Have you heard? Bobby, Lara to join epic cast

Bobby Deol, Nitesh Tiwari and Lara Dutta

The mammoth success of Animal has given a boost to Bobby Deol's career. The actor, who is set to make his Tamil debut in Suriya's Kanguva, is said to be in talks for the part of Kumbhakarna in Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayan trilogy. Reportedly, the filmmaker and his team are keen that Lord Bobby, as the actor is now known, sign up for the project based on the mythological epic. However, the actor, who has been flooded with offers over the last couple of months, is being cautious and weighing his options before giving his nod. Interestingly, Sunny Deol is in advanced talks to play the role of Hanuman in the same project. We hear that Nitesh is keen to onboard Lara Dutta for the role of Queen Kaikeyi in his magnum opus. While the filmmaker feels she is perfect for the part, the actor herself is equally excited to collaborate with him on this epic trilogy.

Finally, the release is near

Yesterday, Vidya Balan and Pratik Gandhi piqued netizens' curiosity with their social media post that read, "Do aur do milenge. Pyaar ke raaz khulenge! Tomorrow at 11 am, wait for it!!" Turns out that the post was about their film, initially titled Lovers, with first-time director Shirsha Guha Thakurta. Announced in the second half of 2021, the romance drama is finally set to release. The makers were contemplating a unique title for the film that also stars Ileana D'Cruz and American actor Sendhil Ramamurthy, who was previously seen Shor in the City (2010). However, neither of them posted anything about the movie.

To new thrills

After The Freelancer, Mohit Raina continues to explore the thriller genre. This time around, he teams up with director Chandan Arora for Kan Khajura, the Hindi adaptation of the globally acclaimed crime drama, Magpie. The upcoming SonyLIV show also stars Roshan Mathew, Sarah-Jane Dias, Mahesh Shetty, Ninad Kamat, Trinetra Haldar, Heeba Shah, and Usha Nadkarni. Sharing that it is a great responsibility to portray the various shades of his character, he says, "To get into the skin of the character, we tried on different looks." Glad to be part of this story with filmmakers like Chandan at the helm, backed by an interesting cast, and talented writing, creative, and production teams, he adds, "Magpie, a global sensation was always a story waiting to cross borders and be adapted for the Indian audience."

Return of the queen

Over a year since Maharani 2, Huma Qureshi is set to return with the third edition of the series created by Subhash Kapoor. The political drama now sees her character Rani Bharati, having cleared her intermediate exams, ready to face her bete noir Naveen Kumar (Amit Sial). The teaser ends with Rani stating that despite being a school drop-out, she gave a hard time to her rivals. So they can very well imagine the havoc she can wreak in their lives if she graduates. Sources claim the third edition series is likely to drop this summer.

Whose show is it anyway?

The Pongal and Makar Sankranti weekend witnessed fireworks of a different kind in theatres in Hyderabad. Rumours are rife that the southern city's Prasads multiplex cancelled nearly sold-out shows of Teja Sajja's Hanu-Man on Monday and replaced them with those of Mahesh Babu's Guntur Kaaram. Apparently, Hanu-Man, which opened with 15 shows, was soon playing 11 shows, while Guntur Kaaram's score increased from seven to 11. Besides these two movies, the last weekend also saw Venkatesh's Saindhav and Nagarjuna's Naa Saami Ranga arrive in cinemas. However, the Teja-starrer, which was the dark horse of the lot, not only emerged as the biggest money-spinner in Telugu, but also surpassed expectations in its Hindi version. Yesterday, Prasads multiplex reportedly played six shows of Hanu-Man, and eight of Guntur Kaaram.

Ranbir shares his favourite moments with Raha

Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor have spoken about how they dote on their daughter Raha. In a recent interaction, the Animal actor shared that his favourite memory with their little munchkin would be, "locking eyes with her and having that instant recognition of who I am, smiling, looking at me and giving me a hug and kiss." He admitted, "I don't think there is any other better moment than this." When asked about his ideal Sunday, Ranbir promptly replied, "Spending lots of time with Raha, unhealthy cheat meals, play a sport either football, golf, or table tennis, and ending the day with watching a movie." Cool!

Batting for environment

Anshuman Jha will mark one year of his production venture, Lakadbaggha with a special screening for the Environmental Minister Bhupendra Yadav and his officials this weekend. The actor-producer, who is preparing for the second instalment of the film, co-starring Ridhi Dogra, says, "If we can spread the message for the conservation of the Indian striped hyena and adoption drives for Indie dogs, that will be our biggest victory." Earlier this week, the film was screened at Cinema Paradiso in Auroville.