He was one of the suitors in Rakhi Sawant’s Swayamvar show and despite being a strong contendor he lost. However, Rishikesh-based Manmohan Tiwari has no regrets as the show gave him recognition and he has bagged a role as Awadh Thakur in the soon-to-be-launched show “Jamunia” on NDTV Imagine produced by Beyond Dreams Entertainment Limited. The show will go on air this March.

The show deals with the story of an orphan girl called Jamunia, whose maternal uncle marries her off into a rich palace for money. The palace has a curse that no woman can survive there but Jamunia is unaware of the fact.

“‘Jamunia’ is a tale dedicated to every Indian woman who loves her family dearly and is ready to help and support them in any given situation.

It portrays the power of a woman who can go to any extent to save her family from any harm that befalls them. ‘Jamunia’ exposes the territories and locations never seen on television,” said Yash Patnaik, producer of the show.

Nevertheless, Manmohan gets irritated when he is reminded of the fact that Rakhi’s Swayamvar helped him get a foothold in the glamour world. He says, “But why is the finger being pointed at me? Even Rakhi was playing a game and if she was not questioned, then why me? She fooled 16 men but thankfully God spared me.”

Arshad Warsi has been here for a long time and despite giving many hits and having displayed immense potentials, he never could manage to get the appreciation he deserves. But now, post ‘Golmaal Returns’ and ‘Ishqiya’, things have taken a positive turn for the actor who has bagged in a whopping Rs 3 crores to be part of the third segment of the ongoing Gol Maal franchise. The producers Ashtavinayak finalized the deal with him this Monday. It may be mentioned here that the sum is even higher than Kareena Kapoor who has a 3-film deal with the producers.

Says Rohit, “We were really keen to have him in the film. And yes the price has been worked out between Arshad and the producers. So he’s on.”

Sharman Joshi will not be a part of ‘Gol Maal 3’ and reports have it that he turned down the third part of Gol Maal through his secretary.

Says Rohit Shetty, “Even before the scripting of Gol Maal 3 Sharman sent me a message through his secretary saying he had other plans. I immediately looked for a replacement and am very happy with Kunal Khemu. Any regrets about Sharman? None at all. In fact we met at the airport recently and there wasn’t any mention of Gol Maal 3. ”

That Rohit is feeling sour with Sharman and Arshad acting pricey after recent hits can be seen in this comment where without naming anyone he says, “There’re lots of very talented actors out here who are fabulous side attractions but can never be the main course.”

Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan have been going steady for quite sometime now. So, it did not come as a surprise when Bebo recommended Kunal Khemu to director Rohit Shetty for ‘Golmaal 3’ as Khemu happens to be the beau of Soha Ali Khan, Saif’s sister.

Recently Saif, Kareena, Soha and Kunal met for dinner where Kareena got to know Kunal better and accepted his talents. She discussed his movies and forthcoming projects and commented that he was making the wrong choices with his movies.

Rohit was hunting for another star and after Kareena convinced him, he made up his mind to cast Kunal along with Ajay Devgan Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Arshad Warsi, Mithun Chakraborty and Kareena herself.

Freida Pinto’s role as Latika in Danny Boyle’s multi-Oscar-winning film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has done wonders for Freida Pinto’s career who is now getting fame, recognition and plum roles in Hollywood projects.

She has already completed shooting Woody Allen’s ‘You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger’ opposite Josh Brolin and Naomi Watts, and Israeli film ‘Miral’ under Julian Schnabel’ direction where she plays the lead role.

Now, she has bagged in yet another project where she will play the role of a Greek priestess in War of the Gods. The film, about the Greek mythology, will be directed by Tarsem Singh and begins production in April. The film will be produced by Gianni Nunnari of Hollywood Gang Prods, Mark Canton of Atmosphere Entertainment and Relativity topper Ryan Kavanaugh.

The movie deals with the story of a young warrior Theseus who leads his men into battle with the immortal Greek gods to defeat evil and the powerful elder gods of the Titans in order to save mankind. Freida here plays Phaedra, an oracle priestess joins Theseus to prevent the cataclysmic war from erupting.

Priyanka Chopra is on a high these days with having a spectacular 2009 with quite a few hits and many awards. Though her ‘Pyaar Impossible’ bombed at the box office, its failure did not deter the actress in any way. She is not set to play a unique role in ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ where she will be seen with seven husbands. While Naseeruddin Shah will be her oldest husband, Neil Nitin Mukesh will play the youngest husband and is apparently quite excited and keen about the role.

He said, “When I heard the script, I was zapped. This was something I had to do. I play one of Priyanka’s husbands, the youngest of the lot. The fact that I get to be in the same film as actors like Naseeruddin Shah and Mohanlalji was incentive enough.”

“I’ve a somewhat crowded date diary this year. I join Abbas-Mustan from June to December for Italian Job,” he added.

Neil has recently shifted to Powai so that he is close to Yash Raj Studios and saves the commuting time owing to heavy traffic.

“The traffic on that side of town is just as bad. It’s excruciating to travel even from Powai to Yash Raj Studios. On Thursday I had a day off and I invited my mom over to do up my new home the way I wanted it,” Neil explains.

Both of them are probably the most stylish and most sought about actors in Bollywood, but unfortunately they are yet to be paired together. Talking about Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif, the duo appear together for the first time in the special issue of Harper’s Bazaar, the world’s oldest fashion magazine with 29 international editions as it successfully completes one year in India.

The issue which was unveiled on February 23rd at a glittering ‘Inspiration Bollywood’ evening held at Lap, New Delhi, raises a toast to the most influential element for Fashion in India -‘Bollywood’.

BAZAAR’s anniversary issue includes a number of novelties with taller format and the glittering masthead.

Visiting India on the occasion of the first anniversary celebrations of Harper’s BAZAAR India, Kim St Clair Bodden, Vice President and Executive Director of Hearst Magazines International said “We are extremely proud to see that in merely one year, the magazine has found its way into homes and boutiques across India. With the success of the magazine, we renew our commitment to our readers that we will continue not only to evolve as a brand but also deliver challenging and relevant content. Our ability to develop editorial concepts that appeal to local sensibilities enables us to fulfill the growing demand for International titles in India.”

Sujata Assomull, Editor, Harper’s BAZAAR India said “It has been a year of fabulous style for us. Real style has always been the mantra of Harper’s Bazaar, working closely with Indian and international luxury brands and designers, we are all about fashion that works for you. This is why we chose Bollywood as the theme for our first anniversary issue. Bollywood has become the international style face of India and there is no question that in India fashion comes from the reel and not the ramp.”

Saif Ali Khan tasted immense success with his debut production venture ‘Love Aaj Kal’ which has left him full of positive energy and hopes. Now, Saif is all geared up for his second project  which happens to be a spy thriller `Agent Vinod` directed by Sriram Raghavan and says the delayed project is very much on.

“A lot has been said about `Agent Vinod`, but we are very much on track. Final touches are being given to the script and at the end of March we should have the film on the floors,” says Saif.

Besides this movie, Saif is also keen to start with ‘Race 2’ and says “I definitely want to work on `Race 2`. To do a romantic comedy is also something that stands high up in my list, but then I am just waiting for a great script to come my way.”

Saif has given quite a few hits in his career and regards some of his movies as the right push for his career. He says, “I would think that `Hum Tum` was a definite milestone film in my career. Yes, there was `Kal Ho Na Ho` which was a good success as well, but then I was a second lead there. Soon followed `Salaam Namaste`, which further set the pace in my career. In the earlier years, `Yeh Dillagi` was definitely a landmark movie. Then came `Main Khiladi Tu Anari`, which again worked quite well for me. There were also `Kachche Dhaage` and `Kya Kehna` which were decent successes and then of course `Dil Chahta Hai` which was another landmark film.”

Saif feels that his career has been good and just the way he wanted. He adds, “Being Cyrus` was nice and offbeat too and then considering the kind of perception that people had for me, `Omkara` turned out to be huge as it showed quite some range. And now as we stand, I have a production like `Love Aaj Kal`. So, yeah, it`s not that bad after all.”

Hema Malini is one actress who has maintained her beauty and poised through the test of time with her disciplined lifestyle and committed attitude. Since her daughter Esha Deol’s career is definitely not on an uphill track, the legendry beauty is producing a project for her and is shooting for the film under impossible weather conditions and back-breaking schedules in different parts of the world. Last week she had to rush with her cast and crew to Goa to shoot the carnival there.

Hema said, “Goa shoot was not supposed to happen now but we needed to shoot the carnival which was held from February 13-16. So we preponed the schedule that was to happen later in the year and rushed to Goa last week. Now we’ll have to go back to Goa later.”

Not only this, Hema had to rush from from Goa to Patna for a dance recital which she had committed to perform before the unscheduled Goa trip and because the flight had no business class, she humbly managed through the economy class.

Hema laughs off the experience and says, “There was no business class in the flight to Patna. I had to sit in economy. I didn’t mind at all. But the people around me seemed to be very distracted. I felt concerned for them.

I don’t know why they needed to stare. You say because I’m beautiful? No. I never believed I was. My mother always taught me to stay grounded. I never started believing I was someone special.”

‘Paa’ and ‘Ishqiya’ have given a new push to Vidya Balan’s career and a perfect answer to the critics who dubbed her as boring and not sexy. Talking about her new found success, Vidya said, “It feels good as I can sense a certain vindication in my father’s eyes. When I was being written about in not so polite terms, there were times when I lost heart and he would tell me ‘things will change’. ‘No one can take your performance away from you and no one can give you a performance. So if that is yours, just hold on to it and that will take you places’. These words of my family gave me strength when I was a little shaky.”

Vidya was in Kolkata this Saturday to promote Airtel Kolkata Marathon where she will be flagging off the groups for the Airtel Kolkata Marathon 2010 with Deepak Srivastava, CEO, Bharti Airtel Limited from Red Road (Opposite West Bengal Basket Ball Courts) starting 7 am onwards today on Sunday. Bangla Band will perform at the venue, while Tollywood celebrities Rituparna Sengupta, Locket Chatterjee, Arindam Sil and Sabyasachi Chakraborty will add to the glitz.

Vidya’s next promising venture will be ‘No One Killed Jessica’ about which she says, “I could do a mad comedy as long as my role is substantial. But don’t make it floozy. A lot of women’s roles in Hindi cinema are very apologetic, but I am glad to be representing the changing face of Indian women since I have always portrayed strong female characters.”

All we can say is ‘All the Best, Girl!!”

The first love for Shruti Hassan, the daughter of legendary actor, Kamal Hassan, has always been music though she was liked by the critics for her beauty and performance in her debut movie ‘Luck’.

Shruti has given musical scores for many films including the Tamil film ‘Unnai Pol Oruvan’ which had her father Kamal in the lead role.

Once again she is all set to compose music for another South flick with her daddy in the lead role. The film is from the filmmaker K.S Ravikumar titled ‘Yaavarum Kelir’. This is out-an-out commercial flick unlike her previous film which was a thriller.

Thus, Shruti once again dons on her musical caps to impress her fans with her varied colors and talents.

The DNA After Hrs Style awards were held on Wednesday February 17th which witnessed the presence of the country’s beautiful people come together under one roof. The awards were presented by Volkswagen at The Intercontinental, the Lalit. The panel of judges comprised of filmmaker Karan Johar, designer Manish Malhotra, supermodel Ujjwala Raut and author and columnist Shobhaa De. There were over 20 awards in various categories.

The whos who of Bollywood fraternity attended the award function in their style quotient. Shilpa Shetty came attired in a silver and pink sari which she paired with a silver Leiber minaudiere. Sonam Kapoor wore a vintage Victor Costa dress along with ankle booties. Sushmita Sen who also won the style award stuck to her comfortable black zone. Shahid Kapoor sported a casual do and also swept away a style award for his fashion sense.

Check out Shilpa Shetty and Sushmita Sen beaming with smile with their awards in their hand!!

Things took an ugly turn when media reported that at a recent meeting between producers and writers over the issue of royalties, Aamir Khan said that a song’s popularity depends on the star it was picturised on and not on the lyricist’s efforts. This remark offended renowned writer Javed Akhtar who retorted by saying that the song Papa kehte hain became a hit despite the fact that Aamir was not a star at that time.

Media quoted this incident by saying that Aamir was trying to harm the writers by taking away credit from them. This hurt the perfectionist Khan who has now resigned from the 10-member committee formed by the government to look into the proposed amendments to the Copyright Act.

This is an excerpt from what Aamir wrote on Tuesday to Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal.

“It seems to me that there is an attempt by certain people to attack me in public by printing lies about me, thereby turning the attention away from a genuine debate about copyright issues.”.

“I am grateful to you for inviting me to be part of a committee to discuss the various issues regarding amendments to the Copyright Act. However in light of these public attacks on me I don’t think I am comfortable to be part of this committee.”

“I take great pride in my honesty and integrity, and attach an enormous amount of value to my sense of justice and fair play. Monetary achievements have never excited me. If they had, I would have acted in many more than one film a year, thereby being financially much richer than I currently am.”

“Had I been driven by monetary achievements I would not have produced films that challenge the mainstream and break new ground, films like Lagaan, Taare Zameen Par and Peepli Live, that most producers would hesitate to produce.

I believe that what I have earned is the love and respect of my colleagues and my audience. And this I have done through my work and through the manner in which I work. This is why such public attacks are most damaging to me emotionally and leave me crippled.”

“In the past 26 years of my involvement with the film industry, I may have made mistakes, but never have I knowingly been dishonest or unfair in my dealings, whether as an assistant director, actor, producer or director.”

“I feel I have a lot to contribute to the ongoing debate but I cannot make any meaningful contribution in this atmosphere. Aggression of this type leaves me feeling very disillusioned and sad and I am unable to function.”

“Therefore I request you to accept my resignation from this committee and please appoint another person in my place.”

“I believe that amendments to the Copyright Act are long overdue and I am so happy that a person like you is spearheading this movement. I believe that the changes that you are bringing about in the sphere of education are so dynamic, progressive and positive, that I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that you will do the same in the field of copyright.”