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Every superhero needs their own mode of super-transport. While Spiderman has his web to swing with, Superman is bestowed with the magical ability to fly, thanks to his cape.

Hence,Shah Rukh Khan aka G.One in his forthcoming film RA.One has decided to borrow his superhero kin Batman’s bike for a sequence to be shot end of next week.

The very crucial scene, one of the few remaining to be shot for the film that is almost ready, will take place at Filmistan Studios, Goregaon.

The scene will have SRK vrooming in his superbike designed specially to resemble Batman’s batpod. “SRK will be doing a rescue act in the scene, which also requires him to indulge in some real adrenaline pumping stunts,” informed a source.

What’s more, Khan will be performing all the daredevil stunts himself. “No body double has been summoned for the shoot,” added the source. Shah Rukh Khan who is confident that he would pull off the stunts without a body double, will start rehearsing for the same today. And only after a week of practice, the star will shoot for the real sequence.

“Shah Rukh is not particularly fond of bikes himself. In fact, every time director Anubhav Sinha suggested that he bought one, Khan just refused saying there is no use for a bike,” revealed the source. However, for his dream project, Shah Rukh Khan seems to have revised his thoughts on riding a bike.

While SRK was holidaying in London with his family, the director of RA.One was busy preparing the set for the special shoot. Anaita Shroff Adajania had been arranging for Khan’s outfit for the scene.

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Expectations, hopes and excitement were sky high. I had done this before; gone to watch a film having convinced myself that I would love it, just by its credentials. Let’s face it, Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara qualified as a potential success in so many departments: three handsome men, two lovely ladies, a road trip, an exotic location… It seemed so well-padded it had to resist failure. The only thing that needed to be added to this otherwise perfect list was the ability to strike a chord with the audience. Could perfection be hit head on by an audience that wanted more?

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is a story about three friends who comes together for one last road trip before one of them gives up on his bachelor status. Kabir (Abhay Deol) is all set to marry Natasha (Kalki) but, in true bachelor tradition, he and his friends, Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) and Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) organise a stag holiday to Spain which will see them reunite after a number of years. During the trip, the trio meet Laila (Katrina Kaif) who both Imraan and Arjun take an instant liking to and who goes on to bring a change to all of their lives. The trip sees the threesome take part in various sports, overcome old grudges and it also encourages them all to tackle their biggest fears individually.

It would be wrong to say that the film has a plot not seen before in Indian cinema. It would also be untruthful to state that, albeit with a recurring set of circumstances, it seeks to be something that it’s not. The Spanish touch seems to do wonders for the treatment of the movie. The colourful settings and the picturesque locations make the story come to life. Zoya Akhtar’s style seems to be stamped all over the vivid backgrounds and overall feel of the movie, especially if her directorial debut, Luck By Chance, is anything to go by. You can recognise and appreciate the somewhat subtle charm of the movie right from its first shot because of the romantic avatar and this is one thing the audience is sure to remember about Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

The casting of the film is also very much spot-on. Roshan, Akhtar and Deol seem to fit into their characters perfectly. The comical scenes are particularly effective and what seems to come through the most is the rapport the three must have shared with each other while shooting for the movie. Arjun’s character is not immediately one that you would have placed Roshan in, but he plays him with much dedication and passion. It is refreshing to see him play a character who isn’t instantly likeable, which is very much away from the norm for the actor. Akhtar’s performance as Imraan can be described in just one word: effortless. His comical timing, his spontaneity and his very obvious natural talent in giving a minimalist performance with maximum after-effect is evident in this film. Deol’s character, Kabir, is the one who takes the story forward. It is great to see Deol in such a role as he is by far one of Indian cinema’s most underrated actors. One hopes his undervalued acting talent won’t go unrecognised following this movie. Although the ladies, Kaif and Koechlin don’t have as much exposure as the leading men in the movie, both do their respective roles justice. Kaif is very much a breath of fresh air in her role as Laila.

The performances and scenery is only made better with the soundtrack of the movie which was composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The picturisations of the songs are wonderful and each song is given it’s own flavour, which fits in with the overall theme of the movie as well as proving to good reflections on the individual characters. For example, ‘Senorita’ captures the very essence of the bachelor-party trip with Roshan, Akhtar and Deol not only seen to dance with a Spanish dancer, but they also lend their vocals to the celebration song. A special mention should also be given to the very sombre ‘Khaabon Ke Parinday’ which shows the enlightenment of Roshan’s character, Arjun. ‘Ik Junoon’ is also given an extremely innovative visual treatment as it is filmed with cast at the Tomatina Festival.

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Amitabh Bachchan was denied permission to promote his latest film Aarakshan in Lucknow University. A place, which is associated with Big B’s father Harivansh Rai Bachchan, was surprisingly not keen on having a lecture by the actor.

Director Prakash Jha had planned to take Amitabh Bachchan to address the students and teachers of the university on the issue of job reservation as part of the promotion of Aarakshan. But Lucknow University refused to arrange a lecture for the actor and other promotional activities of the film. Prakash’s grouse is that the university refused to let the promotion take place without knowing whether the lecture would be for or against the issue of job reservation.

Since it is a sensitive issue for the people of UP particularly Lucknow, where several youth have lost their lives during the reservation agitation, the authorities thought it wasn’t a good idea to allow a lecture on the topic. More so by Bachchan, as it would have invited more public attention. Considering the fact that the job- reservation issue is so important to Uttar Pradesh, Jha had made plans for a comprehensive question and answer session between Amitabh and the University’s students and staff.

Earlier during the marketing of Rajneeti, Prakash Jha had to face difficulties, because the concerned authorities were wary of giving them permission to promote the movie. Prakash is clearly unhappy but Amitabh Bachchan has chosen not to comment.

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She is already a name to reckon with down south, but Singham is actress Kajal Aggarwal’s first full-fledged Hindi movie. Comparing Bollywood and the southern Indian film industry, the 26-year-old says both are equally professional and regional barriers are slowly disappearing.

“The reach of Hindi cinema is larger, but the south is equally professional. In the south, they have very talented technicians like in Bollywood. Both industries have equally good artists, good scripts and good professionals,” said Kajal in an interview.

“I feel, just like Bollywood, southern films are also reaching a lot of places…the movies are going beyond boundaries. Regional barriers are slowly and steadily disappearing which is a very good thing,” she added.

Singham, a remake of the successful 2010 Tamil film by the same name, is scheduled for a July 22 release.

After the exchange of actors and directors between the two industries, the technicians have also started looking for work in both the worlds of cinema, which are very prolific.

“One more very good trend that I have noticed lately is that a lot of technicians are being shared pan-India. A lot of technicians from the south are working in Bollywood and vice versa. Directors of photography, choreographers, etc - all are working in both the industries,” she added.

Kajal, who did a cameo role in the 2004 Hindi film Kyun…! Ho Gaya Na, has featured in 21 southern movies in four years. She majorly worked in Telugu movies and did a couple of Tamil films as well. Some of her hits are Chandamama, Magadheera, Darling, Brindaavanam and Mr Perfect.

Kajal calls Singham her debut Hindi film, in which she plays a girl-next-door and is paired with Ajay Devgn.

Is she ready to go glam for her future Bollywood ventures?

“The south is glamorous, Bollywood is more glamorous. But I think they still have their reservations about certain things. No offence to anyone who believes in portraying certain characters, but I do have my reservations about certain things,” she said.

“I do believe in one thing that you can be glamorous wearing a sari or a full sleeves t-shirt and jeans; you don’t really have to show skin to look glamorous. I’don’t have a problem with looking hot or sexy, but skin show to a limit,” she added.

She said it was a “fabulous opportunity” to work with a senior actor like Ajay.

“I’ve always admired his films and his craft on screen. Despite being such a big star, he is very grounded, down to earth, humble and as a co-star very professional, encouraging, supportive and cooperative,” she said.

“He rehearsed a lot with me. He doesn’t need rehearsals, he is very impromptu but for my sake he did that. When it came to acting, he gave me a very important tip - I naturally speak very fast; so he told me that I need to slow down,” she added.

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Actor-turned-director Pankaj Kapoor admits that the story of his directorial debut “Mausam” was specifically conceived for his actor son Shahid, but he had no specific names in his mind for the female lead.

“The film was specifically written keeping Shahid in mind. It’s not that I had written the script and then decided on Shahid,” Pankaj told reporters at the launch of the first look of “Mausam” at PVR here Monday. “I had other scripts and we wondered whether Shahid could be part of them or a fresh script should be written for him? We decided to write a fresh script and that’s how the birth of ‘Mausam’ took place,” he added. “Mausam”, a love story, will see Shahid as a pilot and he has teamed up with Sonam Kapoor in it. “While writing, there was no girl in my head, it was the character that was in my head. I think Sonam was the very first actress who was approached for the role,” Pankaj said. The 57-year-old, know for his work on television like the comedy show “Office Office” and his performance in movies like “Maqbool”, “Dharm” and “Blue Umbrella”, says he has been longing to direct a film. “I had wanted to direct a film for a long time. I have directed on television for five years. So there was this desire to direct. I was writing for a long time. There were talks about my directing a film for a long time and here came a moment where we decided to go for this film,” said Pankaj. He claims his movie will set new standards in filmmaking. “It has its own comment to make. Though the endeavour is to make an entertaining film, which reaches to almost everyone and yet have a certain level of presentation that appeals to one and all. It will be able to set some kind of a standard of work,” he said. He maintains that being an actor himself had helped him extract exactly what he had conceived from the lead pair. “When I am in the shoes of a director, I don’t think like an actor. I am only there to support my actors and take out the best from them. I happened to be aware of it as I had been an actor and it sort of helped me to take work out of them and to convey what I actually wanted from them,” said Pankaj.

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Madhur Bhandarkar’s desperate search to find Aishwarya Rai’s replacement for Heroine has become a race between long-time rivals Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor.

While Bhandarkar has been pursuing his Fashion leading lady Priyanka Chopra, currently on holiday in the United States, to sign on the dotted line, UTV head honcho Ronnie Screwvala is in talks with Kareena Kapoor.

Aishwarya had to leave the film after she got pregnant, resulting in a war of words between the Bachchans and Bhandarkar over why she did not break the news before shooting began.

“When the film was shelved, owing to Aishwarya’s pregnancy, Madhur Bhandarkar went into a shell.

But some he has decided to go ahead with it, and there are various names floating around - Katrina Kaif, Vidya Balan,Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra.

But the race is now between Priyanka and Kareena,” a source close to the project told Mumbai Mirror.

The dates are being worked with both. Kareena is busy with Bodyguard, followed by Agent Vinod.

Priyanka, on the other hand, is committed to a film by Kunal Kohli and Anurag Basu’s Barfee. “Ronnie is trying to work the schedule around them so that the film can go on the floors soon.

Ronnie had called Kareena but since she was busy shooting for Bodyguard with Salman Khan, they could not meet immediately.

Priyanka is in LA and Madhur has spoken to her. He is waiting for her to get back.”

Bhandarkar’s dream project, Heroine, has been in the news ever since the proud grandfather-to-be, Amitabh Bachchan, announced Aishwarya’s pregnancy on Twitter. Though wishing her well, Bhandarkar admitted to being shattered by the news.

Aishwarya was required to portray the rise and fall of an actress in the film and the role would require her to be at her fittest best.

Further, Aishwarya had refused to do any smoking scenes early on, but Bhandarkar added that since the other characters would be smoking, the passive smoke could affect the actress and her baby’s health, a risk he could not take.

The chaos was followed by an official statement by UTV that the production house and Bhandarkar had shelved the project.

However, with search for a leading lady on in full swing, all that is awaited is the official announcement of the film getting back on track.

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Actors Sonam Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor were known not to be the best of friends while shooting for ‘Mausam’. For starters, Sonam refused to do a kissing scene for the movie, and is known to have had a problem with the schedules and time lines.

However, with the film nearing its released date, Shahid and Sonam Kapoor seem to have kissed and made up. The two are have been extremely cordial with each other. While Sonam said that she got along fantastically with her male co-star, Shahid is all praise for the lady’s sens of fashion, and insists that she has made him more fashion conscious. With the trailers of ‘Mausam’ having gone on air, it’s good that both SKs have put their differences behind, and are on the same page.

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After enjoying a madcap image of youth in Delhi Belly, it’s time to take a fun-filled trip with another bunch of guys - Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol in the exotic locales of Spain in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, which releases on Friday. If city-centric Delhi Belly took a peep into the lives of a section of youngsters through three friends, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara too is an urban drama where three friends venture out to have some fun time together.

Directed by Farhan’s sister Zoya Akhtar and produced under the banner Excel Entertainment, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is about a holiday that changes the lives of three best friends - Arjun (Hrithik), Imraan (Farhan) and Kabir’s (Abhay) forever. The film was previously titled Running With The Bulls but the name was later changed to the present one. It is the second directorial venture of Zoya after critically acclaimed Luck By Chance.

Kabir, a wealthy young man who works with his father’s construction company in Mumbai, is engaged to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin), daughter of a hotelier. Kabir wants to go on an extended bachelor party with his best friends Arjun, and Imraan, before he ties the knot with her and invites them to join him.London-based Arjun is a financial trader who works at a huge firm. As he grew up without a father and lived a tough life, so his entire focus is to get bigger, better and faster, while Imraan is a copywriter who works at an advertising agency in Delhi.

When Kabir offers to take them on a vacation, Imraan readily agrees, but Arjun is reluctant as he is too tied up in his work. However, after much cajoling he agrees and thus starts their Spain sojourn. All three meet up in Barcelona and set off on an adventure that helps them iron out their differences, get rid of their fears and alter their perception about various things in life. The holiday turns out to be a lesson in life for them and force them to break out of the box. The three-week journey changes their lives forever.

As luck would have it, Laila, played by Katrina Kaif, a bohemian fashion student from London is also there. She takes time off to teach diving every year and this time she decided to do it in Spain, where she meets Arjun, Imraan and Kabir. The mega-budget film has been extensively shot in Barcelona, Pamplona, Bunyol, Andalucia, Egypt and Mumbai.

The La Tomatina festival of Spain was re-created for the shoot of the song “Ik Junoon”. It was shot in Bunyol, Valenci, in Spain. Almost 16 tons of tomatoes were used for the shoot and were flown in from Portugal. The film has already created a lot of buzz with its songs and promos.

After a long time Abhay got an opportunity to work in a mainstream commercial film and it also gave him a chance to make good friends with his co-stars Farhan and Hrithik in real-life. While shooting for the film, the three did some adventure sports like skydiving and scuba-diving. Zoya has also made the three lead actors of the film sing a song “Senorita”, composed by trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, is a rage among people.

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Amitabh Bachchan talks about splitting ‘whatever little’ he has between Abhishek and Shweta…

Amitabh Bachchan is impartial as far as treating son Abhishek and daughter Shweta equally is concerned.

Talking to us on Father’s Day (Sunday), the veteran actor said that even before his children were born, he and wife Jaya Bachchan had decided they would not differentiate between a son and a daughter.

And that whatever they have would be equally divided between them.

Big B had also made another resolve he would treat his son like his friend. “It is a different relationship that I share with Abhishek compared to the relationship that was between my father and me.

Mum, my brother Ajitabh and I preferred not to disturb him whenever he was busy. My father was a man of words and we did not want to disturb him in his thought process, not that we were scared of him,” the superstar confesses. However, as and when Jr Bachchan wants his advise, he will render it as his father, AB adds.

As far as Shweta is concerned, Amitabh says that as a lady in the house he had always wanted to give her the liberty that she justly deserved.

“Shweta is the first Bachchan in this generation since she was the first daughter born in the family. Because Jaya and I do not consider Shweta as paraya dhan, we both have already decided that whatever little that I have will be divided between both Abhishek and Shweta equally, when I die,” says Amitabh candidly.

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Director Indra Kumar has given Mumbai it’s first casino. In his sequel to the film Dhamal, Double Dhamaal’ director Indra Kumar wants to ensure that nothing is left untouched to make the film a success.

The film required a back drop of a Casino for a particular segment of the shoot. So Indra Kumar immediately put his team to work and decided to build a huge, lavish set in Mehboob Studios, Bandra. And he left no stone unturned to make it look as real and lavish as an original Casino in Las Vagas.

The look of the casino has been modeled after some of the best casinos in the world! Insiders from the set reveal that the set looks very authentic complete with real roulette and poker tables along with slot machines! In fact, the budget of this lavish set was a whopping Rs1.5crores! The film which stars Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Riteish Deshmukh, Ashish Chowdhry, Javed Jaffery, Kangana Ranaut and Mallika Sherawat will hit the screens on 24th June, 2011!

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