WHILE on Salman Khan, he’s been cast in Ravi Chopra’s ambitious Baghbaan, which already stars Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini along with a bunch of second-rung actors, including Samir Soni, Sahil Chadha and others. In a significant starring role for which Chopra was hoping to cast Shah Rukh Khan, he’s managed to snag the Maine Pyaar Kiya Khan, who willingly stepped in. Opposite Salman will be Mahima Chaudhary, who, insiders say, has terrific chemistry with Mr Muscles. Mahima and Salman shot at Film City recently, and everyone on the set insisted they lit quite a spark on camera. Incidentally, this is the first time the two actors will appear on screen together. The closest they’d gotten to working together was on a series of stage shows some years ago, where Mahima and Salman shared the stage with Sanjay Dutt and Karisma Kapoor.Turn of the TyrosWHO would you cast in the Sharon Stone role in a desi remake of that sizzling thriller, Basic Instinct? Well, director Punkej Parasher (of Tumko Na Bhool Payenge shame) originally wanted oomph girl Sushmita Sen, but the actress bailed at the eleventh hour. Parasher went to Diya Mirza next, but money issues resulted in her being shown the door. Eventually, the part’s landed in the lap of current ‘it’ girl Isha Koppikar, who’s burning up the charts with her Khallas number from Company and her Ishq Samundar dance from Kaante. Madame Koppikar will bare all opposite Manoj Bajpai in Parasher’s nail-biting adaptation, but something tells us that the famous legs-crossing scene from the original won’t be retained in the Bollywood version. Hmph.Cheap ThrillsIF there was anything at all that raised your eyebrows in the embarrassingly incompetent Talaash, it was the steamy scene between Akshay Kumar and his one-time girlfriend Pooja Batra. Months ago when it was announced that Ms Batra had been cast in a supporting role in the film, Bollywoodwalas were surprised, considering Akshay and Pooja haven’t exactly been the best of friends since they split. But when front-benchers saw that scene in Talaash in which a swimsuit-clad Batra runs her hands all over a bare-torsoed, trunks-clad Akki, whistles and catcalls went up from the aisles. Didn’t make up for the shamefully illogical movie they were subjected to, but a good laugh anyway.Salman does a Ghulam!Devdas is being translated into English and French. Do you think there is a market for it? Shekhar Suman: ‘‘I think there is definitely a market for Indian-ness, grandeur and opulence, but whether Devdas specifically will find a market, I cannot say. It is true though that after Moulin Rouge, more avenues are opening up on an international scale for period films, which is what Devdas is.’’Mahesh Bhatt: ‘‘Dubbing a film in different languages is an economic decision, so it must have been made after exploring marketing avenues. After 9/11, the Western world seems to have woken up to the third world. Moreover, exotic India seems to be in fashion. And Devdas being a tale of everlasting love in the classical Hollywood idiom, seems to be picking up.” Ashutosh Rana: ‘‘It can be a good decision, because if language is a barrier, changing it will take the film closer to more more people. A lot depends on how well Devdas adapts to it.’’ Shyam Shroff: ‘‘I think there would be a huge market for Devdas in different foreign languages. They should also explore the Spanish and Chinese languages.”
