Parag Maniar (BOMBAY TIMES; April 5, 2015)

Model-actress Lisa Ray will make a comeback in Friday Cine Entertainment's Ishq Forever, produced by Ajay Shah, Harry Gandhi and Shabbir Boxwala. The romantic flick is set to roll in South Africa later this month with Ruhi Singh, who made India proud by winning the first ever Miss Universal Peace and Humanity title. She won the crown amongst 145 countries. She plays the lead opposite Krishna Chaturvedi.

Casting director Mukesh Chhabra has put together a promising supporting cast. The highlight of Ishq Forever is its melodious music that has been composed by Nadeem Saifee (of Nadeem-Shravan), who has given evergreen hits like Phool Aur Kaante (1991) and Dilwale (1994). The songs are written by award-winning lyricist Sameer.

First-timer Sameer Sippy, son of yesteryear filmmaker Raj Sippy (Boxer (1984), Baazi (1984) and Satte Pe Satta (1982) among others) makes his directorial debut here. He has assisted Tarun Mansukhani on Dostana (2008) and Farhan Akhtar on Lakshya (2004).

Shabbir Boxwala is also elated that his banner will collaborate with Trimurti Films, one of Bollywood's most prestigious production houses. He, Ajay Shah (co-producer) and Rajiv Rai, who collaborated earlier on super-duper hits like Mohra (1994) and Gupt (1997), have plans to remake one of Dev Anand's memorable thriller Johny Mera Naam (1970) and also the iconic Amitabh Bachchan-Shashi Kapoor film Deewaar (1975), both of which were produced by Rajiv's father, Gulshan Rai under their family banner.