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India is fastest growing market for Bell Helicopter

After taking 52 years to sell its first 100 choppers in India, Bell Helicopter expects to sell its next 100 in less than five years as the country has emerged as an important market for the US company, a top official said.

'India is our fastest growing market in the whole world,' said Bell's director of communications Greg Hubbard, who was here for the civil aviation show last week.

'When we started our India office in 1995 we had only four percent of the market share; today we enjoy 52 percent market share,' Hubbard told IANS.

Bell sold its first helicopter in India in 1956 and delivered its 100th commercial aircraft to leading Indian infrastructure company Abir Infrastructure during the air show here.

'We have sold 17 helicopters in India this year, we expect to sell 22 next year and we expect to sell our next 100th one within five years,' Hubbard said.

'In India our growth rate is 15-17 percent while it is less than five percent in the US or Europe. Russia and Brazil are also growing fast, but the growth rate is lower than that in India,' he said.

According to the Bell executive, the global downturn has not affected its India operations; nor does the company expect it to do so in the future. 'Unlike fixed wing aircraft, helicopters are utility vehicles and demand will always be there.'

Bell Helicopter, which is a subsidiary of Texas-based $13.2 billion multi-industry company Textron Inc, is also excited about supplying military helicopters to India.

'We will bid for the Indian Army's 197 reconnaissance and surveillance helicopter programme by end of December and we are hopeful of bagging a large contract.'

Giving details of the Bell429 model that it unveiled at the air show, Hubbard said the company had adopted a unique approach while developing the model.

'We formed a panel of customers and asked them what features they wanted and during the designing process they participated in working out the trade-offs between various features,' he said.

'As a result, we ended up developing a very flexible model that can be easily customized. For example, it has a completely flat floor that helps in customizing to meet specific needs of customers,' he said.

The helicopter has a glass cockpit and digital controls designed to meet the latest safety requirements and is very quiet, he said.

Talking about training institutes and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centres that Bell is planning to set up in India, Hubbard said: 'We hope to select our Indian partners by early next year.'

Priyanka takes a dig at Kat

We saw Priyanka Chopra taking a dig at Katrina Kaif while speaking to a news channel. Apart from her ongoing long term verbal dual with Kareena Kapoor for years now, Priyanka seems to have opened another war front by taking on the reigning box-office queen Katrina.

Priyanka said, "I love to do films that have me in important roles and not where I am used just as a prop. I don't see any reason to do films where I have 4-5 songs and 15-20 scenes just because they are touted to be commercial successes. What is the point of acting in such films and giving seven back to back hits? That doesn't make you grow as an actress!"

Getting more venomous she further added, "I may have delivered a few flops but even those had me playing important roles. I have not and will never act in films where my role is inconsequential and that my only job in those films is to look pretty."

All these clearly hint at taking on Katrina Kaif who has delivered 7 back to back hits in hero centric subjects with her roles in all the films right from Namastey London to Singh Is Kinng being almost negligible. Her only job was to bring in the glamour quotient to these films. Priyanka who debuted in Bollywood in 2002 is a year senior to Katrina who debuted in the doomed Boom which released in 2003. But what is interesting is that till date while Katrina has 8 hits to boast of Priyanka just has six!

We also heard that both Kat and Priyanka have signed two film deals with UTV and the price for which Kat has been signed for is supposed to be Rs 5 crore ie Rs 2.5 crore for each. Whereas Priyanka's deal was at a much lesser price.

Saloni aka Rajshree Thakur thrown out of Saat Phere?

Saloni aka Rajshree Thakur of Saat Phere on Zee has been shown the door by the makers of the serial. There had been reports earlier of her throwing tantrums on the sets and also reporting late for the shoots creating inconvenience for her co-stars in the serial.


A production insider revealed, “Saloni has been kicked out of the show. It was an unanimously taken decision by the production team as they were tired of her ever growing tantrums. You must be aware of how she had accused a dress attendant of tearing her saree while it was she herself who had torn because she didn’t want to wear it. Then again her late coming on sets was creating problems for us all. We had to use body double for her every time she was late. We are all relieved that she has been let off!”

Deep, The Creative Head of Sphere’s Origin, the producers of Saat Phere however clarifies, “She is very much a part of the show as of now. Presently a strike is going on in the industry so we are not shooting. As we begin shooting soon, she is very much in for the upcoming schedule.”

Lara Dutta gets a rose Tattoo on ankle!

Lara Dutta seems to have got completely carried away by the new found hot image and the comparisons with ‘the sexiest women in the world’ Megan Fox, on the sets of ‘Blue’.

The buzz is that she has got a rose tattoo done while shooting for the underwater adventure co-starring Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar in Thailand.


Well, the word is that Kinng Akki plans to promote her too. So doing the hot thing has been of use, it seems!

Lara stumbled upon a tattoo design of a rose with a Maori symbol and decided to get it inked on her right ankle.

She says, “As soon as I saw this one, I completely fell in love with it and knew that this was going to be it. The pain was worth it because the tattoo artist did a magnificent job.”

Bollywood and Aishwarya mocked!

Canadian comedian of Indian origin Russel Peters who’s also internationally famous has launched an attack on Bollywood.


The man is not too impressed by the Bollywood movies despite reports of the progress the industry has made internationally in recent years.

He’s reportedly said, “I wouldn’t watch a Bollywood film even if I am at the lowest point of my life. These films have horrible stories and terrible acting. I don’t know why your films have singing or dancing every other minute. Either you are telling a story or you are not.”

We know that most of the news about Bollywood growing by leaps and bounds is created by the overenthusiastic Indian media. It’s great that someone has seen through the sham and has straightforwardly talked about it.

He delivers another shocker when he says, “Aishwarya Rai is the biggest example of bad acting. She has proved it time and again how it can do wonders. In Bollywood, people can become superstars just by having a pretty face.”

Devdas vs Sholay on Bigg Boss 2

Monica tries to convince Raja to go and talk to Rahul, but Raja refuses. Later, Rahul goes to Zulfi and says Raja said sorry to him. Monica tries to make peace between the two of them and advises Raja to stop fighting. The groups are divided and the housemates talk about each other's nominations....

On Sunday morning, the housemates wake up to the Airtel tune as the wake up alarm. Raja, Ashutosh and Rahul once again discuss who to nominate, later in the day.

Bigg Boss announces that the nomination procedure will start soon and tells everyone to assemble in the living room, only to be surprised by a stern lecture, and totally unexpected decision. Later, the housemates discuss this decision.

Monica: Everything is planned

Monica and Diana have an argument over planning nominations. Later on, Monica tells Rahul that she did not like the way Diana spoke to her in the kitchen and she thought that Diana was a fair girl, but no longer.

Further in the episode, Bigg Boss gives the housemates this week's weekly task. For the next three days, the housemates will have to enact famous characters from famous movies, as suggested by Bigg Boss. Everyday, they will be given a different set of characters to become. Bigg Boss also provides them costumes and props which they will have to utilise while in character, and whenever the alarm is played they have to get into character and stay that way till the next alarm.

Devdas is the first movie given by Bigg Boss and the housemates choose the following character:

Raja – Devdas 
Diana - Paaro
Ashutosh - Chunnilal
Debojit - Narayan Mukherjee
Monica - Chandramukhi
Zulfi – Sumitra
Rahul - Kaali Babu

The Devdas alarm is played and there is chaos everywhere. All the housemates are confused as to what to do…. They admit that they haven't seen the film so they could not act properly. 

As a result, they are given Sholay as their new film. After Sholay is launched, alarm is played and all the housemates get in to their characters, with hilarious results.

"People who've seen Fashion have told me that it's my best work till now" - Madhur Bhandarkar

After making films for nearly a decade, Madhur Bhandarkar shows no sign of losing any of the raw intelligence, energy and vitality that have made him a continuing force in the Indian cinema. He has achieved notable success in all his films because he knew what he wanted and showed an adventurous spirit in going out and getting it. For the majority of his films, he lets the simple, resonant situations play out, eliciting excellent performances from his actors, right from Chandni Bar to Satta to Page 3 and Corporate. Picking a favourite Madhur Bhandarkar film can be a tough challenge. They are all so uniformly excellent, moving, hard hitting and honest. As a director he has the confidence, generosity, and intelligence to allow his actor and the characters they play, the freedom to truly reveal themselves on screen. With his new film Fashion, he reveals the entire Fashion Industry in front of you, right from what the models go through, their turmoil, their morals, their aspirations and their sacrifices. And of course, with Madhur behind the camera, you can expect much more. In this Bollywood Hungama exclusive, the director talks to our London correspondent Devansh Patel and gets Fashion-conscious.

Ajay, Arshad, Tusshar and Shreyas turn cross-dressers in Golmaal Returns

Govinda started it; Aamir Khan and Riteish Deshmukh followed it and now its latest 'followers' are Shreyas, Tusshar, Ajay and Arshad! Before you start 'cult'ivating any sorts of ideas, let us clarify that we are indeed not talking of any cult, but the trend of 'cross dressing'.

The four leading actors of the Golmaal Returns will now bee seen cross dressing as women folks! The reason? Well, there's a scene in the film that required these guys to dress up like women only in order to gain an entry in an 'only women' mall, since the eve was Women's Day! Recalling this scene, Rohit Shetty said, "I was quite taken aback when Ajay Devgan agreed to this scene in particular. He was very gung-ho to go ahead with the scene!! In fact, none of the guys had any reservations, which made it one of the best scenes in the film." 

As such, Golmaal Returns is carrying positive pre-release reports. If that was not enough, director Rohit Shetty is 'releasing' his trump cards one after the other, which only makes us further more curious to see the film. Way to go, Rohit!

"Fashion is one of the most glamorous films made in Bollywood" - Kangna Ranaut

Kangna Ranaut, for me, is an overnight sensation. Many were jealous to the point of fury when she made her film debut in the Mahesh Bhatt camp, Gangster. Here's another good-looking bit of fluff stealing another prime role. But Kangna proved everyone wrong with her sheer talent. Hers is an extraordinary success story. Has any actor ever been as famous or desired without ever headlining a major picture? Just five films old, she has taken the world of Bollywood by storm. The woman's rise has been meteoric, to say the least. And, given the projects she has in the pipeline, it will only continue. She has not only impressed her director Madhur Bhandarkar but also her senior co-star Priyanka Chopra who says, "I had to prepare a lot physically to look like a model even though I am one but Kangna just slipped into it perfectly. She is the one to look out for in Fashion because it's her best performance to date". Going by the quote, it can be confidently said that this overnight sensation must be in the making over a decade. Bollywood Hungama's London correspondent Devansh Patel gets to know Kangna like she is - moody, confident and straight up in this quick haute couture interview.

We've never seen Kangna Ranaut so glamorous before. What say?
It's not about me being glamorous. Tomorrow I might play a de-glam girl, then what? But Fashion as a film is so glamorous that you mustn't have seen anything like this before in Bollywood.

'Mohandas' for New York

Director Mazhar Kamran's film MOHANDAS has been invited by South Asian International Film Festival in New York for a special screening on 26th October. It stars Sonali Kulkarni, Nakul Vaid, Sushant Singh, Sharbani Mukherjee, Aditya Srivastava, Govind Namdeo and Akhilendra Mishra. FASHION is another Hindi film that has been invited for the same.

BIG Home video to distribute, market ray's movies

Close on the heels of its recent appointment as the exclusive home video licensee for Warner Home Video, Universal Pictures International and Paramount Home Entertainment, BIG Home Entertainment has announced another landmark acquisition. Reliance Big Entertainment's BIG Home Video is all set to market and distribute 10 movies made by the legendary film-maker Satyajit Ray. 

Memorable films like TEEN KANYA, KAPURUSH O MAHAPURUSH, NAYAK etc. will now be readily available through the BIG Home Video label. The other titles include GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE, JAI BABA FELUNATH, DEBI, CHARULATA, SAKHA PRASAKHA, KOILASHE KELENKARI and BAKSHYA RAHASHYA. 

With this acquisition, Big Home Video makes its significant presence in the premium segment of Bengali Home Video market. This announcement comes soon after the company's recent acquisition of a Bengali music company.

Yash Chopra honoured by The Hollywood Reporter

Yash Chopra was honoured by the renowned 'Hollywood Reporter' magazine at a function held on October 14, 2008 at Taj Land's End, Mumbai. He was felicitated for his invaluable contribution to Indian Cinema and the impact created by Yash Raj Films in business in the US.

This reception was held to celebrate The Nielsen Impact Awards, an international recognition of individuals who have significantly influenced the global media landscape. Katherine Oliver, the Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting was also present to honour this event, along with leading luminaries from the Indian film fraternity. 

In 2004, Hollywood Reporter had carried a survey on the "Biggest Film Distribution Houses" in the world in which Yash Raj Films was listed as the 27th in the world, making it thereby, the No.1 Film Distribution House in India. 

The Hollywood Reporter is Hollywood's first daily entertainment trade paper and is relied by entertainment executives around the world for the most comprehensive and up-to-the-minute analysis of the entertainment business.

Acid test for Ajay, Kareena, Priyanka

All eyes are on the two films slated for release this Diwali -- GOLMAAL RETURNS and FASHION. And those associated with the two films would be hoping that the festival of lights spreads light in their lives.

GOLMAAL RETURNS is crucial for Ajay Devgan. The talented actor has had a spate of flops [CASH, RAMGOPAL VARMA KI AAG, HALLA BOL, MEHBOOBA; SUNDAY was ordinary in some circuits, while U ME AUR HUM did well at big city plexes] and GOLMAAL RETURNS could prove to be the turning point in his career. 

Kareena Kapoor too is hoping to cement her status with GOLMAAL RETURNS. Her sole release this year [TASHAN] sank at the box-office and though she's riding high on popularity charts, she needs a solid Hit to stay put on the throne. Her rival and contender to the throne, Katrina Kaif, has already had a great innings. 

The worst affected is Priyanka Chopra. The industry labels anyone a jinxed actor/actress if you have a spate of flops to your credit. And Priyanka has had flops, flops and more flops than any actress this year. In 2006 it was AAP KI KHATIR, in 2007 SALAAM-E-ISHQ and BIG BROTHER and in 2008, as many as four flops in a row -- LOVE STORY 2050, GOD TUSSI GREAT HO, CHAMKU and DRONA. Will FASHION change her fortunes? Or will Kangana Ranaut walk away with accolades? We will know on October 29. Till then Ms. Chopra can chew her nails in anxiety!

Saibaba Telefilms ventures into movies

Known for producing music reality shows, Saibaba Telefilms has announced its foray into movies. Its first movie, YAARI MOTOR COMPANY, will be directed by Shivaji Satam's son Abhijeet Satam. It's a story about four final year students, their geniuses, friendship, aspirations and the motorcycle.

The second project GULNAR, to be directed by Gajendrra Siingh, talks about the Indo-Pak relationship and will take off by the end of next year. The company has also revealed the new logo and website. Gajendrra Siingh is also set to launch his own blog on the new website of Saibaba Telefilms.

Madhur Bhandarkar elated over his biggest film fashion release

Bhandarkar is turning out to be a landmark film as far as the release strategy is concerned. It is not only the highest budgeted film that he has been involved with but the most widely released film across the globe. Naturally he is on the top of the world!

Madhur sharing his excitement states, “My Fashion is being released in India in more than 630 screens with an additional 120 screens abroad. My last big budget film was Aan - Men At Work starring Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, Lara Dutta and Paresh Rawal but even that film had not got such a wide release. I am happy that my film will be opening to such a wide range of audience especially in abroad countries where even big Bollywood films had not been released yet. It is a tremendous high and I am very excited.”

All eyes on 'Heroes'

Most directors fall in love with their films. Tell them to trim some sequences or reduce the length by a few minutes and they refuse all suggestions outright. In fact, most directors tend to lose objectivity when they complete the film and expect no suggestions from any quarters. But Samir Karnik is an exception. 

While screening the film for the armed forces -- producers have to get a clearance from them if they depict armed forces in a film, prior to getting the censor clearance -- Samir decided to watch his film objectively and see where it slows. The moment he watched the film, as a viewer, he decided to delete 12 minutes' footage pronto. 

"I felt the film was losing its grip at a few places, which is why I decided to trim the film myself. Instead of trimming the film later, it makes sense to trim it yourself, much before the final print is ready," Samir states. Meanwhile, the hype for the film is increasing by the day and one expects this multi-starrer to change the tide for better.