(7KM music) The official word on "Kalinka"

As reported earlier, "Darrling", the song that accompanies the trailer of 7 Khoon Maaf is based on a Russian folk song called "Kalinka". This news report makes the additional clarification and assuages any potential misgivings about plagiarism:

Vishal confirmed using the Russian track, "Yes, it is based on Kalinka, which is a centuries-old Russian folk song. In fact, original Russian words have also been used in the song as one of the husbands happens to be a Russian." He adds, "It has been used in a lot of films around the world." We hear that he even flew down four Russian singers to sing the Kalinka song. They are also given credit in the album.

Vishal, Shah Rukh Khan, Chetan Bhagat (OMG!)

I guess it's time to come out of denial and actually report this as befits this blog. Apparently, Vishal will be adapting Chetan Bhagat's "Two States" with Shah Rukh Khan, thus resulting in a combination that one would not have guessed days ago. Just how this will turn out, we'll wait and see, but a certain sense of disbelief at Vishal using CB material is a little disconcerting. Such sentiment earlier has been restricted to his choice of actors (and must confess, these have been unfounded), so time will tell.

The guys at 'Fight Club' are also none too impressed with this development (2nd half of the post).

7 Khoon Maaf - the trailer

Earlier today, "VBFan" told us about the official poster of "7 Khoon Maaf" and soon after, Punit Jha posted the link to the first trailer on the Gulzarfans Y! Group. On first viewing, this one is as good as Kaminey's trailer (impressive that Indian film-makers too can cut such trailers):



Striking notes:

* Can't figure out the main voice in the song, but there's Usha Uthup in the mix (she's also acting in the film)

* A cross-dressing John Abraham!

* Nice to see Annu Kapoor in a film after a long hiatus

* Great European lilt to the tune

* Oh, and looks like the official title is "7 Khoon Maaf".

Enjoy.

(Poster from Bollywood Hungama)

Update (25 Dec): Fight Club finds the base folk Russian song on which "Darrrling" is based (a Russian song called Kalinka).

Karan Johar not in Saat Khoon Maaf

Now KJO as a wife-beating sex maniac in Saat Khoon Maaf was an inspired choice and would have been great piece of casting. I am sure it would have earned Karan Johar a zillion brownie points and weirdly would have dampened the whispers about his 'leanings'.

Of course, Karan Johar can't even fathom the concept of such characters, forget embodying them. The guy thinks "My Name is Khan" was a massive creative leap for him! The frog in the gilded well is now a Director in Bollywood.

Kaam Ka Plot: a made for TV flick with a bit of Vishal

Vishal's friend and Mid-day film critic Minty Tejpal wrote and directed "Kaam Ka Plot" a tepid thriller featuring Ranvir Shorey, Sandhya Mridul, and Vinay Pathak, which appeared on TV a couple of weeks ago. Promoted as having music by Vishal, it had one song, which, truth to be told, was largely uninspired and unnecessary. Lyrics by Munna Dhiman and sung by Vishal himself.

Saath Khoon Maaf's music: Suresh Wadkar

Given the film's January release date, the music of Vishal's next release "Saath Khoon Maaf" should hopefully be in the pipeline. Veteran singer Suresh Wadkar was interviewed for the Marathi TV channel "IBN Lokmat" during the Ganesh festival, where he spoke about how Vishal has probably experimented the most with Wadkar's voice. He also mentioned that he's sung a song for 7KM (if I can take the liberty), which came out well.

Wadkar's last Vishal appearance was in Kaminey where he lights up "Raat ke Dhaai Baje".

Dream Sequence: title, casting, story

It seems that "Dream Sequence" is what it's being called. Vishal's film for Ektaa Kapoor's production house has seen a spate of news about its casting muddles. Fortunately (IMO), one established fact is that Deepika Padukone will not be one of the two leading ladies thanks to scheduling problems. So it's just Priyanka Chopra for now.

Speculation is also rife about the leading man: first it was Saif Ali Khan, who later moved out because he wanted Vishal to do a film for him in return (which Vishal declined). Apparently, Abhay Deol was to replace him, but now SAK is back. It's borderline gossip, so just read this news item instead.

The film is slated to be a smaller, more experimental film. Here's an interview with art director Samir Chanda on some of the pre-production work happening in Kolkata. Incidentally, he says the story has been written by Mukul Sharma. If I'm not mistaken, this is the same MS who writes for the Times of India on topics such as science and spirituality, used to run the popular Mindsport column during the bearable days of the TOI, and is the father of Konkona Sen Sharma (who, but for her pregnancy, should have been a shoo-in for the 2nd lead's role).

Milte hai Sur Yahaa

Vishal Bhardwaj has been signed up to compose music for Meghna Gulzar's next, 'Milte Hai'.
According to India Today,

Producer-director Sanjay Gupta has managed to get the golden duo of Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar as composer-lyricist for his upcoming Vidya Balan starrer Milte Hain.The film, to go on floors early next year, will be directed by Gulzar's daughter Meghna and it is after a long time that Vishal has agreed to compose for a movie, which is not being directed by him.

Of course, Meghna Gulzar, Sanjay Gupta is not a new combination. She has directed ek kahani titled Pooranmasi in the film, "Dus Kahaniyan".

Here's hoping Vishal and Gulzar duo add something special to a Sanjay Gupta Production.

"K-k-k-k-k-k-kaminey!"

A report in Glamsham says that SRK's signed up Vishal for his next home production, supposedly set in a small town.

Right now, I'm curious to see whether Vishal can stop SRK from doing that arms-spread-out-three-quarters-view-with-cheeky-grin pose of his.

vishal nuggets from a strange place

In a post over at PFC dedicated to Sushil Rajpal, the director of the National Award-winning Antardwand, Hansal Mehta looks like Forrest Gump as he drops one destined-to-be-famous name after another. A very interesting nugget surfaces when he writes about Amrita, a short film he had made in 1995. It turns out that the music director was none other than Vishal Bhardwaj. Hansal Mehta offers nothing more except But that is another story, another fond relationship and maybe another emotional blog. One awaits that post eagerly.

More Ruskin, some Deepika

From recent news items:

More Ruskin Bond's Saat Khoon Maaf appearance: Times of India - 23rd August (featuring the tidbit that Bond and Bhardwaj are now neighbours in Mussoorie)

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The news that Deepika Padukone has signed a Vishal film (is he directing or simply producing?), to be featured opposite Saif Ali Khan. More prayers for non-actor to actor transformations.

Vishal for Meghna Gulzar's movie

Mid-Day reports that Vishal will be doing the music for Meghna Gulzar's next film, an adaptation of the play "Double Act" by Barry Crayton . More here.

The new Bond movie and the Seven Deadly Sons

The irreverent moifightclub blog provides a complete list of doomed husbands in Vishal's upcoming Saath Khoon Maaf (original source: The Hindustan Times). They are:
Naseeruddin Shah, Irrfan Khan, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Russian actor Alexander Dyachenko, Annu Kapoor and Vivaan Shah (Naseeruddin Shah’s son).

Ruskin Bond's cameo is also confirmed, thanks to a note from the writer himself. Writing in Outlook, the quiet great man talks of his admiration for his director, the toil behind a film, and of being unable to make an offer that Vishal couldn't refuse:

I offered to sing and dance, but I was gently told that I should stick to writing.

Read about the latest 'Bond movie' here.
(There's an funny - unrelated - anecdote at the end of the diary.)

"A Shah among actors" - Vishal on Naseeruddin Shah

Personally, I feel Naseer should quit the movies now. His heart is in theatre — on stage — and I can see that. When he’s on the sets, it’s like dealing with a temperamental child. He’s impatient because he’s a spontaneous actor — retakes are not his thing at all.

Naseeruddin Shah turns 60 soon. To mark the occasion, Vishal Bhardwaj writes a heart-felt appreciation of one of India's greatest actors. The link is here.

Rope to hang yourself by

The news is that Vishal Bhardwaj seems to be roping in Aishwarya Rai for the next film. So frankly, we can write this one off.

Saath Khoon Maaf, par Ash in Vishal movie, inexcusable!!

Now that we mention it, Saath Khoon Maaf shooting seems to be complete. Hope the post production doesn't take a lot of time. PC interview here

Usha Uthup replaces Mohanlal

Sorry, made that one up!

But jokes aside, seems like the original pop ki raani, Usha Uthup, is part of Saath Khoon Maaf.

Usha who has already shot with the director for three days says, "I had stopped acting in films as I didn't get a role which was good enough".
Everyone was only asking me to play myself. I almost jumped out of my skin when Vishal sir offered me such an exciting role in his film. It's got layers to it and is very challenging. It's a dark comedy"

Will be interesting to see how Double U is used/ approaches the role - hope we don't have her making kathakali faces just to pump up the scare factor.

the first husband leaves

Saat Khoon Maaf is what the Vishal/Priyanka flick written by Ruskin Bond is called and the roster of the seven bridegrooms has looked interesting ever since it started out with Mohanlal. Alas, the list which also features Naseeruddin Shah, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan Khan and Anu Kapoor will be missing the thunder from down under, because, reportedly, Mohanlal is no longer of the film. Little else is known yet. Perhaps it's just a joke. Perhaps it's not. Only time will tell.

Saath Khoon Maaf in Kashmir

One of the first on-set reporting for Saath Khoon Maaf comes from Mumbai Mirror. Looks like the shooting is on in full swing in Kashmir. It has been for some time in Kashmir, this time, for reel (long time before Bollywood goes digital).

The report title is Murder, she rote, which for all the pun-wizardry of TOI publications, still doesn't make sense.

It's a Mirror Exclisive, btw.

Jyoti Jalaile (Athithi Tum Kab Jaaoge)

In The Blue Umbrella is a prayer scene in the little Himachal village where the story is set. A bhajan begins, but is in a very familiar tune, which turns out to be "you are my soniyaa" ("Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham"). The setting of a prayer song to a popular Hindi film tune is a common feature in many Indian towns (Punekars can summon memories of the aural assaults during the Ganesh Festival).

A similar thing has happened to "biiDii jalaile" ("Omkara"). The soundtrack of "Athiti Tum Kab Jaaoge" has a song called "jyoti jalaile" which runs on the same lines as the original, and is even sung by Sukhwinder Singh (music is either by Pritam or Amit Mishra - hopefully not the leggie, who still has some cricket left in him).

Vishal has some old associations with the makers of this movie. "Athithi..." is produced by Amita Pathak, the daughter of Omkara producer Kumar Mangat. In addition, the lady made a disastrous debut in her father's production "Haal-e-Dil", which had a smorgasbord of music directors including Vishal. The twin versions of the excellent title track (by Raahat Fateh Ali Khan and Rekha B) sank without too much attention as a result of the film doing very badly.

And there's your dose of Vishal trivia for the day.

Susanna's Seven Husbands

Vishal's next, the what-is-the-title-after-all Saath Khoon Maaf/Ek Bataa Saath is based on Ruskin Bond's short story "Susanna's Seven Husbands". This is Vishal's second collaboration with the veteran writer after "The Blue Umbrella".

According to an interview with Bond, Bond describes Susanna thus:

"My protagonist is a femme fatale who bumps off her seven husbands… I had to find ingenious ways of bumping seven people off while writing the story. Not something that I am used to contemplating generally,"

And it seems Vishal's begun shooting for the film in Coorg with a hairline fracture sustained while playing tennis.

Now it is Saath Khoon Maaf: Husband 6 locked in

I wonder if the reporters make up their own titles as they go along, while reporting on movies in production. I have heard Seven, Seven Husbands, Ek Bataa Saath as potential titles. I am guessing they are talking about the same movie.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is playing one of the husbands, and seems to be the sixth one roped in to play the part of Priyanka Chopra's short-lived husbands. But I could identify only other two from the reports - Naseeruddin Shah and Mohanlal (Kamal Hassan would have been enough to play all!)

From the name and the number being touted, I am guessing PC leaves her husbands quick and dead.

I hope Mini Mukesh dies a gruesome death right into the 1st minute of the movie. He is acting के नाम पे धब्बा! Personal view, thats all.

Chandan Arora's "Striker" - music

"Striker", a film directed by Chandan Arora and starring Siddharth (probably the first Hindi film to feature carrom as its central theme?), recently released its music album. Among the many music directors to write songs for the album is Vishal.

The song is called Yun Hua, is penned by Gulzar, and is sung by Vishal himself.

(see the Wikipedia article on 'Striker' for more.)

Vishqiya

Rediff review is all praise for Ishqiya music.

Once again Gulzar [ Images ] and Vishal Bhardwaj [ Images ] have conspired to give us a soundtrack to marvel at, that one intoxicatingly warm song leading the way.