Shahid to play Tom Cruise 'Top Gun' role

Shahid Kapoor, as Tom Cruise did in 1986 with Top Gun, is all set to wear a uniform and take to the skies in Mausam — his father Pankaj Kapoor’s directorial debut. Pankaj, who felt Shahid needs a change of image after playing roles like an aimless student in Ishq Vishq, a gangster-social activist in Kaminey, a struggling dancer in Chance Pe Dance and an entrepreneur before that in Jab We Met and Vivah, decided a uniformed soldier’s role would give his son a mature man’s image.

According to a source, the uniform has virtually been written into the script. Pankaj first toyed with the idea of making Shahid an Army officer. Then it was decided to cast him as an Air Force pilot. The last real big star to play an Air Force pilot in Hindi cinema was Rajesh Khanna in Shakti Samanta’s 1969 hit Aradhana, which itself was a copy of the 1946 Hollywood film To Each His Own.

Shahid’s role is being modelled on the lines of Tom Cruise’s from Top Gun, in which the actor played a Navy pilot training in the US Navy Fighter Weapons School known in the Pentagon as ‘Topgun’. The film was a super hit and had great music and songs apart from scintillating dogfights in mid-air and other action.

Shahid is taking the film seriously and has decided to train for the role after the release of Chance Pe Dance. Permission is being sought to make the film at the Air Force Academy in Dindigul, outside Hyderabad, much in the manner Top Gun was actually shot at the US Navy school in Miramar, California.

Bollywood on self-healing path with four hits

Energetic openings to Bollywood's four recent releases, 'New York', 'Kambakkht Ishq', 'Love Aaj Kal' and 'Kaminey', have succeeded in getting the business perk up. Wounded by a long strike earlier this year, the film industry is perhaps on a self-healing path now, say trade pundits.

The two-month-long stand-off between the producers-distributors and multiplex owners over revenue sharing, which was resolved June 5, led to a whopping Rs.300 crore (Rs.3 billion) loss to the Hindi film industry.

The dry spell was broken by Kabir Khan's 'New York' that released June 26 followed by the other three films -- 'Kambakkht Ishq' that came July 3, 'Love Aaj Kal' July 31 and 'Kaminey' Aug 14 -- raking in a net profit close to almost half the losses so far this year.

'These four films will do a net business of Rs.150 crore (Rs.1.5 billion) put together,' revealed an industry insider.

Said trade analyst Taran Adarsh: 'The industry is definitely on a recovery path... it is getting better now, but we do need a big number of hits to follow as even an A-list movie like 'Luck' bombed.

'Every movie has a luck of its own. For example, a small-budget film like 'A Wednesday' had a moderate release last year but proved to be a dark horse. At the end of the day it's the content that will win.'

Film critic Omar Qureshi had something similar to say.

'The industry is healing. Everyone was deprived of movies. There was a desperation to watch films and the audiences couldn't handle it. So they took multiplexes by storm once good movies hit the screens and the result is worth watching,' said Qureshi.

'But that doesn't mean mediocre movies will win the race too... it'll only take big-budget and big-banner movies with a good story to make up for the losses and bring in footfalls,' he added.

The stand-off between producers-distributors and multiplex owners started in February over revenue-sharing. While the producers demanded a flat 50 percent share of all film revenues irrespective of the stars, budget and box-office collection, the exhibitors stressed on sharing profits based on the movie's earnings.

As a result the producers declared a strike from April 4 onwards, which saw no big Bollywood releases in multiplexes across the country.

Now all eyes are set on an array of big releases after the lull.

The line-up includes Shahid Kapoor-Rani Mukerji starrer 'Dil Bole Hadippa', three movies of Salman Khan -- 'Wanted', 'Main Aur Mrs Khanna' and 'London Dreams' -- two Ranbir Kapoor-starrers 'Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani' and 'Rocket Singh - Salesman of The Year', and Aamir Khan's '3 Idiots'.

Apart from these, there are also Hrithik Roshan's much-talked-about action thriller 'Kites', Priyanka Chopra's 'What's Your Raashee?', two movies starring Amitabh Bachchan -- 'Aladdin' and 'Pa' -- Akshay Kumar's 'De Dana Dan', Govinda's 'Hook Ya Crook' and Neil Nitin Mukesh's 'Jail'.

Shahid Kapur's big RISK

With movie theatres in Mumbai remaining shut on Sunday, Shahid Kapoor's plan to mingle with his fans had gone for a toss. However, the actor has made it up as he has hit the ticket counters when they reopened post the swine flu panic in the city.

Speaking about the rave reviews of the film, he says, "The reaction from the audience has been amazing and I want to interact with them. People have given me great reviews and I feel very lucky and happy that my hard work has been noticed," he says.

But wasn't he apprehensive to sign this pulp genre film which has a very quirky plot? Such films either dazzle audiences or get completely rejected. "It was a gamble definitely as such films either shock people or they reject it but I'm happy that the risk has paid off well. I really had to get out of my comfort zone and break my boy-next-door image. The difference in my look is also great. I'm really happy that Vishal trusted me with the film," he says.

On the industry front, Saif Ali Khan in an interview had said he wants to patch up with Shahid. He also went back on his comment that he was offered Kaminey before Shahid. Is Shahid looking to bury the hatchet too?

"I never started anything with him. I learnt that he had commented to a paper that he was offered the film first and now he has clarified that he wasn't. I really appreciate that he clarified. It really takes a lot to clarify oneself after saying something different," he ends.