'Student of the Year' to release October 19

(YRF)

Karan Johar's upcoming directorial venture 'Student of the Year' is all set to release on October 19 this year.

The comedy stars newcomers Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt in lead roles.
"STUDENT OF THE YEAR will release on the 19th of OCTOBER 2012... it launches 3 newcomers... Sidharth Malhotra.... Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt," Johar tweeted today.

The film also has guest appearances by Kajol and Boman Irani, whose son Kayoze is also a member of the cast.

'Student of the Year' is produced by Karan Johar and Shah Rukh Khan under the banner of Dharma Productions and Red Chillies Entertainment.

Koffee with Karan to return with new flavour

(Rachana Dubey, Hindustan Times)

In October last year, talks for the fourth season of the celebrity chat show, Koffee With Karan, with producer-director Karan Johar were initiated. Then in December, the host had admitted that he was approached by Star World to anchor the show. But he had refused to comment on when it was likely to return. Now, the 39-year-old says, “Koffee will be back in June. We don’t have a fixed date yet, but I’m on schedule and we’ll roll soon.”

Koffee with KaranThe show is expected to take up the 9 pm slot on Sunday, soon after the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League comes to an end. “Right now, I’m working on Student Of The Year. We’re through with most of it. I’m extremely excited about this film because I’m launching new faces for the first time as a director. It should be out by September this year,” says Karan, adding with a laugh, “And who knows, by then my newbies — Varun Dhawan, Siddharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt — may have become celebrities. Then, even they will qualify to be my guests.”

Koffee With Karan season three ended on April 17 last year, after a broadcast of about 22 fresh episodes and a few repeats. Back then, Karan had stated that he had no interest in anchoring the show again.

He had said, “We should just leave Koffee With Karan where it is. Every show must have a finite run, and should end on a great note. We’ve had three successful seasons. Instead of doing season four, I’d like the audience to remember me as the host of three unforgettable editions.”

But now, the filmmaker admits he’s charged and ready to return to the small screen, as the channel has been inundated with requests to bring the show back.

“It’s humbling. Once I’m through with the shoot for Student Of The Year, I’ll start working on the guest-list for this season,” he says, adding, “I haven’t seen too many new stars. So, more or less, it will be the same faces, maybe in different combinations, because they’re all my friends and colleagues. The Koffee hamper will be back too, but I can promise we’ll devise a new format this time.”

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu Has Fair First Day

(Box Office India)

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu has done fair business on day one thanks to high end multiplexes. The first day collections are around 5.25 crore nett as per early estimates. The film collected well in Mumbai city, Delhi NCR, Punjab and Mysore while other places had low collections. Single screens were very dull across the board.

Saturday will the key and good growth will give it a healthy weekend of around 18-19 crore nett and with Monday being Valentines Day the collections will hold on Monday as the film is of a romantic genre which gives Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu a chance to come up with a good week but all depends on Saturday which is litmus test.

The film has performed very well in Bangalore where its first day figures were better than many big films while on the other side collections in Bihar and CP Berar are very bad.

Imran, Kareena playing themselves in 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu': Johar

(Indian Express)

Producer Karan Johar says his upcoming release 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu' has lead actors Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor essaying characters close to their real life.

"Rarely do lead actors in a film get the opportunity to essay characters that are so close to their real life character... Imran and Kareena are playing themselves in 'Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu'," Johar said.

"And that's why they have been able to add that extra zing to their performances. Its a slice of life film... a slice of their own lives," he said.

The film has already created a buzz with the duo's unusual pairing. Reportedly, the film is made with the budget of Rs 21 crores and publicity and advertising cost is Rs eight crores. The makers have already recovered Rs 15 crores through satellite rights and Rs 6 crores through music.

Agneepath Creates HISTORY And Sets First Day Record

Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network



Agneepath seems to have set a new record for highest first day collections of all time with early collections coming in from all around India.



The film could even challenge the highest single day collection ever of 23 crore nett by Ra.One on its second day. The early figures suggest that the first day collections of Agneepath are at least 21 crore nett and it remains to be seen how much further they can go from there.



The Maharashtra belt is simply phenomenal with Pune going towards a day one billing of 65-70 lakhs and Nagpur collecting an unbelievable 25 lakhs. Mumbai and Nizam are looking at new first day highs.




The North may set new records as figures coming in from Delhi/UP and East Punjab are very similar to Bodyguard so the film could go a bit higher than Bodyguard or remain a bit lower in the North.

Agneepath broke my father's heart: Karan Johar

(Upala KBR, TNN)

Karan Johar on what made him decide to remake his dad's film




Yash Johar made Agneepath, starring Amitabh Bachchan, 22 years ago. Today, son Karan is releasing the remake of the film. In a chat, he tells BT why the film is so special to him.

What made you remake Agneepath? It has been on my mind ever since dad's film released 22 years ago. My father was very disillusioned with the commercial outcome of the original, even though the film garnered plenty of critical acclaim. Dad had pinned a lot of hopes on it as the previews had been full of praise, but when the film didn't do well at the box office it broke his heart. Dad always wanted to remake it. One day Karan (Malhotra), who was my associate director on My Name Is Khan, and I were chatting when I told him about dad's desire to make it again. Karan told me he was a huge fan of the original so I asked him if he would revisit it again. He agreed immediately.

Why didn't you direct it yourself? I am incapable of directing a film like Agneenath. I can do only what I am good at, so I would have been the worst choice to direct it. It has aggression, action and an inherent violence in it - things I am not capable of directing in my films. Karan is an exceptionally talented and angry boy, and for this film one requirement was anger. There's an inherent sense of suppressed anger in Karan and Agneepath was the platform to express that.

Do you have any special memories of the original film? I was 18 years old then and in college. I remember dad had a trial show for all his close friends, including Yash (Chopra) uncle and Javed (Akhtar) uncle. Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan, Aditya Chopra and I sat on the floor of Ajanta theatre watching it with mom and dad. All the boys loved the film. Adi told me that dad had produced a superb film. When I expressed my apprehensions about it doing well, Adi told me not to worry about that. he said, 'Yash uncle has produced a great film and you should be happy about that.' My father was very proud at all the screenings as the audience would stand up and applaud. I remember his face being full of joy and pride at the compliments. He was like a proud parent, so when the commercial success didn't live up to that a part of him just broke. I want to resurrect that part again.

Who is your favourite character - Vijay Dinanath Chauhan or Kancha Cheena? Karan Malhotra! He's made it everyone's film. I would want everyone to accept the love that has gone into the making of the film.

Agneepath Opens At Record Pace

(Box office India)

Agneepath has taken an extraordinary opening all over India and is on course for a record first day going by the unbelievable initial. The film has taken the biggest start in recent history in Mumbai city.

Mumbai city never opens to huge occupancies at multiplexes as there are too many multiplexes in the city but Agneepath has managed a 80-85% opening which is huge for the city as Bodyguard was in the 70% region.

The rest of the country has seen a huge 95-100% opening be it North India or South India. Its the first time a Hrithik Roshan starrer has taken a bumper opening since Dhoom 2 released in 2006.


The Bodyguard first day record is 20.60 crore nett and the advantage for Bodyguard was that its second day was a holiday at places and these places showed big collections in late evening and night shows.

Katrina as Chikni Chameli in Agneepath

 (NDTV)

Karan Johar has just tweeted news guaranteed to make a great Tuesday.

"Katrina kaif is doing a full on item song in AGNEEPATH....its a total swinging number called CHIKNI CHAMELI....we shoot it in a week!!" he tweets.

Agneepath is the remake of the original 1990 flick starring Amitabh Bachchan, Mithun Chakraborty, Madhavi and Rohini Hattangadi with Danny Dengzongpa as the villain. It was produced by Karan Johar's father Yash Johar and directed by Mukul Anand.

The remake is directed by Karan Johar's former assistant, Karan Malhotra. It stars Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor with Sanjay Dutt as the super villain.

On Sunday, Priyanka Chopra's tweets on Agneepath landed it on the trending topics list on Twitter.

"Saw the new trailer of Agneepath that's gonna come out!Wow!Take a bow karan malhotra!look forward to some sexy surprises u don't expect!fun! " she tweeted.

"Music dance and other 'items' are on the cards...can't say more...except it's sooooper exciting!" she added.

Priyanka's "sexy surprise" has just been revealed by Karan Johar. "Surprise revealed! RT @kjohar25 Katrina kaif is doing a full on item song in AGNEEPATH...it's a total swinging number called CHIKNI CHAMELI!!" Priyanka tweeted a short while ago.

Agneepath is scheduled to release on January 26, 2012.

Read more at: http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.aspx?Section=Movies&ID=ENTEN20110188189&subcatg=MOVIESINDIA&keyword=bollywood&nid=149943&cp

Karan Johar gets a free title

(Mumbai Mirror)

Since the title for the filmmaker's next bore similarities to the 1972 film Jawani Diwani, Johar approached the original

Karan Johar found an apt title for his upcoming film, which is a story about a young couple in love. While Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, describes the film perfectly, it is also very similar to Goldie Behl's father Ramesh's 1972 romantic movie, Jawani Diwani. And so, KJo reportedly made a call to Goldie's sister Shrishti Arya to ask if he could buy the rights of the film.

According to a source the filmmaker would have had to choose an alternate title for the film, if Shrishti declined. However, the Drona producer did not object and instead gave the title away to Johar for free.

The source explained, "Shrishti had the title Jawani Diwani. Karan had added two words 'Yeh' and 'Hai' to his film's title. However, it would not have been very professional of him to get away on a technicality. And so, he spoke to Shrishti about the predicament he was in, especially since director Ayan Mukerji was keen on the title as well."

When contacted, Shrishtri said, "Haan, Karan spoke to me. He and I are close friends. His dad Yash Johar and my dad Ramesh Behl were close friends too and so, I didn't feel it was right to have him pay for the title."

Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani, which will see Ranbir and Deepika back on-screen after Yash Raj Films' Bachna Ae Haseeno, will go on floors in January 2012.

Overseas My Name Is Khan v Three Idiots : Neck to Neck Clash

(Boxofficeindia.Com Trade Network)

My Name is Khan and Three Idiots have continued to perform strongly in the overseas markets well after their initial release as they release in in many new markets. The business till date is $19.50 million for Three Idiots and $21.50 for My Name Is Khan. Ra.One will be expected to do this kind of business.The approx business till date for the films is as follows and the films.

UK/Europe

Three Idiots - $3.10 million

My Name Is Khan - $5.55 million

North America

Three Idiots - $6.54 million

My Name Is Khan - $4.02 million

Middle East

Three Idiots - $3.10 million

My Name Is Khan - $3.50 million

Far East

Three Idiots - $4.70 million

My Name Is Khan - $5.50 million

Oceania

Three Idiots - $1.19 million

My Name Is Khan - $1.16 million

Asian Sub-Continent (exc India)

Three Idiots - $500,000

My Name Is Khan - $950,000

Africa

Three Idiots - $320,000

My Name Is Khan - $910,000

Worldwide

Three Idiots - $19.55 million

My Name Is Khan - $21.59 million

Ranbir Kapoor replaces SRK

(Upala KBR, TNN)

Shah Rukh Khan was to star in Sajid Nadiadwala's Two States based on a Chetan Bhagat's novel.

The film was to be directed by Vishal Bharadwaj. However now that's changed. The film will be produced by Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala starring Ranbir Kapoor.

Says an insider, "Karan approached Sajid to co-produce the film." This is the first time that KJo is co-producing a film with another banner. SRK"s banner Red Chillies is almost home ground, so it doesn't count.

Karan admits, "Abhishek Varman who assisted me on My Name Is Khan and is now creative director on Student Of The Year has written a simple and fantastic adaptation of Two States. Sajid has the rights of the book and we are in discussions about an association."

Sajid confirms, "Karan and I are in talks to produce a film together. He approached me but nothing has been finalised as yet. What gives me a high is that if the marriage between the two production companies do happen, it won't be for financial reasons but pure creativity where the intention is to produce a good film."

Karan Johar completes second schedule of Student Of The Year

(BUSINESSOFCINEMA.COM TEAM)

Karan Johar has completed the shooting of his next directorial venture - Student Of The Year.

Produced under the Dharma Productions banner, Student Of The Year stars debutants Alia Bhatt, Siddharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan.

Johar says there is still a long way to go but he is enjoying every baby step taken for this project.

Johar's tweet said, "Just wrapped the second schedule of "Student of the year"....miles to go still but enjoying every baby step.."

Karan Johar directs emotional scene for RA.One

(Dibyojyoti Baksi, Hindustan Times)

Shah Rukh Khan, who is leaving no stone unturned to ensure his multi-crore fantasy film, RA.One’s success, is believed to have almost donned the director’s hat too.

For an emotional sequence in the multi-crore film, the producer and lead actor was all set to step behind the camera, but it washis good friend, director Karan Johar, who eventually stepped in to bail out Shah Rukh and called the shots.

RA.One’s director, Anubhav Sinha reveals, “There was a big action sequence with 50 cars being blown up. The shoot got extended beyond the scheduled two days. So, the next set was getting postponed, and if we didn’t start it on time, the whole schedule would have been disturbed.”

Sinha adds that he asked Shah Rukh to take over the second shoot, so that both of them would direct at two sets simultaneously, with the director shuttling between both sets to ensure that work progressed smoothly.

Finally, Sinha suggested bringing Johar on board: “I asked Shah Rukh if we could request him to help us out, so that I wouldn’t need to shuffle between both sets. And Shah Rukh was confident that if he requested his friend, he’d definitely agree to come on board.”

AGNEEPATH Threatrical Breaks Buzz Records

(Ormax Media)

The Agneepath theatrical, which launched with Bodyguard, has broken records on Ormax Media’s film awareness tracking tool Cinematix, with a Buzz of 15% and Reach of 85% within one week of the theatrical launch.#

These numbers are higher than those of Don 2, which launched its theatrical with Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and scored 8% on Buzz and 75% on Reach.

Agneepath also stands apart when compared to two other launches around the same time. Ranbir Kapoor starrer Rockstar generated a Buzz of 10% and a Reach of 57%, while The Dirty Picture scored 4% on Buzz and 41% on Reach, both in their opening weeks of the campaign.

The Cinematix track is conducted every week across India to measure the performance of the marketing campaigns of various Bollywood films.

Ayan Mukerji's film delayed by 3 months

(Kunal M Shah, Mumbai Mirror)

Ayan Mukerji's much talked about next film might take some time to go on floors. The film that was supposed to go on floors this November has now been pushed to 2012.

Thanks to lead actor Ranbir Kapoor's other project Barfee. An entire schedule of the Anurag Basu directorial venture starring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz has been delayed.

A source informed us, "Ayan was all set to go on floors right after Rockstar releases. However, now he will have to wait for at least three months. Ranbir has been stuck with the shoot of Anurag Basu's Barfee. He has given the dates for Ayan's film in January."

Karan Johar pushes Agneepath release to January 26, 2012

(By Bollywood Hungama News Network)

Every big filmmaker these days wishes to release his film during a festive / holiday weekend. Salman Khan starrer Bodyguard which recently released during Eid / Ganpati raked in the moolah and now even SRK starrer Ra.One is expected to open huge this Diwali.

Reema Kagti's untitled Aamir Khan starrer and Venus' multi-starrer Tezz were supposed to release on Republic Day (Jan 26) weekend next year. However, Aamir feels that the post-production may take some time and hence has decided to arrive at a later date.

With one slot open on the Republic Day weekend, Karan Johar has now shifted the release date of his magnum opus Agneepath from Jan 13 to Jan 26. Karan tweeted, "AGNEEPATH is now releasing on the 26th of January, 2012".

Agneepath music not typical of Karan Johar

We all know Karan Johar is working on the remake of Agneepath. This is what he has to say about the music of the film," Dharma productions is known for the soulful music in its films. But this time we needed to bring in dhan dhana dhan kind of music which will match the film. I am extremely thrilled to fulfil my father's long cherished dream. He wanted to make this film in a commercial way." There is a refreshing Ganpati number which stands apart from the usual KJo kind of tracks. In fact it was Hrithik Roshan, who plays Vijay Dinanath Chauhan, who gave the idea to have loud music which creates an impact on the screen. He thought that KJo style of music would not be right for an action packed film like Agneepath .

(India Today)

I got a shock when I saw myself: Sanjay Dutt

Sanjay Dutt admits he’s never been happier in his life. “Having Manyata as my wife is the best thing that could have ever happened,” he smiles contentedly. Interestingly, at a time when he’s finally at peace, the star has just shot for a “totally dark” character in producer Karan Johar’s
Agneepath.

“I was spellbound by the way Karan (writer-director Karan Malhotra) conceived his Kancha Cheena and happy that I was getting a chance to show people what I was capable of as an actor. But I also wondered how I could play someone so chillingly evil,” he admits.

Shrugging off all comparisons to Mukul S Anand’s Agneepath (1990), Sanjay says that this film is “more earthy, raw and grounded”.

He also points out that while Danny Denzongpa’s Kancha Cheena had hair, his head is clean-shaven. “We’d earlier thought of going in for prosthetics but when we reached Diu it was so hot that the make-up started to melt. That was a problem because it took three hours to put it on and two hours to take it off. So, I decided to go bald. And when I looked into the mirror after my session with the barber, I got a shock because I’d never had a mundan (tonsure) even as a child,” he says.

Sanjay’s twins, Shahraan and Iqra, were confused by their dad’s new look too but they quickly got used to it.

“Now they are wondering why small, prickly hair have suddenly sprouted,” the actor laughs, adding that he would drive down from Diu every Saturday to spend the weekend at home.

“It was a long ride after a physically gruelling schedule but the children are too young and I didn’t want to disconnect with them for 60 days,” he reasons.

The first look of Agneepath was unveiled with Salman Khan’s Bodyguard last Friday and received an overwhelming response.

The trailer on the Dharma Productions channel on YouTube got over 60,500 hits in 48 hours, making it one of the five most-viewed last week.

Also, it was trending on other websites with the khalnayak (villain) grabbing eyeballs.

Co-star Hrithik Roshan is confident that Sanjay’s Kancha Cheena will be as unforgettable as Mr India’s Mogambo.

That draws a smile, “Well, Mogambo and Sholay’s Gabbar Singh are my all-time favourite bad men.”

(Roshmila Bhattacharya, Hindustan Times)

Cannot direct films which have violence: Karan Johar

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who is donning producer's hat for Agneepath, a remake of his father Yash Johar's 1990 film of the same name, says he himself can not direct a script which has violence.

"All thanks to Karan (director Karan Malhotra) - he has made vengeance look beautiful. For me, if given the opportunity to direct the film, I would not have been able to....I am incapable of doing it. I have done only one moment of action in my films which was in `Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham' where Amitabh Bachchan slaps Hrithik...that is the only violence I have ever done in my films," Johar told reporters here, after unveiling the first `teaser' of the film.

"We have violence in this movie again with Hrithik, but this time it is little more. It is overwhelming for Dharma Productions to have done something like this since my inception with `Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'. With `Agneepath' it was all Karan(Malhotra)'s vision," he said.

Malhotra, former assistant of Karan's who is making directorial debut with the film, where Hrithik is reprising Amitabh Bachchan's iconic role -- Vijay Deenanath Chauhan.

(DNA)

'Agneepath' will take you by surprise: Karan Johar

Those who have been expecting a frame-by-frame copy of the 1990 movie Agneepath will be surprised to see a lot of new angles and characters in the film’s remake Agneepath.

“Agneepath is not a remake because it is a tribute,” Karan Johar told reporters in Mumbai at the launch of the new version's trailer.

Though the movie stars Hrithik Roshan as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan and Sanjay Dutt as Kancha Cheena, Johar says there are a lot of new characters in the plot.

“The basic plot of Agneepath is the same, and the character sketch of the protagonist, Vijay (Hrithik) and antagonist Kaancha Cheena (Sanjay) is the same, but we have built new angles to it, and have added new characters to the script as well,” he said.

The movie stars Priyanka Chopra as Hrithik’s love interest though her character is not similar to the one played by Madhavi in the original film. Likewise, Mithun Chakraborty’s character from the original has been chopped out in the remake.

Slated to release on January 13, the new Agneepath also has Rishi Kapoor in a negative role.

Karan Johar said that making Agneepath was an emotional decision for him as the original movie was produced by his father Yash Johar.

(By ApunKaChoice )