HEADLINE: Emraan, Vidya Back with Comic-Thriller Ghanchakkar
Emraan, Vidya back with comic-thriller Ghanchakkar
UTV Motion Pictures gets the super successful Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan pairing for their quirky next to be directed by Rajkumar Gupta of No One Killed Jessica fame
Mumbai, 20 February, 2012: UTV Motion Pictures has signed Emraan Hashmi and Vidya Balan for the mad, quirky comic-thriller titled Ghanchakkar. Emraan, who has carved a niche for himself in Tinseltown with his back-to-back commercial blockbusters, and Vidya, who is being referred by the industry as the 'hero' among heroines for her brave, award-winning performances year after year, will be directed by Rajkumar Gupta of No One Killed Jessica and Aamir fame. The film is expected to go on the floors in August this year.
Announcing the movie and the pairing, Siddharth Roy Kapur, CEO of UTV Motion Pictures, says, "It is a pleasure to announce Ghanchakkar, our third film in a row with Rajkumar Gupta, one of the most talented writer-directors in the industry today. With Emraan and Vidya in the lead roles, we have managed to get our dream cast for roles that were virtually written with them in mind. Rajkumar and Pervez Sheikh have written a fabulously quirky comic-thriller that will surprise audiences with its many twists and turns. We are confident that this explosive combination of Emraan, Vidya and Raj Kumar will take audiences by storm in Ghanchakkar."
Ghanchakkar narrates the story of the protagonist (Emraan) who is an ex-conman named Sanju. He is laid back and has a taste for finer things in life. The problem is – he has an ambitious wife (played by Vidya) with her own notions of the world and therefore gets sucked into a ‘chakkar’ and has to suffer two thugs in the process – one with a bad ailment and one with a bad sense of humour, leading to madness, confusion and chaos and unleashing some mad cap characters in his life. Will Sanju survive the madness and prevent himself from turning into a Ghanchakkar? is the plot of the film.
After No One Killed Jessica, this is Vidya Balan’s next with UTV. She says, "As an actor, all you want to do is reach out to the audiences with diverse yet entertaining roles. Having said that, the story, the director, the co-actors, producer, play an extremely critical role while selecting a film. With Ghanchakkar, it all just fell in place. The story is definitely creativity at its best and I can't think of a better director than Rajkumar Gupta to bring this story to the audiences. He has a very new age and quirky but massy humour. Having worked with him before in No One Killed Jessica, I know he'll push me to give it my best. When you have worked with an actor before, there is a certain amount of comfort that is brought to the table. Emraan, is a brilliant co-star and together, we hope to rock it!"
This is going to be Emraan Hashmi's first film with the UTV Motion Pictures banner. He says, "It's great to be associated with UTV and Rajkumar Gupta for the very first time. As a production house, UTV is known for some path breaking cinema and I loved both of Rajkumar Gupta’s film - No One Killed Jessica and Aamir. Ghanchakkar is definitely one of the best scripts I've heard in recent times and I jumped on board when Rajkumar offered it to me. It’s a brilliant story factoring all the essential components – comedy, thrilling, edgy and entertaining, which is sure to connect with the audiences. It is undoubtedly going to be a challenging role for me, something that I haven’t attempted before, but as an actor, I am always looking forward to push the bar so I can’t wait to get into the skin of the character. And now to add to the excitement, me and Vidya will be seen on screen together again and am sure, under Rajkumar’s apt direction, we will recreate the magic on screen."
The film's music is being done by the acclaimed music composer Amit Trivedi (Dev.D, Udaan fame) and noted lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya is writing the songs for this quirky movie. Rajkumar Gupta, who teams up with Vidya for the second time after NOKJ, says, "Ghanchakkar is a comic thriller and definitely one of my best projects till date, and since I haven’t attempted this genre before I am looking forward to working with UTV yet again. To stay true to the script, signing the ideal cast was of utmost importance. As a director, you always visualize certain actors for the roles and if you are not required to compromise on the casting; you have won half the battle. This is the first time I am going to be working with Emraan, who I think, will do complete justice to the role that has been sketched out for him. He is one of the most bankable stars today and this is the first time the audiences will see him essay a role of an eccentric man. The film also has a strong female lead and having worked with Vidya before, she was definitely my first choice for the role. It'll be a delight to get her to work in an entirely new genre in a totally different avatar and in a quirky, mad, out of the box role. The two leads and the crackling chemistry between them will take the viewers on a laughter ride."
About UTV Motion Pictures:
The Motion Pictures division of UTV, established in 2004, is one of the only integrated studio models in the Indian film industry. Its activities span across creative development, production, marketing, distribution, licensing, merchandising and syndication of films worldwide. UTV has a library of over 50 films including Hindi, Regional, Animation and International Productions. The last decade in Indian cinema has seen UTV delivering some of the most iconic films including Swades, Rang De Basanti, Jodhaa Akbar, A Wednesday, Dev D, Khosla Ka Ghosla, The Namesake, Life in a Metro, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Fashion, Kaminey and more recently Raajneeti, Udaan, Peepli [Live], No One Killed Jessica and Delhi Belly. Over the years, UTV has worked with the most eminent production and direction talent in the industry including Aamir Khan, Karan Johar, Mira Nair, M. Night Shyamalan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Prakash Jha, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Farah Khan, Vishal Bhardwaj, Anurag Kashyap, Madhur Bhandarkar, Anurag Basu and Shyam Benegal, while backing new talent like Neeraj Pandey, Raj Kumar Gupta, Nishikant Kamat, Dibakar Banerjee, Vikramaditya Motwane, Amit Trivedi and many others.
UTV opened the year 2011 on a strong note with the breakout hit No One Killed Jessica, the critically acclaimed Dhobi Ghat and the rip-roaring comedy Delhi Belly, which has emerged an instant cult hit opening doors for a whole new genre of cinema. UTV has an impressive slate of movies lined up for 2012 with Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu, Barfi!, Rowdy Rathore, Heroine, Joker and many more.
For further information, please contact: Sujata Chanda + 91 9892490579