Bollywood

Abhishek Choubey, who has helmed intimate scenes between Arshad Warsi and Huma Qureshi, as well as Madhuri Dixit and Naseeruddin Shah, for “Dedh Ishqiya”, says it isn’t easy to can love scenes with actors unless they trust their director completely.

“Let me tell you, it’s not easy to shoot intimate scenes with our actors. They have to trust the director’s vision. As the director, I had to make sure I didn’t let the actors down,” said Choubey.

He says “once Madhuri accepted the scenes, she gave all of herself to them”.

“However, there are more intimate scenes between Huma and Arshad than between Madhuriji and Naseerji (in the film),” he added.

The director especially can’t get over the experience of working with Madhuri.

“It was an honour to work with somebody of her calibre. Getting Madhuriji was the best thing that could’ve happened to the film. I feel she has all the emotions within her. It’s really up to the filmmaker to pull out the emotions he wants in her character and she gives a pitch-perfect performance,” he said.

Choubey said the the script was actually written to accommodate Madhuri’s personality and skills.

“What’s the point of having her in a film if there’s no dancing? We wove her dancing skills into the script. You see, when we decided Madhuri would play Begum Para, we wrote the character according to Madhuri’s personality. We incorporated the dancing,” he explained.

Madhuri has shot a semi-classical dance number “Jaagi saari raina”, choreographed by Kathak legend Birju Maharaj, and it was the most enriching experiencing for Choubey.

“I wanted Birju Maharajji and Madhuriji to recreate the magic that choreographer Hiralal and Waheedaji (Waheeda Rahman) created in ‘Guide’. We shot in a beautiful palace in Lucknow. I became this wide-eyed boy watching the two stalwarts at work.

“Birju Maharaj didn’t just come and choreograph Madhuri. He heard the narration of the entire script from me and then decided how he would shoot the song. He spent a week for the song, recording with composer Vishal Bhardwaj and singer Rekha Bhardwaj. He also gave his inputs for the song composition. The number spells out a profound sense of nostalgia for a lost love,” added Choubey.

“Dedh Ishqiya” is the sequel to the critically acclaimed 2010 film “Ishqiya”.

Actor Ranbir Kapoor has been signed by Disney for “Jagga Jasoos” franchise and the film’s shooting will commence in September next year.

Franchise “Jagga Jasoos” will be co-produced by Picture Shuru — Ranbir and Anurag Basu’s new production company.

As the shooting is scheduled for next year, till then Anurag, Ranbir and UTV will work together on developing the script for the first and the second part, as well as work on pre-production work for the film that film, said a statement.

“Jagga Jasoos” will be a full-on Disney franchise and the long term plan would be to take it into multiple sequels, merchandising, consumer products, graphic comics, television, gaming and much more.

The team of Ranbir, Basu and UTV were behind last year’s successful film “Barfi”.

It is rumoured that all four — Ranbir, Basu, Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur — met last week and shook hands on making this happen with the intention of it being the very first frnachise of its kind ever attempted in the country.

Charlotte Claire, who won Gladrags Mega Model 2013, will display her acting skills in Tamil film “Jai Hind 2″, but her wish is to work with Salman Khan some day.

“I have a crush on the ‘Dabangg’ tiger Salman Khan. It would be a dream come true to work with him,” Charlotte, who makes it a point to watch the first day first show of every movie of the Bollywood star, told IANS.

The 23-year-old has been seen in several TV commercials like Air Mauritius, walked the ramp for brands like Madame and Gant, and featured in L’Officiel fashion magazine, among others modeling assignments.

She will start shooting for Tamil movie “Jai Hind 2″, a sequel to Arjun Sarja’s starrer Tamil blockbuster “Jai Hind”, from July.

In the film, she will play Britain-based girl and said: “I have a very strong character. I will get to display different shades of emotions.”

The peache and cream beauty describes herself “as a natural actress”, but adds that “getting training polishes your talent, so I took personal coaching on acting”.

Among actresses, she appreciates works of Deepika Padukone, Aishwarya Rai and Kareena Kapoor.

In addition to good looks, which she gives credit to her mother and eight hours of “beauty sleep”, Charlotte believes she is a good dancer too.

“Dancing is my hobby. I believe I’m a good dancer. Well, at least people say so,” said the model-turned-actress, who hits the gym at least four to five times a week.

“When I’m busy I see to it, that I keep a check on my diet. I have lots and lots of water,” she added.

Veteran actress Deepti Naval, who has made a friendly appearance in forthcoming movie “BA Pass”, was skeptical about doing the erotic human drama, but the film’s lead actress Shilpa Shukla convinced her.

The film is about a relationship based on lust, lies and deceit

“There is a particular scene in the film and I needed Deepti Naval for that. When she heard the script, she was reluctant about doing the film but she saw the clippings of the film, she really liked the camera work and the way the film has been treated,” Ajay Bahl, the film’s director, told IANS.

“Besides Shilpa had worked with Deepti in ‘Bhindi Bazaar’, so I asked her to convince her…looking at the scenes and dialogues she said she want to do it. So basically she has done a cameo, more off a friendly appearance in the film,” he added.

To be presented and distributed by Bharat Shah, it is slated for July 12 release. Bahl is also the cinematographer and producer of the film that also features theatre actor Shadab Kamal in the male lead.

Designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee is set to close the August 23-27 winter-festive edition of the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) as the grand finale designer.

A renowned name both in India and abroad, Mukherjee’s collections have won accolades from many celebrities. He also designed Bollywood actress Vidya Balan’s look for the 66th Cannes International Film Festival.

Known for his neo-traditional designs, he said: “Presenting my collection at LFW is always a special occasion.”

“This (LFW) is where I made my debut as a designer, which provided me with a platform to be recognised by the world of fashion. Returning as a Grand Finale designer after five years is very exciting. The show promises to be truly grand,” the designer said in a statement.

Tusshar Kapoor has tried his hand at a different type of comedy with “Bajatey Raho” and says the film’s team worked really hard on the script of the movie.

“I have never worked in any film where the draft was changed so many times, such hard work was put in. It was re-written so many times,” the 37-year-old said here Monday at the first look launch of the film.

Tusshar is glad to have worked with director Shashant Shah.

“For an actor, director is a big factor when it comes to choosing a film. For me, working with him (Shah) has been a privilege because I loved ‘Chalo Dilli’ and I loved the script of ‘Bajatey Raho’,” he said.

Talking about one of his ‘Bajatey Raho’ moments Tusshar said: “Last week itself ‘meri bajayi gayi thi’. When we were doing a photo session, our director announced that ‘the film’s length is perfect and Tusshar your one scene has been removed. It was there in the first draft, but now it has been removed’.”

“That was my favourite scene, but was removed for Shashant’s happiness. So, on the editing table ‘meri hamesha bajayi jaati hai’,” he added.

“Bajatey Raho” is a revenge comedy and also stars Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Ravi Kishan, Dolly Ahluwalia and Vishakha Singh. It hits theatres July 26.

 

Dusky beauty Deepika Padukone is happy that she got to relive the classic “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge” (DDLJ) moment of chasing a train with superstar Shah Rukh Khan in her forthcoming release “Chennai Express”.

Deepika will be seen catching a train a la Kajol in the 1995 blockbuster.

“I got to live the DDLJ moment with Shah Rukh,” the actress told reporters at the launch of Vogue Eyewear’s first ever Indian communication campaign Tuesday.

If SRK’s screen name in DDLJ was Raj, he was called Rahul in another blockbuster “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”.

“The fact that while growing up it is every girl’s dream to romance Rahul and Raj on-screen, I got an opportunity to do that as well in the film,” said the 27-year-old, the brand ambassador of Vogue Eyewear.

Deepika wishes to gift optical frames to Shah Rukh with whom she made her Bollywood debut in 2007 with “Om Shanti Om”.

“I would give him optical frames because I know he wears specs. He wears reading glasses. I will pick something for him…That’s something I can gift him,” she said.

Directed by Rohit Shetty, action-comedy “Chennai Express” is slated for a Aug 8 release.

The film Ship Of Theseus which is up for a theatrical release in India will however only release in five cities i.e. Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata. The makers though are sure that the film has huge appeal and thus to ensure that the film is screened in cities where they are in demand the team has come up with a unique idea. Audiences can Vote for their city, post which the film will release in a theater at their city.

 For the first time ever the movie will be screened in a city- on demand. To gauge the audience enthusiasm the Ship of Theseus team is launching an online voting system. The audience will be able to vote online for the movie to also release in their city. The city which gets multiple votes, the team will ensure a screening of the film in that particular city.

 The team is currently putting together a portal which will launch this week, where all the movie buffs can go and vote.

 Says director, Anand Gandhi, "It's an exciting new way to reach out to viewers, a democratization of cinema, where audiences decide what they want to see. It's great that we have been able to work together with UTV on this initiative."

Ship Of Theseus presented by Kiran Rao film explores questions of identity, justice, beauty, meaning and death through the stories of an experimental photographer, an ailing monk and an enterprising stockbroker.

 Speaking about the film's unique strategy, Kiran says, "We feel there are a good number of people who live outside of the big cities like Mumbai and Delhi who are also keen to watch Ship Of Theseus. With our online campaign 'Vote for the film in your city' our effort is to gauge the interest of that audience, and hopefully based on that to take the film to them."

Suniel Shetty, who is making a comeback on the big screen two years after Thank You is mighty livid. His action flick Enemmy has been granted an A certificate. That, when the film has no foul language, sex or violence.

 "They say that 'thematically the film is of adult nature. Now that's a first," wonders Shetty, "I have been around for more than 20 years and have never heard of a film being granted an A certificate due to this reason. Interestingly they love the film and want the film to go as it is. They don't have any issues with the content."

 That is of little respite though because an adult certificate immediately results in restricted footfalls and female crowd too turns away.

 "Our film doesn't even have a single gaali. It could well be the cleanest ever Adults film released in the history of Bollywood, " says Shetty in a sarcastic tone, "As for the theme, guess we should now start submitting scripts as well to the Censors before we start filming. That should save us all the last minute heart burns."

 Apparently, since the film deals with corruption, Censors feel that kids should not be exposed to the wrong doings of those in the Government.

 "Censors are saying that if they pass our film for universal audience, they would be pulled up for that. They are saying that they have a lot of pressure from the top, especially in the current times when there are so many political developments, " says director Ashuu Trikha, "In the process we and our film are being made scapegoat. It is so strange because even in our item song we don't have any nudity; it goes with the film's narrative."

 No wonder, Mithun Chakraborty, whose wife Yogita Bali had produced the film, is hardly amused.

 "Dada is very upset and angry," says Shetty, "An 'A' certificate ends up losing a lot of audience. There are two other films arriving with us as well. I don't know if an 'A' certificate for us has anything to do with that. I have made 100-110 films but guess I don't understand this game anymore."