Shazahn will debut opposite Ranbir

Well, that’s the name of another lucky girl who will share screen with the hottest newcomer of bollywood. If reports are true, Shazahn Padamsee, daughter of famous ad-guru-cum-theatre personality Alque Padmasee and pop star Sharon Prabhakar, will make her dream debut in Bollywood soon.

Shazahn, who has been auditioning for several roles for quite some time, is reported to have clinched the lead role opposite Ranbir Kapoor in an upcoming Yash Raj Films production directed by Shimit Amin .

Many a heroines auditioned for the next venture of Chak De fame director Shimit Amin, and the crew selected Shazahn, who, according to them, had the right particulars.

For over a span of months, Yash Raj has been auditioning actors for the leading lady's role. There are very few young actors who would fit the bill of a leading lady opposite Ranbir. After weeks of auditioning, it seems that Yash Raj has settled down on Shazahn Padamsee, thanks to her credentials.

Ask Shazahn about this and you have a surprise 'wow' for an answer. She is surprised at how information regarding her role reached the media. On further insistence, she says, I have gone for a lot of film auditions and this was one of those. But there has not been any confirmation yet. It would be wrong on my part to talk about it, because the production house would get quite upset about it.
Smilingly, the to-be-star adds, I am getting a lot of offers and I am considering a few of them. When I sign my first one, I will definitely let you know.

You may recollect that Shimit Amin, director of the yet-to-be-named flick, rose to fame with the previous YRF production Chak De India. Earlier, it was rumoured that Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor may be roped in for the film. But now, reports say only Ranbir has been signed for the movie. Hope the movie hits the floors soon and Shazahn has a dream debut in Bollywood.

Bollywood desperate for a hit in 2009

It's not just the big banners that are failing at a regular rate this year. If CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA, BILLU and DELHI 6 have turned out to be hugely disappointing, then even smaller films haven't been able to capitalize much on the open market. Something which has been reflected with the release of KISSE PYAAR KAROON and SIDDHARTH - THE PRISONER.

None of the two films had much of a competition at the box office since not just did they have an open week ahead for themselves, there
wasn't much competition from DELHI 6 either that has seen a constant decline over the last few days. Still, both the films that belong to comic and drama genre respectively fell on their face at the box office with near to negligible collections.

While KISSE PYAAR KAROON was dated and had released sans much fanfare (even the stars didn't have much to talk about during the film's promotion), SIDDHARTH - THE PRISONER, primarily a festival film till now, saw a sudden release at the theaters.

Result? There was just no excitement amongst the audience to watch any of the two films. Infact, the audience which didn't really have much problems with Arshad Warsi's last slapstick comedy GOLMAAL RETURNS was just in no mood to venture into theaters for KISSE PYAAR KAROON which also starred Ashish Vidharthi and Yash Tonk along with Udita Goswami. The dated feel was on-your-face and post the fall of numerous biggies in the last few weeks, a walk into the theaters was too much to expect from audience.

On the other hand SIDDHARTH - THE PRISONER came virtually unannounced with zero buzz, hype and promotion. It made a silent entry and will died a silent death. The name Rajat Kapoor hasn't been good enough to attract the audience and the result is crystal clear with the film neither finding good reviews coming its way nor any audience

Then came 13B, Aloo Chat, Gulaal and Barah Aana. Except 13B, none has left an impact.

We are waiting for Akshay Kumar's 8X10 Tasveer, Bobby Deol's Ek - The Power Of One and Preity Zinta's Videsh...Heaven on Earth in the month. As from 3rd April, producers guild has decided not to release any film and the strike may last long.

Big B’s hidden secret revealed to Aamir

Aamir Khan is surely lucky…not just for he is a superstar. We are talking about something more interesting.The actor is the only one in the whole Mumbai city to have witnessed megastar Big B's startling new look in his forthcoming film Paa.

What happened was that Aamir made a surprise visit last week to the Big B at Film City, while he was shooting for R. Balakrishnan's Paa that also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan . Interestingly, Abhishek is playing father to Big B in the film.

Visitors are strictly not allowed on the film's sets, but Aamir was soon escorted to Amitabh's make-up van. Balakrishna, who is popularly known as Balki, is skeptical about his leading man's looks being leaked out and he swore Aamir to secrecy.

"We don't allow a single visitor, not even close relatives or friends of crew members on the set. Phones of course are a complete no-no,"
Balki said. The secret behind the Amitabh's make-up is none other than international make-up artist ,Stephan Dupuis, who did Robin Williams' make-up in Mrs. Doubtfire. And he takes a good four hours to get it correct. While Aamir got a look at Big B's unique never-before look, Sanjay Dutt and Ranbir Kapoor who dropped in the next day were not that lucky. While Sanjay met up with Amitabh when he was not in his special get-up and costume, Ranbir had to be turned away after being appeased by a photograph of the Bachchan senior's look .

Balki, who has earlier worked with Amitabh in Cheeni Kum, says he will soon move the shooting of Paa to Malaysia to protect the actor's look from prying eyes not because they require a foreign location. But because they need to shoot without the fear and embarrassment of visitors."We can't afford to take any risks. If Mr. Bachchan's look leaks out, the plot is out. In any case Aamir is a man who understands the exigencies of cinema. He will hardly be expected to leak the look out," he added.

Ash’s Bhabhi is Mrs. India runner-up

Shrima Rai – Ashwairya Rai's Bhabhi (sister-in-law) is the current Mrs. India runner-up. She won Gladrags Mrs. India 2009 pageant over the last weekend.

Ashwairya’s brother Aditya's wife – Shrima, 27-year-old lady, has no modelling experience. Wonder if she harbours acting aspirations like her sis-in-law? Lending Shrima support at the event were Aditya with his parents Krishnaraj and Vrinda Rai.

Shrima enjoys full support from her family. Her in-laws Krishnaraj and Vrinda Rai and hubby Aditya were present there for the event and Ash chose not to so that she doesn't steel the limelight. Isn't that cool!!! It was after a long gap that Krishnaraj, Ash’s father who is a cancer patient made a public appearance.

But Ash was missing at the event. Guess she did not want to take the spotlight away from her bhabhi. She probably followed Ash’s footsteps, who also was, the first runner-up at the Miss India contest in 1994. But the question is, “will B-Town summon Shrima, too”?

Ghajini star ‘Asin’ features on Verve

As summer draws near, the days get hotter, and so do our very own folks in B-Town. Fashion magazine – Verve’s March edition will show us, how to take a refreshing break with an issue that ushers in spring and style this summer.

In store for readers this season is the actress muggy as sin, Asin, as the cover girl who brings a whiff of the beautiful south to tinsel town. After her glittering award-winning Bollywood debut with Ghajini, she is being touted as the flavour of the season and has been inviting comparisons with the renowned yesteryears actress from south – ‘Sridevi’.

Read about her no-holds-bar spirit and her chameleon-like ability to adapt to different situations and roles in ‘The Enchantress of Kochi’.

Verve’s 2009 Fresh List continues the tradition of toasting budding talent from the arts, entertainment and fashion. This year featuring a diverse horde that includes actress Frieda Pinto , saxophonist Rhys Sebastian, singer Alisha Bath, filmmaker Ayan Mukerji, designer Sinjini Mukherjee and many more.

Together, they are young, trendy, inexorable and all set to go. Also, in this issue, Zoya Akhtar tells us how she manages to hold her own as a young woman director in Bollywood. All this and much more in the March issue of Verve.

Shah Rukh v/s Salman – Cold War continues

The two Khans are still on with their cold war and none even tried to break ice. Amrita Arora’s sangeet ceremony was the venue for their coming together for the first time after their ugly spat during Katrina Kaif’s last birthday.

But the two old buddies behaved like two strangers. Neither they exchanged any salutations nor they took notice of each other. This was
not expected though since ‘Once a foe always a foe’ is not exactly what the two Khans believe in.

They have fought in the past (on the sets of Chalte Chalte when Ash was breaking off from Sallu) but they made up at Farah Khan ’s wedding over four years back.

No one actually expected Shahrukh Khan and Gauri at the occasion as it was reported earlier that they would not attend any wedding function of Amrita. But when the duo stepped in at the midnight, they raised many eyebrows.

Though Salman and Shahrukh were at the same place, they avoided any sort of interaction. SRK was busy with his pals and Salman in his own world. They did not exchanged greetings.

Shah Rukh left after half an hour, while Gauri stayed back with her pals Kaajal Anand , Bhavna Pandey and Seema Khan.

Salman was to attend only Amu's wedding, as he was shooting in Jaipur. But Malaika persuaded him to stay back for the sangeet. Their activities showed that the hostility between them hasn't died down yet. At the middle of the party, Salman left in an auto rickshaw while Katrina stayed back.

Man! Boys will always be boys!

Bollywood boys envy Shahid

Bikes are the guy thing folks!!!

The young hunk Shahid Kapoor has a new-fangled acquisition. Recently, he woeed stars like Abhishek Bachchan, Imran Khan and Ranbir Kapoor while he was leaving for home on his new Yamaha MT 01 bike after his shoot at Yash Raj studios. Yamaha MT 01 bike is talk of the B-town now with hunks like John and Abhishek drooling over it. All the bollywood boys gathered around the bike in no time. These stars were also shooting in the same premises. Abhishek especially was so impressed with it that he immediately called up good friend John Abraham, who was doing a promotional shoot for New York in the same building, to come and see the bike.

John rushed when he heard about the bike and it is heard that the onlookers were having a heart rendering time watching all the guys slobber over the bike. John who himself is a self confessed bike lover soon joined others to rant about Shahid’s bike. Apart from the guy talk that revolved around the bike, everybody took turns to feel and sit on the bike. John made it a point to take a ride before appreciating Shahid’s bike which costs around Rs 15 lakh. This guy talk between actors regarding the bike was quite a sight for the onlookers. A dazzling bike can even make a spectacular girl look insipid, right guys? Shahid may be a man of few words but he sure has the taste for bikes and making news.

John replaces Harman in Chenaab Gandhi

What to do with these dates problems? Earlier stars had these problems but now even the newcomers have it. The role which was first supposed to be done by Harman Baweja has now gone to John Abraham due to Harman’s date problems. Harman is busy doing Ashutosh Gowarikar’s What’s Your Rashee? opposite Priyanka chopra these days. He has no dates whatsoever available for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Chenab Gandhi. Ultimately, the role has gone to John Abraham.

Bhansali had signed Harman for Chenab Gandhi since he was keen to work with the actor. Bhansali was also very happy with the look sitting that Harman had done for Chenab Gandhi. Bhansali is disappointed that Harman can’t be part of his film.
The sources revealed that first the film was scheduled to start in December, but later it get delayed and that caused problem with Harman’s dates. More to it Anees Bazmee’s film It’s My Life has taken longer than expected for which he is busy shooting right now. And now he can’t give dates for Sanjay as he has already committed them to Ashutosh. Shooting for Chenab Gandhi will start in April.

Sushmita-Randeep steamy scene creates murmur

Sushmita Sen is an unhappy soul these days. Her new movie ‘Karma aur Holi’ was once a matter of pride for her and she didn’t stop raving about it but now the things have gone dicey. She is playing the lead along with Randeep Hooda in the film also starring Suchitra Krishnamurthy.

The problematic issue is that Sushmita is not happy with a kissing scene with her one time boyfriend Randeep and is cribbing that the producers are using this footage to do unruly publicity.

Sushmita clarified that the problem is that the makers of Karma aur Holi are promoting the film by sending out shady stories. She thinks that promoting a film this way is unethical and such obnoxious strategies of promoting a film should be done away with.

When asked in this regard Randeep Hooda who had once got the opportunity to date the beauty queen had nothing much to say. He blamed Sush instead for lashing out statements to the press. He didn’t comment on whether the kiss scene should be or not be removed.

Seems like Sushmita is having a hard way in this matter, with pouring out everything openly to the press, we wonder what she really wants. We just hope she gets justice to it.

Wife slaps Emraan Hashmi for kissing on-screen

The serial kisser is now riding high (despite a lovingly furious wife!) with back to back success of Jannat and Raaz-The Mystery Continues.

The couple revealed in the open about their beautiful relationship.They talked about almost everything, right from their courtship days,how Emraan, true to his intense on-screen lover image, stalked and wooed Parveen and kept persuading her till she finally said "yes", right down to their life after marriage!

This is not just a sensational headline, this is a plain fact, that has been accepted by none other than the very much in love couple, Emraan Hashmi and wife Parveen Hashmi in an exclusive joint interview given to a reputed International magazine.

Well, we all know that Parveen is quite a possessive wife and Emraan has said many times that he will stop kissing as he has a fight with his wife every time he is required to do a kissing scene.

But what came as a shock was the revelation that Parveen has slapped (!) Emraan quite a few times for kissing on-screen, during trial shows of the concerned movies. And this was revealed in a very light hearted
manner by the couple.

Though on many previous occasions Emraan had given statements that he would stop kissing on-screen after marriage, but he could not stick to his promise, so strong was his image. In fact quite a few films in which Emraan did not kiss failed to set the cash registers ringing. Of course, it is another matter that the films were too bad.