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And now...Munna-Circuit comic books
By Subhash K. Jha,

Mumbai, March 22 Director Raj Kumar Hirani and his co-writer Abhijat Joshi have decided not to restrict their two endearing creations - Munna and Circuit - to the large screen. They'll soon be seen as part of a comic book series.

Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi tickled the funny bone of audiences as Munna and Circuit respectively in the hit movies "Munnabhai M.B.B.S." and "Lage Raho Munna Bhai".

"And why just comic books? We've a large number of offers to turn Munna and Circuit's adventures into animation films, cartoon strips, you name it," Hirani told IANS.

In fact, the blueprint for the comic strips has already been made.

"We've drawn some sketches for Munna and Circuit which would hopefully serve as illustrations in a series of adventures, and we like what we see. If things go well we'll soon be putting out Circuit-Munna comic books for public consumption," said Hirani.

The comic books and the proposed animation films will be marketed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra Productions, which had produced the two films as well.

Arshad is delighted by the idea. "Wow! To actually feature in comic books, like Superman or Spiderman! Imagine what my son Zeke will have to tell his friends in school. 'My father the superhero!'

"But seriously, I've worked very hard on making my character of Circuit as Munna's funny yet poignant right hand man. So, yes, I'd love to be part of the comic books."

   

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It's amusing, it's light, but don't call my film funny: Meghna (INTERVIEW)
By Subhash K. Jha,

Mumbai, March 22  Meghna Gulzar's "Just Married", starring Esha Deol and Fardeen Khan, is out and the second time director says firmly that she would like people to describe it as a "light film" rather than "funny".

"When producer Pritish Nandy offered me the chance to make 'Just Married' I gave it all I had. I'm surprised at how amusing the film is. I'd call it a light film. I refrain from using the word 'funny' because people associate that word with slapstick," Meghna told IANS in an interview.

As the daughter of Rakhee and Gulzar sees it, her second film is better than her directorial debut "Filhaal" in terms of writing.

"My father saw it and he really liked it. I'd like to be a little harsher on myself. But, yes, I'd like to think my writing skills have gotten better since my first film 'Filhaal'.

"And I've become better about the technical side of filmmaking. 'Just Married' didn't actually require tremendous amounts of technical wizardry. It's a very simple story. But I feel I have improved in my shot takings."

Both papa Gulzar and daughter Meghna underwent tremendous amount of suspense while she waited to start her second film.

"The second film is truly tough for any director. But knowing the kind of person I am I'd go through similar stress for every film. In truth, my dad was more worried for me than I was. In hindsight the wait for my second film made me stronger."

Meghna says she has inherited a sense of fun from her father.

"People tend to look at him as this very serious filmmaker, which is true. But he has also made some really funny films like 'Angoor'. Like my dad's comedies, a lot of the humour in my film is situation-based.

"I guess my film has a sense of mischief about it that wouldn't be there in my dad's film, though 'Angoor' had its own sense of mischief. I feel 'Just Married' will appeal to the newly married and those who have been married for long."

She brushes off the ongoing comparisons with Reema Kagti's "Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd".

"Reema's film was being compared with 'Salaam-e-Ishq' also. But, when her film came out, there was nothing in common between the two. Yes, on the outside our films do look similar. It's a film about honeymooning couples.

"However, mine isn't an episodic film. My film has one main plot about a couple in an arranged marriage. The other characters come in as seasoning."

Meghna is surprised by Fardeen's and Esha's performance.

"Esha's real personality lent itself well to the character of the nervous bride. Esha is naturally fidgety. But Fardeen was an eye opener. The questions he asked me added nuances to his performance.

"Again, like Esha, Fardeen's character is close to the way he is in real life. Like his character, Fardeen got married recently, though he went through a love marriage in real life.".
 

How Farah and Sanjay rediscovered friendship
By Subhash K. Jha,

Mumbai, March 22 After a long cold war, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Farah Khan rediscovered their friendship last year on the sets of Sony's dance show "Jhalak Dikhlaa Jaa".

Both of them featured on the programme as judges along with actress Shilpa Shetty.

"Farah and I go back a long way. She and I started off together in "1942 - A Love Story". We had the privilege of visually creating R.D. Burman's last melodies. That will always remain among the best work we've done in the last 14 years. Since then we've always got along like a house on fire. We did have a long cold war between us. But now I think we're even more comfortable with each other," Bhansali told IANS.

Remembering her stint on the dance show, Farah says that one of the best things about "Jhalak Dikhla Jaa" was that she got to spend time with Bhansali.

"I jokingly told Sony Entertainment Television they'd have to re-do my contract. The whole day I was only looking after Sanjay. When we meet up we keep going back to our good old days when we were layabouts running around for Vinod Chopra's production house, working away in Dalhousie 14-15 years ago.

"We've gone back to the good old days. And now I find him quite mellow, emotional and changed. In between, he had become quite an angry young man. Now he's just an emotional old man... For me he's just good old Sanjay."

Both were choreographic assistants to Chopra during "1942 - A Love Story". While Farah was to be billed as the choreographer, Bhansali was credited as the director of songs.

Somewhere, the line dividing the two fledgling technicians' job got blurred. And Bhansali felt he was being sidelined in all the publicity and marketing. This created a rift between the two friends.

The fact that mutual 'friends' insisted on adding fuel to fire increased the problems.
 

Arjun Rampal gets choosy
By Subhash K. Jha, 

Mumbai, March 22   Actor-producer Arjun Rampal is picking up his roles with utmost care and says it's a conscious decision because he doesn't want to jump into any and every film that's offered to him.

"I really don't want to do work that will eventually disappoint me. I don't want to be in shabby products. I want to work with people who have the same respect for their work that I have. So, yes, it's a conscious decision not to jump into any and every work that's offered to me," Arjun told IANS.

Arjun says there's no dearth of work.

"Everyone goes through phases. Right now the phase I'm in, I need exciting and challenge work. It's very important to believe in yourself and be patient. I'm very clear about what I want to do. I won't do anything and everything I'm offered."

The actor has just turned down two roles and has been focusing fully on production. He opted out of "Shootout At Lokhandwala".

"See, I had to opt out of 'Shootout...' as I had no choice. I share a great rapport with director Apoorva Lakhia after 'Ek Ajnabee'. But I was shooting for my own film in London. There were dates issues... I couldn't get Shiamak Davar to choreograph on time. So the dates for 'Shootout...' clashed with his film.

"He wanted a particular look, which wasn't possible because of my film. I had long hair for my own film, which I had to cut for Apoorva's film. It was sad because I really wanted to work with him after 'Ek Ajnabee'. I guess what's not meant to be won't happen."

As for Anubhav Sinha's "Cash", "I injured my knee in the gym. And 'Cash' involved a lot of action. I'm still recovering and I'm not allowed to do any action for a month at least."

Then why did he accept the minuscule role in Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (KANK)?

"Karan is a very dear friend of mine. He very honestly told me my role didn't amount to much. Since he asked me to do it, I immediately agreed. That's the kind of person I am. I like Karan and respect his work.

"Above all he's a wonderful human being. He just told me, come for a holiday to New York and be part of our film. I didn't even ask him about my role. Anyone who asked me about KANK I told them it's a walk-on part. I'm glad I did it."

He is enjoying his new role as a producer.

"I enjoy producing a film. I appreciate what the industry had given me. I'm grateful to the industry, and I want to give back some of what I got from it by making films."

Is the lack of opportunities the reason why Arjun has turned producer?

"Not at all. I think it's extremely important for every actor to make films at some point in their career as soon as they know what it takes to make a film. Because production teaches you the process of filmmaking."

Arjun doesn't believe the myth that models can't act.

"When I came into the industry with Ashok Mehta's 'Moksha' and Rajiv Rai's 'Pyar Ishq Mohabbat', there was a lot of cynicism regarding models... That they're wooden, that they seem to be modelling all the time. But I think a lot has changed since then. We've had successful model-turned-actors like John and Vidya Balan."

Arjun has been so busy he has had no time to spend with his wife and two children.

"But after I completed my production 'I See You' I took 20 days off to be with my family. There's no role I enjoy as much as being a husband and father."
 

Ajmer shrine brings more trouble for 'Namastey London'
By Anil Sharma, 

Jaipur, March 22   Director Vipul Shah's "Namastey London" is in further trouble. After forcing the producer to apologize for Katrina Kaif's entry into the Ajmer shrine in a short skirt, the dargah now wants all scenes shot in the complex removed.

"We have written to the Censor Board and requested them to delete all the scenes from the movie shot in the premises," a member of the Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti dargah committee told IANS on telephone from Ajmer Thursday.

Before writing to the censors, the committee sent a notice to Shah March 16. "We have also sent a copy of the notice sent to Shah to the board," he said.

In October, the committee had objected to a sequence featuring Katrina in a knee-length skirt inside the dargah, saying Islamic traditions did not allow women in skimpy outfits inside the shrine.

In response to their objection, Shah, Katrina and Rishi Kapoor gave both written as well as oral apologies. After that the committee closed the issue.

"However, it does not mean that he (Shah) is free to show the scenes shot in the dargah," said dargah nazim Ahmed Raza.

According to him, filming any scene in dargah premises without prior permission is wrong.

"It hurts the religious sentiments of the people," he said. "All we want is that the director ensures that the scenes shot inside the dargah are removed. If he shows them, then we may take legal recourse."
 

Other parties bank on stars, but BSP only has Mayawati
By Sharat Pradhan, 

Lucknow, March 22   The Congress has its Gandhi stars, the Samajwadi Party the Bachchan family and the BJP its Dharmendras and Hema Malinis, not to mention political bigwigs like L.K. Advani. But the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is banking only on chief Mayawati to bring in the votes in the crucial Uttar Pradesh polls.

All parties are gearing up to bring in the biggest and the best campaigners as electioneering takes off in Uttar Pradesh for the seven-phased assembly elections from April 7. It is only the BSP that has nobody else but Mayawati to fall back on.

"We do not believe in the gimmick of roping in film-stars or any other high-profile persons for the campaign. Mayawatiji is competent and strong enough to meet the combined might of top leaders of the entire opposition," BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra told IANS.

The 51-year-old Dalit leader, who has emerged as the undisputed inheritor of the late BSP founder Kanshi Ram's political legacy, kicks off her campaign March 24 from Auraiya, just next to arch adversary and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's home in Etawah.

Though she had carried out her party's campaign single-handedly in 2002 as well, because Kanshi Ram decided to focus attention in Punjab, this is the first time she undertakes the task after her political mentor's demise.

Her rivals -- the ruling Samajwadi Party, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress -- are going quite the other way. They will have their national leaders and are roping in Bollywood stars to help them along the way.

Yet another attraction at poll rallies, particularly in rural constituencies, will be Mumbai's dance bar girls being hired in a big way by different political parties.

Mulayam's Samajwadi Party tops the star list with none other than Amitabh Bachchan likely to share the stage with him at several places. Poll strategists are in the process of working out a plan to add Abhishek Bachchan and fiancée Aishwarya Rai for the party's poll show.

MPs and former stars Jaya Bachchan and Jaya Prada are already making their presence felt, hitting the front pages Tuesday when they accompanied Mulayam to Etawah where he filed his nomination. They are likely to be with him throughout the campaign.

The party's well-connected general secretary Amar Singh is understood to be negotiating with several other Bollywood stars to add more glamour to the party. Prominent among these is Shilpa Shetty and playback singer Sonu Nigam.

The BJP is also giving final touches to a high profile poll campaign to be launched by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former chief minister Kalyan Singh from Kanpur next week.

Others to follow include former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani and national leaders like Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and party president Raj Nath Singh, who proposes to camp in the state for the next two months.

It will also bank in on its own film star MPs Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and TV actress Smriti Irani. Efforts are on to bring in the second generation, Vinod Khanna's son Akshay and Dharmendra's children Sunny and Esha Deol.

Not willing to lag behind, the Congress plans road shows with its MP Govinda and supporters like Rajesh Khanna. And the buzz is that the party is also trying to get Shah Rukh Khan to match the Bachchan's family appeal.

Of course, party chief Sonia Gandhi's children Rahul and Priyanka are the ultimate stars. They will be there with their mother, who will obviously be spinning across the vast state seeking people's support for the party that has been down in the dumps in the politically vital state.
 

'Namastey London' - old wine in new bottle
 
New Delhi, March 22   Though Vipul Shah's comic-love story "Namastey London" releasing Friday is an oft told story, he has made it a complete entertainer with a witty script.

The film, starring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif and Rishi Kapoor, is about a desi boy trying to woo his NRI wife.

The story goes something like this-

Jasmeet Singh or Jazz (Katrina Kaif). Born and brought up in London, Jazz wants everything that's western, including a husband. But her father Manmohan Singh (Rishi Kapoor) is hell bent on finding her an Indian husband and lands up in India in search of a suitable guy. Here he meets Arjun (Akshay Kumar) a rough and tough farmer who can barely speak English.

Without a second thought, he finalises Jazz's marriage with Arjun. Arjun is obviously over the moon when he marries the beautiful and sophisticated Jazz. But this soon turns into misery when he finds out that the marriage means nothing to Jazz and she is determined to marry her British boyfriend.

Caught in this emotional tug of war between father and daughter, poor Arjun is helplessly and hopelessly in love with his beautiful but unyielding wife.

After marriage, Arjun and Jazz fly back to London where he is forced to watch his wife romancing another man. Jazz's behaviour hurts Arjun but he doesn't give up hope. He is determined to win everybody's hearts. Will stubborn Jazz be the exception?

The film will work if it is not too preachy. Akshay carries such roles with élan. Katrina, who actually hails from Britain, is expected to do justice to the role as well.
 

Sanjaya Malakar not fit for 'American Idol', says judge
 
Los Angeles, March 22   "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell thinks Indian American contestant Sanjaya Malakar is untalented and has threatened to quit the show if he wins.

One fan of the show has taken it to extremes. She has gone on a hunger strike in the hopes that Sanjaya will be voted off, reports www.hollywood.tv.

Now into her fourth day of hunger strike, the fan, who has not been identified, said: "I have no problems with Sanjaya personally, he seems like a very charming young man. However, he does not belong on 'American Idol."

"Sanjaya did come out of his shell a bit tonight like the judges said. However, his voice was horrific. He screamed through the entire song and jumped around like a manic. Nice kid, nice kid, but not for 'American Idol," she added.



IANS