Posted:
Secrets of Eklavya - The Royal Guard unveiled
By IndiaFM News Bureau, November 11, 2005 - 01:59 IST
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's last two productions, Munnabhai MBBS and Parineeta were big hits. And now he returns to direction after a gap of 5 long years with Eklavya (his last directorial venture was Mission Kashmir in 2000). Undoubtedly expectations are running high. He has managed quite a feat by assembling a mammoth cast of Amitabh Bachchcan, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Riama Sen, Sharmila Tagore, Boman Irani and Jimmy Shergill for Eklavya set on the backdrop of a royal family in Rajasthan. The principal shooting of Eklavya is complete and the film is slated for release in the second quarter of 2006.
Character Sketch
Amitabh Bachchan plays the title character of Eklavya, the royal guard of a Raj family
Boman Irani is Rana, the head of the royal family
Saif Ali Khan is Rana's descendant
Vidya Balan is the daughter of Rana's chauffeur and the childhood love of Saif
Raima Sen is Saif's mentally challenged sister
Sharmila Tagore plays Saif's mother
Jackie Shroff plays Saif's uncle
Sanjay Dutt plays a police officer
Trivia
While on the subject, here are some interesting factoids on the film.
Eklavya was earlier titled Yagna. They decided to change the title as Amitabh Bachchan plays the title character, Eklavya.
Shot primarily in Rajasthan, many parts of the film were shot within the premises of the Jaipur Palace whereas the desert sequences were shot in Gajneer.
The film has a large canvas with a budget of around 14 crores. The budget escalated as the entire crew traveled in chartered planes.
To shoot a particular scene, a chopper was required. After the first day of shooting, director Vidhu Vinod Chopra was not happy with the shade of the sky that was being captured on camera. So being the perfectionist that he is, he kept the chopper for another 5 days, till he got the right hue, and canned the perfect shot.
Touted as one of the most visually appealing films, Vidhu Vinod Chopra used 800 camels for the shooting of a particular scene in the film.
The film just goes to bolster Bachchan's immense fan following. A hardcore Amitabh Bachchcan fan walked in the scorching heat of Rajasthan for an astounding 12 days, without food just to catch one glimpse of his favorite star.
The film brings together the real life mother-son team of Sharmila Tagore and Saif Ali Khan onscreen for the first time. Also Sharmila plays Saif's mother in the film. Years back, both Sharmila and Saif were part of the cast of Saif Ali Khan's second film Aashiq Awara but did share any common screen space.
One scene in the movie required Amitabh Bachchan to go inside a swimming pool, blindfolded in search of an ornament. While briefing Bachchan on the scene, Chopra got so involved that he just jumped in the pool, without bothering about his clothes!
Despite a star-studded cast the film has a runtime of approx. 100 minutes only. But with Vidhu Vinod Chopra at the helm of affairs we expect him to do complete justice to each of his movie characters.
By IndiaFM News Bureau, November 11, 2005 - 01:59 IST
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's last two productions, Munnabhai MBBS and Parineeta were big hits. And now he returns to direction after a gap of 5 long years with Eklavya (his last directorial venture was Mission Kashmir in 2000). Undoubtedly expectations are running high. He has managed quite a feat by assembling a mammoth cast of Amitabh Bachchcan, Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Riama Sen, Sharmila Tagore, Boman Irani and Jimmy Shergill for Eklavya set on the backdrop of a royal family in Rajasthan. The principal shooting of Eklavya is complete and the film is slated for release in the second quarter of 2006.
Character Sketch
Amitabh Bachchan plays the title character of Eklavya, the royal guard of a Raj family
Boman Irani is Rana, the head of the royal family
Saif Ali Khan is Rana's descendant
Vidya Balan is the daughter of Rana's chauffeur and the childhood love of Saif
Raima Sen is Saif's mentally challenged sister
Sharmila Tagore plays Saif's mother
Jackie Shroff plays Saif's uncle
Sanjay Dutt plays a police officer
Trivia
While on the subject, here are some interesting factoids on the film.
Eklavya was earlier titled Yagna. They decided to change the title as Amitabh Bachchan plays the title character, Eklavya.
Shot primarily in Rajasthan, many parts of the film were shot within the premises of the Jaipur Palace whereas the desert sequences were shot in Gajneer.
The film has a large canvas with a budget of around 14 crores. The budget escalated as the entire crew traveled in chartered planes.
To shoot a particular scene, a chopper was required. After the first day of shooting, director Vidhu Vinod Chopra was not happy with the shade of the sky that was being captured on camera. So being the perfectionist that he is, he kept the chopper for another 5 days, till he got the right hue, and canned the perfect shot.
Touted as one of the most visually appealing films, Vidhu Vinod Chopra used 800 camels for the shooting of a particular scene in the film.
The film just goes to bolster Bachchan's immense fan following. A hardcore Amitabh Bachchcan fan walked in the scorching heat of Rajasthan for an astounding 12 days, without food just to catch one glimpse of his favorite star.
The film brings together the real life mother-son team of Sharmila Tagore and Saif Ali Khan onscreen for the first time. Also Sharmila plays Saif's mother in the film. Years back, both Sharmila and Saif were part of the cast of Saif Ali Khan's second film Aashiq Awara but did share any common screen space.
One scene in the movie required Amitabh Bachchan to go inside a swimming pool, blindfolded in search of an ornament. While briefing Bachchan on the scene, Chopra got so involved that he just jumped in the pool, without bothering about his clothes!
Despite a star-studded cast the film has a runtime of approx. 100 minutes only. But with Vidhu Vinod Chopra at the helm of affairs we expect him to do complete justice to each of his movie characters.
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