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October 14, 1998

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Urmi's jackpot

Urmila Matondkar. Click for bigger pic!
Urmila Matondkar is feeling pretty good these days. For she's earned half what she earns for a film by doing just a song. Yup, she demanded -- and nearly got all of -- a cool Rs five million for her one song showing in Raj Kumar Santoshi's China Gate.

Urmila is already well known to the film's financier Bharat Shah, who bankrolled her earlier film, Satya. Bharat is also the worldwide controller of the film. The girl quoted an exorbitant amount, claiming she was the sole star in the film. While that may sound rather pompous, she does have a point too.

For though the film has stalwarts like Amrish Puri, Om Puri, Danny Dengzonpa and Naseeruddin Shah, it only has Sameer Soni and Mamta Kulkarni to get the hormones going.

And if Urmi pops in to provide what she does best -- giving the hormones a shove on. Bharat apparently got her to bring down her price a bit, promising her a role in Santoshi's next film.

Casting coup

Aamir Khan. Click for bigger pic!
Well, Santoshi has made some kind of a casting coup in his upcoming venture. Mansoor Khan tried to do the impossible by roping in both Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan in for his Josh, but it was Santoshi who actually pulled it off. Aamir, despite being Mansoor's brother, had backed out of the project, to be replaced by Chandrachur Singh.

So will he be making it a comedy, like Andaz Apna Apna with Aamir and Salman?

"No. There will be an element of comedy in the film, but it will not be a typical comedy. It will have other ingredients, like action and other things." One of the 'other things', as we mentioned earlier, is Urmila.

Knowing Santoshi who did not pander to the egos of the cast of China Gate, there is no way how Shah Rukh or Aamir would complain about this film.

The theatre trend

Jackie Shroff is remaking the superhit Marathi Hindi and English play All the Best as a film, Raju Raja Ram, directed by David Dhawan. Meanwhile, Jaya Bachchan is expected to star as a mother in the another film based on the play Ba Retire Thai Che. That film was slated to go on the floors a long time ago, hadn't it been for the death of director Shafi Inamdaar then. Well, we've heard just heard that someone is reviving the project.

Meanwhile, the latest buzz is that Amitabh Bachchan will be acting in the cinematic version of yet another award-winning play, Natsamrat.

This is a little tapped vein, for films rarely pick stories from theatre. But if it works, it could be a new trend -- a pleasant one too.

Twins

Amitabh and Jaya BachchanClick for bigger pic!
Amitabh, something like a cardboard cutout Sisyphus, is trying to haul up his next film, Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, up the slopes of fame. But the film co-starring Govinda and which is getting ready for release on Friday faces some strange competition -- a film releasing on the same day called Bade Nawab Chote Nawab.

This film, made by filmmakers with the unlikely family name Monhot, stars replicas of the two stars in the lead roles.

While BMCM may not be affected by BNCN -- it may well be helped along if people know that a duplicate film is being made -- we don't know what the producers of the original film think of it all.

Bleak times

Shah Rukh Khan. Click for bigger pic!
People may not realise it, but Shah Rukh Khan is having a dicey time now. And all his hopes are currently pinned on his Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, due for release on Friday.

With two consecutive bad films, Duplicate and Dil Se, the Khan must be a pretty anxious man. And already the critics have begun seeing him as of doubtful value.

"Shah Rukh's presence in Kuch Kuch Hota Hai could make or mar the film. What is left to be seen is whether the film, a mushy one, has been made properly or not."

Currently, he's helped because he's been promoting a Hyundai car on television, and is therefore very visible. Recently the man also launched his own brand of perfume, named SK Shah Rukh Khan.

Does this dilution of duties augur a final mean that he thinks he's on the way out? Well, we'll have to ask him that really.

The pleasures of the flesh

Jackie Shroff. Click for bigger pic!
Jackie Shroff hates meat and thinks little of people who like to champ on flesh. But now he is in an odd spot -- what will he do about Salman Khan, one of the heroes he's picked for Raju Raja Ram, the film he's planned after his upcoming Grahan.

For if Salman Khan and Saif Ali Khan actually killed those two blackbucks and a chinkara as they've been accused of, it was because they wanted to feast on venison.

Will Jugs let the personal come in the way of the professional? Of course, his family does eat meat but they never went after endangered species for lunch.

But, of course, if things go wrong for Salman in the courts, Jackie may not even have to deal with the dilemma at all...

-- V S Srinivasan

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