Ash Abhi Meet First Time

It’s RGV’s most anticipated film of the year. Abhi-Ash’s first film together post marriage and one of Amitabh’s best roles ever, yes Sarkar Raj. Incidentally, Ramu wanted that the scene they first shoot after marriage should be the scene where Abhi and Ash are striking a conversation for the first time and trying to know each other.

Truly, RGV knew exactly what he wanted and got it. The scene where they were to interact with each other for the first time was to be done with tentativeness and they were to weigh each other as people. Since they were shooting for the first time after marriage, there was newness to their relationship and they were a bit conscious in front of the entire unit… this worked exactly as per the demand of the scene.

Sarkar Raj talks about an intense political drama and is essentially a study of power; it explores the politics of development and takes a fresh look at the tradition versus modernity debate.

When Anita Rajan (Aishwarya Rai - Bachchan), CEO of Sheppard power plant, an international Company, brings a power plant proposal to set up in rural Maharashtra before the Nagres, insightful Shankar (Abhishek Bachchan) is quick to realize the benefits the power plant can bring to the people. After convincing Sarkar (Amitabh Bachchan) who is against it for various reasons, Shankar undertakes a journey along with Anita to the villages of Maharashtra to mobilize support from the masses.

However, things are not what they seem to be and Shankar’s dream project gradually becomes a political minefield. It is in this backdrop the evil forces mightier than ever, mushroom and gang up to bring down the regime of Sarkar and obliterate Shankar’s name from the political horizon.

Sarkar Raj is definitely not a sequel to Sarkar but a new story with the same characters. Well, let’s hope RGV won’t have to go into hiding after this film.

Aamir loves his dog Shahrukh

In his latest blog, actor Aamir Khan talks about a certain Shahrukh licking his feet.

The perfectionist star is in Panchgani, with family and kids.

Aamir writes: “I’m sitting under a tree, on the edge of a valley, approximately 5000 feet above sea level. The river Krishna flows far below us snaking its way among the Sahyadri mountains.

A cool breeze is blowing, jannat ki hawa (breeze from the heavens), as my mother calls it. Ammi, Ira and Junaid are by my side and we are in the middle of one of our favourite board games ‘Settlers Of Catan’.

Shahrukh is licking my feet and I am feeding him biscuits every now and then. What more can I ask for?

Now, before you jump to any conclusions let me add that Shahrukh is the name of our dog. And before you jump to any further conclusions let me add that I had nothing to do with naming him.

In fact Shahrukh is the dog of the caretakers of our house. When I bought this house it came with the caretakers and their dog!

Apparently Shahrukh (the actor) was shooting for a commercial in this house a few years ago, and that very day the caretakers bought a pup…, and named him Shahrukh.

What are the chances of me buying a house which comes with a dog called Shahrukh!!!

Some of my friends claim that I bought the house just because of the dog. I would have to be a serious fan of Shahrukh’s to want to do that. Your guess…

All I can say is I’m waiting for him to come over.

Getting back to Settlers of Catan, it’s a wonderful game. You must try it if you are fond of board games.

All in all I am having a great time with my mom and kids here in my favorite place on earth, Panchgani. I think Kiran and I must have done something good in our life to be blessed with this great place to get away to.

My hamstring muscle seems to be healing, slowly but surely.

Catching up on films, saw Casino Royale last night which I liked.

Incidentally Panchgani is a favorite with para-gliders. Now that’s something I am going to learn as soon as I finish with the Ghajini shoot.

Well Shahrukh is once again begging for my attention, so let me get back to him. He is smelling too much, I think he needs a bath. “Heel boy, heel.”

Aamir Khan’s blog can be reached at www.aamirkhan.com.

I’ve truly fallen in love this time: Deepika Padukone

Deepika Padukone in a heart-to-heart with Subhash K Jha.

Post Om Shanti Om (OSO) how has your life changed?
All this is very new for me. My father (bandmintom champ Prakash Padukone) was also a celebrity. But we were never exposed to much media coverage.

Before I went into the modeling profession I did go into my dad’s profession—it was the expected thing. I played bandminton at the national level.But I realized my heart was set on modeling.

Movies weren’t even in my range of vision. But after two years of modeling I started getting film offers I was only 18 then. I didn’t want to jump into anything.

What took you down south?
You mean my Kannada film Aishwarya? I am from Karnataka and it was directed by a young and talented man Indrajit Lankesh. And I was paired with a huge Kannada star Upendra.

Did you speak your own lines?
Yes I did. I learnt Kannada in school. Farah Khan had already offered me OSO. But we were to shoot a year later. So I did the Kannada film.

You remind me of Aishwarya Rai.
I’d take that as a compliment. I grew up watching her. When I was in school I remember how thrilled I was when she won Miss World. Ash and Sushmita are people I’ve admired.

You’re still young. Don’t you miss doing the normal things?
I do the normal things. I’ve life away from my work. But yes, I definitely feel a lot older than girls my age.I started working and moved out of home at a very young age. I tried to work out of my home- town Bangalore. But like it or not Mumbai is the mecca for the glamour and entertainment industry.

Do you miss Bangalore?
In Mumbai I definitely miss my family. For me ordinary things like having warm food on the table or getting the car ready to leave for the day are not so easily obtainable. Like all girls I’d like to see my parents when I wake up in the morning. That isn’t possible when you’re living alone.

Is Mumbai a lonely city?
No definitely not. I’ve lots of friends in Bombay. And I haven’t changed for them, nor they for me.Yes, certain people around me have changed. But people who are really important to me, that’s my parents and my childhood friends are with me.

One needs to have friends outside one’s profession to interact and to share one’s life with. Otherwise I’m not the party-hopping kind.

What do you and Ranbir talk about?
Well…we do know what’s going on in each other’s careers. But otherwise we try to keep cinema out of our conversation. We try not to get into one another work space.

It’s amazing but both of you started your careers in Hindi as fierce rivals in Saawariya and OSO?
That rivalry was more media-created than anything else. Comparing me with Sonam was so uncalled-for. We come from two totally space. We started differently. She assisted Mr Sanjay Bhansali.

I come from the modeling world. And our debut vehicles are so different. Fortunately we were too involved with our own projects and had no time to think of each other as competition.

You started with Shah Rukh Khan as a co-star. Can it get any bigger?
I hope it does. Initially I was very nervous about working with him. But Farah and Shah Rukh made it very comfortable for me. We did readings together, we met socially so that we were comfortable when we faced the camera.He’s again someone I grew up watching.

You have acquired the reputation of being extremely choosy.
Yes. Every project takes up so much of your time. You’ve to be sure of what you’re doing. So often I say no because I don’t have the time. I meet every director who wants to meet me. I do consult my parents.

It would be unfair to distance them from my career just because they aren’t part of the entertainment industry. But the final decision is mine.

Your dad is a celebrity in his own right.
Yes but nothing to do with the entertainment industry. During his time sportspersons didn’t do endorsements, advertisements. I’m really close to both my parents.

Ever since I moved to Mumbai it’s a different kind of relationship with them. The fact that we live in different cities has brought us closer. I feel much closer to them. Sometimes I feel bad at the unwanted attention they get because of me.

They’re bombarded with all kinds of questions about me. It wasn’t like that during their times. My parents are very simple reason.

Is the image of the boyfriend deserter hurtful?
The media needs to be a little restrained. I am a simple girl and from a respectable family. And loose talk about me harms my reputation.

One day like any other girl I intend to settle down and have children. How would those write-ups look at that time? I’m so glad I’ve found a man who comes from the same space and understands the pitfalls of sensational journalism.

I feel after a point no one will take these write-ups making a tamasha out of my life seriously.

Why did you and Ranbir decide to go public about your mutual feelings?
Because this is the first time I’ve actually and truly fallen in love. Being in love is the lovelist feeling. When two people are getting close they need time to understand one another.

I’ve reached an age when I can’t be in a frivolous relationship. Linking me to so many men at a time when I wasn’t sure about my feelings was unfair.

Did the earlier link ups collapse because of excessive attention they got?
Quite possible. At the end of the day it was just destiny that I was meant to be with Ranbir. And we’re very happy together.

Do you get time to be with one another?
We try to be together as much as possible. We did a film together Bachna Ae Haeseon. That’s when we got close. We had met and interacted earlier. But we didn’t get a chance to know each other well enough.

He was busy with his film. I was busy with mine. We were both under all kinds of pressure. Everything became very messy.In Australia when we shot together we started afresh. We almost met like two new people.

There was no baggage to be carried forward from the past. Because even in the past we didn’t part bitterly.

Cricketers are like prostitutes

Wonder who has more reason to feel offended, cricketers or sex workers.

But Mahesh Bhatt’s forthcoming film Jannat where Emran Hashmi plays a bookie compares the two professions….and explicitly says cricketers are like prostitutes.

What’s more, the censor board saw nothing objectionable on the world’s poshest profession being compared with the oldest.

Says a character in Jannat, “Dekhiye Sir. Cricketers aur prostitutes ke beech zyada farq nahin hota. Donon ki jawani khatm to kahani khatm.”

In fact producer Mahesh Bhatt is supremely gung-ho about this latest eyebrow-raising tryst with controversy.

“Yes, those are the exact words in Jannat. And what’s wrong with that? If you think about it, we’re all prostitutes. And at least they deliver what they promise. I’m no different from a prostitute.

I too am a pleasure peddler. And please, I’d rather be a prostitute than a saint,” says the eternal celluloid renegade who has earlier whipped up a frenzy of controversies in movies like Arth, Zakham and Woh Lamhe.

Show skin, create row & get famous!

Miss India 2004, Tanushree Dutta, surely made a rollicking start in Bollywood with films like Chocolate and Aasique Banaya Apne.

The dusky girl made it clear with her first film itself that she is going to give tough competitions to Bolly-gals like Mallaika Sherawat, Riya Sen, Mallaika Arora et al who are known for their bindaas exposure.

The model-turned actress has surely made a name for herself in the short career of hers.

But the charming girl doesn’t look satisfied with her career growth and hopes to act in better films in the future. “I want to work with big banners and settle down properly in Bollywood by doing some good films,” nags Tanushree.

Now, it’s really an insult that someone is a part of Bollywood and is not honoured with any controversy. Recently, the young actress was all over the news after she blamed senior actor Nana Patekar of getting too close to her comfort while shooting for an item number in Horn Ok Pleassss.

But as it always happens in Bollywood, the truth behind the incident never got clarified and was been dumped after few days.

Tanushree calls herself a lazy girl, especially when she isn’t shooting. When at home, she pampers herself with a prolonged bath, treats herself to a 7 course meal, enjoys a siesta and wakes up only to have dinner or to hit the multiplexes.

The glam-doll would next be seen in Warner bros. Saas Bahu Aur Sensex. Whatever be the future of the film, Tanushree’s fan would at least be happy seeing few more skin shows of this gorgeous babe.

Hope, she doesn’t move lazy in showing her skin also, as it may lead her to lose few fans!

Jiah joins Aamir does dangerous stunts in Ghajini

Female power is in. Deepika Padukone is busy matching Akshay Kumar’s kicks and somersaults in Bangkok for Nikhil Advani’s Chandni Chowk To China. Nearer home in Hyderabad, Jiah Khan matched stunt strides with Aamir Khan.

Though thankfully, she hasn’t had any mishaps yet. Jiah’s lithe stunts in Murugadoss’ Ghajini are every bit as heart-in-the-mouth as Aamir Khan’s. The only reason Jiah’s action scenes aren’t being talked-about are because she isn’t talking about it. “I can’t! I’m not allowed to,” she quakes with contractual terror. “But yes, I’ve done a lot of action scenes in Ghajini. They’ve been extremely unnerving.”

The action sequences require Jiah to match Aamir kick for kick. “And they are one reason I had to lose so weight,” she admits, having returned from Hyderabad where the Ghajini shooting was wrapped up earlier this week. “The schedules don’t suffer because of Aamir’s accident at all. We resume in the middle of May as per schedule.”

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. “It’s so cheap to send compromising messages in someone else’s name,” Jiah suggests that the sms messages that embarrassed Shahid Kapoor and almost had her out of the project were sent off by someone else in her name.

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