Bollywood bodyguards reveal life beside the stars

They are an essential part of any Bollywood star's entourage, silently shadowing their every move and keeping over-eager fans and a celebrity-obsessed media at a muscular arm's length.

Now several of the increasing number of bodyguards working for A-list Hindi-language film stars have stepped into the limelight to speak about their duties, as a new movie on the subject is released.

The focus of attention has been a well-built Sikh nicknamed Shera (Tiger), who has been at action hero Salman Khan's side for the last 15 years and is accompanying him on promotional tours for Khan's new movie "Bodyguard".

"If anyone fires a bullet at him, I will stand in front of it and sacrifice my life for him. I love him to that extent," broad-shouldered Shera, who is in his early 40s, told reporters this week.
"In the last 15 years, Salman-bhai has done so much for me," he added. "Bhai" is Hindi for "brother" and is often used between close friends.

The feeling is reciprocated by Khan, who plays a bodyguard for Kareena Kapoor in the movie, a remake of the 2010 Malayalam-language film of the same name.

Shera -- real name Gurmeet Singh Jolly -- has been with Khan through the best of times and the worst of times, including a drink-driving case in 2002 and when Khan was jailed for a week in 2006 for killing endangered animals.

In a sign of his loyalty, Khan opted to use the badge and uniform of Shera's own firm, Tiger Security, in the film despite lucrative offers from a number of leading private security companies.

"I trust Shera completely with everything in my life, be it my money or even my women," joked the 45-year-old actor recently.

"If he ever decides to write a biography on me, I'm finished. He is the man whom I fear the most because he knows everything about me."

Bollywood stars inspire a fanatical following in India, making security staff as much of a requirement as an agent or a personal stylist.

While most fans are well-behaved, Kashinath Karmatkar, who works for megastar Amitabh Bachchan, said some can overstep the mark.

"Many times fans go crazy when they see stars face-to-face and they try to approach them closely," he said at a publicity event for "Bodyguard".

"It's at that time we have to be very careful to prevent them from coming close to the actor and at the same time see that the fans don't get hurt by our behaviour."

Hearthrob actor John Abraham has said he is rarely mobbed in Mumbai and is left to get on with his daily routine. But it is a different story elsewhere in India.

"I once walked into a Jaipur ATM and couldn't come out," he wrote on his web site last year. "By the time I had finished, there was a very committed Rajput ATM guard, who was trying to protect me from a very noisy mob of followers."

Female fans have pinched and even scratched him on other occasions, he has said.
Bachchan, star of some of the biggest hits of the 1970s, has long used bodyguards, who work so closely with actors that they often feel part of the family.

"The Big B" still has a huge following, with hordes of fans regularly camping outside his north Mumbai home just to catch a glimpse of him.

But the trend only really took off in the 1990s, when underworld figures tried to establish a stranglehold on the industry, and actors, producers and directors frequently received threats.

Bollywood's unarmed bodyguards now largely work at crowd control, with the bonus of accompanying stars at home and abroad.

For men like Yuvraj Ghorpade, who left school with few qualifications at age 16, the job has provided him with undreamed-of opportunities.

"The future was dark for me as I was doing odd jobs for survival until I decided to join Ace Security nine years ago," said Ghorpade, who has been a keen bodybuilder since his teens and is now in his 30s.

"Today, I am the bodyguard for (the actor-producer-director) Aamir Khan and many of my friends are envious of the fact that I roam with such a big celebrity all the time." (AFP)

Bollywood condemns Mumbai terrorist blasts

Figures from the Bollywood film industry have spoken out in condemnation against the latest terror attacks to hit Mumbai.A wide number of Hindi film celebrities have taken to social network sites to condemn the series of three blasts which took place on Wednesday.

Amitabh Bachchan wrote on his blog: "Bomb blasts in Mumbai .. !! God ! I hope people are safe (sic)."

Priyanka Chopra posted to her 1.2 million Twitter followers: "Terrible news about the blasts. A request - please do not cause panic by tweeting/ spreading rumours / unconfirmed news."

Madhur Bhandarkar posted: "Resilience of Mumbai again put to test because of the blasts. Heart aches for the victims. Condemn such cowardly acts of terror."

Actor Tusshar Kapoor used Twitter to express his anger at the latest attack on India's entertainment capital: "Completely resent what has happened in our city, high time these cowards are hanged and don't just languish in our jails."

Ranvir Shorey, urging restraint to the people of Mumbai, wrote: "We've been here before, #Mumbai. Let not these murderers win, by reacting without any chaos. Let's get back with more calm and efficiency."

The blasts occurred in three areas of the city, in the Opera House district, at the Zaveri bazaar and in Dadar.

Actor Shah Rukh Khan was earlier caught up in a controversy surrounding the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai.

Uma Thurman 'wants Bollywood film role'

Uma Thurman has said that she would like to maintain her personal relationship with India by starring in a Bollywood film.

Speaking to Gulf News , the Kill Bill star explained that she had a deep connection to the country that stemmed beyond more than just her Indian name.

Thurman spent part of her childhood living in the Almora district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and was named 'Uma' by her father, who is a Sanskrit scholar and a Tibetologist.

The actress said: "I have friends there and I feel very connected to it... the smell, the sights, the people. It's familiar.

"I didn't realise how close we were to India (in the UAE). Had I known earlier, I would have gone by. I go there often, my last visit was about two years ago."

When asked about the possibility of starring in a Bollywood movie, Thurman commented: "That will be the best. I am good friends with Mira Nair. In fact, I heard she's filming a movie in India that's coming up soon and I'm very upset I'm not in it. I'm going to have a word with her about that."

Nair directed Thurman in the HBO film Hysterical Blindness.

Thurman stars alongside Robert Pattinson in her next release Bel Ami, a period film based on the 19th century French novel of the same name by Guy de Maupassant.

Bollywood sequels: a recipe for success?

MUMBAI: A glut of Bollywood sequels are due out in the coming months, prompting questions about whether the industry has run out of ideas or is just milking a successful formula in troubled times.

More than a dozen follow-ups are in the pipeline, including "Bheja Fry 2" (Brain Fry), a second "Dabangg" (Fearless), a third in the "Dhoom" franchise and another installment of the "Golmaal" series.

Shah Rukh Khan is also getting in on the act, with a sequel due out by the end of the year of his hit "Don". The action film, in which the actor reportedly does his own stunts, is currently in post-production.

Bollywood studios are increasingly desperate for a money-spinner, with box office takings in the Indian film industry as a whole down for the last two years and the lack of original, quality script-writing a common complaint.

But "Bheja Fry 2" director Sagar Ballary rejected the notion that follow-ups are an easy option -- and said success was not guaranteed.

"I didn't rush to make the sequel immediately after the first film came out in 2007. We waited for the right script to make this part two," he said.

"Every film stands on its own. Whether it's a sequel or not, the film has to be good to work."

"Bheja Fry,", starring comedian Vinay Pathak, is based on the popular 1998 French comedy "Le Diner de Cons" (The Dinner Game), which was also made into a Hollywood movie, "Dinner for Schmucks".

Follow-ups are an established part of Hollywood. Some films, like those in the "Godfather" trilogy, are arguably better than the original. Others, like the Star Wars prequels, fail to find favour with fans or critics.

Bollywood, which is increasingly following Hollywood trends in filmmaking and marketing, has not been averse to sequels in the past.

Notable franchises include the crime comedy "Munnabhai" series, starring Sanjay Dutt.

The "Golmaal" series, which came out in 2006, 2008 and 2010, were all popular.

Director Rohit Shetty will be hoping the fourth, starring Kareena Kapoor and Ajay Devgn, will be just as successful and has no qualms about doing another follow-up.

"If I have created a brand, why should I be apologetic about making money on it? You reap what you sow, right?" Shetty was quoted as saying in the Hindustan Times newspaper recently.

The "Dhoom" series has equally been a box office winner throughout the last decade.

Bollywood producer Arbaaz Khan, who will direct "Dabangg 2", said the film was at the scripting stage and hopes that it will live up to audiences' expectations.

"Dabangg", a corrupt cop romp starring Salman Khan, was one of the few hits last year, winning a host of awards including Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at last week's National Film Awards.

Arbaaz Khan said a sequel is justified given the film's following.

"It was the biggest mass entertaining film of the last year that did extremely well at the box office. So, the sequel, too, will hopefully work like the first one," he said.

For all their insistence on artistic integrity, Khan, Ballary and other filmmakers admit that financial factors are important.

With the "brand" already known, less has to be spent on marketing and success is more likely, the argument goes.

"Producers are demanding because for them it's good business," said Ballary. "They know sequels will surely recover the cost of the box office because of the success of part one and there's not much to lose.

"There are many scripts and good story ideas in the market but producers don't want to risk new ideas and they feel it's safe to work with a sequel because audiences like it."

Khan added: "The pressure to deliver a hit is bigger because people will surely have greater expectations." (AFP)

South Indian films 'outperforming Bollywood'

South Indian cinema is reported to be performing better internationally than Bollywood.

According to Daily News and Analysis, south Indian releases are increasingly watched by non-resident Indians.

Trade analyst Taran Adarsh commented: "Distributors are slowly becoming confident enough to release their films abroad."

He attributed the popularity of Rajinikanth's most recent release as a turning point in the south Indian film industry.

"The success of films like Endhiran last year has been a great factor that has brought in this change," said the TV presenter.

He also cited the large population of overseas resident south Indians as a contributing factor in the commercial reception of these projects.

"South Indian films are doing exceptionally well this year. Take the case of Telugu releases like Mr Perfect, Theenmaar and 100% Love or Tamil ones like Ko, Vaanam or Engeyum Kadhal, each has had bigger openings compared to Hindi films that released alongside them," he said.

Cricket causes $11.1mln loss to Bollywood

MUMBAI: A packed cricket schedule that peaked with an Indian win in the World Cup final has hit the country's other grand passion -- film -- emptying cinemas and forcing studios to postpone big movie releases.

Analysts said business at multiplex cinemas had been weak so far in 2011, with the six-week World Cup that finished earlier this month keeping people glued to their television screens in the evenings.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament, which began immediately afterwards is also expected to keep many cinema-goers away until the end of May.

The short-format Twenty20 competition has all the glitz of Bollywood, with many film stars owning team franchises and big name players from around the world, cheered on by a bevy of scantily clad dancing girls.

The financial newspaper Mint said during the week that multiplex chains may have lost up to 500 million rupees ($11.1 million) in the three months to the end of March. Earnings data is expected in coming weeks.

"It was a weak quarter, with average occupancy rates at theatres declining to between 10 to 12 percent," said Chitrangda Kapur, media analyst with Mumbai-based Angel Broking.

"Due to the World Cup and IPL, fewer films were released from February up to May" said Rajesh Jain, head of media and entertainment at global consultants KPMG.

In the absence of the usual number of weekend movie releases, some multiplex chains even resorted to screening cricket matches to attract audiences.

Alok Tandon, chief executive of Inox Leisure Ltd, said they had no option.

"As we know, February-March is traditionally a period when kids are busy with their exams and families prefer not to go out to watch movies," he said.

"Apart from the movies, cricket is the other religion of our country and hence during this period, very few big banner movies were released.... We screened the semi-final and final, which ran to nearly house-full shows."

The back-to-back cricket tournaments could not have come at a worse time, with the Indian film industry struggling to recover from a prolonged slump.

Overall revenues have fallen 20 percent in the past three years from $2.3 billion in 2008 to $1.85 billion in 2010, according to KPMG research.

Domestic box office revenues still contribute 75 percent of an Indian film's earnings.

Poor quality content, rising overheads, the global economic crisis and an increase in other ways for people to spend their spare time have also been blamed for the downturn.

"The industry just needs one strong story to change the trend," said Devang Sampat, chief India strategist with Cinepolis, the world's fourth-largest multiplex operator globally.

Sampat cited the example of Aamir Khan's "3 Idiots" which broke box office records in 2009, but few releases in 2011 have enjoyed even a fraction of that success.

Hopes are again being pinned on Khan, and his ageing superstar namesakes Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, to boost box-office sales.

Salman's comedy "Ready" hits theatres in June, while Shah Rukh Khan stars in a sci-fi superhero movie "Ra.One" (Random Access - Version 1.0) and Aamir in "Delhi Belly" later this year.

KPMG's Jain predicted a better second half of the year for the industry.

"We have a good line-up of releases in the forthcoming quarters, including a good list of 3D and regional movies," said Inox's Tandon. "We are quite positive that these movies will do well."

Candice Boucher plays a sand artist in upcoming spy flick

Candice Boucher, a South African Playboy hottie who features in Percept's untitled next, essays the role of a sand artist in the espionage drama.

Directed by Prashant Chaddha (Aap Ka Surror), the film stars Sachin Joshi (the Managing Director of an energy drink endorsed by Shah Rukh Khan) and Arya Babbar.

The beauty had to train from a professional artiste for the role. She says, "Learning from a sand artiste from Belarus was an amazing experience.

It's an intricate art more difficult than oils and watercolours on canvas as sand keeps shifting all the time. One's concentration has to be sharper and more focussed."

As reported 'Playmate on board' (Hitlist, June 11), Candice was the nude centrespread attraction of Playboy magazine for April 2010 and is also the brand ambassador for an international jeans brand.

She was signed for the film during the FIFA World Cup in June (it was held in her home country) to up the project's glam quotient.

The movie is about an informant who has to go undercover to save his brother and the nation from the effects of a biological war.

Release of Bollywood films postponed by religious court case

MUMBAI — The release of two Bollywood films has been postponed amid fears of Muslim-Hindu violence in India following a court ruling on a high-profile religious dispute, the makers have said.

Sajid Nadiadwala said the romantic comedy "Anjaana Anjaani" (Strangers), which was due to hit screens Friday, would be put back to avoid any fall-out from the long-awaited verdict in the Babri Masjid case on the same day.

The thriller "Aakrosh" (Anger) has also been postponed from its scheduled October 1 release date, said producer Kumar Mangat.

Hindu nationalists razed a 16th-century mosque in Ayodhya, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, in 1992, claiming it had been built on the ruins of a temple marking the birthplace of the Hindu warrior god, Ram.

The destruction led to the bloodiest communal violence since the partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947, leaving some 2,000 people dead and a legacy of mistrust between the two religious groups.

A court in northern India is set to rule on Friday which religious group should have ownership of the site.

Nadiadwala told a news conference on Monday evening: "The Ayodhya issue is a very big issue and therefore we decided to postpone the film by one week.

"Our film is a happy film and we felt it will not be appropriate to release the film on a day when such an important judgment is scheduled to come."

"Anjaana Anjaani" is based in the United States starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra while "Aakrosh", with Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu, is billed as the first Hindi-language film to tackle the subject of honour killings.

"Aakrosh" will now be released on October 8, Mangat said.

"By postponing the film by one week we will be in a better position to market our film as we will have more time on our hands," he added.