Abhishek and Urmila dance in Sholay
Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay is about to get more colourful with Abhishek Bachchan and Urmila Matondkar joining its already exuberant oeuvre of casting coups. Bachchan and Matondkar will dance in the song Mehbooba O Mehbooba, while Amitabh Bachchan, who plays Gabbar, will be watching the flamboyant razzmatazz. In the original Sholay Helen danced, Jalal Agha crooned and Amjad Khan looked on. Abhishek will therefore play Jalal Agha's part.
"Abhishek is delighted to step into the cameo. He was originally cast as Veeru, but opted out due to date problems. He's really excited about it. He himself volunteered to do it," says Varma. Urmila too is very excited about the opportunity to work both the Bachchans on this song.
"The primary difference between the other Amitabh-Abhishek songs such as Kajra Re and Rock 'n' Roll Soniye is that father and son have both been highly interactive in these songs, whereas in Mehbooba ... they might not even look at each another,"says Varma.
Aftab happy With work
Aftab Shivdasani is happy with the way his career is shaping up. "People say success has been eluding me, but I'm happy with my work. I'm at peace with myself, though a little more success is always welcome," he says. Meanwhile, the remake fever has gripped the industry, "If someone wants to remake a film, it's up to him. I am neither for nor against remakes," he says.
Shreyas doesn't like being stereotyped
Shreyas Talpade believes in reinventing himself and detests being stuck in a particular image. "I think, as actors, we want to experiment with various characters. No actor likes being typecast. In Iqbal, I had a serious, challenging role, while Dor had me experimenting a dash of comedy," says Talpade. In his forthcoming film Agar, he plays a psychiatrist. Luckily, the actor might not need a lot of research for this role as his wife Deepti is a clinical psychologist. "I keep asking her for tips to prepare for the role," he says.
Sanjay makes an exception
Sanjay Dutt made an exception to come out of his self-imposed exile to shoot for friend Sanjay Gupta's Shootout At Lokhandwala. the star had decided to cancel all shootings until the court gives a verdict on his TADA case. "When Sanju realised that the shots with Amitabh Bachchan and 35 other members of the cast for which he was needed would be impossible to arrange again, he immediately agreed to do the shoot. Sanju will do anything for his friends," says a source. Dutt was in good spirits at the shoot and kept joking and laughing between shots. His rapport with Bachchan was apparent all through. Both Amitabh and Abhishek dote on Dutt and would never say no to him for anything.
Nana to star in Bharathiraja film
Well-known Tamil director Bharathiraja has roped in Nana Patekar to play a lead role in his second Hindi film Cinema, which he describes as revolutionary. Bharathirajas first Hindi film was Lovers, a remake of the Tamil movie Alaigal Oyvathillai. Cinema will later to be remade in Tamil under the title Bommalattam (Puppet Show).
