Have you heard? Dance, romance for Duggu-Dippy

Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone

Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone have taken off to Italy for a two-week schedule of director Siddharth Anand's Fighter, which marks their first film together. Starting Wednesday, the actors will shoot two songs, one of which is a dance number along the lines of Ghungroo from the filmmaker's 2019 hit, War. Choreographer Bosco Martis has designed some innovative hook steps for Duggu and Deepika as they groove to Vishal-Shekhar's tunes. The second track is said to be a romantic ballad that will also showcase the chemistry between the lead pair. Sid plans to wrap up the film by mid-October and move the post-production into top gear. The aerial action thriller, which also stars Anil Kapoor, Akshay Oberoi and Karan Singh Grover, is scheduled to arrive in cinemas on January 25, 2024.

Talking movies

Allu Arjun is likely to team up with director Atlee and composer Anirudh Ravichander for his next. The south superstar reportedly met the filmmaker in Mumbai recently to discuss a possible collaboration. Sources claim that Arjun flew down to the city, especially for the meeting that lasted a few hours, as they jammed on ideas. It is being said that both the actor and the director came out of the meeting looking pleased and are hopeful of working together soon.

Questioning the messaging

Last week, Rohit Shetty began filming Singham Again with Ajay Devgn returning as the supercop Bajirao Singham. Even as Kareena Kapoor Khan joined the shoot over the weekend, Bombay High Court judge Gautam Patel came down heavily on the "dangerous message" sent by films like Singham, which show cops delivering instant justice without following the due process of law. During an event organised by the Indian Police Foundation, Justice Patel observed that such movies not only encourage impatience with the delivery of justice, but also present a negative image of the police as corrupt and unaccountable bullies. Moreover, he panned the poor portrayal of judges on screen as docile and timid. Pointing out that this kind of portrayal reinforces the filmi notion that courts are not doing their job and hence the cops have to take matters into their own hands, he emphasised the need for a broader conversation on reforming various aspects of the justice system. Let's see what Rohit and his actors have to say to this now.

Getting ready for baby

Vikrant Massey and Sheetal Thakur yesterday confirmed reports that they are in the family way. They shared a picture from their wedding album, on social media, captioning it: "We are expecting! Baby coming 2024." Their post was accompanied by an interesting creative made with safety pins indicating the good news. Alongside, they wrote, "New beginnings", followed by a dizzy emoji. Vikrant and Sheetal began dating in 2015 and tied the knot last February. The actor has 12th Fail, Sector 36 and Phir Aayi Hasseen Dillruba lined up in the pipeline.

Post, delete…

Uh oh! What is with Tiger Shroff? Recently, producer Firoz Nadiadwallah announced an action comedy titled Master Blaster, starring Tiger and Sanjay Dutt. The filmmaker is reportedly planning to shoot the movie in China, Macau, and Hong Kong with crew from China and Los Angeles. It was also said that the actors would undergo rigorous training in martial arts, ancient weapon,s and hand combat under the supervision of Shaolin monks.

While the director and the rest of the cast is yet to be known, Tiger dismissed the reports on social media. "Been hearing rumours and seeing some tweets and posts of me being roped in for a film. It will be my honour to work with such senior stalwarts in our industry some day soon, but as of now, this news is not true," he wrote. However, within a few minutes, he deleted the post. Wonder why!

An amicable parting

When Farhan Akhtar announced Don 3 with Ranveer Singh last month, social media was divided over the replacement of Shah Rukh Khan in the action thriller franchise. The filmmaker recently told an international publication that he is not in a position of replacing anyone. "These are things that we discussed over the years. I wanted to take a certain direction with the story. Somehow, we just couldn't find common ground. So, we just parted mutually knowing that it's probably for the best," Farhan said, explaining SRK's exit from his Don franchise. Excited to have Ranveer on board, he reportedly added, "He's so charged and so ready to go. It's a big film, purely from the point of view of an actor, it's a big thing to do. We're excited to have him on board. His energy is energising us."