After playing safe initially with lover-boy roles in Socha Na Tha , Ahista Ahista and Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd; he took giant strides into off-beat cinema and broke stereotypes in Ek Chalis Ki Last Local, Manorama Six Feet Under, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye; the avant garde Dev D and the super-successful Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara; getting accolades for every avatar. His Tamilian act in Shanghai will take him a few notches higher.

After all, it isn't everyday that a Punjabi munda slips seamlessly into a white dhoti and delivers a 'cool as a cucumber' performance in a scathing hard-hitting film. What was your first reaction when Dibakar asked you, a hardcore Punjabi man, to play T A Krishnan, a Tamilian in Shanghai? My first reaction was one of denial.

I was like are you alright! What is it; does no other decent actor want to play the role? Then why did you relent? Dibakar is one filmmaker with whom I'm happy to work even without him giving me a script narration/reading. I trust him implicitly.

In fact, after we did Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, he went into Love, Sex Aur Dhoka where he had no role for me. And, I was like I hope he has a role for me in his next film at least.

So tell me about Mr Krishnan? Well, he is this egotistical, cold IAS officer who doesn't suffer fools. He has a chip on his shoulder and refuses to make small talk with anyone.

You're actually looking cool in the white veshti; cooler than most Tamilian men especially because you have not even the slightest hint of a paunch! Omigawd! Thank you for the compliment. Dibakar didn't order me to get a paunch.

I think he told Emraan (Hashmi) to get one for his role. To me he just said: 'Don't get too beefy or muscular.

' So for a whole six months I didn't do weights. Instead, I concentrated on my martial arts, yoga and running.

Anyway Krishnan is not a lazy guy. He plays badminton and is very atheletic.

It's just that he doesn't sport six packs. The Tamil accent must have got to you right? It was tough.

But I had a fantastic teacher in a film writer called Madhi. First I asked him to teach me the Tamil alphabets and realised that they have 'b' and 'h' in Tamil.

Dibakar and I were very sure that we will not stereotype the Tamilian. After all, IAS officers often serve outside their state and they are also well-versed with a second language like Hindi/Marathi etc.

So Krishnan could get away with speaking Hindi and only going into Tamil occasionally. How good is your Tamil now? It is very rusty.

I have no one to practice it with. I'm grateful to Madhi for being forceful and teaching me enough to get through the shooting.

In Indian cinema there are no professional voice trainers. So I missed that.

Also the regular guys who were sent to coach me were slightly enamoured by my status and weren't forceful enough. But Madhi was a tough cookie.

He made sure I got it all right! Who is the first Tamilian that comes to your mind? Tamil for me is my cousin Esha. I even told her that I was preparing to play a Tamilian and asked her if she could teach me the language.

However, we didn't go around to doing it because she was busy with her shoot when I was filming Shanghai. So you didn't observe any South Indians closely when you were shooting Shanghai? I have seen a few Tamil girls over the years; but I haven't ever observed a South Indian man.

Have you ever bumped into a Krishnan in real life? You mean a Krishnan kind of character. Actually I think Krishnan is like Justice Hegde who was carrying out that inquiry in Karnataka a while ago.

I was amazed at the way life imitates art. This inquiry that Justice Hegde conducted into a land-grab issue was similar to what we have dealt with in Shanghai.

And yet our film was shot long before that inquiry became public knowledge. In fact even the Anna Hazare movement actually started after we finished filming Shanghai.

So in that sense we haven't copied anyone. Abhay, can you recite the Vishnu Sahasranamam the way you did in the film? Film mein maine rata mara.

I parroted it for the film. In real life I don't chant.

Nor do I believe in idol worship. I know there is a higher being and I respect that force.

Produced by PVR Pictures, Shanghai releases June 8 (less)

In addition, Madhavan has also wrapped up the shoot of Teen Patti which has been directed by Leena Bajaj (who had earlier made Shabd with Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya Rai). "I have just returned from the London schedule of the work.

With legends like Amitabh Bachchan and Sir Ben Kingsley, it can't get bigger and better. I am so eagerly looking forward to the release of the film", states Madhavan.

Well, one looks forward to what more does Madhavan have to offer in months to come, what with his biggest film of 2009, Three Idiots (directed by Rajkumar Hirani and co-starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Sharman Joshi), being all set for a December 2009 release. Moreover, he has also been signed by Sahara and Shemaroo for a project each.

"All these projects should be getting on floors soon. 2009 and 2010 are certainly looking promising and I can't wait to begin shooting with Navdeep and Aanand.

Hopefully, we should be having some good quality movie outings ahead", signs off Madhavan (less)

"There are three genres - romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I'm doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit," Abhay told IANS in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

"'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in," he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"I also realised I need to protect myself," he explained. Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content (less)

Abhay Deol is one of the 15 people who was featured in Who Mattered Most in 2009 in a poll by a website that caters to the top six cities in Asia. The list included people from the Indian political and scientific arena as well as sports, music and entertainment.

From all the 15 featured on the list, there are just 3 individuals from the film industry and one of them is Abhay.??He's only four years old in the film industry but he's getting a name for himself?? with his hatke films like Manorama Six Feet Under,?? Dev D,?? and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!.

His next film Road is widely being appreciated at film festivals across the world." More power to you, AD! Abhay Deol is one of the 15 people who was featured in Who Mattered Most in 2009 in a poll by a website that caters to the top six cities in Asia.

The list included people from the Indian political and scientific arena as well as sports, music and entertainment. From all the 15 featured on the list, there are just 3 individuals from the film industry and one of them is Abhay.

??He's only four years old in the film industry but he's getting a name for himself?? with his hatke films like Manorama Six Feet Under,?? Dev D,?? and Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!. His next film Road is widely being appreciated at film festivals across the world.

" More power to you, AD! (less)

"There are three genres -- romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I'm doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit, " Abhay told in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats, " he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in, " he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Not just 'Manorama..

.', I had been through this for some of my other films too.

I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work. "I also realised I need to protect myself, " he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content. "The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make -- probably high on content, low on budget.

Let's see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there, " said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's Cinefan film festival where two of his films, "Dev D" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" were screened. So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions? "I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them.

So I don't think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely, " said Abhay. Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film "Road" with Dev Benegal and his romantic film "Ayesha" with Sonam Kapoor (less)

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in," he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Not just 'Manorama..

.', I had been through this for some of my other films too.

I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work. "I also realised I need to protect myself," he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content. "The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make -- probably high on content, low on budget.

Let's see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there," said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's Cinefan film festival where two of his films, "Dev D" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" were screened. So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions? "I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them.

So I don't think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely," said Abhay. Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film "Road" with Dev Benegal and his romantic film "Ayesha" with Sonam Kapoor.

As an actor he loves to experiment and as he turns producer with "Basra", Abhay Deol promises to be high on content. He says the action thriller will not only keep audiences on the edge of their seats but also make them think.

"There are three genres -- romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I'm doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit," Abhay??said in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in," he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Not just 'Manorama..

.', I had been through this for some of my other films too.

I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work. "I also realised I need to protect myself," he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content. "The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make -- probably high on content, low on budget.

Let's see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there," said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's Cinefan film festival where two of his films, "Dev D" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" were screened. So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions? "I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them.

So I don't think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely," said Abhay. Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film "Road" with Dev Benegal and his romantic film "Ayesha" with Sonam Kapoor.

As an actor he loves to experiment and as he turns producer with "Basra", Abhay Deol promises to be high on content. He says the action thriller will not only keep audiences on the edge of their seats but also make them think.

"There are three genres -- romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I'm doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit," Abhay??said in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in," he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Not just 'Manorama..

.', I had been through this for some of my other films too.

I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work. "I also realised I need to protect myself," he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content. "The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make -- probably high on content, low on budget.

Let's see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there," said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's Cinefan film festival where two of his films, "Dev D" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" were screened. So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions? "I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them.

So I don't think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely," said Abhay. Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film "Road" with Dev Benegal and his romantic film "Ayesha" with Sonam Kapoor.

As an actor he loves to experiment and as he turns producer with "Basra", Abhay Deol promises to be high on content. He says the action thriller will not only keep audiences on the edge of their seats but also make them think.

"There are three genres -- romance, comedy and action. They are mainstream inherently; so what I'm doing is taking a commercial genre and within it experimenting a little bit," Abhay??said in an interview.

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in," he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Not just 'Manorama..

.', I had been through this for some of my other films too.

I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work. "I also realised I need to protect myself," he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content. "The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make -- probably high on content, low on budget.

Let's see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there," said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's Cinefan film festival where two of his films, "Dev D" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" were screened. So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions? "I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them.

So I don't think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely," said Abhay. Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film "Road" with Dev Benegal and his romantic film "Ayesha" with Sonam Kapoor (less)

The film is going on the floors early next year. Abhay has roped in Navdeep Singh of "Manorama Six Feet Under" to helm the project that will feature him along with Shahana Goswami and another girl whose name has been kept secret.

" 'Basra' is high on content, but a good dose of action sequences will make it edgy and pretty dark as well. In other words, it is a mainstream movie but also has something that will make people think and keep them on the edge of their seats," he said.

"The thing about action films is that they are high on drama in terms of action sequences, have songs and other things, but content is secondary. For me, the idea was to get something that has content so that the action has some meaning.

That's when 'Basra' came in," he added. The 32-year-old was launched by his uncle Dharmendra with "Socha Na Tha" in 2005.

He then went on to prove his mettle with films like "Ahista Ahista", "Manorama Six Feet Under", "Ek Chalis Ki Last Local", "Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd" and more recently "Dev D".

When asked what motivated him to don the producer's hat, Abhay revealed: "I had bad experiences in the past, with 'Manorama..

.' being the classic example where the director did his job - he made it well, actors gave their level best but when it was the producer's turn to distribute and market the film, it was nowhere to be seen.

"Not just 'Manorama..

.', I had been through this for some of my other films too.

I realised that I need to protect my films because the director will move on, the producer will move on too but as an actor I will be considered a flop if things will not work. "I also realised I need to protect myself," he explained.

Along with that he also wanted to give a platform to new and dynamic directors to make films that have quality content. "The idea was also to provide platform to filmmakers to make the kind of movies they want to make -- probably high on content, low on budget.

Let's see where the formula goes and then I will take it from there," said the actor, who was in the capital to attend the 11th Osian's Cinefan film festival where two of his films, "Dev D" and "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!" were screened. So does he plan to sign his cousins Sunny and Bobby Deol for his home productions? "I would love to sign them for my films but it also depends on whether the role is right for them.

So I don't think I will be able to approach them for my first venture, but something in the future definitely," said Abhay. Right now the actor is excited about his upcoming film "Road" with Dev Benegal and his romantic film "Ayesha" with Sonam Kapoor.

Abhay Deol '+ capt +' '; else var b2 = ' ' + tmpdiV + ' '+ capt +' (less)

Creating a character like Chulbul Pandey and showcasing Sallu bhai in a never seen before avatar has taken the entire nation by storm. If we say it's the most awaited film till now, it would be a massive understatement.

Bollywood Hungama gives all you Dabangg fans an exclusive opportunity to chat up with director Abhinav Kashyap. Log on to our celebrity video chat on Wednesday, September 8, at 1500 hrs IST and ask him all your questions! (less)

The heroine oriented movie has Anushka in one of her best roles till date. She plays the title role, as queen Arundhati with Sonu Sood as the hero.

Directed by Koti Ramakrishna and with music by Koti, the film has great graphics and special effects. The movie stars Sayaji Shinde, Manorama, Kaikala Satyanarayana, Annapoorna, Suhasini, Chalapathi rao and Ahuthi Prasad.

Sphere: Related Content Posted in (less)

While Abhay is reuniting with Navdeep Singh ( Manorama Six Feet Under ) for Shaadi of the Dead , Saif is producing another film Go Goa Gone where he is playing a zombie in the lead role. Now that both the films have starking similarities, it's just a matter of time before one pips the other to the post.

Buzz is that Abhay and Saif are leaving no stone unturned to ensure their project gets the first mover advantage (less)