Gulzar set to direct a film in 2010

Noted lyricist-filmmaker Gulzar’s last offering as a director was Hu Tu Tu (1999), starring Tabu and Sunil Shetty. Since then, friends and family, especially his daughter Meghna have been urging him to return to direction. However, no idea seemed to inspire him enough to make that effort. That is until now. Gulzar is set to direct a film in 2010. The film’s subject will be women-centric like his earlier films and will star Vidya Balan.

Without divulging details, Gulzar says, “My next film will star Vidya for sure. I saw portions of Ishqiya and she is truly an outstanding actress.

The fact that Gulzar’s daughter Meghna and Vidya are close friends only enhances the director’s fondness for the actress. “I have known Vidya from the time she used to drop in with Pradeep Sarkar during Parineeta. She is a lovely girl. Do you know, when an Oscar was announced for Jai Ho, Vidya came home and gave me a trophy? Yes, an actual trophy! I am happy to see her friendship with my daughter. In Vidya, my daughter has found a soul mate. It’s very rare to see two people in the film industry reaching out to one another without ulterior motives. Vidya visits Meghna more than me. In fact, my daughter’s next also stars her. So both father and daughter are working with her,” adds the filmmaker. Apparently, Meghna’s next is a hard-hitting, marital drama.

As for Gulzar, Vidya has made a promise to herself. “I will keep sending him notes to start his film with me. I still remember that one shot in Parichay where the song Beeti na beetayi raina is going on and Jaya Bhaduriji is pleating her hair. That moment has stayed with me. No one captures everyday moments with such tenderness. I will do anything to work with Gulzarsaab. To me there are three people who are the epitome of culture and grace - M S Subbalaxmiji, Waheeda Rehmanji and Gulzarsaab.”

Bollywood bravehearts refuse to bow down to terrorism, resume shooting

While the Mumbai terror attacks left the entire Bollywood in shock and sent the biggies into a hiding of sorts, braveheart Akshay Kumar refused to let the ordeal take over and resumed shooting for Priyadarshan’s ‘De Dana Dan’ at Mehboob Studios in Bandra.
It was Khiladi Kumar who motivated rest of the crew (comprising of 250 people) to be present for the shoot as the terror strike had already caused a lot of financial losses to the producer of the flick in question. The actor led the unit to complete a song shoot with a heavy heart. Akki, who is known to be a highly sensitive human being, shot for the sequence with great poignancy. According to reports, the entire crew observed a one minute silence for all those who died in this futile war of terror as well as for the heroes who lost their valuable lives serving the country. Other actors who took the initiative of attending the shoot instead of sitting at home besides Akshay included Katrina Kaif, Sunil Shetty and Sameera Reddy. While Sunil Shetty drove from Malabar Hills area (which coincidently was in close proximity to the epicentre of the attacks), Sameera Reddy drove from the suburb of Andheri and Katrina made way from Bandra. In an interview given to a news daily actor Suniel Shetty exclaimed, “Mumbai’s spirit has come through in spite of all the terror attacks. We refuse to be scared and that’s why it was important fro me to go about my daily work.”