Kareena becomes first ever top Bollywood actress to be the face of Lakme

Here’s something more for the stunning Kareena Kapoor to preen over. Kareena has been chosen as the new face of the international cosmetic range of Lakme. The first Bollywood actress to be given this honour.

So far her appointment has only been a matter of speculation. But now we have it from a source very close to Kareena that she is indeed the first Bollywood actress to be thus appointed.

Says the source, “The Indian faces of Lakme have so far been all models. Even Katrina Kaif was a Lakme girl only when she was model. This is the first time that a Bollywood actress has been given this honour in the history of the cosmetic’s existence.”

According to the source close to Kareena, the formal announcement of Kareena’s appointment would be made this weekend.

Priyanka Chopra begins shooting for Anurag Basu’s Barfi

If anyone thought they could catch Priyanka Chopra playing a mentally challenged girl in Anurag Basu’s Barfi, they are in for a disappointment. Priyanka is much too nervous to perform in front of onlookers. She has made it clear she needs optimum privacy for this part. For an actress who has braved through the toughest sequences of love-making and violence in Saat Khoon Maaf in the presence of a full crew, this need for seclusion is a startling departure from the norm.

But this is no ordinary role of a mentally challenged girl. Priyanka took extra time to prepare. Those close to her say she has been withdrawn tense and edgy for the last two weeks.

Says Priyanka’s business manager, “She has been tense lately. She has not been going out or entertaining friends.”

The pall of silence apparently fell on Priyanka after she began meeting people suffering from the mental condition that her character in Barfi suffers from. Says a source from the team, “It freaked Priyanka out. She simply stopped meeting her friends. She first had to digest the enormity of the mental condition and then understand how to project it without seeming to act.”

Most of her recent roles have required Priyanka to get into an aggressively performing mould for the camera. For Barfi she needs to go the other way. Says the source from Burfi, “She needs to look like she is not acting. That is the brief from Anurag Basu.”

No one will be allowed on the set when Priyanka Chopra starts shooting for Barfi in Mumbai. Only the skeletal crew will be present when she does her first scene with Ranbir for Barfi.

Known to play audacious never-done-before characters, Priyanka Chopra suddenly got cold feet about her role of a physically challenged woman in Barfi.

For the first time in her career Priyanka has cancelled shooting to give herself more time to prepare for the very complicated part. The shooting was to commence on March 11 but then got pushed to March 24.

Says a source, “No one except leading man Ranbir Kapoor, director Anurag Basu and the cameraman will be allowed to be around when Priyanka begins shooting on Thursday.

Says a source close to Barfi, “It’s very strange. But the first stint of Priyanka’s two new films Agneepath and now Barfi both got cancelled. In the case of Barfi, she personally asked director Anurag Basu to postpone the shooting. She was that nervous about it. She has never been this way about any of her roles before.”

Apparently, the shooting was to begin with a very complex sequence for Priyanka on March 11.

Priyanka just didn’t feel she was prepared for the part.

Says a source, “Priyanka just didn’t want to play the mentally challenged girl by using the normal tools of self-expression. As Anurag has written the part, the girl Priyanka plays suffers from a very subtle psychological disorder. It took Priyanka some time to understand her character’s mental disability. She needed more time to get into character. She asked for the shooting to be postponed.”

According to sources she still doesn’t feel she’s ready. But Barfi can’t wait any more.

After the first day’s shooting, Siddharth Roy Kapoor of UTV, who is producing the film exulted, “It was great, super-charged atmosphere. Both Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra were really enthusiastic. And Anurag Basu was happy to be back shooting. We all think we’re on to something special.”

Elizabeth Taylor, Movie Legend Dies at 79

Hollywood icon, Elizabeth Taylor passed away on Wednesday at the age of 79. Taylor had been hospitalized in Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the last six weeks where she died of congestive heart failure. Her publicist Sally Morrison stated that.

“All her children were with her.”

She was a larger than life character both on and off camera. Taylor, famous for her beauty and grace, won three Oscars during her long career. Although her personal life was also the source of tabloid fascination, her real life was plagued with heartbreak and personal tragedy.

Elizabeth Taylor was born in London and starred in over 50 movies, she began her movie career as a child, she was already a star by the age of twelve. Taylor married an astonishing eight times, twice to Richard Burton who she starred with in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966), this was one of her Oscar winning roles.

Elizabeth Taylor was awarded a special Oscar in 1993, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. This was to honor Taylor for her humanitarian work for AIDS research, she helped to raise more than $200million for the cause.

Her son Michael Wilding said in a statement;

“Her legacy will never fade, her spirit will always be with us, and her love will live forever in our hearts.”

Mubarak on phone from Sharm: source

CAIRO: Egypt’s deposed President Hosni Mubarak is taking telephone calls in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, said a source who spoke to him Tuesday.

“He’s fine,” the source said. “He is at his residence in Sharm el-Sheikh with his family. He is receiving telephone calls. I spoke to him at 3 o’clock (1300 GMT) this afternoon.”

Speculation about Mubarak’s health has swirled since he was forced to resign Friday.

The Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat reported that Mubarak was ailing and had refused to travel abroad for treatment.

“What is certain is that his state of health is declining drastically. In addition there is information that he is refusing to receive the required medical treatment,” Asharq al-Awsat said in its online edition, quoting a former security official affiliated to the Egyptian military high command.

A military source told Reuters Mubarak was “breathing” but would not give details about his status.

The Higher Military Council took over Egypt when Mubarak resigned Friday following an 18-day revolt against him.

Asharq al-Awsat said Mubarak, 82, had refused advice to travel to Germany for treatment, quoting its source as saying: “He has asked those around him to allow him to die in his country, and I believe this is just a matter of time.”

Mubarak underwent gallbladder surgery in Germany last year. Rumors about his health have been rife since then.

While still clinging to office, Mubarak said in his final speeches to the nation that he would die in Egypt. Agencies

Red carpet premiere of ‘Season of the Witch’

NEW YORK: Tending to red carpet duties for his soon-to-be-released movie, Nicolas Cage was on-hand for Relativity Media”s premiere of “Season of the Witch” in New York City on Tuesday night.

Held at AMC Lincoln Square Theater, the Oscar winning actor was joined at the event by fellow cast members including Robert Sheehan, Stephen Campbell Moore, Claire Foy and Ron Perlman.

Due out in theaters on Friday, the Dominic Sena directed work finds “14th-century knights transport a suspected witch to a monastery, where monks deduce her powers could be the source of the Black Plague.”

Denying that he took the role only to pay off reported multi-million dollar debt, Cage recently told USA Today, “(Season) I needed to do more than (for) necessity reasons, but because I genuinely connected with the … material. But there”s always that other element too, you know, as a result of what has happened that has been made very public.”

SRK to work with Vishal Bhardwaj in Nadiadwala’s adaptation of novel Two States

This has to be the biggest development of the year as 2010 comes to a close. No one could see it coming but the fact is that Shah Rukh Khan has been signed by Sajid Nadiadwala for the screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s ‘Two States’. The film would be directed by Vishal Bhardwaj which is again a first.

Says our source who broke the news, “This announcement is going to shock quite a few. All this while one had been hearing about Saif Ali Khan to act in ‘Two States’ adaptation which was to be directed by Siddharth Anand. Sajid Nadiadwala had the rights and while there was an announcement in this regard a few weeks back, there was some road block as the screenplay was taking some time to shape up.”

However, this sudden development means that the film has now taken an entirely new dimension. While Saif and Siddharth (who had earlier collaborated on Salaam Namaste and Ta Ra Rum Pum) are no more associated with the project, a long standing wait of watching Shah Rukh Khan in a Vishal Bhardwaj film is also over.

“That’s right”, continues our source, “For a long time Shah Rukh Khan and Vishal Bhardwaj wanted to work with each other. In fact there were also rumours of how both of them were upset with each other during one of the films that they wanted to make earlier. There were some creative differences pertaining to the script and both had to part ways as they couldn’t converge at a common point.”

The duo still didn’t give up on the idea of working together. In fact a few days back there were also rumours of Shah Rukh and Vishal coming together for the remake of The Departed. However, there is a complete turnaround in the proceedings with Sajid Nadiadwala being the producer who has actually got them together and that too for an altogether different film.

“This immediately makes ‘Two States’ adaptation as a huge film to be made in 2011. This Chetan Bhagat novel is a hit as well, just like his previous ones”, says a trade expert, “In any case, when you think Vishal, you know that it is going to be quality cinema. When such a film maker comes together with Shah Rukh, you know that the film would have a definite aesthetic value to it and would cater to mainstream. However, the moment Sajid comes on board as a producer, you know that this one is going to be one big budget commercial masala entertainer. Sajid can’t be expected to think any lesser.”

Well, one has to believe the statement being made here. After all even at the production level, the film would also be collaboration between Sajid Nadiadwala and Shah Rukh Khan as Nadiadwala Grandson and Red Chilles Entertainment would be jointly producing this film.

Now this is indeed a coming together of ‘two states’!

Deepika’s ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ song to be used in rave-party sequence

Deepika Padukone is getting into shape to shoot the sizzling ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ track for Rohan Sippy’s film of that title, at Yash Raj Studios on Tuesday. The Anand Bakshi-penned song re-written by Jaideep Sahni (who has scripted Yash Raj’s Chak De and Rocket Singh – Salesman Of The Year) and re-composed by Pritam Chakraborty will be choreographed by Bosco-Caesar. The song will be shot in utter secrecy.

And now in the film’s leading lady Bipasha Basu’s absence (she’s in Australia shooting for Roland Joffe’s Singularity) the song is all set to sizzle with Deepika dazzling on the dance floor, her second item song. The first was with Shah Rukh Khan in Billu. This time she go-goes it alone.

Says a source from the crew, “It’s a rave-party song. Deepika will be seen dancing to ‘Dum Maaro Dum’ at the party. At the end of the song, cop Abhishek Bachchan will raid the rave party. So even he can’t be part of the song.”

Adds the source, “‘Dum Maaro Dum’ could never have been filmed on Bipasha. Her character cannot be present during the time when the song happens.”

However, that’s not the impression Bipasha had been given.

The song is being shot in a great rush. Apparently, composer Pritam Chakraborty has not even decided on the voice to be used to sing ‘Dum Maaro Dum’.

“They’re going ahead to shoot the dance with a scratch recording,” whispers the source. Let’s hope Bipasha doesn’t raid Deepika’s rave party before Abhishek does.

Ramu pitched Vivek against Abhishek?

Everyone is wondering why Ram Gopal Varma suddenly decided to move forward his Rakht Charitra (RC) sequel from November 19 to December 3 after making a noise about taking on Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish.

The official explanation is, RC2 was not ready on time. That according to a source is pure hogwash.

The real reason why Ramu, the master of marketing manipulations has chosen December 3 is so that he could pitch his Vivek Oberoi starrer against Abhishek Bachchan’s prestigious historical release Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey.

Says the well-informed source, “Ramu likes to create an extra buzz around his films. When Phoonk 2 was released with Chance Pe Dance, Ramu tried to pitch the crow in his horror film against Shahid. Abhishek and Vivek are seen to be at loggerheads. Ramu intends to play up their rivalry. Although both actors have worked repeatedly with Ramu the filmmaker is not averse to deliberately pitching them against one another.”

Ramu feigns ignorance about his marketing maneuver. “The reason Rakht Charitra 2 was delayed is because the post-production took longer than we thought it would. I didn’t even know our film was coming on the same day as Abhishek’s. Not just that, both are based on true stories. Vivek and Abhishek play real- life characters in the two films. Having said that, let me also add that a lot of our marketing focus for RC2 would be on the Tamil superstar Suriya whom I regard as next only Rajnikanth in popularity. Since he’s making his Hindi debut, we’re trying to figure out ways to bring him in front of the Hindi audiences.”

This, according to the source, is exactly why Ramu has chosen to peg his sequel on the old Abhishek-Vivek rivalry. Says the source, “After the rejection of Rakht Charitra in the Northern belt, Ramu can’t take a risk with the sequel. Suriya may be a superstar in the South. In Hindi, even Rajnikanth doesn’t have a market. RC2 has no songs and items to promote. At most, Suriya can do some interviews before its release. He can’t create an excitement around the film.”

Protests Ramu, “We are not insecure about Suriya’s acceptance in Hindi, neither is he. We’ve a fusion-version of Rakht Charitra parts 1 & 2, in Tamil Nadu that we’ll release on December 3. As for the Hindi release, the film will work not because of the actors but the theme.”

"I haven’t let my kids see me yet" – Hrithik Roshan

Though back home, Hrithik has still not allowed his sons to see him. Explains the concerned father, “They’d get so scared if they saw me like this. Though my

lips are going back to their normal size they’re still not fully normal. I don’t want my sons to see me until I look like myself again.”
A new anti-biotic pill almost choked the life and breath out of Hrithik Roshan. Says the Guzaarish actor, “This kind of attack happens in the rarest

of rare cases. But it happened to me. Anything could’ve happened if I hadn’t rushed to the hospital,” says Hrithik on Monday afternoon back home but not

recovered enough to face the world.
Hrithik had gotten so frightened that he had checked into the hospital alone. “It was crazy! I’d have been frightened to death at what I saw in the mirror.

Within minutes my lips had swollen to ten times the normal size. Luckily for me, even in that shocking state, I remembered Will Smith in a film where his

lips had swollen to monstrous proportions because of an allergy. So I knew it wasn’t fatal.”
Hrithik was immediately able to identify that it was an allergy caused by a new antibiotic he had taken half an hour earlier. “That was the only alien

substance introduced in my body. I told my doctors about it. And they were immediately able to locate the source of allergy. Such violent allergy attacks

usually happen in the West after eating prawns. I must be the only person in the universe to get so sick after taking an antibiotic pill.”
Hrithik was on his way to a very dear friend’s funeral when the allergy attack that landed him in hospital on Sunday occurred.
In fact so alarming were the symptoms that Hrithik just rushed to the hospital. Recollecting the sequence of events Hrithik says, “I was driving to a

friend’s funeral when the attack suddenly happened. It just makes you so grateful for the gift of life.”
Hrithik is overwhelmed by the response to his performance in Guzaarish. “I guess this (the hospitalization) was God’s way of balancing things out. I

was getting much love for my performance it had to be counter-balanced.”
Guzaarish has taken Hrithik to new heights of self-realization. “How can one not be affected when you meet these people who are paralyzed for life?

Their spirit and joie de vivre just overwhelms you. I’ll always be grateful to Sanjay Bhansali for giving the opportunity to do this film.”
Hrithik admits it’s not Dhoom. “Guzaarish is a different scale and space. The closest I’ve been to this space is Jodhaa Akbar. It’s an

entirely different experience when you know you’re affecting lives beyond entertainment.”

"God willing, Housefull 2 will be biggest ‘paisa vasool’ entertainer" – Sajid Khan

Plans are being put together at a frantic pace to bring Housefull 2 on floors. Meanwhile, Sajid Khan has made a promise to his team as well as audience. For the sequel to his hit flick Housefull, he is confident that the film would prove to be 10 times funnier than the first in the series.

“The entire team is quite gung-ho about the sequel to Housefull. The script has come up pretty fabulously. God willing, Housefull 2 will be biggest ‘paisa vasool’ entertainer for the audience”, says Sajid confidently.

Housefull stays on to be one of the top money spinners of 2010 and also the film that boasts of highest collections of an Akshay Kumar starrer. Though Sajid isn’t quite pointing on any particular milestone that he has in mind for Housefull 2, he doesn’t deny the fact that sequels always rake in manifold collections than the first in the instalment.

Whether it is Dhoom 2, Krrish, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Golmaal Returns, Golmaal 3, Phir Hera Pheri – each of these films have done double (and at number of instances even triple) the business of their predecessor.

“Well, such statistics are always good to know. Going by that logic, I guess I should be confident of Housefull 2 also doing three times the business of Housefull”, smiles Sajid.

Shooting of Housefull 2 will kick start in middle of 2011 and wrap up in three months flat. Yet again, producer Sajid Nadiadwala would be making Housefull 2 a lavish affair by taking the film to some of the most exotic locations worldwide.

“Every product demands a certain budget and with the kind of setup that we have brought together for Housefull 2, there has to be certain expenditure involved”, says Sajid Nadiadwala who has put his money yet again on Sajid Khan after Heyy Babyy and Housefull.

Talking about the film’s setup, it indeed is turning out to be the biggest ever for a Nadiadwala production. From the original cast of Housefull, Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani and Chunkey Pandey have been retained. Though Lara Dutta and Jiah Khan are not really making the cut in the sequel, there are good chances of Arjun Rampal finding his way into the film. However, John Abraham is the confirmed new entrant in Housefull 2.

Says our source, “It is anyways a huge cast that Housefull 2 is boasting of. The makers are also planning to rope in Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar as well as Paresh Rawal along with two other girls.”

If that indeed turns out to be the case, Housefull 2 could well be the biggest ever film till date for both Sajid Khan as well as Sajid Nadiadwala.

“Of course to hear something like that always feel good. Having said that, all my concentration is on making a hugely entertaining film for the audience. First and foremost the product should be terrific enough for people to crave for it. I am working in that direction”, assures Sajid.

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