The trailer for Abbas–Mustan’s Players, the remake of the remake of The Italian Job, has been released.
   The authorized remake, licensed by Paramount, has been filmed in India, New Zealand and Russia, with the trade-mark Mini chase scene shot in Wellington.
   The film stars Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bobby Deol, Sikander Kher and Omi Vaidy.
   In one move harking back to the original film, and as revealed in Lucire a year ago, the classic BMC-designed Mini will be used in the chase sequences.
   Originally slated for a December 2011 release, the film will now début in theatres in India on January 6, 2012.
   Lucire had some behind-the-scenes stories at this time last year on the film, directed by brothers Abbas and Mustan Burmawalla.

Aishwarya Rai overtook Gong Li yesterday as being the most-searched celebrity on Lucire, so here’s a treat for all fans of one of the world’s most beautiful women: a one-on-one interview.
   Jonathan Ross is again the interviewer.
   Rai talks about feeling ‘at home’ at Cannes, thanks to her frequency of visits, and the honour of being the first Indian jury member at the Festival de Cannes.
   Ross asks an excellent question about cultural references in Indian films and Indian movie-going habits, both of which are handled with aplomb by the 1994 Miss World.
   The actress announced earlier today at the Majestic Beach Pier her new film, Heroine, produced by Ronnie Screwvala and to be directed by Madhur Bhandarkar.
   The new fictional film is ‘entertaining, daring, emotional, shocking, glamorous, scandalous behind-the-scenes account of the reality behind the world of glitz and glamour that our stars inhabit.’

It takes an outstanding stylist, with clear leadership and strong credentials to become Tresemmé’s next top hairstylist. Chetan Mongia has what it takes.
   On Friday, Mongia was announced the winner of New Zealand Fashion Festival–Tresemmé Dream Team from eight finalists. They endured a week working backstage at the New Zealand Fashion Festival proving their talent to beauty editors, trade guests and members of the public in the Tresemmé lounge. Rachel Beattie, Tresemmé group brand manager, who will be working with Mongia, says, ‘The calibre of work that was produced from the dream team was tremendous.’
   Mongia shone in the style challenge. The finalists had 45 minutes to create a modern look, with their chosen model and self-directed a photo shoot.
   The final stage was interviewing the contestants’ strengths, knowledge of the Tresemmé products, and their future vision. The judges, all top industry professionals, were confident that Mongia was the most deserving of the title ‘dream team winner’.
   Mongia follows in a hairdressing tradition. His father, according to judge Eithne Curran, was a hairdresser to royalty in India.—Ella Garland-Levett

Between the autumn–winter fashion weeks and the Christchurch earthquake, it’s easy to overlook the main features on our website. Since we last mentioned them to readers using our RSS service, we’ve quite a few stories that have gone up.
   Vicki Matias gives us a summary on London Fashion Week, with photographs by Maurice Luckett of Fashion Aviator.
   We name Zambesi as our favourite among the New Zealand autumn–winter 2011 collections, as Sopheak Seng and Elle Hopper dissect the designs.
   Benoît Poirier d’Ambreville, who shot many wonderful editorials for Lucire, has opened his atelier in Santiago, offering customers a private environment to get their hair done.
   Former fashion editor Samantha Hannah visits Melbourne and Victoria state and comes back raving about them.
   Paris editor Lola Saab talks to Diego Binetti and his idea of the ‘Binetti woman’ in his autumn–winter 2011–12 collection.
   Patti Dubroff introduces the spring 2011 collection of Clarins beauty products at the Sunset Tower Hotel in Los Angeles—US west coast editor Elyse Glickman attends.
   And we have more travel features to Curaçao and Jodhpur, Lisboa, Puglia and Firenze.
   We encourage readers to join our Facebook page, where we often post news of new articles, exclusive videos and images. As an extra temptation, we’re giving away La Prairie’s Midnight Rain fragrance to one Facebook fan page member.

To commemorate Gucci’s 90th birthday, Fiat has unveiled the 500 by Gucci on the first day of Moda di Milano.
   The car will also be shown at the Salon de Genève from March 3 to 13, in a dedicated Gucci pop-up store.
   In other motoring- and anniversary-related news, Jaguar has commissioned a book to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic E-type.
   E-type: Fifty Years of a Design Icon has the development story, period images, competition information, and interviews with Sir Jackie Stewart, Martin Brundle, Sir Stirling Moss and Jay Leno.
   This is the official book commemorating the anniversary.
   The publisher is taking orders in advance of the March launch, with the VIP version retailing for £299, available on a first-come, first-served basis.
   For the standard hardcover edition, priced at £49, Amazon is taking orders both at the US and the UK sites.
   The VIP edition is individually numbered and is hand-bound in a reproduction of the E-type’s leather upholstery, and its own slipcase.
   At its 1961 launch, the E-type was the fastest production car in the world, capable of 150 mph. Celebrity owners included George Best, Brigitte Bardot, Tony Curtis and Steve McQueen.
   Jaguar says the book has previously unseen material from the Jaguar Heritage archives and newly commissioned photography.

Jaguar will commemorate 50 years of its E-type sports car at the 2011 Salon de Genève, the company has announced.
   The E-type stunned audiences when it was first shown at the Restaurant du Parc des Eaux Vives in Genève on March 15, 1961. It was targeted at export markets, though sales on the home market began several months later.
   There was nothing to touch the E-type at the price: it featured a double overhead cam straight-six, fully independent rear suspension and four wheel disc brakes, all for a bargain £2,256 15s. Motor tested an early model to find it could hit the 150 mph mark in a Continental road test—making it the world’s fastest production car at the time. And it seduced buyers with its looks, penned by aerodynamicist Malcolm Sayer.
   The E-type effectively defined the style of Jaguar sports cars since, and is considered an icon of the 1960s.
   In the 1970s, with power output hurt by US emissions’ laws, Jaguar installed its V12 into the final E-types. It was the model’s last hurrah: it was replaced by the XJ-S grand tourer in 1975, which had looks that were not well regarded at the time of its launch. By that time, 70,000 E-types had been made.
   Jaguar, keen to recapture the glory days of the E-type, took the XJ-S platform and created the XK8 in the 1990s—a car apeing some of the styling of the earlier model. The current XK8 is a departure, though it retains the long-bonnet proportion of the E-type.
   Other celebrations will take place at the Goodwood Revival and Festival of Speed, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance, the Nürburgring Old Timer Grand Prix and numerous Jaguar events globally.

After stints in Rongotai and Wellington central in New Zealand, the Abbas–Mustan brothers’ Players, the Indian remake of Paramount’s The Italian Job, shifted to Burnham Wharf at Miramar today—putting them near Peter Jackson territory and not far from where parts of his King Kong were filmed.
   Lead members of the cast were present, and nearby residents could hear the loudspeaker of one of the assistant directors for most of the day.
   It has emerged that the getaway will be done in three original Minis, not the BMW models—this time in red, blue and yellow, rather than the Union Jack colours of the 1969 caper. In car choice, the film is closer to the Michael Caine original, directed by the late Peter Collinson. As with the classic film, the three Minis were wearing Minilites, or at least alloy wheels that resembled Minilites.
   One of the “fast cars”, used as a back-up for the fictional gang, is a red Ferrari 355 Spyder.
   Directed by Abbas and Mustan Burmawalla, best known for their 2008 actioner Race, Players stars Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Omi Vaidya and Sikander Kher.

When I first wrote on my personal blog about Players, the Abbas–Mustan brothers’ remake of The Italian Job, I did so with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. It wasn’t so much that the film was being remade again—and by such stylish and expert directors—but that it would take quite a twist in the plot for the gang to come to Wellington, New Zealand, where filming of the latest stage of Players began a few hours ago today.
   In fact, it began not that far from our HQ, where we were able to snap these images. I was on set as well but as I did not have permission to photograph from those angles, I refrained, as we’re down on the press list to interview the Players team later this month. I’m sure our readers will understand that we’re not here to burn bridges. The pics here are all shot from public vantage-points.
   I am told by insiders that the stars had not arrived though there I spied someone as attractive as Bipasha Basu there. However, I saw co-director Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla on set. The crew was busy at Rongotai College, and a purple MGF sports car was being driven with a reflector on its roof.—Jack Yan, Publisher

Jack Yan