Shooting of a song sequence starring actors John Abraham and Bipasha Basu was on Sunday interrupted for more than an hour due to ruckus created by members of Movie Action Dummy Effects Association and Movie Stunt Artists Association.

These two unions had expelled 49 members. However, The Monopoly and Restricted Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has allowed these people to work even without the membership of these unions and so they had started work for Kumar Mangat’s ‘No Smoking’ at the Film City in suburban Goregaon.

Koena Mitra is a gal who dosen’t know how to stay at home. So it was a bit too startling to know that the free-bee is well staying at home and not venturing out with friends. However, a cuckoo reveals the reason for Koena staying at home.

“It was lip surgery gone wrong! Koena had gone in for lip surgery that did not turn out the way it was expected to. Koena had no choice but be at home rather than make it apparent that it was lip surgery that she had opted for. Everybody knows about Koena’s penchant to look perfect and beautiful. It is common knowledge that she has got a nose job done too.”

Now, we know it all Koena. So, you can step out!!

After the success of ‘Vivah’, Amrita Rao has many ambitious projects on hand. Amrita’s next release is E Niwas’ “My Name Is Anthony Gonzalves”. She will also start her shooting for UTV’s ‘Hook or Crook’ to be directed by David Dhawan. She also has Anil Kapoor’s ‘Short Cut’ on hand which has Akshaye Khanna and Arshad Warsi as her co-stars. She also participated in the item song in Farah’s brother Sajid’s ‘Hey Babby’.

However, Amrita’s real excitement is about Shyam Benegal’s project where she will play a village girl with Shreyas Talpade as her co-star. She is very excited about the workshop for the film which is going to start soon.

“When I got a call from Shyam Benegal’s office saying he wanted to meet him I was over the moon. He has always been on my wish list. And when that call came I pinched myself. I didn’t ask any questions. I immediately said yes,” says the elated Amrita.

Nisha Kothari starrer ‘Go’ is complete and Nisha is quite happy as the film is set to hit the theatres. Directed by Ramgopal Verma the film is based on the romance in seventies. Newcomer Gautam has been launched in Bollywood through this film. The film had started it’s shooting with Nisha’s ‘James’ but was stuck for quite sometime. Nisha refuses to divulge much about the film as she has been asked not to reveal much about it.

Actress-turned-director Pooja Bhatt is currently working on her forthcoming flick ‘Dhokha‘. The film is based on the prisoners in the jails of Jammu and Kashmir. Muzammil is playing the role of a police officer in the movie.

It so happened that the newcomer Muzammil could not enact a scene properly and Pooja was not satisfied with his expressions. She lost her temper and slapped him. Pooja is very particular about her shots and is known to lose temper easily. Earlier, while shooting for her film ‘Holiday‘, she had chucked her cousin Smiley out of the film for not giving a shot properly.

The success of the family film ‘Apne’ has inspired Sunny Deol to direct a film titled ‘Man’ with Neeraj Pathak as the co-director.

“My Apne writer Neeraj Pathak narrated this subject,and I instantly fell for it. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the project on the road because I got busy with Apne. Now that Apne has been accepted so warmly, I’ve gathered the courage to revive that project. And yes I’ll be directing and producing Man along with Neeraj.”

“I directed Dillagi with my brother Bobby and me in the lead eight years ago.I’ve always been interested in being behind the camera. I took keen interest in the scripting and other technicalities of my acting debut Betaab. Today I think I’m fully prepared to direct,” says the beaming Punjab da puttar.

With ‘Parineeta’ and ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’, Vidya Balan mesmerized her fans with her simple, inncocent and the girl-next-door look, but the effect was so stron that this image has become almost the identity of Vidya.

It is for the first time that Vidya gets a cool and contemporary look in ‘Heyy Baby’ and who else could work the magic better that the designer Manish Malhotra, who ahs given a fresh new makeover for the actress is int film.

“I think the character here is basically that she is intelligent, educated. She lives in Australia and she has turmoil in her life. She is not a character that she is wearing short skirts, sexy clothes, bikini and halter tops which Vidya loves wearing. She loves exposure.
I had to tell her no Vidya no short skirts. I had to beg her for that and she said no I want to wear these hot clothes but we said no. So we worked on the whole look according to the character and that actually is a bit tougher. Simplicity is more difficult to do than ornate stuff,” said Manish Malhotra, Fashion Designer.

Madhur Bhandarkar fell with a thud at the box office with his ambitious project ‘Traffic Signal’, but the director is back again. Bhandarkar is known to make movies on burning issues revealing many hidden facets of different segments of our society. This time it is the fashion world he targets at.

His next introspective film will be “fashion Show’ revealing the darker side of the fashion world. This time Madhur opts for the most sought after heroine in Bollywood- Priyanka Chopra and sets out with a whopping 20 crore budget.

Kareena Kapoor’s career is going through a lull, but it seems that the actress is all set to start a new beginning. After her item number, an all new slim trim and glamorous look along with an upcoming romantic flick with boyfriend Shahid, the gal will be seen in “Golmaal Returns”, which is the sequel to Rohit Shetty’s comic hit “Golmaal”.

The actress has signed a three-film deal with Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd., the producer of the comic caper and “Golmaal Returns” is one of them. While the other two films are still in the scripting stage, the shooting for this one will start in November in Delhi.

Ajay Devgan, Shreyas Talpade, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kapoor will also feature in the movie.

Ayesha Takia has been signed for the lead role opposite Salman Khan in Boney Kapoor’’s forthcoming project. The film, which is the hindi remake of Tamil superhit ‘Pokkiri’, will be titled ‘Wanted Dead and Alive’’.

Boney Kapoor claims that he was impressed with Ayesha’s performance in Nagesh Kukunoor’s ‘Dor’ and is confident that she has the freshness and talent to suit the role. The film, to be shot in Bangkok, also stars Om Puri and Mahesh Manjrekar. To be directed by Prabhudeva, the musical notes will be composed by Sajid-Wajid duo.

With Hansika Motwani looking much mature than her age in Himesh Reshammiyan’s ‘‘Aap Ka Suroor’, the word doing rounds was that the gal had taken steroids and supplements to match her looks with the older looking Himesh. However, the actress strictly opposes the charge.

Manzoor Khan, her make-up artiste in the film, supports her saying that Hansika and he had worked together on her looks. “I am responsible for the mature look that Hansika has in the film. It was the magic of my brush and the make up technique that helped Hansika look older than her age.” says Khan. Is everything clear now??

Kay Kay Menon is going to play 14 characters in a film to be produced and directed by Makrand Deshpande. The film is supposed to be a spoof on Bollywood films and actors and will have Menon playing the different roles of judge, cop, journalist, milkman, sadhu, etc. By now you must have realized that the film will be a comic caper with plenty of twist and turns.

The film is an adaptation of Makrand Deshpande’s successful play called ‘Ek Kadam Aage’.

To be mentioned here that Rajpla Yadav is also playing 16 roles in a film called ‘Bunty Ka Mama’.

Sushmita Sen already has the tag of Bollywood’s single mother. She had adopted a baby girl long time back and she truly dotes on her. Now, after her split with boyfirend Maanav Menon,  her daughter Renee is feeling alone and missing Menon coz the kid was very attached to him.

As a solution to this Sush is planning to adopt another baby girl to give company to Reene. Hope the decision helps to fill in Sush’s loneliness too!

Recently, Shahid and Kareena were in Manali shooting for director Imtiaz Ali’s yet untitled film. For one song, the shooting was to take place at Rohtang Pass which is at the dizzy height of 13, 400 feet and is at such an altitude that it remains covered with snow even in many summer months.

However, it was not an easy one, since Shahid, Kareena and other team members felt dizzy at such an altitude. With one unit member fainting, Imtiaz Ali had to postpone the shooting for the next day till the unit could accustom themselves to the climate there. The song was shot the next day.

Neha Dhupia fainted while shooting for the forthcoming flick ‘I think i am 24‘. The scene was an important one and everyone was worried both about Neha and the the completion of the shoot. Director Saurabh Shukla called off the shooting for sometime, but Neha regained normalcy after a break of two hours. Without throwing any tantrums, she sincerely completed her scene.

Neha says, “I got enervated, and I fell on the floor. But the crew of the movie was really supportive and helpful to bring me back to the toes. But I was happy that shooting wasn’t called off because of me and we resumed back to the sequence.”

Here is the letter from Sonu Nigam to Times of India revealing many
dark facets of Subhash K. Jha and also the ugly face of Bollywood which
lies hidden behind glitter and glamour.
Respected Mr Editor,

Without wasting too much of your precious space I’d like to say that
for a long time I’ve been reading, at the insistence of my fans and well
wishers, various articles which contain one or more ways to include and
humiliate me and my work, written by Subhash K Jha.

All I want to say is I am sure he is a great asset to your reputed
paper and very well known to his fraternity, but I’d like to put into your
notice that he is the same guy who has always had overwhelmingly great
words of praises for me once upon my time, from my impeccable singing
abilities, to my acting prowess, especially in my movie Love in Nepal.
(Please surf the net and read his review of the movie 3 years back).

So what suddenly happened that today he humiliates me every fortnight
in some or the other article in your paper or the others that he writes
for?

Of course I am not the only one in his hate list, there is Shahrukh,
Aamir, Salman, Shilpa, Ashaji, Adnaan….and the list goes on…but here
I wanna talk about myself! Let me spill the beans open for you. I’ve
kept quiet for too long just hoping that his conscience will overcome his
vengeance for me.

It’s not a secret in the industry that he is a homosexual. God bless
him for homosexuals are normal people with just different sexual
preferences, just like men lusting for women is not a taboo. But a man
punishing a woman for not complying with his sexual advancement is an issue
right? So why isn’t a man imposing upon another man an issue? Isn’t this a
free world?

Am I supposed to reciprocate to something that I am not interested in?
And do I have to be subjected to this kind of DADAGIRI for no fault of
mine? Some time back, there was an article where he states that I
threatened him. Yes I did! He challenged my audacity for not allowing him to
take my interview. I didn’t want to talk to him. I did tell him to
stay away from me when he comes to Bombay.

What is my fault in this? No one is obligated to interact with people
who make one feel uncomfortable! And especially when someone would
constantly talk either negative, or suggestive!

I am not just an artiste but also a reader of your newspaper from the
time I gained consciousness to this world. I demand you to treat me like
a common man. I am not alone in this world; I have a close knit
family, friends and admirers who feel deeply hurt when this kind of
unaccountable bashing is inflicted upon me.

I want to be left alone. I don’t want to be subjected to this strange
kind of sexual assault where all that I did like a phenomenon some time
back has become something so hateworthy for this sick man.

I have his “I miss you and Love you Sonu” and “I am sorry” messages
saved in various phones of mine and today I thank God I never erased them!
Whether I succeed or fail, I have never resorted to cheap means of
publicity or scandals, have been respectful to my seniors and encouraging
to my juniors.

I have seen poverty, struggle. I am not a star son and God has given me
the blessing of entertaining the world with my art which I have honed
with tireless hardwork. I can very well take this all lying down too
sir, but I just read somewhere recently again that taking injustice lying
down is a bigger sin.

It’s my duty to exercise this right of mine by writing to you. By
presenting my case in front of you. I leave in your worthy hands the task of
presenting my case in front of the world who is witnessing
Sonu-spanking for last 3 months. My parents have been hurt reading all this
because they know the reality! Is my not being a homosexual so punishable an
offence?

If someone can do this to me, I wonder what the new strugglers, models
and actors have to go through in this industry? My heart goes out to
them. Please let them know we are not living in a jungle where someone’s
silence is taken as a sign of weakness by a beast! Let them know that
homosexuals have their right to be themselves in this society, but so do
hetrosexuals!

Thanking you in advance,

Sonu Nigam
Mumbai

P.S.. I don’t sound nasal when I go on high octaves as written by him
to justify another singer. Even a kid will tell you that.

Bhumika Chawla, who shot into limelight with ‘Tere Naam’ is now going for a deglamourised look in ‘Gandhi My Father’. Paired with Akshaye Khanna, she plays Gulab, the eldest daughter-in-law of Mahatma Gandhi.

“Playing a non-fictional character is rare and challenging for an artist. Working on something based on real-life facts was a good experience,” says Chawla. Even as she awaits the release of the film, the 27-year old actor has her hands full with Telugu, Bhojpuri and Punjabi films.

Esha Deol’s love for tattoos was revealed with she being spotted sometime back with a big tattoo of Gayatri Mantra (from Upanishads) on her back. Now the promotional stills of ‘Cash’ do show a tattoo on Esha Deol’s left bosom in one particular still that has her posing in a bikini.

What comes as a big surprise is that this is not a new tattoo. Esha got it seven years ago. Esha says that tattoo on her left bosom is a scorpion (her sun sign) and she got it done in London some seven years ago when she visited the city with a friend of hers.