News & Views

I haven't lost hope: Deepak

          Mumbai, Aug 13: Despite the cold response to his directorial debut 'OOPS!,' Deepak Tijori has not lost hope. Post- release, he has tied up with a leading portal to promote the film and the winners to the quiz would win air travel to Golden Palms Spa, Bangalore, for a three-night, four-day stay, besides winning other gifts as well. "I haven't lost hope," Deepak says, "I am confident that the business of the film will perk up with word of mouth. Those who are going to the cinema halls aren't grumbling at all. That's made me all the more optimistic." "Releasing the film with three other films - 'Hungama,' 'Chori Chori,' 'Teen Deewarein' - was a blunder. We cut into each other's business. The choice of a few theatres and the show timings weren't right as well," he admits. Besides assigning the directorial reins of his forthcoming projects to various directors, Deepak talks of his future plans. "I may sign a film for another production house. There have been a few offers after the film released. I may take them up," he divulges.

Sanjay Dutt celebrates b'day

          Mumbai, Aug 13: Hyder brothers, Mehboob & Mansoor threw a party at J W Marriott's Enigma to celebrate Sanjay Dutt's birthday. The party was attended by Deputy Chief minister of Maharashtra Chaggan Bhujbal, Sanjay Gupta, David Dhawan, Dino Morea, Mahesh Manjrekar, Bunty Walia, Sunil Shetty, John Abraham, Bipasha Basu, Anil Kapoor, Sameera Reddy & Riya Sen. Sunil Shetty also celebrated his birthday by cutting the cake alongwith Sanjay Dutt. Cocktails and dinner followed the cake cutting ceremony with John & Bipasha shaking a leg on the dance floor later.

Deepak Tijori to produce two more films

         Mumbai, Aug 13: After tackling the bold theme of professional male-strippers in his maiden directorial venture 'OOPS!,' actor-turned-director Deepak Tijori will now be making two more films under his banner, Tijori Films. Anant Mahadevan has been finalised to direct the English film, while negotiations with Anurag Basu are underway to helm the Hindi one, which, surprisingly, has an English title 'Help.' The genre of both the films, however, will be the same. "They are erotic thrillers. And it isn't the success of 'Jism' that prompted me to make two films on eroticism. It's just that I liked the concept and decided to produce them," says Tijori, who has made thrillers on television like 'Dial 100' and 'Thriller at Ten.' Tijori said that the cast and the crew is yet undecided. "But I am specific about a couple of things, like I want the music to be contemporary and urban. The English one will be a crossover film with the focus mainly on the international market, whereas the Hindi one will be exclusively for the Indian audience," he says. "See, I have two scripts with me, one is in English and the other in Hindi. And I will soon begin work on any one of them and assign someone else to direct the other," says Tijori.

'Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost' in trouble

          Mumbai, Aug 11: Even as the release date for the much- delayed Abhishek Bachchan-Lara Dutta starrer 'Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost' (MSAMD) is being finalised for August 22, another Abhishek has staked his legal claim on the script of the movie. Former actor Abhishek Kapoor aka Gattu who happens to be veteran actor Jeetendra's nephew has issued a public legal notice in a cine trade journal. It claims: 'The script of MSAMD is written by him and that any person or party dealing with Rubberband Films in respect of the picture or the rights therein shall be liable for damages and also prosecution under the provisions of the Copyright act 1957'. Director Apporva Lakhiya countered that this claim was totally false and baseless because he had written the story six years ago and it is registered in his name. Almost everyone in showbiz including Jeetendra and Ekta Kapoor are aware that he is the bona fide writer. Abhishek Kapoor alleges that he has loaned the script to Apporva for reading but he had apparently used it to his unfair advantage.

Rahul Bose's new venture

          Mumbai, Aug 11: Rahul Bose, who was seen playing a photographer in Aparna Sen's 'Mr. And Mrs. Iyer', is currently writing the script for an English film that is being produced by an NRI. The production of yet-to-be-titled movie will commence immediately after the script is completed. Rahul says that he will leave for America after writing the script. Most of the shooting will take place in American cities since the film is based there. Rahul has a skimpy budget for the movie. Besides this, he is also acting in two Bollywood movies titled 'Mumbai Matinee' and 'Chameli'.

Malaika turns singer

          Mumbai, Aug 11: Model-turned-actress and wife of Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan may soon exercise her vocal chords and record a song. Malaika, who was last seen in Sanjay Gupta's 'Kaante' as Sunil Shetty's love interest, may sing in a forthcoming music album. Details are awaited whose music album it is going to be. Other than that, the MTV Veejay, who recently became a mother, may launch a cloth range in her name. In addition to that, the Chaiya Chaiya girl also plans to open a restaurant.

Manisha comes back

          Mumbai, Aug 11: Manisha Koirala, who seemed to have disappeared from the silver screen after the 'Ek Chhoti Si' controversy, will be seen in a stellar role in Rituparno Ghosh's first Hindi film. The film, tentatively titled 'Kaaya' will star Kareena Kapoor and Anil Kapoor in the leading roles. It will be a period story set in a feudal Bengali household. While nothing much is known about Manisha's role in the movie, it is believed that she plays an independent woman who becomes a guide for the movie's main protagonist. Manisha has of late been avoiding signing any new assignments and has been rather concentrating on her production venture Paisa Vasool

Aamir's next shot at Oscar!

          Mumbai, Aug 10: Though actor-producer Aamir Khan's 'Lagaan' narrowly missed an Oscar, it opened all the doors to the world's most prestigious film awards. Once considered an almost impossible task when it came to commercial cinema, winning an Oscar looks a lot more possible now. And Aamir is aiming for that goal with his next film, 'The Rising'. The latest is that the producers are casting well-known British actors in the film too, which should take care of the international appeal.

Sanjay, Sunil, Ajay in 'Vande Mataram'

          Mumbai, Aug 11: If you ever doubted the power of the punch, here's some confirmation for you. Nitin Manmohan has now signed three Bollywood hardmen, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty and Ajay Devgan, for his next film 'Vande Mataram'. Appropriately, the film will have a war background. Also, looks like Ajay Devgan is getting back into action roles big-time. After the release of 'Qayamat recently, he has another action flick 'Gangaajal' and now this one.

It's Hrithik's charisma!

Mumbai, Aug 10: Veteran actor-director Rakesh Roshan is certainly one happy man. All the celebrities who have seen 'Koi Mil Gaya' are full of praises for his star son Hrithik's performance. Those who have seen the film include Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Jeetendra, Anil Kapoor, Rajkumar Santoshi, Esha Deol, Tusshar, Sanjay Kapoor, Sujit Kumar, Farhan Akhtar, Kareena Kapoor and others. It won't be surprising if Hrithik walks away with quite a few awards this year.

Saif to act in Sen's 'Gulel'

          Mumbai, Aug 9: Saif Ali Khan will now be seen in an art film. Apparently Aparna Sen has signed him for her next film 'Gulel' to be produced by Pritish Nandy Communications. Although there is no official announcement, it is reliably learnt that Ajay Devgan, Bipasha Basu and Kareena Kapoor have been approached to be a part of the project. Sen's daughter Konkana Sen Sharma may also act in the film.

Amisha in fight with Bunty

         Mumbai, Aug 9: Bunty Walia has been in the news like his partner Salman Khan. Apparently, Bunty and Amisha came close while they were touring abroad for shows, but according to Walia, Amisha became a little cold after he broke his business partnership with Salman Khan. Bunty is both angry and amused at Amisha's outburst against him in media recently. That has made him drop Amisha from his projects. Salman Khan is playing the role of Lord Ram despite getting threats.

Akshay back with Anil

          Mumbai, Aug 9: It is rumoured that Akshay Kumar has had a change of heart, and will act in Anil Sharma's 'Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon.' Director Anil Sharma maintains that Akshay never opted out of the film. But Akshay did have second thoughts about doing the film because he had to mouth some anti-Pakistan dialogues and did not want to hurt Pakistani sentiments.

Tanisha proud to be in horror film

          Mumbai, Aug 8: The little kid sister of Kajol, Tanisha, will be the next girl from the sought-after Mukherjee clan to step into tinsel ville. And she has no qualms, apprehensions or butterflies in her tummy as her debut film is nearing completion. All she has is fire in her belly. When asked if a horror flick would be the right launch pad for her, she said, "I didn't go about looking for a banner to launch myself. This is a young film, it's a whole bunch of fresh young people acting in it together. I think it's a great way to begin my career".

IDream Productions' 'King of Bollywood'

          Mumbai, Aug 8: 'The King of Bollywood' is just the title of iDream Productions' new venture. It is an English film directed by Piyush Jha. And this one doesn't boast of a mega star cast, instead it stars powerhouse performer, Om Puri with supermodel Sophie Dahl in the lead. iDream's second project also seems interesting, with a unique mix of actors thrown in - Nagarjuna, Tabu, Kay Kay and Boman Irani.

Vivek and Aishwarya making history together

          Mumbai, Aug 8: Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi and beauty Aishwarya Rai have been reportedly roped in for director Samarjit Dasgupta's next film. It seems this one is a romantic flick set in historic period. For now it's untitled, but according to the director, everything should fall into place in the next few weeks. It's also been reported that Bobby Deol might make a special appearance in the film.

Harry Baweja to start three big projects

          Mumbai, Aug 8: Bollywood director Harry Baweja is coming out all guns blazing. After his super hit film 'Qayamat', he has mega plans up his sleeve for multiple projects. In the pipeline are three projects, one each with Sunny Deol and his favourite star Ajay Devgan, while for the third he has signed on Sanjay F Gupta, who directed the hit song 'Kambakht ishq', to direct. This one will star John Abraham in the lead role. Apparently, Harry is on the look-out for one more hero and a heroine for the project.

It's lost glory regained for Rekha

          Mumbai, Aug 7: One can call it a little irony of life. Veteran actress Rekha got her stolen jewellery back after 17 years. The story goes like this. Forty-eight pieces of expensive jewellery were stolen from Rekha's house in 1986 by one Muniraj Kanappa. Though these baubles were recovered by the police thar year and the culprit was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment in 1992, the actress forgot to reclaim her jewellery at that time. She was asked to collect it from the court, but she remembered after 17 years. And recently filed an application and got her jewellery back.

Mumbai fest showcasing best of Asian films

          Mumbai, Aug 7: An eight-day long film festival showcasing some of the best movies of Asia is under way in Mumbai. Over 40 films from 13 different countries will be shown at the festival. The festival opened on August 2 with screening of critically acclaimed director Mrinal Sen's 'Aamar Bhuvan' (My World). Six more films by Mrinal Sen will be showcased in the festival. Barring Pakistan and Burma, films from countries like China, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Japan will be screened. The festival for the first time will introduce films from Kazakhstan like 'Leyla's Prayer' that are more or less similar to Indian films. Film critics who came from Kazakhstan said commercial Indian films are popular in Kazakhstan. The festival would close with the Chinese film 'Hero', directed by Zhang Yimou.

Catch-22 for tinsel town!

          Mumbai, Aug 5: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approached the Mumbai film industry with a request to stop the portrayal of actors smoking on screen. This is because actors are a huge influence on the impressionable minds of children and they too could get hooked on to the habit of smoking. The actors could oblige but for one hitch, they have to smoke on screen to add 'depth' to their grey shades. Now with profession and social ethics, the tinsel town sure is in a Catch- 22 situation.

Satish Kaushik plans a black comedy

          Mumbai, Aug 5: Comedian-cum-director Satish Kaushik will soon be directing a black comedy. The movie is based on a real life story of Lal Bihari, who's spent a better part of his life trying to prove that he's alive, unlike what the authorities think him to be. The story sure sounds interesting but tragic. Satish's pal Anil Kapoor might produce the venture. The film shall be targeted both towards the Indian as well as the international audiences.