Dozens of Bollywood dancers suddenly began to dance in the middle of Times Square yesterday to support Bollywood Hero, a 3 part mini-series on IFC. Bollywood Hero stars Chris Kattan, Neha Dhupia, Pooja Kumar and the show's choreographer Longinus Fernandes (Slumdog Millionaire) were in attendance. The mini-series premieres August 6th on IFC.
Esurance, an auto insurance company, is running an unusual promotion featuring its animated female character, Erin Esurance. The promotional is a Bollywood Casting Call in partnership with IFC and Saavn. People can submit vieos of renactments of their favorite Bollywood movie scenes. The person who enters the winning submission will be animated in a Bollywood-style music video with the company's animated icon Erin Esurance. The music video will premiere in September during "Wake Up To Bollywood," a special presentation of Bollywood films airing each Sunday morning at 10 AM ET/PT on IFC.
Visit esurance.com/Bollywood if you want to get animated or if you want to see some of the videos other people have already submitted. Videos can be submitted until July 31st.
Reuters reports that Jodhaa Akbar dominated this year's International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards. Jodhaa Akbar is a movie about a 16th century Muslim emperor who marries a Hindu princess.
The film picked up awards including best picture and best director for Ashutosh Gowariker, while heart-throb Hrithik Roshan won best male actor and A.R. Rahman best music direction.
The film's director said the central theme of religious tolerance was a vital one for contemporary Indian society.
"Yes, we do need a Hindu-Muslim alliance ... we do need a dynamic secular India in the 21st century," said Gowariker.
India, home to the world's most prolific movie industry, has tried to broaden its global appeal through the annual IIFA awards, held in a different city each year.
Jodhaa Akbar won several awards including best picture, best director, best male actor (Hrithik Roshan) and best music direction. The website for the movie can be found here.
A wax figure of famous Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan was unveiled at Madame Tussauds Thursday with quite a bit of fanfare. Visitors got a taste of Bollywood as dancers performed with middle school students to the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire. We're thinking we need to work on our Bollywood dance moves: maybe there's an instructional video out. Take a look:
Harper's Bazaar India Debuts With Bollywood Star on Cover
The premiere issue of Harper's Bazaar India features Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor on the cover. Kareena is wearing a Giorgio Armani Spring 2009 dress on the cover says High Heel Confidentail. Kareena and Siaf, one of Bollywood's hottest couples, have a photo shoot on the inside. India's Business Standardsays the debut issue comes as a collector's edition with "Swarovski crystals imprinted on the masthead."
Sabyasachi Mukherjee (who goes by Sabyasachi) showed an interesting Spring 2009 collection. Bollywood's go to guy for film costumes Sabyasachi Mukherjee shows a different side of his artistic expression when he showed his collecton at Bryant Park. We loved, loved, loved his scalloped mini-dresses and skirts. They are just so fun and unexpected. The skirts are made of tiers of hand-printed and hand-embroidered silk disks that look like giant paillette sequins.
His silk blouses are oversized and gorgeous, featuring hand beading. As an Indian designer, he brings a multicultural sensibility to the collection. He has often talked about the fusion of different cultures in his work. He makes it look so easy. Take a look:
Natalie Portman goes Bollywood in this music video by her musician boyfriend, Devendra Banhart. The song is called "Carmensita" and stars Portman as a princess that the exiled prince must save with his "rebellious beard." Dancing, snakes, fire and mistranslated subtitles ensue. Doesn't Natalie look fabulous? She's the guest judge on Project Runway tomorrow night.
