Upala KBR (DNA; June 11, 2014)

The audiences love our sex comedies. They all do good business. Proof: Grand Masti makes Rs 100 crore and the Kyaa Kool Hai Hum series has been a blockbuster. Yet actors are shying away from them. While Riteish Deshmukh wants to do clean comedies now, Rajkummar Rao recently claimed he turned down the third part of Kyaa Kool Hai Hum offered to him by his mentor Ekta Kapoor. The triquel is being currently cast and Tusshar Kapoor, who has acted in both the earlier ones, is amused that actors are shying away from sex comedies which he prefers to call ‘adult comedies’. Read on...

Actors today are refusing sex comedies as they are embarrassed about being associated with the genre...
I am a film-industry child and I understand that as actors it’s important to do all kinds of films. Some people feel that being star kids, it’s easier for us to be selective but that’s far from the truth. I don’t conform to any sensibilities. I have the versatility to do a Shor In The City and a Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum because at the end of the day one has to keep in mind that one is not doing it for himself. The masses come first and it’s all about entertaining them. I don’t have any preferences for any genres. I have as much respect for adult comedies as I do for a Khakee or Shor...

How do you react when you hear actors turning down a role in Kyaa Kool...series?
I would like to go on record to state — and you can ask anybody in Balaji also — that the script has not been sent or narrated to anybody, including me, who has been part of the franchise from the beginning. So the question doesn’t arise of anybody refusing to do the film. Let whoever say whatever they want. No one can claim that they were sent the script and said no.

Maharash Shah (DNA; June 2, 2014)

It is always tricky for an actor to refuse a film offered by his/her mentor. Sushant Singh Rajput was launched in a film by Abhishek Kapoor in Kai Po Che. He went on to bag big films and big banners post that. However, he walked out of Kapoor’s next film Fitoor. And now Rajkummar Rao, who got his big screen debut thanks to Ekta Kapoor in Love Sex Aur Dhokha and Ragini MMS, has turned down an offer to act in the third part of the sex comedy series after Kyaa Kool Hai Hum, and Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum.

Rajkummar admits he isn’t doing the film, “But I really hope they come back to me with another film. I hope that they understand I haven’t developed an ego, or have an attitude problem. It is very tough to say no. People should also understand, there are certain roles that I want to do and certain movies that I want to do. I have nothing against a sex comedy but somewhere I don’t see myself in that genre or such scripts. I’d do a sex comedy —– but when it fits my personal sensibility.”

Like a Delhi Belly? “Yeah, maybe like a Delhi Belly, also I cannot do 10 movies in one year. I have prior commitments that I have to finish this year. Also, I try and do one film at a time because I want to focus all my energies on it. Now on the subject, I want to tell all the people that I have said no to, there is nothing personal against them, and they’ve got good scripts, it’s just that they didn’t motivate me enough to do them.”

Sonali Joshi Pitale & Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; January 28, 2014)

If recent incidents in the industry are anything to go by, publicity stunts have hit a new low. The latest news has it that Sunny Leone’s ‘expensive, top-of-the-line lingerie’ went missing from the sets of her upcoming film, Ragini MMS 2.

The source says that after some scenes of Sunny wearing grey coloured lingerie were shot, the crew was aghast to see the same missing from the sets. “Sunny is extremely particular about her lingerie and likes to wearing the best brands. Accordingly, lingerie from Victoria’s Secret — costing approximately Rs  50,000 — was ordered online,” says the source, adding that when the same was stolen from the sets, the producers had to order the same product again.

The source says that they also had to cough up a premium in order to facilitate early shipping. “Security on the sets has now been beefed up as well in a bid to prevent such unusual thefts,” says the source.

Interestingly, this is not the first time the production house has faced such a problem. A similar incident took place last year on the sets of the film, Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum, when Sarah Jane Dias was shooting her scenes in Goa. It seems that the actress, who was carrying her own designer lingerie, misplaced the same while travelling from one location to another.

When contacted, Tanuj Garg, CEO of the production house, didn’t reveal much about the theft on the sets of Sunny’s film. “My production informed me of some such incident and extra precautions were taken,” was his reply.

Upon being asked about Sarah’s similar loss last year, Garg said, “Fortunately or unfortunately, it’s a coincidence.” If this is not a publicity gimmick, then the company has to hunt down that someone with a fetish amidst the unit members.