Bollywood Actress Rani Mukherjee could not re-weave her magic with her much-hyped ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ and now is currently busy with for ‘No One Killed Jessica’ with co-star Vidya Balan. The costumes for both of them have been designed by ace designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee who had earlier done it for Vidya Balan in ‘Paa’.

Talking about his styling for the film, Rani said, “The look he’s given me is far removed from his signature touch.”

Mukherjee has finally launched his flagship store Sabyasachi at Kala Ghoda in South Mumbai on Wednesday evening and Rani Mukherji made a rare public appearance at the store launch. She charmed in wearing an olive green drop waist silk jumpsuit with spaghetti straps, gathered sweetheart neckline and folded cuffs. She accessorized with slim tan leather belt and matching tough sandals. Her waist length lustrous hair done in waves, lips done in pink, eyes with smoky effect and French nails complimented her style and looks.

Check out Rani Mukherjee’s charming looks at the launch…..

Though a lot has been criticized about Vidya Balan’s dressing style, but there is no second opinion needed for the fact that she is a tremendous actor. So, it does not come as a surprise when Balaji Productions producer Ekta Kapoor came up with Vidya’s name for the role of Tamil legend Silk Smitha in a biopic of her tragic life. The movie will apparently be directed by Milan Luthria, who, at present, is busy making Once Upon A Time In Mumbai for Ekta’s company.

Silk had a tragic life with hailing from a very poor family and having her brush with fame in Vandi Chakaram in 1979. With movies such as Moondram Pirai and Layanam, she mastered playing sultry femme fatale type roles featuring sex, gangsters, strong women, fast talk and weak men. She took to drink and later had a tragic death with suicide at the age of thirty-five in 1995.

Given her strong performance in ‘Ishqiya’, Ekya has no doubts that Vidya will do proper justice to the role.

‘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!!”

Vidya Balan cannot stop raving and admiring about her new four bedroom flat in Khar in which she has moved in just three weeks ago from Chemboor where she stayed before this. Vidya has special attachment to her house since she has taken personal care and interest in making the house stand and now, she plans to throw in a house-warming party for her close friends and well-wishers.

Vidya says, “It’s virtually been built brick by brick by me in the middle of my busy schedules. I wasn’t able to give the house time at a stretch. That’s why it took time to be put together.”

“I think it’s imprudent to invite all your friends all at once for one party. This makes the gathering unmanageable, guests who don’t know one another get uncomfortable. So I’m having a series of sit-in dinners in my new house where groups of friends who know one another, can come together for cosy comfortable conversations and food.”

“I’m fastidious about cleanliness to the point of being obsessive about my home. If I feel a drawer is messy, I will clean it up at 3 in the morning after a hard day’s shooting. So before my house-warming parties start, I need to make sure everything is in place.”

“Shifting into it after the release of Ishqiya is a conscious move. I think after Paa and Ishqiya I’ve earned myself a place of my own.”

Vidya Balan has a string of movies to her credit- Parineeta, Munnabhai, Salaam-e-ishq, Guru, Eklavya, Heyy Babyy, Halla Bol, Bhool Bhulaiya, Kismet Konnection and most recently Paa. All these movies have given her critical acclaim for her acting talents, but nothing could give the sensuous tag to her the way the most recent ‘Ishqiya’ has given her.

She had been trapped being called as “Behenji” type actress who was constantly being criticized for her dressing style, but with ‘Ishqiya’ she has sent the message through that “she can be seductress too” signaling that she is ready to fit in current trend.

February sees her on the cover story of ‘Verve’ and ‘The Man’. For the latter, she was styled by Vikram Phadnis and her makeup was done by Shreyas Mhatre.

Here is an excerpt from her interview with ‘The Man’:

“I am a good listener but I rarely give advice. When the good times are between two people, the problems too should remain between them. A relationship is never perfect; you have to work at it. You can’t be running in opposite directions at the first sign of dissent.

There is no perfect person you can connect with at all levels. A guy can’t be a looker, intelligent, sensitive, the guy that your friends and family like, a guy who likes the things you like and all that. Sometimes, if he is all that and he is available he may not have a sense of humour. May be he seems perfect on the face of it, but when you get to know him, the problems start. No two human beings are a perfect fit. That’s the joy and beauty of being in a relationship.

When the dressing debacle happened two years ago, I was bothered by it. Until then I’d only been heaped with praises and then suddenly, the criticism came in truckloads. I didn’t know how to deal with it. Then I looked at it objectively — they did have reason to criticise me. Most of it was exaggerated. I am clearly not a fashionista.

As an actor people expect me to look my best all the time. I didn’t realise that people were actually happy seeing me the way I am. It was not just about clothes — I was going through a period of confusion where I was giving a certain vibe. I was unsure, not happy with the way I was looking and trying to be someone I am not.”

Check out Vidya Balan for the two magazines.

The premiere of both ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘Rann’ was held on Jaunary 28th. Vidya Balan walked in hand-in-hand with Arshad Warsi at the premiere. They created a picture perfect pair as Vidya dazzled in a rust colored saree from Sabyasachi. Abhishek Chaubey, who makes a directorial debut with this movie was also present at the premiere.

The premiere of ‘Rann’ was held in Delhi and Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan joined in to usher their best wishes to their “paa” Amitabh Bachchan at the premiere. Also present were Gul Panag and director Vishal Bharadwaj, who spoke to the media about his movie.

Rakhi Sawant and controversies go hand-in-hand. So, when Rakhi Sawant comes up with her first production venture under her banner Faith Inc., something or the other had to crop up. It went as such that censor board has objections to the word ‘Kamini’ in the song ‘Bhoot’ from IshQ Bector’s album. However, Rakhi is in no mood to do away with the word. Instead, she has given a week’s time to Censor Board and has threatened to go on a ‘Bhookh Hartaal’, if they do not give in.

Rakhi says, “I’ll wait for a week and then I go on a bhookh hartaal in front of the Censor office. I’ve sent a legal notice to the Censor Board. This is the first time something like this has happened. The members of the Board have done me an injustice by deleting the word ‘kamini’ from my song. Dharmendra has been saying the word ‘kaminey’ for years. Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminey came, were they asleep? If Rakhi Sawant sings Kamini Tera Bhoot Chad Gaya Re, they get stung. The song has been produced by my company Faith Inc. and I’m being damaged.”

Questioning about the vulgarity of the word ‘Kamini’ she says, “Kyon? In the trailers of Ishqiya they show Vidya Balan punch-drunk on television, and that too in a saree. Is that allowed in our culture? Ladkiyan khule-aam choli utaar rahi hai.

What was Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai? What were they asking? We all know what’s behind the choli. If that can be air played for years why can’t my song be telecast?

In serials, we have men dragging their wives by their hair muttering. ‘Kamini main tujhe chodunga nahin.’ No one pays any attention. Why point a finger at me? Stop all the malpractice on television and I too will shut up.”

This is the first time, someone has challeneged censor board with a ‘Bhookh Hartaal’, but talking about Rakhi, we aren’t much surprised. Are we?

The 16th annual Nokia Star Screen Awards was held with usual glamour and glitter. Amitabh Bachchan won the award for best actor for his latest film “Paa”, and Vidya Balan won the best actress award for ‘Paa’ again. Best director award was won by Rajkumar Hirani and the best screenplay award was won by Abhijit Joshi each for the film “3 Idiots” which won the best film award.

The best female singer award was won by Kavita Sethi for her song “Ek tara” from “Wake Up Sid”, and the best male singer award was won by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan for “Aaj din chadeya” from movie “Love Aaj Kal”. Imitiaz Ali bagged the best story award for “Love Aaj Kal”. A.R. Rahman won the best music award for “Delhi 6?.

The award for the best performance in a comic role went to Omi Vaidya for “3 Idiots”, while the award for the best actor in a negative role went to Boman Irani for “3 idiots”.

‘3 Idiots’ was undoubtedly the star of the ceremony as it bagged the awards in most of the categories. Check out the stars as they dazzle in the Star Screen Awards 2010.

Last year, ace photographer Dabboo Ratnani had shot with 48 stars celebrating the completion of a decade of his calendar. This year he is back with usual count of 24 stars, but in black and white shades. Besides some of his old favorites, there are quite a few new names added to the list.

Talking about the calendar to NDTV.com, Dabboo says, “All the stars are comfortable with whatever I decide. They never question me, because we have faith in each other. So whenever I discuss a concept with them, they are happy to go along. I usually share three or four different ideas with the actor. If they are not convinced, we work on it. It is important to be confident about each other; only when the model is able to relate to the picture will he or she be able to give 100 per cent to it.

I have been doing the calendar for many years now. It makes me push myself to the next level. Way back in 2000 when I first shot the calendar, I gave away just a few to my close friends and people I worked with. But the response was so encouraging that I felt it was something I had to do on a regular basis. Every year the calendar pushes me to outdo my last year’s work. This also helps me evolve as a photographer. All through the year I am shooting for agencies, magazines and movies but the calendar is my creative outlet.

Our space had given you the pics of Deepika Padukone and Shahrukh Khan from the calendar. Now, we bring you some new pics of Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif and Vidya Balan and what Dabboo has to say for each of them.

Ratnani is all praise for Katrina: “She is very attractive and photographs really well. She puts in a lot of effort for every picture she does. She will keep on giving the shot till it is completely done. Katrina will go to any extent to make the pic look stunning.”

He talks about Priyanka Chopra saying, “She is extremely photogenic. She gives her best in ever photoshoot and loves being in front of the camera. We have been working together since Priyanka’s modelling days and the chemistry we share is simply brilliant.”

Ratnani, who makes Vidya Balan too shed her inhibitions, says about the lady, “This is one of the hottest pictures of Vidya ever. I think she is always open to experiment. She trusts me completely and because of this trust she is very comfortable in my working environment.”

Vidya Balan is one actress in our industry who has constantly been under criticism for her mature looks and bad dressing sense, but at the same time, there is not one critic who has ever found any flaw in the characters played by her. Always up and ready for the challenging roles, she impressed everyone with the mature handling of her character in ‘Paa’ and now will again be seen in a totally different role of a earthy village woman in ‘Ishqiya’ with Naseruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi.

“I play a village belle,” she explains, “Yet I’m fully aware of my sexual charms and within the four walls of the bedroom, I’m unapologetic about using my guile and charm.’’

Yet again she has signed up to play Sabrina Lal, Jessica’s sister, in the movie ‘No One Killed Jessica’. “Yes, I am playing Sabrina Lal in Rajkumar Gupta’s film,” she said, “The minute I heard the role, I wanted to do it. It’s my first biographical role and a big challenge. I’ll be meeting Sabrina shortly.”

As the name suggests, the movie is based on the murder of Jessica Lal in 1999 which exposed the nepotism, inequality and corruption prevalent in Indian society.

Vidya Balan has always faced criticism for her weight and lack of fashion ssense, but this time Balan is out to give an answer to the critics. Not only she has lost ten kilos but has also decided to move to Sabyasachi for her own styling.

Her new avatar was just too adorable as she appeared at hotel Ramada Plaza for the launch of an all-new brand Dabur Uveda – Skincare Expert from Ayurveda. She looked slim and in shape in her red and black salwar kameez.

Her career is also on a roll. She stars opposite the junior and senior Bachchan in ‘Pa’ and also has Vishal Bharadwaj’s next called ‘Ishqiya’, where she will be seen opposite Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi. She has also been signed by Yash Chopra’s next to be directed by Yash Chopra himself. It is the same project which was supposed to star Aamir Khan along with Preity Zinta.

Here are some pics from the event of the launch of Dabur Uveda.

This summer, if you come across some fully tonsured old man, which also includes his eyebrows, just take a closer look because it could be none other than Amitabh Bachchan himself who has donned this unique look for his forthcoming film ‘Pa’ directed by R. Balakrishnan aka Balki. The film also stars Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan.

The storyline of the film has been guarded secretly but if rumors are to be believed it deals with the story of a child who ages much faster than any normal child would do. The surprise element of the film lies in the fact that Amitabh Bachchan will be playing Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan’s son in the film.

Recently, the team carried out the shoot of the film in locations of Delhi, whereby, a team of highly qualified make up experts worked on Big B’s look for a whopping 6 hours at a stretch and the results were more than satisfactory when Big B’s fans failed to recognize him in the getup of the bald old man.

It so happened that when some locals got to know that Amitabh Bachchan was shooting there, a huge crowd accumulated but after a long wait they returned frustrated and dejected cursing the unit for spreading false rumors.

Balki confirmed the news saying, “Yes, it’s true. Fans of Amitabh came rushing when they heard he was shooting in a school nearby. The fans stayed for two hours, loitered, went around him and went away complaining that there was no Amitabh. They just couldn’t recognize him.”