Akshay’s big break

MUMBAI: In a major promotional strategy to widen viewership National Geographic channel has roped in Bollywood star Akshay Kumar to appear on one of its programmes. Kumar will take viewers on a journey of what seven martial arts are all about in this series.

‘Seven Deadly Arts’ explores seven popular martial art forms from around the world. Kumar, for his part, is pleased-as-punch. For him it’s a great honour and opportunity to be singled out amongst so many stars. “When the National Geographic people came and asked me to do a documentary on martial arts I thought it a great opportunity because such a credible channel has approached me. It’s a great platform for me to show people what I feel about martial arts, how we can all use it in day-to-day life and what it means to me and to everybody.”

Will the Big ‘B’ intervene?

MUMBAI: Just last there was news of two Big B films — ‘Lakshya’ and ‘Dev’ — releasing on the same day, June 18, 2004. But the latest development suggests that the clash might be averted. "No distributor would like to be caught in a situation like this. It’s an unhealthy practice," Govind Nihalani (Dev) said, "But it’s up to Entertainment One (Manmohan Shetty, one of the producers of Dev) and Ritesh Sidhwani (Lakshya) to sort out the issue… Actually, we’d announced the release date much before they did. Weren’t they supposed to release their film a week earlier?" Although the producers of ‘Lakshya’ and ‘Dev’ are rushing ahead with the post-production of their films so as to make it on the scheduled date, there are unconfirmed reports that the Big B might intervene and request one of the producers to postpone the film by a week. Let’s wait and watch!

Complaint against Manisha

MUMBAI: M/s Properteez, Mumbai have informed AMPTPP [producers’ association] that Manisha Koirala of M/s Moving Images, producers of ‘Raja Dil Ka Gulam’, have failed and neglected to clear their outstanding amount of Indian Rs 2,16,060 on account of hiring props. They have requested the association to intervene to recover the said dues. In turn, AMPTPP has sent a letter to the producers, enclosing a copy of the letter received from the complainant and requesting them to send their comments to proceed further in the matter.

Shah Rukh’s autobiography

MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan plans to spend the first half of this year fulfilling his Bollywood commitments and then take a six-month break from June. The flamboyant actor hopes to complete his obligations in the coming two months after which he will take a good long break to spend time with his family and complete his autobiography. Speaking to a news agency recently, SRK said: “I’m taking about six months off in June. I have three releases this year, as I normally do every year. I’m going to spend time with my kids and finish my book when I take a break.” The book, SRK’s autobiography, records his experiences, attitudes and responses to the film industry and his own impressions of his performances. Shedding some light on his book, SRK said that it won’t concentrate on any one aspect of his life or career. Rather, it would be broader and contain many instances and personal revelations from the actor.