Talking pictures
             RAJEEV MASAND

Juggling Jobs
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Even as critic-turned-director Khalid Mohamed’s debut film Fiza readies for a September release, comes news that yet another movie critic will turn filmmaker soon. According to reliable sources, Chalo Cinema host Kunal Kohli will direct a film for the Yash Chopra banner later this year. The movie will feature Hrithik Roshan, Rani Mukherji and Kareena Kapoor and is expected to be a typical breezy romance, in keeping with the Chopra tradition. Kohli, who, till now, juggled his reviewing job with making music videos (he’s done the whole Yeh Hain Prem series with Abbas and Preeti) will begin the movie later this year, we are told. It leaves us wondering what it is about film criticism that makes one want to make movies someday...

Hair And There
Clearly, all those unconfirmed reports about Salman Khan visiting the UK for a hair job were baseless and untrue. Bumped into him on the sets of Abbas-Mustan’s Chori Chori Chupke Chupke the other day and the bald patch was very much visible. However, the actor himself showed no signs of discomfort or embarrassment over the same, even sportingly making jokes about it. Atta boy! Certainly, Akshaye Khanna could take a few tips out of Salman’s book.

Stuck In An Island
Guess who’s stranded in Mauritius? Good ole’ Govinda. He’s been there for over a fortnight now and from the look of it, he is going to be stuck at the beautiful island for two more weeks. First, he was shooting with Aishwarya Rai, Namrata Shirodkar and Jackie Shroff for Albela. Simultaneously, he was reporting for dubbing duty every night at a studio rented by filmmaker N. Chandra, who is trying hard to complete his film, Shikari, on time. What with prancing around in those crystal-clear waters during the day and sweating it out in the studio during the nights, Govinda heaved a sigh of relief when the Albela shoot finally wrapped up. But before he could so much as book a ticket back home, director Parto Ghosh landed up in Mauritius to complete portions of his incomplete film, Dil Ke Aas Paas (which he’s renamed Mastana). Mahima Chaudhary, who was shooting with Akshay Kumar in Toronto, was asked to fly into Mauritius to join Govinda for this. Once back to Mumbai, we doubt if Govinda is going to want to go back to that island for a long time to come! n

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