The ongoing film festival in Jaipur under Rajasthan Day celebrations is getting an overwhelming response from movie lovers and all the cinemas are going full house. People are queuing up to theatres to watch their favourite flicks.

The department of tourism is providing free tickets of various films in theaters on first come first serve basis. According to tourism department sources, these shows are being screened at 9 am every morning.

During the festival, films like coloured version of K. Asif’s ‘Mughal-e-Azam’, Amitabh Bachchan’s ‘Khakee’ and ‘Baghban’ and Aamir Khan starrer ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Dil’ are being screened. The festival will also screen this year top grosser and Aamir Khan starrer ‘Rang De Basanti’. (more…)

After proving his ace skills with films like ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, ‘Devdas’ and ‘Black’ Sanjay Leela Bhansali wants to return to innocence. Now he has teams up with two newcomers for his next film ‘Saawariya’. It is love story cum debut vehicle of two star kids - Ranbir (Rishi-Neetu Kapoor son) and Sonam (Anil Kapoor daughter). Bhansali talks about Saawariya.

Saawariya stars two fresh faces.

It is important to move away from expectations - your own and others. ‘Black’ broke many rules. After ‘Devdas’ people said it was hara-kiri for me to make a dark film. But it was a spontaneous decision. ‘Saawariya’ is again straight from the heart. And Sonam and Ranbir emerged from a completely natural instinct to cast the right faces for the two leads.

Ranbir-Sonam is a complete star material

The kids came to assist me. Ranbir joined me two years ago on ‘Black’ when he just returned from abroad. A little later Anil Kapoor called to say his daughter is back in India and wants to work only with me. The first thing I noticed about them was that they were complete star material. I told them they were the kind of faces I’d like to put before the camera. At that time Ranbir and Sonam said they weren’t sure. Later they confessed they had come with the primary intention of being noticed and cast by me. It’s a confession that melted my heart. (more…)

Evergreen lyricist Gulzar was nominated for three of his works in this year’s Filmfare awards - ‘Dheere jalna’ from ‘Paheli’, ‘Chup chup ke’ from ‘Bunty Aur Babli’ and ‘Kajra re’ again from ‘Bunty Aur Babli’. Of course his ‘Kajra re’ was the hot favorite of everyone. Gulzar thinks this award wining song is not devoid of poetry. At this moment he is writing songs for editor Shirish Kunder’s directorial debut ‘Jaan-E-Man’ and wants to learn the language of mainstream cinema.

You seem to be on a quest for new peaks to conquer.
Recently I returned from Chennai after a music sitting with Mani Ratnam and A.R. Rahman. We are working together again after ‘Dil Se’ for Mani’s ‘Guru’. Again we’ll try to attempt a different sound. Guru has a serious layer below the surface, which I’ll tap as a poet. Mani Ratnam is the only director who asks for abstract images. It’s lovely to share my poetry with him. His Hindi is getting better. But I’m lagging behind. My Tamil should improve soon.

As a lyricist, I’d say my first turning point as an abstract lyricist was ‘Humne dekhi hai un aankhon ki mehekti khushboo’ in ‘Khamoshi’. Another turning point was Mani Ratnam’s ‘Dil Se’ where with ‘Chaiyyan chaiyyan’ my sufiyana phase started. Now let’s see, perhaps with ‘Guru’ there will be another turning point. It’s wonderful to work with a director who expresses scenes musically. (more…)

Dimple Kapadia wants to play different kind of roles (Dil Chahta Hai, Leela) and now she will be seen as Katy - a Parsi woman romancing a young man (Saif Ali Khan) in her forthcoming film ‘Being Cyrus’ made by debutant director Homi Adajania.

Being Cyrus has also stars Naseeruddin Shah, Saif Ali Khan and Boman Irani. Talking about the film she also says she is not averse to play a role opposite her ex husband Rajesh Khanna.

Is Being Cyrus on relationships?
It is not on complications in relationships. It is not on dysfunctional marriage either. How would I describe the film? I would say it has a lot of black humour in it. (more…)

Director: Karan Razdan
Cast: Jimmy Shergill, Shenaz Treasurywala, Kader Khan, Prem Chopra, Satish Kaushik, Dilip Tahilm, Shakti Kapoor

This film revolves around three senior citizens - Iqbal Khan (Kader Khan), Chanderkant Mehta (Prem Chopra) and Rajpal Singh (Satish Kaushik) who live in London. They are insensitively treated by their children. All three are constantly humiliated and insulted, leaving them totally defeated.

Into their lives comes Shahshank (Jimmy Shergill), a young lad who has grown up to respect his elders. Treating the senior citizens with care, affection and respect, Shahshank quickly finds a small place in their hearts. The twist comes when Shashank falls in love with Sapna who happens to be the daughter of a rich businessman. (more…)

Sanju Dutt and Arshad Warsi known for perfect comic jodi in Munnabhai MBBS are up for more fun together again in ‘Anthony Kaun Hai’ to be produced by Nikhil Panchamiya who gave earlier ‘Dil Maange More’.

The movie will be shot in a 45-day schedule starting February 17, 2006 on Krabi beach in Thailand, Bangkok and Panchamiya’s good friend Raj Kaushal will direct it. The film is a comedy thriller based in Thailand.

Apart form Sanju baba and Arshad the movie will also feature Minissha Lamba, Anuradha Dandekar, Gulshan Grover and Raghuveer Yadav. Shoumik Sen has written the script of the film. Himesh Reshmmiya will compose the music and Hemant Chaturvedi will be doing the cinematography of the film.