Showing posts with label Frankfurt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frankfurt. Show all posts
Aditya Kripalani shoots Main Actor Nahin Hoon with Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Mumbai and Frankfurt simultaneously
8:16 AM
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; January 29, 2025)
We’re bemused when Aditya Kripalani says Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays a banker-turned-bad actor in his next, Main Actor Nahin Hoon (I’m Not An Actor). How do you make Siddiqui act badly, is the first question that enters our mind. “He is such a brilliant actor that when he has to act badly as part of a film, he knows how to be pitch perfect at that as well,” laughs the director, before adding, “Usually bad acting is simply loud acting. When you think of a bad actor, you won’t think of Nawaz bhai in a million years. We wanted that shock value.”
I’m Not an Actor, also starring Chitrangada Satarupa and Naveen Kasturia, revolves around Siddiqui’s Frankfurt-based character, who, upon retirement, pursues his love for acting. At an audition, he comes across an actor from the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII). The film follows the protagonist as he, over phone and video calls, does acting workshops with the FTII graduate. With the movie set in Frankfurt and Mumbai, the director shot it in the two cities simultaneously over 36 days. While Kripalani led a team of 40 in the German city, he supervised chief assistant director Anubhav Jain and another crew that filmed the Mumbai portions.
“It’s a unique way of shooting. For instance, if Nawaz’s character is taking a tram in Frankfurt, Chitrangada’s character would be taking a train at the same time in Mumbai. For the next 14 minutes, we’d shoot it across the two locations in sync,” explains the director.
What made him adopt this approach? He reasons, “We wanted the performances to be authentic and on point. You can shoot the portions separately. But here, the conversations, when synced, felt like an extension of a fresh equation that started virtually.”
The director plans to tour with Main Actor Nahin Hoon for the next six months, beginning with its première at the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival in California in March. At a time when OTT platforms are being careful of acquiring films, he believes having Siddiqui as an actor-co-producer will be a big push.
“Nawaz bhai is the face of OTT. He really pushes good stories and smaller films. I feel middle-of-the-road cinema is alive only because of actors like Manoj Bajpayee and him. Everyone else is either too mainstream or too indie.”
Images: Shraddha Kapoor jets away with family to explore European cities on rails
8:17 AM
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; July 11, 2018)
Given the love she harbours for family vacations, Shraddha Kapoor would have made the switch from work to play seamlessly after wrapping up Batti Gul Meter Chalu. Jetting away to Germany with parents Shakti and Shivangi, and brother Siddhanth, the actor took a much-needed break before she resumes work on her forthcoming ventures.
Set to travel across cities on the Eurail pass, the Kapoors, a friend reveals, are exploring the European country for the first time. “They commenced their vacation yesterday, travelling from Frankfurt to Cologne, Munich, Hamburg and other cities. While Shakti and Shraddha flew in to Frankfurt from Mumbai, Shivangi joined them from Munich on Sunday. Siddhanth also arrived there from Berlin,” the friend reveals, adding that it is only after a month that the family got together.
While Siddharth was busy working on Yaarum during this while, Shraddha had her hands full with Batti Gul Meter Chalu and Stree.
We’re told the German holiday was Shivangi’s brainchild, with the mother even having planned the getaway, including accommodation and train travel. “Shivangi knew that using the train would be the best way to see the countryside. She wants the family to travel like regular tourists during the two-week-long vacation.”
Pointing out that the brother-sister duo will begin promotional work for their next films — Shraddha for Rajkummar Rao-starrer Stree while Siddhanth for Paltan — the vacation also brought relief to Shakti, who had been busy filming for Pahlaj Nihalani’s next with Govinda.
Evelyn Sharma gets chased and heckled by three men in Frankfurt
7:58 AM
Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; May 7, 2014)
Evelyn Sharma recently went to Germany to meet her family and had a scary experience when three youngsters started chasing her on the road. A source says, “Evelyn hadn’t met her family for a long time, so she recently took a break and flew down to Germany to spend some time with them. Given that she grew up in Frankfurt, she is no stranger to the city. One day when she was taking a walk, she met three Indian men who seem to have recognised her. They then asked her to pose for their camera and she even obliged initially, but when she saw that they were clicking too many pictures, she requested them to stop.” The actress then chose to walk ahead only to realise that these young men had appeared in front of her again. “Not only did they start chasing her, but they also made comments about her. Evelyn, who was not wearing a make up and was clad in simple clothes, was shocked to see this. She then decided to take a cab to her home. She didn’t know these guys and it would have been tough for her to identify them, so she couldn’t register a complaint either,” says the source.
When contacted, Evelyn confirmed the news. “It has been one of the most shocking incidents in my life, especially because this happened back home in Frankfurt. I have no idea who those guys were, but they definitely looked and sounded Indian. It’s shameful that this happened in broad daylight, but luckily I could get out of there before things got out of control,” she said.
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