Traumatised Asin says, “It was my official mail ID. The fan mails that used to come to my website also used to be directed there. I put up a warning on my website asking people not to mail on that ID.” She adds, “I have stopped mailing people, and I have decided to post my messages on the website itself.”

The Ghajini babe now refrains herself from using internet for e-mail purposes.

Source: IANS

The battle has begun between two former south Indian actresses Asin and Genelia now ruling the roost in Bollywood for India’s biggest orange soft drink market – South India.

Asin has been endorsing Mirinda for the last three years, while Genelia has become Fanta brand ambassador from this year.

Tamilnadu alone accounts for 25 percent of the total orange soft drink market in the country. The rivalry between PepsiCo and Coca Cola India for the South Orange market has been bitter, and much juice has flowed in the campaign.

Last three years the market leader in the orange category was clearly PepsiCo India’s Mirinda, thanks to Asin, while Simran and later Trisha gave stiff competition with Coca Cola India’s Fanta.

This summer, Fanta has decided to take Mirinda head on by signing up Genelia, the new youth icon in Bollywood who has a huge fan base in south.

Says a leading Chennai based brand consultant: “ Asin and Genelia are big in Bollywood today after Ghajini and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na respectively. They have already become national brand ambassadors for their respective brands. But the winner in the orange war will be decided by who wins in Tamilnadu, the biggest market for orange soft drink in the country.”

On Friday (April 17) Genelia, flew to Chennai for a big summer 2009 Fanta launch in Tamilnadu. Genelia was in her elements and said, “It feels great to be associated with Brand Fanta. It has been my favorite sparkling drink for a long time. I am quite thrilled about the launch of Fanta Apple. It’s a great product and I am confident that its refreshing taste would find a special appeal amongst all my fans.”

Two weeks back Asin was in Coimbatore for summer season launch party of Mirinda. Asin’s two new television commercials with the theme Mirinda Kannu, Konjam Galatta Pannu have become super hits with the audiences.

The buzz in the soft drink market in Tamilnadu is that this summer it is going to be a tough battle between the two orange drinks, and larger than life stars play an important role in the sales.

Source: Sify
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On music director-composer AR Rahman, who scored the music for Ghajini , winning awards for Jodhaa Akbar and Jaane Tu… right after his Oscar dream run, she said, “I’ve worked with him in two movies now and he will score the music for my next film as well. Just when you think he can go no further, he surprises you!”

1. Asin

Asin secured 51% of the votes.

Asin, who has made it big in the South, made her Bollywood debut with AR Murugadoss’ ‘Ghajini’, opposite Aamir Khan. The actor won much acclaim for her fabulous stint, and matching the much established and experienced Aamir Khan step for step.

2. Anushka Sharma

Anushka secured 15% of the votes

Actor Anushka Sharma made her Bollywood debut with ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ – a film directed by Aditya Chopra and starring Shah Rukh Khan. Anushka did a wonderful job as Taani in the movie and was well-accepted by the audience. A pat on the back for her!

3. Deepika Padukone

Deepika secured 14% of the votes

Actor Deepika Padukone made an impressive debut with Shah Rukh Khan in his home production ‘Om Shanti Om’. Post that she got another hit in the form of ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, and now with her third film ‘Chandni Chowk to China’ slated to be one of the biggest releases of 2009, Deepika is surely making her presence felt.

4. Sonam Kapoor

Sonam secured 12% of the votes

Actor Sonam Kapoor’s ‘Saawariya’ was much talked about it. But the hype didn’t translate into success unfortunately. However, Sonam Kapoor’s acting credentials were never doubted. The actress is being spoken about all over again with the trailers of ‘Delhi 6′ being shown on air. She is definitely one to watch out for!

5. Genelia D’Souza

Genelia secured 8 % of the votes

Actor Genelia D’Souza has been a part of Bollywood since 2003. Her first film was titled ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’, but the bubbly actress was recognized only now, after she got a fair role in ‘Jaane Tu Ya Na Jaane Na’. Currently shooting for Anees Bazmi’s ‘It’s My Life’, Genelia, who has made it big in South cinema, too, remains a wondergirl who can’t be written off just like that!

“People often call Aamir a perfectionist and a tough taskmaster, but I didn’t have any problem matching up to him because I’m also quite a workaholic. We gelled quite well as far as the demand of perfection was concerned. Even I like things to be the best,” Asin told IANS over telephone from Mumbai.

Just like any other girl her age, 23-year-old Asin has been a huge Aamir fan.

“I have always admired Aamir and have enjoyed his movies ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and also loved ‘Taare Zameen Par’. I have danced a lot on ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ songs with my friends,” she said.

After working with the superstar, she says he is unlike what the media and industry project him to be.

“Shooting with Aamir was great fun. He isn’t as serious as he is projected to be. He is highly dedicated to his work but is very cool and easy to work with. He’s a simple person, very genuine and frank about his opinions despite having such a good stature in Bollywood,” said Asin.

The actress, who was brought up in Kerala and debuted in Sathyan Anthikad’s Malayalam film “Narendra Makan Jayakanthan Vaka” in 2001, also starred in the Tamil version of “Ghajini” released in 2005. It was in this film that she received her second South Filmfare Award for best actress.

Asin has been kept away from the promotions of the Hindi remake thanks to Aamir’s knack for keeping his cast away from the media prior to the release. But she is nonchalant.

“I have not felt overshadowed by Aamir’s publicity at all. Actually, I’m not used to all this really because we don’t have it in the south film industry. The marketing team for ‘Ghajini’ has its strategy to promote the film in the right manner. If Aamir is promoting the film in the north, I am doing it in the south,” she said.

Besides, Asin believes publicity is something that would only bring people to the theatres. Liking or not liking the film is in the viewers’ hands, she said.

According to her, though audiences down south have already seen and appreciated the original “Ghajini”, they would surely revisit theatres for Aamir’s charm.

“Aamir has got a huge fan following and he is the highlight of the film. In fact, since a lot of people down south have seen the Tamil version of the film, they will now probably come to theatres just to watch Aamir.

“I have no issues about that as ‘Ghajini’ is the story of Sanjay Singhania, played by Aamir. So the fact that his presence is being highlighted is completely justified,” said Asin.

As of now, the actress is “excited but anxious” of how her “new audience” will react to her performance when “Ghajini” hits theatres worldwide.

Her next Bollywood release after “Ghajini” would be Vipul Shah’s “London Dreams” in which she stars alongside Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan. She is also a part of Walt Disney’s multi-lingual project “19 Steps” and would be sharing screen space with south Indian superstar Kamal Haasan and Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano.

Director A R Murugadoss’s remake of his Tamil blockbuster made what Hindi films once used to be: a three hour extravaganza of romance, comedy, action, set-piece songs and drama.

It’s a standard revenge film given a fresh twist that resembles one from the hollywood movie, Memento. Sanjay Singhania played by Aamir Khan whos is a rich businessman gets hit on his head and suffers from short-term memory loss. He cannot remember anything for more than 15 minutes.

So, he tattoos his body with instructions: the most important one being that his girlfriend Kalpana played by asin was murdered, and he must find the murderer and kill him. The film is has many loopholes but Murugadoss, who also wrote it, doesn’t give you enough time to think about them.

So, you never ask how Sanjay, the fabulously wealthy owner of a cellphone company, conducts a lengthy romance with Kalpana, played by debutant Asin, pretending to be an ordinary man? Or why Ghajini, an expert killer, doesn’t have a gun when he needs it the most?

Instead, you are caught up in the mystery of how a superbly stylish businessman becomes a killing machine who routinely cracks necks and in his introduction scene, plunges a broken tap into a man’s stomach. Ghajini isn’t for the faint-hearted. The violence is gory and elemental. The climax is pure man-on-man combat with a lot of bone smashing sequences.

For Aamir, Ghajini is complete oposite to the sensitive teacher he played in Taare Zameen Par. With eight-pack body, here he is a brutal killer wanting to avenge his loves death. Watch aamir khan as he explodes with grief and then just as quickly forgets it. It’s a memorable performance indeed.

Thankfully Asin is less animated than she was in the Tamil version. Some of their romantic scenes, and particularly her death are nicely done.

Music for the film by A.R .Rahman is great and visuals of the songs are appealing.

ghajini is not one of the great films but a good one indeed and shouldn’t be missed.

Passing orders on an application by A Chandrasekharan, producer of the Tamil original of which the Hindi film is a remake, Justice P R Shivakumar granted the interim injunction restraining Geetha Arts Division of Allu Entertainment Pvt Ltd and director A R Murugadoss from releasing the movie. The details of the order, which was dictated in open court, were not available.

A special premiere of the Hindi has been scheduled for Wednesday in Chennai. The respondents are likely to make a bid to move an urgent appeal before a division bench on Wednesday.

Murugadoss, who directed the Tamil original with Suriya in the lead, is also making the Hindi version, in which Asin, the heroine in Tamil, is Aamir’s leading lady. There is much anticipation about the release of the Hindi film, which is billed as a psychological thriller.

The interim order has been passed pending disposal of suit filed by Chandrasekharan for a declaration that he was the copyright holder for remaking and dubbing of the film in all Indian languages except in Telugu. His main contention is that he had sold to Geetha Arts only the Chennai city rights, Telugu remake and dubbing rights and satellite rights, but had retained all other rights with himself.

He contended that he was shocked to hear that Geetha Arts (which belongs to Allu Aravind Babu, a relative of Telugu superstar and emerging politician Chiranjeevi) was producing the Hindi version of the movie. They claimed that they had been given the rights for remaking the film in all other Indian languages. He lodged a complaint with the Tamil film producers’ council, but the director and producer did not cooperate with the bid to resolve it after responding to the council’s calls on a couple of occasions.

Chandrasekharan said he had lodged a police complaint against Geetha Arts, Murugadoss and another person for allegedly cheating and threatening him. The director had approached the High Court seeking the quashing of the criminal case. The court has stayed the criminal proceedings. He also disclosed that he is the defendant in a suit filed by Geetha Arts seeking a declaration that it held the copyright for remaking and dubbing Ghajini in all Indian languages as well as holder of rights in all other media for that film, as well as February 14′, another film made by Chandrasekharan.

The spat between director Murugadoss and producer Chandrasekharan has been in the air for a while. Chandrasekharan accused the director of cost overruns before the release of Ghajini’ in Tamil in 2005. On February 29 this year, when Murugadoss came to Chennai to attend a funeral, he was allegedly hustled into a car and taken to K K Nagar Police Station. He was charged with infringing copyright but released after he furnished a personal bond. It was expected that the two would arrive at an amicable solution, but their dispute remains. However, industry sources said the time for a settlement had arrived.

I’ve been an ardent admirer of Aamir Khan’s movies, his acting and him as a person, ever since I was a kid, it is a dream come true. To work with him in my first Hindi venture is fabulous. I must say that he is a very supportive co-star, encouraging and very down to earth.

That is the high point of his personality. He is passionate about his work which we all know and to see him in an avtaar like this in Ghajini is inspiring.

What made your director Murugadoss or Aamir for that matter, sign the same face of the Tamil version Ghajini in Hindi too?
(Laughs) I have no idea. You’ll have to interview Murugadoss to get your answer. All I know is that I’ve done the original Ghajini and am lucky to be a part of the same film made in Hindi.

I’m sure the Hindi version of Ghajini must’ve been a piece of cake for you, isn’t it? Same role, etc…
You’re somewhat right. I was already familiar with my character. My role in the Hindi version of Ghajini has not been changed and is the same as in the original.

Kalpana, the girl I play remains Kalpana, except the settings keep on changing. The film has been changed a little bit in the second half, the action sequences too have been changed and the climax of Ghajini is tweaked for the better.

Now to ask you the question, how was your experience working in a biggie like Ghajini makes no sense because you’ll be seen doing the same thing what you did in the original?
Not really. The people working on the Hindi Ghajini are quite different from those working in the original. When you’re working with a different technical crew and the people behind the scenes, they tend to bring a whole new flavour to the film.

It’s not always the same as to what you’ve done before. I wouldn’t say this film is a repeat of the Tamil version because the entire experience of working with the cast and the crew was like a new change.

I would advice the people who’ve seen the Tamil version to go to the theatres with a fresh frame of mind to watch Ghajini and watch it as a different movie.

Thanks to Aamir who liked the Tamil version and we know the rest is history. But if it wasn’t for Aamir’s fondness for the subject, we wouldn’t have seen Asin launch in Bollywood.
(Laughs) That’s an interesting observation. Well, I had been getting Bollywood offers before Ghajini but I was waiting for the right kind of projects to come to me.

When I was approached for Ghajini, I thought it was the perfect baby step into Bollywood because it’s a dream come true to be working with the perfectionist Khan in your debut.

When you’ve got Murugadoss behind the camera, when you’ve got A.R.Rahman’s music and when you’ve got Ravi K. Chandran’s cinematography, you can’t ask for more in your first film.

The song ‘Aye Bacchu’ has got a lot of attitude which is picturised on you. Have you got one?
(Laughs) No, I don’t but the song has. ‘Aye Bacchu’ has got a bindaas attitude with a message, live your life to the fullest, which is basically what Kalpana the character is all about. It’s my introduction song. Off screen, I am bindaas too.

How do you rate Aamir as a dancer?
I really don’t have any song with him where we actually shake a leg. The only two songs in which I’m there with him are romantic duets. Aamir is doing most of the singing and I’m just filling in the gaps. I’m sure Aamir is a good dancer but I can’t rate him as the best.

Having said that, can Mr. Perfectionist be perfect if he moves to the south Indian film industry?
Absolutely yes, there is no doubt about it. He can not only be perfect in the south but all over the world. I’m sure if he goes to Hollywood he will be accepted with open arms.

And yes, he doesn’t have to have a moustache if he intends to join Tollywood because that’s an outdated concept now. It’s a wrong notion that people have about having a moustache. This entire quick gun murgan thing is not at all applicable in today’s time down south.

Is Ghajini an A.R. Murugadoss film or an Aamir Khan film?
In a way, an Aamir Khan film. Ghajini is about Sanjay Singhania, that’s Aamir Khan’s name in the film. It is also a complete Murugadoss film because it is visualized, screen played, written and directed by Murugadoss.

Ghajini’s highlight is exactly what an Indian commercial romantic action thriller needs and both Murugadoss and Aamir have proved that.

How really perfect is Aamir Khan the perfectionist? Or is he?
Perfectionist is a good term to describe Aamir. But somewhere I’ve seen the media has portrayed him slightly in a negative manner. Yes, he is very particular about every shot, looks into the detailing a lot.

People think he ghost directs, he hasn’t done that in Ghajini but if he gives an idea to the director, the media thinks he directed it. I don’t buy that. He is non-interfering at all.

Jiah said it, now it’s your turn. Did you go gaga over Aamir’s physique?
Oh yes. He looks so hot. More than the weight and his six packs, he has put in a lot of effort into his character. Another reason to watch Ghajini is Aamir’s body. Bollywood’s latest action hero is here.

Any exciting moments you can recall?
We shot on real locations in Mumbai, the roads, the buildings, etc. We hardly put up sets for the film. I remember I had to ride a scooty with Mr. Aamir Khan behind me.

It was real fun because imagine one fine Monday morning when people saw Aamir on a scooty in Mumbai. The excitement and the experience on real locations with Aamir was truly unique.

Did you then treat him with some idli sambhar or dosas?
(Laughs) Not yet actually. I would’ve loved to treat him though with some idli vada and sambhar.

What message would you like to give to your fans in the south and your future fans of Bollywood?
I don’t know. I seriously have no message for them regarding myself. But I’d love to tell all Bollywood fans to go and watch Ghajini, the experience that is – Aamir Khan. Remember the date – 25th December.

What next?
Vipul Shah’s London Dreams with Ajay Devgan and Salman Khan and a Walt Disney production titled 19th Step with Mr. Kamal Hassan and the Japanese actor Asanu. It is based on Indian martial arts.

Asin till recently the queen of Kollywood is making waves in Bollywood even before her much hyped debut film in Hindi Ghajini has released.

Now the latest news is that the worldwide distribution rights of her second film London Dreams to be directed by Vipul Shah have been sold for a whopping Rs 120 crore!

This is a record deal in Bollywood, which includes satellite, theatrical, video and music rights and is the first film in Bollywood to cross the Rs 100 crore mark.

Remember that the Aamir-Asin starrer Ghajini was sold at Rs 90 Crore!

London Dreams has Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan in the lead and the film will go on the floor in September to be shot mainly in London.

Asin will be packing her bags to London by first week of September, says a source close to the actress.

Trade expert Taran Adarsh says that the rights of London Dreams was sold at this astronomical rate, due to Vipul’s track record and his 100 per cent success rate. His recent blockbuster Singh is Kinng, is a huge hit in Chennai.

Bollywood pundits are predicting big things for Asin who is now compared to Aishwarya Rai who after doing Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam with Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan became the hottest star. In fact, London Dreams bring together both the Khan’s after a long break.

source:sify.com