Rachit Gupta (BOMBAY TIMES; April 23, 2018)

Producer-director Indra Kumar’s next — Total Dhamaal, the third installment of his popular comedy franchise — is all about greed and people chasing money. Keeping in line with the theme of the film, Kumar and his team have revisited Paisa Yeh Paisa, a classic number from Subhash Ghai’s Karz (1980). We hear that the star-studded cast — Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi, Jaaved Jaaferi, Sanjay Mishra and Pitobash — had a great time matching steps to the yesteryear hit.

At a Mumbai studio, all the actors lined up in electric blue attires, with notes of Rs 2,000 being showered on them and the rejigged version of the song playing in the background. Anil Kapoor said, “It feels great to be dancing to this classic number. I am matching steps with all these young stars and it feels great to be able to give it your best.”

Madhuri Dixit cited Paisa Yeh Paisa as one of her all-time favourites. “I’m really happy that Indra Kumar has decided to revisit this classic number. It’s a song that I’ve grooved to for so many years. Even after so long, it retains its energy,” she said.

The actress, who is known for her dancing talent as much as for her acting chops, was modest when asked if she was the best dancer on the set. She replied, “I can’t say I’m the best, because we have Jaaved and Arshad, who are trained dancers and a lot better than me. But yes, you can say that I am the best woman dancer in the film (laughs!).”

Indra Kumar called Total Dhamaal his biggest film yet, both in terms of cast and budget. Explaining the reason behind recreating the 80s’ track, he said, “Subhash ji and his wonderful composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal ji created this song many years ago and it’s still relevant. Even now, people are chasing money. So, this song fits the theme of our film perfectly.”

Happy to have the hit jodi of Anil-Madhuri in his film, he added, “They’re an iconic pair and they still create an electric atmosphere on screen together.”

An adventure comedy, Total Dhamaal is touted to feature thrilling stunt sequences. Indra Kumar said, “We’ve used action-based situations to create humour. We also have four more songs to shoot, which we’ll do in the days to come.”

Total Dhamaal, presented by Fox Star Studios, produced by Ajay Devgn Ffilms, Indra Kumar, Ashok Thakeria, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Anand Pandit and Fox Star Studios, and co-produced by Jayantilal Gada and Sangeeta Ahir releases on December 7, 2018.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 9, 2018)

Rohan Sippy, who has directed films like Bluffmaster! and Dum Maaro Dum, recently made the transition to television and directed a couple of episodes of Khan No 1, which he is also producing. The other episodes will be directed by his industry friends.

“Each episode has a different story and setting. I helmed the one about a pimp who turns into a godman and another about young struggling actors turning conmen. Kunaal Roy Kapur has directed an episode and so has Raj Acharya. Dharmesh Mehta, known for Gujarati movies and the popular TV show Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, has also come on board,” Rohan says.

Speaking about his cast, Sippy says that Rajesh Sharma is the sutradhar as well as the cop who brings criminals to justice. “Other than him being a constant, every episode has new characters. We have some fun cameos by actors like Pitobash Tripathy playing a conman,” he informs.

Sippy admits that crime has always interested him and the genre is popular on TV. “When I pitched the idea, it was called Bluffmaster! because thanks to journalists, we keep reading crazy crime stories every day and that is where the inspiration came from. There are so many Buntys and Bablis out there, and while there are a lot of shows about rapes and murders, there wasn’t any about white-collar crimes. We aren’t getting into the violent space,” he adds.

He admits that it takes a while to adjust to TV as you are working with limited resources as compared to films and ads. “My memories of the shoot are blurred because there’s so much to pack in so little time, there’s no breathing space,” he says.

Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; October 12, 2016)


After Anant Mahadevan’s biographical 2015 film Gour Hari Dastaan, Ranvir Shorey is returning to the big screen with ex-wife Konkona Sen Sharma’s directorial debut, A Death In The Gunj. Now, Mirror has learnt that the actor has been shooting for Metropark, a TV series slated to premiere early next year, alongside Omi Vaidya, Purbi Joshi, Pitobash Tripathy and Vega Tamotia since September 28.

Directed by filmmaker-writer duo Abi Varghese and Ajayan Venugopalan, the urban comedy revolves around two Indian immigrant families in New Jersey, US. Abi and Ajayan directed one of India’s first web series, Akkara kazhchakal, for YouTube that also aired on a channel in Kerala a decade ago. Incidentally, the Malayalam comedy series was also based on NRI characters and has achieved a cult status among Keralites around the world.

In Metropark, Ranvir plays Kalpesh Patel, a corner store owner in the Metropark area of New Jersey. “My character reflects the life of a typical Indian immigrant and their trials and tribulations,” the actor told Mirror. “It’s a Hindi series but since the story is set in the US, a good portion of it is in English. We don’t have a launch date yet but it could be around March 2017,” Ajayan said.