Howzzat!

It is an audacious idea that could turn out to be a financial sixer for actor Sohail Khan. The most entrepreneurial of Salman Khan’s brothers owns Mumbai Heroes (MH), a Celebrity Cricket Team franchise that has been sweating it out at the nets every night for the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) which kicks off on June 4 at Bangalore. The CCL has four teams of actors donning cricketing whites representing the Hindi, Kannada (led by Sudeep), Tamil (Surya) and Telegu (Venkatesh) film industries. Sohail Khan Entertainment is the owner of Mumbai Heroes. Ironically, the Tulu-speaking Suneil Shetty is the captain of the team, while Salman Khan is MH’s Icon player. “Mumbai is my karmabhoomi while the south is my janmabhoomi,” Shetty chuckles. Sohail recalls that he and a group of actor friends such as Zahid Khan and Riteish Deshmukh used to meet regularly to play football and later, cricket. This year, Telegu film actor Vishnu invited Sohail to put together a Hindi film team to represent the north in the CCL. “All my friends were a phone call away. It took me a day to put the team together.” The line-up includes, apart from Shetty, Deshmukh, Sohail and Salman, Aftab Shivdasani and Mahesh Manjrekar. Get ready, guys — maidens are waiting to get bowled over.

Great Dane

When it comes to crime thrillers, Scandinavian nations have been edging out their counterparts from Britain and the United States. And now we hear that Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen — who has sold over three million copies of his novels, mostly in Europe — is looking for new readers in India with his newly launched superhit novel Mercy. “I was in India sometime ago and was completely bowled over. Now I want you people to read Mercy,” says Jussi on the phone from London. Called the “king of crime fiction”, Jussi says he’d like to return to India soon. One of these days, perhaps, Muzaffarnagar — the Uttar Pradesh district which usually records the highest crime rate in India — will form the backdrop for his thriller.

Shoes shine

Pooja Bhatt is not Mahesh Bhatt’s daughter for nothing — the lady knows what clicks. Her eyes now are on the Iraqi journalist, Muthandar al-Zaidi, who became an overnight hero to millions around the world when he chucked his shoes at former US President George W. Bush back in 2008. Bhatt is apparently making a movie on al-Zaidi, and on his equally famous shoes. Word is that al-Zaidi is collaborating with the film crew, so one can expect an authentic retelling. The movie will star Imran Zahid, a Delhi theatre actor, as the Iraqi journalist. Clearly, these boots are made for walking.

Two in one

This is one boat that seems to be sailing well. After Noukadubi, producer Subhash Ghai is trying to promote young talent. The next two films from Ghai’s Mukta Arts have been directed and scripted by students of Whistling Woods, which is the school Ghai runs for wannabe industry newbies. But Ghai, known for his out-of-the-box ideas, is promoting the films — Love Express and Cycle Kick — in quite an innovative way. You buy tickets for one film but get to see both. For once, no one is going to complain about seeing double.