Actor Radhikka Madan says she still “begs for auditions” despite earning praise for her performances, admitting that every project feels like a “do or die” situation. The actor, recently appreciated for her work in Subedaar by filmmaker Hansal Mehta, will next be seen in Lust Stories 3 in a segment directed by Shakun Batra alongside Ali Fazal.

“I have been a huge fan of Shakun’s work and when I got to know about the film, I begged for an audition for Lust Stories 3 and by God’s grace, I got it,” says Radhikka, who made her acting debut with TV show Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi before transitioning to films with Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha in 2018.

Despite building a credible body of work, the actor says she cannot afford complacency. “I can’t afford to give an average performance. There are a lot of people in line for every role. Every work is a do or die situation for me. If I need to survive, I need to kill it,” she says.

Radhikka adds that she has no hesitation in chasing opportunities. “Even now, if there is a project people are not thinking of me for, I beg for an audition and I’m very comfortable with it. I don’t have that ego. I have a problem when I don’t even get the opportunity to audition and am crossed off because of my last name,” she says.

Radhikka also credits “actors like Kangana Ranaut, Vidya Balan, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and Tabu ma’am” for paving the way for stronger female-led roles in Bollywood.

When you hear Akshay Kumar, Priyadarshan, and a horror comedy, the first thing you think of is Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007). Comparison of their upcoming horror comedy, Bhooth Bangla, with the 2007 hit is inevitable. That’s something Rohan Shankar knew right when he began writing the April 10 release. “The two are different films, even if they share a genre,” insisted Shankar when we called him.

“Bhool Bhulaiyaa leaned toward psychological thriller with humour, while Bhooth Bangla has action, fantasy, romance, humour, and multiple layers. From the start, I knew it was a different story with a bigger scale.”

Nowadays horror comedies risk slipping into a predictable template. According to Shankar, however, Bhooth Bangla takes a broader approach to the genre.

“We didn’t lean on those horror comedy clichés. We kept the Priyadarshan-Akshay Kumar brand of situational comedy. But rather than falling into clichés, we expanded the genre.”

If the film marks Kumar and the filmmaker’s reunion 16 years after Khatta Meetha (2010), it also sees the superstar team up with Tabu after decades.

Reflecting on how the dynamic on set was shaped by the contrasting energies of the lead actors, Shankar said, “Tabu ma’am can do complex scenes in one or two takes, making it look effortless. Akshay sir wants every scene to be elevated, always pushing his co-actors and the scene itself to be funnier and better. When the camera rolls, his chemistry with Priyan sir and his conviction in his craft shine. Akshay sir, Priyan sir, and Tabu ma’am are reuniting almost 30 years after Hera Pheri [2000]. So, it’s a special film.”

Six years after her turn in Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020), Tabu returns to South cinema with filmmaker Puri Jagannadh’s upcoming action thriller, Slumdog – 33 Temple Road. The pan-India feature, which also stars Vijay Sethupathi and Samyuktha in primary roles, is currently in post-production and will release later this year.

Smitten by the calibre and “confidence” of her co-stars, Samyuktha, who has been observing them on set, shares, “They walk and perform with an ease, and have an effortless way of handling things.”

For Tabu, the project is akin to coming home, as the Bollywood star hails from Hyderabad. Samyuktha shares her excitement about hearing Tabu converse with the cast and crew in Telugu. The actor says her co-star made her feel included, despite it being their first collaboration.

“She is a Hyderabad girl! Being the least experienced person there, I would listen to Zarina [Wahab] ma’am and Tabu ma’am talk in Telugu. I heard so many stories from them. I felt very included. There wasn’t any vibe of ‘You need to be away from us because we’re talking.’ I always felt a sense of inclusivity, which I loved.”

It took Ektaa R Kapoor’s intervention to reunite filmmaker Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar after 16 years. Despite collaborating on six films earlier, the duo hadn’t worked together since Khatta Meetha (2010). That changed when Kapoor approached them with the script of Bhooth Bangla, which releases next month. The script “excited both of us”, shares Priyadarshan, adding that the actor had suggested Kapoor approach him to direct the project.

Priyadarshan says he took the story from the writer but developed his “own screenplay”. Bhooth Bangla draws heavily from “Indian folklore and mythology like the English werewolf. Soul-switching, controlling souls, and black magic is the core of the film. [The idea] — tele-transportation, where one soul inhabits the body of another human [is significant] even in the Bible and Indian philosophy. It is funny because I am a psychology student and I don’t believe in ghosts,” laughs the director. He adds that the film unfolds from the perspective of a non-believer who suddenly encounters a soul.

Unfazed by comparisons with the Bhool Bhulaiyaa franchise, Priyadarshan insists that the Kumar, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Tabu-starrer is “being made on a grander scale.” He adds, “People will smile and then the eeriness will creep in. The climax is one of the biggest ends ever shot on a huge canvas.”

The director reveals that Tabu — with whom this horror-comedy marks his fifth collaboration — “looks as beautiful in it as she did in Virasat [1997]. Without Tabu’s character, there’s no logic in the story.” He recalls that the actor was equally excited to reunite and work with him again.

However, it is Rajpal Yadav’s comic timing that the filmmaker cannot stop praising. “He is hilarious in the film and a character you will remember,” he notes, adding that while he has no plans to turn Bhooth Bangla into a franchise, “Maybe, Ektaa can take it forward.”

Twenty-five years after Hera Pheri (2000), Tabu will be working with Akshay Kumar and director Priyadarshan on a new film. Their collaboration, Bhooth Bangla, marks a reunion which Tabu describes as nostalgic, surprising, and oddly familiar all at once.

Speaking about her first day on set, Tabu says, “I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t worked with Akshay after Hera Pheri, and we hadn’t even met socially very often over the years. I had stayed in touch with Priyan, so I knew he would be exactly the same person.”

That instinct, she says, was right. “There’s absolutely no change in Priyan. He’s still as impatient, still as vocal about what he feels. He’s still the one-take director. But, of course, time has passed. We’ve all grown in different directions and are now back to work with each other again. In some ways, we’re different people now.”

Her Hera Pheri co-star, Akshay Kumar, however, seems untouched by time. “His humour and energy are the same. He still wakes up at 4 am, finishes early, and heads home, which is a very good thing for the rest of us. He always says, ‘jaldi sona chahiye,’ and reminds everyone he doesn’t go to parties. That part of him hasn’t changed at all. Of course, we’ve all grown up now, but the essence of who he is – that’s still the same.”

Tabu did not have any releases in 2025, but she has been shooting for projects back-to-back. She says, “I finished two movies this year – Bhooth Bangla and a Puri Jagannadh directorial starring Vijay Sethupathi, which releases in Tamil and Telugu. Both films will be released next year. I shot for a south film five years after my last movie, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo. It felt good to be home again in Hyderabad. It’s an intimate film industry. 2025 has been a very satisfying year. I was busy shooting from January to September, and in 2026, I will have two releases.”

Things appear to be progressing swiftly on Mira Nair’s next, a biopic on acclaimed 20th century painter Amrita Sher-Gil. The buzz is that the filmmaker is in talks with Tabu to feature in an extended cameo in the biopic, tentatively titled ‘Amri’. If the actor comes on board, it will mark her third collaboration with Nair after ‘The Namesake’ (2007) and ‘A Suitable Boy’ (2020).

The biopic has been in development for years, with Nair first announcing it in 2020 right after the première of ‘A Suitable Boy’.

A source shares, “Mira Nair has previously spoken about spending four years persuading the market to back the period drama, which is set between 1915 and 1941, and spans India, Hungary, and France. The inclusion of a respected actor like Tabu will further up the ante.”

Even as there is ambiguity on who is playing the titular role, with Tanya Maniktala denying rumours of her being cast as the lead, casting for the film is reportedly scaling up. Word is that more than 15 actors from the Hindi film industry are expected to star in it. The ensemble will be locked by December, with Nair planning to roll the project by March 2026. 

mid-day reached out to Tabu, who didn’t respond till press time.

Don’t be surprised if you spot Akshay Kumar chanting mantras and casting spells in Hyderabad soon. Come April 17, the superstar and Tabu will kick off the climax of their horror comedy, Bhooth Bangla, in the southern city. Sources tell us that director Priyadarshan has charted out a month-long schedule, during which he will film important sequences, with the thrust obviously on the climax. After the schedule is wrapped up by mid-May, Bhooth Bangla will be nearly complete.

That’s quick progress for the horror comedy that went on floors only this January in Rajasthan. After commencing work at the Chomu Palace in Jaipur, the cast—including Kumar, Tabu, Paresh Rawal, Wamiqa Gabbi, and Mithila Palkar—went on to shoot in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Now, Priyadarshan is ready to call action on the most crucial leg.

A source reveals, “A huge set of a palace has been designed by art director Sabu Cyril at Ramoji Studios for this portion. The principal cast will be part of the sequence that will see Kumar’s magician bust myths about black magic. Though tackling a serious subject, it will be an entertaining sequence, just like the director managed with his psychological thriller, Bhool Bhulaiyaa [2007]. After this stint is wrapped up, the unit along with leads Akshay, Tabu and Wamiqa will head to London for the final leg, in which they will film a song and some talkie portions.”

As the film is high on VFX, Priyadarshan wants to wrap up principal photography by May and give the post-production team ample time before its April 2026 release.

Bhooth Bangla is highly anticipated as it marks Kumar and Priyadarshan’s reunion after 15 years. The movie, backed by Ektaa R Kapoor, blends fantasy, horror and humour to explore the subject of black magic.

The source adds, “With Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Priyadarshan not only tackled the myth of spirits, but also shed light on a mental health issue. This time, he will examine black magic, a practice that many in India believe in. The script refers to some of the oldest Vedas, while making its case against witchcraft, curses and sorcery.”

Haunted mansions, long corridors and creaky doors are a staple in horror comedies. That’s exactly the world filmmaker Priyadarshan is creating at Royal Palms in Goregaon, Mumbai, for Bhooth Bangla. mid-day has learnt that Akshay Kumar and the director kicked off the horror comedy’s second schedule at the venue yesterday. Over the next 30 days, the unit will shoot most of the film’s horror sequences. 

Also starring Tabu, Wamiqa Gabbi, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav, Bhooth Bangla sees Kumar playing a magician entangled in a series of supernatural events.

A source says, “The production design team has transformed a portion of Royal Palms into a haunted mansion setting, which serves as the backdrop for a chunk of the movie. An elaborate set, comprising dark corridors and high ceiling, has been built. The month-long shoot will be focused on the dramatic and horror scenes. A hilarious chase sequence, where the principal characters get separated in the mansion and run amok hoping to escape what they think is a spirit, will also be filmed in this stint.”

Bhooth Bangla went on floors in December 2024. Since its announcement, it has become a highly anticipated project as it marks Priyadarshan and Kumar’s reunion after 14 years.

The language of cinema is universal. While various Bollywood actors have dabbled in international films, Ishaan Khatter’s promising Hollywood debut in Nicole Kidman-starrer The Perfect Couple came as a pleasant surprise. Be it Beyond the Clouds, Dhadak or A Suitable Boy — Ishaan has pushed boundaries from the word go. In a conversation with Bombay Times, the actor reveals what prompted him to head West, carving his own identity, rapport with big brother Shahid Kapoor and how he’s in a phase of self-discovery. Excerpts...

I wanted it to be distinct and clutter-breaking. My debut film Beyond The Clouds was largely an Indian crew. Of course, Majid Majidi brought his vision to the film that was very different and distinct. And even Mira Nair’s, The Suitable Boy, was shot in India, and these were Indian stories. The Perfect Couple is a very American story and it’s very different to be part of an entirely American shoot. I saw the opportunity when I read the part. I couldn’t draw a reference for it. It was a completely different experience from anything I’ve done before.

It was something that I partly worked on with Susanne Bier (director). The way I read the role it didn’t make sense to me that I would be the only character speaking with a slightly different accent. So, I said, maybe we should go with a standard American accent. And she said, go ahead. I was given that freedom. The lack of stereotyping was interesting.

I don’t know if I can speak for an industry at large. The part I was offered is proof enough that times are changing, and I think it’s a milestone in that sense. I do know that they were open to casting pretty much across the board, irrespective of ethnicity. To me, that’s the bigger step, that they’re looking at parts not locked in with race or ethnicity but what an actor can bring to a character.

I would be lying if I said that I’m not in awe of these people. I love their work. I’ve grown up watching them and I’m lucky. Who gets to work with Tabu as a romantic pair or with Nicole Kidman this early in their career? I just say thank you God, and do the work. When good things happen to me, I don’t know if it’s my defence mechanism, but I just treat them like it’s just another part, just another day. Also, I’ve never been in a hurry. My priority was always to become capable before doing anything.

There are more diverse opportunities for young actors in the West, especially when you’re in the main lead space. There are fewer choices of roles here. The leading man in Bollywood is seen in a certain light. It’s only when you start looking a little older, there’s a wider blanket of roles at your disposal. I can’t complain because I’ve had some wonderful opportunities despite that. But, yes, that’s how it is. If you see young actors here, their careers start shooting in their late 20s or 30s. My brother (Shahid Kapoor) and I both started young. We were 21. So, we’ve seen that lack of opportunity when you are raring to go. Also, when you grow up on a certain kind of cinema, it shapes your sensibilities. You want to push yourself as an actor early. It was a good time for me to try something new. I’m still in a phase of self-discovery. I’m in a place today where I know myself better, so I back myself more. I don’t want to be here for a hot moment and then be forgotten. I am here for the long haul.

I kind of take it in my stride. I think of it in a positive way because I know it'll work out for me in the long run (smiles). Like baby face is not such a bad thing. It's a blessing in disguise, yeah. The audience has been fairly kind to me, but I have miles to go before I can sleep. I have my eyes on the long road ahead and I want to reach out to more people.

I was 21, on the stage of my first film’s trailer launch when I was asked about this. Someone had asked me if there was competition back home? Perhaps, this is the public perception. But to me, I see it as a blessing that I have an elder brother that I share a common passion with, which is cinema. I can learn from him, we share notes. And the thing is, I know that I’m the younger brother, and that’s not something that I need to fight. My journey is my journey. When you have a certain confidence in yourself, it comes from the fact that I know who I am. I am not a shadow of anyone. I’m not trying to imitate anybody. I’m not trying to ride on someone else’s success. This is who I am. This is what I want to do and I’m happy with that.

When Anees Bazmee had wrapped up Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2 (2022), he had no intention to build the franchise further. By his admission, the director likes to move on to a new story after wrapping up work on one. But the horror comedy’s runaway success made him rethink his plans. “I had cracked five-six stories, but I wasn’t convinced about any of them. The day we cracked this idea, I felt excited about giving my one year to the film,” he begins.

What was this big idea? To have two Manjulikas. From there was born Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, fronted by Kartik Aaryan. Bazmee naturally thought of the OG Manjulika aka Vidya Balan to play one of the leads. The next choice became Madhuri Dixit-Nene.

“The best thing about this film is that we have two fantastic actors, Vidya ji and Madhuri ji, in the same frame. It wasn’t difficult to convince them because their characters are fleshed out. Such big actors always look at the material that’s offered to them. They were excited to share screen space with each other and be part of the film.”

Often when two A-list actors work with each other, the director feels the pressure of balancing their screen time. But Bazmee had no such worries. “I’m honest about each actor’s role in a film. I don’t cheat or lie when I narrate a film to an actor. I have directed many multi-starrers and never faced such a problem.”

Did he not think of casting Tabu again, considering her act as Manjulika was among the highlights of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2? “Tabu ji is a fantastic actor and a dear friend of mine. Her performance had a huge role to play in Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’s success. But the point where I left her character—where the ghost and the villain were left together in a room—taking that forward would not be appropriate. I felt that character would remain memorable with the way I left it in the second part.”

With barely 15 days left for the Diwali release, the team is gearing up for a box-office clash with Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty’s Singham Again. Bazmee hopes that both releases fare well. “In the past, two big films have released on the same day and become hits. I don’t believe in words like ‘clash’. A lot of people associated with Singham Again are my friends. I am sure they’ve made an expensive film with terrific action. I will be the first to watch Singham Again, and I hope the audience watches both the films.”

Haider, based on Hamlet and set in 1995 during the peak of militancy in Kashmir, narrates the story of a family against the backdrop of politics. Talking about filming it in Kashmir, Vishal Bhardwaj says, “At that time, the average Kashmiri youth felt that Bollywood had cheated them, always portraying them as terrorists in phirans with AK-47s. So, they weren’t very cooperative. But later, when they saw the film, they called me.”

As the film completes 10 years, Vishal feels it was destined to be made. He says, “Now, when I look back, I feel so fortunate that I could register my time with Haider.”

As the film completes 10 years, we spoke to co-writer, director, composer, and producer Vishal Bhardwaj about the making of Haider, which has inspired numerous dissertations and research papers.

Vishal says, "I had been planning a Shakespeare trilogy and was working on Hamlet. Earlier, I had a different setting in mind for Hamlet. It was set in an espionage background. But when Gulzar Sahab read it, he mentioned that it felt like just another CIA movie with the tragedy of Hamlet in it. He was absolutely right. Then, simultaneously, things happened. I remember Rekha (Bhardwaj) reading Basharat’s book (Bashrat Peer's Curfewed Night) and her reaction to it. After that, I read the book and realized that, for a long time, I had also wanted to make a film about Kashmir. All these things came together. The structure became clear, we knew our characters, and of course, the history was there. It didn't take much time because there was so much clarity in our thoughts and in what we wanted to create."

Vishal Bhardwaj says that there are multiple scenes in the film that are not just memorable from the film, but from his entire career. He says, "And I'm not just talking about Shahid's monologue, which is very obvious. It was written for the gallery. But there are also 2-3 scenes between Tabu and Shahid, where they're in the Chinar Bagh before the interval, when they confront each other. Then there's a moment in the film when Shahid finally finds his father’s grave, and he breaks down. That scene was really... I had prepped Shahid, and we wanted to shoot with a telephoto lens, so the camera was really far. I told Shahid, 'Don't feel insecure because it's not a close-up. It's actually a very big close-up, and creatively, we want to shoot it with the tele-lens from very far'. He performed that scene so beautifully. He started crying, and we had two cameras capturing it. The way he was crying, I didn’t have the heart to shout cut. The camera was 400 meters away, and in the snow, I walked up to him, let him cry, and then hugged him, saying, 'It's cut, Shahid. It's done'."

Recalling another moment, he says, "We were shooting in the basement of a bungalow. So, -5°C felt like -15°C. Just as we were about to take the shot, Irrfan came to me and said, 'These lines are too few. Earlier, there were just 1-2 lines. I feel like saying more. I wish there was a poem written here'. I said, 'Okay, give me an hour, and I'll write a poem'. Everybody waited, and I wrote the poem right then and there. And then Irrfan performed it. My God, the way he performed it! When Shahid is leaving, and he recites that Faiz line, - Gulon mein rang bhare, baad-e-naubahaar chale, chale bhi aao ke gulshan ka karobaar chale. The way he says it - such a beautiful romantic couplet - and the way he performs it like a coded message in an espionage film. Irrfan ki kami na, every day in some way or the other, I feel the void of him not being here."

For casting, Vishal says, Tabu and Irrfan were both in his and Basharat's mind when they were writing those parts. He says, "But it took a long time to woo Tabu into that. She was very reluctant to play the mother. She rejected it twice, saying, 'No, I’m not going to play this. Why do you keep coming back to me? ' When I wrote the first draft and we started casting, after the rest of the cast was finalized, I went to her again, and she said, 'No, I’m not playing the mother.' The third time I went to her, I said, 'I'm coming to you because you're my friend; otherwise, I would have taken it on my ego. But you're my friend, and I want you to know that you're being blinded by the fact that you're playing a mother. Why don't you see it as Gertrude? See it as Gertrude's role, not Hamlet's mother'. I think that struck her. When she realized that, I told her that such parts are rarely written and that I'd be in pain all my life if she didn't play the role. And then she agreed to do it."

As for Irrfan, he says,"Uska toh jawab hi nahi tha. When he read the script, he said, 'This is such an important film to be made'."

The film was shot by cinematographer Pankaj Kumar, who was also the cinematographer for Ship of Theseus and Tumbbad. Vishal recalls, "At that time, Tumbbad hadn’t been released yet, and I was very impressed with the work on Ship Of Theseus. I then requested Anand Gandhi to show me some parts of Tumbbad, and when I saw it, I knew Pankaj was going to be my cameraman. I decided to shoot on location."

Haider’s ‘Hum hai, ya hum nahi’ monologue at Lal Chowk reminded people of Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ and introduced the Indian audience to ‘chutzpah’.

About the scene’s shoot, Vishal says, “At that time, Lal Chowk was a different zone, and we were shooting behind Lal Chowk in the Press Club. And we shot it! It was destined. This film was destined to be made.”

Vishal recalls that there were multiple such locations. He says, “We went and shot at the Zaina Kadal Bridge, and nobody had shot there in the last 30-35 years since militancy started. And we went there and shot with mainstream stars like Tabu, Shahid, and Irrfan.”'

Vishal Bhardwaj says that music was very close to the script of the film. He says,"Uss tarah ke deep romantic gaane banana, ya uss pace ka gaana banana jis tarah ka gaana Jhelum hai ya Khul Kabhi, uss tarah ke gaane - that's the pace of my soul. My real self is songs like Khul Kabhi Toh or Paani Paani Re (from Maachis) - those kinds of songs. It’s actually a texture of me."

"Jhelum gaana mera bahut purana composition hai. It had such a deep connection. The day my father died, I had composed the song that morning. I was sitting with him, and in the afternoon, he passed away. That song had such an emotional bond with me that I didn’t have the courage to use that composition for 30 years. Then Haider, being a father-son story, felt like the right place to use it. I never told this to anyone. That’s why Jhelum remains a very, very special song to me."

"We created this song like a mousetrap where Shahid performs a play within a play. I wanted to create our own Ek Hasina Thi, Ek Deewana Tha moment in my way for Hamlet (laughs). Karz had a similar situation where Rishi Kapoor performs in front of Simi Garewal about the murder. Sukhwinder ko bahut khula gaane ki aadat hai - he's used to improvising a lot - but I told him, 'Is gaane mein track pe gaana padega, this is like an opera. We are telling a story in it'. Itna khoobsurat Gulzar sahab ne likha hai. I had only given him the phrase Bismil bismil bulbule bismil, and from that, he wrote an entire epic. He’s a master."

The song was choreographed by Sudesh Adhana, who is a professor of contemporary dance in Norway at Oslo University. Vishal Bhardwaj met him when he was directing an opera in Paris at the Châtelet Theatre called The Flowering Tree.

Vishal says, "In that opera, I used long, oversized puppets by Dadi Pudumjee, a great puppeteer, and he introduced me to Sudesh. I worked with them for two months continuously in Paris, and right after that, I started shooting Haider. I brought all the sensibilities I learned during the opera, working with Dadi Pudumjee and Sudesh. It was so unconventional, so un-Bollywood-like. I'm saying this and I belong to Bollywood. And Sudesh won a National Award for that choreography."

Vishal shares, "There was a guy who was president of (student union) Kashmir University. When we were shooting in the university, a lot of problems occurred - there was a lathi charge, bottles were thrown, pata nahi kya-kya hua. The CRPF had to take us out and safeguard us. It felt like a battle between students and cops. The next day, we were shooting at another location, and that guy was there. We were showing the court chamber, and there was a character of a stenographer, and he was playing that role. After the shoot, he came to me and said, 'I was in disguise and wanted to check what you were shooting! (laughs). I think we made a mistake. You're not making the kind of film people usually come here to make'. When the film released, he somehow found my number and apologized to me for half an hour."

-In July, when Vishal attended a tourism conference in Kashmir, he was told that after the film, the Martand Sun Temple where Bismil was shot became a popular tourist attraction, which prompted the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India) to remove encroachments from the site.

- Gulzar shot the song Tere Bina Zindagi Se Koi Shikwa Toh Nahi; at the same Martand Temple where Bismil was filmed.

- Khul Kabhi song from the film was Arijit Singh's first collaboration with Vishal Bhardwaj

Her latest release, Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha (AMKDT), gave actor Saiee M Manjrekar a chance to work with her on-screen idol, actor Tabu. Saiee, who played the younger version of Tabu’s character, says, “I was a nervous wreck initially as she is an artiste I have looked up to all my life. But after a lot of workshops and training, I became calmer.”

Recalling her first meeting with Tabu, the 22-year-old says, “Neeraj sir (Pandey, filmmaker) called me to his office and Tabu ma’am was there. He told me she’d read out my lines and I’d have to remember her tonality. I was blabbering nervously while she delivered my lines.”

While she had a great time working on AMKDT, the film’s box-office failure did leave her disappointed. “The film was made with a lot of love and hard work. So, it was disheartening,” she says.

So, how does her father, actor and filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar advise her to deal with failures? “I have seen my father go through tough times and I’ve learnt a lot just by observing him,” Saiee says.

While she hopes that AMKDT finds its audience on OTT, the actor is certain that the charm of the big screen will never fade away. “I feel the thrill of watching a film on the big screen will never go away. Eventually, when you find the pulse of the audience, it will all come back. It’s just about timing, I think AMKDT’s timing was wrong,” she says.

He is a man of many talents. From being an author to a screenplay writer, from a producer to an actor, Mushtaq Shiekh has tried his hand at many things. Now, the writer is set to see his first fiction book, Secrets Within, published last month, adapted into a theatrical film.

“The narrative has visual richness, dramatic twists, and is intensely emotional. It will translate the essence of suspense and psychological drama of the novel well onto the big screen,” says Shiekh, who has previously written the script for Om Shanti Om (2007) and Ra.One (2011).

While he refuses to divulge details about the film, Shiekh shares that he is penning three more books to be adapted as films. “The initial talks with a studio have gone well,” says the writer. “Secrets Within will be made as a franchise. I have three more books planned for it. The name [of the studio] will be kept under wraps until all the semantics are taken care of,” he adds.

Secrets Within revolves around an architect who gets a contract of a lifetime, but taking it could either make or break his career. “The character of Aakash [the architect] transcends any specific industry. His journey is about personal growth amid the moral dilemmas he faces. His encounter with Maya—a woman with a shadowy past—[takes him] through layers of deception. As the story unravels, the characters confront their desires, betrayals, and the harsh consequences of their choices. The concept of wearing masks to maintain the façade of society sparked the creation of Secrets Within,” explains Shiekh, who hopes to rope in Akshay Kumar, Tabu, and R Madhavan for the lead roles in the film.

“The ability to blend charm with complexity makes Akshay the perfect choice to navigate Aakash’s layered personality. Tabu’s intensity and prowess in portraying strong and mysterious women will breathe life into Maya’s enigmatic character, and R Madhavan’s versatility can bring out Mr Khanna’s power and vulnerability,” shares the writer.

First, a hit in Crew, then bagging the role of Sister Francesca in Dune: Prophecy, and now Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha—clearly Tabu is having one hell of a year.

When we tell her that, the actor laughs, saying, “I don’t set out with the ambition of proving a point with any film. I go into a project thinking, ‘How will I be interesting?’ I want to enjoy what I’m doing. I want either a cutting-edge film that gives me something different experientially, or sometimes I want to do regular, predictable [stories]. Crew came to me when I was doing Drishyam 2 [2022] and Bholaa [2023]. So, I wanted a break from that zone.”

Crew, starring Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon alongside her, has proven that a film doesn’t need a hero for it to run to packed houses. Its success has given hope to filmmakers to develop more women-led stories.

“Not everyone can make a Crew. It was a combination of story, casting, and marketing. But if a few people are encouraged to make films with women [leading them] because of Crew’s success, it is heartening. It speaks volumes about the conviction of the makers, Rhea Kapoor and Ektaa R Kapoor. Rhea always believed it would be a Rs 100-crore film. I look at success differently. But she wanted to make a statement and was able to.”

Now, Tabu is reuniting with one of her oldest friends, Ajay Devgn, in Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha. The romantic drama marks their tenth film together. What’s the secret to their enduring chemistry? 

“When we say yes to a film, the story means something to us. You can’t define good chemistry. We don’t feed off each other’s energies. But we don’t repeat our dynamics. In some films, we’re pitted against each other; in others, we’re romantically paired. There is freshness to the casting. In this film, what works is that audiences have seen us together for so many years. To them, it’s believable that these two people haven’t met in a long time. People tend to believe that Ajay and I are two people in love, who couldn’t meet and are meeting after eons.”

The drama is her first collaboration with director Neeraj Pandey. She says that he has a knack for moulding his actors beautifully. “He will mould you in every take, with the brief he gives you. By the third take, he will want you to reimagine your approach. He’ll say, ‘Let’s try it with a smile.’”

----------------------------------------------

Rendered by B Praak and Asees Kaur, Akshay & IP Singh’s composition Dar Ba Dar was a track safely guarded by Rhea Kapoor who admired it when she first heard it, several years ago. It wasn’t until Crew came along that the song found a suitable home.

“Rhea, who had been listening to it since we first played it for her, contacted us to use it for this film,” recalls Akshay of the Friday release, adding, “There was no script that demanded this song before Crew, but when this was made, the song was a fitting [addition]. She wanted us to see the film so that we could make some minor tweaks for it to fit the story, and that’s how this number came about,” says Akshay, who calls the track “special” given that it resulted from a casual jamming session with Singh. 

“Until now, it was only [played] on the piano. But Rhea encouraged us by stating that even if it was a soft romantic number, we could venture into an electronic zone. We are glad that it plays at an integral part in the film,” he says of the Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan, and Kriti Sanon starrer. 

When Rhea asked the musician duo to watch the film and introduce suitable tweaks to the track to make it “fit the movie”, the composers realized that there were “more situations” in the film to which they could contribute their skills.

“We went through the catalogue of the [music label] and arrived at two past numbers that we could re-imagine,” says Singh, as Akshay adds, “In the film, [some characters] are seen smuggling gold. That’s why we zeroed in on Sona Kitna Sona. Similarly, Choli Ke Peeche was selected for another appropriate situation.”

Credits have been retained for the original singers of Choli Ke Peeche, including Ila Arun and Alka Yagnik. “We know remakes are not appreciated, and that’s why we call them reimagined numbers—because, apart from the hook line, it’s like a fresh composition. We’ve retained the original integrity. There’s a reason why a song was loved. If we do something wrong, we’ll [invite criticism]. So, the songs are like the originals, and we’ve kept the original vocals of Ila ji and Alka ji. Sonically, though, it has a contemporary treatment,” says Akshay.

Singh adds, “We wanted to retain the song’s legacy, flavours, and essence, and add our tadka to it. We jammed along and came up with the Punjabi and hip-hop bits.”

Given that Diljit Dosanjh features in the offering, approaching him to render this new version was a no-brainer. “Diljit usually sings on a high scale. Here, we made him sing on a low scale. So, while this is not typically his sound, [it is enjoyable]. We had 30 minutes [to record it], and he gave us everything we needed.”

How do you bring three of Bollywood’s biggest heroines on screen together? Get a solid story, and rope in a director who can pull it off.

Result: Rajesh Krishnan’s Crew, starring Tabu, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Kriti Sanon. But the director is wary of bracketing it as a female-centric movie. To him, it’s a humorous story told well. He begins, “Nothing convinces harder than good humour. I don’t have it in me to sell a movie as female-centric. I don’t know what that genre is. Everyone wants to know the story, and a story like this is gender-agnostic. To me, Kareena, Tabu and Kriti are no different from Shah Rukh [Khan], Salman [Khan] and Aamir [Khan]. The story is about three underdogs.”

In this underdog story, three flight attendants, who have not been paid for months as the airline is on the verge of bankruptcy, devise their own means to make money. He gleefully says, “Three meek air-hostesses go from hum kya hi kar lenge to maloom hai, hum kya kar sakte hai?”

But the director promptly points out that it’s more than a crime film. At a time when there have been multiple instances of airline staff being treated disrespectfully by entitled passengers, he hopes Crew will make viewers rethink their behaviour before they get on their next flight. “They say namaste, wear a smile, and have to be nice to you. That doesn’t mean they should be snapped at and asked, ‘Where is my alcohol?’ I have been surrounded by so many sassy women, and they’ve raised me well. I don’t take basic human dignity for granted. Here is a story of three mature people fighting [the odds] with their brains. These three women are done taking nonsense.”

If Krishnan got a sharply written comedy, he also got actors who would elevate it further. Crew’s trailer shines bright with the easy chemistry between Kapoor, Tabu and Sanon. “They have inherent chemistry. What united them was they all thought my jokes were funny. They understood the intent of the film. Each had their own devices and made the material on paper land. Sometimes, they would do a brilliant take, then at some point they would start laughing because it was so funny and spoil the take. In comedy, we do our best work when we don’t take pressure, make some mistakes and don’t take ourselves too seriously. So, I didn’t interfere with their process. I would get the technical bits out of the way first and then do extensive readings of what they are to shoot that day.”

The director considers himself lucky that he got immense support for the comedy—be it from actors Diljit Dosanjh and Kapil Sharma who agreed to play pivotal roles, or producers Anil Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor who pulled out all stops.

“We shot on tarmacs that civilians haven’t even seen—be it in Goa airport or Abu Dhabi airport. Anil Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor got us the necessary permissions. Once we were shooting in Goa, and a mob of 50 came to see Tabu, Kareena and Kriti. I almost panicked, but thankfully, our producers knew the on-ground challenges and had put the best people on the job.”

Five years away from Bollywood might seem a long gap for some, but for Saiee Manjrekar, it has been the best time of her life working on herself, garnering experience through Telugu films, and exploring a new industry. An industry she never plans to quit for the interesting work it offered her during the lockdown. However, she is returning to Hindi cinema with new vigour and her new film, Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay.

Not only is her role pivotal to the storyline, but the underlying messaging pushed her to take up the role. “The film [drives home] the message of women empowerment and sheds light on how a woman’s partner and family should be supportive of her dreams and ambitions. I was selfish in choosing a role that is the driving force of the film,” says the actor, who is paired opposite singer and debut actor Guru Randhawa for the romantic comedy.

Manjrekar shares that in Randhawa, she found a friend for life. “We got along since day one. Our friendship is translated on screen. Working with him has been a lot of fun.” Manjrekar will follow up Kuch Khattaa Ho Jaay with director Neeraj Pandey’s Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, also starring Tabu and Ajay Devgn. Working with the two celebrated actors wasn’t only professionally exciting but also fulfilled Manjrekar’s personal wish.

Without divulging much, she says, “The film has translated beautifully on screen and is one of the best film experiences of my life. Being in a film with Ajay sir and Tabu ma’am was a dream come true. She has been my dad’s favourite actress for years.”