Halloween night out

The cast of Youngistan had a whale of a crazy time shooting for the Tanki song in Japan

Jackky Bhagnani and Neha Sharma acting drunk for the Tanki song in Youngistan

Using the backdrop of politics, the makers of Youngistan have made sure that besides drama, the film contains a good dose of music and songs. A major portion of the film was shot in Japan, and the cast had a good time shooting it, especially the song Tanki, that was shot on the streets of Japan.
Jackky Bhagnani plays the suave, young 28-year-old Prime Minister, who steps into his father’s shoes after his death. Neha Sharma, who plays the female lead opposite Bhagnani describes, “We were shooting Tanki at the time of Halloween, so the whole city was going crazy, with everyone dressed as various characters like Spiderman, Batman, etc on the streets. Initially, we had not planned to shoot the song on the street, but then we thought, we could never replicate this, so, we might as well be one of them, and just have fun. Choreographers Bosco-Caesar asked us to just let our hair down and enjoy the moment. It was a liberating experience for me.”
The actors were instructed to act drunk in the song, and had to interact with random people on the streets. Even for Bhagnani, it was a novel experience. “We had to act drunk, there was no sound or speakers, it was Halloween night and people were going crazy. Initially, we were sceptical but later, we behaved worse than drunkards. It was so much fun.” Directed by Syed Ahmed Afzal, Youngistan is set to release on March 28.

We are family

Debutant director Abhishek Varman has pulled off a casting coup of sorts with 2 States, not only in terms of the lead actors Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, but also for the character actors who play their parents. While Amrita Singh and Ronit Roy will play Kapoor’s Punjabi parents, South actress Revathy and Shiv Subramaniyam will play Bhatt’s. The film, based on Chetan Bhagat’s book by the same name, releases on April 18. 2 States has been produced by Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala.

Haider wraps up

The shooting of Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider wrapped up on February 24, after a 30 day plus schedule in Kashmir. Irrfan, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor and the principal characters of the film, shot at locations like Pahalgam and Srinagar. The locals were very supportive and would come in hordes to watch the actors shoot. “The snow was ankle deep and even though the set was just a few feet away, the actors would take almost 15 minutes to walk from their vanity vans,” said a person from the production team. The film is already on the editing table, to stick to its release date of September 12.

Last few days for Daawat-E-Ishq

Yash Raj Film’s Daawat-E-Ishq is in its last leg of shooting. The movie which was filmed in Hyderabad, Lucknow and now Mumbai will soon be complete. Directed by Habib Faisal, it has Anupam Kher, Parineeti Chopra and Aditya Roy Kapur playing principal characters. Interestingly, the film is a love story set in the backdrop of the Indian dowry system. Chopra plays a Hyderabadi girl, while Kher plays her father and bothshare some interesting screen space. The lead jodi come from two opposite backgrounds— Parineeti’s character is from Hyderabad while Aditya’s hails from Lucknow. The anti-dowry theme is woven into the love story. The film releases on May 9.

Click here to follow Screen Digital on YouTube and stay updated with the latest from the world of cinema.