Have You Heard? Bhumi Pednekar to star in film backed by Shah Rukh Khan's production house

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An encore for Bhumi

Earlier this year, Bhumi Pednekar earned praise for her performance as an investigative journalist in Bhakshak. Now, the actor is set to team up again with director Pulkit for another project. That's not all, Shah Rukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment, which produced the hard-hitting thriller based on the 2018 Muzaffarnagar shelter home case, will back their new venture too. While no other details are known yet, sources claim that the production house has greenlit the subject. "Things are still in the initial stages and the cast and crew are yet to be finalised," said an industry insider. Interestingly, Bhumi had recently expressed her desire to collaborate with SRK. During a Q-&-A session on social media, a fan asked her to name an actor she would like to work with in future. She responded with a video in which she can be heard saying, "Yaar, honestly, an actor… Actor kya.. superstar, childhood dream is SRK. I have come close because he has produced Bhakshak." Bhumi continued, "Big shout out to Red Chillies. But mera dream hai, Shah Rukh sir. He is just the best." Hopefully, she will get to share screen space with him soon too.

Talking films

Even as Suriya is working on his yet-untitled next with director Karthik Subbaraja, he is in talks for another project with actor-filmmaker RJ Balaji. The two have been brainstorming on a subject they are keen to explore. Balaji will lock the script by the time Suriya wraps up his movie with Karthik. Interestingly, Dream Warriors, the production house behind Karthi's Kaashmora (2016) and Kaithi (2019), is said to back the Suriya-Balaji project. For now, Suriya is getting ready for his pan-India offering, Kanguva, which also stars Bobby Deol as the antagonist.

In gratitude

Shreya Chaudhary is thrilled to be a part of Boman Irani's directorial debut, The Mehta Boys. Buoyed by the response to its première at the 15th edition of the Chicago South Asian Film Festival, she said, "It is incredibly fulfilling to receive this international recognition." Calling the film special, Shreya added, "It is an honour to act with and be directed by Boman. With him around, every day on set was a masterclass. To have the opportunity to collaborate with the Oscar-winning writer Alexander Dinelaris at such an early stage of my career is also something I'm very grateful for."

Shock dancing, anyone?

Amitabh Bachchan, who is currently hosting Kaun Banega Crorepati season 16, recently reminisced about the chartbuster song, Saara zamana from Yaarana (1981). It all began when contestant Swapn Chaturvedi shared that it is one of his favourite movies that he can watch over and over again. Recalling his suggestion to shoot the pacy number in a stadium, the superstar said that almost 60,000 people turned up at the venue - the then newly opened Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose stadium in Kolkata - while the seating capacity was only about 15,000. Talking about his iconic costume, the "bijli wala jacket", Bachchan revealed that since technology was not so advanced then, the lights on his jacket were controlled by a wire connected to electricity. "The moment the electricity flowed, I started dancing - not because I wanted to, but because I was getting electric shocks," he quipped.

Fun times ahead

Director Tarun Mansukhani recently began filming Housefull 5 (HF5) for producer Sajid Nadiadwala. Like its earlier instalments, the latest laugh riot too went on floors in London. Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh, who have been franchise regulars since the first instalment in 2010, are joined by Abhishek Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Nana Patekar, Fardeen Khan and Dino Morea this time around, with Jacqueliene Fernandez, Chitrangda Singh, Nargis Fakhri, Sonam Bajwa and Soundarya Sharma as the leading ladies. Yesterday, Akki shared a pic with Dino, Jacqueliene, Riteish and Abhishek from the shoot, on social media. Alongside, he wrote, "Just another day with this incredible cast. Housefull of actors, one cruise, and endless stories to tell!" After completing the London schedule, the team will board a cruise liner, on which most of the action will take place over a marathon 45-day spell.

Those were the dumdaar days

Zeenat Aman recently took a trip down memory lane with a picture from Dev Anand's Haré Rama Haré Krishna (1971). Sharing how the legendary actor-filmmaker had rounded up a gaggle of hippies from the streets to be featured in the song, Dum maaro dum, she wrote, "The hippy extras were delighted with their good fortune. They were not only getting to pack their chillums with hashish in beautiful Nepal, they were also getting free food, going to feature in a Bollywood movie and were being paid to boot." Adding that Dev saab wanted authenticity in the sequence and her character, the drug-addled Janice, had to look stoned, Zeenat continued, "The easiest way to achieve this was to partake in the hippy offerings. So there I was, still in my teens, gamely taking long pulls from their chillum for take after take. By the time we wrapped the day's work, I was high as a kite!" In no state to return to the hotel, some team members packed her into a car and took her on a drive to a beautiful vantage point, where she slowly sobered down. When her mother learnt what happened, she reprimanded the senior crew members "for allowing her precious child to do drugs". "Luckily, I was spared her wrath," she concluded.

Baal baal dekho

About a decade ago, Shahid Kapoor went bald for a portion of Vishal Bhardwaj's Haider (2014). Now, the actor is sporting a close crop for his cop avatar in Deva. With the shoot wrapped up, he seems to be running out of patience, waiting to grow his locks again. Yesterday, Sasha shared a video on social media that saw him playing with his short hair as he was travelling. He captioned his post, "Yeh baal aate kyon nahin… Deva re deva!" Helmed by Malayalam director Rosshan Andrrews, the action thriller, also starring Pooja Hegde and Pavail Gulati, is being readied as a Valentine's week release.