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Posts tagged sabrina lal
Introducing the screen ‘Jessica’ – Myra Karn
12 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Subhash K. Jha, January 15, 2011 – 10:29 IST
The real Sabrina Lal got goosebumps when she saw her screen-sister Jessica. The role, as it has been revealed, is played by a young actress named Myra Karn who has absolutely no experience in acting and is in fact a qualified engineer.
Director Raj Kumar Gupta saw a likeness between the real Jessica and Myra. That’s how the chase began.
Says Myra with a laugh. “Raj Kumar Gupta is a friend. We met through common friends in a restaurant and stayed in touch. I’ve known him for some time. For a year now he kept persuading me to play Jessica. I’ve no experience in acting. Apart from family photos, I’ve never faced the camera. And honestly, I wasn’t interested in acting.”
So what gives?
“Nothing!” laughs the engineer-turned-actress. “Raj was persuasive. He said I just had to be myself. I think more than the way I look, it was my chirpy personality that made him decide I was his Jessica. I finally said yes. His instruction was simple, ‘Just be yourself. Don’t act.’ That’s exactly what I’ve done in No One Killed Jessica.”
Myra was signed just a month before shooting was to start. That was really cutting it close for the close-ups when the girl had no acting experience.
Myra comes from an army background. “My father is an army officer. So I’ve pretty much seen most of India during my growing years. My mother is a retired professor, My elder sister Raima is also into teaching. So we’re pretty much a non-film family. No More >
I feel vindicated-Sabrina Lall
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Subhash K Jha (MID-DAY; January 7, 2011)
Sabrina Lall’s apprehensions were put to rest after she saw No One Killed Jessica
Sabrina, the sister of slain model Jessica Lall recently saw the film No One Killed Jessica based on her sister’s murder. She has loved it. Speaking after a special screening held in Delhi, she said, “It was eerie and moving. sWe were all deeply relieved by how true to life the film has turned out.”
Sabrina Lall and Vidya Balan
The fear was that the film would sensationalise the subject, “When we agreed to let them make the movie, my family and I had been warned about the ‘Bollywood types’. We were told, ‘You don’t know what you are getting into. Why have you given the NOC? Now they’ll just do anything they like.’ But watching the film I feel vindicated. It will make Jessica kind of immortal.”
Precise detail
Admiring the director for his diligent recreation of the harrowing time after Jessica’s murder in 1999 when Sabrina and her family knocked on doors for justice Sabrina sighs, “Rajkumar Gupta has replicated almost every detail of the events of the proceedings after Jessica’s death.
Even the dialogues and conversations in the film are what I’ve gone through. All of us, my cousins etc, were like, ‘My god, how did the director know all this?’
The director had got the script approved by Jessica’s sis. Says Sabrina appreciatively, “Rajkumar had sat with me for almost a week. We discussed everything about the case.”
Constant reminder
She More >
Real life characters in No One Killed Jessica re-christened
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Subhash K. Jha, January 4, 2011 – 11:35 IST
More than once bitten, production houses have now decided to permanently shy away from all references to authentic characters in films based on real life.
It therefore comes as no surprise to know that UTV has decided to change all the names of the characters barring Jessica Lal in No One Killed Jessica, the film based on the celebrated case of the Delhi model who was murdered in full view of dozens of eyewitnesses on crowded bar on April 29, 1999.
The initial plan was to go the whole hog and recreate the entire case in all its details including the characters with their real names. In fact, say sources, the director Raj Kumar Gupta wanted to offer Shyan Munshi the prime witness in the murder, the chance to play himself. However, according to legal advice, the original spelt trouble. Now all the names of the main dramatis personae including the prime accused Manu Sharma and the key witnesses have been changed, to avoid legal and financial troubles.
When questioned about it director Raj Kumar Gupta is evasive. “You will have to see the film to see why we have done what we have with the characters. Beyond that I don’t want to comment on the names of the characters.”
Siddharth Roy Kapoor of UTV is more forthright about the hasty and hushed changes made to camouflage the real-life characters in No One Killed Jessica.
Says Siddharth, “The film is Raj Kumar Gupta’s creative interpretation of Sabrina’s More >
No One Killed Jessica 3 times better than Aamir-Raj Kumar Gupta
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
By Devansh Patel, December 31, 2010 – 14:56 IST
When the first promo of No One Killed Jessica was aired on the television, the viewers jumped. Yes, they were sucked in by a sudden rage; a sudden emotion and a sudden connect. It was as if Jessica Lal case was still on and it reminded you of the India Gate outrage, the ongoing court cases and a collage of those ten years of Sabrina’s struggle to attain justice for her late sister. Absorbingly touching and terrifying, No One Killed Jessica seems like an intimate film but has the gutsy and reflective ingredients of sorrow, introspection and indignation. And that is exactly what the director Raj Kumar Gupta has set out to achieve. From the director of Aamir comes yet another common story of society, sorrow and struggle. And from all we’ve been seeing of NOKJ and hearing it’s music, which, according to me, is one of the key characters of the film, without sounding too devastating, the film looks like a low-key therapeutic thriller about the human element of disdain and disillusion. This is another personalized account about the wayward universe in which we live on the sidelines as humanity takes another caustic step into the realm of numbing oblivion. And on that note, we get up today and salute Raj Kumar Gupta for making a cinema so potent that we Indians feel proud of. No One Killed Jessica may or may not bring about an upheaval, but it surely is a film that will go down in Indian cinema as a ‘precious gem’ More >
Vidya-Jessica director at loggerheads
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
The actress is uncomfortable with the idea of having Jessica’s real sister Sabrina in the film
Subhash K Jha (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 13, 2010)
Vidya Balan and Rajkumar Gupta, the director of No One Killed Jessica, are at war. The much-talked-about film about the murder of Delhi girl Jessica Lal, as seen through the eyes of Jessica’s sister Sabrina Lal, is in a state of flux now. The lead actress and the director are at loggerheads over a serious issue.
Should the real Sabrina Lal be brought into the film? That’s the bone of contention. And Vidya, who otherwise has complete faith in her director’s decisions, is not okay with this one.
Says a source close to the project, “When Vidya first heard about Rajkumar Gupta’s plans to bring the real Sabrina into the project, she was aghast. She immediately asked Gupta if this was true. When told that Gupta and the producers UTV were indeed keen to have Sabrina in the film, Vidya suggested it would not be a good idea.
In fact, she clearly saw this as a violation of privacy. Vidya felt it was one thing to make a film on Jessica’s murder. But to put the real Sabrina Lal on screen seemed gimmicky to her.
However, Gupta had quite a different take on the subject. He felt bringing the real Sabrina into the picture would only enhance the credibility of the bio-pic.” Even now when the film is just two months from release director Rajkumar Gupta is trying to persuade the real Sabrina Lal to make an appearance More >
Sabrina to appear in ‘Jessica’ film
02 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
SUBHASH K JHA Times News Network (BOMBAY TIMES; June 2, 2010)
Sabrina Lal, the doughty sister of slain model Jessica Lal, will make an appearance in the film No One Killed Jessica that Rajkumar Gupta is currently directing. Sabrina, who was hugely active in getting justice for her deceased sister, has lately shown more than a passing interest in the bio-pic. She’s also impressed by the director’s earlier film Aamir.
According to sources, the reel Sabrina, Vidya Balan, plans to meet the real Sabrina very shortly. In the meanwhile, Gupta has been re-constructing the Jessica case that shook Delhi with paintstaking authenticity. The director has publicly said he wouldn’t want his film to be a dry bio-pic but a racy thriller based on facts.
It was during one of the brain-storming sessions between the director and the actress that the idea of the real Sabrina Lal making an appearance at the end of the film came up. The idea was immediately carried forward. Apparently Sabrina has agreed to make a guest appearance in No One Killed Jessica but the news is being kept under wraps.
Vidya celebrates breakthrough in Jessica Lal case
03 years ago
by Fenil Seta
in Bollywood News
Vidya Balan, who is playing the role of Sabrina Lal, celebrated the Supreme Court verdict in the Jessica Lal murder case with a party on the sets
By Vickey Lalwani (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 06, 2010)
Manu Sharma
In a classic case of real imitating reel, Vidya Balan was shooting a crucial court scene for No One Killed Jessica in Delhi when the Supreme Court upheld the life sentence given to Manu Sharma for the murder of model Jessica Lal. When Vidya (who plays Jessica’s sister Sabrina Lal in the film) learnt about the development, she just couldn’t control her emotions.
She ran straight towards director Rajkumar Gupta announcing the news whereupon a collective ‘hurrah’ resounded on the sets.
To reach Gupta, Vidya had to wade her way through almost 500 students who had gathered at the venue of the shoot that day.
“Vidya signed a lot of autographs that day. Frankly, she has never signed so many autographs in a single day,” says an eyewitness. Everyone agreed that it called for a celebration. A sumptuous meal was ordered and a celebration followed. “The entire cast and crew on the shoot that day had lunch together. After the meal, a big round of desserts was also ordered, including kulfi and sweets. Khushi ke mauke pe meetha toh hona chahiye na?” adds the source.
Vidya said, “I am elated that justice has been done.”