Gauhar will be seen performing on ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’ in Once Upon A Time…

23.02.10 / Bollywood / Author: / Comments: (0)

Gauhar Khan

The cat is out of the bag. Ekta Kapoor and her director Milan Luthria were looking for a neo-Helen for the longest time. The original plan of discovering a completely untried dancer failed as time was running out. They’ve finally zeroed in on Gauhar Khan who has been secretly jiving away to Helen’s most popular cabaret ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’ for Luthria’s Once Upon A Time In Mumbai.

Raju Khan has been brought to do the choreography for what’s touted as the most expensive cabaret ever shot in Bollywood.

Gauhar danced to the beats of ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’ so hard last week that a shard of shattered glass wounded her leg.

The director and her excited producer intend to unveil their new-age Helen and the prized recreation of the smoldering cabaret number from the 1970s at an elaborate press conference later this month.

But the behind-the-scenes stress and arguments to get this cabaret item in place are even more interesting than the cabaret itself.

Apparently, the composer Pritam Chakraborty refused to do a straight re-mix of ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’. There were heated arguments between the composer and the film’s producer and director over the issue. Finally, Pritam got his way and recorded a totally new version of the song.

Says Pritam, “I really see no point in doing a straight-off remix especially when it’s an R. D. Burman track. That means the original is still fresh in the listeners’ mind. Why should I tamper with an evergreen? So what I’ve done for Milan’s cabaret is to incorporate just a bit of R.D.’s ‘Piya Tu Ab To Aaja’ from Caravan and ‘Duniya Mein Logon Ko’ from Apna Desh. The rest of the song is my original composition.”

Apparently, when Gauhar Khan heard the song she flipped out. Laughs Pritam, “Yes they all loved the song. But I won’t do a re-mix of an R. D. Burman or any other composition.”

Rohan Sippy’s Abhishek Bachchan-featured drug-busting Goan drama has a hitch. Composer Pritam Chakraborty is aghast to hear that Rohan Sippy has titled his film Dum Maro Dum and that the makers would like him to do a remix of the number.

Pritam vigorously says, “Like I said I don’t do remixes, ever. And certainly not re-mixes of R.D. Burman compositions. R.D. has taken his songs as far as they can go. There’s nothing more that I or anyone else can do to an R.D. Burman track. So I’ll just use his famous opening riff from ‘Dum Maro Dum’. The rest of the composition will be mine. In any case this will be an instrumental piece for the credit titles in Dum Maro Dum.”

In fact, Pritam didn’t even know Sippy’s film was titled Dum Maro Dum. Apparently, the other title being seriously considered was Subah Ko Karo Salaam. Says Pritam, “Even that would’ve been a problem to compose since R.D. Burman had done a fabulous job of those words Subah Ko Karo Salaam in a TV serial of that title.”

Reason why ‘Hide & Seek’ stars relative newcomers

23.02.10 / Bollywood / Author: / Comments: (0)

Apoorva Lakhia is all geared up to release his first production HIDE & SEEK, directed by his erstwhile assistant Shawn Arranha. Having assisted Apoorva right from the days when even he was an assistant, Shawn has learnt the art of narrating stories well.

However, Apoorva has worked with several top notch names to date, but Shawn and Apoorva decided to cast relative newcomers in HIDE & SEEK. What prompted them to cast relative newcomers this time? “Two reasons. One, had we cast well-known actors, the audience would’ve guessed the killer at the very outset. With new faces, you keep guessing till the very end,” Apoorva states. Second reason? “It would’ve taken a long time to procure the combination dates of established names. Hence, the new cast,” Shawn adds.

While Shawn hasn’t decided on his next venture, Apoorva is ready to direct Ashtavinayak’s new venture, which will star Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor, Suniel Shetty and Nana Patekar [talks are on with him] in pivotal roles. “We hope to add two more actors to the cast,” Apoorva reveals.

‘Don 2′ starts this year

23.02.10 / Bollywood / Author: / Comments: (0)

Don & Rock On

Everyone’s speculating about DON 2. Farhan Akhtar, who directed the SRK starrer DON, had announced the sequel to the film quite some time back. While Farhan got busy with his acting assignments and SRK too decided to work on RAB NE BANA DI JODI first and MY NAME IS KHAN next, one kept wondering when Farhan and SRK would start the next instalment of DON.

“DON 2 will start in October this year. We’ve locked the script and also the locations,” Farhan and his producer-partner Ritesh Sidhwani tell me. The new DON will have two leading ladies. “Priyanka Chopra will be one of them. The second will be finalized in due course,” Farhan states.

There’s talk that the producers are also planning to start ROCK ON 2. “A lot of people want us to do that. Right now Abhishek [Kapoor, the director of ROCK ON] is working on another script. But if he finds a script that looks like a worthy follow up to ROCK ON, why not?” Farhan clarifies.

Aussies slap IPL with security demands

23.02.10 / Cricket / Author: / Comments: (0)

SYDNEY: Australian players on Tuesday
refused to commit to this year’s lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) until a
list of safety demands addressing “serious” security concerns had been
met.

Paul Marsh, head of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, said
players issued the demands, which follow a reported threat from an
Al-Qaeda-linked militant, after a security consultant identified a number of
shortcomings.

“From the outset it is important to reinforce that
players want to play in this year’s IPL,” Marsh told reporters after a meeting
with about 25 Australian players.

“However the independent report has
identified some serious concerns with aspects of the current security
process.

“Specifically these concerns relate to the reported direct
threat against the event and the status and implementation of the IPL’s security
plan.”

Marsh said players had agreed to take British security expert
Reg Dickason’s confidential findings back to their colleagues to prepare a list
of demands, which would be relayed to the IPL by FICA, the international
cricketers’ union.

Until the IPL responded to their concerns Marsh
said players would not commit to the tournament.

“The players are
most certainly concerned, the IPL’s had a direct threat … and the IPL security
plans are not currently in a state that we’re happy with, those are the two
issues,” Marsh said

Fresh security worries surfaced last week when
the Hong Kong-based Asia Times Online news website said it had received a
warning from an Al-Qaeda-linked militant about attacking sports events in
India.

The warning, from Ilyas Kashmiri, cast jitters over the glitzy
Twenty20 tournament, along with the field hockey World Cup later this month in
New Delhi, and October’s Commonwealth Games

A right-wing Hindu group
earlier withdrew a threat to prevent “kangaroo cricketers” from playing in
Maharashtra state, which includes IPL hosts Mumbai and Nagpur, after a series of
attacks on Indian students living in Australia.

Marsh previously
warned that securing the IPL, which is spread over many venues across multiple
cities, was a more difficult task than more concentrated formats such as the
Olympic or Commonwealth Games.

Australian leg spin great Shane Warne
last week said the threats had him “thinking twice” about heading to India to
captain-coach the Rajasthan Royals, describing them as of “deep concern to
athletes across a number of sports.”

Warne said the IPL had been
moved last year at short notice to South Africa and, if the threats were proven,
organisers should consider moving it again.

Organisers took the
dramatic step of shifting the event abroad last March, after Indian authorities
could not guarantee security because of a clash with national elections. Just
weeks earlier gunmen in Lahore, Pakistan had ambushed the Sri Lankan team’s
convoy, killing eight Pakistanis.

Extremist attacks in Mumbai in
November 2008 which left 165 dead had already prompted grave security fears for
the IPL tournament.

Brett Lee ‘to quit Tests’ after Flintoff chat

23.02.10 / Cricket / Author: / Comments: (0)

SYDNEY: Australia’s veteran fast
bowler Brett Lee is poised to quit Test cricket after a conversation with
England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, a report said on Tuesday.

The
injury-hit Lee, 33, will make an announcement this week, the Sydney Morning
Herald reported. Cricket Australia separately said Lee would hold a press
conference on Wednesday.

The Herald, without citing sources, said Lee
had been mulling retirement for some time but made his final decision after
talking to Flintoff, who quit Tests last year to prolong his playing
career.

Lee, whose 310 Test scalps place him behind only Shane Warne,
Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee on Australia’s all-time list, has not played a
five-dayer since December 2008 after suffering foot and elbow
problems.

The tall, blond-haired right-armer was named Wisden
magazine’s Cricketer of the Year in 2006 and bowled a ball at 99.9 miles (160.8
kilometres) per hour in 2003, the second fastest recorded delivery behind
Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar.

Lee has played 76 Tests since making his
debut in 1999. He is hoping to play in India’s lucrative IPL Twenty20 league
this season, the Herald said.

Lee was famously photographed being
consoled by Flintoff after England sealed a series-levelling Test win in the
2005 Ashes, which Australia went on to lose.

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