Indian Cricket League now signed Brian Lara

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) better watch out. Subhash Chandra promoted Essel Group's Indian Cricket League (ICL), a parallel cricket format, continues to expand its list of star cricketers.


After roping in Kapil Dev and Tony Greig on the executive board, it has now signed in former West Indian cricketer Brian Lara as captain of one of ICL's six city teams.

ICL project head Himanshu Mody said, "We are extremely honored to welcome Brian to the ICL family. I think the youngsters we are grooming for India’s future will benefit immensely from playing alongside him in the ICL."

Marigold will see lots of Salman Khan

Leading Hollywood filmmaker Willard Carroll about his experience of working with Salman Khan in Marigold and his impressions of Bollywood .

A Hollywood filmmaker has taken up Bollywood’s cause and has sworn his first Hollywood-meets-Bollywood film will be free of kitsch and will have lots of Salman. Willard Carroll on Bollywood, Amitabh and spending four days in Sallu’s house!

150 Hindi films and counting...
The first Bollywood film I ever saw was Chori Chori Chupke Chupke . After that, I went home and watched about 150 Bollywood movies and got well versed with Hindi cinema. Then I returned to Mumbai and met Salman Khan. I had 15 minutes with him and thought I would briefly explain what my next film Marigold will be all about. And the next thing I knew, he had thrown a party for me, invited all his friends and I was practically adopted by his family! It was quite a treat and I left his house after four days. Salman is a very chilled out guy who seems to treat acting like child’s play. But actually he is a serious professional. Salman’s instincts are spot on.


Dancing to an Indian tune...
My film’s leading lady Ali Larter had no clue about Bollywood. In fact, she was sitting next to an Indian woman in a plane and asked her who Salman is. The Indian woman got really excited and said that he is the heartthrob of the Indian film industry. That made Ali say yes to the film.
But once here, the dancing was quite a challenge for her. Ali comes from the school of thought that you have to learn everything about the character. So she wanted to get her steps right and she actually did. But when she saw others doing their steps with the assistants, she realised that all her effort was in vain.

Bollywood-Hollywood...
I have met almost all Bollywood stars during the shooting of the film. I met Aamir when he was campaigning for Lagaan at the Oscars. I think he is a brilliant guy. Here the actors are very warm and open-hearted. I also like the humility of stars like Aamir and Shah Rukh when they are not facing the camera. But the moment the camera is switched on, they explode with energy. They are real gentlemen. They have perfect comic timing and this is how the movie stars in the West used to be. I miss this in Hollywood.
Sean is our Big B...
Sean Connery is our Amitabh Bachchan. He commands a lot of respect and I have had a lot of good luck working with the actors in Hollywood as well. Also I think Preity Zinta and Rani Mukherji have the ability to make it big in Hollywood. My own movie will open the doors for a lot of actors from India in Hollywood.

Monica Bedi is still a hit

A poll amongst Bollywood filmmakers shows that they would cast former jailbird Monica Bedi if she suited a role in their movies.

American celebrity Paris Hilton’s jail term became a widely read Prison Diary and her release after serving 23 days in jail created a frenzy as to what she would do next. Well, the jailbird turned songbird soon after and has a flourishing future ahead in fashion by just uttering her trademark “That’s hot!”

Closer home, former Bollywood starlet Monica Bedi wasn’t met with any such offers after being acquitted by a Bhopal court in a fake passport case.

Though she did announce that she would love to return to films and start acting all over again, never mind her infamous status as Abu Salem’s moll.

Apparently, Monica kept herself occupied by teaching other women prisoners yoga, dancing and English for the ten months she spent in jail.

We asked Bollywood whether her infamy would do her fledgling Bollywood career any good and would they cast her in their films...

Meghna Gulzar – An actor should be given a role depending on his/her acting prowess and not on the basis of whether they went to prison or came out of it.

Anil Sharma – I cast an actor according to the suitability of the character. Monica will get work regardless of her infamy or fame. We will look at her from the perspective of an artiste and talent. One should get a second chance.

Vikram Bhatt – You shouldn’t cast someone because they have created a media furore of any kind. If Monica or Paris suit a character, casting them is fine. I would cast Monica only if I had something she could do.

Vipul Shah – Casting depends on the merit of the role and that is decided by the script. When people have sympathy for actors like Salman Khan, who genuinely enjoys the love of the audience and they know the good side of him, does the actor gain from all the trouble he gets in. It doesn’t work for everybody though.

Sanjay Gupta – Paris is in America and Monica’s in India. Strictly no comments.

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