Shahid to play cop in Neeraj Pandey's film

After finishing work on Prabhu Dheva's Namak and Rajkumar Santoshi's Phata Poster Nikla Hero, Shahid Kapoor will be doing Neeraj Pandey's next.

What is interesting however is the fact that Shahid would be seen playing a cop for the first time in his career in this particular flick. Neeraj Pandey has earlier made the much appreciated film A Wednesday and this one too seems like another hard-hitting film. Neeraj is currently busy giving finishing touches to his multi-starrer Special Chabees. 

Shahid is looking forward to don the khaki avatar for this particular film and can't wait to get into character.

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Ghai's hit films to be remade in Tamil, Telugu

Years after its release, the films that have marked the progress of Indian cinema are looking at getting a new lease of life. Buzz is that Subhash Ghai's blockbuster films (made under his banner Mukta Arts) like Karz, Karma, Aitraaz and Hero are soon going to be remade in a new style.

It is learnt that Ghai's company Mukta Arts is currently negotiating with a number of leading South Indian producers to get the films remade in Tamil and Telugu languages. Sources close to the company say that Subhashji is in the final stages of talks about these remakes. Besides since the films are close to him, Ghai is in no hurry, and wants only the best makers to bag the rights.

The production house is keeping other details under wraps, but if all goes well, the remakes would hit the floors by mid-2013. 

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Prithviraj to relocate to Mumbai

Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil cinema's star-actor Prithviraj Sukuraman who has just made an impressive Bollywood debut as Rani Mukerji's aromatic amour inAiyyaa will wrap up his assignments in the South by the end of the year and move home from the South to Mumbai in January 2013.

His wife Supriya who used to a BBC journalist has been busy hunting for a home for the couple in Mumbai while Prithvi has been immersed in completing his films on the floor. 

Speaking of his plans to relocate into Bollywood, Prithiviraj said, "Mumbai will be my home now for a while. Since I'm serious about a career in Hindi films, I'd have to relocate to Mumbai. Supriya and I are not rushing into buying property. Since we are relocating into Mumbai, we want to buy ourselves the best apartment possible. While we find the ideal love nest, we'll rent a place in Mumbai in January when after completing my assignments we move to Mumbai. Once we are in a rented place in Mumbai we can look for a home to buy, aaraam se." 

Prithviraj who has already signed a second Hindi film, says he has left all the nitty-gritty regarding their new residence in Mumbai to his wife. "Though Supriya is a Malayali, she has spent a large part of her life in Mumbai. She's a Mumbai girl. In fact I saw the real Mumbai through Supriya's eyes. Of course I knew Mumbai before I got to know Supriya. But it was Supriya who showed me sides to Mumbai I had never seen." 

The urge to see the real Mumbai got hold of Prithviraj after he read Gregory David Roberts' novelShantaram. "Suddenly a new side to Mumbai opened up in my mind. I wanted to see all the places described in the novel like Haji Ali and the Leopold cafe. Supriya was a friend. I asked her to show me all these places. I invited myself over to Mumbai and Supriya took over my life for the next few weeks. This was when we fell in love and decided to get married. So the city holds great romance and relevance for me. I'd love to return to live in the city that gave the love of my life." 

Prithvi's voice fills up with affectionate gratitude when he talks about his wife. "She gave up her job to join me in the South. I owe her a lot. I don't think I would be what I am today without her support." 

Prithviraj who had been acting from age of 19 and has done films in three South Indian languages, doesn't see Aiyyaa as a debut in new language. "When the director came to me with the offer, I didn't focus on the language. In any case, my character doesn't speak much. I was just fascinated by the concept of the girl, Rani, falling in love with the scent of a man. I'd have accepted the offer in any language. At this stage of my career I'm looking for new challenges." 

Prithviraj has signed a Yash Raj film Aurangzeb. He has an interesting story to tell on how he signed it. "I was shooting for the song 'Aga Bai' for Aiyyaa on one of the floors at Yash Raj when the casting director at Yash Raj asked me if I'd be interested in auditioning for a part. I agreed. When I heard the role I was hooked." 

Prithviraj says he is very confident of his role in Aurangzeb although Arjun Kapoor has a double role in the film. 

"I wouldn't have accepted the role if I wasn't satisfied with what was offered to me. I am in no rush to get anywhere. I am here to stay. Mumbai is my home from January."

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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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