Rahul to direct, Akshaye to produce a film?

With his film career never really taking off, Rahul Khanna, the 37 year old son of yesteryears actor Vinod Khanna had left for the US to do some theatre work which he preferred. But our sources claim that he is coming back to Mumbai to work on his directorial debut venture which most probably will be produced by his father Vinod Khanna and brother Akshaye Khanna.

Having faced defeat in the recently concluded Loksabha elections, Vinod Khanna has plans to be based in Mumbai for a longer period now and revive his production company. Our sources further claim that both Rahul and Akshaye have already worked on a script together and it has been planned that Rahul will direct the film himself.

Khanna began his career as a VJ with MTV Asia and was immensely popular across Asia. He made his feature film debut in Deepa Mehta’s Earth with Aamir Khan. He was later also seen as the solo male lead in Mehta’s Bollywood/ Hollywood (2003). Rahul’s mainstream Bollywood films include Elaan and Raqeeb. He has also been seen on stage in the New York production of the hit West-End play, East is East. Rahul’s other international credits include The Emperor’s Club with Kevin Kline.

Ek Ladki--Love You Hamesha

Weekend Fun

Rumor is these two are going out together. He isn't such a good kisser, is he?

Akshaye-Abhi teamed?

For the remake of Hera Pheri. Not sure yet, it's just media speculation but may happen soon.

Hot

Say what you want, Akshaye's rumoured girlfirend is hot.

No Problem shooting starts in June

Recession or no recession... the show must go on. Or so believes director Anees Bazmee, who is on a roll after multiple back to back hits.

The director is all set to start shooting for his next comic caper titled No Problem from June onwards.

Talking about his projects to Businessofcinema.com, Bazmee said, "I have finished shooting It's My Life with Hurman Baweja and Amrita Rao and now the film is under post production. Once I complete that, I will start shooting my next film for Spice and Anil Kapoor Productions called No Problem."

The casting for this film is complete. Sushmita Sen and Kangana Ranaut will be muses to Sanjay Dutt and Akshaye Khanna, while old favourite Paresh Rawal will be there to give ample comic relief.

The film will be shot in the now exhausted locales of South Africa. With almost every second film being picturised in the Rainbow Nation, there will be a huge cluster of films all looking alike. However, Bazmee said, "I will first go and do my location scouting. Once I have zeroed in on my locations that will suit my script, I will then ensure that it has not been exposed to Indian audiences. There should be novelty in story and location for audiences to visit the theatres for our films."

No Problem to start shooting next month

Along with this, Sanjay has Anil Kapoor's "No Problem" directed by Anees Bazmee. Besides Sanjay, the film has Anil Kapoor himself, Akshaye Khanna, Sushmita Sen, Kangana Ranaut and Amrita Rao. The film is to go on floors in June/July 2009.

(india forums)

I am not linking to the site because it has malware.

Minus points: Sanjay Dutt is too old for an Akshaye movie. But we don't know what the story is, so it's ok.

Plus Points: Looks like Akshaye might have two heroines opposite him as I can't imagine Amrita Rao working opposite Anil Kapoor.

Anees Bazmee is a hit comedy director, so this movie should do well at the box office.

Akshaye will working on this movie for the next two months and move on to Basra. Together with Chandbhai, we now have four movies of Akshaye to look forward to.

Amal Sinha

Akshaye is going to be called Amal Sinha in Basra. Navdeep Singh made Manorama Six Feet Under which got critical acclaim. Wish he had repeated Abhay Deol here too, because I like him and wanted to see him with Akshaye. It'd be great to see how an offbeat director can mold Akshaye both visually and performance wise.

Akshaye, of course, is doing this movie because Nikhil is producing it. He should get out of that I'll do only commercial movies stance and start working with off beat directors. i'm pretty sure a lot of them would like to work with him.

Saif's star actually took off with Hum Tum where he cashed on the lift given by DCH. Akshaye is at the same age and at the same crossroads. Because he is younger than most and more experienced than them, it'd be easy for Akshaye to slip into the slot someone like Saif has created and is vacant now. He should work on his body, wardrobe and start doing some hip movies and some cool ads.

When I was in India, I watched some stuff on Southern TV and I was gob smacked how they've improved. Some of their ads are better than Hollywood. Akshaye always does stuff with old style directors like Priyadarashan and even his Dinesh Mills ad was distinctly un-cool. He should get out his his complacency and start working with some new, hip film and ad makers. Navdeep Singh is a good start.

Basra director on film, Akshaye

Akshaye Khanna and Madhavan would be teaming up for an espionage thriller titled Basra. To be directed by Navdeep Singh of Manorama - Six Feet Under fame, the film would feature Shahana Goswami as the leading lady and as per the director, would be an 'intelligent commercial thriller'.

Laughs Navdeep, "People keep asking me if I am going full on commercial with Basra after Manorama - Six Feet Under (Abhay Deol, Gul Panag, Raima Sen). Well, my answer to them is that yes, it's a commercial film but with an intelligent way of story telling. Audience won't be taken for granted in this espionage thriller."

Talking about the relevance of the film's title, Navdeep reveals, "'Basra is the name of a port in Iraq and exists for centuries. The city forms a major part of the film's script." Incidentally, Basra is Iraq's second largest city after Baghdad and is also a historic location of Sumer, the home of 'Sindbad - The Sailor'.”

So what are Akshaye and Maddy doing in the film? "While Maddy plays a Mumbai cop, Akshaye is an investigating officer. Shahana plays the role of a journalist. This is all I can reveal at this moment", says Navdeep who would be returning to direction close to three years after he last called the shots for Manorama - Six Feet Under.

There is one more leading lady yet to be finalised and the hunt is currently on for her. Meanwhile Navdeep has his shooting plans more or less chalked out for Basra which is being produced by Nikhil Advani and Mukesh Talreja. "We should begin shooting early August. The film requires a lot of action and both Akshaye and Maddy would be shown kicking their action boots", he says.

So how did he go about bringing together an unusual cast together for his film? Says Navdeep, "Akshaye was a very clear choice for the film since he just fitted the part. On the other hand I had been following Maddy's work over a period of time and especially after I saw him in Aayutha Ezhuthu, the Tamil version of Yuva, where he played the role enacted by Abhishek Bachchan, I knew I had to work with him."

How about Shahana? Is she going to go through an image change and would be seen in a full on glamour avatar? Laughs Navdeep, "Nothing like that actually. As a journalist, she won't quite get that kind of opportunity here. As for her acting skills, she is extremely gifted and movies like Rock On, Firaaq' and even lesser known affairs like Ru Ba Ru and Yun Hota To Kya Hota have been good examples to demonstrate that. Moreover, she is an easy actor to work with, something that is so imperative during film making."

Exactly the sentiment that is shared by Madhavan as well. "Navdeep is my kind of director because for him what holds utmost importance is a concrete storyline. When he narrated Basra to me, I was simply blown over and had no hesitation signing it", he says.

For producers Mukesh Talreja and Nikhil Advani, Basra would be their fourth film as they would be collaborating once again after Salaam-E-Ishq, Chandni Chowk To China and Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai (which is currently under production).


Nice to see Akshaye in a different gig from Anil Kapoor-Priyadarashan-AbbasMustan stuff he'd been doing lately. Would be interesting to see him do action and this guy is an off beat director. Hope he signs more movies though. I am tired of waiting.

Doli Nostalgia

Some great caps of Doli Sajake Rakhna

Basra to start shooting soon, stars Fardeen, Madhavan with Akshaye

Produced by Nikhil Advani, the film will be directed by Navdeep Singh (Manorama: Six Feet Under). Sources reveal that the high-budget action drama will go on floors in coming weeks.

Singh spent the last few months doing intense research on the subject of the film.

"The movie is based on the Iraqi town Basra. Post 9/11, Basra was in the line of fire when the Americans invaded Iraq to over throw Saddam Hussein's regime. The film is based around the same period."

Tune taal

Kailash Kher will compose music for the film. The source adds, "Navdeep has already started pre-production work on the project.

He has sat down with Kailash and even worked out a few tunes. Since the setting is in the middle east, the film will have music with Arabic influences."

Akshaye n Amisha closer friends than previously thought

Amisha Patel may be nearly a decade old in the industry, but the lady doesn’t have too many friends there. The muphat that she is, she’s made more enemies than admirers.

But luckily for her, Amisha found a friend in Akshaye Khanna, another star who is known to be moody and aloof. Sources say that these two South Mumbai stars have been good friends since they acted together in Humraaz several years ago.

Maybe they bond over their elite South Mumbai attitude that looks down upon the rest of the industry as commoners. They are often seen having dinners in their posh downtown joints.

In fact, sometime ago Amisha was also seen shopping in a designer store with Akshaye. When asked, she’d insisted that they were shopping for her boyfriend Kanav.

Amisha who is more in Delhi these days with the Puris, was back in Mumbai for some meetings recently. While driving through South Mumbai, her car broke down and our la-di-da lady was in no mood to hop into a cab.

She quickly called Akshaye, who was on speed dial, and the Khanna dude who barely answers his calls was there to pick her up in 10 minutes flat. Now, wonder what the raaz is...!

Akshaye campaigns for dad Vinod Khanna