The shoot of Abhishek Varman’s period drama Kalank kick started last week. Actor Varun Dhawan has already shot for his introductory song. The song choreographed by Remo D’souza was shot with 500 backup dancers grooving with Varun, on a set in Mumbai. Since, the singers are yet to be finalized, the song was shot on a scratch version over four nights. The song also features Kiara Advani in a special appearance. A source informs, “Varun began his rehearsals with Remo’s team 4 days before shoot & Kiara joined him on the last 2 days. In between shots, the actor would catch up on his workouts in a gym specially built on the sets. “The film jointly produced by Fox Star Studios, Dharma Productions & Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment also stars Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Roy Kapur & Sanjay Dutt.
ANUPAM KHER TO STAR IN BBC’S ‘MRS WILSON’!
Anupam Kher is currently one of the most celebrated Indian actors in Hollywood who has the distinction of having bagged 2 nominations at Screen Actors Guild Awards for Silver Linings Playbook (2013) & The Big Sick (2018) & also a BAFTA nomination for The Boy With A Topknot. In addition to his popular shows, Sense8 & The Indian Detective, the thespian has just wrapped NBC’s medical drama and has now been signed on to BBC’s highly anticipated drama, Mrs Wilson. Making for a profoundly moving story, the upcoming show that is set in 1940’s & 1960’s London is inspired by the memoir of Ruth Wilson’s (an award-winning English actress, known for performance in The Affair) grandmother & her family’s complicated history. Kher will be part of an ensemble star cast that includes Wilson in the lead, Iain Glen (of the Game Of Thrones & Delicious fame), Keeley Hawes (known for The Durrells & Ashes To Ashes) & Fiona Shaw (who was in the Harry Potter series & True Blood). If sources are to be believed the seasoned actor shall begin shooting for it in Northern Ireland & London by the 8th May, 2018. Says Kher, “Mrs Wilson is set in a very interesting background & follows a gripping storyline which had me hooked as I read it. Not to mention, it is great to be part of such a talented star-cast ensemble. I look forward to shooting in the next month.”
LAUNCH OF AN INDO – IRAN FILM PRODUCTION “DEVIL’S DAUGHTER”
The launch saw the presence of producer Lucky Nadiadwala Morani, Jackie Shroff, Esha Gupta, Hamid Farrokhnezad. The Devil’s daughter is the story of one of the devil’s children who wants to repent. The condition for his repentance is to prostrate to an innocent person. The devil’s daughter enters the earth and looks for an innocent person…Directed by: Ghorban Mohammadpour; Produced by: Lucky Nadiadwala Morani, & Ghorban. The film stars Hamid Farrokhnezad, Esha Gupta, Fardin And…. Jackie Shroff as the Devil.Present at the event were Shibani Kashyap, Vandana Sajnani, Rajesh Khattar, Ali Quli Mirza (Acts in The Film Too), Prashant Virender Sharma, Mohammad Morani, Ali Morani, Azhar Morani, Sajjad Delafrooz, Amaan Noor, Anamta Kamal, etc.
URVASHI’ S NEW RIDE IS A 2.0 CRORE MERCEDES S – CLASS!
The latest to join the German auto giant’s family is actress Urvashi Rautela, who has purchased an all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The former beauty queen, who is currently basking in the success Hate Story 4, recently celebrated the special moment by gifting herself a brand new car. This is her 4th car. The talented actress is passionate about car and she also has a luxury car fetish. A source informs, “When Urvashi started her career, she bought a Range Rover and now mercedes S-class. She is a huge fan of luxury cars like Mustang, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, McLaren. She hopes to buy them all one day.”
KALANK – AN EPIC DRAMA DIRECTED BY ABHISHEK VARMAN TO RELEASE ON 19TH APRIL 2019
Director Abhishek Varman who helmed 2 States is all set to direct his next film. The epic drama set in 1940’s is titled Kalank. The film which was incepted 15 years ago by Karan Johar & his dad Yash Johar has found its way and will now be released on 19th Apr, 2019. Kalank has a stellar ensemble cast which includes Madhuri Dixit, Sonakshi Sinha, Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur & Sanjay Dutt. This film also marks the collaboration of Fox Star Studios, Dharma Productions & Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment. Karan Johar says, “Kalank has been an emotional journey for me! A germ of an idea that I had nearly 1 & a half decade …a film that was in a pre-production stage helmed by my father. A beautifully structured story by Shibani Bathija and an exceptionally fluid narrative & screenplay by Abhishek. Sajid Nadiadwala adds, “Kalank is a multistarrer with a story that will cross all borders, under the capable direction of Abhishek Varman”. Vijay Singh of Fox Star Studios says, “Our creative & strategic partnership with Dharma Production & Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, the power houses of industry has been successful & rewarding. Our association with Dharma gave us an excellent opportunity to be associated with 100 cr hits like Badrinath Ki Dulhania & Ae Dil Hain Mushkil and with NGE we presented back to back blockbusters, Judwaa 2 & Baaghi 2. With Karan Johar & Sajid Nadiadwala coming together it will be a path breaker & a great team to work with.”
IPRS DISTRIBUTED ROYALTY WORTH 13 CRORES IN 1 DAY AMONGST MUSIC COMPOSERS & LYRICISTS
Javed Akhtar, Chairman of IPRS (Indian Performing Right Society) came to distribute 13 Crores received for TV synchronization between all authors & composer members at The Club, Andheri West. Rs.10,000 was distributed to author / composer having 10 or less than 10 works registered with IPRS & the balance royalty was distributed equally to all remaining authors / composers which was Rs. 53,000. This TV Synchronization royalty was paid by PPL on behalf of Saregama, Sony Music, Tips, Universal Music, Venus & Aditya Music. Rakesh Nigam,CEO IPRS says – “We are happy to distribute the royalty to all authors & composers of our society. After all it’s all hard work & effort put by them”. Raju Singh, Sudhakar Sharma, Shravan Rathod, Harmeet, A M Turaaz, Prashant Ingole, Jatin Pandit, Sanjeev Darshan, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Shibani Kashyap and many more came to collect royalty. The entire fraternity of IPRS thanked Javed Akhtar for his hard work & effort put in by him.
SHAHID KAPOOR TO PLAY THE LEAD IN HINDI REMAKE OF TELUGU HIT ‘ARJUN REDDY’
Actor Shahid Kapoor whose recent release Padmaavat was a huge hit at the Box-Office turnstiles has been finalized to play the titular role in the Hindi remake of Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2017 Telugu directorial debut Arjun Reddy. The Telugu original that released in Aug, last year was a success. The story revolves around a surgeon grappling with anger issues who goes into a downward spiral after his girlfriend gets married to someone else. Shahid Kapoor who has been in talks for the role with the makers for a while now, gave the nod to the project earlier this week. Producers Murad Khetani & Ashwin Warde have bought the rights to the Hindi remake, which will be directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. The actor is currently shooting for Shree Narayan Singh’s Batti Gul Meter Chalu opposite Shraddha Kapoor.
NATIONAL AWARD WINNER RIDDHI SEN IS KAJOL’S REEL-LIFE SON IN EELA!
19 year old Bengali actor Riddhi Sen recently won the 65th National Film Award of “Best Actor” for the film, Nagarkirtan. Riddhi will also be seen in Pradeep Sarkar’s directorial venture, Eela playing the role of Kajol’s son! He took up theatre at a very early age. Ajay Devgn was the one who launched him in Parched and he has also worked in films like Kahaani, Bhoomi, Churanga directed by Vikas Mehra & Open Tee Bioscope, a Bengali film which is directed by Anindya Chatterjee. After the announcement of the National Film Awards, Kajol took to twitter to show her love towards her on screen son. She tweeted, “My virtual son from Eela wins a national award for his Bengali film Nagarkirtan.” Riddhi reminisces, adding that when he got the news of him winning the prestigious award, urged on by his mother who saw the news on a channel, Pradeep Sarkar was the 1st ever person he called. “Dada was really happy & Kajol ma’am even arranged for a cake for me on the sets to celebrate my National Award win.” The movie is produced by Ajay Devgn & Jayantilal Gada (Pen India Limited).
OMUNG KUMAR & SANDEEP SINGH TO DO ANOTHER SPORTS DRAMA – ‘YUBI LUKPI’
After the super success of Mary Kom, Omung Kumar is all set to direct another sports drama, this time on a sport that is very similar to rugby. Produced by Sandeep Singh, the film titled Yubi Lukpi will take the filmmaker-producer duo back to the North East. Yubi Lukpi is a local Manipuri sport and is played with coconuts and said to be similar to rugby. Some believe that Yubi Lukpi was the original version of rugby. Producer Sandeep Singh said, “Omung does wonders with sports dramas. We wanted to tell the story of rugby to the people of this country. We did not plan on going back to Manipur, but the story took us there. We are glad to be showing off small pockets of India producing dedicated sports people.” Omung Kumar said, “With Yubi Lukpi, we are tracing the journey of the Indian Rugby Team. Yes, India plays Rugby and it’s high time the sport gets a pushup in the country. ” Omung is working with a team of writers to make sure every aspect of the story is got right. As with Mary Kom, the director-producer duo is looking to hire local talent to make sure the film looks authentic.
JUHI CHAWLA TO MAKE A SPECIAL APPEARANCE IN ‘VENTILATOR’ GUJARATI
Jackie Shroff is making his Gujarati debut with the adaptation of Rajesh Mapuskar’s Marathi comedy-drama Ventilator. Helmed by debutant director Umang Vyas, the adaptation is written by acclaimed scriptwriter Niren Bhatt, who has previously written the National Award-winning thriller-drama Wrong Side Raju, Umesh Shukla’s All Is Well & the Salman Khan produced Loveratri, that features his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma. The original Ventilator director Mapuskar will be making a special appearance in the film. The makers have now roped in Shroff’s long-time co-star Juhi Chawla to do a cameo as a doctor in the film. The duo have worked together in more than half a dozen films including Aaina, Gang, One 2 Ka 4 & the last being Nagesh Kukunoor’s 2003 crime film 3 Deewarein. They have now reunited on the big screen after 1 & a half decade. “I have done films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali & Punjabi and wanted to work in a Marathi & Gujarati film too, so when Jaggu dada told me that the makers were considering me for this part I was super excited to be a part of it. I am happy that I can now say that I have also done one Gujarati film,” informs Juhi.
