Saif Ali Khan’s home production ‘Vinod Agent’ is juggling between two choices for the female lead: Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone. This movie is supposed to be India’s answer to James Bond.

Where Kareena Kapoor has a favour from Saif Ali Khan( which is but natural given her growing friendship with Chhote Nawab), the only hitch though is that Bebo is not too keen to wear a swim suit which apparently is a perquisite to be a ‘Bond girl’. On the other hand, director Sriram is keen on Deepika, who has already made it clear that she has no qualms about appearing in a bikini.

Initially, the thought was to sign an Indian and an International actress for the movie but, now there seems to be a change in plans as it’s likely that both the actresses could be Indian. While you ponder over the question, which is the better choice, keep watching the space to know which lady finally wins the role.

Bengali ace director Aparna Sen plans to cast Abhishek Bachchan for her first Hindi movie ‘Gulel’. To be known that Abhishek had already given his dates for the film when late Ismail’s Merchant’ nephew Naeem was to produce it. However, the project was shelved due to the death of Ismail. Now, Sen is ready to start again as soon as Abhi gives his dates.

“For ‘Gulel’, I really want Abhishek and I know Abhishek wants to do the role. He has said yes,” said Sen.

Abhishek, too, is keen on working with Aparna, “I’ve worked in two Bengali films with Rituda in ‘Antarmahal’ and in a film called ‘Desh’, directed by Raja Sen in which I played my own mom’s son. It would be delightful to work with Aparna Sen.”

Meanwhile, Aparna Sen is in the process of completing her latest Bengali film “The Japanese Wife”, which is based on Kunal Basu’s short story and stars Rahul Bose and Raima Sen. The film is about a man involved in a relationship with two women simultaneously.

Eros International, the leading integrated company within the Indian media & entertainment sector has signed Kajol opposite hubby Ajay Devgan for ‘Toonpur Ka Super Hero’ – a 3D film with animation. With this film, this off-screen couple will be seen together on-screen for the 2nd time post marriage, the first being ‘You, Me and Hum’.

Under the direction of ad filmmaker Kireet Khurana, the movie has an exciting storyline where a reel life hero accidentally lands in a world of cartoons and transforms into a real life hero. The film will have Ajay Devgan playing himself.

Sunil Lulla, President, Eros International India said, “Toonpur promises to be a family entertainer with a lot of adventure, romance, fun element and the first 3-D film with animation”.

The little birdie in the tinsel town brings in that Bhumika Chawla is set to enter into the bonds of marriage soon. The lady has been dating yoga expert Bharat Thakur for more than two years now. The two first met through a common friend who recommended Bharat’s name to Bhumika for yoga lessons.

According to reports, Bhumika and Bharat will tie the knot on October 25 in Mumbai. The wedding will be on a small scale with family and close friends, including some celebrities from the film industry.

Bhumika was last seen in Feroz Abbas Khan’s movie ‘Gandhi My Father’.

Shilpa Shetty had kicked off a controversy a few months ago when Hollywood star Richard Gere kissed her in public at an AIDS awareness event in New Delhi.

The incident triggered protests, and some people filed cases against her in various courts of the country. Where most of the complainants backed out, a court in Alwar district of Rajasthan issued a ‘look-out notice’ for Shilpa at various airports. The notice said that the actress shouldn’t be allowed to leave the country till the Richard Gere-Shilpa Shetty case was over. Shilpa appealed to the Supreme Court against this order which ruled out this judgement giving her permission to travel abroad.

However, the immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport were apparently not informed of the Supreme Court clearance due to which Shilpa had to face embarrassment on Wednesday when an immigration official allegedly spoke rudely to her just before she was to leave for Germany for West End musical “Miss Bollywood” leaving Shilpa in tears.

What added to the actor’s embarrassment was a huge crowd that had gathered around at the airport to watch her exchange of words with the immigration personnel.

Her spokesperson Dale Bhagwagar said: “She called me in the middle of the night and was in tears saying an inspector had treated her badly, and told her she could not travel out of the country as there was no clearance order from the court.”

Sir Ben Kingsley has finally announced the female lead to his movie on the Taj Mahal. And it is Aishwarya rai Bachchan. Ash has been finalized to play the legendary Mumtaz Mahal to Sir Ben’s Shah Jehan. The movie will be shot next year in Agra and Fatehpuri Sikri.

Sir Ben, one of the world’s most honoured actors with four Academy Award nominations for his memorable role of Gandhi, apparently considered Aishwarya over Bengali beauty Bipasha Basu. However, the actor feels that his fans may forget him as Gandhi after his work as Shah Jehan.

“May be for a little while they might,” Kingsley smiles, “but I hope to be remembered as Gandhi forever.”

Sir Ben also disclosed, “The movie is on the building of the Taj Mahal. The romance will also include Shah Jehan’s abject isolation for years in a prison cell. I had spoken to Aishwarya last year while we were working on The Last Legion and she very generously agreed to do the movie with me. My production house is working with a screenwriter on the project. I have very clear ideas about how I want to approach the subject.”

After ‘Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd’, Amisha Patel will next be seen in the film ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’. Unfortunately Amisha, who plays the lead role opposite Akshay Kumar, is almost absent from the promos and even the posters of the film. This has made Amisha extremely upset with director Priyadarshan and even the producers T. Series.

Infact the posters show Vidya Balan by Akshay’s side while Amisha has been shown with the character actors Asrani, Manoj Joshi, Paresh Raal, etc. Since the music CDs of the film too have the same picture, Amisha has supposedly decided not to attend the music launch of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa’.

Director Priyadarshan apologetically says, “No I am not aware that she is upset. I have though seen the posters and CD’s and if Amisha is hurt and feels let down then she has every right to be.” However the director also maintained that he was unable to see and approve the posters and CDs earlier as he was not in town.

Gorgeous Kareena Kapoor turned 27 years old this 21st September and she celebrated her birthday with a small get together at designer Aki Narula’s home. Saif along with sister Karisma, Dino Morea, Amrita Arora and her boyfriend Usman Afzal were some of the guests invited for the intimate get together.

This space had informed you that Kareena had celebrated her birthday on the sets of ‘Sa Re Ga Ma Pa’ along with the launch of the music of ‘Jab We Met’. Adding spice to the news is the fact that after the show ended, Kareena was picked up from the venue by none other than Saif Ali Khan.

Saif was reportedly waiting for a good two hours for Kareena to wrap up the music launch event. He did not attend the event, but immediately after the event, he picked up Kareena from the venue and they drove off together in his car. A source says “Saif waited in his car for nearly two hours till Bebo finished the event, after which they left together.”

This Friday night Maheka Mirpuri showcased her latest collection at Taj President aptly titled ‘Khwahish’. The show had top models walking the ramp wearing her designs. The showstopper was Bollywood sexy siren Sushmita Sen as she walked the ramp and bowed to the audience in her trademark style. Socialites and celebrities from different walks of life applauded the fabulous collection and wished Maheka on the occasion. Other eminent personalities gracing the occasion were Dolly Thakore, Monica Vaziralli, Jesse Randhawa, Sucheta Sharma and many more.

The India-Pakistan Twenty-20 finals in Johannesburg, South Africa, took the entire crowd in ecstasy, but one Indian supporter in the VIP stands who kept the camera flashing was superstar Shahrukh Khan along with his son Aryan. SRK, wearing a black suit, constantly clapped when a dot ball was bowled from the Indian side and stood from his seat in joy whenever a Pakistani wicket fell. He even took turns with his son to wave the Indian flag from the stands.

Shahrukh has oft and on shown his patriotism on-screen with movies like Swades, Veer-Zaara, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, Dil Se, Pardes and the recent one, Chak De! India. And most appropriately, the DJ played a few lines of the song Chak De…Chak De India from SRK’s recent release Chak De India, when Sohail Tanvir’s wicket fell.

Later, after the victory, SRK went to congratulate the players on the field. He hugged each player individually. Harbhajan Singh, who was completely ecstatic, lifted SRK up when the superstar hugged him.

SRK was heard saying to his son: “They (the Indian players) are the true superstars”. That was one quote from a superstar for other superstars.

Congratulations India and specially MS Dhoni .

Celina Jaitley is currently working for the director Ken Khan’s movie ‘Love Has No Language’, which is set and shot in New Zealand. Celina and Ken were invited for a party where most of the guests were supposed to be Indians.

Since, Ken doesn’t know Hindi, he asked Celina to teach him how to greet the guest in Hindi. Celina got mischievous and taught him to say: “Namastey, tera baap chor hai!”.

Poor Ken did not realize what the words meant and he learnt them by heart. Later, at the party, he addressed the crowd with the same sentence. Ken realized something was wrong only when he read everyone’s shocked expression.

However, later Celina eased everyone by clarifying the whole issue and accepting that she was the culprit.

Ramgopal Varma likes to repeat his heroines to the point of obsession. Not all are talented. Now, take a look at this.

Urmila Matondkar

“The first five films she did with me flopped. Then ‘Rangeela’ worked. Does that mean she didn’t have the potential earlier?” asks Varma. Her last full-fledged role in his films was in ‘Ek Haseena Thi’. She re-appeared in the ‘Mehbooba’ song in ‘Aag’. The effect? Pfft.

Nisha Kothari

“My belief in her won’t change. If anyone is to blame for promoting her, it should be me. I think she has suited the character wherever I have cast her,” says Varma. As we choke on that, chew on this. Seven films with Varma, without a hit, three for others since she came to Mumbai from Kolkata in 2003.

Antara Mali

In her nine-film career, she has done only one that is not produced or directed by Varma. The actress even wrote, co-directed and acted in a film he produced, proving to be a nightmare for her co-workers with her diva demands. Now on the lookout for a publicist and work.

Source: “India Today“