Vickey Lalwani

Juhi Chawla in Sannatta

Juhi Chawla will play the lead in Talat Jani's directorial venture Sanatta -- The Silence. The film will be produced by Manoj Bohra.

The last film Chawla worked on was Sujoy Ghosh's Jhankar Beats. She will soon be seen in Jhankar Beats and Nagesh Kukunoor's Teen Deewarein.

Sannatta, which also stars Sheeba and Protima Kazi, is a psychological thriller. For Jani, it is an important film. His Jeena Sirf Merre Liye, starring Tusshar Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor was a disaster at the box-office.

Celina is restless

Former Miss India-Universe Celina Jaitley's debut film Janasheen (opposite Fardeen Khan), which was expected to release last September, has been pushed to April-May.

"I want to dive into films," he says, "but have to hold myself back due to this commitment. There is consolation for me:  Feroz Khan is starting Shaadi.com with Fardeen and me as soon as we are through with Jaanasheen. Hansal Mehta, who will direct the film, is tied up at the moment with Humrahi." The latter film stars Aamir Ali, Isha Koppikar and Kay Kay.

Meanwhile, Feroz Khan is shooting Janasheen at a feverish pace in Bangkok. This will be followed by a final schedule in Australia, which involves a motorbike race in the climax.

Santoshi goes location hunting

Rajkumar Santoshi, producer Keshu and cinematographer K V Anand have gone on an extensive survey in Pune, Nashik, Mahableshwar, Panchgani and Vashi in New Mumbai to scout for locations for his film Khaki.

Based on the lives of police officers, it stars Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan, Aishwarya Rai, Akshaye Khanna and Jaya Prada. Incidentally, there have been reports that Khaki and Madhur Bhandarkar's Aan -- Men At Work have similar themes.

Gay film

Television director and ad filmmaker Sridhar Rangayan (Rishtey, Gubbare) is making a film which explores homosexuality, Gulabi Aaina (The Pink Mirror).

"Most Hindi films have shown cross-dressing characters as objects of ridicule," he says. "The audience has laughed at them. I want the audience to laugh with them."

The cast includes Ramesh Menon, Edwin Fernandes, Rufy Baqal and Rishi Raj.

Indian audiences will also see Mango Souffle, Mahesh Dattani's tryst with sexuality, on celluloid soon.