3-E | 20 April, 2019

With The Best And Only The Best
Rumy Jafry has announced a film with Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role. The prolific writer and occasional director had taken a rather long sabbatical after delivering a number of hits, partly because he didn’t have a worthwhile story to tell and partly because he wanted to work with Amitabh Bachchan. Says an excited Rumy, “The next generation of filmmakers or the one after that may probably never get a chance to work with Amitabh Bachchan. But since I could work with the legend, I decided, my next film had to be with Bachchan for sure. After all, there’s nobody as disciplined as Amitabh Bachchan, no bigger star than him, and no better actor than him.”

Rumy had a story in mind since years. It is based on a stage-play and once he was convinced that he wanted to make a film based on it, he decided to revisit the story. Shooting will begin shortly.

Portable ‘Carvaan’
After revolutionising the way people consume music, with Carvaan, Saregama has brought out a portable Carvaan, called Carvaan Go. Like Carvaan has thousands of pre-loaded songs from the HMV Saregama library, Carvaan Go has 3,000 pre-loaded songs. Again, just like Carvaan, Carvaan Go also has FM and AM radio channels. The portable version is for people who’d like to carry it with them on their walk or drive or while flying. It can also be kept in the car and connected via Blue tooth to the car speakers. Carvaan Go will be out in the market shortly. Incidentally, Saregama has sold 1.3 million units of Carvaan in 18 months.

Satish Kaushik Firing On All Four Cylinders
Satish Kaushik’s birthday party on 13th April at Sin City at Andheri, Bombay was an enjoyable and entertaining event. It saw a good mix of the old and the new. And if you are wondering what Satish had been up to in the last couple of years, he is all set to strike back as a director and producer. He has four films almost ready for release. One of them, Kaagaz, may be taken up by a top actor for presentation. It is produced as well as directed by Kaushik. Kaagaz is based on a true story. Satish has also produced a Haryanvi film. Interestingly, it is titled Chhoriyan Chhoron Se Kam Nahi Hoti and is directed by Rajesh Babbar and presented by Zee Studios. Udaan is Satish Kaushik’s Marathi film. It is directed by Sanjay Memane and presented by PEN Studios. The actor-filmmaker also has an English film ready for release. Titled Distant Teardrop, it is shot in Sri Lanka, London and Russia. It is directed by N. Padmakumar who had made A Billion Colour Story which won 11 awards in international film festivals. Distant Teardrop is produced by Kaushik and N. Padmakumar, and presented by Venus and Picture Thought Productions.