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The much expected movie of the year ‘Mausam’ directed by Pankaj Kapoor and starring his son Shahid Kapoor in the lead role opposite Sonam Kapoor saw a splendid opening this Friday. Sources reveal that the movie made 9 crore approximately on its first day of release. This is definitely encouraging for the veteran actor Pankaj Kapoor who has taken his first step into direction.

The movie was made with the budget of Rs. 35 crore and has been released in about 2000 theatres. The movie is boasting of 100% occupancy currently. ‘Mausam’ is a romantic tale that depicts the story of two lovers who are forced to separate due to the political and social conditions around. It beautifully depicts their struggle for love that goes on for a decade and how they find happiness in the end. Shahid has donned the role of a pilot working for Air Force and Sonam Kapoor presents herself to the audience as a simple, Kashmiri girl.

The film was initially scheduled to release on September 16^th 2011 but was delayed by a week due to the NOC that was pending from the Indian Air Force as they had expressed objections about few scenes in the movie.

While talking to IANS Shahid Kapoor looks back at his decade long journey in the industry. He began his journey as one among thousands striving to make their name in Bollywood and having an actor for a father didn’t give him any advantage over the others.  His journey from the boy next door image to a mature actor can be seen in the recent release ‘Mausam’. 

“Ten years back, I was dreaming to being where I am today,” Shahid expressed to IANS.  He started his career through a cute lover boy role in the movie ‘Ishq Vishk’ in the year 2003.  In Mausam he plays the role of Harinder Singh, a young fun loving, village boy who becomes a mature Air Force officer. This could be considered as a reflection of Shahid’s transition.  . “I’m glad this reflects! I remember when I sat down with dad, he said actor said ‘Beta, I want to show you not just in one shade, I want to show different aspects of you as an actor’.So that was the effort with ‘Mausam’,” said the actor.

The actor admits that when he first entered the industry, he was a lot confused and now things have gotten clearer  “A decade back, I was running around trying to get myself any kind of a role, going to different places, and auditioning and being rejected. I was trying to make my body and just trying to get a break anyhow. Then ‘Ishq Vishk’ happened. When I started off, I didn’t really know anything. I just had a lot of love and passion for acting. I knew acting was what I loved the most in the world. But I got confused. The first four or five years of my career, I was very confused – I didn’t know what was right, what was wrong. There was no one to guide, nobody to tell me. Although my father is an actor, he wasn’t the hero in films. Besides, he always told me that I need to make my own mistakes and learn from what I am doing. So I went through this whole phase of trying to understand what the right thing to do is,” said Shahid and continued to go on  “Then one day, I came up with a very simple solution – do what you want to do, do what you love doing! Forget about what would work, what wouldn’t work, and what is supposed to work. I started doing films that excited me, films I believed in, and that’s when my career started taking some kind of shape. I started this process about four or five years back, and now I am very happy and fortunate to be where I am today. I’m very satisfied with the kind of work I am doing. “

The actors of ‘Peepli Live’, like Raghubir Yadav and others have come forward to support Amir Khan, their producer, and have stated that director Anusha Rizvi was actually trying to gain publicity by pulling the movie into a controversy, the subject being farmer’s suicide.

Rizvi, has written and directed the movie along with Mehmood Farroqui, her husband who  worked with her as the co-director. Both said, after the ‘differences’ with Aamir over credits they decided to stay away from the movie.

But the actors have supported Aamir and say Rizvi is trying to gain publicity.

The veteran actor Raghubir Yadav said, “Whatever Rizvi is doing is only for publicity. The initial budget of the film was Rupees two crore but Amir increased it up to Rs.10 Crore. He also took the initiative to showcase the movie in Berlin and Sundance film festivals”.

In the movie Yadav played a role of the Protagonist’s brother, Budhia, and the movie also had a host of theatre actors.

The famous track of the movie, Mehngai Dayain was also sung by Yadav.

Rizvi also reportedly said that the song’s length was trimmed by Aamir against her wish.

Yadav also said, “The controversy over the length of the song is illogical because it was difficult to fit it into the movie but Aamir decided to keep it in the movie despite the problem in editing”.

The Bhai Thakur, a local politician’s role played by the actor Sitaram Panchal and he has also supported Aamir and said that the reason behind Rizvi’s reaction is that her ego has been hurt.

“The whole controversy is a non-issue. Her ego is hurt because it is Aamir’s name which is coming in the media. With the controversy she wants her share of limelight,” Panchal said.

The character of a TV journalist played by Nowaz, said, “I am very much surprised with her attitude because Aamir was professional at every level. He never interfered in the execution of the film but lent his help whenever he thought it was important for the betterment of the film.”

Rizvi had also said that the credit for the movie wasn’t given to people who were worthy and is now being bragged as Aamir’s Movie.

Repeated attempts were made to contact the director but she could not be reached.

Dabangg has managed to topple the opening weekend record created by the Aamir Khan-movie, 3 Idiots. With the box-office collections exceeding Rs 80 crore in a week, the Salman-starrer will most probably surpass the all-time collection record set by 3 Idiots. At this juncture, one fact that confounds trade pundits is the reason for its colossal success.

Dabangg, meaning fearless, is a movie of ‘70s and ‘80s genre, aimed more at smaller towns rather than the urban multiplex audience. However, upsetting all preconceptions of Bollywood, the urban cine-goers took to the unpretentious entertainer. One of the reasons for this turn of events is the lack of out-and-out entertainers in the action-comedy genre in the recent past. Once a sure-fire success formula for Hindi films, it was made obsolete with the arrival of multiplexes, which forced Bollywood to concentrate on urban-centric stories and urban sensibilities. The once-upon-a-time success formula was relegated to Bhojpuri movies. Now with the success of Dabangg, it seems the taste of Indian audience has not changed much over the last thirty-odd years.

The original story of Dabangg rooted in rustic Indian way of life is its forte. Now with most of the big films moving away from this space, the industry was experiencing a vacuum, which was eagerly filled by Dabangg.

The success of Dabangg is a reminder that the urban audience too loves such full-blown entertainers with rural touch. After all, this group comprises mostly of migrated rural folk.

Last but not least is the role played by Salman Khan in making the movie a hit. His down-to-earth performance struck a chord with audience belonging to all walks of life. Salman playing a corrupt yet lovable cop, in a way draws parallel with his own real character. May be the likeness made his performance look convincing to the audience.

Though the film was thrashed by critics, Dabangg’s debutant director Abhinav Kashyap is all smiles. As director Mahesh Bhatt said, “It is very easy to fool the high-brow audience but difficult to entertain the masses.”

In a landmark judgment, the Bombay High Court has ruled that the country’s income tax department has jurisdiction to levy capital gains tax over a transaction between two overseas companies involving a business venture in India. Vodafone International had acquired 67% controlling stake in Hutchison Essar Ltd (HEL) by buying out the shares of Hutchison Telecom in 2007. However, Vodafone maintained that the transaction doesn’t invite tax liabilities in India, as it took place outside the country, between UK-based Vodafone and Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa.

A High Court bench comprising Justices D Y Chandrachud and J P Deodhar upheld the IT department’s claim to tax the transaction. “The transaction has sufficient nexus with India and the I-T department has the jurisdiction to levy tax on the transaction,” the bench pronounced its decision.

The department had earlier demanded capital gains tax of Rs 8,000 crore and a penalty of Rs 3,500 crore from Vodafone as tax deducted at source. According to the IT department, Hutchison Whampoa was liable to pay tax, as India doesn’t have a DTAA with Hong Kong. The department contended that Vodafone should have deducted tax on the purchase amount before payment.

The verdict comes as a huge blow to Vodafone, as the company did not factor the tax liability in its bid for the controlling stakes of Hutchison Telecom in HEL. The High Court bench has allowed Vodafone to argue its case before the IT department on the penalty imposed, as the company was genuinely not aware of the tax liabilities at the time of the deal.

This judgment will have an impact on future mergers and acquisitions of Indian firms involving foreign players. Some of the deals currently under negotiation such as the one for the majority stake in Cairn India between Cairn Energy and Vedanta, both based outside India, will be impacted. Another similar transaction is the 2004 stake sale of outsourcing firm Genpact India by General Electric. Hitherto, levying capital gains tax in similar transactions will be easier for the IT department.

The judgment is bound to be appealed against in Supreme Court.