Post by odadune on Jun 15, 2014 14:51:55 GMT
indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/screen/akshay-kumars-singh-is-bling-to-take-off-in-october/
Your first question on seeing this thread was probably "where on earth did they get that title?" And the answer is that it started out as a teasing comment Karan Johar made to Akshay on Koffee With Karan, who thought it was catchy and trademarked it. There are two morals to this story, and one of them is that you should never say silly things to Akki because you might give him Ideas, and the other moral is that no matter what the situation might be in Bollywood there is always a way to blame Kjo for it.
As for the rest, the film is directed by Prabhudheva, who describes it as a complete entertainer, with action, comedy and romance. Ashwini Yardi, who is co-producing the film along with Akshay through Grazing Goat Pictures, claims that it's an original script (perhaps more correctly story treatment) they approached Prabhudheva to expand on and direct. I just hope Ashwini has enough sense and authority to say things like, "That scene in R...Rajkumar with the rapist played for black comedy is not cool, boys, don't do anything like that here." It is not meant to be tied particularly closely to the 2008 hit Singh is Kinng (which I found likable but clunky and only sporadically amusing) and in fact SIK co-producer Vipul Shah is quietly off in a corner developing Singh is Kinng 2. Aside from the face-palm-inducing title and the teaser posters, which are simultaneously amusing and appalling in the best Akki tradition, I guess I'm okay with this. I liked Rowdy Rathore and Wanted, I think Prabhudheva's figured out that he can't just keep cloning them to survive, I'm pretty sure he will make a more entertaining movie than Anees Bazmee, who directed SIK, would.
They are supposed to start shooting in 4Q2014, probably some time in October, for a July 31, 2015 release date. They seem to have some idea that the female role is worthy of an A-lister's attention because they've reportedly looked into hiring Katrina, Deepika, and Kareena, although the latter is the only one whose PR has admitted to being approached and is talking up the project as something she might do: www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2517947/Kareena-with-Akshay-Kumar-in-Singh-Is-Bling
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On 6/25/2014, edited to add: So, we got one last A-lister fluff piece with Priyanka's spokespersons preemptively denying a nonexistent (so far as I can tell) rumor about Prabhudheva having pitched Singh is Bling to her, followed by some news items announcing Kriti Sanon (Heropanti, 1:Nenokkadine) as the heroine, complete with a nasty jibe at "actresses using the project for publicity by claiming to have been approached."
This should come as a relief to the Bebo fans who feel that she shouldn't be doing things like this at this point in her career; I like seeing her with Akki but it seems pretty clear that the main Bollywood-viewing public was never into them as a pairing, and her working with a strict taskmaster like Prabhudheva seemed like a recipe for making her and everyone else around her miserable for no good purpose. As for Kriti, my main impression from what little I've seen of her is that she's awfully young and kind of boring. She is fairly pretty, and like Sona comes off as a woman rather than a girl. The character is supposed to be a dancer, and although she was kind of terrible at that in Heropanti, there's one or two videos from Nenokkadine where she's not bad. I'm guessing she was primarily cast because she was an inexpensive n00b who had proved her work ethic by completing one Tollywood film and getting signed to another.
The other, and worse, news is that they will be shooting in Capetown "and across Africa," a phrase that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who's seen the "comedic" racial stereotyping in Akshay's other movies.
Your first question on seeing this thread was probably "where on earth did they get that title?" And the answer is that it started out as a teasing comment Karan Johar made to Akshay on Koffee With Karan, who thought it was catchy and trademarked it. There are two morals to this story, and one of them is that you should never say silly things to Akki because you might give him Ideas, and the other moral is that no matter what the situation might be in Bollywood there is always a way to blame Kjo for it.
As for the rest, the film is directed by Prabhudheva, who describes it as a complete entertainer, with action, comedy and romance. Ashwini Yardi, who is co-producing the film along with Akshay through Grazing Goat Pictures, claims that it's an original script (perhaps more correctly story treatment) they approached Prabhudheva to expand on and direct. I just hope Ashwini has enough sense and authority to say things like, "That scene in R...Rajkumar with the rapist played for black comedy is not cool, boys, don't do anything like that here." It is not meant to be tied particularly closely to the 2008 hit Singh is Kinng (which I found likable but clunky and only sporadically amusing) and in fact SIK co-producer Vipul Shah is quietly off in a corner developing Singh is Kinng 2. Aside from the face-palm-inducing title and the teaser posters, which are simultaneously amusing and appalling in the best Akki tradition, I guess I'm okay with this. I liked Rowdy Rathore and Wanted, I think Prabhudheva's figured out that he can't just keep cloning them to survive, I'm pretty sure he will make a more entertaining movie than Anees Bazmee, who directed SIK, would.
They are supposed to start shooting in 4Q2014, probably some time in October, for a July 31, 2015 release date. They seem to have some idea that the female role is worthy of an A-lister's attention because they've reportedly looked into hiring Katrina, Deepika, and Kareena, although the latter is the only one whose PR has admitted to being approached and is talking up the project as something she might do: www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2517947/Kareena-with-Akshay-Kumar-in-Singh-Is-Bling
***
On 6/25/2014, edited to add: So, we got one last A-lister fluff piece with Priyanka's spokespersons preemptively denying a nonexistent (so far as I can tell) rumor about Prabhudheva having pitched Singh is Bling to her, followed by some news items announcing Kriti Sanon (Heropanti, 1:Nenokkadine) as the heroine, complete with a nasty jibe at "actresses using the project for publicity by claiming to have been approached."
This should come as a relief to the Bebo fans who feel that she shouldn't be doing things like this at this point in her career; I like seeing her with Akki but it seems pretty clear that the main Bollywood-viewing public was never into them as a pairing, and her working with a strict taskmaster like Prabhudheva seemed like a recipe for making her and everyone else around her miserable for no good purpose. As for Kriti, my main impression from what little I've seen of her is that she's awfully young and kind of boring. She is fairly pretty, and like Sona comes off as a woman rather than a girl. The character is supposed to be a dancer, and although she was kind of terrible at that in Heropanti, there's one or two videos from Nenokkadine where she's not bad. I'm guessing she was primarily cast because she was an inexpensive n00b who had proved her work ethic by completing one Tollywood film and getting signed to another.
The other, and worse, news is that they will be shooting in Capetown "and across Africa," a phrase that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who's seen the "comedic" racial stereotyping in Akshay's other movies.