Son of Sardaar 'not offensive to Sikhs', filmmaker says

Plus Vidyut Jamwal takes on fight scene challenge, Hindi remake of Aarohanam planned, Krishna Aur Kans receives animation award and Remo D'Souza to host dance workshops.

The Son of Sardaar actor Ajay Devgan, third from left, and the congress leader Charan Singh Sapra, right, were among people who recently met in Mumbai to address the Sikh community's concerns about the film. IANSShow less

The filmmaker Ashwni Dhir has denied that his forthcoming comedy Son of Sardaar will be offensive to Sikhs. A complaint has been filed in court against the film's producer and lead star Ajay Devgn claiming that the movie maligns and defames Sikhs. Although the film revolves around Sikhs, Dhir denied it would upset them. "The film is not based on Sikh religion. It could have been a Parsee or a Gujarati," he claimed. "The film is about Punjabi environment. Since Punjabis are larger than life, so is the film." - IANS

Vidyut Jamwal takes on fight scene challenge

Unable to find a stunt double to fill in for the tough fight scenes in his new movie, Vidyut Jamwal was forced to do them himself. Acting in his second Hindi film, Commando, Jamwal combined Indian kalaripayattu and Brazilian jiu jitsu martial art forms in the combat sequences. "The highlight of the film is that I have done the stunt scenes on my own," he said. "There are no guns used in the film. It's hand-to-hand combat action where the body is being used to the fullest. We couldn't find stunt doubles for my action scenes as I had acrobat scenes, which are not easy to pull off." - IANS

Hindi remake of Aarohanam planned

Buoyed by the critical acclaim of her latest Tamil family-drama Aarohanam, the independent director Lakshmy Ramakrishnan says she will soon start working on the Hindi remake of the film. "The discussions are on for a Hindi remake and very soon I will start contemplating on the cast and crew. I plan to make it a commercial entertainer without deviating much from the core of the plot," Lakshmy said. Aarohanam tells the story of a 17-year-old boy and his sister as they search for their missing mother. In the Tamil version, Viji Chandrasekhar played the mother. Ramakrishnan says he is hoping to attract a bigger Bollywood star for the remake. - IANS

Indian cartoon receives top animation award

The Indian animated movie Krishna Aur Kans has been handed a special jury award for Best Animation and Special effects by the Association of International Du Film d'Animation (Asifa). Asifa is an international not-for-profit organisation that is recognised by Unesco and aims to promote animation as an art form. Krishna Aur Kans, a feature-length animated movie recounting the mythological legend of Krishna, featured the voice-over talents of Om Puri, Juhi Chawla, Anupam Kher and Manoj Bajpayee. Ashish SK, the chief executive of the film's producers, Reliance Animation, said he was delighted by the award, heaping special praise on artists and researchers who worked on the project. - IANS

Remo D'Souza to host dance workshops

The choreographer-turned-director Remo D'Souza will organise dance workshops across India as part of the promotional campaign for his new film Anybody Can Dance. The cast and the crew of the film will visit 16 different cities and host day-long workshops. "The idea is to spread the message that dance is for everyone," D'Souza said. "We thought of taking this initiative as we want to teach everyone how to dance - we will teach them varieties, styles, popping and locking, hip-hop, Bollywood and others," he added. The movie, which is scheduled to be released on November 28, stars Prabhu Deva and Ganesh Acharya. - IANS