Q. Mujhse ... looks suspiciously like the first half of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Is this a different film?
A. Well, let's just say everything will look the same, but it's not the same. It's about well-etched characters and scenes tackled with a different attitude. I play the boy-next-door without being too macho. I haven't played a character like this.

Q. After the tepid response to your last two films, how important is the success of Mujhse ... to you?
A. Box-office success is important but talent is far more important. After my last two films flopped, my acting was suddenly being faulted. My hair wasn't right, my looks were wrong. And for what? Two of my films (Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Kaho Naa ... Pyaar Hai) have made cinematic history, two were profitable, three flopped. Four out of seven is not a bad record.

Q. What made you say yes to Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya?
A. It's a hard-hitting war film-one which shows war in true light. It avoids the melodrama and cliches associated with Hindi war films.

Recasting Coup

Amitabh Bachchan is back to playing the cantankerous old patriarch heading a joint family, but paired opposite him in Ravi Chopra's Baghban is old screen partner Hema Malini-the two were last seen on screen two decades back in Manmohan Desai's Desh Premee. At a crowded-to-the-rafters mahurat in Mumbai's Film City, Bachchan effused fulsome praise for his well-preserved co-star. "She looks wonderful ... better than she did before," he said before slipping away in his new Land Cruiser. Considering he's reteaming with all his former costars-Rakhee in Ek Rishta and Zeenat Aman in Boom-is an onscreen reunion with Rekha on the cards?

Fallen Woman

Manisha Koirala says she always believes in playing "wronged women who get even with wrong people". And she isn't talking about Mumbai's underworld, whose kidnapping threats now see her being escorted by police bodyguards. In fact, the threats even led to the relocation of her newest film Market's mahurat from stuffy red-light district Falkland Road to the stuffier Filmistan studios. In the Rs 3 crore-film where she plays a prostitute, Koirala is teaming up with former Miss World Yukta Mookhey and Shweta Menon to strike a filmi blow for women ensnared in the flesh trade. What's more, proceeds from the film, due out later this year, will go towards rehabilitating victims of flesh trade.

BOX OFFICE

Devdas continues to be champ all over India, reporting over 90 per cent collections in its second week and a first week take of over Rs 10 crore. Anupam Kher's Anil Kapoor-Fardeen Khan-Abhishek Bachchan-starrer Om Jai Jagadish is a costly flop. Meanwhile, Salman Khan's make-or-break film Yeh Hai Jalwa releases this Friday.

-compiled by Sandeep Unnithan