Janhvi Kapoor recalls eating theplas and paranthas while travelling in Italy

Vi segnalo l'articolo Janhvi Kapoor recalls eating theplas and paranthas while travelling in Italy, pubblicato oggi da India Today: 'Janhvi Kapoor shared that once she had the most memorable trip with her family to the Amalfi Coast. Speaking more about it, she said, "It was us, this big Indian family, and we had this van that could accommodate all of us. (...) He [Boney Kapoor] doesn’t go anywhere without mangoes and chillies from India. Because chillies outside India aren't that spicy, apparently. (...) In the evenings, people would be out on the streets, playing music, having drinks, but in comes this big black jeep blasting South Indian music and having theplas and paranthas in the van".'

Deepika Padukone: The new dream girl

[Archivio] Vi propongo l'articolo Deepika Padukone's easy appeal and raw energy mark her as the star of her generation of leading ladies, di Gayatri Jayaraman, pubblicato da India Today l'11 novembre 2013:

'Unlike many others of her age and in her position - image conscious, hesitant to reveal more than their carefully crafted public relations spin would have you see - she is intent on being perceived as honest. This rawness is integral to who Deepika is. The equation is simple for her: Since she cannot feign affection or establish subsistence-level niceties, it is necessary to seduce, and fall in love with, everyone. "There comes a time when I give myself so completely to the role that it becomes necessary. I am the character. And I must, in that process, fall in love with everyone I work with," she says. (...) Barely six years into the film industry, she is now an actor with Rs 700 crore riding on her. She has signed 11 top-end endorsement deals. (...) She has starred in three box-office blockbusters this year alone: Race 2 (Rs 110 crore), Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (Rs 184.79 crore), and Chennai Express (Rs 218.29 crore). She is on the cusp of a fourth hit with Sanjay Leela Bhansali's [Goliyon Ki Raasleela] Ram-Leela. (...)

Finding herself

Daughter of badminton champion Prakash Padukone, Deepika began modelling at eight. Her mother Ujjala Padukone, 55, says she always wanted to be number one at whatever she did but her new-found balance has astounded even the parents. "She's got her meticulousness from me, and the ability to tackle success from her father. But the sheer maturity with which she handles her career surprises us every day," Ujjala says. More so because, for a while in between, everyone thought she'd lost the plot. She rode the initial euphoria of the dream launch in Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008) and Love Aaj Kal (2009), but failed to capitalise on it. She struggled from Karthik Calling Karthik in 2010 to Desi Boyz in 2011, picking either bad roles or good roles in films that did badly. The tabloids referred to her as Ranbir Kapoor's current or ex - tags that seemed to gain precedence over any others that she could find at the time.

Towards the end of 2011, something suddenly changed. (...) Deepika has found her craft, and by extension, she's found herself. Shortly after her split with Ranbir, she bought a new sea-facing home in the heart of Mumbai's Prabhadevi area on the 26th floor of BeauMonde apartments. (...) The gated high-rise is not the typical choice for film stars, who usually live in Bandra or Juhu. Here, Deepika is the girl-next-door. She bumps into neighbours in the elevator or at the pool area. "I love the smells and sounds and feel of home," she says. Its gold walls, red velvet sofa, mahogany panelling and brass coffee tables (...) underline where she comes from. "Maturity is not becoming a different person, it's accepting the person you have always been in your core," she says. Ram-Leela director Bhansali sums up her friendly but elusive dream girl persona with his inimitable poetic flourish. "She is beautiful, graceful but pungent. Her face perched on that swan-like neck. She is colour. She is fire."

Love's lessons

Once someone enters Deepika's world, it is hard to exit. This perhaps springs from her self-professed "desperate need to be loved". "I cannot stand conflict and I will do anything to get past it," she says. (...) It's a remark that explains why she mends relationships with a vengeance. Deepika has stayed friends with all exes, and continues to work with them. (...) "When you're in a relationship, you take so much from each other. I believe people come into your life for a reason," she says. She describes Ranbir as a "positive influence" and adds that her relationships have changed her in small ways, making her more certain of what she wants in a partner. "But it's not like I keep a checklist. That would be like grocery shopping for a mate," she says. All she once dreamed of was a man who would be tall, dark, and handsome. Today, someone who is genuine and honest is the key.

Ask about her Ram-Leela co-star Ranveer Singh and she says the world has a problem with a man and a woman hanging out. "Every dinner date isn't a relationship. Feelings take time to develop, and the world does not give actors that time," she says, before hastening to add, "I have never met anyone quite like Ranveer in the industry though. He's so true to himself, so unaffected. He has also been a very positive influence in my life. He does his own thing, I do mine." Make of that statement whatever you will. (...)

World in her stride

Deepika's confidence is borne out of holding her failures as dear as her successes. She takes good natured ribbing about less successful roles in her stride. Chandni Chowk to China (2009), she admits, was "disastrous" but her action sequences from the film have still made it to her showreel. "Why do you need a showreel at all?" asks director Homi Adajania, with whom she is shooting Finding Fanny, and who has overheard snatches of the conversation. "Hollywood jaana hai na (I have to go to Hollywood, after all)," Deepika replies naughtily. (...)

The role that Deepika most identifies with is Naina from Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani - socially awkward as a child, conventional in her beliefs. "If I were to break out, that is the way in which I would," she says, referring to Naina's post-intermission transformation. Roles that personify who she is at heart, her life, and her struggles are the ones she best identifies with. "Women come up to me after my films and tell me that they can connect with me," she says. "This feedback has become vital for me - this link with them, and with myself".'

India Today Conclave 2013

L'India Today Conclave 2013 si è svolto a Delhi dal 15 al 16 marzo. Il tema dell'edizione di quest'anno era Reinventing Democracy. Fra le celebrità che hanno partecipato all'evento, segnalo Irrfan Khan e Anushka Sharma. Sito ufficiale dell'evento.

India Today Conclave 2012

L'India Today Conclave 2012 si svolgerà a Delhi dal 16 al 17 marzo. Il tema dell'edizione di quest'anno è The Asian century: securing the global promise. Ospite d'onore alla cena di gala d'apertura sarà Henry Kissinger, accolto dal giornalista e scrittore M.J. Akbar. Fra le conferenze in programma il 16 marzo, vi segnalo How does a heroine become the hero?, con Kareena Kapoor, e soprattutto The liberty verses: I am what I am and that's all that I am, con Salman Rushdie. Il celebre scrittore tornerà dunque in India dopo la chiacchierata mancata partecipazione al Jaipur Literature Festival 2012. Pare che Imran Khan, l'ex capitano della nazionale pachistana di cricket, ora dedito alla politica, ospite d'onore alla cena di gala di chiusura, abbia deciso di disertare l'evento in segno di protesta per la presenza di Rushdie. Hari Kunzru ha commentato nel suo profilo Twitter: 'Imran Khan seems to be through his international secular playboy period, entering his flag-&-faith fundo period. #notcricket @salmanrushdie'. Fra le conferenze in programma il 17 marzo, segnalo Can you be a superstar without being an actor?, con Abhay Deol e Kangana Ranaut. Sito ufficiale dell'evento.

Kareena Kapoor

Kangana Ranaut

Abhay Deol

Kareena Kapoor: India Today 12 marzo 2012

Anche il settimanale di attualità India Today celebra l'avvento del potere femminile a Bollywood. Lo strillo di copertina: Return of the Sirens. Bollywood's women get better roles and bigger brands. A sottolineare l'affermazione, un'intensa Kareena Kapoor. Vi propongo Bollywood women: From beautiful barbies to power performers, l'editoriale di Aroon Purie:

'The Indian film industry has (...) lagged behind its American counterpart by decades in making movies which put a female actor centrestage. That may be changing at last. The Dirty Picture, based on the life of South Indian actor Silk Smitha, starring Vidya Balan in the lead role, grossed more than Rs 100 crore in December 2011. The film' male actors were in clear supporting roles to her lead act. Balan has done it before. She portrayed the late murdered model Jessica Lal' sister, in No One Killed Jessica. Balan is going to do it again in 2012, playing the lead in Kahaani, a story based on a pregnant woman searching for her missing husband in Kolkata.

Of course, in Bollywood, like in any other film industry, what matters most is the ability of an actor, male or female, to get the cash registers ringing. Kareena Kapoor has been ahead of her male counterparts, even the pathologically successful Salman Khan, in recent box office success. She has had four blockbuster hits since 2009 - 3 Idiots, Golmaal 3, Bodyguard and Ra.One - each of which grossed over Rs 100 crore. She was the one constant as the lead actors were different in each film. Balan and Kapoor are just two of a larger set that includes, among others, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone. Padukone showed the new financial might of female leads when her walkout from Race 2 led to a steep fall in the project's value from Rs 87 crore to Rs 65 crore, even though the film has Saif Ali Khan, John Abraham and Anil Kapoor in starring roles. Says Chopra, summing up the scenario, "This is the best time to be a female lead in Bollywood." (...)  

Ultimately, the market is king. Filmmakers will make movies with women in important roles if they make them profits. That has started to happen more regularly in the last two years. We haven' yet reached a stage where the heroine-dominated film has stolen a march over the hero-led film but at least heroine-led films are commercially viable. The leading ladies are also climbing in the endorsement stakes. According to Television Audience Measurement (TAM), Kaif and Kapoor rank second and third among celebrity endorsers in terms of advertisements on television, only behind Shah Rukh Khan. Chopra is 10th on that list. The top female actors can now command Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore for just a five-minute-long item number. The coming to the fore of female actors was only a matter of time. As Indian society evolves and gender roles get redefined, women will compete on an equal footing with men, no matter what the profession. And that' a very welcome consequence'.