Vikram Bhatt’s horror saga continues with 1920 London

It all started with Mahesh Bhatt’s Raaz – the well made horror film sprinkled with nudity, good music, and good looking stars Bipasha Basu and Dino Morea made such an impression that it became one of the big hits of the year, which sparked a trend. Sequels of Raaz followed, and so did many other inspirations which surprisingly enjoyed successful runs at the box-office. Soon the producers had a new box-office formula of horror films combined with scantily clad actresses gyrating to foot tapping music in foreign or exotic locales. Bingo! The movie would be a hit.

1920-londonRaaz, Murder, Hate Story, and many more of the same genre did extremely well and Vikram Bhatt, the nephew of Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt and cousin of Mohit Suri and Emraan Hashmi, became the defacto leader of these films. Fresh from the success of these films, Vikram Bhatt made another horror film 1920 in 2012 with new stars and an assemblage of prominent singers headed by Pandit Jasraj, Parveen Sultana, Adnan Sami Khan and many more and the film surprised all by becoming one of the big hits of that year.1920 evil returns

It didn’t take too long for Vikram Bhatt to make the sequel 1920 Evil Returns in 2014 with Bhushan Patel direction and yes, you guessed it right as that too was a hit and now this week will see the release of 1920 London, shot in beautiful European locations with haunting songs picturized on scantily clad new faces (somehow new girls are always available to shoot these songs in skimpiest clothes), and I’m sure that Vikram Bhatt will be laughing all the way to the bank again. Made at tight budgets, these films yield a return of 300-400% profit and probably explains that why so many of these kind are being made in Bollywood as we’re seeing many established film stars joining the starry lineup of these horror films. From Bipasha Basu to Sharman Joshi, many established stars have opted to act in these films because of their good run at the box-office and if the trend continues then not only Vikram Bhatt and others will continue making these sleazy horror films but we’ll see many more established actors making a bee line to act in these films!!!

 

Bipasha Basu marries Karan Grover!

Bipasha basu marriage 337-year-old Bipasha Basu married the ‘much married’ 34-year-old Karan Singh Grover (he was married twice before) in Bengali style in Mumbai and the reception saw ‘the who’s who’ of Bollywood as the Bachchans – Amitabh, Aishwarya and Abhishek – were followed by Ranbir Kapoor, Salman Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen, Tabu, Neha Dhupia, Dia Mirza, Dino Morea, Madhawan, and Riteish Deshmukh amongst many. Conspicuously absent were John Abraham, Saif Ali Khan, Harry Baweja and Shahid Kapoor, who at one time or another were involved with Bipasha Basu. It’s to be noted that Karan and Bipasha met during the making of horror film Alone and became inseparable to the extent that both are married now and we, at the Asian Journal, wish them a very happy married life!

 

Tiger Shroff is here to stay!!

tiger shroffBorn to Jackie Shroff and Ayesha Dutt as Jai Hemant Shroff, the 5th degree black belt in taekwondo surprised all by training Aamir Khan during the making of Dhoom 3 and surprised his family and even himself by signing Sajid Nadiadwala’s Heropanti, the success of which made him a star in 2014 and won him numerous awards in various award shows.

While film critic Taran Adarsh and Subhash Jha gave him a thumbs up, Anupam Chopra ridiculed his dialogue delivery and called him a one film wonder but he surprised his detractors with thunderous opening of his second film Baaghi. Teaming up with Kriti Sanon for his debut film, Heropanti proved beyond doubt that Tiger is an amazing mix of combined talent of Hrithik Roshan, Aamir Khan and Salman Khan who can dance, fight and act. But no one ever thought that he would become a phenomenon at such a young age. Sajid Nadiadwala’s Baaghi has been declared a huge hit and his fan following has exploded as producers are lining up to sign him for their films.

With reports being very positive about his upcoming super hero film The Flying Jatt, it can be safely said that Tiger Shroff is here to stay for quite some time and I have no doubt that he will even surpass the popularity of his father Jaggu Dada!!!

one night standFresh from the accolades for Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh, Manoj Bajpai is making news again as late Rajesh Pillai’s Traffic, remake of his Malyalam hit Traffic, is being talked about in film circles and already the acting of Manoj is being appreciated again. There’s no doubt that Manoj Bajpai is one of India’s finest actor, however, this time he’s joined by the talent of Jimmy Shergill, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Divya Dutta and Amol Parashar and as per Shah Rukh Khan, ‘Traffic is one powerful film of 2016’!

Also starting this week is One Night Stand with Canada’s Sunny Leone, and it’s to be seen if it’ll do well after the dismal flop of Mastizaade! In a glittering ceremony at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan, national awards were presented to Amitabh Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Manoj Kumar, Kabir Khan, Kalki Koechlin, Sanjay Leela Bhansali , S.S.Rajamouli, Monali Thakur and Vishal Bhardwaj amongst others.

Hrithik Roshan-Kangana Ranaut saga continues with Adhyayan Suman and his father Shekhar Suman accusing Kangana of black magic and physical abuse as Kangana was interviewed by Mumbai police for her side of story, IIFA 2016 will be in Spain this year and Hrithik Roshan, Ranveer Singh and Anil Kapoor are confirmed for participation.

With that it’s time to say good bye but not before reminding you all to watch Lahore’s Bollywood connection in this week’s Yaadein on Sunday, may 8th @ 1 pm on smc#116 and a very happy mother’s day to all mothers!


 

Kamal Sharma
Kamal Sharma

Kamal Sharma

Kamal Sharma, president of Kamal’s Video Palace, the biggest Indian video store in North America and concert promoter since 1994, is a popular TV host on Shaw Multicultural Channel of “Kamal’s Top 5 Hits” and “YAADEIN,” the longest running South Asian TV shows for more than 31 years.