Imran Khan will finally get engaged with his girlfriend Avantika Malik on January 16th. A grand ceremony will be held in Mumbai on the occasion.

It was believed that he was supposed to throw a lavish party in Arjun Rampal’s lounge Lap but now, buzz is that the bash in happening in Mumbai where the whole of the film industry is expected to land up.

After the event, they will also announce their marriage date.

Imran’s spokesperson says, “Imran had always January in mind when he had announced his formal engagement. The date is 16th January. Also, there were never any plans of doing the ceremony in Delhi as Imran and Avantika both have their families and friends here in Mumbai,”

It can be recalled that Imran had proposed to Avantika on her birthday on July 18 at a private party where only close family members and select friends were present.

Source:IANS

Reality television comes to big screen but the fear factor is that it’s too pretentious. So in the same South African city where Akshay Kumar played host to daredevil girls, Sanjay Dutt challenges an eclectic group to perform stunts for his betting business. Predictably you also know their order of elimination with the junior artists getting knocked-off first and subsequently the hero (Imran Khan) surviving over the villain (Ravi Kishen). Ironically, while reality shows are unnecessarily scripted, films which need a tight script are loosely written.

The first half of the film is merely devoted to character introductions though none are convincingly established. For the zillionth time, Sanjay Dutt repeats his gun-toting act, moving around in sherwani , jackets and a French beard in the company of black-suited bodyguards. What more, even his name isn’t any different – Musa. Ram Mehra (Imran Khan) has to repay the 20 crores that his late father had lost in stock market. Retired Major Jawar Pratap Singh (Mithun Chakravarthy) has the same conflict that Amitabh Bachchan had in Kaante – needs money for his ailing wife. For the neighbouring country connection, the script takes a Shortcut (Chitrashi Rawat). The best is yet to come! When a loose noose fails to hang rapist Raghav (Ravi Kishen) to death, he is officially set free by the law.

The group is hand-picked by Tamang (Danny) for Musa who indulges into the most synchronized corny conversations in the film. As he gets the team to South Africa, Musa makes them aim on each other at point blank range (in a scene directly lifted from 13 Tzameti ) and only peripheral characters from the circle are subtracted.

What follows is a series of terminal tasks where not the mighty but the lucky would survive. So the characters have their legs gobbled up by rubber sharks and look plastic as they fall off parachutes. Amidst all this action, the director is inclined to force a mandatory romance track (through nonexistent chemistry between Imran and Shruti Hassan) and a rape attempt to reach a speeding climax.

The opening and ending action sequences by Allan Amin are convincingly choreographed but the intermediate stunts appear too artificial. The director tries to cover up the patchiness of the action by Santosh Thundiyil’s erratic camerawork but it only disturbs more. The banter between characters in confrontational scenes looks too rehearsed. Each one has a dramatized mugged-up response to complement the opponent’s remarks. The emotional connect with viewer is certainly missing despite director Soham Shah’s repeated attempts to induce sentiments.

Sanjay Dutt’s screen presence in the film is equivalent to Akshay Kumar’s contribution to Fear Factor minus his stunts. Imran Khan gives a decent performance though he can go easy on his lip movements. Shruti Hassan is synthetic and fails to impress. Danny is better amongst others but his character is short-lived in the second half. Ravi Kishen, Mithun and Chitrashi are passable.

The script of the film relies too much on coincidental luck. Director Soham Shah rubs too hard on luck but at the same time stresses on the adage that ‘the only thing certain about luck is it’s going to change’. On that thought here’s wishing him better luck next time!

Source: India times

Sanjay Dutt, Mithun Chakraborty, Danny Denzongpa, Imran Khan, Ravi Kishan, Neha Oberoi, Rati Agnihotri, Shruti K. Haasan, Chitrashi Rawat; Director: Soham Shah; Music: Sulaiman Merchant , Salim Merchant

Preview:
Imran Khan, the chocolate boy hero of Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na seems to have made his mind to do all the labors in his initial years. A macho role in Kidnap has anyway stamped him into the big league and he is set to again define muscle power in his new venture Luck.

What makes this movie special is the entrance of another starlet into Bollywood. Wonder man Kamal Hassan might just chip his nails for the first time in three decades as he sees his daughter start on the same route he made his own. Shruti Hassan, true to his father’s mannerisms, is making quite an unconventional debut which will see her doing karate and martial arts rounds with veterans like Sanjay Dutt and Danny

Priyanka Chopra has been riding high on the success of Fashion and all her international fame. The actress has started demanding a huge signing amount after this. Sanjay Gadhvi could not afford this figure and refused Chopra.

They will reprise the role of Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham in Dostana –2.

A the film fare awards, they reminded us of Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan in Kal Ho Naa Ho, scaring the very life out of poor old Kanta Bai (Sulabha Arya) in the film. Jokes on co-stars as well as gay jokes were in plenty.

While Shah Rukh’s sexual preferences have always been a hot topic of discussion, and something he has continuously denied, the Imran and Ranbir pair shows telltale signs of how celebs are cool with being different, along with the over the top declarations of love for their better halves.

It will be interesting to watch how the ending of Dostana 2 will be picturised- will it be happily ever after for the pair?

Source:newsline365

Photo courtesy:bollywod hungama

These two haven’t done any movie together but they seem to share good chemistry which is evident in the photoshooot for Filmfare, and it won’t be long before any producer signs them up for the movie

Imran Khan’s girlfriend Avantika is one lucky girl. Her beau, who is one of the hottest newcomers in the Hindi film industry, is completely smitten with her. Imran’s recent gesture further proves that he is a doting boyfriend. Even as the actor is busy gearing up for the forthcoming Filmfare Awards function, he has made sure that Avantika is by his side during the event. Recently, not only did Imran take Avantika to a designer but also gave inputs on what she should wear during the event.

A source said, “Imran is positive about winning the best debutant of the year award. In fact, he might also be hosting the awards function. With so much going for him, it’s understandable that he wants Avantika to look her best. So, he took time off from his busy schedule to take Avantika to designer Archana Kochchar so that she could get herself a gorgeous gown for the big night.”

Designer Archana Kochchar confirmed the story and said, “Imran was sure that he wanted something classy and sophisticated for Avantika. Initially, they had come to get a dress but eventually, they settled for a gown.”

Commenting on the young couple, Archana said, “Imran was very subtly and gently guiding Avantika throughout. He kept telling Avantika which gowns he liked and which weren’t really flattering. Imran and Avantika went about choosing the gowns for over an hour. He also discussed what he was wearing to the awards night so that their outfits are coordinated and they would look good together.”

“Imran has a minimalist taste. He also discussed what kind of jewellery would go best with the gown,” added Archana.

After much deliberation, Imran chose a beautiful white and deep purple Victorian style gown in soft organza for Avantika.

“I have never seen a couple more sweet or positive than Imran-Avantika,” said Archana.

Had it not been for Imran Khan , Sanjay Gadhvi’s movie Kidnap might have been a good nap.

Picking out plot-holes in this purported thriller can be a tedious job as tiring as a chubby Sanjay Dutt hopping across the roof-beams of an under-construction high-rise building in pursuit of his daughter’s kidnapper. Quite obviously, the lithe kidnapper slips out of his hands, just like the plot keeps slipping out of Gadhvi’s grip throughout the course of this strictly timepass film.

The only silver lining is Imran Khan, who, armed with his mysterious screen presence, holds you to your seat for most part of the film. But then, every silver lining has a dark cloud nearby.

The movie tells the story of a young, angst-filled man (Imran Khan) who kidnaps the daughter ( Minissha Lamba ) of a rich industrialist (Sanjay Dutt) to settle an old score. Instead of demanding a huge ransom, the kidnapper holds the businessman to ransom and plays a game with him. In the game, the kidnapper makes him do things like burgle a rival’s house, rescue a prisoner from a high-security jail, and even kill someone.

Now, there has to be a reason strong and sound enough for the kidnapper to make the businessman do such crazy things. When that subplot is revealed, the movie hits rock bottom and you somehow manage to stop yourself from pulling your hair. The subplot shows how Dutt had once wronged a teenaged boy. Without giving away the plot, I will safely add that it is so embarrassing to watch that you want to hurl your popcorn bucket to the screen, if only you hadn’t paid out of your own wallet for it.

Thriller is a genre that doesn’t allow room for much cinematic liberty. The script has to be taut and the plot must unfold in such a way that the viewer is able to piece together the jigsaw and connect the dots by the end. But what you come across in ‘Kidnap’ are a lot of missing pieces and loose ends.

Sanjay Gadhvi doesn’t rely so much on logic as on convenience. He shows the captive Minissha Lamba fashionably dressed in clothes so skimpy that they keep distracting the sullen kidnapper time and again. And as a viewer, you completely empathize with the lad. For, throughout her captivity, Minissha’s character is undeviatingly focused on her dresses, be them cleavage-flaunting gowns or hot pants with shimmering belly chains to boot.

Imran Khan holds the film together by rising above the shoddy script solely by dint of his performance. Though he doesn’t do anything stellar, there’s something about him that catches your eye whenever he is on the screen. Hot as a potato and cool as a cucumber, Imran walks through his role with menacing ease. Minissha performs well but her styling looks very odd on her character. Sanjay Dutt is okay as long as he doesn’t do action. There’s a scene in which he tells the kidnapper to go to hell, and his wife, Vidya Malvade , vents out her anger on Dutt. He turns to her and says: “you’re over-reacting”. He should’ve said “you’re over acting”.

‘Kidnap’ does have a few good sequences. The movie’s music is average and the item by Sophie Choudhary or the beach song by Minissha fails to lift your spirits.

What does kick the adrenaline is a superbly executed chase sequence in which Imran hops across buildings and climbs up scaffoldings like a monkey. For this sequence and for Imran’s performance, ‘Kidnap’ gets two stars.

Rating: **

That Minissha Lamba is a water baby is evident from the promos of Kidnap, which show her swimming and relaxing on the beachside. But who would have thought Imran Khan would parallel his co-star while they were shooting for the film in Mauritius?

It seems Imran and Minissha have shot a chilling underwater sequence in the film, which is among the highlights of the film and also the point when she gets kidnapped. Both the actors rehearsed for the scene for almost a fortnight before taking the ‘dive’.

Confirms director Sanjay Gadhvi, ”We trained in Mumbai in a pool. It was an elaborate shoot with a dedicated underwater DOP and a standby team of divers for rescue. I’ve used the same underwater specialists as the ones used in Dhoom 2. While shooting the scene I was on the boat watching the shot on the monitor, which was attached to the underwater camera by cables. We had special communication equipment through which Imran and Minissha could hear me say ‘action’ and ‘cut’ while they were underwater.”

Seems like this is among the many chills and thrills Kidnap has to offer. It releases worldwide on Wednesday 1st October by Indian Films – Studio 18.

source:oneindia