Ankur Pathak (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 27, 2014)


Priyanka Chopra's first cousin, Barbie Handa, has now been been rechristened Mannara to make her name more 'marketable'. It was the producer of her debut Hindi film, Zid, Anubhav Sinha, who insisted on a new name beginning with the letter M as he is a huge Madhuri Dixit fan. "Barbie was too childish a name for a grown-up girl, actually it was her nickname," says Sinha.

Mannara admits she'd been planning the change for a while now, urged on by her family. "I liked Mannara, a Greek word meaning 'something that shines', and everyone approved," she beams.

She has done a course in fashion designing and has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration before relocating to Mumbai. She admits being Priyanka Chopra cousin helps in Bollywood. "You get invited to industry events and meet the right people," she points out, quickly adding that she had to go through five rounds of auditions before she was selected for Zid.

Mannara features completely nude in the movie's poster and is blase about it. "We are in 2014 and I can't be in a ghoonghat. If I wanted to be all covered, I'd do a saas-bahu serial. I have a hot body and I don't mind showing it," she says proudly.

And what was Priyanka's reaction? "Before the poster was shot, I called up Priyanka who was in Barcelona for a film. She told me to go for it, but ensure that it's done aesthetically and didn't look sleazy. I took her advice and am getting lots of compliments," she smiles.

Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; October 24, 2014)

The festival of lights has put a damper on the promotions of Anubhav Sinha’s Zid with exhibitors deciding to put up the film’s posters only after Diwali celebrations come to an end. A source close to the production team says, “The film is about to release next month and it is necessary for us to start the promotions. We released the first standee featuring lead pair, Barbie Handa and Karanvir Sharma a couple of days ago, which was quite bold.”

It is said that the second standee of the film, too, is also pretty risqué, compelling exhibitors to hold it back for a few days. “They said during the festive season, a lot of families come to watch films and it wouldn’t be appropriate to put up explicit posters. They conveyed this decision to the makers, who apparently agreed to it. So, the new posters will be out only after Diwali,” said another source.

Exhibitor Inder Raj Kapoor confirmed the news. “Some publicity material has been returned because we found it bold and feared it could be controversial. We have spoken to the producers about it,” he said.

Anubhav Sinha, co-producer of Zid, said his team was trying to draw up a strategy so that the bold content of the film did not affect the promotions. “By Monday, we will take a decision whether to go ahead with the same publicity material or not,” added Sinha.