Ananth Mahadevan to make film on Satyajit Ray's unpublished story

For all those who thought that the 'legacy' of the legendary (late) Satyajit Ray started and ended withShatranj Ke Khiladi (the only Hindi film that he made), here is the time to rejoice. Ananth Mahadevan is now all set to make Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro (an unpublished short story by Ray) into a film named The Storyteller.

Speaking about this, Ananth said that a Bengali writer-friend of his mentioned that there was a very interesting unpublished Satyajit Ray story that he should look at. That's when Mahadevan got in touch with Ray's son Sandip , who, in turn readily gave him the story. 

Ananth, who feels that he has a slice of Ray's genius in his hands, has approached Amitabh Bachchan for the lead role and Farooq Sheikh as the entrepreneur who loves to hear stories. Ananth said that for him, to bring Satyajit Ray and Amitabh Bachchan together in the same film will be a dream come true. 

Readers may recall that the last time Farooq shared the screen space with Big B was in the (late) Manmohan Desai's Toofan.

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Bata wins court case against Prakash Jha

Only yesterday we told you how filmmaker Prakash Jha had won his court battle against the Birlas who objected to their name being used in the controversial song 'Mehangai' from Jha's film Chakravyuh. The lyrics of the song went 'Birla Ho Ya Tata, Ambani Ho Ya Bata, Sabne Apne Chakkar Mein Desh Ko Hai Kata'

However Jha's woes don't seem to end as shoe manufacturing company Bata, which had also filed a defamation case against Jha for the offensive song, has won the case in its favour. The Delhi High Court has directed Jha to refrain from using or airing the song 'Mehangai' till the word Bata is removed. 

Jha meanwhile maintains that the names used in the song are symbolic and not meant to hurt or cause disrespect to any particular individual or brand.

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Protest against Akshay inaugurating IFFI

The news that Akshay Kumar will be inaugurating the IFFI, that's scheduled to take place in Goa from November 20, has been welcomed by all but a right wing Hindu outfit. The reason? The outfit thinks that Akshay has allegedly hurt religious sentiments in his recent film OMG Oh My God! 

Manoj Solanki of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti State Convenor, in a memorandum to Chief Minister of Goa - Manohar Parrikar, said that the film has already hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus. He added that the inauguration of a major international event like IFFI at the hands of the producer of the film, Akshay, is like rubbing salt on the wounds of Hindus in this secular state. 

While the Goa government is yet to take any action with respect to the memorandum, reports have it that Entertainment Society of Goa, which is a nodal agency conducting the festival, has said that the memorandum would be discussed in the high level committee before arriving at any decision.

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Families of SOTY cast to watch film on Thursday

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Although Karan Johar has graciously decided to have a screening of Student Of The Year on Thursday evening for the family members of the film's principal cast debutants Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan, Alia's protective Didi, elder sister Pooja Bhatt has decided to stay away from the family screening.

Pooja would rather watch Alia with the audience at a public screening. "I'm going to see it first day first show on Friday. I can't wait. I do have the option of seeing it the night before. But, I'd rather see it with an unprejudiced audience. I've watched most of my own films on Friday with the ticket-paying public."

While Pooja plays the protective elder sister with utmost sincerity, her brother Rahul Bhatt is completely disconnected from Alia's life and career. Rahul sheepishly admits to not knowing his stepsister's cellphone number.

The film's other debutant Varun Dhawan's father filmmaker David Dhawan, confesses he and his wife can't wait to see their son on screen.

"We are watching the film on the 18th night. Can you believe, we haven't seen single frame of Varun's work as yet!"

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Bollywood News Dabangg 2 trailer with Son Of Sardaar

Post his item number in Ajay Devgn's Son Of Sardaar (SOS) , Salman Khan is now all set to release the trailer of the much awaited Dabangg 2 with the Ajay Devgn-Sanjay Dutt starrer SOS.

News reports have it that Salman, who had earlier decided, to release the trailer with YRF's Jab Tak Hai Jaan, felt that releasing the trailer with SOS was a better idea. Reports have it that the reason for him to do so was his closeness to Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn.

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