Page 24 - november 2021

STARs REVEAL

ADITYA CHOPRA TO MAKE DEBUT IN BROADWAY AS DIRECTOR WITH
THE MUSICAL OF DILWALE DULHANIYA LE JAYENGE
Aditya Chopra’s DDLJ is being adapted as a Broadway musical” Come Fall in Love-
The DDLJ Musical”. Chopra will direct the musical which will feature book and
lyrics by Neil Benjamin (Legally Blonde) and the choreography will be Emmy winner
RobAshford ( Frozen ). Vishal-Shekhar will provide the music for this magnum opus.

“Come Fall In Love - The DDLJ Musical “ will debut in the Broadway season of
2022-2023. The world premiere will be in SanDiego in Sept 2022. A global search
for casting is on jointly by Duncan Stewart of Stewart/ Whitley casting and Shanoo
Sharma of Yash Raj films.

Aditya Chopra has stated that he was stunned and speechless at his first experience
of theater way back in 1985, when his dad took him and his brother to watch
a musical in London. The thing that resonated with him was the fact that Indian
films and Broadway both use songs to tell a story. All the elements, the colors,
the unabashed dancing, a classic story and happy ending formed the basis of
both the genres which came from seemingly different parts of the world, Chopra
summarized. Interestingly, Chopra wanted to make DDLJ with Tom Cruise, but that
was not to happen! But now it will be remade as a musical with an American boy
and an Indian girl in the English language for a worldwide audience.

VICKY KAUSHAL
Vicky Kaushal is riding high on the success of the period drama, ‘Udham
Singh’. The star spoke about how his familiarity with the folklore of Udham
Singh helped him prepare for the role. ‘Our ancestral home is two hours away
from Jallianwala Baug and we have grown up with stories of Shaheed Bhagat
Singh and Udham Singh’, the star proudly mentioned in a recent interview.
He said that Shoojit Sircar, the director of the movie wanted to show a multi-
dimensional side of the revolutionary. He said that it was a surreal experience
for him to play the role. Vicky went on to add that Sardar Udham was an
unsung hero, so the responsibility to bring the character alive on screen was a
very big responsibility. Since there is not much information on Udham Singh,
Kaushal added it was tricky “to chalk down a character” who was globetrotting
with multiple identities. Asked how he felt that the role had come to him after
Irfan Khan’s illness and subsequent death, he mentioned with mixed feelings
that although it was an unfortunate event and should not have happened this
way, he was glad he got the chance. He gives a lot of credit to the director
Shoojit Sircar who had been living with the story for over 20 years. He mentions
that he is a fan of the director and simply mentioned to him that he was a fan
of his work. Kaushal told Sircar, that whenever Sircar felt that Kaushal could be
a part of his world he can call him and he would jump at the opportunity.
His knowledge on Udham Singh was cursory. He had to learn a lot about where
all the revolutionary went, lived and the different disguises he donned and
finally avenged the Jallianwala massacre by killing O’Dwyer.
When asked about what was harder to play, a real or a fictional character, Vicky said that a real character was harder
to play. It has boundaries and no place for fictionalized characterization.

Vicky has 2 upcoming releases in December, The Immortal Ashwathama and Takht.

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