Makers of Randeep Hooda's Mard initiate talks with UP govt to kick off shoot in the state
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; June 19, 2020)

While the Maharashtra government has allowed the resumption of shoots, several states are treading with caution when easing the restrictions. This has posed a problem for producer Rahul Mittra, whose next, Mard featuring Randeep Hooda, is set in Lucknow. The producer reveals that he initiated talks with members of the Uttar Pradesh government — including Raju Srivastav, chairman, Uttar Pradesh Film Development Council — about the possibility of conducting shoots in the state.

"I attended a webinar with members of the UP government last week, where I formally apprised them of my film and sought clarity [on the way ahead]. I am hoping to hear from them soon. Looking at the current situation, I don't think we can start shooting before August," says Mittra.

A change of location is not a feasible option for the producer, who insists that Lucknow is integral to the love story. "A major portion of the film has to be shot in the city. I can't compromise on the location as that is the real hero of my film."

Initially planning to kick off film sans leading lady, makers of Randeep Hooda-starrer Mard utilise lockdown to go through self-taped auditions and finalise heroine
Uma Ramasubramanian (MID-DAY; April 18, 2020)

Come May 1, Randeep Hooda was to take his film, Mard, on floors in Uttar Pradesh. With the Coronavirus lockdown being extended to May 3, the makers may have to alter their schedule, but producer Rahul Mittra and director Sai Kabir are not complaining. The unforeseen break has been a blessing in disguise for the makers who are utilising the time to zero in on the film's leading lady.

"The track of the leading lady is crucial to the film. Ideally, we were supposed to finish casting by the first week of April. However, now that we have more time, we are [scouting for more options]. The casting director has been mailing [self-taped] auditions to us, and we will soon finalise an actor," informs Mittra.

The filmmaker adds that the pre-production work on the drama is progressing smoothly despite the current restrictions. "We are all working from home, and I am in touch with Sai, Randeep and the executive producer. We are looking at this period as a boon since it allows us to invest more time in the script." In telling a love story from the perspective of an Indian alpha male, the makers hope to showcase various facets of the Indian male personality. "Randeep is picky about his projects. So when you have someone like him on board, you are all the more confident [about your product]. I know this subject will raise eyebrows, I'm prepared for it," signs off Mittra.

Randeep Hooda opens up on Battle Of Saragarhi, admits he didn’t watch Akshay Kumar’s film on the same subject
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 23, 2020)

Randeep Hooda recently wrapped up Prabhudheva’s Radhe, featuring Salman Khan in the titular role. In his first negative role he plays a Mumbai-based gangster and has shot some dare devil action scenes with a Korean stunt team. “I’ve had this action image for a long time and I would always wonder why because I’ve never punched anyone, never used my fists. But I love action, if it’s not too over-the-top,” smiles the actor.

Randeep underwent extreme transformation, shedding 18 kilos for Sarabjit Singh’s biopic and then growing his hair and learning the Sikh martial arts to enact the role of Havildar Ishar Singh in Rajkumar Santoshi’s war drama, Battle Of Saragarhi. “It’s just an extra effort I put in for my character and there’s a sense of responsibility and respect when you are playing one who was for real. There’s also a fear that people will find out that I can’t act,” he guffaws.

Battle Of Saragarhi was shelved and it was Akshay Kumar who played the braveheart in Anurag Singh’s Kesari. Surely, it must have been upsetting? “It hurt that the audience could not see what would probably have been a more authentic version with more real emotions of the story. That apart, you learn to move on. Through the journey I learnt the principles of Sikhism and I’m a better person now,” he avers. Did he watch Kesari, you wonder, and he quips, “Nope, it didn’t excite me much.”

Randeep will soon be seen in Sai Kabir’s Mard and describes him as a “quirky director” who is trying to extend himself with this film. “Every film has a life of its own. Since I don’t go on holidays, my only holiday is to go into the world of films,” he exclaims.

His last release, Imtiaz Ali’s Love Aaj Kal, despite Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan, failed to connect with the audience. Ask him what went wrong and he laughs, “It didn’t do well? I’m not sure because had it done well, I’d have got a grand piano from Imtiaz, but I believe I’m not getting it now.” Prod him and he says he thought it was a novel story, underlining the difference between the sex-starved, gender-separated love of the ’90s with the sexually easy yet empathetic world of today. “It was well directed, I enjoyed it,” he avers.

Sajid Nadiadwala has confirmed that a sequel to his 2014 directorial, Kick, is being scripted. The first part had featured Randeep as a no-nonsense cop, Himanshu Tyagi, on the hunt for Salman’s Devil aka Devilal Singh. Has the maker returned to him with Part 2? “I have no idea they were doing the sequel!” he exclaims. “I really enjoyed Kick, Sajid’s debut directorial.”

Buzz is, Randeep will soon be seen in a quirky comedy produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He interrupts, “That’s being produced by somebody else now. Yes, it’s a comedy and I play a cop. I am shooting for it right now at Karnal.”

Speculaton is also rife that the actor will soon tie the knot with model-actress, Lin Laishram. The actor neither confirms nor denies the rumour and signs off keeping the suspense around his personal life intact. “As a rule, I don’t discuss my personal life, I have enough to talk about professionally. But yes, I am in a very good space at the moment,” he winks.

Though Battle Of Saragarhi didn’t work out, actor is collaborating with makers on a new-age romance
Himesh Mankad (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 10, 2019)

Randeep Hooda, who recently wrapped up Imtiaz Ali’s romcom, which has Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan as leads, has signed on for another new-age love story. Titled Mard, the film will be helmed by Sai Kabir (director of Kangana Ranaut’s Revolver Rani) and borrows the name from Amitabh Bachchan’s 1985 drama.

Rahul Mittra, who is producing the film with Raju Chadha, informed, “Mard means strong and macho, however this film will showcase 50 different shades of an Indian man. It’s an entertaining film with a message.”

Randeep plays an impulsive lover, an Indian alpha male. “He is lovable and naive, but also menacing and obnoxious at times,” Rahul added.

The film will go on the floors in November. “I’ve worked with Sai Kabir on Revolver Rani and I believe he is one of the best new-age directors today. I love his passion for cinema,” the filmmaker asserted, going on to reveal it was a unanimous decision to cast Randeep. “In a way, he and I started our careers together with Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster and we share a great bond. I believe he will be able to portray the alpha male perfectly as he is one of the few actors who can break his own DNA to get into the skin of character.”

The film is targeting a 2020 release and the makers are on the lookout for an actress who would make an interesting pairing with Randeep.

Meanwhile, the Rajkumar Santoshi directorial Battle of Saragarhi, on which Randeep and Rahul were collaborating earlier, has been shelved. As part of his prep for the period-drama, the actor had grown his beard but according to Rahul, creative differences came in the way. “We pulled off an ambitious launch event with three of the then cabinet ministers giving the clap. But eventually someone else made a film (Kesari) on the same story,” he signed off. 

Bappi Lahiri remembers singer Mohammed Aziz, who passed away yesterday
MID-DAY (Novrmber 28, 2018)

Singer Mohammed Aziz, who did playback for artistes including Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda and Rishi Kapoor, passed away yesterday at the age of 64. "He was brought dead to the hospital at 3.17 pm. The body has left from Nanavati for post-mortem," hospital officials stated. The cause of death will be known following the post-mortem, hospital sources said. But, media reports claimed that he died of cardiac arrest.

Aziz, who had over 20,000 songs to his credit, had sung in the Bollywood, Bengali and Odia film industries. He had recorded several devotional Bhajans and Sufi songs as well. A frequent collaborator with Bappi Lahiri, Aziz had rendered several of his chart-busters.

Referring to Aziz as his younger brother, Lahiri tells mid-day, "This is a big loss for the industry. He was like my younger brother. I made him sing his first song in Geraftaar, with Amitabh Bachchan. Then, he also sang in Mard. He was a wonderful singer, who sang many of my hits, including Main Pyar Ka Pujari, Farishtey [Tere Bina Jag], and Pyar Hamara Amar Rahega, which was my favourite rendition."

Recalling his last interaction with Aziz, he adds, "He came home with his daughter Sana. I made her sing the first song in Disco Dancing Star. She sang like a pop singer. He told me, 'Aap humari beti ko dekhiye'. I hope she becomes a big singer. Of late, he hadn't been singing too much for me, but we shared a [great] relationship."

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 19, 2015)

After the box office success of Disco Dancer in 1982, followed by Kasam Paida Karnewale Ki two years later, Mithun Chakraborty became a huge star. When his mentor-director, B Subhash, approached him for his next film, Dance Dance, the actor requested him to wait six-seven months so he could clear his backlog before allotting fresh dates. Wondering what to do in the interim, the director hit upon the idea of making a film on the adventures of Tarzan in 3D. After getting Raj Kapoor's cinematographer Radhu Karmakar on board, Subhash went to Chennai to hire the only available 3D camera in the country.

"Chota Chetan was a hit and suddenly everyone wanted to jump onto the 3D bandwagon. I found Romu Sippy renting out his camera to the many producers waiting in queue for three-four hour schedules. I knew that wouldn't work for me, so I returned to Mumbai and told my scriptwriter Dr Rahi Masoom Reza that I had decided to shelve the project," reminisces the film's director who was assured by Dr Reza that this was a subject which if mounted well, would work even in cinemascope. "His words booted by confidence and this followed by the keen interest of the distributors, urged me to go ahead with Adventures of Tarzan."

For the title role he was looking for a new boy with a tough body and a soft face and despite calls from A-list stars wanting to play the part, Subhash settled for Hemant Birje who worked with a security outfit. After three months of training, he looked like a convincing apeman. "Hemant used to be a shy, young boy who for a particular scene got badly beaten up by the action director and the stuntmen. He showed me the scratches and bruises on his back and told me that now his captivity in the circus would look natural and convincing," recalls Subhash.

Kimi Katkar was recommended to him by Danny Denzongpa who had worked with him in Aandhi Toofan. "Danny told me that he'd give me my Jane and sent Kimi to me," smiles the filmmaker, remembering how on the first day of a shoot, a circus tiger instead of jumping into its cage, clambered on the high bench Kimi was perched on and was seated right behind her as the studio quickly emptied. "Fortunately, the beast didn't attack and that experience emboldened her. After that she was unfazed when a herd of wild elephants crossed our path in Madhumalai and cobras slithered by when we were shooting in the jungles. Her mother, who was always with her, was the one who was terrified while she waltzed with the circus animals in the song, Mere paas aaoge, mere saath nachoge."

Those days, a film had to be delivered to distributors on video. There was a leak and suddenly there was a huge buzz in the trade about the film. It released on the same Friday as Raj Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Manmohan Desai's Amitabh Bachchan starrer, Mard. All three films were huge hits. But while no one was surprised by the success of the other two given that they had the backing of big banners, the reception to Tarzan with two newcomers took many by surprise, including Rajendra Kumar.

Jubilee Kumar and Subhash took morning walks on the beach together and when the latter had first confided in the star his plans of making Tarzan, Kumar had admonished him, wondering why after two big hits he had chosen such a "C-grade subject". Subhash assured him that he would turn this "C-Grade subject" into an "A-class film". "And after its release Rajendra Kumar admitted that I'd kept my word," Subhash beams prodly, adding that he's now planning to remake the film in 3D with a new lead pair.

Subhash K Jha (DNA; March 17, 2015)


Your organisation M.A.R.D. creates awareness about gender inequality. Do you think it actually prevents crime against women?
Every initiative is important, not just by me, but by everybody, by government institutions and NGOs. We must try to alter mindsets and change unjust legislations and rehabilitate victims of sexual violence. Our efforts would yield some result. It cannot be possible that we do not make any impact. It infuriates you to hear the kind of gruesome crimes that are perpetrated against women and children. At the same time, it also provides you with an impetus to continue working in whatever way you can. It’s time for everyone to get involved to change violent mindsets through music that I am creating, the films that I do, social media, etc. We’re trying to inspire more people to work towards a better society. It’s not enough to say, ‘I agree with you’. You have to be more participative.

What are you hoping to achieve?
An ideal situation where we don’t pick up the newspaper or turn on the news and read about crimes against women and children.

Think more celebrities need to take an initiative to educate the public on gender equality?
I can’t speak for what others should or shouldn’t do. It’s not my place to comment on that. But whenever I’ve asked any of my colleagues to come forward to give out a message or to support any event, they’ve gladly done it. Everyone I’ve asked to come forward, has done so happily. Not because they are my friends, but because they share my concerns.

Harshada Rege (DNA; December 15, 2014)


The actor’s cause received acclaim and applause for raising awareness about violence against women and for standing up for gender equality. Through her tweet, Emma welcomed Farhan on board the UN Women’s latest initiative — the #HeForShe campaign and also mentioned that she is looking forward to meeting the actor.

Says Farhan, “MARD has received tremendous support from people who are great role models for young men and boys in India. It has given the initiative an added impetus and I am truly thankful to each of them for vocalising their shared concern and support.”

ON THE HOME FRONT
Farahan’s MARD initiative has got a lot of support from within the industry too. Right from Priyanka Chopra, who regularly retweets messages to Sachin Tendulkar, Mahesh Babu, Shaan, and Yuvraj Singh who have lent their voice for the MARD anthem in different languages. Farhan also makes it a point to talk about it to the youth. In fact, before all his concerts in schools and colleges, Farhan underscores the importance of gender equality.