Will Kareena Kapoor co-star with Priyanka in Ghosh's film?

By Subhash K Jha, IANS

/>Mumbai, (IANS) Rituparno Ghosh wants Kareena Kapoor to be in his "Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam"

but doubts if she will oblige as Priyanka Chopra is playing the main lead.

In fact, Ghosh's biggest problem right now is a new adaptation of Bimal Mitra's "Sahib

Bibi Aur Ghulam", which he is committed to doing for Pritish Nandy Communications.

With Priyanka being finalised to play the pivotal part of Chhoti Malkin, he is very keen

to have Kareena play the other female lead.

"I'd love to have Bebo play Jaba. In Guru Dutt's 'Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam', Meena Kumari

and Waheeda Rehman represented the two faces of womanhood so beautifully. To me they are

equally important characters in the drama, just like Paro and Chandrmukhi in 'Devdas'.

"I could work the same magic with Priyanka and Kareena. But will Kareena work with

Priyanka after 'Aitraaz'?"

As for the two male leads, the producers are keen on Vivek Oberoi and Salman Khan to do

the needful. Ghosh has no issues with his producer's decision.

"I'm neck-deep in my films. My 'Antar Mahal' with Abhishek and Soha is all set for

release." He is also shooting his new Bengali film with Konkona Sen and Prasenjit.

And in the middle of all this, there is trouble. "The last thing I can afford is to hear

is crank callers pretending to be me and calling up various stars.

"Someone impersonating me kept calling Arjun Rampal. I had the cops trace the calls to

the outskirts of Kolkata and a man was arrested. Now I believe John Abraham has been getting

similar calls.

"John believed it was me until Bipasha heard the man's voice. Please, I don't have to

call up stars to get their attention."

Though his "Antar Mahal" is in Bengali, it has an interesting and national-level cast of

Abhishek and Soha. "And both Abhishek and Jackie Shroff are dressed only in a skimpy dhoti

throughout.

"Whenever Abhishek came on the sets he would grumble good-naturedly that I had turned him

into a pin-up boy. I don't think Abhishek has ever looked so intense and acted so quietly in

any of his films.

"I agree it has a nationwide market. How, its release depends entirely on the film's

right-holders, AB Corp Ltd and Vashu Bhagnani."

Incidentally, AB Corp is also producing "Viruddh", featuring Abhishek and Soha's

parents.

Ghosh is also planning two projects with Amitabh Bachchan. One will feature Shabana Azmi

and Aishwarya Rai.