Talking Pictures
....................RAJEEV MASAND

WORLDLY DESIRES: MISS World Yukta Mookhey has always made it apparent that she’s keen on a career in movies. In several interviews, she’d mentioned her desire to work with filmmakers like Subhash Ghaif39. So, no one was really taken by surprise when the beauty queen finally signed up for her big screen debut. Reliable sources say Yukta has committed to feature in a film called Pyaasa, to be directed by editor-turned-filmmaker A. Muthu (who recently delivered that dud called Tera Jadoo Chal Gayaa). Her co-star, we hear, will be Aftab Shivdasani. Though Yukta will begin shooting for the film only after her term as Miss World expires, one hears she’s already getting ready for the bump-and-grind routine. How shorty Aftab is going to match up to Yukta’s height remains to be seen.

TOGETHER, AT LAST: RANI Mukherji is pouting about her fans complaining that every time she’s in a movie with Salman Khan, she never gets the guy. In Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, her character was dead long before Salman entered the picture. In Hello Brother, it’s Salman who’s dead before he can woo the girl. And in Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, he’d rather have Preity Zinta. ‘‘But in the other two movies we’re doing together (Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, also starring Preity Zinta, and Kahin Pyar Na Ho Jaye co-starring Raveena Tandon and Pooja Batra), we are finally paired opposite each other,’’ she adds. Hopefully, her fans will be satisfied. But, what’s the point of seeing these films now — the cat’s already out of the bag!

ALL AT ONE GO: MORE and more filmmakers are realising the importance of completing their films quickly. Aamir Khan has the unique distinction of being the first producer to wrap up his film after one marathon schedule. His Lagaan shoot lasted almost five months in Bhuj, but the film’s complete. Rajiv Rai also just wrapped up his multi-starrer Pyar, Ishq, Mohabat, which features Sunil Shetty, Arjun Rampal, Aftab Shivdasani, Keerti Reddy, Isha Koppikar and Monica Bedi. Even as you’re reading this, first-time director Farhan Akhtar is shooting his Dil Chahta Hai with Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Dimple Kapadia. The film, which will be shot in both India and Sydney, is also scheduled to be completed at one go.

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Reel Talk

Director Mansoor Khan on the one film that changed his life:
‘‘ALTHOUGH I haven’t emulated it or ever copied it, I would say my dad’s film, Teesri Manzil, is really the one film that I look up to for inspiration. I first saw the film almost 10 years after its release and I remember thinking to myself that here was a film that was very contemporary and very modern, yet almost timeless. For once, I felt here was a suspense plot that held water, not one that turned childish at the end. In fact, I regard Teesri Manzil as the perfect suspense plot made in India and, at the same time, highly entertaining. In fact, it has been my dream and desire to make a suspense film, but my idea always falls short of that of Teesri Manzil. I’ve seen the film only three times, but it has had the same impact on me on each occasion. It never fails to overwhelm me.’’

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