Posts Tagged ‘khatta meetha’
WHERE ARE THE ROLES? Lara Dutta, Bipasha Basu, Sonam and (above) Vidya Balan
MEENA IYER Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; January 5, 2010)
Akshay speaks on Tees Maar Khan
Posted November 23, 2009
on:Akshay Kumar clears the air about why it’s okay for Farah Khan to sign him and not her favourite actor Shah Rukh Khan for Tees Maar Khan
A lot of eyebrows have been raised as to why Akshay Kumar and not Farah Khan’s favourite actor Shah Rukh Khan has been signed for her next directorial venture, Tees Maar Khan.
Reacting to rumours of having taken over from Shah Rukh Khan in Farah’s cinema, Akshay says, “Yes, I am doing Tees Maar Khan. I have known Farah and her husband Shirish Kunder for years. I have worked with her husband in his first film, Jaan-E-Mann and with her brother Sajid Khan twice, (Heyy Babyy in 2007 and yet-to-be-released Housefull). So Farah and I are very close. There’s nothing so shocking about me doing her film. We make 180 films and there are just 10 heroes. Every hero has enough work.”
Akshay admits that he’s playing a character called Khan in Tees Maar Khan. “But you’ll have to ask Farah whether the film was written for Shah Rukh. I play a con-man, a real smart-ass. Tees Maar Khan will be an out-and-out commercial film. Shirish has written the film. He had directed me in Jaan-E-Mann, a film I liked even though it didn’t click. As soon as I complete Priyadarshan’s Khatta Meetha, I start with Tees Maar Khan,” he adds.
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Shah Rukh Khan | Farah Khan | Akshay Kumar |
Tees Maar Khan starts in March 2010.
Everyone is talking about the passionate rain song in De Dana Dan and the erotic chemistry between Akshay and Katrina and how similar it looks to Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s rain song in 3 Idiots. “I’ve seen Aamir’s rain song. It’s beautiful. I think Aamir and Kareena make a really good pair. I had high fever when we shot the rain song. So what is being seen as passion is actually pain. Honestly, I couldn’t believe how romantic Katrina and I looked together. This isn’t a typically romantic film. We don’t sing and walk into the sunset. I am crazy about Katrina in De Dana Dan. But I don’t have the money to impress and win her. In real life, I would never take to crime to win a girl. In this film I do, but it’s a goofy crime.”
Akshay is determined to cut down on his assignments next year. “That’s okay. There are so many new promising heroes such as Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan. At the moment I’m producing Khatta Meetha. Hopefully that and Housefull will release next year,” he says.
Trisha, who is being launched in Priyadarshan’s Khatta Meetha with Akshay Kumar, will play two characters
![]() Southern star Trisha is being launched in Bollywood with a lot more footage and hoopla than most heroines in Priyadarshan’s films. She plays two characters in the forthcoming Khatta Meetha, starring Akshay Kumar.
Priyadarshan says, “I launched her in Tamil cinema ten years ago in Leysa Leysa. Now I’m launching her in Hindi in Khatta Meetha and that too with my sure bet, Akshay. It’s responsibility. Trisha has two different avatars in the script. But it’s not a double role. Trisha would have to go into two different time zones.” This is a far cry from Priyadarshan-Akshay films in the past where heroines were mere props. No wonder Asin refused Priyadarshan’s De Dana Dan with Akshay Kumar as she did not want to have limited space. Katrina Kaif finally stepped in because of her warm rapport with the hero. The director admits that there’s more to Trisha in Khatta Meetha than meets the eye. “Unlike my other films with Akshay, Khatta Meetha is not a comedy. It’s a family film on the lines of Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Basu Chatterjee films, with lots of scope for Trisha,” adds Priyadarshan. |
Khatta Meetha altered on Akki’s insistence
Posted by: fenilseta on: November 10, 2009
The film is now based on the mysterious 2009 murder of Bihar PWD engineer Yogendra Pandey who was allegedly killed by the crime cartel controlling the road construction business in the state. His body was found on June 18, 2009.
Akshay Kumar plays the murdered engineer’s colleague who helps to bring the culprits to book. Priyan says, “My film has now become the story of Bihar’s road mafia. Makrand Deshpande plays the murdered engineer while Akshay plays his colleague.”
Initially, the film was based on Priyan’s 1988 drama Vellanakalude Nadu. “Initially, Khatta Meetha was based on the road mafia and corruption in the construction business but at that point of time, it was entirely fictional.” It was Akshay who suggested that the film be contemporised by bringing in Pandey’s notorious death. Priyan says, “We brought in the whole story of the death of the honest road engineer in Bihar who was apparently killed by the corrupt road mafia when he threatened to expose their wrongdoings. We introduced Makrand’s character based on Yogendra Pandey and Akshay as the friend and colleague who uncovers the bloody trail.”
Priyan and Akshay have hit on a new formula to counter the charge of making mindless comedies. Khatta Meetha being shot in dusty Satara at the moment blends satire with a social message. Priyan adds, “I think I’ll be doing this kind of a mixture of social comment and satire more often. In Khatta Meetha we took up a very serious and disturbing crime situation in Bihar but treated it lightly. No one wants to watch grim films anymore. We just have to find a way of letting the audience know what’s actually going on in the world while transporting them into a make-believe world at the same time.”
Akshay Kumar went out of his way to complete this film. “We did it in 90 days at a stretch. Akshay believes we’ve been able to do something important here. The message comes through the comedy,” said Priyan.