Have you heard? Exploring an epic role

Rumour has it that Rakul Preet Singh could well be the latest addition to the cast of Nitesh Tiwarirsquos Ramayan The actor is said to be in advanced talks for the character of Shurpanakha the sister of demonking Raavan Those familiar with the mythological epic will know that Shurpanakha played a pivotal part in setting the stage for Raavanrsquos abduction of Sita and consequently Lord Ram and Laxmanrsquos war against him and Lanka Apparently Rakul is excited about playing the negative character and has done look tests for the part If things work out this epic trilogy will be her first project after wedding with actorproducer Jackky Bhagnani this month Ranbir Kapoor as Lord Ram Sai Pallavi as Sita Sunny Deol as Hanuman Yash as Raavan and Lara Dutta as Kaikeyi are said to be already on board the project Nitesh is scheduled to start filming in MarchIn recovery modeMithun Chakraborty who was rushed to a private hospital in Kolkata on Saturday morning reportedly suffered Ischemic Cerebrovascular stroke A host of doctors including a neurophysician cardiologist and gastroenterologist are attending to him He is responding well to treatment and is likely to be discharged in the coming days The hospital issued a statement about the veteran actorrsquos health saying he is ldquowellorientedrdquo and ldquofully consciousrdquo Pathikrit Basu director of Mithunrsquos next Shastri visited him at the hospital and shared that the actor is doing well He said ldquoI met Mithun da and he is better He also said that he would resume shoot after a few days He talked about the things he would be doing when he comes back on the setrdquoCrossover cameoOver a year ago Rajkummar Rao and Aparshakti Khuranarsquos characters from Stree made a special appearance towards the endcredits of Varun Dhawanrsquos Bhediya 2022 Since then it has been known that Varun will have a cameo in director Amar Kaushikrsquos next Stree 2 Now we hear that the actor recently shot his portion with Shraddha Kapoor for the sequel to the 2018 hit Apparently his scenes are quite funny and will be one of the highlights of the film While Stree 2 is slated to release this August Bhediya 2 will roll in 2025Twice as niceNavneet Malik believes that diligence and perseverance pave the path to success He is currently juggling the recentlypremiered television show Aankh Micholi and the film The Virgin Tree The actor begins his day at 7 am on the set of his TV show after which he rushes for his film shoot ldquoThere have been days when I slept in the vanity van during lunch breaks But Irsquom blessed to have good workrdquo he says Admitting to being a greedy actor he adds ldquoAankh Micholi is one of those rare shows where a male character has so much to offer The Virgin Tree gave me the opportunity to step in the shoes of the iconic Sanjay Dutt as his younger avatar No way would I have let go off either Irsquod rather work twice as hard to do bothrdquoLaugh you mustIt appears that Vaani Kapoor is more than making up for her absence from the screens during 2023 The actor who joined the cast of Ajay Devgnrsquos Raid 2 last month has added another film to her slateThis time around she is teaming up with Aparshakti Khurana and Paresh Rawal for director Navjot Gulatirsquos yetuntitled family dramedy Shooting for the movie about dysfunctional relationships in todayrsquos times is slated to begin soon The makers are planning to wrap it up in a marathon starttofinish schedule in London Vaani and Aparshakti play siblings while Paresh has an authorbacked role in this comedyReunion timesOver 23 years since Pukar 2000 Rajkumar Santoshi is teaming up with ace cinematographer Santosh Sivan for his next Lahore 1947 The duo first collaborated on Barsaat 1995 which marked Bobby Deolrsquos acting debut Interestingly the only time Santoshi faced the camera was for Santoshrsquos directorial venture Halo 1996 Incidentally Lahore 1947 marks several reunions for SantoshiFirst with his Andaz Apna Apna 1994 actor Aamir Khan who is producing the period drama Secondly after 28 years he is teaming up with Sunny Deol having previously worked together on Ghatak 1996 Damini 1993 and Ghayal 1990 AR Rahman who composed the soundtrack of The Legend of Bhagat Singh 2003 joins hands with the filmmaker again after 20 years