kalki koechlin BNA GERMANY Magazine June 2012

Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan, Kalki Koechlin, Shruti Haasan’s Cover/Scans from Cineblitz – July 2012

‘Shanghai’: Movie Review (2012)

Movie Review (2012)
 Film: “Shanghai”
Cast: Prosenjeet Chatterjee, Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin, Supriya Pathak and Farooque Shaikh
Director: Dibakar Banerjee
Rating:  3.5/5

Watching “Shanghai” is revisiting your daily local newspaper, full of scams, conspiracies and crime stories. In short, the film is a slice of today’s India.
Adapted from “Z”, a 1966 novel by Vassilis Vassilikos, Dibakar Banerjeer brilliantly exposes the reality behind the irony of India Shining.
The scenes are verbatim daily newspaper briefs.
Set in present day nondescript shanty called Bharatnagar, it sees Dr. Ahmedi (Prosenjeet Chatterjee), a US-based professor and activist, visiting Bharatnagar to enlighten its inhabitants about ‘pragati’ (progress).
He opposes the transformation of the shanty town into a zany township, a la Shanghai. But he is murdered by the opposition who try to pass off his death as an accident.
After that the story moves ahead with Shalini Sahay (Kalki Koechlin), Ahmedi’s besotted student and daughter of an ex-army general who is involved in a scam, IAS Officer T.A. Krishnan (Abhay Deol), videographer Joginder Parmar (Emraan Hashmi), Ahmedia’s wife Aruna (Tillotama Shome), chief minister (Supriya Patak) and her PA (Farooque Sheikh).
While the film grips you, it’s the system that gets to you.
“Why did you do commit the murder, when you knew it is wrong,” Shalini asks the murderer.
Another dialogue – “Jeene se haraam lagta hai. Par marne se darr bhi lagta hai…” clearly shows the hunger for survival. It’s a sorry state of affairs, where the common denominator is the victim.
There is a simplistic nature to the narrative and archetype.
The performance of every character is realistic and matter-of-fact. Emraan impresses with his rustic portrayal, quite different from his usual flamboyant characters. Abhay Deol, as the IAS Officer, bowls over the audience with his grit and, of course, unmistakable Tamil accent. Kalki slips effortlessly into the character, yet again, revealing her versatility.
However, what you take home is not the memories of a character well-performed, but the story.
The film is frighteningly true.
The strength of “Shanghai” is its tight screenplay by Urmi Juvekar and Dibakar Banerjee and the meticulous details leave no scope for arguments.
What adds to the flavour is excellent cinematography by Nikos Andritsakis and the marvellous use of sound, both ambient and otherwise, to build up the tension in the political drama.
The controversial song “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and the item number “Imported Kamariyaa” are well-picturised and the latter is on the way to become the next favourite numbers at all ‘basti’ celebrations.
Despite its simplistic and down-to-earth locations, “Shanghai” has a nice hard-boiled vibe and a sense of semi-exotic danger. Definitely gives you a lot to ponder about.
Don’t miss this one.

Katy Perry on the Cover of OK! India – May 2012

Kalki-Prosenjit's lip-locking scene leaked

Kalki Koechlin and Bengali superstar Prosenjit’s lip-locking scene from the film, ‘Sanghai’ leaked on the net before the film actually hit the theatre worldwide on June 8. The scene was shot in the kitchen where highly disturbed Kalki was shown showing utensils in the kitchen and then when Prosenjit came to control her and in his attempt to control her, his emotions flow down he ended up smooching the actress.
 What actually making news about this different lip-locking scene is that Kalki while locking lips with Prosenjit literally ended up biting Prosenjit's lips! Says Dibakar, "Kalki's character is complex. She plays an Indian with a mixed parentage and looks like a foreigner. Living in a small town, she is almost always judged by her looks rather than anything else. While fighting a rough battle in a politically volatile small town, she comes across as angry, vulnerable and idealistic. Prosenjit is a well-known social activist who stands for all that is right. There is a strong sexual chemistry between this much older man and this young girl. When Kalki faces an insurmountable problem and wants to break down, Prosenjit asks her to fight back and not be a victim. That's when her guard falls and she goes for his passionate embrace, that's much more than just an expression of physical intimacy."
 To get into the mood of the scene, it was shot in a kitchen, Dibakar instructed Kalki to "attack" Prosenjit. "I told her to make the first move. Though both of them had rehearsed the scene, shooting it was extremely traumatic for Kalki. After every take, she would rush to the other room and cry to bring her emotions to the boiling point. While filming, she actually bit PC sir's lips!" the director says.
 The situation turned bizarre when Dibakar actually forgot to say "cut" while shooting this scene. "I was asked to literally attack him and Dibakar had told us not to stop smooching till he said cut. But what happened in the process is that we went on smooching without realising that we had gone out of the frame," Kalki says. To this, Dibakar smiles and adds, "Yes, I was completely oblivious to the fact that I had to say cut, and instead, got busy shooting the tap in the kitchen! Suddenly, I heard Kalki's voice asking if I was done, when I went on to say that they were out of my frame. While Kalki got a little mad with me, PC Sir was very cool. I must admit that I behaved like an 'insensitive jerk'."
 Prosenjit laughed recalling this incident. "Dibakar pushed Kalki to be so intense. She was seriously crying and even hitting me. But I was cool. I always am, while shooting. I can't say that this is my first kissing scene, since I have done all kinds of romantic and passionate scenes, from Chokher Bali to Aparajita Tumi. Maybe the way Dibakar has filmed it is different," the actor says.

‘Shanghai’ (2012) Movie Stills

Shanghai Movie (2012) Trailer

Shanghai is an upcoming Hindi political thriller film directed by Dibakar Banerjee[1], and starring Abhay Deol, Emraan Hashmi, Kalki Koechlin, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Pitobash.[2] The film is currently being shot in Maharashtra. Based on the life of Politicians and their greed. The film is slated to release on June 8, 2012.

Star-studded Balaji award's gala

Bipasha basu

Ekta Kapoor

Parineeta Chopra

Sunny Leone and Dina Morea

Neelam Kothari

Sarah-Jane Dias

Priyanka Chopra

Zareen Khan

Vidya balan

Jiah Khan

Kalki Koechlin

Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut

Shazahn Padamsee

Goldie Behl and Sonali Bendre