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Shah Rukh to play a cameo in Ravi Chopra抯 next!

After 慘aal', Bollywood king Shah Rukh Khan will be seen again doing a cameo, this time in Ravi Chopra's next titled 態hootnath'.

The film will also see Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan together after a long gap. Juhi will play female lead in the film, and Shah Rukh will be seen for a short appearance as Juhi's husband. Amitabh Bachchan will play male lead. Ravi Chopra's forthcoming film 態abul' is complete and ready to release.

Shah Rukh Khan

Saif denied spat with Rani!

Saif Ali Khan denied spat with Rani Mukherji. There was rumour that Saif has had a showdown with Rani on the sets of Siddharth Anand's 慣ara Rum Pum' and since then they have been living separately in different hotels.

When contacted, Saif, who is now in New York shooting the film, totally dismissed the rumour. 揥hat's this about a showdown with Rani? Am I mad to have a showdown with her? I mean, come on! Rani and I have shared a cordial professional relationship ever since we did

My wife is a huge SRK fan: Zayed Khan

In a free-wheeling chat with TWF correspondent Vickey Lalwani, Zayed Khan talks about his new film 'Rocky - The Rebel' and says he has contributed to its script as well.

Q: Tell us about your new release 'Rocky- The Rebel'?
A: The film is very close to my heart and may I add that it is in no way related to the Sanjay Dutt movie by the same name. 'Rocky- The Rebel' is a tale of a youngster (Zayed) going through turbulent times and the questions he asks society about truth, morality and justice. He wants things around him to improve.

And when that doesn't seem to happen inspite of all his earnest ways, he only had one option that remained. Turn into a rebel with a cause. As a result, the relationship between Rocky and his father deteriorates. Please don't ask me more. It will give everything away.

Q: There's one very dangerous scene you've done in 'Rocky- The Rebel'?
A: The scene in question is the opening shot of the film, precisely a song, wherein Zayed stands on the parapet of the top floor of a 40-storey building under construction. Producer Shyam Bajaj could easily have employed a double but I insisted that I wanted to do the shot himself. The shot was filmed in Hiranandani Complex, Powai.

Q: If your wife (Mallika) and parents (Sanjay and Zarine) had known what Zayed was going to do for a particular scene in Rocky- The Rebel, that scene would never have happened?
A: I don't want them to get a heart attack. So I told them about it, only after I had shot for it.

Q: Still, why did you do such a risky scene?
There was a need in the opening song itself to show that Rocky does something very crazy.

Q: Didn't you feel scared, especially when you looked down?
A: Well, I like to do most of my stunts myself. For this one, I did ponder a while but decided not to use a double because I was confident that I will pull it off. So, there was no question of feeling scared. As for looking down is concerned, the golden rule of heights is that you must look straight and not down. I simply followed that.

Q: A fact not known to many of your fans is that you are a skilled writer too?
A: (Smiles) I studied direction and acting at the London Film School. I wrote scripts and screenplays for three pounds and have over 250 scripts to my credit. I love scripting and I'd definitely like to nurture it. I started writing when I was struck with a slip disc last year. I have also contributed to the scripting of 'Rocky' though I don't want any credit for it.

Q: You are doing more of action roles?
Romantic action films are my forte and I want to do larger than life films that I myself would go and watch. I don't want to do films that preach too much. I hate being slotted in a particular image.

Q: What was the turning point in your career?
A: Definitely, Farah Khan's 'Main Hoon Na'. Fortunately I got a chance to work with a powerhouse of talent like Shah Rukh. The film has definitely propelled my growth. Farah is very clear in her mind about what she wants.

She actually navigated me through the scenes. If you give her one idea, she'll come up with a better one. And Shahrukh is family. He is very passionate about acting, motivates others, and has so much to give others in terms of learning.

Q: Can we peep into your kitty?
A: My other films include Anubhav Sinha's 'Cash' and Vikram Bhatt's 'Speed'. Then there is an untitled film with Anurag Basu, one with Feroz Nadiadwala to be directed by Ahmed Khan, another with Vashu Bhagnani.

Q: Has life changed after marriage?
A: One loses that sense of freedom post marriage. You can抰 really chill out with friends, leave the house without informing etc. On a serious note, my wife Mallika is a stringent critic and is an ardent fan of Shahrukh Khan. She liked me in 'Main Hoon Na', 'Shabd' and 'Dus'.

Zayed Khan

Ash is the most dignified woman: Vidya Balan

From a sari clad woman in her debut vehicle "Parineeta" to a hip radio jockey in "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", it has been quite a transition for Vidya Balan.

Vidya gives credit to her costume designer Sheena Parekh for her glamorous look in "Lage Raho Munna Bhai", reports Bollywood Trade.

"I want to be able to portray different images. I want to be versatile and don't want to restrict myself to any particular genre.

"Sheena asserted that I could look perfect in western clothes too. Personally, I am more comfortable in this look and I am very much like this in real life too."

She bowled over her fans with her stunning performance as RJ Jhanvi in "Lage Raho.."

However, she says, she never expected "Parineeta", which was directed by her mentor Pradeep Sarkar, to receive such an overwhelming response.

"I'm glad I got an opportunity to be a part of such a great film, that too at the very onset of my career. I hadn't expected 'Parineeta' to be such a huge hit. I gave it my best shot and I'm grateful to god that it happened to me. (Laughs) And now to top it all, I have 'Lage Raho...'."

Vidya and Sarkar go back a long way.

"I've done around 90 ads out of which I did four to five with him. I've also done three music videos with him (Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas). He is truly my mentor and I really look up to him. He had faith in me and that reinforced my faith."

She describes Vidhu Vinod Chopra as her extended family.

"I respect him and we share this warmth and affection. I know if I ever need him, he'll always be there."

When asked about her co-stars Sanjay Dutt and Saif Ali Khan, she said: "I'm fortunate I started off with great actors like Sanjay and Saif. They are lovely human beings too. Saif prepares for his role and probably Sanjay doesn't but both of them are very focused and extremely natural. Sanjay is versatile and effortless I feel. I've learnt a great deal from both of them."

She talks more enthusiastically about Abhishek Bachchan with whom she is working in Mani Ratnam's "Guru". "It was a lovely experience. Abhishek is a live wire and I had a blast shooting with him. We were laughing and pulling pranks on each other."

Talking about Aishwarya, she said: "Aishwarya is by far the most dignified woman I've ever met in my life. She is humble to the core. I play a small but an important role in the film."

Right now Vidya is working in Nikhil Advani's "Salaam-e-Ishq".

"It is not yet complete and will release in January. It is the story of six couples from different walks of life. Nikhil and his group are a bunch of young, energetic people. I had great fun shooting with them. I am paired opposite John Abraham. We were constantly laughing and teasing people. He is a great co-star. I guess this probably incited the vile rumours."

So do they affect you?

"Not at all! There's no truth in it. John and I just laughed about it. People who matter to me know the truth so I really don't care. The day I'm seeing someone, I'll happily announce it to the world."

Apart from "Salaam-e-Ishq", Vidya is working in "Eklavya", "Hey Baby" and "Chandramukhi".

"'Eklavya' is Mr. Amitabh Bachchan. I'm playing the female lead in the film. I'm paired opposite Saif Ali Khan. It'll release some time in January.

"We haven't started shooting for 'Hey Baby' so it's too premature to talk about it right now. It also stars Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh and Fardeen Khan.

"As for 'Chandramukhi', I'm playing a normal girl and I have a classical number in the film."

So far Vidya has played a sweet and loving girl but has no apprehension about accepting negative roles.

"If I'm convinced I'll certainly do it. Moreover, I have not set any limitations or parameters. So, it's not about positive or negative, I just want to play good characters onscreen.

"I am here to do good work. My agenda is to enjoy my work and go home feeling satisfied with my day's work. Every role that I do should be someone else's dream role."

Aishwarya Rai


Vidya Balan

Riya is spoilt: Raima Sen

The first thing that strikes one about two beautiful sisters in similar professions is sibling rivalry.

But the Sen sisters - Riya and Raima - defy the myth completely, Bollywood Trade reports.

"Riya and I share a very normal sibling relationship. She is very pampered and spoilt. She is bossy at times and she knows she can get away with it. I am possessive about her and warn her to be careful," said Raima.

And when can the audience see the sisters together? "If a good script comes our way and if a director can handle the two of us together then I'm game for it," she chuckled.

Riya Sen


Raima Sen

Priyanka-Kareena rift?

As per rumours Bollywood sweet lady Priyanka Chopra is fuming over her 慏on' co-stars Kareena and Isha Kopikar, because they are getting more importance than her in the films publicity campaign.

However in a recent interview, Priyanka dismissed the rumour saying it baseless.

She totally refused the buzzed feud between her and Kareena. 揟he rumor is absolutely meaningless and silly,

Thanks for thinking me sexy,

You should hear Madhuri singing: Rekha

She has just sung one of Mohd Rafi's bluesiest most difficult ghazals Din dhal jaye from the film Guide for a new comedy Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana in which she plays the lead.

Having heard her play the song for me I can vouch for this

I am not in the rat race: Sush

Sushmita Sen says she's happy working at her own pace and wants to stay out of the rat race in India's prolific film industry.

"Ten years down the line people should remember me for my work. I am not in the rat race. I don't want to do 10 films at a time," Sen was quoted as saying.

Nor does she plans to explore Hollywood. "When I am reigning here, why go outside for work?" asked Sen, considered one of the most eloquent among all prominent actors in Bollywood.

She is also eagerly awaiting the release of her new film "Zindaggi Rocks", a film she enjoyed shooting due to the predominantly all-women crew.

"'Zindaggi Rocks' is a rocking film with women at the helm of affairs. If Anurradha (Prasad) is the producer, Tanuja (Chandra) is the director and Moushumiji (Chatterjee) and I are the actors.

"In fact Moushumiji has played a double role for the first time in her career stretching almost three decades. I could learn a lot after observing her at work at close quarters," told Sushmita.

The actress goes into raptures over Tanuja Chandra's directorial skills.

"Tanuja is one of our intelligent filmmakers who likes to project realism in her films even while maintaining the format and the idiom of commercial mainstream Hindi Cinema.

"What I like about Tanuja is the fact that she is a very obedient teacher who picks up the colloquial dialogues, which we tend to use in our day-to-day life. The comfort level I had as an actor was very evident when I worked with Tanuja in 'Zindaggi Rocks'."

The film, which is slated for a worldwide release Oct 6, is about the love story between a rock star Kria, played by Sushmita, and doctor Sooraj Rihan (Shiney Ahuja).

Sushmita eulogises Chandra: "I think 'Zindaggi Rocks' is Tanuja's finest work till date. If you as an actor have a personal equation with Tanuja, half the battle is won on the sets. Tanuja is a very good actor too and is very clear about what exactly she wants as a director from you.

"Technically Tanuja is quite a progressive director and sets out to juxtapose between close ups as well as cuts. Her strength is to give you several layers when you perform even when the scene is a silent one."

The actress also gives full marks to the producer for giving Tanuja a free hand to extract the best out of all the performers in "Zindaggi Rocks".

"Anurradha is an experienced producer even though this is her first film as a producer because she has to her credit several quality TV serials.

Sushmita admits that she could identify herself with the character of Kria to a large extent. Kria, according to Sushmita, is loud, mad, pathologically friendly, a musical genius, an extremely popular singer and also a woman who does not take "no" for an answer.

"Zindaggi Rocks" can be described as a mature love story between Kria - a rock singer with the responsibility of bringing up her 12-year-old son, who is smarter than men twice his age - and doctor Sooraj Rihan.

Sushmita confesses that all that she did to get into the skin of her character was to question her director and follow her instructions besides, of course, using her natural instincts.

"Whenever I tended to go off the track, Tanuja used to bring me back to the nuances of the character of Kria. Kria isn't just a rock-star because to her, being a rock star is just a way of life. Life is a celebration for her and the film has been narrated from the point of view of the doctor."

Sushmita seems to have consolidated her position among women filmmakers in Bollywood. She has earlier worked with Meghna Gulzar in "Filhaal", Farah Khan in "Main Hoon Na" and Kalpana Lajmi in "Chingaari".

Hrithik Roshan dons many guises in 'Dhoom 2'

It is a common knowledge that Hrithik Roshan plays a clever conman in Dhoom 2 . What is little known is that he will sport many different looks in the film.

The movie buffs are eager to see Hrithik stepping into the shoes of a thief who remains ever elusive for the cops (played by Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu ) in the Yash Raj Film抯 much-awaited venture 慏hoom 2

Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla paired again

There was a time when Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla were one of the most happening pairs on the silver screen.

Apart from Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta , Juhi is perhaps the only other Bollywood actress with whom Shah Rukh has shared immense chemistry. Their pairing in films like 慪es Boss

Rumours of Preity Zinta having an eye-lift

Bollywood has a new rumour doing the rounds and this one goes that Preity Zinta has gone under the knife and had an eye-lift. These rumours began after Preity抯 recent film KANK released. No doubt that the actress has a fantastic wardrobe and appealing look throughout the film, but one also notices that the area around Preity抯 eyes look flawed. According to sources Preity used plenty of heavy eye make-up to conceal the marks and bruises that she had after her eye-lift. Director Karan Johar was unable to delay the film and hence Preity had to shoot for her role in the film before she had fully recovered from her eye-lift surgery. Well all we can say is that Preity is sure one gutsy gal to undergo an eye-lift especially during the peak of her career.



[ Last edited by  Gadis_Venus at 16-5-2007 12:15 PM ]

Incessant phone calls for Ash from die hard fans across the globe

The phone has been continuously ringing at any time of the day or night ever since a film magazine published a phone number and address stating that it belonged to actress Aishwarya Rai. Unfortunately the number that has been given out is not that of Aishwarya Rai but her secretary Hari Singh. The poor man has been harrowed with Ash抯 fans calling up at all hours of the day and night and gushing about how much they admire the star. Ash too is a bit upset that her poor secretary has to put up with the calls but now Hari Singh has found a way out and he just diverts the calls to a pre-recorded message. The promos of Ash抯 film Umrao Jaan are on air and the actress looks exceptionally gorgeous. JP Dutta's Umrao Jaan is his adaptation of Ruswa's famous Urdu novel Umra-O-Jaan-E-Ada written in the 19th century published in the year 1899 by Mahadeo Prasad Publishers of Lucknow. This novel is one of the foremost literatures in Urdu and has a quality that has inspired many generations of film-makers to re-create the enigmatic character of Umrao Jaan. Other films based on the novel are Zindagi aur Toofan, Mehendi and Muzzaffar Ali's 慤mrao Jaan

Shahrukh Khan upset over 慏on

Rumours of Salman doing first on-screen kiss with Preity in Jaanemann

Kissing on-screen is hardly a big thing these days and most high profile stars like Ash, Preity, and Saif have already taken the plunge. But one stars who still has to do an on-screen kiss is Salman Khan. Rumours in the industry are circulating that Salman will do his first on-screen kiss with Preity Zinta in Jaanemann. While this will be Salman抯 first on-screen kiss, Preity is already quite a professional in the on-screen kissing department. However producer of the film Sajid Nadiadwala vehemently denies that there is a kiss in the film. As for Salman抯 other film Salaam-E-Ishq he is working alongside Priyanka Chopra, but according to sources the two actors are sharing very cold vibes on the sets and almost don抰 talk to each other after their shots. Priyanka and Salman抯 friendly rapport was disrupted when Salman recently wanted to replace Priyanka with girlfriend Katrina in his next film London Dreams.

Salman Khan & Preity Zinta

Aamir抯 loss is Saif抯 gain for the role of Langda Tyagi

Aamir Khan would have loved to play the character of Langda Tyagi in Vishal Bharadwaj抯 Omkara. The film is an adaptation of Shakespeare抯 Othello and has received good reviews. Unfortunately Aamir was busy with his other projects and hence Vishal approached Saif Ali Khan for the role of Langda Tyagi in the film. Saif has received some amazing reviews for his performance in the film. In fact Aamir and director Vishal earlier too were supposed to work on the film Mr. & Mrs. Singh, but that too didn抰 materialize due to several creative differences between the two of them. However there are no hard feelings from either sides and recently Aamir Khan attended the premiere of Omkara along with his wife Kiran Rao.

Aamir Khan


Saif Ali Khan

Aamir Khan buys 7 crore bungalow at hill station

Aamir Khan has recently bought a huge bungalow worth Rs 7 crore in Wai, a hill station. Aamir had met his second wife Kiran in Wai while she was working as an assistant director to Ashutosh Gowariker and they also had a lavish wedding reception over there. The actor will soon be having a house warming party. Aamir purchased the bungalow from director Homi Adajania抯 parents. Aamir抯 kids too are extremely fond of the bungalow.

Kareena Kapoor makes guest appearances

Earlier Kareena and Karan Johar had a fall-out due to some miscommunication and hence the actress turned down the role which went to Preity Zinta in Kal Ho Na Ho. Now Karan and Kareena have patched up and he will produce a film which will star Kareena to be directed by Soham tentatively titled 慠acer

Karisma Kapoor makes her comeback with television

Karisma Kapoor will be making her comeback on the small screen, she will be judging a contest Jhalak Dikhla Ja on Sony Entertainment. This is the second time that Karisma will be seen on television, earlier she was seen in the teleserial Karisma. There were rumours that Karisma would make her comeback in a big banner film, but that remains to be seen. Karisma is currently staying in Mumbai, according to sources once again there seems to be problems in her marital life with Delhi based husband Sanjay Kapoor. Karisma has even enrolled her baby Samaira in school in Mumbai.



[ Last edited by  Gadis_Venus at 27-9-2006 05:46 PM ]

Esha is a daredevil

Esha Deol may soon become Bollywood's answer to Lara Croft. Esha is undergoing special training for the action scenes in her forthcoming film, 'Cash'. Without a double, she will execute daring action sequences, including ones that show a car taking 180 and 360 degree spins.

Esha is shooting for the action-oriented film in Cape Town with actors Ajay Devgan, Zayed Khan and Ritesh Deshmukh.