Preity Zinta shot with a real snake

Preity Zinta is most probably one of the boldest actress of Bollywood. Recently she shared screen space with a cobra for climatic sequence in Deepa Mehta's latest flick-Heaven On Earth. Mr Mehta was not really sure if Preity would be able top pull it off but to his surprise Preity did an excellent job.

Preity had nightmares before they shot this crucial sequence. But somehow Preity did the job. Recalling this dangerous experience, Preity says, "I had to put my hand into a hole in the ground, take out this big long snake and not just hold it but also put it around my neck. It was a harrowing in the script. I wondered how I'd manage on camera."

The film has episodes from Girish Karnad's play Naag Mandala where the battered wife imagines the naag devta transforming into a caring loving husband as an alternative life to her nightmarish reality.

Incidentally, not too many of our Bollywood queens have shot with real snakes.

Midnight’s Children is deepa Mehta's New Venture

Midnight’s Children the much-talked about novel by Salman Rushdie is soon to be made into a Movie by the famed Indian Hollywood director, Deepa Mehta.

The book is a fictional work about Saleem who was born on the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947 just as Indian tricolour was replacing British flag. His story encompasses the history of India from Independence until end of emergency in 1977.

Well-known film star Shabana Azmi and Nandita Das, who had acted in Mehta’s earlier critically acclaimed movies - ‘Fire’ and ‘Earth’, will have major roles in the movie. Azmi will play the role of the grand mother.

Rushdie and Mehta will together write the screenplay of the movie, which they expect to be released sometime in 2010. They plan to begin work on it spring next year. Mehta would take up the Midnight’s Children project only after the completion of her big budget film Komagata Maru.

The two have set an ambitious deadline of releasing the film in 2010.

Heaven On Earth is a Movie with a Difference

The film titled Heaven On Earth is about the life of a bride from Punjab which changes in the course of just seven days. Deepa Mehta's Heaven on Earth is screened at the Toronto Film Festival on 6th September at the prestigious Elgin theatre.” I'm proud to have my film there in the 'Special Representation' section," says Deepa.

The film's leading lady Preity Zinta had joined Deepa in Toronto for the Festival screening. "And that's when Preity dubbed her portion of the film in Hindi", informs Deepa. The Punjabi film is being dubbed into Hindi as a two-language film on the insistence of the film's Indian distributor Ravi Chopra. However, Deepa insists that the Hindi version will have a very restricted screening. “The language of the film is Punjabi," she insists. The entire cast barring Preity is from Toronto.