John Abraham bares it all in ‘New York’

Cheer up girls! Now is the stripping season for Bollywood hunks. For long, Bollywood actresses have used their weapon of skin baring to make their way to success. Now, it is Bollywood males who are entering into the dare-bare territory.

John Abraham had stripped down to the barest minimum on the beach in “Dostana”. Now, reports say that he has bared it all for a torture scene in his next film “New York”.

The scene in question is for a prison for director Kabir Khan’s flick which narrates the tale of friendship and terrorism.

Earlier, Kunal Kapoor in “Rang De Basanti” and Ranbir Kapoor in “Saawariya” did bare-back scenes that were deleted when the films opened. But John’s nude scene is set to remain in “New York”, which is slated for a January release.

Said a source close to the project: “It’s a prison sequence in the US where John, who is suspected to be a terrorist, is denuded of all dignity. This is how they break your spirit in an American prison when they want you to confess to being a terrorist.

“They make you eat, sleep, urinate and defecate in the same room. Then they begin to strip your dignity down… until you are left in the cold, dingy cell completely naked. John had to enact this sequence.”

Saif Ali Khan recovers & plans for a holiday with Kareena

Saif Ali Khan had been hospitalized in Leelavati hospital on Christmas eve owing to a stomach upset, but now he is well on the way to recovery.

Speaking from his hospital bed at Leelavati hospital on Dec 26, Saif said, “I’m almost recovered now. I’m going home today (27 Jan). It was nothing, really.

I returned from Philadelphia from the shooting of Rensil d’Silva’s film on 23rd night. And since I was missing all the Mumbai ka khana, I gorged indiscriminately on local junk food, sev puri bhelpuri, paani puri….puri ki puri fauj went into my stomach.”

Saif claims it was nothing serious and he is going for a holiday with Kareena as pre-planned. She said, “It was gastroenteritis. Yes, I’ve been in hospital twice in the recent past. Once it was just an appendicitis. And the other time it was far more serious. After going through what I did the last time I’m hardly going to get scared by a little stomach infection.”

He added, “Actually it’s much less scary than it looks. I’ve got a drip coming out of my hand, so that makes it look kind of serious. But it’s nothing. I’m fine. Just a little sleepy. In fact Kareena and I are going on our holiday to the mountains as planned.”

Big B, Abhi and SRK in Kal Kisne Dekha

The three superstars Amitabh, Abhishek and Shahrukh are now coming together for Vivek Sharma’s Kal Kissne Dekha and all three are doing cameos. Sharma is obviously thrilled as he gets the creme de la creme of Bollywood to play cameo for his film which is the debut vehicle of Jacky Bhagnani and Vaishali Desai.

“SRK is making a special appearance in the film and is coming at a very important time in the film’s climax.

He is a good friend and like a brother to me and for him to agree to be a part of Kal Kissney Dekha is like a blessing”.

Says Vivek, “Abhishek Bachchan is a part of one of the romantic songs which is going to be shot in New Zealand in the first week of January”.

Hope this one does’t depress like Anil Devgan’s Haal-e-Dil.

Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra Married?

Shilpa Shetty is currently in London and supposedly on her wedding trip. Shilpa’s whole family including her sister Shamita are in London.

Rumor mill says Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra got married a couple of days before Christmas and Raj threw a grand Christmas bash-cum-reception party for near and dear folks.Apparently Shilpa was so elated that she decided to cook herself for the Christmas bash. She prepared dinner for her beau and family that night. Shilpa says, “Luv cooking but (for 15 people) was backbreaking, but worth all the same when showered with huge compliments which we thoroughly lapped up.”She goes on to add “Dinner was a lavish (healthy), exotic spread …. fruit punch, salmon & chicken appetisers with some dips, Golden Roasted stuffed Turkey,(it looked like a tandoori turkey by the time I was finished with it!!!!) Yorkshire pudding, Mozzarella Salad, Roasted Parsnips Organic vegetables, corn pulao, brussel sprouts with roasted chestnuts… and finally topped it with a two layered chocolate cake and apple crumble with ice cream and traditional mince pies with warm custard.

Shilpa probably didn’t want to reveal to the world that she is married… But I bumped into this weird picture on the Internet… Shilpa in a wedding dress… Wonder if it supports the rumors.

What do you think? Could it be true?

Aamir blogs about his tension

A day just before the release of Ghajini, Aamir Khan went into great depression thinking about the future of his flick.

In his blog entry, he wrote that he was suffering from prenatal depression and behaved like a zombie.

He writes, “The last 24 hours have been (the) most traumatic… I am emotionally totally drained… just before any of my films release I go into a pendulum mode. One sec I feel very optimistic about the film and the next I’m sure no one’s going to like it. I lose my smile, my appetite (and) my sleep.”

“On the whole, I am listless and walk around like a zombie. VVC (Vidhu Vinod Chopra)…accurately described it as prenatal depression. The film is about to be delivered and will be out of our systems so to speak. Then, it will have a life of its own which we have absolutely no control over.”

“It’s too tough making films. All the two years of planning, preparation, creative discussions, the struggle to shoot the film and the sleepless nights of post-production ultimately culminate in a three-hour experience in the darkness of a cinema hall.”

“(And) this time around it is a remake of a Tamil film, so I am especially anxious. ‘Ghajini’ was a huge success in the south and Surya (Sivakumar) had done an excellent job in the original. I hope that I have been able to do justice to the film.”

Well Ghajini’s 100% collections at the box-office must have surely vanished his depression.

Now control Aamir in Ghajini

After the success of Ghajini at the big screens, Aamir Khan and the movie bosses have decided to unveil Ghajini game for excited gamers. The game is 3D based and features movie locations and scenes which gives the real feeling of the flick.

Aamir Khan has lent his voice to his character for the game and has taken much interest in the game

Executive director, Biren Ghose at the launch of the game says, “What better than an exciting film like Ghajini which stars one of the most pioneering and trendsetting actors - Aamir Khan to launch India’s first 3-D PC game. We see the game as another cinematic frontier. Eros International and FXLabs will hopefully be the first in creating a new line of games that leverage big movie titles and stories. Eros is committed to providing innovative solutions to its consumers and offering the interactive ‘Ghajini’ PC game is another way of delivering on that promise”.

Sashi Reddi, Founder and CEO, says, “We are thrilled to launch this technologically advanced 3D PC game based on a major Bollywood movie. Our aim is to extend the movie experience through our game to all Ghajini fans globally and we are excited to have had the opportunity to work with one of Bollywood’s finest actors and stars - Aamir Khan on this project”.

So are you equally excited for the game?

Preity Zinta and Katrina Kaif are Jiggy Pals

We rarely get to hear about good friendship stories of actresses, on the contrary we hear alot about their catfights. Leaving actress rivalries alone, lets talk about actress revelries.

After Kareena Kapoor- Amrita Arora, Koena-Tansushree, Kim Sharma-Preeti Jhangiani, its Katrina Kaif and Preity Zinta who seemed to be getting along like a house on fire.

Katrina Kaif was often been labelled as ‘wooden or tight-lipped’ by fellow actresses. She didn’t get along with Bipasha Basu during the making of Race and Malaika Arora also doesn’t have anything good to say about her.

But regardless of all that Katrina really adores Preity Zinta and the two are really good friends. So much that they even take time out of their busy schedules and meet each other.

Now thats a little weird because Preity Zinta is Aishwarya Rai’s good friend too. Wonder if Ash and Kat meet each other in Preity’s common circle of friends.

Saif is alright now; ready for a Holiday

A single plate of Bhelpuri was enough to give the entire film industry a hiccup as Saif Ali Khan got admitted into hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Actor’s mom Sharmila Tagore Pataudi confirmed that Saif had a plate of Bhelpuri and that gave him a stomach infection. .

Girlfriend Kareena Kapoor says, “He is all right. He got a stomach infection due to some thing he ate that didn’t suit him. He’ll be discharged from hospital in 2-3 days.”

Saif and Kareena were planning to leave for a month long vacation soon after Christmas. Saif is said to have recovered almost and rearing to go on his holiday.

Classy Chitrangada May Never Do A Golmaal!

Chitrangada Singh is one of the most beautiful, talented and one of the most underrated actors in Bollywood. She is usually typecast the Art-film kind but if we observe all her films fall very much into the mainstream cinema bracket.

She will next be seen in Sudhir Mishra’s Dev D where she plays the character of Chandramukhi. Dev D is Sudhir’s interpretation of Saratchandra Chatterjee’s novel Devdas.

“Well, (director) Sudhir Mishra has his own interpretation of ‘Chandramukhi’ that gives the film an edge”, Chitrangda reveals, “I play a very ambitious woman who doesn’t think twice about using whatever possible means available to her for getting her way through.

The kind of roles she has chosen so far makes it look like there are only specific genres that she loves to work in, but she says,

“You are making it all sound much more serious than it is”, laughs Chitrangda, “I am not averse to being a part of commercial fun cinema. In fact, I love Priyadarshan’s films. They come with great situational humor and are so funny. Give me a film coming from his stable and I will be glad to be a part of it.”

Would that mean she will be ready to do a Golmaal… Possibly not. She says,

“Golmaal? Errr, I will have to really give a movie belonging to such genre a lot of thought before I sign on the dotted line”, says Chitrangda in an amused tone, “And that’s because such movies belong to slapstick genre and I am not too sure how much of such humor would I would be able to carry off. However, a point to ponder indeed!”

Dimple All Praises for Son-In-Law Akshay Kumar

Akshay Kumar did not share screen space with his mom-in-law but the two got a chance to come together for animated flick Jumbo. Dimple dubbed for the character of Jumbo’s mom where Jumbo was played by Akshay and his son Aarav.

Dimple is obviously thrilled to be a part of the project and she says,“I play the mother of Jumbo in the film. She is extremely protective and caring about her child. It is a very endearing character… It was Akshay who brought the film to me… then I saw the film. I liked it a lot and that is why I agreed to do it. The film is special as it gave the opportunity to play mother to my real life son-in-law.”

And she thinks her voice suited her character because she thinks she sound very much like an elephant. She says, “I feel it has suited well, it should actually. My voice sounds like that of an elephant (Laughs). My voice is quite hoarse.”

She is all praises for her son-in-law Akshay who is one of India’s top and most highly paid actors. “He is fantabulous. He has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. In fact he is growing constantly with each of his films. I adore him a lot as an actor and enjoy watching all his films,” she says proudly.

Looks like Sasuma and Damad have formed a mutual admiration society!

Rab Ne a Dream Come True, Not Really: Anushka

Anushka Sharma’s debut vehicle Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi opposite superstar Shahrukh Khan would be considered a dream come true for many girls but Anushka doesn’t really consider it that way.

She says, “Not really, as I never had the intention to be an actress. It happened out of luck and I consider myself very fortunate to be part of such a big banner in my debut film and to be working with a star like Shah Rukh and a director like Aditya Chopra.”

Anushka thinks Shahrukh Khan in his nerdy get-up of Suri is more attractive than his other avatar. And she definitely wants someone similar to Suri in life.

“I liked Suri more because he had goodness in his character and was very true. I find those qualities enduring in a human being. I would love to have someone like Suri. He should be a nice man. I believe in having a man who is beautiful and strong from inside … Inner beauty is most important. But I found Suri to be handsome and good-looking too,” she explains.

Then you may find a million Suris in India Ms. Sharma… Anyone interested?

Harman Plays With Real Cricketers in Victory

Harman Baweja is all geared up for his next film Victory where he plays a small town boy who works hard to fulfill his dream of playing for the Indian cricket team.

“It’s almost a realistic film, almost like an autobiography on a cricket,” he said at the inauguration party of 9th Fame Cinema theatres in Mumbai on Friday.

Apart from Amrita Rao and Anupam Kher we’ll get to see real cricketers like Brett Lee, Shoaib Mallik, Sanath Jaisurya, Mike Hussey, Dinesh Kartik and Harbhajan Singh playing themselves for the first time on the silver screen.

“Bhajji is someone I hit it off with. We both are Punjabi boys so we took off on the full sarson da saag makke di roti conversation. But over all cricketers, like all of us are completely normal guys. So the only thing that I admire is that somewhere they play for their country and I think it’s commendable,” he said.

All the best for Victory Harman, I wish in this film you look more like yourself rather than a distorted clone of Hrithik Roshan.

Aamir Khan Beats Shahrukh Khan at Box Office

Aamir Khan Beats Shahrukh Khan at Box Office Ghajini, as we all know broke all the advance booking records. The box office reviews say that Ghajini raked Rs.7 crores during 650 paid previews at multiplexes in India Wednesday.

On Christmas, Ghajini’s worldwide box office collections peaked Rs. 32 crores in a single day! On the other hand Shahrukh Khan’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi made only 10 crores on its opening day as opposed to Ghajini’s 32 crores.Aamir Khan has beaten Shahrukh Khan at the Box Office.

Ghajini undoubtedly is the biggest hit of 2008.