Aamir Khan is back as producer
By Sitesh Debnath
For all those who wondered where Aamir Khan had disappeared after Sarfarosh, here's some good news. The actor has turned producer and his maiden venture, Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar is ready for release this month.

Cindy stakes all
She’s back in modelling, back on television and, (you guessed it), back in films. After the box office disaster of her debut film, Fair Game, super model Cindy Crawford is again staking her reputation in Hollywood.

Price of super stardom
IN the frenetic nineties, star prices have gone through the roof, thanks to the mega demands of stars. If Dharmendra is said to have charged Rs 5 lakh for a film in the seventies his son, Sunny Deol now reportedly charges Rs 1 crore.

Fortune smiles
The transition from television to movies is often tricky — just ask Renuka Shahane, Pallavi Joshi, Pankaj Kapoor or any of the myriad small-screen stars who’ve come a cropper in films.

Bollywood digest

Aamir Khan is back as producer
By Sitesh Debnath

For all those who wondered where Aamir Khan had disappeared after Sarfarosh, here's some good news. The actor has turned producer and his maiden venture, Lagaan, directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar is ready for release this month.

A period film set in the 1890s. Lagaan has been shot on a start-to-finish schedule on location at Bhuj, in Gujarat. Rani Mukherjee was to play the lead as an innocent village belle, but was replaced by a new actress, Gracy Singh. Aamir of course, plays the hero.

"I ply Bhuwan, a simple villager," informs the actor-producer. "The character is honest, yet extremely strong-willed and possesses the strength to fight against injustice. He mobilises the whole village to pull down a corrupt system. But there's no revolution, mutiny or rebellion against the British rulers. "The village was constructed on agricultural land with sets designed to capture the architectural flavour of Bhuj, more than a century ago. But then, as Aamir points out, the film holds no element of history, even as 20 British actors were flown in from London for the purpose of authenticity.

"We even had a marriage on the sets," exclaims Aamir. "One of the actors, Jamie had come with his girlfriend. They wanted to get married in the traditional Indian way with all the rituals- sangeet, mehndi ceremony and the like. We organised all that for them in the temple on our sets. It was quite an event!"

And what about his leading lady? "Well, Gracy was the director's choice," he explains. "Since we were shooting at a stretch, we could not afford an establi8shed actress. We were screen-testing a number of new girls. Gracy came across as the innocent village girl we were looking for. Hopefully, the audience will like her too."

As for other actors, the producer and director had short-listed three or four actors for each role knowing well there could be dropouts due to the eight-month schedule in Bhuj. Sure enough, Mukesh Rishi dropped out and had to be replaced with a relatively new Pradeep Sawant (the sultan in Sarfarosh)

"These crucial decisions were entirely Ashutosh's," says Aamir, dispelling any suspicion that he had ghost-directed the film. "As producer, my job was to ensure that he got what he wanted, that the film was completed on schedule and that it is sold and exploited to its optimal level."

Another aspect of Lagaan that Aamir is quite excited about is A.R. Rahman's music score: "Quite honestly, I had no clue what kind of music existed in the 1890s.. Ashutosh's brief to Rahman was that the music should have a period feel and that it shouldn't be a modern sound.

"On two occasions Rahman came down to Bhuj. Most of the time Ashutosh and Rahman worked in Chennai. Just before the shooting of a song, Rahman came down to the sets to give final touches. I used to sit quietly in a room and watch Rahman at work. That man is really amazing!"

Aamir is now busy with Dil Chahata Ha, the film that will mark the directorial debut of lyricist Javed Akhtar's son, Farhaan. He has been teamed with Akshaye Khanna and Preity Zinta as a "rich kid, cocky and extremely non-serious" in life.

"Farhaan is extremely gifted," he points out. "He has a very good script and its total effect will depend upon how much of the flavour gets translated on screen. It has a very delicately written story line — not at all plot heavy. That the writer is directing the film will certainly help."

Aamir has a few other projects lined up, but in keeping with his "policy", he would take them up one after another. These include one for cousin Mansoor Khan, another with Shahrukh Khan for Rajkumar Santoshi and a third, for John Mathew Mathan. The titles of these films have not yet been decided.

— MF

Cindy stakes all

She’s back in modelling, back on television and, (you guessed it), back in films. After the box office disaster of her debut film, Fair Game, super model Cindy Crawford is again staking her reputation in Hollywood.

This time the film, strategically titled 36! 24! 36! is about a group of gorgeous women of pleasure who descend on the small town of Rutherford and seduce men of all ages. Cindy falls for the charms of Harry, a serious, academically-inclined person whose mind is as far away from girls as it is close to books.

Needless to say, Cindy, the former Mrs Richard Gere, is all shook up about her new role. She says its going to be her make-or-break project.

But what if it comes crashing down the way Fair Gome did? The stunning supermodel is clear-headed. If such a contingency were to arrive she has her lucrative TV career to fall back upon.

And for those who don’t know, Cindy anchored MTV’s House of Style for six years before going across to NBC as the late night guest host. The world of glamour indeed has a number of vacant slots for this woman of substance.

— NF

Price of super stardom

IN the frenetic nineties, star prices have gone through the roof, thanks to the mega demands of stars. If Dharmendra is said to have charged Rs 5 lakh for a film in the seventies his son, Sunny Deol now reportedly charges Rs 1 crore.

If Sunil Dutt made Rs 75,000 for a film in the sixties, his son, Sanjay Dutt is rumoured to be charging a phenomenal fee of around Rs 1.5 crore a film.

Current superstar, Shah Rukh Khan, too, is said to be asking for a territory apart from his fee which, according to grapevine, is in the region of around Rs 1.5 crore. And Hrithik Roshan, Govinda, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgun are all in the region of one crore.

In today’s changing scenario, producers consider a fee of Rs 1 crore reasonable. In fact, what was an impossibility even a decade ago is now common place in Bollywood and thanks to the rising budgets of films, star prices are going through the roof.

Fortune smiles

The transition from television to movies is often tricky — just ask Renuka Shahane, Pallavi Joshi, Pankaj Kapoor or any of the myriad small-screen stars who’ve come a cropper in films.

But every once in a while a TV star will successfully make the jump to cinematic glory. Take the case of Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood’s numero uno who made the crossover after a couple of TV serials. Or of lesser lights like Mukesh Khanna, Navneet Nishan, Alok Nath, Himani Shivpuri and Satish Shah.

Specially Himani Shivpuri. Eight years ago when she left the National School of Drama (NSD) reportedly because of her preoccupation with TV, she faced an uncertain future. She moved to Mumbai to pursue a full-time career in acting. But despite the fact she had a brilliant background in theatre, roles were difficult to come by. Even as despair set in, the skies opened up. New channels meant more jobs and more assignments.

Today, Himani is one of the busiest character-stars on the small and big screens. Surely, a far cry from the times when, tired of waiting for roles she seriously contemplated returning to the stage. Both television and Bollywood now beckon her with open arms and though she mainly gets character roles, her diary is chockful with assignments.

— NF

Bollywood digest

• Producer-director Feroze Khan has left for the UK and Italy to scout for locations for his forthcoming film, Tera Saath Hai Kitna Pyara. Meanwhile, music composer Anand Raaj Anand is working on the title number before the film is launched in mid-January.
• Actor-director Satish Kaushik launched Badhaai Ho Badhaai with the picturisation of a song-and-dance sequence with male leads Anil Kapoor and Suresh Menon. Also playing key roles in the film are Amrish Puri, Shilpa Shetty and Amisha Patel.
• Producer-director Vicky Ranawat’s Kaboo mounted the sets with lead stars Faisal Khan, Rajat Bedi and Ashima Bhalla facing the camera for the inaugural shot. The heroine still has to be finalised before regular filming begins.
• Model Aditi Gowitrikar has been added to the cast of Mukt. A non-stop marathon shoot is currently on at Dahisar, near Mumbai. Writer-director Adeep Singh is canning two songs and some dramatic scenes with lead stars Rocky Khanna, Karan Anand, Namrata Shirodkar and Seema Biswas.
• Director Yogesh Bhardwaj has returned to Mumbai after a ten-day shoot for Border Hindustan Ka at some picturesque locales near Pune. Many romantic and dramatic scenes were filmed on lead stars Faisal Khan, Rajat Bedi, Priya Gill and Aditya Pancholi.
• The entire cast of Khatron Ke Khiladi took part in a fortnight-long marathon shoot at Coimbatore and Ooty, in southern India. Director Imran Khalid filmed the pre-climax scene with lead stars Mithun Chakraborty, Raj Babbar, Rutika Singh and Puru Rajkumar.
• Producer-director Deepak Balraj Vij has left for the USA with the unit of Sai Baba. A 20-day shoot is being lined up with lead stars Sudhir Dalvi (playing the title role), Vikram Gokhale, Rohini Hattangadi and a musical troupe of Hollywood artistes.
• Sunny Deol, Arbaaz Khan, Tabu and Sudesh Berry completed a fortnight-long shoot for Maa Tujhe Salaam at Filmistan Studios, Bombay. Director Tinu Verma filmed many action, dramatic and comic scenes on them during the schedule.
• Writer-director Neeraj Vora completed a 40-day marathon shoot for Khiladi 420 at some scenic locales in Canada recently. Lead stars Akshay Kumar, Mahima Chaudhary, Sudanshu Pandey and Antra Mali took part in the filming of five songs and some romantic scenes.
• Following a 15-day non-stop shoot at various locations in Mumbai, director Mehboob Khan has wrapped up the filming of Kaali Raat Mein. Starring Rajesh Tewari, Rani Sinha, Raza Murad and Raahat Khan, the film is scheduled for an early release.

— MF