Snakes and rainspost poned Billo Barber

IANS | Tuesday, 16 September , 2008, 10:31

First it was a snake in Lara Dutta's room and then torrential rains - the shooting for Priyadarshan's forthcoming Billo Barber in Tamil Nadu was indeed chaotic, says actor Irrfan Khan. He recounts how a poisonous snake entered Lara's room at night while the cast was filming in Pollachi in Coimbatore district. But Lara didn't panic at all. "To her credit, Lara handled the situation very sensibly and bravely, probably because she didn't know how poisonous the snake was. If it had bitten her it would've been disastrous," Irrfan said. The actor, who plays the barber's role in the film that also stars Shah Rukh Khan, can't stop praising Lara. "I've realised that facing the camera with her was as challenging as co-starring with Tabu or Dimple Kapadia. Lara is the most underrated actress I've worked with." Lara was also a little tense as her mom had apparently taken ill. "I could sense she was tense and dealing with a situation on the phone. But she never let it affect her work," Irrfan said. Apart from snakes, the heavy rains also gave the unit a tough time. But they had to continue shooting as Shah Rukh Khan had to get back to Mumbai. Said Irrfan: "Pollachi is one of the most peaceful spots in the world. Though prone to the monsoon vagaries at this time of the year, never did we imagine that the weather could act so unpredictable. "Suddenly during the last two days the weather acted up more than all of us who were facing the camera. We were in panic. Because there was no way Shah Rukh could delay his departure. Priyan had to wrap up his work at any cost. So we had no choice but to shoot through the rain which was harrowing." And when the King Khan wrapped up and left the shoot, the whole unit missed him terribly. "Shah Rukh is as entertaining off camera as he's on screen. We all bonded big time. Now that he's no longer with us in Pollachi we find that spark is gone out of the unit. Seldom have I missed a co-star after shooting with him or her," said Irrfan. The actor, who has acted in films like The Namesake, Life In A Metro and Maqbool, said that he had brought his family to Pollachi. "I always take my wife and two sons to as many outdoors as possible, even if it means making my kids skip school. It's the only way we have of finding time together. In fact I'm out of Mumbai shooting till the end of the year. And I'll try to get them to come with me whenever possible."

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Deepika Padukone joins with Priyadarshan

Deepika Padukone (TOI Photo) Deepika Padukone was supposed to make her debut with a Priyadarshan film, but she chose Farah Khan’s Om Shanti Om instead. Now, three years later, the actress is all set for a cameo in the director’s much-talked about Billo Barber. Priyan, however, credits Shah Rukh Khan for roping in Deepika for the project. “Yes, she was being considered for a film called Pirates – about music piracy. But the film didn’t work out. I’m glad Deepika made her debut with a film as successful as OSO, and that too with Shah Rukh,” said Priyan. Besides Deeepika, Kareena Kapoor also makes a guest appearance in the movie.

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Darsheel in Priyadarshan's Next Venture

Mumbai, Aug 28: Child prodigy Darsheel Safary won everyone's hearts with his sensitive portrayal of dyslexic Ishaan Awasthi in Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par. Since then, Darsheel has been seen endorsing many brands and has even made appearances at a number of social dos and award functions. However, he still was playing the waiting game before signing his next film.

That wait is finally over. Darsheel would be seen playing the lead role in the remake of Oscar-nominated film Children of Heaven. The remake would be directed by ace director Priyadarshan.

Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven tells to story of young Ali and his sister Zahra and their adventures over a lost pair of shoes. Shooting for the remake, which is being produced by Percept Picture Company, commences on September 12. The film is expected to be ready by March 2009.

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Climax of Kuselan and Billoo Barber are the same !!!

Kuselan, the Tamil version of the Malayalam superhit Katha Parayumpol, about the relationship between a cine-superstar and a village barber, has made it to the top of the box-office charts.

But Priyadarshan who's frantically trying to finish the Hindi version with SRK is unperturbed. "We'd have wrapped up Billoo Barber much earlier. But Shah Rukh got busy with the IPL. Never mind. It makes no difference to our film."

Priyan says the original Malyalam film which was written by his assistant Sreenivasan is very different from both Kuselan and Billoo Barber.

"Sreenivasan gave the Tamil rights to the producers after consulting me. Since they were very keen to make it with Rajnikanth, we relented. But the contract clearly says that Kuselan cannot be dubbed into any other language. Likewise, my Hindi version cannot be dubbed by producer SRK in any other language except the parent lingo, Hindi. We clearly put all this under contract to avoid the kind of overlapping that was attempted when I remade the Malayalam film Manichithrathzu as Bhool Bhulaiyaa in Hindi, and Rajni's Tamil film Chandramukhi, from the same source was also attempted to be released in a dubbed Hindi version. I'll avoid this kind of a clash of interests at any cost."

But the question is, would the contract prevent the makers of Kuselan from finding loopholes in the agreement to release the film in a dubbed Hindi version? And if they do would it effect Billoo Barber? According to a source a dubbed Hindi version of Kuselan is being released around the same time as Billoo Barber.

"Not at all," asserts Priyan. "Only the climax of Kuselan and Billoo Barber are the same. Otherwise they are two different films. See, like all Rajnkanth starrers, Kuselan has been made to spotlight Rajni as a larger-than-life icon.

I believe he enters the film riding a winged horse. Though my film also stars a superstar SRK as a superstar, I've nowhere tried to increase his role or heighten the impact of his presence. I'm not that kind of a filmmaker. In Bhool Bhulaiyaa, Akshay Kumar made his entry at interval point. I'm making it very clear that Irrfan Khan and not Shah Rukh has the main role in Billoo Barber. My film isn't a platform to glorify the mega-star," says Priyan making a dig at the first-frame-to-last presence of Rajnikanth in Kuselan. Billoo Barber opens during Diwali. "If I wanted I could've rushed the release. But we're not in competition with anyone. And like I said, the Kuselan makers are bound by contract. They can't dub the film into Hindi or any other language," says Priyan.

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Mere Baap Pehle Aap : Akshaye and Priyadarshan together

Akshaye Khanna is on cloud nine and rightly so! His work in Race has come in for tremendous appreciation and, most importantly, its success at the box-office has only added to the excitement.

Shooting for Shortkut in Bangkok, the actor says that no one expected Race to work in such a big way. “Of course, all of us were confident that it would work big time, but the numbers have caught everyone unawares,” he says.

Akshaye, who has worked with some of the biggest names in the business, is now looking forward to working with Akshay Kumar some day. “Imagine the two of us in one movie,” he states, “And only two people can achieve the impossible—Abbas-Mustan and Priyadarshan. In fact, they've been toying with the idea of casting us in a movie, but haven't found the right script yet.”

Akshaye is looking forward to his next release Mere Baap Pehle Aap, which brings Akshaye and Priyadarshan together after a gap of few years. “It's a fabulous film. In fact, I'd like to say that it's Priyan's best film so far,” he says. Coming from someone whose name is synonymous with qualitative cinema, it only increases the expectations from this film.

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