Indian Celebrities

Noted Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit has been signed up to play Indira Gandhi in Mother: The Indira Gandhi Story. The Variety magazine reported that the film will hit the marquee in 2011.

The former beauty queen, who recently completed the shooting of Mani Ratnam’s Raavan, has moved on to the sets of Guzarish where she will be sharing the screen space with Hrithik Roshan. Guzarish is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhasali.

Salman Khan, his brother Sohail Khan and a bunch of other tinsel town folks including Sushmita Sen, Riya Sen, Raima Sen, Shibani Kashyap and the musician brothers Aman and Ayal Ali Khan were enjoying themselves at a party after a fashion show by Sanjana Jon when a girl named Monika, apparently drunk and out of control, tried to barge in the party.

According to reports, she was a builder’s daughter and she raved and ranted about her connections when not allowed to enter the party. In fact, she even used foul language against some Bollywood celebrities present there. When Salman Khan tried to intervene and reason out with her, guess what the bratty gal did…. She slapped him.

Talking to a popular news daily, Sanjana confirmed the news and said, "Yes, Mani Ratnam and his wife will be a part of my fashion show. We are figuring out how the show will fit in their schedule. My last show for ‘Save the Girl Child’ was in Delhi and now the next one is in Chennai. I am in talks with some Bollywood stars too. Besides, since the show is in Chennai, we have several South Indian actors too. Hrithik Roshan might also walk for the campaign."

Asked whether the Chennai show would feature Salman and Sushmita, who earlier were part of Delhi show, Sanjana added, "There was great support from them in Delhi. It would be a pleasure if they make it for the Chennai fashion week too." Hrithik Roshan is rumoured to have agreed to walk the ramp.

Katrina also walked the ramp as the showstopper for the "All Doll'd Up" special show dedicated to Barbie at the Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai earlier this year. She sported a small pink dress designed by well-known designer Neeta Lulla's daughter Nishka. The 'Katrina Barbie' will be wearing the same design.

"I've been a part of the entire process of doll making and it's been quite fascinating. Since, I've been travelling out of Mumbai for the promotions of my movies; unfortunately I've not been able to see it yet. I'm really looking forward to see the doll as soon as I get back," Katrina said in a statement.

A product of Mattel Toys, the Katrina Barbie - a commemorative product - is not for sale.

 
Initially, Katrina was only supposed to be part of the music video but now after watching her progress at the box-office, Katrina has been asked to sing a few songs in the album. It was initially suggested that Katrina sing Rahman's compositions in English but now she will be seen singing in Hindi. This despite the fact that she has a heavy British accent and is just beginning to learn Hindi.

Katrina said that she's always game for new challenges. Singing in itself was a challenge because she has never sung professionally. Singing in English would have been a convenient challenge. But she'd rather take the uncomfortable route. She added that somewhere down the line, she got tired of people commenting on her Hindi. She guesses she's been working hard on it.

She was on a shopping spree for the new member at a well-known store in Linking Road, Bandra. Sush was spotted in blue jeans and grey tee-shirt with her friend, Neelam. Recently, she visited an adoption center with her staff and doctor. A source says, "She became particularly fond of a newborn but then it was found that the baby was too young."

Over the years, rumor buzzed that Sushmita will adopt another child and finally she is in the process. The source adds, "Sush wants to complete her family with another child, preferably female. She has already made inquiries and begun visiting such centres. The actress is keen that she adopts another baby soon."

Sushmita adopted her first child Renee in 2000 and hold the tag of being a single mom.

Imran is even happier because this is the first time his father will be part of any important event of Imran’s life. Imran will be getting engaged to longtime girlfriend Avantika Malik in the third week of January.

Imran and Avantika got exchanged rings a few months ago in a close family ceremony but his father was absent then. So now that Imran is hosting a grand party, his father is one of the primary guests.

The young actor is very close to his father; having moved to California to live with him and studied there till his high school.

His father visits Imran and his mother, Nuzhat, everytime he is in India. He shares a friendly relationship with Nuzhat and is waiting to be a part of his son’s engagement. He likes Avantika a lot.

The news was confirmed by Imran’s spokesperson.

The news came to us by the stars’ blog posts. On Sunday, Big B wrote, “Aamir comes over tomorrow at my initiative to discuss a few promotional points for our respective films…Let’s see how things go.” While Aamir’s Facebook post on Monday morning said, “Pucca Idiott is very keen to see Paa.”

So, was it all for publicity as Amitabh is set to revive his company with ‘Paa’ and Aamir is quite a pro in planning marketing gimmicks for his films? However, on Tuesday, Big B blogged about the meeting and didn’t mention anything significant about the publicity strategy.

“Aamir dropped by yesterday (Monday) in the morning at my invitation and it was lovely to spend time with him, discuss the film, show him the promo, receive his appreciation, talk about his own film and invite him for the premiere (of ‘Paa’),” he wrote.

Skeptics however claim that this meeting was just eyewash for getting publicity ahead of both the releases. But trade analyst Taran Adarsh tells a daily, “They won’t stoop to this level merely for publicity. But it’s good that stars are coming together. It will help build a better industry”.

Sure, it’s nice to see the two stalwarts bonding over business.

Priyanka is with Ranbir Kapoor to shoot for producer Sajid Nadiadwala’s romantic film Anjaana Anjaani, while Shahid has been filming Yashraj’s next flick opposite Anushka Sharma of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi fame for about a week.

Incidentally, when Priyanka arrived in Bangkok, she checked into the same hotel where Shahid was staying - the Grand Sukhumvit Hotel.

It’s not known whether the former lovers have interacted with each other during their stay, but their respective professional commitments are keeping them busy for most of the hours during the day.

On top of it, rumours trickling out of the sets of the Yashraj film speak of a budding dosti between Shahid and Anushka.

We wonder how PC is taking it all.

For instance, in the musical film, Shahid’s character has to face a lot of rejection during his struggling days. The same was also true for the actor who had many doors slammed on his face before he got the much-sought break in Ishq Vishk.

Another similarity is that in the film Shahid’s character drives a run-down car and even lives in it. The same was the case with Shahid as well when he used to drive an old car (though he never lived in it) during his struggling days in the industry. In fact, an instance from Shahid’s life when he played a tree in a school play as been recreated as it is in the film.

But the most striking similarity is the love for dance that Shahid’s character has in the film. It’s no secret that Shahid himself has been a terrific dancer from the start of his career and dancing is a no less passion for him than acting.

In ‘Chance Pe Dance’, Shahid plays a struggler who participates in a reality show, and slowly emerges as a dancing superstar. The film has Genelia D'Souza as his ladylove.