Lifting story ideas and music score from foreign source is considered the done thing for Bollywood filmmakers. But whoever would have expected them to run out of ideas even on finding titles for films? Or is there some other reason for films to be named after musical hits.

From Jhooth Bole Kauwa Kaate to Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya and Yeh ZindagiKa Safar to the recent Kahin Daag Na Lag Jaaye, film titles are increasingly being lifted from yesteryear hits sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar and Manna Dey.

The trend towards ‘musical titles’ began with Yash Chopra’s Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, based on an old Mohammad Rafi chart-buster. Later, Chopra came up with another melodious title. Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai, which has withstood the onslaught of multiple Bhagat Singh movies.

Naseeruddin Shah makes yet another return to the big screen as Captain Nemo in Steven Norrington’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Inspired by the Jules Verne classic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the film is being produced by Twentieth Century Fox.

Shah, who made a rather "reluctant comeback" in Mira Nair’s award-winning Monsoon Wedding, had announced his retirement from films two years ago , when he signed with Peter Brook’s theatre troupe .

Shah’s co-stars are all Hollywood biggies—from Sean Connery (playing Allan Quartermain) and Jason Fleming (as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) to Stuart Townsend (as Dorian Gray), Shane West (as Tom Sawyer), and Monica Bellucci (Mina Harker).

— Arun Roy (MF)