THE BUZZ

From nawab to mawali

The Wild West will soon be coming to Lucknow with Bullet Raja

Ali Khan does a Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with Jimmy Sheirgill. A tad confusing? Well, the Western classic is being remade in Hindi by director Tigmanshu Dhulia, who has relocated the original buddy film’s concept from the Wild West to Lucknow. While Saif plays one of the trigger-happy protagonists, the talented Jimmy Sheirgill plays the other lead in Bullet Raja, so named because of Saif’s character’s penchant for firing bullets and riding the Bullet brand of motorcycle.

“The roles for Saif and Jimmy are akin to those of Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Irrfan comes into the story midway as a ruthless cop who is summoned to stop Saif’s no-holds-barred outlawry,” said a source close to the project.

“Bullet Raja portrays Saif as the fastest gun in Lucknow, and he loves it. He is exploring the adventurous royal side of his personality, firing guns, screeching down dusty roads on his trademark Bullet mobike, looking for a new adventure every day,” added the source.

Saif is completely into getting out of his cultured accent and royal habits to get a hang of the colloquial Uttar Pradesh dialect.

Said Dhulia, “Saif is really enjoying himself. He is the only star-actor after Aamir Khan, who has the draw and the ability to get completely into character. I am his dialogue coach on location. I brief him very closely on how to deliver his

NUTs ABOUT DEEpIkA ON VALENTINE’s!

Actress Deepika Padukone was left in a state of surprise when one of her fans sent 14 coconuts with heart-shaped chocolates inside the shell on Valentine’s Day.

The 27-year-old also received a handwritten note that read: “Here is some tender love and care for the only girl I am nuts about.” lines. He listens, absorbs, and practises the dialogues till he gets them just right.”

The fan made sure that each of the 24 coconuts was sent every hour through the day to the actress, who was overjoyed with such a unique idea.

“I am extremely touched by this gesture from my fan. His idea was so unique! He definitely made my Valentine’s Day very memorable,” she said in a statement.

Dhulia feels Saif is well-read enough to imbibe any character, no matter how alien to him.

“He possesses a world-view, has a sound knowledge of music, literature and the fine arts. He has taken possession of Bullet Raja’s character. He lives the role even when the camera is off. He wants to know what the character is doing when he is not in the frame. That kind of dedication I got when Irrfan played Paan Singh Tomar,” he added.

Bullet Raja is a mass-based actioner with Sajid-Wajid’s populist numbers peppering the proceeds. If sources are to be believed, Saif and his co-star Sonakshi Sinha would be jiving to Pak chik pak raja babu, a popular Govinda number from the 1994 film Raja Babu

Quite a change of character from nawab to mawaali, but of course, Saif can pull it off!

3G is original horror, says lead actors

Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh states that his forthcoming film 3G is completely original, and unique in its concept. “It is an original concept and a story. It is very important to know that it is not a take off from any of the Hollywood films as probably people would think,” said the 31-year-old at the first look launch of the film recently.

3G is a horror film that revolves around a mobile phone and the situations that ensue after Neil’s character buys it.

For Neil, who is known for playing edgy characters in films like Johnny Gaddaar, Aa Dekhen Zara, Jail and most recently David, it is the thrill of playing something completely opposite to his real self that attracts him to dark roles.

“As far as playing edgy characters is concerned, I am just a 31-year-old child in person. In personal life, I am not at all edgy, I am not at all like the characters I play on screen and that’s the whole fun of playing characters on screen which are nice, edgy and dark,” Neil said.

Co-directed by Sheershak Anand and Shantanu Ray Chhibber, 3G will release in mid-March and also stars Sonal Chauhan. She too asserts that it is an unconventional horror film for Bollywood.

“In Indian cinema, the horror films have been mostly about haunted mansions, spirits or black magic. This movie offers you horror in a different way, something that I think the Indian audience will see for the first time on screen,” said the 27-yearold actress.

Sequel to Special 26?

The movie Special 26 has gone down surprisingly well with fans. And now the film’s production company is keen to carry the heist tale forward into not only a sequel, but an ongoing franchise. Most relieved and happy is director Neeraj Pandey, who had his fingers crossed about the success of his second feature film. His first was the critically acclaimed A Wednesday

Akshay Kumar himself is willing to dole out dates for the sequel, so it’s not too far away and Pandey already has the plot panned out.

“I’ve left the ending open. We saw Akshay’s character leave the country with his girl. It would now be interesting to see what happens to him and his colleagues,” he said.

“Fortunately, the audiences have embraced Akshay’s unusual performance. All the actors were my first choices and I was glad that they agreed to be part of this project. And the response to the film has been very good,” he added.

Special 26 also features Kajal Aggarwal, Anupam Kher and Manoj Bajpayee, who said that the success of the film proves there is a lot of appetite for good cinema and entertainment.

“It only shows that how well the film was made by Neeraj Pandey, that even the small characters are very popular today,” said the 43-year-old actor.

“It only says that there is so much appetite for good cinema, for unique entertainment that the audience is looking for,” added the actor, who has essayed the role of CBI officer Wasim Khan in the film.

Looks like the sequel to Special 26 is set to be extra special!

Happy young Prachi!

Prachi Desai has often played characters much older than her 24 years, but in Sanjay Dutt-starrer Policegiri she’s delighted that she’ll be playing her age.

“Sanjay plays a cop in the film and I play a software engineer,” said Prachi recently. Her character in the film will be a very colourful one, says the young actress. “She is a livewire and brings in energy all the time”.

Prachi began her Bollywood debut with Rock On!!, and is excited to work on Policegiri, the Hindi remake of Tamil film Saamy

Prachi also has some radical ideas on performing item numbers in films, which she says are no different from normal songs and are “extremely beneficial” for an actress’ career. “If you get a song which really cracks it for you, it is fantastic as people, more than watching your film, watch you on TV in that song! It is great,” she said.

“These days I don’t see much difference between a normal song and an item number. You can call anything, anything, as long as it is an entertaining song and people take to it,” said the actress, who still hasn’t performed an item number herself.

Prachi has also acted in movies like Life Partner, Once Upon a Time in Mumbai and Bol Bachchan, and for her forthcoming film I Me Aur Main, Prachi sports a glamorous look, and has danced to a peppy song - a new age version of Sridevi’s chartbuster Na jaane kahaan se aayi hai.

Well, it’s not too late, Prachi, you’re getting there, you’ll have your turn…

Mallika faces the music Controversies follow Mallika Sherawat like rain after gathering clouds. To no one’s surprise Mallika has fuelled a storm of protests while playing Bhanwari Devi, the slain Rajasthani nurse in KC Bokadia’s Dirty Politics

In Indore for the shooting, Mallika apparently had unwanted visitors from a particular political party who claimed the Bhanwari Devi scandal was being dug up at another political party’s behest.

But Bokadia, who knows real-life stories court controversies, has decided to take the safe route out. He has made radical changes in the script. And the film is no longer being touted as Bhanwari Devi’s story.

“My film is not about Bhanwari Devi. First of all Mallika is Anokhi Devi in the film. Secondly Bhanwari Devi was a nurse. Mallika is not a nurse in my film. The character in my film is not like the controversial nurse at all. People are unnecessarily jumping to conclusions,” said Bokadia, desperately attempting to clarify and set rumours at rest.

Until recently, both Bokadia and Mallika couldn’t stop talking about the real-life antecedents of her character. But once Mallika started getting threatening calls, reality set in, along with sense.

“We decided to steer away from the whole headline thing when politicians jumped into the fray. We didn’t want to face what Shekhar Kapoor had to go through during Bandit Queen or what Ekta Kapoor had to face during The Dirty Picture,” said a source close to Bokadia.

Mallika has also been advised to go easy on talking about the biographical aspect of the film. But for Mallika’s fans, who are dismayed to see the bold actress wrapped up in a saree, here’s some heartening news. She will be doing some hot sizzling dance numbers. “Mallika plays a dancer. She will do whatever the role requires,” said Bokadia.

At least that’s one thing politicians aren’t likely to object to…or is it? Let’s wait and see!

LAsT IssUE CApTION CONTEsT wINNINg ENTRY

What’s the chitchat between brothers Salman and Sohail here?

Sohail: Bro, mere saamne jyada dabaang mat ban, maine tujhe banaya!

Salman: Ja ja, main to pedayishi dabaang hoon!!

Arti Lal

Auburn NSW

Arti wins a CD of new Hindi film release ABCD