AAMIR KHAN TO PLAY LAL BAHADUR



Mumbai, December 19: Manoj Kumar is making a comeback to cinema after 10 long years. However this time the veteran won't be donning the hat of an actor but will try to taste success as a writer with two patriotic scripts - one titled Aakhri Goli (The Last Bullet) based on the life of Chandrashekhar Azad and the second titled Lal Bahadur Shastri on the life of the former prime minister of India.

Manoj last acted in the 1995 film Maidan-e-Jung and later wrote a film called Jai Hind in 1999.

What's most interesting about this development is that Manoj might be teaming up with Aamir Khan, who has been approached to play the role of Lal Bahadur and mouth the famous slogan 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'. DNA has learnt that Aamir is also keen to reprise the role.

"Aamir has been approached and he is quite excited. The film is about the life and times of Lal Bahadur Shastri. It is like a bio-pic, but since so little is known about the personal life of the man except for the fact that he was extremely close to Jawaharlal Nehru and that he had fought a war with Pakistan -- and his mysterious death at Tashkent about which people have debated whether he was poisoned -- we have to improvise a lot on the plot to make it dramatic and intriguing. The script will have the permission from the descendants of Shastri's family," Manoj told After Hrs, adding, "I think Aamir is well equipped to pull off this role. I have seen his movies and I must say I love his acting. He is certainly the finest actor we have today."

Manoj, who has spent 50 years in the film industry, says, "Life has begun for me at 50. I have always believed in quality over quantity and so in my entire career, I have just done around 50 films -- unlike others who have done 300. Hats off to them, but I don't have the stamina to go on and on unless something really fascinates me," he says.

"I have researched the subject for many years and only after that did I decide to take the plunge. Movies have been my passion and I don't think I can ever quit it. We are yet to start full-fledged casting."

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'3 IDIOTS' ABOUT FRIENDSHIP, FUN AND COLLEGE



Aamir Khan is returning to the big screen exactly after a year with '3 Idiots' and the film has created the right buzz thanks to the innovative ways he has been promoting it. Revolving around three friends and their college days, the movie releases Friday.

Loosely based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller 'Five Point Someone', the film has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who has invested around Rs.35 crore in it.

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, it also stars Sharman Joshi, R. Madhavan, Kareena Kapoor and Boman Irani. It is being distributed by Reliance Big Pictures and is releasing with nearly 1,000 prints worldwide.

To market the film, Aamir has been travelling across the country in different get-ups. His travels have so far taken him to Varanasi, Madhya Pradesh's Chanderi district, former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly's home in Kolkata, Jaipur and Punjab's Faridkot district.

The story revolves around three engineering students -- Rancho (Aamir), Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman) -- and their journey. The film covers every aspect of their lives including Rancho's romance with Pia (Kareena) and his conflicts with their teacher Viru Sahastrabudhhe (Boman).

'3 Idiots' is about how Rancho influences his two friends and teaches them to live life on their own terms. But one day he just vanishes. Then begins Farhan and Raju's search for Rancho and finally learning the secret behind his disappearance.

The music of the film is already topping the charts with songs like 'Aal izz well', 'Zoobi doobi', 'Jaane nahin denge tujhe' and 'Give me some sunshine' becoming chartbusters.

This is the third year in succession when Aamir's movie will release in December after 'Taare Zameen Par' and 'Ghajini'.

No big budget Bollywood movie is preceding '3 Idiots' from the previous week and it has created just the right amount of curiosity among audiences...will this Chopra-Hirani-Aamir collaboration strike gold at the box office and close 2009 on a happy note?

A LOOK A AMIR KHAN'S PAN-INDIA TOUR FOR PROMOTION OF 3 IDIOTS



Trust Aamir Khan to come up with a googly every over. The maverick actor has been visiting the aam aadmi across the nooks and crannies of India in a unique promotional drive for his forthcoming release 3 Idiots.

Aamir, who had 'gone missing' on 11th December, has since reappeared in Varanasi, remote villages in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, Kolkata and Jaipur, spending some time with common folks and inviting them to the premiere of the film in Mumbai. Kareena Kapoor, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have also added the glam quotient so far to this innovative promotional drive.


On December 11, Aamir Khan launched an 'alternative reality game' for 3 Idiots. Khan, it was announced, had 'disappeared' for the next two weeks and would be travelling incognito across parts of India, giving clues which would help in finding which city Khan is located in.

Meanwhile Sachin Tendulkar read out the first clue after watching 3 Idiots along with his family and friends at Dev Anand's preview theatre, Ketnav in Mumbai.

Aamir Promotes 3Idiots In Palampur-IMAGES