Celina Jaitley As Brand Ambassadress of Egypt

After being made the brand ambassadress of Egypt from India by the Egypt tourism board, Bollywood actress Celina Jaitley took time out from her hectic schedule to make a trip to Cairo. The dynamic metropolis, which is also the largest city in the Middle East, left her impressed.

One of the stops for Celina and her team was Media Production City on the outskirts of Cairo. It’s what Film City is to Mumbai. “They have state-of-the-art studios with best sets which can be used for shoots. I think they are very suitable for our Indian films. A hotel nearby makes it a good option,” said Celina.

The actress and her team then met the minister of tourism, H.E. Mohamed Zoheir Garana, as well as Egyptian Tourism Authority chairman Amr El Ezaby.

His Excellency, The Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Dr. Mohammed Higazy, said: “We want people to know that Egypt is not just about the Pyramids. We are working strategically on the tourism industry in Egypt.

For its growth, we are offering easy visas, lower ticket rates, various tour packages etc. We hope to double the number of Indian tourists to Egypt by 2009. We are spending half a million US dollars in the next six months to encourage traffic between India and Egypt.”

Celina also met up with a few Egyptian actors, including Dr. Ezzat Abbou-Ouf who is also president of the Cairo International Film Festival. Celina promised them that she would be part of this year’s Cairo International Film Festival, scheduled to be held from November 27 to December 7.

For one, the Egyptian authorities have already found a frequent tourist in Celina. And many more Indians would surely follow.

It’s Saif And Kareena…. Finally

Finally, they have said it. At Manish Malhotra’s fashion show for the Lakme Fashion Week, Saif admitted to his relationship with Kareena saying, “Yes, we are not exactly shouting from the rooftops but yes, clearly we are together. And we are happy together.”

The couple was spotted together in public for the first time.

Reports of a romantic linkup between 27-year-old Kareena and 37-year-old Saif Ali Khan first surfaced while the two were shooting for Yash Raj Films Tashan on locales in Ladakh and Rajasthan.

Then came the news of Kareena celebrating her 27th birthday last month with a small party for select friends including Saif. Saif and Kareena also hit a night club in Delhi on October 5 where when a photographer clicked Saif and Kareena hugging they bullied him and deleted the photograph.

Saif had been single for months now, since his break-up with girlfriend Roza. The actor has, since, been linked to Bipasha Basu and Dia Mirza.

As their romance intensified, Kareena unceremoniously dumped former beau Shahid Kapoor August end while he was shooting for Aziz Mirza’s Lucky Charm in Toronto, Canada.

However, Shahid Kapoor who had been stoically maintaining silence for sometime also quipped on the sets of the Sony show Jhalak Dikhla Ja in the course of an interview, “For all ye girls out there, I am single and ready to mingle!”

Priyanka Chopra Proposes Harman For Marriage

They may be a low-profile couple, but nevertheless, Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja have never tried to hide their relationship.

While Priyanka is steadily climbing the popularity charts in Bollywood, Harman is being touted as one of the most promising debutants this year. And at such a stage of their careers, it came as a surprise to Harman when Priyanka recently popped the question.

Sources say the couple was in the company of friends when Priyanka suddenly proposed marriage to her boyfriend. However, Harman is not really prepared to tie the knot right now. He wants to stabilize as an actor before taking the plunge.

But whatever be their decision for now, there is no doubt that the pair is quite a cute one. They often drop in on each other’s film sets and chat over the phone during breaks in the shoot.

When Priyanka sustained minor injuries while doing action scenes for film “Drona”, Harman reportedly rushed to the sets. So hope this jodi enters wedlock soon.

Tulip Joshi’s Craze For Diet Coke

The sets of Shree Ashtavinayak’s new untitled film, directed by Rohit Jugraj and starring Tulip Joshi, Kunal Khemmu and Aushima Saawhney in the lead saw quite an unusual happening late at night every day!!

Pretty actress Tulip Joshi it seems is quite addicted to diet cokes and such was her intense desire to guzzle them post midnight that she used to even finish off Kunal and Aushima’s share too! The three of them used to have a blast sitting together and watching Tulip imbibe diet coke pe diet coke from the other two’s ice boxes as well!

Says a laughing Tulip, “Yeah at that time I used to have this intense craving for diet cokes and I used to raid Kunal and Aushima’s ice boxes in front of them at late night! They used to laugh but thankfully now I have lost that obsession!”

Adds Kunal Khemmu, the major provider of diet cokes! “Yeah we used to hang around all three of us after the shoot, sipping diet coke and red bull and my ice box was full of them, so tulip used to finish off my stock once hers was over!

It was quite a lot of dhamaal and we got to see quite a quirky side of Tulips!!”

Well, now we know where Tulip gets all that energy from… Or probably had she be continuing with her obsession, she might have moved onto the next face for Coke’s advertisements. Who knows!!!!

Vidya Balan Won’t Just Kiss Any Actor

Vidya’s new shoulder length hairdo has made her look breathtakingly glamorous. She seems to have suddenly stepped out of the Parineeta era into the contemporary world. But it’s just her new makeover that is western, not the pretty lady herself.

So if you read a recent report that she is ready to kiss on screen and were disappointed as a fan of hers or elated as a future co-star of hers, carefully listen to what she has to say.

“Someone misquoted me as saying that I will kiss any actor on screen. I never ever said such a thing!” she told.

But she defends her lip lock in Guru saying, “Here was a girl who was dying and here was a man who was breathing life into her…It was nothing less than a Osho moment!”

Om Shanti Om: Preview

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, and Malaika Arora Khan

Director: Farah Khan

 

This film focuses on Om (Shah Rukh Khan) who grows up in the seventies. This is the time when he meets Shanti (Dipika Padukone ), the love of his life but shortly thereafter suffers an untimely demise.

Om is immediately reincarnated and the story flash forwards to the present day.

Haunted by memories of his past life and his true love, Om attempts to solve the mystery of his death, and also reunite with Shanti, the love of his past life.

 

Om Shanti Om is said to be inspired by the Hollywood movie, Chances Are, where a man is reincarnated and instantaneously attempts to find the wife from his previous life.

Om Shanti Om has over 30 well known Bollywood stars including Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Kajol, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan putting in a guest appearance for a special song and dance sequence in the film, a concept recently used by Farah’s brother, Sajid Khan in the opening number of his film, Heyy Babyy.

Farah Khan’s husband, Shirish Kunder (director of Jaan E Mann) is in charge of Om Shanti om’s editing. He was previously involved in the same department for Farah’s debut movie, Main Hoon Na.

Om Shanti Om features Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role and introduces Deepika Padukone as his love interest.

The supporting cast includes Arjun Rampal (recently seen in the film Don) and Shreyas Talpade.

“Outrageous” Sherlyn Chopra Influenced By J.Lo

After failing to woo the audiences with her skin show in “Red Swastik”, Sherlyn Chopra is all set to give it another try with her new album “Outrageous”.

It remains to be seen whether her hopes of boosting her image with the album will stand the test of time. As of now, Sherlyn is raring to go a step ahead of Bollywood bombshell Mallika Sherawat.

When asked about Outrageous, she said that it is a compilation of my closely-held thoughts and emotions which I had penned down when I was 16 years old. Those days, I used to scribble down on a loose sheet just about anything that used to come to my mind.
Later, I put all these loose sheets in a file. A year ago, when my career was on a downslope, I decided to take from some of these thoughts.
Gradually, some of these thoughts and emotions of mine turned into lyrics and got woven into five-six songs. I wanted to make a video of these songs and then release it, but I was not getting a suitable director. Then, during a chat show I met Prahalad Kakkar.
I told him about my video and he was impressed by my work. At first, he was just not ready to believe that an Indian girl could possibly have such a mindset. By the way, I am quite influenced by Jennifer Lopez.

Well hard luck for Red Swastik, Sherlyn. Good luck for Outrageous!!!!!

Ranbir Kapoor Feels Honored To Have Debuted In Saawariya

Memories were stirred and nostalgia ran high when first Bollywood family got together to herald the entry of fourth generation heir Ranbir Kapoor to the celluloid world legacy.

Ranbir is making his cinematic debut in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya, which is being touted as one of the most eagerly, awaited films of 2007.

Ranbir said he was honored to have debuted in Saawariya.

“The honor and respect is awesome. I promise you that I will strive to work harder so that you can always say I was worthy of this debut,” he said.

Speaking about his son’s debut, Rishi Kapoor said, “I am very happy that I am associated with a family that has stayed connected to the Indian film industry for the past 80 years.

I am very grateful to the fans for their sustained support and would like to introduce the newest member of the family. It is my son Ranbir. I hope he makes a mark with his debut appearance on the silver screen.”

“I am very happy and proud that another member of our family is making his mark in the film industry. I pray to God and also appeal to the audience that they accept him and give him their love and support. I hope he carves a niche through hard work and dedication,” said his uncle, Rajeev Kapoor.

Said to be inspired from Dostoevsky’s short story ‘White Nights’, Saawariya is an intense tale of two young star-crossed lovers from different religions.

Bhansali has raised expectations by saying that the film has a special allure.

It was in 1931, that Kapoor family patriarch, Prithviraj Kapoor donned the grease paint for a supporting role in the first talkie Alam Ara, and then moved on to perform in some of the most memorable films of his times.

A pioneer of Indian theatre, he also founded Prithvi Theatres which is active even today.

After Prithviraj Kapoor, his three sons, Raj, Shammi and Shashi Kapoor went onto create waves in Indian cinema with Raj Kapoor established himself as a legendary actor, producer, director in Bollywood. He is still remembered for providing the film industry with some of the most entertaining blockbusters.

Raj Kapoor’s legacy was carried forward by his three sons Randhir, Rajeev and Rishi Kapoor, with Rishi Kapoor becoming a rage amongst cine buffs. He continues to entertain audiences with his superb performances.

Saawariya will be an acid test for newcomer Ranbir, who will be compared with his illustrious Bollywood lineage.

Manish Malhotra Apologized To Vidya Balan

Lately, Vidya Balan has earned a reputation for getting into controversies over refusal of roles or disagreeing with costume designers.

She had a huge problem with Aki Narula’s clothes while shooting for Ramesh Taurani’s film in Canada.

Says Vidya, “Such things happen. It’s not a big deal. I don’t know why the media went ballistic about it. Aki left the clothes and came away to India. I didn’t like some of the clothes because I felt that they didn’t go with the character. So, I went to shop on my own. That was fun.”

In Sajid Khan’s Heyy Babyy too Vidya received a lot of flak for her styling skills.

But this time her designer Manish Malhotra took the entire responsibility and even sent a message apologising for going wrong with her look in the film.

However Vidya holds no grudges. “The onus isn’t his alone. He sent me a very sweet message saying, ‘I’m sorry I messed up. I hope we get another opportunity.’ He needn’t have apologized. He got a lot of flak for my look. So did I. I accept the criticism as much as I accept all the praise that comes my way”

Vidya is sure she can break free of the sari mould to look Western. Her new shoulder length hairdo makes her look breathtakingly glamorous. She seems to have suddenly stepped out of the Parineeta era into the contemporary world.

She has also shed a lot of weight in the recent past as well.

“I think I had allowed things to drift. I should have looked after myself more. But it’s fine now. I am gyming a lot now and keeping as fit as a fiddle,” she tells with a broad smile.