Kareena Kapoor’s ‘Halkat Jawaani’ to be hotter than ‘Chikni Chameli’

New Delhi: Kareena Kapoor, who has been making waves for her hot avatar even before the release of her film ‘Heroine’, has been trying hard to set a new benchmark in the realm of Bollywood item numbers.

However, it seems that Bebo’s prime agenda is to beat none other than rival Katrina Kaif. The latter had besotted the entire nation with her charming dance act in the song ‘Chikni Chameli’ in the Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Agneepath’ that released worldwide in January this year.

A little birdie has dropped in to inform us that Kareena Kapoor and her ‘Heroine’ director Madhur Bhandharkar have especially hired pro choreographer Ganesh Acharya to choreograph ‘Halkat Jawani’, which they want to be way better than Kat’s item number.

Well, going by the efforts that team ‘Heroine’ is putting in their film, it seems that a real treat is in store for the movie buffs out there!

New pic: Kareena, Arjun on the sets of Heroine

Director Madhur Bhandarkar is busy with his ambitious new project Heroine. The director tweeted a picture of him with lead actors Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. According to reports, Kareena is so impressed by Vidya Balan's performance in The Dirty Picture that the actress too plans to do some risque scenes in Heroine.

Mumbai court summons Madhur Bhandarkar in rape case

Spelling fresh trouble for National Award-winning film director Madhur Bhandarkar, a Mumbai court Monday issued summons against him in a 2004 rape case filed by an upcoming starlet, the complainant's lawyer said.



"The magistrate, Andheri Railway Mobile Court, today issued summons asking Madhur Bhandarkar to appear before it Oct 18 and file his statement in the case," advocate S. Kunjuraman, lawyer for the alleged victim, Pretti Jain, told IANS.

Despite repeated attempts by IANS, Bhandarkar remained unavailable for comment and did not reply to SMSes seeking his version of the developments -- later his phone was switched off.

Police earlier requested the court to dismiss the case against Bhandarkar as during their investigations they found Pretti's allegations false.

Kunjuraman said that Magistrate B.B. Pantawane Monday issued summons to Bhandarkar over Jain's complaint over offences including rape and intimidation.

In July 2004, Pretti, living in Malad suburb of north Mumbai, created a sensation after she accused Bhandarkar of rape on the pretext of giving her a lead role in his film.

Pretti alleged that she slept with Bhandarkar from 1999-2004 as he promised her a role in his films and marriage.

In a statement later, Pretti alleged: "We had sex 16 times and Madhur made promises of giving me a lead role in his films. However, he didn't offer me a lead role in any of his movies. At times when I refused, he raped me."

In September 2005, Pretti was arrested after she reportedly hired a contract killer for Rs.70,000 to murder Bhandarkar.

In January 2006, police requested the court to dismiss the case against Bhandarkar as they had found Pretti's allegations to be false.

Bhandarkar, 44, is credited with making sensitive, critically acclaimed and box-office hit films like "Chandni Bar", "Page 3", "Traffic Signal" and "Corporate".

Source: Midday

Now Madhur Bhandarkar plans 'Fashion' sequel!

Madhur Bhandarkar had to face some serious roadblocks for his project Heroine. Now that Kareena Kapoor has agreed to slip into the space left empty by Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, the filmmaker seems to be in a very happy space.

Bhandarkar has not only decided on the schedule for Heroine start-to-finish, but also started with his next project, Fashion Part 2.

A sequel to the 2008 blockbuster, Fashion, Bhandarkar's next project after Heroine will be co-produced by Bhandarkar Entertainment and UTV Motion Pictures. Fashion, a film that revealed the darker side of the fashion world, marked the debut of Bhandarkar's production house in 2008.

A source told Mumbai Mirror, "Bhandarkar and UTV's head honcho Ronnie Screwvala were both very keen to make the second part of Fashion.

Fashion did really well and also earned the lead actress Priyanka Chopra a lot of critical acclaim. Looks like finally, Bhandarkar and Screwvala will have their dream come true. They have decied to launch the second part to Fashion in 2012."

Heroine, which had originally gone on floors in June with Aishwarya Rai was halted midway due to the actress' pregnancy. The film will now go on floors in November with the new lead actress Kareena Kapoor. "Fashion Part 2 will go on floors in December 2012," added the source.

Whether the sequel will star Priyanka Chopra, one of three female leads in the original is still not decided. "The cast has not been finalised. Bhandarkar will zero down on a few names and then shortlist them. Right now, he is totally focused on Heroine," said the source.

Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra war gets ugly

Are Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra back at pulling an arm each of Madhur Bhandarkar's?

Well, ever since Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's pregnancy compelled Madhur to shelve off his ambitious project 'Heroine', there has been talks that Kareena and Priyanka don't mind giving this film a shot.

As soon as Madhur decided to shelve 'Heroine', there were feelers sent out that Kareena and PC may consider the movie after all. If sources are to be believed, Madhur has flown down to meet Kareena with the script!

It can be remembered that Kareena was considered for the role of 'Heroine' previously as well. However, she turned it down. It's only after Ash gave the green signal and later backed out of it because of her pregnancy that Kareena has shown iterest in the project.

"Why not?" we are asked, "After all 'Heroine' has become a high profile movie now with the amount of controversy it was dumped into. It's written about, it's spoken about, whoever does it will onyl benefit from it now!"

Though Priyanka Chopra has categorically stated that she is keen to work with Madhur Bhandarkar again, but 'Heroine' isn't the project they'll work on together, a source close to the actress reveals that she wished Madhur would've gone about it in a better manner, and considered her for the role a long time ago! Well, we wonder what's going to become of Madhur's 'Heroine' after all!

Shooting Begins For Heroine

Madhur Bhandarkar's much-awaited film Heroine - with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Arjun Rampal and Arunoday Singh - begins production today (June 8) in Mumbai.

The excitement is palpable for Bhandarkar and Arjun Rampal as both took to Twitter:

"On the sets of Heroine, with beautiful Ash and @mbhandarkar268 wish us luck. Will keep u all posted," tweeted Arjun Rampal, on the heels of this tweet from Bhandarkar: "@rampalarjun starts shooting for Heroine!!!"

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is not on Twitter, though she sometimes tweets from husband Abhishek Bachchan's Twitter account. Aishwarya returns to film shoots after a 9-month break. Her last release was Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish, with Hrithik Roshan.

Heroine , a UTV production, was announced at this year's Cannes Film Festival and is reportedly being filmed in a start-to-finish 45 day schedule.

Love scenes for Aishwarya? There never were any

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan doesn’t need to prepare for the part of Heroine. Apparently the script has now incorporated incidents from her own journey to stardom. Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine which starts shooting on June 10, is no longer the film it was supposed to be when Kareena Kapoor was doing the project. The entire script has been re-written to suit Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Speaking from Cannes after the announcement of Heroine Madhur clarified, “First of all it is not about Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor or any other Hollywood or Bollywood actress any more. It is the story of one actress’ internalized journey into stardom, the people that she meets, the experiences that she gathers. It isn’t about the film industry. It’s about the experiences one actress. We’ve completely re-written the role to suit Aishwarya. ” When asked if the love-making sequences have been deleted as per Aishwarya’s specifications Madhur gets evasive. “There never were love scenes…not any that would need serious modification or anything. Too much has been said about the so-called love-making sequences. I never reacted because I wanted get the script and project in place rather than killing the rumours and speculation. ” Reacting to why he chose to announce Heroine in Cannes Madhur says, “Aishwarya was here in Cannes, so was my producer Ronnie Screwvala. We thought we would get a good global platform for the film Besides I hadn’t taken a break for a long time. I needed to rejuvenate myself before starting Heroine. It’s going to be a tough one. ”

Why Kareena can't be Madhur's Heroine

Madhur's long wait has finally ended. For Kareena that is. After waiting for over a year to sign her for his ambitious project, Heroine, Madhur has given up and moved on. 

At one point, he was adamant that only Kareena could essay the central character, and after months of conversation and convincing, the project is heroine-less. While most of us thought it was the usual date problems (considering the Khans have taken up most of her year), Kareena reveals exclusively to zoOm, the real reason for this. "I'd love to work with Madhur, he's an amazing director, but the script that he's doing is not something I'm looking at doing right now".

There you go, this sums up one part of the story. Nevertheless, she adds, "I loved Page 3 and Fashion and I'd love to work with a director of his repute". Rumour has it that Aishwarya and Katrina are now in the running for the same role, and when Bebo was quizzed about who she thought best fits Heroine, she said, "It's Madhur's decision in the end, but I think both Katrina and Aishwarya will suit the role."

Taking a huge risk with romantic comedy: Madhur Bhandarkar

Mumbai, Jan 16 – It’s not easy to come out of your comfort zone and helm a film in a completely new genre. But Madhur Bhandarkar has done just that and admits that he’s taken a ‘huge risk’ by doing romantic comedy ‘Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji’ instead of his trademark movies on contemporary issues.

‘I’ve taken a huge risk with this film, but I feel proud of it. I’m sure people will appreciate (it). They have given me love and liked my work all these years,’ Bhandarkar told IANS in an interview.

‘Some didn’t even do well at the box office, but they were critically acclaimed and got the respect they needed. So I’m sure they (audiences) will shower the same love for ‘Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji’ because when they see the film they will feel Madhur Bhandarkar’s stamp and signature style is very evident in the film. It is very much in my parameters,’ the National Award winning director said.

After being a part of the industry for a decade and making path-breaking films like ‘Chandni Bar’, ‘Satta’, ‘Page 3′ and ‘Fashion’ among others, Bhandarkar said some of his colleagues had suggested that he try his hand at comedy as well.

‘People who know me closely always thought that I have a good sense of humour…in fact all the people I’ve worked with said ‘why don’t you make a comedy’. Even during ‘Chandni Bar’ days, Tabu used to tell me to foray into comedy.

‘I always felt that one day I will do it, but then there were so many other subjects that were intriguing and I got busy with that, so I didn’t have time…but after ‘Jail’ I thought that now I should make a comedy,’ said the 42-year-old.

The film, slated to hit screens Jan 26, stars Ajay Devgn, Omi Vaidya and Emraan Hashmi in the lead. And it revolves around the different experiences that these three men go through in love.

While the film is from men’s point of view, actresses Shruti Hassan, Shraddha Das and Shahzan Padamsee play pivotal roles.

But what made Bhandakar, whose cinema is usually women-oriented, shift his focus to men this time?

‘I never plan a film gender-based. I wanted to make this film so I did and there are women characters in this film too with very well etched out roles, but definitely it is dominated by male point of view. Let’s see if people realise that Madhur can give a very good male point of view as well,’ the filmmaker said.

‘Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji’ has a tagline that reads ‘Love grows…but men don’t’. Does Bhandarkar agree with this statement?

‘I believe in this totally because I feel the same way,’ he quipped.

‘I still have a childlike innocence and same is the case with a lot of people I know. You do grow and become mature but somewhere in your mind you are still a kid. In fact this holds a meaning for a lot of girls as well,’ Bhandarkar said.

IANS