Saif Ali Khan impresses all
July 31, 2006
A day before the release of ‘Omkara’, a special screening of the movie was held at the Yash Raj studios. The movie’s actress Kareena Kapoor played the perfect host to the guests that included Shah Rukh Khan , his wife Gauri, Aamir Khan , his wife Kiran, Karan Johar , Mani Ratnam , Farhan Akhtar , Priyanka Chopra , Arbaaz Khan , Malaika Arora , Amrita Arora , Konkana Sen , Shahid Kapur and Pankaj Kapur .
The movie’s main stars Ajay Devgan , Saif Ali Khan and Vivek Oberoi could not make it to the screening.
The gathering watched the movie in pin-drop silence and gave a standing ovation after the screening.
Mani Ratnam complimented Vishal Bhardwaj for making an excellent film. Aamir and Shah Rukh stayed glued to their seats until the end credits had rolled.
Kareena, who was nervous during the evening, received many compliments. Shah Rukh had a word of praise for Konkana Sen.
But it was Saif Ali Khan who impressed everyone with his superb performance in the film.
Omkara’s screening made Kareena nervous
July 31, 2006
On Thursday at a special screening of her premium product Omkara at Yashraj Studios Kareena’s guest list read like a who’s -who of Bollywood.
Everyone from Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar to Kareena’s immediate family showed up to rave about her performance.
But the proudest moment during the evening came for Vishal Bhardwaj. After the show, Mani Rathnam who was a special invitee for the evening sent Vishal an SMS which read, “As far as I’m concerned this is the film of the year.”
Considering Mani has his own Guru coming up for release at year-end that’s quite a compliment.
“Everyone was incredibly nice. For someone who’s always been an outsider it was a great home-coming.”
Kareena was seen wringing her hands,biting her lips and of course chewing her nails in nervousness. “I was never this nervous. Not even for my first film,” she whispered.
Bollywood Babe Celina Jaitley in love with Cape Town
July 31, 2006
Eligible South African bachelors, stand in line – actress Celina Jaitley wants to settle down in Cape Town!
Celina said: “I was telling my mother the other day that if I was going to settle down anywhere in the world besides India, it’s going to be Cape Town.”
But she coyly avoided a question of whether she would consider a South African beau.
The beauty queen-turned-actress would probably have been able to stop the enemy without them firing a single shot if they just took one look at her – that is, of course, if she had achieved her initial aim of joining the Indian Army like her brigadier father and special forces commando brother.
But fate decided otherwise, and Celina is now in South Africa for her sixth visit in as many years to shoot for Suneel Darshan’s film. Like Darshan, she has a soft spot for the country because she shot the first scene for her very first film, “Khel”, here.
“Somehow South Africa has been really lucky for me and I am in love with this country.”
Unlike many other stars who would avoid making unprompted statements about a city being the best in the world, Celina did not just make politically correct statements to avoid offending others.
“Let me tell you, I was recently on a world tour performing all over the world and I stayed in various hotels with all sorts of people in a span of one month. If it comes to giving points for courtesy and hospitality, I would give 98.9 percent of my points to Johannesburg and its people, after India of course.”
Celina said her role in “Shakalaka Boom Boom” is vibrant and reflects the real life of her long-time friend Aritha, who died two years ago in a car accident and to whom Celina is dedicating the film.
Besides “Shakalaka Boom Boom”, Celina will soon be seen on screen in two more films – “Apna Sapna Money Money” and “Red”.
And if films don’t work out too well, Celina would like to work as an international cultural ambassador, perhaps for a United Nations agency one day.
Bollywood Babe Amrita Arora sees item numbers as bonus
July 31, 2006
Starlet Amrita Arora says she is open to item numbers and sees them as a “bonus”.
“Firstly I detest the word ‘item’ itself. I have zero reservations as far as cameos and such songs are concerned. I see it as an added advantage, rather a bonus,” Amrita says.
“I think it’s great fun and gives you good exposure. Aishwarya Rai did it, Shah Rukh (Khan) and Malaika (Arora-Khan) have done it. Even Robert De Niro and Angelina Jolie have done it.”
Amrita would like to work with Shah Rukh, Salman Khan, Yash Chopra and Karan Johar.
“I love Indian cinema. I have always wanted to be an actress. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamt of becoming an actress,” she asserts.
Salman wants to get married but Katrina not ready
July 30, 2006
Yes, rumours are rife that Salman Khan is keen to tie the knot with Katrina Kaif .
But there are also rumours that all is not well in the Salman – Katrina paradise.
The reason, apparently, is Salman’s well-known possessive streak, which is hampering their relationship and causing Katrina much unhappiness.
Sources say that the two are still very much in love, but their priorities have changed.
While Salman is touching 40 and now keen to tie the knot, the 20-something Katrina is reportedly not so keen to enter matrimony just yet.
The priority for Katrina at the moment is to carve a niche for herself in Bollywood and get out of Salman’s shadow.
According to sources, “A married actor, who is a close friend of Katrina, is motivating her to get more involved with her career.” And this is obviously not going down too well with Salman.
The good news is that the couple is trying to iron out their differences.
Here’s hoping the best for the two.
Bomb Hoax call to meet King Khan
July 30, 2006
Fans of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan recently made a bomb hoax call to the hotel where he was staying in Malaysia.
Yes, all know that SRK is very popular in Malaysia and enjoys a huge fan-following. Shooting in the country for his forthcoming Don , SRK and the entire unit was housed at Hotel Crown Plaza in Malaysia.
Reports are that SRK’s fans landed up at the hotel every day to meet him. And normally SRK always met his fans and was very courteous with them.
But on that particular day, the fans had come late at night and wanted to book a room on the top floor, which was reserved for SRK. The hotel staff did not allow that and they were made to leave the venue.
Within minutes, the hotel got a call saying that there was a bomb in the hotel. The security went on red alert, sniffer dogs were called in and the hotel was all set to evacuate all their guests.
However, soon enough the staff realised that it was a hoax.
Fortunately, the hoax call did not take an unpleasant turn and timely intervention prevented any further damage. However security was tightened even more afterwards.
It is rightly said that obsessive fans are capable of doing anything to grab the attention of their object of desire.
Vivek Oberoi’s tough times while shooting for Omkara
July 30, 2006
Although Vivek Oberoi cherished the entire shooting schedule of Omkara , there are two sequences in the film he found challenging.
The first one is when he teaches Kareena Kapoor an English song by singing and playing a guitar himself. Vivek, who had never sung or played the guitar before, learned to sing and play the instrument for this scene in the film as the movie’s director Vishal Bhardwaj wanted to record the scene in sync sound (without any studio dubbing).
A music teacher was appointed for Vivek and he began practicing the chords on the guitar until he cut the tips of his fingers. It was then Saif Ali Khan , who is very good at the instrument, suggested him to practice more and gave him tips on how to place fingers on the fret board. So, after much practice, the tips of Vivek’s fingers became hard and callous and the chord sounds were clearer.
The said scene in the film has Kareena asking Vivek to teach her an English song so that she can sing it to her lover Omkara ( Ajay Devgan ). Vivek teaches her the famous Stevie Wonder song “I Just Called To Say I Love You”.
Another tough sequence for Vivek was when he was shooting on a giant wheel with Bipasha Basu . It happened that Bipasha got so nervous when the wheel began to turn at pace that even Vivek got scared, not for himself, but for her. Vivek says he was a bit amused to see the fearful side of Bipasha. And when Bipasha at last managed to pull the scene off, it left Vivek pretty impressed.
Pakistani Actress Meera wants to get married in Bollywood
July 30, 2006
With more than 50 Pakistani films under her belt, when Meera chose to shift base to Bollywood, she was pretty much sure about her success.
Though things never went her way in tinsletown, yet she remains fairly ecstatic about her Bollywood sojourn.
“I never disappeared from Bollywood. I just went out for my work,” she says. “I was in London shooting for the Lux ads and then I went to Australia. I was also in Pakistan shooting for Iqbal Kashmiri’s Chandramukhi.
Now the director has requested Meera to sing two songs in his film so she’ll be recording the songs in Pakistan. “I am looking forward to the recording of the tracks. I am nervous, but I am sure that my director will extract the best from me,” she says.
Speaking about her career in the Hindi film industry Meera adds “Yes I lost four to five projects but now I am back and will soon begin work not on one but three projects. There’s Mahesh Bhatt’s Akelapan, Neeraj Sahai’s Simran and another film with Feroz Khan. I am also listening to many story narrations.
I love India and aim to completely concentrate on Bollywood now. Inshaallah if God forbids I want to get married in Bollywood and have children. I want my children to act in Bollywod” reveals the actress from Pakistan.
When quizzed whether she was going to accept the role in Feroz Khan’s Qurbani the actress smiles and says “The Pakistani Government has pressurized me into not accepting the film. Let’s wait and watch. Maybe if Akbar Khan intervenes, the misunderstandings can be cleared”
When asked regarding the controversy on the Indo-American film Rocking Meera containing sequences from her real life.
“No one has the right to make a film on my life. Only director Mahesh Bhatt will be doing a film on my life, if ever he desires to do so. I am planning to produce a film now. The script has been penned by Javed Siddiqui.
I have not decided on the other cast and crew but am planning to approach Emraan Hashmi, Abhishek Bachchan and Ashmit Patel for the lead roles” she says.
Currently, Meera is busy rehearsing with choreographer Saroj Khan for the mujras she is going to perform in the film.
“I was very impressed with Madhuri’s dancing in Devdas, so I wanted Sarojji to compose the mujras for me. She is a taskmaster, but at the end of the day, the result shows,” she says.
Soha Ali Khan prefers Bengali movies
July 30, 2006
Bollywood star Soha Ali Khan says she prefers Bengali films to Bollywood as the former has strong roles for girls.
She told media persons on the sets of her latest film Ahista Ahista, starring herself and Abhay Deol, ”I like Bengali films much more because they have strong roles for girls and they make films out of love not for commercial reasons.”
She, however, rubbished rumours of her starting a production house with her brother actor Saif Ali Khan.
Soha, who made a grand splash along with other stars in this year’s biggest hit Rang De Basanti (RDB), is of the opinion that ”you have to put yourself out there on hoardings, be trashed, criticised and praised to be a film star.”
Post RDB, the response from people has been very positive and hence she has become very choosy.
Her forthcoming films include Aparna Sen’s film Jewellery Box starring Konkana Sen Sharma and Sudhir Mishra’s Bahut Nikle Mere Arman, with Shiney Ahuja.
There are two other films which are ready – Postcards by Rajshree Ojha and Meridian a commercial film by Vinod Mitra.
Soha admits she is currently learning Kathak and working on her dialogues. Of her influential family she says, it is an asset.
She says, ”I can call them anytime I want help, but I don’t call mom on the sets because I get nervous.”
Of her relationship with her brother Saif, Soha says, ”As an actor, Saif is very good and special. I saw Omkara. Even though he plays a bad character you sympathise with him. Sometimes it is difficult to bring out different shades of a character. He was good in Parineeta too. We talk about a lot of things besides films.”
Of her relationship with her mom, Sharmila Tagore, Soha says, ”She is a great role model. She is excellent at multi-tasking. She works for various causes, she is a Censor Chief, has a successful marriage and manages to look good.”
“As a censor chief, it entails a lot of responsibility; mom is very sensible, open minded and understands freedom of art as she is an artist herself,” she adds.
Priyanka Chopra to represent India at the Global Leadership
July 30, 2006
Former Miss World and Bollywood hottie Priyanka Chopra is all set to represent India at the Global Leadership Forum to be held at Kuala Lumpur on 1 August.
The actress will be presenting a speech at the forum on ‘Innovation of Competitive Edge’.
“I have been informed that the CEO of Walt Disney and several other international celebrities will deliver their speech at the event. I am glad that they have given me the opportunity to voice my feelings on an international platform alongside such noted luminaries,” says Priyanka.
This is the first time that a member from the bollywood industry has been asked to present a speech at the Global Leadership Forum. Priyanka will have to speak 45 minute on her topic and she intends to incorporate various aspects from films and issues related to cinema.
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