Bollywood Film ‘Kites’ Is in Top 10 in U.S., Canada

 “Kites,” the adventure film from Reliance Big Pictures, took in approximately $1 million throughout the weekend to become the first Bollywood movie to open in the top 10 in the U.S. and Canada.

The film, introduced in 207 theaters, had sales of $958,673, canvasser Hollywood.com Box-Office said yesterday in an e-mail. Billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance said in a statement that no other Indian film has opened in the top 10.

Reliance Big is growing its U.S. presence. Last year, the company agreed to invest $325 million for an equity stake in Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios. “Kites” follows two immigrants, one from Mexico and the other from India, who go on the run to escape a vengeful Las Vegas casino owner.

At least one other Indian-produced film had a bigger U.S. opening than “Kites.” “My Name is Khan” produced by Mumbai- based Dharma Productions and released by Fox Searchlight, took in $1.94 million in February. The film ranked 13th in a weekend lineup that included “Valentine’s Day,” “The Wolfman” and “Avatar,” according to researcher Box Office Mojo.

Audiences will get a different look at “Kites” on May 28 when Reliance releases “Kites: The Remix,” a shorter version of the film edited by U.S. director Brett Ratner.

The original is “long and has a lot of dancing and extra stuff. It’s Bollywood and it works for that audience,” Ratner said in a telephone interview. “I just streamlined it and stuck with the love story, which works so well.”

Ratner, whose credits include “Rush Hour,” trimmed “Kites” to 90 minutes from 130 and changed some of the background music, Reliance said in a May 11 statement.

source:businessweek.com

Brittany Murphy's Husband Simon Monjack Found Dead

It's a sad end for a Hollywood couple: just five months after the sudden death of his actress wife, Brittany Murphy , Simon Monjack  was found dead at his Los Angeles  home late Sunday, according to police.
"We concluded there no signs of foul play or any criminal activity involved," Sgt. Alex Ortiz, another police spokesman, told the AP.
Firefighters found Monjack dead at his Hollywood Hills home after responding to an emergency call from a woman at 9:40 p.m., according to police spokesman Sgt. Louie Lozano. Ortiz told the AP he didn't know who placed the call. Monjack and Murphy had shared their home with Murphy's mother, Sharon.
 A friend of Sharon's confirmed to People magazine that she was the one who found Monjack. Five months after losing her daughter, a devastated Sharon is "not well at all," the friend said.
Monjack had been sick too. In January, his mother, Linda Monjack, told People that her son had suffered "a slight heart attack" a week before Brittany's death.
He had also struggled to regain his footing after his wife's death.
"Some days he wants to kill himself and other days, he seems to be coping better," Linda Monjack said in January, adding that her son's closeness with his mother-in-law was helping them both to heal. "I think they are really clinging to each other for support."
Monjack was frank about his sorrow following Murphy's December death. He described how he had lost his "best friend and soul mate" as the "Clueless" and "Girl, Interrupted" star was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park on Christmas Eve.
But just nine days before his death, he told People that he was planning a European getaway and a new book project. He told the magazine that he hoped to travel with Sharon Murphy.
Monjack was planning to start work on a photography book about ballet. Given Brittany's love of ballet, he told People that he hoped the project would be therapeutic.
"It seems fitting to do it," he said.
The 32-year-old actress was found in the bathroom of her Hollywood Hills home on Dec. 20, 2009 and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
At the time, Monjack said that the day before Murphy's death, she was ill and stayed in bed all day. She was suffering from laryngitis, which she treated with herbal tea, ginger and lemon.
"She was on herbal remedies that wouldn't speed up her heart," Monjack told People magazine. "There was nothing here that could endanger her. There was prescription medication in the house for her female time and some cough syrup. That was it."
 In February, the Los Angeles County coroner concluded that Murphy's death was accidental but likely preventable. The office said the primary cause of her death was pneumonia, while iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication also played a part. The coroner found "elevated levels" of Vicodin and drugs from over-the-counter cold medicine in her system, but no illegal substances. 

Monjack is best known professionally for writing and producing the 2006 movie "Factory Girl." His 2007 wedding to Murphy seemed, to the public, to come out of nowhere.
"The hush-hush ceremony -- and reluctant confirmation that a ceremony even took place -- follows an equally quiet courtship," E! News wrote at the time. "Murphy and Monjack didn't make any public appearances together and never announced their engagement."

source:abcnews.go.com

Top 5 Bollywood stars on Twitter

With as much as 6,335 tweets and 219,845 followers, Junior B is always visible on twitter. Abhishek manage to bring wife Aishwarya and papa Amitabh Bachchan as well on twitter. Thanks to twitter, fans are able to receive all recent updates of Bachchan family directly through Bachchan’s.

Priyanka is always connected to her fans and never miss the opportunity of expressing her feeling and gratitude to them. With 3,243 tweets and 372,395 followers, Priyanka outshines all other bollywood actress on twitter.

Shahrukh joined twitter on special request by Karan Johar. With 1493 tweets, King Khan has a huge followers list of 394,736. Shahrukh regularly tweets all his updates, related to IPL, films and his personal life.

Salman had just join twitter and since then he is generating lots of interest. Salman joined twitter the same day Shah Rukh completed 100 days on the micro logging site and within six hours, accumulated as many followers as Shah Rukh did in the first day. 24-hours after his first post, Salman had 18,833 followers, compared to SRK’s nearly 10,000, in the same time. In a short spam Salman has 430 tweets and 148,489 followers.

From cricket updates to social issues, Ritesh loves to share his opinion on twitter. With around 2,258 tweets and 119,927followers by mid of May, Ritesh is active on Twitter most of the time and following almost all big names in Bollywood.

source:bollywoodmantra.com