Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot is likely to be a songless film. "Songs should only be reserved for romantic films," says the director. "Otherwise, they are cheating the audience. A manipulation to earn more money through audio companies and get added visibility on television channels!"

Bhoot, starring Rekha, Urmila Matondkar, Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan and Nana Patekar, is due for an April release.

The beer, bars, politics director

Madhur Bhandarkar is already thinking about his next project even as Satta releases this week. "I want to make a film on the life of a woman journalist. How she is surrounded by people around her, parties a lot but is eventually lonely. And how she is manipulated by the people around her."

Another Shivani Bhatnagar story, you ask, and he says, "No, not really. But it will definitely be a thriller."

For Bhandarkar fans, the director has already finished shooting 30 per cent of his next film Aan, which he hopes will release in June. "Most people tease me that with Aan, I have finished a trilogy of covering all the issues in society today -- beer bars, politics and the police force. But I don't consciously enjoy doing political films. It's just that I look at life from the seamier side instead of the rosy picture that everybody looks at them. My films are gritty and realistic!"

John Abraham has his hands full after Jism has been declared the first hit of 2003. On his plate, he has Anurag Basu (of ex-Kucch To Hai fame) directing him in Saaya, costarring Tara Sharma, which is likely to see a May release.

Saaya is a paranormal thriller, in which John plays a married doctor. He is also starring in Ahmed Khan's untitled potboiler and Sanjay Gupta's solo starrer with Sushmita Sen, Musafir Hoon Yaron.

The actor is very choosy about his films and says, "I have said no to nine great roles and am working very hard to select the right ones. It is very important to choose a good second film. Saaya is the film for me." 

Atul Kulkarni is thrilled. Not only has the actor won rave reviews for his performance in Dum, he has also had critics and the media raving about his performance in Satta. 

The actor now has Kushan Nandy's 88 Antop Hill and Mahesh Dattani's Mango Soufflé lined up for release. He has also been signed by Rakesh Mehra along with Vivek Oberoi and Manoj Bajpai for Rang De Basanti.

Atul is most excited about acting opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Rajkumar Santoshi's Khaki. "All I can say is I don't play the cop!"

Quiz him about how he would compare working with Tabu and Raveena Tandon, having acted in Madhur Bhandarkar-helmed Chandni Bar and Satta, and he says, "One cannot compare them at all. They are both professional and talented. Both know how to put their coactors at ease and are a pleasure to work with."

Hmm. Politically correct, too.

Photographer Subi Samuel is now compiling a book of images from his last three exhibitions titled Subi! 

The book will be released by Sushmita Sen on February 19 and has lots of unseen pictures of stars from the tinsel world.

Sush, one of Subi's close friends, has also written the foreword for the book. While most of the pictures are of celebrities, there are some fashion shots, street photographs and a few nudes.

Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh, Hrithik Roshan, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Sushmita Sen, Amisha Patel, Fardeen Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Akshay Kumar, Bipasha Basu, Arjun Rampal, Bobby Deol all find place in the book. As Subi promises, "Wait and watch!"

Share your comments

What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 1 Sub: comments i think mr ramgopal varma is right bcoz songs brings out the emotion from lovers in movies Posted by michelle