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Inspired by real-life incidents

Producer and director Vikram Bhatt is now all set to address the flaws in the medical profession with his forthcoming film titled ‘Ankur Arora Murder Case’, scheduled to release on May 24, this year.

According to Vikram Bhatt, his film will take the audience from the operation theatre to the courtroom as an eminent surgeon, essayed by Kay Kay Menon, will be put on the stand and tried for murder. Starring Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra, Paoli Dam and Arjun Mathur, the film is directed by Suhail Tatari and co-produced by Dhanraj.

Films Pvt Ltd and BVG Films (a division of ASA), is inspired by real-life incidents of medical negligence, with all strata of society falling prey to the episodes that very few are aware of. The film takes up an urgent and disturbing issue of death during surgery and is based on a real-life incident where a boy dies on the operation table due to medical negligence.

Says producer Vikram Bhatt, “I am aiming at making a realistic drama on one of middle class Indian’s biggest fears — death in a hospital. I am deeply disturbed by the spate of deaths due to medical negligence. We presume only the poor die due to medical negligence, but the rich, who can afford the best treatment, also perishes because someone in the operation theatre goofs up. It’s very important to not to let gross medical negligence go unpunished. We are saying that Ankur Arora didn’t die just because doctors failed to save him. Instead, it was plain murder.” The movie is sure to get the audience thinking about the happenings in the medical profession.

When the best come together

Prakash Jha’s Satyagraha is getting bigger every day. Prakash Jha, who has an excellent cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor among others, has now roped in well-known writer-lyricist Prasoon Joshi for Satyagraha. Mashaal, a poem by Prasoon Joshi, will feature in the hugely anticipated Satyagraha. Director Prakash Jha was apparently so moved by the poem that he bought the rights from Prasoon Joshi.

Satyagraha, that is slated to release on August 23, has an ensemble music album with ‘Indian Ocean’, composing an anthem that will urge the youth of the country to stand up and fight against corruption. Salim-Sulaiman is also composing another peppy number aimed at the youth. Three other music composers will be roped in by Prakash Jha thus making the album an eclectic mix of top music composers of the country.

Veteran actor turns rapper

For all those looking forward to the title track of the upcoming film, Yamla Pagla Deewana 2, there's something exciting in store. Sources reveal that veteran actor Dharmendra will be rapping in this track. A glimpse of this song has already been incorporated in the theatrical trailer of the film, which was unveiled in March.

The cast of the film including Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Neha Sharma, Kristina Akheeva and Annu Kapoor, will be a part of this song, composed by Sharib-Toshi and choreographed by Caesar Gonsalves. Talking about Dharmendra’s portion in the music video, Neha says, “Dharamji was the youngest Deol on the sets, during the making of this song. The coolest things to do were given to him. He has these hot ladies sitting around him in the video, which is a cute moment.” Sharib Sabri, the co-composer of the song, says, “For the first time, we will be seeing Dharamji doing Punjabi rap on the screen. His ‘rapper’ look, with the rings on his fingers, is really special in this song.”

The title track of Yamla Pagla Deewana 2 will be released sometime in May.

Abhimanyu is going places

Abhimanyu Singh, the famous Ransa Singh (the fearless prince) from Gulaal, was seen trying to impress his director Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the sets of Ram Leela with his dance moves. He has never really done a full-fledged dance performance in a film before, and thus, this is almost like his first attempt. He failed initially but practised day and night to perfect his dance steps to impress his director and he succeeded in doing so. And Sanjay Leela Bhansali soon saw an improvement in Abhimanyu.

He is also playing the role of the cop in the sequel of ‘Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai’ which was originally played by Randeep Hooda. He, along with Akshay Kumar and Imran Khan, (who are seen playing the gangsters in the film) are the main cast of the film.

Abhimanyu is now all set to take on more important and leading roles in Bollywood. He is an extremely popular and successful actor in the South as well, with his roles in movies like Bejawada, Nenu Naa Rakshasi and the Telugu remake of Dabangg named Gabbar Singh.
 
Serial-killer on screen

When the story broke that Bollywood producer Arun Rangachari has acquired the rights of author Farrukh Dhondy’s book, ‘The Bikini Murders’ — reportedly based on the life of notorious serial-killer Charles Sobhraj — some people went into a tizzy.

The news was like a wake-up call for director Prawaal Raman, who had earlier announced that he would be making a film based on the same subject. Randeep Hooda will play the role of the serial-killer.

Speaking to the media, Randeep Hooda said, “People who have announced the film don’t know who Charles Sobhraj really is. Prawaal, who made ‘404’ and Gayab has
researched this subject for a long time. We announced the film in 2007 when Farrukh was given a notice by Charles’ lawyers.”

Arun Rangachari said, “We have officially acquired the rights of ‘The Bikini Murders’ and are in the process of making a film on the book. Others too will make films that are similar and we have no issues with it and neither can we stop anyone.”

Indian presence at Cannes

Amidst the buzz surrounding the upcoming edition of the prestigious ‘Cannes Film Festival’, Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap’s production ‘Monsoon Shootout’ will be screened at the midnight screening of the festival.

Produced by their company Sikhya Entertainment, along with UK based Yaffle Films and Pardesi Films, ‘Monsoon Shootout’ is directed by Amit Kumar. The film marks Kumar’s directorial debut and revolves around a rookie cop’s moment of reckoning to shoot or not to shoot.

Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Neeraj Kabi, Geetanjali Thapa and Vijay Verma, the film will be have its world premiere at the film festival. Amit Kumar along with the producers and cast will be present at the festival.

Bagging a plum role

Model-turned-actor Hanif Hilal, who made his debut in B-town with the film ‘Table No 21’, is on a new high. After receiving accolades and appreciation for his performance in ‘Table No 21’, the actor has now bagged a lead role in Deepak Tijori’s most ambitious project
‘Rock in Love’.

Hanif has already started shooting for the film and is quite excited about it. In fact the team is already enjoying his presence on the sets and one of the team member said, “Hanif is a very talented actor and extremely professional with his work.”

‘Rock in Love' is directed by Deepak Tijori and produced by Ravindra Singh and Vineet Sharma.