Coming Soon: 'Ready 2'

Bollywood is hooked to sequels.

Till quite some time back, sequels were considered an absolute no-no, but times have changed and how. Today, most film-makers, who have a success to their credit, feel they can capitalize on its success by announcing a sequel. What's more, even the actors associated with those successful films give sequels a preference over other assignments.

While 'Bheja Fry 2' opens this Friday and 'Double Dhamaal' arrives on June 24, 'Murder 2' and 'Don 2' are also expected to hit the screens this year. That's not all, 'Ghayal Returns', 'Dostana 2', 'Dhoom 3', 'Krrish 2', 'Dabangg 2', 'Golmaal 4', 'Housefull 2', 'Munnabhai 3', 'Wanted 2', 'Partner 2', 'Race 2' and 'Raaz 3' are in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, the industry is abuzz with the speculation that the makers of 'Ready' are toying with the idea of making a sequel, but even if it materializes, it won't happen immediately, since Salman gets into 'Ek Tha Tiger' soon after he completes 'Bodyguard'. Post 'Ek Tha Tiger', Salman is expected to start 'Sher Khan', followed by 'Kick' and 'Dabangg 2'.

'Ready' producer Bhushan Kumar doesn't rule out a film with Salman, but adds that it's a bit too early to start work on a sequel. "Salman and T-Series share a terrific rapport and we will definitely plan a film for sure, but there's nothing on the cards now. He has commitments to fulfill," Bhushan states.

Source: Bollywood Hungama

John Abraham to join 'Housefull 2' crew later

The 'Housefull' team left for London last week but without John Abraham. He will join the 'Housefull 2' gang a week later.

Apparently, Sajid Nadiadwala had earlier planned to hire a private jet to take the whole 'Housefull 2' crew to England from Mumbai. But now with various members opting for scattered travel, Sajid has no options but to cancel the jet plans.

Sajid Nadiadwala who is in the middle of implementing this dare devilish co-ordinating stunt hardly has time to pause to talk about his problem. "Kya Karen? These are all busy stars. We can't have them over in London and then have them sitting idle waiting for actors with whom they are to do combination shots. And losing precious shooting dates in London means losing out on permission to shoot in places like Leicester Square where getting permission again is impossible. It's a very tricky situation. And it's the biggest challenge I've faced in my career as a producer."

Getting the star's dates synchronized is an ordeal for Nadiadwala. "We are trying to accommodate the actors in different groups in the shooting schedule so that no one has to sit idle. Let's see how we do it."

Source: Bollywood Hungama

Varma making 'BHHOOoo' to scare his rivals

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is reportedly making 'BHHOOoo' to counter producer Nitin Manmohan's plans to make 'Bhoot 2' with Vikram Bhatt.

"Yes 'BHHOOoo' will be 'Bhoot 2'. Let's see who can stop me from making it. The title 'Bhooo' comes from that commonly uttered sound by us when we want to scare the daylights out of our enemies. That's what I want to do to my enemies who are now doing a sequel to my film on the sly," said Varma.

"When that sound Bhooo we utter as kids is used in an adult-horror film context, it completely changes in its intention and intensity," said the director who kept mum when asked about the cast of 'BHHOOoo'.

But sources said that it will star Mahie Gill. Raj Kumar Yadav, who played the lead in 'Ragini MMS' and 'Shaitan', has impressed the director enough to be cast in 'BHHOOoo' as the leading man.

Released in 2003, Varma's 'Bhoot', which starred Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar and Rekha, was a hit movie.

'BHHOOoo' will carry forward the story from 'Bhoot' with the same characters.

"Let Nitin Manmohan use the title. Ramu will carry the story and characters forward in 'BHHOOoo'. That will be 'Bhoot 2'," said a source.

Source: IANS

Shruti Haasan busy with three films

After making her Tollywood debut with the fantasy-adventure 'Anaganaga O Dheerudu' early this year, actress-singer Shruti Haasan has signed three films, two in Telugu and one in Tamil.

They are 'O My Friend', in which she stars opposite Siddharth, Jr. NTR's yet-to-be-titled Boyapati Srinu film and Suriya starrer 'Ezham Arivu', which marks her Tamil debut.

After shooting with Jr. NTR for almost ten days in Ramoji Film City, she wrapped up her part on Saturday. She will soon join Ezham Arivu's sets in Chennai and later will head to Hyderabad again to complete O My Friend's new schedule.

The movies are expected to hit screens by 2011 end.

Source: Galatta

Gautham Menon to direct Karthi?

Is another hit director-actor combination in the making?

After teaming up with brother Suriya in 'Kaakha Kaakha' and 'Vaaranam Aayiram', ace director Gautham Menon is all set to direct Karthi in an upcoming Tamil flick.

This untitled film is expected to be a typical Gautham Menon styled action entertainer. Karthi is currently busy with his first political thriller 'Saguni' and will be getting married in Coimbatore on July 3, 2011.

Gautham Menon is currently shooting the Hindi remake of 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa' with Prateik Babbar and Amy Jackson. The duo is expected to start their venture after completing their ongoing projects.

Source: Galatta

Rajnikanth says I have fans here: Allu Arjun

Telugu star Allu Arjun presents his most expensive and physically taxing film till date...

With the film 'Badrinath' set to hit the screens this week, Telugu star Allu Arjun is naturally excited. He's been touring across the southern states to promote the film and Bangalore, incidentally, was on the top of his list of places to be. And there's good reason for that too.

The film, he says, is easily the most expensive one he has been part of. "I'm not just an actor in this movie; I'm also the producer's son," says Arjun, who feels a close connection with the film as he has also been involved in its production. There is also an impressive sequence of songs and dances, he says, "I think the audience can expect good dances from this movie, I am saying this humbly, not overconfidently. I had a good choreographer."

Arjun has come back to working with Chinni Krishna, the screenplay writer, who also wrote Arjun's debut film 'Gangotry'. "I think Chinni has done a fab job," says Arjun, adding, "I hope the audience receives it well." The actor also reveals that the preparation for this role was rather intense. The intricate storyline has Arjun playing an Indian samurai, a role for which he had to spend two months in Vietnam -- preparing for.

"Peter Hein has directed the fight sequences. I trained under a woman named Lee, who is a professional and has even participated at national level competitions," he says. The amount of training and hard work that went into the film is no joke, as Arjun insists. "We shot continuously for 60 days in the Himalayas, and that has never been done before. We filmed in spite of the critical weather conditions," he says.

The film is the only Telugu film to be releasing simultaneously in Malayalam also. "The Malayalam film industry is extremely supportive," Arjun says. But that isn't the only industry he is happy with.

Arjun speaks of the audience in Karnataka with enthusiasm, and says he finds the industry here very receptive. "Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are close neighbours and our languages are similar; so the audiences are good." Certainly, Allu Arjun has a huge number of fans in Bangalore. "Superstar Rajnikanth told me there's a huge craze in Karnataka for me. This was Rajnikanth! Talking to me about craze! Coming from him, it was the best compliment I've ever got."

Source: Apoorva Tadepalli, DNA-Daily News & Analysis

Siddharth's dates dilemma

Siddharth is as busy as a bee.

Siddharth's bag is full of films in different languages, but the actor is finding it hard to allocate dates to the makers of those movies.

"Desperately trying to allocate dates for 5 films in 3 languages in the next 8 months. Total madness but I hope I manage to pull it off," Siddharth posted on Twitter.

"Kerala fans, sorry guys. I was supposed to do a Malayalam film but had to back out because of date issues. Hopefully, next year," he wrote.

Source: IANS