Sanjay’s Item for Anil

By REAGAN GAVIN RASQUINHA

This double whammy is one with a difference.

Get a load of this: Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt, who haven’t shared significant screen time together in years, are now coming together for the music video of a film called Shortkut. And the macho men will be appearing as themselves. No screen names.

In the video – a rocking number by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy with lyrics by Javed Akhtar and choreography by Bosco – the two studs woo the lovely Amrita Arora. But getting them together was no easy task.

Says Anil, who is also the producer of the film, “This is a remake of a Malayalee film, to which co-writer Anees Bazmee and co- writer-director Neeraj Vohra added a lot of things and some wonderful talent. Akshaye Khanna plays the lead and there’s also Arshad Warsi and Chunky Pandey.”

Word has it that it was Anil who called on Dutt. “Well, there was a requirement for two male stars in the video with Amrita. Everyone felt that Sanjay would be the perfect character.” And how did they connect? “I gave him a call. And we spoke about about how long it’s been since we’ve worked together. He said ‘I’ll come over’. And I said ‘No, I’ll come over.’ Then he said, ‘No, I’ll come over yaar!’ I had to force him into letting me come over. But when I met him, it took him only about a second to agree to do this,” says Anil.

For Dutt, the feeling of professional camaraderie is mutual. “It’s a great feeling to be working with Anil after all these years. He has been a great friend and colleague through thick and thin. He personally approached me to do this song with him and that was that.”

But why did it take them so long to work together? “It’s all part of showbusiness, the whole rollercoaster. There are people who work together after 30 years!” he says, then somewhat carefully asks, “What did Anil tell you about it?”

(c) 2008 The Times of India. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.