Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone starrer 'Piku' could sweep away awards at the TOIFA 2016

The Amitabh Bachchan-Deepika Padukone starrer comedy drama 'Piku' could sweep away most of the awards at the 2nd edition of the Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) - 'Piku' is leading the nomination in the popular category at TOIFA 2016 with seven nods including best film and best actor.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 26 February 2016.

The 2nd edition of Times of India Film Awards is scheduled to take place in Dubai on March 18. The awards ceremony will witness performances by Bollywood celebrities like Varun Dhawan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Yo Yo Honey Singh and many others.
'Piku' has secured other nods in categories like best director for Shoojit Sircar, Deepika for best actress, best supporting actor for Irrfan Khan and two nods (best film and best male actor) in critics’ choice. The film is a road drama that revolves around a hypochondriac old father and his cranky daughter.
Apart from 'Piku', this year’s frontrunner 'Bajirao Mastani', a historical epic starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, and romantic-comedy 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' come second with six nods apiece. 'Bajirao Mastani' helmer Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been nominated in the best director category and the movie has also registered nominations in the best film, best actor, best actress categories.


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Vidya Balan ready to act in Kahaani sequel

Actress Vidya Balan has admitted that shooting for film “Te3n” was a sort of preparation for her role in Sujoy Ghosh’s sequel to “Kahaani” for which she had bagged the Filmfare Award for best actress. The film 'Te3n' has stars Amitabh Bachchan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 19 February 2016.

In the film 'Te3n'. Vidya Balan has made a special appearance and, in her own words, it was fun because Sujoy Ghosh produced the film and Vidya had a chance to go back to Kolkata for the shoot.
On Kolkata she has often claimed that Bengal is her second home. She has portrayed memorable roles in Bengali movies like “Parineeta” and “Kahaani” and she has been mistaken as a Bengali. But, she hails from Kerala and was born and brought up in Kolkata - so she considers Bengal as her second home.
There had been rumors that the sequel to 'Kahaani' had been shelved but Sujoy Ghosh has clarified that the film was definitely on and was in pre-production stages. The shooting would begin soon.


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Amitabh Bachchan's role in Wazir is wheelchair-centric and challenging

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan's role in Wzir is a challenging one because he has to sit in a wheelchair throughout. As he says, it was physically more challenging than his other roles because, he did not have any feet to express himself or his emotions but had only the two wheels of the chair.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 27 December 2015.

“Wazir” is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Bijoy Nambiar and its stars are Amitabh Bachchan, Farhan Akhtar, Aditi Rao Hydari and Neil Nitin Mukesh.
So that his feet were not seen, the team opted for visual effects. He was asked to wear black socks and the team draw marks on them. His feet used to be tied. Obviously it was a new experience for him. Of course, Chopra ensured that the wheelchair chosen for Big B was the perfect fit. In fact, they went through 40 to 50 wheelchairs to find the perfect fit and the ideal one.
The 73-year-old star admitted that his colleagues-turned-politicians Shatrughan Sinha and Vinod Khanna have better career graphs. They were exceptional examples - having started off doing villain roles, they were so good that they became leading men. Later, then they joined politics, they succeeded there as well. Obviously, their career graph is better than his own.

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Big B rides a scooter in Kolkata - shooting for another movie

Big B's love for Kolkata is well known and he keeps returning to the city to shoot movies. Only last year, he had been here to shoot for 'Piku' when he pedaled around on a bicycle in the eastern metropolis wearing a kurta and hat for Shoojit Sircar’s film. He has come back to Kolkata to now shoot for Ribhu Dasgupta’s “Te3N”.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 28 November 2015.

This time the megastar Amitabh Bachchan was back on the road riding a scooter for “Te3N”. He now wore a brown check shirt and dark brown trousers. He kick-started the two-wheeler at the historic Writers’ Building complex which used to be the permanent seat of the West Bengal government.
Wearing a helmet, Big B rode the scooter for a few seconds for a shot and a big circle of onlookers gathered at the venue in the central business district as the star listened to his director’s instructions carefully prior to the shot. Filmmaker Sujoy Ghosh is the creative producer of thriller “TE3N” which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Vidya Balan.
It may be recalled that in “Piku”, Big B portrayed the role of a 70-year-old Bhashkor Banerjee and had cycled around in north Kolkata.

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Amitabh Bachchan to shoot in iconic Writers' Building in Kolkata

Writers' Building in Kolkata used to be the place where the West Bengal state Secretariat was located till Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister and shifted the Secretariat to its new location Nabanna. It was put under renovation and,now, for the first time a film is planned to be shot in the premises of the Victorian-era building. Mega star Amitabh Bachchan is expected to shoot there this week.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 24 November 2015.

Bollywood star Nawazuddin Siddique was the first one to have shot few scenes today inside the building, which is under renovation, for Sujoy Ghosh’s Hindi film ‘Te3n’. Directed by Ribhu Dasgupta and produced by Sujoy Ghosh ‘Te3n’ is set to release next year.
Actress Vidya Balan, who considers Kolkata to be her second home, will be back once again to shoot here tomorrow after films like “Parineeta” and “Kahaani”, a production unit source said.
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, whose recent hit “Piku” was shot in the city of Kolkata, is expected to shoot at the heritage building which now houses only few government department offices due to the ongoing renovation. He also will shoot on the Howrah Bridge later in the month.
Incidentally,the Writers’ Building was the seat of power in the state ever since Independence and also housed the chief minister’s office till Mamata Banerjee decided to shift to a new location Nabanna in Howrah two years ago to facilitate the renovation.
Writers' Building ia an architectural beauty and the sprawling red colonial landmark edifice is located in the heart of the city.

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Big B attends 21st Kolkata International Film Festival at Netaji Indoor Stadium

Amitabh Bachchan graced the occasion of opening the Kolkata International Film Festival, India's second oldest movie fest, in Netaji Indoor Stadium. The event was inaugurated by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and apart from movie icon Amitabh Bachchan, others who attended were actress Vidya Balan and yesteryear stars Sharmila Tagore, Jaya Bachchan and Mousumi Chatterjee.
The jam-packed Netaji Indoor Stadium watched the screen giants raise a toast to the cinema as reported in business-standard.com dated 14 November 2015.

The tune of the magical evening was set by fusion music and classical music performed by percussionist Bickram Ghosh, classical music vocalist Rashid Khan and singer Indranil Sen.
Sharmila Tagore, who is heading the jury which will select the best film and director from among 14 short-listed entries by women filmmakers.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, in her speech, extended invitation to Bollywood to shoot in West Bengal.

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Amitabh Bachchan to inaugurate 21st edition of Kolkata Film Festival

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is expected to inaugurate the upcoming 21st edition of Kolkata Film Festival - there would be 149 films screened from 61 countries. The opening ceremony of the eight-day festival (November 14-21) at the Netaji Indoor Stadium is also expected to be attended by Jaya Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Moushumi Chatterjee and Vidya Balan.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 3 November 2015.

This has been informed by information and cultural secretary of the West Bengal government.
The inauguration was supposed to be done by West Bengal brand ambassador superstar Shah Rukh Khan but, he will not be present at the festival “because he will be busy with his shooting commitments of Dilwale”.
There are possibilities that Pakistani film Manto will be screened at the inaugural ceremony on November 14.
The festival has been categorised into 15 sections with “India Unheard” as the new one. A budget of Rs eight crore has been kept and the best film will be awarded with the Royal Bengal Trophy. It will bag the cash of Rs 51 lakh while the best director will be rewarded with Rs 21 lakh. The Best short film and the documentary will be awarded Rs one lakh each.
Veteran actor Sharmila Tagore is the chairperson of the Jury consisting of famed film personalities including — Sri Lankan actress Swarna Mallawarachchi, Polish director Filip Macczewrk and Israeli filmmaker Samuel Muoz. Percussionist Ratul Shankar has composed the theme music for the festival using instruments like electric sitar, flute and different kinds of percussions for the minute-long theme song that will be in Bengali and English versions.

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Amitabh Bachchan. Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar in Vogue’s list of top 10 high earning actors but not SRK

Vogue has, for the first time, made public a list of highest paid actors and, as far as Bollywood goes, the list has Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar among the world's top ten highest-paid actors but Shah Rukh Khan does not find a place in the list.
The list has actors right from Hollywood to Hong Kong and Bollywood.
This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 5 August 2015.

Amitabh Bachchan and Salman Khan are placed at joint seventh place, with estimated earnings of $33.5 million in the past year while Akshay Kumar is placed at ninth place with $32.5 million.
As far as Shah Rukh Khan’s rankings goes, he is at 18th and Ranbir Kapoor at 30th position – their estimated earnings are believed to be $26 million and $15 million respectively.
Bollywood stalwart and superstar Amitabh Bachchan has starred in more than 150 movies in his 50 year career and he continues to earn good money for his roles in movies like the 2014 movie "Bhoothnath Returns."
In contrast, Salman Khan has appeared in some 80 movies since his 1989 breakout role "Maine Pyar Kiya" while Akshay Kumar has appeared in some 150 movies since his 1992 breakthrough movie "Khiladi."
The others in the top 10 are Robert Downey Jr (1) with earnings of $80 million, Jackie Chan (2) with $50 million. Then comes Vin Diesel (3), Bradley Cooper (4), Adam Sandler (5), Tom Cruise (6), and Mark Wahlberg (10).
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