By Subhash K. Jha, IndiaFM

The Toronto Film Festival which opened on September 6 has never seen more Indian films and their representatives all gathered in one place and getting so much notice. Among the denizens of Indian cinema currently stationed in Toronto are Bengali filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh, his leading man Amitabh Bachchan and leading lady Preity Zinta for the film The Last Lear.

Preity has never been to an international film festival before! “Last year when Karan Johar, Shah Rukh and Mr Bachchan came to Toronto with Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna I couldn’t join them because of a friend’s wedding. I’m so glad that I came here with The Last Lear,” she exulted on Sunday night at 1.30 am from Toronto. “The response has been beyond anything I’ve expected. Mr Bachchan is being treated like God. His Shakespearean oratory is sending audiences into raptures. You know I grew up on Shakespeare, so I’m not so bad with it either.” Read the rest of this entry »

Why did Amitabh Bachchan leave the premiere of “Ram Gopal Varma ki Aag” midway? The superstar has refuted the rumour that he is unhappy with the “Sholay” remake and clarified that he went back to be with his ailing mother.

Reacting to a report in a section of the press, Bachchan said: “Kya Karen (What can I do)? People will talk. I can’t live my life in accordance with wagging tongues.

“Yes, I did leave the ‘Aag’ premiere early. But not because I didn’t like the film. My mother’s health has taken a turn for the worse. And I’m trying to spend as much time with her as possible,” Bachchan told over the phone.

“Since I had already seen ‘Aag’ I left the premiere early. Even now as I talk to you I am at the hospital with my mother.”

The entire family is spending as much time as possible with Teji Bachchan. The Big B is dividing his time between shooting at Yashraj Films and rushing to the hospital.

Thursday, August 30, 2007: (Mumbai):

The wait for Ram Gopal Varma’s Sholay turned Aag is now almost over and the man who has been a part of both the original and the remake was there in Mumbai to promote the film on Wednesday.

Big B plays the iconic character of Gabbar in the new age Aag.

“He is such a mercurial character, he is so unpredictable as to what he is going to do next. For an actor it is the entire book of acting put into one chapter called called Gabbar Singh. It is so marvellous,” said Amitabh. Read the rest of this entry »

Amitabh Bachchan has just returned from an event honouring his late father in the Big Apple

Amitabh Bachchan has just returned from a visit to New York, where he attended an event in honour of his late father Harivansh Rai Bachchan. He speaks to HiTLIST about that and other family matters.

You just attended an event in honour of your father in the US.

Yes, the Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan, which works for the propagation of Indian arts and culture in America, organised an evening in remembrance of the 100th year of my father’s birth at the prestigious Lincoln Centre in New York.

The Avery Fisher Hall is one of their most decorated locations, one that Lincoln Centre takes great pride in. It’s a three-tier, almost semi-circular facility with the most amazing acoustics. The New York Philharmonic plays there. Read the rest of this entry »

Amitabh Bachchan insisted on doing his own stunt while shooting a scene for Ravi Chopra’s film Bhootnath .

Despite being 66 years of age, Big B still gets charged up while doing challenging scenes. This was evident on the sets of ‘Bhootnath’, which is being directed by Vivek Sharma.

A scene was being shot in which Mr. Bachchan is shown diving from the first floor over the staircase of a house. Even though a duplicate was ready on the sets to do the scene, Big B insisted that he would do the stunt himself. Read the rest of this entry »