Page 103 - July 2018 Magazine

AISHWARYA RAI

BACHCHAN

TURNS INDIAN

MADONNA FOR

‘FANNEY KHAN’

SONG

ishwarya Rai Bachchan will kick off the biggest song of her career

Athis week. Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan for debutant director Atul

Manjrekar’s musical-drama ‘Fanney Khan’, it features the actress as
an ‘Indian Madonna’. The song is being choreographed by award-
winning dancer and creative director, Frank Gatson Jr (inset), who has

worked with Beyoncé and Rihanna in the past.

“Aishwarya plays a huge pop icon who’s extremely popular with
the youngsters. Her character is a fabulous dancer and singer who
performs on the global stage. While fleshing out her character, we

began referencing a bunch of choreographers who do international

live shows. Frank is among the best in the world and we decided to
approach him,” Atul tells Mirror, adding that the song is an elaborate
portrayal of Ash’s city tours, covering three-four acts and will be shot

over eight-ten days in Mumbai.

Frank, who got his big break with Michael Jackson’s ‘Smooth Criminal’,
has choreographed 17 videos for Beyoncé and was the director-
choreographer of three of her world tours. He has also worked with

Jennifer Lopez, Toni Braxton and Usher. “Frank was excited at the

opportunity to work with Aishwarya whom he knows of and immediately
came on board,” beams Atul.
Produced by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anil Kapoor and Bhushan

Kumar, ‘Fanney Khan’ also features Anil Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and

Divya Dutta. The August 3 release is loosely based on the Oscar-
nominated Dutch film ‘Everybody’s Famous!’
“We have kept the tone of the film real and this song too is being

choreographed tastefully. I’ve been extremely lucky with my cast as

none of the actors turned me down,”

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