Actor-director Farhan Akhtar has thanked his lyricist dad, Javed Akhtar, for writing some impeccable dialogues laced with poetry for the just released Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara in which he plays one of the protagonists.
"It's so fantastic that everyone loves the poems in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Thank you pa @Javedakhtarjadu for injecting soul into the film with your gifted hand," Farhan wroted on his Twitter page.
Directed by Farhan's sister Zoya Akhtar, the movie released Friday also features actors Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol and Kalki Koechlin and has received a warm response from the audience.
Filmmaker Karan Johar seems to have liked the film so much that he is asking everyone to watch it.
"Please go watch ZNMD....NOW!!!! Zoya has pulled off a tough genre with utmost sincerity and flamboyance...zoya is the hero of the film!!!,(Sic)" Karan posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.
I plead guilty of saying that I would not make a Don sequel, but somehow the character just wouldn’t leave me. Now, in retrospect, I’m glad I’ve made Don 2,” admits producer-director Farhan Akhtar, who is gearing up for the response to the first trailer of one of this year’s most eagerly awaited films that unveils in theatres this Friday, along with the Farhan-starrer, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
Farhan’s partner and co-producer Ritesh Sidhwani endorses the fact that despite an open ending, the duo had not thought of taking the story forward when Don—The Chase Begins (2006) ended. He says, “But then Ameet (Mehta) and Amrish (Shah) came to us with an interesting story idea. It took us a while to develop it, but finally, last October, we flagged off Don 2, and on December 23, as Shah Rukh (Khan) says in the promos, the don will return to the screen after five years.”
Ritesh agrees that expectations are sky high, but is confident that the high-speed action sequences, the special effects and the familiar characters in a new European setting, will spark off an ‘Oh my God, this is huge!’ reaction from the audience,from children in particular, who, he admits, is Don’s biggest fan base. “It surprised me that my own kids had taken such a fancy to a bad guy till I realised that the eternal favourite, Tom & Jerry, is a violent cartoon too.”
The filmmakers adds that apart from two new characters, enacted by Lara Dutta and Kunal Kapoor, the others played by SRK, Priyanka Chopra, Boman Irani and Om Puri, are the same from Part 1 and continue from where they had left. Ritesh says, “So Roma knows that the good Vijay is dead, Don has survived and sets out to even the score,” he says. “That twist at the end of Part 1 was what made it different from Mr Bachchan’s (Amitabh) Don. This one is completely new and original with no reference points but you would have to see Don —The Chase Begins to understand what’s happening. Don is on its way to becoming a franchise now. This time if you were to ask me about a Part 3, I wouldn’t say no.”
Actress Katrina Kaif, who usually remains tight-lipped about her relationship status, told a fan that she is currently enjoying her time with family and that Salman Khan is her good friend.
During a chat with her fans on Airtel's "Talk2Me" platform, when the 26-year-old was quizzed about her relationship, she said: "At the moment I am just with my family and nothing going on like that."
When a fan said that people feel she looks good with Salman Khan, the British-born actress said: "Ya, he is a good friend of mine."
The two were reportedly seeing each other but broke off last year.
The actress is currently busy promoting her upcoming film "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", also starring Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar and Kalki Koechlin. The film directed by Zoya Akhtar will hit the screens Friday.
Close on the heels of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan announcing her pregnancy, another married actress is under the scanner.
While the lean and beautiful Kalki Koechlin is busy promoting her new film, Zoya Akhtar's Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara, her recent absence from a couple of events have sparked off rumors that there's something brewing, after all.
Add to the fact that her husband, director-actor Anurag Kashyap, has clearly stated he would like to expand his family, and the whispers seem legitimate.
There were also unconfirmed reports that Kalki was visibly unwell at a recent event, making tongues wag again. However, a source close to the actress has rubbished those claims, stating that the bubbly actress was just the victim of a monsoon stomach bug.
Sounds like a case of "there's no smoke without fire", but until we hear it straight from the horse's mouth, we'll just wait to offer our best wishes.
Hrithik Roshan has just returned after a grueling month-long schedule of Agneepath in Diu to the news that he is trying to pressurise Zoya Akhtar, director of his forthcoming movie, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, to tone down the sizzling chemistry between Katrina Kaif and him and leave a steamy kiss out on the editing table.
Rubbishing rumours, the star says, “The song revolves around five friends (Katrina, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Kalki and Hrithik) and there are no moments between Katrina and me there. But yes, there’s a kiss and I believe that if you’re going to risk your life and jump off a building, you bloody well should make it look convincing. Unless you are honest during such moments of physical intimacy, you will appear uncomfortable and guilty on screen. When you see the lead pair in an English movie kissing, it’s rarely offensive or ‘a bit much’. That’s because of the conviction in their performance.”
Negating reports of creative differences with Zoya, Hrithik points out that she’s the only director, apart from his dad (Rakesh Roshan), with whom he’s done two movies — Luck By Chance (2009) and ZNMD, and the only female director he’s worked with: “Zoya is an artiste who doesn’t feel the need to conform to a herd mentality. She is always thinking out of the box and trying to figure out how to do things differently.”
Hrithik admits that he’s always wanted to take a road trip but it wasn’t till he piled into a car with ZNMD co-stars that he experienced the heady joy of seeing the world. “
Since everyone of us have information at our fingertips, Excel Media has set a trend in Bollywood with a digital trailer launch of their film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara , last Sunday.
Within 48 hours of its launch, the trailer got over 55 million hits. That's an amazing 5.5 crore people.
Actors Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar and Abhay Deol viewed the launch live. Excited with the response and confident that the digital approach is the way ahead, Ritesh Sidhwani says, "This is an astounding number by any standards". And the audiences include ones on mobile phone, social media and You tube. The trailer on FB is receiving frequent 'likes' and the entire driving force behind the digital platform is undoubtedly the transparency that it offers.
