Smothered by KJo, Jha's film runs helter skelter

If it's impossible to release a film on the same Friday as Karan Johar, it is next to impossible to place your product in the following week either.

This, Prakash Jha has learnt as his film Chakravyuh gets set to release after Karan Johar's Student Of The Year (SOTY) . 

Says a source close to Jha, "There is almost non-existence space for the marketing of Chakravyuh. Every conceivable advertorial spot on television and other conventional media for a movie's marketing are reserved for Karan Johar's film. Jha has to depend almost entirely on theatrical trailers to put his product before the audience." 

An option explored by Prakash Jha was to let SOTY be released and then unleash an intense wave of publicity and marketing in the last week leading up to his release. However, that option had to be discarded since Chakravyuh opens on Wednesday, two days ahead of the customary Friday opening, which gives Jha's film a mere 5-day window post-SOTY release. 

Says the source close to Jha, "Chakravyuh finds itself in a peculiar spot. It has all its stars from Arjun Rampal to Om Puri most willing to promote the film, but not enough space to do, the spotlight being on Karan Johar and his three newcomers."

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Ajay's compliment for Sonakshi or message for SRK?

So here is the latest development on Shah Rukh v/s Ajay battle this Diwali. With less than a month to go, there are no signs yet of Son Of Sardaar moving to a different date. On the contrary, the makers have now gone futher aggressive and driven the point home in not so subtle way. This has been through a letter of appreciation from Ajay to Sonakshi that has now been public. The underlining message though is about the film's release date being reconfirmed as 13th November.

Sonakshi recently tweeted the image of letter received and it's content reads: 'Dear Sonakshi, We at Ajay Devgn Ffilms, take this opportunity to thank you for the co-operation extended by you at the time of the shooting of our film "Son of Sardaar". We are glad to inform you that we have completed the shooting successfully and the film is ready for the release on 13th November 2012. We appreciate your professionalism and looking forward for a long association.'

As per insiders, while this could well be genuine appreciation for Sonakshi, there is also a clear message for Yash Raj-SRK camp that there won't be any backing off now at any stage. Though it is a common practice amongst filmmakers to acknowledge their actors, a release date being added is pretty much a first and only clarifies the intentions further.

Sonakshi too is making the most out it and posted, "The best film wrap gift I could EVER get is an acknowledgement of my professionalism. Thank you @ajaydevgn @tanishaa003 and the entiiiire team of @sos thefilm for giving me such an amazing shooting and learning experience! SoS for life! Mazza aa gaya! (sic).'

Let's see what Katrina and Anushka have to say now in this battle which was restricted only to men so far.

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Aamir Khan's SOS to Farhan Akhtar

Aamir Khan, who had starred in the Farhan Akhtar- Ritesh Sidhwani flick Dil Chahta Hai (DCH), wants the duo to come together for the music launch of their upcoming film Talaash today evening. With this, theDCH team will be coming together after 11 long years!

Since Farhan Akhtar has been tad busy shooting forBhaag Milkha Bhaag, it seemed difficult for him to attend the music launch. But Aamir's desire of launching the film's music with the makers of DCHmade him send a SOS to Farhan so that he could take a day's break and join them for the music launch.

According to Aamir, this was a great platform to revive all the pleasant memories of DCH after 11 long years. That's the reason Farhan will be taking a day off from his hectic shooting schedule and will be joining Ritesh Sidhwani and Aamir Khan at the music launch of Talaash.

Talaash is set to hit the theaters on 30th November 2012.

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Casting for Zanjeer gets problematic

By now we are all aware of the well-broadcast cast of Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer, the remake of the 1973 Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster featuring Telugu superstar Ramcharan Teja in the lead.

What we don't know is that there was a casting panic in the unit when no actor could be found for one of the key roles. 

We're talking about the white stallion that formed a crucial part of the Salim-Javed script. 

Says a source from neo-Zanjeer, "In the original film the Big B's Vijay keeps getting these recurring nightmares where he sees this white stallion that rears up on screen on two legs and neighs passionately. In the remake getting a stallion of the same stature proved problematic. Lakhia even thought of scrapping the stallion's part from the neo-Zanjeer because in any case nowadays filmmakers have to deal with the Animal Welfare Board and its strict rules." 

However, it was felt that the horse plays a pivotal part in the plot and cannot be done away with. Finding the right breed proved a huge problem…Until the film's leading man Ramcharan Teja came to the film's rescue. 

Apparently, Ramcharan owns one of the best stud farms of India. A huge horse-lover Ramacharan's home has a rare breed of 3-feet miniature horse that roams around freely in Ramcharan's home like a canine. 

The horse in Zanjeer has been taken from Ramcharan's stud farm which is situated in sprawling acres of land owned by his wife Upasana Kamineni. 

Confirming this, Ramcharan said, "Yes, they are using the horse from my stables which are located in Upasana's farm."

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Casting for Zanjeer gets problematic

By now we are all aware of the well-broadcast cast of Apoorva Lakhia's Zanjeer, the remake of the 1973 Amitabh Bachchan blockbuster featuring Telugu superstar Ramcharan Teja in the lead.
 
What we don't know is that there was a casting panic in the unit when no actor could be found for one of the key roles. 

We're talking about the white stallion that formed a crucial part of the Salim-Javed script. 

Says a source from neo-Zanjeer, "In the original film the Big B's Vijay keeps getting these recurring nightmares where he sees this white stallion that rears up on screen on two legs and neighs passionately. In the remake getting a stallion of the same stature proved problematic. Lakhia even thought of scrapping the stallion's part from the neo-Zanjeer because in any case nowadays filmmakers have to deal with the Animal Welfare Board and its strict rules." 

However, it was felt that the horse plays a pivotal part in the plot and cannot be done away with. Finding the right breed proved a huge problem…Until the film's leading man Ramcharan Teja came to the film's rescue. 

Apparently, Ramcharan owns one of the best stud farms of India. A huge horse-lover Ramacharan's home has a rare breed of 3-feet miniature horse that roams around freely in Ramcharan's home like a canine. 

The horse in Zanjeer has been taken from Ramcharan's stud farm which is situated in sprawling acres of land owned by his wife Upasana Kamineni. 

Confirming this, Ramcharan said, "Yes, they are using the horse from my stables which are located in Upasana's farm."

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