Bhushan, Atul on board for Salman’s ‘Bharat’

Mumbai, Dec 27 (IANS) Film producers Bhushan Kumar and Atul Agnihotri, on the occasion of Salman Khan's 52nd birthday on Wednesday, announced that they have joined hands as co-producers of the Bollywood superstar's new film "Bharat", to be directed by Ali Abbas Zafar.

Kumar of T-Series said in a statement: "We have had a long-standing association with Salman Khan from when we acquired the music of 'Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya'. We produced bhai's (Salman's) two other films -- 'Lucky: No Time For Love' and 'Ready', both of which were successful collaborations.

"Atul and I gel well and we decided to join hands on 'Bharat', a human drama that is bound to touch you beyond measure."

Agnihotri, who is also Salman's brother-in-law added: "In life, you just click with some people. Bhushan and I have interacted many times in the past. His sensibility for content matched with ours. So having T-Series on board with us on 'Bharat' was a very smooth and organic process for both of us."

Earlier, Agnihotri produced Salman-starrers like "Hello" and "Bodyguard".

Salman is currently enjoying the success of "Tiger Zinda Hai", also directed by Zafar.

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Richa snaps at fan, apologises

Selfie requests aren't always pleasant for celebrities. Actress Richa Chadha says she had to "snap" at a teenager as she was rushing for a flight, but she has apologised.

"Dear teenager, am sorry I snapped at you. In all honesty, when someone's rushing to catch a flight, it's not right to block their way and demand a selfie," Richa tweeted on Wednesday.

The actress was travelling from Mumbai to Delhi.

"Delhi is warm and grey," she tweeted.

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Anurag praises Vineet's dedication

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has showered praise on Vineet Singh -- the lead actor in his directorial "Mukkabaaz" -- for undergoing extensive training like a professional boxer to pull off his role in the love story.

Vineet's transformation was shot on a daily basis, Kashyap revealed on Twitter and shared a video in which one can see the effort that went behind the look and demeanour of the character.

From lifting tyres and weights, running, gruelling workouts and boxing sessions, Vineet underwent all that a professional boxer would do to resemble and punch like a boxer on-screen.

"I told Vineet that 'Mukkabaaz' will be possible only if he is ready to get trained like a professional boxer. The same night he packed everything, left for Punjab to become a boxer and came back after a year.

"During his initial days of training, there was no acceptance for Vineet as they felt that he is an actor and he is doing all this for a role. But gradually they accepted him and made him part of their group. 'Mukkabaaz' was possible only because of his sheer dedication and perseverance," Kashyap said in a statement.

The film, presented by Eros International and Aanand L Rai, is about an aspiring boxer Shravan (Vinit) who slogs day and night to achieve his dream of being a recognised boxer. Things go awry when he falls in love with a high caste, mute girl who happens to be the niece of his arch nemesis, the head of the state boxing federation, Bhagwandas Mishra (Jimmy Shergill).