|
|
|
|
|
Tinseltown talk - November 09, 2009
|
November 9, 2009
 By Debashine Thangevelo
Another Bollywood actress will be taking the matrimonial plunge. Who? It's Eesha Koppikhar, who, as hard as she tried, didn't crack the A-list.
She is set to tie the knot on November 27 with Timmy Narang and wants to complete all her projects before then.
She agreed to one last item number in Right Ya Wrong, a crime thriller directed by newcomer Neeraj Pathak and starring Sunny Deol, Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma. It is produced by Subhash Ghai.
Make a mental note to catch the following 2010 films: Hello Darling, Shabri and Har Pall.
Is there a rift between actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar and son Pratik, which started with talk that Pratik was dropping his father's surname?
That Babbar went to the Ferozabad district of Uttar Pradesh to campaign for his father for the by-elections puts the rumour to bed.
Manya Patil, Pratik's aunt, told SantaBanta.com: "This wasn't done to prove a point. Pratik couldn't care less. He told me: 'I want to do this for my dad."
And it was déja vu for Patil to watch her nephew stand beside his father. "It reminded me of my sister, Smita (Pratik's mum), campaigning for Murli Deora and Sunil Dutt. She was also very prominent at our father Shivajiroa's political rally's."
On Pratik's changing his surname to Patil, she said: "These rumours started because he wanted to call himself Mickey after our dog passed away. He goes through these phases."
As the release date of Rensil D'Souza's Kurbaan draws nearer, Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan share their thoughts on how they felt about the US shoot.
Khan told SantaBanta.com: "Kurbaan was hard work. Period. In fact, the Philadelphia schedule was plain hell. It's dark there by 4pm. And, it's cold - 10176C, cold.
"Since we were shooting at that time, it was extremely difficult to get the pitch and tone right while delivering our dialogue."
But that wasn't his only memory. It was around the same time that the Mumbai terrorist attacks made headlines.
"Because of that, it was so difficult to concentrate on the film's shoot.
Given India's tepid response to London Dreams, Asin, who made a resounding Hindi debut with the film, Ghajini, is rethinking the offers she receives.
But it appears she might be shooting herself in the foot by being overly cautious. That she would turn down Ashutosh Gowarikar, who wanted her for Khelenge Hum Jee Jaan Se opposite Abhishek Bachchan, is foolhardy, to say the least. I mean, this is a director who is famed for delivering hits. He gave us Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar.
A source close to the actress intimated that the story about her not being able to commit to the dates required was a lie.
"Asin was excited about working with Ashutosh Gowariker but, after hearing the script, mulled it over and opted out. She said she had date problems, whereas she wasn't happy with her character in the film."
Hmm, I wonder if she was unimpressed with What's Your Raashee? and decided it was too much of a gamble to work with him at this juncture.
After the box-office disaster that was Chandni Chowk to China, director Nikhil Advani and Akshay Kumar are joining forces once again.
This time around, Advani has zeroed in on Patiala House, a story inspired by a real-life experience.
Aside from Kumar giving him the nod, newcomer Anushka Sharma, who marked her movie outing opposite the inimitable Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Nana Di Jodi, has agreed to the project, as have both Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia.
Set in Southall, London, the story revolves around Gurkreeat Singh Kalon (Kapoor), who rules his family like a Prime Minister does his government. An authoritarian, no one dare challenge his decisions.
As the occupants in the Patiala House multiply with every new family wedding, the underlying tensions threaten to boil over.
On the joint family scenario explored in the film, Advani told Bollywood Hungama: "Our story has a universal spirit about the patriarch in such families.
"The Kalon family has been living for the past four generations at Southall. The entire concept was conceived by Rahul Nanda, son of the famed writer and novelist Gulshan Nanda."
Filming gets under way next month, with a Diwali release.
Now that the heartbreak over Delhi 6 underperforming at the box-office is almost over, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who received critical-acclaim for Rang De Basanti, has decided to return to the director's seat.
As for the script, he says, "Actually, it's a couple of scripts and I will choose from them."
Right now, he seems bent on Mirza Sahiban, a period romance. The original pairing of Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor isn't cast in stone, though.
Mehra explains: "The moment that you write with actors in mind, you restrict them and yourself. So I would rather wait until the script is finished."
Meanwhile, the director was pleased that his showcasing of an edited version of Delhi 6 at the Venice Film Festival, was very well-received.
"The kind of reception I got in a 1 600-seater theatre was unexpected."
He plans to release the new version in India soon.
"Thankfully, Bebo (Kapoor's nickname) was there with me. But both of us were very depressed."
When asked about the film he found the most fun to shoot, the actor immediately replied: "Abbas-Mustan's Race. That's what I call a real picnic - the working hours were quite comfortable, as were the locations.
"It was fun driving fast cars, saying cool lines, being a hero and stuff like that."
He added: "On the other hand, Kurbaan has me playing this complicated character, which makes it all the more difficult for the actor in me."
[Email this story...]
[Easy Print...]
|
|
