Looking good Madhuri Dixit
Madhuri Dixit Nene and Juhi Chawla might have been arch rivals in the late 80s and 90s — but now, the two actresses, who have successfully carved independent niches for themselves in the film industry, will be seen together.
In a casting coup of sorts, both the actresses are coming together for the first time in Anubhav Sinha's next project, Gulabi Gang.The film's script called for two strong performers. Anubhav, who had finalised Madhuri for one of the roles earlier, has been looking for his second leading lady for a while now. Says Anubhav, "Gulabi Gang is about two iconic female characters.
I couldn't have pulled off a better cast than the two most iconic female stars — Madhuri and Juhi — together for the first time on the Indian screen. My film is an action and drama piece, with two women at loggerheads. I needed actors who would justifiably match up to each other, both in terms of their performance and stature."Juhi is kicked about the fact that after 'Son of Sardaar', she is getting into another very exciting film — that too with Madhuri.
Gulabi Gang is a women's group from Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region that takes up the cause of women facing violence, domestic and social problems. Though there have been talks about the film being based on Sampat Pal's life, Anubhav denies it.Maharaja Features
Little girl in a big film
Child artiste Sania Anklesaria, who was recently seen in Rowdy Rathore and has also done two short films with Whistling Woods International, will now be seen in producer Anand Shukla's film 'Life's Good' with Jackie Shroff.
Director Anant Mahadevan was looking for three girls of different age with similarities in looks among them and felt that Sania was perfect to play the youngest girl, Mishti. After Sania participated in Raell Padamsee's seven-day workshop during her summer vacation, she went in for an audition for a commercial and got the first project. She has done almost 35 advertisements since then.
Sania is also doing two very popular shows — she is playing Guri in 'Best Of Luck Nikki' and Max in 'The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir'. She will next be seen in director Anand Rai's Raanjhana, where she plays the younger version of Sonam Kapoor and Rohit Roy's
'Terrorist Uncle'.
Resplendent at the premiere
Life of Pi' is the most talked about movie of the season and its star, Tabu, chose to wear a lovely Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla creation to its premiere at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa recently.
"We wanted to create something spectacular for Tabu. Black and silver became the pallette. The low-waisted anarkali is something she carries so well. It's got the perfect
combination of volume and tailoring that lends regality to the red carpet," says Sandeep Khosla, of the outfit. They added motifs with Mughal jaali as well as dull silver gota and jet sequins.
'No one listens to me'
For a man who's often embraced new ideas and fads spontaneously, Shah Rukh Khan does have his prejudices. For starters, he seems to have something against
tattoos — one will never find him getting inked or encouraging anyone who wants to get a tattoo.
Apparently, Shah Rukh has been under considerable pressure from his friends
and colleagues — namely Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra — to get tattooed.
But he abhors the idea. In fact, during the shooting of 'Ra.One', his team floated
the idea of him getting inked — but he shot it down immediately.
And while Dutt and PeeCee's leading-by-example may not work for him, the actor confesses he cannot stop his children — Aryan and Suhana — from getting tattooed.
"No one listens to me," he shrugs.
For a strong script
Vikas Gulati and Smruti Shinde have signed writer Shiraz Ahmed for one of the projects — a thriller. Shiraz has already worked on exciting films like Aitraaz — which starred Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Akshay Kumar — and Humraaz."As a screenplay writer, Shiraz did a fantastic job in films like Humraaz, Aitraaz and Rowdy Rathore and we thought of utilising his talent in one of our projects. At this point, the script is still being written," says Vikas. Vikas and Smruti have produced television shows like Bole Toh Malamaal (in Marathi) and 'The Outsider', where they managed to get Jaswant Singh and Pervez Musharraf for the final episode, which was hosted by the award-winning television journalist Tim Sebastian.
"I had directed music videos for movies like 'Race', Ishq Vishk and Fida before I directed my first feature film, 'Prince'. With the new year, I am getting back to movies, for which we are working on three film scripts," Vikas says.