” Banerjee said in a recent interview with The Times of India. “My (mom) was a little hesitant while pronouncing the title at a stretch.”

Even worse, Banerjee may be hesitant himself to see the film release this weekend, what with the Censor Board forcing him to snip out a few scenes he adamantly insisted on keeping – mostly because he feels audiences will not be able to properly judge Love Sex aur Dhokha.

He further added the risqué scenes in the film were less for viewing pleasure and were instead played out to make a bigger statement. Unfortunately, the Censor Board did not agree with him.

“I would like to state on record that I am not comfortable about the picture coming out. I want the scene to be judged as part of the film (in its entirety),” Banerjee told an Indian-based entertainment publication earlier this week. “To use the picture out of context will be damaging to the film. The idea is not to draw vicarious pleasure from it.”

Even more, Banerjee publicly told a media outlet the questionable scenes were not intended to raise controversy but instead to move the story along in an artistic and contextual manner.

“The story makes you live through the dilemma of the character and how they realize that they have done something they can never undo. It’s tragic,” the film’s director told the press. “I would advise the people who watch the film to not go for the nude scene, as they will not get what they want.”

To that end, he spared no words in speaking of the Censor Board, candidly sharing his harsh feeling toward the regulatory organization in his talk with The Times of India.

“I am apprehensive about the reaction of the members of the Censor Board, as this kind of film needs that sensitivity. I am all for the creative integrity of the subject matter, and my job is to see that the message is delivered,” Banerjee reportedly said. “It’s not about the sex scene but how to retain the integrity of the story while remaining within the legal limits of the land. I’d say it’s a genre-defining film, and the most emotionally draining, gut-wrenching film I’ve made ’til now.”

Alas, every dark cloud has a silver lining sourced from a ray of hope, and Banerjee thinks the controversy surrounding Love Sex aur Dhokha will be more beneficial than harmful, as it may result in more fans filling theaters to watch this film instead of the other two productions opening this weekend.

And greater publicity means greater exposure, not only for what Banerjee feels is his best film to date but also increased attention for the relatively fresh cast who needs all the media publicity they can get.

“It’s a great feeling when small films that need all the publicity acquire the same on their merit,” he shared in his chat with The Times of India. “I just hope this film does not get misunderstood for being what it’s not and that the desired message is conveyed to the audience.”

That message, even in its abridged state, is uniquely delivered to audiences, what with three different plots coming together to tell a realistic story of the perils of voyeurism. Even more, the story is portrayed in a revolutionary manner, what with Love Sex aur Dhokha shot fully in digital format while using a diverse set of high-tech cameras to display the most subtle of nuances as the film plays out on screen.

Even with the cuts and ultimate full approval by the Censor Board, Love Sex aur Dhokha is quite the risqué film for modern Bollywood standards and is not necessarily a family film, even though the visionary Banerjee tells an accurate tale that the very lines society drew between adults and their offspring are rapidly blurring and disappearing into oblivion.

Love Sex aur Dhokha opens in theaters on March 19th.

In the horrific fight between good and evil, filmmaker Vikram Bhatt believes love will conquer all and allow goodness to prevail over the darkness. Ironically, while such a concept loosely serves as a foundation of the latest film he helmed in Shaapit, Bhatt himself is in the dark when it comes to romance.

Strikingly odd that a man who is happily single would, in the same breath, visually tell the tale of the power of love between a man and a woman. Bhatt has come to firmly believe one does not necessarily need to find a soul-mate in order to consider one’s life whole.

Of course, it does help that Bhatt attempted to experience love, albeit his ventures have been well-publicized for better or worse. Yet, after experiences in love that may be aptly labeled as horrific – including one divorce and two romantic links gone bad – it seems fitting for the acclaimed director to present a cross of both heart-affected emotions in the upcoming release of Shaapit.

In talking to the press this past week, however, Bhatt focused only on one of those emotions – love.

“Yes, I will give love a chance, but then it has to indeed be ‘love.’ Let that happen naturally,” Bhatt told the press this week as he promoted Shaapit. “See, the fact is I don’t see myself reaching home in the night, feeling lonely and then getting the feeling that ‘arre yaar, it’s bad to be alone; I should rather hook up with someone.’”

Bhatt went on to frankly tell the press that living life without loving a significant other is not as horrific as many would dogmatically think.

“I have realized that no one but you can complete yourself,” Bhatt told reporters with candor and conviction. “It is actually nonsense to seek someone to be complete in life. You can be single and still so complete.”

Of course, it helps to have done as much as Bhatt has with his professional career. Not only is he featuring a fresh cast in this week’s release of Shaapit, but he has worked with some of Bollywood’s biggest names, such as Aamir Khan.

With his professional acumen as a director and filmmaker, Bhatt confesses that such leaping progress helps him easily deal with broken hearts at the expense of Bollywood lovelies he has publicly dated – Sushmita Sen and Amisha Patel.

“I am happy to be living life the way it is currently, and I don’t intend to mold it any differently. However, I am not bitter at all,” Bhatt told the press of his post-dating life. “Why should I be? But now the love which comes to me has to be really special. I am not at all unhappy in my current state, and I am, in fact, raring to go, as far as my personal and professional life is concerned.”

Good thing he pointed out to the press he is “not at all unhappy” in his current position, because he may have to convince himself he is still happy if Shaapit happens to open to a lackluster box-office this weekend, what with two other major releases competing for audiences and Bollywood fans not yet fully warm to horror films.

Either way, Bhatt will have to take what he gets and just be happy with it. Otherwise, his life will be full of horror, and where is the love in that?

Shaapit opens on March 19th across India and stars Aditya Narayan, Shweta Aggarwal and Rahul Dev.

The film is about a young man who proposes to a young woman, but the woman does not realize she is about to be engaged to a man who comes from a cursed family — and that curse was transferred to her when her new fiance slipped the engagement ring onto her finger. As a series of dangerous events transpire, the new couple must find away to use their love battle as a weapon of good in the impending battle against evil forces.

(Editor’s Note: The Indo-American News Service contributed to this story.)

Comets do not regularly make themselves visible to the average human eye looking up to the skies. Even when comets are seen, they just show up, entertain for a bit, then leave Earth’s orbit and…well, do whatever else such an icy space phenomenon would do when no one else is watching.

Indeed, in the time that elapses between comets passing through just outside Earth’s orbit, all most humans will be able to see as they collectively look up at the dark sky are a series of stars whose presence can be seen almost all the time and from just about any location where one would have a clear path to stare upwards.

If stars and comets can be analogized to actors, Nafisa Ali will gladly call herself a passing comet of Bollywood. Sure, she can be seen from time to time in mainstream Hindi cinema and will have her fair share of when her films release, yet when each respective movie’s time passes, so does the attention surrounding Nafisa. Just like a comet, she maintains a sense of popularity and glamour as she is passing through, but once the film has taken its course, so has she.

And she has no problem hailing herself as a comet instead of a star that is steadily in everyone’s view.

“I love doing films, but I am just a comet and not a star in Bollywood,” the veteran actress told the press as she was promoting her role in the upcoming release of Lahore, which Nafisa dubs as her “comeback film.”

In finding an acting gig after an extended absence from the big screen, the former Miss India has spent only a modest amount of time pursuing her thespian career. Since 1979, the one-time beauty pageant winner and popular Indian athlete has accepted only a handful of roles. Still, she has starred alongside some of the biggest names in Hindi film, including Sashi Kapoor in the 1979 Shyam Benegal film Junoon, Amitabh Bachchan in 1988’s Major Saab, Anil Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor in 2005’s Bewafaa, and Dharmendra in the 2007 flick Life in a … Metro.

She even tried her hand in Malayalam cinema in 2007, starring with Mammootty in Big B, one of her final acting gigs prior to Lahore.

Despite finding fame in Junoon as one of Shashi Kapoor’s co-stars, Nafisa seemed to have other priorities on her mind – like married life and social activism. Indeed, after Junoon, the 53-year-old former swimmer and jockey made a brief run at a Lok Sabha seat for Parliament and maintains an active status in both Congress and Samajwadi Parties.

A life of politics and social activism was far more appealing to Nafisa than sports, beauty pageants or, for that matter, acting.

“As a social activist, I am always thinking about humanity and that young people should think about change,” Nafisa told reporters, adding that her acceptance of a supporting role in Lahore fits her broad political agenda and social interests. “Lahore deals with a sensitive subject, and I thought it was necessary for me to do it. Whenever I do a film, I think about what message it will convey.”

With Lahore, the message was rather compelling for Nafisa, hence her appearance in the film about Indian-Pakistani relations in the context of the relatively unknown sport of kickboxing.

Directed by debutante filmmaker Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan, Nafisa believes Lahore can help ease relations between the two neighboring countries by relating to the youth through sport and cinema — two fields the former Miss India has mastered quite well during her lifetime.

“The story of the film is very empowering and, as a former national swimming champion, I loved to essay the role of a mother who has two sons — one is a cricketer and the other is a kick-boxer. The film has the spirit of both,” Nafisa thoughtfully and humbly told the press. “I hope, after watching the film, a lot of young people will go for kickboxing, and I think the youth of India and Pakistan will relate to it.”

Whether Nafisa will relate to her acting career after starring in this film is unlikely, what with her clearly stating that she feels she is more of a comet than a star and characterizing her time in Bollywood as being similar to that of a passerby. Still, Lahore is not Nafisa’s final acting role, as she did inform the press that she plans on being featured as Hrithik Roshan’s mother in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish.

Still, for the time being, all Nafisa hopes for right now is for Lahore to be an influential film that makes a positive difference to all those who trek out to watch it despite fierce competition from two other Bollywood productions that open on the same day. (It does not really help either that the film was reportedly banned from release in Pakistan by government officials.)

Also starring Farooque Sheikh Sushant Singh, Saurabh Shukla and Nirmal Pandey, Lahore opens on March 19th and is distributed by Warner Bros.

(Editor’s Note: Press Trust of India contributed to this story.)

There is only so much drama a man can take, especially if that man is Bollywood filmmaker Subhash Ghai.

After trying is hand at directing two critically slammed Hindi drama films, such as Yuvvraaj and Black and White, Ghai is not switching back to the genre that made him a household name – comedy.

“My next film will be an entertaining, lighthearted comedy,” Ghai, 65, confessed in an interview with the press. “It is still in the scripting stages, which will take about six more months to complete.”

While he has been absent from the director’s chair in Yuvvraaj, which is marketed as a “musical extravaganza” starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, Ghai thinks he can get back to some of his lighter films that made him a go-to director in the 1980s and 1990s, such as Hero, Pardes and Taal.

The return to the director’s chair may actually be indirect pressure from financiers, as his affiliation with Mukta Arts (which produced the just-released Right Yaa Wrong) may cause him to wear more hats than merely the producer one he is currently content with wearing.

“My production house, Mukta Arts, is a private, limited company, and we have some commitments toward our investors,” Ghai noted to reporters about his prospects of directing new films. “So we need to keep producing movies, even though I might direct very few. I am kind of multi-tasking these days. I am director, producer, businessman, and teacher all at the same time.”

Still, the veteran filmmaker said he is not above expanding his repertoire beyond producing films, especially since the current climate in Bollywood allows for more diversity and experimentation.

“Bollywood is churning out more variety than ever these days. My company is producing all kinds of films, like Aitraaz, Iqbal and Kisna,” Ghai candidly said in his chat with the press, adding that the films he just listed are less dramatic and better produced to keep up with the times.

In other signs of Ghai trying to keep pace with what Bollywood fans seek in their films, the filmmaker said he is less concerned about attaching big names to his script and more in tune with having quality actors molding to what the script and story call for. The filmmaker proclaimed this, despite working with the likes of Shah Rukh Khan (in Pardes) and Hrithik Roshan (in Yaadein).

“I work with actors who follow the script instead of wanting the script to follow them. I don’t work with stars,” the acclaimed filmmaker frankly and emphatically stated. “Shah Rukh was not such a big star when I worked with him. I am producing a new film called Paschim Express, which is being made entirely by graduates from my (film) school.”

Indeed, Ghai’s bigger picture is to ambitiously be one step ahead of what fans of Hindi film seek in their favorite movies, whether it is comedy, drama, or any other genre. And that is no laughing matter.