Bollywood's young and charitable sizzlers

Some new-age Samaritans discreetly go about sharing their hard-earned earnings with charitable organisations

Katrina Kaif
Katrina Kaif is probably one of the few Bollywood stars to initiate brands into tying up with charitable trusts.

In fact, a diamond brand has just tied up and donated a whopping amount towards the cause of her mother's charitable trust, Relief Projects India (RPI).

RPI has collaborated with The Claretian Educational and Social Services Society to rescue unwanted and abandoned baby girls.

They are also actively involved in preventing infanticide and improving health of expectant mothers and babies.

Kajal Aggarwal, Singham actress
Kajal Aggarwal has believed in giving back to the society since her college days. Not many people know that as a college student she used to teach at the Akansha foundation.

Whenever she has free time on hand, she teaches her house help and people around her.

Other charitable guns

Abhay Deol
Abhay vouches for four NGO's, Video Volunteers, Butterflies, The Climate Project and Wildlife SOS. The actor found Butterflies on the internet.

"They do children development banking. They basically encourage street kids to put aside a little bit of their daily earnings into a bank and earn monthly interest. They also have mobile schools. So they actually drive to where the kids are."
Ranbir Kapoor
Ranbir Kapoor was part of the NDTV Toyota Greenathon 2010 that helped raise money to provide solar power to 160 villages across the nation. He sponsored solar lamps in the Lakhisarai, a village in Bihar, as part of the initiative.

A lot more economical and less polluting than kerosene lamps, solar lamps not only help students to study in the evening and women to work in well-lit kitchens but they also aid small scale workers to earn more as they can work late hours.

John Abraham
Jacqueline Fernandes and R Madhavan strongly support NGO Habitat For Humanity India, that runs a campaign for affordable housing. While Mika donates to Divine Help that educates children and destitute women.

Prateik Babbar
There is a side to Prateik that is little known. The actor, who will be seen in UTV Motion Picture's My Friend Pinto is a true friend of old people and street kids.

The do-gooder donates a part of his earnings from films to charities. And what more, he doesn't like blowing his own trumpet.

A family friend of the young actor on condition of anonymity confirms, "Yes, Prateik has been doing charity for many years now, much before he entered the industry and started acting in the movies. He started from the age of 18, when he was still a young boy assisting ad man Pralhad Kakkar. 
He donates a percentage of his salary to the charities. Earlier it used to be what he earned from his assisting jobs and now it's a percentage of his film remuneration. His donations go to multiple charities for aged people or street and orphan kids."

The source adds, "Prateik has a soft corner for aged people and street kids. He always wanted to do something for them.

There is this sensitive side to him that is not known to the world. He was very close to his maternal grandmother, late Smita Patil's mom. He does charity for his own happiness and likes to keep mum about it. He doesn't want it to be a publicity gimmick like others."

Reportedly, he also wore and sent tees with logo 'My Friend Anna' to Anna Hazaare to show his support. As expected, Prateik remained unavailable for comment.

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com
 

Share Telly babes aim for size 'Bebo'

Popular soap stars Sanjeeda Sheikh and Rashmi Desai are on a mission to achieve the size zero look

Kareena Kapoor may no longer be size zero, but she seems to have set a standard for our telly actresses.

They want to be as skinny as she was! The latest actress to follow the path and even indulge in hot yoga (like Bebo) is Sanjeeda Sheikh.

She has been working towards the goal of achieving the size for a while now. Coupled with a diet and work out regime, the Haye Padosan actress is determined to be reed-thin.

Being a fitness freak, she joined a gym and was completely taken in by the hot yoga on offer. Aamir Ali's girlfriend has been attending the sessions for the past few months now and she swears that this is the best form of exercise.

Says Sanjeeda, "I wanted to get a photoshoot done since a long time. But I was keen that it should be different from my previous ones. I thought of having a perfect figure for the shoot and therefore started working towards it."

She adds, "I've always been active and sporty, with a high metabolism rate, so it was not difficult. Plus, being a dancer I made sure that I dance daily without skipping even a day.

Being a foodie, it was difficult to control my diet, but I made sure I didn't cheat." She continues to eat healthy and avoid junk food.

Gymming hard!

Uttaran actress Rashmi Desai, too, wants to go the Bebo way. She makes it a point to never miss her gym, even if she is shooting for long hours. As Rashmi has been gaining a lot of weight of late, she is even more determined and works out with husband Nandish Sandhu.

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Malaika sizzles in a Sari at National Film Awards

Malaika Arora Khan left her thigh-high slit dresses back home in Mumbai and covered up in a black and maroon sari for the prestigious 58th National Film Awards ceremony here Friday. Others like singer Rekha Bhardwaj and actress Mahie Gill too looked elegant in the six-yard wonder at the event.

Malaika was in attendance to receive the award for the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment for "Dabangg", of which she is one of the three producers.

She was dressed in an embroidered sari, with minimal make-up. The bold and beautiful "Munni" girl, who is known for her glamourous dressing, added zing to her look with large, traditional earrings.

Singer Rekha, who received the best female playback singer award for "Badi dheere jali" from her husband, filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj's movie "Ishqiya, looked earthy in a traditional red and gold sari.

She chose the ethnic look with a big, round, red bindi on her forehead, and accessorised her attire with bangles and earrings.

She enthralled the audience with her live performance as she sang her award-winning number as melodiously as she did in the film, which won a total of four National awards including best audiography, best audiography (re-recording), best music direction and best female playback singer.

"Dev D" actress Mahie Gill, who was recently seen in Ram Gopal Varma's "Not A Love Story", looked pretty and sophisticated in a blue sari with a border of paisleys. She matched it with a fuschia-coloured blouse, and grabbed due attention as the host of the prestigious event, along with actor-filmmaker Rajat Kapoor.

Actress Zarina Wahab was spotted in a mustard sari, while Deepti Naval looked elegant in black.

Vidya Balan - Woman on top!

Yet another real-life character gets modified in reel just for the actress

She may not have impressed the fashionistas too much with her personal style, but Vidya Balan has managed to wow the people who matter in her professional life.

How else can you explain B-Town's creative lot actually modifying real-life characters in reel to suit her image.

In Sanjay Gupta's Shootout at Wadala, Vidya is being wooed to essay the role of gangster Manya Surve's girlfriend.

While in reality the late don's moll is a widow and mother of two, her character in the movie will now not have any kids. Her widowhood status will also not be given any importance.

Explains Gupta, "We didn't want to stress too much on Surve's girl's past.

The fact that she was married at some point in her life before she met him is of no consequence to the story. We'll barely mention it in passing. And yes, Survey's girl will have no children in my film."

With the character suitably altered, one hopes that Vidya will finally agree to come on board to do her second biographical character in a row after playing Silk Smitha in Dirty Picture.

Incidentally, this role too was substantially altered for Vidya's sake.

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Desperate times? Publicity Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega

B-Town's PR cell seems to be in overdrive. From getting stars to sell jalebis to encouraging threesomes, nothing seems sacrosanct in this business of film promotion

Films have never been this aggressively marketed in India.

After getting even the biggest Bollywood stars to market their upcoming movies on multiple TV shows and social networking sites like Twitter and Face Book, PR agencies are getting even more creative (read: bizarre) with their promotional activities.

Shahid Kapoor reportedly turned weather forecaster for a day to promote his forthcoming film Mausam.

Desperate publicity stunts seem to have become the latest trend to hit the Hindi film industry. We bring you a list of the silliest PR stunts in the recent past...

During the publicity of Bodyguard, Kareena felicitated the bodyguards of most Bollywood stars barring Shah Rukh Khan's.

Since Salman is in America getting medical attention, his real-life bodyguard Shera was used to promote the film.

He wore the same uniform Sallu had on in the movie and played Kareena Kapoor's bodyguard to the hilt at all events.

John Abraham and Genelia's accidental marriage on the sets of Force was a farce.

Amitabh Bachchan turned guest principal of colleges across the countries for Aarakshan.
Sanjay Dutt and Salman allegedly staged a fake war to promote Bigg Boss 5, which they are to co-anchor.

Mallika Sherawat made jalebis to promote the song Jalebi bai for Double Dhamaal.

Ekta Kapoor promoted naughty threesome parties during the promotions of Ragini MMS.

Ranbir Kapoor milked cows to promote Rockstar.

Tusshar Kapoor turned bootlegger and earned money from selling books on the streets for the promotion of Shor In The City.

During the release of Thank You, a story came out about lead stars Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol and Suniel Shetty renewing their marriage vows, which they later denied. Then, they married off two couples in front of the entire media.

The most memorable ones so far...

Yana Gupta went commando to get noticed was quite a desperate PR attempt.

Malaika Arora Khan and Arbaaz Khan's ugly break-up was a publicity stunt to promote the brand that the couple was endorsing.

Aamir Khan's missing act during the promotion of 3 Idiots.

Rakhi Sawant did not marry the winner of the Rakhi Ka Swayamvar after so much hoopla.

Akshay Kumar had his fly open while walking the ramp to promote the brand he was endorsing.

The usual suspects...

- When publicist can't find out-of-the box stories, they rely on these standard stories to promote the film
- Link ups, break ups, catfights and stars bonding.
- Actresses refusing lip locks.
- Accidental leaks of sex scenes or songs.
- Spooky activities on the sets of horror films.
- Stars selling tickets to promote the films.
- Stars doing charities.
- Producers gifting their film's stars to show love and gratitude.
- Actor, directors and producers making religious trips just before the release.
- Six packs and size zero stories. How can we forget Shah Rukh Khan's six packs in Main Hoon Na and Kareena Kapoor's size zero figure in Tashan.
- Stars getting injured
while shooting daredevil stunts in their movies.
- Alphabetical alterations.

The king and queen of innovative PR

Aamir Khan tuning barber for Ghajini and introducing people with Ghajini hairdos at cinema halls overshadowed Shah Rukh Khan's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
Ekta Kapoor's publicity campaign of putting 'Ragini Idhar Bethi Thi' at the rear of auto rickshaw was brilliant. Though it was Aamir who first introduced the idea with 3 Idiots with his catchphrase: 3 Idiots were here.

Kajol shakes her booty

The actress pursues dance while on her second, much-extended maternity leave from the film industry

Though Kajol is still on a break from films after delivering her second child almost a year ago (her son Yug turns one on September 13), the actress has found a fun way of keeping herself fit and occupied.

She has been learning Western dance at her friend Bhavesh Gandhi's institute. What's more, she will soon match steps with the students.

Confirms Kajol, "I am just doing one special class."

The actress is slated to get jiggy with dance enthusiasts at the institute's branch in Bandra in the coming weeks.

There will be strut jazz, salsa, contemporary, fusion, rock-n-roll, Afro and Bollywood fusion, it's not sure which dance form she will perform with the students.

According to the institute's spokesperson, "Our students are looking forward to dancing with Kajol."

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Salman's Bigg problem

Given the rigid format, speculation is rife about whether the ailing star will co-anchor the reality show with Sanjay Dutt now

Salman Khan's health issue has not only affected his film schedules, but has also become a cause of concern for the makers of Big Boss 5.

The actor, who hosted the last season successfully, is supposed to co-anchor the fifth edition of the reality show with Sanjay Dutt from next month. In fact, promos of the show have already started airing.

According to the show's format, Salman has to trek to the Big Boss house in Lonavala every week to shoot his part. Two episodes are shot back-to-back, which can prove quite taxing.

Bigg Boss lasts for over three months and as the episode goes on air the same night, there is no way any adjustments can be accommodated.

This has led to speculation that Dutt may have to host the show solo for several episodes. Says a source, "The channel decided to have two star hosts.

They are keen that both be present every week. The Dabangg star and Munnabhai have their own inimitable styles, so together they can double the fun element."

Adds the source, "But till the picture is clear, Salman shooting for it every week looks difficult. It will prove extremely hectic as he has to continuously keep on talking being the host."
However, channel sources say, "He has not yet reverted about any changes in the shooting schedule." The show is also slated to undergo several changes this year to make it even more appealing.

A pregnant contestant in Bigg Boss 5!

As usual, the channel is tightlipped about the names of the contestants but sources state that this season there will be a participant who is pregnant. The channel refuses to name her at this juncture.

Also NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU and KAMAL R KHAN (who is claiming he is in the show) are definitely not among the contestants.

The channel is keen that KARAN JOHAR be in the house at least for a day especially after Abhishek Bachchan and Riteish Deshmukh have been mustering support on their micro-blogging sites to pack KJo in the house.

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Shahid Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra affection-disdain teeter-totter!

Shahid Kapoor & Priyanka Chopra affection-disdain teeter-totter!: Everyone in the industry and beyond is baffled with the question of whether Shahid and Priyanka are still romantically inclined. The guess-exercise has left a lot of people wiggling their speculative tongue on what is the status of these two Bollywood heartthrobs. People have almost lost counts of how many times these on-off love birds have broken up only to patch up again. As a testimony of them being a couple, the little birdie has cited the IT raid incident at Priyanka’s house where the IT officials were surprised to find Shahid answering the door.
But if rumors are to be believed, Shahid and Priyanka have parted ways, this time for good. A little birdie confirmed that they have split up just few days before Shahid’s birthday. The reason of this break up is said to be incompatibility issue between these two.

Even after having a good companionship, as person both Shahid and Priyanka are poles apart. So they have decided to end this relation and move on. Shahid is not in a mood to woo her back.

Anushka Sharma to love Ranbir Kapoor?

Anushka Sharma to love Ranbir Kapoor? This will be Ayan Mukerji’s second film with Ranbir, he has previously directed Ranbir in the off-beat coming of age comedy Wake Up Sid. Like the previous outing the next film is to be produced by Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions.
For a while it was assumed that the female lead would be played by Deepika who is also close friends with Ayan, and was also close to Ranbir, then after their much public break-up, Katrina’s name was floating around as the one likely to play the lead. Now, with things not looking too well between Ranbir and Katrina, it does seem apt to consider another.

There is no confirmation from Ayan or Anushka Sharma about this development, and the producer of the film Karan only confirms that Ayan will finalize the actors once the script is ready. Ranbir and Anushka surely would make for a good on-screen couple.

Court Claim Against Dum Maaro Dum Song

A claim has been registered in a court in Rajasthan to protect against Deepika Padukone and producers of Dum Maaro Dum for an claimed indecent and obscene item song in movie.The director Rohan Sippy, producer Ramesh Sippy and music director Pritam Chakraborty have been named in the claim.

The complainant, Mukesh Kumar, a person of Pal Road region in Jodhpur, contacted a city magistrate’s court and registered the claim to protect against a track in the movie Wednesday. Kumar has claimed that his feelings were damage in the song.”The court is to document my sentence June 6,” mentioned Kumar.

Dum Maaro Dum is a offense thriller movie featuring Abhishek Bachchan, Rana Daggubati, Bipasha and Prateik Babbar. Deepika has performed an item song in the flick. The movie was launched April 11.

Minissha in big trouble: Caught with jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh

Minissha Lamba detained at airport for carrying jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh

Minissha Lamba was detained at the airport yesterday. The actress was kept back for bringing jewellery worth approximately Rs 50 lakh while returning from Cannes, France.

She arrived by an Emirates flight yesterday morning from Nice via Dubai.

The actress walked the red carpet at the Cannes film festival last week. But the same red carpet treatment was not meted out to her here at the international airport.

She has been charged with carrying R 50 lakh worth of jewellery above the permitted limit and was detained by custom officials.

She spent the afternoon being questioned about the bling. She was arrested for this. A statement will be recorded and a case will be registered against her, too.

I've to be careful to not let Bollywood's seductive charm take over my life: Chetan Bhagat

Selected by Fast Company magazine as one of the 100 most creative people in business, author of bestsellers tells Subhash K Jha the honour would help him promote creativity and innovation

You have just been selected by the magazine Fast Company as one of the 100 most creative people in business today. Your thoughts?
I am delighted. The two things I value most, influence and creativity, are exactly the things I have been recognised globally for. First the Time magazine list and now this one, I am surprised that they noticed my work while I'm based in India.

Do you like seeing your creativity as a business?
I do think creativity needs to be commercialised somewhat, to make it sustainable. If I could not earn anything from my creativity, I would still be working at the bank, thus curtailing my creative stuff. I feel commercialising creativity is also a creative act by itself, and one has to do it with grace.

How much does this honour mean to you?
It means a lot to me, as I want to promote Indian creativity and innovation. This will help give me credibility for that cause.

This is the accidental controversy of my life: Minissha Lamba

Minissha Lamba sounding cheerful, relieved & grateful on the morning after her trauma on Mumbai airport, speaks to Subhash K Jha.

Minissha, what happened?
It was just minor discrepancy in my papers for the jewellery. I’m just so shocked by the monstrous proportions that the incident acquired.

Is it true you were detained the whole night at the airport?
I was detained for sixteen hours. Which, if I may say so, was completely unnecessary in a case like this. However if my papers were not in order because of a minor technicality then the authorities were totally within their rights to detain me. We’ve to go by the book. No complaints about it.

Did you really have undeclared diamonds worth 40 lakh rupees?
Definitely not that much. The value was much much less. I can’t tell you how much because it involves a legality. I had the paperwork to authenticate it.

Luv Ka The End

Rhea is the quintessential girl next door, in love with Luv Nanda, the richest, most popular boy in college. On the eve of her 18th birthday, they plan to take their relationship to the 'next level'. When accidentally she finds out Luv is not as nice as she thought he was.

Rhea decides to not get mad, but to get even and bring Luv Nanda down! All in the span of one night with the help of her friends.

Buckle up for one crazy night as the girls discover the meaning of love, life, friendship and more...

CHARACTERS

Sonia Lovani
It's BFF, Not BIFF!

Completing the trio of BFF's, Sonia is the borderline anorexic airhead of the group. She is allergic to oily food and makes fun of Jugs all the time for being fat. She loves Natasha's sense of style and tries to ape her.

Ragini MMS

Starring: Raj Kumar Yadav, Kainaz Motivala
Directed By: Pavan Kirpalani
Written By: Pavan Kirpalani & Vaspar Dandiwala
Produced By: Alt Entertainment and iROCK Media Pvt Ltd.

Ragini MMS is a sensuous paranormal film, shot as if in real time!

The quintessential couple, Ragini and Uday, set out to have a dirty weekend at a friend’s farmhouse on the outskirts of Mumbai.

The weekend getaway quickly changes gears as they find themselves in a house that has been rigged with cameras in Bigg Boss style.

The cameras that were meant to capture love-making are witness to something that is beyond the realm of human understanding...something metaphysical....

Within the confines of this house, Ragini and Uday are now at the mercy of an unexplainable paranormal force.
With sundown approaching, what will the new entrants of the house do?

Ragini MMS

Music Director: Shamir Tandon

Singers: Asha Bhosle, Raaj, Faizan Hussain, Agnel Roman, Bappi Lahiri and Shweta Shetty

Rating: ** and 1/2

The music album of "Ragini MMS" is not a mammoth album; so there is hardly anything to look forward to. With just four songs, it will not take much of your time.

The album begins with the original version of "Raat akeli hai", a popular song from the 1967 hit "Jewel Thief". Unlike most old songs used today, this one retains its original character and has not been worked upon or remixed. It's used in its original form.

Then romance flaps its wings again with "Itne kareeb aao", crooned by Raaj. The song has influences of jazz and is sung in a sensual tone. With less orchestration and a number of variations, the song brings forward a different sound and is worth a hear.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Cast: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane and Kevin McNally

Director: Rob Marshall

Rating: *** 1/2

The secret of a franchise, besides the usual elements that makes the original click, is to have enough elements that can be improvised, improved and recreated to ensure that the same audience isn't bored by it despite having seen it all. "Pirates of the Caribbean", with its fantasy, quirky characters and explosive action, is a perfect example of the same.

In the fourth outing of the franchise, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) gets the undivided attention in a full film dedicated to him. With its love angles, brawny pirates, the kings' armies, guns and magical lands, the film becomes the perfect adrenalin rush thanks to coordinated work by the film's team.

Pyaar Ka Punchnama

Cast: Raayo Bakhirta, Nushrat Bharucha, Sonalli Sehgal, Divyendu Sharma, Ishitta Sharma and Kartikeya Tiwari

Writer-Director: Luv Ranjan

Rating: ***

"Pyaar Ka Punchnama" packs in a precocious punch. In telling the story of three friends-cum-flatmates who get into 'serious' relationships with three self-serving working-class female monsters of the concrete jungle, debutant director Luv Ranjan gives us a film that's fresh, flavourful and finally hugely rewarding.

Not that the film attempts to say anything we've not seen before. That's the beauty of this sometimes-embarrassing sometimes- disturbing, often-funny and never-dull peek-a-boo at youthful life in the metropolis where human values are frequently sacrificed for the sake of a trendy lifestyle or maybe just to get even with a fast-moving materialistic city that doesn't care how much you carry in your heart as long as the credit-cards keep working their mall magic.

I don't want to date anyone from Bollywood: Udita

Model-turned-actress is penning a script for veteran actor Naseerudin Shah

Udita Goswani has just completed a film script. The model-turned-actress steps into her new role as writer with a romantic yet mature love story.

And the only actor, she had on her mind while writing her project is Naseeruddin Shah.

"I have written my scenes keeping him in mind and no one else. He's perfect! I just hope he says yes when I'm done with the script, " said Udita. "I will approach him with the final draft. Then I can narrate each and every scene to him."

Udita had been toying with the idea of writing for a long time. "I started writing, then got confused and stopped.

But I am finally completing the script now. Although the story is ready, I am working on the screenplay. I have realised that every scene in the film can't be from a woman's point of view."

Speak in Hindi, Saif and Prateik

Unhappy with their dialogue delivery during shooting, Prakash Jha has asked the two actors to take voice-rehearsals before dubbing begins

While you can understand why John Abraham would require 'dialogue-orientation classes' (he took the classes with Anurag Kashyap for his role in Deepa Mehta's Water) and agree with Katrina Kaif taking 'voice lessons' (for her public speech scene in Raajneeti), do you think Saif Ali Khan and Prateik Babbar would require a similar session?

Surely, Khan would have convinced anyone of his dialogue-delivery with his performance as a thug in Omkara and Babbar is after all the son of legendary actress Smita Patil. However, all this doesn't pass muster with Prakash Jha.

With the shooting of Aarakshan complete, director Jha has asked both Khan and Babbar to take some time off for 'voice rehearsals' before dubbing begins. After hearing them deliver their lines during the shoot, Jha felt both actors needed to work on their diction and accent.