After several allegations that his forthcoming film Son Of Sardaar hurts religious sentiments, actor-producer Ajay Devgn is set to meet members of the Sikh community and have a screening of the film for them.
The 43-year-old actor would be visiting Amritsar with friend and co-star Sanjay Dutt to meet SPGC (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee) officials, Sikh lawyers and members of All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF).
The film will be screened during the meeting in Amritsar. On August 27, Karnail Singh, President of All India Sikh Student Federation (AISSF), in a letter to Jathedar Akhal Takht Giani Gurbachan Singh had requested stern action against Ajay for blasphemous remarks against the community as shown in the official trailer of the film.
It was alleged that the official trailer, released on YouTube, shows the character of a Sikh in bad light and comprises of demeaning dialogues such as "If Sikhs were not there then who would have invented abuses..." and "Without Sardaars, on whom would have jokes been made".
Moreover, Ajay is shown as a turban-wearing Sardar with the tattoo of Hindi God Shiva on his chest, which has also been termed as Anti-Sikh.
Punjab and Haryana High Court Advocate Navkiran Singh had issued a legal notice to the makers of the film on August 16 asking them to delete the objectionable parts within 7 days of receipt of the legal notice. However, actor-producer Ajay Devgn is yet to respond to the notice.
A few days ago, Ajay had issued a statement which said, "At no point anybody will find any element of disrespect. The protagonist of the film is a Sardaar, so the film will showcase a very positive projection of the community. One could just wait for the release and then come up with their comments and opinion."
Let's hope that once SPGC officials watch the film, there will not be any objections. Son Of Sardaar, directed by Ashwni Dhir and starring Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha and Juhi Chawla, is set to release on November 13.
Initially, actor Sanjay Dutt was supposed to play the role of the honourable Pathan Sher Khan in Apoorva Lakhia's 'Zanjeer Remake' before it was declared that Arjun Rampal will be essaying the role, played by Pran in the original 'Zanjeer'.
Hwoever, buzz now has it that Rampal has bowed out of the project due to date issues, leaving the coast clear for the deadly Dutt to don the pathani again. Rampal confirmed the news and was quoted saying that he had to opt out of the project as his dates were clashing with another film by Nikhil Advani and that it would be unfair to ask the makers of 'Zanjeer Remake' to wait for him. The hunky model turned actor however claimed that the character of Sher Khan was an iconic one and that any actor would love to play the role.
A remake of the 70s blockbuster 'Zanjeer', which was responsible for giving Amitabh Bachchan the 'Angry Young Man' tag, this Apoorva Lakhia directed film will have Ram Charan Teja play the role of Inspector Vijay Khanna. Apart from Dutt and Teja, the film will also star Priyanka Chopra, Mahie Gill and Prakash Raj in pivotal roles.
Actors Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn will be neighbours for the next month. The duo will be staying close to each other through August and part of September in a studio on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Incidentally, both actors have become really close in the last couple of years and are shooting for their respective films. While Ajay is shooting for Himmatwala, Sanjay is shooting for the remake of the South super hit Sammy.
Considering both of them are fitness freaks, they decided to exercise together every day. Sanjay is reportedly carrying his gym equipment along with him and will fly a cook who will plan out diet meals for him and Ajay.
Kajol along with her two kids - Nysa and Yug and Manyata Dutt with her twins - Iqra and Shahran will also join their husbands for the weekend.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has urged the Supreme Court to uphold the six years' jail term given to actor Sanjay Dutt for possessing a rifle and some ammunition, from people who were accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts.
The CBI took this stand before the bench consisting of Justice P Sathasivam and Justice BS Chauhan. It also said that Dutt broke the rifle into several pieces before disposing them off, hence supporting its contention against the actor of tampering with evidence.
The court concluded the hearing on Dutt's plea challenging his conviction. Dutt has already served a sentence of a year and a half in the case.
The actor had earlier told the court that his possession of the rifle was not related to the 1993 Mumbai Bomb blasts.
Close friends Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt will start shooting at the same venue in Hyderabad today.
The duo, next to be seen in Ashwini Dhir's Son Of Sardaar, will start shooting for their respective films at the Ramoji Rao Studio in Hyderabad from today.
While Ajay Devgn will be working on his upcoming film Himmatwala, directed by Sajid Khan, opposite South actress Tamannaah Bhatia, Sanjay Dutt will start shooting for KS Ravikumar's Saamy with Prachi Desai. Co-incidentally, both the films are remakes. Writer duo Farhad-Sajid, who have written dialogues for both the films, were quoted saying that it is going to be very tough for them as both the films are starting together.
The duo will next be seen in Son Of Sardaar, also starring Juhi Chawla and Sonakshi Sinha, which releases on November 13.
Actor Ajay Devgn, who was till recently shooting for the last schedule of his upcoming production venture Son Of Sardaar, has some valuable advice for his co-star and good friend Sanjay Dutt.
Ajay feels that Sanjay is very good at comic roles and that he should do more of that instead of serious roles that could affect his image.
A source was quoted saying that Sanjay has done too many serious roles in films such as Agneepath and Department so Ajay took out time to give Dutt some advice to brush up his comic timing.
Ajay, who has acted in blockbuster comedies such as Golmaal, Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3 and Bol Bachchan, feels that Dutt too, can have several super hits in his kitty by doing comedy.
Actor Sanjay Dutt, who was last seen playing the evil Kancha in revenge drama Agneepath, was spotted with a walking stick at the Mumbai International airport when he recently came back from his Europe visit.
Sources claim that the deadly Dutt, who had gone to Europe for a vacation, took some time off to visit a specialist in Germany for surgery on his knee, which has been giving him trouble ever since 2009. It seems that Dutt had suffered an injury to his knee while shooting for adventure film Blue way back in 2009 and the pain kept resurfacing every now and then, prompting the Germany visit.
Dutt will be next seen in Son Of Sardaar, an action comedy that is due to release in Diwali this year. Apart from the Ajay Devgn starrer, Dutt will also be seen in Sher, Zilla Ghaziabad and the remake of South flick Saamy, which is tentatively titled Thanedaar Returns.
Sanjay Dutt has been busy shooting big-ticket films such as Agneepath, Son Of Sardaar, Zilla Ghaziabad and Sher back to back. Owing to his busy schedule, Dutt hasn't had much time for himself and his family. However, the latest is that he's gone off to Paris for a much-needed break with wife Maanyata and kids, Shahraan and Iqra.
A source from the industry was quoted saying that he has aken a break for some time and so when he got a few days off from the shoot of Sher, he decided to utilise them by taking off to Paris.
Once Dutt will be back from his break, he has to take care of a number of successive releases. Son Of Sardaar and Zilla Ghaziabad are set to hit the screens later this year.
The last one will be Sher, which is directed by Soham Shah.
Actor Sanjay Dutt admitted meeting underworld gangster Dawood Ibrahim at a dinner that was hosted by him in Dubai. Dutt revealed this while he was answering a question in the Supreme Court.
However, the actor denied if he had any friendship with the most-wanted gangster.
Senior counsel Harish Salve, appearing for Sanjay Dutt in a case related to the illegal possession of a rifle, answered the questions raised by the court about his relationship with Ibrahim, in connection with his key role in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts.
Salve told the court that the actor went to the dinner along with two film producers.
The court was also told that the said dinner took place prior to the 1993 serial bomb blasts and that was the only occasion that the actor met the don.
The court's query came during the hearing on an appeal file by Dutt challenging a trial court verdict convicting him under the Arms Act and awarding him sentence of six years for illegal possession of weapons.
Sanjay Dutt, who'll next be seen in Son Of Sardaar, has taken inspiration from his dad Sunil Dutt's on screen look, for his upcoming action-comedy. Sanjay has adopted his father's dacoit look from the 1963 release Mujhe Jeene Do, for the movie.
Sources reveal that when Sanjay signed the film, he didn't even know what his role was. He said yes to the project because it was his good friend Ajay Devgn's film. Reportedly, in the beginning no particular look was planned for Dutt, but post the success of his film Agneepath, where he plays the antagonist Kancha, the makers realized that Sanjay's look in the film had a lot to do with the movie's humongous success. And that's when Ajay suggested that they should have a special get-up for the original 'bad boy'.
When his look was being discussed, Sanjay revealed, to the cast and crew, that he has always been fascinated with his father's look in Mujhe Jeene Do and the team felt that it was indeed a good suggestion.Director Ashwini Dhir, feels that the look gave a lot of character and personality to Sanjay Dutt's part in the movie. He also revealed that when he told Sanjay that he resembled his father in SOS, Sanjay got very emotional.
Son Of Sardaar stars Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Juhi Chawla alongside Dutt and will hit the theaters this Diwali.
We've seen Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan in an ad. In addition, we've seen Amitabh Bachchan-Jaya Bachchan, Ajay Devgn-Kajol and Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Recently, even Raj Kundra and Shilpa Shetty shot for an ad together. However, the latest celebrity couple to join the bandwagon is that of Sanjay Dutt and Manyata Dutt. They shot for a commercial of a jewellery brand on the actor's birthday yesterday.
The actor, who celebrated his birthday on July 29, met a group of children from an NGO in the morning, and followed it up the shoot of the ad.
A couple of days back, we had reported that Sanjay Dutt was the first actor in the industry to learn martial arts and now, it seems that his decades old martial training is coming back to help with him action sequences.
Sources claim that Sanjay Dutt, who had gone to Japan for an year to learn the art of samurai fighting before starting his film career, will be getting his own samurai sword out of the closet for action sequences in his upcoming film Sher.
It seems that when director Soham Shah was briefing the deadly Dutt about a particular action sequence in the film that involved swords, Sanju baba insisted that he be allowed to use his sword and as the actor seemed really excited about getting to use the sword after so many years, Shah immediately agreed.
Apart from Sanjay Dutt, Sher also stars Vivek Oberoi, Humaima Mallik and Karishma Tanna.
