Source: Bollywood Hungama
Date: November 15, 2010
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's on-screen chemistry with Hrithik Roshan got more passionate. To enhance the intensity between the Dhoom and Jodhaa-Akbar pair, Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB) decided to include material from Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 classic screen adaptation of Romeo & Juliet .The cult blockbuster had catapulted Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting to instant stardom and made Shakespeare's romantic play a worldwide bestseller. As a complementary referential source to Hrithik and Aishwarya's intense mutual feeling for one another on screen, SLB decided to incorporate original dialogues from Zeffirelli's film, forcing his efficient but flabbergasted team (many of whom had never heard of Shakespeare, let alone Zeffirelli) into a hysterical worldwide hunt for the material. The producers UTV gently suggested that searching out and acquiring rights for the original Shakespearean dialogues in the voice of Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting from Zeffirelli's film at this late stage when the film was approaching release ,could prove… a tad tough. But SLB was adamant. And with reason.
Explains the director, "I wanted a correctly intense reference point for Hrithik and Aishwarya's feelings and conversations. I thought the sentiment of thwarted passion and smothered intensity of star-crossed lovers in Romeo & Juliet expressed my protagonists' inexpressible feelings very well. So yes I've included dialogues from Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliet in my film." But why Zeffirelli, whose Romeo & Juliet came 41 years ago, when those Shakespearean lines have been done a million times since then? Says Bhansali, "To me Zeffirelli's version of Romeo & Juliet is the ultimate tribute to Shakespeare's love story. So many times, I've wanted to do my own version of Romeo & Juliet. But one look at Zeffirelli's film makes me feel I can never equal his beauty grandeur harmony and principal casting. Where I'll find as perfect a Romeo and a Juliet as Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey?" Was it easy getting permission to use material from Zeffirelli's film in Guzaarish? Laughs SLB, "Not really. We had to seek out people who were either long gone or in retirement. But I was adamant. This was my only chance to pay homage to one of my all-time favourite screen romances."
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Source: DNA India
Date: November 15, 2010
It’s a double bonanza for newcomer Aditya Roy Kapur. “Yes, almost like an ek pe ek free offer,” jokes the VJ-turned-actor who was recently seen in Vipul Shah’s Akshay Kumar-Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan starrer and is now gearing up for his next release, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hrithik Roshan-starrer. The jump has also been in terms of roles for Aditya, who after doing a light-hearted romantic film, will soon be seen in a far more intense role. “It wasn’t easy,” reveals Aditya, adding, “but there can’t be comparisons. Both the films and the film-makers are extremely different from each other.” The common thread though in both films happens to be Aishwarya. “It was a beautiful experience working with her. She made an effortless switch in both her characters in both the films,” he says praising the actor.
As for co-stars, Hrithik and Akshay, Aditya says, “Both were amazing! They both bring so much more to their characters, than just what’s on paper.” Wasn’t he wary in the presence of such stalwarts? “Initially, I was really worried and a bit scared too, as I didn’t want them to have to repeat a scene because of my mistakes. But they were all fabulous, and very helpful too,” he says. What about his chemistry with another newcomer model Monikangna Dutta, considering there were rumours of him hitting it off with her really well off-screen too? “Well, on-screen’s the only place where you’ll see the sparks,” he smiles. On a serious note, he insists that he’s very much single and that Monikangna was a “lovely person to work with.” As for his future projects, Aditya reveals that there he has a couple of offers in his kitty already, but it’s too soon to decide what’s going to be next on his cards. “I’m taking it one day at a time. And right now I’m just enjoying it all,” he ends.