After her acting debut in a Salman Khan production, Warina Hussain will shake a leg with him in the third Dabangg film
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 13, 2019)

Mirror had earlier reported (May 18) that after the chartbusters, “Munni Badnaam Hui”, which was picturised on Malaika Arora in the 2010 cop-drama Dabangg, and the Kareena Kapoor-starrer “Fevicol Se” in its 2012 sequel directed by Arbaaz Khan, the makers of Dabangg 3 have recorded a song titled “Munna Badnaam Hua”. Now, we have learnt that Warina Hussain, who made her Bollywood debut with the 53-year-old actor’s production LoveYatri last year opposite his brother-in-law Aayush Sharma, will feature in the new song with Chulbul Pandey.

According to a source close to the development, Salman and his team were looking for someone who would do justice to the Dabangg special number and zeroed in on Warina. “She shot for the song in a four-day schedule beginning from June 8 at Mehboob studio. Salman and Warina had a great time shooting for the song which has been composed by Sajid-Wajid and sung by Kamaal Khan of 'O O Jaane Jaana' fame and Badshah. This time the song is set in a modernised dhaba and Warina will be seen in an Indo-Western outfit. Her look is created by Salman’s designer, Ashley Lobo,” the source revealed.

Vaibhavi Merchant has choreographed the song and unlike the previous two numbers, this one will see Salman’s Chulbul Pandey in the spotlight, trying to woo his object of affection. The film, which went on the floors with a Maheshwar schedule earlier this year, moving to the outskirts of Mumbai, follows a non-linear storytelling pattern, jumping between Chulbul Pandey’s past and present, showing his transition from a neighbourhood rowdy to a Robin Hood cop. 

Deepali Singh (DNA; April 29, 2019)

As early as two or three years of age, all it needed was her parents to put on some music, and Shraddha Kapoor would get up to shake a leg. “My earliest memories while growing up — I mean, as early as I can remember being on my feet — are of dancing. Dance has been a passion of mine since then,” she recalls. Although she did indulge in short stints of training for various forms, the Stree actress never ended up learning it formally.

“In school, as part of the curriculum, and like any other kid, I did a bit of whatever dance was required of us. So, I learnt a bit of Kathak.  Then I joined Shiamak Davar’s and Ashley Lobo’s classes for extremely short spans of time. At Boston University, I was a part of the college dance group called Chankaar and there are many precious memories of the same,” she adds.

However, it was when she was cast in Remo D’Souza’s ABCD 2 (2015) that Shraddha got an extensive opportunity to explore dance. “There were so many styles that we learnt a bit of — locking, popping, whacking, krumping and house, to name a few,” she tells us.

The actress, who is currently filming Street Dancer with Varun Dhawan, reveals that these forms are being re-explored in this movie as well. “It’s been super-challenging, especially because one needs a lot of practice, years and skill development to be able to dance really well. It is a lot of hard work,” she admits.

Right from Dance Basanti in Ungli (2014) to Milegi Milegi in Stree (2018), Shraddha has been a part of some of the most popular dance numbers. Not to forget, she has matched steps with some of the best in B-Town, including Tiger Shroff and Varun.

Remember Cham Cham in Baaghi (2016) and Sun Saathiya and Bezubaan Phir Se in ABCD 2? “Whatever love and appreciation I’ve received, I’d attribute it to the little bit of dancing I did while growing up and to Remo sir as well as his team that focussed on me during the prep of ABCD 2 and now, Street Dancer,” she adds.

Shraddha, who counts Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor, Varun and Tiger among the best dancers in the industry today, says that while she has become better at her skills, she is never satisfied with herself and wants to keep improving. “I make sure that I enjoy everything that I do, because that is the only way to do anything you love,” she signs off.

From dancer to model to anchor to actor, ALTBalaji's new IT girl Harleen Sethi says it's not impossible to make it in the film industry just on merit
Aastha Atray Banan (MID-DAY; December 9, 2018)

"I always wanted to be the centre of attraction, ever since I was a child. My mother knew that even if I was made to stand next to the girl in the middle, in the front row on stage, I still wouldn't do it. I needed the spotlight," laughs Harleen Sethi, the lead in ALTBalaji's new show, Broken But Beautiful, as we chat over eggs at an Andheri cafe. Sethi looks bright eyed, expectant, and excited, as she should be. The show, which pairs her with A Death In The Gunj actor Vikrant Massey, is about two people, both "broken" because of bad relationships, come together to heal each other and themselves. The reviews range from brilliant to encouraging, and even the one that has panned the series, have only good things to say about Sethi's natural charm and acting skills.

But the Lokhandwala girl has take the long route to arrive at her moment. After studying BMM at Bandra's National College, where Massey was her senior, and where she always wanted to be "a director, never an actor", she worked at a TV channel before joining dancer Ashley Lobo's Danceworx for two years. Then she worked on ads (Asian Paints, Blue Star), before hosting a wedding and travel show on TV. "So this is what happens. You get slotted. You do ads, so you get called a model. You start fronting a non-fiction show, you get called a host. If you have to act, you need to be perceived as an actor, not as a model or anchor. I learned that late, but I am glad I finally did. So at one point I decided, I had to stop modelling and stop anchoring, and just go for acting auditions. You have to take that risk and decision," says the 29-year-old.

But Sethi says she could serve as an indication that the industry could be changing, especially with varied roles available, and the fact that auditions do work. "I don't know anyone in the industry. My parents didn't even want me to try acting, as they were sure I would be exploited. So I really didn't know how to do this. I put my name out, and just waited to be called to auditions. I went patiently, and it's all happened because I performed well." It seems to have worked. She was first finalised for ALT Balaji's The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family, but after she got the role for Broken as well, she decided to choose that instead. "Didn't I tell you I love being the centre of attention? The former was a great role, but an ensemble cast. Here it was all about me and Vikrant."

For now, the show is bringing love from quarters Sethi didn't expect. Fans have been writing in from the US, Dubai, Pakistan and all over India, sharing their heartbreak stories with her. Her honest and raw portrayal seems to have won them over. "I had to really work for this role. I had to dig deep and feel emotions I felt when I broke up with someone. So I actually thought of my last relationship, which I had thought I was over, but it helped me to move on even more. It was cathartic. And as my character Sameera heals and finds love again, I healed as well. It's the start of a wonderful life."

Radhika Apte reveals why her lovemaking scene in Parched was hilarious
Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 3, 2016)

Radhika Apte’s lovemaking scenes from her latest release, Parched, are being marketed as porn, but she would rather not dwell on the negative buzz around the critically-acclaimed film. She terms her experience of filming the under-the-sheets action with Adil Hussain as a ‘hilarious’ affair, adding that the biggest challenge on set was not going nude, but finding a flesh-tint sock that covered Hussain’s modesty.

“We kept cracking up all through. Your body is the last thing you are conscious about when shooting a sex scene. It was inside a cave and had we not found the sock, the shooting would have been delayed. The unit thought an erotic dance sequence was being shot,” she says, giggling at the memory.

The dirty talking that preceded the scene was funnier, she says, adding, “Adil even blurted out, ‘I am sorry if I get a hard-on and I am sorry if I don’t’.” The film’s director, Leena Yadav, along with choreographer Ashley Lobo executed the scene, Radhika says.

Why hadn’t she discussed the ‘fun’ part of the ‘controversial’ scene earlier? She quips, “Those who raising eyebrows and rolling eyes would have never got the humour in this. People look at things as black and white. Unfortunately, everyone saw it from a unilinear perspective. They were either angry or sympathetic. Ask us, we have laughed throughout. It will be the most memorable scene ever for the amount we have laughed and for what we take away from it. I have been criticised and praised equally, but films are a learning process and that scene will be a milestone.”

Sharmila Ganesan-Ram | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; March 9, 2014)

Everything in the frame is blue. The sky. The desert. Alia Bhatt. She is running towards you in tears as if you could save her from her kidnappers. Her feet seem to be on autopilot and with each second, her breath is getting heavier and her lips drier. She trips, falls, gets up and runs some more. Finally, her knees buckle, she collapses on the parched earth and breaks down. Then, she gets up and runs away from you.

To prepare for such scenes, Bhatt was made to thrash around angrily on a cold, concrete floor several times in her hotel room in Ajmer. Holding a man’s hands she would repeatedly dip her head to the floor and straighten up. “These (exercises) allow instinct rather than intellect to dictate physical actions,” says 46-year-old Ashley Lobo, who is also responsible for the way Bhatt’s Delhi-based character in Highway tears her chapatis, works her hips and squats on the ground in the film. Lobo’s name appears in the film credits under the title ‘Body Language Consultant’.

This designation, along with other credits such as ‘dialogue coach’ and ‘sprint trainer’, is the result of Bollywood’s new marriage with realism. To make their stories appear more authentic, filmmakers are not only giving characters last names and doing away with lip-synced songs but also enlisting professional help for verbal and non-verbal intricacies. How to do an authentic job of strumming a guitar, for instance, or saluting smartly when one is playing an Army officer.

Imtiaz Ali, director of Highway, wanted to convey the protagonist’s transition from a guarded city girl to a wild, uninhibited character using mostly body language and few dialogues. “Since this was a big change, I needed an expert,” adds Ali, who entrusted the job to Lobo, a choreographer in his previous films.

Besides body language, even the clothes actors wear add meaning. It’s no longer startling when costume designers say they borrowed from locals or doused the actor’s hair in Brylcreem because the character demanded it. “Everything in the frame must have meaning,” says filmmaker Alankrita Shrivastava of Turning 30 fame, who came away impressed with the attention to detail in films such as The Lunchbox and Dedh Ishqiya. “Bollywood is moving toward a situation where we know exactly where each character comes from,” says Shrivastava, who is now writing a film set in small-town India.

Since small India is where many cinematic characters now come from, a dialect coach has become a regular. Actor Nikhil Dwivedi had one teach him crude Avadhi for his role as a gangster from UP in the upcoming film Tamanchey. Dwivedi, who once approached a cop to master his salute, feels the constant comparisons to Hollywood are making such training inevitable. “Even Al Pacino had a dialogue coach teach him Cuban for the film Scarface,” says Dwivedi. “It has to look believable.”

Actor Vikas Kumar, who has worked as a dialogue coach on films such as Gulaal to Aurangzeb, is from Bihar. His services are sought for films that are infused with regional flavours — Bihari, Bhojpuri, Dakhani or Bhopali. Though he is now comfortable with most dialects, there are times when “I call up friends and interact with locals to pick up certain phrases,” says Kumar. He discovered, for instance, that in Bhopal, “acidity” is often pronounced as “STD”. That nugget made its way into Arshad Warsi’s lines in the film Ishqiya.

Interestingly, it is chiefly Hindi dialogue coaching that is seeing a spurt in demand, says Kumar, who has even opened a centre called Strictly Speaking along with other accent trainers. “Many young city-bred hopefuls today are more comfortable with English. Besides, more foreign actors and NRIs are entering Hindi cinema,” says Kumar, who has invented various teaching tactics to make his English-savvy students sound more desi — pressing their tongue down with a spoon to unroll the ‘r’, for instance, or tutoring them to pronounce the nasal sound in words like “main”.

But authenticity is not always a priority in Hindi films. Indian Railway coach Melwyn Crasto, who was actor Farhan Akhtar’s sprint coach for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (BMB), thought that the actors in Chak De India could have done with seven to eight months of pre-shoot training. Crasto had spent a year and a half imparting athletic and altitude training to Akhtar.

All the training in the world can’t guarantee a great performance. “An actor can still be terrible if he does not reveal the inner life of the character,” says actor Tillotama Shome of ‘Shanghai’ fame. “I would be more unforgiving of a person whose performance was insipid than a person whose performance was honest but the accent flawed.”