Life in the Fast Lane

DJ Caruso, director of the recent Vin Diesel starrer xXx: Return of Xander Cage, appears to have stirred a hornet’s nest by accident. While chatting with fans on social media, he said he was currently involved in putting together a sequel to his action hit. A fan of Deepika Padukone’s asked if she’d be in it and he said she would. Next thing you know, tabloids have announced that DP has signed her second American movie.

While it’s likely that she won’t say ‘no’ to appearing in a Xander Cage sequel, sources close to the actress say that Deepika hasn’t signed any film in America after xXx3. She’s sifting through offers and could take a call on what she’d like to do next after she wraps up work on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati.

The actress is waging her bets on Bhansali’s magnum opus, which is still slated to release in December this year despite delays and hiccups. Bhansali stuck with his leading lady even after top male stars offered to star in it if the director was willing to change the title to sound less like it revolved around the heroine. Deepika is returning the favour by standing firmly by Bhansali’s side, focusing solely on Padmavati, even as her co-actors Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor are dividing their time between Bhansali’s set and ad-films, appearances, and the like.

The Quartet Returns

Four years ago, four of the most prominent young Hindi filmmakers collaborated on the omnibus film Bombay Talkies, and now Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee are working on a second collaboration. Unlike the last film that had no running theme to bind the four shorts that these directors made, the new omnibus is reportedly set around the theme of lust and desire.

Zoya has already filmed her short with Dum Laga Ke Haisha’s Bhoomi Pednekar and NH10’s Neel Bhoopalam, while Dibakar has cast Manisha Koirala and Sanjay Kapoor. Karan and Anurag are yet to lock their scripts and begin shooting in order to make the 2018 release.

Love Does Conquer All

The ex-wife of a prominent film personality had a reputation for being reserved and aloof, and her husband’s friends and colleagues frequently gossiped among themselves that she was “positively unsocial” even at the rare public engagements she took with him. Unlike the majority of Bollywood biwis who tend to develop fast friendships with their husband’s co-stars and other film industry bahus, the lady in question seemed to deliberately shun connections with film folk. It has prompted many over the years to speculate about her relationship with her especially convivial partner since she was rarely seen at key moments in his career.

When the couple announced that they were separating a few years ago, it didn’t come as a shock to film industry insiders who had suspected all along that the relationship wasn’t working. It was a clean ‘uncoupling’ and her husband’s name quickly began getting linked to some of his beautiful co-workers.

According to the grapevine, the lady in question appears to have found love again too. She’s reportedly in a relationship with a prominent restaurateur. And those who know her say she’s in a much better place. According to a parent whose child is in the same class as this lady’s kids, “she’s a new leaf”. My source points out that there was a time—not long ago—when she wasn’t friendly to other parents at the school, but all that has changed now. “She’s very active on the parental WhatsApp group these days. At the last school concert, she shot videos not only of her own kids but of our kids too and she sent the videos to all of us with a sweet note. It’s as if she’s a different person. If love is the reason for this change, then more power to her.”

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Rajeev Masand

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