FILM LOKAM: June 2010

June 20, 2010

Manisha Koirala's 3-day wedding celebration starts today!

As Nepal hosts Manisha Koirala's wedding Saturday, the most intense speculation is whether President Ram Baran Yadav will come face to face with his bete noire, Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, and the latter with his, ex-king Gyanendra.

Or will they come up with polite excuses to wriggle out of the invitation and along with it, a most embarrassing situation?

The 40-year-old actress, who is finally marrying Nepali businessman Samrat Dahal in a glittering three-day ceremony starting Friday, has invited former king Gyanendra as well as his arch-enemy Prachanda, the Maoist chief whose party fought a 10-year war to abolish monarchy in Nepal.

The wedding is scheduled Saturday, after an engagement ceremony Friday. The reception is at the Soaltee Crowne Plaza Hotel Sunday.

Most of the key political players have preferred to wait and watch and are yet to confirm their presence.

Former king Gyanendra has decided to stay away from Kathmandu.

The last king of Nepal left for Bara district in southern Nepal Wednesday to inaugurate a new temple. He will be camping in the Terai till Sunday despite the heat and the discomfort.

On Friday, Gyanendra, whose bid to rule Nepal with the help of the army had received Manisha's support in 2005, will go to Birgunj town to offer prayers at the Maithan temple as well as at the infamous Gadimai temple, where tens of thousands of animals are slaughtered every five years.

From there, he will proceed to Rautahat Saturday to visit a Shiva temple.

With the former king planning to return to Kathmandu only Sunday, it is certain that he will not be present at the engagement or the wedding.

Though a morning flight will bring him back to Kathmandu Sunday in good time to attend the reception, there's still no certainty as the flight will depend on the weather.

During the former king's earlier visit to the Terai town of Nepalgunj, he had to postpone his return to Kathmandu due to bad weather.

As for Prachanda, his aides said it was still not confirmed if he would attend the ceremonies.

The top leaders of the Maoist party are currently locked in an intense debate over future strategy as well as leadership after failing to topple the coalition government of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal despite almost a year of protests.

If any major meetings are scheduled Sunday, Prachanda would not be able to attend Manisha's wedding reception, his son Prakash told IANS.

In 2006, when King Gyanendra held a controversial municipal election, Manisha had flown down from Bollywood to campaign for it. The Maoists had tried to stop the polls and in retaliation, announced a "ban" on films of Manisha, the granddaughter of the nation's first elected prime minister Bishweshwar Prasad Koirala.

Her father Prakash Koirala consented to become a minister in the king's cabinet, an acquiescence that caused him to be expelled from his Nepali Congress party.

Also invited to the reception is President Ram Baran Yadav.

Yadav replaced Gyanendra as the head of state. He also aroused the enmity of the Maoists by reinstating the army chief the Maoist government had sacked, an action that caused the fall of the Maoist government.

Since then, the Maoists had been boycotting all official functions attended by the president.

Now it remains to be seen if Prachanda and the president would be present at the same programme.

Manisha Koirala is married

KATHMANDU: Nepali actress Manisha Koirala is now married to businessman Samrat Dahal. After a traditional ceremony on Friday, Ms. Koirala completed her grand marital rituals here on Saturday.
The marriage ceremony, conducted in a traditional Brahmin style, was held at the Gokarna Forest Resort.
Bollywood actors Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover, Vivek Mushran (her co-star in her debut movie Saudaagar), Suman Ranganathan and Dipti Nawal attended Saturday's ceremony.
The actress's wedding reception will be hosted on Sunday at the Soaltee Hotel in Kathmandu. It is expected to be attended by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, President Ram Baran Yadav and former king Gyanendra Shah.

Its Manisha Koirala’s marriage! Yup! Finally its over! Manisha Koirala married Samrat Dahal yesterday at private function at the Gokarna Forest Resort. Manisha Koirala and Samrat Dahal exchanged garlands at a function graced by only close family knits. Manisha Koirala is 41 while Samrat Dahal is 34.

The Manisha Koirala family will host a lavish reception in couple of days at the Hotel Soaltee Crowne Plaza. Manisha Koirala and Samrat Dahal were in love since quite some time and Manisha Koirala admitted that it was not an arranged marriage and both the families knew each other well. Hence, Manisha Koirala gave her nod to enter into wedding with Samrat Dahal.

June 18, 2010

Parvathi omanakuttan in Saree Sexy Photo Miss India Parvathi omanakuttan Actress Spicy Hot New Photos Stills Pics Gallery

Director's wife objects to nude scene

London’s desi import Aruna Shields who was last seen cavorting with Vivek Oberoi in Prince has bettered her score in her second Hindi film. In Mr Singh Mrs Mehta she has bartered the bikini for her birthday suit.

Though the censorboard has generously passed all the nude scenes and torrid love sequences between Aruna Shields and Prashant Narayanan in Pravesh Bhardawaj’s Mr Singh Mrs Mehta with an ‘A’ certificate, the director’s wife Shruti Nagar (who works with Rajshri Productions) has objected to the way the director has repeatedly caught the couple in intimate postures all across the film.

There are three lengthy love-making scenes in Mr Singh Mrs Mehta. The wife feels her director-husband has overdone the sex and nudity. Apparently she has made her displeasure amply clear to her husband. Says Pravesh, “There is one particular lovemaking sequence to which my wife Shruti reacted very strongly. Yes, Shruti did object saying, 'Ek aadh scene hota to koi baat nahin par yahan to puri film iske hi ird-gird ghoom rahi hai'. She was very upset about the subject matter itself. There is a sequence in the film where Neera (Aruna Shields) undresses in a way that her clothes come off one by one. Shruti, my wife, thought I should tone it down or not make a career selling nudity.”

Pravesh did reconsider his approach to nudity, kissing and lovemaking. “It did make me rethink but it was a critical sequence in the film. I think she is upset that her husband made a film where nudity is central to the story itself. Actually she doesn't approve of the script, and the reason being nudity.”

The director admits the nudity content is over-the-top. And the censors suggested that the ladies’ bare back be blurred. “She is naked but wherever her derriere got exposed we had to blur it out. A couple of censor members who were divided in their opinion wanted to go back on their decision and cut it out. But I think they realised that the psychological impact was not diluted. We agreed on blurring the butt. For me nudity is the drama not the visibility of genitals. And the psychological impact is not diluted. I am happy with the end-result.”

The director hopes that the bare flesh is not misconstrued to be meant for titillation. “The film has been written for the average Indian viewer. I know I am taking a risk and I hope they get the point, otherwise I fail. But I am confident it gets across.”

Another sequence where Aruna Shields poses nude for her painter-lover has also been passed uncut. Heaving a sigh of relief, Pravesh says, “Ashwin (Prashant) has seen her naked. So Neera (Aruna) the muse is naked. And I didn't want the sequence to be like the one in Titanic which was removed from the Indian version. The sequence is quite long and Neera is naked in the entire painting sequence. Certain shots where her back is visible have been blurred but nothing had to be deleted from the film. The idea is not to provoke but to make it acceptable in our minds without making her a slut in the film.”

Pravesh feels the censorboard has demonstrated a deep maturity in passing the film. “We did have more than one revising committee screenings and lots of anxious moments. But if you ask me, I would like to send a bouquet to censor board. No scene has been snipped.”

The actress Aruna Shields (earlier seen with Vivek Oberoi in Prince) agreed to go nude. “Naturally, she’s posing for a nude painting. I am quite relieved that film was cleared. I was very nervous and afraid as people around me started counting the kisses also. I did not have the budget to shoot alternate shots so depending on the clearance either I had a film on hand or none. I have shot the film in a certain manner where cutting out a sequence or faster cutting of certain scenes would have killed my narrative style. I want to be with 'world cinema'.

The biggest creative risk that I have taken is to have just four characters in the film. The film is shot with a hand-held camera keeping in mind the intimacy of story telling. A lot of scenes are done in long takes. So if I had to snip a few scenes it would have been totally odd. In the final scene the nude scenes must be around 10-odd minutes or more.”