Bollywood Kung-Fu!!

[GeneChing]

Got pix now (there's one with the article if you follow the link). I cut & pasted one just because searching for Bollywood starlet pics is a good way for me to get my Monday started. Kangana's original post here.

Kangana Ranaut inspired by Jackie Chan
TNN | Feb 13, 2012, 12.22PM IST


The actress who is playing an action role for Krrish 3 is inspired by Jackie Chan and is learning martial arts.

Kangana Ranaut known for her glamourous image will be getting into the action avatar for the first time in Rakesh Roshan's Krrish 3 where she plays a negative role. The actor, who is busy shooting for the movie right now, took special training in Martial Arts, Kick Boxing and Yoga to get in form for her role. After all she has to fight against the hero Hrithik Roshan in the film.

Her inspiration for action comes from Jackie Chan. "I remember watching Jackie Chan movies as a child, staring at the screen and trying to imitate his moves. It would be a privilege to meet him in person", says Kangana.

So which would be her favorite Jackie Chan movie? "His work is so good and versatile it's difficult to choose one. But I like Jackie Chan Project and Police Story. And I really like Rush Hour since it's so difficult to mix fight scenes with humour and only Jackie Chan can do that effortlessly".

[GeneChing]

I must endeavor to see a Kangana flick. I'm disappointed this article doesn't mention kung fu.

Kangana loses 5 kg to fit into mutant costume
Mid-Day.Com
Monday, April 09, 2012 (Mumbai)

Kangana Ranaut is relying on martial arts to make sure she does not gain even miniscule weight in order to fit into her skin-tight costume for her superhero next. She is also closely watching her diet to make sure nothing goes wrong.

It is learnt that for her character as the mutant in the film, Kangana has to also train in martial arts for her action sequences. "She is learning some techniques of karate, judo and taekwondo," says our source. Interestingly, Kangana had to lose about five kilos for her part to fit into her costume.

"Besides, it's not comfortable to wear such a suit in this hot weather for long hours," points out our source, adding that if a fold develops in the costume during the shoot, the actress has to remove it and wear it again before the next shot. "Not to forget, it takes at least an hour for her to get into the costume and get her make-up re-done," he says.

Needless to say, the actress also has to put up with her fair share of bruises after doing her own stunts during the shoot. Our source says, "Since she's training in martial arts for her role, it's natural for her to do her own action scenes. Kangana knows that some bruises can't be avoided."

Kangana's strict diet regime

Regarding her diet and training regime, our source says, "She starts her martial arts training at 5 am. Then she goes home to freshen up, have breakfast and leave for the shoot. During the day, she has small meals and her dinner is not heavy either. She does yoga for an hour before a light dinner. She also makes sure she has six hours of peaceful sleep."

In the meanwhile, Kangana has also bagged a Karan Johar production. Scripted and to be helmed by Rensil D'Silva, our source reveals, "The makers felt no one could have done it better than her."

[GeneChing]

Hrithik Roshan’s ‘Krrish 3’ is not in 3D
Superhero flick ‘Krrish 3’ being made in 2D
By ApunKaChoice
Tue, May 22, 2012 15:30:07 GMT

Contrary to the buzz, Hrithik Roshan’s superhero flick Krrish 3 is not in 3D; instead it is being made in 2D. It’s said that Rakesh Roshan seems to have changed his mind about shooting his action-adventure film in 3D.

Though the Roshans are not leaving any stone unturned to make Krrish 3 bigger and better in terms of VFX, the movie is currently being shot in 2D format only. Krrish 3, the film that has international action director Tony Ching of hits like Shaolin Soccer and House of Flying Daggers working on it, has kids as its target audience, and the makers right now have no intention to make it in 3D.

As a source tells a daily, “There may be a 3D version closer to the release date, depending on the market requirement then. However, as of now, the Roshans have no plans to divide their audience by releasing two versions.”

Hrithik Roshan’s Krrish, a sequel to Koi Mil Gaya, was a superhit, and from then on the Roshans were keen to have the sequel of the film that would mark the return of the superhero Krrish. However, the sequel of Krrish is much delayed. The movie is scheduled for a Diwali 2013 release, and is expected to have the best visual effects. An international team is working on the visual imagery, and the VFX work is expected to take at least six months.

The movie also stars Kangana Ranaut in the role of a mutant and Vivek Oberoi as the powerful baddie. Priyanka Chopra will reprise her role of Krrish’s love interest in the film.

I wonder how much creative control Tony Ching will have on this project.

[GeneChing]

Jiiva works with Bruce Lee & Jackie Chan's stunt man!
IndiaGlitz [Wednesday, May 23, 2012]

Jiiva's 'Mugamoodi' is getting bigger with each passing day. The latest is that Jiiva is working with renowned stunt man Tony Leung Siu Hung who has worked with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan!

Tony Leung Siu Hung, a stunt coordinator from Hong Kong, has joined the climax shoot of the film that's being canned in a massive scale at Karaikal. The climax sees Jiiva and his villain, Narain, in a high voltage action sequence. Tony might work on few other scenes of the film as well.

"This fight scene is based on Wing Tsun, it's a close combat fight Tony specializes in. It's more of fight choreography and Tony is working hard to teach it to us in the easiest way and to get the best out of us. He has worked with great action heroes and makes it a point not to stress us but only impart his knowledge on the craft in a smooth way", says an ecstatic Jiiva.

Produced by UTV Motion Pictures, 'Mugamoodi' by Mysskin has Jiiva and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles. The movie is the first of its series as the makers have planned it as a sequel.

Now I'm confused. Mugamoodi is a masked superhero and Krrish 3 is too?

[GeneChing]

Yet another Bollywood star trying to milk the martial arts.

Bollywood to get its Jackie Chan!
Piyali Dasgupta, TNN | Jul 25, 2012, 12.55PM IST

Azim Rizvi, who entered Bollywood with romantic film Qasam Se Qasam Se is all set to make an impact with his martial arts and also claims to take action to another level.

As a kid, Azim was a huge fan of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan and soon Azim decided to enter Bollywood. "I was very fond of action films. I grew up watching Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. I also remember jumping around my house and doing shadow fighting (he chuckles) So, I was a lot into action since childhood. I picked it up more seriously when I decided to become an actor. Since, then I started going to various classes and researching on Google," explains the actor.

A true lover of martial arts, Azim shares his love for the art and says, "Being fit through martial arts is the last thing I have in mind. The only thing that draws me to it is the love for the art and to stand apart from the crowd! I do gym sometimes to maintain the shape however martial art is a passion!"

So, if not being fit, then did looking good on-screen attract you to martial arts? To which Azim quickly adds, " It is about the 'Look Good' factor these days, but what about the 'Feel Good' factor? For me, having satisfaction is more important! Yes, Martial Arts is for both defending and offending, but I have never used the art for those purposes!"

Why does martial art appeals you? "The only reason the art appeals to me is for my field. I want to stand out of the usual ordinary league when it comes to action heroes! I want to take action to another level when it comes to Bollywood," answers the actor.

Why don't you explain more about your art more? "For people whose thoughts run deep, they are well aware that one does not choose an art! An art chooses U! Similarly 'XMA' chose me! For XMA one should be fast Fierce & furious! It really requires agility, stamina, daredevilry and some amount of fearlessness! XMA encompasses everything for all other arts! There is a bit of gymnastics, Parkour, Kickboxing, Capoeira, Muay Thai, TaekWando, Tai Chi, Ju Jitsu, break dance," elaborates Azim.

"XMA is just for my profession. I don't intend to make it personal! I die if i make everything personal! For all those who will check it out and would want to take it up my personal advice is to be very patient and safe. Happy XMA'ing," signs off Bollywood's Jackie Chan.

[GeneChing]

This is actually Kollywood Kalari, not Bollywood Kung-Fu, but only a few of us India cinephiles know the difference. If this film gets more buzz, I'll split it into it's own separate thread.

Shriya Saran punches Prem!
Updated: Friday, August 24, 2012, 16:10 [IST]
Posted by: Ramchander



Shirya Saran has delivered a few punches to Kannada actor Prem! Well, not in reality but for some action sequences for the multilingual film Chandra produced and directed by Roopa Iyer.

The pretty actress, who is described by many as an excellent dancer, trained herself intensively in 'Kalari' fight under the able guidance of Sagar Aasan for a stretch of two months. Ravi Varma, the stunt director, in coordination with the creative thoughts of director Roopa Iyer created a concept of the 'Kalari' in the form of choreography. The unit sources say that as the director herself has been a practitioner of this combination of arts, it became easy to bring the best out of Shriya Saran.

Chandra has a reincarnation love story with two blue blooded lead characters revealing an epic tale. In fact, it is inspired by the last surviving royal families of India. While Kannada actor Prem plays the main protagonist, Tamil actor Ganesh Venkatraman will be seen in the second fiddle and Shriya Saran will be seen romancing both in different ages in the upcoming movie.

Suganya, Vivekh and Vijaya Kumar and others are in the cast. It is a joint production of India Classic Arts and Listo Media Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

Below is a photo gallery - I've only cherry picked a few...

Kannada film 'Chandra': Shriya Saran's intense 'Kalari' martial arts

Director Roopa Iyer also considered actresses Dia Mirza, Amala Paul, Amrita Rao and Aindrita Ray for the lead role but ultimately Shriya Saran suited te best for the role.

Shriya Saran trained herself intensively in 'Kalari' fight under the able guidance of Sagar aasan for a stretch of two months.

Everyone has high expectations from 'Chandra', will the film hit the screens with same expectations ?

Aug 24, 2012 13:02pm

[GeneChing]

Maybe I'll split this into it's own thread once the project is greenlit and has a title.

Akki to make India's first martial arts film
Thursday Nov 29, 2012

Mumbai, Nov. 29 -- Akshay Kumar, who has been promoting martial arts in the country for some time now, is set to take his passion a step further. The actor now plans to produce a full-fledged movie based on the arts. It will be the first of its kind in India.

However, he is unlikely to act in the film that his company Hari Om Entertainment will produce next year.

"In all likelihood, Akshay won't star in the film. But matters are at a nascent stage right now, so it's too early to say for sure. He wants to make the film as authentic as possible. That's all he is concerned about," says an insider, adding, "Akshay wants to promote the martial arts as much as he can. He feels his training in the combat form has contributed to his success as an action hero."

Apparently, the actor is looking to rope in newcomers for the film. "Right now, the script is being worked on. Once he wraps up shooting for the films he is currently working on, Akshay will personally do the research and decide the cast of the film as well as who will direct it. He doesn't want to leave anything to chance," reveals the insider.

In the past, the actor has launched the Akshay Kumar Invitational Kudo (Judo and Karate) Tournament for young enthusiasts in the country. "Martial arts are not very popular in India, which is why he wants to help," adds the insider.

Akshay himself remained unavailable for a comment.

[GeneChing]

Soha Ali Khan learning martial Art for ‘Joe B Karvalo’
By Web Desk Dec 20th, 2012


Soha Ali Khan learning martial art for her new movie Joe B KarvaloMumbai: Bollywood stars work hard to make their films hit and get totally immersed in their characters. Soha Ali Khan is working on a new movie “Joe B Karvalo,” and is playing the role of a police inspector.

To play her character to perfection, she is now learning martial arts at Recreation Club located in Shastri Nagar in Andheri (West). Her trainer is Chitah Yajness Shetty, the Bollywood popular martial arts teacher for over 30 years.

Yajness Shetty says “Soha is very dedicated and hardworking. She is learning very fast. Every girl should learn the art for self defence so that they can defend themselves, since police appears to be having a problem reaching everywhere. It should be made mandatory in all schools and colleges.”

I guess she was a Maxim cover girl, but I couldn't find her on their site. I got distracting looking for her there...

[GeneChing]

I missed Dabangg 1.

Movie review: 'Dabangg 2' - Kung fu Pandey in action
Salman Khan returns in top form and cheer and really, that's what will delight diehard fans
December 21, 2012
Mumbai
Janhavi Samant


'Dabangg 2'
U/A; Action/Romance
Director: Arbaaz Khan
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Prakash Raj
Rating:

'Dabangg 2' movie review

Scene 1: Chulbul confronts goondas in godown, tosses a few dialogues, flies in the air, beats them up. Few dialogues more.

Scene 2: Chulbul plays happy families with wife Rajjo (Sonakshi Sinha), stepfather Prajapati Pandey (Vinod Khanna, looking very very old) and brother Makkhi (director Arbaaz)

Chulbul smooths his moustache, flexes his muscles, wriggles around. It’s time for a song.

Scene 3: Chulbul confronts smugglers/dacoits, tosses a few dialogues, flies in the air, beats them to a pulp. Few dialogues more.

Scene 4: Chulbul ribs a few colleagues, donates money, teases his father, brother and wife. Wife gets angry, time for a song.

This scenario repeats itself over and over till you start wondering where all the impressive heroic character building of Chulbul is leading. Answer is nowhere. High on dialogue and drama but low, low, low on plot. Sticking strictly to a frame by frame template of its earlier instalment, Dabang 2 turns out to be more of an episodic telling of the life and exploits of its protagonist Chulbul Pandey. Basically Kung Fu Pandey has now reconciled wit his stepfather and brother and has been newly transferred to Kanpur, the domain of gangster turned politician Bachcha Bhaiyya (Prakash Raj). True to his nature, Chulbul soon ends up taking pangas with Bachcha’s gang. Of course, there is no doubt that Chulbul will subdue and defeat Bachcha. Chulbul, after all, can fling himself up in the air, and turn and run at the speed of light and can kill a man in a single punch.

In Dabang 2, Chulbul has gained even more superheroic powers and attitude (and a wee bit of weight) than before and demonstrates all this in great detail through the film’s length.

The 'Makkhi' track was entirely superfluous; but that strange almost real-life scene, where Chulbul watches with pride as Makkhi starts taking responsibility, is quite touching. Well, Arbaaz can rest assured that he has made a promising debut. However, he is aided by Dilip Shukla’s writing (consistent in its wry humour and dhaba milieu in both the films) which makes Chulbul Pandey the hero he is.

It’s problematic of course that the hero is an openly corrupt police officer, although committed to his own strange convoluted form of social justice, and a complete chauvinist at that. It’s also problematic that the choreography of 'Fevicol' and 'Pandeyji Seeti', although striking, would make even 'Munni' hide in self-conscious shame. Prakash Raj and Deepak Dobriyal, two of our most interesting actors, are completely wasted in lackluster roles.

However, apna Salman returns in top form and cheer and really, that’s what will delight diehard fans.

[GeneChing]

Akshay Kumar will train daughter in martial arts
Friday Dec 28, 2012

India, Dec. 28 -- On Christmas Day, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, reacting to the national outcry over crimes against women, urged girls to learn the martial arts to defend themselves. Now, the CM has support from Bollywood's martial arts champion, Akshay Kumar, who has made plans to train his newborn daughter, Nitara, in the martial arts when she grows up.

"When Nitara is old enough, it will be my responsibility to personally train her in the martial arts. I believe self-defence is essential for every woman," says Akshay, adding that this is the need of the hour.

"All the fathers in this country should do the same for their daughters. Women are mentally and emotionally stronger than men, so why not make them physically stronger and self-reliant as well?" says Akshay, who, having obtained a black belt in Taekwondo in India, also studied martial arts in Bangkok, where he focused on Muay Thai, a combat sport from Thailand.

As for the Bihar CM's statement on martial arts, Akshay agrees with him. "Nitish Kumar urging girls to learn martial arts for self defense and something that I've been in favour of from a long time (sic)," the actor wrote on Twitter.

For a while now, Akshay has also been pushing for martial arts being made part of school and college curricula. "In Singapore, two or three years of army training is compulsory for all civilians. So in essence, every person in that country can double up as an army hand. Why can't we also put our kids through self-defence training?" he says.

Akshay is involved in promoting martial arts and already hosts the annual Akshay Kumar Karate Tournament in Mumbai. He is also putting together a big-budget film on the combat sports that will kick off next year.

If you missed Nitish Kumar's statement, I was debating about posting it. I'll post it here now.

Nitish to girls: Learn martial arts, defend yourselves
Pradeep Modak, Hindustan Times
Patna, December 26, 2012
First Published: 15:26 IST(26/12/2012)
Last Updated: 15:30 IST(26/12/2012)

Chief minister Nitish Kumar called upon girls of the state to take up martial arts along with their education to defend themselves against eve teasers and other anti-social elements. "Girls should learn all forms of martial arts such as judo, karate and taekwondo to acquire physical strength, quick reflexes and alertness for selfdefence," he said even as he inaugurated the 31st Senior National Taekwondo Championships at the Pataliputra Sports Complex here on Tuesday.

"We want to make the new generation strong through sports and martial arts training.

For achieving the goal, the state government started martial arts training in schools across Bihar a few years ago.

Over one lakh schoolgirls learnt the basic martial arts through this programme," said Nitish adding that he also wanted to include judo and karate training along with taekwondo for boys and girls in the schools.

"The martial arts training in village schools brought about a sea change as several girls participated in various tournaments held abroad and brought laurels for the state," he said.

Presiding over the function, art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey reiterated the government's commitment to overall development of sports in the state.

She said the state had hosted several national and international tournaments in the past two years with full support and motivation from the chief minister.

"We want proper coordination between the government and sports associations to take Bihar sports to the next level," she said.

Welcoming the guests, Taekwondo Federation of India president Harish Kumar said 38 teams from different parts of the country were participating in the three-day event.

"We have more than five lakh taekwondo players in the country and hope to take it to 15 lakh in the next couple of years, equalling the strength of Korea," he said.

TFI president also presented mementos to chief minister Nitish Kumar and art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhda Pandey.

Bihar Taekwondo Association secretary Ajay Kumar proposed a vote of thanks.

[yutyeesam]

Gene, I'm glad you're still updating this thread!

This is about 5 years old, but have you seen this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8df8bfoxxDE

Terrible! But I think I know why I kept watching it (why most guys will sit thru Bollywood films)! :P

[GeneChing]

Great Kali uniform on Sharma, no?

Anil Kapoor to undergo training in a special form of martial arts
Looks like Anil Kapoor is going the whole hog when it comes to prepping for his role as a special agent in his upcoming TV show.
January 09, 2013

Mumbai Jigar Shah

And now buzz is that he will be undergoing training in a special form of martial arts. Our sources say that the same training called Kali is also being given to the Indian Special Task Forces.



A source says, “The techniques of Kali was also used in films like Bourne Ultimatum, Mission Impossible, etc.”



Kali expert Kanishka Sharma will be training Anil. He says, “Series director Abhinay Deo introduced me to Anil. I am going to change his body language for the show.”

The martial arts expert says Kali can help one subdue an opponent in three seconds.

yutyeesam - nice of you to chime in again. That vid above was AWESOME!

[GeneChing]

Martial arts must for actresses, says 'Bandook' actress
Thursday Jan 10, 2013

Mumbai, Jan 10 — Actress Manisha Kelkar, who will soon be seen in the forthcoming movie "Bandook", feels actresses should train in martial arts.

"I am training in martial arts not because of some film, but I believe that an actor should keep updating herself," Manisha said here Wednesday in an interview.

"I thought that in Bollywood, actresses are not totally trained in martial arts...Like when Akshay (Kumar) does stunts, it looks realistic...If an actress can also do it, it will be good. Then even scripts would be written for them," she added.

Manisha plays a village girl Kajri in "Bandook" and credits director Aditya Om for teaching her the nuances of her character.

"It is very different, I had to learn a lot, how she would sit, stand and all, how would she behave. My director Aditya Om taught me everything...," Manisha said.

"Bandook" also stars director Aditya, Arshad Khan, and Ashish Kotwal, and hits theatres Jan 18.

Needs pic, right? Easily remedied.

[yutyeesam]

Gene, how can I exploit:

-the fact that I am Indian
-the fact that I live in America
-the fact that I teach Choy Lay Fut Kung-Fu

as a way to have Bollywood stars come to me?

[mawali]

Put together some choreographed routines that you think would make a screen impact and send them to the big name Bollywood actors, who in turn will pass them to the producers or directors. Just start small and work up.