REVEALED: Aladin's Sri Lankan beauty

Jacqueline Fernandez and Ritesh Deshmukh revealed the first look of their film Aladin on Wednesday night at a Mumbai hotel. Jacqueline looked hot in a green shirt and a grey skirt, in what she described as her "first press conference". Ritesh also looked cute in a white tee and a jacket, oozing the Aladin boyish charm. The pair also revealed the Godrej contest for the film, and met terminally ill kids from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Check them out.

Riteish Deshmukh back to school

Riteish Deshmukh has reasons to feel ‘nostalgic’ these days. The 30 year-old actor will be seen sporting a school bag in Eros International’s Aladin directed by Sujoy Ghosh. He plays a nerdy teenager.

Aladin is a contemporary look at the classic fairy tale where Riteish plays the title character. However, in Sujoy’s version, Aladin shares nothing other than his name with the protagonist of the famous fairy-tale. Here Aladin is a shy, young man who is constantly bullied by a certain gang of boys in his college. Since Riteish plays a college student in the film, he was required to carry a bag. The actor suggested using a sling, since that is very popular with the youth today. However, Director Sujoy insisted on Riteish carrying a typical school bag as it would be a perfect fit with his reclusive character in the film.

Riteish immediately disagreed, but later decided to try it out on Sujoy’s persuasion. He was given a worn-out brown leather bag by Art director Sabu Cyril to try on. After giving a few takes with the bag, he discovered, to his own surprise that the bag indeed added that ‘authentic’ touch to his character in the film and gladly agreed to carry it.

Riteish said, “Sujoy is a brilliant director and knows exactly what he wants. He was very sure about his portrayal of Aladin and though I was initially hesitant, I realised that the bag completely matched Aladin’s personality.” And how was the school-going experience? “Carrying that typical ‘two-shoulder’ school bag initially felt weird, but it was fun too. It was like reliving my school days after all these years,” reminisced Riteish.

Jacqueline has two back-to-back films with Ritesh

Sri Lankan import Jacqueline Fernandes makes her B-Town debut with Sujoy Ghosh's Aladin. She has also completed Milap Zaveri's Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai.

Both films have Riteish Deshmukh as her co-star. "Riteish was one of the few people I know since my early days in Mumbai. He is a gem of a person; one of the nicest guys I know. Two movies down with him and I know I can do anything for him. And he can do anything for me."

The actress has been waiting for Aladin to release for long. "Every time I hear that the release date is changed, it is like, "Oh no, please don't do this." But now the film is releasing in October- end, she feels everything takes its own time and place."

The newbie had no clue about Bollywood and was not a keen watcher of Hindi films even though for her dad, it is a familiar territory. "When I told him who were my co-stars were for Aladin, he was more excited than me!"

Jackie is not allowing her lack of knowledge of Hindi be a deterrent. "I have been taking Hindi classes and have improved a lot. When I auditioned for Aladin, I was terrible. Later, at Sujoy's behest I enrolled at Barry John's acting studio.

I also had acting coach Vinod Tharani on the sets helping me with the dialogues and scenes."

As Milap was a constant visitor on the sets of Aladin, she bagged Jaane Kahaan Se Aayi Hai and having Ritesh as her co-star helped. "Now I am only waiting for my films to release."

Jackie who?
Jacqueline Fernandes is a Miss Sri Lanka who did her schooling in Bahrain where her father Elroy and mom Kim, who is a Malaysian, are based. She studied media communications in Sydney and returned to Colombo where her aunt Fredericka Jamsc, a political journalist, introduced her to the TV world. Jacqueline anchored a telly show for a while till she reached Mumbai on a modelling contract which ultimately led her to a role in Aladin.

A look at 'Aladin'

Here's a look at Sujoy Ghosh's Aladin which stars Riteish Deshmukh as Aladin and Sanjay Dutt as the ringmaster.

It also marks the debut of Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandes. With music by Vishal-Shekhar, Aladin is produced by Eros International in association with Sujoy Ghosh's Boundscript Productions. The film is slated for a Diwali release.

Sneak Peek: Aladin

Aladin is due for release and Sujoy Ghosh gets talking.

The promo of Aladin which was on Youtube a while ago has been yanked off. We got a sneak peek of it early this morning. It showcases dazzling special effects that we haven't seen in Indian films as yet.

Amitabh Bachchan plays the genie, Riteish plays the titular role, Jacqueline Fernandez plays Jasmine and Sanjay Dutt plays the ringmaster. It has a contemporary setting as Aladin and Jasmine are college-going characters. Jasmine is the pretty girl while Aladin is a loser.

The music for the Sujoy Ghosh film has been scored by Vishal-Shekhar, who have previously worked with him on the smashing soundtrack of Jhankaar Beats.

About Sujoy's choice of Riteish Deshmukh to play the lead, he said, "I had just delivered a turkey-Home Delivery and was toying with the idea of doing Aladin, and hesistantly approached Riteish."

"I had to curb Riteish's excitement because the moment he knew that Aladin was going to be a reality, he started jumping up and down at the very thought of it."

"Since Riteish had a miniscule role in Home Delivery and it flopped, Riteish told me I owed him a hit," adds Sujoy.

With the release of this film Sujoy hopes to recover from the disaster that was his last film Home Delivery.

Aladin releases on October 16.

Leading lady of Aladin, Jacqueline Fernandes, unveiled

It's time for the red carpet to be laid out. Aladin is aiming for a Diwali release and as the film hits the screens, Bollywood would also see the arrival of its 'most exotic' import ever - Jacqueline Fernandes.

All set to regale the audience with a lethal mix of cute persona and some sensuality, Jacqueline is finally being unveiled by the makers of Aladin. "Well, the journey has just begun. Last one year was quite happening but now it is going to be even more exciting times with Aladin being round the corner", she says.

Over the last few months, Jacqueline was closely guarded for all the right reasons. 2008 had seen quite some noise being made around the number of newcomer girls (Asin, Anushka) while Aladin was still quite some distance away.

Says Sujoy Ghosh, the film's director and co-producer, "There was no point for anyone associated with the film to gaga over Jacqueline because of two major reasons. First and foremost she had just stepped into the industry and she wanted to focus on doing a good job in her debut film. Secondly, it was felt that her being 'exposed' to millions out there so soon would have resulted in an over exposure."

The protective director goes on to add, "Since Jacqueline is one of the four major protagonists of the film, other than Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Riteish Deshmukh, she has always been someone special. Now is the time for her to reach out to the world and I am sure Bollywood followers out there would be stunned with what they see of her."

Jacqueline gets nostalgic while remembering the times she spent on the film's sets, "Playing Jasmine was all fun and frolic with just the right ingredients of quintessential Bollywood 'naach gaana' routine and countless romantic and dramatic moments. It couldn't have been a better start."

Considering the fact that 2009 is perking up now after a dry beginning, it only makes Jacqueline's arrival in the industry even more precious.

An import from Sri Lanka who already has a beauty pageant crown in her kitty (she was Miss Sri Lanka 2006), Jacqueline has been academically inclined as well, as apparent from her degree in Media and Communications from Sydney, Australia. Ambitious to the core, she had once stated - "Being independent and accomplished was imperative to me and I always demanded the best of myself. Perfectionism is my strongest asset."

That's something which is pretty much on display, as clear from her choice for her debut film Aladin which is a co-production of Eros and Sujoy's 'Boundscript' and stars none other than Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt along with Riteish Deshmukh.

Says Jacqueline while spreading out that million dollar smile of hers, "The way Riteish's character is fleshed out in the movie, it was all rather cute. However, nothing can beat the excitement of working with Mr. Bachchan and Mr. Dutt. In a way, they were just the antithesis of Riteish. I couldn't have been luckier."