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Starring: Sunil Shetty, Aishwarya Rai, Ashutosh Rana, Will Wekes, Raj Zutshi, Mohan Bhandari, Vishwajeet Pradhan & Zohra Sehgal
Director: Lateef Binny
Producer: Rahul Gupta
Music: Vishal Bhardwaj & Dilip Sen
Lyricist: Gulzar



25 January 2001 - On Location with Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke

Sunil Shetty and Aishwarya Rai are running on the mountains of Utah looking for their eight kids and one over grown black American who is seven feet tall and looks menacing but is as gentle as a child. Actually it is all an illusion. They are on the rocky terrain at Ramoji Film City an hour's drive away from Hyderabad and an attempt is being made to match the locale with those portions previously shot in Utah. And thereby hangs a tale. Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke was begun with great enthusiasm by the team. A fun film with eight kids was planned and a forty day schedule got underway at Utah in which Sunil Shetty, Aishwarya Rai and the kids along with the seven footer Will participated under the direction of K Sashilal Nair. But as the shooting progressed it became painfully obvious to the producer that though some visually fantastic scenes were being canned they had no relevance to the storyline, as he knew it. When he questioned the director about it he was told to keep his opinion to himself, as the director knew what he was doing. He didn't. And when the team processed the film and saw the rushes in Bombay they saw what Rahul had said. They had some visually stunning footage, in fact two hours of it but little that had anything to do with the agreed storyline. A shamefaced Sashi, at this stage, made an exit.

Rahul didn't know it, but his problems were just starting. No other director was willing to touch the film and all the writers he showed it to said they could do little with the footage available to them. Till he met Kanan Iyer who had been Shekhar Kapur's assistant on Bandit Queen and suddenly everything fell in place. Kanan not only gave him a credible story line that used the portions shot, he also wrote a story that was infinitely more exciting than the original. Obviously influenced by his mentor's Mr India, Kanan's story had the fun and excitement the original lacked. With Lateef Binny being roped in as director, the film was set to roll again. In the Hyderabad schedule Sunil and Ash set out to look for the children who have been kidnapped by the villain Ashutosh Rana a maniacal character with delusions of grandeur. He hopes to hold the nation hostage with his secret formula that he mixes with ice cream, which is then sold to children. When the children eat it they come under his power and do his bidding. In this way he also controls the grown ups. Ash's kids have been kidnapped because they know where the CD, which contains the formula, is. Of course they are not really her kids. They are orphans whom she has sheltered, and they call her didi. She has had a bad childhood and is determined that no other child should ever feel unwanted. When Sunil falls for her she rejects him because she does not want to desert the kids. That problem is got over when Sunil stands by her. Didn't we say there were shades of Mr India in this film?

In Hyderabad, action scenes are also shot as boulders fall close to the couple as they search for the kids. There are also explosions masterminded by the villains. Later at night there are scenes in a super market in which Sunil harasses Ash. William Wekes, the African American giant is huge and has a sense of humour that often results in his big belly shivering with delight. Every time he does so, the kids on location crack up. He is actually a video technician doing his first film and he is hoping that after this film he will get more offers and is able to leave his job. He has seen a few Hindi films and says that his favourites are Karisma Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. Good choice. The shooting in Hyderabad winds up after twelve days of intensive shooting. A further schedule is planned for the next month and after that the film will be complete. The kids will miss the fun times but one person who will be very relieved is the producer who has already planned his next film and is raring to go.


06 November 2000 - Kicks itself to Life

The smog is clear for Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke now. With the new director Lateef Binny replacing Shashilal Nair, it looks Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke is brought back to the rails and is raring to go. The waves are reflected in the trading of this stock at Bwsx also with the price going up by about Brs 8, to stand at Brs 514 on 6th November, when this is written. Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke has got a very strong star cast in Aishwarya Rai, Sunil Shetty and Ashuthosh Rana. The same made the movie stock very hot in a short time after getting listed. Aishwarya Rai and Sunil Shetty are coming together for the first time in this movie and that adds to the interest about this movie. Getting listed in the exchange about a year back, the movie made an impressive progress in the charts to reach new heights in quick time. For the last couple of months, the going was really striking. The stock was priced at Brs 258 on September 20 and believe it, the stock reached Brs 407 in just two days! Though the stock suffered a set back after that and had gone down till Brs 320 in the next days, it made a recovery and crossed the Brs 500 mark on October 12. The upward trend continued and the stock reached its highest ever price of Brs 603 on October 16. But with the rumors of it getting shelved spread, the stock price made a nose-dive to fall to Brs 500 in the week that followed. But now with the new developments energizing the movie, the price is on the rise.


09 October 2000 - Salman & Aishwarya spotted in Hyderabad!

Is this what stardom has come to? Every newcomer makes a humble and obedient career beginning, and with a few specks of fame, loses his (or her) head. Of late, it seems to be happening to Aishwarya Rai, who, according to a section of the industry folk, is becoming quite starry and hoity-toity. During a shooting spell of her film, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke (with Sunil Shetty) in Hyderabad's Ramoji City, instead of co-operating to complete this much-delayed project, Aishwarya, it seems, behaved rather pesky and unreasonable. She'd disappear for hours, feel sleepy during night shifts and remain consistently glued to her cell phone, with her head down, talking to a mysterious caller. We were unable to fathom the cause of her misdemeanor till someone murmured that even Salman Khan was staying in the same hotel as hers. The lovebirds were engrossed with each other to the extent of forgetting that one of them was there to shoot! There wasn't a word that director Lateef Binny and producer Rahul Gupta could say. In fact they'd put on a brave front on the sets and agree to every demand she made. (The project has been in the making for several years now and they are more than keen to wind it up. Earlier the producer had run into problems when director Sashilal Nair was asked to leave the project; subsequently Binny was roped in.) Salman, it seems, had cancelled his shootings in Mumbai to spend some days with his ladylove. Of late, Salman has been seen more on her sets than his! Which is okay provided he doesn't disrupt her shootings as he did this time, evidently with her full consent. Would Ash dare to behave in this unprofessional manner on the set of a bigger producer? We wonder!


07 October 2000 - ‘Hum’ – A Lucky Lock for Bollywood Movie Makers

Bollywood has seen a host of movies starting their names with ‘Hum’. The movie Hum Aapke Hai Kaun started the craze and then follwed a number of movies and the latest big hit of this category was Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Some rollicking hits which had their name starting with ‘Hum’ made a belief among directors and producers that it has got some charm over the movies box office fortunes. At present Bollywood is waiting for about 6 movies starting their names in ‘Hum’. They include big movies like Hum Tumhare Hai Sanam, Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke and Hum Hai Damal Ke. Among these, it is Hum Tumhare Hai which is the highest priced stock at Brs 493. The movie has got an array of hot stars and even it looks even if the name has got no ‘Hum’ it is surely going to do something in the box office. Hum Panchhi Ek Daal Ke is priced at Brs 454.31 and the movie has got Sunil Shetty and Aishwarya Rai in the star cast. So watch out for these ‘Hum’ movies coming up.


01 January 2000 - Another Aishwarya Fan !

After recently shooting with the beautiful Aishwarya Rai for Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke, Ashutosh Rana just can't stop raving about the leading lady of the film. Apparently, Ash struck him as so down-to-earth and charming that he has since become a diehard Aishwarya fan as well. Can't say the same of Ash though. Since her admirer plays a half-man-half-beast in the film, and keeping in mind that Ashutosh can be so convincing, it's an apt case of 'beauty and the beast'. And if you want to know whether she finally tames the beast in this case, you'll have to wait till the film releases. We're not telling.


01 December 1999 - Hard days for Ash

It's difficult to pin down Aishwarya Rai these days. The lovely lass is on her toes all the time. Working doubly hard, trying to wrap up work on two films, the former beauty queen seems hassled on the sets of Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke... "I'm just working very hard," she groans. Nonetheless, minutes after giving her shot, she sits down to discuss business. "I haven't signed a new film in a long time, and I really don't want to. Not until I complete what I've committed to," she reveals. Dressed exotically in red for a song sequence, Ash flutters her lashes obligingly every time producer Rahul Gupta requests her to meet a fan or a friend. "This is completely a children's fantasy film," she says. Co-star Sunil Shetty is missing today. "The set is alive when he's around," she says. "Often we break into Tulu (our mother-tongue) and go on while the others stare in disbelief," she laughs at the memory.


12 September 1999 - Honey, the kids grew up!

Remember Shashi Lal Nair's Hum Panchi Ek Daal Ke with Sunil Shetty and Aishwarya Rai and a dozzen kids? Here's a red alert for all. The film has been stuck for so long - what with Sunil and Ash having persistent date problems -- the toddlers are fast growing up into teenagers. And we don’t know how they feel about this, but it'll sure will make for some continuity jerks in the film. Cute kids in the first part will suddenly have fat hairy legs and sprouting mouches in the second half. Yuck!!!! They might even have to change the name to Hum Buddhe Ek Daal Ke.