The Hindi films releasing Friday have a common thread

`Apartment`, `City of Gold`, `Bird Idol`, `Kuchh Kariye` and `Muskurake Dekh Zara` - all the Hindi films releasing Friday have a common thread. All of them have Mumbai as the backdrop for themes varying from the space crunch in the city to organised crime and even an animation flick.

In `Apartment`, director Jagmohan Mundhra portrays a "contemporary story, set in today`s Mumbai" where people share room with complete strangers "because of the space crunch and the steep real estate prices". The movie stars Rohit Roy, Tanushree Dutta and Neetu Chandra.

`City of Gold` is a no-holds-barred look at the birth of the city`s underbelly and organised crime. Director Mahesh Manjrekar, who also plays an important role in the film, highlights the plight of Mumbai mill workers who sacrificed a lot so that the 21st Century Mumbai of swanky malls and glittering multiplexes could be built.

`Bird Idol`, on the other hand, is an animated laugh-riot where the birds of Mumbai are as human as the people who inhabit it. Director Jyotin Goel, who made Sanjay Dutt-starrer `Safari`, narrates how birds go to school, watch TV, go out on dates and enjoy reality shows, especially a musical show known for making overnight stars.

`Bird Idol` has voice-overs by Juhi Chawla, Shaan and Kailash Kher.

`Kuchh Kariye`, produced and directed by Jagbir Dahiya, deals with the current socio-political scenario. It`s the journey of a man meeting his destiny and coming to terms with himself in Mumbai, after he is forced to leave his hometown. The film also marks the debut of singer Sukhwinder Singh as an actor.

It also stars Vikrum Kumar, Rufi Khan, Shriya, Surendra Pal and Mukesh Tiwari.

`Muskurake Dekh Zara` is the story of a young man who drives from his hometown to Mumbai after an embarrassing incident. And he finds love in the city. A story of emotions and disappointments in love and life, the movie is about winning back one`s zeal with an upright attitude and ability to put people in their place after moving away from home.

`Muskurake Dekh Zara` is produced and directed by Som Shekhar, who has been an executive producer of movies like `Rangeela`, `Satya` and `Company`. The film is the launch pad of debutants Gashmeer Mahajani and Twinkle Patel.

As far as the casting goes, Friday seems to be missing out on films with big stars. What is to be seen is if the five movies manage to set the ticket windows buzzing.

Milind Soman performs most of the action sequences by himself

Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan often cast aside body doubles and insist on doing their eye popping stunts themselves. Another addition to this brave club: Milind Soman.

Actor Milind soman plays a cop in an action thriller ’27-13.20 Nakshatra’, Milind performs most of the action sequences by himself without the aid of any body double.

In spite of having met with an accident recently on the sets of the same film, wherein he injured his thigh, Milind yet continues to enjoy the thrill of performing the dare-devil acts himself.

A sports enthusiast and a fitness freak, Milind is gearing up to be the next action hero.

Lahore has been sought by US studio Hollywood Gang for a remake

Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s debut Lahore has been sought by US studio Hollywood Gang for a remake and the director says he is "not surprised" considering the global appeal of the film.

"Lahore is an international subject with a global appeal and has been made keeping the western sensibilities in mind just like in Hollywood. So I am not surprised when they [Hollywood Gang] approached us," an elated Chauhan said.

"Scott Carr, the director of development of Hollywood Gang mailed Sai Om Films [producer], the rights holder of Lahore, about a week ago that they were noticing our film since long and they wanted to purchase the rights of the same," he said.

"The Intellectual Property Rights of the film are mine and I said yes on condition that they don’t tinker with the story except for any surface changes... the core story should be the same. It is very important for us that the structure of the film is kept the same in the remake," he explained.

Hollywood Gang has to its credit movies like 300, Everybody’s Fine and upcoming films Xerxes (2011), Immortals (2011) and a remake of Excalibur (2012).

Asked if he would be wielding the megaphone for the Hollywood version too, Chauhan said: "I am open to direct it and [will be ok] even if anyone else does it."

"However the director, cast, etc. is yet to be decided as right now everything is just at the preliminary stage. The contract is going to be signed soon," he added.

Released in India on March 17, Lahore is now going for a phased release in the US and Canada followed by Europe and East Asia.

Set against the backdrop of competitive sports (kick-boxing) in the international arena, it already has a multiple international connect with the likes of Rob Miller as sports consultant who also worked on Chak De! India, Tony Leung as action director, Wayne Sharpe as background music composer and Avatar vocalist Lisbeth Scott as singer.

Lahore stars Nafisa Ali, Farouque Shaikh, Ashish Vidyarthi, late Nirmal Pandey, Sabyasachi Chakraborty, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh, Kelly Dorji, Shraddha Das, Shraddha Nigam and Mukesh Rishi. Actor Aanaahad made his debut with the film.

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures India, it has also won an international award - the jury award for the Best Feature Film at the 42nd WorldFest International Film Festival, Houston, Texas, where the world premiere was held on April 20 last year.