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It was supposed to be Bollywood’s answer to Peter Jackson’s hit Lord of The Rings. But there is no sign of Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s film Talisman with Amitabh Bachchan . It’s been a year since the fantasy film was launched and a trailer of the same screened across theatres with Eklavya, a film that also starred the Big B . The film’s promos shot by ad man Ram Madvani featured Bachchan in the role of a silver-haired warrior. Now, it seems that Chopra’s most ambitious project has been shelved and the reason for this, according to sources, is time constraints. Bachchan has a tight schedule this year starting with Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj. Other films in his kitty include Shoe Bite, Alladin, Mira Nair’s Shantaram and Teen Patti among many others. Chopra, who bonded with Bachchan during the making of Eklavya (he even gifted the actor a Rolls Royce) is also busy with Aamir Khan’s film, Idiots which will be directed by Rajkumar Hirani.
Archive for the 'Amitabh Bachchan' Category
The latest buzz on Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar Raj is that it
will release only in September, and not May as scheduled. It
is rumoured that Amitabh Bachchan, who recently saw the rushes, expressed displeasure over some of the climax scenes between himself and Abhishek and wants the scenes to be re-shot. Extra cautious
Bachchan is being extra cautious about the film as it is Abhishek’s first film after his marriage last year. Though
Ramu has wrapped the final schedule for Sarkar Raj, Bachchan wants to make sure his demand is addressed. Says a source in the industry, “Bachchan wants some
scenes, including the climax to be re-shot. After the debacle
of Aag, he wants to take precautions. He feels Sarkar Raj is
a very important film for Abhishek, as it will be his first release this year. Bachchan has always been very protective about his beta’s career. In fact, Bachchan had even given dates to Ramu in February this year to re-shoot but Ramu didn’t use them as he feels the film is complete and doesn’t need any changes.”
Film actor Amitabh Bachchan’s urge to acquire farmland in this district could surely give script writers some ideas for a Bollywood movie. The superstar seems to be giving a new twist to his intention of buying land after the Allahabad High Court decided to condone the alleged fraud and forgery through which 2.5 bighas (about 70,000 sq ft) of government land was allotted to him during the Mulayam Singh Yadav regime. The court had cancelled that allotment last year. Now the superstar has bought some land from private farmers in the district’s Daulatpur village, about 40 km from state capital Lucknow, on which he is setting up a high school for girls. Bachchan professes that his sole intention in buying land was to build an educational institution. On Jan 27, he is to lay the foundation stone for the school to be named after his glamorous daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai. Hectic preparations are on at the 10-bigha plot that Big B recently purchased from different farmers in Daulatpur village to build what has been christened the ‘Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Girls Intermediate College’, a school for higher secondary students.The actor has never explained what attracted him to Barabanki - a place with which he does not have even a remote connection. Why Bachchan changed his original plan of naming the school after his eminent poet father, the late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, is not known either. ‘The school would be a boon for all the girls in this area who cannot traverse some 40-45 km to the nearest existing girls’ school,’ says local village head Raj Kumari Devi, who is as excited as the youth in the village over the prospect of meeting the entire Bachchan family. Amitabh is to be accompanied by wife Jaya, son Abhishek and Aishwarya. To add political spice to the show, there will be Bachchan family friend Amar Singh, the Samajwadi Party general secretary who was instrumental in getting Bachchan the earlier government land allotment in violation of laws. Amar Singh is understood to be trying to ensure the participation of Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, besides three former chief ministers - Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir) and Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana). They are all members of what is known as the third front, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA).In an affidavit sworn before the high court that condoned Bachchan last month of forgery on the ground that he ‘was not involved in it’, Bachchan had stated: ‘I purchased equivalent land in the same village and offered to donate it for construction of a school; why would I do that if I had any intention to usurp government land by fraudulent means?’ Replying to the state government’s charges, the actor further argued: ‘So what if I am a non-resident of the village or even if my ancestors had not lived there? After all, there is no law to bar a non-resident to acquire land in a UP village.’ According to the Uttar Pradesh government chief standing counsel Devendra Upadhaya, who argued the case against Bachchan: ‘The observation of the high court clearly showed that even the judge did not dispute the fact that some fraud or forgery was committed; but he felt that the surreptitious entry was not manipulated by Bachchan or carried out at his behest.’
It looks as though Bachchan’s idea behind the allotment was to safeguard the purchase of a huge 6-hectare farm in Pune district of Maharastra, where land revenue laws do not permit ownership of agricultural property by anyone other than a ‘farmer’. An obliging Uttar Pradesh administration under Mulayam Singh Yadav favoured Bachchan with a land record entry to give him the status of a ‘farmer’. A certificate was promptly issued, allegedly under directions of Amar Singh. Later, on inquiry initiated by the Maharastra administration, Uttar Pradesh officials found the entry had been forged. With his claim to the Pune farmland nearly forfeited, the mega star is apparently trying to prove that his only intent in acquiring land in Barabanki was to do start the girls’ school.
Amitabh Bachchan is presently shooting for Shoojit Sircar’s untitled project in Patlikuhal, a few kilometers away from Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Interestingly, Krrish was shot at the same location.
Ever since the news of Bachchan shooting in their midst hit the small town, people from all over flocked to see the actor. However, they were disappointed when they spotted a duplicate instead.An insider adds, “We were doing an important scene with Mr Bachchan. But since he wasn’t available, we went ahead with a duplicate.” The scene was shot on the banks of the Beas river.” Security had to be called to control the crowd who got unruly after they realised that they’d covered long distances for nothing. A unitwalla adds, “The people who had gathered, wanted to take autographs and photos with Amitabh. Some of them had travelled for almost three hours from the interiors.To pacify them, we promised them that Amitabh would be shooting later and asked them to come back then.” A production guy who didn’t want to be named confirms, “Mr. Bachchan was supposed to shoot with us on Monday. But he couldn’t make it. Since the weather was clear, we decided not to wait for him and go ahead with the duplicate instead. The lighting was perfect for the scene so it was pointless to waste the opportunity. He arrived in Manali on Tuesday and has been shooting with us since.”
Well, if you are thinking about child prodigy Ishant Awasthi of ‘Taare Zameen Par’ having touched an emotional chord in megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s heart, you all are mistaken! We are talking about another infant Ishant, who was watching Big B shoot for Shoojit Sircar’s SHOEBITE in Manali, early today (Wednesday). As per eyewitness accounts, Ishant was watching his favourite Amitabh Uncle shoot and wanted to meet him. But Bachchan’s private security guards turned away Ishant and his parents. While Ishant’s mother Sujata and father Virendra moved away quitely, Ishant started sobbing uncontrollably. Amitabh Bachchan, who was relaxing in his make-up van, heard the wailing and propmtly came out, and after grasping the situation called the entire family, much to their glee.Unfortunately, due to secrecy instructions from the snooty and haughty producers, UTV Motion Pictures, Ishant’s family could not capture the historic moment on camera.
