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LUCKY
IS AS LUCKY GETS
HAVING taken Mumbai filmdom by storm, with his songs in Kaho
Na... Pyaar Hai, LUCKY ALI is trying on a not-so-new new hat.
As hero. He plays the lead role, in Aditya Bhattacharya’s
internationaal film, Avtaar.
The film also stars Sophiya Haque and Sibil Temchen, a rising
American actress. Now, that’s not all. Lucky is all set
to conquer filmdom with his inimitable style. He has signed
up for two more films, one for Pooja Bhatt, and the other,
for Sanjay Dutt.
On being asked about the role he says, “I sort of play
myself, in the sense, that I don’t have to put extra
effort into playing the character. I play a singer, which
I already am.”
He is also composing a few songs for Avtaar, which will also
comprise tracks from Aks. Currently, Lucky is also planning
another album. “It will take a while, though, I guess.
It’s too soon to come up with another album, and everyone
needs a break from me,” he smiles. What’s more he
is also experimenting with the Cairo Philharmonic Orchestra.
So, as you can see, it’s all happening to lucky ol’
Lucky.
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MUSINGS ON REINCARNATION
THE man won international acclaim courtesy films like Raakh
and Senso Unico. His current film, with Lucky Ali, Avtaar,
is the fruit of their longtime friendship.
This is Lucky’s third album, and by coincidence, ADITYA
BHATTACHARYA’s third film, too. “I lost my father
recently and eversince, I have been more than a trifle interested
in things like reincarnation. I happened to meet writer Eva
Maria Franchi, and the story is an adaptation from the writer’s
novel Due Vite In Una, about a singer who gets a lucky break
from his past life.”
About the film, he adds, “It’s high time we started
accepting Mumbai with some attitude. People are ready for
films of this kind and we are ready to give it to them.”
Talking about his father, Basu Bhattacharya’s influence
on his work, he says he may be young but he’s cast in
a different mould altogether as a filmmaker. On the anvil
is a film about the Mumbai underworld, still very much the
flavour of the season. “The concept has been growing
in my mind for the last nine years, or so. It’s just
that I was tied up with other things to pay much heed to it.
Now, the time seems just right to take it up,” he muses.
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CROONING
FOR THE
MOVIES
NOW that she’s gone ahead and done it, she’s left
us all wondering why on earth she didn’t think of it
much earlier. SHUBHA MUDGAL, she of Pyar Ki Geet and Man Ke
Manjeere fame, has had her first taste of playback-singing
with Cinevista Eagle’s maiden production, Yeh Mohabbat
Hai.
Yes, that’s the film that stars newcomers Rahul Bhatt,
Akanksha Malhotra and Nasir Khan. Directed by Umesh Mehra,
who coproduces it along with Cinevista men, Prem Kishen and
Sunil Mehta, the film has music by Anand Raaj Anand, cinematography
by S Pappu, art by Leeladhar Sawant and choreography by Bhushan
Lakhandri. The Mudgal track has been penned by Dev Kohli.
And fans will no doubt be hoping it’s the first of many
trysts with the movies for Shubha Mudgal.
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THE
PRICE OF DEFAMATION
20 Crores. That’s the sum she’s angling for, the
price she’s set on her reputation. An angry SHILPA SHETTY
has done what she’d promised us she would — take
moviemag, Stardust to court, for the series of articles it
had published on her personal life. Magna Publications Ltd
and publisher Nari Hira have been made respondents in the
petition filed on her behalf by her counsel Satish Maneshinde
before Justice Hemant Gokhale of the Mumbai High Court.
This isn’t the first time a star has taken umbrage at
Stardust’s scoops. Or the first defamation suit the glossy’s
been saddled with. Shetty, on her part, says the articles
about her were “totally false” and “figments
of the writer’s imagination.” They alleged that
she was involved with a married man after her “affair”
with Akshay Kumar fell apart. They even reported she’d
been seeing a lot of Salman Khan, in a bid to wangle a few
roles for herself in films. Shetty’s also urged the court
to restrain the mag from spreading such canards about her.
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269,
THE NEW NUMBER TO BEAT
SHOLAY, believe it or not, is no longer the longest running
movie in the history of cinema, DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE
is. If you thought the former’s awesome record run of
265 weeks, at Mumbai’s Minerva was unsurpassable, consider
this:
DDLJ is now in its 269th week at Maratha Mandir, Mumbai. The
audience turn-out continues to be so overwhelming that Manoj
Desai, executive director of the theatre has no plans to discontinue
the film in the foreseeable future. Films in only their second
week have had fewer viewers than DDLJ commands in its 269th.
And by the looks of it, the new number to beat could well
end up in the vicinity of 300.
Patrons who throng the theatre at Mumbai Central have seen
the film four times on an average. Some even claim to have
seen it as many as 20 times. The story, where the spirited,
London-bred Shah Rukh wins over the demure dulhaniya, Kajol,
sure has won the hearts of moviebuffs, most of whom are in
the late teens.
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A NEW DANCING PARTNER
IT’S now official. VASHU BHAGNANI has indeed inked a
lucrative deal with HMV-Saregama India, whereby the music
of his forthcoming movies will be acquired by the label. This,
of course, means Bhagnani has moved away from TIPS, his old
associates on projects such as Coolie No 1, Hero No 1, Biwi
No I, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, and
Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya. Bhagnani has as many as five movies
on the anvil, all of which will now be snapped up by HMV-Saregama.
He’s bound to be richer by Rs 25 crore at the end of
it all, with the audio rights of each project fetching Rs
5 crore each.
The rights of the Anupam Kher-directed Om Jai Jagdish will
be the first to change hands. The film pits Anil Kapoor, Abhishek
Bachchan and Fardeen Khan against each other, and should hit
the turnstiles by year-end. AR Rahman, Anu Malik and Nadeem-Shravan
are the composers on these projects.
Rumour is rife that money wasn’t the only attraction
behind Bhagnani’s change of loyalties. Some say the rift
between old friends, Bhagnani and Taurani came about because
the latter was reluctant to cough up the price quoted on each
film. Others say Bhagnani wasn’t too pleased with Taurani’s
ploy of pricing the cassettes of Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya at Rs
65 each. HMV, meanwhile, is making an aggressive bid for other
big productions as well. And talks are currently on with the
likes of Sooraj Barjatya and Yash Chopra for the audio rights
of their films.
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BACK
TO HER FIRST LOVE
REMEMBER the grey-eyed sensation from Kamal Haasan’s
Hey! Ram? Well, VASUNDHARA DAS, as we’d reported in these
columns a while ago, is quite an accomplished singer, which
was in fact, her first love. Having given us a foretaste or
two of her histrionic skills in the Kamal Haasan movie, she’s
now getting ready to put her vocal chords to the test with
her first album, Mera Nishaan.
Not that we haven’t heard her sing before. She’s
crooned for Mudhalvan, the Tamil film (the track Shakalaka
Baby even fetched her some awards for best playback singer).
For a girl who trained in classical music under Pt Parmeshwar
Hegde of the Keherwa Gharana, Vasundhara has strangely also
sung for an all-girl rock band while she was still in her
12th. When the band split up, she sang for bands such as Freedom
Jam and Jam Tree, before she shifted home base to Chennai.
Vasundhara not only played the lead role, but also sang for
Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding, which should hit theatres
later this year. And that’s not all: she’s composed
the music for as many as 20 Southie ventures.
For one so young, that’s quite a creditable curriculum
vitae already, don’t you think?
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WHEN VILLAIN BECOMES VICTIM
IT’S a curious case of real life imitating the reel.
Only, in this case, SHAKTI KAPOOR isn’t the baddie, but
the victim. And Kapoor, you bet, isn’t the least bit
amused by it all.
The screen villain was robbed of Rs 7 lakh last week, in a
plot that seems borrowed from a Hindi potboiler. He was returning
from the bank, having withdrawn the money, when he stopped
over to change a Rs 500 note. In a case Kapoor has filed with
Santacruz police station, he says, a couple of people knocked
on the car door as soon as he got off it. They told the driver
some money was lying around on the ground, and that the money
had fallen off Kapoor’s pocket. Even as the dutiful driver
was trying to pick up the currency notes from the road, the
men made good with the brief case containing the Rs 7 lakh
Kapoor had just withdrawn.
Although Kapoor seems to have given driver Bappi the clean
chit: he’s worked with actress Sridevi, too, the cops
aren’t taking any chances. They’ve questioned him
a couple of times already over the last one week.
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WATCH OUT FOR THE HUNK
HIS name may not figure on the list of nominations for the
SCREEN-Videocon Award for best actor. But don’t write
him off just yet, for who knows, he may stage an emphatic
comeback next time around.
Why, some pundits in the trade have even been hasty in calling
him a has-been. Granted, his career has been in need of second
wind. But now, it seems to have got just that. SUNIL SHETTY
has not one but four promising movies in various stages of
production: Rajiv Rai’s Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat, Mahesh
Manjrekar’s Ahsaas, Kundan Shah’s Kasam Se and Priyadarshan’s
Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar.
How about a long shot at Shetty making the shortlist at the
next SCREEN Awards? Care to bet on it, anyone?
Shaju George Alex
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