Nana Patekar, uncensored!

After the success of last year's comedy, Welcome, Nana Patekar will be seen in another comedy, Horn Ok Please.

Welcome, which also starred Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor and Paresh Rawal, was a runaway hit. The film also featured Mallika Sherawat shaking it up with Nana and Anil in the song, Kiya Kiya.

Now, Nana's latest comedy is being directed by Rakesh Sarang and stars Rimi Sen in a double role, and model-turned actor Muzamil Ibrahim.

Aamir, SRK, power on

The only one-word definition for an actor like Aamir Khan is ‘genius’. And yet, there’s something even a star like him is deficient in. Not just Aamir, but a host of the country’s finest actors are lacking in what can be called ‘complacency’. Over the years, a sense of having achieved it all has never entered their minds. Actors on the wrong side of 40 are keen to keep it coming, and have now placed themselves behind the camera to whip up fresher, more entertaining cinema.

Amitabh Bachchan’s home production ABCL may have been a washout, but the Big B only emerged more powerful after that little fiasco. This probably inspired Shah Rukh Khan to come up with his own production house, Dreamz Unlimited, with Juhi Chawla. His three films under that banner did fair business, but the Badshah had more ambitious plans up his sleeve. This time he expanded his budget with Red Chillies Entertainment, and the fact that it was in collaboration with his wife Gauri truly made it a ‘home’ production. With last year’s Om Shanti Om, it was re-established that brand SRK sells like nothing else.

Aamir Khan finally decided to end his age-old scuffle with directors and producers, and took the driver’s seat. The result was a breath of fresh air, Lagaan, followed by Taare Zameen Par. Actors Ajay Devgan and Sanjay Dutt have yet to prove a point with their respective banners, but Akshay Kumar and Sushmita Sen are set to make it more interesting with their own. The way things are going, Bollywood may have a nerve-wracking IPL of its own. An Indian Producers’ League, that is.

Akshay will trash a Yash Raj poster

Akshay will trash a Yash Raj poster

Akshay Kumar will express his displeasure at recent flop Tashan by trashing its poster.

Part of his finale piece at this year’s IIFA ceremony will witness the action hero make an entry diving feet forward into a huge Tashan poster used to promote the film by Yash Raj Films.

As a source says, “Apparently, this is Akshay’s way of showing what he thinks of Tashan!”

Love Story 2008

Ashutosh Gowarikar has approached Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja for his next film, which is based on an English play



Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja’s on-screen pairing has caught the attention of a lot of people, including director Ashutosh Gowarikar. We hear that the real-life couple is in advanced talks with the director for his next film, which is supposedly based on an English play.

While Priyanka and Harman look great together, we will have to wait to see if it translates to an equally good chemistry in Love Story 2050 as well.

If sources are to be believed, both Priyanka and Harman liked their roles in Gowarikar’s new film. A well-placed source from the industry said, “As things stand now, there is no reason for the cast to be changed.”

We sent Gowarikar a text message, but he refused to comment.



However, a close friend of Harman confirmed the story and said, “Yes, Priyanka and Harman are in talks with Ashutosh for his film."

The buzz is that Gowarikar has bought the rights of the English play.

Priyanka and Harman’s Love Story 2050 is all set to hit the theatres on July 4. It is a futuristic love story and Harry Baweja has gone all the way to make his son Harman’s debut vehicle look as slick as possible with impressive SFX. Recently, Priyanka was shooting in Miami for Karan Johar's Dostana (directed by newcomer Tarun Mansukhani) but she made it a point to fly down to Mumbai for the music release of Love Story 2050. Maybe the two should finally stop insisting that they are ‘just good friends’.

Second coming for Madhu!

Two years can be a long time in showbiz and even more so if you happen to be an actress in Tollywood.


Coming back after a hiatus of over two years MADHU SHARMA will be hoping her second stint in Tollywood will prove to be more memorable than her first one. Making her debut with Slokam, the actress starred in quite a few offbeat films like Party, Goutham SSC, Pandu and Pournami. The films bombed at the BO and she had to move out as there weren't many offers coming her way. Now she is back acting in another unsusal film titled Wallposter, to be directed by Vijay, a debutant. Dunno about the film but the girl sure is looking
good enough to make a great ‘wall poster’.

Salaam Salman

Aamir Khan spoofs Salman Khan in a song called 'Pappu'. The lyrics talk about Sallu's love for fast cars, expensive watches and perfumes, his accent, and his women


Aamir Khan is at it again. After making digs first at Amitabh Bachchan and then at Shah Rukh Khan on his blog (via a dog Shahrukh), his next target is Salman Khan. At a recent music sitting of his nephew Imraan's debut film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Aamir and director Abbas Tyrewalla put together a hilarious song inspired by Salman.

Aamir Khan has not only been an intrinsic part in discussing every minute detail of his nephew's film but also played an important role in composing and writing the songs of the film. A source says, “Aamir has been meticulously planning and executing every aspect of his nephew's debut film with director Abbas Tyrewalla. He also roped in A R Rahman, the best name in the music industry to compose the music of this film.”



But Aamir seems to have more than just personal interests in the film's making. He didn't spare a chance to make personal digs at co-stars wherever possible.

Says a unit member from Aamir Khan Productions, “Recently, Aamir had a music sitting with Abbas Tyrewalla to discuss the concept of a particular song. Abbas had to come up with the lyrics as per Aamir's expectations. The song has a lot of attitude and spunk and is filmed on Imran and his gang of friends where they are addressing the song to Pappu, a burly rich guy in their college. It was hilarious to watch Aamir discuss the concept keeping Salman in mind and he also ended up saying, 'I hope Salman doesn't mind this song' at the music sitting.”

“Throughout the song's discussion, Aamir went all out to make fun of Salman Khan who is well-known for his muscles, penchant for wearing and gifting expensive watches, fast cars and bikes, his popularity with women, his peculiar accent, and his unique dance style,” adds the source.

Check out the song:

Hai muscular…
Very muscular
Hai popular…
Very popular

Hai muscular hai popular
Spectacular! he's a bachelor
Pappu ki gaadi tez hai
Pappu kudiyon mein craze hai
Pappu ki aankhen light-blue
Pappu dikhta angrez hai

Rado ki ghadi haathon mein
Perfume Gucci wala…

But Pappu can't dance, saala!
But Pappu can't dance, saala!
Haan Pappu naach nahin sakta!

Aishwarya sizzles in pink at Cannes event

Poster: Bachchan’s The Unforgettable Tour

Emraan Hashmi makes Jannat work

Emraan Hashmi makes Jannat work

Arjun, a typically cinematic stubbly young scamster, looks bored as he tries to palm off fake merchandise to a boutique store. Negotiations are on in full swing when he catches sight of a pretty girl with pricetag-induced frowns. Abruptly, unthinkingly, he walks off and follows, ending up shattering a plate-glass window just to get her attention. And her name.



Security guards dragging him away, he smiles beatifically. Nothing else matters in the world now that he has her name, and it is this smile that we buy into -- this goofy, silly, childish grin smattered on the face of the otherwise streetsmart fixer -- and instantly realise just how appropriate Emraan Hashmi is for this part.

Sure, Hashmi can be criticised as a one-note actor, and it may well be true that this is the only 'kind' of role he can do: morally ambiguous, frequently fornicating, clever as often as romantically beguiled. Yet this particular persona is one he slips into with great comfort, inhabiting a swarthy everyman skin and making it believable.

Newcomer Sonal Chauhan plays Zoya -- yup, that is the aforementioned smile-provoking name -- and while the girl might look like yet another assembly-line Bollywood clone and a more striking version of Amrita Rao [Images], she does pretty alright. The film, despite all talk of match-fixing and Bob Woolmer , is, at heart, this couple's tale, and so this pair manages to make it watchable.

Emraan HashmiJannat, directed by Kunal Deshmukh, is essentially fobbed off from the 2005 Al Pacino-Matthew McConnaughey starrer Two For The Money and given the full Vishesh Films treatment: those generic, mostly likeable whoa-whoa-whoa songs from Pritam; slick-looking editing that is all but economical; some hurried conflict around the intermission point; and an over-melodramatic climax that makes you cringe.

Having said that, for the most part, it coasts along smoothly without really boring you -- and that's more than can be said for most of the stuff in theatres these days.

In sum: Arjun is a ridiculously lucky compulsive gambler with an uncanny ability to predict cricket, right down to every single ball. He falls in love with Zoya, who is -- it must be said -- more than a bit of a golddigger, leading Arjun to grand gestures of ill-conceived extravagance. To justify this, he starts spreading his arms wider and becoming a bigger player, but weren't we always taught crime doesn't pay?





It's the kind of simplistic storyline that could have been wrapped up in half the time. Honest, you could have rolled end credits at the interval and it wouldn't make any difference whatsoever to the overall narrative. Sure, there is talk of cricket and match-fixing, but the sport is just a backdrop for Emraan's platitudes, or slight gimmicks like a dead coach or a cricket captain with a fondness for Rolexes -- taking over from US football in the original film. And while it is all surfacially stuck-on, it's handled deftly enough to keep the film flowing along.


Sonal Chauhan and Emraan HashmiThe supporting cast isn't bad. Vipin Sharma, poor man, goes incredibly from playing Darsheel Safary's father in Taare Zameen Par to Hashmi's dad here (!!) and does okay, while Samir Kochar is solidly effective as the cop on the hero's trail.

Jawed Sheikh makes a good baddie, and is particularly menacing while mixing thick chicory in a cup while sitting on a white sofa set, not least because he might spill some coffee.

Vishal Malhotra, however, plays Arjun's sidekick and hams with such glee it's as if he was stabbed with a soap-opera injection.





So while the 'broke to blood-money' template doesn't offer any surprise, Jannat all comes down to the romance. The girl is a callcenter executive who doubles up as a stripper? The guy is a hardcore pro but bawls like a baby to make another bet? It is the unpredictability these two promise that makes Jannat interesting, even if ultimately a bit of a con job. Heaven can wait.

Abhi and Ash's first meeting

Abhi and Ash's first meeting



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.