Vote for politics
North Indian politics is increasingly finding favour with young Bollywood directors and producers. Now Vashu Bhagnani has joined hands with MSM Motion Pictures to give his son Jackky another chance with “Youngistan”, a love story set in the backdrop of Indian politics. With Neha Sharma as the female lead, the film also has Farooq Sheikh and Boman Irani in important roles. While the first schedule of the film has been shot overseas and Lucknow, the second schedule of the film will go on floors soon at Taj Mahal with a campaign titled “Yo Youngistan Go Youngistan”. It is a ground rally that will travel across the country and collect youth pledges and will also see several youth icons from various walks of life join Jackky Bhagnani in getting the young Indians to pledge to vote. Without being preachy the campaign intends to inspire the youth of India to believe that “Likes don’t change the world. Votes do.” Agra being a symbol of power and love supplements the entire setting. The campaign will also generate findings on the change youngsters wish to see in their policies and their politicians.
Director Syed Ahmad Afzal says the story revolves around a young and high profile couple caught in a highly political environment. This couple in some way represents the progressive youth of this nation, which is willing to make its voice heard.” We have to wait till May 2014 to know how this voice takes shape on screen.
Dressing down
Smut is getting mainstream with Ekta Kapoor launching a new genre called horrex (a combination of horror and sex) to the Indian audience with the sequel of Ragini MMS starring adult film star Sunny Leone. Ramsays have been treating us to this steamy combination for years and Ekta seems to be in a mood to up the ante as she has postponed the release of the film by two months to improve the quality of visual effects. The film is now scheduled for March. “We need substantial time to bring quality visual effects to the big screen. After the success of the first film, the bar has been raised. The ‘Ragini MMS’ sequel promises to be the sexiest and scariest date movie ever,” claims Ekta, who doesn’t believe in half measures. With Sheryln Chopra’s Kamasutra 3D scheduled for May, audience seem to be in for a sleazy first half.
Man of many parts
Javed Jaffrey is on a roll once again. Of late he has been the redeeming feature in a few off key films like Besharam and War Chhod Na Yaar and recently the choreographer turned actor returned to small screen with his home production Boogie Woogie. But all along he has a fascination for playing drag queen in films. Right from Tehalka days, Jaffery loves to get into feminine get up. Soon he will be seen as a Maharasthrian woman in Arshad Warsi starrer Mr. Joe B Carvalho.
Javed will be seen playing different characters in the film and for one particular character of a Maharashtrian woman, Javed himself did his makeup of putting the prosthetics and making it look as authentic as possible. “Since I have played the role of a woman before in my earlier films, I had a fair idea about what goes into the makeup of a prosthetic. Then I did a detailed research on the net, and everyone on the sets was shocked at seeing the prosthetic that looked super real, it was quite hilarious. I like to go into the minute details of the look because when you see the film on the big screen it should look authentic,” says Jaffery.
He versus she
With the trailer of Shaadi Ke Side Effects generating interest, another genre that has come to light is shaadicom. Directed by Saket Chaudhary the film is being marketed as the battle of the sexes. Now, this is not something new but the pairing of Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan is making all the difference. As Sid when Farhan asks if there is a wrong side of a towel, something Trisha (Vidya) believes in you know you are in for hilarious brawl. Producer Pritish Nandy says, “Shaadi Ke Side Effects has the ability to be 2014’s most exciting film. It is wild, wicked and wonderfully entertaining. Mars Vs Venus at its best.”
