There is complete gloom in Bollywood these days. Parties and celebrations are the hated words. No one is in the mood to party and it seems the year 2008 will end on a sad note.

Like many others, the terrorist attack has devastated Ayesha Takia (pictured left) too, who was shooting in Greece for Boney Kapoor's film “Wanted: Dead And Alive”. She has decided to postpone her wedding.

Even her boyfriend Farhan Azmi, who is Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi's son, is no mood to get married on December 25. The couple has now decided to get married sometime next year.

Ayesha is wrapping up her three projects. Meanwhile, Tusshar Kapoor too has cancelled a mega bash he had planned to host to celebrate the success of his film “Golmaal Returns”.

Tusshar feels it's wrong to celebrate anything at a time when the city is mourning. "I don't want to celebrate anything... maybe not even New Year's Eve," he says.

B-Town’s fashionable diva Kareena Kapoor is really keen these days on opening a designer store in Mumbai.

The actress aims high to bring some of the best stylish luxury brands to India.

Sources reveal that Kareena has already had talks with various designer brands in Los Angeles and is trying really hard to push her venture forward.

The lady has a strong backing from the family and also from Bollywood’s ace designer Manish Malhotra, who together happen to be the backbone of Bebo’s fashion project.

For now, the chic is busy hunting for a suitable place to open her designer outlet.

Preity Zinta, who is accompanying the Bachchans for their Unforgettable tour, says she gets along with everyone in Bollywood’s first family, but shares a special bonding with Jaya Bachchan.

Although Jaya is not performing, she is accompanying the family on the tour.“I knew I’d be comfortable with Amitji, Ash and Abhishek. I’ve always gotten along with them. I did the film The Last Lear with Amitji. And we had a blast,” Preity said.

“But my favorite is Jaya aunty. We bonded earlier during Kal Ho Naa Ho. At that that we had gotten really close. Now it’s like old times again. Jaya Aunty is my favourite member of the Bachchan family. We get along so well,” she added.Apparently, the two ladies take off on long walks and shopping sprees at every venue.“Just the two of us. We love it!” said Preity.

Commenting upon her relationship with Aishwarya and Madhuri Dixit, she said: “Come on, it’s not hard to get along with Aishwarya and Madhuri, who joined us in the US. They’re two of the sweetest chicks I’ve worked with. And they’re as comfortable in their space as I am in mine. No rivalry, no looking anxiously over our shoulders.

“We’re all cool doing our own thing. And I’m sure I’d be the same when Shilpa Shetty joins us in London. I knew I’d be completely comfortable in present company. Otherwise, I’d never have agreed to come along.”

Her favourite act, Preity says generously, is Madhuri and Aishwarya’s Dola re song from Devdas.“They’re awesome, breathtaking together. Absolutely paisa vasool! We all are, actually, ha ha... Riteish Deshmukh, who I’ve never worked with, is such a revelation on stage. He dances so well. And he’s such a cool guy.

“And Vishal and Shekhar are rock stars. In fact, the whole experience so far has been just amazing. I can’t wait to get along with the rest of the show,” said the actress who was also part of Shah Rukh Khan’s world tour Temptations.

Katrina Kaif has now officially replaced Aishwarya Rai as the glam-doll of Bollywood. Nakshatra jewelers have now shifted their loyalties from Ash to Katrina. They chose Katrina over other contenders i.e. Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. Surprisingly she was signed for a much higher price than what Ash got. Guess 24 year-old Katrina Kaif looks more promising than 34 year old Aishwarya Rai.

Remember the actress called Amoha in Jay Jay movie opposite Madhavan? Yes she is Ram Gopal Varma’s former muse Nisha Kothari and she was seen in a lot of glamorous roles in Hindi, including movies like ‘Sarkar James’ and ‘RGV ki Aag’.


The latest news is that Malavika’s role has been handed over to Nisha Kothari, after the actress walked out of the sets of ‘Karthikai’ last month. A few days back, Malavika had alleged that the producer of the film had tried to get fresh with her, after she refused to do a scene on a swing due to her pregnancy.

Malavika, who is currently expecting her first child, had been roped in to do the shrew’s role of ‘Indrani’ in the movie in which Vikramadithya and Samiksha play the lead. The movie is produced by Anjaneyulu and directed by Veera.

Mallika’s magnificient body is the secret behind her crazy fan following. After Reena Roy, Sridevi and Manisha Koirala, Mallika is the next bollywood actress to play Naagin role in Naagin-The Snake Woman. She has a perfectly toned body that very few in bollywood can match.

Bipasha Basu is known to snub the media every now and then but the latest Bips update indicates that she has started snubbing her B-town colleagues as well! Recently, Bips babe was to requested to appear as a celebrity guest for the finale of a reality show on a private channel. The actress did turn up for the shoot at Film City but when she realised that Shahid Kapur and Vidya Balan would also be featuring on the same episode of that very reality show, Bips couldn’t gulp it and left the venue in a jiffy, refusing to shoot for the episode.

The sultry Bengali beauty walked out despite being assured that she would not be sharing screen space with them as the duo were their promoting their new film, ‘Kismat Konnection’

According to reports, Bipasha had been roped in by one of the sponsors of the show and she had already agreed to feature on it but the presence of Shahid and Vidya was a problem to Bips. The director of the show had clearly told her that her shoot will be done separately but Bipasha didn’t budge and walked out of the sets.

Apparently, Bipasha claimed that since she was under a contract with Yash Raj Films for their film ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, she would not be able to accommodate the show.

Bipasha’s refusal to shoot left the channel and the producers in a fix as her promos were already on air. The producers then called up Yash Raj Films to check out the basis of the contract that Bips was talking about and to their surprise they found out that no such contract existed. Hence, Bips was left with no choice but to return to the sets later during the week for the shoot. Because of the utter chaos all the contestants had to be called again.

We wonder, with such a minuscule role in ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, can Bips even afford to have such starry airs?

Child actress Hansika Motwani who made her adult debut in Aap Ka Suroor is making her presence felt in the industry.

Barely 17 year old, Hansika is acting with actors twice her age.”‘ I am not Hansika when I am playing a role. It is the character I am playing, so the age of my co-star does not matter to me at all,” Hansika said.

Hansika started her career as a child artiste in Bollywood and worked in films like Koi… Mil Gaya, Escape from Taliban, Jaago and Aabra Ka Daabra.

She debuted as a full-fledged actress at the age of 16 with an actor who was more than double her age, composer-turned-singer-turned-actor Himesh Reshammiya in Aap Kaa Surroor

At present, she is acting opposite 40-year-old Govinda in Money Hai to Honey Hai. Asked whether she had any inhibitions she said,” It was quite OK. In front of the camera, it’s not our age but the age of the character that matters. Moreover, I can play a 70-year-old with as much ease. An actor gets old only if the character demands. The best part of the film was that no one made me feel that I was just 17.”

She was also delighted to co star with Govinda. She says,” I consider myself very lucky to have worked with Govinda sir. I have learnt so much from him and it will definitely be useful to me in future. I think it is a big opportunity for any actor to work with him.”

Hansika is also making grown up sound bytes like declaring that she wouldn’t mind wearing a bikini if the role demanded it.

So Hansika is growing up fast in the Industry!

The IPL jamboree and hoopla over, Preity Zinta took off for a quiet week-long holiday at a place where there was no noise, bustle and cellphones.“The worst thing is I wasn’t even allowed to talk. Can you imagine, me not talking?”Preity can’t stop chuckling.Rejuvenated she’s raring to get back to films.

“I didn’t realize how much I had been put behind. I’ve so much pending work. Four films are at different stages of completion. I’ve to immediately start dubbing for Harr Pal and Heroes. Then I leave for the world tour with the Bachchans.”

In Heroes she stars with one of her favourite co-stars Salman Khan for whom she has agreed to do an item song in the Salman-Kareena starrer Main Aur Mrs Khanna.

Preity corrects me. “It’s Salman’s home production. And he is a buddy. But it’s not an item song, really. It’s an interesting cameo. And I’ve agreed to be in the film because the director Prem Soni is a dear friend. And since Salman has played Prem so often, let’s just say this one is for Prem.”

After shooting and editing the Punjabi film Heaven On Earth Deepa Mehta says Preity is the best actress she has ever worked with.

Preity bursts into delighted chuckles. “I love Deepa for that. When she signed me for the film she told me she wanted the actress, not the star. That sounded so corny. But when I reached Toronto to shoot Heaven On Earth I knew exactly what she meant. I’m dying to see the complete film.”

Looking back on the IPL experience Preity sighs, “It was one helluva learning experience. It was also very annoying to hear rubbish like ‘Preity sat on a cricketer’s lap’.

Does it make any sense for me to make a public spectacle of myself? I mean that’s hardly me. I don’t sit on people’s laps. ”

But the fall out has been more positive than anything else. “I learnt a whole new definition for the concept of on- field bonding. See, as a film actor I’ve always worked in a team. But not in this way.

Here on the field I was hands-on. I loved the Sri Lankan and Australian boys. Some of the Australians would hardly utter a word. I specially had to make an effort to make the younger inexperienced Indian players comfortable.

Now I know that having bonded together in spite of being from different spaces they’d understand the team spirit much better.”

Preity was openly and unabashedly demonstrative during the games. ” I showed my emotions spontaneously as I always have. I hugged players when I wanted to. I cried and I cheered when I wanted.

If that was misconstrued by some, so be it. I was having a good time while learning so much about cricket and human behaviour. As for the spoilsports they can’t be helped.

There were people whom I thought to be friends who cribbed about not being invited to the matches. Arrey, do I invite people for my films? The IPL experience made me realize who my friends are.”

Yes, there was a sense of loss when her Mohali team lost at the pen-ultimate match in Mumbai.

But Preity defends her team stoutly. “It was that Murphy’s Law at work. Something somewhere is bound to go wrong. And it did. But I can’t say my team played badly at Mumbai. We did go right up to the semi-finals. And that was no mean achievement. Next time we’ll go right to the top.”

Next time is a distance away. “A lot of planning has to be done for the next IPL matches. The first time was a huge learning experience. And we need to make sure we don’t make the same mistakes again.

I also need to learn how to avoid getting crowded. This time I nearly lost an eye in the jostling. But I thoroughly enjoyed the IPL experience.

I’ve always been a warm person. Being on the field with the boys made me understand the importance of solidarity on the job.Yeah I guess it has made a maturer person.”