SCOOPS: A pooja for Sridevi's death anniversary in Chennai, Sushant Singh Rajput and Prateik Babbar have drunk fight

A year ago, the Indian film industry grieved superstar Sridevi’s untimely demise. Though the actress passed away on February 24, 2018, as per the tithi, her death anniversary will be observed on February 14. The rituals that take place for the barsi will be held at her Chennai home, which is right next to Dr M Karunanidhi’s residence. Boney Kapoor along with daughters Janhvi and Khushi will be present there. Anil Kapoor’s wife, Sunita, as well as some of the other close family members, will also be present. Though it’s been a year since Sri departed, Boney and the rest of the Kapoor khandaan are yet to come to terms with their irreplaceable loss.

Rajshri Productions was one of the first banners to base a film on the concept of friendship way back in 1964. Dosti, which was about the bond between a disabled person and a visually-challenged boy, was a roaring success. Since then, Rajshri’s movies have revolved around the concept of friends and family. 

Over the years, they have given audiences blockbusters like Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! (1994), Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999), Vivah (2006) and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (2015). In 2019, Rajshri is back with a film that showcases the importance of dosti, but with a twist! Hum Chaar is based on the concept that in today’s world, friends become family. It upholds the values that the production house has stood for since 72 years.

Debutantes Prit Kamani, Simran Sharma, Anshuman Malhotra and Tushar Pandey play the lead roles. Producer Sooraj Barjatya says, “When I look at my kids, nephews, nieces and their bonds with their friends, what inspires me is the non-judgmental attitude that friendship has! If this purity, this unconditional love that friends have for each other is not family, then what is?” 

Rajshri Productions’ Hum Chaar: Friends Bhi Family Hai is slated to hit the screens on February 15.

National Award winners Anil Kapoor and Sonam K Ahuja — one of the most successful father-daughter duos in the Indian film industry —  have left an indelible mark on the landscape of Hindi cinema. While Anil is as prolific as it gets and continues to reinvent himself with every movie, Sonam was a popular and profitable actress at the box office last year with Pad Man, Sanju and Veere Di Wedding under her belt. Her brave career choices have caught everyone’s attention.

However, it took a special film like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga to bring the two together on screen for the first time. The recent release breaks new ground while tackling a sensitive subject with grace and humour. It has not only received an outstanding reception at the box office with a Rs 15 crore weekend figure, but the stars have also been lauded for choosing to play characters that most would shy away from. They are part of a film that hopes to encourage a broader and open mindset about a subject that’s usually considered as taboo.

The critics, industry, trade and audiences were all praises for their performances and heartwarming chemistry, not to forget the fact that the two championed one of the most important movies of our times.

(Photos: The House of Pixels)

Sajid Nadiadwala’s Baaghi is one of the most successful franchises of Indian cinema. Not surprisingly then, there have been speculations about who will play the leading lady opposite Tiger Shroff in its next instalment. The filmmaker had announced the third movie of the series even before Baaghi 2 opened in cinemas in March 2018. Before the year ended, he also declared its release date — March 6, 2020. 

Names of various actresses, who have apparently been approached, signed or are being considered for the actioner, have been tossed around by unofficial sources. However, that’s far from the truth. The film ’s spokesperson says, “We have been hearing a lot of speculations about the casting of the leading lady in Baaghi 3, but we would like to clarify that nobody has been approached for it yet. We are in the scripting stage right now and signing the female lead opposite Tiger will happen only after the script is ready.” 

Sources close to the makers reveal that quite a few stars have been sending feelers to the producers as the franchise has raked in massive numbers at the box office.

Salman Khan, who will next be seen in Bharat, a remake of Korean period drama Ode To My Father, has liked another film in the language. The superstar has apparently given his nod to an official Hindi remake of another Korean movie, this time it’s a thriller. “Salman is mostly going to star in the adaptation of Veteran, which is an action comedy about a detective up against a rich tycoon who uses his clout to escape the law. Salman is likely to play the protagonist in the desi remake.” As of now, nothing has been put on paper as the Race 3 star has only expressed his interest in remaking Veteran. He has Dabangg 3 lined up after Bharat.

So, it needs to be seen which one he will pick right after the cop franchise.

Rajkummar Rao, who has made it big without the backing of any mentor, has always ensured that he works with talented directors. The actor, who is known to surprise the audience with every film, has consistently delivered with his histrionics and simultaneously, made his characters appear interesting and real. Apart from working with content-driven makers like Hansal Mehta, Anurag Kashyap and Abhishek Kapoor, he has also worked with new directors like is that he has given results with debutant directors.

Incidentally, every time he teams up with a new director, Raj has also picked subjects and genres that are distinct from each other. While Ragini MMS with Pavan Kripalani reintroduced the horror trend in B-Town, Dolly Ki Doli with Abhishek Dogra was a comedy-drama, Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana with Ratnaa Sinha was a family revenge drama and his biggest hit, Stree, with Amar Kaushik was a horror comedy. Not surprisingly, after his recent release, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, debutante director Shelly Chopra Dhar’s take on LGBTQ issues, Rajkummar has more movies with first-time makers — Mental Hai Kya with Prakash Kovelamudi and Made In China with Mikhil Musale. 

Alia Bhatt has got a lot of dance numbers filmed on her right from Disco Deewane (Student Of The Year) to Saturday Saturday (Badri Ki Dulhania) and Kar Gayi Chull (Kapoor & Sons), and these tracks are played regularly at parties. But much before that the Raazi actress would make it a point to carry her choice of numbers on a CD to parties. She shared this tidbit on The Kapil Sharma Show recently. She said, “I used to carry the CD as I was not sure if those songs would be played at the party. It was purely for my own entertainment, else I would have got bored. Le Gayi Le Gayi (Dil Toh Pagal Hai), Que Sera Sera (Pukar, 2000) were part of my song list.” Wonder if the tracks have now been replaced with her own hit numbers.

After two back-to-back superhits, AndhaDhun and Badhaai Ho, in 2018, Ayushmann Khurrana has become the toast of the town. His success has made him popular with the youth and he isn’t missing an opportunity to interact with them. An instance of his bonding with the youth was seen when he was specially invited to perform at a college in Navi Mumbai a couple of days ago. 

“Ayushmann has been an underdog, an outsider in Bollywood who has proven his mettle and become a star with his hard work and brilliant acting. His success story inspires the youth and his fandom has only been growing across the country,” says our source, adding, “When he went to perform at the educational institution, he also met his fans and took them out for dinner. They spent considerable time discussing his movies and he also appreciated their feedback on what they feel about his movie choices. While his admirers were excited to be with their idol, Ayushmann was also happy to hear what they had to say as cinema audiences of today.” 

Check out Aditya Roy Kapur’s social media account and you will notice how his B-Town buddies like Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif have been leaving comments on them. When we spoke to him recently, we asked the actor about the friendship he shares with his contemporaries and being competitive with them at the same time. “Imagine having no competition! What would be the fun in it?” he asked. Aditya added that whenever he works with his contemporaries, he ends up learning a lot from them. For instance, with Varun, with whom he shares screen space in Kalank, Aditya was interested in seeing how he approaches a role.

“There is so much energy he brings and there is no reason to be envious of that. When you see a contemporary putting in a good performance, it should inspire you and light a fire inside you. Everyone is trying to do the best they can. You can’t hate them for that!” he laughed. Ask him about the one recent movie he liked of his contemporaries and he stated, “Sanju for sure. I thought it was a lovely film and I loved the performances, too,” he added.

Even as movies are being made accessible on various platforms with the rapid growth of the digital medium, piracy continues to be a bane for filmmakers. For years, the movie industry has been fighting this menace that eats into their revenue. And now, the fraternity is glad that novel steps are being taken to contain the damage done by their nemesis. The announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, of amending the Cinematograph Act, 1952, to tackle piracy and copyright infringement, has pleased the film industry.

Applauding the government for giving the cabinet approval to for the amendment of the act, Siddharth Roy Kapur, President of the Producers Guild of India, said,

“This is a significant move to protect the intellectual property in our country. This communicates to all stakeholders that as a country, we respect and reward innovation and creativity, and will ensure that the rights of owners and creators of this intellectual property are safeguarded.”

Sajid Nadiadwala’s next production venture Chhichhore is in its last phase of shoot. Our sources from the sets gave us the latest tattle. Apparently, the Chhichhore team was shooting a sequence that involved an epic dunk fight. A water dunk fight used to be a tradition during filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari’s college, rather hostel days in the ’90s. Our source says, “There was a scene in the script that demanded this. Actors Sushant Singh Rajput, Prateik Babbar along with Varun Sharma and others had to go bare bodied, dunking each other. This was a daunting task given that they were shooting during chilly winter nights. 

According to the hostel customs, it takes two students to start the dunk fight, which then evolves into everyone participating in it and attacking the opposite hostel. In the scene, apart from the actors, hundreds of junior artistes had to go bare bodied, but everyone knew the outcome would be great hence they had fun shooting it, too.” Our source further added, “Post shooting this sequence, Sushant and Prateik along with other actors and the director started their own dunk fight by throwing buckets full of water on each other with the freezing winter around!”