In a first, Nikhil Advani has teamed up with some of this year’s National award winners for his upcoming feature film titled <em>D-Day</em>. The film will star Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor and Arjun Rampal. The last two have earlier won National Film Awards. <em>D-Day</em> will also star Huma Qureshi and Shruti Haasan. <em>D-Day</em> revolves around the infamous gangster-Dawood Ibrahim, who operated from Mumbai during the 90’s.

After wooing the audiences worldwide, Nikhil Advani’s animated adventure Delhi Safari has made its grand entry to world’s most prestigious movie recognition award ceremony. The film has been shortlisted for the 85th Academy Awards in the animation category. Directed by Nikhil Advani, Delhi Safari is a rarity in Hindi cinema, an animated family film with real world themes about urban sprawl and the effects of humanity on the global ecosystem. The idea of this film came to Advani on one of many long nature walks that he enjoys taking with his six year old daughter.

After his wonderfully skilled performance as a gay dean in Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year Rishi Kapoor is all set to play Dawood. The super-versatile Rishi Kapoor stepping into Dawood’s white shoes is indeed a cinematic coup. It apparently took director Nikhil Advani who has earlier worked with Rishi Kapoor in <em>Patiala House</em> a good six months to convince the temperamental Kapoor. Rishi initially said no. Arshad Warsi was being considered for Dawood’s role. But Advani had his heart set on Rishi Kapoor. And he finally got him.

Producer-director Nikhil Advani must have thought he had pulled off a coup of sorts when he got the rights of the old Bappi Lahiri Kishore Kumar-S Janaki duet <em>Tu mera tota main teri maina</em> from the 1989 film <em>Paap Ki Duniya</em>, for his animation film <em>Delhi Safari</em>. The song fitted into Advani’s film like a hand in glove since it was filmed on a parrot in the film about ecological imbalance and animal welfare. The parrot incidentally speaks in the voice of Akshaye Khanna and in fact Advani intended to record the song <em>Tu mera tota</em> in Khanna’s voice.

Where on earth is Arshad Warsi these days? If sources are to be believed, the actor is getting ready for the biggest challenge of his career that of playing Dawood Ibrahim in Nikhil Advani’s film D Day.

For the next two years it’s going to be a long-distance marriage for filmmaker Nikhil Advani. His wife Suparna has left for a two-year course at the Harvard Kennedy School in Boston, leaving their daughter Keya in his care. Unusual arrangement. “Why?” Advani counters. “And I’m quite capable of looking after our daughter. Suparna has got a wonderful opportunity. And I’d have certainly not wanted her to miss the chance of attending such a prestigious college just because she has family responsibilities.”

Earlier, Tellychakkar.com had reported that September would be the month when four Bollywood hotties, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukerji, Sridevi and Kareena Kapoor, will clash and put the screen on fire. Yes, all their respective films would be releasing in that month. Now, it has come to light that October will see the clash of <em>guru-shisya</em> Karan Johar and Nikhil Advani. A few days ago we had reported that Advani’s <em>Delhi Safary</em> will release on 19 October. Now, Johar has also decided to launch his upcoming film <em>Student Of The Year</em> also on the same date.

Nikhil Advani’s Delhi Safari, the internationally acclaimed 3D stereoscopic animation feature film produced by Krayon Pictures, is all set for a nationwide release on 19 October (2012). The film is the story of five animals who journey to Delhi to protest before the parliament when their homeland (forest) is encroached upon by builders. Govinda, Akshaye Khanna, Boman Irani, Urmila Matondkar and Suniel Shetty have lent their voice for the film.