Today is a good Sanjay day

The writer of this blog is very happy today. Sanjay was granted regular bail by the Supreme Court. He will be released from jail during the next 2 days. He has to hand in his passport, deposit a bond and report to the CBI branch in Mumbai once a month. His next court hearing is 6 months away. That is good. He managed to get through by far worse for the last 14 years. He can manage this too. So I´m happy.

And then I got news that from December 7th Dus Kahaniyaan will play at the UCI in Vienna. Sanjay on the big screen as early as Friday after next. So you bet I´m very happy.














I know, I know, there is a bit of a risk that DK might just not be it. But I like its basic concept and there are some very cool people involved in this film(s) and being the eternal optimist I can´t wait to see it.

Chestnuts, Punch, Thrills and early Christmas fun

The last weekend in November marks the start of the beginning of the Advent season in Austria and that is when all those beautiful Christmas markets open. Since MiniKhan did not get to celebrate Diwali I thought he should at least get as much of Christmas celebrations as possible.

So after we finally arrived at my sisters´ and he was back to his usual charming self, we took him along to our visit to Salzburg´s picturesque Christkindl-market where we also met with my mum and MiniKhan´s new best friend, my Naani.














Right in the beginning we had a short scary moment, when Sebastian, my 14 months old nephew, got hold of MK. But being the professional "thrills" coordinator he is, he managed to get out of that unharmed (and the big serving of candy cotton afterwards helped to calm his nerves)














After that he really got into an early Christmas feel. Checking out the stands with tree ornaments and sweets, having a glass of Lionsclub Punch and taking in the incredible scenery.














He even got to meet Salzburgs most famous son, W.A. Mozart and he could not resist having his picture taken in front of a "Empress Sissi" display.

















He simply loved it in my hometown (and he finally put on some weight munching on chestnuts and cookies)

He can be a bit of a pain in the a**

What did we learn this weekend?
MiniKhan can be rather impatient (as is said about his alter ego) and that is quite irritating.
Our journey started very ok. He was happy when we let him drive for a bit...








But that lasted only for a few minutes...
We´re not even out of Vienna, when the first "Are we there yet?" came...








30 min later. "And now?"








Another 30min down the way: "But now we´re there, hai naa?"








Thankfully he fell asleep short after Ansfelden..

hanging out with the gang and a costume fitting session

There was so much going on at the OSO premiere, that MiniKhan had very little opportunity to just hang out, chill and gossip with the cool people of my Viennese BW gang. That´s why he was very keen on accompanying me to our usual hangout spot at Vienna´s Cafe Coffee Day in the 1st district yesterday.













But even there a bit of filmi work was waiting for him. We had a fitting session scheduled with his costume designer, Gabi, for the little film he´s going to shoot here. Thankfully he was very pleased with the way his Don jacket turned out (As if there was any doubt about that. Duh.)

And, tomorrow MK is going on a short weekend trip to Salzburg. I did not tell him yet, but he´s going to meet his new best friend, my grandma, again. As she is too visiting my family. Look for a write-up of his adventures in my beautiful hometown not earlier then Sunday night.

more fun in the snow and a new friend

So MiniKhan nagged me into driving to the mountains to get some more authentic winter wonderland feel. Last saturday the weather was perfect and I took him to visit my Naani in Semmering.














And boy those two hit it off instantly. Nani loves Bollywood films and has a special sweet spot for SRK (quote Grandma: "that nice young man"), so it came as no surprise that the two were inseparable and up to mischief the whole day. He even did his "Rahul - routine" for her. (Something he so far has refused to do for me. Not fair.)














They were constantly putting their heads together and came up with the funniest stuff. Like when MK said: "Do you think I´ll get myself into trouble with the Pepsi guys if I do this..?"


















To which my usually very sophisticated Grandma said. "Oh fish. India is so far away. Who cares?"

Fun in the snow.

So MiniKhan had a lot of fun meeting all those great people at the OSO premiere and we all were partying pretty hard. But he had no time to recover and relax after it, as he had to accompany me to work and help me teaching my filmmusic classes.













And then one morning last week he woke me up all excited because it had been snowing all night. And even when I warned him that his wardrobe was not too suitable for that kind of weather, he insisted on building a snowman.


















..And had a ball doing it. So much, in fact, that he nagged me into taking him to the mountains to get some more. But that is a different story...

MiniKhan at the OSO Premiere

There was a lot going on in Vienna on November 9th. Not only did Om Shanti Om premiere here, national TV covered the event and everybody was dressing up for the occation. November 9th also marked the date our celebrity traveller MiniKhan arrived from Germany and instantly used the opportunity to meet with fans from Switzerland, Germany and Austria and watched the premiere with a bunch of overexcited girls and gals.


















So yes, he´s back from hiding. For all those fearing the worst.. Ab fikar mat karo. He´s alive and very well and I got a little story coming up that might explain if not excuse his absence.

Om Shanti Om - what a night!

Apart from being a fun ride for the discerning Bollywoodfan, Om Shanti Om also is the first BW film that got a mention on national TV, and that at prime time even.

So unsuspecting cinema-goers found themselves facing a camera on November 9th and asked what brought them there.. :-)




(the first few seconds have some errors but later you can even watch yours truly with her name misspelled..)

I tried to fight it. I swear. OSO.

The Johnny Gaddaar DVD is still on its way from Nehaflix to me. A No Smoking screening is nowhere in sight. So what remains to be done by the discerning Hindi cinema fan? Yes. Right.

Dive head first into the OSO pre-release hype. Yeehaaw!










The way it looks now Vienna will be the only city in the german-speaking parts of the world that will have a cinema release of Om Shanti Om along with the rest of saari duniya. And this suits me mighty fine, would I be if I did not take up the opportunity to go for a first day first (and second, yes, i already booked tickets for back to back shows) show.

As I mentioned before we here are in the lucky position to have a distribution deal between Eros Entertainment and the local UCI Multiplex. So far we got Partner, Gandhi My Father, Heyy Babyy and Bhool Bhulayia out of it. Not that impressive for you? Well it might become so when I tell you that this is an increase in regular cinemas screenings of Bollywood movies by 400%.

But now back to hysterical filmifan-part. And why of all films am I excited about OSO? Oh c´mon. Masala. Plain good ´ole Masala, baby.









Has anyone seen the dialog promos? 1, 2 and 3 ? How can I not be hyped by the prospect of seeing Rishi Kapoor and Subash Ghai fighting over who will give a filmfare award to a bad actor with a too-good-to-be-true sixpack?
Or Deeptika doing a song a la Dhal Gaya Din. Or SRK doing all his SRK-things. And then there is Deewangi of course. And. And. And. Sigh.










I really loved Main Hoon Na. Perfect popcorn cinema. And I have really really high hopes that Farah will pull this one off too. Storywise, visually, performanceswise.

What do I believe to know about it yet? Well, its a reincarnation love story. Om Prakash (patheticly bad wannabe hero but only junior artist so far) falls in love with Shantipriya (a Hema Malini like superstar) Lekin problem hai. Evil mustached other guy with evil intentions hai. And so the lovely couple dies before their love story can bloom. *insert frantic NAHIIIIIN here* The story cannot end there. So we fast foreward to now, as in right now, as both were reborn under slightly different premises and now have to find each other, solve all the riddles and hopefully live happily ever after.










Pre-sale for the 2 shows on the 9th has already started last weekend. And the tickets sell like hot-cakes. We have some OSO refugees from Germany and Switzerland for the weekend, so I am preparing for a very fun, very colorful, very cool weekend.










PS: Bollywood sucks at merchandising. Why did nobody come up with the idea of producing small OSO snow-globes? Oh you could have made a fortune.

another teaser and short away notice

I´ll be flying to Berlin in about 2 hours. For a meeting and our annual Alumni Convention (This year no stage action from me there. Do count your blessings)

But to keep this post Bollywood-related.. here a pic that might give you a hint at what MiniKhan will have to do when he finally comes for his scheduled visit...















Dear friend and SRK fanatic Gabi made it. It is perfect. Unbelievably perfect. He will be too cool to be true in it.

Now that is where he got the idea from

A bit over a week ago at a classified meeting concerning the next IBBM, this little guy showed up for a short impromptu visit.














Now we finally know whom the big Khan got the idea for his six-pack from. It seems he just tried to look more like his doll :-D

I predict a lot of annoyed neighbours in the future

Birgit has been predicting it for months. And Sony seems to have listened. On October 19th they will release SingStar Bollywood for the PlayStation2 in the U.K. (AmazonUK lists two versions. Once with two microphones and once only the game)
















The rumored songlist is:

Aashiqui - Nazar Ke Samne
Aksar - Jhalak Dikhla Ja
Chalte Chalte - Chalte Chalte
Chalte Chalte - Suno Na Suno Na
Chameli - Sajna Ve Sajna
Dil Chahta Hai - Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe
Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin - Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin
Don: The Chase Begins Again - Ye Mera Dil
Don: The Chase Begins Again - Khaike Paan Banaraswala
Dus - Dus Bahane Karlke Le Gaya Dil
Guru - Barso Re
Guru - Tere Bina
Ishq Hai Tumse - O Soniya
Kaal - Tauba Tauba
Kaal - Kaal Dhamaal
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Where's The Party Tonite
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Mitwa
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Bole Chudiyan
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Suraj Hua Maddham
Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham - Say Shava Shava
Kal Ho Na Ho - Maahi Ve
Kal Ho Na Ho - It's The Time To Disco
Kal Ho Na Ho - Pretty Woman
Khakee - Dil Dooba
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
Kuch Kuch Hota Hai - Koi Mil Gaya
Kya Love Story Hai - It's Rocking
Main Hoon Na - Main Hoon Na
Rang De Basanti - Rang De Basanti
Salaam-E-Ishq - Salaam-E-Ishq


Oh, I just got to get it. My poor neighbours. Teehee.

EDIT: One thing that came up when I mentioned it to Ehsaan.. Will Sony be paying royalties? Or are we getting into a sort of eye-for-an-eye situation here? Something like (use deep voice of any well-fed American oil-company CEO to read *ggg*) "Them Indian filmindustry guys use our ideas without asking and even worse paying up. Lets show ´m. Why don´t we do a Karaoke Game and use their songs without askin´. You don´t mess with us, hon´!"

just off to get new material

I'm trying something here.

Just a short note:
- i am in Zürich for the weekend to visit family.
- i did not bring my macbook (big mistake, i know, but how was i supposed to know, that Akshay Shah of naachgaana.com would link to my Bhool Bhulaiya post, while i'm gone *g*)
- so i'm typing on my shiny new iPod Touch and that is kind of tricky. I have no idea how this turns out.

- on a filmi note... I did manage to get quite a few dvds today
And last but not least... The first thing i saw after leaving the plane today was an ad saying "Oerlikon is Bollywood" ?? I have no idea what that part of zurich has to do with BW. But then a few meters further it read "Oerlikon is Shanghai"... They are a weird but nice people here