Bollywood personalities react to student life

Mumbai, (BollywoodWorld.com) Aamir Khan starrer “3 Idiots” has spurred Bollywood personalities to look at their educational qualifications, how they got their degrees and how students should lead their lives.
The film, about life in an engineering college, tried to give the message that getting a degree is not the be-all and end-all of education.
Here is how some Bollywood personalities react to questions on their student life and give their advice to students:
Urmila Matondkar: “I’m a BA in psychology. I was always under stress in both school and college as I had to manage both studies and acting. I dealt with it by diverting stress into positive aggression in my studies.
“My advice to students: Stress is part of life. You can’t run away from it. So deal with it before it’s too late. It helps to be book-smart at any time of life, as long as you learn from those books and not just mug.”
Dino Morea: “I became a graduate. Was never stressed at school. Had the best time ever. Yes, if reading and being aware of a subject is being book-smart, for sure it’s handy in life. I was never depressed in school. I was naughty, but I studied hard.”
Kangana Ranaut: “I left school when I was 16. But I’m glad to tell you I’ve always been a topper in my class. To achieve that I used to study 18 hours a day.
“The science in school didn’t help me much in my daily life as an adult. But the passion to be the best in my class and the love for books remain. Now I’m an artiste and I read on art. And I thank my hard work during school for this.”
Pritam Chakraborty: “I did BSc honours in geology from Presidency College in Kolkata, postgraduate diploma in sound recording and engineering from the Film and Television Institute, Pune. I think mugging up and learning without understanding is useless in later life. But a basic education is important to build up personality.
“I used to feel stressed before exams after Class 7 when I stood first in class. Later everybody at home became interested in my rank and that was a matter of stress for me for years.
“I had music to kill the depression created due to studies. Also I had a great circle of family and friends. Doing badly in academics doesn’t mean you do badly in life. Discover your inner strength and choose a career you enjoy.”
Celina Jaitly: “I’ve done one and a half years of BSc and have a software engineering degree from NIIT. I scored 89 percent in 10th boards and 75 percent in 12th. I used to feel very stressed during board exams. Thanks to my parents I made it through all my panic attacks.
“Playing a sport like tennis or swimming is a great way to keep fresh and alert. I remember my mother insisted we play a sport for half an hour even during exams. It was a great stress buster. Focus well on your studies. Do meditation and take power naps.”
Ken Ghosh: “I’m a 12th Standard fail. In school I was quite a smart kid and actually enjoyed studies because of excellent teachers.”
Amole Gupte: “I was a class topper with distinction till the 12th, then passed BCom with 37 percent, having tasted theatre through degree college.
“I have no distinct school memories except for excursions, plays, poetry, elocution, quiz programmes and art melas. I remember my head mistress in primary school who instilled my self-worth by discovering my recitation skills. In high school I loved my Hindi teacher Naamvar Singh, a poet and lyricist of repute. And my English teachers Parmar sir and Acharya sir for their passion for the language and their love for Wordsworth, Auden, Frost and D.H. Lawrence.”

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Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh ’2 Idiots’ – Shiv Sena

Mumbai, After targeting Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan for his remarks supporting the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in the IPL, the Shiv Sena Saturday dragged in Aamir Khan, calling the duo “2 Idiots”.
“In real life, Aamir and Shah Rukh have been proved as ’2 Idiots’ as both are making stupid statements supporting the cause of Pakistani cricketers,” said a statement in the party’s Hindi mouthpiece Dopahar Ka Saamna.
“On the one hand, while SRK is openly displaying his love for Pakistani players, Aamir has even put nationalistic sentiments in his utterances on this issue,” said the statement in the tabloid, which hit the stands this afternoon.
“According to Aamir, if any cricketer is good, he would like to have him in his team, it makes no difference to him which country he belongs to,” said the statement.
The statement is accompanied by a digitally altered picture of the recent record blockbuster “3 Idiots”. It shows the head of Aamir (the star and promoter of the movie) popping out of a drum and SRK sticking his tongue from another drum – signifying the accompanying heading of “2 Idiots”.
Aamir had said Friday that if he were to select IPL players he would do so only on the basis of their performance and not nationality.
The Shiv Sena Friday hit out at Shah Rukh, who is also the Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner, after he said he would have picked a Pakistani player for IPL matches if his team had a slot.
Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said if the actor was so keen on them, “he could go play his matches in Lahore, not in India”.
Thane Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde announced that no film of Shah Rukh would be screened in the district.
Both actors have not reacted to the Shiv Sena’s tirade.

’3 Idiots’ helped multiplexes out of strike slump

New Delhi, Aamir Khan starrer “3 Idiots”, that has gone on to become the biggest hit in Hindi film history, has helped multiplexes recover from the two-month strike last year.
“3 Idiots” — which takes a critical look at the education system in the country — has already earned more than Rs.382 crore (Rs.3.82 billion/$82 million) worldwide since its release Dec 25 last year.
“Losses have reduced post ’3 Idiots’. We have had a gross revenue of Rs.1.6 crore from the movie till date. There were a lot of expectations from it and it fulfilled all expectations,” Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas at Noida, told IANS.
“The movie has also proven Aamir Khan as a brand who comes out with one movie every year and that too a hit. Audiences are now ready to pay any ticket price for him,” Awasthi added.
Spice ran on an average 26 shows of the movie with a maximum ticket price of Rs.175 per head.
Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, echoed the feeling.
“The profitability that went on the negative side of the integer line because of the strike saw a new lease of life courtesy ’3 Idiots’. Though the tremendous loses have not been recovered in their entirety but ’3 Idiots’ has sustained it with a recovery of close to 80-90 percent,” said Raizada.
The industry went through a two-month-long standoff between the producers-distributors and multiplex owners over revenue sharing last year. It led to a whopping Rs.300 crore loss to the Hindi film industry.
The standoff between producers-distributors and multiplex owners started in February last year. While the producers demanded a flat 50 percent share of all film revenues irrespective of the stars, budget and box office collection, the exhibitors stressed on sharing profits based on the earnings of a film.
As a result the producers declared a strike April 4 onwards, which saw no new releases of Bollywood films in multiplexes across the country.
The strike came to an end after the two parties agreed on a new revenue sharing format.
A source from PVR cinemas added: “We’ve generated a net profit of close to Rs.4 crore net till date in the North from the movie. We ran close to 160 shows across all properties here and there have been definite profits with the movie. Undoubtedly the movie has skyrocketed Aamir Khan’s brand too.”
An industry source on the other hand had a different take.
“’3 Idiots’ definitely brought profits to multiplexes and also got benefited too courtesy the multiplexes. But there are also other things involved as we had to give extra share to the distributors unlike earlier, after a new contract came into exercise when the strike ended,” he said.
Based on Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller “Five Point Someone”, the film has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani.
Also starring R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Boman Irani and Kareena Kapoor in pivotal roles apart from Aamir, the paid previews of the movie garnered over Rs.9 crore worldwide.
“3 Idiots” is also being touted as the highest grossing Indian film to release in the US, Middle East, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Kenya and Fiji so far.

Aamir bends rule for a cause, performs on small screen

New Delhi, Bollywood star Aamir Khan, who usually stays away from any stage performances, teamed up with his “3 Idiots” co-star Kareena Kapoor to shake a leg to raise funds for artists who need financial support.
STAR India Pvt. Limited and Cine & TV Artist Association (CINTAA) are coming up with an entertainment programme called “CINTAA – Super Stars Ka Jalwa” in which 52 actors will come together to raise funds for needy artists.
Aamir had to postpone the shoot due to a serious leg injury but, after recuperating, he completed the shoot on time.
The fund will be used to construct a building that will have medical facilities, rehearsal halls, theatre, gym, club, library, restaurant and two offices.
The show to be telecast for two hours every Sunday has been co-produced by Sohail Khan Entertainment and Seventy Event Management.