Ouch. Cold-blooded: Jacqueline in, Yana out

A song that was picturised on Yana Gupta is now being aired on TV with Jacqueline

The Bhatts have triggered off a war between Yana Gupta and Jacqueline Fernandez. Zara Kareeb Se, an item song that was picturised on Gupta for Murder 2 is now being aired starring Fernandez and co-star Emraan Hashmi.

Interestingly, when the song first got a face lift, director Mohit Suri had reportedly said Gupta's song was "too gory" to be shown on television. Now the explanation for her absence has changed.

"I didn't want to disclose villain Prashant Narayanan's identity before the film's release and Yana was shown dancing with the villain, " said Suri.

Sources say the truth is simpler. "Jacqueline is the new blue-eyed Bhatt girl. She has already been signed on for Raaz 3 and will probably be acting in Murder 3 too. Yana got left in the cold."

Gupta, however, sounded stoic, when asked about the episode.

"Of course I would have loved for my version to be aired. I hope it will be at some point. But it's not my song, you know. It's just a job. I give it my best shot and what happens to it later, I leave to God."

Murder 2 success party

The success party for Murder 2 might have got postponed because of the Mumbai blasts last week, but when it did happen, the actors made sure they enjoyed themselves to the hilt.

While Soni Razdan gave hubby Mahesh Bhatt company, Smilie Suri was there for brother Mohit Suri. A huge chocolate cake was brought out for the cast and crew, which Emraan Hashmi and Mohit decided to 'murder', quite literally!

Mukesh Bhatt, Prashant Narayanan, Manav Gohil and Shweta Kawaatra and Vikram Bhatt were some of the others who dropped in to celebrate.

Murder 2: Model-actor Pinki Gaur to sue Bhatts

For using her photos indiscriminately in 'Murder 2'

Considering that Bhatt productions are always courting controversy, one can understand their latest venture being caught in the eye of a storm.

Though it does come as a surprise that Murder 2 has got into trouble 10 days since its release. Model-actor Pinki Gaur is all set to send a legal notice to Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt's production house, Vishesh Films, for using her photograph without her prior consent.

Pinki, who has featured in shows like Dil Dosti Dance, Karam Apna Apna recalls being informed about her photograph being used in Murder 2.

"There's a scene, where an agent is talking about supplying prostitutes and showing pictures of a number of girls. One of the snaps he shows is mine, and he says that she's gone out on work, " says Pinki, adding that she was astonished as she had never given any of her photographs to Vishesh Films.

However, through a friend who works with Mukesh and Mahesh Bhatt's company, she learnt that they had obtained permission from a model coordinator who had given them her photographs.

Pinki avers that there should have been an agreement with her. "How can they use my photograph in their movie just like that?" she wonders, maintaining that, "There was no contract, nothing at all. Just using my photograph for a scene like that is not acceptable to me."

She further says that while it may not matter to the producers, her snap featuring in a scene where a character is showing photographs of prostitutes could affect her career.

Pinki concedes that her friend suggested she send the notice to Vishesh Films, which she's doing today. "If they don't reply, then I can file an FIR against them for using my photograph like this, " asserts the model-actor.

Possible goof-up

While Mahesh Bhatt says, "If you've seen the film, you'll understand that it's not our intention to malign, demean or tarnish the image of the people whose photographs feature along with that of Yana Gupta, on whom the scene zeroes on."

He conceded that a trainee in charge of putting the props for the particular scene might have goofed up. "Instead of getting the images cleared by the department seniors, the trainee bungled up, maybe out of sheer oversight or lethargy, " he admitted.

Bhatt further reasoned that going the legal way could in turn be a cause of hardship for the girl concerned, so he'd rather resolve the issue arbitrarily.

"If the lady wants a graceful apology from Vishesh Films, I've no problems with that, " he stated, adding that nothing would come out from her going to court. "Because our courts are already burned with far more important cases. So it's best to resolve it arbitrarily."

Emraan Hashmi and sex are a formidable combination!

With the success of Murder 2, Emraan Hashmi insists he has graduated from a serial kisser to a bankable star. In five years, he says that his returns will be on par with the Khans

The weekend collections of Murder 2 have surprised even the detractors of the Bhatt brothers. 

Trade guru Amod Mehra says, At a conservative estimate, the film will gross approximately 15 cr on the weekend.'' 

This coupled together with the money Mahesh and Mukesh raked in on the electronic sales

such as satellite and home video rights should total up to 10 cr reportedly. So in other words Murder 2 is a huge

hit in just three days after the release. In fact as the week continues, more money will obviously pour in. 

Mehra says, Emraan Hashmi is a lucky mascot for the Bhatts. He has usually earned them megabucks.'' 

Emraan's own standing in Bollywood has been consolidated after this film. 

He is one of the few heroes who has been consistently giving hits. Last year he had Once Upon A Time in Mumbai

and this year he has Murder 2. 

Says another trade analyst, Earlier people said Shah Rukh Khan and sex always sell. Now it is being said that Emraan andsex are a formidable combination.''

'Murder 2' is a desperately dark film

Starring: Emraan Hashmi, Prashant Narayanan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Sulagna Panigrahi 

Director: Mohit Suri 

The sequel to Murder is nothing like the first part of the frenetic franchise. And Jacqueline Fernandez who has been built up in Murder 2 as the next Mallika Sherawat is nothing like the overrated Mallika.Thank God for that! Fernandez exudes an unbridled sunniness even when pouting in the bare minimum. Alas, she doesn't have much to do in Murder 2 except swathe the dark drama in a spot of sunshine. 

God knows this film about the devil-unleashed, surprisingly written by a woman (Shagufta Rafique) needs that little of sunshine. It is a desperately dark film. The characters are wretchedly unhappy. No matter which side of the moral line they are positioned they are standing screaming into the abyss that is suburban life. These people need serious help. 

This then, is the world Mahesh Bhatt has bequeathed to us. Take it and bleed it. 

Director Mohit Suri who earlier took us on a jolting trip through the world of prostitution, pimps and desperate cops in Kalyug takes the same route again. On this occasion the journey is far more ruthless and rigorously implemented to create horror repugnance and hatred for a word that we've created for coming generations. 

In the typical Mahesh Bhatt style Murder 2 doesn't waste time in back-projections and story build-up. He goes straight for the kill. With trenchant immediacy director Mohit Suri (back in Kalyug form after the misfire that was his last film Crook) tells us the story of a psychopathic killer who kills prostitutes with the pleasure that makes your stomach churn and look anxiously towards the future about your daughter who is just stepping into the big wide world. 

Who knows if the man sitting next to her in the movie theatre is a closet-nutcase with a collection of hacksaws in his house, and not to carve up the Christmas turkey. 

Prashant Narayanan as the psychopath plays the character at such an even pitch he makes your blood freeze in fear and revulsion. Here's a man who could be that ghoul who butchered all those kids in the Nethra killings and then ate them up without a burp.

The 'hero' in Murder 2 is a burn-out suspended cop who makes money out of criminals, stays sullen and haunted throughout the film except when he goes for the kiss, and offers his girlfriend a wad of notes after making love. To buy the fridge, he says. Naturally the lady freezes.

Force of habit, we say. Hashmi has done this kind of a role repeatedly. The kissing and vigorous bedroom activities are quickly taken care of in the first 15 minutes. Wouldn't want the lovers of the serial kisser to feel they're being cheated in favour of the serial killer. 

The wacked-out killer in Murder 2 doesn't eat his victims. He just cuts them down to sighs and groans and shrieks of pain and records their dying voices to get his rockers off. 

The plot seems original. The narration is clenched and the characters driven by a desperate urge to assert themselves before death rings their doorbell. 

The savagery with which the college-going call girl (Sulagna Panigrahi) is brought to her gruesome death becomes a metaphor for the loss of innocence and the triumph of diabolism that is often garbed in designer labels these days. 

Murder 2 is not a pleasant film to view. The psychopath's killings are done in graphic detail. The storytelling offers no respite from the brutality. Most of the time we are looking at happenings that we would rather not see. But see, we must. 

Murder 2 is a mirror of our amoral venomous times when no relationship is sacred anymore. Mohit Suri remains in command of the murky material and traumatized characters. While most episodes hold together in a riveting rhythm of life's most unsavoury truths, the sequences featuring Prashant Naraynan work better than the rest of the film. He lends the proceedings a credibility that is unsettling. 

Rating: 3

'Serial kisser' tag a real pain: Emraan

He's busy visiting cities promoting his forthcoming release "Murder 2". A part of the original franchise, Emraan Hashmi describes the film as 'edgy and twisted' with a pace that will keep you involved right from the beginning.

Known to play real and flawed characters, he adds that Mohit Suri's film continues the streak giving him a chance to play yet another interesting role. Here, he essays the role of a man everyone can identify with.

Ask him about the popular 'serial kisser' tag and he shrugs it off calling it a label he no longer identifies with. Here are excerpts from a chat...

When I say 'serial kisser' what's the first thing that comes to your mind...
A real pain in the ass! I seriously feel that people have a myopic approach towards watching a two hour-long film and just picking up the kissing scenes. I mean its not fair to judge or rate my performance based on whether or not I have kissed in the film. I feel I have left that tag long behind. It's something I don't identify with anymore. I just find it highly amusing when people still address me by that name.

But you've spoken about willingness to kiss on screen like no other actor...
Yes, that's because I believe in progressive cinema. I think that a kiss isn't a big deal, it's as real as it can get. People don't go to theatres because they want to see me kiss, for that they can just log on to the internet and watch my clips. It would be a cliché to stereotype me based on the number of kisses I have done in my films.

But your track record proves that most of your box-office successes have had kissing scenes
Not really. I have had films like "Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai" which was a success despite not having a kiss. And then there have been films where I have kissed but they didn't work at the box office. I think it's unfair to think like that, because intimate scenes are really a part and parcel of every other film.

How do you break the ice before doing intimate scenes, do you discuss the scene?
No, we just get to it (laughs). I mean with "Murder 2", we shot all the intimate scenes right towards the end. That's how I prefer doing it. Because by then you get to know your co-star and there's a certain level of comfort that you've developed. I had a great time working with Jacqueline, we had an awesome schedule in Goa and she's a fun person to work with. I hope the audience likes our pairing.