Ghai, Boney turned down Salman's Veer

Wednesday night, myself struggling to take down notes, the candle flickering; he in jeans and tee having shed the armour of Veer, smooth muscles rippling in the dark shadows, glass in hand, cigarette in the mouth.

While his new 25-day-old French Mastiff pup, just finding its feet, snapped at my ankles and domestic helps, electricians, and the security men of Galaxy Apartments struggled to bring back the lights. It was high drama! He had just got back from doing interviews at Mehboob Studios. And waiting for him was a young choreographer to lead him through the steps of a dance he was doing at some awards function last night. At least, the choreographer was prancing around, Salman watched with a frown. “The next step is Bang-Bang,” the choreographer was saying. “Bang-Bang,” Salman said incredulously, “Woh kya hota hai?” Then to me he turned and said, “Ask!” That’s when the house plunged into darkness.

Much, much later, electricity partially restored, he talked to me about Veer, his new big film for Eros International Media Ltd. produced by Vijay Galani and directed by Anil Sharma that’s releasing on January 22. “It has the authenticity of Mughal-e-Azam and the spirit of Dharam-Veer,” Salman said. “But till it doesn’t release and I don’t hear the audience’s reaction, I can’t form an opinion. Humne poori jaan lagayee. If the audience is khush, hum khush, then we’ll go laughing to the bank! But there’s no formula for films. If the film is successful, the success will be attributed to just about anybody; but, God forbid, if it fails... I’ll be blamed, because I wrote it and acted in it. I’m okay with both situations. People see the 30-second promos, they expect the whole film to be like that.

Aamir, Bazmee to Come Together

This is a pair which should be worth watching. If reports are true, then it may not be a very long wait before one sees Aamir working with Aneez Bazmee. The writer cum director is very busy completing his script for Aamir. The film, when it is made, will be done so under Boney Kapoor's banner and will be a crime comedy.

Aamir who has reinvented himself with every movie, is known to be a perfectionist who likes to have a complete script in hand well before the shooting. However, Bazmee is not used to working like this. The director of films like Welcome, Aankehn and No Entry, believes in improvising. Hence, it seems that he has taken it upon himself as a challenge to complete the script and then get Aamir to sign on the dotted line. Acccording to Bazmee, the story has one leading male character and four females. Currently, the director is also all set to begin shooting No Problem, which goes on the floors on July 10. The film which is being produced by Anil Kapoor Productions, will have its first schedule in South Africa. The film stars, Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Paresh Rawal and Anil, among others.