Ash’s new guru: Bhansali

Life has come a full circle for Sanjay Leela Bhansali. 16 years after he started his career in cinema directing the songs for Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 1942: A Love Story, he has once again choreographed an entire song in his forthcoming Hrithik Roshan-Aishwarya Bachchan starrer Guzaarish.

While he did provide inputs through a vital step here and a pirouette there in his various films, Bhansali has never fully choreographed a number in any of his earlier films, which had pivotal dance scenes.

Incidentally, Bhansali has also turned into a full-fledged music composer for Guzaarish. While he became a music composer by design, choreography happened by accident.

A source close to the director says, “It happened last week while he was shooting a dance sequence with Aishwarya. Sanjay wanted her to do an impromptu and spontaneous dance. Sanjay wanted it to look as if Aishwarya was not dancing for the camera.”

But the movements that the choreographer showed them were somehow not working out. Sanjay found the whole effect too rehearsed and premeditated.

The source adds, “Time was running out so Sanjay finally decided to take matters into his own hands. Since he is also the film’s music composer, he understood the song’s core rhythm and soon began demonstrating the steps to Aishwarya. Everyone eventually suggested that he choreograph the entire song. Within four hours the song was done.”

The director says, “In the course of a film one often encounters any number of hurdles. It’s a director’s job to be equipped to handle any eventuality on the sets. Actors often get stuck in situations that they can’t get out of on their own. It’s the director’s job to guide them. That’s all I did.”

The handful of people who have watched the rushes of Guzaarish Dance Of Life (the song’s unofficial title) say it’s one of Aishwarya’s most brilliantly choreographed and executed dance numbers ever.

Now that Bhansali, a devotee and follower of the Kathak exponent Pandit Birju Maharaj, has reconnected with his love for choreography, he is seriously thinking of doing all the choreography of his future project Heera Mandi, a film based on classical dancing. And this time it would be official.

I don’t drink or smoke: Asin

Last week, Asin was in Chennai for the first schedule of her new film Kavalkaran with Vijay.

The film, directed by Siddique, is a remake of his Malayalam film Bodyguard. Asin is doing a Kollywood film, nearly two years after her last release Dasavatharam.

The grapevine had it that the actress would not do south Indian films after the stupendous success of her debut Hindi film Ghajini with Aamir Khan. However, her critics were quick to point out that the failure of her second film in Bollywood London Dreams with Salman Khan may have forced the actress to make a comeback to Tamil cinema.

After having ruled the roost in Kollywood not too long ago, does the actress feel she’s starting all over again? Speaking exclusively to TOI, Asin says, “It is not a comeback at all. I have never left the Tamil film industry and have always maintained that I’m open to good projects. I have not restricted myself to any one industry. Even after the Tamil Ghajini became a superhit, I didn’t go on a signing spree though I was flooded with offers. I took my time before doing Pokkiri and Dasavatharam.

Speaking about how she decides on a film, Asin says, “It depends on my role, director, banner and co-artistes. It is a combination of all these factors that go into my decision-making. I was criticised because I did not take up big projects in Hindi with certain big stars. But I have no regrets as the projects on the whole may not have appealed to me. I will not sign a project on the basis of external pressures or a craving to be in public view constantly.

The pretty actress also points out that she is a very private person and doesn’t like her life being written about. She states, “I’m not much of a party-goer, though I do love to hang out and chill with my friends at home. I don’t drink or smoke, so it is pointless for me to go to a club. However, if it is a friend’s party or a film-related event, I do attend.” Ask her about tabloid reports that suggested that Dhoni watched the IPL semi-final between Team Mumbai and Team Bangalore at her home in Mumbai and Asin shoots back, “No comments. Why misunderstand friendship? I know MS because we did an ad together.” At this point, Asin also asserts that she is not on any of the social networking sites and that profiles that appear under her name are fake.

About her one-time arch rival Trisha doing a Hindi film with Akshay Kumar and other south Indian actresses making a beeline for Bollywood, Asin smiles and says, “Well, the more the merrier.” On her forthcoming projects in Hindi, Asin elaborates, “I will start work on a film with John Abraham, which is being directed by Nishikant Kamath. It is a remake of my Telugu film Gharshana (the Kaakha Kaakha remake). After that, I will do Aneez Bazmi’s remake of the Telugu flick Ready with Salman Khan.

Deepika, Ranbir: Jodi's back together?

One of the most talked about estranged couple in Bollywood seems to be on the road to reconciliation.

Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor were spotted together on Friday night with a few of their close friends. The former lovers had gone to see a night show of Deepika's latest release Housefull in a Juhu theatre.

Once they entered the auditorium, Ranbir and Deepika sat next to each other. Onlookers say that the two looked quite comfortable together and were seen chatting merrily throughout the film. “Everybody present in the theatre was visibly surprised when Deepika and Ranbir walked into the multiplex at 10.30 pm. They saw the 10.45 pm show of Housefull. The audience was quite distracted on seeing them together but it was fun,” says a source. A source from the multiplex confirmed the story.

After they parted ways sometime in October last year, Deepika and Ranbir have been in touch off and on, but they haven't met publicly since then. It may be recalled that the estranged couple got talking again late last year at a party hosted by jewellery designer Maheep Kapoor and fashion designer Nandita Mahtani.

“The two have never made a public appearance together after their break up. So, this one came as a shocker,” adds the source.

On December 4, last year, Ranbir had told Mumbai Mirror that he hoped he and Deepika would get back together. We wonder if his wish will soon come true. “It is difficult to say if Deepika and Ranbir are developing romantic feelings for each other once again. Only time will tell,” says the source.

Whatever is the current status of their relationship, Deepika might just be keeping her fingers crossed so that she doesn’t have to go through the trouble of getting the RK tattoo erased from her nape. Deepika and Ranbir were unavailable for comment.

ASHOK CHAKRA

Film “Ashok Chakra” is a tribute to brave officers who gave their lives saving the nation on 26/11/2008 when Mumbai was attacked by terrorists. These real life heros were honoured by Ashok Chakra. A salute to them and to mumbaikers. Rajan Verma, who plays the role of kasab says “Our film is not against the law. We are simply showing the reality. We don’t intend to misguide anyone nor are we making any judiciary judgements. It’s a film and I am only an actor playing the character.” Let’s wish the film a great success which is releasing on 28th May 2010.

Now an animated sequel of 3 Idiots

Everyone knows who the three idiots are. But now, there’s a fourth one in the offing! The 4th Idiot is an animated film that takes off from where 3 Idiots ended. “3 Idiots ended with Aamir Khan’s character, Phunsuk Wangdu, running a school where the kids are given a free hand at learning and experimenting,” says Biswaroop Roy Chowdhary, producer of The 4th Idiot. “We have shown a similar school where students are into innovation and technology – how that school functions, what kind of kids study in that school and how it affects their learning process,” Chowdhary adds. The protagonist of the story is a boy named Pappu, who is similar to Omi Vaidya’s character, Chatur Ramalingam, in 3 Idiots.

Though Chowdhary agrees that his movie is inspired by 3 Idiots, he says that they didn’t speak to Aamir Khan or Raj Kumar Hirani about their movie. “The 4th Idiot is a new tale, with a new twist, new characters and a new storyline. The only similarity is that we have made use of Omi Vaidya’s accent and the way he speaks in 3 Idiots. Apart from that, nothing is common,” he says.

3 Idiots’ Chatur, Omi Vaidya, has done the voiceover for Pappu. “Though The 4th Idiot is an educational movie, we wanted to keep it light and humorous, as it is for kids, and who better than Omi to be the protagonist?” asks Chowdhary. Omi Vaidya has also sung a song in the film.

The producers are hosting the world premiere of the film at the World Unity Convention Centre, Lucknow. “Not many know that the world’s largest school is in Lucknow, the City Montessori School. That’s the reason I wanted to host the world premiere there, so that the maximum number of students watch this movie,” explains Chowdhary.

Sunny is still his papa’s baby

This is the cutest story on Dharmendra and Sunny Deol having their hair snipped turn-by-turn by super-stylist Aalim.

And then the story doesn’t end here. After they approved of each other’s haircuts, Sunny also showed his papa the latest weights he added to his own gym.

An awestruck Dharam, sweetly asked his son “Beta you can actually lift these weights?” And, of course, Sunny showed off like a little boy in front of daddy by lifting the weights with absolute ease.

Yeah, he may be 51, but Sunny is still a toughie. Normally, Bobby is also around for such family bonding sessions. But now, Bobby is in Canada shooting for Anees Bazmee’s Thank You and hence he was missing for the hair cut and exercise sessions.

Is somebody stalking Tusshar?

We find this hard to digest but recently we got to know that a girl might actually be stalking Tusshar Kapoor.

That’s right, apparently, when the actor’s car stopped at a signal, a young girl ran up to his car and presented him with flowers.

Now that was fine, she could have been just one of his admirers. But Tusshar got spooked when a few minutes later, he got a message on his phone asking him if he liked the flowers! Looks like somebody’s smitten with the Kapoor boy! Will the mysterious fan please stand up?