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.

Holi songs have always been a hot favorite among Bollywood makers because they symbolize masti, colors, music, entertainment and fun-n-frolic. As the festival of ‘Holi’ knocks at the door yet again this season, lets have a look at some of the most popular Holi songs from Bollywood without which any holi bash seems to be incomplete.

Rang Barse:
One of the most memorable and cherished songs from Bollywood which ranks the top among all other songs is undoubtedly Rang Barse which displays clear chemistry and sparks between the ex-lovers Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha along with Jaya Bachchan and Sanjeev Kumar.

Holi Ke din dil khil jaate hain:
This song featuring Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan is from the blockbuster hit ‘Sholay’ which is known for its simple joyful celebrations and the message of social harmony and love.

Are Jaa Re Hat Natkhat:
Though belonging to 1950’s era, this is the longest Holi song starring Sandhya and is still one of the most popular and loved holi song which has a religious note attached to it.

Aaj Na Chhodenge Bus Humjoli:
This song from Kati Patang features Rajesh Khanna and Asha Parekh and is famous for its naughtiness and the note of fun and masti underlying the entire song.

Holi Khele Raghuveera:
Amitabh Bachchan created a landmark with his Rang Barse song in Silsila. Three decades post Silsila he has tried to re-create the magic with the holi song in the same style as such in ‘Baghban’, this time with Hema Malini. Not to mention here that he has been quite successful in pleasing his fans, though only to some extent.

‘Mile Sur Mera Tumhara’ had created stirs 22 years back as it exuded the essence of unity and nationality of India. This year, as India completes 60 years of its Republic, the song has been re-created as ‘Phir Mile Sur’ featuring more than 60 known personalities, including actors Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty and Juhi Chawla. In all, the song features 22 superstars, 18 musicians, 13 artistes and singers and 15 other known personalities. The song has been composed by jazz artists Louis and Geno Banks.

The earlier version of the song featured vocalists Bhimsen Joshi and Balamurali Krishna, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, tabla maestros Allah Rakha and Zakir Hussain, sportsmen Narendra Hirwani and Prakash Padukone and film personalities like Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Lata Mangeshkar, Mithun Chakraborty, Jeetendra, Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, Kamal Haasan, Sharmila Tagore, Tanuja and Waheeda Rehman.

Amitabh Bachchan, who released this album, expresses his gratitude and says, “I was part of the old Mile Sur… and now yet again I am fortunate to be part of this one. We have integrated many tunes together and that’s precisely the message of this video.” Featuring in the video is well known musician Sivamani, who says, “I wanted to do something unique for this so I started playing drums on water. This has never been done by any artist.

The music of Farhan Akhtar’s much awaited film, ‘Karthik Calling Karthik’, was released recently at a suburban multiplex of Mumbai amidst the cast and crew of the film. The trio of Shankar Ehsaan Loy has introduced a new singer in the film, Elisa Mendonsa, who happens to be Loy’s daughter.

Talking about the music of the film, Farhan said, “Shankar Ehsaan Loy could never manage to disappoint anyone with their music. Honestly, Karthik Calling Karthik has some of the best songs heard. I hope everyone will like it as me.”

Explaining the reason for not having sung himself for any song in the film, Farhan said, “There was no need for me to sing in this film since my character didn’t required to. Karthik doesn’t even talk much in the film so if I start singing, it would look out of character. Even in Luck By Chance I didn’t sing. In Rock On, singing was an integral part of the performance. So it depends on the film.”

Talking about the film and its making, Director Vijay Lalwani said, “This is my first film and I desperately wanted to get the film made. So honestly, I never thought whom to cast as Karthik. For me, Karthik was the main character in my story. When we started our company Magic Beans, Amit and I thought why not try Excel out. I narrated the script to Farhan and he was on. Even Deepika said yes to it, which was surprising. So everything fell into place.”

Slated for 26th February 2010 release, ‘Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge’ stars three national award winners (Ajay Devgan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Paresh Rawal) in the lead roles. This Warner Bros. Pictures India and Wide Frame Films production is a light hearted comedy directed by Ashwni Dhir. The music for the film has been composed by Pritam with choreography by Raju Khan and Ahmed Khan.

Ajay and Konkona play a married couple who land up with an uninvited guest (Paresh Rawal) at their home who lives for a long duration by continuously extending his stay. The shoot for the flick has been completed and owing to its brilliant star cast, the movie is creating stirs even before its release.

The year 2009 had been a great year for the music lovers as the industry churned out various hits each with a different style ranging from soft romantic numbers to rustic numbers, youthful songs to fun-filled light music. Let us have a look at the songs which topped the music charts in the year which is dying off.

Emotional Atyaachar

This song from ‘Dev D’ was an unexpected hit and was liked by younger generations because of its uniqueness and difference. The song has been sung by Bony Chakravarthy. Composed by Amit Trivedi, it echoes the music and energy of marriage bands. It is by far the greatest hit of 2009 and stands out among other songs released during that period.

Masakalli

Oozing freshness in every way, this expressive number from A.R.Rehman swept the music lovers off their feet. This fun-filled light number from the film ‘Delhi-6′ sung by Mohit Chauhan is still a hot favorite of music channels.

Dhan Te Nan

This edgy, energetic, and rustic number from ‘Kaminey’ has a touch of rock to it. Composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, the song has been sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlani. This rocking number has topped the music charts of 2009.

Tera Hone Laga Hoon

This is by far the most romantic and soothing number of 2009. Pakistani Singer Atif Aslam has sung this song with Alsiha Chinoi. Pritam has composed a beautiful love ballad for the recently released film ‘Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani’.

All Izz Well

This youthful, campus number from ‘3 Idiots’ has given a perfect ending to the year. This fun track has raw energy and is filled with whistles in the background. Sung by Sonu Niigaam, Swanand Kirkire and Shaan and composed by Shantanu Moitra, it is a hot favorite among all music channels.

Many Bollywood biggies like Salman, SRK, Big B, Farhan Akhtar and Sanjay Dutt have sung for their films. Now, Ranbir Kapoor has joined the list as he has recorded a song for music director Vishal Shekhar in ‘Anjaana Anjaani’. The recording for this peppy number took place at Vishal Shekhar’s studio in Bandra at 1 am on Wednesday and Ranbir took everyone by surprise as he completed the recording within 45 minutes and was on his way back home before 2:00 a.m. Both Vishal and Shekhar were taken aback by Ranbir smooth, comfortable and confident singing.

The composer Dadlani confirms the news saying, “Yes Ranbir has sung for a sequence in the film. He is going to blow away a lot of people when they hear him.”

Reports also have it that even Priyanka Chopra who stars opposite Ranbir in the film has been proposed to lend her voice for a song in the movie but she is yet to muster up the courage to sing.

Says Dadlani, “Shekhar and I have been talking to PC about singing for us got a long time. It will happen when it happens. We’ll see.”

As it is well evident in the bollywood circles that IshQ Bector and Rakhi Sawant are outspoken people and well arrived on the Indian celebrity scenario and it would indeed be very interesting to look out both loudmouth working together in IshQ’s next album “Jhadge”.

On the launch of the album in Juhu, Mumbai, Rakhi was dressed up in silver sequined dress in matching heels however Ishq was in his casual look. On the occasion, Comedian Johnny lever was involved in hilarious activities. According to the news Rakhi in her best mood tried to prompt IshQ to strip and he also responded by taking off his pants and showing undies. So you better can judge form the pictures below.

Directed by Prem Soni, ‘Main Aur Mrs. Khanna’ is yet another awaited comedy this year. The film stars Salman Khan, Sohail Khan and Kareena Kapoor in the lead roles. The movie also has Govinda in a special appearance and Preity Zinta in an item number. The music for this emotional and romantic drama has been composed by Sajid -Wajid, who have earlier given hits like ‘mujhse shaadi karogi’, ‘maine pyaar kyun kiya’ and the latest ‘wanted’ with Salman.

Though Salman and Kareena have done quite a few films earlier, but they haven’t managed to create much stirs onscreen as a couple as yet. Hope this Diwali, the cinegoers get to witness a sizzling chemistry between these two very talented and very stylish stars.

Meanwhile, check out the shots from the music launch of the flick.

The music and glamour world suffered a grave loss in the late afternoon hours of this Thursday on the 25th of June as it witnessed the death of 50 years old legendary star Michael Jackson. He breathed his last at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. His death probably took place due to an overdose of drugs followed by a cardiac arrest.

There was large scale mourning on the death of this superstar with people gathering at Harlem, Apollo Theatre and Times Square in New York, his home town of Gary, Indiana and everywhere else in the country. Jackson was preparing for an epic 50-concert program in London, the first of which was on July 13th, but now the star will never be seen performing again.

Michael Jackson was born on Aug. 29, 1958 in Gray, Indiana. He started his musical career with his brothers, at the age of 11. His greatest creation which tasted the highest success was his album ‘Thriller’ in 1982. By touching a record sale of 65 million copies it has been the highest selling album of all time and is still going.

This Monday, Mumbai saw the music release of Abbas Mastaan’s romantic thriller ‘Runaway’. The film which is being produced by 171 Entertainment Private Limited stars  Deepal Shaw, Tulip Joshi, Lucky Ali and debutant actor Amarjeet.

Tulip is playing the role of a bar dancer for the first time in the film and has shot a real sexy time number for the film. “In this film there is a lot of freshness and for me the character which I play which is that of a bar dancer I have never played in my life and have never been a part of a film like this. I did a lot of research and preparation for this role,” said Joshi.

Deepal Shaw revealed more about the film saying, “The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of this film is that it looks very sleek as these days the packaging rules and it’s a well packaged film. The songs are good and I hope that 70 percent of our population which comes from B and C grade towns they will like the songs which will be an attraction of this film.”

Yanni is the only artist who has had the honors of giving a concert performance in India’s pride Taj Mahal and our Bollywood sex kitten Mallika Sherawat had the pleasure of meeting this talented music group while she was at the Ivy restaurant in Los Angeles with producers of her first American-Indo film “Hisss”. The actress had been there after being invited as a VIP guest to the Kuala Lumpur film festival to present some of the awards.

There she met the legendary multiple Oscar and Grammy winning music producer Ric Wake and world famous New Age composer Yanni. The duo is on a world tour now and will be performing at LA’s Nokia Theatre on June 23 with their current musical tour de force, “Yanni’s Voices”. Mallika was in talks with them to perform in an upcoming special concert in India. The concert may see Mallika doing a snake goddess dance from “Hisss”.