Aaj ki Khabar!!

Actress Geeta Basra, whose debut film Dil Diya Hai sank into oblivion, is skeptical about "bold scenes" in Hindi films because they are blown out of proportion. However, her second film, Shyam Bajaj's The Train, about an extra-marital affair, has a bold storyline and requires her to shed her inhibitions. "In Hollywood, a scene is a scene. But here, it is tagged as a 'bold scene'. I am not OK with such things. But I have realised that it is just a 'character' that I am portraying. I would rather focus on that than let such issues hassle me. Moreover, the story was too tempting to decline it on such grounds," Geeta said.

Shedding light on her role, she said, "I play Roma Kapoor, a mature businesswoman. The film deals with extramarital affairs but there is a lot more to it. It is just a subtext and there is more to the story." Geeta, who grew up on a staple diet of Hindi films, was disheartened when her debut film flopped. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. The promos looked promising and people were taking note of it. I guess we shouldn't have released it when there was Lage Raho Munnabhai, which gave us tough competition," sighed Geeta.

In The Train, Geeta is paired opposite Emraan Hashmi. The lady is fairly superstitious and doesn't wish to reveal more about her upcoming films. "I have two more projects coming up. We'll be starting in March and I am really looking forward to it. I hope it works for me this time round and I am successful," she says.

Singer Shankar Mahadevan has recorded a song for politician Raj Thackeray's election campaigns. Sung in collaboration with Shaan and Kunal Ganjawala, the song outlines the election tunes and calls for change of guard in Mumbai. The music has been set by well-known Marathi composer duo Atul-Ajay, with lyrics by Wagshish Saraswat.

The musical trio of Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy has a couple of big banner films for release this year, starting with Salaam-E-Ishq. Their forthcoming projects include Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and Sajid Khan's Hey Baby, among others.

During the script narration of Salaam-E-Ishq, director Nikhil Advani just mentioned to Akshaye Khanna that he would love to cast someone like Anil Kapoor for another role in the film. Nikhil also mentioned that Anil would be the only star who could handle that particular role with maturity.

It is well-known that Akshaye and Anil are thick pals. On hearing about Nikhil's idea, Akshaye immediately called up Anil and informed him about the role in Salaam-E-Ishq. The Mr India actor agreed to do it even before he could talk to the director. Says Akshaye, "Anil is such a bundle of positive energy. In fact, I look up to him for guidance. At any given time, if I have a problem, I just pick up the phone or drive down to meet him."

On the other hand, Anil too talks highly about the Dil Chahta Hai actor. He says, "Akshaye has amazing talent. If Akshaye is superlative in Salaam-E-Ishq, then you must watch his performance in Gandhi My Father. It is a performance of a lifetime."

Remember Rohit Jugraj? He was the one who directed James, which starred Mohit Ahlawat and Nisha Kothari, that marked the debut for the actors and also for himself as a director. Jugraj is now back after almost a two-year hiatus. He has written a book on lepers that will be released next month. It was his friend Pranay from Bihar who succumbed to leprosy that inspired him to write. Pranay closely worked with lepers in Ethiopia and it was his untimely demise that left Rohit shaken.

This Ram Gopal Varma protege now plans to make films independently. Sources close to Varma reveal that there were differences between Rohit and his mentor over James and the two had thus parted ways. "That was the reason why Ramu launched Shiva to get back at Rohit," reveals a source. When Rohit was asked about this, he said, "I don't want to comment on the issue."

Director Shriram Raghvan refutes reports that he shot Jhonny Gaddar at the same location where director Kaizaad Gustad's assistant director Nadia had met with an accident and died. "I don't know who gave out this false report that it was the same location, especially when it wasn't. We shot my film at the Mumbai Central station," he says. Raghvan said that he had a wonderful time shooting at the station. "We completed the sequence in two days. We will now shoot some portions at the Pune station. The railway authorities were very cooperative and gave me full support to shoot my film. We had also hired a local train and those particular scenes were shot at night. It was shooting in the train that made it technically interesting," he explains.

Raghvan also informs that for actor Dharmendra, shooting at the Mumbai Central station turned out to be a nostalgic moment. "There was a huge crowd eager to catch a glimpse of the actor. Dharmendra told me that it was after 30 years that he was coming to the Mumbai Central station. The last film that he had shot there was Pocketmaar. He recalled each and every detail of his shooting during those days," Raghvan reveals.

Raghvan said that Jhonny Gaddar would hit theatres sometime in April. "The portions that have been shot have already been edited, so there won't be much of post-production to do after I complete shooting my last schedule," he says. The director also clarifies that he will be directing a Rohan Sippy film starring Akshay Kumar and not his brother Shridhar. "Shridhar is only going to script it. I think people get confused because our names sound similar," he says.

Raghvan will begin his film Happy Birthday with Gaurang Doshi after the completion of Jhonny Gaddar, followed by the Akshay Kumar-starrer. Happy Birthday will star John Abraham and Aishwarya Rai.