Dinesh Kamath's old article on Bipasha Basu that was published in Newsband

Bipasha Basu was on the Best Tweeters list for 2011. Bipasha thinks it is the best tool that has come out to actually allow her to interact with the people who make her who she is. Not necessarily everyone is a fan and an admirer, sometimes there are people who just follow her. She had lots of people who followed her and then they become her fans. It is quite amazing. She has converted some people who just out of curiosity followed her to figure out what kind of person she is and they have become her fans in the process. It is a tool, which can really take out the real her to the people who have actually made her. It is fantastic. It is something amazing. Bipasha really likes to be on Twitter.
Bipasha has some projects lined up for 2012. The next one in line is Jodi Breakers. It comes out on the 25th of Feb. It is Bipasha's first romantic comedy. It is opposite Madhavan. It is a really cute film because for the first time she plays a very cute and endearing character called Sonali. These two people actually specialize in breaking up couples. They have taken that up as a profession that they are going to break up couples and they are going to make money on it. They are somewhat like divorce experts, but it is not a real profession what they do in the film. It's cute because the girl's philosophy is that two people who are not in love, they should not be together because then they can have a second chance to find love. The boy's philosophy is that there is nothing called love so might as well break the couples and make money. Each of them had a bad past experience with love. These two really cute characters meet together and they start this business of jodi breakers and then the story goes on. It is an amazing very cute romantic comedy.
Last year, Bipasha did a lot of realistic cinema, and there was a part of the media that said she had given up work. In that way, Players is a very important film for her. That isn't the only reason that Players is special to the actress; the film happens to release on January 6, which is Bipasha's birthday. It's become her birthday gift.
In Players, Bipasha plays Riya, who, besides being a full-time con artist, is also an automobile expert and knows her way around automobile engines like the back of her dainty hands. The irony is that in real life, Bipasha can't drive, can't even park or reverse a car. She has never got her way around cars. She is not good with machines and gizmos. She can hardly reverse a car or park it without scratching the sides. Bipasha is not at all comfortable with automobiles. So while the director duo Abbas-Mustan showed Bipasha as an automobile expert in Players, they didn't make her drive any car. Rather, Sonam Kapoor was given the role of a dare-devil driver who can not just park the car at an amazing speed and slickness, but also flip the finger while doing so.
Bipasha can't also swim in deep pools. Show her a shallow pool and she's game for a dip. But deep pools are a strict no-no.
Think of Bipasha, and you are normally thinking bold. The Bong bombshell has cultivated that image for herself over the years. Fans of the sexy star were in for a surprise; when she recently landed in Bangalore for the store opening of a jewellery brand she endorses she chickened out on seeing a large crowd. The crowd had turned up to catch a glimpse of the star. Fearing a mob situation and not finding room to escape, the bold Bipasha fled to the storeroom of the shop and locked herself inside. She then refused to come out before at least 20 bouncers were called. The organisers were in a spot, considering Bips is not known to be a tantrum queen. Around 20 bouncers were already present to control any untoward situation. Most felt the dusky siren's demand for an additional 20 bodyguards was out of place. She probably feared a mob situation. Bangalore, unlike Mumbai, doesn't regularly see Bollywood stars at public places, and the crowd seemed to have turned over-enthusiastic. The event, which started almost an hour later than scheduled, was quickly wrapped up.
Meanwhile, 2012 promises to be a great year for Bips. She is all set to make her Hollywood debut in Roland Joffe's Singularity opposite Josh Hartnett. Bipasha essays the role of a pre-Independence era Marathi warrior named Tulaja Naik in the film.
Bipasha chose to step into the New Year by expressing gratitude to her friends, family, staff and fans for standing by her always. Bipasha also thanked her team who work with her "day and night". She thanked Pasha, her assistant, and Madhu, her hairstylist, since they are her extended family! She can't function without them!
The sultry bongshell has returned to the two-piece in Players. A self avowed fitness freak, Bipasha had to do six weeks of training to acquire that perfect figure for her bikini sequence in the film. She followed a discipline to look right on screen. There's a fine line - you can either look vulgar or look sexy, and Bipasha would always opt to look sexy rather than going in the other direction.
The sassy actress added that she can never do the shots like bending down to show off her cleavage. She would never fall down and roll and do a cleavage shot – She has seen those in Bollywood films and those are things she cannot tolerate.
For as long as one can remember, actor Bipasha has been synonymous with words like hot and sexy, but the Bong beauty feels happiest when she is called cute. And that's what actor R Madhavan did when they first shot together for their upcoming film. While the actor often gets complimented for her hot looks, Madhavan surprised her by referring to her as cute instead. It's not like Bipasha has a problem being called sexy, but being called cute once in a while is cute too. Right from the time that she has entered the industry, she has always been either called hot or sexy, so she feels nice being called cute for a change. She refuses to say whether she personally thinks of herself more as cute or sexy? She thinks it's fun being both. And as a woman, they are all rolled into one.
Bipasha is going to have a rather busy 2012, with Players, her first Hollywood film Singularity, Jodi Breakers and Race 2 in her kitty. It's going to be busy, but for her working is so much fun that she doesn't complain. Also Sanjay Dutt and Bipasha will star in Bengali movie remake called Gehra Paani. Sanjay and Bipasha will star in the Hindi version of an upcoming Bengali wildlife thriller film. With the veteran Nitish Roy as director, Gehra Paani will have Dutt play a mad scientist who creates a genetically evolved crocodile with individual intelligence but becomes a target of a gang of hunters wanting to capture the unique reptile for their lucrative business. The Bollywood duo are expected to shoot at a film city in the Maoist-infested Jungelmahal area of West Midnapore district, where a giant 100 foot long crocodile has been created using pyrotechnics and CGI. Bipasha plays Tulaja Naik in a movie set against the backdrop of first Anglo-Maratha war. The film also has a parallel plot running in contemporary times. For Bipasha it was very demanding physically. She had to ride a horse, do a battle scene fighting 50 men and climb the mountain and come back. This film made her very brave. She did everything even though she was not prepared that much.
Thus this Bong beauty is looking forward to having a great time this year. Good luck, Bipasha!

Dinesh Kamath's old article on Bipasha Basu that was published in Newsband

Bipasha Basu is the one I'll talk about today. Bipasha is now making inroads in Hollywood. The actor has over the time tranformed from a oomphy babe to a serious actor.
Bipasha's latest venture is Players. Bipasha was blown away when she heard the script for Players. Do watch and experience the exciting thrill ride that is Abbas Mustan's Players: Go for the Gold, which is a remake of Hollywood's The Italian Job. The film boasts an all-star cast and the gorgeous Bipasha Basu takes on the new avatar of an automobile expert in the cool heist flick. Not only is her character an expert at fixing cars, but she also can fix any other mechanical item you can think of. She also joins in on a con of a Russian general as a dancer in a club and of course, is part of that epic gold heist.
It was the script and her role, the cool factor and stunts, plus her fabulous equation with Abbas-Mustan that made her want to take part in the film. She enjoyed working in -30 degrees on a moving train in Russia and that too with the boys of the cast.
There are many reasons why Bipasha said yes to this role in Players. Whenever Abbas-Mustan cast her, firstly, the film was a blockbuster and secondly, her character was always liked. There was no question that they wouldn't give her an interesting role. Then she heard the story and screenplay and she was bowled over. The film was very tight and very interesting. She wanted to see herself as Riya since she was very dynamic. So, she was on immediately.
Players is the remake of The Italian Job. It is just an adaption of The Italian Job; so the basic story remains the same, but new characters have been added because the screenplay is very different with of course, more twists and turns because Abbas-Mustan are very good at it. They make great thrillers. It is amazing. Bipasha says hats off to them because they have taken a classic and they have just turned it around. They have made it to the tastes of 2012 and they have Indianized it. Bipasha's character is an absolutely new character. Bipasha was really excited to play her because she really is a critical player in the film.
Abbas-Mustan are the most creative directors you can ask for. They know how to make stylish films. Bipasha and Abbas and Mustan have a very amazing tuning now. They have done quite a lot of films together and Abbas-Mustan don't even need to tell Bipasha, she understands what they want out of her in a particular scene. It is amazing. They are like family to her now.
It being Abbas-Mustan, Bipasha had to do action. The entire thing is a heist film and every player is particularly skilled in one thing. Riya, her character, is an automobile expert and so everything that got to do with a machine she handles that. So, put together, everyone with their skills pull off big missions and they all contribute equally to the stunts. It is really big because these are like large-scale action sequences and very, very high energy. Everyone is doing their bit, bit, bit, but when it is edited it looks so big and so huge that it looks amazing. Everyone is filming separately because everyone is doing something at some place and then when it is all put together it really looks great.
The film was shot all over the world; Some of the scenes were shot in the North Pole. Of course, Bipasha was not made to stand out there in a white filmy sari. Our films have changed; Our filmmakers don't do the sari thing anymore. That stopped about the time Bipasha started films. She did do one film with Abhishek and in the film they were on their honeymoon in Kullu Manali; so Bipasha wore a sari and her feet were freezing, and Abhishek was trying to throw her in the snow off screen. That was Abhishek's sense of humor, he wanted to get Bipasha in the snow since it was a challenge.
In Players, Bipasha and others had to actually shoot in -30 degrees. They were put in a moving train in a cargo car; so it was an open thing and they felt as if they had died. They couldn't say their dialogues; Their spit would freeze. It was crazy. Bipasha couldn't really open her mouth, her jaws were locked. She and her team were hungry all the time in the cold. They were drinking tons of hot chocolate and because of that they became a little bit plump, pleasantly plump, all of them during the Russia schedule, but thankfully because the clothes were really thick to keep them warm they couldn't really make out that they were a little plump. For both Bipasha and the team she was working with, it was an amazing time. Another thing was the sun would set for only two hours, so when they landed the first day it was 12:30 in the night and it was bright and Bipasha said, 'Where the hell am I?'
There was nothing to do there; so Bipasha and her team were always hanging out together. On a day off they would play video games in one really old kind of arcade. They would go out for walks and freeze. Everywhere they would go they would freeze. They tried to talk to the Russians with sign language. Bipasha had some Russian admirers all the time, wherever she went and she had these “bodyguards”, the guys from the film with her and one would turn into a brother, one would turn into a boyfriend, one would turn into something and save her from these Russian men. It was amazing out there, but it was quite mad.
The whole team was really bonded on set on this film. It was one of the nicest crew and cast that Bipasha could ask for, they were all friendly. Bipasha knew the crew completely because it is the same crew that worked on Race. The cast was a bunch of very effortless people who like to do good work and have a lot of fun during the making of the film. Everybody there has a great sense of humor and they are all so mad that they had a lot of fun when they were not shooting. Bipasha found everything wonderful and she got along with everybody effortlessly.
Bipasha had to shoot for a song in the Russian club. There is part of the screenplay where she is actually seducing one of the Russian generals in the film for a particular mission she and her team are on. The song is really catchy and the lyrics are really interesting. Bipasha liked the way she looked, it was a very cabaret look. It has some very interesting dance moves done by Bosco and Caesar.
It was really fun because the rest of Bipasha's co-stars were there and when she was dancing they were looking at her face during the song. One of the boys would start laughing every time she would look into their face. Here she had to be sexy and the boys treated her like one of the boys. They found her very HOT. So Bipasha really had a lot of fun!
As far as Players is concerned, Bipahsa liked the story, she liked the screenplay which was really interesting. She liked the action sequences which were done brilliantly. Her Director Of Photography Ravi Yadav shot the film amazingly.
I've not finished with Bipasha and so I'll continue with her tomorrow too. Till then, good bye!