It was just a hurt foot: Saif

Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan, arrested Saturday after his car hit a boy, is upset with the media hounding.
"'Saif ne kuchal dala (Saif ran over a young boy). Rich star kid goes berserk... Man, what is this? I am tired of this kind of media hounding that we always have to go through."
Saif is a bit agitated. He has just been to jail and is out on bail. And all happened within 24 hours, and for no fault of his.
"It happened like this," he recalls.
"I had just finished my rehearsals for the MTV awards on Friday afternoon and was driving back home, when a kid ran across the road. My car skidded and hit his foot, mind you, just his foot nothing else. "I was immediately concerned. And I am proud to say I did the right thing. I got off my car, put the kid, mind you he's 13 and fully aware of his rights, into my car and drove him to the hospital. At first we thought all was fine. Later the doctor detected a broken tibia. "Anyway, the kid was discharged and he's gone home. Unfortunately I was arrested. Apparently the law of the land demands arrest in any road accident, no matter how small and I've been let out on bail." What happened was a mini nightmare. "The kid's uncle jumped into the situation. He got all worked up and demanded compensation, which is fine. I have paid up Rs.15,000, which amply covers all his medical expenses. My car has been impounded and the court case may or may not lead to more trouble for me. "I am prepared to face the legal system. But I won't be milked by people outside the court. I am troubled by the fact that a kid is hurt. But please remember, it was a very crowded road. And such mishaps aren't uncommon. Luckily no one was hurt seriously. Otherwise god knows what they'd have done to me." He intends to meet the kid's mother and offer whatever help is required. "But I am getting alarmed by the indications of what they require of me."
Saif is exasperated by his never-ending run-ins with problems.
"I have stopped thinking why me. I just face it. But please, will the electronic media stop making guinea pigs of celebrities? "Kuchal dala, drunken and rash driving... please! I am not guilty of any of that. If anyone suggests an out-of-court settlement I am going to say, 'Sorry, dude. I have paid for my small sin. Legal work is on. If there's a case, so be it'."
The whole issue of celebrity bashing acquires an inverted meaning in such cases. The casualty of the road accident becomes a far less important player in the game than the celebrity whose name makes news. "Don't I make enough news without getting into all this?" asks Saif.

Emraan Hashmi's latest kiss

Emraan Hashmi is known for his on-screen kissing and now this is something he would have never expected. While he was in Hyderabad at a Planet M store, a male fan came up to him and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. He managed to run away before anyone could catch him. Guess Emraan has a new legion of fans.

Bluffmaster - A Buzz Master already!

One look at the promos of Abhishek Bachchan's upcoming 'Bluffmaster' and you have only word to describe the flick - MAD! Seemingly a riotous affair, the movie gets its appeal primarily due to some imaginatively cut promos that have a different look, feel and soul. Editing is the first of its kinds while the sequencing between one shot to another is abstract! Now that's not something that we would mind as it shows the signs of changing times. There is a lot of mystery coming out of the promo as the movie seems an ideal brand of a masala flick - comedy, action, thrills and drama. The movie is already creating a great buzz both inside and outside of the industry as folks are looking forward to check out this Rohan Sippy directed flick about a Bluffmaster [Abhishek Bachchan], his 'chela' [Riteish Deshmukh] and a third character played by Nana Patekar who appears to be in his vintage witty form. Bluffmaster comes to your town on December 16

Raveena sues marriage portal shaadi.com

The Bombay High Court has directed Shaadi.com and Shaaditimes.com to stop using Raveena Tandon’s pictures to promote the site, a leading daily has reported. She sued the owner Satyanet Solutions because they claimed that she met her husband Anil Thadani through the website. The portal admitted that they were using her pictures but maintained that the part where she met her husband was provided to them by her in an interview. Raveena denied this and approached the High Court and it directed the site not to use her pictures. However she could not get Rs. 60 lakhs which she had claimed as damages. It may be recalled that Raveena met her husband when he was distributing her maiden production Stumped.

Salman In Subhash Ghai’s Next

Now it’s official! Showman Subhash Ghai has signed Salman Khan to star in his next project, which is not titled yet. “It’s a contemporary, big-budget extravaganza with great music”. Meanwhile, two heroines and one more hero are under finalization. The film will go on floors in mid-2006. Ghai had officially announced his new project on the 27th anniversary of Mukta Arts Ltd. on October 24, but hadn’t announced the cast then.

SRK’s whopping tax returns

Shahrukh Khan’s last film Paheli may not have had the cash registers jingling but that does not stop him from being the highest individual tax-payer in Bollywood with this year’s annual return being a whopping Rs. 13 crores. This is a big increment from what he paid last year assumed to be Rs. 7.5 crore. According to the officials at Aaykar Bhavan in Marine Lines he has already paid an advance of Rs. 3.75 crores. You might ask that he has had only one release this year so how can his returns be so high? Well, apart from films, he also endorses a wide variety of products ranging from cars to beauty products to tea biscuits. He also runs his own production company, which released Kaal last year which was a major success overseas. And let’s not forget the shows that he does abroad. His tour titled as Temptation Tours has had performances in Malaysia, United Kingdom and The United States. Others in the biggies list of tax-payers include Amitabh Bachchan, Yash Chopra and Aamir Khan. Not many know that but Mithun Chakravarthy was Bollywood’s highest tax-payer for five consecutive years from 1994 to 1999 because of his chain of hotels in Ooty and the parallel film industry that he runs there.

'Kyun Ki...' is remake of Asit Sen's 'Khamoshi'

Priyan's first Diwali release "Garam Masala" reprises his 1985 Malayalam comedy "Boeing Boeing".The much-publicised Salman-Kareena starrer "Kyun Ki..." is actually a remake of Sen's sensitive and stirring 1969 psychological drama "Khamoshi", in which the traumatised patient Rajesh Khanna is healed by nurse Waheeda Rehman, who falls sick with love in the process. Interestingly, Asit Sen had remade this highly acclaimed Hindi film from his own 1959 Bengali classic "Deep Jweley Jai" with Uttam Kumar and Suchitra Sen. It remains to be seen how effectively Salman has portrayed the psychologically challenged man. Strangely, Priyan denies any knowledge of "Khamoshi". "I've heard there're uncanny similarities between "Kyun Ki..." and "Khamoshi". I haven't seen that film. But I'm trying my best to get a copy so I can see how two filmmakers from two different regions belonging two different time zones think similarly."

Salman made their day......

Though he always manages to find himself in a controversy, everyone knows that Salman does have a heart of gold. He recently spent some quality time with conjoined twins Farah and Sabah, who have come to Mumbai from Patna for a complex surgery. According to girls’ aunt, the only thing the girls agree on is their love for Salman Khan! They first went to his house in Bandra, Mumbai. Along with Salman, his parents and brother along with sister-in-law Malaika Arora Khan were also present. Salman invited them for a home cooked meal on the sets of his film. When the time came to say good bye, Salman escorted them to the gate and wished them all the best for their surgery and promised to be there for the same. He also gave them his phone number. The girls will soon undergo the intricate surgery, post which they will be able to lead separate lives.

Nikhil Advani’s 6-pair film: Exclusive

The talented director has been all charged up to complete the pre-launch formalities before he embarks on the non-stop shooting of his multi-starrer. Here’s the exclusive, official, first-hand info on the project. The film, titled SALAAM-E-ISHQ – A TRIBUTE TO LOVE, will star six pairs, which means six actors and six actresses. The pairings are as follows:- Salman Khan-Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor-Juhi Chawla, Akshaye Khanna-Ayesha Takia and John Abraham-Vidya Balan. Also finalized is Govinda, but an English actress is under finalization. As for the sixth pairing, it’s Sohail Khan and this actress, the leading sex symbol today. Under normal circumstances, it would be tough to assemble a massive star cast. But in Nikhil’s case, he went about it in the most non-conventional way. Generally, film-makers make the stars hear the script first, before going ahead with the formalities. After completing the script of SALAAM-E-ISHQ – A TRIBUTE TO LOVE, Nikhil made a 3-minute promo of the six pairs he planned to cast for his film. “I borrowed visuals of the twelve actors from various films and made a proper showreel, with a soft background score to match the mood of the film,” Nikhil discloses. The next thing he did was call the actors to his office, play the showreel on his laptop and then narrate the script. The showreel gives ample idea to the viewer about the character sketch of each actor. Once the actor knew what his/her character was, Nikhil went about narrating the entire script to them thereafter. And fortunately for him, the actors he had earmarked at the very outset were only too mesmerized by the script and are now a part of this ambitious film. But will Nikhil be able to devote ample screen time to all twelve characters in those Three hours. Well, if the twelve actors had scenes together, it would’ve been tough to manage the combination dates. But in my film, they [the six pairs] aren’t related to one another, yet cross each other’s path at some stage or the other of the story, only to meet in the end. That way, I’d be handling only two actors at a time,” he asserts. Nikhil doesn’t deny that it was Salman who introduced him to the producers [Sunil Manchanda, Mukesh Talreja] and indirectly put the project together. “Salman and I were toying with the idea of working together. He had seen KAL HO NAA HO and liked my work. Salman, who flew from U.S.A. after finishing work on JAANEMAN, went to Panvel [his farm-house], before heading for the photo-shoot. SALAAM-E-ISHQ – A TRIBUTE TO LOVE is produced by Sunil Manchanda, Mukesh Talreja and Nikhil jointly and has music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, who had composed the songs of Nikhil’s directorial debut KAL HO NAA HO. SALAAM-E-ISHQ – A TRIBUTE TO LOVE rolls in November and the entire filming is expected to be completed by July next year. The film is slated for Diwali 2006 release.

Saif – Shahid in Ken’s next?

The grapevine is abuzz with the speculation that Ken Ghosh, the man behind FIDA and ISHQ VISHK, is contemplating signing Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor for his next project. There’s also talk that Ken has been entrusted the responsibility of directing the sequel to KYAA KOOL HAIN HUM after its original director, Sangeeth Sivan, opted out. Ken doesn’t rule out the news completely. “It’s true that I have completed two scripts for Tips [the producers of ISHQ VISHK and FIDA], but we haven’t decided on the cast of the film yet. We’d take a decision only when the actors we plan to cast return to Mumbai from outdoors. On hindsight, both Saif and Shahid would be ideal for one of our scripts, but the fact remains that we haven’t penciled any actor yet,” he discloses. However, Ken denies that he’s directing KYAA KOOL HAIN HUM sequel. “It’s true that I am working on a script for Balaji [Ekta’s production outfit], but it’s not the sequel to KYAA KOOL HAIN HUM. It’s a fresh script altogether,” he clarifies instantaneously.

Aishwarya enjoys shooting for EUROPE projects

Aishwarya Rai is in Europe shooting for "The Last Legion", her first international project in which she does not play an Indian character, and she's having a great time.She's gung-ho about her co-stars Colin Firth and Ben Kingsley. "They're wonderful actors and terrific friends. I'm having the time of my life."Her happiness has also a lot to do with the way the shooting of "The Last Legion" has gone. "We've completed a truly exhausting and exhilarating schedule in Tunisia. And now we've moved to Slovakia. You know, it was warm in Tunisia - actually very hot. And now, right after that, it's freezing cold in Slovakia. I guess I'm trapped in an aura of extremism,"
Aishwarya's current assignments are: Jagmohan Mundhra's "Provoked"; Paul Berges' "The Mistress Of Spices"; Doug Lefler's "The Last Legion"; J.P. Dutta's "Umrao Jaan"; Sanjay Gadhvi's "Dhoom 2"; Ashutosh Gowariker's "Jodha-Akbar" and Raj Kumar Santoshi's "Saamna".

Is Boney Kapoor coming up with a No Entry sequel?

If grapevine is to be believed, there is a sequel on the cards for this year’s top blockbuster 'No Entry'! There are talks doing the round in the industry that Boney Kapoor is contemplating making a sequel of No Entry and planning to name it All The Best. Coming back to the sequel, while Anil Kapoor and Salman Khan would be the part of the movie, Fardeen Khan won't be playing any role since it requires him to play a blind man, which he is already doing in Indra Kumar's 'Pyaare Mohan'. Due to this Fardeen and Boney mutually consented to have someone else enact the character.Stay tuned to hear from me as soon as the news about the sequel is confirmed.

Legal notice issued to Karan Johar

Iqbal Channa, a Punjabi film producer, and father of six year old child artist Ahsaas Channa has sent a legal notice to Karan Johar. The reason being that Johar has taken his daughter to New York, for the shooting of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, without his permission. Channa separated from his wife Kulbir Kaur Badesron and child more than a year ago. He filed a petition in the Mumbai family court to stop his wife from taking the child out of the country. The court passed an order which restrained Kulbir from taking her daughter out of India till the final disposal of the application. Unfortunately for Iqbal, the order came a day too late as they had already left for the States.Channa accuses his wife of turning their daughter into a “money-making” machine. Further, he feels that the daughter’s education is being neglected. Ahsaas is the same child who played Sushmita Sen’s son in Vaastu Shashtra and has also appeared in a number of commercials. What scares the father the most is that his daughter has started behaving like a boy, keeping in with her on-screen image. According to Johar’s advocate, Shyam Keshwani, it was a matrimonial dispute and neither Johar nor Dharma Productions can be held responsible.

Zayed getting married in style

That actor Zayed Khan is getting married in November is known to all and sundry. Now more… Zayed has sent out personal letters to his close friends, requesting them to keep themselves free on the scheduled dates for various ceremonies. The note adds that besides sending a formal invite, the actor would personally call up his near-n-dear ones to join the celebrations. An elaborate wedding to look forward to!

Man of the Moment: Salman Khan

With the major hits of this year to his credit (Lucky, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya, No Entry), Salman Khan is ruling high at Bollywood and box-office this year. After being embroiled in one controversy after the other, it looks like lady luck is on his side once again. Despite being one of the top Bollywood stars, Salman has never ventured into certain big Bollywood so far. And now he is just going there. Subhash Ghai has approached Salman Khan for his next directorial venture to start in 2006. The film will also have two other big stars. And with Yash Raj Films, the buzz is that Salman will be doing not one but two films. Interestingly one of them will be directed by a Ram Gopal Varma protégé – Shimit Amin who earlier directed Ab Tak Chhappan starring Nana Patekar. Salman’s career has never looked so promising. Keep it up, Salman! Hope the successful streak in your career lasts!

Shiamak to make Hrithik dance in Dhoom 2

Shiamak Davar has kept many top Bollywood stars on their toes. Literally! And the most recent feather on his list of achievements is that he along with his troupe performed for none other than Bill Clinton. That's not all. Now Shiamak will be choreographing a song for the sequel of Dhoom. The song will feature Hrithik Roshan. Hrithik is known for his flexibility. He left the audience spellbound with his last performance in Main Aisa Kyun Hoon, from Lakshya, choreographed by Prabhu Deva. Davar is looking forward to working with Hrithik because apart from being a good actor, Hrithik is a fabulous dancer. He firmly believes that this number will be better than Dhoom Machale from Dhoom. Hrithik has a negative character in Dhoom 2 and his love interest will be played by stunner Aishwarya Rai. The song is composed by Pritam.

Why Is SALMAN different form other KHANS?

Salman Khan is quite different from other Bollywood Khan heroes. Unlike them, Salman is as fit in actions films as in the romantic ones. He is a bachelor Khan as compared to others who are either happily married or divorced. He is the one Khan who signed an overseas project 'Marigold'. While others concentrate on one or two movies, Salman usually works in two or more. Another vital difference is that Salman is always involved in one or the other controversy, presumably because of his hot or short temper. Despite this the directors, the producers and the stars admire him for his soft and liberal hearted quality. Salman says that as a believer he thinks that the God guides every action. He claims that he has never deviated from his principles so dear to him. He didn't hesitate to act in a social movie like 'Phir Milenge' of Revathi as it carried a message about the dreaded disease of AIDS. He is very confident that his forthcoming movies would prove hits. Among them he includes Priyadarshan's ' Kyunki' besides long delayed 'Shaadi Karke Phas Gaya'. Apart from these, he is also doing a Sooraj Barjatya movie. His concept of a good cinema is that the whole family of three generations should be able to enjoy it collectively. Besides, the good cinema's hero should be one whom everybody wants to follow as an example in life. Similarly, the hero should inspire every wife to love such a person. Of course, the movie needs to earn money, he adds.

'Home Delivery' to have 21 songs

At a time when song-less films have become the order of the day, Sujoy Ghosh's "Home Delivery" is set to establish a completely opposite trend with a record number of 21 songs in the film. The songs are tuned to music by Vishal-Shekhar."I haven't really kept track of the number of songs but I guess there are around 20, some built around situations and others against the background. I wanted to make the music a part of the narrative though I wouldn't essentially call it a musical film," says Ghosh. However, only eight of the songs will be retained in the music album prior to the film's release."We are planning to release only eight selected songs in the album because we don't want to confuse people with too many songs. If there is a demand for the film's music, we might even come out with another album," he says.Vishal-Shekhar was initially apprehensive about the idea but eventually had a great time recording music for the film.

Preeti Jain held for plot to kill Madhur Bhandarkar

Bollywood starlet Preeti Jain, who had accused film director Madhur Bhandarkar of sexually exploiting her, was arrested in Mumbai for allegedly giving 'supari' for killing to underworld don-turned-politician Arun Gawli to eliminate Bhandarkar, police said. She allegedly paid Rs 70,000 as part payment to one of Gawli's aide in last 2 months, police said, adding that the matter came to light when another Gawli aide, advocate Bagawe brought the matter to the notice of police earlier this week. Jain had been detained by police on Saturday morning for questioning in this connection.

Ash in Walt Disney movie

Former Miss world Aishwarya Rai is the most shining star of Bollywood in India and abroad. She has luckily got an assignment of a Walt Disney movie. She has got this offer in the UK where she had been shooting for Jagmohan Mundhra's 'Provoked.' She has another overseas movie on hand titled ' Mistress of Spices' to be directed by none other than Gurinder Chadha's husband. Gurinder had made a film 'Bride And Prejudice' starring Aishwarya in the recent past.

RAMU- SIPPY BATTLE OVER 'SHOLAY'

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma and the Sippy family are involved in a bitter battle over the remake rights of 'Sholay'. We tell you what's brewing.Thirty years on, and the glory of 'Sholay' is still unsurpassed. Prolific filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma may have announced a remake of the classic, but the film's producers Sippy Films insist that Verma is not going about it the correct way. "This (is) just not done. There has been no permission asked or a letter written. We read it in papers about the film. Usually, abroad you can't do such things but I guess we have no rules whatsoever," says Sasha Sippy, Executive Director, Sippy Films.

Ghai’s final cast of ‘Shaadi Se Pehle’

While IQBAL has been released and 36 CHINA TOWN is 50% complete after two major schedules in Bangkok and Mauritius, respectively, Subhash Ghai is all set to perform the mahurat of his next film, SHAADI SE PEHLE, on September 1.Although Ghai had announced the principal star cast of the film a month ago -- Akshaye Khanna, Mallika Sherawat and Ayesha Takia -- the final star cast is as follows: Akshaye Khanna, Mallika Sherawat, Ayesha Takia, Aftab Shivdasani, Suniel Shetty, Anupam Kher and Gulshan Grover.Satish Kaushik is the director of SHAADI SE PEHLE.

Aftab is a snooker pro!

Aftab is a man of many talents. Few people know that the actor has quite an inclination towards sports. He is part of the newly formed Bollywood cricket team. Not only that, he is quite an expert at snooker as well. He defeated the state ranked player Santosh Gulawadi at Juhi Vile Parle Gymkhana. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Marzi Kalyanwala for the Mumbai Snooker League Title at Juhu Gymkhana. He was quite upset about losing. All the more reason being, that his team, CCI has never won the title twice in a row. Had they won, it would have been a notable achievement. He has been playing snooker since the last 13 years. According to Gulawadi, Aftab is a terrific player. He has everything from technique to the right attitude that is a must for any kind of sport.

Shah Rukh does his bit for the disabled

After sold out shows all over the globe, Shah Rukh Khan’s Temptation 2005 team is all set to perform in New Delhi. But this time, it is entertainment with a cause. The team is coming together on September 17, to raise funds for the National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP). The approximate number of disabled people in the country is an astounding 70 million. However, permission to perform at the Jawaharlal Nehru hasn’t been granted yet. On behalf of her team members, Malaika Arora Khan officially announced the show. Other stars like Rani Mukherjee, Fardeen Khan, Amisha Patel and Zayed Khan are slated to perform for this noble cause. It is at times like these that Bollywood proves to us that is has a heart of gold.

Aamir pairs up with another firang female

Aamir Khan is gearing up for his next release, Rang De Basanti where he is paired with a firang actress. Contrary to popular beliefs, all of Aamir Khan’s romantic scenes will be with an English actress Alice Patten and not with Soha Ali Khan. (Soha’s co-star in the film is R.Madhavan). That makes Alice, Aamir’s second English leading lady after Rachel Shelley in Lagaan. Alice, who is the daughter of an important civic officer in England, is considered quite an actress. For Aamir’s sake let’s hope that, Rang De Basanti, turns out to be as successful as Lagaan.

Salman turns to writing

Yes, its true! Salman will vent his true feelings through writing. He is all set to write the script of a film titled ‘Meri Love Story’, directed by Samir Karnik. If he doesn’t land up writing the script, he will definitely supervise the entire process. This is not the first time that Salman has tried to explore his literary side! It is said that the 1993 movie Chandramukhi starring Salman and Sridevi was written by him. The movie was a fairy tale in which Sridevi played a fairy. Two years after that, he also gave his inputs for the story of Baaghi. Salman has always been very involved with his screen plays. Vikas Kapoor, Salman’s secretary confirms this bit of information.The script will be written by Sameer Karnik under Salman’s supervision. According to the rumor mills, this movie is about Salman’s life. The treatment of the film will be like that of Black. Well, it should not really surprise his fans. After all Salim Khan’s son will have writing in his blood.

Preity Zinta to play Sonia Gandhi?

The latest reports doing the rounds are that Preity Zinta is to play Sonia Gandhi in Jagmohan Mundra’s latest venture Sonia. However, nothing has been confirmed. Giving Preity competition for this role is popular Italian actress, Monica Bellucci, who is also a possible contender. Mundra says that he intends to cover the phase in Sonia Gandhi’s life from 1964-65 to 2005. This movie is base on journalist Rasheed Kidwai’s best selling book Sonia – A Biography. A Britain based company, CEE, has acquired the rights for the film. Jagmohan Mundra is known for his women-centric themes. He has just directed Aishwarya Rai in Provoked. Extremely excited about the project, he considers Sonia to be a multi-faceted, remarkable woman and this movie will be a tribute to her.

SALLU RESUMES 'BABUL'S SHOOTING

Salman Khan has resumed the shooting of Ravi Chopra's 'Babul' that had been suspended following the controversy of the tape-recording of his alleged conversation with Aishwarya Rai, boasting of his connection with the underworld. Ravi Chopra denies it though and attributes the suspension of the shooting to the recent floods in Mumbai. He adds that Salman's present shooting includes picturization of a song with Rani Mukherjee. In this movie, Salman plays son of Amitabh Bachchan. Ravi explains that he signed Sallu for 'Babul' due to the special ties established between Sallu and Amitabh during 'Bagbaan'. It is significant that the character of playing Amitabh's son in 'Bagbaan' was first offered to Shah Rukh Khan who had declined it. Then, it was offered to Sallu. Talking about 'Babul', the director of 'Zameer', 'Aaz Ki Aawaz', and 'Bagbaan' Ravi Chopra says that he makes movies on social themes like his father B.R. Chopra who had made 'Ek Hi Raasta' on the rehabilitation of widows. The same is the subject matter of 'Babul', he claims. Ravi has chosen John Abraham who is like a member of their family, as the second husband of Rani Mukherjee in 'Babul'

Karan Johar's new film rolls Thursday

The new Karan Johar magnum opus "Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna" will finally take off Thursday. The launch will be attended by Karan's very close family and friends, including the Bachchans and the Khans. The senior Bachchan, who plays the most rakish role of his career in the film, will give the first shot. From the film's controversial title to the atypical theme, "Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna" has been under media and showbiz scrutiny for months. After months of toil in London, Karan has got the screenplay in place."It's been a hectic time. I feel I've to take an appointment from myself to meet myself. First the script was a huge problem. Since I was going into unexplored territory - the various facets of the man-woman relationship in an urban setting - I encountered many stumbling blocks while writing the script," Karan told IANS.
"The Hindi dialogues had to be authentic and real, and yet conversational...a hard task. Then getting the vast cast in place was a problem. Finally, I've got Veer-Zara (Shah Rukh Khan-Preity Zinta) and Bunty-Aur-Babli (Abhishek Bachchan-Rani Mukherjee). "But above all, I have Bachchan. No one else could play his role." The first two weeks of Karan's film will be shot in Mumbai. Then he moves to the US for the principal shooting of what's touted as a departure for Karan Johar from his style of filmmaking. But Karan protests: "Hey hold it! Enough of this departure theory. 'Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna' will be a typical KJ film. "It will be large in canvas and scope and hopefully in emotions. It will be the 'Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham' (K3G) located in the heart and other intangible regions of the human being. Yes, it's different from my other films. "But was K3G anything like 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai'? And did 'Kaal' resemble 'Kal Ho Na Ho' in any detail? Have I made my point? Then let's move on."

Court notice to Aamir, Rani, others over 'Mandal Pandey'

The Delhi High Court Thursday issued notices to Bollywood actors Aamir Khan and Rani Mukherjee and others linked with Hindi film "Mangal Pandey - The Rising" on a suit by the kin of the pre-independence hero. Raghunath Pandey -- a great grandson of Mangal Pandey's brother -- and his son Omkar Nath Pandey sought a permanent injunction on the screening of "The Rising" on grounds that the film showed the revolutionary in an uncharitable manner by depicting his relations with a nautch girl who he later accepted as his wife. Justice O.P. Dwivedi issued notices to Aamir Khan, who played the title role, Rani Mukherjee who was cast as the nautch girl, director Ketan Mehta, producers Bobby Bedi and Deepa Sahi, scriptwriter Farooq Dhondy and distributor Yash Chopra, asking them to file replies to the petition by Sep 21. Seeking a nominal damage of Re.1 against the filmmakers, the plaintiffs also alleged that the film did not mention Mangal's native village Nagwa in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh. The film's producer and director had distorted the history of the freedom struggle by falsely claiming that the story of Mangal, the Indian sepoy believed to have triggered the first war of independence in 1857, was based on actual events, the petition said. "The defendant filmmakers owe an apology to the people of India for the senseless and wilful misrepresentations so made and withdraw the screening of the film immediately."They also urged the court to declare that the film could not be termed as based on actual events relating to the personal life and character of Mangal Pandey and was defamatory to him.The suit urged the court to stay the screening of the film till certain objectionable shots in it were removed.The depiction of Mangal's relationship with a nautch girl was "out of context" and "unhistorical", the Pandey father-son duo pleaded.

John's dangerous stunt for Zinda

Bipasha Basu is a very worried woman these days. The reason being John's latest role in Sanjay F Gupta's Zinda. Recently, while they were shooting the climax scene in Bangkok, John was required to hang from the 63rd floor of a building. The only support that he had was Sanjay Dutt holding him. Whew! Sounds dangerous! Also, it is being said that this role will put all other villainous roles to shame. Only time will tell.

Abhishek Bachchan turns singer

Abhishek Bachchan has picked up quite a many expressions and mannerisms from his father. And not just that! He’s also inherited Big B’s singing prowess. Abhishek, reportedly will lend his voice to a song in his upcoming film Bluff Master directed by Rohan Sippy. Vishal-Shekhar who had made Abhishek gyrate his hips in Dus Bahane are composing this ‘Hinglish’ number. And remember, some time back we had informed you that the soundtrack of Bluff Master doesn’t have any original compositions but only remix versions of popular tracks. So don’t be surprised if Abhishek croons a yesteryear track. Who knows, maybe it’s a Big B track? FYI, Surprisingly this is not Abhishek’s singing debut. The actor had already recorded a number in the Maithili language for Rituparno Ghosh’s Bengali film Antar Mahal.

Sahara One Sangeet Awards in California

PDM International and Sahara One along with U.S.-based Mehta Entertainment have announced the 2nd Sangeet Awards, the only Indian music awards honouring excellence in Indian film and pop music on an international platform. After the grand launch of the awards at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 2004, the Sahara One Sangeet Awards 2005 will be hosted at the Oakland Arena in Oakland, California, U.S.A. on September 24, 2005.24 awards will be presented across three main categories: Film Music, Critics Awards in Film Music and Pop Music. The jury panel for the Sangeet Awards 2005 comprises of eminent personalities from the music and film industry, namely Ramesh Sippy, Suresh Wadkar, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Shankar Mahadevan, Leslie Lewis, Ken Ghosh, Anubhav Sinha, Shiamak Davar and Saapna Mukherji. Actor Shah Rukh Khan will be joining the music fraternity at the awards ceremony in Oakland and will entertain audiences with a power-packed performance, alongside other star performers. PDM has partnered with industry experts Sohail Khan Entertainment, Morani and Soorma of Cineyug Entertainment and Showcraft Productions.

FARDEEN KHAN bang's in 2005

The second half of 2005 seems crucial for Fardeen Khan. For, the actor will have as many as three releases, big films all, in the forthcoming months. There’s Boney Kapoor’s NO ENTRY this week, followed by Pritish Nandy’s EK KHILADI EK HASEENA with father Feroz Khan and Vashu Bhagnani’s David Dhawan-directed SHAADI NO. 1 in Diwali.“I enjoyed doing the three films,” Fardeen informs me, “NO ENTRY and SHAADI NO. 1 were fun; as an actor you need to shed all inhibitions when you attempt comedy. EK KHILADI EK HASEENA was equally exciting. Its script is in sharp contrast to what’s being churned out these days, plus with dad in the film, it makes EK KHILADI EK HASEENA a lot more special.” There’s talk that F.K. Sr. and Fardeen are working on their home-production. F.K. Sr. had been maintaining a low profile ever since JANASHEEN hit the screens, but the wait is over. Reportedly, the Khans have finally found the right script and also registered a series of new titles with a producers’ association. “Nothing is in the offing yet. Dad is yet to get hold of the right script. Perhaps next year,” Fardeen clarifies.

KAREENA to do a Helen and SRK to do Amitabh in 'DON' remake

Ever since she saw "Dil Chahta Hai", Kareena Kapoor wanted to work with Farhan Akhtar. It looks like her dream is about to come true.Kareena has just been signed on to play a pivotal part in Farhan's much-anticipated "Don" remake. Says Farhan: "Kareena is an actress whose work I had enjoyed and admired for a long time. I was very keen that only she plays one of the roles in 'Don'. I could think of no one but her for that role."When I first offered her the film she was very excited, but said she needed to think about it. We met on Monday after she returned from her shooting abroad, discussed the details and she is on."Farhan is reluctant to divulge the nature of Kareena's role in the new-age "Don". But it is reliably learnt that she will be playing the role that yesteryears screen vamp Helen did in Chandra Barot's "Don".Along with Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena would be re-enacting the evergreen sizzling number "Yeh mera dil pyar ka deewana", originally filmed on Amitabh Bachchan and Helen. Apparently, Farhan intends to retain the original Kalyanji-Anandji track sung by Asha Bhosle for the song, along with the Kishore Kumar number "Khai ke paan banaras wala."Kareena's presence in "Don" is big news on several counts. For one, she gets to team up with Shah Rukh Khan for the first time after "Asoka". The pair had stopped working together after Kareena refused to do Karan Johar's "Kal Ho Na Ho". In "Don" she plays a full-on femme fatale.