Aishwarya said 'Yes' to Vishal Bharadwaj

January 30th, 2009

After extracting a fabulous performance out of Tabu in Maqbool, Kareena Kapoor in Omkara and hopefully, Priyanka Chopra in Kaminay, Vishal Bharadwaj is all set to team up with the one actress he has always wanted to work with - Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The project will go into production at the end of the year.

Aishwarya said, “Vishal and I have wanted to work together ever since he was the music composer on a project that got shelved. We had promised one another that I would star in his film whenever he turned director.”

Vishal had offered Aishwarya, a film called Timbuctoo, right after his directorial debut in the children’s film Makdee (2002), but that got shelved. So the wait just got longer.

The actress recollected, “I was very impressed by Vishal’s work. But he insisted that we would work together only when he found absolutely the right project. That has finally happened. Vishal has bounced the script off me. And we both feel this is the right project for us to come together.”

Interestingly, 2009 is a flurry of activity for Aishwarya, what with her giving the nod to new films with Vishal Bharadwaj, Rituparno Ghosh, Abhinay Deo and Vipul Shah.

For Vipul Shah’s film, Aishwarya and Akshay Kumar come together again. Talking about the film, Aishwarya said, “It’s something that Vipul, Akshay and I haven’t done before. The last time Akshay and I came together in Khakee, we played almost antagonists. This time we will hopefully play a more compatible couple.”

Jeevan to make a return with ‘Naan Avanillai: Part-II’

January 30th, 2009

The sequel to 2007 hit, ‘Naan Avanillai’, starring Jeevan in the lead, is under production. Selvaa directs the film and Jeevan has been repeated as the hero. Jeevan has five newcomers to romance in this film.

In the first part, Jeevan had sirens Sneha, Jyothirmayee, malavika, Namitha and Keerthi Chawla for company. The sequel is not about the hero cheating beautiful women, but on why the hero behaved like that in the first part.

Though Jeevan hasn’t had a hit since ‘Machchakkaran’, he appears unperturbed and has been concentrating on his work.

Jaya Bachchan becomes an adopted mother!

January 30th, 2009

Bollywood fans who are glum about not seeing Madhavan and the first lady of Bollywood Jaya Bachchan on screen of late, have much to rejoice. Both the power houses of performance will soon be seen on screen in Hari Om Sai's production PHIR TUM MIL GAYE, to be directed by Revathy S Verma.

The film is a remake of a South film JUNE R and also marks Raveena Tandon's comeback and stars Ayesha Takia too. The story is about adoption, just that in this one a 20-year girl adopts a mother from an old age home. Director Revathy points out, ''We always hear of couples adopting babies from orphanages, here it is the reverse process of a young girl wanting a mom. The mother's character is extremely optimistic.'' Jaya Bachchan will play the role she plays best, that of a soft and loving 'adopted' mother.

Preya Arora of Hari Om Sai Production says, ''Jayaji's confirmation to this role is a great achievement to us. We were looking forward to her playing the mother's role because she has that motherly charm and softness.'' Revathy also seconds the opinion and says, ''When we were in talks for the Hindi version, one thing was sure that she would be in the cast.''

The surprise package of the film is Maddy, who has a main role and will be quite the star. Both the actors have kept their appearances rare, so it will be great to see them together. Though this is the first project of Hari Om Sai Production, the house has two major projects lined up after this, with big star cast. But everything is under wraps as of now.

Saif-Kareena film in payments controversy

January 30, 2009

Karan Johar's latest production seems to have come into some trouble.

Some crew members in Philadelphia, USA, where the film was shot last winter, have complained that they have not received payment even after the shoot ended.

Directed by first-timer Rensil D'Silva (who wrote Aks and Rang De Basanti, the yet-untitled film stars Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. It was shot in Philadelphia in November and December, and 1,000 crew members and extras were hired. Johar's Dharma Productions enlisted an Australian company called Swish Group Limited to help with the shoot.

The Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper reported that according to the workers, the payment of $100,000 had bounced and that Swish was not responding to their inquiries.

Apoorva Mehta, CEO, Dharma Productions, told rediff.com, "They (Swish ) have an accounting problem at the moment. They have confirmed receiving the money from our side. They said they will settle the due in two or three weeks. They have given us a confirmation letter also."

Cary P Stynes, Managing Director, Swish Group Limited, forwarded his reply to Dharma Productions to this reporter via e-mail, where he admitted to the delay in payments.

'We are in the process of resolving all matters in relation to the payment to crew members and vendors appointed by us for services in relation to your film, currently under production,' the e-mail stated. 'We have not been able to do so, as the accounts for the film are yet to be finalised. We have given this matter priority over all other accounting issues and our accounts team are working around the clock to sort out the issues that we have had. We are still reconciling the exact amounts of what is owed to various people who worked on the film.'

Styles further stated that payments will be made within the next 10 to 15 days.

'We once again confirm that we have received full and complete payment from you of all amounts requested by us to date. We thank you for your patience and we have no objection if you share this letter with the crew members, vendors and other stakeholders. Apologies again for any inconvenience or embarrassment caused,' Stynes concluded.

January 30th, 2009

King Khan and the so called bad boy of Bollywood Salman Khan will again compete with each other. Both are coming back to television with their individual programs. If SRK is leaving no stone unturned to launch his shows like First Ladies on NDTV Good Times, Knights and Angels and Ghar Ki Baat Hai on NDTV Imagine then Sallu Miya is also gearing up for the second season of Dus Ka Dum.

Knights and Angels is a reality show and King Khan will be the judge. The show will judge the right candidate who could take forward his IPL team the Kolkata Knighter Riders to a new level and induce in them the spirit to perform better. Ghar Ki Baat Hai will be a traditional sit-com, a story of a day to day life of Yagnik family and their neighbors.

Both Khans have taken their battle front from big to small screen. It's a story of few months when Salman hit at Shahrukh at Katrina’s birthday bash, insulting him in public for showing attitude and not appearing in his show Dus Ka Dum. Salman also insulted Shahrukh for the failure of the game show Kya Aap Panchvi Paas Se Tez Hain? After the serious spat, Shahrukh and Salman are no longer in talking terms.

Since both the Khans are venturing into the same arena, lets see what ugly turn their spat takes.