Indian Film industry defers strike threat

The Film Federation of India Wednesday indefinitely deferred its Jan 6 strike against the proposed amendment to the Copyright Act that mandates producers sharing 50 percent of music royalties with lyricists and composers.

Various sections of the industry threatened a day-long strike Jan 6 to express their disagreement with the proposed Copyright (Amendment) Bill 2010.

“The government has asked us to sit across the table and speak to the lyricists and the composers and come to a solution which is fair and practical and without jeopardising the interests of both the parties,” producer Mukesh Bhatt told reporters here.

“The government said they will not implement anything without listening to both parties. They said they are committed to the principle of justice. This is a very positive thing that has happened and we have now decided to postpone the bandh (strike) till an undecided date,” he added.

Sanjay Dutt says Noorani issued threats through dons

A day after a court ordered the attachment of two properties of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt over a financial row with producer Shakeel Noorani, the actor’s lawyer Wednesday claimed that he received extortion calls from the underworld in 2005 at Noorani’s behest.

The film producer rubbished the allegation.

“Sanjay Dutt does not owe a single penny to Shakeel Noorani. Noorani, in the past, has been demanding money from Sanjay Dutt. Mr. Dutt has received extortion calls at the behest of Shakeel Noorani. The complaint was lodged with the Anti-Extortion Cell and late (senior police inspector) Vijay Salaskar was investigating the case,” said Rizwan Merchant, Dutt’s lawyer.

“Statement of Sanjay Dutt has been recorded. Shakeel Noorani was also personally called to the office of the Anti-Extortion Cell,” he added.

Merchant said that when Noorani did not succeed in his extortion demands in 2005, he (Noorani) made a complaint to the Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA), which was rejected.

“Once a complaint is rejected, a subsequent complaint is barred. The IMPPA could not have passed any award once the first complaint was rejected,” Merchant said.

Noorani, however, rubbished all allegations made by the actor’s lawyer.

“In fact, Sanjay Dutt has threatened to get me shot if I chase him to complete my film. He had personally thrown me out of the set where he was shooting for his film “EMI” when I requested him to finish my film,” Noorani said.

Noorani also denied making any extortion calls, claiming that he had no underworld connections. “It is Sanjay Dutt who has underworld connections. He often met people from the underworld when we went for shooting abroad,” he said.

“I was also never called for questioning by Salaskar. You can check the records if you want,” he told reporters.

Noorani also claimed that the IMPPA had never rejected his complaint.

The Bombay High Court Tuesday ordered the attachment of two properties of Dutt. The decision followed an arbitration award passed by the IMPPA in January in favour of Noorani.

The properties ordered to be attached include the actor’s flat in the Imperial Heights building at Pali Hill in suburban Bandra and his office in suburban Santa Cruz.

Dutt has 30 days to pay Noorani, failing which his properties will be auctioned. The actor can also challenge the order in the high court.

Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji Music Is Perfect For Love Birds

Madhur Bhandarkar’s latest offering Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji is coming with some soulful romantic music that will be loved by the romantic listeners. Music director Pritam Chakraborty has composed eight wonderful tracks for this first ever comedy flick by Madhur.

The album starts with a sweet track ‘Abhi Kuch Dino Se’, which sounds very hummable and lovely. Mohit Chouhan has sung this number and it creates a lively mood among the listeners.

The second number ‘Tere Bin’ has been crooned by none other than Sonu Nigam thus making it a most probable one to be a chartbuster. The lyric is interspersed with some English lines in the free flowing number. The beauty of this love ballad lies in its easy on ears orchestration. It comes in two more versions- one is a typical remix version with some more beats and the other is a reprise version with a raw appeal. Naresh Iyer has sung the reprised version of this song.

Shefali Alvaris gives a rock feel to the track ‘Yeh dil hai nakhrewala’, which is an average number. Antara Mitra has sung the other version of the song but the original sounds better.

‘Jadugari’ is yet another romantic number crooned by Kunal Ganjawala with charming guitar strumming, which sounds soothing to ears.

The soulful love ballad ‘Beshuba’ has been sung by Kunal and Antara. This reflects the signature style of the composer Pritam.

As a whole, the album is a perfect choice for the lovebirds to gift on the New Year!

Pamela Anderson Faces The Heat From Hong Kong Airport

Pamela Anderson makes news wherever she goes. According to recent reports Pamela Anderson has come under the scanner as an advertisement featuring her in bare minimum clothes has been rejected by Hong Kong airport. The advertisement was made by the animal protection People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as part of their campaign .The ad features Pamela in a revealing airport uniform .In the ad Pamela is seen stopping travelers who have leather belts or fur clothing’s on them.PETA has been crusading for cruelty against animals and have been voicing their concern for animals that are slaughtered for their skin.

The advertisement is named ‘Cruelty Doesn’t Fly ‘ and also has comedians Steve-O, Andy Dick and Carol Leifer .It also has a pair of nude models and German punk icon Nina Hagen. PETA had its hopes pinned on this ad and had decided to put the ad on large television sets across Hong Kong airport . PETA was optimistic that the ad would generate  a good response during the holiday season when a large number of travelers  are usually there in the airport. PETA’s hopes came crashing down when JCDecaux, the company in charge of advertisement at airports turned down the ad after stating that the ad was objectionable.

PETA Asia Vice President Jason Baker expressed his surprise when the ad was rejected from the airport as he commented that the nudity that one comes across at airports in body scans was much greater so it came as a surprise for him.

PETA has decided to put the ad across Berlin, Tokyo, Sydney and U.S. airports.