Anil Kapoor’s Gandhi Did Not Deserve The National Award Read more: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/entertainment/anil-kapoors-gandhi-did-not-dese

Anil Kapoor won’t like this. But Shefali Shah feels she deserved, and got, the National award for her performance in Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear rather than the Anil Kapoor-produced Gandhi My Father. She was nominated for both the performances.

Many felt she should have won it for Feroz Khan’s Gandhi My Father. Shefali disagrees. “It was such an honor to be nominated for two performances. But Last Lear was much more difficult. Playing a real-life character, Kasturba and that too with an emotional and chronological graph that took me from young to old, gave me a lot of space to create my character. In The Last Lear I had to establish my character within a specific setting and a time frame. I think it’s far easier playing older characters.”

Initially her husband was supposed to co-star with her. There’s another guy played by Sumeet Raghavan in Shefali’s character’s life. It was role that Shefali’s husband was supposed to play. “Barnali keenly wanted Vipul to do it. But there was no way he was going to go back to acting after giving it up on stage many years ago,” says the actress.

Kuch Love Jaisa is a love gift from Vipul to his wife who has just won the National award for her performance in Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear.

Right now Shefali is looking forward to the release of Kuch Love Jaisa. “Thankfully I play a character my own age. Though it’s a small film I know Vipul will market it like any of his other films.”

Anil, Sonam team for television commercial

Actor-producer Anil Kapoor teams up for the first time with his actress daughther Sonam. The father-daughter duo will be seen together on the small screen for a commercial for German luxury brand Montblanc.
Montblanc is synonymous with pen, watches and accessories, and through this commercial the brand is trying to depict it is not just a pen but has a legacy that is passed down from generation to generation.

“The commercial portrays the relationship between a father and a daughter and how the bond between them is further strengthened by the legacy that is imbibed in the pen,” Rensil D’Silva, executive creative director of Meridian communications, said in a press statement released here Wednesday.

“I think we have a really interesting campaign and some great star power from Anil and Sonam Kapoor. I have faith that this campaign will only take the brand forward,” he added.

55th National Awards announced: Gandhi, My Father wins two

Anil Kapoor’s produced film Gandhi, My Father has won two National Awards while Shahrukh-starrer Om Shanti Om won in Best Art Direction category, and Shahid Kapur-starrer Jab We Met won the award in Best Choreography category in the 55th National Awards that were announced on Monday.

Gandhi, My Father was pitted against commercial successes like Taare Zameen Par and Chak De.

Feroz Abbas Khan, the director of the Gandhi, My Father won the National Award for Best Screenplay and Darshan Zariwala bagged award for the Best Supporting actor for portraying Gandhi, the Father of the nation who strives hard to have a normal relationship with his son in the film.

Meanwhile, Actor Prakash Raj has won the Best Actor award in the 55th National Awards for his sterling performance as a silk weaver in Priyadarshan’s Tamil film Kanchivaram, which has been adjudged as the Best Film of 2007.

“It’s a very human story of pre-partition time about Kanjivaram. The film’s script was written so well that I didn’t require any homework. It is

It is Prakash Raj’s second National award. The previous one was in the Best Supporting Actor category for Mani Ratnam’s Iruvar in 1998 and a special jury award in 2003.

Directed by Priyadarshan, the film depicts the lives and times of silk-weavers of Kancheepuram in pre-Independent India.

Actor Umashree has won the Best Actress award for her performance for her lead role ‘Gulabi’ in Girish Kasaravalli’s Kannada film “Gulabi Talkies”.

The Gulabi Talkies, which was made in the coastal dialect of Kannada is based on the communal tension in Karnataka.

The best child actor award has gone to Sharad Goyekar for his role in the Marathi film “Tingya”.

Darshan Zariwala has got the best supporting actor award for his role in Feroz Abbas Khan’s film “Gandhi My Father”.

There is also a special jury award for this film, which explores the troubled relationship between Harilal Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi.

“Chak De” has got the award in the wholesome entertainment category and “Taare Zameen Par” in the family welfare category.

Playback singer Shankar Mahadevan has won the award for the song “Meri Maa” from the film “Taare Zameen Par”.

The jury members for the National Awards headed by Sai Paranjpe included Ashok Viswanathan and Namita Gokhale. About 102 films and 106 non-feature films were considered.

The list had been finalized last week but because of the death of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy, the announcement was postponed.

I was to do Akshaye’s role in ‘Short Kut’: Anil Kapoor

If the original cast of “Short Kut - The Con Is On” would have remained intact, audiences would have seen Anil Kapoor playing the role that Akshaye Khanna now essays. Also, Arshad was a late entry into the project as he finally got the part written for Akshaye.

“Yes, the film did see some casting changes though all of it happened before it went on floors. Akshaye was always the first choice for the film and he was on board immediately. After ‘Gandhi My Father’, it was but natural that he acts in my next production as well,” Anil told IANS.

But due to a couple of reasons Anil had to opt out of the project and stay on primarily as a producer.

“Originally I was supposed to do Akshaye’s role and he was to do Arshad’s role. It was around the same time that Subhash Ghai asked me to do ‘Black & White’. I had no reason to say no since I have very high regard for him. We have worked in some wonderful movies together (’Ram Lakhan,’ ‘Karma’, ‘Taal’) and with ‘Black & White’ we would have come together after a long time,” the versatile actor said.

Around the same time, Anil’s dates were also clashing with Yash Raj Films’ “Tashan”.

“Subhash-ji certainly wanted me in his project and requested me if I could postpone ‘Short Kut’ for a while. Since I couldn’t do that as we were ready to kick-start our project, I proposed to move out of my own project. This is when I requested Akshaye to step into the role written for me,” he said.

Considering the fact that Akshaye had made up his mind to play the role of a lovable brat, wasn’t it difficult for him to have a re-look at the film with a different perspective?

“See, Akshaye is such a versatile actor that he could do well in both the roles. He has a sensitive side to him, something that I realised when I worked with him in ‘Taal’. I had complete confidence that he would be convincing in the other role too,” Anil said.

Roping in Arshad wasn’t difficult at all. “He consented to the film immediately…”

Incidentally, Paresh Rawal too was approached for playing one of the important roles in “Short kut”.

“We would have loved to see him as a part of our film. We approached him for the role of an acting guru-cum-secretary, which is now being played by Chunky Pandey. But Paresh was bowled over by Arshad’s part and wanted to do his role,” Anil revealed.

“He was keen to play the role of a bad actor who achieves superstardom. Nevertheless, I’m extremely happy with the way the final casting has worked out for my film. I’m now quite positive that audiences too would find the film as funny and entertaining as we all do.”

Directed by Neeraj Vora, “Short Kut” boasts of a special appearance by both Anil and Sanjay Dutt along with leading lady Amrita Rao in a dance number “Mareez-e-mohabbat”. The film is all set for a July 10 release.