Kunal Kapoor’s fan following is gaining in numbers

His cellphone inbox is flooded with ‘missing you’ messages from fans. Post Rang De Basanti,Kunal Kapoor has women eating out of his hands. And going by the promos of Hat Trick with some passionate cuddling between him and Rimii Sen, more swoons are in order. “Girls are missing me very much. I get a lot of SMSes that say so. It’s already a year since Rang De released. They want to see me in more films,” laughs Kapoor.

If you’ve been taken in by his intense gaze so far, get ready to indulge the child in him. “In Hat Trick, I’m playing an immature guy, who is a little spoilt and stubborn. It’s very different from my mature and sensible images in my earlier films,” he adds.

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Now, who wouldn’t love a childish Kapoor?

When we draw his attention to the intimate scenes with Sen in the film, the heart throb is equally ebullient, “Those scenes are not the crux of Hat Trick. But I don’t mind if they lend me the image of a sexy and passionate hero. I am sexy if people think so.”

He’s certainly not lacking in a sense of humour. We heard rumours that he had a tough time shooting a romantic scene, where he had to tease Sen with ice cubes. “There wasn’t any problem doing the scene. I only had a problem dropping a particular number of cubes,” he quips. Read the rest of this entry »

Rising actor Kunal Kapoor says, his role in a new Bollywood movie about three underdogs who become winners is very different to the more mature characters he has portrayed in earlier movies.

Kapoor, 29, told The Indian Express newspaper he plays a spoilt and obstinate actor. “I’m playing an immature guy who is a little spoilt and stubborn,” he said. “It is very different from my mature and sensible images in my earlier films.”

The movie, set to release next month, is directed by Milan Lutria and also stars Nana Patekar and Paresh Rawal.

Kapoor won praise for his portrayal in last year’s hit movie “Rang De Basanti,” or “Color Me Saffron,” of a philosopher-poet among a group of disillusioned Indian youth who turn patriotic. Read the rest of this entry »

The gorgeous Aishwarya Rai and the dashing Sanjay Dutt won the ‘Star of the Year - Female’ award and ‘Star of the Year - Male’ award respectively at the Stardust awards.

Ash won the award for her role in Dhoom 2 , while Dutt bagged the award for his role in Lage Raho Munnabhai .

In a glittering ceremony attended by who’s who of Bollywood, Abhishek Bachchan won the ‘Best Actor in Supporting Role’ award for Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna at the function held at MMRDA Grounds here on Sunday February 18 night.

Path-breaking film Rang De Basanti was announced as the ‘Pride of the Industry’.

While collecting his award, the maker of ‘Rang De Basanti’ Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra said, ”This is a special award, and this film is especially for the people of India.”

As Abhishek was out of town, father Amitabh Bachchan collected the award on his behalf. Amidst huge applause, he also gave away the trophy to his soon-to-be-daughter-in-law Ash.

Kunal Kapoor won the award for ‘Best Breakthrough Performance - Male’ for his role in ‘Rang De Basanti’.

After collecting the trophy an emphatic Kunal said, ” I was very confused while growing up as I did not know which profession to choose, until I found my calling in acting. I have changed my profession numerous times. I even did some bizarre things like exporting mangoes.”

Meanwhile, ‘Dream Director of the Year’ award was given to Rajkumar Hirani for ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. The ‘Editors Choice award’ for best performance went to Kareena Kapoor for her role in Omkara . The ‘Editors Choice Best Director award’ went to Vishal Bharadwaj for ‘Omkara’.

Saif Ali Khan bagged the Best Actor in Villainous Role award for ‘Omkara’.

The awards, interspersed with performances by stars like Kareena Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut , Emraan Hashmi and Lara Dutta , also honoured Mithun Chakraborty with “Role Model Of The Year” Award.

The winners:

Star of the Year (Male) - Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Star of the Year (Female) - Aishwarya Rai (Dhoom:2)
Best Actor in a supporting role (Male) - Abhishek Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Best Actress in a supporting role (Female) - Ayesha Takia ( Dor )
Best Actor in a negative Role (Male) - Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)
Superstar of Tomorrow (Male) - Shiney Ahuja Gangster )
Superstar of Tomorrow (Female) - Kangana Ranaut (Gangster)
Breakthrough Performance Award (Male) - Kunal Kapoor (Rang De Basanti)
Breakthrough Performance Award (Female) - Gul Panag (Dor)
The New Menace - Shaad Randhawa (Woh Lamhe)
Hottest Film Producer - Kumar Mangat (Omkara)
The Dream Director Award - Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
The Hottest Young Filmmaker - Sanjay Gadhvi (Dhoom:2)
New Musical Sensation (Male) - Zubeen Garg (Ya Ali)
New Musical Sensation (Female) - Rekha Bharadwaj (Namak Ishq Ka)
Standout Performance by a Musical Director - Mithoon (Bas Ek Pal)
Standout Performance by a Lyricist - Virag Mishra (Zinda Hoon Main)
Lifetime Achievement Award - Mithun Chakraborty

A year has gone by and Shahid Kapur hasn’t signed a single film. So it was relief that he had accepted a project couple of months ago. Alas! He’s walked out of that too. Kapur had signed Ramesh Sippy Entertainment’s untitled venture toplining Nana Patekar.

To be directed by Rohit Shetty, the film was to commence in March. Shahid Kapur opted out. Kunal Kapoor has been roped in.

Confirming the news, Shahid said, “There were date issues. I couldn’t accommodate the film due to other commitments. I couldn’t give the dates that Ramesh Sippy and Rohit wanted. But we’ll work out something later this year.”

While Kapur was unwilling to go into the details, director Rohit Shetty elaborated, “We were supposed to begin filming earlier. Meanwhile, my other film, Sunday, fell into place. It’s being produced by Kumar Mangat and features Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Ayesha Takia and Irrfan Khan. So Rameshji’s film was pushed to June. Shahid had already committed those dates to Aziz Mirza for his next. So, we’ve signed Kunal instead.”

According to Shetty, “Shahid wasn’t playing the regular guy-next-door. It’s a mature role.” This hasn’t ruffled any feathers.. at least overtly. Read the rest of this entry »