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'But, Raj, what is the subject?'

Rajkumar Santoshi's ambitious plans of casting Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have gone phut, what with both the actors asking for bound scripts and a complete narration of the subject.

Santoshi tried his best to work his charm but none of it worked. Both actors asked for a joint narration and, when the day dawned, Santoshi realised, as usual, there was no script. So master narrator that he is, he managed to weave a wonderful yarn. Which, much to his chagrin, failed because, after an hour, Aamir is said to have asked Santoshi, "But, Raj, what is the subject?"

The message was loud and clear. Santoshi decided to scrap the film.

But, though he could not rope in arch rivals Aamir and Shah Rukh, he has managed to achieve another impossible and got Anil Kapoor and Sunny Deol to come together again. One only hopes the "Can we have a bound script first?" dialogue does not begin again and block his newest film in the planning stage itself.

Rani prepares for a wedding

Rani Mukherjee is working overtime. And it is not her work, or a boyfriend, demanding her attention at the moment. It is a family wedding that has tied every second of her free time.

Her older brother's marriage has been fixed and the entire burden of making and finalising the arrangements is Rani's responsibility. And her film-makers have not been too co-operative in the matter. So Rani spends most of her time on the sets calling up colleagues and inviting them. In fact, she actually opens a defacto office wherever she is shooting for the moment.

Puru turns villain

Puru Raaj Kumar is finally doing roles that suit his look. Yes, he is playing negative roles and, for starters, there is the Boney Kapoor production, Humara Dil Aapke Paas Hain, starring Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai and Sonali Bendre. Unit members swear he doing such a good job of it that Anil has started feeling insecure.

Brothers at loggerheads?

The Anil-Boney Kapoor split is imminent. A source close to the brothers tells us that the vibes between them is not too good. Anil is feeling pretty stifled and is keen to break away. Lending him support is dear friend Satish Kaushik, who not only directing Boney's next, but is also helping him supervise the production of Humara Dil Aap Ke Paas Hain. Now, between Anil and Satish, they are managing it all. And Boney is still reeling under the shock of having a film he originally started going totally out of his hands.

Ghai-Boney struggle over Sridevi

In case you are wondering what happened to Sridevi's comeback vehicle, here is the latest. Though Boney Kapoor wants to produce the film, the rights of the original are with Subhash Ghai. Who is only too keen to produce the film himself, since he considers Sridevi a terrific actress and feels she would make a fabulous comeback with this venture. Which is precisely what Boney also feels. And not only does he want the credit of having produced the film, he would also like to rake in the moolah as well.

Bajpai for prime minister

Manoj Bajpai has recently turned an avid fan of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's speeches. And it's not because he's decided he wants to contest the elections or something like that. In fact, he will be emulating the PM in Shyam Benegal's new movie, Zubeida, where he will use the famous Vajpayee style of speaking.

More on Vaj... oops!... Bajpai

While on Manoj Bajpai, one must admit that he is being unfairly labelled arrogant and snooty when all he is doing is his job. Like, he is supposed to have done Pammi Sandhu's film, starring Raveena Tandon and Sunil Shetty.

Word got around that Manoj was demanding an astronomical price for doing the film, when fact is that the script was not totally ready. Only a few scenes were inked on paper; even the outline of the character he was to essay was not ready.

"In that case," he is said to have joked, "pay me a fat amount." And now, poor Manoj goes around wondering whether it is a crime to ask for a script and a narration of his role.

Manoj's loss is Shekhar's gain

Shekhar Suman will now play the role of the bumbling lawyer in the film. Needless to say, director Kundan Shah is thrilled with the choice. But Shekhar was heard cribbing that, while he was paid to only act in the film, Shah expects him to come up with interesting one-liners besides punching up the dialogues as well.

Beware Shekhar! You know where demanding money got Manoj.

Bokadia dumps Rekha

Rekha had better pull up her socks. Not only are film-makers skeptical of signing her, some of them are also replacing her. Take old faithful K C Bokadia for example. He had launched a film with her, with Sunny Deol in a brief appearance. After shooting with the ageing star for a few days, Bokaida could no longer stomach her tantrums and promptly had her promptly replaced with Tabu.

Now it is Tabu who will play the avenging angel who resorts to arms in her war against the evils of society.

-- The Insider