Mumbai, Sep 19 (IANS) Though he has written off the debacle, Tusshar Kapoor attributes the non-performance of Aggar at the box office to poor publicity. "Normally the poor publicity of a film is attributed to the stars who don't give dates for pre-release campaigning. But I was more than willing to dole out dates for the publicity. Those dates went perpetually waste," Tusshar told IANS.

"Though I liked the script and Anant Mahadevanji has done justice to it, the promotion wasn't aggressive enough. And for no fault of mine, I did the promotion of Aggar on my own as much as possible. But the release came during the holy month of Ramadan and Ganesh Chaturthi and the India-Pakistan match. No one had time for the film."

But Tusshar is still upbeat.

"I've Priyadarshan's 'Dhol' coming up this week. And that should compensate for the debacle of Aggar. I can't say I'm tired of doing these boys' comedies. That's what's working at the box office."

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I don't think I'll look older than Shahid: Vidya

"Who says I look incompatible with Shahid Kapur?" Vidya protested about her pairing in Aziz Mirza's latest which she's currently shooting abroad.

"People are raising the question of our on-screen compatibility. All I'll say is, wait and see," said Vidya.

Her co-stars range from Saif Ali Khan and John Abraham to Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and Shahid Kapur.

"But my prince charming will have to be away from the industry," the vivacious Vidya said.

Talking about her pairing with Shahid, she said: "I loved working with his father Pankaj Kapur in Raj Kumar Santoshi's Halla Bol. And I think Shahid is a bundle of talent. Aziz saab makes such wonderful working-class romances."

Reminded that she resembles Mirza's favourite heroine Juhi Chawla, Vidya laughed delightedly.

"Juhi and I do have the same business manager (K.S. Sanjay). I love Aziz Saab's 'Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman' and 'Yes Boss'. The one I'm doing with him is such a sweet and tender film. They're entertaining and socially conscious. I'm blessed to be working with directors like Mani Ratnam, Raj Santoshi and Aziz Mirza."

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'Last Lear' team had a blast in Toronto

Rituparno Ghosh has never been happier. His entire "Last Lear" team had a picnic in Toronto.

"All of us from the 'Last Lear' team were completely cut off from the festival crowd because we were put up at the Royal York because Amit-da (Amitabh Bachchan) wanted to stay there. But there was stunning solidarity among us," Ghosh said.

The entire team including Amitabh, Arjun Rampal, Preity Zinta, newcomer Jisshu Sengupta, producer Arindam Chowdhary and executive producer Shubho Shekhar, was there.

"And then Prosenjeet, who was there for Buddhadeb Dasgupta's 'Kaal Purush' joined us because he has a cameo in 'Last Lear'. Arjun had come with his wife Meher and Prosenjeet's wife was also there, also the producer's wife so the ambience was relaxed," he added.

Ghosh recalls the journey to the 'Gala' event at the Toronto Film Festival.

"All of us got into three stretch limos as though we were proceeding to a picnic. I was wearing Black, Amitda was wearing an off-white closed neck for the gala, Arjun was wearing a suit, Preity was wearing grey, and so it was a perfect 'Grey Card' situation for television," Ghosh said.

"There was only one reason why I was very hassled. I was seeing 'The Last Lear' for the first time. I've been to innumerable festivals but this was a unique experience. They kept asking why Shakespeare was part of an Indian film. I had to keep explaining, I grew up meeting Shakespeare on the streets of Kolkata.

"Theatre Road was renamed Shakespeare Sarani. Shakespeare is lodged permanently in Kolkata. Anyway, Deepa Mehta and Vishal Bhardwaj and his wife were among those who really loved 'Last Lear'," he said.