Mumbai Police played party pooper at Bollywood actress Preity Zinta's birthday bash after slum-dwellers in the neighbourhood complained of loud music early Sunday morning.
A police patrol team 'called on' Zinta's flat in Quantum Park building in Bandra and ordered them to turn down the volume of the loudspeakers following complaints from other residents in the area, around 2 a.m., an official of Khar police station told IANS here.
The police official said that the actress will be penalised as per the provisions for flouting noise pollution rules.
A local resident, Irfan Shaikh, said that very loud music was played in the party which started late Saturday and continued till the early hours Sunday.
"Whenever there is music or programmes in the slum areas, these people in big buildings complain against us and we have to shell out large fines. We also get disturbed and so we complained to the police," he told media persons here Sunday morning.
Shaikh claimed that initially the police did not respond to their calls for help. It was only after repeated pleas that they intervened, he said, adding that soon after the police left, the volume was again turned full blast.
It is understood that other Bollywood bigwigs, including Shahrukh Khan, Farah Khan, Chunky Pandey and others were present at the birthday bash, which wound up this morning. 
Monday, February 2, 2009
Preity Zinta’s 'loud' birthday party
Slumdog races past $ 100 million in box office
The flavour of the season, Slumdog Millionaire, raced beyond the $100 million benchmark worldwide over 
the weekend. For a film that cost a mere $15 million and which is also substantially in Hindi, this is a landmark achievement. It has already become profitable in its limited worldwide run.
In India, however, it plunged by about 70 percent in its second weekend, according to the trade publication Variety. Even then, it grossed a decent $ 4 million. 'A respectable accomplishment,' declared Variety, 'but well below the perfs of Bollywood hits.'
In other countries, the drop has been less than 28 percent till now.
The backlash against the film in some quarters should not affect its Oscar chances, argued Roger Friedman of Fox News, which is owned by the film's North American distributor Fox Searchlight. 'Let's not let some weird backlash hurt it at the last minute,' he asserted recently calling the movie a 'multicultural triumph.'
'We should only be happy to see the whole audience at the Kodak Theatre get up on their feet and dance to Jai ho on February 22,' Friedman added. 'The rest doesn't matter, not now.'
The movie, which will be opening in more than 60 countries in the next two weeks has grossed $67 million in North America, has taken a sensational $20 million in the United Kingdom reigning at the top for three consecutive weeks. In Australia, it has nabbed over $5.2 million; $4.2 million in France , $3.6 million in Italy and about $1 million in Switzerland . Its box office abroad will gain a big boost with its release in key territories such as Germany , Spain and Japan .
Fox Searchlight, which distributed the film in America and Canada , pointed out that the movie, which is in its 12th week and ranked number five in the American box office charts last week, is playing strongly in smaller markets, including such locales as Columbia, South Carolina, and Butte, Montana. It is also doing excellent business in smaller Canadian cities that have no significant South Asian audiences.
'The film has exploded into the mainstream audience because of the Golden Globe Awards, the Academy nominations and now the Producers Guild of America best film award,' said Searchlight senior VP of distribution Sheila DeLoach in an interview before the movie won the Directors Guild award.
Among the Oscar nominated films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Doubt, Slumdog is the most beloved, and has seen the biggest box office gains.
'While the four other films are all of the highest quality, we do feel echoes of past moviegoing experience in each of them,' Roger Friedman added. 'Button is especially guilty of this because of the onerous Forrest Gump associations. But Milk is a little like Brokeback Mountain; The Reader has Schindler's List and English Patient traces, and Frost/Nixon is a classic fencing match.'
But Slumdog is the one honest-to-God totally cool, out of left field, genius entry from 2008, Friedman asserted. 'Watching it for the first time, without a lot of hype, you can feel the breathtaking achievement of mixing old and new India, American game shows, class warfare, all of it. Slumdog is alive with possibilities for new avenues of filmmaking, a multicultural triumph.'
the weekend. For a film that cost a mere $15 million and which is also substantially in Hindi, this is a landmark achievement. It has already become profitable in its limited worldwide run.In India, however, it plunged by about 70 percent in its second weekend, according to the trade publication Variety. Even then, it grossed a decent $ 4 million. 'A respectable accomplishment,' declared Variety, 'but well below the perfs of Bollywood hits.'
In other countries, the drop has been less than 28 percent till now.
The backlash against the film in some quarters should not affect its Oscar chances, argued Roger Friedman of Fox News, which is owned by the film's North American distributor Fox Searchlight. 'Let's not let some weird backlash hurt it at the last minute,' he asserted recently calling the movie a 'multicultural triumph.'
'We should only be happy to see the whole audience at the Kodak Theatre get up on their feet and dance to Jai ho on February 22,' Friedman added. 'The rest doesn't matter, not now.'
The movie, which will be opening in more than 60 countries in the next two weeks has grossed $67 million in North America, has taken a sensational $20 million in the United Kingdom reigning at the top for three consecutive weeks. In Australia, it has nabbed over $5.2 million; $4.2 million in France , $3.6 million in Italy and about $1 million in Switzerland . Its box office abroad will gain a big boost with its release in key territories such as Germany , Spain and Japan .
Fox Searchlight, which distributed the film in America and Canada , pointed out that the movie, which is in its 12th week and ranked number five in the American box office charts last week, is playing strongly in smaller markets, including such locales as Columbia, South Carolina, and Butte, Montana. It is also doing excellent business in smaller Canadian cities that have no significant South Asian audiences.
'The film has exploded into the mainstream audience because of the Golden Globe Awards, the Academy nominations and now the Producers Guild of America best film award,' said Searchlight senior VP of distribution Sheila DeLoach in an interview before the movie won the Directors Guild award.
Among the Oscar nominated films like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Doubt, Slumdog is the most beloved, and has seen the biggest box office gains.
'While the four other films are all of the highest quality, we do feel echoes of past moviegoing experience in each of them,' Roger Friedman added. 'Button is especially guilty of this because of the onerous Forrest Gump associations. But Milk is a little like Brokeback Mountain; The Reader has Schindler's List and English Patient traces, and Frost/Nixon is a classic fencing match.'
But Slumdog is the one honest-to-God totally cool, out of left field, genius entry from 2008, Friedman asserted. 'Watching it for the first time, without a lot of hype, you can feel the breathtaking achievement of mixing old and new India, American game shows, class warfare, all of it. Slumdog is alive with possibilities for new avenues of filmmaking, a multicultural triumph.'
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Kareena Kapoor to receive an award from Erin Brokovich
Bollywood's eternal heartthrob Kareena Kapoor must surely be on cloud nine these days for reasons more than one. If you thought that her film Three Idiots (her dream come true film with Aamir Khan) tops her list, then you're wrong. Bebo is all set to win an award for her contribution to art and cinema in February, from none other than the world-renowned environmental activist Erin Brokovich.
Erin Brokovich is an American legal clerk and an environmentalist. One may also recollect that the Hollywood actress Julia Roberts had played her in in the Hollywood flick Erin Brokovich.
To present the award to Kareena, Erin is reported to be air dashing to Mumbai.
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