JODHA AKBAR premiere picssss

Hrithik and Penelope Cruz in Anurag Basu's Next

If all goes well, Hollywood stunner Penelope Cruz will rub shoulders with Hrithik Roshan in Rakesh Roshan’s upcoming film. The film will be directed by Anurag Basu. Rakesh and Anurag are already in advanced talks with Penelope in Los Angeles. The duo left Mumbai on Thursday.

Says an insider, “The role requires a very beautiful foreigner. Both Rakesh and his son Hrithik felt that Penelope would fit the bill perfectly. They spoke to Anurag about it, who seconded the idea. Thereafter, Rakesh Roshan’s company got in touch with Penelope’s office in LA.”

Confirming the story, Shammi, executive producer of the film, says, “Yes, Rakeshji and Anurag are in Los Angeles and had a meeting with Penelope. We haven’t signed her yet, though.”

Rakesh and Hrithik signed Anurag as the film’s director as they liked Metro, which was directed by Anurag. The film-maker shot to fame with the Kangana Ranaut-Emraan Hashmi-Shiney Ahuja starrer Gangster .

The new Hrithik starrer is an action romance, which is expected to hit the floors by the middle of this year.

Penelope has appeared in a number of Spanish, French, English, Italian and Portugese films. In 2006, Cruz received favourable reviews for her performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver. Her performance in the film also won her a Best Actress ensemble award at the Cannes Film Festival as well as nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award and BAFTA Award.

Jodhaa Akbar in 26 countries and 1500 screens

Jodhaa Akbar’, the epic romance between Mughal Emperor Akbar and the fiery Rajput princess Jodhaa - a co-production between UTV Motion Pictures and Ashutosh Gowariker Productions - is set for an epic scale release worldwide on February 15, 2008.

Directed by Academy Award nominated director, Ashutosh Gowariker, ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ an epic romance, starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan is set to release across 26 countries in USA, Europe, Asia and Middle East. The film will be dubbed in 3 languages - Hindi, Telegu, Tamil; and subtitled in English, Arabic and Dutch. In the biggest release ever for an Indian film, it will be viewed across 1500 screens worldwide.

In India alone the film is set to release in more than 1200 screens of which 500 will be through digital cinemas and 825 through physical prints. In the US, the film will be released on close to 122 prints, the highest ever for an Indian film. “Jodhaa Abkar is one of the most anticipated movies of the decade and in keeping with the unprecedented anticipation amongst audiences, our distribution strategy will ensure that the film can be viewed by the maximum possible audience in the very week of its release.” says Siddharth Roy Kapur, Director, UTV Motion Pictures Plc.

Hrithik talks about his passion

Valentine brings to mind Red Roses, chocolates, gifts and your eyes mirror the person you cherish in life. B4U Music makes it even more special; they have on board the most handsome and biggest heartthrob of bollywood Hrithik Roshan on their show STARSTOP on this Valentine’s day.B4U STAR STOP is a programme with Film related interviews. Actors/directors talk about their forthcoming movie, their likes, dislikes and other things and chat with B4U VJS. Stars talk about their personal review of the film and share their anecdotes of their experiences during the making of the film.

Hrithik Roshan the actor talks about the passion and inspiration that motivates him to do the films that he commits to. He states his penchant for doing physically demanding and strenuous films and enjoys them.VJ Salil during the course of the interview brings to fore an important aspect of Hritihik’s life; working relationship with his father. Hrithik talks about their views clashing and their professional relationship and the balance they maintain.

His take on Hollywood and James Bond makes for very interesting viewing.Jodha Akbar his forthcoming film forms an integral part of this interview, he reminisces fondly about the film, costumes, his chemistry with Aishwarya and incidents related to the film.

Tune in for all this and much more on B4U Music on 14th and 15th Feb 2008 on B4U StarStop at 19.10 hrs.