Madhur Bhandarkar teams up with Konkona Sen

Two questions which were almost simultaneously haunting film circles were, what happened to Konkona Sen Sharma after Mr & Mrs Iyer , and to Madhur Bhandarkar after Chandni Bar ? Sure Madhur made Satta after Chandni Bar . But most filmgoers were disappointed with the results.

Now Bhandarkar promises to return to the thematically powerful milieu of Chandni Bar in his next film. Entitled Page 3 , the film to be produced by Bobby Pushkarna takes a deep hard dekko at the Page 3 crowds, the socialites and the media moths whom we see staring in strapless splendour from newspapers into our faces every morning.

"Sure many of my characters will be modelled on people I've run into at parties and social gatherings," reveals Bhandarkar. "But my heroine will be entirely my imagination. She'll be unlike any female protagonist ever invented for the screen."

The actress chosen to play the 'Page 3' journalist is none other than Konkona Sen Sharma who's currently basking in the glory of a National award for her performance in her mother's film Mr & Mrs Iyer .

Konkona says playing the journalist would be relatively easy for her since her father (Mukul Sharma) is a well-known journalist. "I don't know the Mumbai film industry that well. But I've seen Chandni Bar and Madhur Bhandarkar is one of the directors I definitely wanted to work with."

Will Page 3 win Konkona another National Award? Says Bhandarkar, "I hope she will. Konkona is a very fine actress. When I saw her work in Mr & Mrs Iyer I was amazed by how much she was able to say in that role. I hope to take her even further in Page 3 ."

Interestingly Madhur was very keen to sign Kareena Kapoor for this film. The two met and even discussed the role. But Bhandarkar wanted immediate dates. "I'm going to start the film in December and complete it by February," says Bhandarkar.