Masand Gossip of the Week: Dec 23rd

Hectic 2013 for Ranbir Kapoor

Ranbir Kapoor, who is currently shooting Dabangg director Abhinav Kashyap's new film Besharam, and also wrapping up work on Wake Up Sid director Ayan Mukherjee's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, has been committed to star in a Kishore Kumar biopic for his Barfi director Anurag Basu. Despite incessant rumours in the trade that the film will no longer happen, Basu says it's very much on the cards but just not the next thing both actor and director will dive into. "Ranbir is committed to finishing other films he's signed, and this isn't going to be a small film," says Basu. "He knows he'll have to give it seven to eight months, and I'll have to take at least a year-and-a-half off to make the film." Basu reveals he'll quickly begin work on a "smaller" interim project while his star finishes his other commitments. "We have to do the Kishore Kumar film with integrity; intense music lessons will be involved. It's not possible to make this film in a hurry," Basu explains.

Ranbir, meanwhile, has at least a handful of directors waiting patiently in queue for him to greenlight their films. Among them is Imtiaz Ali who has reportedly written a romantic film with the actor in mind. Karan Johar is also apparently keen to rope in Ranbir for his epic-scale Partition saga.

Zoya Akhtar is currently writing a film for Ranbir and his cousin Kareena to star in together. Exactly how the Kishore Kumar film will fit into that schedule may be unclear currently, but the film's director says it will happen for sure.

After spending time with him in Philadelphia recently filming one of this year's Oscar favourites Silver Linings Playbook, Anupam Kher has reportedly made a short film in honour of his co-star Robert De Niro. Kher, cast as a psychiatrist who treats Bradley Cooper in the film, had only a few scenes with the Raging Bull star (De Niro plays Cooper's father) but reportedly came away star-struck and inspired.

The experience has reportedly yielded a short film titled I Went Shopping For Bob De Niro, whose final scene Kher filmed in Qatar while attending the Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November, where both actors were invited to attend the Middle Eastern premiere of Playbook. Kher apparently shared the idea of the almost-completed short film with De Niro, and requested him to appear in the film's final scene, which Kher shot in the Oscar-winning actor's hotel suite. De Niro is also believed to have said 'yes' to Kher using his name in the film's title, and may have agreed to play the film as part of next year's Tribeca Film Festival (in New York), of which he is a patron.

Interestingly, when Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Farhan Akhtar met De Niro in Dubai a few years ago, SRK had revealed that the three men touched their hero's feet, and pestered him to recount anecdotes from the making of his most popular films.

She's a rule-breaker in every sense of the word. Easily the only actress who can carry a film on her shoulders, she has proved you don't have to look anorexic to be a Bollywood leading lady; and now—with her recent marriage—she appears set to bust the myth that an actress can't have a thriving career if she's wed.

But if traffic cops in Bandra are to be believed, those aren't the only rules the actress has broken. Our Heroine No 1 has reportedly paid no heed to the recent Supreme Court order that sun film on car windows and windscreens must go. Apparently, her car has been stopped on more than a few occasions in Bandra for continuing to sport dark tinted windows. And instead of offering to peel off the film, the actress has sportingly paid the fine each time she was stopped and reprimanded.

A traffic cop who claims to have pulled up the actress more than twice says she is warm, polite and always respectful. She never offers a bribe, never throws her weight around, but always requests that she be allowed to pay a fine instead of being stripped of the film. She has allegedly said she's uncomfortable with see-through windows and insists she has poor resistance to sunlight!