India-born director Shekhar Kapur is set to direct a 200-million dollar fantasy flick for Hollywood production house Warner Brothers.

The movie is said to be based on author Philip Reeve’s bestselling fantasy novel ‘Larklight’ that came out two years back. Now, Warner Bros. has bought the rights to make the novel into a big budget movie.

Shekhar Kapur, who signed the project three months back, has been collaborating with screenplay writer Steve Knight to come up with the most imaginative film.

The movie will have creatures like giant spiders, mushroom man and space pirates created with the use of state-of-the-art VFX.

‘Larklight’ tells the story of two young siblings – Arthur Mumby aka Art and his elder sister Myrtle – who live in Larklight, a huge house that orbits around the moon. They have to leave their house after it is invaded by white spiders. Art and Myrtle crash land on moon and thereafter begins an adventurous journey to the outer reaches of the solar system.

Shekhar still has to finalize the actors for the movie.

At the budget of 200 million dollars, ‘Larklight’ would be the most expensive film Shekhar has directed so far. By the way, he would also direct a short film that was initially supposed to be made by his good friend Anthony Minghella, who died a few weeks back.

Making his love interest clear, “Saawariya” star Ranbir Kapoor blew a kiss straight from the ramp to actress Deepika Padukone.

Attired in a black and beige “sherwani” or Indian-style coat with intricate ethnic motifs at the hemline and sequin work at the collars, the star walked the Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) ramp for designer Arjun Khanna here late Saturday.

The sherwani was tastefully teamed with beige churidar and red scarf to give a dramatic effect, the actor’s face and hair were painted golden.

“Before I came here I didn’t know that my face would be painted golden. Only when I reached the venue and sat on a chair (backstage) to get the make-up done, I got to know about it. But I enjoyed the whole experience,” Ranbir told IANS after the show.

He refused to comment on his romantic link-up with Deepika. Starting with his signature dance step from the title song of “Saawariya”, Ranbir descended on the runway.

And then he spotted Deepika sitting next to his mother Neetu Singh. Cutting short his catwalk, he blew a flying kiss towards her. Deepika blushed and hid her face behind her cascade of hair.

While Deepika sported a light grey tube top with abstract prints matched with slim fit dark blue jeans, yesteryear actress Neetu Singh was decked in white trousers and a kurta top with white, red and blue geometric prints and Swarovski work at the neckline.

“There couldn’t have a better confession of love than this. Ranbir made it clear at the LFW that Deepika is his love interest,” said Rashmi Singh, who attended the show.

Unlike his contemporaries, Ranbir did not take expert advice from his ladylove, who was a model by profession. “No I did not take any tips from Deepika before walking the ramp. I had never walked the ramp before. It was the first time for me but I was quite confident. It proved to be an excellent experience,” Ranbir said.

“Moreover, the Indian fashion industry is growing very fast and if I can contribute a little to it, it would be great,” he added.

When asked how fashion conscious he is, Ranbir said: “I am not fashionable at all. My knowledge about fashion is only through Arjun. Fashion for me is being comfortable.”

After the show, Deepika left the venue with Neetu in the same car.

The five-day fashion extravaganza at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) would end on April 2. Fifty-seven designers, established and new, including the likes of Narendra Kumar, Kiran Uttam Ghosh, Neeta Lulla, Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Wendell Rodricks will show their collections.

Of late, the trend is to make entertainers that don’t tax the viewers’ brains. The mantra is simple: Plonk yourself on the cushy seat, munch popcorn, sip cola and enjoy the on-screen antics. Just don’t ask questions. Just don’t look for logic. No-brainer comedies are what the doctor ordered to keep the industry’s heart live and ticking.

ONE TWO THREE, helmed by debutante Ashwani Dhir, follows the rules faithfully. But…

Like most films of its ilk, ONE TWO THREE rests on a waferthin plot. No issues with that, but after a point you don’t react to the on-screen jhamela. Substituting a cohesive script with witty one-liners and funny situations has never been the shortcut to success and never will be.

Besides, the masti-mazaak works at times, but falls flat on several occasions. The on-screen characters try their level best to tickle your funny bone, to evoke mirth, but the viewer sits motionless and expressionless like a mannequin.

Comedy is serious business and Ashwani Dhir has proved his skills in the past [he had penned the immensely likeable OFFICE OFFICE], but cinema is a different medium altogether. Sure, Dhir has worked hard on wit-laden dialogues and individualistic sequences, but how one wishes he would’ve worked on presenting a tighter script.

It’s like promising a sumptuous meal, but being offered just starters. The main course is conveniently forgotten!

Diamonds belonging to a Don [Manoj Pahwa] get stolen. The diamonds accidentally fall in the hands of Chandu [Upen Patel] and Chandni [Tanishaa], who hide them in a car. Papa [Mukesh Tiwari] and his henchmen [Vrajesh Hirjee and Sanjay Mishra] are desperately hunting for the diamonds, while hot headed police office Mayavati Chautala [Neetu Chandra] is on the prowl looking for offenders of any kind.

Enter the first Laxmi Narayan [Tusshar Kapoor]. He’s from a khandani mafia family and his mother prays that with a few murders under his belt, he will be settled for life. He’s got a final chance to redeem himself as a Bhai. He comes to Hotel Blue Diamond because he’s taken a supari to bump off Papa.

Enter the second Laxmi Narayan [Suniel Shetty]. He is sent to Hotel Blue Diamond to collect a new car for his boss from Laila [Sameera Reddy]. The third Laxmi Narayan [Paresh Rawal] is a hawker who has made so much money selling under-garments on the footpath that he has set up a lingerie factory now. His son sends him to Hotel Blue Diamond to collect lingerie samples from upcoming designer Jiya [Esha Deol].

The three Laxmi Narayans are at the same place, at the same time. They get letters and photographs meant for the other. The first Laxmi Narayan gets lingerie designer Jiya’s photo and goes to kill her, only to end up falling in love with her. The second Laxmi Narayan gets Papa’s photo and goes to collect the car from him, only to be mistaken for a killer and gets beaten black and blue. The third Laxmi Narayan gets Laila’s photo and asks her to show him the under-garments, only to be branded an old pervert.

Meanwhile, Chandu and Chandni are determined to stop anybody from buying the car where they have hidden the diamonds.

Lock your brains at home when you watch this movie, for ONE TWO THREE, like its predecessors, is more of a stress buster than anything else. Unfortunately, the absence of a strong screenplay evokes mixed reactions. You do laugh when you’re supposed to laugh, but even those jokes are forgotten as you breeze out of the cineplex. You don’t carry the story, the film, the gags and punches, the witty one-liners with you at the end of the show.

Ashwani Dhir is a far more accomplished dialogue writer than a screenplay writer. Directorially, the choice of actors is right and a few scenes are well canned. Raghav Sachar’s music disappoints. Barring the title track, the remaining numbers are forgettable. Cinematography is inconsistent. It looks like a hurried job at times.

The film has a number of characters, but the one who actually makes you laugh the maximum is Sanjay Mishra, who impersonates the yesteryear villain Jeevan to perfection. Suniel Shetty too has his moments, but his ‘Left-Right’ dialogues, in scene after scene, tend to get monotonous. Tusshar does a decent job. Paresh Rawal is okay, but not the scene stealer — something you’ve started expecting from him.

The girls enact their parts mechanically. The performances are in this order — Sameera Reddy [okay], Esha [dull], Tanishaa [no scope] and Neetu Chandra [loud]. Manoj Pahwa excels. Mukesh Tiwari is alright. Ditto for Vrajesh Hirjee. And what is Upen Patel doing in this film? Murli Sharma doesn’t deliver this time.

On the whole, ONE TWO THREE falls below the ordinary mark. At the box-office, don’t expect much!

Krazzy 4 is certainly turning out to be a full package of entertainment with the right dose of comedy and sizzling numbers in it!

Soon after Rakesh Roshan roped in the King Khan for a sizzling item number in the film, it’s now the turn of ‘Daddy’s Son’, Hrithik Roshan to groove on the same item number.

Well, a record in the making as the film will have item numbers from not one, but two big superstars and what more does the audience need?

They even have an item number from the sexy seductress, Rakhi Sawant. As Hrithik shakes his legs on the same title track ‘Breakfree’, the promos of his sensational moves to the song will start airing this week.

Says Jaideep Sen, the Director of the film, “It was a delight to direct SRK and I must say the song is getting popular day by day. Hrithik’s song is on the same tune but there is a slight change in lyrics.

He has danced brilliantly as usual and it shows!!…I am very lucky that two mega stars have danced to my title song for my debut film….

Also Rakhi Sawant’s song is for the masses as she has a certain amount of class and is famous through her item songs. It was a great working experience with her as well!”

Krazzy 4 stars Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav, Irrfan Khan and Suresh Menon along with Juhi Chawla. Releasing on April 11, 2008, it is directed by debutant Jaideep Sen and produced by Rakesh Roshan under his banner FilmKraft.

Govinda is excited about getting together with director David Dhawan and producer Vashu Bhagnani again.

“We’ve created quite a ‘dhamaal’ in the past with ‘Hero No 1? and ‘Coolie No 1?. We’ll definitely be creating a full-on entertainment again. Yes, it’ll be a comedy. I’ll try my level-best that we come back with a film that will do justice to all three of us.”

Govinda says he owes his entire comeback to David Dhawan. “It’s something I learnt from Bachchan. When he needed to make a comeback he called Yash Chopra for ‘Mohabbatein’. Similarly when I needed to come back I rang up David and he gave me ‘Partner’.”

Govinda has no qualms admitting that the Big B influenced him. “Yeah, I copied Bachchan. I’m not anything like Bachchan. But why shouldn’t I copy a man as great as him? If he could reach out to a filmmaker, why couldn’t I? David is such a big man. One call to him and my career was re-made. Today, if he asks me to do another film with him I don’t even need to think about it. I’d do it blindly.”

Govinda has never been more charged up about his career. “I don’t really care what people say about me. All I know is, I’m doing my work with sincerity. And I’ve become very punctual. I reach my sets on time.

“I’m not here to create any problems for anyone. If I’m doing my work quietly, why are some people getting troubled by it? But I’m not going to get rattled.

“I don’t regret anything, not even my entry into politics. I respect politicians because they’re doing their jobs very efficiently. But the fame and fortune I’ve got has come through Mata Saraswati and my art (movies). No one has the right to eye my career and try to ruin it.”

Govinda’s “Money Hai To Honey Hai” producer Kumar Mangat adds: “A miracle happened during the shooting. We finished Govinda’s work in 60 days when we had reserved his dates for 85 days.

“In Mauritius where we shot most of the film, Govinda was the first of the cast to be awake. In fact he’d wake me up and we’d have our morning tea together. I remember we had to shoot at a discotheque in Mauritius. We had to reach at 8 a.m. and all we saw were the janitors at work. That’s how punctual Govinda has become.”

In fact Kumar Mangat is planning another film with Govinda this year. “He’s a pleasure to work with,” says the producer.

With Jodhaa Akbar’s box office success, the flavor of the season is historic movies. Firoz Nadiawala is all set to produce a historic movie.

Firoz has sighned Vinay Shukla as the director for his film and has approached Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone to play the main leads in his film.

Deepika Padukone is all set to play the role of Rani Laxmibai and Akshay will portray the role of Tatya Tope.

Tatya Tope, Nansahed Peshwa, events that happened during Rani Laxmibai’s time and their contributions makes the story of the movie.

Akshay Kumar is yet to confirm his presence and Deepika has already given the green signal to the movie.

Akshay and Deepika a lethal combo to watch out for.