Chase - Panti for Kriti Sanon

Image Courtesy: www.starsunfolded.com

Tall, Beautiful and talented are only some of the words that describe the actress who made an impact in Indian film industry with just two films. Kriti Sanon has biggest directors expressing their desire to work with her and she has definitely built a Raabta with the audience in a short time. However, her entry in to Bollywood can be termed as destined considering the long amount of months that her first film Director Sabbir Khan spent in chasing this beauty. While Tiger Shroff was locked for making his debut in Heropanti, Sabbir Khan was on a look out for a fresh face to cast opposite Tiger. The day when Sabbir had scheduled a meeting with his team to brief them with his requirement from the new talent, he spotted Kriti in a toothpaste advertisement while surfing through Television channels before leaving from home for the meeting. Her screen presence immediately made an impact on the director. Sabbir ended up briefing the team to find Kriti. Through the agency of the brand, Sabbir came to know about Kriti and her background but also the fact that she was already signed for a movie and hence blocked with regards to dates for shooting. Leaving it at that note, Sabbir moved forward with his search for the leading lady of his film. Few months later, Sabbir got the news that the film Kriti was suppose to act in is not happening any more. Escalated and hopeful, Sabbir got in touch with the agency but again to his disappointed Kriti got signed for a Telugu film opposite Mahesh Babu. Finally patience of Sajid Nadiadwala, the producer of the film gave up and he gave an deadline to Sabbir to lock the new face before a certain date. One day before finalizing from other short listed new comers, still with the thought of Kriti being the actress of his film, Sabbir requested Sajid Nadiadwala to make a call to the agency and enquire about Kriti as he didn’t wish to have a regret in future for not giving chance to the probability. Fortunately for everyone, Kriti was in Mumbai as she had a break time post the shooting of first schedule of her Telugu film. The team called her for the audition the next morning. Kriti managed to impress the film maker by her reaction to the flow of the script narration and her dialect. Without wasting any time, Sabbir immediately drove Kriti to Sajid Nadiadwala’s office and broke the news to her 10 min before meeting the successful producers that she is going to sign the film. Though for Sabbir and others associated with the film, the search for Kriti was months long but on the flip side, for Kriti she bagged the film in half a day. Showcasing her whistle baja performance in the very first film, Kriti proved that she was here to stay. While Kriti Sanon continues to be the choice of celebrated film makers, with her powerful presence on and off screen, she is successful in making the crowd sigh - Mann Ma emotion Jage Re !

Source: Heropanti team - ETC Bollywood Business - Komal Nahta

The Kahaani from Vidya Balan to Parineeta

Image Courtesy: www.sakshi.com

An actress par excellence who stands out in the bhool bhulaiya of Bollywood with her outstanding choice of Kahaani of films to work on, Vidya Balan is not the conventional heroine but a respected actress of the film world. The germ of an actress was instilled in Vidya Balan from a very young age that made her dress like Madhuri Dixit and dance on her songs. Playing the role of one of the sisters in the popular daily ‘Hum Paanch’ and with over 90 ads along with music videos, Vidya Balan managed to put her initial steps into the glamour world. While shooting for an ad shoot assignment in Chennai, the model coordinator offered Vidya to audition for a Malayalam film opposite the celebrated actor Mohanlal. Vidya grabbed the opportunity and before she knew, she started shooting for the film. Due to unfortunate circumstances the film got shelved after the first schedule and Vidya was termed as 'Jinxed'. This started a series of mishaps with Vidya being replaced in almost all the films that she was signed on. Though anger and disappointment creped in but she never questioned her faith in god. Her talent and dedication made Pradeep Sarkar who had directed her for the music videos asked her to audition for Parineeta. A film starring Saif Ali Khan and Sanjay Dutt produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. While Pradeep Sarkar and others associated with the film were convinced with Vidya Balan, it was Vidhu Vinod Chopra who demanded test after test to examine her that led to putting Vidya into dilemma. Binod Pradhan, the ace cinematographer who had captured Vidya earlier too during her ad shoots was also the cinematographer for Parineeta gave a sound advice to Vidya of not getting bogged down by tests but enjoy being in front of camera like the way she did during her ad assignments. Taking the advice seriously, Vidya gave her best shot without any pressure and left the rest for universe to decide.  While Vidya was at an Enrique concert with her friend, she got a call from Vidhu Vinod Chopra who asked to speak to her at that moment without any delay. And he finally broke the good news to her and signed her for Parineeta. It was truly a Kismet Connection. There was no looking back from there. Vidya established herself in the industry and made everyone fall in her Ishqiya. It won’t be wrong to say that witnessing the talent and unconventional personality of Vidya Balan on screen; it’s natural to sigh Ooo Laa Laa!

Source: Rendezvous with Simi Garewal - Vidya Balan and Look Who's Talking with Niranjan Iyengar - Vidya Balan

With Kajol on Set - Kya Kya Hota Hai !

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With versatility in genes and acting in DNA, this actress ruled the charts when it came to showing her skills in variety of roles. There is nothing gupt about the talent Kajol possess and hence created hulchul in the industry from the moment she entered. While she had the privilege to work with directors of diverse sensibilities and in films of different genres, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai remains one of the most celebrated films of Kajol. Though Kajol is most comfortable in her own space and fixed set of friends which often makes her come across as not so warm person which is contrary to her real self but she does stand by her friends in time of need. It was the first day of shoot of Karan Johar's directorial venture ‘Kuch Kuch hota Hai’ and he was quite nervous to pull off the mega project. Karan Johar being the fun loving and lovely person, was under extreme pressure and not sure of the crew taking him seriously. Judging the same, Kajol told Karan Johar to shout at her in the very first scene as a pre planned strategy. Taking into consideration the image of Kajol as being a tough person, shouting at her would set the perception in people's mind for Karan Johar as a director who has hold on his actors and in turn the film from the very first shot. Jumping over the opportunity and first shot being from the song Koi Mil Gaya, Karan shouted on Kajol in front of the unit for a silly reason that led to pin drop silence on the set. Unfortunately, not being able to hold on to their own plan beyond a few seconds, both the actors along with Shahrukh Khan who witnessed the entire drama burst out laughing spilling their own beans. But this made the comfort level between them set its tone that later resulted into a great camaraderie between Kajol, Shahrukh and Karan. While filming for the song ‘Yeh Ladka Hai Deewana...’ in Mauritius one of the shot required Kajol and Shahrukh to ride a Bicycle. While Kajol and Shahrukh were riding the bicycle parallelly, something got a miss with Kajol and she fell flat on her face. With the sudden accident, everyone in the crew and specially Karan and Shahrukh got extremely worried for the actor friend. Surprisingly even after a bad fall there wasn’t even a scratch on her face but as soon as she woke up post her fainting, she couldn’t remember anything. It was one of those filmy situations with a dialogue – “Mein Kaha Hu?” Not able to control their emotions in a funny yet serious situation, Shahrukh and Karan planned to trick Kajol in believing that she was one of background dancers from Mumbai who was dancing in the last row. But to their dismay and kindness of god on Kajol, the only person she remembered was her boyfriend then and husband now - Ajay Devgn. Post speaking to him and a little more rest, Kajol regained from her Ghajini moment and joined the team with full force. With no doubt, the audience went Fanna over the cute as well as matured character of Anjali. The funny yet emotional behind the scene happenings didn’t affect the film from creating a milestone and everyone went drooling over Kajol that made them say - Kuch Kuch hota Hai...tum Nahi Samjhogi!

Source: Rajeev Masand Interview with the Team of My Name is Khan and Directors Roundtable, 2016 with Rajeev Masand