PERFECT Matches

IT was impressive when Shahid Kapoor stammered as Guddu in Kaminey. But when Priyanka Chopra pulled it off too,while playing a Marathi mulgi convincingly,one knew that she had finally found a filmmaker who could bring out the best in her.

“He is so thorough with his scripts and so clear about what he wants in a scene that you don’t want to let him down,” she gushes. The duo returns with 7 Khoon Maaf where she plays the protagonist,and the promos are already creating a stir. Chopra is also rumoured to have been signed on for Bharadwaj’s next film,Dream Sequence,opposite Saif Ali Khan.

Chitrangda Singh & Sudhir Mishra
Yeh Saali Zindagi

SHE made her debut with Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi as femme fatale Geeta. The film became a cult hit and Chitrangda Singh became the new focus of the Indian male’s fantasies.

When Mishra announced Dhruv,his adaptation of Devdas,it made more news as Singh’s comeback film. Though the film was shelved,Mishra didn’t disappoint the actress’s fans — Yeh Saali Zindagi,where she teams up with Irrfan and Arunoday Singh to play a character with as much spunk as Geeta,releases soon.

“He has more faith in me than I have in myself,” she says for her mentor,“It makes working with him so much easier.” Mishra,in turn,feels that Singh brings sophistication to grey characters. “The women in my films are not the epitome of purity — they are real and even flawed. But there is something about Chitrangda that makes them likeable.”

Farhan Akhtar & Shah Rukh Khan
Don 2

WHEN Farhan Akhtar first thought of remaking Don,he knew that comparisons with the classic original were inevitable. The key to convincingly make the film,he knew,lay in the right casting.

“Without drawing any comparisons,I had first chosen Shah Rukh because he has the charisma to play the innocent Vijay and conniving Don in today’s times. And now,I doubt the audience can imagine anyone else playing the part,” says Akhtar,of his close friend Khan. The film,which releases towards the end of this year,is supposed to be a pacier,slicker thriller.

Rohan Sippy & Abhishek Bachchan
Dum Maaro Dum

THEY have been friends since childhood and according to Rohan Sippy,Abhishek Bachchan remains one of the industry’s most underrated actors.

He proved his words by delivering a hit in Bluffmaster,after Kuch Na Kaho tanked at the box office. Now he intends to repeat that with the thriller Dum Maaro Dum,where Bachchan plays a cop.

“Abhishek lends seriousness and maturity to the characters. Even in comedies,he can blurt something funny keeping a poker-face,which is what worked for Bluffmaster,” says Sippy.

Bachchan,in turn,says that irrespective of his close friendship with Sippy,the latter’s films impress him. “It’s the small twists at the end of his movies that excite me,” he explains. Bachchan has also committed to star in Sippy’s untitled 3D film.

Rohit Shetty & Ajay Devgn
Remake of Singam,Bol Bachchan

THERE are times when I don’t narrate the script to Ajay until a month before the shoot is to begin,” says Rohit Shetty,who is about to begin working on his seventh film with Ajay Devgn,a Hindi remake of Tamil hit Singam.

“We share a comfort zone and our wavelengths match,” he adds. Devgn,on the other hand,attributes it to being “too lazy to step out of comfort zone”.

Never mind the critics,Shetty and Devgn are currently sitting on two mega brands,Golmaal and All The Best,and every time they come together with a comedy,they set the box-office ringing. And even though Singam is an action film,Shetty says he didn’t want to approach another actor for it. “There’s a saying in Hindi,which translates to: Why bother opening up the engine of a car that is running perfectly.”