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AJAY DEVGN IN TRAFFIC
The actor has been roped in to star in the Bollywood version of the Malayalam original
Sanjith Sidhardhan
Director Rajesh Pillai’s Bollywood remake of his super hit Malayalam film Traffic is finally set to take off this July. While Rajesh, who was initially set to film the Hindi version too, had roped in Sunny Deol, Prakash Raj, Jimmy Shergill, Minissha Lamba and Paresh Rawal, the cast has now undergone a complete makeover with Ajay Devgn attached to the project.
“Ajay will play the role of the police commissioner, played by Anoop Menon in the original. Ajay will also be co-producing the film. Our previous casting has undergone a change with this new development. The new cast will be finalised within a month,” says Rajesh.
Traffic’s B-Town remake, which was earlier touted as a Dutch production giant’s first venture into cinema here, has taken a hit with the production house announcing the Tamil and Telugu remake of Vidya Balan’s Kahaani as its first release.
Now, it looks like director Rajesh may opt out of directing the Bollywood remake as he is busy with his Malayalam film, Gold. “Making a Bollywood debut and getting to work with actors like Ajay is definitely an exciting prospect. Meanwhile, working on a film in my own language with friends gives me the creative freedom to make a good film,” says Rajesh, pointing out that he would only drop out of the Bollywood remake if there is a clash between the two projects.
RAJESH’S GOLD
Gold, a film based on an athlete’s struggle, is Rajesh Pillai’s dream project and that’s why he prefers to work on that rather than the Bollywood remake of Traffic, if need arises. “If we manage to get the dates of all the actors we have in mind for Gold by July, then I would give prominence to the Malayalam film,” says Rajesh. The filmmaker hopes to rope in actors like Prithviraj, Karthika Nair, Anoop Menon, Kunchacko Boban, Parvathy Menon and Fahadh Faasil for Gold. Though, managing to get all their dates may prove to be an uphill task.
THE FILM…
Inspired by a true incident in Chennai, Traffic is a multi-narrative thriller about how the lives of a few people, who are at a traffic junction at the beginning of a day, become entangled in each other’s lives as the day progresses. The story begins when a young reporter, Raihan, out to interview a superstar, meets with an accident at a traffic junction in Kochi. With doctors unable to save him, Raihan's heart is found to be a match for the superstar's daughter, who is set for a transplant in Palakkad. With little over two hours to cover 150 km on road, a police constable, a disturbed doctor and Raihan's friend are given the task to achieve the almost impossible feat.
Netas want a piece of Aamir
Aamir Khan’s new role as the conscience of society, courtesy his show, Satyamev Jayate, is being used by some Mumbai politicians to promote themselves. We spotted a hoarding featuring the actor and two local politicians at a Bandra junction. The hoarding in question wasn't too fancy and large, compared to the hoardings of his show all over the city, but it is being noticed just as well. The actor has never associated himself with any political party and so what’s his connection with his face on the hoarding like an ambassador of the part?
Aamir’s spokesperson said, “No one from Hind Foundation (the party) got in touch with us and no kind of official communication was done with the producers of the show or the channel. However, if people commit themselves to these causes honestly and work towards that, it can only benefit society at large but the use of photographs and logo of the show is something which is avoidable.
We haven't sent any legal notice to them yet.”
But swift action was followed and the hoarding was quickly down. Aamir’s team is quicker than we thought.
NMB
Ekta is now the sex’pert’
Meena Iyer
We were the first to tell you that Ekta Kapoor was trying to pitch her brother Tusshar Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh’s film Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum for a higher price than Vidya Balan’s The Dirty Picture. A trade
consultant says, “What is common between the two films is the raunch element.” The all-India distribution rights of this comedy has been sold for a super kool 21.6 cr to a Nagpur-based distributor, who is believed to have earlier acquired Rowdy Rathore and Bol Bachchan. The sale value of KSKHH
being substantially higher than that of DP proves that sex continues to sell at the box office. Tanuj Garg, the CEO of her company, refused to comment on the price. Instead he said, “Yes, we got a fabulous price. The sequel is even more crazy and uninhibited than the original.” Guess the word that brought in the money is uninhibited.
‘I’m the guy who contaminated Indian culture’
Emraan Hashmi has a new intent — to reinvent himself as an actor, so that the audience knows that he can do more than just kiss passionately in his films
Garima Sharma
The trailers of Shanghai look nothing like an Emraan Hashmi movie. Are you trying to challenge yourself or your audience’s perception of you with this film?
Jogi Parmar, my character, is a small-town journalist, who is multifaceted — he shoots wedding videos, he is a photographer, he shoots porn films, he does all this to make ends meet. He is a character who has got his small-town complexes and all… I’ve never played a character from a small town, so this role was very different for me, both in terms of getting into his psyche and changing my physicality… Of course, the physicality part is pretty much easy because you have to stuff your face with pizzas and pastas. His psyche is something that was very different. We had over 10 workshops for it. I’ve generally played very urbanized, confident characters. This guy has got an inferiority complex. So, I had to get into his head to understand that. I’ve played guys who’ve been smooth with women, who are great talkers, but Jogi fumbles, he just about makes ends meet for himself. He is gawky, he is awkward… he feels even smaller and more inferior when he comes in contact with a white woman. He puts up this brave front, but you have to understand that that’s how he conceals his inferiority complex. So, we had to go through lots of theatre workshops. I’ve never been for theatre workshops… It’s amazing how something turns a key in such workshops.
In reality, are you more like the urban guys you play or like Jogi Parmar with his complexes?
I am a Bandra boy, so I’m more urbanized and that’s why I took so much time to understand the character.
Are you romantic like your onscreen characters?
I probably am, but not in the traditional sense. I am not the wine-anddine kind of guy onscreen either, and filmmakers and my uncle saw it, so I don’t think they gave me those kind of characters. I was more the wild child. My idea of romance is not your traditional idea of romance. But I have a certain attachment. Some people, including my wife, felt that I was afraid of that kind of intimacy and romance. I feared it. Probably because of the commitment. But there was a turning point in my life when I wanted to make that commitment and that’s why I got married.
You were commitment-phobic?
I wouldn’t say phobic, but I was a bit tentative. Not with her, but just relationships. But then it changed. Somehow, I always knew I would get married by the time I was 27. Even in college, I had this weird thing in my head that I would get married when I was 27 and hopefully my career would be stable, and I’ll have kids by 30. And that’s exactly what has happened.
You’re experimenting with your roles — trying to let go of your past branding, of an actor who only does a certain kind of bold cinema?
I wanted to just dive in. I was scared. Obviously, I was scared of whether I’d be able to do it or I’d fail. But there was a clear decision I made — I had to do it. I’d do whatever it took to emerge… even if I had to go through these grilling theatre workshops.
This is being seen as an attempt to move away from the Bhatt camp…
It’s an intent. And that reflects in everything that you do — it’s the choice of roles, it’s pushing the bar, it is wanting to take your performances to another level because you know, chalo you’ve done this, and it has worked. That’s great, but the kind of satisfaction you get out of actually challenging yourself and surprising yourself that I can do this also, that’s nice. I still have films which are quintessentially Emraan Hashmi, but then there are films that will make people say, ‘Oh, he has tried something different’. For me, that’s very gratifying.
Produced by PVR Pictures,
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