B-town buzz: When Vicky Kaushal almost rejected Uri

Vicky Kaushal

Vicky Kaushal had a career turnaround with Uri: The Surgical Strike, a film that he says he "almost" turned down. The actor said he initially failed to "connect" with the script in the midst of an intense shooting schedule for Raazi. It was his father, action director Sham Kaushal, who read it. "He told me, 'If you miss doing this film, it'll be the stupidest decision of your life." After a deeper look into the script, he "called RSVP and said please don't go to any other actor".

On the work front, Vicky Kaushal will be next seen in the horror film, Bhoot - Part One: The Haunted Ship and Sardar Udham Singh, a biographical drama. Bhoot will be directed by Bhanu Pratap Singh and will be sailing towards you on November 15, 2019. It is jointly produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Shashank Khaitan and Karan.

Go big or go home?

Gurinder Chadha

Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha said smaller films have little room in theatrical distribution today. The Indian-origin British filmmaker said in India, mainstream and parallel cinema have always co-existed but she cannot see that happening anymore. "There's a great crisis globally for independent films. Those kind of smaller stories, relationship stories that aren't big on visual effects, action, they've got squeezed. It's a shame that I'm seeing that in India as well."

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