UDIT
NARAYAN TO RETURN TO HIS ROOTS WITH NEPALI FILM
Indo-Asian News Service (29 April 2007)
Kathmandu,
Nepal: Bollywood playback singer Udit Narayan, who left his village
home in southern Nepal almost three decades ago to carve out a
flourishing career in neighbouring India, plans to return to his
roots with a film in Nepali. Udit Narayan Jha comes from Bhardah
village in Saptari district in Nepal's Terai plains that have
become the most trouble-prone region in the Himalayan nation currently.
Though
Nepal is proud of the success of its boy in the mega-billion Indian
entertainment industry and has often honoured him along with actress
Manisha Koirala - another Nepali talent who made a name for herself
in Bollywood -, the last visit to Nepal by Udit Narayan had ended
in controversy. His first wife Ranjana, who also comes from the
plains, created a furore saying the singer had abandoned her and
married again.
Udit
Narayan first denied having married Ranjana but letter reportedly
admitted in a letter written to a women's commission in Nepal
that she indeed was his first wife.
However,
now with the dust having settled down, Udit Narayan's film production
company UD Movie Productions plans to shoot a film in Nepali from
September.
The
singer's second wife Deepa, who was in Kathmandu on a three-day
visit to shoot music videos, told a local daily that the film
will be directed by Anand D. Gahataraj while the music will be
by Alok Shree, who is credited with bringing ghazal maestro Jagjit
Singh's songs to the Nepali audience.
The
shooting will start after a much-hyped Bhojpuri film made under
the banner of UD Movie Productions, releases next month.
The
film, "Kab Kahava Tu I love You", stars Amar Upadhyay,
known to watchers of Indian soap operas for playing Mihir in "Kyunki
Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi". However, it is better known for
roping in Miss World 1999 Yukta Mookhey to perform in a song and
dance sequence, known as item number, in Bollywood parlance. The
sequence has been heavily panned by the Indian media, even before
the release of the film, as "sleazy".
Besides
the new film, the Jhas also plan to launch in a big way their
son Aditya, who has already acted and sung in Hindi films as a
child artiste. Aditya left Bollywood in 2001 after his voice started
breaking. Later, he was sent for vocal training in a London school.
"You will be seeing him soon," his mother told the Kathmandu
Post daily.
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