Poor Amit Mehra. When he decided to launch his career as producer with a remake of his father the illustrious Prakash Mehra’s <em>Zanjeer</em> he didn’t know the stumbling blocks ahead would almost destroy his fledgling career.

On Wednesday (27 March 2013) when Telugu cinema’s biggest star Ramcharan Teja turned 28, his wife Upasana Kamineni who owns the Apollo chain of hospitals, organized a surprise birthday party in Dubai. Ram had no choice but to follow his wife blindly.

Contrary to reports in the Times Of India, the Big B who played the iconic cop Vijay in Prakash Mehra’s <em>Zanjeer</em> in 1973 won’t be making an appearance in the remake. Efforts to get the Big B to be part of <em>Zanjeer</em> have failed. Apparently the film’s team was enormously keen to get the super-iconic star to do a cameo. It seems every effort was made to get the Big B into the picture, until the last minute. Finally the beard proved the villain.

In spite of the trauma that Sanjay Dutt is getting ready to face with his re-incarceration, the actor on Thursday evening at his residence in Pali Hill assured the makers of his three under-production films <em>Zanjeer, Police-giri</em> and <em>PK</em> that he would complete their films in the next three weeks before he is expected to be imprisoned.

It is well known that the Apoorva Lakhia-directed much anticipated film Zanjeer which stars Southern Superstar Ram Charan (RC) opposite B-Towns leading lady Priyanka Chopra (PC) is simultaneously being shot in Hindi and Telugu. While on one hand Priyanka has mastered the art of dialogue delivery in Hindi, on the other, Ram Charan is swiftly mastering his Hindi diction. Similarly, while Ram Charan, being a super hero in Telugu cinema is very well-versed with the language while Priyanka is still getting her grip on the same.

Veteran actor Pran who has been ailing for some time is back in hospital barely a month after he was discharged in November. And though his daughter Pinky, when contacted, maintains that he is better, friends of the family are not that optimistic about the veteran actor’s health any more. “He is getting on. Pran Saab is a fighter. But one can’t really fight old age beyond a point,” a colleague said. However the family maintains Pran Saab is recuperating in hospital.

The iconic Pran who was hospitalized is back home and doing very well. So well that one hears the Zanjeer producer Amit Mehra and director Apoorva Lakhia have actually resolved to create a very special cameo for Pran Saab,the “original Sher Khan” , in the new Zanjeer.

Producer Amit Mehra who is remaking his illustrious father Prakash Mehra’s 1973 Amitabh Bachchan classic Zanjeer is embroiled in a remake-compensation battle with his own brother Punit Mehra. Punit has apparently gone to court for the compensation amount due to him to relinquish remake rights to Amit. But Amit says he has already submitted the due money in the honourable court and that the dispute is not between the Mehra brothers but between Punit Mehra and Salim-Javed the scriptwriters of the original Zanjeer who have legally staked a claim to compensation for the remake.

So who in Bollywood gets to secure Priyanka Chopra’s newly-discovered stardom as a singer? Sources insist that she’s being earnestly wooed to do the croon for both her underproduction films <em>Krissh</em> and <em>Zanjeer</em>. “But Priyanka can only sing in one of these films. She told us she doesn’t want to sing in too many movies. She wants to lend her voice sparingly in films. She has told us she would be singing in just one of the two of her films that are on the floors,” said someone close to one of the two underproduction projects.