Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor in YRF's next Gunday

(Press release)

Fresh from its success of Ek Tha Tiger, Yash Raj Films has announced its next project Gunday that will star Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor in lead roles.

The film is based amidst the most turbulent times in the history of Kolkata, then Calcutta, from 1971 to1988, where Bikram and Bala rose from being small time wagon breakers and coal thieves to becoming the biggest and most powerful black marketing mafia-men.

A rare combination of vigour and wit, the two were inseparable and the city of Calcutta swore by their friendship then. As their notoriety became the stuff of legends, the people of the sprawling city started calling these two carefree rebels as Gunday.

Hunt is on for the leading lady who would play a stellar role in the film, while the cast will be announced shortly.

Incidentally, the film would be both Ranveer and Arjun's third film with YRF and the first time when these two have been featured together.

The film, which goes on floor this December, will be directed by Ali Abbas Zafar who had earlier directed Meri Brother Ki Dulhan.

Uday Chopra to remake 'Bunty Aur Babli' for global audience

Bunty and Babli, the teenaged con artists of the 2005 Bollywood hit Bunty Aur Babli are headed to Hollywood, with filmmaker Uday Chopra planning to remake the film in Hollywood for a global audience with a re-written script.

Chopra, the youngest son of the renowned Bollywood producer-director Yash Chopra, has recently launched his family's film company Yash Raj Films in the US, with plans to produce Hollywood movies. He has already aligned himself as producer with two projects-Peter Glanz'sThe Longest Weekand Olivier Dahan'sGrace of Monaco. But he says he has also begun work on a Hollywood version of Bunty.

This will be the first time an intellectual property of a Bollywood film would be extended to Hollywood and be made into a global film after re-purposing the script. While another successful Bollywood producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, has sold the rights of his hugely popular Munnabhai films to Hollywood studios, he will not be remaking the films himself. He has, however, retained the right to clear the re-purposed script.
If this model becomes successful, it could open the floodgates for Chopra who has a bouquet of IPRs of Yash Raj films, right from his father Yash Chopra's classics such as Kabhie, Kabhie, Kaala Patthar, Silsila, Chandni to Mashaal, Dil Toh Pagal Hai and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge to several modern day hits that include films made by his brothers and other directors under the Yash Raj banners, like Chak De India, Dhoom and Band Baaja, Baaraat.

YRF today operates in several verticals of the entertainment space-from film production, studios, digital space, music records and film distribution. Film industry sources, who did not want to be named, pegged YRF's turnover of around Rs 200 crore-Rs 250 crore, depending on the year's slate of films, as they form the largest chunk of the revenue flow. This year, since they have still not had a big film, the figure seems lower, next year with three big films--Salaman Khan's Ek Tha Tiger, SRK and Yash Chopra's next as well as Aamir Khan in Dhoom3, YRF's turnver could be much higher.
Filmed entertainment in India is expected to sustain the growth momentum witnessed in 2011 according to the KPMG Ficci Frames report of 2012 and the Indian film industry is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.1% to touch Rs 15,000 crore in 2016.

Many Indian filmmakers have grown in size over the past few years and are now becoming ambitious enough to enter Hollywood. Apart from Chopra, a few privately held companies in production as well as post-production have launched themselves in the US, while big companies have forged joint ventures like Reliance Entertainment has with Steven Spielberg.

Chopra says he has much to gain because of the low cost model he can employ in the business. His idea right now is to make three films a year with an equity investment of $5-7 million (Rs 28 crore-Rs 39 crore, at Rs 56 to a $) in each project. "A small amount goes a long way in the US. It is all so structured and pre-sales can be encashed at banks to get you money. With $4-5 million, you can make a $25 million movie, if you got a good agent and a good script," he says.

He has employed a bunch of writers in Beverly Hills, who will re-purpose the script to suit Hollywood sensibilities. If he were to employ Writers Guild of America scriptwriters for a new script, he would have to shell out at least $70,000-$80,000 on each script. Re-purposing of course can come at a considerably lower cost, Chopra says.

Dhoom 3 To Start In May 2012

(Press Release)

A Statement from YRF Films is as follows



".. It is unfortunate that without checking, a leading morning broadsheet irresponsibly declared that the shooting of DHOOM:3 had been indefinitely postponed and that it would be shot after Aamir Khan completes certain other future commitments.



This is absolutely baseless.



DHOOM:3 starts shooting in May 2012 and Aamir Khan joins the schedule in June as per plan".




Produced by Aditya Chopra, DHOOM:3 is written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, who had also written DHOOM & DHOOM:2.



Apart from Aamir Khan, who plays the anti-hero in the film, and Katrina Kaif, both Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra will continue in their now iconic roles of Jai Dixit and Ali.



The film is slated for a 2013 release.

Big screen fun for SRK-Kat?

(DNA)

Actors Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif, who are currently in London shooting for Yash Chopra’s romantic flick, apparently made the most of their free time in between shoots over the weekend, by catching a Bollywood film in a theatre there.

Some fans who apparently spotted the two stars catching the latest Saif Ali Khan spy thriller, accompanied by Katrina’s sister, and a few crew members, even posted pictures of the actors’ outing online. Reports claimed that the two along with some members of the cast and crew saw Agent Vinod in a theatre with the aam junta there.

According to the buzz online, apparently their shoot was wrapped early in the day and since they were in the vicinity of a theatre where the Bollywood film was playing, they decided to check it out. The cine-goers apparently were unaware of their presence in their midst and it was only when Katrina stepped out in the arcade that some managed to spot them and even clicked their photographs while in the theatre.

Meanwhile, Katrina was expected to also attend a special screening of her own film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara at a university there. It will now be close to a month that she and Shah Rukh have been shooting in London for their first film together.

According to a source, the two will be wrapping up the shoot there by the month end before heading back home. And while SRK is said to be maha-excited about getting back home to family, Kat’s going to be missing her own friends and family there.

YRF digs into its past trove, to remake Daag

(indiantelevision.com)

Going back to its early days, Yash Raj Films (YRF) has decided to remake hit films made under its banner.

Aditya Chopra has employed a special creative team to look into the past YRF hits and devise a way to remake the films in a new format.

The first film to be remade is the 1973 hit, Daag. The film was the story of a widowed mother who discovers that her husband, a fugitive presumed dead, is actually alive and married to another woman.

While the original version of Daag had Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Rakhee in the lead, the rehashed version will have Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif and Anushka Sharma.

Dhoom 3', 'Dhoom 4', 'Dhoom 5'

(bollywoodhungama)

DHOOM 3, with Aamir Khan, hasn't gone on floors yet, but the media has gone ahead and announced DHOOM 4 with Salman Khan and DHOOM 5 with Shah Rukh Khan. Yes, you read it right! A section of the media has proclaimed that Yash Raj has already locked the scripts and cast of the DHOOM series. While DHOOM 3 will feature Aamir, DHOOM 4 [with Salman playing a baddie] will release in Eid 2014 and DHOOM 5 [starring SRK] is slated for release in 2015-16.

However, the news seems more like a bluff, since the gap between DHOOM 2 [with Hrithik Roshan] and DHOOM 3 [with Aamir Khan] will be more than seven years, since DHOOM 3 is expected to release in 2013. Hence, expecting DHOOM 4 to release a year after DHOOM 3's release, in 2014, seems ludicrous. Ditto for DHOOM 5, which, reportedly, is expected to release in the following year [2015-2016]. "It's ridiculous! The writer [Vijay Krishna Acharya] hasn't even thought of DHOOM 4 or DHOOM 5," a source close to the Chopras informs me.

Another story doing the rounds is that Aditya Chopra has cast Ranbir Kapoor for his next venture. It is, well, a rumor, with no truth to it. The fact is, Adi is busy with Yash-ji's [Chopra] film, being shot in London currently, and hasn't even thought of what he plans to make next. That's the right status!

Shaad Ali returns to direction

(Mumbai Mirror)

After his last directorial debacle Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, Shaad Ali had stuck to assisting other filmmakers in their projects.

But now, the filmmaker has decided to give it another shot. His next venture, after Saathiya, Bunty Aur Babli and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom will star Ranveer Singh in the lead role. The film will go on floors later this year.

The development was confirmed by Ranveer's close friend, who responded on the actor's behalf.

Mumbai Mirror has learnt that the film will be produced by Yash Raj Films. This will also mark YRF's third project with Ranveer completing their three-film-deal with the actor. The heroine is still to be decided.

Earlier, Shaad had planned to cast Shahid in his next but the actor didn't show much interest in the filmmaker's offer. In fact, a source close to the production house revealed that even Ranveer wasn't too inclined towards Shaad's film initially. However, now the two of them have sorted out their issues.

"Ranveer and Shaad are now on the same page and ready to work together. They go back a long way. He assisted Shaad in Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom and the two have been close friends since then. It was Shaad who showed Ranveer around in the industry and introduced him to important filmmakers," added the source.

According to the source, Shaad had asked Ranveer to star in his film even before Band Baja Baarat went on floors. Said the source, "Anyway, all's well that ends well. The two of them met recently, had a long chat and decided to go with Shaad's idea."

Hollywood action director trains Katrina Kaif

(Mumbai Mirror)

Under the tutelage of Transformers action director Conrad Palmisano, the actress is busy doing some daredevil stunts

He directed Sheila LeBeouf's stunts in Transformers. Nicolas Cage, too, is busy learning his action sequences from him for his forthcoming film Seeking Justice. But currently, Hollywood action director Conrad Palmisano is busy helping Katrina Kaif and Salman Khan perform some daredevil stunts on the sets of Kabir Khan's Ek Tha Tiger in Cuba. And Mumbai Mirror has learnt that Katrina under the tutelage of Conrad is busy performing what a member of the Cuban unit describes as the 'real thing'.

The real thing is 'scary' but Katrina isn't afraid. Talking about her stunts, Katrina said, "It's scary. But it is also great fun. I've only done very delicate feminine roles till now. This is a new challenge for me. I guess that's what I'm looking for at this stage of my career."

A unit member informed Mumbai Mirror, "Katrina is really pushing herself to perform stunts that are generally done by male actors. She has been doing free-falls and midair fights with Salman."

Apparently, action director Conrad had initially suggested something 'softer' for Katrina. "Two very different sets of stunts were planned for Katrina and Salman. But Kat was too excited and wanted to do whatever Salman was doing. Conrad finally gave in to her wishes," added the unit member.

Katrina in fact has been getting up really early to practice her stunts under the Cuban sun. "She wakes up at the crack of dawn. And she gets down to serious business. She practices every sequence."

Yash Raj Films Presents The YRF Daily

(Press release)

Come February 2012, Yash Raj Films is all set to introduce ‘The YRF Daily’ to their fans. As a part of their ‘Valentine Fest’, YRF has come up with this unique initiative of giving their fans the best love songs from their movies.

Yash Raj Films will upload a love song every day on their official Dailymotion channel. Fans will not only get to listen to their favourite songs online, but also dedicate and share it with their loved ones through Facebook. Yash Raj has taken this special initiative to break the customary norm of using Facebook and YouTube as the usual social media platform and give way to newer and alternate ones.

So come this Valentine, get set to dedicate the love songs that mean the most to you and tell your loved ones how much they mean to you.

Watch your favourite love songs on the official Yash Raj Daily Motions channel from February 1st, only on: http://www.dailymotion.com/yrf

SRK's new YRF film with Katrina on floors today

(NDTVMovies.Com)



On Friday, Shah Rukh Khan said he felt happy to start work with veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra. He was referring to the new film from Yash Raj Films which pairs him opposite Katrina Kaif for the first time.

The film will go on the floors today.

"Feel extremely happy when I start work with yashji...from the inside. Easy...smiles...happiness...purity of storytelling," SRK posted on Twitter on Friday.

Yesterday, Uday Chopra, Yash Chopra's son who often assists on his movies, confirmed the launch of the film. "Launching my dad's film today with a little pooja at YRF... shoot starts tomorrow with @ iamsrk and Katrina Kaif.. Dad directing after Veer- Zaara (sic)," Uday tweeted.

Yash Chopra returns to direction after seven years - after the cross-border love story Veer Zaara in 2004, with Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta. No title has been decided as yet for the new film.

The film also stars Anushka Sharma, a Yash Raj favourite who made her debut with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi in 2008 opposite SRK.

The music of the new film will be composed by A R Rahman and Gulzar will pen the lyrics.

SRK's earlier films with Yash Raj include blockbusters like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil to Pagal Hai and Mohabattein. It remains to be seen what Katrina can add to the SRK-Yash Raj hit formula.

The film is scheduled to release on Diwali 2012.