Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to Attend ‘Drona’ Premier

Upcoming Bollywood film Drona will hit the big screens globally on 2 October 2008. The big budget Eid flick is expected to be a huge hit in the box office and generate huge cash in for the producers. Abhishek Bachchan plays the title character of the movie Drona. The movie will be premiered on 1 October. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is currently shooting for her movie Shankar's Enthiran (also known as Robot) in Brazil, will arrive in India on time to be with hubby Abhishek Bachchan in Drona premier. The actress is hurrying to reach India, wrapping up the shooting.

One India reported:

Confirming us the news, Aish's secretary Hari Singh said, "Aishwarya was in Peru till last week for a song shoot of Shankar's Enthiran (formerly called Robot) starring South Superstar Rajinikanth. Now presently she is shooting for the film in the rain forests of Brazil. She wants to be with Abhishek's side on his big day on October 1st. She is as excited as him to check him out in his first super hero avatar."

Drona features Abhishek Bachchan in a super-hero character and the movie could be his second solo hit in his career after the 2007 hit Guru. Alongside Abhishek Bachchan the movie also features Priyanka Chopra as Drona’s love bird and bodyguard, Sonia; Kay Kay Menon in a devilish role of Riz Raizada and Jaya Bachchan as Queen Jayati, the mother of Drona.

Abhishek Bachchan will definitely be happy getting Aishwarya Rai Bachchan beside him in the premier of the big budget film. Director Goldie Behl will also be happy to see another Bollywood star attending the premier of the movie Drona, the second directorial venture for Goldie Behl after 2003’s Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost. Now, let us see if Drona can live up to the expectation of moviegoers.

‘Drona’ Comic Books to be Available in the Market within 30 September

Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra starrer Drona will get released on next Thursday on 2^rd October 2008 globally. The big budget movie is expected to be a big hit during Eid festival. Meanwhile, reports out in the media suggest that a comic book series based on the movie Drona will be released in the country. Titled “The Adventures of Drona”, the comic series will include a number of books that will be available in the market subsequently.

The first book titled ‘The Crowning’ will be available in different departmental and book stores across the county by 30 September before the movie hits the screens. The book will serve as a prologue to the movie. The Crowning will establish the title character of the movie, Drona. The later books of the comic series will focus on other major characters of the movie- Sonia and Riz Raizada.

Businessofcinema reported:

"We realized the potential of making Drona comic books while working on the merchandise with Turner. Some parts of this comic book will be seen in the movie also. We plan to publish a series of books after this one," said producer Shrishti Arya.

The movie will be distributed by Euro Kids and will hit the market with the price tag of Rs. 50. Initially, 20,000 printed copies will be available across Shoppers Stop, Future Group and other book stores. Besides the comic book, some other merchandise products including clothes, swords, mugs, books, tiffin boxes, e-cards etc. will be available in various stores.

I think, it was a very good decision taken by Drona producers to publish a comic book based on the theme of the movie Drona. It will definitely work well as a promotion tools for the movie and will help the movie to get more exposure in the box office.

AaB Aalborg vs Manchester United Champions League: Preview, Live Score

Manchester United will travel to Energi Nord Arena in Denmark to face the Danish Superliga champion AaB Aalborg on Tuesday (30 September 200) in Champions League 2008-2009. The defending European champions did not have a good start in their title defense campaign of Champions League as they were held to a goalless draw by Villarreal at home. AaB Aalborg, on the other hand, got off to a good start in their second entrance to Champions League group stage as the Danish club came out with a point away at Celtic thanks to a goalless draw. In the upcoming match, AaB Aalborg will have home advantage against Manchester United.

Match: AaB Aalborg vs Manchester United, Group E, Champions League 2008-2009

Date: 30 September 2008

Venue: Energi Nord Arena, Aalborg

Kick off: 19:45 BST (British Standard Time)

Live on TV: ITV 4 TV channel

Manchester United had a very successful last season with a prestigious double of Premier league and Champions league titles. However, the Red Devils did not have a good start this season. With 8 points from five matches, Manchester United occupies the 9^th place in the league table. In fact, they could score only 6 goals from five outings against 4 goals being conceded. However, Manchester United is now set to put their title defense campaign in both premier league and in Europe back on track.

Alex Ferguson men defeated Bolton Wanderers 2-0 on Saturday in a league encounter with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. Cristiano Ronaldo did not take part in United’s Champions league opener against Villarreal, but the Portuguese star is all set to feature in the starting line up of Manchester United for the AaB Aalborg showdown. Ronaldo’s presence must boost up the confidence level of the Red Devils, as the Portuguese winger has the ability to dominate over the opposition with his pace and tactical skill.

However, Wayne Rooney must play a crucial role for the defending European champions because Rooney is perhaps the most consistent performer of Manchester United. Moreover, Ferguson has a few more quality options in record signing Dimitar Berbatov and Carlos Tevez who is known as big-match hero. Actually, Manchester United has very long squad with a lots of quality players in each and every positions. However, midfielder Michael Carrick might miss the trip to Aalborg with his foot injury that kept him out for the Bolton encounter as well.

AaB Aalborg also started the season with the tag of defending champion, but just after eight rounds, they found themselves two points above the relegation zone in Danish Superliga this season. So, you can understand that AaB Aalborg did not have a better domestic start than Manchester United. The Danish club lost five out of eight outings so far in the league with two victories and a draw. AaB Aalborg now occupies the 10^th place with 7 points under their belt. However, they pulled of an extra-time 3-2 victory over Bronshoj BK in Danish Cup competition.

However, manager Bruce Rioch, former manager of Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers, is somebody who, Ferguson believes, is able to make his boys fired up against Manchester United.

Mirror reported:

"Aalborg were lucky to get a draw at Celtic but they will be at home against us - and my old mate Bruce Rioch will have them fired up.

"They are playing Manchester United, they will have a sell-out crowd and the whole town will be up for it. Danish clubs are always battlers."

Despite their poor domestic run, AaB Aalborg, has impressed everyone with their performance in the Champions league opener against Celtic. So, Manchester United would make a big mistake if they take the Aalborg lightly, considering their current domestic form. Manchester United and AaB Aalborg never met each other previously. However, Sir Alex Ferguson knows very well about Danish clubs as he recently said that Danish clubs are battlers. On the other hand, Bruce Rioch also knows about English football as well as Manchester United as he had to meet Ferguson boys during his managerial spell with Bolton Wanderers and Arsenal in premier league.

A victory in the game is badly needed for United if they want to keep the pressure off their shoulder before meeting Celtic and Villarreal. No doubt, AaB Aalborg is the weakest side in Group E on pen and paper. So, anything less than a victory against AaB Aalborg will be considered as a failure for Manchester United. AaB Aalborg, on the other hand, has nothing to lose from the match, but has everything to win in their way. So, I think, the Danish side might show spirited performance in front of their home crowds.

Online Live Score and Updates

Here, I am giving some names of online live score websites from where you can get the online live score and updates of the match:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Goal.com

Footie Scorez

On pen and paper, Manchester United seems to be favorite against AaB Aalborg. However, I guess, AaB Aalborg would play all out against Manchester United, knowing the fact that they hardly have anything to lose to defending champions Manchester United. Rather, they can win everything, even if they can share point with Manchester United. Herein lies the indication of an exciting showdown between AaB Aalborg and Manchester United.

Arsenal vs Porto Champions League 08-09: Preview and Live Score

Arsenal hosts F.C. Porto on Tuesday in an exciting Champions League encounter. The Group G match will take place at Emirates Stadium with Arsenal looking to recover from Saturday’s surprise home defeat to premier league newcomer Hull City. Portuguese club Porto, on the other hand, has just got their title defense challenge back on track with Friday’s 2-0 victory over Pacos Ferreira, following two disappointing draws in the league. With Arsenal looking to retain the momentum they lost on Saturday and Porto eyeing on continuing their winning run, the upcoming meeting between the Arsenal and Porto seems to be an exciting one.

Match: Arsenal vs Porto, Group G, Champions League 2008-2009

Date: 20 September 2008, Tuesday

Venue: Emirates Stadium

Kick off: 19:45 BST (British Standard Time)

Going into the match on the back of 2-1 home defeat to Hull City, Arsenal must seek a strong come back with a spirited performance against the visiting side on Tuesday. With this defeat, Arsenal lost their chance to retain the top place in the league point table. The Gunners currently occupy 4^th place with 12 points from six games. In fact, this was Arsenal’s only second defeat at the Emirates Stadium.

The most important thing is that Arsenal had been playing very well in the past few weeks with their strikers finding goals easy to come by. In fact, a seemingly reserve Arsenal side outclassed Sheffield United 6-0 in the recent Carling Cup encounter. So, the setback Arsenal suffered to Hull City came as a big shock to the North London club.

Well, this is not the first time Arsenal lost a game this season. In fact, Arsene Wenger boys received an early blow at Fulham when they lost all three points to the home side few weeks back. However, since then, Arsenal went through a spell of jubilant form that saw Arsenal players finding net too often both at home and abroad. So, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is now hoping his boys would respond strongly after their recent upset. Wenger thinks that the attitude and the spirit in the squad are good, besides admitting that Arsenal was too easy to break against Hull City what, he hopes, his boys would not repeat again.

Footylatest reported:

"I'm confident that we’ll respond well on Tuesday night because the dissapointment is so deep. The attitude is good and the overall spirit in the team is very very good. Today we were caught a little bit for being too easy and I don’t think that will happen on Tuesday.

"They (Porto) are always a difficult side to play. They’ve just beaten Fenerbahce. They played last night and have given enough. We know in the Champions League we don’t have the same risk as we have tonight. We have to rebuild the confidence before Tuesday to get the right belief into the game."

F.C. Porto is the defending champion of Portuguese Liga (Portugal’s premier league), but the Dragons got off to a poor start this season. Porto drew at Benfica in the season opener before defeating Belenenses at home to pick up their first league victory this season. However, Porto faced tough challenge at Rio Ave who held the champions to a goalless draw. Then on Friday, F.C. Porto posted their second straight home victory against Pacos Ferreira thanks to goals from Raul Meireles and Hulk. So, Porto secures the 3^rd with 8 points from four matches, bridging the gap between leaders Nacional and Sporting Lisbon.

This has been one of the poorest starts for Porto in the league. May be a number of high-profile departures including Jose Bosingwa and Ricardo Quaresma over the Summer is taking the toll on Porto now. Porto started their Champions League campaign with a 3-1 victory over Fenerbahce at home. So, Porto manager Jesualdo Ferreira will want his boys continue their winning run at Arsenal.

Arsenal started their Europe mission with a 1-1 satisfactory draw away at Dynamo Kyiv. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger did not hand his summer signing Mikael Silvestre a debut game for Arsenal yet. Now, as the former Manchester United defender ready to take to field, Wenger might feature Mikael Silvestre against Porto. Gael Clichy returned to action against Hull City. Abou Diaby and Samir Nasri did not take part in the defeat to Hull with Diaby suffering from thigh injury. However, Samir Nasri might be part of Wenger’s squad for the visit of Porto. Besides, long term absentees Tomas Rosicky and Eduardo will remain sidelined.

Porto does not have as much injury woes as Arsenal has. Midfielder Lucho Gonzalez missed the home victory over Pacos Ferreira. I am not confirmed if the player would be able to feature against Arsenal.

Arsenal and Porto faced each other twice so far. Both the matches came in the Champions League in 2006 with the first match being drawn at Porto, and Arsenal wining the second one by 2-0 at home.

Online Live Score and Updates

Here, I am giving some names of online live score websites from were you can get the online live score and updates of he match:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Goal.com

Footie Scorez

Despite considering their 2-1 recent upset at home, I think, Arsenal still seems to be slightly favorite for the upcoming encounter against Porto in the Champions League. However, I can not write off Porto yet, especially considering their strength in the midfield. Arsenal will have home advantage and the guile to recover the Hull City wound, while Porto will look for a spirited performance away at Arsenal. So, I think, an exciting showdown is now waiting there at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday for the football fans.

Music Composer Dhruv Ghanekar About ‘Drona’ Songs

The upcoming Bollywood film Drona is the debut film for music director Dhruv Ghanekar who recently talked about the songs of the movie. Ghanekar feels all the songs of Drona music album are very much related with the story and different from one another. There are five songs with two remixes in the film. Dhruv Ghanekar termed director Goldie Behl as a creative person. He also added that Goldie Behl insisted him to sing the title score of the movie.

The Hindu reported:

"There are five songs and two remixes in the album. The background score is also equally important," Dhruv said. Dhruv is the co-founder of 'Smoke Music Productions' along with Ashutosh Phatak, a music production house working in the field of advertising, television and feature films.

"Goldie liked my voice and insisted that I sing it. I had given singing a backseat and concentrated on music composition over the years. When I was younger, I had sung jingles for Louis Banks and Vanraj Bhatia. Being a music director would always be my priority," he added.

Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Cuopra starrer Drona would hit the big screen next Thursday during the Eid festival. This would be Dhruv Ghanekar’s first movie as a music director. Drona is a big budget film based on a fictional story. Drona music album is already in the market. Now, let us see if Dhruv Ghanekar can make a splash with his debut film Drona.

Director Goldie Behl Talks about the Movie ‘Drona’

Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra starrer Drona will hit the screen next Thursday (2 October 2008). Bollywood moviegoers are eagerly waiting for the release of this big-budget Eid flick. Recently, director Goldie Behl said that Drona falls into the Harry Potter/Indiana Jones category. The director also compared Drona with Spiderman and Superman, claiming that the film features a hyper-real world. In fact, he talks about different issues about the movie Drona in an interview recently. Here, I am quoting few lines from the interview:

You have said Drona belongs to the Harry Potter/Indiana Jones category. What is it about those films that you find in yours?
The hyper-real environment in these films is what you would find similar in my film. The locations in my film are real, though the events are fictional. Compared to superhero films like Spiderman and Superman, Drona is much more intense and serious. I guess it’s like drama versus candyfloss. There is a strong sense of family legacy and bloodlines, which Indians take very seriously.

You have shot down comparisons with Krrish and Love Story 2050. What is “different” about Drona?
My film is not set in the past or future, so in that sense it is different. Drona is completely rooted in Indian myths and legends. It’s a fictional take on it. It’s in a hyper-real world. So it’s exciting, kind of like a graphic novel.

Goldie Behl said that he would be more prepared before getting into the sequel of Drona. Being asked if there is anything about Drona that he had not revealed yet, he said that the movie is highly emotional with innocence and a soul.

Manchester United Pulled off 2-0 Victory over Bolton Wanderers

Manchester United escaped with three points against Bolton Wanderers thanks to a controversial penalty awarded to United. With the 2-0 home victory, the defending champions are now in the 8^th position with 8 points from five outings. Manchester United opened scoring thanks to a penalty awarded by referee Rob Styles. However, television reply showed clearly that Jlloyd Samuel did not have an illegal challenge on Cristiano Ronaldo who later converted the penalty successfully to put Manchester United ahead in the match.

Bolton looked confident until conceding the first goal. However, following the first goal, they took the back seat and looked fragile. So, poor referring must be an issue in this regard. Manchester Untied got the second goal when Wayne Rooney’s curled shot found Bolton net following Ronaldo’s back-click. So, Bolton fans can claim that if the penalty was not awarded against them, the result could have been something different.

Well, having said that, Manchester Untied well-deserved three points from the match as they were better in each and every position in the field. Manchester United dominated all through the match with Ronaldo, Dimitar Berbatov keeping the Bolton defense always busy. With this defeat, Bolton Wanderers went down to 17^th position in the point table with only 4 points from 6 matches.

Related article:

BBC