Mega star Amitabh Bachchan would be shooting for Sudhir Mishra’s next film ‘Mehrunnisa’ in Lucknow, some time after Eid, sources said on Friday.

A lavish stage is being erected in the Chowk area for the shoot, which will see Big B, as Amitabh Bachchan is popularly known, Rishi Kapoor and the main lead of the film, Chitrangada Singh, shoot in the city.

Permission for shooting has been sought by the film unit for places like the Chowk, Bada Imambada, La Martinere Boys’ College and Colvin Taluqdar’s College.

The film is a tale of two friends who meet again after a span of 40 years. The script was written in 1996 by director Sudhir Mishra, and revolves around the friends, who fall in love with the same woman and get separated. The woman they sought, played by Chitrangada, re-enters their life when they are in their 60s.

In the film, Big B and Rishi play hindu and muslim, respectively. A source informed Rediff, “They’re as thick as thieves, inseparable pals, until they fall in love with the same girl, played by Chitrangada Singh. Thereafter, they don’t speak to each other for decades.”

Interestingly, Amitabh and Rishi have no scenes with the Chitrangada. “Though they’re supposed to be in love with Chitrangada’s character, she’s part of their past, so she’d only have scenes with the actors chosen to play the young Amitabh Bachchan and Rishi Kapoor.”

The tale that the film tells begins in 1945 and spans four decades.

Mehrunnisa is produced by Nikhil Advani. Director Sudhir Mishra hails from Lucknow.

Besharam also has a song paying ode to Rishi Kapoor’s Om Shanti Om (Karz) with Ranbir Kapoor donning his father’s looks.

Actor Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh will be sharing screen space with their son Ranbir Kapoor for the first time in Abhinav Kashyap’s Besharam. “Besharam is a total commercial venture. It’s a fun film. Thankfully, we are not playing father and son, but cop and thief. Ranbir is my son and he’s the best. There cannot be anybody second to him,” says Rishi, who is impressed with his boy’s acting prowess. So does Ranbir come to him for advice? “Today’s kids don’t take advice from parents, rather they advise them,” he jokes.

The 60-year-old, who was recently seen in a negative role in D-Day, tells us that he had initially refused the part. “I had said no to D-Day. But maybe it was in my career and destiny. I don’t regret my decision. I have enjoyed every bit of it and I’m sure the audience has also enjoyed. Sometimes you land a script that does justice to you. I never wanted to do Agneepath (2012), but was forced to do it. I never saw it as a great film, but it turned out to be a hit. It got me more recognition as an actor,” he says.

Responding to the reports of his character being inspired from underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, he says, “You cannot say it’s been inspired by Dawood. It has been sourced from different sources altogether. It has different reference points. Maybe there is a little resemblance in the look and story point of view, otherwise it’s totally independent by itself. D-Day is an espionage-thriller, not a gangster film.”

The actor would like to do the sequel to Do Dooni Chaar with wife Neetu. “Habib (Faizal, director) wants to make its sequel. It will be an absolute pleasure to recreate it. But the story should be bang on. He needs to find a topic that can be dealt with Duggal (Rishi’s character in the film) and his wife (played by Neetu). If he finds something interesting, we surely will work together,” he says.

Directed by Abhinav Kashyap and produced by Himanshu Mehra, Sanjeev Gupta & Reliance Entertainment Besharam is an upcoming comedy flick starring Ranbir Kapoor and Pallavi Sharda.The movie is scheduled to release in 2 October 2013.The film’s tagline has been stated as “Na sammaan ka moh, na apmaan ka bhay”, translated as “No want for respect, no fear of disrespect”.The film also stars Ranbir’s parents Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor though they don’t play Ranbir’s parents in the film.The Music of the film is composed by Lalit Pandit and lyrics penned by Rajeev Barnwal, Nikhat Khan and Himanshu Kishan Mehra.

Synopsis
Babli (Ranbir Kapoor) is a street smart car mechanic living in a Delhi orphanage. He is charming and lives life to the fullest. He also steals cars to support his orphanage. He has no sense of right or wrong till he unwittingly hurts the love of his life, Tara (Pallavi Sharda). Babli realizes that there is no right way of doing the wrong thing. Babli sets out to fix all the wrongs in his life and he continues to be shameless about it.

Real life couple and actors Neetu and Rishi Kapoor will be seen as police officers in Besharam, which has their son Ranbir playing the lead role. Director Abhinav Singh Kashyap says the casting was to raise viewers’ curiosity and that he has succeeded in his endeavour.

Very rarely has Rishi donned the khaki uniform on the screen and “Aurganzeb” and “Besharam” are one of those few films.

Apparently, when Kashyap had finalised Rishi for Besharam, till that time “Aurganzeb” hadn’t happen.

“I was on the lookout for an elderly famous actor to play the role of a cop. While I was interacting with Ranbir, I realised Rishi Kapoor had not played a cop in his 40-year career,” Abhinav told reporters Tuesday at the first look launch of the film.

“As another afterthought I thought why not have Neetu Singh play another pivotal role, which was already there in the script because then it will arouse people’s curiosity,” he said when asked how he managed to the entire Kapoor clan in the film?

The trio are working together for the first time in Besharam.

“The very fact that you are asking me this question, shows that yes, by design I tried to get all three of them together and I am glad they agreed,” he added.

If you loved Ranbir as this fun-loving guy who believes in chasing his dreams in Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, his character in Besharam is complete opposite – he is naughty, shameless and justifies the title of the film, coming out Oct 2.