'Samrat & Co.' title - Nitin Desai's goodwill gesture (Movie Snippets)

Art director Nitin Desai showed his generosity and lent his title "Samrat" to Rajshri Productons for their forthcoming film "Samrat & Co". The production house expresses its gratitude.

Produced by Sooraj Barjatya's cousin Kavita and directed by Kaushik Ghatak, "Samrat & Co." stars talented Rajeev Khandelwal in the lead role.

Sharing the story behind the title, Kavita said: "'Samrat & Co' was our working title."

"However, as we grew with the subject and the character of Samrat, we just could not see anything else fitting into the mould. We learnt that the title 'Samrat' was registered with Nitin dada and when we requested him, he very graciously offered to give it to us," she said in a statement.

Said to be the first of its kind detective franchisee, "Samrat & Co" targets the youth.

Talking about the film's theme, Ghatak said that the word Samrat speaks for itself and added: "It brings out the grandness of the character, which we intended for our hero played by Rajeev."

"Grandness in thought, grandness in attitude ? Samrat is a person who chooses to do what he wants...he may refuse the case of a rich business tycoon in spite of being offered a lot of money and he would rather pick a case if it is as simple as a child's cat getting lost," added the director.

-*-

Aditya Seal, a world Taekwondo champ

It's known that Aditya Seal made his film debut as a teenager with "Ek Chhoti Si Love Story" opposite Manisha Koirala and now he is part of youth movie "Purani Jeans", but few know he is a world Taekwondo champion.

Recently seen in the Mountain Dew ads, the actor is a world Taekwondo champion, a Korean martial art that involves combat and self defence techniques.

"We were unaware that Aditya was a world Taekwondo champion till we started shooting for 'Purani Jeans'," said a source close to the production team.

Directed by award winning ad filmmaker Tanushri Chattrji Bassu, "Purani Jeans" will hit theatres May 1.

"When Tanushri learned that he is a taekwondo champion, we were shocked. Aditya also trained NSG commandos because he is so passionate about it! He also said that he has been actively participating in taekwondo since childhood," added the source.

Produced by Manju Lulla of Eros International and NextGen Films, "Purani Jeans" also features Tanuj Virwani and Izabelle Leite in the lead roles.

-*-

Word of mouth publicity made 'Club 60' successful: Director

"Club 60" celebrated 100 days at the box office and director Sanjay Tripathy credits word of mouth publicity for the success.

"It is a great experience to have your first film run for hundred days purely on audience support. We didn't have a big star cast, no big publicity budget. What really worked in our favour is a very, very strong word of mouth," Tripathy said in a statement.

The film celebrated its 100-day run at PVR Cinemas and Cinemax March 23 with Percept Pictures the strategic partner in the promotion, marketing and distribution of this highly acclaimed film.

Made on a budget of Rs.6 crore, the film features actors like Sarika, Satish Shah, Raghuvir Yadav and late Farooque Sheikh.