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More news →Missed me doing action? Coming back soon, says Suniel Shetty
Suniel Shetty is taking a U-turn and returning to where he started in Bollywood – action. The macho actor, who is taking a sabbatical from producing movies after facing losses, is pumping his muscles to crush some bones on the big screen for a resurrection. “There are plans to come back to action. I am working hard on my body and fitness for that. I will do something that is extra extraordinary. It will be a patriotic film,” Anna, as he is fondly called, said in an interview. “The script is ready and I am playing a central character in the film. The action in it will be unbelievable. Hopefully, it will work,” added the 49-year-old, who drifted to comedy with movies like “Hera Pheri” and “Hulchul” for a new innings. Asked if the film will be a contemporary or period outing, the fit actor nodded for the former. Prodded to reveal more, he said: “I wouldn’t like to talk about it until it happens. But it’s just that they (the characters) are in the raw, in the jungle and up in the mountains. So there will be a lot of commando oufit action up there.” Suniel, who will reach the milestone age next year, is also pumping metal hard for the film and to mould his muscles into an age defying body cover. “I am training hard for it. I am much leaner now and far more ripped than I was, but I want to go down even further. I want to be very sporty than I have ever been. I want to be really lean and ripped,” said the actor, who looked everything but his age in a more toned than ever avatar. “I am also hitting 50 next year and when people believe they are getting older at that age, I want to believe I am younger,” he added looking dapper in full sleeve black t-shirt and blue jeans. So will the movie be a home production? “No home productions for me right now because in the two years I did productions, I lost a lot of time as I was not acting. There’s too much stress with productions,” said the actor, who couldn’t impress lady luck when he turned producer in 2003 with his banner “Popcorn Motion Pictures” and produced duds like “Khel” and “Rakht”. Suniel injected action in the comman man’s home as a desi Schwarzenegger in his 1992 debut “Balwan”. While he jumped bridges in the movie to save women from goons and slithered in paint in a dark godown to break the antagonist’s jaw, he became the contemporary He-Man in Bollywood. A Black Belt in kick boxing, he kept the decade packed with more of muscle power in outings like “Waqt Hamara Hai”, “Mohra”, “Suraksha”, “Shastra”, “Rakshak”, “Krishna” and “Aakrosh” and “Dus”, to name a few. “I missed action and I am happy that films like ‘Wanted’, ‘Ghajini’ and ‘Dabangg’ brought back action in such a big way. It is larger than life,” said the actor. Apart from fame, the action image, however, proved fatal for Suniel when it came to comedy. “It (comedy) was something that was natural in me but because of my structure and because of the action that I did, people didn’t see that side of me. But I am not held on to my forte by doing only action as the thing that sells. I wanted a change of image and I am working towards it,” said the father of two, who received critical plaudits for his role in the Maoist drama “Red Alert: The War Within”. Apart from action and comedy he also has to his credit patriotic outings like “Border”, “Refugee” and “LOC: Kargil”. For his almost two-decade journey in Bollywood, he said: “There have been highs and lows but the day I get out of the industry, I just want people to say, ‘he was a nice guy… he was a good actor and a good human being’. That’s why I also make a conscious effort to make sure that I don’t hurt anybody,” he said, sporting a childlike smile. A “family man”, who likes to keep it low-profile, the actor also owns restaurants specialising in Udupi cuisine and clothing boutiques. “I am also trying to revise my water sports business in Mumbai.” As for films, his other future projects include a venture on capital punishment and “Thank You”.
I want to do action: Bipasha Basu-Interview
Bipasha Basu is itching to do action roles. While her latest film “Aakrosh” is about honour killings where she plays her most fragile character yet, the actress says in real life she is fit enough to beat her boyfriend John Abraham’s energy levels. “I want to do action. I think I am too fit at this point in time and that is a zone that I have not tapped fully and in India we don’t have too many films where the woman gets to do action. Hopefully, somewhere I see that I will be able to realize something that I want very soon. So I’m just crossing my fingers,” Bipasha said in an interview. The 31-year-old has one of the most well-toned bodies among Bollywood actresses. “I feel girls should be (physically) strong, it’s very important. I have a boyfriend who is very strong; so I should match at least 30 percent of his strength. “Now my energy level is much more than him, I can beat his energy levels in 20 minutes,” revealed Bipasha, who also released a fitness DVD “Bipasha Basu: Love Yourself” earlier this year. After starting her career with the 2001 film “Ajnabee”, Bipasha, who was initially a model, went on to do films like “Aankhen”, “Jism”, “Raaz”, “No Entry”, “Corporate”, “Race” and “All The Best”. Tagged as ’sexy’ and ‘glamour girl’, Bipasha surprised everyone when she decided to do the issue-based film “Lamhaa” and flaunt a no make-up look. She is repeating the same in her new release “Aakrosh”. Directed by Priyadarshan, it is about honour killings and also stars Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna. “In the film, I play Geeta who loves Ajay Devgn but is not allowed to marry him because he is from a lower caste. She is married off to Paresh Rawal. In the film, I lead a very sad life. This is by far the saddest role that I’ve ever done. I actually pity the life of women who go through this. “My character in the film goes through marital abuse, she gets continuously beaten up and abused by her husband. She has no happiness left. She is not married to the man she loves. Basically she is more or less a dead person. “That’s why Geeta has no makeup, her saris are very normal. She doesn’t even do her hair properly. She is by far the most vulnerable, weak, fragile role that I have ever played,” she added. Bipasha maintains she is not a method actor and leaves her character on the sets. “I’m not a method actor, I don’t even take it after the cut. I’m an instinctive actor because I learnt on the job. I never wanted to be an actor when I did my first film. so for me it is all instinctive. “If you make me rehearse too much, I’ll be like a robot, I’ll be mechanical. So, I don’t belong to the method school of acting and I don’t understand it because to me they all sound mad.”
Bipasha to stars: do issue-based films for free
Bipasha Basu, who was just seen in “Lamhaa” and is now getting ready to do a film on honour killings, feels issue-based films should be made with small budgets to make them “commercially viable” and stars shouldn’t charge any fee to work in them. “Don’t charge any money for working in such (issue-based) films. It’s the only way to make issue-based films commercially viable,” said Bipasha, whose “Lamhaa” dealt with the problems in Kashmir. But it couldn’t earn enough profits at the box office. “After ‘Lamhaa’ I am tempted to tell a committed filmmaker like Rahul Dholakia to make out-and-out commercial films. Or if you make a film on a social issue then make sure it doesn’t go over-budget. “It’s shameful that ‘Lamhaa’ was so costly. If it was made for Rs.4 crore, it would have been a hit. When a mainstream actor does a film on a social cause, it should be done free of cost as a sign of commitment to society,” she added. The actress has signed another issued-based film titled “Aakrosh” about honour killings. She plays a schoolteacher in a tradition-bound village and wonders how audiences would react to the movie. “The social issue, honour killings, is treated like a thriller. Even ‘Lamhaa’ was treated like a thriller. But how many people went to see it?” One of the main reasons to sign the film was to get rid of the glamour girl image, says Bipasha. “For me, the interesting part of doing ‘Aakrosh’ was to see how far I can get away from my glamorous image. I discovered it was easy for me to do real characters. The director Priyadarshan is a delight to work with. And my co-star is Ajay Devgn who is a good dependable actor. I’ve another film ‘Mr Fraud’ with Ajay directed by Abbas-Mustan which got stuck. I don’t know if that will ever release.” She will be spending a lot of time in Goa in the coming weeks. First, she will shoot her fitness video on the beaches quickly before winter sets in. Then she will shoot a remix of title song for Rohan Sippy’s “Dum maro dum”. The copyright issues with Dev Anand and his film “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” have apparently been sorted out. Pritam Chakraborty is all set to record a new version of the Asha Bhosle classic. To some extent “Dum maro dum” too touches on a social evil – it takes up the issue of drugs. “I can’t talk about it right now. But when it happens it will happen. Give it another two weeks,” said Bipasha. Talking about her fitness video, she said: “I want it to be shot outdoors in Goa. Winter gets too crowded. And I’ve a film to shoot in September. So I’ve to rush the video. I am going crazy doing my calorie counts. This time I’ve no team. I am doing everything on my own. It’s a little boring to do it by myself. But I’ve always been a loner.” And, yes, all is well between Bipasha and John Abraham. “If god forbid, anything were to go wrong between me and John, he would be the loser, not me.” John apparently has plans to insure his body parts, but Bipasha isn’t doing any such thing. “I’m a body person and I am definitely into fitness. But I’d never insure any body part. He’s welcome to do what he likes. I just want to know which insurance company is insuring his butt.”