Ramaiya Vastavaiya, D-Day score average at box office

It was a cold Friday for box office as both Bollywood releases Ramaiya Vastavaiya and D-Day earned Rs. 3.5 crore and Rs. 2.5 crore respectively. Girish Kumar Taurani's debut film Ramaiya Vastavaiya has collected Rs. 3.5 crore at the box offic3e on day one of its release. Nikhil Advani's D-Day was slightly behind in the race, earning a total of Rs. 2.5 crore.

D-Day, starring Rishi Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Arjun Rampal, Shruti Haasan, Huma Qureshi, Nasser and KK Raina, is by far the lowest budget film for Nikhil Advani (He has made Kal Ho Na Ho, Salaam-E-Ishq, Chandni Chowk To China and Patiala House).

Talking to DNA about the pressures of working on low budget, Nikhil Advani said, "I worked with a crew that was brand new. Except my DOP. We had to compromise on the budget and the number of shooting days as I wanted an action director from abroad. I completed the film in 64 days. At every step I pushed myself to meet the target because the budget was tight and yet we had to make a good film."


Though the BO figures are low for D-Day, the small budget is likely to help filmmakers earn profit even from meagre collections from the ticket windows. On the other hand, made on an estimated budget of Rs. 30 crore, Ramaiya Vastavaiya, might prove to be a flop.

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Sophie misses out on dance number with Akshay

If Sophie Choudry is disappointed, she is not showing it yet. For a key song sequence in Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara, she had all the right reasons to believe that she would be sharing a jig with Akshay Kumar. However during the shoot, she realised that Milan Luthria had other plans for her.

"Sophie loves to dance; in fact that is her USP and what she is known for. However in Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbaai Dobara she has been roped in for an extended cameo. She has a small but extremely important role in the film. Her scenes are with Akshay Kumar. They also come together in the 'Tu Hi Khwahish' song," informs a source.

A situational dance number with in an Omani setting, 'Tu Hi Khwahish' was tailor-made for Sophie, a trained dancer. In fact, after listening to the tune, she quizzed director Milan Luthria about the possibility of dancing for at least some part of the Sunidhi Chauhan-rendered number.

"However Milan was sure that Akshay and Sophie would feature together in the song but not dance in it. That job was left to Hazel Croney and a bunch of other middle-eastern girls. The song is set as Akshay's birthday celebration in the film and since he is playing a sophisticated don, he could not have broken into a jig. Ditto for Sophie who is playing a sexy socialite. It would have been really odd to see them dancing together," defends a close associate of Milan.

Though Sophie was fine with the reasoning, given the fact that she had recently done a dance number in Balaji's Shootout At Wadala, she was hoping to make her moves felt!

"I'm looking forward to the release of OUATIMD. It's looking stunning and I love my role in it," says Sophie. "That's what matters," she concludes.

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"I am not directing Kahaani 2" - Kundan Shah

For the director of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, one of the most brilliant social satires of Indian cinema, it comes as an embarrassing shock to be accused of muscling into Sujoy Ghosh's territory to direct the sequel to Kahaani 2.

"Why would I want to make Kahaani 2? That's Sujoy Ghosh's domain. I think he did a brilliant job in Kahaani. The way he recreated the bustle and tension of Kolkata was amazing. I don't think any other director could do justice to the Kahaani brand."

Explaining how he became embroiled in this unsavoury controversy, Kundan Shah says, "I went to the producer Jayantilal Gada with a woman-oriented subject. It was his idea to name it Kahaani 2 as he says the rights and title are with him. But I am not comfortable with this at all. Why should I claim any creative right over the Kahaani franchise? It's Sujoy's baby. I'd like the producers to patch up with Sujoy and make Kahaani 2, Kahaani 3, etc with Sujoy. I'd like to be left out of this."

Describing his next film as political satire, Kundan Shah reveals, "There is a dead body in this one. I know Satish Shah's corpse act in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron is still remembered. But what can I do if a dead body popped up in this one too?"

While Kundan Shah clams up on more information on his new film, one learns it is a film titled Masquerade which Kundan was supposed to make with Mallika Sherawat in the lead. Now of course Ms Sherawat is no more part of the project. So the producers will cast a new girl in the lead.

Reacting to reports suggesting Kundan Shah would take of the Kahaani legacy, Sujoy Ghosh says, "No one can make Kahaani 2 without my consent. I will direct a sequel that would hopefully respect and honour the love that people showed to Kahaani. I am here only to make films and not to defend my creation against poaching."

Sujoy says he has no worries about Kahaani being taken away. "It's mine. Why should I react to some baseless report claiming someone else is making Kahaani 2? The only thing that bothers me is that my mother in Kolkata reads such stuff and gets upset. She will get used to it." 

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Akshay's Boss to feature biggest club song

Akshay Kumar is all set to take his forthcoming film Boss to the next level. In fact we hear that the film will feature one of the biggest ever club songs. Titled 'Party All Night', the song is touted to be the biggest club song of the year and we hear that the producers are sparing no efforts to make it a chartbuster.

The song will feature Akshay Kumar and the very beautiful Sonakshi Sinha with the added attraction of Yo Yo Honey Singh as he is a part of this song. News is also that it will be for the very first time that Akshay will be working with song director Sumit Dutt who has been a Salman Khan favorite and has been the man behind various blockbuster hits like 'Dhinkachika', 'Character Dheela', 'Desi Beat' and many others to his credit.

While Sumit Dutt will direct the song, ace choreographer Raju Khan will be doing the choreography. The shooting of the first part of the song is over and was shot in one of the suburban properties in Mumbai while the other half is scheduled to be shot in Bangkok next month. Buzz is that a mammoth crowd of over 600 dancers and junior artistes will be a part of it.

A source close to the team said, "In the film, the song comes at a very integral point, which is why Akshay wants to make it his biggest and best song to date. Akshay is wearing a leading international designer's costume."

The song has been designed as the ultimate club number of 2013. It is the first full, all-out dance number that Akshay has done in years. This is his return to hardcore dancing. Produced by Viacom 18, Cape of Good Films and Ashwin Varde Productions, Boss is directed by Anthony D'souza and is all set to hit the screens this October.

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