Photo: Riteish Deshmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez in Aladin

Secondly, Aladin is a fantasy movie from Bollywood with what looks like good production values. The last big-budget fantasy movie was Abhishek Bachchan’s superbomb Drona.

And, last but not the least, there is the beauteous Jacqueline Fernandez, ex-Miss Sri Lanka, who makes her acting debut with Aladin.

Photo: Jacqueline Fernandez

Aladin is a modern adaptation of the classic Aladin And the Magic Lamp.

The synopsis of Aladin on Eros international’s website describes the movie as the tale of a young orphan Aladin Chatterjee (Riteish Deshmukh), an orphan bullied since childhood by Kasim and his gang.

Photo: Amitabh Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh in Aladin

His life turns upside down when Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez) gives him a magic lamp. The genie Genius (Amitabh Bachchan) that comes out of the lamp wants to give him his mandatory three wishes and be done with it. He wants to end his contract with the Magic Lamp.

Photo: Sanjay Dutt in Aladin

Adventure ensues when ex-genie Ringmaster (Sanjay Dutt) turns up to wreak havoc on poor Aladin.

The movie stars Ratna Pathak Shah as Marjina and Sahil Khan as Kasim.

The movie said to be inspired by the Hollywood flick 21.

Amitabh Bachchan in Teen Patti, photo: bigadda.com

Amitabh Bachchan is currently in London shooting for the Teen Patti’s last schedule.

“Soon after we (have to) get into a photo shoot and (start) reading rehearsals for the shoot with Sir Ben Kingsley. He plays an important part in the film,” Amitabh Bachchan posted on his blog.

Media reports have hinted that Hollywood star Pierce Brosnan may star in Teen Patti.

In his blog, Amitabh Bachchan has hinted about the presence of big stars in the movie.

“There are some important names being mentioned for the shoot, but unless it all happens it would be premature to talk of them. Perhaps a little later when we are deep in progress on our work,” he wrote.

Photo: Amitabh Bachchan in Teen Patti

“Early on, the vision for Teen Patti was international and singular. Having followed Sir Ben’s work over the years, it is my great honor and delight to have two stalwarts on the same platform,” producer Ambika Hinduja, said.

“Few actors can match Mr. Bachchan’s talent presence and I believe that Sir Ben complements it all and more,’’she added.

On his first day of shoot in London, Amitabh Bachchan was informed that the famous commentator and TV presenter David frost wanted to interview him.

“I am told Sir David Frost, that great commentator and TV personality, wishes to interview me for a programme he does on India. Such an important personality, what ever would he find talking to me, I wonder.” was Bachchan’s response on his blog.

“The possibility of meeting up with two decorated personalities and in fact working with them together seems awe inspiring,” said Amitabh Bachchan.

In Teen Patti, Amitabh Bachchan plays a professor who tutors five of his best wards played by R. Madhavan, and newcomers Siddharth Kher, Dhruv Ganesh, Vaibhav Talwar, and Shraddha Kapoor in high-stake gambling.

Teen Patti has been scripted by Shivkumar Subramaniam and Shabd director Leena Yadav.

“Sir Ben Kingsley is every director’s dream actor, with acting prowess honored the world over,” Leena Yadav said.

“In a sense, Teen Patti brings him back to the same land that made him a legend with Gandhi. I am thrilled to be directing two of the world’s finest acting talents, Sir Ben and Amitabh Bachchan,” she added.

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.

Photo: Amitabh Bachchan

The Actor, which has shades of Bachchan’s life, has been penned by Pritish Nandy’s son Kushan Nandy, Kiran Shyam Shroff, and Ghalib Asad.

Amitabh Bachchan was the most obvious choice for Nandy. In fact, the movie seems to have been written for him. Even the initials of the superstar in The Actor, Ashmit Bhargava, are the same as that of Amitabh Bachchan.

Pritish Nandy has said, “The protagonist has to be an icon who’s about 55-60 years old, portraying what’s according to the script the greatest actor playing the biggest role of his life.”

Amitabh Bachchan has worked with Pritish Nandy Communications once before for the movie Kaante, directed by Sanjay Gupta. Bachchan and Pritish Nandy have never worked together again until now with The Actor.

In 2008, an year dominated by the Khans, Amitabh Bachchan did not have any significant releases. In 2009, though, he will be seen in Johnny Mastana and Aladin, which are in post-production. Amitabh Bachchan’s other releases will be Kunal Avadana, and Teen Patti, which are in pre-production. Bachchan will also be seen in Mira Nair’s Shantaram, which is also currently in pre-production.

The other Amitabh Bachchan film that will go into production in 2009 is Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Taalisman that will star Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and Sanjay Dutt. The fantasy film is based on the Hindi novel, Chandrakanta.

Photo: Priyanka Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan in Drona: Holding in the tummy

Amitabh Bachchan plays an old warrier in the movie, Aishwarya Rai plays a princess, and Abhishek Bachchan plays a (gasp) warrior prince. I wish someone would tell him that warriors are generally not tubby creatures who cover themselves from head to toe to hide their flab, and certainly don’t have double chins.

John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan in Dostana: The fit and the fat

One hopes he has learnt that from Hrithik Roshan in Jodhaa Akbar.
Amitabh Bachchan is considered one of the biggest, if not the biggest, superstar of the century. He certainly has had an enduring career, lasting long past the sell-by date of actors. Bachchan has had a busy career of nearly 40 years now, which puts him in the league of legends like Dilip Kumar who had a career spanning over 50 years, Raj Kapoor with 40 years, and front leader Dev Anand with 66 years and still going strong!

Amitabh Bachchan holds the record for the largest number of Filmfare Best Actor awards. He is the winner of three national awards and 12 Filmfare Best Actor awards.