Salman Khan has taken up a new occupation. The superstar has become the advisor of Bollywood's latest heart throb Zareen Khan. Those of you, who might be wondering who Zareen is, let's remind you that Zareen is the so-called Katrina lookalike actress who will be making her debut in the Salman starrer film VEER.

According to Zareen she has no godfather in Bollywood except Salman Khan. In fact it was due to Salman Khan's recommendation that Zareen got a role in the film. She says, "I depend on Salman Khan's advice as far as my career in Bollywood is concerned. I'm a simple girl with no filmy connections and I feel so lucky that Salman is by my side."

The model turned actress is eagerly awaiting the release of her film VEER which is written by Salman Khan himself.

vpost : 08

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On par with AVATAR success in worldwide Box Office records, 3 IDIOTS retains Top 10 Position at UK Box Office in Week 2!

2009 went out with celluloid bang as the much-anticipated film, 3 IDIOTS, has gone on to set a whole new precedent for Bollywood cinema internationally and broken all previous records following its continued, staggering Box Office response from audiences globally.

Presented and released by Reliance BIG Pictures, the total overseas Box Office gross for 3 IDIOTS outside of India is a record-breaking 10 million USD plus, beating records set by any Bollywood release to date.

3 IDIOTS has grossed more than and#163;1,115m ($1.8m) at the UK Box Office and was the number one film on Christmas Day out grossing AVATAR. In territories such as Australia, screenings of AVATAR have even been reduced, in order to accommodate additional screenings of 3 IDIOTS.

The film is UK's highest grossing Bollywood film of 2009 and now the highest grossing Indian film ever to release in the US, beating the takings of OM SHANTI OM, which released in 2007. Other territories such as India, Middle East and Australia are also close to this landmark.

3 IDIOTS continues to draw record crowds, including repeat audiences, as it sets a whole new benchmark for Bollywood.

vpost : 07

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Last week's three releases - RAAT GAYI BAAT GAYI, BOLO RAAM and ACCIDENT ON HILL ROAD- fared as expected. And one does not have to be a Nostradamus to have predicted that! To sum it up in one sentence; despite all the merits/demerits of the three mentioned movies, they were all washed aside by the 3 IDIOTS tsunami!

This Friday's three main releases are - Yash Raj's PYAAR IMPOSSIBLE!, the Mudassir Aziz directed DULHA MIL GAYA and Emaar Film International Unit's HELLO...HUM LALLAN BOL RAHE HAIN. It is obvious that PYAAR IMPOSSIBLE! is going to be the next setback for Yash Raj Films after their last disappointment, ROCKET SINGH...SALESMAN OF THE YEAR. Even the presence of Shah Rukh Khan (in an extended special appearance) is not going to achieve anything significant for producer Vivek Vaswani's DULHA MIL GAYA. And lastly, the bleak prospects of projects like HELLO...HUM LALLAN BOL RAHE HAIN are crystal clear from the day of announcement. A factor that is also going to be taken into consideration is the still very strong run of Rajkumar Hirani's 3 IDIOTS.

The Christmas release, 3 IDIOTS, as predicted in our last column, has set new and insurmountable box office records. In fact, in the first week itself 3 IDIOTS has surpassed the total business of Rajkumar Hirani's last blockbuster, LAGE RAHO MUNNA BHAI. Checking out the phenomenal numbers, the film collected 17 crores from Bombay (collections from 2 cinemas unreceived), 6 lakhs from Lonavala, 3 crores from Ahmedabad (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 1 crore from Surat, 15 lakhs each from Nadiad and Valsad, 25 lakhs from Anand, 1.20 crores from Baroda, 9 lakhs each from Navsari and Bharuch, 42 lakhs from Rajkot, 18 lakhs from Jamnagar, 4 lakhs from Bhuj, 13 lakhs from Gandhidham, 4.20 crores from Pune, 75 lakhs from Nasik, 67 lakhs from Goa, 7 lakhs from Hubli (6 days), 3 lakhs each from Belgaum, Bijapur and Dharwad(6 days), 7.15 crores from Delhi city, 1 crore from Noida, 75 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1 crore from Lucknow, 21 lakhs from Agra, 15 lakhs from Allahabad, 4 lakhs from Bareilly, 9 lakhs from Aligarh, 60 lakhs from Gurgoan, 50 lakhs from Faridabad, 10 lakhs from Kurukshetra, 6 lakhs from Panipat, 3.50 crores from Calcutta, 15 lakhs from Darjeeling, 7 lakhs from Siliguri, 5 lakhs from Guwahati, 1.20 crores from Nagpur, 22 lakhs from Jabalpur, 10.35 lakhs from Akola, 45 lakhs from Raipur, 2.35 lakhs from Gondia, 4 lakhs from Chandrapur, 2 lakhs each from Sagar and Bhandara, 1.60 crores from Indore, 18 lakhs from Gwalior (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 34 lakhs from Bhopal (collections from 2 cinemas unreceived), 4 lakhs from Ujjain, 2 crores from Jaipur, 42 lakhs from Jodhpur, 25 lakhs from Ajmer, 40 lakhs from Kota, 2.10 crores from Hyderabad, 11 lakhs from Aurangabad (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 33 lakhs from Bangalore (6 days), 4 lakhs from Davangere (6 days), 7.45 lakhs from Vijaywada (6 days) and 4.40 lakhs from Madras (collections from 6 cinemas unreceived). In it's opening week (with an additional half day), the Aamir Khan, R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Kareena Kapoor starrer has netted an unthinkable and unimaginable 79 crores from India. The blockbuster hit has also set new records in the Overseas (US) grossing and#163;1,115,530 from UK and $4,757,078 from US, both till the second weekend (1-3 January).

Meanwhile, Yash Raj's Shimit Amin directed ROCKET SINGH-SALESMAN OF THE YEAR seems to be on the last lap in just its third week. During the week the film collected 10 lakhs from Bombay, 1.50 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 6 lakhs from Delhi city, 2.15 lakhs from Noida, 1 lakh from Gurgoan and 1.35 lakhs from Calcutta. Netting another 50 lakhs, the Ranbir-Shazahn starrer has 20 crores to show from India after 3 weeks. The below average fare has also been rejected in the Overseas grossing and#163;123,569 from UK up to the fourth weekend (1-3 January) and $164,649 from the US till the end of its run.

Moving on to Balki's Amitabh, Abhishek and Vidya starrer, PAA, manages some more decent collections. The film collected 42 lakhs from Bombay (collections from 3 cinemas unreceived), 9 lakhs from Ahmedabad, 1.05 lakhs from Surat, 3.35 lakhs from Baroda, 8 lakhs from Pune, 1 lakh from Goa, 15 lakhs from Delhi city, 2.25 lakhs from Noida, 1.05 lakhs from Ghaziabad, 1.10 lakhs each from Lucknow and Gurgoan, 6 lakhs from Calcutta, 1.35 lakhs from Nagpur, 1.15 lakhs from Jabalpur, 1.50 lakhs from Raipur, 1.75 lakhs from Indore and 4.25 lakhs from Hyderabad (collections from 5 cinemas unreceived). With an additional 1.75 crores, PAA has netted a good 30.75 crores in four weeks from India and is a semi hit. The double Bachchan starrer, unfortunately, has not appealed to the overseas audience grossing and#163;160,296 from UK up to the fifth weekend (1-9 January) and $199,228 from US at the end of its run.

Our last entry for this week is once again Priyadarshan's DE DANA DAN, which is breathing its last. The film collected 5 lakhs from Bombay and 1.10 lakhs from Aurangabad. Adding another 35 lakhs, DE DANA DAN has netted around 49.60 crores in five weeks from India. The Akshay, Paresh, Suneil and Katrina starrer is more than an above average success from India. The film is already a good success for its overseas distributor, EROS International, having grossed and#163;560,380 from UK up to the sixth weekend (1-9 January) and $944,979 from US at the end of its run.

vpost : 06

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RANN is up for release and it is quite visible that Amitabh Bachchan is dominating every moment that counts in the promos of RANN. However, director Ram Gopal Varma is clear that this was always meant to be the case. As per him, the veteran actor was always meant to spearhead the show because of being the senior most member of the cast as well as the towering personality that he boasts of.

As expected from every Ram Gopal Varma film, whether big or small, this one too boasts of some enticing promos that have caught the nation's attention. This was especially the need of the hour considering the fact that January is laden with close to half a dozen exciting films like VEER, CHANCE PE DANCE, DULHA MIL GAYA, PYAAR IMPOSSIBLE and ISHQIYA.

Despite the fact that one does catch a glimpse or two of other important characters played by cast which is principal/supporting or established/younger, ultimately it is Amitabh Bachchan who is clearly spearheading the entire 'show'.

"Isn't that obvious", questions back Ram Gopal Varma, "With the kind of personality and the stardom that he enjoys, it is but natural that Amitabh Bachchan would be spearheading the entire film."

If one goes by the film's synopsis, there are so many other characters like Sudeep, Riteish Deshmukh, Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal, Rajat Kapoor etc. who have been described to be quite important. What sort of space and time has Ramu managed to create for these characters?

"Every other character is important; otherwise it wouldn't have found a place in the film. There won't be any character that would feel short changed or left out in the film", assures Ramu.

Produced by Sheetal Vinod Talwar and Madhu Mantena, RANN is all set for 29th January release.

vpost : 05

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Aamir Khan will be seen with Imran Khan in one of the home productions that will be directed by ace director Mansoor Khan. Mansoor, who had last directed Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai starrer JOSH has been living in recluse in the outskirts of Mumbai ever since.

Now, reports are that Mansoor is planning to make a film starring Aamir and Imran Khan. This will be after many years that the filmmaker will return to Bollywood.

According to sources, the film will be the remake of the hit classic YAADON KI BAARAT. The reclusive filmmaker has been persuaded by Aamir Khan to return to filmmaking. The movie with Aamir-Imran will commence as soon as Aamir finishes with his pending assignments.

vpost : 03

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