The organisers of the first Tattoo Convention in India have chosen beautiful Deepika Padukone as the ‘Tattoo Queen’ of India. Deepika is already known for sporting the initials of her former boyfriend, Ranbir Kapoor’s initials at the nape of her neack. Later, she modified the tattoo to ‘TMK’.

Also, she sports the ‘Dum Maro Dum’ tattoo on her waistline in the remixed song in the upcoming film Dum Maaro Dum. It was seeing this song that IndiaInk Invention got in touch with her and requested her to visit their first-ever convention which took place here on April 10. Unfortunately, Deepika could not attend the convention as she in London shooting for ‘Desi Boyz’. To make up for her absence, she forwarded the invitation to her Dum Maaro Dum team. Abhishek Bachchan, Prateik and Rohan Sippy attended the convention instead.

The convention’s organiser Manoj Thakur, Partner at Par Excellence Entertainment, said, “Deepika’s absence was felt, especially at an event that she would have readily identified with.

With her own much-written about RK tattoo at the base of her neck and the cutting-edge Dum Maaro Dum tattoo she’s seen sporting in the movie, she would have been the perfect ambassador for this tattoo expo.”

Sarah Jane Dias, ex Miss India World and VJ, has made her presence felt with her glamour in Abhinay Deo’s ‘Game’ especially in hot number ‘Kaisi Sunao Mein Yeh Dastaan’. She had to prepare for the song’s shoot for over a month.

“The song has been choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant and I was trained by her assistant. The track has a burlesque theme and I had to get the steps right as a group of guys would keep lifting me throughout as part of the steps,” she said.

Sarah appears on the cover of Maxim India April 2011 edition. Though Sarah looks her hottest best, the magazine needs to come up with something new for its covers.

Sarah is also in talks for other projects but prefers not to talk about it much. “I am extremely superstitious about all this,” she says.

Dias has also acted in a Tamil movie Theeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai (Restless Playboy) which released in January this year. Written and directed by Thiru Krishnamoorthy, the film stars Vishal Krishna, Neetu Chandra and Tanushree Dutta.

Check out Sarah on the covers of Maxim…………

Sexy Neha Dhupia may be missing from limelight for quite sometime now, but that in no way means that the lady is sitting back. She is very much active and involved. This time she has decided to go bold and topless for the environment.

She has appeared in different avatars of the elements of nature in a calendar which is a part of a Go Green Initiative launched by Franchise India Holdings Ltd. Ace photographer Jatin Kampani has successfully brought out the sensuality of Neha.

Neha is very happy that she has done her bit for the environment and says, “I grabbed this opportunity of making people aware of today’s need to protect the environment. This initiative is very close to my heart”

Such is her airs that not many men in Bollywood can say no when Sex kitten Mallika Sherawat asks for something. Even Big B couldn’t say no to her when she offered to go for jogging in slow motion on National Television.

But finally one man has emerged to have guts to refuse her. Apparently, it is Kay Kay Menon who turned down the role that Mallika offered him in her home production Hisss.

Mallika and Menon have already worked in Sanjay Chhel’s ‘Maan Gaye Moghal-E-Azam’ and in her promotional interviews for the film she openly praised his work. So, when she came upon the question of an actor for an important and intense role in her film, naturally Kay Kay’s name cropped in her mind. She then sent her team over to him with the script.

However, after few days Kay Kay called Mallika and refused the offer saying that the script was definitely interesting and that he was confident that she would make a good film but he cannot see himself in that part that she has offered him in the film.

With the top gear heroines gracing the covers of fashion and lifestyle magazines, models are getting a run for their money it seems. The latest in this sequence is Deepika Padukone who is the cover-girl for the latest issue of the fashion magazine ‘Grazia’.

In the issue, Deepika says, “I charge what I think I am worth and if people are willing to pay me that much, it must mean that they think that I’m worth it too. No one affords risks like investing in actors they don’t really believe in.”

Talking about her proud father and ace badminton player, Prakash Padukone, she says “My father’s always told me that fame is temporary and it’s not important to dwell on it too much.”

True, the girl is wise enough for her age and innocent looks!

Mallika Sherawat who can hardly be seen at any event in Mumbai, surprisingly, hosted a charity event for the Amritraj’s Foundation at The Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday, October 18. Sonu Nigam also participated and donated his services at the program that was organized for poor children and women who are forced into prostitution. At the program former US president HW Bush and Bill Clinton were also honored.

“I love Beyonce and the way she is. I have tried a different hairstyle and make-up, too. It’s a funky track and the video looks very glamourous,” said Kareena.

Even choreographer Bosco cant stop praising Kareena and feels that she has done it even better than Beyonce. “Bebo looks hotter than Beyonce,” said Bosco.

Not to mention, boyfriend Saif Ali Khan went gaga over the song. The Chhote Nawab landed on the sets unannounced to see Kareena perform the song. “He liked it so much that he wished he was part of the number too,” said a friend of the actress.

We are waiting with baited breath to see Kareena in her catty avatar!!

Karisma’s presence on screen is always admired and applauded; be it Big Bollywood hits or small screen commercials. In the coming month eagerly waiting fans of Karisma Kapoor have lot in store for them for this sexy siren is flooded with scripts and we wish her all the luck!

Not unknown to Cannes Film Festival anymore, Indian beauty queen Aishwarya Rai, arrived at Cannes, France, with her husband Anbhishek Bachchan. She was given a red carpet welcome by the organizers at Cannes Film Festival, who always give special attention to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. She also attended “Kung Fu Panda” Premiere on 15th may.

No doubt about it…. Kareena Kapoor’s career is on a never before ascent…. What more proof does it require than that she has been the choice for Ajay Devgan’s to be announced next directorial venture. What makes it more conspicuous is the fact that the actor-turned-director has chose Kareena over her talented wife Kajol Devgan.

The chemistry between Ajay Devgan and Kareena Kapoor had already set the cash registers ringing in ‘Omkara’. They will also be seen in Ashtavinayak’s ‘Golmaal Returns’ which is set for release later this year.

If this was not enough, Kareena Kapoor is also being considered by Karan Johar for his next venture ‘My Name Is Khan’ starring SRK, but that will be only when Kajol turns down the offer.

At 61st annual Cannes Film Festival bollywood queen Aishwarya Rai arrived on red carpet along with Eva Longoria and Mischa Barton for the premiere of new Julianne Moore flick “Blindness”. Check out aishwarya rai’s latest photographs.

Image Source: Celebrity Gossip

She has endorsed big ones like Maybelline, Levis Strauss, Pepsi and Tissot SA. Talking about Deepika Padukone, the girl definitely has things on a move both in professional and personal front. Where she has the current heartthrob of tinsel town, Ranbir Kapoor, in her arms, she has just grabbed another big endorsement deal. Padukone has just added another feather to her cap by becoming the new face of Dubai’s Aspire Real Estate.

The chairman of the company, Harshit Kantaria, is today a proud owner of Dhs5.5 bn portfolio with developments from Business Bay to Jumeirah Village and Dubai Marina, and special focus on waterfront properties as well. The promising company, Aspire Real Estate, chose Deepika Padukone as a brand ambassador because of her image as a true rising star of Bollywood, claimed the chairman Kantaria.

Since, Aspire Real estate is the new kid in Dubai real estate block and is making it big there in the same way as newcomer Deepika is making it big in Bollywood, the Union of ‘Rising Stars’ is the name given by the company to the association.

Sajid Khan has already cracked a hit in his maiden project ‘Heyy Babyy’ under Sajid Nadiawala Productions. Now, he is set for his second directorial venture, this again a multi-starrer romantic comedy, ‘Housefull’ with Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles. The pair is already appearing in ‘Chandni Chowk To China’. In addition, he has chosen Riteish Deshmukh (Riteish has proved himself time and again in comedy) for the second lead. Recently, he signed Jiah Khan as the second female lead and is on the lookout for a third girl.

Rumours doing rounds were that Big B has also been signed for the movie, but Sajid denies this saying, “I had informed you earlier about the trio of Akshay, Deepika, and Riteish, being signed for my film. In addition to that, I have now signed Jiah Khan as the second lead heroine in the film. And I am on a lookout for the third girl.”

Sushmita Sen may not be an iconic Bollywood star, but the lady is sure known for her elegance and poise. These days Sushmita is all but full of talks for her first project ‘Rani Laxmibai’ under her Production House, ‘Tantra Productions’. While ‘Tantra’ is the parent company dealing with various fields of entertainment, ‘Sushmita Sen Productions’ will be producing feature films.

With Sushmita holding the directorial reins of the film herself, not to mention she is very busy these days. Sen has got Manmohan Desai’s son Ketan Desai’s MKD Productions to collaborate with her. Ketan will serve as the executive producer on the project.

Another Desai, Nitin, has been assigned the task of designing the elaborate period sets of the film. For the crucial war scenes Sushmita takes her mixed Indo-British crew to China. Since the film will be in Urdu and Hindi, Sush is working hard in getting her Urdu right. Sushmita will dedicate ‘Rani Laxmibai’ to her dear friend Rajiv Narayan who died of cancer recently.

This one is the third incident of abuse and insult with Celina Jaitley, friends! This time the devil comes from the guests from across the border.This Sunday, Celina Jaitley was in Delhi for her performance at the Indian Cricket League’s match between Pakistan and India. However, after she had finished her performance and was leaving with her security personnel around the stadium, she heard loud abuses in Hindi coming out of the Pakistani players’ enclosure.

Though she refuses to share the nastier comments or to put blame on anyone, some of the less abrasive comments she heard included, “Move her away, she is spoiling the mood of the entire match,” and “Why does she need such heavy security? Is she Osama Bin Laden?”

Recalls Celina with a shudder, “At first I couldn’t believe where it was coming from. I still want to give them the benefit of the doubt because it’s so hard to believe they could behave this way.” Celina wanted to rush out of the spot to her car, “But I couldn’t because the security guys wouldn’t let me pass. So I was stuck listening to myself being described in the most colorful language.”

This certainly isn’t a friendly gesture coming from sports to entertainment!

Bollywood’s list of sexy actresses would be definitely incomplete without the mention of dusky bong beauty Bipasha Basu, but never before this had Bips felt that her dusky complexion was in any way a hinderance in her career.Bips was signed for a jewelry brand, but she was swapped at the last minute for Karisma Kapoor. Bips was shocked when she learnt that it was her dusky skin which triggered the brand to replace her in the ad. According to the brand, the diamonds would not quite go that well with her dark complexion and also, her dusky look might not help the brand connect with the target women audience. Also Bipasha’s oomph image would have been an impediment for the families in patronizing the brand.

Now, Karisma Kapoor, with a fair and glowing skin, has been roped in to model for the brand instead of Bipasha Basu and the buzz doing the rounds is that she has already shot for the endorsement in a posh suburban hotel.

However, sources say that Bipasha Basu is very much hurt and disappointed by the whole episode. At the time, when the deal was being clinched with her by the company, they should have taken everything into account and should not have done something so humiliating like this at the last moment.

Also what worked for Lolo was the presence of Vasu Bhagnani’s brother Khemchand Bhagnani as a partner in the jewellery company. Khemchand pressed for Lolo as he considered her lucky for himself and his family. Karishma worked in Vasu Bhagnani’s ‘Coolie No 1’ and the movie was successful at the box office.

Well, that’s fairly unfair of the jewelery brand to do so with Bips. Isn’t it?

Malaika Arora Khan is hosting a reality show ‘Dhoom Macha De’ for NDTV and she is taking in all efforts to make the show appealing. Recently, she has shot a dangerous stunt for the pilot episode of the show.Action director Ravi Dewan helped her perform the special stunt. “I was tied to a harness and lifted up in the air. After that, I twist and jump off. It was quite fun, but one has to realise these things can go wrong if not handled well. I was lucky I had professionals working with me on the team,” recalls Malaika.

Malaika’s son Arhaan too was present on the set and cheered his mom on as she performed the stunt, “He was as cool as a cucumber. In fact, after watching me do the stunt, he too wanted to try his hand at it. So we got him a mini harness and let him jump off it. I think he’s got the daredevil streak from me.”

It is clear that the lady has a thing for action and stunts. She began her Bollywood career by dancing atop a train for ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ in ‘Dil Se’. For ‘Om Shanti Om’, she got into a harness and jumped down a building with SRK.

The show, to be aired from February 1, will have eleven of India’s popular and professional singers. The star contestants of the show include Anaida, Baba Sehgal, Babul Supriyo, Devang Patel, Jaspinder Nirula, Jassi, Kamaal Khan, Richa Sharma, Sapna Awasthi, Suneeta Rao and Taz, who will be judged by Sharmila Tagore, Shankar Mahadevan and Prasoon Joshi.

That Shilpa Shetty is no more single is a stale news now. Shilpa has found company in UK based businessman Raj Kundra. Kundra was introduced to Shilpa last year by her manager Farhath Hussain with a proposal to launch a perfume. Their professional association blossomed into a relationship in a matter of months.Now, this Raj Kundra is quite close to Shilpa and has been truly accepted by the Shetty Parivaar. Proof? Raj is currently in Mumbai and is busy planning to hold sister Shamita’s party at China House next week. Shamita’s birthday falls on February 5.

A source close to the Shettys reveals, “The guest list and the menu are being discussed in great detail. Raj has become close to the Shetty family and Shamita is especially fond of him. She feels he’s right for her sister.”

Neha Dhupia has enough reasons to await the coming month of February. The lady has two back to back releases this February.She will be seen on the big screen with her ‘Rama Rama Kya Hai Drama’ as early as Februrary 1. This film which comes from the makers of ‘Tom, Dick and Harry’, is a comedy with centered on the theme of extra marital affairs. Rajpal Yadav plays Neha Dhupia’s philandering husband in the film. The movie also stars Ashish Chaudhary and Amrita Arora.

Again within a gap of just one week, she will hit the screens as the solo lady in Rajat Kapoor’s ‘Mithya’. With Ranvir Shorey as her co-star, this one is also a comedy though with elements of thrills in it.

Later in the year, Neha Dhupia would also be seen in ‘Maharathi’, ‘Singh is Kinng’and ‘I Am 24’.

Ranvir Shorey should have known it. The entire Bollywood knows Mallika Sherawat’s i-m-the-queen attitude. Making a lady with this attitude wait for three hours is not what one really dares to do. However, Ranvir could not help it and sure he along with the producer had to pay for it.During the shoot of Pritish Nandy Communications’ ‘Ugly and Pagli’, that particular day Mallika arrived on the sets on time as usual. However, Ranvir was delayed because of ill-health. The actress waited for as long as three hours, and by the time Ranvir arrived (after taking his medication) she was in no mood to shoot. She walked out of the sets and poor Ranvir had to shoot his solo scenes that day.

Ranvir however maintains that though Mallika sherawat is a very co-operative and friendly actress, and that was the first time he saw the temperamental side of hers.

In the film, Mallika plays a wacky, outspoken, outlandish girl called Pagli while Ranvir plays an under-confident loser, Ugly.

Jiah Khan is all excited about her photoshoot for the denim brand Wrangler with the Bollywood hunk John Abraham. These days Jiah is all praises for John and praises his performance in ‘Jism’ saying “He was so intense and good in that role. I think that’s his best performance.”She is really looking forward to working with John, “We will be shooting the ad in the next few days. I think it should be fun.”

Talking about praises, Jiah also has reasons to praise Aamir Khan while she is busy with his ‘Ghajini’. She says, “It’s fantastic being around him, as there’s so much to learn. Everyone finds him intense, but he can be very warm. He gives you complete attention.”

Mallika Sherawat is turning out to a nightmare for her producers these days. First, she made it clear to the producers of ‘Welcome’ that she would not promote the film if the promos carried Mallika Arora Khan’s item number. The producers gave in and the promos of ‘Hoth Rasile’ item number went on air much after the release of the film. Then, she walked out of Kundan Shah’s ‘Masquerade’ owing to differences with the director leaving the film’s destiny in mid-air as the producers too quit the film owing to Mallika’s exit. Next, it was the rift with Rangita Nandy on the sets of ‘Ugly Aur Pagli’ that was doing the rounds.The latest buzz that’s doing the rounds is that Mallika Sherawat wants her film ‘Fauj Mein Mauj’ to be re-shot and that too when 70 % of the film has already been canned. It was apparent from the beginning that the gal wasn’t too happy with the film but she continued with it as she was and is the only known star in the film.

Now, the debutant producer, though totally zabbed with this, has given in to Mallika’s demands to re-shoot the entire film. Mallika states that she has asked this as she is unhappy with the way she looks in the film. This way, Madamme Mallika will not be able to run for long, coz, this is Bollywood where ‘I m the best’ attitude applies for nobody except SRK.

Neha Dhupia had enough releases in 2007 and she has even more to expect from 2008. 2007 saw her in an item number in ‘Nehle Pe Dehla’, with substantial roles in ‘Delhi Hieghts’, ‘Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local’, ‘Shootout At Lokhandwala’, ‘Dus Kahaniyan’ and a special appearance in ‘Heyy Babyy’.2008 too will see a similar trend for Neha with her ‘Rama Rama Kya Hai Dramaa’ hitting the theatres on 18th January. Her next ‘Mithya’ is set for 8th February release which also stars Naseruddin Shah, Ranvir Shorey, Harsh Chhaya, Saurabh Shukla and Vinay Pathak.

Directed by Shivam Nair (Ahista Ahista fame), her expected next release is ‘Chala Murari Murder Karne’. This was earlier titled ‘Maharathi’ and also boasts of a heavy weight star cast comprising of Naseruddin Shah, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Boman Irani.

Another big venture from Neha to hit theatres on 15th August will be Anees Bazmee’s eagerly awaited ‘Singh is King’ starring Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Javed Jaffrey, Ranvir Shorey and Om Puri along with Neha.

Neha is also busy with her sole female lead role in Saurabh Shukla directed ‘I AM 24’. An Arindam Chaudhri production, the film stars Neha along with Ranvir Shorey, Rajat Kapoor, Vijay Raaz, Lilette Dubey, Delnaz Paul and Manjari Phadnis.

With all these in her kitty, the lady is surely glowing these days!

Yuvraj Singh has definitely scored a century off the ground. He has managed to get in the most happening girl of Bollywood, Deepika Padukone, as his girlfriend. Yes, it is no more a news now. Deepika and Yuvi are very much in relationship.Deepika flew down to Sydney on Wednesday on Yuvi’s special invite to watch the ongoing India-Australia test series. The couple was also spotted at a popular Sydney restaurant having a gala time together. Deepika has gone there to shoot for a Yashraj film the schedule of which starts from January 7. Meanwhile, Deepika celebrated her 22nd birthday with Yuvraj on Jan 5.

Hope our readers remember that Deepika had played host to Yuvi’s birthday party in December, which in itself, is an indication of their growing intimacy. Now, it is Deepika’s turn to get the greetings!

Actress Tulip Joshi is currently working for Rohit Jugraj’s ‘Superstar’ which is being made under the banner of ‘Shri Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd.’ The actress shocked one and all with the display of one of her hidden talents. For one scene of the film, Tulip was to emit a loud whistle. Petite as she looks, Rohit Jugraj assumed that she may not be able to do so and suggested she just pretend to whistle, and that would later on be dubbed. But to everyone’s suprprise, Tulip whistled so loudly and so well, that the take was okayed in shot one itself.Tulip cheekily says, “Yeah everyone was quite surprised at hearing me whistle so well, like an experience roadside Romeo I guess. Haha! I have always whistled as well as any guy, sometimes better. It was loads of fun shooting that day I must say!”

Both Riya Sen and Aarti Chabbaria flayed their tempers at the Police Mela recently. It so happened that both Riya and Aarti were given the same song to perform on. The song in question was ‘Dekha Tujhe to Baji Guitar’ from ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’. However, the girls were not at fault. There was a miscommunication between their choreographers- Swaroop and Pappu Mallu.

Aarti said, “I had practiced on the number for five hours. The number was a part of the medley which I was given. After that I was informed that they were giving that song to Riya. That was not fair. Why should the artists bear the brunt if the choreographers have not communicated with each other? So, I walked out.”

Incidentally Aarti’s manager spoke to the concerned authorities and settled the matter. Aarti got the ‘Dekha Tujhe…” number and Riya gyrated to the ‘Apna Sapna Money Money’ title song.

All’s well that end well!! For your info, the show also had performances from Kareena Kapoor, Himesh Reshammiya, Emraan Hashmi, Kangana Raanut, Dia Mirza, Geeta Basra, Sunil Paul, Mona Singh and Sunidhi Chauhan among others.

Shilpa Shetty’s popularity can be judged from the fact that when she recently launched her perfume S2 on Saturday, November 3 in London for charity at a special auction, it raised an amazing 15,000 pounds sterling (more than Rs. 12 lakh).Fashion tycoon Danni Passi purchased the fragrance in the auction, while Shilpa attended the event to lend her support to the cause. This amount even surpassed the 9,000 pounds mark raised by Shilpa at British MP Keith Vaz’s charity event last June.

Topping the auction items, including a diamond & ruby necklace and Cartier watch, the fragrance proceeds will be used towards restoring to underprivileged Indian children their basic rights to – survival, protection, development and participation.

Shilpa said on the occasion, “I’m amazed and delighted that my fragrance, S2 has raised such an amazing amount for CRY. The proceeds of my fragrance and proceeds of the entire auction will make a real difference to the lives of underprivileged Indian children.”

In her ambitious international project ‘The Quest of Sheherzade’, sexy Celina Jaitley will play the role of a mythological beauty Sheherzade. The role requires a lot of stunt and action and the gal is all set and prepared for the role.“It’s a role that requires extensive stunts. Fortunately my father is an army officer. I learnt horse riding in school. But doing so without a saddle requires plenty of training. And I’m off to the US in February 2008. Shooting starts probably in Turkey next Summer,” says Celina.

After Saif Ali Khan’s public announcement about his affair with Kareena, his Italian ex girlfriend Rozza Catalano has been trying to concentrate on her career into Hindi films.This beautiful belle has signed her first film which is titled “Shaurya”. It will be produced by Moserbaer and directed by Samar Khan. About signing this Italian damsel, Khan speaks, “I had been looking for a girl with an international face and Rozza was the first choice for the role.”

Apart from Rozza, this film stars Rahul Bose, Minisha Lamba and Kay Kay Menon. The music is composed by the very famous Adnan Sami.

Films are not the only thing that’s keeping Miss Catalano busy these days. She has also been roped in for a fashion based show on TV which will soon hit the small screen. Says the optimistic woman, “I am happy with the kind of offers I am getting. I am sure the future is bright.”

After having learnt six different languages, Hindi will be the 7th for Rozza but she is positive about mastering the lingo. For now we can just wait for this stunning actress to woo us on screen.

The latest buzz is that the young and talented Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a crush on the beautiful Om Shanti Om actress Deepika Padukone. Dhoni has become a victim of the killing looks of the hot and sexy model turned star daughter of the former badminton champion Prakash Padukone.Dhoni had sent an invite to the Karnataka girl to watch the T20 Future Cup match between India and Australia on 21 October 2007. And there were several speculations regarding Deepikas decision. However, the 21 year old beauty did not disappoint the 26 year old Indian skipper and came to watch the match. She was enthusiastic about the game and stayed till the end seeing the Indian team win and celebrate.

Well, lets see how beautifully MS Dhoni stumps Deepika!!

Tanushree is playing an action heroine in producer Sahil Khan’s jungle thriller ‘Ramma – The Saviour’. Shooting for the film in the jungles of Thailand has helped Tanushree get over some of her chronic fears.Not many know that Tanushree has not learnt swimming for aquaphobia, the fear of water, which she has been suffering with since her childhood. Now, while shooting for certain portions of the film in and under water, she had to cope up with her fears.

The film’s action director Peter Hann, who has also been teaching martial arts to Tanushree, gave the actress some basic tips about swimming and holding breath underwater. Thereafter, Tanushree was harnessed to a safety cable to keep her from drowning.

Apart from this, the actress also conquered her fear of insects and reptiles while shooting in the jungles of Thailand.

This seems to be the trend in Bollywood lately. All our sultry Bombshells are going to the femme fatale mode. This section told you about Celina Jaitley’s love for sarees, then about Payal Rohtagi being spotted in them, next Tanisha Mukherjee ready to drape her grandmom’s six yards and now it is Sameera Reddy who turned out to be gorgeous in a red saree in an international festival recently.Says Sameera, “It’s a trend, particular when Indian actresses are abroad, to judge what they have worn and how they have carried themselves. Though I had carried some gowns, I eventually wore saris at all the dos, because this is one Indian outfit that makes a grand statement. Of course, George Clooney’s eyes fell on me because of my sari. And by the end of the evening, there wasn’t a single person who didn’t mention how beautiful the sari was.” That’s what we call celebrating India.

Kajol had worn it green for her wedding with Ajay Devgan. Now, her sister Tanisha Mukherjee gets to fulfil her passion for the zari adorned nauvaree sarees in her forthcoming movie ‘Sarkar Raj’.Tanisha will adorn the traditional Maharashtrian nine yard sari that her grandmother Shobhna Samarth wore in her yesteryear films for Ram Gopal Verma’s sequel to ‘Sarkar’. Her mother, Tanuja, taught her to drape the sari in the same old fashioned manner like her grandma. Manish Malhotra will be designing her other costumes for the film.

Malaika Arora khan is known for her sexy image and even sexier dance numbers. But the lady knows where to draw her line. Even as she appeared on the covers on Maxim magazine which was red hot, she has turned down the offer to walk the ramp in a bikini for for Ms Bikini India 2007 contest.Sources have it that Malaika asked for a big amount of money from the organizers of the event, which is to be held in Goa in December. Later, Malaika told a Mumbai tabloid that the big money she asked was just a way to refuse the offer. She said she has never worn a bikini either in a film or on the catwalk, and will never do so.

The organizers of the pageant seem very keen to have Malaika for the show. So they are now talking with the actress to either host a segment of the show or be the pageant’s brand ambassador.

Akshay Kumar is well-known for his pranks on the sets. So, it is no wonder that Vidya Balan and Amisha Patel fell prey to him on the sets of comedy-horror film “Bhool Bhulaiya” in Jaipur.It so happened that one day Akshay arrived on the sets with a man carrying a handycam. The man used to shoot Akshay all the time and talked a lot to him. This went on for about 4-5 days. Finally, Akshay introduced the man to his co stars as a reporter with a reputed television channel and requested that the leading ladies give him interviews. Vidya and Amisha promptly obliged and gave a warm interview giving details about the film, their roles and careers.

As soon as the interviews were over, the man went up to Akshay and the two started laughing aloud. That’s when Akshay disclosed that the man was not a reporter but his physical trainer. Next, the girls were fuming and everyone else was having a hearty laugh. The only one who didn’t fall for Akki’s prank was Shiney Ahuja, since he knew well that the man was Akshay’s physical trainer.

‘Big Brother’ has done wonders for Shilpa Shetty’s international status. Her popularity in Europe was well witnessed when all hell broke loose as Shilpa shetty arrived on the stage for the debut of her musical ‘Miss Bollywood’. After Berlin, Shilpa will be performing in UK on November 3rd at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London.This first musical from India is all about passion for dance and is being choreographed by Ganesh Hedge, whose forte is pelvic moves and hip swaying. Ganesh has used 40 dancers to create the entire show sequences. Shilpa plays the character of Maya, a classical dancer, who moves to London and opens her own dance academy.

Neeta Lulla has designed 15 garments for Shilpa and they vary from bejeweled Anarkali kurtas to Dhoti pants thus, creating a sexy Indian fusion.

If it is between Mama dear and Mahesh Bhatt, the choice is all too obvious for Esha Deol. So, no brows are to be raised when the babe left Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Jannat’ for the film to be produced by Hema Malini. The film tells the story of a danseuse and will be directed by actress-turned-director Revathy.Esha had previously committed for Mahesh Bhatt’s presentation ‘Jannat’ to be directed by Kunal Deshmukh. Esha’s co-star was Emraan Hashmi. The shooting is to start in November in South Africa. But it turned out that Esha has to train extensively for her mother’s film, which goes on the floors in December. Naturally, it is impossible to juggle the two roles together. So, Esha talked with Bhatt and bowed out of ‘Jannat’. Now, Bhatt and Deshmukh are looking for another actress to replace Esha.

Now this is news guys. A very unlikely filmi pair has been spotted together. Abhay Deol and Neetu Chandra have not yet worked together in any film. Yet, they were spotted together catching up a movie recently.

Media and gossip columns, which leave no stones unturned, are linking the two together. The basic matter is that Abhay and Neetu went together to watch ‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ together.

Neetu was reportedly spotted walking in with Abhay at a theatre in Mumbai. But after entering the theatre, they separated and maintained some distance so as not to be seen together. Neetu bought the tickets while Abhay waited for her and later followed her as she entered the auditorium.

Neetu, however, refuses that anything is brewing between her and Abhay. She says she had gone to see the movie with a couple of friends when she coincidentally bumped into Abhay at the theatre.

This is Bollywood Neetu. Here it takes no time to add up two and two to make it four!!

Actress Ayesha Takia is a bubbly actress on and off the screen. Now, the gal has been up with an exciting role in Rohit Shetty’s ‘Sunday’. She plays a dubbing artist who dubs for cartoon characters. Ayesha’s love for Disney and cartoons is well-known and this time, the lady has taken pains to get properly trained to play her part. She has attended workshops and all that, to help get it right. Produce by Kumar Mangat and Sunil Lulla, the movie also stars Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi and Irrfan Khan. To add to its’ credits, the film also has an item song picturized on Esha Deol and Tusshar Kapoor.So, next time you hear some weird noises about you, remember, it could be a well-trained Ayesha at work.

After Aishwarya Rai being finalized for the role of Mumtaz Mahal in Sir Ben Kingsley next ambitious project, it is Bipasha Basu who seems to have been decided for the role of Jahan Ara Begum ( Shah Jahan’s daughter who looked after her ailing father after he was imprisoned in his old age by son Aurangzeb in a citadel from where he continuously gazed at Taj Mahal, the monument of love he had got built for his love Mumtaz).Sources say that Kingsley talked about this project with Bipasha when they came together to host the new Seven Wonders event in Lisbon in July this year. Though Bips has nodded her yes for the dates, her dates are yet to be sorted out.

Celina Jaitley is currently working for the director Ken Khan’s movie ‘Love Has No Language’, which is set and shot in New Zealand. Celina and Ken were invited for a party where most of the guests were supposed to be Indians.Since, Ken doesn’t know Hindi, he asked Celina to teach him how to greet the guest in Hindi. Celina got mischievous and taught him to say: “Namastey, tera baap chor hai!”.

Poor Ken did not realize what the words meant and he learnt them by heart. Later, at the party, he addressed the crowd with the same sentence. Ken realized something was wrong only when he read everyone’s shocked expression.

However, later Celina eased everyone by clarifying the whole issue and accepting that she was the culprit.

Amisha Patel, while shooting for Kunal Kohli’s film, pulled a leg muscle. But never mind with the injury and pain, Amisha still continued with her daily workouts. It was only when the trainer asked her why she was in such agony that she informed him of her injury. Worried about her health, the trainer insisted that the lady should rest for a couple of days before she starts shooting again. She followed the instructions religiously but after a couple of days’ rest, she was back at the gym with a venegeance. Talk about sweating it out.

Saif Ali Khan’s home production ‘Vinod Agent’ is juggling between two choices for the female lead: Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. This movie is supposed to be India’s answer to James Bond.Where Kareena Kapoor has a favour from Saif Ali Khan( which is but natural given her growing friendship with Chhote Nawab), the only hitch though is that Bebo is not too keen to wear a swim suit which apparently is a perquisite to be a ‘Bond girl’. On the other hand, director Sriram is keen on Deepika, who has already made it clear that she has no qualms about appearing in a bikini.

Initially, the thought was to sign an Indian and an International actress for the movie but, now there seems to be a change in plans as it’s likely that both the actresses could be Indian. While you ponder over the question, which is the better choice, keep watching the space to know which lady finally wins the role.

The little birdie in the tinsel town brings in that Bhumika Chawla is set to enter into the bonds of marriage soon. The lady has been dating yoga expert Bharat Thakur for more than two years now. The two first met through a common friend who recommended Bharat’s name to Bhumika for yoga lessons.According to reports, Bhumika and Bharat will tie the knot on October 25 in Mumbai. The wedding will be on a small scale with family and close friends, including some celebrities from the film industry.

Bhumika was last seen in Feroz Abbas Khan’s movie ‘Gandhi My Father’.

Shilpa Shetty had kicked off a controversy a few months ago when Hollywood star Richard Gere kissed her in public at an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi.The incident triggered protests, and some people filed cases against her in various courts of the country. Where most of the complainants backed out, a court in Alwar district of Rajasthan issued a ‘look-out notice’ for Shilpa at various airports. The notice said that the actress shouldn’t be allowed to leave the country till the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty case was over. Shilpa appealed to the Supreme Court against this order which ruled out this judgement giving her permission to travel abroad.

However, the immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport were apparently not informed of the Supreme Court clearance due to which Shilpa had to face embarrassment on Wednesday when an immigration official allegedly spoke rudely to her just before she was to leave for Germany for West End musical “Miss Bollywood” leaving Shilpa in tears.

What added to the actor’s embarrassment was a huge crowd that had gathered around at the airport to watch her exchange of words with the immigration personnel.

Her spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar said: “She called me in the middle of the night and was in tears saying an inspector had treated her badly, and told her she could not travel out of the country as there was no clearance order from the court.”

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty walked the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week ramp at Pragati Maidan for Tarun Tahiliani’s collection “From Kutch to Kenya“.She mesmerized the audience in a flowing golden drape dress with a gold headband and waistband.

“People say that by bringing a celebrity on the ramp, a designer can get away with any kind of collection but that is not true. The drape evening dress was designed only keeping her in mind,” Tahiliani said after the show Thursday evening.

For the male counterpart, the collection was inspired by Kathiawari men in Kutch with models in dhotis and wrapped skirts and glorious safas to protect them from the summer sun. The colors ranged from creamy latte, pale pistachio to hot pink.

Tanushree Dutta, after sizzling Bollywood screen with her glamour, will now be seen in an action film for children to be directed by a new director, Hadi Abrar. It will have a lot of special effects and fantasies.

Earlier, it was reported that the film is based on the ‘Tomb Raider Series’. However, Tanushree denies the report saying, “No, its not based on the Tomb Raider series and the character has nothing to do with Lara Croft played by Angelina Jolie. It has a different story line and concept altogether, but the look is somewhat inspired from it.”

Tanushree is very excited about the role and has already started working out for it. “I would be required to do some action sequences, although they won’t be very complicated. However, I need to train myself for that because I have never done an action sequence before that’s why I am learning martial arts,” the gal says.

Last seen with the sensational role in ‘Nishabd’, actress Jiah Khan is currently exploring her love for internet. After being chosen as the ambassador of Campus Awards 2007, Jiah walked the ramp at the award function launched by Bharatstudent.comWith black stockings covering bottom and body hugging upper, Jiah looked classic as ever. She unveiled the logo for awards and was all comfortable giving some hot posses.

Sayali Bhagat, Anchal Kumar, Shonal Rawat, Priyanka Shah, Hanif Hilal, Ajay and Vijay Balhara also walked the ramps showcasing campus wear.

“I love the internet. It’s so personal any age group people can enjoy online,” said Jiah Khan.

Rumours are ripe that the sultry actress would be seen in Rajkumar Santoshi’s London Dreams and Boney Kapoor’s Hindi remake of Pokhri along with Amir’s Gajni.

When Malaika Arora Khan and Katrina Kaif walked the ramp with other models at JW Mariott hotel in Mumbai sporting Vikram Pahdnis’ designs at the event organized by Zapak.com to unveil the games and Vikram’s look, the crowds were left google-eyed with the funky creations created by Phadnis for Zapak.com.The two girls were all praise for Vikram, who incidentally is Salman’s regular designer. Katrina said, “Among Indian designers, I love to wear Vikram’s clothes.” Malaika added, “I love wearing his designs.”

However, when Vikram was put under the spot and asked to choose between Salman’s sis-in-law and lady love, the designer was anything but funky or impractical as his designs.” They both are family, so how can I choose?” he laughed.

We had informed you that Bollywood sex bomb Mallika Sherwat will pair up again with Rahul Bose for ‘Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam’. But the things seem too much tilted towards this lady these days.Now sexy Sherawat will reportedly play the female lead in Pritish Nandy Communications’ next romantic comedy titled ‘Ugly And Pagli’, to be directed by Sachin Khot. Mallika will play the character of ‘Pagli’ and the search is on for the male co-star to play ‘Ugly’. This time Ranvir Shorey and not Rahul Bose seems to a strong contender for the role.

Akshay Kumar who carved his first niche in Bollywood as an action hero slowly got into comedy films. Now, with a long stretch of seven years, Akshay is going to enact in a complete action packed film which will also be Warner Brothers’ first Bollywood film. The film titled ‘Made in China’ will have Deepika Padukone opposite Akshay Kumar. The producers will be Ramesh and Rohan Sippy.Akshay Kumar is undergoing training in the martial art form called Wushu which has been the style largely used by Jackie Chan and Jet Lee. It is well-known that Akshay admires and adores Jackie Chan.

’Akshay has been a martial arts student for years,’ director Nikhil Advani told. ‘The Wushu style is very big in China. Jet Li and Jackie Chan constantly practice it,’ he added.

Advani said, ‘My writer Sridhar Raghavan and my Indian producer Rohan Sippy designed the film with Akshay in mind. It was either Akshay or no one else for the role. We needed a lead pair who could do the action scenes with the grace of dancers. Both Deepika and Akshay are phenomenal dancers and athletes.’

Being India’s first film to be shot in China, the shooting will start in locations like Shanghai, Beijing and a village near the Chinese capital from Jan 2008.

Post marriage, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is currently working in ‘Jodha Akbar‘ with Hrithik Roshan. However, Aishwarya is very much aware of her responsibilities that come with being a Bachchan Bahu. That is why when Karan Johar approached Ash with a role in his film opposite Abhishek, the lady refused to accept the role, the reason being that the role is too hot for her to handle as a Bachchan Bahu.“The story requires Aishwarya to act in a glamorous role. She is particular not to do such roles after her marriage. So, even if it is with her husband, she is definite on not doing such a glam role,” explained Aishwarya’s manager.

A puzzled director again went on the hunt for a heroine and finally settled on Priyanka Chopra who promptly said yes. Priyanka has already given a box-office hit ‘Bluff Master’ with Abhishek Bachchan. So the chemistry between the two actors is not to be doubted.

Image Source: Santa Banta

When Aarti Chhabria was down with conjunctivitis Shashi Ranjan’s ‘Dhoom Dhadaka’ shooting in Bangkok came to a halt on Wednesday morning when Aarti Chhabria came down with acute conjunctivitis.For some time shooting was disrupted since Aarti Chhabria’s scenes with her co-star Shaad Randhawa had to be re-located to another day. However, the shooting was not postponed as the director wisely rescheduled some of the scenes and continued the shooting. The cast of the movie has people of every age including Anupam Kher, Samir Dattani and Shaad.

Rakhi Sawant was bold enough to admit it. Our dusky Bong beauty was not. Yes, talking about silicone implants, Bipasha Basu got it done by the reputed cosmetic surgeon, Dr. Gupta (the same one who did breast enhancement for Rakhi Sawant) four years back in 2002. She had registered herself under the alias Susan Noodhah and was accompanied by a female friend. She stayed at the clinic for two days and her bustline increased by three inches.However, the babe has not yet paid the doctor his much deserved fee of Rs. 2.5 lakhs. Gupta’s staff frequently called Bipasha to recover Rs 2.5 lakh for the surgery and hospitalisation charges, but the actress is yet to pay up.

The Indian actress known more for her curls and curves and skin show rather than acting, Celina Jaitley has a good autograph story to tell. Currently Celina is shooting in New Zealand for an upcoming international film called ‘Love Has No Language’. There the actress noticed that she is constantly followed by a fan who somehow found out the place of shooting and made regular attempts to meet her. Initially Celina thought that she is stalked but later she realized that the man just wanted her autograph. The actress told DT that

“I was quite irritated with him initially. But I learnt later that he was an honest fan of mine. He sweetly showed me a scrapbook that he had made which had all my photographs and interviews neatly archived. And all he wanted was for me to autograph the scrapbook.”

Should Rani Mukherjee, the star actress of Indian cinema, be shown as a sex-worker? Will people be able to digest this image of the megahit ‘Black’ actress? These are the questions looming over the minds of the director Pradeep Sarkar and Aditya Chopra. The duo had decided to cast Rani in the role of a sex worker for their upcoming movie called ‘Laga Chunari Mein Daag’.According to the story, Rani hails from a respectable middle class family and dwells in a small town. But she is enticed by the city life and eventually gets into the flesh selling business.

Now the makers of the film are struck in a morality debate that whether the Indian audience will like seeing Rani as a sex worker from a middle class family or not. The turmoil has grown after the letdowns of the recent two films ‘Tara Rum Pum’ and ‘JBJ’. A source tells DT that “We don’t know how kindly the viewers are going to take to the fact that a woman from a middle-class family becomes a sex worker in times of crisis. Surely, we are giving it a thought. After the Jhoom Barabar Jhoom debacle we want to play it safe.”

The Underworld don Abu Salem’s revelations have left the whole nation dumbstruck. Salem aka Don who is undergoing trial right now has claimed that he had connections with many Bollywood superstars such as Shahrukh Khan, Sushmita Sen, Salman Khan and the forgotten hero Chunkey Pandey. The crime world superstar also revealed that the former Miss Universe, Sush has made several calls on his personal mobile phone in the past. The news was the central topic of discussion on most of the Indian news channels such as Aaj Tak, NDTV, etc.The news has also created a spur in Bollywood film industry. Though several big stars such as Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan, Govinda have been linked to the underworld dons in the past, yet Abu Salem’s claim in the court was a great shock, especially regarding Sushmita Sen. Sen had maintained a clean and clear image in the industry so far but no one knew that one day she would be accused of being associated with the mafia world in some way or the other.

Money has always and will always be the ultimate lure of man. But how far is it right to run after it is the question. Bollywood stars performing at private parties for a big bundle of notes is nothing new. The latest in the buzz is that Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra secretly flew to Turkey and danced on the function of Industrialist Sanjay Vadera’s 40th birthday party in Istanbul. Similar news of Salman Khan, Bipasha Basu and Rani Mukherji performing at Ramesh Shah’s son’s wedding occasion at a five-star hotel in South Mumbai was around.“I think iconic stars have a responsibility towards their audience and to themselves. They shouldn’t reduce themselves to performing on request, for a bunch of star-struck NRIs,” Comments a filmmaker.

The end is not for her. Item-girl-turned-actress Rakhi Sawant believes in making news. The gal debuted on the ramp with ‘The Graveyard Collection’ designed by fashion choreographer Rohit Verma in the House of Horrors in Mumbai. Rakhi walked the ramp dressed as a witch, with the horror masks and blood-stained outfit to match the theme. And though she was dressed in an evil witch ensemble, Rakhi looked deadly hot. Models like Jesse Randhwa, Mridula, Heena, Shita Verma, Gladrags model Rupa, Miss Mumbai Malti, Channel V Get Gorgeous winner Priyanka Shah, Priyanka Tanwar walked the ramp.

The newbie Sherlyn Chopra is really disgusted with her experience of working in Vinod Pande’s movie ‘Red Swastik’. The actress feels that Vinod did not give her the kind of role he had promised to. Sherlyn tells the Delhi Times that “In fact, I am really disappointed with director Vinod Pande. He kept saying what a good role and a great film ‘Red Swastik’ was, but when it came to the film’s promotion and release, he let me down. What has irked me even more is that he has changed my name in the credits to Maneka. I have an identity of my own and he has totally diluted my name.”Sherlyn tells that Vinod even forced to rehearse several times for a kissing scene with her male co-star. “Can you imagine that? He wanted me to do rehearsals for a kissing scene. Who does that”, says a disappointed Sherlyn.

However, with one bad experience, Sherlyn plans to be extremely careful in future.

Rumours have it that Chandraprakash Dwiwedi’s ‘Prithviraj Chauhan’ may have Celina Jaitley in place of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Earlier Aishwarya had given her consent to play Sanyogita for the film but owing to her marriage with Junior Bachchan, Dwivedi is now considering Celina for the stellar role. Here Celina is also keen on doing a period film, but all the talks are still in the intial stage, so it is too early to be certain. Also, a film like Prithviraj Chauhan requires massive funds and Dwivedi is looking out for a business house to finance the film.

A quiet, shy girl attached to her roots and traditions – Amrita Rao in her private life is quite alike her on-screen image. The girl, who turned 26 this June 17 spent her birthday quietly by visiting Shirdi with her uncle and his family.The gal says, “For me, being with my family and praying for what I have is far more important than looking out for a good time. But yes, I got more SMS’ and calls to wish me on this birthday than ever before, thanks to ‘Vivah’. The whole day I was busy replying to the messages and greetings.”

Amrita has just completed a Telugu film ‘Athidi’ paired opposite Namrata Shirodkar’s husband Mahesh Babu.

Confused? Tis just that out dusky Bong beauty is playing a Bollywood actress in Sudipto Chattopadhyay’s socially relevant film titled ‘Pankh’. The director also wants Bipasha’s character to be called Bipasha itself in the film, but the gal is hesitant and prefers to be called Nandini in the film.The film is based on a true story of a child actor Ahsaas Channa, who has played key roles in films like Vaastu Shastra. Director Sudipto will cast a newcomer Maraddona to play Ahsaas’s character in the film which will show the kid is completely smitten by the actress Bipasha.

Kareena Kapoor is a determined girl. She gave a glimpse of it when she was shooting for Imtiaz Ali’s forthcoming film which has not been named yet. Kareena had to jump into a moving train in a scene. Since Kareena had never traveled in a train before and also the speed of the train was not under the unit’s control, Bebo was quite nervous and faltered quite a few times. At this juncture Imtiaz Ali suggested the scene be scrapped since he didn’t want any mishaps on the set , but Kareena refused to give up and after e few unsuccessful attempts, she finally managed to do the scene perfectly.

Aarti Chhabria, the so called unknown face of Bollywood, has managed to get some credits for the two of her known films that she has done so far. Recently Aarti has bagged some credit for Sanjay Gupta’s ‘Shoot Out at Lokhandwala’ film and also for a Kannada hit film named ‘Santha’ in which she got to play a lead role with the South Indian actor Shiv Raj Kumar. And surprisingly Aarti is getting some good offers now. Aarti tells Delhi Times that “After a very long time, my work has been appreciated, and I now realise how important it is to be presented by the right people, in the right role. I am very lucky to have bagged Shoot out . . . Now, however, I have to be very choosy about what I take up next. There are some interesting offers that have come to me, so let’s see.”

The Indian film industry has always produced male-oriented films barring a few exceptions. However, there were some female leads that always took the industry by storm by their great performance and stood high despite all odds. They had their own identity and never were a shadow of their male counterparts. We have listed the top 10 bollywood beauties that have left a great impression on the Indian audience.1. Nutan Behl

Born on 4 June, 1936, Nutan is one of the brightest gems of Indian Film Industry. The eldest daughter of Shobhana Samarth, Nutan Behl, is said to be by far the most attractive and sensitive actresses of Bollywood. She is one of the very few divas who have served the industry for almost five decades playing a variety of roles, starting as a child artist, to leading roles then character roles with great élan.

When Nutan was only 14, she starred in a film directed by her mother Shobhana appropriately titled “Hamari Beti”. That film marked her debut. 1951 set Nutan’s career on a roll with her being crowned the first Miss India and the release of “Hum Log” and “Nagina”. These films announced the arrival of Nutan on the stage of Bollywood.

Her first big break was “Seema” released in 1955, for which she won a Filmfare Award. She followed her success with a romantic comedy, “Paying Guest”, in which she co-starred with Dev Anand. In 1959 she starred in two hit films, “Anari” (with Raj Kapoor) and Bimal Roy’s Sujata (with Sunil Dutt). These movies showed that Nutan’s unique quality, which set her apart from her contemporaries, was that she was a thinking actress who tried to perceive the undeveloped motivations of her characters. Her expressions spoke more than her words.

Nutan’s pairing with Lata Mangeshkar worked wonders and the duo together gave a number of hits. The voice of Lata combined with the expressive emotions of Nutan proved to be a success story. Nutan was also quite daring for her times and she was one of the first actresses daring enough to wear a bikini, which she did in “Dilli Ka Thug”.

Nutan’s personal life had not been as bright as her career. She had an arranged marriage on October 11, 1959 with Lt. Commander Rajish Behl, a boy her mother had chosen for her. A son, Mohnish, was born to them in 1963. When Nutan found out that her mom had been misappropriating her earnings, she filed a Civil suit and broke off all relationship with her. The relationship with her mom remained strained until Nutan was diagnosed with cancer.

Nutan once again came to the limelight with the release of “Bandini” in 1963. Bandini is still remembered as one of the finest performances by an Indian actress. Throughout the 60’s Nutan gave great performances in films like Chhaila, Manzil, Surat aur Seerat, Dil Hi Toh Hai, Chaandi Ki Deewar, Khandaan, Dil Ne Phir Yaad Kiya, Milan, Bhai Behan etc. She won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the fourth time for her performance in Milan.

She again gave award winning performances in “Saudagar” (1973) and “Mein Tulsi Tere Aangan Ki” (1978). She maintained her gracious and sensitive style when she started playing maternal roles in the 80’s. She starred next to Dilip Kumar in the box office hit “Karma” in 1986.

Nutan passed away on February 21, 1991 at the age of 54, but this star of Indian Film Industry will keep shining forever and showing the way for all talented newcomers in Bollywood.

2. Nargis

Nargis was a major Indian star during the ’40s and ’50s recognized for her charisma, tremendous dignity, great intelligence, and ability to play a variety of roles ranging from shy coquettes to westernized women. Nargis was born on June 1, 1929 as Fatima Rashid, the daughter of the Allahabad-based singer, Jaddanbai and Uttamchand Mohanchand. Nargis, her stage name, means “Narcissus”, the flower. She was always credited as Nargis in all of her films.

Nargis started her career as a child artist in “Talashe Haq”, she quickly progressed to playing lead roles and became the top actresses of her era. She made her debut as an actress in “Tamanna” released in 1942. She appeared in a number of movies after that the most popular being Humayun (1945), Nargis (1946), Mela (1948), Aag (1948), Barsaat (1949), Jogan (1950).

Nargis paired well with Raj Kapoor and together they developed both a personal and professional partnership and gave Hindi cinema some of its best classics. Their first was Aag release in 1948. Their first blockbuster an onscreen couple was the unforgettable “Barsaat” released in 1949. The famous hit song Pyaar Hua Iqrar Hua is still considered as one of the finest romantic songs ever. Barsaat was followed by another hit “Aawara” in 1951 and “Shree 420” in 1955. Both films still maintain top positions amongst Bollywood’s finest classics. A portion of their success could be attributed to their fame as real life couple. Their romantic entanglement provided fans with hours of gossipy entertainment as Kapoor was a married man.

Nargis’s best performance came with perhaps Indian cinema’s greatest work Mehboob Khan’s “Mother India”. The film was critically acclaimed and a box office wonder and it topped all charts. The film grossed over Rs. 40 million the highest for any Indian film at that time. The film is still respected by the audience and critics of all ages and generations. It was the first Indian film to be nominated for Oscars in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Nargis played the role of a mother who killed her rebellious son for the goodwill of the whole village thus becoming the ‘mother’ of the entire village. She also won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for that role.

One year later Nargis married her co-star of Mother India Sunil Dutt. The marriage seemed scandalous to many at the time, because Sunil had played her son in the movie.

After the marriage, Nargis retired from films to raise her children and to volunteer for charitable work, but she still remained active in the film industry using her friendship with Indira Gandhi to help lobby for better conditions for filmmakers. In 1980 she became a member of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament).

Pancreatic cancer claimed Nargis on May 3, 1981, ironically the same year her son Sanjay Dutt made his Bollywood debut with Rocky. Nargis and her movies, (approximately 50) which spanned from 1935 through on to 1967, continue to be popular even now.

3. Madhubala

Who can forget the dove-eyed Madhubala who is the epitome of on-screen beauty and still the most beautiful actress Bollywood ever had. She had name and fame but not enough life. The actress died at a young age of 36!! She was born on 14/02/1933 and died on 23/02/1969 and in that period that she acted she did 70 films.

Her early life was full of struggles. Born to Atauallah Khan and Mumtaz Jehan Begum in a conservative family of Pathan Muslims, she started in a cow shed in Jogeshwari courtesy of a Bhaiya from UP. For her first role as a child star, she was paid 50 rupees and then 50 rupees more because the father said he has to accompany her and hence can not do a job.
After about five years of playing child roles, Devika Rani called for her to come for her film Jwar Bhata. She was rechristened to Madhubala. Madhubala got her first break in a lead role in Neel Kamal (1947). Her true success came with the movie Mahal (1949), which literally made her a superstar overnight. The list of movies to her credit is long, some of them being Sharabi (1964) Half Ticket (1962), Mughal-E-Azam (1960), Barsaat Ki Raat (1960), Jaali Note (1960), Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi (1958), Howrah Bridge (1958), Phagun (1958), Mr. & Mrs. ‘55 (1955), Badal (1951), Neki Aur Badi (1949), Amar Prem (1948), Lal Dupatta (1948), Pujari (1946). Not many would know Madhubala had charged twice that was paid to Dilip Kumar for Mughal e Azam when the movie had gone on the floor.

She was romantically involved with a number of men. She worked with most of them and some of them were very respectable film personalities. Be it Latif, Mohan Sinha, Kamal Amrohi, Premnath, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Dilip Kumar, Pradeep Kumar, Bhart Bhushan and finally Kishore Kumar. Men just fell for her beauty and charms. The list can go on and on.

To get Dilip interested in her she sent a red rose with a message. Dilip was impressed but got furious when he later came to know that she had done the same with Premnath not long ago and was going strong with him. He never forgave her for that. Never ever, not even when she was on her death bed. Kishore Kumar who was her last love and eventually her husband – married her despite her illness.

Her ailing heart was kept hidden from the industry. Often she would cough blood on the sets. Ultimately she died of her heart problem and Kishore Kumar took no time in forgetting her and remarrying.

4. Hema Malini

Hema Malini was born in the Tamil-speaking Chakravarthy household on October 16, 1948 in Ammankudi, Tamil Nadu. Her dad’s name is V.S.R. Chakravarthy and her mom, Jaya, was a film producer. She was enrolled in the Chennai-based Andhra Mahila Sabha. She was the second South Indian actress after Vyjayantimala to be a successful Bollywood star.

She performed as a dancer in the regional film “Pandava Vanavasam” in 1961. She wanted to start her acting career in 1964, but she was rejected by the Tamil director Shridhar on the grounds that she had no star appeal, but Hema did not give up and made her debut with a bang starring opposite to the legendary Raj Kapoor in “Sapnon ka Saudagar” in 1968. The film’s posters splashed her pictures with the catch phrase Dreamgirl. Though the film flopped, Hema the dream girl had arrived.

Her next films were “Waris” and “Jahan Pyar Mile”. The films failed but Hema survived with “Johnny Mera Naam” in 1970. Her next major success came with her famous double role in “Seeta aur Geeta” in 1972 where she starred next to Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra. It was her first successful project with Dharmendra, the couple went on to be one of the hottest on screen couple before they became real life partners when they tied the knot, but it was not an easy marriage. Dharmendra, who was already married to Prakash Kaur, and had two sons, Sunny and Bobby, could not marry Hema as Prakash refused to divorce him. According to the Hindu Marriage Act, a Hindu cannot marry a second time while the first wife is still alive. Dharmendra belongs to a Arya Samaj Hindu Punjabi Jatt family. On August 21, 1979, both Hema and Dharmendra converted to Islam, changed their names to Aisha Bi R. Chakravarty and Dilawar Khan Kewal Krishn respectively, and got married in accordance with Islamic rites.

Hema kept on starring in one hit after the other like Tere Mere Sapney, Gora aur Kaala, Garam Masala, Baabul ki Galiyan etc. “Sholay” released in 1975 gave her career a huge boost. Basanti became an icon in Indian Film Industry and her dance number Jab Tak Hai Jaan Mein Naachungi became one of the most loved dance numbers ever. The movie went on to become the single greatest hit of Bollywood completing its Golden Jubilee.

After Sholay, Hema gave other hits like Charas (1976), Chacha Bhatija (1977), The Burning Train (1980), Satte Pe Satta (1982) etc. With increasing age Hema shifted to playing character roles, but with same grace and style. She appeared in Jamai raja (1991), Hey Ram (2000), Baghban (2003), Veer-Zaara (2004), and Baabul (2006) in character roles, playing each one of the with immense élan.

Hema’s priorities have now shifted to politics. She is a member of the right-winged Bharatiya Janata Party, and a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament.

5. Rekha

Born in 1954 at Chennai, Rekha is considered to be the “Eternal Diva of Bollywood”. Being the daughter of the well known film superstar Gemini Ganeshan and actress Pushpavalli studio became her playground and she started nurturing her acting skills from a very young age. She started acting from as early as 1966 when she appeared as a child actor in the Telegu film “Rangula Ratnam”. Rekha made her debut as heroine in the successful Kannada film “Goadalli CID 999” with Dr. Rajkumar in 1969.

Her first Hindi release was “Sawan Bhado” in 1970 which was a major hit and made her a star overnight. During the period 1970-1973 she starred in movies like Ammakosam, Barkha Bahar, Rampur ka Lakshman. Gora aur Kala, Dharma etc. Dharma was a major hit and put Rekha in the limelight but the real big hit came with Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s “Namak Haram” in 1973 in which Rekha starred next to the Bollywood kings Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna.

Her pairing with Amitabh Bachchan has been most successful of all and together they gave great hits like Muqaddar ka Sikandar, Mr. Natwarlal, Silsila etc. Silsila with its controversial subject again made Rekha the center of attention. She was rumored to be Amitabh’s real life flame and the film gossip column may have contributed to her success.

She bagged the Nation Film Award for Best Actress in 1981 for her outstanding performance in the bollywood blockbuster “Umrao Jaan”. The movie was commercially successful and was critically acclaimed as well.

Rekha is known to have played a variety of roles from police officer in ‘Insaaf ka Taraazu’, a perfect housewife in ‘Biwi ho toh Aisi’ to sensuous Mansi in ‘Aastha’. Rekha can claim to have one of the widest varieties of roles under her belt and she played each and every one of them with natural perfection.

Recently Rekha’s Bollywood career has taken a backseat with her appearing in very few movies with short roles of a widowed mother (Krrish) or a glamorous stage singer (Parineeta). Rekha’s forthcoming films include Yaatra, Bajirao Mastani and the much awaited Krrish 2.

6. Madhuri Dixit (Nene)

Born on 15th May 1967, Madhuri Dixit is the Marlyn Monroe of Bollywood. This beauty of Bollywood is full of talent with great acting skills, charms and dancing abilities. She is considered to be one of the best Bollywood has ever seen. She has stolen the hearts of everyone of all ages Be it young college students or famous painters like M.F. Hussain her charm has enticed all.

She made her acting debut in “Abodh” in 1986. The film was a box-office disaster and failed miserably. The future looked dim for this diva when this was followed by other flops like Aawara Baap, Swati, Hifazat etc. The year 1988 was the turning point in her career when she was re-launched by Subhash Ghai in the legendary hit. This was followed by Dayavaan and Tezaab. She starred next to Vinod Khanna in the former and the dashing Anil Kapoor in the latter. Tezaab made her a dancing sensation in India and the Ek-Do-Teen girl with her sensational dance and sensuous facial expressions started a new cult in Bollywood.

“Dil” added another accomplishment to her list when her performance in the blockbuster movie won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Again the movie was appreciated both by the fans and the critics for years to come and the film completed its Golden Jubilee.

Dil was followed by “100 Days” and “Saajan” in 1991 which were huge success at the box office and established Madhuri Dixit as the crown princess of Bollywood. Then came Indra Kumar’s “Beta” in 1992 which again was one of the biggest box office hits. The film won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Her sensuous dance number in Dhak Dhak karne laga established her as the ‘Dhak Dhak’ girl who stole the hearts of millions.

Her famous item number ‘Choli ke Peeche’ in Khalnayak in 1993 placed her in the centre of a huge controversy and again brought her in the spotlight. She was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the same movie. 1994 was perhaps the best year in the career of Madhuri with two of her biggest hits “Anjaam” and “Hum Aapke Hain Kaun” releasing that year. While her role in Anjaam, where she played a vengeful damsel, was greatly applauded by the critics, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun recorded the single greatest hit ever breaking the record of Sholay. The film won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the 3rd time.

Indra Kumar’s “Raja” (1995) was another one of her hits. Though the film had many flaws her role won the critics recognition. Unfortunately after that had been downhill for Madhuri with a series of flops like Prem Granth, Koyla, Mrityudand etc. Critics commented that it was time for Madhuri to pack her bags and leave the industry but then came her performances in Dil Toh Pagal Hai (1997) which once again who her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. She once again starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Devdas” in 2002. The film was commercially successful and she proved once again that she has neither lost her acting talents nor her dancing skills.

After her marriage in 1999 films have moved down the priority list for Madhuri and she is devoting more time to her personal life taking care of her two sons Arin and Ryan. She is though starring in a few films the most recent in line being ‘Aaja Nach Le’. Let us hope that we get to see more of this dashing diva of Bollywood.

7. Juhi Chawla

Innocent, sweet and bubbly Juhi Chawla was the first child born to Punjabi father Dr. S. Chawla and Gujarati mother, Mona. She has one brother named Sanjeev. She graduated from Sydenham College, Mumbai, Maharastra. She was crowned Miss India in 1984 and she won the best costume award in the Miss Universe contest that year.

From beauty contests, she moved into film – with her movie debut being “Sultanat” in 1986. The film was not a huge success at the box office. Her next project was the Kannada film “Permaloka” which was a superhit. Her next Bollywood appearance was the superhit film “Quayamat Se Quayamat Tak” where she starred next to Aamir Khan. The pair went on to be one of the most successful on screen couples industry has ever seen.

The next few films were not very successful for Juhi. Love Love Love, Goonj, Kaafila, Swarg all bombed at the box office, but Juhi Chawla hit the hotspot with Dharmesh Darshan’s “Lootere”. A song on the beach in just a plain white shirt was enough for her to be labeled hot.

Her second innings in Bollywood started with a series of hits starting with “Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman” in 1992 followed by “Bol Radha Bol” (1992) and “Lootere” in 1993. Next came Yash Raj’s “Darr” which was a blockbuster hit and one of the greatest hits of the 90’s. With this performance she was suddenly placed right at the top and became one of the toughest contenders for the no. 1 title. Darr was followed by another hit “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke” for which she won the Filmfare Best Actress award.

Her pairing with Shahrukh has also been successful. Together they gave Bollywood hits like Ram Jaane, Yes Boss, Duplicate etc. Together they also started a film production firm Dreamz Unlimited. The first movie by the production house was “Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani” released in 2000. Her best performances between the period 1997 and 2002 included “Ishq” and “Arjun Pandit”.

Recent years have not been that successful for Juhi and her career seems to be on a low. Lately she starred in “My Brother Nikhil” in 2005 which was not commercially successful but critically acclaimed, “Bas Ek Pal” (2006), Salaam-e-Ishq (2007) etc. Her forthcoming releases include “Swami” and “Bhoothnath” both of which are set to be released in 2007.

Juhi is married to the famous industrialist Jai Mehta. She gave birth to her first child, a girl, on February 21, 2001. Her daughter’s name is Jhanvi. Chawla later gave birth to a son called Arjun.

8. Kajol Mukherjee (Devgan)

Acting runs in her blood and her natural bent for acting is well reflected in the ease with which she plays variety of roles. Yes, we are talking about Kajol, daughter of Tanuja and Shomu Mukherjee. Be it her maternal aunt Nutan Behl or her maternal grandmother Shobhna Samarth and maternal great grandmother Rattan Bai, they wee all yesteryears movie stars. Kajol’s younger sister Tanisha has also joined the industry and has films like ‘Niel and Nikki’, ‘Sarkar’, etc to her credit.

Kajol was born on 5th August 1974 in Mumbai and has a happy and comfortable childhood. She debuted with the film ‘Bekhudi’ in 1992 which was a box office disaster. The came her film ‘Baazigar’ with Shahrukh Khan and the industry started talking about this not-so-glamorous girl who seemed to have acting potentials. Her next flick ‘Udhar Ki Zindagi’ truly brought out her flair for acting. In 1998 she again had a hit with Shahrukh Khan in ‘Kara Arjun’.

Kajol was best paired on-screen with actor Shah Rukh Khan and both make a magical romantic pair. In fact, each of her five movies with him (Baazigar, Karan Arjun, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, and Kabhi Khushie Kabhi Gham) have all gone on to become super-hits and blockbusters. She has appeared with her husband Ajay Devgan in movies like ‘Hulchul’, ‘Gundaraj’, ‘Raju Chacha’,,, ‘Ishq’ and ‘Pyar to Hona Hi Tha’ among which the last two were commercially successful.

In her short filmi career, Kajol has got rave reviews along with a lot of awards. The latter includes Filmfare Best Actress Award for ‘Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’ (1995), Filmfare Best Villain Award and Zee Cine Award Best Actor in a Negative Role for ‘Gupt‘ (1997), Filmfare Best Actress Award and Zee Cine Award Best Actor- Female for ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai ‘ (1998), Star Screen Award Best Actress for Dushman (1998), Filmfare Best Actress Award and Star Screen Award Best Actress for ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ (2001), Zee Cine Special Award for Outstanding Performance- Female for ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ (2001).

Her marriage to Ajay Devgan in February 24, 1999 was a quiet affair where only a few close friends and relatives were invited. The newly wed couple went on a two month honeymoon traveling the world visiting such places as Sydney & Cairo. The couple has carried off their marriage well and compliment each other perfectly as Kajol is known for a bubbly, cheerful and extrovert nature and Ajay is shy, serious and introvert. Post marriage Kajol has cut down the number of movies to spend more time with her family. She had a miscarriage but was blessed with a baby girl in 2003 whom she named Nyasa.

The films which were released after the marriage include ‘Raju Chacha’ (2000), ‘Kuch Khatti Kuch Meethi’ (2001), Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’ (2001) and ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’ (2003). She gave a brilliant performance in ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’. After this movie, she stayed away from the film industry for a while. In 2006, she came back enacting the role of a blind Kashmiri girl with Aamir Khan in Kunal Kohli’s ‘Fanaa‘ which again showed that the journey is not over for this talented gem of Bollywood.

9. Rani Mukherjee

The Bong beauty Rani Mukherjee was born on 21st March 1978. Being the daughter of the famous director Ram Mukherjee and the cousin of one of the greatest actresses Kajol, the road ahead for Rani Mukherjee has been clear. She did a small cameo role in her father’s Bengali film “Biyer Phool” in 1992 at a very young age of 14.

She made her Bollywood debut when Salim Akthar came up with “Raja Ki Aayegi Baraat” in 1996. The film bombed at the box office and Rani’s career took a back seat with her devoting her attention back to completing her studies. She was back with a bang with “Ghulam” in 1998 where she starred opposite to Aamir Khan. Thought the film was very successful at the box office a few critics raised some questions on her acting skills and commented on her hoarse voice. Rani’s response was her brilliant performance in Karan Johar’s “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai” where she played the hot and sexy Tina and won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award.

Again in 1998 she gave another brilliant performance in “Mehndi”. After a few flops like Hello Brother, Baadal, Bichhoo she once again came into the limelight with her controversial performance in “Hey Ram” (2000). The film itself was a centre of discussion with its controversial subject matter and her steamy kiss scene with Kamal Hasan just added spice to the discussion. The film though was India’s official entry for the Oscars.

Between 2000 and 2002 she did quite a few films like Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega, Nayak, Chori Chori Chupke Chupke, Mujhse Dosti Karoge etc. Some of them were commercially successful but none were huge box office hits. Her next big hit was “Saathiya” in 2002. She won the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance and was nominated for Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role in that film. The film was also screened at the Casablanca Film Festival.

Again her career went through a quiet phase before the release of Yuva in 2004. The film was a huge box office hit and her role also won critically acclaimed. This was just the beginning, Rani’s career has been on a rise ever since. Yuva was followed by “Hum Tum” for which she won the Filmfare Best Actress Award and “Veer Zaara” which was another box office hit.

But the world had yet to see the best Rani had to offer which came with the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Black” where her role as Michelle won her appreciation, fame and recognition all round. She won both the Filmfare Best Actress Award and the Critics Award that year for this role. The film was screened at the Casablanca Film Festival and The International Film Festival of India.

Black was followed by other hits like Bunty Aur Babli, Paheli and Mangal Panday The Rising in 2005. In 2006 Rani once again topped the charts with “Kabhi Alvida Na kehna” and Baabul. The most recent of Rani’s releases has been “Ta ra Rum Pum” where she stars next to Saif Ali Khan.

With Rani’s career at its peak Rani has a long list of movies queued up for release next in line being “Laaga Chunari Mein Daag” followed by “Saawariya”. With Rani giving one hit performance after the other one gets a feeling that this Bong beauty is just getting started and has a great career ahead of her!

10. Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan)

Born into a traditional South Indian family Aishwarya Rai popularly called as ‘Ash’ is one of Bollywood’s pre-eminent leading ladies. She started modeling at a very young age and appeared in a number of commercials but it was the Pepsi ad with Mahima Choudhary that really brought her into the limelight. In 1994 she was the runner-up to the Miss India contest and became a strong contender for the Miss World crown which she won.

Ash stormed into the Indian movie industry, where she has proven herself a brilliant & genuine actress. Her performance in “Iruvar” (1997) was critically acclaimed. She made her Bollywood debut with Rahul Rawail’s “Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya” (1997). Though the film was not commercially successful it won her the “Screen best female debutant award”. The South Indian movie “Jeans” was her first commercially successful film.

The year 1999 saw a steep rise in the career graph of Ash with her blockbuster hits “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” and “Taal”. Her performances in both the films were highly applauded and she won the “Filmfare Best Actress Award” for the former. These films answered the questions raised by critics on her acting talents and proved that she was not just looks and charms but a rare talent that could deliver emotions, dialogues and dance with great élan.

Between 2000 and 2001 she starred in a number of films like Josh, Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, Albela, Mohabbatein etc. and starred next to major actors like Shahrukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Govinda etc. In 2002 she landed a role in the lavishly produced “Devdas” next to Shahrukh Khan and Madhuri Dixit. The film was a major box-office hit. It won her the Filmfare Best Actress Award and also received international acclaim. The film was screened at the Cannes film festival. It was during that time that Ash signed a few Hollywood projects as well.

After that Rai stormed the international stage and claimed world wide recognition by being a regular at the Cannes film festival. She was a member of the jury in 2003. She was chosen as one of the World’s “100 Most Influential People” by the Time magazine in 2004. She was the subject of a 60 Minutes profile on January 2. A month later she appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman. She was also featured on Oprah’s “Women Across the Globe” segment.

Ash’s first foreign film was “Pride and Prejudice” which was followed by the “Mistress of Spices” which though was not commercially successful earned the critics respects.

At the end of 2006 she starred in “Dhoom 2” which again brought her back to attention. She starred next to Hritik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan. Her marriage to the latter was a grand affair in April 2007. With much media attention and hype, Aishwarya joined the famous Bachchan family post a traditional marriage.

Aishwarya Bachchan’s forthcoming releases include Jodha-Akbar, Sarkar 2 (in which she would be starring next to her husband), Raaste and Happy Birthday. She also has a long lineup of her Hollywood releases including movies like The Rebel, Chaos and Singularity in which she is starring with “The Mummy” fame Brandon Fraiser. Looks like the future is bright for the “Queen of Bollywood”.

By Devansh Patel, IndiaFM

What do you think about the music of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom?

The music of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is outstanding. After a long time I have done a film where in every song is my favourite. There isn’t one song that I can’t say is my favourite. Right from the title track to any track all are very well done.

What do you think about Shankar Ehsaan Loy

Shankar Ehsaan Loy are my lucky music directors. They did the music for Dil Chahta hai, KANK, Kal Ho Na Ho. These are all films of mine in which the music has been outstanding and it’s really done well. It’s gone down well with the audiences and I think they have upped their quotient with Jhoom Barabar Jhoom because they are so good in this movie. The variety they have is so outstanding. I think that’s why they are three of them because each one contributes so much to the film and that gives us a whole picture.

Tell us something about your character in the film

I play Alvira Khan, who is from Lahore. Even though she’s from Lahore she refuses to accept the fact that she is a Pakistani living in London. She’s actually British and more British than the queen herself and that’s the fun part. There’s a lot of layering to her. She’s actually a very endearing sweet girl but she’s not this typical heroine with the salt on her nose. But she has this attitude and this image about herself. She is so into that image about herself that everything else dilutes the equation. She’s a lot of fun and quite mad. I think its one of my most mad and totally energetic and crazy characters that I have played till now.

What was it about the script that made you decide to do this film?

I think the madness in the script. It’s the only film when the script was narrated to me and I didn’t have any point to pick and say that is a problem. It’s very fast, it moves. Well it’s really funny and it’s got great humour. It’s got great back story, each character has a layer. More than anything else when you watch it and come outside you have this whole feeling like phew!! And that’s it!

What was it like working with Shaad Ali Sehgal

Shaad and I started our careers together. He assisted Mani Ratnam in Dil Se and I did Dil Se as my first film. He was an assistant director and I was working in that film. I think nine years down the line we come into a full circle now he’s directing this film and I am in it. I absolutely love Shaad and he’s one director very unassuming even if you joke about him and say he’s the only communist on the set. He also has this madness in him which translates into his cinema. You will see a mad streak in me, in Abhishek, in Lara and also in Bobby and that’s purely because Shaad has directed this film. If there was any other director you wouldn’t have seen that madness streak. I think he’s really relaxed and he’s like a sweet teddy bear with his psycho hair out.

Can you tell us something about your look in this film?

It’s the first time I am working with Aki Narula and it’s been a great pleasure working with him. He’s very talented. He’s this little guy but with a lot of talent. He is always open to ideas and ready to do something new since there is a lot of layering in my character. She is a very hoity toity character so we have a lot of changes. I must say he exceeded my expectations. When Aditya Chopra and Shaad told me that they were going to get Aki I was a little nervous because I had not worked with him before but I think he has done a fantastic job.

Any outfit in the film which you would like to wear even otherwise

All the outfits in the film are very wearable. They are not any filmi outfits that you can only wear it to work and you can’t wear it any where else. Actually I have two outfits in the film which Aki bought for the movie and I also bought it for myself. We didn’t know that and then we ended up having the same outfit. So I had this one dress which is a puffed up ball dress which I wear and the other one is this navy blue tight fitted little dress with a red bow on it so I have two of them.

What was it like working in a multi starrer film?

I started my career with Bobby he was my first co-star, so this film has been quite an emotional journey in a sweet way because I worked with both Shaad and Bobby nine year’s ago. Abhishek is psychotic he’s crazy and I love working with him. Lara again I have never worked with but she’s a very sweet girl and very hard working. We got along very well. I think when you see the film you realize how well all of us got along because there is positivity in the film. There is a Jhoom equation which is happening so I hope everybody had the same experience I had working in a multi starrer.

And about Mr. Bachchan what can you say about him, he is like God and I just love him.

Are you comfortable doing glamorous roles like these

As an actor I would want variety in my career, in my life and off course variety is the spice. In KANK I play a much more serious and much more sober, a little bit more groomed and older character. In Jhoom Barabar Jhoom it’s more fun, it’s younger and of course it’s glamorous. Thanks to Shaad and Adi and thanks to Aki Narula who makes such great costumes.

Any memorable incident during the shoot of the film

We were shooting this dance sequence and it was the first day of the shoot and everyone was really excited. We were like yes we are going to go for it. I was dancing and suddenly I felt this piercing pain in my foot and I looked down, Lara who is 5 ft 8inches tall was wearing a five inches heel that dug into my foot and made a hole in my foot. I went like ahhhhhhhh. And then just when I was recovering from it and I got rid of the stitches and I was getting ready to go on set again, Bobby put his ‘Punjab da haath’ and whacked my face. So I remember falling off and seeing the plane, train and the submarine together. I think leaving this aside whatever happened we had such a blast. I think this is the first time in my career after we shot a song we were just tired and we wanted to go home. The director Shaad just put the track again and besides the actors everyone else started dancing and they danced and danced and danced and I was looking at them.

Is true love real or fantasy according to you?

Love is always real and true love is even more real. I think love is romantic

On working with Vaibhavi as a choreographer.

I think Vaibhavi has done an amazing job. I haven’t danced so much for very long time. I am dancing so much. It’s a bit conceited for us to say we did this and that, I think it’s for the people to say I saw the bits of one song and it’s really well choreographed and it’s very in sync with the film. Vaibhavi is exceptionally talented and she’s very chilled out.

Where Salman Khan has bagged in crores exhibiting his painting skills, girlfriend Katrina Kaif matches pace with him claiming that she has no less of the artistic bent. Salman had gifted SRK with two of his paintings. Now, Katrina has gifted director Vipul Shah with a twelve feet high Gandhiji’s painting. She took quite a lot of time in completing this painting. After the release of ‘Namaste London’, Kaif called up Vipul to say that she was making something special for him. This was really something big special. Right Vipul?

From last few years the tall and slim Ms Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty is in a different world altogether. First she participated and won the international Big Brother show in which she was she was surrounded with many racial controversies and after there the famous Hollywood actor Richard Gere’s ‘kiss’ episode brought her to the headlines. According to Delhi Times Shilpa is currently the most searched woman on the net.But despite of all these ups and downs there is something which has remained constant in Shilpa’s life and that is her mother’s advice. Thinking about her daughter’s stars, Shilpa’s mom, Sunanda Shetty has advised her to wear a sapphire stone. Sunanda tells the Delhi Times that “I’d told Shilpa to wear a pukhraj (yellow sapphire stone) on her finger and it would improve her luck for the better. Shilpa did so, and by the grace of God, see what it’s done, touchwood!” So friends let’s wait and watch what Shilpa’s stone does for her.

Both these new comers made their debut recently with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Saanwariya’ (Ranbir Kapoor) and SRK’s ‘Om Shanti Om’ (Deepika Padukone) and both of them were under contracts until the release of their debut films. But their mentors are far too generous as they don’t want to bind their talents.So, both of them will be seen romancing in Siddharth Anand’s next film under the banner of Yash Raj Films, which will also have Bipasha Basu opposite Ranbir Kapoor.

Kareena Kapoor wore it for a long time and then renounced it, guess what? It’s the attitude crown. But now the crown has found a new head to rest upon. This new head belongs to Kangna Ranaut, the glamorous Bollywood actress. Kanga is crowned the ‘Miss Attitude’ of Bollywood because she is soaring high after the little success of her movie ‘Gangster’. Known for her skin show, Kangna has started throwing lot of attitude on the producers and has made a demand for a pivotal role in all the films including the multi-starrers. Recently Kangna was seen in her friend Anurag Basu’s film ‘Life in a Metro’. Kangna accepted to do this film because Anurag was the first person who gave a break in Bollywood. And it is something Kangna would remember throughout her life. A friend of Kangna tells Delhi Times that “Kangna is not in awe in herself; she understands that if you are good actress you will stand out one way or the other.” Well, God only knows who is right- the producers who are facing the heat of Kangna’s attitude or the actress’ friends.

Geeta Basra’s forthcoming flick, ‘The Train’ is complete and ready for release but the lady is upset that the producer and director are not showing her the film. Inside sources say that Miss Basra has quite a few hot scenes in the film and the producer is worried that she may create objections and problems if she sees them on screen. However they deny this and explain that there are some post-production jobs to be done and the film will be shown to her as soon as the jobs are finished.

Okie guys we got really hot photo shoot video of newbie bollywood actress sherlyn chopra aka mona chopra. I must say she is too hot to handle, mallika you are out now and game is over . Soon sherlyn chopra will be seen in her upcoming movie “Red Swastik” as a leading actress.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shilpa Shetty, the tall and pretty damsel of Bollywood is trapped in a cage of controversies nowadays. Beginning from her Big Brother show’s Allen Goody to Akshay Kumar’s statements on taking away her virginity and Richard Gere’s kissing her in public, Shilpa has come across different kinds of problems.However, the ‘Life in a Metro’ actress has maintains a calm attitude about the issues that spurred with her Big Brother show and tells Times of india that “I am so over Big Brother, but if there are any apologies being offered, I will accept them.”

However the show has been responsible for turning around her fortunes.

“My life has changed dramatically after it. I never expected to be this popular. All of a sudden, I am more than a Bollywood star… I am a Big Brother idol.”

A happy Shilpa adds that

“But it has not been a uniformly good year for me. It feels bad when people of your country misunderstand your actions and overreact. I am talking about the Richard Gere episode – the media just blew it out of proportion.”

Regarding Gere and her liaison Shilpa says that

“Richard and I are just good friends. I feel so sad about that whole episode that I just want to forget it now.”

As of now Shilpa is soaring high in the sky because of her both Hollywood and Bollywood film projects. She claims that

“I’m very happy that the audience has appreciated my role in Life in a… Metro. Now, I want to be recognised for my acting and not controversies. I have got offers to act in Hollywood movies too. But I am not supposed to reveal the details. I am pretty excited about how my career is shaping up.”

Mahima Chaudhary, the pretty looking Bollywood actress who could not acquire the stardom she might have craved for, is married and on the verge of delivering a baby. Her hubby is her bro’s best friend, the well known architect, Bobby Mukherjee.Now when her delivery date is due for the coming week, Mahima tells Delhi Times that “Pregnancy is a beautiful phase. You put on lots of weight. And I must say I look well endowed,” laughs Mahima, adding, “I think all mothers-to-be look most beautiful when they are expecting.”

Mahima’s sister Aakansha has come down from Florida with her old maternity clothes and her little son’s baby outfits. Akansha says “It’s our custom, we don’t allow the newborn to wear anything new for 15 days”. Mahima adds, “Bobby wants a daughter. So do I. But it’s fine if we are blessed with a son.”

About the various rumors about her wedding Mahima laughs and says that “Just because I didn’t invite the world for a reception, doesn’t mean I am not married.” Mahima’s is the second wife of Bobby who is a divorced from his first wife. The duo had officially married last year on March 19, in Las Vegas.

Remembering those days the ‘Pardes’ actress asserts that “It was at a hoteliers’ conference in Vegas”. “I was making an appearance there and marriage wasn’t part of the plan. I had chopped off my long tresses and had a bob cut and was simply enjoying the holiday and attending the conference.” But the charismatic beauty of Vegas changed the whole situation. And Mahima called her sister and a few friends over for the wedding. “At a function on March 19, amongst about 10,000 Indian hoteliers and their families, we got married and nobody had an inkling. I wore a red saree as if I was decked up for the function,” she says. The couple had a registered marriage, and later, on March 23, they got married according to Hindu rites with Mahima dressed up like a Bengali bride. Having been born and brought up in Kolkata, Mahima speaks fluent Bengali but does not know how to cook Bengali food. “I am a vegetarian and he is a pucca Bengali fishitarian,” says Mahima.

Mahima and Bobby will soon shift to their new house in Mumbai.

Sherlyn Chopra, the new bud yet to blossom in Bollywood has decided to take some challenges by not doing the conventional roles. The new dare-to-bare beauty Sherlyn says that she would prefer to take on daredevil roles instead of sticking to the stereo-typed ones. Sherelyn tells Delhi Times that “I like being challenged.”About her experience of working in the film ‘Red Swastik’ as a psychotic killer suffering from schizophrenia, sherlyn says that “the feeling of being challenged is much more rewarding than playing safe.”

From her bold statements, Sherlyn smells like the Bollywood bombshell Mallika Sherawat…so is there another Mallika simmering in her?

Aparna Sen’s forthcoming flick ‘The Japanese Wife’ is being made in three Languages – Bengali, English and Japanese. The film stars a Japanese actress Chigas Takaku along with Rahul Bose and Raima Sen. The film is based on the love story of a school teacher in Sundarbans and a Japanese girl. Raima plays the role of a maid-servant in the movie who is a widow and also has an eight-year old son. However, Raima says that this will be her last movie as a character artist. She will not accept any more side roles.

Neha Dhupia, the voluptous beauty of Indian cinema has some high regards fro the versatile Indian actress of the 60s and 70s, Rekha. Delhi Times caught Dhupia on the sets of her upcoming movie ‘I’m 24’. Dhupia who is known for her provoking performances was doing a cabaret and was decked up in jewels from head to toe. This made the people out there compare her with the old yet gorgeous Rekha who had played a cabaret in the blockbuster movie. ‘Parineeta’.Dhupia was quite elated with the comparison and she told Delhi Times that “Rekhaji is simply a wonderful actress. Her beauty, her elegance is so admirable both on the screen and off it. However, I have given my best to the song and I hope everybody loves it.”

Well, let’s hope that Dhupia is only impressed by the reel and not the real life of Rekha.

After sweeping the West off its feet with her beauty, Shilpa will spread her fragrance now with the launch of her own perfume range called S2 on June 12 in the markets of UK and Gulf. Manufacturers Fragrance and Beauty are the team behind this perfume launch. The chic bottle is designed with a leopard print on a panel inside.Shilpa is very excited with this launch. “I selected the final fragrance and am very happy with it. The perfume lasts really long and has notes of jasmine and citrus to it,” beams Shilpa.

The cold war between the reigning Khans of Bollywood is more than obvious. This was again noted when Deepika Padukone, the model-turned-actress who is pairing opposite Shahrukh Khan in his home production ‘Om Shanti Om’ was approached by Boney Kapoor for his new venture. Apparently, the gal’s manager called up Boney to inform him that Deepika was not interested in his project. Inside sources say that the reason behind Deepika refusing the project was the presence of Salman Khan in the project. Now, Boney has signed two new faces for his movie. However, Deepika denies this and says that she refused the movie because of date problems.

He knows something apart from kissing and that is prank playing. Yes, the talk is about the serial kisser Emran Hasmi, the chocolaty Bollywood actor. Recently Emran is reported to have played a prank on his costar and the ex-beauty queen Sayali Bhagat. Bhagat tells the Delhi Times that “Emraan is quite a prankster. I re m e m b e r while shooting for our movie The Train, we were running on the beach and he was chasing me as if it was a cata n d – m o u s e game. He told me that once he caught me he’d throw me into the sea. I pleaded with him not to, since the shells on the sea bed would hurt me. Emraan actually caught me and threw me into the ocean! I couldn’t walk for the next 10 minutes since I had an aching backside. Of course, he and the director were laughing, but it teaches you that Emraan is a guy who doesn’t keep his promises.”So girls be careful…the kisser knows something more than just love making.

Bollwyood’s beautiful item girl Koena Mitra has some advice for all the newcomers willing to make a mark in the Indian film industry. Koena feels that she is an ideal guide to all the freshers in Bollywood. She says to the Delhi Times that “for all the newcomers who are trying to make it big in the industry, I think it is always better to start off slowly when it comes to fame and recognition.” Koena adds that “Frankly, I feel that if you start off with a huge banner and a superb role, it will become difficult for you when you try to sign your next film. You will have already set a certain level for yourself, and so, you will hesitate to sign roles with say, a new director or filmmaker.