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Shahrukh Khan spends time with cancer patients

Shahrukh Khan was in Calcutta recently. And the actor spent time with the patients in the cancer ward of AMRU hospital. One of the patients was a little girl named Meghna Ghosh who was diagnosed with cancer when she was two. Her family was visibly moved. Shahrukh Khan had only kind words for the patients. The actor is all the more forthcoming for the cause of cancer because he lost his own father to the disease. In fact, he wants to start a special ward for cancer patients in Mumbai's Nanavati hospital. His visit to Calcutta caused a frenzy among his fans. The roads were lined with people waiting to just catch a glimpse of him.  

Priyanka in a sting operation  

Priyanka Chopra, with plenty of releases in her kitty, is all set to lure the audiences in 2006 as well. One of her biggest movies of the year will be Rumi Jaffery's God Tussi Great Ho, which will have the actor starring opposite Salman Khan. The couple will be seen together after Mujhse Shaadi Karogi, which was a big hit.
In God Tussi Great Ho, Priyanka Chopra plays the role of a journalist who is about to pull a successful sting operation. This is a new kind of role that she is experimenting with. Apparently, Priyanka is also playing a similar role in Rakesh Roshan's Krissh which is also to release this year. However, Priyanka says that though she plays a TV journalist who lands in tight situations every other time in Krissh, her role is very different in God Tussi Great Ho.

From a fashion designer in Mujhse Shaadi Karogi to a business woman in Aitraaz and now a journalist, Priyanka Chopra seems to be trying out new professions onscreen.

Raveena leaves hubby抯 ex-wife dripping

Actress Raveena Tondon is known for her blunt nature and on the New Year eve she showed that she can go to any length for the man of her life. On New Year's eve, when Raveena, along with husband Anil Thadani, came to Ritesh Sidhwani抯 party, she poured wine on Natasha Sippy, Anil抯 ex-wife.
According to an eyewitness at the party, it happened when Natasha provoked Raveena. Natasha and her friends were sitting and chatting in the same party. Raveena went to get something to eat for her husband. But when she returned she saw Natasha and her friend sitting next to Anil. Raveena did not react but requested Natasha抯 friend to take her away from there. But when Natasha refused to move, Raveena went to the bar, picked up a glass of wine and poured it on Natasha抯 head.

Well, Natasha had no option but to leave the party.  

Saif sings & plays live
  
Saif is getting ready for a holiday in Kenya with Rosa and his kids to bring in the new year. But his excitement is tinged with regret. The road accident and its aftermath were unpleasant.
One of the unfortunate repercussions was the incident outside the court house, where Saif is supposed to have called the gathered journalists "monkeys".

Saif doesn't deny using the term. "But it wasn't addressed at any specific group of people. It was just an expression of my annoyance at being crowded at a time when I was under so much stress. When I saw five hundred people outside court shoving and pushing, I just lost it. But then, you must try to put yourself in my shoes and see how it felt. I have done everything i could for the kid whom I had hit. He's happy. His family is happy. I'm happy. Then why the unpleasantness, my friend? I bear no grudges against anyone, least of all mediapersons who've always been extremely supportive."

And guess what? Saif has now sung live at a rock concert in Delhi. "I can't say I'm a great singer. But I manage. I hope I didn't make a fool of myself. I didn't think I did. I, never in my wildest dream, thought it'd be so much fun," Saif is exultant but a tad tired. After his historic live performance with the rock band Parikrama, he has flown from Delhi to Goa to shoot a potato-chips ad.

But the images and memories of Sunday evening's rock concert linger. "It was an awesome experience. I played the guitar on stage for a good forty-five minutes. None of that rock star-in-scruffy jeans-long hair- dragging-his-guitar-on-to-stage act for me. I think my performance was more what I wanted to express than what a rock concert is supposed to be. Would you believe, I finally sang two songs on stage! One was 'Roadhouse Blues' by the Doors, the other was 'Johnny B Goode' by Chuck Berry. Besides that, I played 'Highway To hell' and 'A Whole Lot Of Rosie' by AC/DC and a rhythm-and-blues track by Parikrama. Yeah, I think I did well for myself."

Saif is very pleased with Parikrama. "They're really good. I enjoyed being on stage so much with them that I've decided to do another concert with Parkirama - this time in Mumbai. The best thing about the Delhi concert was the audience. There were no star-gazers there, only rock fans who grooved to the beats."

Just one regret. "I wish my two children were there to watch me. They'd have seen an entirely new side to their father's personality. But they will be going with me on a holiday for New Year's eve. They need to catch up with their studies and be with their mom. Maybe they can watch me when I perform in Mumbai."

He'll also be pitching in for a project called Live Aid for AIDS victims. "Why not? Doing things where your celebrity status helps raise funds for the needy, gives a great feeling. It's not about feeling superior. It's about feeling useful. We don't always get a chance to do the kind of work that offers us a chance to go beyond simple entertainment. If I can entertain and serve a purpose, that's fantastic."

Career-wise, Saif has three films lined up for shooting in 2006. "In January, I go into Vishal Bhardwaj's Othello. Then there's Sidhartha (Salaam Namaste) Anand's film. Finally, I've said yes to Abbas-Mustan's new thriller, where Fardeen will play my brother. It's a crackling whodunit _ quite the two directors' forte. I've never worked with Abbas-Mustan and I'm quite looking forward to it." Saif's next release is Vidhu Vinod Chopra's Eklavya. "In fact, Vinod has brought out an awesome coffee-table book on the film. When I went visiting Mr Bachchan at the hospital this week, we all went through the book. It's a work of art!"

He's none too pleased with a section of the Press commenting on Rosa's clothes at the hospital . "She was dressed in a tee-shirt when we visited Mr Bachchan. What's wrong with that?"  

Aishwarya opts out of Saamna  

Aishwarya Rai is no more working for Rajkumar Santoshi抯 Saamna. Known for a good working relationship with Rajkumar Santoshi, Aishwarya had to take this decision because of her busy schedules. Her last release with Santoshi was Khakee. Santoshi also wanted to cast her in his ambitious project Prithviraj Samyukta but the film never took off.
Ash is currently shooting for Umrao Jaan in Jaipur. According to Hari Singh, her business manager, the actress has many projects lined up this year including Dhoom 2 and Akbar Jodha. However, Ash is not able to find dates for Saamna starring Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar and Nana Patekar in lead roles



[ Last edited by Gadis_Venus at 24-2-2006 11:22 PM ]

Priyanka poses for inaugural cover of Maxim

Maxim, a new magazine for men is all set to be launched in India. Internationally it is known for having actresses, singers and models pose for them in provocative poses and now it will be the country抯 first mainstream magazine to feature naked or semi-naked women. Ex-Miss World and actress Priyanka Chopra is the first woman to pose for this magazine. However, men don抰 get your hopes up as she is not clad skimpily in any way. Apparently, the magazine will change its layout a bit as it has to cater to the Indian audience which is known to get in frenzy when it comes to women and sex.  

Sanju showers his `Jadoo Ki Jhappi`

After the Bollywood charity concert, it was the time for Sanjay Dutt to play Santa Claus.

Sanju baba met 5 year old Rahul (name changed) who is suffering from AIDS. It was Rahul's wish to meet Dutt and so his father approached Sangeetha Ahir, producer of Vaah! Life Ho To Aisi to get through him and as luck would have it Sanjay without any hesitation cancelled his morning shift and agreed to meet Rahul.

The meeting was held in Ahir's office and he even gave the little boy a gift.  

Dino Morea and Onjolee Nair to appear in Remix

The trend of promoting movies in television serials is catching up in a big way. The latest to join the league is Pooja Bhatt抯 Holiday. Dino Morea and Onjolee Nair who star in Holiday will make an appearance in an upcoming episode of Star One抯 popular youth serial 慠emix

Zayed抯 unusual wedding gift to brother Fardeen

Fardeen and Natasha抯 lavish wedding last week was not just an ordinary event. And brother Zayed Khan made it even more unique for them with his unusual wedding gift. Zayed Khan and his wife Maleika, gifted the couple with a sleek, stylish jet ski, worth Rs. 2 lakhs!

Zayed Khan


Fardeen Khan

Isha Koppikar in PETA抯 latest ad

PETA抯 latest ad campaign will feature actress Isha Koppikar. This ad highlights the plight of animals in zoos. Isha will be seen dressed as a cat and baring her teeth through a tiny cage.
An animal lover herself, Isha has always been against the concept of zoos. She had even spoken about it, over a year ago. Other actors who were part of similar ads against the pitiful zoo conditions include Rahul Dev and Amisha Patel.

Isha抯 ad has been shot by ace photographer, Atul Kasbekar.  

Urmila flies to Dubai with `Maine Gandhi...` director

"Forget the international labels, it's always Manish for me," says the Malhotra loyalist Urmila Matondkar. "I'm sure he'll make me look good when I walk the red carpet tomorrow at the Dubai film festival."
Urmila is at the airport in Mumbai bright and early on Sunday morning. "I keep missing out on these international festivals. I was invited to be on the jury for the Singapore Film Festival in the last week of November. But my dates clashed with Harry Baweja's film. Since I had combination dates with Aftab Shivdasani, Zayed Khan and Sanjay Suri I couldn't fly off for even a day匱hen earlier this month I missed taking Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara (MGKNM) to the film festival in Pakistan. This time I wasn't going to miss Dubai for the world."

The actress is on the verge of signing two new films with director Onirban and Anurag Basu. "Though I've in principle said yes to both it's a little premature to announce them as yet. Anurag Basu and his writer Sanjeev Dutta are both very sweet and will be good to work with. But I need to resolve a couple of issues before I say a final yes匢n the meanwhile Dubai here I come. The red carpet is tomorrow and then the film will be screened."

Urmila is accompanied to Dubai with MGKNM director Jahnu Barua. The shy director seems content with the inroads his first Hindi film has made. "Actually I never expected a Gandhian film to go so far. It has been screened in Pakistan 卆nd now Dubai. In fact I think it made far more money than I expected to."

Now Jahnu Barua is ready with his second film in Hindi, The Butterfly Chase for a company called 7even Entertainment. "I'm glad I'm no longer known as a regional filmmaker," he laughs.

Adds Urmila, "Jahnu Bhai is much too self-effacing. On his set a guest had to look three times to know the man sitting quietly in the corner was the director. Filmmakers from the non-Hindi areas need to be far more assertive of their talents."

Esha Deol slaps Amrita Rao!

Esha Deol seems to have developed quite a reputation for slapping people! The actress recently slapped a youngster at the film premier of Dus, when he misbehaved.

Now as reported by a leading daily, she slapped actress Amrita Rao who stars with her in Pyaare Mohan. Apparently, Amrita abused Esha in front of her director and cameraman, which instigated Esha to slap her.

She is not apologetic about this deed as she felt that Amrita deserved it. However, sources close to Amrita deny the incident. Amrita herself was not available for her comments. Till we get her side of the story, watch this space.

Esha Deol


Amrita Rao

Bebo rubbishes rumours of her father's illness

"Arrey it was just a routine checkup! Nothing else. Why are the tv channels blowing it out of all proportions?" Kareena protests about the rumours regarding her father's illness.
Close on the heels of Mr Bachchan's hospitalization, some news channels chose to flash the news of Randhir Kapoor's hospitlization.

"He isn't ill," says daddy girl. "He's diabetic. So he went for his routine annual checkup. I accompanied him. That's it. He will be out and back home tomorrow. The press may find it interesting to create news. But at least there should some truth behind the claims specially when we're discussing something as delicate as people's health?"

Further rubbishing rumours of a film with her dad, Kareena says, "He hasn't asked me to do one. And I don't think he has any plans of making a film."

Kareena Kapoor

What made Bipasha learn swimming

She sensuously emerged from the sea in Jism and left the audiences awestruck. But did you know that bikini babe Bipasha didn't know swimming. That was until Shikar happened.

Accidents on sets are a common occurrence. It was one such incident that occurred on the sets of Shikhar that left the entire cast and crew shaken. And it was this very incident that prompted Bipasha Basu to learn how to swim! That must've been one helluva scary experience!

To give an account of the episode, it happened so that a shot with Bipasha Basu and Shahid Kapur was to be canned, in Pattaya. They were supposed to ride a water scooter. Shahid and Bipasha entered the water and were waiting for the green signal from the director. All of a sudden, a huge wave washed over them, while they were on the scooter and the scooter fell over. With the actors on it!

Considering the fact that Ms. Basu does not even know swimming, she was doubly terrified! Since they were quite far away from the shore, no one even heard their cries for help. After the incident, Bipasha was shocked. She was considering not doing the scene at all. However, the director John Mathan was extremely considerate. In fact, he even yelled at Shahid for going in such deep water. He was feeling a little guilty to ask Bipasha for the shot again. However, seeing his genuine concern, she was quite touched and went ahead with the shot. She could not allow her fears to make her work suffer.

The second time the actors descended into the water, the crew kept a close watch with the help of binoculars. They didn't even venture too far away. The scene was canned successfully. And as soon as Bipasha returned to Mumbai, the first thing she did was learn how to swim. Well, so at least one good thing came out of the scary incident. All's well that ends well!  

Ramu-Urmila re-unite for Sholay remake!

All speculations about Ramu and Urmila having a fallout can be put to rest. Because the duo is coming together for Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay. Urmila Matondkar will be performing the evergreen track Mehbooba Mehbooba for RGV's version of the film. This track will be a remix version. The last time that Urmila worked with RGV was in Ek Haseena Thi. RGV thought that no one would suit the bill perfectly than Urmila.

Although a cabaret number, the original was not sleazy in any way! Being a great Helen fan, Urmila hopes she will be able to do justice to this song. Going by her past record, we're sure she will!

Urmila Matondkar

Riya Sen slaps pervert at Zayed抯 party

Riya Sen taught a lesson to a young man recently, at Zayed Khan抯 party. It happened so that the guests were on the dance floor. Since the floor was not very brightly lit and it was quite packed, a guy who was under the influence of alcohol, tried to act fresh with her. He practically grabbed her and spilled a drink on her. Riya抯 reflex action was to slap him. Then she took a drink from her friend and dumped it on the guy抯 face. When a crowd gathered, the man quietly slunk away. Even while shooting Shaadi No.1, Riya faced a similar experience when some bikers misbehaved with her, causing her an injury. Well, at least now we抮e sure that perverts will think twice before misbehaving with Riya! You go, girl!

Riya Sen


Zayed Khan

Bebo to play Desdemona in Bhardwaj's `Othello`

After seeing what Vishal Bharadwaj made Tabu do as Lady Macbeth in Maqbool, Kareena is keen to take up the director's offer to play Desdemonia in his version of another Shakespearean tragedy.
Says Kareena, "Vishal has offered me the role. And I'll be listening to the script as soon as I return from Chennai to Mumbai. I loved Tabu's performance in Maqbool. Even Shabanaji and that child actress (Shweta Prasad) were outstanding in Vishal's Makdee. And Desdemona is one of the most challenging characters ever written for an actress. Of course I'd love to do it, if all goes well."

Kareena, on a roll with ravishing roles opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Farhan Akhtar's Don and Aamir Khan in Vishal Bhardwaj's Mr Mehta & Mrs Singh, is excited about doing her first literary adaptation, and that too Shakespeare.

Vishal Bharadwaj has just returned from the Pusan Film Festival in South Korea where his film about children("not a children's film") The Blue Umbrella was screened on 12 October .

Vishal is ecstatic. "It's one thing to make your film and watch it privately with a preview audience. But to see the reaction of an unprejudiced open-minded audience comprising thousands of people from across the world who don't follow the language, is an exhilarating experience. God has been very kind to me. Both Makdee and Maqbool were very well received. Now I've to be very careful about what I do next. I've left Mumbai so I can focus on writing my script for Othello."

Kareena Kapoor

Urmila抯 performance to open IFFI
  
Urmila Matondkar is all set to perform for the International Film Festival of India. In fact, it is this very performance which will open the festival. It will be a tribute to all Hindi film heroines, over the years. Tentatively, the songs chosen are Pyaar Kiya To Darna Kya from Mughal-E-Azam along with some numbers from Pakeezah and Umrao Jaan. She most definitely wants to dance to some popular Sridevi and Madhuri Dixit numbers, as well. Urmila has done a similar performance earlier for the Ganesha Film Festival in Pune, where she paid a tribute to Marathi cinema.

Saif is Colgate抯 latest poster boy

Bollywood stars are always a safe bet for brands, when they want celebrity endorsers. In keeping with this trend, Colgate toothpaste has managed to rope in Saif Ali Khan to endorse their products. Though Saif抯 career has seen lots of ups and downs, he came back in a big way with Farhan Akhtar抯 Dil Chahta Hai. His popularity with the youth has only increased with films like Hum Tum, Kal Ho Naa Ho and most recently Salaam Namaste. Saif抯 image is that of a hip-urban youth and his qualities complement the brand抯 attributes. Saif抯 association with the brand will certainly benefit it. It is said that he may be a part of the campaign for Colgate Gel, as well. With Saif being Gen-X抯 favorite, he seems like the ideal choice for the brand.  



Colgate

Bebo sets eyes on Bhumika抯 man

Now let抯 not get scandalous here. Bhumika抯 man yoga guru Bharat Thakur is quite safe as far as she is concerned.

We are talking about Kareena Kapoor inaugurating Bharat Thakur抯 latest school of artistic yoga. 揥e actors live a very fast paced life and need a level of calmness at the end of the day. This is the perfect place for that.