Vickey Lalwani

Hrithik to play Bajirao

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who now plans to make the historical love story Bajirao Mastani, has finalised Hrithik Roshan to play the lead role of Peshwa Bajirao I.

The grapevine is abuzz that Aishwarya Rai will portray the role of Mastani, the woman the Peshwa was besotted with.

Bhansali last directed Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's Devdas with Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya and Madhuri Dixit.

This will be the second film with a Maratha theme launched in recent weeks. Roland Joffe has signed Vivek Oberoi for The Invaders, his film on the Battle of Wadgaon which will begin shooting in September. Rai is supposed to feature in that movie as well. The Marathas vanquished the British in that battle.

Yeh Dil is bait for distributors

Tusshar Kapoor and Natassha's last film Kucch To Hai, produced by Ekta and Shobha Kapoor and directed by Anil V Kumar and Anurag Basu, did not find favour with the audience, but their next one together Yeh Dil seems to have aroused much curiosity after its first preview.

Negotiations are on amongst distributors to bag the film which, in its original Telugu version Nuvvunenu broke records and grossed nearly Rs 220 million. Yeh Dil, produced by Manohar Prasad and P Kiran and directed by Tejaa, is slated for release on March 21.

Hope floats

Raj Babbar's son Arya made a forgettable debut in Raj Kanwar's washout Ab Ke Baras.

He will soon be seen in Thoda Tum Badlo Thoda Hum produced by Ramoji Rao and directed by Esmayeel Shroff. Last week, the final 20-day shooting schedule was completed at Visakhapatnam and Udhagamandalam.

Aryan's heroine will be Shriya Saran, with Shoma Anand, Ashok Saraf, Jaspal Bhatti, Harish Patel and Shweta Menon filling the supporting cast.

Videshi in desi film

American actress Sita Thompson hopes to be noticed in her Bollywood debut in Valentine Days, releasing February 28. The film is directed by Sumeer Sabharwal and stars Manoj Bidvai, Nikhil Sakhrani and Sameer Kocchar.

A trained jazz and ballet dancer, Sita has also done some commercials in Los Angeles. 

"I have always been fascinated by Hindi movies," she says. "I met Dr Jagmohan Mundra and Rajiv Rai in Los Angeles. They told me I could try for Hindi films. So here I am. No harm in trying my luck. I speak a little Hindi, understand some and don't have a problem doing the singing-dancing around trees."

Sita is also doing the Suresh Wadkar-produced tanman.com, which is fast nearing completion. Recently, a 21-day schedule was held at various picturesque locales of Mumbai in which Sita participated. Manisha Korala, Kabir Bedi, Sachin Khedekar, Kitu Gidwani and Paresh Rawal play pivotal roles in the film written and directed by Pradeep Chanda.