WHAT THE LURE OF THE WEST MAKE PEOPLE DO!

Bollywood not only seems to be aping West, but has always been eyeing it. Any actor who has achieved success in Bollywood would love to achieve stardom in Hollywood. However, very few manage to reach there and and most of these get only miniscule roles in those films. Yet, that doesn’t stop them from bragging about doing a film in Hollywood and how lovely it was to work with a particular bigshot actor or filmmaker! Mallika Sherawat, for instance, made sure everyone knew that she has bagged a role in Jackie Chan starrer The Myth. The way she was going about, it seemed she was the leading lady in the film. However, her role was nothing more than a cameo! There are several such other instances. However, 3 such incidents have recently come to light that really shocked me as it involved established names. Read on…

It was a month back when it was reported that popular singer Sunidhi Chauhan will be singing a duet with Enrique Iglesias for an album titled Euphoria. Music director Shamir Tandon bragged that he’s proud to be the first Bollywood musician to have composed for Enrique! No one expected any foul play and everyone believed in it. But 10 days back, the truth was exposed- Sunidhi is a part of the album but not of the original song. An Indian version of the song is recorded and that was the one composed by Shamir and not the original track. Also, it’s this desi version which will have Sunidhi’s voice! Also she claimed to be a part of the video of the song. But the truth is something else-Nicole Scherzinger of Pussycat Dolls features in the original music video and for desi audiences, Nicole will be chopped off and Sunidhi will be fitted in! In simpler words, Sunidhi never personally interacted with Enrique and he might not be having knowledge about the Indian version of this song!

Then singer-composer Bappi Lahiri started boasting that Grammy has selected him as an official jury member for an upcoming music awards. Again, proud claims were made as to how he’s the only Indian to have achieved the feat. The truth however was astonishing. Bappida hasn’t received an official invitation to be on the jury. Any composer who has composed 20 singles or 3 albums in US can become a jury member simply by uploading all this info on Grammy website! And such kind of jury member can only vote in the World Music Category and has no right to judge the who’s who of the music world!

Lastly, I am sure we all must have come across the news as to how the screenplay of a particular film has been selected to be a part of Oscar library. Whenever a website/newspaper publishes news regarding this, it uses a standard line “The screenplay of the ABC film has been invited by the Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (Oscars) to be part of its permanent script collection.” Wow…it sounds only so awesome! Scripts of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, Guzaarish, My Name Is Khan, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Namastey London and even films like Singh Is Kinng have been claimed to be selected by Oscar library. I never knew or tried to know the criteria for selection but always believed it and felt nice when my favourite film got this ‘honour’. However, a section of media has unearthed that this is all hoax. Meaning, any film that releases in US automatically becomes a part of the Academy’s library! The report gives an instance that even if Ramsay releases a film in US, its script will go to Oscar library! So tomorrow, if I give a featured film release to my 2nd Short film Ek Bandar Delhi Ke Andar (to be unveiled on MS on April 1) in US, even I can brag about its script getting the ‘honour’!

However, this particular news might not be as true it seems. I tried searching on Oscar library website films like Dhol, Tees Maar Khan, Break Ke Baad etc but didn’t got any result while Namstey London and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi did feature in the search results. I Hope a clearer picture emerges soon on this issue!

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE SAME? DO LET ME KNOW!

(CONTINUED IN COMMENTS)