Shekhar Kammula talent hunt

The Director, who works with fresh faces, is on the lookout for new talent.

"Life is Beautiful Star Search"

A role in a Shekhar Kammula movie is considered to be a sure-shot ticket to stardom in Telugu cinema.

His Happydays which released three years ago made the debutant actors stars overnight. Leader, which was another blockbuster, followed soon and the director is now hunting for new faces for his latest project Life is beautiful. To that effect, Shekhar has advertised on hoardings, tied up with radio stations and is touring colleges in search of the “faces” for his next movie, something he also did for Happydays.

Rubbishing claims that these are just publicity stunts, he says that it’s an honest search for the six lead pairs for the movie.



“My next movie needs young fresh faces. They needn’t be one of those six-pack boys and size zero girls who are usually wanted in films. Any outgoing, energetic youngster can log on to our website www.amigoscreations.com and send their pictures to me. If I feel they suit the characters of my film, they will be in. I am not looking at this as a forum to create buzz for the movie,” the director claims.

With Shekhar Kammula being a brand by himself, why doesn’t he work with established stars? “The script demands fresh faces with no other image. If I cast the same team of Happydays, it would be called its sequel. And the actors now have a certain image that doesn’t suit the characters. In Leader, I worked with seasoned actors like Suhasini, Kota Srinivasa Rao etc. They give us so many variations for a shot and we can choose what we want from it. At the same time, it is tough to get the freshers to be camera-friendly and train them. Everything has its pros and cons,” he clarifies.

The ace director is not bothered about being branded as a director who makes cinema for urban youngsters. He says the acceptance of urban cinema is increasing since there are multiplexes coming up everywhere.

“It is not a conscious effort to make cinema for a certain audience. I just write the script and make movies. For me, cinema is not a business equation; it is my passion and a medium to tell a story. When I made Anand, my audience were about 15 lakh people and then Happydays was watched by about one crore people. This means there is an increasing acceptance of urban cinema. Urban stories are not conscious decisions at all,” he says.

His films don’t have murderous villains or clichéd comedy tracks. They have no gravity defying fights or vulgar romance. Will we ever get to see a typical masala film from Shekhar? “I don’t do movies which patronize heroes where the audience see the hero more than the character. But I will certainly do action movies in the future with an established star,” he assures.

“Success doesn’t get to my head since I know that audiences’ tastes keep changing. So far my movies haven’t failed. There is pressure on me but since I make cinema for passion and not for business, I don’t let it affect me,” the director concludes.

Rs 100 cr films riding on Sanjay Dutt

As actor Sanjay Dutt left for Arthur Road Jail, directors of three films starring him were left stranded. The AbbasMustan starrer Mr Fraud, Sanjay Gupta's Alibaug and Sanjay Gadhvi's Kidnap are on the floors and his conviction puts over Rs 100 crores cumulatively on hold. It is said that Kidnap and Mr Fraud are being shot at a budget of Rs 35 to 40 crores each and these films are nowhere near completion.

Dutt, well aware of the impending judgment looming over him, gradually cut down on his assignments. The actor, who has been making multiple trips to the court, had even stopped signing on more films. He was also planning to revive his banner Ajanta Arts with a film titled Beehad. While the scripting work of the film was in progress, the actor decided to put the project on hold, hoping to resume work on it after the court delivered the verdict in his favour.

The shooting of Mr Fraud has been on hold for some time now as the producers were caught in a fix, trying to get combined dates from all the actors and the directors.

Then the director duo got busy with other projects, like Race, due to which the shooting of Mr Fraud suffered.

When contacted, Abbas-Mustan said that Mr Fraud now stands incomplete indefinitely. "We have completed 70 per cent of the film and the remaining 30 per cent had to be shot. Now after the court's decision, we leave it to God. We hope everything turns out well and leave it in God's hands," said Abbas. Mr Fraud is a masala entertainer and is based on a robbery. It also stars Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu.

Dutt has also completed 60 per cent shooting of Kidnap and was shooting for his home production Alibaug, while awaiting the court's verdict. "Only 15 per cent of Alibaug's shooting has been completed," a unit member informed. Dutt last shot for the film on Friday.

However, while Dutt spends time in jail, his fans can look forward to two of his releases this year. Indra Kumar's Dhamaal is all set to hit the theatres on September 7.

Dhamaal, Dutt's only comedy film after Lage Raho Munnabhai, also stars Munnabhai co-star Arshad Warsi in the lead.

Incomplete Movies MR FRAUD ¦ Co-starring Ajay Devgan and Bipasha Basu ¦ Worth Rs 35 crores to 40 crores ¦ Status: 70 per cent complete KIDNAP ¦ Worth Rs 35 crores to 40 crores ¦ Status: 60 per cent complete ALIBAUG ¦ Co-starring Sudanshu Panay, Rohit Roy, Dia Mirza and Sophie Chowdhury ¦ Worth: not known ¦ Status: 15 per cent complete

Mani seeks Big B’s help for Guru?

Mani Rathnam’s much awaited magnum opus Guru has been making news since the film was announced. Touted to be based on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, a large part of the film was shot in Chennai. Now almost ready for release, the film is believed to have made the elder Ambani brother concerned.

Initial reports said that Mukesh wanted to see how Dhirubhai had been portrayed in the film, but the latest rumours are that on hearing the character which is supposedly based on Mukesh Ambani is a negative one, he reportedly approached Mani Rathnam and requested him for a private screening.

The ace director however, is believed to have refused, and is determined to keep the film under wraps till its scheduled release. Sources in the production add that anticipating trouble between the brothers, because the film is to be released by Adlabs, (an Anil Ambani owned Reliance company), Mani had approached Amitabh Bachchan to mediate and ensure that there’s no trouble. The reason for Mani’s concern is because Guru has been described as his most ambitious film to date.

Will Big B agree? “He may,” said the source, “because Abhishek has a lot riding on the film and he (Abhishek) is very close to Mani Rathnam.” Abhishek Bachchan plays the lead in the film as a young and ambitious man who makes all his dreams come true. Paired opposite him, Aishwarya Rai essays the role of Dhirubhai’s wife Kokilaben. Madhavan plays an associate of Abhishek’s and Vidya Balan is Madhavan’s love interest. The twist is that Bachchan is shown to have twin sons.

Interestingly, this is not the first time Mani Rathnam has been pressurised to screen his film in advance. Before Bombay was released, Bal Thackeray was believed to have asked Mani for a preview, but then too Mani had refused.