A surprise from Madhur
Director Madhur Bhandarkar is known to be a very private person, when it comes to his birthday. But this year, actress Kareena Kapoor — who happens to star in his magnum opus 'Heroine — has decided to celebrate his birthday in her inimitable style. While dubbing for the film, Kareena surprised Madhur Bhandarkarwith a birthday cake and a gathering of all the crew of the film to wish the director on his special day. Madhur was pleasantly surprised.
"I am either working or out on a family trip on my birthday. It was very sweet of Bebo to give me this birthday surprise," says Madhur.
Heroine, which is due for a September release, has been generating a lot of hype after the first peek of its trailer, which seems to have all the ingredients of a Madhur Bhandarkar film. Kareena Kapoor's special item song, Halkat Jawani, has also been getting lots of praise, since the actress looks fit and fabulous in the promos.
What is an interesting coincidence worth noting is that the first day of the shoot of the film Heroine began with actor Arjun Rampal's birthday and the film will release on Kareena's birthday, on September 21.
Hunt for the right face
Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been planning a movie based on Olympic medal winning boxer Mary Kom. Not surprisingly, there has been some anxiety regarding finding the perfect actress to play the role of Mary in the movie. But while Bhansali himself as well as debutant director Omang Kumar are a little worried about the casting, Mary Kom herself is least perturbed.
It has been decided that the actress who is chosen will stay with Mary for four months and train in boxing, so as to get her technique and body language down pat. Confessing that she's quite a Bhansali fan, Mary says, "I see Hindi movies. I saw Guzaarish too. But I think Devdas was his best."
She hopes that this particular project will help improves ties between the North-East and the rest of India.
Investing in the perfect set
Ram Gopal Varma goes to serious lengths to make sure that the various facets of his films are simply perfect. After being denied permission to shoot at the Taj Hotel for his film based on the tragic 26/11 terror attacks, RGV has spent Rs 2.5 crore to recreate the setting at a suburban hotel.
When it comes to this film, it's double trouble for Ram Gopal Varma. After being granted very limited access to the CST railway station to shoot his ambitious project based on the terror attacks, word is that his request to film at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, Colaba has been turned down.
Incidentally, Ramu has taken the authorities' decision in his stride and has instead recreated the entire lobby of the Colaba hotel at another suburban hotel in Juhu, which is currently being rented for shootings.
The entire set has been created by art director Uday Singh and apparently Ramu has spent around Rs 2.5 crore in order to get the perfect sets.
Controversial role for Big B
It may well be his most controversial role till date, but Big B — who has always been in search of newer challenges — has verbally given his nod to playing a Pakistani national in sound designer Resul Pookutty's directorial debut. This film has quite a few well-known names attached to it, and has been a source of much curiosity in tinsel town. The script of the yet-untitled project has already been submitted to Bachchan. But that isn't all — fans also have reason to rejoice because according to Resul, he's got 'Big Brother' A R Rahman to compose the music for his film.
Given the number of industry giants who are a part of this project, one can only hope that it translates into a box office success.
In the skin of his character
Stars are known for going out of their way to do justice to their roles, and Nawazuddin Siddiqui is no exception.
For national award winner Mangesh Hadawle's next movie, Dekh indian Circus, the actor plays a mute character who is also one of the main characters in the film.
The dedicated actor that he is, Nawaz underwent a course in which he was trained for hand movements, gestures and facial expressions which are usually done by mute people in their everyday life.
It was a rigorous and difficult but Nawaz mastered it by the end of the training lessons.
Not only this, a source adds, "Nawaz took the role so seriously that he had refrained from talking to anyone on the sets."
In order to get into the character perfectly, Nawaz also stopped speaking on the phone.
A close friend of Nawaz adds, "It was quite a difficult task for Nawaz to switch it on and off during the shoot, so he decided to keep it switched off for the whole shoot."
According to Mangesh Hadawale, the director of the film, Nawaz has done justice to the character and no one could have played the character better than him.