Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 16, 2015)

Meet the latest Salman Khan protege who is all set to make a splash in Bollywood. No surprises that she is a firang beauty. The actor who has a fondness for foreign women has turned mentor for former Bigg Boss 8 contestant, Serbian model Natasa Stankovic.

Natasha, whose film credits include an item number in Prakash Jha's Satyagraha and a cameo in Action Jackson, will be seen as the leading lady in the thriller 7 Hours To Go. "Yes, I am aware that Salman has given a boost to the career of many actresses in Bollywood and I am lucky to not remain just an item girl. Thanks to him I have bagged a meaningful role," Natasa told Mirror.

Directed by Saurabh Varma, the film follows a man (Shiv Pandit) who comes to Mumbai looking for work and is an eyewitness to a murder. He ends up taking seven hostages and has only seven hours to figure out the mystery behind the crime.

Natasha who plays his love interest reveals that when she was leaving the Bigg Boss house, Salman told her that she needed to work on her Hindi. "He even told me whom I should train with to correct my accent," she says.

Interestingly, Varma had cast another of Bhai's firang fixation, former Bigg Boss contestant, Elli Avram, in, Mickey Virus. "I have had a long term connection with Bigg Boss and Salman Khan. Elli, was one of Salman's favourites and her presence on the show and her proximity to Bhai helped me promote my film," the director admitted.

Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; March 11, 2014)

Looks like the production house DAR Motion Pictures is now making a habit of getting into trouble. Earlier, Nitin Keni served them a legal notice on behalf of Zee’s Essel Vision when despite being a co-producer for The Lunchbox, they were not kept in the loop about awarding the film’s distribution rights to UTV and Karan Johar.

Soon after, D-Day director Nikhil Advani expressed his anger against DAR Motion Pictures on social media. He was upset about the production house selling the Telugu rights of the film to a distributor who, in turn, showcased it as a sleazy film by using a scantily clad photograph of Shruti Hassan in the film’s publicity material. Shruti disassociated herself from the film and is said to be upset with the production house.
Recently, it emerged that noted criminal Charles Sobhraj has sent them a legal notice restraining them from making a biopic on his life.

The latest news has it that Saurabh Varma (extreme right, in the picture above), the writer and director of Mickey Virus, has sent registered a complaint against Dar Motion Pictures with the Indian Films and Television Directors Association (IFTDA. Varma has also filed a case over non-payment of dues and for allegedly stopping him from working on other projects. Says a source, “Mickey Virus was one of the highest grossing films of 2013 in the new actor and new director category, and it was sold to two co-producers — Trilogic Media and Awesome Films — soon after the first promo was out. Post this, DAR has shown no interest in sharing the income with the film’s stakeholders or selling the film’s satellite rights.” He adds that he doesn’t want to say much right now. “I just wanted them to honour their commitment and give me my dues as per the contractual understanding. I am a filmmaker who wants to make good films and they are being unreasonable in restricting me from doing so.”

Ashoke Pandit, President, IFTDA, says, “Saurabh has been wronged by the production house. We have sent a notice to them and they will have to appear at the dispute committee meeting next week. You cannot make a producer wait for three years. Either make films with him or they should let him make films outside the banner.”

When contacted, Vivek Rangachari from DAR Motion Pictures denied any knowledge about Saurabh registering a case against them. “I have been travelling and I will have to speak to my lawyer to check if we have received a notice, because I am not aware of it as yet,” he said. Asked about Varma’s dues, Rangachari said, “We need to see that the script is up to the mark and the rest will be sorted out with Saurabh.”