Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez, who moved base here in 2009 to puruse her career as an actress in Bollywood, says her mother has been a strong source of support and inspiration in her life.

"My mom always supported me. I miss her a lot. I live here alone without my parents. There are these two people who have been so strong and they have been such an inspiration for me which always keeps me going," Jacqueline told reporters here Friday during an event for a cosmetic brand.

"They never stopped me from doing anything. When I told my mom that I am joining the Miss Sri Lanka contest, she said 'Okay, cool' and when I said, 'Mom, I am moving to India', then also she was like 'Okay'," she added.

The 28-year-old was crowned Miss Sri Lanka Universe in 2006. Later, she decided to explore a career in acting in India. Before foraying into acting in Bollywood films, she worked with a TV channel in Sri Lanka.

Jacqueline feels lucky that her journey has been through "my own decisions and my mom has always been there to support me".

"She never judged me anything, even on my bad decisions. "I will always love her for that," she said, and thanked her parents for giving her the freedom to chart her own life.

Meanwhile, Jacqueline has been busy shooting for her next film "Kick", which stars Salman Khan. Besides, she will soon start shooting for Ranbir Kapoor and Arjun Rampal starrer "Roy"

Director Siddharth Anand has a stellar team of writers to thank for the screenplay and dialogues of his next project "Bang Bang", which stars Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif.

"Sujoy Ghosh and Suresh Nair - the team that co-wrote the screenplay of 'Kahaani' have written the screenplay of 'Bang Bang', and Abbas Tyrewala has written the dialogues," Anand told IANS.

Tyrewala struck gold with his 2008 directorial "Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na", and one hopes he his dialogues in "Bang Bang" will strike the right chord with the audiences.

The much-awaited movie is slated to release Oct 2.

"Dabangg" actress Sonakshi Sinha's popularity on social media platform Facebook has just touched a milestone. She has gained over 10 million 'likes' for her official page.

In the past few months, Sonakshi has revamped her style and looks in the past few months, and attracted more fans and followers.

On the work front, she will soon start the promotions for her upcoming film "Holiday".

Actress Evelyn Sharma's projects are keeping her so busy that she had to decline an offer to compete on the dance floor of the new season of celebrity reality show "Jhalak Dikkhla Jaa".

Evelyn, seen in Varun Dhawan-starrer "Main Tera Hero", is now all set to shoot for her first lead role in upcoming crime thriller "Dannk", amongst other things.

A source says that when she was approached for "Jhalak...", where participants range from famous cricketers to singers and actors, she had to turn it down because of unavailability of dates and the lack of time.

But Evelyn, who loves to dance, hopes she can be part of the show in any of the future seasons.

A source from Colors channel confirmed to IANS that Evelyn was approached for the show, but the deal didn't materialise.

For now, Evelyn wants to concentrate on her acting career and is determined to give it her best.

Having cast his first vote at the age of 39 in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, popular reality television show host and actor Raghu Ram is hoping for a change as he campaigns for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

"I am voting for the first time," said Raghu Ram, showing the ink mark on his finger during an interaction with reporters on the sidelines of a function here Friday.

"Earlier I didn't believe in this system. It was disappointing, frustrating and disgusting. No political party is good. They all are equally bad. I didn't want to be a part of that," said Raghu, an executive producer of the adventure reality TV show "MTV Roadies".

Now he sees new hope in the new political scenario.

"A change is possible. And a hope is worth fighting for. It's not that I am just voting, but I am also travelling in the country campaigning for it," said Raghu at the launch of The Bikers Cafe here.

"It is not based on religion, caste, gender, money, alcohol and corruption. A new direction, a new method of doing issue-based politics and taking a firm stand against corruption and communalism, for me, is the new hope."

"I have waited for this moment all my life and now when it is here, I am going in full force," he said.

Raghu has also recorded a song with Agnee and Indian Ocean for a film called "Yeh Hai Bakrapur" which is based on the elections.

Asked to spell out his message for the youth, Raghu said: "Those who follow me, this is for them - I am walking the talk, don't just go by what I say, see what I am doing and if you get inspired, then go out and do it."

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has disappointed the poverty-stricken family of Bihar's 'Mountain Man' Dasrath Manjhi, as neither did he provide financial help to them nor send his team to inquire about their requirements.

Dashrath Manjhi is known for single-handedly cutting through a hill to make a road.

His son Bhagirath is sad and pained after he failed to save his wife Basanti Devi, who died due to lack of medical care last month.

"If hero (Aamir) could have provided financial help as he promised us, my wife may not have died. She died because of our abject poverty. Aamir has proved himself like leaders or officials, who promised help that never reached us," Bhagirath told IANS over the phone of a local NGO member.

Bhagirath said that he managed to perform 'shradh' (a ritual performed after a death) Friday thanks to financial help provided by Bodh Gaya-based People First Educational Charitable Trust.

"It was they (Trust) who spent money to perform my wife's shradh. I have no money to do that," he said.

Aamir Khan, who visited their village for his TV show "Satyamev Jayate" in February, promised to provide financial help to Dashrath's daughter-in-law Basanti and son Bhagirath.

In early March after Aamir's visit hit the headlines, Shafi Ahmad, state co-ordinator of Aamir's production house, said a team would soon visit the Dasrathnagar Dalit tola near Gahlaur in Gaya district, around 100 km from here, on behalf of the actor-filmmaker as he had requested that their requirements be taken care of.

Aamir, during his visit, also assured Bhagirath and Basanti of help. Nearly two months after Aamir promised to help Basanti she died due to lack of proper medical treatment.

Both of them had told Khan that they have been left in the lurch, ignored by politicians and officials despite repeated assurances of help.

Bhagirath said that Basanti's death sent shock waves through the village as it happened despite assurances of help from Aamir.

However, the Trust that helped Bhagirath conduct Basanti's shradh, has opened the Dasrath Manjhi non-formal school in Gahlaur. The school is being run by Basanti's daughter-in-law Laksminiya Devi.

Both Bhagirath and Basanti used to work in the village primary school as cooks for preparing the mid-day meal for children. Both of them were paid Rs.1,000 a month.

Working day and night, Dasrath Manjhi had single-handedly carved out a 360 feet long, 30 feet high and 30 feet wide passage through a hill near Gahlaur with a hammer and chisel. He died in 2007 after battling cancer.

The hill was between Attari and Wazirgunj blocks in Gaya district. Manjhi began his uphill task when his wife was injured and he had to take a detour around the mountains to reach the nearest hospital.

Producer Sunil Bohra, who is awaiting the release of erotic thriller "Mastram", a fictional biography of a porn writer popular in the country's northern part, is on the lookout for the real life Mastram.

The film is releasing May 9 across a thousand screens in India.

But the question - 'Where is (the real) Mastram?' has been bothering Bohra and his team right from the inception of the project.

Bookstalls across northern India who sold various editions of Mastram's stories like hot cakes hardly know anything about the writer, and neither do any of the various publishers.

Bohra was confident that he will be able to reach the real Mastram in due course of time as he firmly believes that the film is incomplete if the limelight does not shine on the writer at all.

"If Mastram never wrote any books, how would we have made this film," said Bohra.

Hence, Bohra had decided to share some of the profits with the writer right from the word go.

Despite the team being unable to trace the writer, Bohra says the offer is still open.

"If the real Mastram is reading this or any publishers who made a killing on his numerous writings know about his family or dependents, please get in touch with us as rightly deserved limelight and remuneration await you," Bohra said in a statement.

Written and directed by Akhilesh Jaiswal and produced by Bohra Bros, the movie features Rahul Bagga in the title role and Trisha Berry as his supportive wife.

Earlier this week, Feroz Abbas Khan's bold and unapologetic film "Dekh Tamasha Dekh" on communal divide was stopped from being screened in the heart of Mumbai city, hours before the scheduled time. What baffled the disbelieving director was that it was a private screening.

Talking of the incident, he said: "I don't know how it happened. I've no clue how these people came to know about the screening of my film. I don't even know which organization they owe their allegiance to because they didn't tell us."

The filmmaker had organised a screening of the film at Eros Cinema near his house for some friends Wednesday evening. However, at around 4 p.m., a group of people descended on the theatre asking the management if there was a screening of the film.

"I don't know whom they got the information from. This was a private screening," said the director.

"When they were told about the screening, they started screaming slogans and shouting against the film. The theatre management had no choice but to stop the screening," he added.

The main reason, as he understands it, is that the intruders don't wish the film to be shown on TV.

"Basically they don’t want the film to be shown on TV which is a bigger medium. I still wonder how can they stop the screening like this. All of a sudden this happened, and I didn't want any complications, so we cancelled the screening, Khan told IANS.

The TV screening of "Dekh Tamasha Dekh" is yet to be finalized.

"We have reason to worry because I think the protests are going to spread. I think these fundamentalist organisations have now woken up to what my film is trying to say," he said.

He says the protesters were so far clueless about the film's content.

"By the time they realized what my film was about, that it discusses the communal divide frankly, the film was already out of the theatres. So I feel they'll now seek out other channels of disruption, like the private screening that I was going to have on Wednesday, and the television premiere," he said.

Veteran lyricist Gulzar received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest honour in cinema given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema, here Saturday. The 79-year-old was overwhelmed and thanked a string of "gurus" and musical geniuses of the past and current generation for contributing to his success story.

Clad in his trademark white kurta pyjama, Gulzar turned towards the audience to take a bow before he approached the stage to receive the Swarna Kamal, Rs.1 million and a shawl, conferred upon him by President Pranab Mukherjee at the Vigyan Bhavan here.

The multi-faceted yet humble talent, who started his career in 1956, is the 45th winner of the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, which is constituted in the name of Dadasaheb Phalke - the director of India's first full-length feature film "Raja Harishchandra", made in 1913.

Gulzar took to the mike, requesting "a moment to get his breath" as he was overwhelmed with the love and appreciation of his work as a lyricist, director, screen-writer, producer and poet.

"There are few moments in life when for a writer, whose work is to play with words, doesn't know what words to choose to express gratitude and thank people. I want to say that no person will reach this stage without the support of several people.

"I was lucky that when I started, I met many people from whom I learnt - my guru Bimal Roy, who picked me from nowhere and took me along with him...there was Salil Chowdhary, Sachin Dev Burman, Hemant Kumar...I was lucky to get such gurus," Gulzar said in his acceptance speech.

Born in 1934 in Punjab in pre-independence India, Gulzar got his first break as a lyricist in Bimal Roy's "Bandini".

He has penned a multitude of songs in his glorious career and also contributed to several films as script, story and dialogue writer. His directorials include "Mere Apne", "Koshish", "Áandhi", "Kinara", "Khushboo", "Ángoor", "Libaas", "Meera", "Lekin" and "Maachis".

Gulzar, whose real name is Sampooran Singh Kalra, also thanked R.D. Burman, Laxmikant, Kalyanji, Madan Mohan, Illayaraja and Pandit Ravi Shankar, for shaping his career in many ways.

From the new generation he mentioned A.R. Rahman, crediting him with "taking Indian film music to the global map".

He thanked filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj, whom he calls his son, and names like Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Shantanu Moitra for infusing films with quality music in these times. Among the film directors, he mentioned Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Shaad Ali and his own daughter Meghna.

Meghna sat in the audience at Vigyan Bhavan, shedding tears of pride for her father, until he finished his speech and returned to the seat to give her a comforting hug.

He was conferred the Sahitya Akademi Award in 2002 and the Padma Bhushan in 2004. He has won a number of National Film Awards and 20 Filmfare Awards. At the 81st Oscars in 2009, he won the Academy Award for best original song for "Jai ho" with A.R. Rahman.

Once again, Bollywood's 'Khiladi' actor Akshay Kumar is going in for a turbaned look in "Singh Is Bling". In recent years, 'Punjabization' has taken over Bollywood and it seems that playing a "Singh" has become trendy with quite a few actors donning the turban.

Here are the five top actors, who wore the turban with aplomb on big screen:

Akshay Kumar: He first played a Sikh in "Singh Is Kinng" (2008) and the audience loved his character so much so that the film turned into a blockbuster. It still rules the heart of the Singhs in the country. It even touched Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Coming out of parliament after winning a crucial trust vote in 2008, he flashed the V for victory sign and many a TV channel had "Singh is Kinng" playing in the background. The film was appreciated so much that the 46-year-old Akshay was nominated for the best actor award at the 3rd Asian Film Awards for his performance. He will now be seen playing a Sikh again in the film's second instalment, "Singh Is Bling", which is slated to release in July 2015.

Sunny Deol: In recent times, Sunny Deol is the one who has perhaps turned Sikh on the celluloid the maximum number of times - "Border" (1997) "Gadar: Ek Prem Katha" (2001), "The Legend of Bhagat Singh" (2002), "Jo Bole So Nihaal" (2005), and "Yamla Pagla Deewana" (2011). The 57-year-old was appreciated for his work in all of his endeavours.

Saif Ali Khan: Known for his metrosexual image, Tiger Pataudi's son Saif Ali Khan too wrapped the turban to essay Veer Singh in "Love Aaj Kal"(2009), directed by Imtiaz Ali. The 43-year-old, who played a double role in the romantic comedy, impressed girls across the country with his style statement in the film.

Ranbir Kapoor: Current heartthrob Ranbir Kapoor was seen with turban in "Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year" (2009). Rachel Saltz of New York Times called it "a smart, focussed Bollywood movie" and commended the 31-year-old for "turning in a skillfully understated performance".

Ajay Devgn: Ajay Devgan furnished an exquisite performance of his career as freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in "The Legend of Bhagat Singh". For the 2002 release, directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi, he received the National Film Award for best actor. Later, the 45-year-old did a humorous role in "Son of Sardaar" (2012) as Jaswinder Singh.

Tamil blockbuster "Goli Soda" has completed glorious 100 days at cinema halls and director Vijay Milton, who is elated about the success, has thanked his cast and crew for the success.

The film, featuring four children in the lead, completed 100 days May 3. It is the coming-of-age story of a few street urchins.

"First and foremost, I would like to thank the cast of 'Goli Soda' for giving their best performances and support, especially the kids who acted and adjusted their school time and studies and contributed their best," Milton said in a statement.

"Secondly, very big thanks to all my technicians, who within the short span of time and space, delivered the best quality output for the film," he added.

He also thanked his producers for having faith in his low-budget film.

"I would also like to thank N. Lingusamy and N. Subash Chandra Bose for accepting the small budget project and having faith in my film. They were the big support and strength for the film's victory," said Milton.

Produced on a low-budget of about Rs.2 crore, the film managed to mint over Rs.15 crore in the first few weeks.

Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt-starrer "2 States" is in its third week and is still going strong at the box office. It has earned over Rs.90 crore in India and an expert says it is racing towards Rs.100-crore mark.

Said to be made on a budget of approximately Rs.45 crore, co-produced by Karan Johar and Sajid Nadiadwala, and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures, "2 States" released in over 2,000 screens in India April 18.

“‘2 States’ (week three) Friday (it earned) Rs.1.67 crore, Saturday Rs.2.70 crore. Grand total is Rs.91.68 crore nett. India business. Heading towards Rs.100 crore mark. Super hit,” trade analyst Taran Adarsh posted on Twitter Sunday.

"2 States" also stars Ronit Roy, Amrita Singh and Revathy. It is based on a bestseller by author Chetan Bhagat and has been directed by first-timer Abhishek Varman.

The movie is about two states, different cultures and families and one love story. It has also been appreciated by film celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhudheva, Riteish Deshmukh and Sonakshi Sinha.

Actor-producer Riteish Deshmukh is elated about receiving his first National Award for his second production venture “Yellow” and he has dedicated it to his late father Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Riteish’s second Marathi venture “Yellow” won the Special Jury and Special Mention awards at the 61st National Film Awards. He received the honour from President Pranab Mukherjee May 3 at the 61st National Film Awards ceremony here.

“My first National Award. This one is for my father. He would have been proud and said with a smile, 'Well done beta',” tweeted the son of the late minister.

The “Grand Masti” star made his Bollywood acting debut with “Tujhe Meri Kasam” in 2003. It also helped him find his soul mate in his co-star Genelia D’Souza, with whom he tied the knot in 2012.

Riteish turned a producer with “Balak Palak” in 2013.

A court in Bangladesh Sunday dismissed a plea by a pro-Jamaat-e-Islami organisation to retain possession of the ancestral Pabna home of legendary Bengali actress Suchitra Sen.

A bench of Appellate Division headed by Supreme Court Justice S.K. Sinha issued the order, bdnews24.com reported.

This means that there is now no legal bar to evicting the Imam Ghazali Institute from the home where the Bengali screen legend spent her childhood, said Additional Attorney General Murad Reza.

"There is no hurdle in setting up an archive of Suchitra Sen and conserve her ancestral home," he said.

The institute moved the Appellate Division against a high court order.

The HC in August 2011 ordered the institute to vacate the house following a petition filed by the NGO Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh.

The Imam Ghazali Institute also filed a petition to stop the eviction which was rejected by the high court. The institute then filed an appeal against the order to the Appellate Division.

The house of the Bengali screen legend is located at Hem Sagar Lane in Gopalpur Moholla of Pabna city. Born on April 6, 1931, Sen spent her childhood in this house before she moved to Kolkata after marriage.

She died on Jan 17 this year in Kolkata.

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, who recently received the best actor award from the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy here, has been honoured at the ongoing Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM).

"Thank you to the jury and Government of Victoria, Australia for honouring me with best actor at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne," Farhan tweeted.

The actor bagged the best actor award for his work in "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag".

Rajkummar Rao, who was honoured with the National Award in New Delhi for his performance in “Shahid”, was also nominated in the category.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the International Screen Icon award at fest.

IFFM -- the annual celebration of Indian cinema in Australia -- began May 1 and will conclude May 11. The festival launched the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne Awards this year and announced the winners May 2.

At last the long wait is over and the Rajinikanth fans across the globe will get to see his much-awaited and anticipated Tamil film "Kochadaiiyaan", a directorial debut of the matinee idol's younger daughter Soundarya. When it unravels on the silver screen Friday, the film will introduce moviegoers to a new technology - first motion capture photo-realistic 3D animation.

A labour of love, Soundarya's Rs.125-crore directorial venture, which has been cleared with U-certificate, will have a wider release - it will release in 10 countries on approximately 6,000 screens and dubbed in six languages, including Telugu, Hindi and more likely in Bhojpuri too.

Jointly produced by Media One Global Entertainment and Eros International, the film has been dubbed in Spanish and Japanese too.

It took Soundarya two years, over 200 technicians in India and abroad to make the film, which was tagged as a “delayed project” by many. But the 29-year-old tech-savvy director, who keeps herself abreast with the latest technology, said there wasn't any delay, “it is the process that takes such a long time to make a film like this”.

It's Soundarya's tribute to her father's illustrious career.

Braving all "technological" odds, Soundarya completed the film and hopes that "Kochadaiiyaan" breaks the myth that animation film is cartoon, and is accepted as an alternate filmmaking medium.

Comparisons with Hollywood films “Avatar”, made with the same technology, are inevitable, but the makers are unperturbed because they feel looking at the budget and time, comparing "Kochadaiiyaan" with these films is not practical.

The makers explained that “ Avatar" was made on a budget of Rs.3,000 crore and was completed in five years, while “Tin Tin” cost about Rs.4,000 crore and also took about five years.

In the film, Rajinikanth, 63, has been paired with 28-year-old Bollywood diva Deepika Padukone, who also has elaborate stunts in the film.

According to Soundarya, her father felt awkward to shoot romantic scenes with Deepika.

"I guess it was because I was around and calling action and cut, dad felt very awkward to shoot some romantic scenes," said Soundarya.

Deepika's stunts are described as never-before-seen action by a female star from any part of the world and said to be on par with Uma Thurman's “Kill Bill” and Angelina Jolie's “Lara Croft”.

There is a ten-minute stunt in the film, which has been choreographed by Peter Hein, the man behind Rajinikanth's stunts in "Robot". Apparently, the superstar personally requested Hein to make Deepika's action sequences "super-hero style".

Soundarya feels Deepika's stunts are one of the highlights of the movie.

One of the biggest Tamil stars, Rajinikanth, who is technologically not as sound as his daughter, gives credit to god for being able to do "Kochadaiiyaan".

He also marvelled at his daughter's passion and understanding for the technology. "I am amazed... Soundarya, in her childhood, had this obsession. She liked to read books with pictures and my wife identified her talent and encouraged her. I am proud of her with all the legends praising my daughter. I hope people like the film."

Even her mother Latha is proud of her.

Double Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman's music is another high point of the film, but the maestro was not confident about working in "Kochadaiiyaan".

Though the film is yet to release, Soundarya has already been honoured with the NDTV Indian of the Year Technical Innovation in a Film award.

All eyes are set at the box office and how the audience receives "Kochadaiiyaan", especially Rajini fans, who in the past turned his “The Boss” and “Robot” into humungous successes.

Actor Suniel Shetty might be popular for bashing up the bad guys or doing stunts on the big screen, but the father of two is quite comfortable with children and this helped in filming his forthcoming movie "Koyelaanchal" smoothly.

Directed by Asshu Trikha, the film, releasing Friday, is a tale of the coal mafia and also stars Vinod Khanna.

On the sets of "Koyelaanchal", the team took more than five to six hours to make a nine-month toddler say the word "Mumma" for a scene. Baby Manjeet refused to say the word for a long time. After waiting for long, finally Suniel inquired why the shoot was getting delayed.

After being told about the problem, he picked up the child and asked him to say "Mumma" and the kid did the needful, said a statement.

After shunning it for decades, it seems Hindi filmmakers have woken up to 'coal mafia' in a big way. After 2012's two-part realistic drama “Gangs of Wasseypur” and latest release “Gunday”, this Friday brings “Koyelaanchal”, another expose on the same.

Produced and directed by Asshu Trikha, the film will show how coal mafia operates, how inhabitants of coal mine areas live, their survival stories as well as people's lust to gain control over coal mine areas.

Trikha has described the film starring Vinod Khanna and Suniel Shetty as complicated with many layers and stories.

According to a report, India sits on the world's fifth-largest coal reserves. However, the decades of lawless coal trading have affected the economy.

The Hindi film industry seems to be in love with Mumbai gang lords and has churned out many blockbusters on them, including hits like “Satya”, “Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai”, “Shootout At Lokhandwala” and “Shootout At Wadala”. But for it 'coal mafia' has remained a forbidden topic, for unknown reasons.

As a matter of fact, when one thinks about the topic, not too many films ring the bell.

One of the far and few films that came close the subject was 1979 film “Kaala Patthar”. Veteran Yash Chopra wielded the megaphone to present the darker side of a coal mine area and its workers in his star-studded thriller, which saw the likes of Amitabh Bahchcan, Shashi Kapoor and Shatrughan Sinha clashing on the big screen.

Despite the fact that it involved the winning team of Chopra, Amitabh and Shashi, “Kala Patthar” garnered a lukewarm response at the ticket window.

Trikha has said in one of his interviews that "coal is rich and coal makes people rich too". So for obvious reasons everyone wants a control over it.

In the recent times, Ajay Kashyap directed “The Coal Mafia” turned out to be a much more relevant film on the issue. Released in 2012, the film starring Ankit Nigotiya, Pooja Narang, Mukesh Tiwari, Yashpal Sharma, Mukesh Khanna and Aryan Vaid was inspired by a true event.

Kashyap explored exploitation, greed, organised crime and blood bath rampant in coal mine area through his gritty and gory drama, but sadly, it failed to excite the box office.

Surprisingly, later in the same year, when Anurag Kashyap's two-part “Gangs of Wasseypur” hit the screens, it created a furore at the box office. Penned by Syed Zeishan Quadri, a native of Wasseypur, the socio-political thriller, set in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district, unfurled the real life multi-generational revenge stories in the region known for coal and scrap trade.

The mafia saga was a roaring hit.

But two years later Ali Abbas Zafar's “Gunday” couldn't reap gold for the makers. Set in Kolkata circa 1973, the film about the adventurous life of two friends who first steal coal from trains and later become the biggest coal mafia in Kolkata, bombed at the box office.

Meanwhile, "Koyelaanchal" trailer seems promising.

One can also look forward to “Spring Thunder”, another film in the pipeline. Set to release next year, it will reportedly put the spotlight on coal mafias in Jharkhand. Produced and directed by Sriram Dalton, who grew up in Daltonganj district, has set his story in a small village that spreads over 30 years.

Instead of erecting sets to shoot the film, Dalton did guerrilla shooting.

At Hansal Mehta's birthday bash last week, many of Ram Gopal Varma's associates met and discussed that RGV as he is popularly called is the "fountainhead for all his new-age filmmakers" and that he needs to get back in form.

Mehta is himslef a diehard RGV fan.

"He's just being stubborn. All he needs to do is listen to people who care for his cinema, correct his mistakes and he'll be back in form," said Mehta, at whose 46th birthday bash, many of Varma's old associates met.

It was a no-media bash at a restaurant where Mehta invited all his technicians, writers and actors.

Talking about it, Mehta said: "I felt a bit like Guru Dutt. Except that I didn't have to sing 'Bichhde sabhi baari-baari'. They were all there, all my colleagues and associates from my first two directorial ventures 'Jayate' and 'Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar' to the latest 'Shahid' and now 'Citylights'."

Among the crowd that gathered to raise a toast to Mehta were many technicians whom Varma had introduced.

Mehta said: "My editor Apoorva Asrani, for example, started his career with Ramu's 'Satya'. He has edited many of my films, including 'Citylights'. We all got down to talking about Ramu. He is the fountainhead for all his new-age filmmakers. The new face of Hindi cinema happened because of Ramu, and we're all his disciples."

Now they have all vowed to bring Varma back to Mumbai from Hyderabad.

"It's time for Ramu to re-invent himself. All of us who believe in his talent will stand by him. He has to be get back into form," he said.

Composer Anu Malik has sung the song "Tarzan" for the film "Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi", and even though it isn't his composition, he says it was the song's catchy tune which made him sing it.

"I didn't choose the song, the song chose me. I am a fan of Ekta (Kapoor) and I respect her a lot. When I got a call to sing the song, I was sure about singing it," the 53-year-old said here Saturday at a press meet of the film.

"I found it very catchy and it has been made for me. The reactions that I am getting are also good," he added.

"Tarzan" is composed by Parichay.

Anu's daughter Anmol has sung the female part of the song and he says the film's team loved her voice, which is why they chose her.

"This was not planned. When they heard Anmol's voice, they wanted her. I told her, 'You are a professional singer, so go for it'. People who heard her voice have loved it and I am glad that she is getting work on her merit," Anu said.

"Kuku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi", directed by Aman Sachdeva, is a co-production by Ekta's Balaji Motion Pictures and Bejoy Nambiar.

Releasing May 30, it stars newcomer Siddharth Gupta, former Miss India Simran Kaur Mundi and Ashish Juneja.