Koena Mitra As An International SuperWoman

Item girl Koena Mitra is all set to star as a superwoman in an international production, tentatively titled “Karna”, scheduled for release in 2008.

Budgeted at Rs 70 crores, the film will also have a Hollywood actor opposite Koena. Since her role requires knowledge of martial arts and a high level of fitness, the Bong bombshell has been training in Tai chi and undergoing other routines under Chin Lee, who trained Uma Thurman for “Kill Bill”.

Co-produced by PNC and a Los Angeles-based production house, “Karna” will be shot in China and Hong Kong. Hong Kong-based special effects company GLIM, which has earlier worked on projects like “Face-off” and “Matrix” has also been roped in for the graphics in the film.

Koena is under a non-disclosure contract, but sources say that she was selected for the film because of the deadly combination of her “Indian face and international body”. -Parull Gossain

Bikini Babe Sherlyn Chopra Is Getting Popular

Despite her rash and rude attitude, things are surely looking up for Sherlyn Chopra. She has just fired her publicist, so one would think that she won’t make much news till she gets another one.

Instead, her stunning pictures in bikinis are registering the maximum downloads, having surpassed Aishwarya and Kareena.

Bollywood ace photographer Rakesh Shrestha feels that her photographs deserve space in some international magazine. The actress’s images also have the highest mobile downloads for a leading mobile service provider.

For Sherlyn, sexuality is “an effortless expression”, and not a forced one. So, photo shoots make no sense to her if she is not in bikinis.

The actress is so taken up with bikinis that she now plans to invest in her own line of the two-pieces. Apparently, the “pathetic high-waist” ones available in India turn her off completely.

Buddha Mar Gaya Is Just A Sex Comedy

The verdict on Rahul Rawail’s black comedy Buddha Mar Gaya released this week is rather discouraging.

“I’m not making any apologies about the raunchy mood of the film, ” Rahul says a day after the film’s release. “It was meant to be a sex comedy, and it is exactly that.

Why are we so squeamish about sexual innuendoes in our films when we have no objection to sex jokes in the American Pie movies? I enjoy watching American Pie and wanted to do something similar in Hindi. And that’s exactly what I’ve done.”

A lot of people are offended by the risqué and ribald quality of the gags, including a bi-sexual godman (played by Om Puri) who has sex with a dead tycoon’s sister and his son.

Rahul ripostes quickly, “Let me tell you, every character in Buddha Mar Gaya is based on real people. Don’t let me open my mouth about who’s who and what goes in these super-rich families.

I wanted to do a savage satire on the hypocrisies of the affluent. And I think I’ve done that. If people are offended by the blunt quality of the humour, let me remind them that this is an adult sex -comedy passed by the censors with an ‘A’ certificate.

I’m quite satisfied with what I set out to do, and with my cast. By all means critics are free to dislike the film. But when some reviewers have criticized my actors I totally disagree with them.

My actors have gone completely with the requirements of the script.”

Buddha Mar Gaya is now behind Rahul. He’s now planning two hardhitting films which would take him back to the gritty action-genre of Arjun and Dacait.

“The first script will be a an indigenous rendering of Sidnely Lumet’s 12 Angry Men about a jury trying five encounter cops. The second film will be set in the Gujarat riots. I want to show that communal riots are planned events, like any wedding or funeral. I’m in the process of scripting these two films.”

So Rahul Rawail will be back in form?

“Like I said Buddha Mar Gaya is as much part of my creativity as the films of mine that you like, ” says Rahul.

Sex Workers Distracts Tusshar Kapoor

He was almost written off as a non-starter star son when Tusshar Kapoor bounced back with “Shootout at Lokhandwala”, proving that he is, after all, a chip of the old block. Now the actor is on the lookout for diverse roles that would cater to different sections of the audience.

His character in the forthcoming “Aggar”, directed by Anant Mahadevan, is also different. Tusshar plays a troubled man with shades of grey in the Shyam Bajaj production.

While shooting for the film in Bangkok, Tusshar had a harrowing experience. He was filming a sad song at Pattaya, an area known for its sex workers, when he noticed that a number of girls (mostly sex workers) began calling out his name loudly.

To top it all, some of the girls were only half dressed and were trying to catch Tusshar’s attention.

Tusshar says he found it difficult to shoot the song in such surroundings. His job got particularly tough because he had to look sad and sombre for the song.

The actor says the distraction by sex workers got to such a level that at one point he even considered canceling the shoot for the day. However, he managed to get his focus back and complete the shooting.

Besides this, Tusshar had other interesting and testing experiences while shooting the film in Thailand.

Aishwarya Rai Is Not Pregnant

Refuting the reports about Aishwarya Rai’s pregnancy, Abhishek Bachchan has made clear it amply clear that his wife is too busy to start a family.

In fact, she is going to be very busy shooting for the next two years. Just after completing the shooting of Sarkar Raj, the actress will fly to Europe for her third Hollywood venture which is a sequel to Hollywood blockbuster Pink Panther.

It is also reported that the actress will be playing the female lead opposite Steve Martin. Actors Andy Garcia, John Cleese and Alfred Molina have also joined the crew of Columbia Pictures/MGM’s ‘The Pink Panther 2’.

Ash will star as a detective along with ‘Spiderman 2’ villain Molina and Garcia, who join forces with bumbling French police detective Jacques Clouseau, to be played by Martin, to catch the thief who has been stealing artifacts around the world.

Cleese will play Clouseau’s superior chief inspector Charles Dreyfus in the movie, according to reports.

Agent Cody Banks director Harald Zwart will be directing the film, which was penned by Scott Neustadter, Mike Weber, Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel and Steve Martin.

The film will be produced by Robert Simonds and Ira Shuman will be executive producer.

It is also learnt that Ash will start shooting for a film with Abhishek Bachchan to be directed by Tarun Mansukhani for Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions early next year.

With a such packed shooting schedule ahead Ash might just be glowing with work only.

Preity Zinta Getting Married?

The latest gossip doing the rounds is that Bollywood actress Preity Zinta is set to tie the knot with Ness Wadia, the great grandson of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.

The award winning Indian actress started dating Ness, son of Bombay Dyeing owners Nusli and Maureen Wadia, in February 2005, reports the Daily Times.

The couple’s relationship went through a bad patch earlier this year after singer Suchitra Krishnamurthy blamed Preity for her divorce with Shekhar Kapur.

Krishnamurthy alleged that the actress was having an affair with her director husband.

The news of the wedding has come after several reports of cold vibes between Zinta and Wadia’s mother Maureen had been circulated by the media.

Aishwarya Rai: No Hot Stuff!

Aishwarya Rai has turned down Karan’s Johar’s next film, saying she would feel uncomfortable doing the role she was offered, in which she is cast opposite not one but two guys -hubby Abhishek and John Abraham.

Her decision may be considered the aftermath of Dhoom 2 , in which her sexy, skimpy outfits and liplock with co-star Hrithik Roshan reportedly caused heartburn in the Bachchan household.

Being a married woman now, Ash is not game for such roles anymore.

Unwilling to play the role in Karan’s production, Ash reportedly had a very frank talk with Johar and explained her point of view to him.

There has been a cast reshuffle in Karan Johar ’s next production that will be directed by his assistant Tarun Mansukhani. The yet untitled movie was initially slated to star Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan in lead roles. Ash had apparently said yes to the film after hearing the screenplay at first.

But she changed her mind after the script and her role in it was narrated to her in detail.

Karan says he respects Ash’s decision. So now Priyanka Chopra has been roped in to fill Ash’s place in the film. Priyanka has previously worked with Abhishek in Bluffmaster and she is also doing Drona with him.

As for Ash, she has no dearth of films with her hubby.

Rani Mukherjee Spent 3 Crores On Her Living Room

 

Now who would even think of spending crores on interior décor but the queen of Bollywood herself.

Rani Mukerji is so particular about getting the ambience in her year-old bungalow right that she has roped in Hrithik Roshan’s wife Suzanne for the job.

Sources reveal that the actress has already blown up Rs 3 crores on just the designing of her living room. Apparently, Rani was not satisfied with the interior decor of the drawing room left behind by the bungalow’s previous owner.

That’s when a close friend referred Suzanne’s name to her. Suzanne has a professional interior designing degree from the United States. Her designs impressed Rani so much that she told the designer not to worry about the expenditure.

Besides décor, Rani is also keen about investing in property. She recently purchased a flat in Juhu in which she wanted a drawing room with a combined Western-Eastern contemporary feel.

Extremely happy with the results in her bungalow, Rani has now handed over the interiors of her “Janki Kutir” flat to Suzanne again.

Durga Of Aag Is More Like Me: Sushmita Sen

Bollywood actor Sushmita Sen says she found shades of herself in a new character she plays in an updated version of the Bollywood classic “Sholay”.

Sen says her character, Durga Devi, is a more vocal, modern woman than Radha, the character veteran actress Jaya Bachchan made famous in the 1975 original.

“Durga is today’s woman. She is a doctor, not as silent as Radha, ” Sen told in an interview.

“A lot of her is like me, ” said Sen. “I believe in inner strength and being positive and I don’t regress to the past. ”

In the remake being directed by well-known filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, Amitabh Bachchan plays Babban, a modern-day version of the bandit boss. The new movie centers on Babban’s clash with the police.

Sen, a model-turned-actress, was crowned Miss Universe in 1994 and has since acted in 30 Hindi language movies.

Sen played a rock star in her last film, “Zindagi Rocks” and a prostitute in an earlier movie “Chingari, ” in Hindi, and says she enjoys playing a variety of characters.

“When I choose a character, I want to do things that I haven’t done as Sushmita,” Sen said in the interview.