Actor on two-week break to revisit his favourite food joints, catch a Broadway play and hang out with friends
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 14, 2019)

After four outings at the movies since May last year—Raazi, Sanju, Manmarziyaan and Uri: The Surgical Strike—Vicky Kaushal is ready to party. The actor who turns 31 on May 16, has taken off to New York for a two-week break and has rented a villa in the countryside, a two-hour drive away from the city, where he will ring in his birthday with college friends.

According to a source close to the actor, he had initially planned to take the trip last month but had to postpone it due to professional commitments. “Vicky left for the US last week. At the villa, he plans to relax and catch up with his friends who will arrive from Boston and New Jersey. It will be a birthday reunion of sorts,” the source informs.

The actor, who was shooting for Shoojit Sircar’s Udham Singh biopic in St Petersburg, Russia, till a fortnight ago, is returning to the States two years after he shot there for Rajkumar Hirani’s Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Sanju, in which he played New York-based close friend Kamli to RK’s titular hero. “There are a few burger joints and pancake restaurants in the city that Vicky loves and is revisiting all the old haunts. On Sunday, he took off to New Jersey to watch the Mumbai Indians versus Chennai Super Kings final match of the IPL with his friends,” adds the source.

On Mother’s Day, Vicky who will be away from family on his birthday, connected with his mother over video-calling to wish her. “His New York itinerary isn’t quite hectic as he primarily wants to relax before he heads back to Mumbai later this month. Shortly after, he will resume shooting for the Udham Singh biopic and will prep up for Karan Johar’s period-drama Takht,” informs the source.

Shortly after his birthday, the actor will catch the award winning Broadway play Sleep No More, an immersive, site-specific telling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Incidentally, Vicky’s Uri director Aditya Dhar is in Los Angeles, working on their next collaboration, Ashwatthama, an action-based superhero film set in modern times. 

Not only that, but Salman Khan has also shot for a special trailer that sees him talking about the Ali Abbas Zafar-directed period drama. The trailer will air on Star Sports from today in the run-up to the grand finale
Upala KBR (MID-DAY; May 10, 2019)

If cricket is a religion in the country, cinema comes a close second. Now, Salman Khan is combining the two forces for what is being touted as the biggest film from his stable, Bharat. mid-day has learnt that ahead of the Indian Premier League's (IPL) final on May 12, the actor and his Bharat co-star Katrina Kaif will host the pre-match show, Cricket Live.

Not only that, the superstar has also shot for a special trailer that sees him talking about the Ali Abbas Zafar-directed period drama. The trailer will air on Star Sports from today in the run-up to the grand finale.

Says a source, "The IPL integration is part of a marketing strategy devised under the supervision of Salman. He has done away with traditional promotional activities for the film and adopted new marketing techniques. He did not even have a trailer launch, choosing to directly release it online. Salman hopes to get maximum eyeballs with the IPL show since the T20 cricket league has reportedly registered 411 million viewers in its first four weeks."

Confirming the development, producer Nikhil Namit adds, "It's an unusual strategy that will have Salman and Katrina hosting the show. First, we attached the film's trailer with Avengers: Endgame to get maximum eyeballs; that worked. Now, we are adopting a similar strategy for television."

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; April 11, 2019)

Though Shah Rukh Khan has received several offers from filmmakers down South, things never fell into place. But, looks like that may change soon. The Zero actor is in talks with director Atlee Kumar.

A source reveals, “Atlee has been in touch with Shah Rukh for the last few months. He has spoken to the actor about a cameo in his next Tamil film Thalapathy 63, which stars Vijay and Nayanthara. It’s not a special appearance. SRK is expected to have an important role.”

Besides this project, the filmmaker wants to remake his successful Tamil movie Mersal with the Don actor. The source adds, “While meeting SRK for Thalapathy 63, Atlee also bounced off the idea of a possible Hindi remake of Mersal. Incidentally, that film, too, featured Vijay. Shah Rukh has shown an interest in the project. He has asked the director to develop it further, keeping the pan-India audience in mind. But he is yet to take a call on the same.” The two were spotted spending time together during the last KKR vs CSK match in Chennai on Tuesday. That, too, hinted at the possibility of a collaboration between them.

A source close to the superstar tells us, “Shah Rukh is currently reading a few scripts, but he wants to take his time to figure which film he wants to do next.”