Tarun Mansukhani, Karan Johar's assistant, directs Dostana. The filming began in March 2008 in Miami, Florida and USA. Dostana is the first Bollywood film to be set entirely in the Miami.

It is based on the story of two guys trying to rent an apartment in Miami. Sameer (Abhishek Bachchan) works as a male nurse in St Steve’s Hospital and Kunal (John Abraham) is a photographer.

Sameer who is born and raised in London, often falls into trouble because of his whacky sense of humor. But despite this he has the ability to charm his way into anyone's life. Kunal is a tall, suave and confident man. With his good looks, he manages to win over every girl’s heart. He is an organised and responsible person but the only problem is that he does not have a residence permit, as he is an illegal immigrant. Samir and Kunal bump into each other and end up becoming flat-mates. However, they are both thrown out because the landlady wants to rent the apartment to girls only since her niece stays in that apartment alone.

That is when the two decide to pretend that they are gay to rent an apartment. Neha (Priyanka Chopra), the landlady’s niece works with a fashion magazine, Verve and is very hardworking by nature. She is simple at heart and longs to settle down and have a family. Eventually, they fall in love with her. But the boys' act gets the better of them as Neha is under the impression that they are gay. The film also features Bobby Deol and Kirron Kher doing a cameo.

Having studied in a boarding school, friends have always been an integral part of my life, so when I was to write the script of my first film, I thought that no other story would be closer to me than that of friendship. Having achieved that clarity, it hit me that friendship is just like love, unexplainable, complicated and unpredictable.

So after several attempts at trying to explain the inexplicable, simplifying the complications and predicting the future I achieved what I had set out to do with my screenplay.

I have heard a million stories about trials and tribulations faced by filmmakers in trying to get their films made. But somehow I felt this was a film that I just wanted to make. It just happened. It shaped itself on its own and it very collectively allowed people into its inner circle. From Abhishek to John to Priyanka and Bobby and all the other actors and my crew members, everyone just fitted in very easily. And no matter where I turned, I found myself looking into the eyes of a friend.

We were definitely not like one typical Hindi film family. We fought, sulked and got angry but we also went out for drinks after that.


THE BUZZ

The sexy Shilpa Shetty is creating much hype because of her sizzling ‘item’ number in the film. Priyanka Chopra dons a one piece in Dostana and will be seen in beachwear and sexy short numbers throughout the film, given the fact that the film has been extensively shot in Miami. Also the gay act between the leading men is creating a lot of curiosity.