will Hamlet be the third?

Rumours offered two possible works as sources for Vishal's next edition in his adaptation of the Bard's works, King Lear and Julius Caesar. Yet, a recent news bit suggests that it might be Hamlet starring none other than Hrithik Roshan. Is it to be or not to be? Ay, there's the rub.

shahid kapoor, priyanka chopra in "Kamine"

Is it Kamine or is it Kaminay? Shahid Kapur has reportedly been signed on by Vishal B for this film to play a double role. Priyanka Chopra's been roped in for this "romantic musical," that she describes as "being more of a romantic-comedy [that] also has lots of action." Shooting begins in August 2008. As the days go by, one awaits more tidbits on what might well be Vishal's first film that has nothing to do either with children or the Bard.

Arshad Warsi and Vishal Bhardwaj

An April 16, 2008 interview with Arshad Warsi beats about the Krazzy 4 bush for the most part and ends with an interesting note: Up next are Golmaal Returns, Shortcut, Munnabhai Chale Amreeca and a film with Vishal Bhardwaj. An April 20, 2008 TOI scrap has another tidbit: The Vishal Bhardwaj film that I'm a part of is a bit strange in terms of language and behaviour.. The only film that seems to match right now is Ishqiya and that has VB as a producer with his long-time associate Abhishek Chaubey making his directorial début.

Haal-e-dil

This may well turn out to be the year with the most Vishal music releases. After "U, Me, Aur Hum", up for the shelves is "Haal-e-Dil". It's not a surprise that behind the (as yet) low-profile film is Kumar Mangat, with the film primarily designed as a launch pad for his daughter Amita's acting career. IIRC, a year or so ago, Mangat and the star he's closely associated with, Ajay Devgan (Mangat is or used to be Devgan's secretary) were involved in a contest to select the male lead for this film .

The film has the lyrics of Munna Dhiman. Now interestingly, the film was initially slated to have music by Anand Raj Anand and Raghav Sachar, so it's not clear how much of the soundtrack is by Vishal. Anyway, the brief trailers on air feature a Vishal song. The film is not expected to be any great shakes, so write this off for friendship.

Casting the net for Vishal's next and "Ishqiya"

Film websites are almost certain that Vishal Bhardwaj's next directorial venture will feature the likes of Shahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra. This may raise a few eyebrows among Vishal's fans (), but one will give him the benefit of the doubt, considering the same happened with "Omkara" when the unlikely casting of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, and Ajay Devgan was announced.
Source article: Bollyspice.com

Ishqiya
More certain is that Vishal, in addition to Shantaram, also has another music score being written. This time, it's for long-time associate Abhishek Chaubey, who has been with Vishal since "Makdee" and also co-wrote "Omkara". Billed as a crime-thriller, Vishal is also co-producing the film, while Gulzar will pen the lyrics.
Source article: Mid-Day.

'Shantaram' - music watch

There's been a dearth of reliable information about what Vishal really is upto next, but if this Rediff article is anything to go by, at least Mira Nair's Shantaram has finally been spotted on the radar.

If you leave aside the typically silly Rediff headline-grabbing speculation, this line from Vishal is promising:

"We will have two Sufi songs and one item number in Shantaram."

Vishal has had success with both these styles in Hindi films (remember "tu mere ruubaruu" (Maqbool) and the chart-ripping "biiDii jalaile" (Omkara) of course). One doesn't really care if Johnny Depp is doing a number or not!

'Does Vishal know about this?' department

Well, if news reports are to be believed, Vishal Bhardwaj is making a lot of movies this year. This time, a vague news report about a likely casting of Kareena Kapoor and Aamir Khan, which probably is just recycled news from the days of the shelved 'Mr. Mehta and Mrs. Singh'. It was Shahid Kapur a few days ago, but as Vishal says in this interview: "The markets make my films way before I do".

We wish we had the services of a wee birdie who could tell us what those two scripts he alludes to are about. Anything to keep the speculators away. It doesn't help that Vishal's been part of quite a few shelved projects.