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.”

Anil Kapoor has made his debut on the American television through the 8th season of the Emmy awards winning TV series 24 which premiered this Sunday on 17th January. In This action-packed drama, Anil plays the leader of a middle-eastern country depicting a 24-hour period in the life of a government agent fighting fictitious terrorist threats to the US. Anil will be seen as an Indian counter-terrorist cop who works with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), an agent for the Los Angeles Counter Terrorist Unit.

Explaining the reason for playing the middle-eastern character, Anil says, “I am very clear that I won’t play Indian characters in international projects unless they’re really special. I’ve told my agent to seek out parts that are not culture-specific, but have character.”

In a recent interview to Fox News, Anil said, “It’s the first time that I’m doing television. I’ve been doing feature films for around 30 years. Not only was I excited that I was doing 24, but I was also anxious and nervous that I was doing something for the first time in my life.”

“People told me, `No matter what happens, you have to be on 24! My son, my daughter, my friends. 24 is very popular in India. Five or six years back, I was introduced to it by my colleagues who would watch it in their trailers,” added Kapoor.

24, that went on air in 2001, is the second-longest running espionage series, after the Mission: Impossible series.

Zarine Khan had been kept under wraps throughout the making of ‘Veer’, but with the film about to release, more and more is coming of Zarine. It has been known that Zarine was put on a chocolate diet for months to give her a fuller look for the role of Princess Yashodhara in the movie where Salman Khan plays the warrior Prince Veer. Zarine piled on eight kilos in just three months.

When asked, Zarine says that acting was not something which she was very keen on. She says, “I always aspired to be a doctor but financial constraints didn’t let me pursue my dreams. Fate had something else in store for me and I ended up signing small modeling assignments. I didn’t even in my wildest dreams thought I would become an actor. “

She further adds, “However being an actress, I think now I can accomplish my other pursuit of becoming a doctor as well.”

With Ayesha Takia getting married off, there is a gap in the tinsel town for a cute babydoll actress. Now, the sister of Ayesha, Natasha Takia, is all geared up to make a space for herself in Bollywood. She has recently released a hot, sizzling yet cute photoshoot of hers and talks to A Gnaesh Nadar about her career plans. Though she has not yet bagged in any offers, but this 21-year-old girl has already sent the message that she is ready to get going. All she is waiting for is a promising role and a promising producer to give a knock at her doors. Is anyone interested out there?

Kamal Hassan gave entirely new heights to Indian cinema and his contribution to the entertainment industry cannot be over emphasized. Now, when his daughter Shruti is debuting with Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd.’s film ‘Luck’ directed by Soham Shah, it is but obvious that cine goers are looking forward to it.

Shruti has given a bikini scene for the flick and that too without any qualms. Says the sporty female, ”When Soham narrated the script, I did not even consider the bikini thing as a big deal it was logical to the premise. While shooting for it, the weather was very weird that day. It was freezing cold, but apart from that it was like any other scene in the film for me.”

Director Soham praised Shruti saying, ”Shruti did work out to get a toned body. Moreover she worked more hard to maintain it. We shot the sequence in Cape Town. The temperature was only two degrees. She had to brave the icy weather for the shoot.”

‘The scene involves Imran Khan, Ravi Kishaan and Mithun Chakraborthy. Shruti was not at all apprehensive of wearing a two-piece swim wear as she was aware of it from before. The scene is totally justified as Ravi Kishaan’s character pins his eyes on her,” he adds justifying the scene.

Binal Shah, the designer, says about the outfit, ”I bought a plain Bebe bikini that fitted Shruti perfectly. I then embellished it with mother of pearls in shades of green that matched the night pool ambience.”

Shruti Hassan is already a known name even before her first film hits the screens given the varied talents in playback singing and rock shows. However, Shruti has no qualms in giving her best when it comes to making it big on the silver screen. She is set to make her debut with Imran Khan in ‘Luck’ and it is a well established fact that newcomers do have to assort to some amount of skin show in order to establish themselves. Shruti is also all game and sport when it comes to donning a bikini for the movie but she would do it only if her daddy dearest Kamal Hassan is not there on the sets.

Shruti had even confessed in a recent interview that she wouldn’t be able to act before the camera and had to request dad to stay away from the sets while shooting for ‘Luck’.

Amruta Patki was the crowning beauty of Ponds Femina Miss India 2006 and now as a next stepping stone in the glamour world, the beautiful girl will make her debut on the silver screen with producer Apporva Lakhia’s next project which will supposedly be a supernatural thriller. Amruta got the role after being selected in the audition which included almost a dozen aspirants.

Lakhia is happy with his choice and says, “I want to prove beauty queens can act.”

The film which is titled ‘Hide and Seek’ will also launch Lakhia’s assistant Sean Arranha as the director and Lakhia is very supportive to his director. He says, “My director Sean is just a baby. We need to nurture new talent not intimidate them. ”

Lakhia divulges more about the film saying, “I won’t only produce Your browser may not support display of this image.the film but also co-write it with Suresh Nair. Hide N Seek is about four friends played by Purab Kohli, Arjan Bajwa, Ayaaz Khan (Genelia’s fiancé in Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na) and Samir Kochhar whose terrible past catches up with them.”

‘Lets Dance’ marks the debut of the promising Alabama beauty, Gayatri Patel, who is extremely fond of dancing. In the movie too, she plays the role of a passionate young dancer, Suhani, who has always dreamt of making it big in the glamour world. It also tells us about fourteen year old Aftab (played by Aqib), a gifted dancer who has never dreamed anything ever. Then we have newcomer Ajay Chaudhary stars as Neil, who falls in love with Suhani and decides to help her realize her dream of becoming a star.

The movie is directed by debutant director Aarif Sheikh and the producer is Gayatri’s father himself. Aarif is a known name in film editing and has won the national award for editing of Samay – When Time Strikes. He also has the editing of movies like Makdee, Maqbool, Taxi No. 9211, Parzania and The Blue Umbrella to his credit. The choreography of the movie has been done by Longinus Fernandes and the movie is set to release today.

Gayatri is all praises for her co-stars and says, “They are lovely, Aqib is also from London and I was from America. Both of us were new in the city. We got on really well. Ajay is very different from me, he is from Meerut. He is very experienced guy and good actor also and working with him was lot of fun also.”

Hrithik Roshan’s much awaited ‘Kites’ was unveiled at Cannes 2009. The film has Barbara Mori and Kangana Ranaut as his co-stars. The film has a much talked about lip lock between Hrithik and Barabara. Hrithik says that he was comfortable doing the scene and they did kiss each other in the scene like real lovers.

Hrithik says, “Why are we even talking about kissing? Is that such a big deal? Hasn’t our cinema grown up? Yes, there’re kissing scenes in the film, but nothing to make me squirm. In fact, I’d be more than happy and completely comfortable watching those kissing scenes with my wife, son and parents when the film is released.”

” ‘Kites’ is a love story. It’s about people in love. And what do people in love do to express their mutual feelings? In fact, it was Barbara Mori who made me realise how silly we look on screen while shying away from expressing love naturally.”

“We were both supposed to jump off from a rooftop at an impossible height. Before we did so our director Anurag Basu suggested I kiss Barbara since we were doing something death-defying and dangerous and potentially lethal. I reached out and kissed her on the cheeks.”

“Barbara turned around to ask why I had kissed her on the cheek. ‘Given the same situation with your real-life wife, Suzanne, would you kiss her on the cheek?’ I was floored by her logic.”

“And this time I kissed her the way real-life couples would in the situation. On the lips.”

Have a look as Hrithik, along with Papa Roshan and Barbara, arrives for the screening of ‘Bright Star’ during the 62nd International film festival in Cannes, southern France, Friday, May 15,

Where none of the producers are taking the risk of releasing their films amidst the extending cold war between the producers and multiplex owners, ‘Frozen’ a black & white film by Shivajee Chandrabhushan, has been released in the single screens.

Newcomer Gauri makes her debut with the film along with Danny. The film has been shot in Ladakh, in the harsh bitter winter and really extreme conditions at the base of Rhizong. During one shot, it had snowed the day before and the ice was slippery and Gauri was made to stand in the snow at one place for almost 3-4 hours!!!

Needless to say, Gauri was close to tears after the scene, as the -25 degree temperature had seeped into her body and her shoes and socks had become wet!

But the pain has been worth the gain coz the girl is getting rave reviews for her performance in the film.

There is no denying the fact that apart from being extremely talented, the elder daughter of Pandit Ravi Shakar, Anoushka Shankar is highly gorgeous and beautiful. So, Anoushka has decided to try her hand at the glamour world of Bollywood and what better way to make her debut opposite the extremely talented Rahul Bose. Yes, Anoushka is working in a film to be directed by a London-based filmmaker Anu Menon which is curiously titled ‘Click & Marry’. The film is apparently about an alliance off the internet where Rahul and Anoushka play a couple who find their combined karma through the internet.

Neither Rahul nor Anoushka is willing to talk about the film. Says Rahul, “It’s too early to say anything about this project. But Anoushka and I know each other well. So doing a film with her would be great fun. As for working with Anu, she seems committed and fun. And I’ve really enjoyed worked with a female director before. So why not this time?”

Govinda’s career graph is on a downhill now and since her daughter Narmada is now ready to face the camera and the anxious father has decided to produce her debut film himself.

‘Narmada will launch her film career anytime in 2009. I feel today she is emotionally ready to face the camera,’ said Govinda adding, “After weighing all the pros and cons, I decided I’m the best person to produce my daughter’s debut film. I don’t want anyone else, no matter how well-meaning, to take the credit for launching my daughter.”

Govinda is considering Nikhil Advani and Shaad Ali for directing the film. “Ideally, I’d have liked Narmada to be launched by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. He is among our best. But since that is not possible, we’re looking at some other names. My daughter has to be directed by someone who has a vision and an aesthetic sense and also respects the work that I do,” said the actor.

As for himself, Govinda wants to slow down his pace and has stopped signing new films or taking up rputine roles. He has decided to work only with directors who are as organised and disciplined as Mani Ratnam.