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| New pair: Shilpa Shetty and Shiney Ahuja |
It may sound like a change of camp but Anurag Basu claims that he is still very much a Mahesh Bhatt protege. Despite making his next film for Ronnie Screwvala’s UTV Motion Pictures, that is.
With the tagline “one city, countless emotions”, Metro is about three entangled love stories against the backdrop of a bustling metropolis. Starring an ensemble cast of Shilpa Shetty, Shiney Ahuja, Kay Kay Menon, Sharman Joshi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kangna Ranaut, the Anurag Basu film tries to examine true love in the heartless world of urban materialism.
“We are trying to make this into a very stylish film,” says Anurag. “It will only be shot in Mumbai and the city will be shown in a whole new light.”
For Ronnie it is a new experience working with a man used to tight budgets but big dreams. “This film has taken us by surprise,” he smiles. “We finalised the entire cast and crew of the project in just 30 days. I was spellbound after I heard the script from Anurag.”
Metro takes off soon and should release in the first quarter of 2007.
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| Fresh challenge: Satabdi Roy |
Come September, actress Satabdi Roy will play Suchitra Sen in her debut directorial venture. Bearing stark resemblance with the star of the black-and-white era, Satabdi’s Abhinetri revolves around an ageing reclusive actress.
“I haven’t based my film on Suchitra Sen but I feel the parallel is inevitable. My character, too, doesn’t do any films and has retired from the public eye. In Abhinetri we also see a conflict of two generations — the young and the old. The actress is at loggerheads with her daughter who wants to join films,” explains Satabdi, having penned the script.
Tota Roy Chowdhury will be seen as the man in Satabdi’s life, while Abhishek Chatterjee plays her husband. Shreya Dutta will don the daughter’s mantle, with Moon Moon Sen for inspiration.
“The story idea is mine. I felt I would be most comfortable working on such a subject because I have seen these people. My colleagues will identify with all the characters in the films,” says Satabdi, now in the final stages of dubbing the film.
Known for her passion for words — she is a published poet — Satabdi has penned several scripts in her spare time. “Some directors had even planned to make films based on a few of them,” says she.
Though she has made her name as a heroine in potboilers, Satabdi chose to tread a different track in direction. “Abhinetri is a little different from the films I have worked in. It’s realistic; the hero is not a larger-than-life character here,” says the actress, who has about 200 films to her credit.
It was time to get clued in on the tricks of the film-making trade for the 10 semi-finalists of the Mobile FilmMakers 2006 Awards.
J. Philip, Jeevan Konkar, Kayoom Mohd. Hanif Mistry, Koushik Choudhury, Kshitij Shankhdhar, Prasad Indap, Sajal Maiti, Samrat Sengupta, Sunil Babbar and Tushar Joshi were the chosen ones from India, having been short-listed by Discovery Networks Asia and Nokia.
On Saturday they attended a workshop in New Delhi where film-maker Saumya Sen offered insights on mobile film-making. The semi-finalists also learnt about the many film-making functions and features of the Nokia N90, which they will be using to shoot a 30-second clip.
A panel of judges comprising representatives from Discovery and Nokia will select the two best clips, and the two finalists will represent India at the regional workshop in Singapore.
James Gibbons, senior vice-president of programming and creative services, Discovery Networks Asia, said: “We were very impressed by the quality of entries this year. The Mobile FilmMakers initiative has clearly helped change the traditional concept of mobile phones, and has taken film-making in an exciting new direction.”
