Deepika Padukone on missing out Endhiran!

Deepika Padukone, the Om Shanti Om girl, has several offers in her kitty. This lady seems to have the Midas touch, as every film that she is associated with turns out to be super duper hits. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Deepika answered a volley of questions patiently. When asked why she refused a role in the Shankar directed Endhiran, the lady said that

they were just baseless rumors as no one has approached her for the role. Deepika said that she would not have missed a chance to act with Rajnikanth. The actress is currently busy with Chandini Chowk to China Gate starring opposite Akshaye Kumar. Speaking about this film, Deepika disclosed that she dons a dual role – a family girl and a tom boy. When questioned if she would act in regional language movies, Deepika was quick to respond that she made her debut in a Kannada film. The actress added that she would also like to act in a sports based film if an offer came by her way.

Courtesy: behindwoods.com

YUVRAAJ postponed; BILLOO BARBER on 30th October

The second half of 2008 has started off with a bang and the trade as well as the industry is ecstatic with the big success of Aamir Khan's JAANE TU...YA JAANE NA, though one does feel sad for Harry Baweja's LOVE STORY 2050.

Moving on, just last week we had told you about the release plans of one of the most awaited projects of the second half, Aamir Khan's GHAJINI (November 28th). And here are the exclusive schedules of three other highly awaited and anticipated projects of the year's concluding half.

As per our trade and distribution sources, Subhash Ghai has postponed his Anil Kapoor, Salman Khan, Zayed Khan and Katrina Kaif starrer, YUVRAAJ from its earlier announced date of October 24th. The new release date will be announced later. Meanwhile Shah Rukh Khan's next release (in a substantial role), Priyadarshan's BILLOO BARBER, which features Irrfan Khan in the title role, has now been finalized for an October 30th (just after Diwali) worldwide release. And the third movie that sees a change in its plans is Nikhil Advani's Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone starrer, CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA TOWN, which has been preponed from its scheduled release date of October 29th and will instead hit the screens on October 24.

Before we leave, the usual disclaimer, release dates can change even at the eleventh hour!

Courtesy: glamsham.com

Rahman goes designer for Cannes

The music maestro has hired designer duo Shantanu and Nikhil to dress him up for the coveted film festival, reports Sheree Gomes-Gupta

He has wowed audiences the world over with his superlative performances, and his music probably overshadows everything else he does…or even wears. But, as we recently learnt, AR Rahman isn’t just conscious of the beats he composes, but also the way he looks.


Not only does the music maestro have a stylist, but he has roped in his favourite designers — Shantanu and Nikhil — to dress him up for the Cannes Film Festival, starting May 14.

“His style sense completely gels with our brand philosophy, which is understated, classic, sophisticated and luxurious. Which is why he loves our clothes and has been wearing them to his concerts,” says Nikhil Mehra of the designer duo.

So, what’ll he be wearing? “We’ve made him a navy blue jodhpuri bandgala, reminiscent of his Indian heritage, yet with a very stylish cut and silhouette suitable for red carpet dressing. Bringing in the luxe touch to the outfit is the appliqué work on the jacket inspired by the Mughal era. The outfit pays tribute to Rahman, both as a man and as an artiste who does India proud,” he adds.

Interestingly, the music composer had just one request for the designers — to avoid the colour black. “Yes, he does not like the colour black. But apart from that one input, he left the designing to us,” reveals Nikhil.

Known best for their red carpet dressing, having designed for the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, Shilpa Shetty and Saif Ali Khan, among others, for several award functions, the two are now in the midst of getting their line for the IFFA awards in place. “We’re busy finishing the collection and will be soon sending the designs out to various actresses,” informs Nikhil.

And while they’ve got a whole bevy of beauties on their wish list, they’re hoping Deepika Padukone, Konkana Sen Sharma and Katrina Kaif will wear their red carpet style to the IFFA. “Let’s see how it works out,” he says.

Courtesy: dnaIndia.com

Jiah's dangerous stunts in Ghajini

Woman power is in. In Bangkok, Deepika Padukone is matching Akshay Kumar kick for kick in Nikhil Advani's Chandni Chowk To China. Nearer home, in Hyderabad, Jiah Khan is keeping up with Aamir Khan, performing dangerous stunts.

Jiah's stunts in Murugadoss' Ghajini are every bit as heart-in-the-mouth as Aamir's. The only reason her action scenes aren't being talked about are because she isn't talking about them.


"I can't! I'm not allowed to," she says. "But yes, I've done a lot of action scenes in Ghajini. They've been extremely unnerving. And they are one reason I had to lose so much weight."

On Tuesday, Jiah started shooting in Mumbai for Ken Ghosh's film with Shahid Kapoor. "That's the film I'm not supposed to do," she jokes, referring to an SMS that embarrassed Shahid Kapoor and almost got her out of the project. "It's so cheap to send compromising messages in someone else's name."

"I've never sent SMSes to people in the industry beyond work. I'm so new to all this manipulation, scheming and negativity,” she says. “I'm just so happy to be doing two films like Ghajini and Ken Ghosh's film, where I've completely different roles."

Courtesy:

Ash walks out of Robot

Shankar's Robot is in deep trouble. Aishwarya Bachchan calls it off after Shankar failed to keep his words of completing the film on a specific time limit.

Shankar has signed Ash with Rs. 4 crores and planned to shoot for over two years. Ash is not willing to devote two years time to a single film and hence asked Shankar to complete the film in a specific time frame. But Shankar wished to extent the shooting to two years and therefore Ash walked out. Talks are going on to finalize Deepika Padukone for the film. Aishwarya was delaying Rohan Sippy's film Happy Birthday opposite John Abraham for Robot but now that she had opted out from it she is in talk with Rohan Sippy to start the project. It will be directed by Sriram Raghvan.

The shooting of Happy Birthday will start from October as John is busy with Kabir Khan's film for Yash Raj Productions. By signing Robot at a whopping price, Aishwarya became the highest paid actor in Bollywood but now that she had called it off, her value again falls down. Robot is a sci-fi film and Ash had been cast opposite her hubby Abhishek Bachchan and Tamil superstar Rajinikanth.


Courtesy: bollywoodmantra.com

Aishwarya Rai out of 'Robot'

It was officially announced that Aishwarya was to play Rajinikanth’s lead lady in Shankar’s 'Robot', but it is official now that the former Miss World is no more part of the project!

For super star fans who were all tipsy over the announcement that their hero would be paired with the woman rated as one of the world’s most beautiful women, this turn of events would indeed come as a sad news. So what could be the reason behind the twist in the tale? Well, there are two versions.

The first is that Aishwaya Rai Bachchan is pregnant! Could it be that this lovely star has turned down the offer because she is expecting her first child and has hence decided against a project which is scheduled to start only later this year? Until the Bachchans decide to release the pregnancy news, if any, we’ll have to wait.

The second version is that Ash was offered a sum less than she desired, so she declined the role in a huff! Yes, it was earlier said that she had been offered a whopping Rs 6 crore for her role and that she had been okay with it. Now the talk is that the actual offer was much less and not astronomical enough for Ash's taste.

No matter which version is true, the definite part about the news is that Ash is indeed out of 'Robot'. So who is Shankar trying to rope in now? Deepika Padukone!

Will Deepika be willing to pick up where Ash left off? Well, that’s another story.

Courtesy: Msn.com

Deepika will pair with Rajnikant in Robot

Rajnikant will be coming in Director Shankar’s new sci-fci thriller mega budget film ‘Robot’. A.R Rahman will be composing music for ‘Robot’. The trio Rajnikanth, Shankar, and A. R. Rahman, after success of ‘Sivaji’ will be once again together to create the same magic.

Ayngaran International and Eros Multimedia have formally announced the film. Ayngaran International and Eros International will jointly be producing this film.

Rs 120 crore is the initial budget allocated for the film, Robot. Investment will exceed the money ever spent on any big-budget film from Kollywood, Tollywood or Bollywood. Money should not be a constraint for the grandest film in India.

The film will be produced in three Indian languages Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. It is talked in media that Deeepika Padukone who made a superb debut with Shahrukh Khan in film Om Shanti Om may now be pairing with Rajnikant in Robot.

Shankar is also reported to have roped in science writer Sujatha to write the dialogue for Robot. Sujatha is, in fact, a 70-plus-year-old male, who has become a celebrity in his own right in Tamil Nadu through his youthful style of science fiction writing. The ex-employee of Bharat Electronics takes the credit for using the short story format for familiarising lay magazine readers of Tamil Nadu with cutting edge technology. Way back in the 1960s and 1970s, when other Indians were not aware of Telex and Fax, Sujatha’s fictional characters employed Instant Messenger and Internet for communication! The science fictionist cum engineer happens to be a classmate of ABJ Abdul Kalam.

Interestingly Deepika who is 22 years old had paired with Shahrukh of 40 plus and will now be with the Rajnikant who is of 57 years! But for superstar Rajinikanth who has acted earlier opposite to Shreya in ‘Sivaji the Boss’ who was almost Deepika’s age.

As of now Deepika is filming for Yash Raj Film''s Chandni Chowk to China, which is expected to hit the floors in February. Robot’s budget may exceed 100 crore probably may be the most expensive in Indian film history.

It will be worth a wait and watch for Deepika if she finalizes the deal and off course for Robot.

Courtesy: Mynews.in

Taare, Rahman shine @ Star Screen

The awards season of the year kicked off with the Nokia Fourteenth Annual Star Screen Awards at Mumbai last evening. The evening was all glitz and glam with every famous personality in Bollywood attending the gala event. Contrary to previous years, there was tough competition in all the categories.

But the strongest of the contenders for almost all the awards were just two films – Aamir Khan’s Taare Zameen Par and Yash Raj’s Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Chak De. The awards finally ended up as a give-and-take affair with Chak De walking away with the Best Film; Shah Rukh being adjudged the Best Actor, and the ensemble of girls bagging the Best Supporting actress awards. TZP, on the other hand, bagged the best supporting actor award for Aamir Khan. Awards for Best Story, Best Child Actor and Best Lyricist went to Amol Gupte, Darsheel and Prasoon Joshi, respectively. Shimit Amin shared the Best Director Award for Chak De with Aamir for TZP. The Bachchans had to eat the humble pie with most of the awards remaining elusive to them. Even Abhishek’s Guru only ended up bagging the Best Music Director Award for A.R Rahman. Kareena Kapoor was the only unanimous choice for the Best Actress Award for her scintillating performance in Jab We Met. The Lifetime Achievement award went to veteran actor Manoj Kumar. The evening had its share of song and dance performances by leading stars with Shah Rukh grooving to the Dard-e Disco number from his Om Shanti Om. Sadly, this much talked about film could only garner the Best Choreographer Award for its director Farah Khan and Best Newcomer (Female) for Deepika Padukone.

Courtesy: Behindwoods.com

AR Rahman likey to sing for band Kailasa

A R Rahman

After stamping their mark in the music industry with two successful albums, the composer trio of popular band Kailasa are now expanding their domain into Bollywood and are in talks with the Mozart of Madras, A R Rahman, who may sing for them.
Band leader Kailash Kher, together with Mumbai-based Kamath brothers, Paresh and Naresh, are set to compose music for two Bollywood films.

"Yes, me and my colleagues of my band Kailasa, Paresh Kamath and Naresh Kamath, will be composing music for upcoming films Made In China and Allah Ke Bande," said Kher during a telephonic conversation with PTI.
"Together we will be known as Kailash-Paresh-Naresh" he added. The trio who joined hands together in 2006 had brought a whiff of fresh music and regaled audiences with Sufi elements in their first album 'Kailasa' followed by Kailasa Jhoomore a few months ago.
The songs Teri Deewani and Tauba Tauba from the album Kailasa, and Bam Lahari and Saiyaan from Kailasa Jhoomore turned out to be huge hits.
Made in China directed by Nikhil Advani and produced by Ramesh Sippy stars Akshay Kumar [Images] and model-turned-actress Deepika Padukone [Images]. This multicomposer film will also have musicians Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy as well as veteran Bappi Lahiri.
The title track will be done by Kailash-Paresh-Naresh.
"Shankar Mahadevan [Images], who is the main composer in the movie will also sing a track tuned by us," said Kher.
Kailash, who rose to popularity with Allah Ke Bande in the film Aise Bhi Hota Hai, is excited about the possibility of getting A R Rahman to sing for his composition in the upcoming Allah Ke Bande, by debut filmmaker Farooqe Kabir.
"I share a special bond with Rahman and I never miss a chance to work with him. He is blessed by God. His spirituality and simplicity attracts everyone," says Kailash.
The trio is working on a Sufi song and have already discussed it with Rahman.
"Rahman likes the idea and if things fall in line he will be singing this song," adds Kher.
Kher, who is an admirer of late sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, says Khan has a great influence on his life.
"I liked his (Nusrat's) selection of songs. All his songs have a philosophical touch. There was an yearning to reach the almighty," said Kher.
Kailash Kher is also associated with a television show titled Mission Ustaad, which will be aired on the new entertainment channel 9X.
"This programme we will entertain people for a cause," said Kailash about the programme which envisages propagating the message of United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
"I'm very excited to be a part of this show. I'll sing, make people happy and ask them to help people in need," said the singer.

Courtesy: Rediff.com