Photo: Robin Wright Penn will star in the The Conspirator

The Conspirator is set in the time after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mary Surratt (Robin Wright Penn), is charged as a co-conspirator in President Lincoln’s assassination.

Surrat is charged because she owns the boarding house where John Wilkes Booth (played by Tony Kebbell) and his accomplices had planned the attacks.

James McAvoy plays a not-quite-sympathetic defence lawyer, Fredrick Aiken, assigned to the case, who later comes to believe in Surratt’s innocence.

Photo: James McAvoy on the sets of The Conspirator; Photo Credit: The Playlist

Alexis Bledel plays Fredrick Aiken’s wife, Justin Long his best friend, and Rachel Wood plays Mary Surratt’s daughter.

Photo: Evan Rachel Wood on the sets of The Conspirator Photo credit: The Playlist

Kevin Kline is Abraham Lincoln’s War Secretary in the movie, while Tom Wilkinson will essay the rold of Reverdy Johnson, an U.S. senator and ex-attorney general who is sympathetic to Surratt.

The Conspirator has been written by James D. Solomon and produced by Brian Peter Folk, Robert Redford, Greg Shapiro, Robert Stone, and Webster Stone.

The movie will be released in 2010.

Photo: The Bride in Kill Bill: Vol. 2

Tarantino announced the movie during a press meet for Inglorious Basterds, at the Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico, on October 3, 2009.

He said that Kill Bill: Vol 3 will be set ten years after the Bride’s last violent encounters to allow her some peace time with her daughter.

Before he starts filming Kill Bill: Vol 3, Quentin Tarantino will make another movie.

There is a lot of speculation about the story of Kill Bill: Vol 3.

Now that Bill is gone and the Bride has eliminated all her targets, who will she fight in the third instalment?

Some reports say that Vernita Green’s four-year-old daughter, Nikki, whose life the Bride spared when she killed Green, will be back for revenge. This is the most likeliest scenario.

Photo: Venita Green's daughter, Nikki, in Kill a still from Kill Bill: Vol.2

Other say that Sofie Fatale and Crazy 88, whose left arms were chopped off by the Bride, will return for vengeance. Maybe, maybe not.

Or will the Bride die in Kill Bill: Vol 3, passing on the mantle to her daughter? Remote chance.

All is possible, except Bill’s return from the dead, that is if he really died, a big stretch. No way.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2, that were released in 2003 and 2004, starred Uma Thurman as Beatrix Kiddo or The Bride, David Carradine as Bill, Lucy Liu as O-Ren Ishii, Vivica A Fox as Vernita Green, Julie Dreyfus as Sofie Fatale, Daryl Hannah as Elle Driver, Michael Madsen as Budd, and Gordon Liu as Pai Mei.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2 collectively grossed over US$300 million worldwide.

Photo: Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan in Kurbaan poster

In the poster a grim and bare chested Saif Ali Khan, six pack and all, looks at Kareena Kapoor, rather intensely, with what seems to be a bullet hole in his chest.

The movie that stars Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Om Puri, Vivek Oberoi, Diya Mirza, and Kiron Kher will be released on November 27, 2009.

Rensil D’silva has described Kurbaan as a romantic thriller set against the backdrop of terrorism.

Recently, Om Puri had revealed that he plays the role of a terrorist mastermind in the movie.

Photo: Saif Ali Khan in Kurbaan

Bollywood Hungama quoted the actor as saying, “I’m aware of the repercussions. I’m also aware other actors turn down parts of terrorists. But I’ve no such reservations. We cannot be moral and judgmental about the characters we play.”

He said that the plays fully committed jehaadi who does not stop short of even sacrifiing his wife ( played by Kiron Kher) for the cause.

Rensil D’Silva has written the screen play of Kurbaan. Karan Johar has been credited with the story.

Rensil is the scriptwriter of Rang De Basanti (2006), Luck (2009), and the upcoming Raavan (2010).

As we had reported earlier, Dharma Productions has entered into a tie-up with UTV for the distribution of Kurbaan and Wake Up Sid (October 2, 2009).

Dharma Productions’ forthcoming releases include Shahrukh Khan’s My Name is Khan (February 2010), and the animated flick Koochie Koochie Hota Hai (2010).

John Abraham will star in Anurag Kashyap's Bombay Velvet

Now, reports say that John Abraham too will come onboard. But, the funny thing is that long back John Abraham had announced that he is part of Bombay Velvet along with Naseeruddin Shah and Kay Kay Menon. We had carried the report in March 2009.

Old hat, this.

In fact, I would take the news that Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan are part of Bombay Velvet with a huge pinch of salt, until the news in confirmed by Anurag Kashyap, Aamir Khan or Shahrukh Khan themselves.

Though, long back Anurag Kashyap has said in an interview that he wanted Aamir Khan to be part of Bombay Velvet.

Bombay Velvet is set in the 1960s and revolves around the crime scene in Mumbai then. Anurag Kashyap was quoted as saying that Bombay Velvet will be like the LA Confidential of India.

LA Confidential is a fantastic flick. It would be interesting to see if Kashyap can pull off a thriller on the same level.

Bombay Velvet, reportedly, will have three segments, with John Abraham, Aamir Khan, and Shahrukh, featured in each of them.

Anurag Kashap had said in an interview that he brought two writers on board, for Bombay Velvet, who criticised him most for No Smoking.

If Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan are indeed part of Bombay Velvet, then they probably have cameo roles in the movie.

It’s not clear what Danny Boyle’s role is in this production, but some reports say that Boyle will present the movie to further its chances in the international market.

Guy Ritchie will direct Lobo movie

The movie will go into production in 2010. Lobo is being penned by Don Payne, and produced by Joel Silver, Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Rona will produce.

Lobo will be co-produced by Silver Pictures and Weed Road. Steve Richards and Kerry Foster will exec-produce.

The character of Lobo, created by Roger Slifer and Keith Giffen, first appeared in 1983 in Omega Men.

Lobo is an interstellary bounty hunter with great strength who enjoys violence and mayhem. You can say he is the badshah of violence, always inventive in the ways of destroying entire populations if he is in the mood to do so.

Lobo can take on Superman, he never grows old, he is immune to injuries, and if he does get hurt he can heal before you say “What the…

Variety has reported that in the movie, Lobo will be an “indestructible, blue-skinned, 7-foot-tall and heavily muscled antihero who drives a pimped-out motorcycle and lands on Earth in search of four fugitives bent on wreaking havoc.”

Lobo along with a small-town teenaged girl will take on the alien creatures.

Lobo has appeared in a couple of episodes of the Superman: The Animated Series, on TV.

As far as movies go, there has been only one movie version to Lobo’s name, the 2002 Scott Leberecht-directed The Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special, starring Andrew Bryniarski as Lobo.

Guy Ritchie’s Lobo will come with a PG-13 rating.

Will the loutish Lobo click with audiences? Considering Lobo has no real fan base, it depends totally on the treatment. If Guy Ritchie can flesh out the character of Lobo without altering the essence of it, Lobo could be a very interesting anti-superhero movie.

Ritchie is currently working on Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson.

Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle has bought the film rights for Suketu Mehta’s Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Live Mint has reported.Suketu Mehta’s book, a painstakingly honest glimpse of Mumbai, was a huge global success.

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found is a fascinating book, especially for Bombayphiles, those who love Mumbai warts and all.

Danny Boyle often refers to Maximum City, when he talks about Mumbai.

Recently he had said in an interview with screenindia.com, “It gives you a wonderful perspective on the city and that was sort of our bible on the film because its got everything in it.”

The travelogue – if you can call it that considering how rich and involved it is – paints a sometimes funny, sometimes tragic, and sometimes buouyant picture of Mumbai.

Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found explores Mumbai’s underbelly – the underworld- the effect of the 1992 Hindu-Muslim riots on the Hindu-Muslim gangs, and of course Bollywood.

Suketu Mehta also co-wrote the script for Mission Kashmir with Vidhu Vinod Chopra, and traces the whole process right from when joined the scripting team and trying to put together the cast.

He writes about Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan who were supposed to be on onboard, and how they backed out.

His account got him into trouble with Bollywood producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra, though, after the book came out.

Suketu Mehta was born in Kolkata and lived in Mumbai for nine years. He left Mumbai when he was 14 years old, and spent twenty-one years in New York’s East Village, Paris, London, after which he returned to Mumbai, to the city he says he belongs to.

The journalist and author is the winner of the O. Henry Prize and the Whiting Writers Award.

Currently, working as an Associate Professor of Journalism at New York University, Mehta has written for The New York Times Magazine, The Indian Express, Harper’s, Man’s World, Granta, Conde Nast Traveler, and so on.

Suketu Mehta’s next project is a nonfiction book about immigrants in present-day New York, for which he was the recipient of the 2007 Guggenheim fellowship. 

Suketu Mehta won the Kiriyama Prize and the Hutch Crossword Award, for Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, and was a finalist for the 2005 Pulitzer Prize.

Meanwhile, Danny Boyle came to India and met the families of Slumdog Millionaire’s child stars, Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Mohammed, my 27, 2009.

He promised them new homes, after their shanty homes were pulled down by the municipal workers.

Photo: Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor in Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani

The movie, which is in post-production right now, will be released in August 2009. Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani also stars Upen Patel, Darshan Jariwala, Govind Namdeo, Smita Jaykar, Navneet Nishan, Zakir Hussain, Jagdeep, and Salman Khan in a guest appearance.

Raj Kumar Santoshi has described the movie as a light romantic comedy. He has co-written the movie with R.D. Tailang.

A light rom com from Santoshi should be good. Andaz Apna Apna, which he directed in 1994, was a hilarious comedy and, probably, one of his best movies. Santoshi has a caustic wit that shines through even in his most serious movies.

Though he is known to pick socially relevant subjects, Raj Kumar Santoshi has never been able to do complete justice to them.

Admittedly, his movies and very honest and have strong moral and social messages, be it Damini (which was very very pretty good) or Lajja.

But, he ends up diluting the movies with the usual song-and-dance routines or simply getting carried away with the dramatic potential. As a result, his movies end up having a dated feel, despite tight screenplays.

His last movie Halla Bol that was released in 2008 was a total disaster.

Santoshi usually works with the same actors, be it Sunny Deol or Ajay Devgan.

Working with a young turk like Ranbir Kapoor is a first for him.

Perhaps, with Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani he will reinvent himself in other ways as well. All he has to do is cut the drama, and he will be home safe and dry.

Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani will be Ranbir Kapoor’s third film. His first Saawariya was a washout but his second Bachna Ae Haseeno was a hit.

Ranbir Kapoor will also be seen in Wake Up Sid (2009), with Konkona Sen Sharma, and Prakash Jha’s Rajniti (2010).

Katrina Kaif is now an A-list actress despite her poor histrionic abilities, with back-to-back hits, like Namastey London, Partner, Welcome, Race, and Singh is Kinng, to her credit.

She will appear in Blue and New York, in 2009, and in Rajniti in 2010.

Amitabh Bachchan will star in the title role in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Chenab Gandhi

As is par for the course for most movies in production, Chenab Gandhi too is surrounded by rumors about changes in the cast and so on.

For a while, there was a buzz about Hurman Baweja replacing John Abraham in Chenab Gandhi.

Interestingly, while there have been rumors about Hurman Baweja being replaced by all kinds of actors in all his movies, this is the first time there is a rumor doing the rounds that he has replaced someone.

There is something to cheer about in that, for Hurman at least!

The rumor has been squashed squarely, though, by the filmmakers of Chenab Gandhi.

Apparently, John Abraham has been busy with shooting for Hook Ya Crook, which he will wrap up by April 20, 2009, and start shooting for Chenab Gandhi, from May 8, 2009.

Chenab Gandhi stars Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, also known as Frontier Gandhi, John Abraham, and Vidya Balan.

Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan with Mahatma Gandhi

The movie will be directed by Vibha Puri and written by Bhavani Iyer, writer of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s acclaimed Black.

Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan was the leader of the independence movement in India’s Northwest Frontier. He dedicated his life to non-violence and was one of the staunchest supporters of Mahatma Gandhi.

Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan is credited with forming the Khudai Khidmatgars in the 1920s that took on the British police with non-violent opposition (Satyagraha).

After partition, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was branded anti-Muslim and was arrested, imprisoned, and exiled on and off for nearly 52 years of his life.

In 2008, TC McLuhan wrote and directed a documentary The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, a Torch for Peace.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has directed only four movies after his first movie Khamoshi released in 1996. The movie was a disaster at the box office, but I still believe it is Bhansali’s best and most pure work so far.

It’s a pity he went into the grand spectacle mode after Khamoshi, stripping his movies of its soul.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s last movie Saawariya met with a lot of criticism. I haven’t watched it, so I wouldn’t know how much the movie merited it.

The next movie he is working on is Guzarish starring the golden couple Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai. The movie is in pre-production and will be released in 2010.

What's Your Rashee poster

Here are photos of Priyanka Chopra in her 12 roles in What’s Your Rashee?

The romantic comedy, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, will be released on September 25, 2009.

Apart from Priyanka Chopra and Hurman Baweja, What’s Your Rashee will star Joe DeVito, Suzy Brack, Tommy Bartlett, Debi Burns, and Gene Fojtik.

What’s your Rashee is about a young man (Hurman Baweja) looking for his ideal girl (Priyanka Chopra), who he must marry within ten days to save  his family from disaster. The movie is based on a Gujarati novel Kimball Ravenswood, and explores the quirks and eccentricities of arranged marriages.

Photo: Priyanka Chopra and Hurman Baweja in What's Your Rashee

Reportedly, Priyanka Chopra plays twelve different roles in the movie; each symbolizes the twelve different signs of the zodiac. Apparently, Priyanka Chopra danced non-stop for 22 hours for a song in which she had to portray all the 12 characters and their different moods.

Recently there were rumors that Ashutosh Gowarikar had axed Hurman Baweja’s role in What’s Your Rashee. The director slammed the rumors unequivocally saying that he signed on Hurman – in his pre-Hurman days (he was called Harman then) – before he starred in the dud Love Story 2050.

Ashutosh Gowarikar also said that Hurman was doing a very good job. Perhaps, the poor boy needed a good director to take him in hand. Heck, if Ashutosh could make Aishwarya Rai act in Jodhaa Akbar, he can do the same with Hurman. Let’s just hope Hurman ditches his infantile obsession with Hrithik, and half the battle will be won.

What’s Your Rashee is Ashutosh Gowarikar’s first attempt at comedy. His roster of movies include Lagaan (decent), Swades (good), and Jodhaa Akbar (very good).

What’s Your Rashee has been produced by UTV and Ashutosh Gowarikar.

The movie has been scripted by Naushil Mehta and Ashutosh Gowarikar. The lyrics have been written by Javed Akhtar, to AR Rahman’s music.

What’s Your Rashee’s Chicago schedule was completed in early March 2009. The movie’s shooting will end after its Baroda or Ahmedabad schedule has been wrapped up.

To read about other exciting new releases in 2009, click here.

Karan Johar

UTV Motion Pictures will handle the distribution of the movie through different networks and platforms, including theatrical, home video, overseas, satellite, and other media.

Speculation is rife that the deal is worth over Rs 80 crores, though the two parties have not revealed any financial details.

UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala was quoted as saying, “Karan has a brilliant slate of films to his credit. He brings a tremendous entertainment quotient to his films coupled with immense understanding of the pulse of the audience.”

Ronnie Screwvala

“His films are amongst the most awaited across the country and around the world. We are thrilled
to start what we hope is the beginning of a long relationship with Dharma Productions,” he added.

For his part, Karan Johar said, “I’ve known and been in touch with Ronnie for a long time now and I am glad that finally we are getting a chance to work together. His passion and sensibility towards understanding cinema is exceptional and I’m looking forward to working with UTV Motion Pictures.”

Karan Johar further added that he was impressed with UTV’s body of work, and he was sure that UTV would promote both his films, which he claimed were not typical Bollywood films, just the way they promoted A Wednesday and Welcome To Sajjanpur.

The new deal will put an end to the distribution deal between Dharma Productions and Yash Raj films. Putting paid to speculation that there is a breach between Dharma Productions and Yash Raj films, Karan Johar said that Yash Raj as taken a conscious decision to distribute only their own films and he respects that.

Photo: Konkona Sen Sharma and Ranbir Kapoor

Wake Up Sid, one of the movies that UTV Motion Pictures will distribute is directed by Ayaan Mukerji, who assisted Ashutosh Gowariker in Swades and Karan Johar in Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. The movie starring Ranbir Kapoor, Konkana Sen Sharma, Rahul Khanna, Anupam Kher, and Naseeruddin Shah, is about a young man in love with an older, plain woman.

Wake Up Sid is lined up for an April 2009 release.

Rensil D’silva’s film will be shot entirely in London. Some reports have said that the name of the movie is Jihaad, but the director has categorically denied it. He has said that the movie is a romantic thriller set against the backdrop of terrorism.

The movie stars Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi. Rensil is the scriptwriter of Rang De Basanti (2006), and the to-be-released Luck.