NEWS THIS WEEK 

 

Naseer to play Gandhi
Naseeruddin Shah’s dreams of playing Mahatma Gandhi have finally come true. He has been signed to play the role of the father of the nation in a controversial play called Gandhi Vs Gandhi directed by noted theatre director, Feroz Khan. Khan has earlier directed several successful plays like Salgirah (starring Anupam Kher and Kiron Kher) and Tumhari Amrita (Shabana Azmi, Farouque Shaikh) which are still running to packed houses in India and abroad.

 

Shweta delivers a baby girl
Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan became proud grandparents when their daughter Shweta Nanda gave birth to a daughter on December 7, at Breach Candy hospital in Mumbai.

 

A film on Netaji in Japan
Three attempts to make a film based on the life of freedom-fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose have met with failure in India. A Japanese film-maker Shunya Ito has finally decided to make a film on the leader whose role has been neglected in history. The film titled Pride is being produced by TOEI Films in collaboration with Japan-India Goodwill Association.

 

Subhash Ghai to direct Manisha, Akshaye
Subhash Ghai is yet to confirm it. But if insiders at his office are to be believed, Ghai is to launch his next film, the ambitious Ganga. Manisha Koirala and Akshaye Khanna head the cast.

 

MG Soman dead
Malayalam cinema's villain-turned hero, and veteran of more than 500 films, MG Soman died in Kochi on December 12 following a month-long battle with jaundice. He was 56.

 

Salman, Saif in Barjatya film
Sooraj Barjatya’s next film has been titled Hum Saath Hai. Though the film will take about 6 months to go on the floors, the Barjatyas have decided to release it in August 1999. To star Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan and probably Mohnish Bahl as the three heroes, negotiations are on with Karisma Kapoor, Sonali Bendre, Tabu, Juhi Chawla and others to play the three heroines in the film. Scripting of the film is in the final stages and shooting will commence in May 1998. Music sessions for the film are also in progress and the first song will be recorded by music director Raam Laxman either in the last week of January or first week of February.

 

Devang to score for Bombino
Devang Patel, the Gujarati rap singer who tasted success with the highly-successful number, Stop that, has now been signed by Bombino to score music for one of its forthcoming films.

 

Parto walks out of Shaad film
Director Parto Ghosh has walked out of producer BS Shaad’s Govinda-starrer. Parto cites differences of opinion with the producer as the reason. But Parto will be directing two other films with Govinda, one of which will be produced by Vasant Doshi and the other by Chander Sadanah.

 

More from Mithun-Babbar team
Close on the heels of Shapath, producer Rajiv Babbar’s fourth film with Mithun Chakraborty, which was released last week, comes Sher-E-Hindustan. Their fifth film together is slated for release next month. Their sixth, Chandal is almost complete. Once Chandal is complete, Rajiv plans to start two more films with Mithun, one of which, like Shapath, will also have Jackie Shroff in the cast.

 

Raveena in Hitler
Ashok Honda has signed Raveena Tandon and Apurva Agnihotri to co-star Sunil Shetty in his next film, Hitler.

  

 

 

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai progresses
Writer-director Karan Johar started a 10-day shooting schedule for Dharma Productions’ Kuch Kuch Hota Hai starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol from December 10 on two sets at Filmistan Studios. The film is being produced by Yash Johar. It also stars Rani Mukherji, Reema, Archana Puransingh, Farida Jalal, Johnny Lever, Himani Shivpuri, Baby Sana, Anupam Kher and Salman Khan (in a guest appearance). The film has music by Jatin-Lalit, lyrics by Sameer, cinematography by Santosh Thundiyil and choreography by Farah Khan.

 

Gharwali Baharwali in Hyderabad
Producer Tutu Sharma and director David Dhawan started a 10-day shooting schedule for Tutu Film’s Gharwali Baharwali from December 15 on different sets at Annapoorna and Padmalaya Studios in Hyderabad. The film stars Anil Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Rambha, Satish Kaushik and Kadar Khan. It has story by Rumi Jaffri, music by Anu Malik, dances by Ahmed Khan and cinematography by KS Prakash.

 

Wajood's first song recorded
Music director Anu Malik recorded the first song for N Chandra Production’s Wajood on December 6. The song was penned by Javed Akhtar and rendered by Kumar Sanu and Alka Yagnik. The film written, produced and directed by N Chandra has Nana Patekar, Madhuri Dixit, Mukul Dev, Ramya, Shivaji Satam, Suhas Joshi, Tej Sapru, Rajiv Verma and Johnny Lever in key roles. Dialogue is by Kamlesh Pandey, action by Shyam Kushal, editing by Prashant-Vinod and cinematography by WB Rao.

  

Subhash GhaiGhai re-mixes Pardes
In the wake of the superhit music of Subhash Ghai’s film Pardes, the ace filmmaker is determined re-mix the songs of his latest film. The audio re-mix will be titled Pardes - 98 and released on December 24 this year through Tips under MUKTA Audio Co.

 

 

International film on Begum Sumroo
Noted filmmaker Zafar Hai has acquired the film rights of Partap Sharma’s popular play, Begum Sumroo based on which he is planning to make a film with an international starcast.

The film version of Begum Sumroo will be a lavishly mo-unted period piece to be produced in English and Hindi for international and domestic audiences respectively.