Hrithik in Sanjay Gupta's next?

Who's This Superstar?

The film may not have taken a flying start but, going by the response, rest assured it has been accepted the audience, which has applauded the return of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to the big screen with Sanjay Gupta's Jazbaa. And those who claim Gupta is only a master of look and style have accepted that he can come up with substance and high-voltage emotion in his films.

Now, sone pe suhaga... if the talk in the film trade is to be believed, it seems a superstar will be playing leading man in Gupta's next film. What's more, the superstar himself will produce the film under his home production. Gupta has been roped in purely as a director.

This is sure going to be a project worth waiting for!

-Masand's new blind hints at Hrithik--

When Fortune Turns Fickle

Things were looking up for this director. He had two finished films lined up for release, his next ambitious drama was all set to roll, and a major A-list star had been circling the project for months. But it's only in Bollywood that one's fate can turn a full 360 degrees within a matter of days. Not one, but both of the director's films tanked at the box-office, leaving him vulnerable and the state of his next project extremely fragile.

One hears now that the A-lister's interest in the film quickly vanished. So typical of this business! Calls were not returned, and the dotted line was never signed on in the end. Industry insiders say the star can hardly be blamed for getting cold feet. But with the A-lister no longer on board, the producer bankrolling the director's project is believed to have slashed his budget down to half, leaving the filmmaker with no option but to go indie' in his approach.

Now one hears that the director is looking to cast credible actors' over big marquee names, and will make the same film but in a grittier, more realistic space"much like the hit thriller he directed a few years ago that earned him rave reviews and respectable box-office figures.

Meanwhile, it appears that the star has turned his gaze onto a project that another director is developing right now. This director had a recent film release that appears to have polarised audiences. Critics wrote mostly middling reviews but fans of the leading lady who made her comeback in the project haven't stopped gushing. According to the industry grapevine, the actor is mulling over a script offered to him by the director but appears to be taking his own sweet time before making a firm commitment either way.

So Hrithik said no to Nikhil Advani's Bazaar. Good. Hope he says no this Gupta too ... bogus directors.