ENTERTAINMENT-SHORT TAKES TWO NEW DELHI

Leading the vanguard of films taking a cue from 'real life' is undoubtedly Mani Rathnam's 'Guru', released earlier this month, that draws inspiration from the life of industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. The story of a village guy making it big in a city, 'Guru', Mani Rathnam's most ambitious venture to date, has Abhishek playing the 'once-in-a-lifetime' role of a protagonist who undergoes a progression from a simple village youth to big corporate player.

Not surprisingly, the film, which incidentally pairs him opposite his real-life heartthrob Aishwarya Rai with whom he got engaged earlier this month, has won kudos galore for the Jr Bachchan at home as well as overseas for his performance, with analysts going to the extent of describing it as Abhishek's 'Deewar'.

Abhishek's performance evoked effusive praise from Amitabh Bachchan also, who said he could not have done the role as well as Abhishek had done.

Hitting the screens next month will be Krishna Misra's 'Wounded', a film based on the life of the former dacoit Seema Parihar. What is unique about the film is that it has Seema Parihar playing herself .

The film, featuring Kunal Khemu (of 'Kalyug fame) and Neetu Chandra (of 'Garam Masala' fame) in key roles will release across the country next week.

Drawing from a slice of life are the much-awaited Aamir Khan home production venture 'Taare Zameen Par', Apoorva Lakhia's adventure thriller 'Shootout At Lokhandwala', Anurag Basu's 'Metro' and 'Undertrial'. After the successful 'Lagaan', film actor Aamir Khan is producing 'Taare Zameen par', a film based on the story of a dyslexic child and his relationship with his father . The small budget venture, which has Aamir himself play a pivotal role, has created a lot of buzz in the film fraternity because of the sensitivity of the issue at hand.

After the lukewarm response to his 'Ek Ajnabee', filmmaker Apoorva Lakhia is making another adventure thriller which draws inspiration from a real life incident.

Featuring an ensemble cast of Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt (who also a co-producer along with Sanjay Gupta); Abhishek Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Vivek Oberoi, Tusshar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Neha Dhupia, Dia Mirza and Rohit Roy, 'Shootout At Lokhandwala' tries to interweave the lives of few tourists with adventure at a location near Mumbai.

A one of its kind adventure film got applauded at the GIFA awards in Kuala Lumpur recently. Apoorva Lakhia tried to be different by interweaving the lives of few tourists with adventure at a location near Mumbai. Infact, films like 'Shootout At Lokhandwala' is part of an endeavour of White Feather Films, a venture owned by Sanjay Dutt and Sanjay Gupta to make films representing "cutting edge" cinema, films that challenge, provoke and inspire.

After the success of 'Gangster' last year, Anurag Basu will this year come up with 'Metro', a UTV-produced film that seeks to portray different facets of life in a city like passion, romance and lust, portrayed through life of three different couples played by Shilpa Shetty and Shiney Ahuja, Sharman Joshi and Kangana Renaut and Kay Kay Menon and Konkona Sen Sharma.

Infact, 'Metro', along with 'Hattarick', 'Blue Umbrella', 'Goal' and 'Delhi 6', is part of an endeavour by UTV, which has given to Indian cinema a masterpiece like 'Rang De Basanti', to encourage the New Age cinema' in India - realistic films that eschew the conventional style of filmmaking and those dealing with innovative themes.

Trade analysts attribute the increase in the number of commercial films drawing from the slice of life to the success last year, as a number of films representing sensibilities 'Different-from-the-Mainstream' like Rakyesh Mehra's 'Rang De Basanti', Rajkumar Hirani's 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', Dibakar Banerjee's 'Khosla Ka Ghosla', Vishal Bhardwaj's 'Omkara', Pritish Nandy Communications' 'Pyar Ke Side Effects', Milan Luthria's 'Taxi No 9211', Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Corporate', Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Dor', Homi Adjania's 'Being Cyrus', Anurag Basu's 'Gangster' and Kabir Khan's 'Kabul Express'.

Infact, analysts attribute this new resurgance of 'New Age Cinema' to the change in audience tastes in recent years which has seen a huge crowd of cinegoers throng the cinema halls to watch such sensible films.

Consequently, an increasing number of production houses are jumping onto the 'New Age' bandwagon, coming forward with financial backing to help such films make their way to the theatres.

Other films representing 'New Age Cinema' to hit screens this year are Sanjay Gupta's ambitious 'Dus Kahaniyan', Hansal Mehta's tribute to film noir 'Woodstock Villa' and 'One Forty Ki Last Local'.

After the success of 'Pyar Ke Side Effects' and 'Gangster' last year, a number of unconventional love stories exploring various facets and different perspectives of love will hit the big screen this year.

On the anvil this year are films like 'Salaam-E-Ishq', Honeymoon Travels (P) Limited', Ramgopal Verma's 'Nishabd', Yashraj films' 'Chooriyan', Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Jodha Akbar', 'Cheeni Kum' and Madhuri Dikshit's yet untitled film.

Released ascross the country yesterday, on the eve of the country's 58th Republic Day, is Nikhil Advani's 'ode to love' 'Salaam-E-Ishq', a film which deals with the love between six different couples hailing from different backgrounds, each one having their perspectives and a set of problems when it comes to love.

With an ensemble cast comprising Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Akshaye Khanna, Ayesha Takia, John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Govinda, Sohail Khan and Isha Koppikar, 'Salaam-E-Ishq' has been among the most awaited Bollywood films of the year.

According to the filmmaker, 'Salaam-E-Ishq' deals with the emotional turmoil and the ecstacy of an abstract emotion called love.

Film dealing with the love story between and old man and a young woman is 'Cheeni Kum' will incidentally also have Amitabh Bachchan romancing Tabu. Also lined up for release next month is Farhan Akhtar's 'Honeymoon Travels Private Limited', an unconventional love story about some unlikely couples like Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani, Kay Kay Menon and Raima Sen, Diya Mirza and Ranvir Shorey and Minnisha Lamba and Abhay Deol.

Another unconventional love story up for release this year is Ashutosh Gowarikar's 'Akbar Jodha', a period film which deals with a hitherto undealt with love story between Mughal prince Akbar and his queen Jodhabai. The film, which has Hrithik playing the role of prince Akbar and Aishwarya playing Jodhabai, has been evoking tremendous excitement in film circles moreso in the wake of the brilliant chemistry between Hrithik and Aishwarya in 'Dhoom 2" coming in for praise from all quarters. The film is slated for a Diwali release.

With a hit at the beginning of the year in 'Guru', which has notched up excellent box office collections both at home and abroad besides winning rave review from critics, and the tremendous craze for films like 'Salaam-E-Ishq' (released yesterday) and 'Traffic Signal' to release next week, 2007 promises to be another exciting year for Bollywood fans and another pathbreaking year for the film industry.

UNI