Teen Patti(Amitabh, Ben Kingsley, & Madhavan), Director: Leena Yadav (Releases February 26, 2010) Options

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Making Of 'Teen Patti' Part 1

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/...tti-Part-1.html

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http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/news/2010/...3806/index.html

After Kites, Teen Patti gets a Hollywood editor

First it was Anurag Basu's Kites which got an editor Brett Ratner from Hollywood to put together the material after the Indian editor Akiv Ali (a regular on Anurag's films like Gangster and Life In A Metro).

Director Anurag Basu was none too pleased with this creative meddling. But there was little he could do.

Now it's Teen Patti which has roped in the services of a Hollywood editor over and above the desi editor Kaushik Das.

Hughes Winborne who has edited the Will Smith starrers The Pursuit Of Happyness and Seven Pounds and also won an Oscar for his editing in Paul Haggis's Crash has done the 're-edit' of Teen Patti.

Explains the director Leena Yadav, "We needed that international sensibility to be placed on the footage. We sent a subtitled print to Hughes. But he soon did away with the subtitles. He got all the Hindi jokes and punch lines."

Why was it felt that a Hollywood editor would be able to give Teen Patti the global cut? Explains Leena, "It's really about getting the rhythm right. The Western audience has a different pace for movie viewing. That pace worked beautifully in my film." An international editor was not all that Teen Patti got from abroad. The film also imported a stunt co-ordinator.

It was a sight to behold when the petite female director Leena Yadav decided to direct the Big B in some of his toughest stunts in the post-Zanjeer era for Teen Patti. The German stunt director Armin Sauer who has worked with global biggies like Matt Damon in the Bourne Supremacy and Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardener had been called to supervise the stunts.

Leena let go of all stops and made sure she pulled the punches as hard as Armin.

"These stunts that Mr. Bachchan has performed are very real, very raw. Not for a second was I allowed to feel like a woman on the sets. Agreed there were a lot of men on the set and two intimidating stalwarts like Mr. Amitabh Bachchan and Sir Ben Kingsley. But any director regardless of gender would have felt equally intimidated by these two stalwarts."

It's generally said that female directors have a much tougher time directing a film than their male counterparts. Leena says she has never had to suffer because of her gender. "Not once did I feel I was disadvantaged by my gender. On the sets, my authority was never questioned. Whether it was legends like Mr. Bachchan and Sir Ben or the newcomers, they all surrendered to my vision."

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Big B surprises us all: Teen Patti director

That Amitabh Bachchan leaves his co-stars in awe is well-known but Teen Patti director Leena Yadav says the megastar not only spells magic in front of the camera but surprised everyone with his expertise in tennis, violin and piano as well.

"Mr Bachchan is good in so many things. We were in awe. When we were shooting, we used to play games and we saw how perfect he is in tennis," said Yadav.

She said there was a scene in the film where Bachchan's character had to play violin.

"I got an expert to train him and kept telling him that the expert wants to show him how to hold the violin. But Mr Bachchan insisted on doing it during the shot. When he came to the floor, the expert was standing to show him but he took the violin, placed it rightly and started playing perfectly. He played the piano also. He surprised us in many ways," Yadav recalled.

Releasing this Friday, Teen Patti features Bachchan as a mathematician trying to evolve a thesis on probability by relating it to the Indian card game of 'teen patti'. The film also stars Hollywood legend Ben Kingsley.

Yadav, who co-scripted the movie with Shiv Subramanyam, reveals that the probability theory Bachchan tries to prove is absolutely fictitious, but insists it is applicable to card games to some extent.

"See, probability is a very interesting theory in mathematics. You can even apply it just by logic. It doesn't need an equation there. Also, when a shuffle happens, you can tell what's the probability of the card...

"It can be applied, but obviously a man's mind cannot do it sitting on a table because it involves pages of calculation. So we went through the whole process and then simplified it," she said.

Yadav said the idea of making a film on the subject was lying dormant in her mind for a long time but the plot developed after she researched on the card scams in the US.

"I always wanted to make a film on the mindset of today's youth where they want to be rich and successful very fast. I read a lot about card scams and did a lot of research on greed and the psychology behind that...Spoke to a lot of my friends.

"All through the process I started finding it more and more interesting. And then when Shiv Subramanyam and I started writing, the characters automatically evolved," she said.

Before shooting began, Yadav did a reality check on an illegal gambling hideout to know how makeshift casinos function.

"In Mumbai, gambling is illegal. So in different shady places they make temporary set-ups so that they can escape if there is a raid. While shooting I took the creative liberty of shooting it on a set, but before that I visited one functioning 'adda' to have a feel of what exactly happens there. It was quite risky," she said.

Apart from the two veterans, the film also stars R. Madhavan. And the director is also introducing four new faces - Siddharth Kher, Vaibhav Talwar, Dhruv Ganesh and Shakti Kapoor's daughter Shraddha Kapoor.

Asked why she chose four newcomers, Yadav said: "Mr.Bachchan, Sir Ben Kingsley, Madhavan and the four debutant actors are the primary actors. While choosing these four actors, we were in two minds whether to take established actors or to go with fresh faces.

"Finally, we decided to take these young people because they fit the age they require to play in the film. It took us 8 to 10 months to cast them. We went to different cities for audition and finally chose them."

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Ben Kingsley gambles on success in Bollywood debut

By Shail Kumar Singh (AFP) – 8 hours ago

MUMBAI — British actor Ben Kingsley this week makes his debut in a Bollywood film, nearly 30 years after his Oscar-winning performance in "Gandhi" catapulted him to worldwide fame.

The 66-year-old plays a brilliant mathematician, Perci Trachtenberg, in the thriller "Teen Patti" (Three Cards) who meets a reclusive fellow academic, Venkat, at a London casino.

Venkat (Amitabh Bachchan) tells him of a discovery he has made that he believes could redefine ideas about probability and tests his theory on a tour of Mumbai's illegal gambling dens.

Director Leena Yadav's film has an all-star cast, including Irrfan Khan ("Slumdog Millionaire", "A Mighty Heart"), Boman Irani and Tamil-language star R. Madhavan, who were both recently seen in the Aamir Khan hit "3 Idiots".

India's first Miss Universe Sushmita Sen and action-comedy hero Ajay Devgan also star in the film, which hits screens on Friday.

Kingsley's role "is very crucial in the film and he is not playing a cameo," said Yadav, who has described the movie as more about the risky decisions people make than actual gambling, which is illegal in most of India.

"I always wanted an international star to play the role of Perci in my film and I knew there was no one else who could give justice to the film except Sir Ben Kingsley. I am happy that I got him on board," she added.

Kingsley, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, is a household name in India because of his depiction of the country's independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, which won him the Best Actor award in the 1982 Oscars.

The film is played on Indian Independence Day every year.

Kingsley, whose huge body of work includes the Oscar-winning "Schindler's List", has been back to India to promote the film, earning plaudits for his professionalism from co-stars.

Bachchan has called him a "wonderful human being," a "considerate and well-prepared actor and also a gracious man".

Kingsley -- born Krishna Bhanji to a British mother and Indian-origin father -- has said his love for India is "as strong as ever".

"I am still connected to 'Gandhi'. It's a recognition. It's something indelible and extraordinary in my bones," he told reporters at the International Film Festival of India last December.

Kingsley is set to play the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the film "Taj", about his project to build the Taj Mahal mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz, with shooting scheduled to start later this year.

He is the latest foreign star to appear in a Bollywood movie, as the Hindi-language film industry seeks new audiences overseas and Hollywood increasingly looks for tie-ups with Indian studios.

Yadav said she had "no idea" why Bollywood had not approached Kingsley before and indicated that future appearances by global cinema stars in Indian films were likely.

"I sent my script to his agent and he... loved it. He immediately agreed to do the role," she said.

"I feel the world has become a small place and it is not difficult these days to approach agents of Hollywood or international actors."

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Americans love Teen Patti

Teen Patti will release in India in three days, and the buzz around it is pretty positive. Producer Ambika Hinduja is under the weather, but when you talk to her about filmmaking and Teen Patti, she transforms into a bundle of excitement and enthusiasm.

The passionate, business-savvy and intelligent producer is optimistic about the Indian and international success of Teen Patti.

“Teen Patti is a film for the youth and for a global audience. It deals with universal themes such as greed, deception, relationships and achievements,” says Ambika.

Teen Patti has an Indian editor and an American one too. “We have two editors on the film: Kaushik Das is the Indian editor and Hughes Winborne, an Academy Award winner, is our American editor. We chose him because he has edited The Pursuit of Happyness and Crash, and I liked the style of those films, and not because he was an Academy Award winner. I sent him the script, and he loved it and decided to work on it. He came here and hadn’t seen a single frame of the film before that. We had done a basic line-up for him. On the flight to Bombay, he happened to see one Hindi movie: Rock On, and we were thrilled because he liked it. He had not even seen a single Mr. Bachchan film. He saw the rushes and the line-up and he was excited! We had subtitled it for him, and he said he didn’t even need them because he understood the film like the back of his hand. He was here for two months to edit the film, and he completely transformed it. He won’t be here for the premiere because he is working on another film, but I will surely work with him again,” she says brightly.

About choosing an American editor, Ambika explains, “I think it is important to have an outer perspective on a film. When you make a film, you get attached to it. Leena started off as an editor, and she is fantastic, but I told her it was better to get a fresh perspective to transform the film. She was absolutely fine with it. That is why we get along, because we think alike. I am the producer and I am running the show, she is the director and she is also running the show. We think alike and that is why we work well, touchwood.”

Ambika’s second production also got an encouraging response at the Cannes Film Festival. “I wasn’t present at the Cannes Film Festival, but Sir Ben Kingsley promoted the film there. We believe the film is global in its appeal. A lot of studios we met independently were very impressed with the promos, and Sir Ben Kingsley too is speaking highly of it. Sir Ben said he enjoyed working with us and that he wants to work with us again,” she says, absolutely thrilled.

Ambika believes Teen Patti can have a mainstream US release. And she has a valid reason for it. “There is one person who has seen the film. He is completely American and has seen very few old Hindi movies. He is my lawyer. When he saw it, he told me that he had come with the mindset of seeing a foreign language film, but Teen Patti was nothing like it. At the end of it, he clapped and said that if we had mainstream American actors in it, the film would have been a Hollywood blockbuster. I thought that was the most encouraging thing anyone could have said. I was damn thrilled and I told Leena. We tried hard to get it a non-traditional release, but the markets were hit by recession. I felt the timing was not perfect, but now, we are very confident. I think even if the opening is not great, it will pick up through word-of-mouth publicity and people who are not Indians will see and love the movie,” she smiles confidently.

Unlike Being Cyrus, which had a limited release, Teen Patti will have a worldwide release. “Teen Patti has a worldwide release. In the UK, we have over 25 screens; in the Middle East, we have 20-22 screens; the number of screens in the US is 55; and we have a huge chunk of screens in India along with Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Canada and The Netherlands. I believe the world is getting smaller and people are interested in each other’s cultures. A lot of studios were interested in acquiring Teen Patti. I met some studio executives in the US and they thought Slumdog was an Indian film, which it is not. If people have appreciated Slumdog Millionaire, which was an Indian story told by a British filmmaker, why shouldn’t we take advantage of the platform that cinema offers? Anything that makes money is commercial, and we should reach out to as big an audience as it is possible,” concludes the bright producer.

http://www.starboxoffice.com/newsDetails.a...ws_20100223_111

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"Amitabh Bachchan is the biggest teddy bear!" - Saira Mohan

http://www.bollyspice.com/view.php/4465-am...aira-mohan.html

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Teen Patti' At Casino Royale, Goa

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I'd like to make a film in India: Ben Kingsley


Oscar-winning British actor-filmmaker Ben Kingsley is all praise for Indian women directors Nandita Das and Leena Yadav. But he now wants to make his own film in India instead of doing more Bollywood movies.

'I'd like to make a film of my own in India, (but) you are not going to see me in a mainstream Bollywood film,' Kingsley, 66, who stars as a mathematical genius in Yadav's 'Teen Patti', told IANS over phone from London.

'I do intend to hopefully produce and star in my own film in India. We are having some progress on that. Rather than creating offers, I am creating my own work in India which to me is very satisfying,' he added.

Drawing a similarity between director Yadav and Lord Attenborough whose film 'Gandhi' was based in India and fetched Kingsley an Oscar, he said: 'All good directors have one particular quality in common.

'Both Yadav and Attenborough have a deep respect and obsession for actors. This is where they are not different. They are remarkably similar. I think their manner on the set is excellent.'

Kingsley has teamed up with Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in 'Teen Patti' that tells the story of two genius mathematicians who apply the formula of probability on the card tables. However, he regrets he couldn't shoot in India.

'I was hoping that my scenes might be in India, but all my scenes were in the UK. (But) It did give me an opportunity to work with the best in Indian cinema and to see the rhythm of work... It was a kind of delightful experiment in perhaps re-entering the Indian subcontinent after being away for too long.'

In real life, the Hollywood veteran is not so good at cards.

'I am always asking people to remind me of the rule. I always pick up a card in my hand and say, 'what does that mean?' So I completely give the game away.

'I do recall that as a child at school, learning my multiplication tables that I did the fastest in the class which got me prizes at school for being a little boy extremely quick at mathematics.'

'Mathematical patterns in life and science do fascinate me, but I haven't kept company of mathematicians, but it is something that I find attractive.'

He says he loves working with women directors.

'I find a female director does things in a way, which is an exception. Now you have another great Indian film director - Nandita Das. That's another female director. I like female directors. They have a different picture of life and they use the camera in a different way. They tell stories in a different way.'

He worked with Spanish director Isabel Coixet in 'Elegy' and Kari Skogland for 'Fifty Dead Men Walking'.

'I'm looking forward to working with more. I'd like to work with her (Nandita Das) as an actor and also as a director.'

About Indian films, he said: 'You have very distinct styles of cinema. You have your popular Bollywood movies which are loved by the massive Indian diaspora. When I was travelling recently in London, my driver was Indian. I asked him if he had seen 'Brick Lane', 'After The Rain', 'The Namesake', 'Slumdog Millionaire'. He said we don't watch these films when we sit down together and as a family... what we can watch together are the Bollywood films.

'So your filmmaking is perceived in different ways in the Western world. One is for the Indian diaspora, which we call mainstream Bollywood. Then there are other new films that are coming out of India. They have great popularity among Western audiences.

'Among the Western audience I would say 'Brick Lane' is popular and I would say 'The Namesake' by Mira Nair is popular. Mira Nair has an interesting following in the world,' he said.

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Madhavan's 'Teen Patti' At Casino Royale, Goa

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Ambika Hinduja Speaks About 'Teen Patti'

http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/broadband/...Teen-Patti.html

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Box Office: Karthik calling Karthik fares weakly, Teen Patti follows; March Hits

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Holi weekend did not get capitalized this week by Bollywood's film releases. Karthik Calling Karthik, tried to appeal to the youth on the tale of a loserly youth but opened poorly on Friday to the tune of 20%, improved a bit on Saturday, before dropping again on Sunday. Monday on Holi was low and Tuesday which in multiplexes tends to pick up compared to Monday is down in the 10% range. The film is looking at a 10-12 crore haul perhaps.

On the other hand, Teen Patti is a flop also. Teen Patti has fared just a bit better than last month's Rann though it once again featured Amitabh Bachchan in a key role. It maybe due to lack of a heroine and grim visuals but years ago, the mere rumor of a special appearance by Amitabh Bachchan in a movie like Geraftar would ensure a historic opening, the likes of which would even put a 3 Idiots or Krrish to shame. Either these directors don't know how to use Amitabh Bachchan in their films or Bachchan himself has forgotten what made him superstar was not sermonizing in spectacles wearing nehru jackets or putting the gun on his head, but rather putting the gun on Amjad Khan's or Prem Chopra's heads instead.

The Leena Yadav film had collections opening at 10-15%. This too improved a bit on Saturday before dropping on Sunday. Monday was Holi so people were either playing Rang Barse or watching Amitabh on TV instead. Tuesday then had collections pick up again better than Monday but not remarkably so.

Objectively, It is clear that Bachchan at near 70 can't have 3 films releasing in 3 months consecutively and have them each click big. Having had Paa release in December 2009 proved a big hit profitmaker. But Rann then got released within 7 weeks of Paa and now Teen Patti within 4 weeks of Rann. A Shahrukh Khan, who's himself aging now but is 25 years younger than Bachchan had 2 releases (Dulha Mil Gaya, My Name Is Khan) in 2 months, which was not a good idea as both made losses. Salman Khan similarly has had 4 releases in 5 months (Wanted, Mr & Mrs Khanna, London Dreams, Veer) and only 1 (Wanted) even took in a decent initial and even Wanted couldn't get an initial in multiplexes. Ranbir Kapoor is almost 40 years younger than Amitabh Bachchan and a star now. But he had 3 releases in 3 months last year, and the 3rd one (Rocket Singh) ran out of steam despite getting good reviews and being a Yash Raj/Aditya Chopra production. So at this point, nobody can have a release month after month and have them all click big so Bollywood producers are mostly wasting their money releasing films of the same actor in consecutive months.

But Bachchan gave a hit in Paa last year in a difficult setup and it's a mistake to underestimate him even now. The difference between Amitabh and the rest is palpable in the fact that Bachchan is still giving hits every few films and winning best popular lead actor awards while his onetime contemporary and partner, Shashi Kapoor, had to be brought in a wheelchair to accept a lifetime achievement award at the same function. Amitabh's upcoming film 'Buddha' is said to be an action-comedy film and one never knows if a director maybe able to figure out the right-clicking formula for today's time that used to make movies ranging from Aakhree Raasta to Namak Halal record bumper grosses at the box office.

Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan's My Name is Khan continued the slide towards box office dust further itself. After a 70% decline in 2nd week despite open run, MNIK is now looking at possibly just 2-3 crore week 3, essentially ending its run. The film is down to 2-3 shows at multiplexes from hereonin and may not touch 60 crores. Fox is scrambling to figure out ways to control its 20+ crore losses.

The projects Indian box office is looking up ahead to give the year it's first out and out commercial hit include Athithi Tum Kab Jaoge, Phoonk 2, Prince, Right Yaa Wrong, and Kajarare. Outside of Athithi, the others seem to have tough to tougher prospects.

Big Holi month releases in the month of March post 1970:
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Jeevan Mrityu - March 21, 1970 - Dharmendra, Rakhee
Chor Machaye Shor - March 22, 1974 - Shashi Kapoor, Mumtaz
Dus Numbri - March 12, 1976 - Manoj Kumar, Hema Malini (250+ crore adjusted grosser)
Kabhi Kabhi - March 1, 1976 - Amitabh Bachchan, Rakhee, Waheeda Rehman (Golden jubilee hit)
Avtaar - March 11, 1983 - Rajesh Khanna, Shabana Azmi (Silver jubilee hit)
Paap Ki Duniya - March 18, 1988 - Sunny Deol, Neelam, Chunky Pandey
Agni Sakshi - March 29, 1996 - Nana Patekar, Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala (A1; AA in Maharashtra)
Namaste London - March 23, 2007 - Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif
Race - March 21, 2008 - Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor, Katrina Kaif

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http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/86...ine+gamers.html

Teen Patti, a hit among online gamers

The old Indian card game Teen Patti, also the title and theme of the Amitabh Bachchan, Ben Kingsley-starrer, is becoming popular on a new platform on the Internet.

The gaming format is gaining immense popularity with online audiences across India.

Even the Big B is using the social network portal Ibibo's Teen Patti game for promotion of his flick that was released last Friday.

This version has been introduced keeping in mind the popularity of the game across different genre of audience while maintaining the legal sanctity, say creators.

According to Ibibo CEO Ashish Kashyap, the Teen Patti game is a huge rage with the youth wherein tens of thousands of people spend hours everyday playing this online version while simultaneously interacting real time with their friends.

"The game is built with the vision of getting people connected and network via this live multiplayer gaming format. The uniqueness of this game is that it is social. Rather than being one-player platform, Teen Patti allows six players to play live simultaneously on a virtual table while sitting anywhere in India," Kashyap said.

The game was launched last October on the eve of Diwali.

"Since then the game has seen a phenomenal response across different genre of players and is growing by 200 per cent month on month active user," he says.

According to Kashyap, popularity of gambling in India is evident from the fact that the online market opportunity in India is being pegged at a staggering USD 5 billion and the overall betting market is even bigger at USD 40 billion.

"India has also recently opened up its online gambling license and the Internet has some top international operators trying to secure India's first ever online gambling license."

Hinduja Interactive, the online and digital partners of film Teen Patti, is also promoting a contest on Facebook fan page via an exclusive tab which leads directly to a contest page.

Mobile entertainment company Nazara Technologies is also planning something on the game.

"Earlier we had launched a poker game based on the Hollywood cult movie Rounders. After seeing the latest trend, we are already on a concept stage for few more games on this genre," says Nazara CEO Nitish Mittersain.

Popular gaming site zapak.com, besides several other portals also have a Teen Patti game.

Gaming site Gameloft, however, does not have immediate plans to start Teen Patti.

"We do not have the license for the Teen Patti and currently we don't have any plans either," says Ashutosh Sharma, Gameloft's account manager.

Teen Patti uses a standard 52 card deck with Aces ranking highest and twos the lowest.