Kareena's Rani Love is a surprise

Ever since they did Hum Tum and Tara Rum Pum together Rani and Saif have shared a very special platonic friendship.

"Rani is one co-star I can open my heart to. She's a pal. And she truly listens," says Saif.

Rani and Saif had plenty of time to bond even better in the weeks that they spent together in Bangkok shooting for Kunal Kohli's new untitled film where Rani plays a nanny to Saif's character's kids.

Says a source close to both the actors, "Since Rani doesn't have more than one costume change in the film there was plenty of extra time to converse with her co-star. Saif and she were constantly huddled together.

And their topic of conversation? Kareena! Being away from Mumbai Saif was missing his lady-love all the time. He couldn't help talking about Kareena all the time.

And Rani was attentive and sympathetic. She not only gave Saif a sympathetic shoulder she even convinced Saif of what a wonderful girl Kareena is… not that he needed convincing."

Rani's new fondness for Kareena is a surprise, considering their long-standing hostility.

The two leading ladies started off as pals during the shooting of Kunal Kohli's Mujhse Dosti Karogi. But somewhere down the line, like all filmy friendships among female actors, the Rani-Kareena dosti soured.

Hence there was a collective gasp of surprise when in a recent interview Kareena singled Rani out as a good actress.

Says a source, "Kareena has lately softened towards Rani. This change of heart was because of the way Rani heard Saif out on his love."

With so many filmi friendships going phut, here's one renewed bonding between the two Bollywood beauties worth celebrating.

Punish those dirty molesters: Bipasha Basu

Bipasha Basu: "Those dirty hooligans who apparently molested two women on New Year's day should be punished so severely that no pervert would dare to try these dirty ugly acts ever again.

The offenders should be tracked down and disciplined publicly. I've been a single woman in Mumbai and used to be proud of the city.

But cheap and filthy men like the ones who struck on New Year's day are destroying the city's safe reputation.

And why should only cops be responsible for the law and order? Even the man on the road should help in such a situation. Ultimately it's the people who define a city.

Shabana Azmi: "Take Back The Night was a slogan coined by a the women's movement to demand basic security for women. Every rule of civilized society demands that security should be provided for women.

We used to pride ourselves on Mumbai being a safe city. Surety of punishment for the offenders is a more effective deterrent than the severity of punishment."

Vaibhavi Merchant: "Going to any public place on 31 st December is scary specially in Mumbai. This incident only verifies my worst fears about the city.

Only the cops can keep the city safe. It's really sad the such an incident went unnoticed. They should've thrashed the shit out of those drunken louts.

However Mumbai cannot be called unsafe because of some hooligans.This incident should serve as a wakeup-call for 2009.

Sushmita Sen: "It's a repulsive incident. I feel very violated and upset when humanbeings relinquish their human qualities and begin to behave like beasts. It's not a question of Mumbai alone.

It's not a geographical issue. Disgraceful people like these molestors make the world an unsafe place. I pray these offenders are caught and punished severely.My heart goes out to both the couples.

Hema Malini: "I thought Mumbai was the safest city in the world. This incident has shocked me. Those men should be punished right away, and that too in public. And the cops how did they allow it happen?

I feel parents with daughters should be careful on nights like these when men are drunk.

Malaika Arora: "I've always considered Bombay to be a safe place for women. But not any longer. I'm sure most women in the city feel the same way after the shocking barbaric incident.

Mahesh Bhatt: "Mumbai has always been unsafe. My wife was once molested way back in the 1980s and had to fight her way out of a mob. The media is now spotlighting the average Indian's repressed sexuality.

Arbaaz Khan: "Mumbai is surely one of the safest cities in the world. However some recent incidents are alarming and cause for worry."

Raveena Tandon: "I wouldn't say Mumbai is completely unsafe. But it's getting there. The authorities should punish the offenders so severely that it sets an example for future. No one should dare to do what happened with those two women on New Year's.

Koena Mitra: "Why only Mumbai city? No city is swafe any more for women. I feel for the two women who were manhandled on New Year's even. Poor things! My soul trembles at what they must have gone through.

Nobody is safe anywhere. All us showbiz girls like Bipasha, Tanushree and Celina are out of towners. No matter how much security we have we're still not safe.

We really need much harsher punishments for eveteasers. Punish them so hard, cut off their limbs, so they wouldn't dare to misbehave with women again."

Amrita Arora: "I think New Years nite is pretty unsafe. People are drunk and behave in a weird manner. There must be much more cops and security in crowded places during such occasions."

Priyanka (Nisha) Kothari: "That such a thing can happen in Mumbai is really shocking.. One always thought the city was absolutely safe for girls. But I don't feel the same way any more."

Vidya clears air about Shahid

As Vidya Balan turned a year older on New Year's day she brought in her birthday the way she liked best… in the company of her family.

She was In Delhi visiting her sister. Her parents joined the sisters. And Vidya had herself what she considers a perfect birthday.

"I've great faith in myself. I'm happy to get what I do.Of course there're tough times. But God has brought me to them he'll take me through them. That's what keeps me going. Last year there were lessons to be learnt.

Professionally I've learnt to say no to projects I don't want to do. I'm no longer apologetic about voicing my opinion.I guess I've become more confident and therefore assertive. At times I didn't know how to say no to a filmmaker.

I'd wonder how they'd react to me rejecting their creativity. Now that painful process has become less difficult. If I say no to a project I don't see that as a rejection of an inividual's creativity. I just see the project as as being non-relatable with me."

In 2008 Vidya is looking at something different to do. "At the same time I want to have fun. My two releases in the first-half this year Halla Bol and Lucky Charm are very different from one another. For this year I've only signed a Bengali film so far.I like where I am."

She laughs her musical laughter when her Lucky Charm hero Shahid is mentioned. "I've been linked with practically every co-star I've worked with.

I get along famously with all of them. And I am single. So people are looking for masala to make my life and theirs, more interesting," she laughs heartily.

"Spice apart, I got along very well with Shahid during our schedule in Toronto. People just wanted to say there was more to our dosti than meet the eye. Honestly even I like to gossip. Most of us enjoy it.

Someone must have reported that we laughed a lot together on the set. It's like saying, 'If an actress gives a really good performance she must be having an affair with the director.'

Likewise if Shahid and I were having so much fun we must be a couple."

So what is Vidya's rapport with Shahid? "The way Aziz Uncle (director Aziz Mirza)'s team worked was very very friendly. Everyone in the unit went for dinner together.

All of us went for walks together. I guess the two of us were high-profile. So….But Shahid never shared confidences with me."

What about Vidya playing hostess to Shahid's screenings of Jab We Met?

Vidya groans loudly. "Oh God! I went to one screening of Jab We Met. Over there I met my Heyy Babyy writer Milap Jhaveri and had chai nashta with him.

The next day when reports of Shahid and me came out Milap wondered how this could be true when I wasn't anywhere near Shahid throughout the evening."

Deepika is demanding 1 crore

Having got her big break opposite Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Om Shanti Om’, Deepika Padukone will now be seen with Sharman Joshi in Rakesh Roshan’s unititled next celluloid venture.

Incidentally, the success of ‘Om Shanti Om’ has sky-rocketed Deepika’s demand among the Bollywood crop of directors and now we learn that the lass is demanding a whopping Rs one crore fee for each film that she is signing!

If both the news makes you raise your eye-brows, we have more for you. We are told that when Rakesh Roshan decided to take up the new venture, he had thought of casting a more popular face as the film’s hero.

However, as it is basically a heroine-oriented film, no actor worth his name or value was willing to oblige the senior Roshan. Hence, he had to settle on Sharman Joshi.

Meanwhile, industry sources say that despite being a heroine-oriented film, the venture may prove to be detrimental for Deepika at this nascent stage of her career.

They argue that heroine-oriented films are neither given much importance by the Bollywood crowd, nor are they great crowd pullers at the box office.

Interestingly, these days even the women in the audience are not too fond of heroine-oriented films.

Now what remains to be seen is how the new celluloid pair fares at the box office.

The audience as well as those in the industry not only has great expectations from Rakesh Roshan, whose all previous films have been super-duper hits, but also on Deepika.

We earnestly hope and pray that this film also proves to be a boon for Deepika, for Bollywood has the unique reputation of elevating a non-entity on Cloud 9 in one movie and then tumbling them to obscurity in another.

We sincerely hope that this does not happen to Deepika.

Salman gets permission to fly to London

This New Year has really brought some real good news for Salman Khan. The good news is that he has now been given the permission by the Jodhpur High Court to travel to London for the unveiling of his wax statue at Madam Tussauds Wax Museum. He will be travelling to London for the same on January 14.

Speaking to IndiaFM, Bobby Khan, in-charge of the Bollywood gallery at the museum, confirmed the news and said, “Salmanbhai will unveil the statue the same day and return back to India, the very next day (evening of January 15).

With this, Salman becomes the latest Bollywood star to join the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai at Madame Tussauds. Way to go Salmanbhai!

Rani-Saif's special bonding over Kareena in Bangkok

Ever since they did Hum Tum and Tara Rum Pum together, Rani and Saif have shared a very special platonic friendship. "Rani is one co-star I can open my heart to. She's a pal. And she truly listens," says Saif. Rani and Saif had plenty of time to bond even better in the weeks that they spent together in Bangkok shooting for Kunal Kohli's new untitled film where Rani plays a nanny to Saif's character's kids.

Says a source close to both the actors, "Since Rani doesn't have more than one costume change in the film there was plenty of extra time to converse with her co-star. Saif and she were constantly huddled together. And their topic of conversation? Kareena! Being away from Mumbai Saif was missing his ‘ladylove’ all the time. He couldn't help talking about Kareena all the time. Moreover, Rani was attentive and sympathetic. She not only gave Saif a sympathetic shoulder, she even convinced Saif of what a wonderful girl Kareena is… not that he needed convincing."

Rani's new fondness for Kareena is a surprise, considering their long-standing hostility. The two leading ladies started off as pals during the shooting of Kunal Kohli's Mujhse Dosti Karoge. But somewhere down the line, like all filmy friendships among female actors, the Rani-Kareena dosti soured. Hence, there was a collective gasp of surprise when in a recent interview Kareena singled Rani out as a good actress. Says a source, "Kareena has lately softened towards Rani. This change of heart was because of the way Rani heard Saif out on his love.” With so many filmy friendships going kaput, here is one renewed bonding between the two Bollywood beauties worth a mention.

Gossip: Manisha's item number for 15 lacks!

The last time this girl was down south, she delivered hits like Bombay, Criminal and Indian, but Manisha Koirala now seems to be far from hot property. This Nepali beauty is now doing an item number in a Telugu film for just Rs 15 lakhs.

The actress will be seen in a song in forthcoming Telugu film Nagaram, which will have Jagapathi Babu, Srikanth and debutant model Kaveri Jha.

“Manisha is going to be paid 15 lakh and she accepted the offer without much hesitation. She was, in fact, the first choice for the song,” says a source from Hyderabad.

While Manisha doing an item number might not be a bad idea, the fact is people from the north have always charged astronomical amounts when they come down south.

When Rakhi Sawant came down to sing Nanna Style Bere Ne in Geleya, she was paid over Rs 30 lakh. Mallika Sherawat got paid the highest amount at that time for an item number in India, which was Rs 50 lakh. Mumait Khan, the Dekh Le girl from Munnabhai MBBS, has done a lot of numbers down south, and recently even did a raunchy shoot for the scribes in Hyderabad.

The trend of getting big names from up north to do item numbers for southern films can be attributed to Manirathnam. If you can recall, we had Sonu Walia dancing with Rajnikanth in Rakamma Kaiyye Thattu in Dalapathi. Anu Agarwal and Sonali Bendre were then seen in films like Thiruda Thiruda and Bombay.

Coming back to the main subject of concern, Manisha Koirala seriously seems to be having a rotten deal, when all her contemporaries like Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Kajol are busy doing plum projects and planning their second innings in Bollywood. Let’s hope she finds her groove down south, at least!

Photo Feature: This Is Not Indira Gandhi-Then Who?

This is not Indira Gandhi- but bearing some similarities. This is the renowned Bollywood actress of 90s and is now being seen in a few commercial Ads. She is Juhi Chawla, the heart throb of a section of audience. This photograph was taken when she was in High School.