IIFA 2014 Tampa Bay gossip: Priyanka Chopra seriously ticks off Ranveer Singh during the show

Photo courtesy of IIFA

I've got much more to come later on how covering the IIFA Awards was a nightmare, but first I thought I'd whip this up and put it out there:

Months ago after Gunday, some sources said Ranveer Singh vowed he’d never work with Priyanka Chopra again.

Those of us sitting on the floor at the IIFA Awards this weekend in Tampa Bay saw the rumored spat turn into a full-blown fight during PC’s act.

After some aerial stunts and busting more than a few moves, Priyanka descended from the stage during Tune Maari Entriyaan to the celebrity seating, where she was met by an eager Ranveer. After good-naturedly shimmying a bit with her Gunday co-star (worth noting other co-star Arjun Kapoor wasn’t there, though his daddy was), she proceeded to her real target: John Travolta.

60-year-old Travolta, of course known for shaking a leg in hits like Grease and Saturday Night Fever, was there accepting a special award for his outstanding contribution to international cinema. He proceeded on stage with her to show off those dance moves. The video is amazing, if you haven't seen it.

He later accepted the award from and then did a dance with Hrithik Roshan, the only star’s name he even tried to pronounce, probably wisely so after his now infamous Oscar gaffe.

But let’s just say Ranveer wasn’t too happy about being passed over for a Hollywood star.

He stormed off to the side, found organizers and proceeded to let loose a serious string of abuses. The organizers of course had to placate Ranveer as he was performing later in the show.

Also later in the show, Priyanka was supposed to be presented with a special “Woman Of Substance” award (you know, one of those things they cook up just so she gets something). But announcers said she had left to catch a flight and so her music agent would accept it in her place.

I have to wonder whether a fight rather than a flight was the cause for PC’s early departure. It does seem odd that she'd plan to leave before being presented with her only award of the night.

India goes to the 2013 Oscars (and loses...again) -- I'm sad and I'm not

This seemed a lot like India’s year at the Oscars. No, Barfi!, India’s official submission for foreign language, didn’t make it to the big night, but some noteworthy others did. Bollywood was represented by three of its best in unassuming roles in two of the year’s biggest films, and India itself was an integral part of one of those films where an Indian voice also sang its way to nomination.

Veteran Bwood actor Anupam Kher was there alongside such Hollywood brass as legendary Robert De Niro, Sexiest Man Alive Bradley Cooper and best lead actress Jennifer Lawrence. All, of course, part of the cast of Silver Linings Playbook, which was nominated for best picture.

*From 2009 Oscars, not this year's.

Also up for best picture: Life of Pi. I mistakenly assumed Irrfan Khan would actually be there. 

It wasn’t too long a shot, considering he had a much more integral role in 11-time-nominee Life of Pi than Anupam Uncle had in eight-time-nominee Silver Linings and that it wouldn’t have been Irrfan’s first Oscars (he was there in 2009 for Slumdog). But alas, it seems that we were not treated to Irrfan in an awards-show-caliber tux this year. And to add to the sadness of that, there was no Tabu to be seen either. (Though given that her role is smaller, I had less expectation of her being there.)

Nor were we treated to a major win by either film this year, despite the fact that the odds were good. (Insert obligatory Argo-you-know-what-yourself remark here.)

Qualms about Ra.One and Shahrukh's chasing a hit

Hello all! I’ve been working for a while on this post and the Don one you can expect soon, but I’ve been so busy (classes/midterms, taking over full time at the student paper and looking for a job) that it is just now materializing.

Well, last week (almost two weeks ago) I did my blog for the paper — which, incidentally, is doing amazingly well; my post on Rockstar’s soundtrack generated as much traffic in a week as this blog does in a good month — about Ra.One and its hype. I ended up going somewhere with it that I didn’t intend to go, namely talking about superheroes vs. heroes in Bollywood. But thinking about the Ra.One hype made me think of something else.

Is anyone else worried about Shahrukh in all of this? The man seems to be running himself ragged with promoting this film (not to mention the money riding on this film). All we get from him via Twitter these days is exhaustion and pain in his knee. That’s not good.

And as young as I’ve always thought SRK looks, every photo I’ve seen of him at an event lately looks terrible. He looks exhausted, disinterested and, well, old. His onscreen charm and his offscreen persona seem to be increasingly at odds.

This is the happiest picture (via AFP) I've seen of SRK at recent events, and it's pathetic.

And as much as I love SRK, his hit-chasing doesn’t sit well with me. When he said earlier this year that his dream “is to make that one Indian film that the world will watch even if it is in Hindi,” a red flag went up with me. That shouldn’t be an ambition. Quality filmmaking is an ambition. World-conquering hits should be a byproduct of a good film (like 3 Idiots).

That’s what worries me about Ra.One. I’m so excited for it that it almost can’t live up to my expectations, and I’m afraid that it’s trying so hard that there’s almost no way it can turn out well. That’s kind of what happened with My Name is Khan. It tried so hard that it sort of forgot to make a solid film. Sure, it still did well and I still liked parts of it, but it wasn’t what it could have been on the whole (and unlike some, I’m a Karan Johar fan that says that).

Even with my qualms, I’m going to see Ra.One on opening day — much to my excitement and sheer joy it’s showing here in my college town, so I don’t have to drive two hours each way to see it on opening day. I have to review it more professionally first for the newspaper, but expect the more fangirly nonsense (and perhaps more spoilery stuff, though it will be marked) to show up here on Wednesday.

Imran Week: News on Upcoming Film Short Term Shaadi

According to the Times of India, Karan Johar is delaying Imran Khan’s upcoming film Short Term Shaadi to bank on Imran’s rising popularity. It’s only fair that I tackle this interesting development during, well, Imran Week!

Specifically, the Times says, “Karan Johar seems to have delayed the release of his film 'Short Term Shaadi' to bank on Imran Khan's rising popularity.”

Now I’m going to skip my high-and-mighty journalistic rants about the quality of composition in this little article (from the world’s largest English-language newspaper) and the fact that short-term should be hyphenated in the film’s title, and get to the real interesting thing here: KJo thinks he needs to wait to capitalize on Imran’s popularity.

I’m still rather new to the whole Bollywood arena, but it does seem to me that Imran is less of draw than even the others in the younger set like Shahid and Ranbir. Maybe we have the stronger attachment to Imran that we do because we watched an Imran flick (I Hate Luv Storys) before a Shahid or Ranbir one, but it seems that we’re in the minority. Imran is, though, somewhat younger to the business than Ranbir or Shahid, even though they’re all about the same age (Ranbir and Imran are 28; Shahid is 30).

But with today’s opening of Delhi Belly, which has been much-hyped, Imran appears to be looking at a possible launch (re-launch?) of popularity. At least that’s what KJo seems to think, and I may agree with him.

Another Imran flick, Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, also starring Katrina Kaif is set to land Sept. 9 (the same day, mind you, as Ranbir’s Rockstar and Shahid’s much-much-much anticipated Mausam; theaters and yours truly are going to have some tough decisions to make). I don’t know much about Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, but it sounds like it’s set to be a decent draw too.

So, then, if Delhi Belly and Mere Brother Ki Dulhan are set to give Imran a boost, is Karan Johar wise to delay Imran’s next film? The way I see it, this decision has two sides to it. One, if Imran gets a boost from these next two films, holding off on releasing the next one instead of releasing it on the heels of a successful one can hurt you. The old adage strike while the iron’s hot.

But on the other hand, waiting to see how your star’s image comes out in his two preceding films can help you with your advertising and marketing plan. If Imran comes out well-liked, you slant the campaign toward the fact that it stars Imran. If Imran doesn’t get much of a boost, you focus on something else.

So, is KJo’s choice wise? The Times seems to think so. I’m on the fence.

This, I suppose, is one of those rare places where Hollywood and its one-film-at-a-time model have an advantage over Bollywood’s high-volume, one-on-the-heels-of-another output.

Read the rest of the Times’s brief article here, if you’re interested. Additional thoughts, anyone?