Could a lesser-known US-based director be taking advantage of the actor's recent success for releasing her own film in India?

There's no debating that Ranbir Kapoor is the man of the moment currently in Bollywood. And there has been no dearth of instances when lesser-known industry folk have tried to claim their few moments in the sun by name-dropping or being 'noticed' around stars.

We heard that a US-based director is planning to travel to India soon to release her film that stars Pallavi Sharda. Pallavi incidentally is shooting her next with RK.


Shailija Gupta

We can't help but notice that this film titled Walkaway released in the US in 2010 and sources say the reason why director Shailija Gupta is planning an India-release is to piggyback on Ranbir's recent success. Gupta allegedly is looking to emphasise on her actress' Bollywood 'connections' in order to apparently get maximum eyeballs for her project.


Pallavi Sharda

An insider says, `From a long time Shailija had been wanting to release her film in India. But it's not that easy. However, now she is hoping that the fact that Pallavi is Ranbir's new co-star will give her project the much-needed push.`

Speaking from the US, Shailija agrees that the RK connection will hype the 'curiosity factor' around her own project. She says, `Pallavi was shooting for My Name is Khan when she got to know about my movie. Post that she finished shooting for the film and returned to India. I will be arriving in India this weekend to hold talks with distributors.`

On whether she is apparently trying to take unfair advantage of Pallavi's connection with Ranbir, the director doesn't exactly deny the charge. She says, `Honestly, the distributors look at the commercial proposition of a movie.

So I don't know how this will play up but I am sure there will be a lot of curiosity now that Pallavi is acting opposite Ranbir. All I can say is that if it happens, then it will be good for my film.`