Rajneeti poster: The movie has an ensemble cast

Rajneeti, which features an impressive ensemble cast with actors such as Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Arjun Rampal, Naseeruddin Shah and Ajay Devgn, is set to release  on 4 June 2010.

Now that Jha has sold the rights of his movie to Colors channel – for more than Rs 5 crore – fans can catch Rajneeti on TV barely four weeks after its release.

Photo: Katrina Kaif and Nana Patekar from the sets of Rajneeti

This is not the first time that Colors has bagged the rights of a much-hyped movie. Colors aired Blue (the movie was a flop in theaters, by the way!) just 45 days after the movie was released and has also telecast movies like Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (paying Rs 4.5 crore for the first screening) and Kurbaan soon after their release. According to Mid-Day, Colors paid Rs 5 crores for telecast rights of the movie.

Colors has relied on new movies to earn it good revenues and to race ahead in the TRP rankings.
With Rajneeti, Prakash Jha hopes to take the “dirty” out of “dirty politics”. He says the film is a family drama with plenty of the politics that members of families play.

“Rajneeti has been a long journey. It is a film about politics and tries to cover most aspects involved in politics – personal, family, social, state, national. Basically, the film tries to showcase what happens in politics. And I would say this is my most complete film,” Jha said to Hindustan Times.

The filmmaker, who contested the Lok Sabha elections from West Champaran in Bihar last year, says he has had a fulfilling experience working with each and every member of the cast, including Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif.

Ranbir Kapoor, who seems quite kicked about his part in Rajneeti, said he was not apprehensive in the least about the fact that he was working with actors who had for so long been part of realistic cinema. He claimed the film was a huge learning experience for him.

Though Katrina Kaif’s simple and sari-clad look in Rajneeti has drawn comparisons about the resemblance of her character with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Jha said that the movie was not based on any political party or ideology, and that it was based on the reality of politics. Katrina Kaif, who plays the female lead, has also strongly denied that her role in Rajneeti had anything to do with Sonia Gandhi.

Prakash Jha is known for his highly political films such as Damul, Mrityudand, Gangaajal and Apaharan and is the recepient of multiple National Film Awards and Filmfare awards.

The movie will bring back the central cast – Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, and Paresh Rawal – along with Katrina Kaif.

Hera Phera 4, produced by Firoz Nadiadwala, will be directed by Anees Bazmee. Hera Phera, and its sequel Phir Hera Pheri was directed by Priyadarshan and Neeraj Vohra, respectively.

Anees Bazmi is the director of hits like No Entry, Welcome and Singh Is Kinng.

Hera Pheri 4 will go into production in March 2010, reports say.

Photo: Katrina Kaif, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty and Paresh Rawas in De Dana Dan

Meanwhile, Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Paresh Rawal and Katrina Kaif will be next seen in Priyadarshan’s De Dana Dan, set for a November 27, 2009 release.

De Dana Dan has been produced by Vipul Shah.

Akshay Kumar has had an unexpectedly bad run at the box office, in 2009.

The actor who gave back-to-back hits in 2007-2008, gave back-to-back flops in 2009. All his movies released in 2009 so far – Chandni Chowk to China, 8×10 Tasveer, and Kambhakht Ishq-  have flopped.

The fate of his latest movie, Blue, made at a whopping cost of Rs 100 crore plus, is as yet undecided.

A lot rides on De Dana Dana for the superstar.

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.

The movie is said to be a modern-day interpretation of the Mahabharata. Update: Rajneeti Telecast four weeks after movie release

Prakash Jha has denied that Katrina’s role is anything of the sort. Even if it is so, he can hardly say admit that it is.

It is very possible that Katrina’s role is not based on that of Sonia Gandhi.

Katrina’s look in Rajniti may be similar to that of Sonia Gandhi, but that doesn’t automatically mean that her character would be the same.

And, how can there not be a similarity in the look if you put two good looking women, one an Italian and the other half-British, in crisp no-nonsense cotton sarees, no embellishments, and a pronounced accent to boot?

Photo: Sonia Gandhi with Rajiv Gandhi

Photo: Katrina Kaif in a production still of Rajniti

But it is also possible that Katrina Kaif’s role may be loosely based on Sonia’s life, if the movie itself uses the Gandhi family’s life as a political backdrop.

Rajniti is a modern-day adaptation of the Mahabharata, so it may play on the Gandhi bahu (Sona vs Maneka) saga; God knows, there is enough drama there to power an entire film.

Rajniti stars Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Priyanka Chopra, Nana Patekar, and Manoj Bajpai. The movie will also star Naseeruddin Shah in a cameo role, that of a leftist leader of a people’s movement.

Prakash Jha has said that Ajay Devgan will play a character based on Karn, and Nana Patekar that of Krishna. The character of Arjun will be played by Ranbir Kapoor and is said to be loosely inspired by Rajiv Gandhi’s life. If the movie is loosely based on the Gandhi family, then it is likely that Arjun Rampal’s character will be derived from that of Sanjay Gandhi and Priyanka Chopra’s character from that of Maneka Gandhi.

Rajniti, written and directed by Prakash Jha, is set for a September 2009 release.

Prakash Jha is known for his hard-hitting political movies like Apaharan (2005), Gangaajal (2003), Mrityudand (1997), and Damul (1984), with the exception of Dil Kya Kare (1999), which is more of a socio-romantic drama and Hip Hip Hurray (1983), a feel-good sport movie.

Ajay Devgan has starred in three of Prakash Jha’s movies so far, Gangaajal, Apaharan, and Dil Kya Kare.