Anupam Kher all set to open acting schools in London, Durban & Los Angeles

After a year cluttered with achievements, Anupam Kher is all set to add more feathers in his cap in 2008.

Branches of his acting school - Actor Prepares - will open in London and Durban (this year), and in Los Angeles, United States (next year).

"We've completed all the formalities. The school in London will start some time in June, while the one in Durban takes off in August 2008.

In 2007, I started new branches of my school in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. What started as a very small intimate and sincere effort to share my acting skills with newcomers has now spread to three continents.

For our acting school, the proudest achievement in 2007 was Deepika Padukone. Yes, she's our product," says the proud guru, who hopes to expand his acting school to America in 2009.

Anupam is the only actor in the world with acting schools in Asia, Europe and South Africa.

From Ang Lee's Lust, Caution to Lead India Campaign, 2007 has been an extraordinary year of triumphs for the actor.

"Yes, when I look back on the year I do feel a great sense of satisfaction. I did quite a large number of films, good and not-so-good in 2007.

In addition, I went to Israel to do the commentary in a 6-dimensional film on India and its culture, and then I gave my voice to an international animation film where I played an Indian horse.

But I guess my biggest achievement is my acting school. I'm very proud of our students. The one in Mumbai is so successful that we've to take two batches of students instead one, for 2008."

All the best Anupam, for your upcoming projects in 2008/2009!

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Anupam Kher+Satish Kaushik = New Production Unit

After Vikram Bhatt, Anupam Kher and Satish Kaushik have joined hands along with friend Manoj Mittal from Delhi to launch a film production company called Karol Bagh Film & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

Long time friends Anupam and Satish have started this venture so that they can make films which they believe in. The production will make its debut with a love story called Tere Sang, starring newcomers.

Reportedly they are also planning to produce a children’s film. According to Anupam the script for the film has been submitted by a director and he himself will be directing the film next year.

Anupam, Celina in Indo-Pak production

Director Shashi Ranjan has joined hands with Pakistan's Syma Khar to make their first Indo-Pak production. Titled MUNGILAL ROCKS, Shashi and Syma have signed a host of Indian actors for pivotal roles: Anupam Kher, Celina Jaitley, Johny Lever, Rakhi Sawant, Ranveer Shorey, Gulshan Grover and Satish Shah.

The songs will be composed by Roop Kumar Rathod.

Satyajit Ray’s ‘Feluda’ on International scene

According to Bollywood News & Gossip, BBC will soon air the legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s detective character in literature Feluda. Rahul Bose, Anupam Kher, Jackie Shroff, Dalip Tahil and Jaspal Bhatti have been roped in to do two special dramatized versions of the detective series in English on BBC World Service radio. Rahul Bose will step into the shoes of the fictional Bengali super brain to life in the two stories, with Anupam Kher playing his sidekick, the bumbling crime writer Lalmohan Ganguly. Jackie Shroff plays the fraudster Machchli Baba and Dalip Tahil the arch-villain Meganlal Meghraj in story The Mystery of the Elephant God. Jaspal Bhatti will feature in the other story, The Golden Fortress, playing the jolly taxi driver who steers his cab with his tummy. Newcomer Hari Balasubramaniam will play Feluda’s cousin Topshe in both productions and legendary radio presenter Ameen Sayani will make an appearance in both. Sanjeev Kohli does the music composing part of it. English writer Ray Grewal turned the famous filmmaker’s fictional writing into radio plays.

BBC World Service has 42 million listeners in English around the world. It is broadcasting Feluda: The Golden Fortress as part of a special season of programmes called India Rising, which aims to deliver a close-up and personal look at modern India. BBC World Service will broadcast: Feluda: The Golden Fortress on Saturday, February 10, and Feluda: The Mystery of the Elephant God on Saturday, August 11.

Anupam Kher to start acting school in Chandigarh

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher has tied up with Chandigarh Tourism for setting up an acting institute here on the lines of the one he set up in Mumbai two years ago.

A spokesman of the Chandigarh administration Friday said that the acting institute would be the first of its kind in this region after Delhi.

It was being set up following a suggestion by noted filmmaker Yash Chopra who is the chairman of the city's advisory committee for setting up a film city here.

It would cater to students from Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

An agreement between Anupam Kher's Actor Prepares company and the Society for Tourism and Entertainment Promotion (Steps) is likely to be signed later this month.

The administration would provide space for the acting school in the premises of the central craft institute in Sector 11 here. Classes are likely to start in April for the one-year course.

The setting up of the acting institute is in line with the administration's move to promote the city as a destination for filmmakers.

Kher was a student of the Department of Indian Theatre in Punjab University here nearly three decades ago.

Oscar Winner Ang Lee Signs Anupam Kher

According to Tanya from Our Bollywood, Anupam Kher, one of the finest actors of India, has added yet another feather to his cap.

The supremely talented actor has bagged a key role in noted director Ang Lee’s new film Lust, Caution, being made in Chinese language.

The makers and the actor closed the deal on 3rd January and the actor will begin filming for this venture next week.

It’s an honor to work in an international project and if the director happens to be none other than the Oscar winning Ang Lee, who has helmed projects like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, it’s the ultimate honour for an actor.

Lust, Caution is an espionage thriller set in WWII-era Shanghai, revolving around Mr Yee, a powerful political figure and Wang Jiazhi, a young woman who gets swept up in a dangerous game of emotional intrigue with him.

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