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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.
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India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted state bans on the screening of a blockbuster film about the love between a Muslim emperor and his Hindu wife. Several states last month prohibited cinema’s showing “Jodhaa Akbar” after it sparked protests by Hindu Rajputs against a “wrong interpretation” of history. But the court lifted the bans until March 14, when a hearing will receive a petition from the Bollywood film’s producers, who say the protests have cost them heavy losses. Cinemas in western Rajasthan state were the first to refuse to screen the film after threats from the Rajput community — a traditional warrior caste — which says it is grossly inaccurate. The film — one of the most expensive Bollywood productions with an estimated budget of 400 million rupees (10 million dollars) — depicts a romance between the 16th century Mughal ruler Akbar and Rajput princess Jodha Bai. Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai portrays Jodha while Akbar is played by Bollywood heart-throb Hrithik Roshan. Rajputs and some historians maintain Jodha Bai was in fact Akbar’s daughter-in-law and a relationship could not have taken place.
“If you thought that the music of Gangster and Awarapan were great, look out for Jannat. It is out of this world and simply phenomenal,” declares Emraan Hashmi who would be seeing a film of his arriving at theaters after almost a year. Though 2006 saw Good Boy Bad Boy, The Train and Awarapan releasing one after another, it has been a sort of wait for Emraan Hashmi in 2008, as Jannat would be arriving only in the month of May. “We want the music as well as the film to be promoted to an optimum degree,” says Emraan who is actively involved in the functioning and progress of Bhatt brothers’ Vishesh Films. “Awarapan experience has taught that much more time should be given to the promotion of music. It is nice to see that songs like ‘Maahiya’, ‘Tera Mera Rishta‘ and ‘To Phir Aayo‘ are so popular today. I guess they were still growing up with people when the film got released.”So, what does the action plan seem for Jannat. “We would go all out to make sure that the music of Jannat is heard by everyone. Liking or not liking it is audience’s prerogative though let me tell you that I am 200% sure about the music becoming a big success. We want the music to hit the peak and then run for at least a fortnight before the film arrives. I have great confidence in the tunes that Pritam has created,” reflects Emraan Hashmi.
Against the backdrop of Rajput community’s protests against the film, Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday banned the screening of Ashutosh Gowarikar’s controversial movie Jodhaa Akbar, based on the life of the Mughal Emperor. A Home Department spokesperson in Lucknow said the decision to ban the screening of the film, starring Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan, had been taken to maintain law and order. Rajput organisation Kshetriya Mahasabha had protested the screening of the film on the day it was released in local cinema halls alleging the filmmaker had distorted history, which has hurt their sentiments.
There’s lot of buzz about Ashwini Dhir’s directorial debut One Two Three . Well, the film has four actresses and so fights are bound to create news. Though the all actresses Esha, Sameera, Tanisha and Neetu behaved like good friends at the music launch of the film, we heard that these actresses don’t get along with each other. Reportedly Tanisha used to throw tantrums on the sets and also fought with Sameera Reddy while filming the title song music video. However, Tanisha diplomatically denied when asked about catfights. She said, “I was there to shoot and least concerned about such trivial matters on sets.” Surprisingly both Sameera and Esha Deol bonded well during the shoot, thanks to their South Indian origin. Sameera says, “Esha and I get along so well. I knew her before she got into films. I like her because she is really helpful.”
She too tactfully changed the topic when asked about the catfights that happened during the shoot. She said, “Nothing of that sort happened. More than girls these men used to gossip a lot. They won’t admit it, but there is a lot of behind the back rivalry which exists between them. You cannot only blame the girls. They are a more insecure lot than the starlets.” More than the girls fight Sameera was interested in talking about rivalry between the male actors. But there was one who gave us the inside story of catfights during the shoot of One Two Three . Tushar Kapoor who revealed the story with out taking names said “Throw three male stars together and they will never go back biting or bitching around about one another. But when you have four actresses together on the sets, some friction is bound to happen between them. We saw silly fights happening at times amongst them over why one’s lunch came late and the other one’s earlier than hers or why one’s dress was looking much better than the others or was the other actress purposely trying to block the other during the shoot or stamped purposely on her foot etc.” Neetu Chandra, who plays a police officer in the film, was least bothered about the whole issue. “It did not matter to me who was doing what and preferred to concentrate on my role and what Ashwini told me to do.”
