east meets west: Subhankar Banerjee and George Acognyscreen legends: Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Raievergreen: A scene from Sholay

n Ashutosh Gowariker’s next magnum opus Jodha Akbar, starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, has finally found a producer. After working together on the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Swades, UTV and Ashutosh Gowariker will again collaborate for this grand period piece.

Set in the 16th century, Jodha Akbar finds Hrithik playing Akbar the Great and Aishwarya his queen Jodha Bai, and explores the alliance of the Mughal leader and the Rajput princess.

“We were always clear that we would work together again,” says UTV’s Ronnie Screwvala. “It was just a question of when and how.” Adds Ashutosh: “I had a very fixed idea and wanted the right backing for the project. A film is not only about production; it is about about overall packaging, positioning, marketing and distribution of the film.”

For Ashutosh, Jodha Akbar could have happened right after the Oscar-nominated Lagaan. “The idea has been with me since I completed Lagaan,” he says. “But I decided to work on Swades as this film needed more research.”

Scholar Haider Ali Sahib is helping Ashutosh with the research for Jodha Akbar. “I am really excited about the love story angle,” gushes the director. “I have never made a love story before. We all take it for granted that Salim was born from Jodha and Akbar’s marriage but no one knows how their love came into being. It’s a legendary love story that is untold till date.”

Ashutosh is not worried that the audiences today may not identify with such an ancient story. “I strongly feel that everyone will be able to connect to the emotion of love,” he says. “It’s a modern film set in historical times, not a period movie. I am not showing history, I am depicting emotions. We are currently doing thorough research to maintain the authenticity of Akbar’s character.”

But why pick Ash and Hrithik for these legendary roles? “While writing the story, the images that came to mind were only two people — a warrior like Hrithik and a beauty like Ash,” Ashutosh reveals. “It was that which evolved in my mind and took the shape of Akbar and Jodha.”

At a budget of Rs 37 crore, Jodha Akbar will be shot at various real locations in parts of Rajasthan, like the Aamir Palace and the Nahar Fort. Also, an entire replica of the Agra Fort will be created in Karjat on a 15-acre plot.

While Kiran Deohans (Aks, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham) will be the cinematographer, the costumes will be done by Ash favourite Neeta Lulla. A.R. Rahman will score the music and Javed Akhtar will pen the lyrics.

n Tabla exponent Subhankar Banerjee spends most of his time touring the world and drumming up a beat, and his globe-trotting ways have recently won him a brush with Hollywood. On one of the tours, Subhankar ran into music composer George Acogny who made him play the tabla for the soundtrack of Dark Streets. Directed by Rachel Samuels, Dark Streets featuring Gabriel Mann and Bijou Phillips is a thriller and is currently under post-production.

Acogny has been the music supervisor of films like The Bone Collector (starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie) and Under Suspicion (starring Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman).

“I met Acogny in a Paris hotel and he wanted to know how to play the tabla. Soon after that he called me to record for the film at a Los Angeles studio,” gushes Subhankar, who performs solo and also as an accompanist to the likes of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.

“I recorded for the theme music, solo and with chorus, and it went on for about six hours. There were a couple of guitars, contrabass and cello,” explains Subhankar. His solo album Tabla Tale, released in Paris last year, has made it to the world music album charts. Tabla Tale traces the journey of the tabla and its evolution for present-day music.

Subhankar began his tabla training at age five under Swapan Shiva of the Farukhabad gharana, and later trained as a vocalist too. He performed in the Nobel Peace Prize Concert at Oslo in 1999 and with Hariprasad Chaurasia at the Symphony Orchestra in London.

n Music composer Debajyoti Mishra is slowly making his presence felt in Hindi films. After Govind Nihalani’s Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Ma and Rituparno Ghosh’s Raincoat, he has signed Bhavna Talwar’s debut film Dharm.

Starring Pankaj Kapur and wife Supriya Pathak, the film is set in Varanasi and revolves around the life and beliefs of a Hindu priest who incurs the wrath of conservatives by adopting a Muslim child.

“It was an instinctive call when I met Debuda because the perspective and treatment that the film required is what he suggested. We were looking for a serious classical singer as the voice of wisdom and Debuda helped rediscover Sonu Nigam. I’m ecstatic about the music because instead of making a heavy statement, it talks about the simplicity of life,” said Bhavna.

The soundtrack will fuse elements of Western classical music and Sanskrit slokas, with the use of bass guitar, piano, Latin percussion, rabab, the African thumba and traditional folk sounds of the dotara and khol. Debajyoti plans to lend a sombre tone to the music with heavy choral chants. “Given the theme and backdrop of the film, I felt that the music required more substance than frills,” he says.

Dharm will have five songs rendered by Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Shankar Mahadevan and Kailash Kher. “Jaago bhai bhor sung by Sonu and Shreya is a song of the soil. I’ve used the dotara for a rustic sound that captures the earthy essence of Benaras. Jeevan naiyya ki doli is nostalgic with folk strains. Kaise jatau jiyara is a romantic number that has been used in different variations to go with moods of love, longing and sacrifice. Shankar Mahadevan and Kailash Kher lend two distinct tones to Naina tumhi ko dekhe,” explains Debajyoti, who incorporated Rabindranath Tagore’s Shudhu tomar bani noygo nears the film’s high point.

Lyricist Varun Gautam has penned the songs mixing Awadhi dialect with Hindi words. Dharm is slated for a year-end release.

n It has always been big in India and now Ramesh Sippy’s 1975 blockbuster Sholay has been voted by Iranians as their favourite film. A poll by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’s (IRIB) Research Centre showed that the cult Bollywood movie had drawn the maximum audience attention.

Sholay was telecast on the network between June 22 and July 22 and it outdid Iranian directors Kiumars Purahmad’s Strange Sisters and Kamal Tabrizi’s Maternal Love, aired during the same period, which stood second and third in terms of audience attention.