After appearing in an ultra-glamorous avatar in ‘Kidnap’, Minissha Lamba will now be seen in a non-glamorous role in Benegal’s forthcoming film, “Well Done Abba” which is a political satire. The film, produced by Reliance Big Pictures, is inspired by two short stories - “Narsaiyyan Ki Bavdi” by Jeelani Bano and “Phulwa Ka Pul” by Sanjeev.

The story of the film revolves around Armaan Ali (Boman Irani), a driver working in Mumbai who takes a month’s leave to find a husband for his teenaged daughter, who lives in a small neighborhood near Hyderabad. But he returns to his job after three months with a good reason for the delay.

“At first I was really scared to work with Mr. Benegal. But once we started shooting, he turned out to be a really calm, jovial and humorous person. We never saw him upset on the sets,” says Minissha about the film and the director.

Releasing March 26, it also stars Samir Dattani, Ila Arun, Ravi Kisshan, Sonali Kulkarni and Yashpal Sharma.

Upset and worried with the unrestricted flow of his forthcoming flick ‘Anjaana Anjaani’ being leaked out in ‘Twitter’, Sajid Nadiawala has banned his cast and crew from using the social networking site for the time being. As such, both the leading stars of the film, Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor, have been asked to stop tweeting.

Confirming the news, Sajid told a daily, “I actually took the decision to forbid my cast and crew from putting any information on websites after an incident that happened with Sajid Khan, my director of ‘Housefull’.

We were doing a photo-session with the film’s stars. We weren’t even finished and Sajid Khan had already put one of the pictures on the site. I was horrified. That’s when I decided it was time to make the confidentiality clause a legal issue in all my contracts.”

Sajid further added, “I remember when my father produced JP Dutta’s Ghulami, we’d stand outside Dharmendra’s van for hours waiting for him to emerge so we could see what he wore, how he styled his hair, what watch he had on, etc.

Today the stars volunteer all this information on the social networks even before the director takes his first shot. I think all of us need to make confidentiality compulsory for every film.”

So, no more tweeting for Piggy Chops and Ranbir for sometime from now on!!

Karisma Kapoor said goodbye to Bollywood and settled with her family quite a few years back. She has a five-year-old daughter Samaira and now, she delivered a baby boy at a private hospital in Mumbai around noon making her family complete. Both mother and daughter are fine at present.

Karisma married Delhi-based industrialist Sanjay Kapoor and with a few tiffs now and again the marriage has been doing fine unlike many other Bollywood marriages. Our heartiest congratulations to the family for this!!

The short-tempered Nana Patekar comes in form once again and this time at the receiving end is the gorgeous and ever so beautiful Deepika Padukone.

It so happened that Nana Patekar is set to direct a film for Prakash Jha and Patekar approached Deepika for a casting. However, when Deepika tried to suggest some changes in the script, Nana lost his cool and gave her left and right. Nana went on to the extent of saying that he has immense experience in the film industry and how can a newcomer like Deepika suggest he make changes in the script. Deepika maintained a dignified silence but now she has decided not to do the film at all.

However, a close friend of Deepika denies any tiff between the two and said, “Yes, Nana had approached her with a script however Deepika refused to do it as she could not connect to it. Nana did not have a verbal argument with her and she is not aware if Nana is upset with her. She did not do the film as it was something that she just did not want to do. That’s it.”

Eesha Koppikar has given quite a few sizzling hot scenes in her forthcoming ‘Right Yaaa Wrong’ and the actress was quite worried about the scenes before her marriage. After all she is now the bahu of a traditional family.

The film has Eesha playing the role of Anshita, Sunny Deol’s wife. Deol plays a cop and Eesha an interior designer who is a modern and independent woman. Eesha apparently plays a cheating wife who has a torrid, sexual affair on the side with newcomer Aarav Chowdhary as well.

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai is all praises for Eesha’s performance in the movie and says, “Eesha’s not only hot as ever in the film, she’s cool as an actress too.”

Newcomer Aarav was very nervous while shooting the lovemaking scene with Eesha. It took quite a few rehearsals and also some encouragement from Essha to help Aarav get over his inhibitions.

“It was a very nervous feeling to make love to Isha in the film. We had to do many rehearsals before canning the act. The seductiveness of Isha is quite palpable in the bath tub scene. Moreover, the fact that I was a relative newcomer in front of Isha made it all the more difficult for me to enact the scene. Finally, after many rehearsals and some good encouragement from Isha, we have performed some of the best love scenes ever performed on the big screen,” says Aarav.

Lakme Fashion Week kicked off the Summer/Resort 2010 Collections with Rocky S who came up in a palette of pastel hues  like  pink,  peach,  nude  and  turquoise  and  then moved  to  luxurious  shaded  tones  which  finally  ended  with  ivory  and  black….and lots of gold trim and embellishment.  All of it accessorized with diamonds from a new collection ‘Queenie for Giantti’ (a new line from sponsor Gitanjali Lifestyle) and the well known Bombay jewelry designer, socialiter and columnist. The showstopper for Rocky S was his all time favorite Bipasha Basu.

Deepika Padukone was the showstopper for the designers Shantanu and Nikhil who entered the sports arena with their new S&N label for Adidas Style Essentials. The collection called “Motochic” included track pants, shirts, muscle sleeve and body hugging Tees, skirts, tunics as well as trendy bags, belts and wallets, footwear and accessories.  The entire collection was in (NYC) taxi cab yellow, black and white….and was presented on a runway/roadway, with flashing lights, road detours and the white line down the middle– keeping the models in and out of the traffic.

Check out Bipasha Basu and Deepika Padukone as they sizzle on the ramp for Lakme Fashion Week 2010.

Releasing this Friday is a crime thriller ‘Right Ya Wrong’ produced by Subhash Ghai and Written and directed by debutant Neeraj Pathak. The movie marks the comeback of Sunny Deol who seemed to have disappeared from limelight post his disasters in movies like “Heroes” and “Fox”. The flick which tells the tale of two friends who turn foes in their quest for supremacy also stars Irrfan Khan, Eesha Koppikhar and Konkona Sen Sharma.

“It’s an entertainer with great performances by Sunny Deol and Irfaan Khan. I have seen Sunny in such a charged and dramatic role after a long time. He is just too good, though Irrfan has also done a great job. The songs are also very nice and I am sure it will be a super hit,” says Ghai had said about the film.

The storyline goes as:

Two cops, Ajay Shridhar (Sunny) and Vinay Patnaik (Irrfan), are in a constant battle for supremacy. When Ajay’s wife (Eesha) is found brutally murdered, he becomes the prime suspect and the case is being handled by his friend, Assistant Commissioner of Police Rane. Ajay’s only support is Radhika (Konkana), Vinay’s younger sister.

The movie was slated to come out in 2009 but was delayed. Let us see if it can revive Sunny’s sinking career.

The ‘Smack That’ singer Akon is on a three-day visit to Mumbai to compose and record a song for SRK’s ‘Ra 1’ and Shahrukh is leaving no stones unturned to give the singer a very warm welcome. Akon got a traditional Indian welcome from Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor during a press meet in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Akon has also worked with A R Rahman on the album Freedom is Beautiful.

Asked whether he plans to work with other artists too, Akon replied, “I have worked extensively in America and after America, India will be my next big focus because I have got so much support here. Soon you will see me working with other groups too. I am planning a world tour and hopefully we will have a number of shows in India.”

For Ra One, I will be composing and singing a song. I will also appear in it. I want to give Shah Rukh different versions of the same song to choose from,” he added.

Again, SRK hosted a bash at JW Marriot for Akon. The party was more in news due to the absence of SRK’s one time very close friend Farah Khan. It was Gauri Khan who approved the guest list and insiders have it that the Morani brothers, who organised the party, were specifically told to leave out Farah’s and her husband Shirish Kunder’s names.

However, as soon as Khan became aware of this blunder, he told Moranis to invite Farah, but it was too late by then.

The party had glittering celeb list including Sherlyn Chopra, Riya Sen, Poonam Dhillon, Claudia Ciesla, Aarti Chhabria, Gauhar Khan, Anushka Manchanda, Sonal Chauhan, Rannvijay Singh, Madhu, Gaurav Chopra and Vidhu Dara Singh among others.

It all happened at the sets of the forthcoming directorial venture from Farah Khan, ‘Tees Maar Khan’ where Khiladi Kumar was handcuffed for not one or two but long four hours. However, this was not for some crime done by Akshay but it was an accident. Akshay had to shoot for a sequence with handcuffs on and when Akshay was playing with the cuffs and he put them on, the lock was clicked. It was then discovered that the only key to the cuffs was accidentally broken and there was no duplicate key. The production team immediately beckoned a locksmith but the cuffs being imported stuff he couldn’t open them. Farah then sent a team member to bring the duplicate key which was at the other end of the city and it took 4 hours.

But sporting as Akshay is, he did not complain once and taking it in the right spirit he went around the sets handcuffed and even finished all the shots that were supposed to be filmed with the hero in hand cuffs.

Preity Zinta has always been known for her bold and fearless attitude in fighting for the right cause. Recently, she has taken up yet another cause to ensure justice to Shandar Arohi who is one of the three children of legendary late Kamaal Amrohi. The Arohi family is in news these days due to their property dispute that’s worth over a staggering Rs. 600 crore!

It may be known here that Shandar always took Preity Zinta as his daughter ever since he saw her films. He had also announced once that he would pass on all his property to Preity.

The story goes as Shandar has filed a case against his sister Rukhsar and brother Wasim stating that they have falsely pledged his shares in ‘Mahal Pictures Pvt Ltd’ (that owns the famous Kamaal Amrohi studio), to a company in Pune. Shandar says that he is battling not for money but for justice and that Preity is helping him fight it, despite strong opposition from the other family members.

The latest position on the case is that the High Court has adjourned further hearing on Shandar’s plea till March 11. So, it’s a wait and watch for us till then…..

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan may be the most talked about Bahu of the tinsel town, but despite the fact that her Father-in-law, Amitabh Bachchan, is extremely fond of her, Kajol won over as the favorite ‘Bahu’ in a poll conducted by a famous matrimonial site ‘Shaadi.com’.

Kajol has been married to actor Ajay Devgan for 11 years now and it will not be an exaggeration to say that she has given a 100% to her family and kids.

The poll, in which 250,000 women participated, was conducted by the site as part of the upcoming International Women’s Day celebrations on Monday. In the poll, 43.08 percent women said Kajol was their favorite Bollywood daughter-in-law.

Following Kajol were other Bollywood actresses like Aishwarya Rai, Gauri Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Malaika Arora, Twinkle Khanna and Kiran Rao.

“The women’s day poll is part of the constant research that shaadi.com conducts in its attempt to gauge the preferences of its members.

The results show that today the women are looking to be more independent and are willing to adopt stronger roles in their life. They believe in themselves and aspire to emulate top achievers in their field,” said Gourav Rakshit, business head, shaadi.com.

Ranvir Shorey and Konkona Sen Sharma have displayed sparking chemistry in flicks like ‘Mixed Doubles’ and ‘Traffic Signal’. Both these mature and gifted actors have been together for a long time and after playing the real life couple for quite sometime now, they are all set to feature as the reel couple.

However, they will appear as a jodi for the first time in the directorial debut of Amitabh Verma which is supposed to be a suspense thriller to be produced by Denis Selarkar. The shooting for this yet to be titled film will commence shortly in the locales of Alibaug.

Giving in the details of the flick, producer Selarkar says, “In the story, every character has grey shade. Every character is trying to outshine the other. There is a mastermind though; everyone is planning some conspiracy against other.”

The film is expected to hit the screens this November.