Hail the Queen

Guess who’s Kangana Ranaut’s biggest champion? None other than Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The Bajirao Mastani director is reportedly super impressed with the actress for her bold stand on morality issues. It’s ironic, given that Kangana’s gone head to head with Hrithik Roshan in a very public spat, and Hrithik, of course, was Bhansali’s leading man and close collaborator from Guzaarish.

Plus, Bhansali’s current muse is Deepika Padukone who—let’s just say—isn’t one of Kangana’s most enthusiastic fans. Still, the filmmaker doesn’t hide his admiration for the Queen star and her mature handling of the recent controversy.

Some years ago, Bhansali similarly defended Mallika Sherawat publicly (and even appeared on Karan Johar’s talk show with her) when the industry sniggered at her ‘brazen’ approach to control her sexuality and image. Mallika, as we know, fizzled out from public consciousness when she couldn’t back up her attention-grabbing antics with real talent. But Kangana is in a whole different league. Her performances speak just as loud as her headline-making admissions.

Worth the Weight?

Remember Bhumi Pednekar, the feisty young star of last year’s sleeper hit Dum Laga Ke Haisha? Despite winning practically every best newcomer award in town, she still doesn’t have a second film on the cards, and it’s a real shame.

Tanu Weds Manu director Aanand L Rai cast her along with Ayushmann Khurrana and Masaan’s Vicky Kaushal in Manmarziyan, a love story he was producing. The film went into production in Shimla, but was temporarily shut down when director Sameer Sharma was let go from the project. Subsequently, Rai roped in Nil Battey Sannata director Ashwini Iyer Tiwary to take over, but now there’s word that the project has been permanently shelved. Some blame the fact that Ayushmann expressed reluctance to return, while others say Tiwary was more keen to pursue projects she’d developed herself. Either way, it’s a blow for Bhumi. But there’s serious talk about her having landed the title role in a drama to be produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The film, to be directed by Delhi Belly director Abhinay Deo, is called Sejal Supari, and is centered on the double life of a female contract killer.

After her breakout performance as the overweight wife of an insecure chauvinist in her debut film, both the film industry and fans have waited to see if Bhumi’s got the chops to deliver consistently in her roles and silence the naysayers who suspect she’s a fluke.

Cast Away

He’s a respected A-list director whose films routinely make it to the year’s ‘best of’ lists, and top stars frequently name him as one of the filmmakers they aspire to work with. Yet the irony of his life and career is that he has seldom succeeded in roping in major male stars to work with him. Part of the reason is that he tends to make films that are intelligent and relevant but not the sort that are guaranteed money-spinners. The other reason is that he has a reputation for being firm.

As a result, while he’s managed to interest major superstars, negotiations have fallen through at the scripting and pre-production stage itself because they discovered that the director was too strong minded for their liking.

No wonder he’s thrice worked with the same superstar, despite the actor’s reputation for being opinionated and narcissistic. The director’s given the actor some of his best work, and in return, the actor reportedly tries to behave himself on set. Yet, it turns out the director isn’t thrilled with his leading man, having just wrapped their third project together. Close associates say he’s desperate to work with other actors but for that he needs his films to start making big money. Until then, he’s stuck with the star whose vanity and ‘image issues’ are slowly frustrating the director.

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Rajeev Masand

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