Johnnie Walker recently organized a polo match to celebrate it’s Gold Race Day at Mahlaxmi Race Course in Mumbai and to add spice to the environment was a fashion show by famous designer Tarun Tahiliani. The presence of beautiful Bollywood ladies, Amrita Arora, Gul Panag and Aarti Chhabaria at the Fashion Show charged up the environment. Top Indian models walked the ramp for Tarun.

John Abraham and Ritesh Deshmukh share their birthdays on the same day, December 17. However, Bollywood’s dashing hunk, John spent his 33rd birthday having a quiet dinner with family and close friends while Ritesh spent his 30th birthday by throwing a lavish bash and inviting all his friends from Bollywood.

John spent his birthday with 200 visually impaired children at an organization called ‘Happy Home’. Being the brand ambassador for Fast Track eyewear, he gifted special eye glasses to these children. The handicapped children not only sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and cut a cake, they also gifted John a special birthday card in Braille which they read out to him.

A deeply moved John preferred not to talk much about this special and personal moment but said “I am not comfortable talking about such experiences but yes I was moved. It was my most special birthday.”

On the other hand, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son, Ritesh Deshmukh, had a grand bash at a posh five star hotel, J W Mariott. The party was organized on a large scale, with lavish decorations and mouth watering delicacies. To add to the glamour, were Bollywood celebs, the Bachchans, Akshay Kumar, Fardeen Khan, Malaika and sister Amrita Arora, Dino Morea, Ashish Choudhary, Arshad Warsi etc.

Mira Nair wanted Konkona Sen-Sharma for ‘Namesake’, but Sen could not do the role because of her dates. It was Tabu stepping in then. Now the things have taken a turn. After taking Tabu’s place in Zoya Akhtar’s directorial debut Luck By Chance, Konkona is treading into Tabu’s territory once again. Konkona will play a small but vital part in Mira Nair’s ‘Shantaram’. The impressive cast includes Johnny Depp, Amitabh Bachchan, and Irrfan Khan along with Konkona Sen for a one big dramatic scene.

Mira Nair says, “I’ve also been in talks with Prabhudeva, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade and Ranvir Sheorey. I’d also love to work with Pankaj Kapoor. We have such an extraordinary bunch of great actors in India!”

Ranbir Kapoor has to get into three different looks for his next film for Yashraj films to be directed by Siddharth Anand. In the film, Ranbir has to play three phases of his character’s love life from age 17 to age 28 and finally to age 38.

To get an older look, Ranbir cut his tresses by Aalim to an austere executive styled haircut. Ranbir also plans to sport stubble to look 35. Bipasha Basu is one of the leads opposite Ranbir and the duo actually took a day off for photo-session to check out their on-screen compatibility.

For the younger role of the hero at the age of 17 Ranbir intends to sport long hair and a beatnik cool-dude attitude,with clothes and accessories to match.

Says Ranbir, “I’ve to look compatible with my leading ladies, and yes, this is my first of the three looks for my new film. Working with Siddarth is a very give-and-take thing. We’ve been friends from the time both of us were kids.

The film actually goes on the floors on 24 November, but the test shoots are on.

On Wednesday, December 12, actress Deepika Padukone was the centre of attention at the birthday party of cricketer Yuvraj Singh. The party, at Mumbai’s J W Marriott Hotel, was attended by close friends and relatives.

Yuvraj was obviously in a mood to party after proving wrong all the criticism about him at the five-day format of cricket and Deepika was cheekily complementing his mood.

Adds a source, “She mingled with the guests as if she belonged to Yuvraj’s family. The duo looked more than just friends if their body language was any indication.” Is Dhoni listening?

Again the Niranjan Iyengar written and Morani Brother’s edited stage performance, with Shilpa Shetty in lead role was hit when staged for the 60th time at Royal Albert Hall in London on the night  of 13th December 2007.

Miss Bollywood that is a musical depicting the struggle of a new chorographer (Shilpa Shetty) for survival in the industry against the well experienced dancers has been extended for 140 episodes. The next 140 episodes will also be directed by
Ali and Mohammed Morani, Shilpa still in lead role.

The extended series primarily are to be staged in UK and Europe. Mohammed Morani of Cineyug says, “Yes, we are doing about 140 more episodes of Miss Bollywood with Shilpa. We are very happy with the response to the show.”

Sameera Reddy is upset with Abbas-Mastaan, the directors of her forthcoming project, ‘Race’. The reason? The gal feels that she was neglected and ignored throughout the shooting of the film. The makers were more attentive towards Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif and completely sidelined her.

In addition, Sameera was promised a longer role. However, later she found out that Bipasha and Katrina had better roles than her while she was sandwiched between the two in some combination scenes. The focus was entirely on Bipasha and Katrina. Worse still, Sameera’s name was not included in the media-meet held at Delhi recently.

Although Sameera remains tight-lipped about the entire issue, producer Ramesh Taurani says, “Sameera was well aware of her role. We did not force her to take it on. It was her choice.”

Recently, Kim Sharma was in Mauritius shooting for Ganesh Acharya’s ‘Money Hai To Honey Hai’. However, during her shoot on the beach with co-star Aftab Shivdasani she had a major sunstroke and collapsed on the sets. Acharya Immediately called for a doctor and she was given medication.

Relates Kim, “We were constantly shooting in the sun for a few days. The sun was so harsh on the open beach that I finally could not take it anymore and I just collapsed. I was badly sunburnt as well. A doctor was immediately summoned and I was made to rest. Thankfully, the unit took good care of me, especially since we were shooting in a foreign country.”

Nonetheless, after reaching Mumbai the actress performed at the Navy Ball in that condition as she had already committed for it and she felt it would be very unprofessional to back out at the last minute. Good going, Kim!

‘Jhalak Dikhla Jaa’ has done wonders for the 19 year old Prachi Desai. The hit serial ‘Kasamh Se’ won good reviews for Prachi, but her choreographer Deepak transformed the girl totally to a glamorous doll and dancing diva in ‘Jhalak’.

Now, Prachi has bagged in the lead role in a film opposite Farhan Akhtar. Titled ‘Rock On’, this film is going to be Farhan’s debut vehicle too (in acting).

The film, to be produced by Farhan and his friend Ritesh Sidhwani will deal with a contemporary theme with great music. The film will be directed by Abhishek Kapoor and the producers intend to finish shooting for the film by March 2008.

Prachi is all excited and adds, “The shooting of Rock On begins in February next year. We are just waiting for Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa competition to get over. I am very blessed to have got this kind of an opportunity. I have been a big fan of Farhan Akhtar since class 8, and now both of us will be making our acting debut together. I couldn’t have asked for a better break.”

Prachi has already planned her schedule and decided to block her dates for her film. She may take a temporary hiatus from TV once the shooting starts. The little girl is set to reach great heights!

Shilpa Shetty is perplexed, offended and stunned by the fact that the producers of an old regional film of hers have announced their plans of re-releasing the film dubbed in Hindi in the first week of January 2008 and that too without her knowledge and consent.

The makers of her 2005 super hit Kannada film ‘Auto Shankar‘ are all set to release a dubbed Hindi version of the film tentatively titled ‘Shilpa – The Big Don’ . Directed by D.Rajendar Babu, the film also stars South superstar Upendra along with actresses Radhika and Sudharani . The movie was filmed at a variety of locations including Austria, Finland, the Bangalore Palace and the Mysore Lamps Factory.

This dubbed version even has two songs devoted to Shilpa. The first one goes, “Shilpa Shetty, Shilpa Shetty, Shilpa Shetty re, roop aisa ke loot jaaye hum toh yahin re.” The second one goes, “Shilpa Shetty iski ho gayee, Aishwarya Rai, Mumtaz bhi gayee… kaisa yeh mail hai, tu hi anmol hai, aaja aaja bahon mein.”

The promos too have several scenes where the hero talks degradingly about the heroine’s character, while apparently ‘taming’ the ‘lady don’. Also, in the course of dubbing, when the language changes a lot of nuances in a film can change context.

“Shilpa was shocked to see posters and advertisements of the film published in film trade magazines some time ago, as she wasn’t even aware that the film had been dubbed,” said her publicist Dale Bhagwagar.

But will Shilpa take a legal action against the producers and stop the release of the film? Dale doesn’t think that would be the right thing to do. “The re-release could be embarrassing, but from a PR point of view, I would not advice Shilpa to stop her own film.”

On Tuesday afternoon, Levi Strauss (India) Pvt. Ltd. at Taj Hotel in Colaba announced that Deepika Padukone will continue to be its national brand ambassador for their brand Levi Strauss Signature. The gal with superhit ‘Om Shanti Om’ in her kitty, seems to fit perfectly to their brand image. The brand also announced their new ‘Dart-to-Win‘ contest that would provide an exciting once in a life time opportunity for fans of Deepika to meet her in person.

“Our association with Deepika is a perfect brand fit and we are delighted to partner with her. She signifies style, good looks, youth, fun and universal appeal – attributes that resonate with our brand values and positioning.” said ATP Ramani, Business Head, Levi Strauss Signature.

‘Kingfisher Swimsuit Special’ has always been the specially awaited one. And it’s sixth edition (2008) was unveiled by none other than the dashing Bollywood actor John Abraham (looking all the more dashing in all whites and his killer smile) along with UB Ltd Chairman Dr Vijay Mallya amidst a host of celebrities from the world of fashion, business and celluloid here. Shot by ace photographer Atul Kasbekar, the calendar features seven models.

This year’s calendar has the pride of exhibiting some of the finest and most luxurious brands in the world including La Perla swimwear from their special ‘India inspired line’, shoes by Jimmy Choo, sunglasses by Roberto Cavalli, watches by Watches of Switzerland and accessories by Christian Dior.