Celebrity World

Abhishek Bachchan’s film, ‘Crooked’ was supposed to star his wife, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. But she was out of the film before Abhishek started shooting for it on January 14 due to date issues. However, he isn’t upset at all.

According to sources, Abhishek and Ash wanted to work together again but not as a pair. They weren’t playing a couple in ‘Crooked’; on the contrary, Ash was to play his enemy. His romantic interest in the film is former Miss India and VJ Sarah Jane Dias.

The film, directed by Abhinay Deo, stars Sarah Jane alongside Shahana Goswami, Gul Panag and Pakistani actress Sonya Jehan, who has replaced Ash.

Ash’s role, which was that of a cop trailing global criminals, has gone to Sonya. Sonya debuted with Akbar Khan’s ‘Taj Mahal’, where she played Mumtaz Mahal and then did Sudhir Mishra’s ‘Khoya Khoya Chand’ where she played the role of a 1950s actress, which was based on her grandmother Noor Jehan.

Sonya was chosen for her fair skin and light eyes. Producer Ritesh Sidhwani has confirmed her part in the film. However, he won’t reveal her role. He also wants to change the title as ‘Crooked’ is only their work title and he doesn’t want it to stick.

After playing a prince early in his career in portions of 1992 film ‘Suryavanshi’, macho star Salman Khan is returning to period drama in his latest venture ‘Veer’ that releases Friday.

Interestingly, the epic has been written by Salman 20 years ago and is an Eros International Media Ltd presentation and Vijay Galani Moviez production.

‘I had written the story 20 years ago, but at that time it wasn’t possible to make the film. I thought now is the right time to make it, so I did… I showed the story to my father (noted writer Salim Khan) and the biggest fear was what is he going to say. But he said it’s a good story,’ Salman had told IANS.

Made at a budget of around Rs.44 crore, (Rs.440 million) ‘Veer’ has been directed by Anil Sharma and marks the big screen debut of Zarine Khan, who is said to have a close resemblance to Salman’s actress girlfriend Katrina Kaif.

‘It’s a love story set in the backdrop of a war for independence. I play a Rajasthani princess,’ said Zarine.

Shot extensively in Rajasthan, it is a story of bravery, treachery and love.

Set in colonial India, the film encapsulates a period when the British enslaved India with their divide and rule policy and kings and nawabs fell for it, except for the Pindaris who preferred death to dishonour and fought till their last breath. Salman plays one of the bravest and strongest Pindari soldiers named Veer.

As Veer takes on the might of the British Empire, he also has to fight the conniving King of Madavgarh as well as his own jealous tribesmen. The stakes are high as he has to avenge his father’s dishonour as well as get over the hurdles in love as he romances princess Yashodhara, the daughter of his sworn enemy.

Also shot in Britain, it is also the first Bollywood film to be shot in the premises of Buckingham Palace.

Despite having the facility of special effects, the film also boasts of using thousands of real horses and other animals for authenticity.

What is to be seen is whether ‘Veer’ relives Salman’s last year’s magic at the box office thanks to massive hit ‘Wanted’, which marked his return to action.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who had visited Marxist patriarch Jyoti Basu in a Kolkata hospital a day before his death, Monday said ‘a huge pillar’ in the political firmament has fallen.

‘Jyoti Basu has just passed away!… Deeply grieved and send our prayers and condolences. A huge pillar in the Indian political firmament has fallen. The nation is in grief,’ Amitabh posted on his blog http://bigb.bigadda.com early Monday morning.

Big B, as he is fondly called, spent half-an-hour at the hospital and also spoke to doctors about Basu’s condition during his visit there Saturday, a day before Basu’s death.

Basu, a former West Bengal chief minister, died at 95 in AMRI Hospital in Kolkata Sunday.

Katrina Kaif, who gave numerous hits, last year, has just one film for 2010. And the fact that her competitors Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor have many films lined up for release is giving her sleepless nights.

According to sources, while Katrina has mostly done romantic comedies in the past, she will be entering a new territory this year with Prakash Jha’s ‘Rajneeti’. She now wants to do more films that are issue-based, like the ones that Madhur Bhandarkar makes. She has expressed her desire to even work with Bhandarkar, as the lead actresses in his films always win awards.

While rumours of Katrina starring in ‘Dostana’’s sequel, Imtiaz Ali’s next film opposite Ranbir Kapoor and Farah Khan’s ‘Tees Maar Khan’ are doing the rounds, sources indicate that Katrina doesn’t have anything on her hand other than ‘Rajneeti’ and Abbas Mustan’s remake of ‘The Italian Job’.

However, Katrina rubbished this piece of news stating that she is very busy with her films. She also denies having contacted Madhur Bhandarkar.

Katrina Kaif is as diplomatic and politically correct as an actress could get is common knowledge. However, her disdain towards Kareena Kapoor became known to people at the recently held Star Screen Awards.

The organizers of the show asked Kareena to present an award to Katrina. The Kapoor girl however refused to do so citing the reason that Katrina had also refused to give her an award. So there was a major ego clash at the award show. Bebo is known to not have grudges against stars unless she has been enticed to do so. So is Katrina the one at fault for having shown her dislike for Bebo so publicly? We really can’t say much…

Hollywood couple Renee Zellweger and Bradley Cooper have moved in together after paying almost $5 million for a three-bedroom home in Pacific Palisades here.

The couple have been dating since last year and started house hunting just a few months after they started seeing each other, reported hollywood.com.

Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green first got together and engaged in 2006. But they had a break-up in June 09, as Fox admitted.

However, just three months after their relationship ended, they were spotted kissing during a holiday in Canada. And now, the Beverly Hills 90210 actor posted a message to his fans on Twitter, about his plans to marry Fox. A user asked him about his marital status, Green wrote that he was engaged and had a son from his previous relationship.

Recently, Imran Khan’s engagement with his longtime girlfriend Avantika Malik saw an unexpected guest. Reena Dutta, Aamir Khan’s ex-wife came down to the engagement which was held at the Malik farmhouse in Karjat to bless the couple.

The event saw Aamir Khan at the forefront with his wife, Kiran Rao. Karan Johar was also present. Imran looked thinner than ever before, making everyone feel he needs to start eating.

The actor won the award for ‘Crazy Heart’, written and directed by Scott Cooper. The movie is based on the 1987 novel ‘Crazy Heart’ by Thomas Cobb.

Others nominated in the category were George Clooney for ‘Up In The Air’, Colin Firth for ‘A Single Man’, Morgan Freeman for ‘Invictus’ and Tobey Maguire for ‘Brothers’.

Sci-fi epic ‘Avatar’ was the winner of the best motion picture (drama) at the 63rd Golden Globe awards Sunday.

‘Avatar’ beat other nomiees ‘Up in the Air’, ‘The Hurt Locker’, ‘Inglourious Basterds’ and ‘Precious’. Director James Cameron also won the best director award.

‘A very big thank you. Thank you for believing in blue people… I also want to thank the fabulous crew that made this film possible,’ said producer Jon Landau.

The film that has till now grossed over $1.3 billion at the international box office, stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez and Stephen Lang.

The award was given by three time Golden Globe winner actress Julia Roberts.