In this action-packed Diwali weekend, Ajay Devgan is working hard to promote his home-produced All The Best – Fun Begins as it faces up to hand-to-hand combat with mega-releases Blue and Main aur Mrs Khanna. Fresh from appearing on MTV, Ajay and co-star Bipasha Basu have now grabbed the front cover Filmfare at a critical moment – with Ajay looking suave in a moustache and Bipasha looking gorgeous in a chic backless number. “I have earlier acted opposite Ajay only in serious cinema,” she says, “I am keeping my fingers crossed for the comedy flick opposite him. And it was also all laughs working with Rohit Shetty. When Rohit narrated the script I laughed continuously for two hours. So you can imagine how crackling it’s going to be if it’s so funny at the narrative level.”
Meanwhile, Blue has premiered to a sell-out audience at the Middle East International Film Festival in Abu Dhabi. The premiere was attended by all the stars in a red carpet moment – Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan and even Kylie Minogue. Akshay has no concerns about the 100cr movie being a hit. “Even in this economic climate, Blue drew in the highest amount for the sale of its music rights,” he explains, “The soundtrack is also available in Tamil and Telegu languages and the dubbed versions of the film will be simultaneously released on Friday, the day of its global release. This avenue of earning is so huge that when you add on the satellite rights, the total figure bumps up to approximately Rs220m – that’s a quarter of the film’s cost covered even before its release.”
The film that might struggle is Main aur Mrs Khanna, a romantic film which the director proudly declares has no action or violence doesn’t sound like the type of fare that would have the masses flocking to it at Diwali. “The film doesn’t have an extramarital relationship or cheating angle,” a source explains, “It just tells the story from the point of view of an outsider. Sohail Khan is someone who looks at Mrs. Khanna and sees the kind of issues that she is facing.” Sounds gripping! But with such star-packed power in Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the cast and with young females being the demographic that makes up 30% of the Diwali audience, there is still hope!
