Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 21, 2013)

 

A few days ago, they announced coming together for a co-production and ever since, there have been swirling rumours that Akshay Kumar and Karan Johar’s film might be called Gutka.

Mirror can now tell you it is official. The project has been titled Gutka. The name was finalised on Wednesday and filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar helped make it possible.

Apparently, Karan was keen on the title Gutka, and the buzz grew louder that he had already named the film as per his wishes. Whereas, in reality, the director was far from realising his heart’s desire as Madhur held the rights of the title.

Eager to acquire the title, Karan called Madhur around four days ago and Madhur didn’t take very long to give his nod. In fact, no money was exchanged and yesterday Madhur officially parted with the title. While Karan remained unavailable for comment, Madhur confirmed the story and said, “Karan is a very dear friend. I had the title Gutka and I gave it to Karan gladly.”

A co-production of Karan’s Dharma Productions and Akshay’s Hari Om Entertainment, Gutka will have a strong social message. Emraan Hashmi might play the parallel male lead while the heroine of the film has yet to be decided.

Director Punit Malhotra will start shooting the film once he is done with his present project, Gori Tere Pyar Mein starring Imran Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

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