Sonam Kapoor plays Sania Mirza

Filmmaker Anees Bazmee’s who is known for some of the biggest hits in Bollywood, has found an apt subject in Sania Mirza for his next film.

The ace tennis sensation, surrounded by much controversy will be soon be portrayed by Sonam Kapoor in Bazmee’s next ‘Thank You’. The film is set to be a romantic comedy.

It is to hit floor in mid April and shoots are to be done in Canada. Even though the director is denying that Sania is the subject of his film, the striking similarities between Sonam’s role and Mirza’s life make Bazmee’s assertions tough to believe.

Just like Sania, Sonam plays a young, attractive tennis champ and falls in love with a guy, who is completely wrong for her. She soon realizes her mistake and turns back before it’s too late. Remember Sania calling off her engagement to Sohrab Mirza earlier this year before news of her impending marriage to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik?

Talking about the news, director Bazmee said, “Sonam does play a tennis champ, and Akshay Kumar plays a guy who’s seeing 30-35 girls at the same time, until he meets Sonam. Though he gives up flirting, he’s not particularly serious about Sonam too. It’s a funny take on courtship.”

Salman Khan in a Rs 100-crore musical

Salman Khan could just be tagged as ‘Flop Khan’ after his long sequence of flops. But strangely enough he has still managed to get the lead role in a 100 crore musical. Salman Khan is said to be very excited about the film the shooting of which starts in August 2009.

Salman has been signed for an enormous fee by T-Series. This huge project will be directed by Anees Bazmee. The film will be a complete entertainer and will have romance, comedy and some really good music.

Even director Anees Bazmee is excited about the project, “Yes, I am looking forward to directing Salman once again after No Entry. We had a great time and bonded really well. I am sure it will be a great experience this time too.” He said.

Well, one can hope it doesn’t turn out to be a mega flop experience.

Anees Bazmee offered Rs. 51 crores to direct a bouquet of 3 films

Super success of Singh Is Kinng has certainly raised the bar higher up for Bollywood. Till about a couple of years back, Rs. 50 crores final total for a film meant that champagne bottles were ready to be corked. However, now with movies like Om Shanti Om and Singh Is Kinng topping Rs. 40 crores in the first week itself, Rs. 50 crores final total is passé. In the times when Rs. 100 crores for a movie is seen to be pretty achievable within next six months itself, what with biggies like Chandni Chowk To China, Ghajini and Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi arriving soon at the box office, the pay package of everyone out there in Bollywood has seen an exponential increase. This is why it is not just the top actors who see their remuneration in excess of Rs. 10 crores; even top directors too are commanding a huge price.

One such filmmaker is writer-director Anees Bazmee who, post the hat trick of success of No Entry, Welcome and Singh Is Kinng, has been offered as much as Rs. 51 crores by a top corporate house for a bouquet of 3 films. Not just that he is also given full freedom to pick subjects and actors of his choice over a period of time, he has also been extended flat 21 crores as a signing amount. It is an unheard of money and quite unprecedented. Something of this scale has never happened before for a Bollywood director but Anees bhai’s track record has forced producers to talk big money. Anees bhai is keeping tight lipped about the entire offer since he would rather sign on the dotted line before making any declaration of sorts.