Filmi Fundas

‘I won’t say no to intimate scenes’

There may be many leading ladies in tinsel town who shy away from intimate scene but Madhuri Dixit, always the professional, admits that she’s game to turn the heat up on screen — if the script demands it. The actress is preparing her mega-comeback to the silver screen as the leading lady in Dedh Ishqiya, and claims that she’s always up for scenes which are integral to the script of a movie.

“I can’t shy away from anything that a script demands, even it  is physical intimacy,” she reasons. She adds, however, that a scene like that has to be integral to the plot of the movie for her to take it up, saying, “ If I’m convinced that it is essential to the script and I know it will be shot aesthetically, I won’t say no to intimate scenes. Vidya’s scenes were shot so beautifully in Ishqiya. If Dedh Ishqiya absolutely needs something of that sort, I’m game”. 

Cake for Mithun ‘da’

Asin, who is currently shooting with Mithun da for the much-awaited film, Khiladi 786, seems to have bonded quite a bit with the veteran actor — both on and
off screen.

Mithun celebrated his birthday recently and the pretty actress was the first person to wish him, as soon as he came to the sets.

A source says, “Asin had got a cake from home and was the first one to wish dada on the sets.

They have had a long association from their Housefull 2 days and share a very good relationship.

Dada was really happy with her gesture and cut the cake with the unit.”
When quizzed about the same, Mithun da says, “The cake was full of love and getting it from a gorgeous lady, my day was made.

I know Asin from our Housefull 2 days and she is not only gorgeous but very cute and very, very caring. I miss her presence always. I wish she becomes big.”

A touching tale

After the international success of ‘I Am Kalam’, which won over 20 international awards and one national award and went to over 55 film festivals across the globe, Nila Madhab Panda’s new feature film, Jalpari – The Desert Mermaid, produced by Sushilkumar Agrawal, started its international journey with a screening at the Marche Du Cannes (Film Market) of the Cannes Film Festival.

Both Panda and Agrawal met prospective buyers and film-festival curatorsat Cannes, and the film will soon start its journey within the festival circuit.

 “The story of Jalpari... is largely based on the issue of female foeticide, but it has been treated as an adventure-thriller and journey film. Indian children’s cinema is now attracting a lot of interest in foreign markets, and like ‘I Am Kalam’, Jalpari... will also surely be a great success,” Agrawal says.

 The film will see the debut of Delhi kids Lehar Khan and Krishang Trivedi in the role of the protagonists, while Harsh Mayar (of ‘I Am Kalam’ fame) essays an important character.

The film also has Parvin Dabas, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Rahul Singh, Suhasini Mulay and V M Badola. Jalpari... will release in Indian theatres on July 20.

International offers galore

Irrfan’s star is obviously on the rise. The actor has always enjoyed rave reviews from his peers in Bollywood but now, it seems that directors from across the seas have been taking notice of him too.

Marc Webb, who directed ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, can’t stop praising Irrfan’s stellar performances and admits that he plans to cast the well-known actor in one of his films. “I think Irrfan is very talented. He has such intensity. I first  saw him  in ‘The Namesake’ and then ‘In Treatment’ and he really bowled me over. I decided then that I would like to cast him in one of my films,”  says Marc, who is also famous for romantic and touching films like ‘500 Days of Summer’.

Although Webb isn’t too open about the length of Irrfans’s role in the next ‘Spiderman’ installment, he insists that it is a significant role. “It is a good meaty role. He will definitely be noticed. And I would like to work with him again” states Webb.

Not your average mother

The typical Bollywood mother might have been a joyless, perpetually tearstruck woman at one point of time — but not anymore.

Today, on-screen mothers have undergone a complete makeover; they could be mean, funny, career-driven and in some cases, even much too lazy to make khana.
For instance, a sprightly Ratna Pathak Shah delivered a wonderful performance
of a practical, everyday mother in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

She teaches in a college, reads Naomi Wolf with her feet up, doesn’t shy away from wearing clothes with a Western twist and — here’s the real shocker — admits that she’s in no mood to cook on her day off, so would her son mind making some omelettes please? A far cry from yesteryear movie maas, who were always on auto-sacrifice mode.

Dibakar Banerjee, always known for his startingly realistic and gripping characters, pulled off an out-of-the-box mother in Oye Lucky Lucky Oye.

Here, teenaged Lucky’s stepmother actually eyed him up in a suggestive
manner.

Looks like Bollywood has changed over the years indeed.

Retail therapy for the baby

Aishwarya Rai might be busy with a host of commitments but that doesn’t mean she can’t take time off for her little bundle of joy. The actress was recently spotted shopping for her daughter in London — with the baby in tow. A few onlookers at London’s famous Regent Street spotted the beauty-queen-turned-actress — along with little Aradhya — shopping for the baby. ‘Whooaa,’ tweeted an excited onlooker, adding that he had caught a glimpse of the duo. Aishwarya was in London to attend the opening of a hotel and rubbed shoulders with other notables from the industry such as Italian actress and film-maker Isabella Rossellini, Korean actress Hyo Jin Kim, Chinese actress Li Xian Ran, and ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ star Dev Patel.