CINEMA TODAY!

Any actress in her place would have gone ballistic signing films, but Amrita Rao is taking things easy after the stupendous success of Vivah. Ask her why she has not signed any film after Vivah and she says, "I want to enjoy the film's success and I don't want it to pass me by." She adds, "Few people know that Vivah is based on a real life incident that had occurred years ago in Meerut. The article appeared in a newspaper and was cut and kept by Sooraj Barjatya's father. They later developed it into a script."

The actress has decided to take classes in Hindi diction and dancing. "I am going to begin my Hindi diction classes very soon. I need to improve my pronunciation," she says. As for dancing, Amrita says that she is not a trained dancer. "I want to learn Bollywood dance," she laughs. "The real purpose is that I want to build my stamina. Amrita is glad that Vivah has restored people's faith in love especially among the younger generation who have a zero tolerance level.

"The film has put across a beautiful message to the youth who are confused about love," Amrita says with her characteristic smile. And what does love mean to her? She replies with a slight blush, "Love is the ultimate source of belief for me. It is having blind faith in your love and giving that person a special right that you would not give others."

Arya Babbar plays important roles in Mani Ratnam's Guru and two other international films. When contacted, he refused to reveal much about his role in Guru. "Yes, I am doing the film and my role is definitely going to create a lot of buzz. I can't talk about it now," he says. But the actor likes to discuss his two international projects. The first one, Partition is being directed by Vancouver-based director Vic Sarin.

"It is based on India-Pakistan Partition in 1947. It is a period film and I play a negative role. It is a film about inhumanity, when love was a forbidden word. Irrfan Khan plays the parallel lead with Jimmy Mistry. The film also stars Neve Campbell and Christian Crook. It is being readied for a January release" says Arya.

His next international project is a Canadian film titled A Tune For Her. "Here I play the lead opposite Canadian actress Crystal and Latin actress Rebecca. It is a romantic musical, experimental film being directed by Samit Brar. Canada is a multi-cultured place with a significant number of Japanese, Indians, Latin Americans and Italians. The film revolves around five multi-cultured families. I play a musician in the film. I enjoyed doing both the films. In fact, I miss the teams now," says a nostalgic Arya.

Though being a star son, Arya had to audition for the roles like any other newcomer. "I had to go through five levels of auditions for the three films. I got selected like a normal struggler who enters the industry through auditions," he says. At the same time, Arya is busy with his theatre activities and his mother's Ekjute banner.

"I am connected with theatre and I am getting more work from there. I do a lot of backstage work. I have no qualms about doing a particular kind of role. I perform small one minute scenes too," he says.