Subhash K Jha (DNA; January 20, 2015)


Interestingly, there was no official announcement from the channel regarding this important change in the weekend viewing schedule.

According to a source, “The channel wants to keep the frequency cut in Comedy Nights With Kapil as quiet as possible. It was Kapil Sharma who insisted on the change as he wanted to pursue a film career. With the shooting of his Abbas-Mustan film gathering momentum the show’s frequency had to be reduced.”

According to insiders the channel intends to introduce another comedy show on Saturday nights in lieu of Comedy Nights With Kapil. The format and content of the new show is now being worked out.

Sunil Grover, who has grown into a star in his own right says he now has time for other activities. “Doing Comedy Nights With Kapil twice a week was a lot of pressure on our time. The content was suffering. Audiences’ expectations from the show have gone up. We have to take the show to Level 2. That can only be possible now when we have more time to work on the content.”

Grover admits the pressure of delivering two episodes a week was taking its toll on his life. “I’ll now have some time to spend with my son Mohan. My film Main Gabbar with Akshay Kumar is also round the corner. And I’m on the verge of signing another film.”

Apparently Sunil Grover will be doing a key role in producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Sabbir Khan’s Heer Ranjha, Tiger Shroff’s post-debut film. Grover had done a guest appearance in Tiger’s debut film Heropanti.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; January 13, 2015)

Shabana Azmi was 20 when Chetan Anand's Heer Raanjha opened in theatres. The film had unforgettable songs like Yeh duniya yeh mehfil, Milo na tum to hum ghabraye and Do dil toote, do dil haare, penned by her late father, poet-lyricist Kaifi Azmi. Not just the songs, Kaifi saab who would have turned 96 tomorrow, also wrote the whole script in verse, a first for a Hindi film.

Almost half-a-century later, his daughter admits that at the time, she was more excited for her mother, Shaukat Kaifi, who was doing the costumes for a film's leading lady for the first time. "It was a thrill to see the rolls of raw silk being cut, designed and embroidered at home. Priya Rajvansh later presented her a roll of striped silk from which I made a churidar kurta, happy that while mummy had done all the work, I got the gift," Shabana laughs, adding that she had grown up seeing her abba writing in his study.

"It was something we took for granted. I appreciated the brilliance of his work only when I revisited the film with Javed, who knew each dialogue by-heart."

This was Anand's first colour film and he planned the colour palettes meticulously with Jal Mistry, who bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Cinematographer. The hues correspond with the different stages in the evolving romance. To begin with Priya is seen in virginal white which blossoms into blushing pink as she becomes aware of Ranjha's interest in her. Love peaks in a burst of gold, turns passionate in scarlet hues and ends in funereal black. "Chetan saab scrupulously avoided any hint of yellow in the frame till we see Heer run into the sarson ka khets which are aglow with sunshine yellow," recalls Shabana.

Quiz her on the songs and she picks the Mohd Rafi-Lata Mangeshkar duet, Meri duniya mein tum aayi. "Every word was redolent with feeling. The song was shot in tight close-ups with the background carefully blurred out to convey that the lovers were lost in their own space," she says.

Shabana admits that Anand's Heer, Priya, who had studied at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), struggled with a world and a language alien to her. "Raaj Kumar was more familiar with Urdu poetry but it was Jayant who internalised abba's words and in his scenes with Priya, it's as if pearls are dripping from his lips," she says.

Usually the filmmaker and the lyricist were in complete sync as they sat quietly, communicating without words. No one at the time realised that they were creating history because unlike other writers, Kaifi saab's creativity thrived in chaos. No one ever tiptoed around him. His study door was always open and Shabana recalls walking in and out of the room, asking the most inane questions.

"Abba would put his pen down and answer every question without any traces of exasperation," she says, adding that he only used a particular brand of ruled stationary and only wrote with Mont Blanc pens which she would fill with blue-black ink.

"He had 18 of them, having flinched one from me even though he had three identical pens of his own. He later wrote a cute letter to my friend who had gifted the pen, pointing out why it was safer with him than me. He loved his pens and would take them to a Fountain Pen Hospital in New York to be lovingly cleaned and polished."

The pens worked overtime as Kaifi saab worked at a furious pace to meet his deadline. He had high blood pressure but he stayed up all night to finish the script. And the exertion took its toll.

Two years after Heer Raanjha's release, on February 8, 1972, he suffered a brain hemorrhage. His left hand and left leg were paralysed and he was incapacitated for life.

"I don't know if it's fair for me to make the connection between his paralytic stroke and Heer Raanjha, but I think there is," Shabana says softly. "However, it doesn't make the magic of his work any less brilliant."

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; December 17, 2014)

Six months after his hit debut, Heropanti, Tiger Shroff is all set to kick off his second film. With the working title, Heer Ranjha, this love story rolls with a two-day schedule in Film City on December 21. It will then gather momentum in January.

"The title came from an earlier script of mine. We're going with it till we figure out something better," says director Sabbir Khan.

The story came from producer Sajid Nadiadwala who has recently penned Ritesh Deshmukh's hit Marathi film Lai Bhaari.

"The idea has been brewing in Sajid bhai's mind for the past five years. It is nothing like Heropanti," asserts Sabbir who also helmed Tiger's first film.

Sabbir adds that while the first half will be pure romance, focusing on Tiger's innocent face and love-lorn eyes, post-interval the punches will fly as the action shifts to South-East Asia with the hero flitting from Thailand to Malaysia and Hong Kong.

"The second half will be shot entirely abroad. And we are in talks with a big international name to choreograph the fights. Tiger, who has been touted as India's answer to Jackie Chan and Jet Li, has already started his training," informs Sabbir, admitting that Jackie Shroff's cub will have two distinctly different looks pre and post interval.

While the makers are set on Tiger as their modern-day Ranjha, they are equally certain that they don't want to repeat the Heropanti jodi so soon. That is why Kriti Sanon is not in the running for Heer.

"We start the film with Tiger's solo portions and don't start shooting with the girl before January-February. We have been auditioning but haven't finalised anyone yet," says Sabbir.

He had also been collaborating with composer duo Sajid-Wajid as well as Manj who gave him the Heropanti chartbuster Whistle baja, on the music score.

"We would also like to rope in a big international name," he admits. "May be someone like Justin Timberlake or Black Eyed Peas for a special track."

Vinod Talreja (DNA; November 24, 2014)

Tiger Shroff, who made a stellar debut with Sabbir Khan’s Heropanti is currently juggling Remo D’Souza and Sabbir’s next. While Jackie Shroff’s son will play a superhero in the choreographer-turned-director’s upcoming film, we hear that Sabbir’s next will be a romantic drama titled Heer And Raanjha. However, not many may know this, but Sabbir had earlier cast Shahid Kapoor.

Heer And Ranjha is currently in the initial stages and it is slated to go on floor in January next year. While Tiger will play the role of Ranjha, who will be his Heer? Speculations were rife about Kriti Sanon and later, Jacqueline Fernandez playing the female lead, Sabbir however denied having any of them on board. “No female lead has been signed yet for the film,” the director was quoted by a portal.