1 lakh for used towel! Welcome to online celebrity bidding

Imagine shelling out Rs.100,000 for a used towel! A lot of people might, if the towel belonged to a celebrity. From clothes to cricket bats - Indians are fast opening up to the idea of bidding for celebrity memorabilia online.
"People have started buying such merchandise nowadays. And there are various reasons to it - some buy them for the resale value of an item, some go for it because they are a fan of the celebrity or some just want to give for charity," Deepa Thomas, senior manager (Pop Culture) at eBay, said.
Thomas says the craze among people for celebrity memorabilia started around 2005. A Salman fan paid as much as Rs.100,000 for his used towel. Thomas says her company decided to cash in on the demand in 2005 only and the trend is now scaling high.
"The money people are ready to shell out for such memorabilia's depends on how rare the item is and also on the brand power of the celebrity. Between 2005 -2008, ebay has earned Rs.1.8 crore through sale of personalised celebrity auctions," added Thomas.
Kolkata-based Riddhi Nair decided to bid for Olympic gold-medalist Vijender Singh's boxing gloves auctioned on choreographer-director Farah Khan's chat show "Tere Mere Beach Mein" because she was moved by the way his mother brought him up.
She spent Rs.17,800 for the item and says she will treasure it like "heirloom" forever. "I happened to see the repeat telecast of 'Tere Mere Beach Mein' where Vijender's mother spoke about how she never bought a new sari for herself for a long time so that she doesn't have to compromise on her son's training. It left me very emotional.
"I was touched to see his rising - from a remote village to being a world champion. It's very thought provoking. It is the perfect example for my daughter that she must always do something big in life," said Nair, a 33-year-old housewife.
Another motivation for Nair to bid was that the money will be transferred to Mumbai-based NGO Sneha, which works towards quality nutrition, education and health care of women and children. Nitin Jain, a 39-year-old investor, bid for Priyanka Chopra's autographed Gavin Maguel designer dress auctioned on Farah's show. He paid Rs.50,000 for the outfit.
Jain says he often bids for items if the proceeds go for charity, but also had a special eye on Priyanka's dress as his 15-year-old daughter is a huge fan of the actress. "Recently, there were several items that were auctioned on 'Tere Mere Beach Mein' - the chat show on STAR Plus. We had bid for many of them and were, in fact, the second highest bidders for Bipasha Basu's shoes. But my daughter is a Priyanka Chopra fan - so she also wanted it," said Jain, who is based in New Delhi.
Other items sold through the show include Shahid Kapoor's cap for Rs.28,500, Kareena Kapoor's blue dress for Rs.22,300, Yusuf Khan's cricket bat for Rs.60,750, et al. Selling celebrity memorabilia also makes business sense for celebrities themselves at times, says small screen actor Sachin Sharma, who launched a web portal called sbuy two months ago. TV and movie stars can auction their items through the site.
"There are many celebrities in India who don't get their due. And when they land in tough times and need money, they can turn to such auctions. I had a friend from the industry who wanted to sell his car but wasn't getting the right price from the dealer. But he struck a much better deal with a fan," said Sharma, who was seen in "Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii".
Sharma's website has already had 300,000 hits in two months, he claims it is evidence to the demand of such items nowadays.

Celina Jaitley fractures her hand

Celina Jaitley met with an accident recently while shooting for her film Shreemati in the Maldives and ended up with a plaster cast. However, she had no time to recover and she was asked to report for the shooting of Chai Garam in Thailand soon after. Thorough professional that she is, Celina gave the shot despite the pain, so that the dates would not be wasted.
Celina’s friend said, “She showed her professionalism by agreeing to remove the cast and shoot. She did not throw a tantrum or try to postpone the shoot according to her convenience but stuck to her commitment. Celina did not want to put her crew into any kind of trouble and didn’t want to disappoint her team by letting them down.”

Kareena-Saif get cosy

Recently, Kareena and Saif publicly said that the two were ready to take their relationship to the next level. While this bit of news had everybody excited about an impending wedding, what the couple really meant was that they were now prepared to kiss on screen and in full public view as well. The couple was recently spotted getting cosy in public unmindful of the shutterbugs around.
This latest development however, comes as a bit of a surprise considering Kareena was embroiled in a rather embarrassing kiss-and-tell controversy a few years ago with former beau Shahid Kapur. Kissing on camera seems to be the latest fad in tinsel town.

Aishwarya, Abhishek get naughty in ad film

In their first appearance in a television commercial Bollywood celebrity couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan will show their mischievous side.
The two have teamed up for a soap brand and will be seen getting cosy in the commercial.
The couple has reportedly been paid a hefty amount to feature in the ad film which will be on air this month.
This is their first ad together though the two have featured as a couple in films like "Kuch Naa Kaho", "Dhai Akshar Prem Ke", "Umrao Jaan" and "Guru". Their next is Mani Ratnam's "Ravan".

Rahul Mahajan surpasses Rakhi Sawant's popularity

Rahul Mahajan, son of slain Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Pramod Mahajan, has surpassed the popularity of item girl Rakhi Sawant as he has received 40 percent more entries than her for his televised 'swayamvar'.
Mahajan, who has decided to find his life partner through NDTV Imagine's reality show "Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jayega", has received 16,755 entries via phone, email and SMS, said a press release from the channel.
"I am happy with the response and I'm looking forward to finding my life partner with whom I can begin a new journey," said Rahul.
From professionals like doctors and engineers to students and artists, women from all walks of life within the age-group of 22 to 26 years have sent in their profiles with the hope to win this 34-year-old's heart. The entries closed Wednesday.
Delhi girls have topped the list with 5,063 entries followed by Mumbai, from where 4,188 entries have been registered.
Entries from cities like Kolkata, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Nagpur and Ahmedabad poured in. NRI girls from Dubai, London and US too sent in their profiles.
The show, likely to go on air in November, will search for an ideal bride for Rahul. This will be done with a nationwide audition process followed by multi-city meetings and interviews with shortlisted participants.
This would be a second marriage for Rahul, who became a known name in the entertainment sector post reality show "Bigg Boss 2".
He was earlier married to Shweta with whom he tied the knot in 2006 but parted ways with her last year.

Now I'm just a credit title: Amitabh Bachchan

He sleeps for 'four to five hours' a day, burns the midnight oil to blog and has a packed shooting schedule.
But 67-year-old megastar Amitabh Bachchan insists he is neither the busiest person in the Hindi film industry nor an important part of any of his projects.
"I don't think that is entirely correct. I just do whatever is offered to me. I do films, I am now doing television ('Big Boss 3')," said Amitabh shrugging off the busy bee title.
"If you plan your day and time, you can find time to do all these things. If the body responds, it's fine. But sooner or later it's going to pack up, so might as well work while it's working," said Amitabh who squeezed in enough time to reply to 1207 SMSes that he received on his birthday last week.
Over four decades of excellent cinematic presence has made him a brand. Doesn't that overshadow others in a film?
"I don't think that is entirely correct. May be in the early years, they (audiences) came to watch my films because I was in it. But now I am just one of the credit titles. I am not that important," Bachchan said in an interview.
"I am a part of the crew and the cast. Even in my early years, I used to think that. I think the product itself is more important. It's the film that is going to make you or your name or give you visibility. If that goes wrong then everything goes wrong. So one must work as a team so that the product works," he explained.
The actor stays awake till the wee hours to write his blog.
"That is like a compulsion. I feel very vacant and I feel as though I haven't done justice to my day if I don't write the blog because there are now a few hundred people who are regular. They wait to know about me and they want to talk to me," Amitabh said.
"I feel somewhat guilty if I don't write the blog every day. So even if I am late, I make sure that I put something down," he added.
Doesn't his family object to his blogging addiction? "They are always saying, 'Please don't write your blog. Get off your blog'," he said.
"You have all kinds of funny things happening to your neck and shoulder because you're all the time bending down on your laptop. But that's okay," added the Big B, as he is fondly called.
Strenuous working hours and regular blogging hardly leaves any time to catch up on sleep but the actor is content with what he gets.
"I get about four to five hours' sleep and that's okay," said the veteran, who was seen this year only in a cameo in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's "Delhi-6".
Amitabh was here to promote his upcoming film "Aladin". Releasing Oct 30, it is a contemporary take on the classic fairy tale and he stars in it as the Genie.
Produced by Sunil Lulla and Sujoy Ghosh, the film has been directed by Ghosh. It also stars Riteish Deshmukh in the lead opposite debutante Jacqueline Fernandez. Sanjay Dutt appears in a negative role in the film.
Apart from casting magic in the film as the Genie, the sexagenarian has also performed action sequences in "Aladin". He says the only way to attempt stunts at his age is by keeping "fit".
"You have to keep fit. Some of the action scenes are really tough and they are physically very draining. But now they have wonderful gadgetry which can make you jump sky high and do all kinds of things. We use that, but even doing that is strenuous. If you are not prepared to do all that, then it doesn't work," he said.
Despite wife Jaya, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya all being actors, the Hindi film industry still has not seen the entire family together in a film.
When asked about it, he said: "I don't know. Somebody will have to design a project like that. If they do, we'll be very happy to do it."
Apart from "Aladin", Amitabh's other projects include "Paa", "Teen Patti", "Rann" and "Johnny Mastana".

'Jail', most difficult role of my career: Neil Nitin Mukesh

Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh was hesitant initially when director Madhur Bhandarkar asked him to do a full monty for a scene in the upcoming flick 'Jail', which he says is the toughest film of his career.

"I was first hesitant because I knew that millions of viewers would be watching it. I did it because I have the highest regard for Madhur, who was very confident with the script and convinced me to go ahead with the scene," says Mukesh.
The actor was in the capital recently for the film's promotion along with director Madhur Bhandarkar and co-actor Manoj Bajpai.

Neil Nitin says he was initially apprehensive about doing the scene because he thought it might cause embarrassment to his parents. "It is the role my parents would be proud of," he says.

"The film follows a strict chronological order from first to the last scene to enable the audience to understand the emotional quotient of the character. I had to go through a method acting approach and lived almost like an inmate to feel the kind of psychological changes that a prisoner undergoes inside the four walls of a jail," says the 26-year-old actor.

For the grandson of the legendary singer Mukesh, "This is the most difficult role" of his career.
The film 'Jail' revolves around Parag Dixit (Neil Nitin Mukesh), who has everything in life - a good job, a pretty girlfriend and a beautiful house.

Parag's world turns upside-down when he finds himself inside the four walls of a prison due to a series of unfortunate events around him. The film, which also stars Manoj Bajpai and Mugdha Godse, is set for release on November 6.

While adding that the USP of the film is its director, he says, "I was always keen to know what actually happens inside jail. Only through this film I came to know that the world of jail is totally different from what we perceive."

Neil made his debut in films with the 2007 crime thriller 'Johnny Gaddaar' in which he was cast in a negative role. Though the movie did not do well at the box-office, his acting was appreciated. Again, he got rave reviews for his role in 'New York', a film on terrorism.

"You feel like a caged bird. Jail is actually a place where criminals are sent to improve and come up as better citizens. However, while shooting for jail, I learnt that sometimes when a person tries to improve upon, he is set back by the environment of the jail and hence, what was meant to be imprisonment for betterment becomes a bad nightmare," says the actor.

Neil also had to lose weight to fit into the role. "The director asked me to lose the extra kilos to not look like a rich brat but a simple, common man of the street. I really had a hard time doing this film," he says.
Neil's upcoming projects include films with Pradeep Sarkar and Abbas-Mustan while his 'Tera Kya Hoga Johnny' is also in the pipeline.

Shatrughan, Rekha to reunite on screen after 30 years

Shimla, 23 Oct 2009: Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha and Bollywood diva Rekha have called a truce after 30 years of "strained" relationship as the duo is set to reunite on the big screen in an upcoming romantic film.
'Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna hai' directed by Ramesh Talwar is Sinha's home production under the banner of 'Shotgun films' which is "a mature romantic movie and ready for release shortly," the actor said here.
The 63-year-old actor said that he is doing the film with Rekha after 30 years of "strained" relationship. They were last seen in 1988 'Khoon Bhari Maang' however, the stars were not on talking terms during the shooting of the film.
"She (Rekha) went offensive on my some unintentional comments and we did not talk for 30 years before reuniting for the present movie," he said adding that his wife Poonam Sinha played a crucial role in breaking ice in our relationship
Despite hectic political engagements, the actor said that his love for films remains intact.
"I have not said goodbye to the movies...I manage time to do some selected ones," the actor said.
Sinha, who was among early Bollywood stars to venture into politics, joined BJP in early 80s at the highest peak of his film career.
When asked how he managed to divide time between shooting for the film and politics Sinha said, "I found time in between BJP decision not to renominate me for Rajya Sabha from home state Bihar for the third term and entering fray for the Lok Sabha poll to complete the shooting quietly."
"Through my hard work I manage to strike a balance between the real and reel life," he added.

Neha Dhupia in 'Price of Beauty' as beauty ambassador

New Delhi, 23 Oct 2009:Actress Neha Dhupia has been chosen as the beauty ambassador of Bollywood on Hollywood actress Jessica Simpson's reality TV show 'Price of Beauty'.
In the show, the 'Dukes of Hazzards' actress and her crew go around the world to find out, how different people perceive beauty.
And Simpson has planned a special segment on Bollywood for which they have selected Neha as their beauty ambassador.
Neha was noticed by the makers in her US mini series "Bollywood Hero".
The shoot is scheduled to start from next week in Mumbai and according to sources Jessica and her crew have also planned for a big Bollywood party once the shoot gets over.
Simpson informed her fans about the upcoming trip to India through her twitter page.
"@kenpaves and I are going to India!!!! (sic)" she twittered.

When Katrina gifted underwear to Nana Patekar!

Ajay Devgn strikes again. And this time the prankster's victim was co-star Katrina Kaif. Recently, on the sets of Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, Ajay took Arjun Rampal and Manoj Bajpayee into confidence and pulled a joke on his leading lady.

The trio told the actress that it was Nana Patekar's birthday and they said that since he was in a bad mood, Katrina ought to wish him and present him with a gift box. Little did she know that the cake box actually contained some funny items.

A source from the unit reveals, "This prank was Ajay's brain child and he took everyone on the sets in confidence. The trio walked up to Katrina and told her it was Nana's birthday and that they were throwing a party for him. They told her that she had to dress modestly in Indian attire, as Nana was very particular about how women dressed."

Kat hurriedly dressed up in a salwar-kameez and walked up to Nana with a box given by Ajay. "When Nana opened the box he was shocked to find old underwear, a single chappal and a fake moustache as a gift. Kat was horrified."

A source close to Kat adds, "She was embarrassed and turned beet red. Everyone including Ajay, Arjun and Manoj started laughing hysterically. Nana finally told her it was a prank and that she should be more careful with Ajay from now on."

Source: http://timesofindia.hotklix.com/

Ranbir ke prem ki gazab kahani

The actor and his girlfriend fight and are not on talking terms at the moment

There's trouble brewing between young lovers Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. The youngest couple of B-Town have been having a lot of fights. The last was on Sunday night, after which Ranbir left for the Rajneeti outdoor in Bhopal.

Deepika and her beau were also fighting last week, and she almost didn't come for Karan Johar's fashion show. They were seen together at the event, then later at designer Shabina Khan's bash but the undercurrent of stress was obvious to everyone.

Too young?
Sources close to the couple say that they are currently not on speaking terms. An insider says, "Everyone knows that Neetu never really approved of Deepika for her son even though Ranbir tried and succeeded, to a large extent, to make his mom thaw towards his girl.

The OSO girl somewhere felt that her beau wasn't making a commitment to her, even though she was fully committed to the relationship because he was waiting for mommy's approval." Also, Ranbir feels that he is too young to get engaged. Fact is, Imran Khan, who is the same age as the Kapoor boy, made it official with his girlfriend Avantika Malik.

Sometimes, things go wrong even though both people involved in the relationship have the best intentions. While Ranbir often drove out of town to meet his lady love, while she was shooting in Karjat with Farhan for Karthik Calling Karthik, Deepika flew in twice from London to spend a few precious hours with her 'Sid.'

In recent times, though, the fights have outnumbered the special moments together. Everyone around them is wondering if this is the beginning of the end. But a friend of the actress says, "They are together. Fights happen in every relationship. This is the eighth time that everyone's convinced they are heading for a split. But it's all fine. They've patched up."

Source: mid-day.com

How Warners survived the wild ride on Spike Jonze's 'Wild Things'

If they gave out Oscars for marketing campaigns, you could pretty much hand out the trophy right now to Warner Bros. marketing chief Sue Kroll, who almost single-handedly managed to find an audience for "Where the Wild Things Are," the new family movie that turned out not to really be a family movie at all.

In fact, it would be hard to imagine a movie that had a weirder opening weekend than "Wild Things." Adapted by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers from the much-beloved Maurice Sendak book, the film grossed $32.7 million, despite the fact that families with children -- normally an overwhelming portion of a family film's core audience -- made up only 43% of the audience.

According to Hollywood conventional wisdom, "Where the Wild Things Are" looked like a disaster in the making. Over budget and beset by endless delays, the movie kept being pushed back on the Warners schedule, picking up a nasty case of bad buzz after word leaked out that children had fled an early test screening in tears, put off by the dark tone of the film.

Even as the film made its debut over the weekend, rival marketers were skeptical of its chances, saying, with plenty of justification, that "Wild Things" was a tweener -- not conventional enough to be a mass-appeal family film, but too associated with the soft blanket of childhood to appeal to Jonze's natural audience of twenty- and thirtysomething bohos, hipsters and cultural mavericks. Faced with two radically different audiences that rarely converge, most studios would have simply "cheated" -- passing the film off as squeaky clean enough to pass muster with middle-American families in the hopes of getting as big an opening weekend as possible.

But amazingly, Kroll managed to thread the needle, attracting a sizable amount of both audiences, who were prodded into the theaters by the studio's emotion-laden marketing materials and a raft of glowing reviews. (Not every critic liked the movie, including my colleague Kenny Turan, but the ones who liked it really liked it, giving Warners a lot of impressive quotes for its ads.) What impressed me the most is that Kroll was a realist, but one who was willing to think outside the typical marketing box -- coolly assessing the film's strengths and doing her best to amplify them.

She acknowledges that the film's early screenings weren't especially auspicious. "The younger children, the ones under 8, were not as engaged -- in fact, they were a little bored," she told me today, on the phone from London. "We were a little surprised to discover that the people who had the best experience with the movie were adults, even adults without children, and teenagers. So we knew our job would be complicated, but we just made an intuitive decision that we would come up with ads that would emotionally connect with these people."

The resulting campaign had a warm, handmade feel to it, which is pretty much the opposite of most campaigns for family films, which conk you over the head with every dazzling special effect or comic zinger in the movie. Warners simply decided that if young adults loved the movie, they would grab them. Kroll says that 70% of Warners TV ads were on shows aimed at teen and adult-oriented audiences.

"We didn't want the movie to look like one of those slick family films," she said. "We realized that this film got inside people in a very personal way, so went for something that, in terms of our ads, felt a little smaller, more special and more specific, as if to say -- this is a movie that's really for you."

Still, going into its release, the movie had received a lot of negative word of mouth. How did Kroll and her Warners marketing team overcome all the negative vibes? Keep reading:

It's been a long, rocky ride for "Wild Things," which was in development for years at Universal without ever getting a green light. The studio finally put the project in turnaround in late 2005, apparently convinced that the story could never be made into a commercial film. Jonze, who had attached himself to the project several years earlier, took the property to Sony, whose studio chief, Amy Pascal, was a huge fan of Jonze, having released his previous film, "Adaptation."

However, Jonze's timing wasn't fortuitous. In early November, when he was shopping for a new home for the project, Sony released "Zathura," a Jon Favreau-directed film whose quirky, low-tech feel was eerily similar to "Wild Things." (One critic described "Zathura" in terms that would be an almost perfect fit for "Wild Things," saying: "In the enchanted limbo between waking and sleeping, 'Zathura' feels both real and unreal, like a dream you could shake off at any moment.")

There was only problem -- even though the studio adored the film and preview audiences were equally enthusiastic, "Zathura" was a bomb, having proven virtually impossible to market. Unwilling to dig itself the same grave a second time, Sony passed on "Wild Things," which ended up at Warners, which in classic Warners fashion recruited a pair of outside investors (Village Roadshow and Legendary) who were willing to take most of the financial risk. Even though the film ended up costing in the $90- to $100-million range, Warners is only in for 25% of the film.

Jonze was the kind of smart and visually stylish director that Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group President Jeff Robinov liked to bring into the studio fold, it being Robinov's long-term strategy to marry hip filmmakers to mainstream material, a plan that has resulted in such hits as Chris Nolan's "The Dark Knight" and Steven Soderbergh's "Ocean's Eleven" series (and such duds as the Wachowski brothers' "Speed Racer"). Still, the movie's production didn't go especially smoothly, with Jonze having to do considerable reshoots as he wrestled how to animate Sendak's furry Wild Things.

I'd be lying if I said that I loved the final outcome. The film is loaded with emo-angst, which is probably why it plays so well with 25-year-olds, still figuring out their way in the world. But for me, the endless kvetching of the Wild Things was all too reminiscent of one of my family's quarrelsome Passover seders. I'm with Slate's Dana Stevens, who wrote: "If I avoid taking my 3 1/2-year-old daughter to this movie, it won't be because the wild things would scare her. It'll be because their endless therapeutic workshopping would bore her stiff."

As it turned out, most critics were on the side of the Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern, who called the film "a movie lover's dream." If Warners had released the film a year ago, when the Internet was full of bad buzz, it might have spelled disaster. But everything changed last March when the studio debuted a new trailer that dazzled the naysayers, myself included.

A pop music connoisseur and longtime music-video director, Jonze had brought the studio a CD full of music he thought captured "Wild Things' " sensibility. The Warners marketing staff fell in love with "Wake Up," a song by Arcade Fire. A friend of the band, Jonze helped persuade the group to allow the studio to use the song in its advertising. The new trailer spared us any of the film's nattering dialogue, simply melding Jonze's striking visual images to the song's uplifting melodies.

The trailer was a Web sensation, being passed virally around from one Arcade Fire fan to another. Warners also signaled its intent to go after a more diverse audience by putting the trailer up in front of a wide range of films, including "Land of the Lost," "Public Enemies" and "I Love You, Beth Cooper." The Arcade Fire trailer turned the film's image around, wiping away all the negative vibes with its vivid emotional appeal.

Ever since its appearance, Warners found that the film had a far more receptive audience, as this weekend's surprisingly strong opening has proven. "For the first time, we were able to convey to people in an emotional and articulate way what this movie was supposed to be," says Kroll. "It really helped reinvent the movie for a lot of people. So we're feeling really proud of taking a film that may not have been immediately accessible, but finding a way to make it work."

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

Bollywood actors dazzle the ramp at HDIL couture week

Bollywood actors Zayed Khan and Shruti Hassan dazzled the ramp in the exquisite collection of designer Manav Gangwani titled ‘A Tempestuous Affaire’ at the HDIL couture week.

Gangwani’s outfits had silhouettes ranging from well-draped traditional Anarkali suits and innovative churidar and kurtas.

Female models sashayed the ramp in unusual traditional drapes paired with statement blouses.

The designer used fabrics like velvets, satins, delicate nets, georgettes and antique laces, along with glistening lame and brocades. The colour palette had black, gold and emerald tones.

“The collection is called ‘A Tempestuous Affaire’ and is inspired from a piece of emerald. The gold shows how the cutting of emerald is done. It comes and glows into a beautiful emeralds so that is how it is,” said Gangwani.

Zayed Khan, who is featuring in the big-budget Bollywood film ‘Blue’, was the showstopper of Gangwani’s show, and said that being part of couture week was good as the best of the best pieces are showcased.

” I feel this is a nice structured fusion look between a sherwani and a sort of a suit in some sort of manner. I like the whole churidar and the pants. Manav has really outdone himself and we always happy to be here for him,’ said Khan.

The HDIL Indian Couture week, initiated by the Fashion Design Council of India, concludes on Friday.

Sanjay Dutt- Ajay Devgan to star in action movie

Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgan, who got very friendly during the shoot of All The Best, are now planning to do an action film together. The actors, who both started off as action heroes will be doing the film as they feel that they haven’t been able explore many kinds of stunts which they will now do.

The film, directed by Ajay Devgan, will have stunts supervised by the best international action directors. The film will start shooting around the beginning of next year. This will be different from Devgan’s directorial debut, U Me Aur Hum in which he starred with his wife Kajol.

Main Aur Mrs. Khanna: An Interesting Love Triangle

Bollywood movie, Main Aur Mrs. Khanna has released on 16th October. The plot of the movie is quite simple and revolves around a love triangle. Salman Khan has appeared in the role of Sameer Khanna was Kareena Kapoor has played the role of Raina Khanna.

The couple’s life in Melbourne is fine till Mr. Khanna looses his job. Mr. Khanna cannot stabilize his financial condition immediately after losing the job and due to this the couple has to move apart.

In the movie, Sohail Khan who plays the role of Akash comes into Mrs. Khanna’s life when she is alone at Melbourne. They develop a relationship with each other. Mr. Khanna becomes successful after sometime and returns to his wife. He comes to know about the extramarital affair when he returns. This how the story moves on through interesting twists and turns.

The film has released during the festive time of Diwali and it is expected to be an entertaining movie. The film has music of Sajid Wajid which had released in September. The movie has songs which are sung by popular singers like Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal, Sunidhi Chauhan and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. They have already gained popularity in the market and the film is also expected to get appreciation from the people.

Main Aur Mrs. Khanna is the first film of director Prem R. Soni. It is produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Sohail Khan. As stated by the sources, it had taken almost a year to complete the shooting. Apart from Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Kareena Kapoor, the film also features popular Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone. As stated by sources, Preita Zinta has played a cameo role in Main Aur Mrs. Khanna.

Blue: Hindi Movie Review

What is the USP of Bollywood’s latest offering “Blue“? The prompt answer to that would be underwater shots, great action sequences and Kylie Minogue. The international “Showgirl” makes her debut [as a musical guest] in to the Bollywood scene with the underwater action caper, which is the bigest novelty of the film.

Apart from that, “Blue” most certainly has an international feel to it, as it has promised throughout. It includes some of the best shot underwater sequences that has ever graced the screen. Even pre-release, a lot of hype had been created about the venture because of its claim of being India’s first underwater action flick.

The ensemble cast boasts of a list of biggies from the Bollywood industry like Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Zayed Khan and Lara Dutta. The present flavor of the industry, Katrina Kaif also makes an appearance in the film, in a small cameo and manages to scorch the screen considerably. Going by the looks of it, this Diwali release is certainly set to hit the jackpot, as it makes for a wholesome package of entertainment.

“Blue” is the story of an expedition that is led to unearth the treasure that lies in the deep end of the sea and is guarded by deadly sharks. The adventurous journey is initiated by a super rich Aarav Malhotra (Akshay Kumar) and includes his friend Sagar (Sanjay Dutt). Also accompanying them are Sagar’s brother Sam (Zayed Khan) and girlfriend Mona (Lara Dutta). As they go about their expedition, the audience is thrown in to a world of breathtaking underwater scenic beauty and adrenalin pumping action.

Movie Review: All The Best

All The Best: Total time pass flick

Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mugdha Godse, Johnny Lever, Sanjay Mishra, Ashwini Kalsekar and Mukesh Tiwari

Director: Rohit Shetty

Settled in Goa, Veer (Fardeen) is a singer by profession and is making a daily living out of his older brother Dharam’s (Dutt) sent pocket money. Veer has even lied to Dharam that he is now married and aiding him in all his lies is his buddy Prem (Ajay Devgan). Though in reality Veer is in love with Vidya (Mugdha) but her father hates him. Prem however is married to Jhanvi (Bipasha) who is looking after his ancestor’s outdated gymnasium. Things go awry for Prem and Veer as they end up losing a lot of money and are neck deep in debt. Just then Dharam takes a detour to Goa en route his travel to Lusoto. With his sudden arrival, Veer and Prem don’t get time to cover up their lies and Dharam mistakes Jhanvi to be Veer’s wife and Vidya to be Prem’s girlfriend. What chaotic situations it all leads to with multiple characters dropping in to make their problems more complicated forms the rest of the film.

All The Best is undoubtedly the most entertaining film amongst the 2009 Diwali releases. Rohit Shetty has yet again got it right when it comes to keeping his audience laughing without resorting below the belt humour and vulgar interludes. Witty one-liners and hilarious sequences involving Dutt and Johnny Lever have you laughing out loud. However, the first half isn’t that gripping. But the second half covers up for it with confusions multiplying and each actor also contributing his comic best. The length however appears stretched as it runs around 2 hours 25 minutes. Some gags could have been shorter one feels. Pritam’s music is perfect for the film.

Ajay Devgan showcases his improved comic timing and towers above the rest. Dutt too is in top form and entertains. Fardeen is passable. Bipasha and Mugdha don’t have much to do but be a part of the chaos which they do ably. Johnny Lever finally after a long time gets a meaty funny part and he utilizes this opportunity to the maxim. Sanjay Mishra and Ashwini Kalsekar make the proceedings funnier.

It’s a total paisa vasool entertainer and worth a Diwali outing. Go for it guys and forget your recession worries!

Amitabh, Amar Singh accused of Rs.500 crore scam

Bollywood mega star Amitabh Bachchan and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh have been accused of involvement in a Rs.500 crore money laundering scam, according to a complaint lodged with Kanpur police.

Lodged by local businessman Shivkant Tripathi late Thursday, the first information report has charged the two well-known faces, who are close friends, of being involved in a major fraud through money laundering.

“The complainant has accused Amar Singh of floating half a dozen companies in which 43 companies were amalmagated allegedly with the intent of siphoning off tonnes of black money,” Uttar Pradesh’s additional director general of police Brij Lal told reporters here Friday.

“Amitabh Bachchan figures among the key stake holders in most of the companies, while Amar Singh’s wife Pankaja Singh is shown as a partner,” he said.

According to Lal, “The companies, mostly registered in Kolkata, were identified as Eastern India Chemicals Pvt Ltd, Sarvottam Pvt Ltd, Pankaja Art and Credit Pvt Ltd, EDCL Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, EDCL Powers Ltd and Energy Development Company.”

Cases were registered under the Money Laundering Act as well as Prevention of Corruption Act.

“The provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act could be invoked in view of Amar Singh’s then appointment as chairman of the UP Development Council,” the official said.

While complainant Tripathi could not be contacted, cops were not sure how they would proceed with the case.

“A case of fraud has been registered with the Babupurwa police station and only after preliminary investigations are done will we be in a position to affirmatively comment on the actual extent of the alleged fraud,” he pointed out.

Busy Aishwarya turns down reality show offer

Actress Aishwarya Rai, who was supposed to feature on Sony TV’s reality show Dance Premier League, couldn’t accept the offer due to her packed schedule and not on account of money issues, her publicist said.

“A recent news story issued by a channel suggested Aishwarya Rai was ousted by Madhuri Dixit for one of their reality shows, citing money as an issue. We would wish to clarify that this is an act of fiction, fact being that Aishwarya, who is known to be a thorough professional, had to refuse the show on account of her commitment to films,” her publicist said in a press statement.

The show is now being judged by Rani Mukerji along with dance guru Shiamak Davar.

Aishwarya is currently busy shooting Sanjay Leela’s Guzaarish.

“Her movies like Endhiran, Action Replay and Ravana are all nearing completion, so the subject of money and costing never did arise as discussions did not go beyond schedules and dates.

“The proposal had come to Aishwarya through the Moranis (the show producers) and even Shiamak pushed Aishwarya to do the show, but the dates could just not be worked out,” said the publicist.

Adnan Sami Injured, Jermaine Escapes During Music Video Shoot

It looks like the music video featuring Jermaine Jackson and Adnan Sami paying a tribute to the various sights sounds and scales of Mumbai city is jinxed. Initially permission was denied to shoot in certain sensitive parts of Mumbai, apparently because both Adnan and Jermaine are not Indian citizens.

Adnan had to use all his influence to get shooting permission at places like the Gateway Of India.

Then last week on the day when the video was to be shot the rains washed away all of Adnan and Jermaine’s plans.

Finally on Friday the shooting started in various parts of the Mumbai. The last day of shooting on Sunday almost ended in catastrophe was Adnan was injured in the sea waters near the Gateway Of India.

On Sunday a speedboat speeded a little too fast in the sea-waters near the Gateway Of India and singer Adnan Sami who was shooting with Jermaine Jackson for a music video was badly hurt.

“Nothing to worry about, though. I’ll be repaired in no time at all,” said Adnan from his home a day after the injury.

So what happened? Adnan tries to play down the potentially calamitous sequence of events when the boat was shot tearing the sea waters and heading towards the Gateway.

“I guess the man navigating the boat took his job a little too seriously. He was moving too fast through the water and the boat almost toppled over and turned turtle. I was knocked against a hard surface in the boat.”

Adnan’s left hand and thumb were badly injured. “Fortunately there are no fractures. But the pain and swelling were alarming. I couldn’t move my hand. But we had to continue shooting because we had no permission to shoot in that area beyond Sunday.”

Adnan shot through the pain, with painkiller- shots to vitiate the pain.

“I’m just thankful that Jermaine wasn’t in the boat when it almost capsized. That would’ve been one helluva story he’d have carried back home,” chuckled Adnan from his home where he’s now recovering.