Today in Bollywood: Kareena Kapoor plays Heroine

Plus Shirish Kunder backs out of directing Kick, Ramesh Sippy plans directorial comeback, Spanish director wins YouTube Your Film Festival and Argentina to build film industry hub.

Madhur Bhandarkar and Kareena Kapoor unveil their film Heroine in Gurgaon, India, last week. Yogen Shah / Getty Images

In Madhur Bhandarkar's forthcoming film Heroine, Kareena Kapoor plays an actress whose career is on the decline. Talking about her new project, the 31-year-old star said: "I'm confident and excited about the film. My character is complex - bold, manipulative, dark and edgy. I'm not at all like that in real life, so it was a challenge." Scheduled to be released in the UAE on September 20, the film also stars Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda. Bhandarkar and Kapoor were in Dubai's Jebel Ali Golf Resort and Spa yesterday to promote the movie. Kapoor flew in by helicopter and gave interviews at a seaside lounge. - IANS

Kunder backs out of directing Kick

Days after releasing his new film, Joker, Shirish Kunder has announced he is no longer on board to direct the forthcoming Kick starring Salman Khan. The movie's producer, Sajid Nadiadwala, has stepped up to direct instead. "Sajid is doing it. He had originally envisioned the project and I feel he is the best person to bring it to life," said Kunder. Kick is the Hindi remake of a 2009 Telugu film of the same name. "Remakes for now do not interest me. It's easy to do what everyone else is doing, but I choose to attempt something new with every film," Kunder added. - IANS

Sippy to return to Bollywood

The veteran filmmaker Ramesh Sippy, best known for his acclaimed 1975 film Sholay, is making his directorial comeback after 17 years in a genre he's never done before: thrillers. "The challenge for me is to venture into the unknown every time I direct a film. The thrill in doing a thriller is that I've never attempted this genre before," he said. The film is scheduled to begin shooting in December. Though Sippy, 65, refuses to reveal the film's cast, it is rumoured that Amitabh Bachchan is in talks to star. - IANS

Spanish director wins YouTube fest

The Spanish filmmaker David Victori has won the inaugural edition of YouTube's Your Film Festival for his short movie The Guilt. The winner was announced Sunday on the sidelines of the Venice film festival by a jury that included the director Ridley Scott and the actor Michael Fassbender. Victori, whose movie focuses on a man obsessed with revenge after his wife's murder, will receive US$500,000 (Dh1.8 million) for his next project, with Scott and Fassbender as executive producers. Among the global competition's 10 finalists were Super.Full by Lebanon's Niam Itani and This Time by Egypt's Ramy El Gabry. - AP

Argentina to build own Hollywood

Argentina will build its own film industry hub, to be modelled after Hollywood, on an island south of Buenos Aires, announced the country's president, Cristina Kirchner. "We want it to have as large a reach as Hollywood," she said. The studios are slated to be built on Demarchi Island, the site of an abandoned industrial complex. Kirchner also announced that the limit on subsidies for Argentine cinema will be raised from US$648,000 (Dh2.4 million) to $1.2m. Argentina released 99 films in 2011, and 76 so far this year. The country won the Oscar for best foreign language film in 2009 for The Secret in Their Eyes. - AFP