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Saturday, October 13, 2007

Who says Rani & I've differences?

Putting aside all the pssst-pssst about Rani Mukherjee being ostracized from the Bachchan empire because of the supposed hostilities between Aishwarya and Rani, Abhishek in an exclusive tete-a-tete from Namibia where he's shooting for Goldie Behl's Drona, gives Rani a clean and amiable chit.

"Wo says Rani and I are at loggerheads? Such talk hasn't affected our friendship at all. Strangely we've played husband and wife in most of our films together including Hum Tum where I came in, got married to her and exeunted from the script.

Rani is a superb actor and we've done some truly challenging work together. You've too see her in Laga Chunri Mein Daag together.I hope to do many more films with her."

It's not just the pleasure of working with his favourite co-star—alright, second-favourite co-star after wife Aishwarya—that made the latest Abhishek-Rani film special.

"I got to work with mom (Jaya). I had done a cameo in a Bengali as her son. Mom and Pa are two different actors and humanbeings, They're both unique actors. It's a sheer pleasure to share screen space with mom. I hope to do as many films with her as I've done with Pa."

Ask him what's the main difference between working with his two parents, and Abhishek ponders, "In-between shots Pa and I chill out, have fun.

Ma is constantly mothering and fussing over me when the camera is switched off. Though I pretend not to like it I secretly love it."

There was big-time bonding on the sets with co-star Kunal Kapoor. "Kunal and I grew up together. He belongs to the same Juhu circle that I do. He's a terrific guy and an even better actor.

His performance in our new film will surprise a lot of people. I also admire Konkona and got to work with her for the first time.She's great fun."

As for director Pradeep Sarkar, "I did a number of ads with him before I finally got to be in a feature film with him. His zest for his work in unparalleled. I saw no difference in his enthusiasm level on sets of our feature film. I want to work with him again," Abhishek ends from Namibia.

Regretfully he couldn't be in Mumbai for his father's birthday on Thursday.

I shot SRK like RGV shoots girls: Farah Khan

Farah Khan confesses that the concept of her second film as a director – the Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika Padukone-starrer "Om Shanti Om" was generated from her show "Bombay Dreams".

"While I was watching the show, I realized that for the NRI audiences, black-and-white films have been frozen in their hearts forever, especially because of the kind of costumes that the actors used to wear," Farah said when I met her for this interview at Hotel Land's End in Bandra.

She continued: "I thought that the 70s were the most interesting period, be it "Sholay" with Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra or "Amar Akbar Anthony" with Amitabh Bachchan, Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna. Things went downhill only from the 80s. Styling was very unique in the 70s."

Inspired by the phase, the first half of "Om Shanti Om" has been set 30 years back, in 1971. Even in "Main Hoon Na", Farah's maiden venture as a director – she made Shah Rukh wear bell-bottoms like in the good old 70s.

Now, "Om Shanti Om" has been treated like a period film. "We made it a point to do a lot of referencing during the pre-production stage of the film. We got lots of junior artistes from the 70s. In fact we had to hunt for the cars which were in vogue back then.

Ultimately, we managed to lay our hands on the Mercedes that once belonged to Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini. We hired the godown of R.K. Studios where a lot of used costumes and cars were lying," the director recalled.

Farah's choice of Shreyas Talpade was finalized after she watched him in Subhash Ghai's "Apna Sapna Money Money". As for today's actresses, the director thinks none have the poise and the dignity that the leading ladies of the 70s had.

"Deepika has this old-world charm and beauty about her. I did a 'look test' with her before taking her as my leading lady. What I liked about her is that she is at home in all kind of costumes. Deepika fits the role well, like Hemaji in the 70s."

To prepare the newcomer for the role, Farah gave her voice training and dance classes, besides the three-month acting course with Anupam Kher. Deepika's previous experience of acting in a Kannada film was an added help.

King Khan, too, promptly agreed to Farah's proposal to get six pack abs. "Shah Rukh just asked for three months and he worked hard. He told me that if he did not get the six packs he would not take off his shirt in front of the camera.

I always felt that he should do an item song at least once. I think it is a great makeover at the age of 42 when others become too old. I have shot Shah Rukh like Ram Gopal Varma shoots his heroines."

Farha thinks "Om Shanti Om" takes a "mad look" at the film industry today, revealing its happy side which she has always seen till date. The director is grateful to all the 31 stars who consented to take part in a sequence in her film, adding to its glamour quotient.

"Mithun caught the first flight from Kolkata, while Dharamji and Jeetuji agreed to come within just half-an-hour of me and Shah Rukh calling them and requesting them to oblige us by making special appearances in our film. I feel that the ideal combo of the 70s would have been Dharamji and Amitabh Bachchan," Farah mused.

But with each great idea comes a small glitch. Farah's grandiose idea of bringing together Dilip Kumar, Shammi Kapoor and Dev Anand went for a toss when the latter refused to do a special appearance.

In this day and age, Shah Rukh is the best. She confesses that she finds it difficult to work with other actors after having worked with him.

"Frankly, Shah Rukh and I did not know the budget for "Om Shanti Om" when we launched the project. I feel it is tacky to talk about your budget before your film is released. If you make a movie in Rs 10 crores, it can be good."

As on the professional front, the going is great on the personal front too for Farah. The mother-to-be is expecting triplets by March next year. She confesses that she has happily retired from choreography and will work on a project only if it is her own.

In fact, she has vowed not to take up any choreography work even if it is her husband Shirish Kunder's film or her brother Sajid Khan's film.

Post-release of "Om Shanti Om", Farah would start work on the script of "Happy New Year". "The script of that film was not happening the way we wanted it to. Hence we have kept the project on hold till "Om Shanti Om" is released," Farah explained.

As of now, Farah is basking with pride for the way "Om Shanti Om" has shaped up. She had loved the compositions of Anu Malik in her maiden venture as a director "Main Hoon Na".

"But I wanted a change in "Om Shanti Om", especially after Indian Idol 3. I desperately needed a break from Anu who was my co-judge on the show Indian Idol 2," said the plain-speaking woman.

'Sex workers pose no threat'

Rani Mukherjee is the personification of a pint-sized powerhouse. From the time Rani Mukherjee naughtily nibbled on Aamir Khan’s ear in Ghulam and swept Shah Rukh Khan and the nation off their collective feet in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai to her recent avatar as the scarlet woman in Karan Johar’s paean to adultery Kabhie Alvida na Kehna, she has been the cynosure of all eyes.

And now excitement has reached fever pitch with Pradeep Sarkar’s Laaga Chunari Mein Daag where she plays Natasha.

Sounding tired, recovering from being ill, Rani gamely says in her husky voice, “The film, as you know, is the journey of a woman from Benares to Mumbai. It is the story of a family and an incident, which causes my character to make certain choices.

The basic premise is the pressures a girl in India goes through if she is the first born. There is the constant angst to prove to herself, family and society that she can be the son.”

It is this angst that drives the character to take up the world’s oldest profession but Rani does not fear censure from the ever vigilant moral police. “I don’t think there would be any controversy.

The woman has been portrayed with love and affection. This is a free country and everyone should be respected for the job they do. It is not as if sex workers are killing or stealing. They are not a threat to national security!”

Rani, however, is categorical in her denouncement of human trafficking. “That is definitely wrong as women are exploited and forced into it.

This film is about a woman’s strength and the choices she makes. Sex workers are part of society; we cannot close our eyes to that. And finally, as an actor, I like to do different roles and this is one more.”

Rani, who will turn 30 in March, is quick to clarify that Laaga… is not another tale of a fallen woman. “That is one part of the film. At the core is the emotional bonding between sisters and familial relationships.”

Talking about bonding, ask Rani about the experience of working with Konkona Sen Sharma, who plays her sister in the film, and she laughs saying: “It was wonderful working with Konkona. You know we Bongs don’t really need a reason to bond.”

Open to Hollywood offers, Rani, who could not make it for Mira Nair’s The Namesake due to date problems, says: “As an actor I will do an exciting role in whichever country. But I will not work in a Hollywood production just for the sake of working in the West. The role has to interest me.”

'Salman Khan surprised me'

Subhash Ghai's forthcoming directorial ventures, "Yuvraaj" and "Black and White", are slated to be big-budget affairs with Mukta Arts planning to put aside a corpus of Rs 500 million for them.

While Rs 400 million will go into the making of "Yuvraaj", starring Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, the remaining sum will be used for "Black and White" with Anil Kapoor in the lead. "Yuvraaj" is expected to be ready for release in 2008-09, while "Black and White" will hit the screens this fiscal.

Yuvraaj is also special for Ghai as he buries the hatchet with Salman through this film. The actors was back last night after a 22-day-long schedule in Austria. Apart from his sense of humour Sallu gave interesting inputs to Ghai regarding the film's shots.

Ghai says, "It was the last day of our schedule in Austria and we didn't have any time left to shoot an important scene. I explained the scene to Salman where he had to pull Katrina towards him while she would be walking on the street with a friend.

Surprisingly, he improvised the scene by not just pulling Katrina towards him, but taking her off-camera and reappearing in front of the camera with ruffled hair.

It was so quick and spontaneous that the entire crew burst out laughing and I got a great shot!"

The other movies under the banner of Mukta Arts that are lined up for release are "Bombay to Bangkok" (directed by Nagesh Kukunoor), "Cycle Kick", "Right Yaaa Wrong" (starring Sunny Deol and Irfan Khan) and Marathi movie "Kaande Pohe".

Nervous SRK, Drunk Shirsih!!!

Amidst all glitzy OSO ramp walk, Shirish Kunder, Farah's husband, created a big scene when he got extremely drunk and misbhaved with a few women at the party.

His reckless behaviour left Farah totally infuriated and she left the venue. Meanwhile sources claim Shirish continued to make a spectacle of himself and even made a pass at a girl who just chose to ignore him, later he supposedly was seen even kissing another girl.

There have also been rumours that all was not well between Shirish and SRK either. When the latter asked him to make changes in his film script. Shirish apparently was not too happy with this and after having an alleged showdown with SRK decided to approach Akki for the role.

Coming back to event, walking the ramp was a nerve-wracking experience for King Khan.

While talking to press he said, “I was nervous, but it was a nice experience. I had two supermodels, Arjun Rampal and Deepika Padukone, walking the ramp with me so it was fun learning the ropes from them. Walking the ramp is quite an art. Our friends were in the audience, so obviously everyone was encouraging.”

Now that's what we call a Model behaviour.

Looking a new Girl for Himesh

Himesh is all set to do his own Raja Hindustani. Remember Aamir Khan as the street-smart ignoramus who falls for the sophisticated Miss from the upper crust?

Himesh Reshammiya's "intense love story" to be directed by John Mathan will be a socialistic plea. He would play a guy from the streets who falls for a very rich girl.

So did Himesh come to John in a package deal from the producers T Series?

"Not at all," says the reclusive director. "I chose Himesh because he suited the role to perfection. In fact we had a choice of several production companies. But we went to T Series. So we were under no pressure to sign Himesh."

The yet-untitled film would be John's first love story. "Of course there were love tracks in Sarfarosh and Shikhar. But both were basically about the erosion of idealism in our society. The focus in my new film will be on just the two protagonists."

The film will feature a completely new face opposite Himesh. "We've auditioned several new faces and have finally zeroed- in on three girls. A final decision will be take in a couple of days."

Pausing to ponder John says, "I wonder how the details of the film were leaked out. I wanted it to be under wraps until we had finalized everything. So far only Himesh as the leading man and the music composer has been decided."

Bebo-Shahid together again!

Days back it was revealed that Shahid Kapoor would be the special guest on Star TV's popular dance show, Nach Baliye. He was to also shake a leg to the remix of the hit number, Mauja Hi Mauja from the keenly awaited Jab We Met.


The exciting update to this is that Shahid will now be joined on the show by none other than his allegedly estranged girlfriend and co-star, Kareena Kapoor.

Says our source, "Shahid and Kareena will shoot together for Nach Baliye - 3 to promote Jab We Met. They will judge the performances."

The shoot is scheduled to happen at Mumbai's Film City and Manish Malhotra will design Kareena's look for the programme.

Kareena and Shahid last came face to face almost a fortnight back for a day to complete the patchwork of Jab We Met at Mumbai's Future Studio.

Sonu Nigam performs at Qatar

Singer Sonu Nigam will perform for the audience at the Khalifa Tennis Complex in Qatar tomorrow the program will be hosted by Manuarts. A twelve-member orchestra would accompany Sonu for the show.

The ticket sale has increased phenomenally with the attraction of Sonu Nigam’s music concert. The show is scheduled for the occasion of Eid on October 14. The concert program is at 1750 hrs at the tennis complex. Apart from Nigam, a number of young singers would also perform at the event.

Rajshri launches new film

The music recording for Rajshri’s new film EK VIVAH AISA BHI was held on 12th October. Ravindra Jain tuned the song and also penned the lyrics. This happens to be Jain's 18th film with Rajshri Productions. This film is will be directed by Kaushik Ghatak, who makes his directorial debut in feature films after directing several television serials like WOH REHNE WAALI MEHLON KI, SANJEEVANI, KYUNKI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI and many others.

FICCI to felicitate Dy. Chief Minister for fighting piracy

A high-powered delegation representing some of the most influential representatives of the Indian film industry led by Yash Chopra, Chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee will meet Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil on 15th October to felicitate the Government for the support rendered in combating the increasing evil of film piracy.

The film industry was a happy lot when they learnt that the State Government of Maharashtra has decided to include video piracy under the Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities [MPDA] Act, which provides for the preventive detention of an offender.

The delegation will comprise of Yash Chopra, Chairman – FICCI Entertainment Committee, Ronnie Screwvala, President, Film and TV Producers’ Guild of India and Chairman, UTV; Manmohan Shetty, Chairman, Adlabs Limited; Raaja Kanwar, Chairman, FICCI Digital Entertainment Forum & Vice Chairman, UFO Moviez Ltd. and Sanjay Gaikwad, Founder and Executive Director, UFO Moviez Ltd.

Who says Rani and I are at loggerheads, asks Abhishek

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Mumbai (IANS) Putting aside rumours about Rani Mukerji being ostracised by the Bachchan camp, Abhishek Bachchan says they are still good friends and that he would love to work with her again.

"Who says Rani and I are at loggerheads? Such talk hasn't affected our friendship at all," Abhishek told IANS on phone from Namibia where he's shooting for Goldie Behl's "Drona".

"Strangely we've played husband and wife in most of our films together, including 'Hum Tum', where I came in, got married to her and was ousted from the script. Rani is a superb actor and we've done some truly challenging work together. You have to see her in 'Laaga Chunari Mein Daag'. I hope to do many more films with her."

The presence of his mother in the film has made the movie extra special for him, says Abhishek.

"I got to work with mom (Jaya). I had done a cameo in a Bengali film as her son. Mom and Pa are two different actors and human beings; they're both unique actors. It's a sheer pleasure to share screen space with mom. I hope to do as many films with her as I've done with Pa."

Ask him what the main difference is in working with his two parents, and Abhishek ponders, "In-between shots Pa and I chill out, have fun. Ma is constantly mothering and fussing over me when the camera is switched off. Though I pretend not to like it, I secretly love it."

There was big-time bonding on the sets with co-star Kunal Kapoor.

"Kunal and I grew up together. He belongs to the same Juhu circle that I do. He's a terrific guy and an even better actor. His performance in our new film will surprise a lot of people. I also admire Konkona Sen Sharma with whom I worked for the first time in the film. She's great fun."

As for director Pradeep Sarkar, "I did a number of ads with him before I finally got to be in a feature film with him. His zest for his work is unparalleled. I saw no difference in his enthusiasm level on the sets of our feature film. I want to work with him again," Abhishek says.

Photo Feature: 16 Year Old Amitabh Bachchan

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Yes it's the photograph taken in 1958 when Amitabh was 16 year old. The boy in the circle is Amitabh. He has some features of Abhishek, right! No, No, Abhishek has some Amitabh's features! That's right, probably.
 


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