John-Bipasha patch up?

We don't know whether they are on or off.

John Abraham and Bipasha Basu seemed to be on a break earlier, as Bips seemed to prefer Saif Ali Khan, and even Christiano Ronaldo over John.

For the moment, the two were spotted together -- quite happily -- at a Gucci function.

I'm getting greedy by the day: Bips

Saturday was the last day of shooting for Abbas-Mustan's Race. "It has shaped up so well in spite of the delay. I'm looking forward to its release. It's my first comedy. As time passes I'm getting greedier by the day. So yes, I'm looking at scripts abroad."

Bipasha Basu is currently looking at several international scripts. "Within a month I'll be signing my first international film. Time? I'll make time for it if it's worth my while. English is a language I'm very comfortable with."

Bipasha does have an international personality. "And the one thing that I'm very strongly going to oppose is any effort to slot me as an Indian with a sing-song voice, in any international project.

If I was willing to play the stereotypical Indian I'd be doing Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Ltd and so many other projects that have come my way. But I want to play mainstream normal characters in West, not ethnic Asian people."

In fact John Abraham plays a non-Indian in Deepa Mehta's Luna.

"Yes, " concedes. "To have a global diction certainly helps. Any filmmaker that I've met abroad has liked my voice. The way I speak is what they liked the best about me. Everything is in-sync sound out there. So a correct voice and diction is a major battle won."

Elaborating further Bipasha adds, "There're so many really beautiful actresses from Korea and China who have failed to make the grade abroad because of their thick accents. I don't want to unlearn my language. Whatever parts come my way abroad don't need me to change my voice or personality in any way."

Bipasha to play Ben Kingsley's daughter

In all probability Bipasha Basu’s first international project will be a Moghul historical featuring Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Rai. And she's playing Shah Jahan’s (Ben Kingsley) devoted daughter Jahanara Beghum.

"Yes, there's another role in the film," Bipsha reveals softly. "And Ben Kingsley has asked me to do it. We've already spoken about it. And now we just need to work out the dates."

While Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya will play Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal respectively, Bipasha says, "There's a very special character which Ben has asked me to play."

The idea of Bipasha being part of Sir Ben's production on the building of the Taj Mahal germinated when they met at the 7Wonders event in Lisbon. "We hit it off like a house on fire. Ben's so much fun. And when he offered me this role I was fascinated."

Back home, on the work front Bipasha has just completed Abbas-Mustan's Race with Saif Ali Khan and is looking forward to Goal with John. "Race has shaped up so well in spite of the delay. I’m looking forward to its release. It's my first comedy. As time passes I’m getting greedier by the day. I now want to do something exotic, like the project with Ben Kingsley. I really want Rituparno Ghosh to start Draupadi with me. I know I can play Draupadi convincingly."

Cinema Buzz : John trying his best to woo Bipasha again!

The John Abraham and Bipasha Basu saga continues. The latest news about the on-and-off couple is that John is trying his best to woo Bipasha again. As a result, the two are now bonding over frequent lunches. Bipasha’s Khar pad has been conveniently fixed as the venue, as the actress has an efficient bunch of house staff. Her neighbours say that John’s car is often parked outside their apartment in the afternoon.

Close friends of the couple also indicate that John is making attempts to renew his ties with his girlfriend, and he is making sure that he spends quality time with Bips every day.

On the other hand, Saif Ali Khan is said to be partying with Bips almost every night! Kya believe karen?

Bips torn between Saif and John!

John Abraham is trying hard to woo Bipasha Basu again and the two can be seen bonding over frequent lunches. Close friends of the couple also indicate that John is making attempts to renew his ties with his girlfriend, and he is making sure that he spends quality time with Bips every day.

And his efforts are showing some fruit as well. Perhaps that's why Bipasha shot for her item number in John starrer 'No Smoking' despite her sprained ankle.

Because the pain was intense the movie’s producer Kumar Mangat asked her to rest for few hours. But after two hours the sexy lady was ready to shoot again.

Despite John asking her to go home, Bipasha took the painkillers and shot for the remaining day. The actress knew very well that if she had gone home it would have caused financial loss to the producer.

But single-and-ready-to-mingle Saif Ali Khan is still not out of the picture completely. Rumour has it that he visited dusky beauty when she was shooting for the shampoo commercial that both she and John have endorsed together as a couple in the past.

However this time Bips was shooting the commercial without John and instead with model Hemant Shivdasani.

A source claims “Saif dropped in for a while and hung around with Bips while she was shooting. It was quite surprising to see Saif on the sets. After hanging around for a while Saif left the sets, but again later he joined Bipasha and her friends at a nightspot after the shoot was completed”.

The model who worked with Bips on the shampoo commercial was extremely excited and said “Working with Bipasha was a great experience.” However the model refused to comment on whether Saif had dropped by on the sets.

Bipasha has a baby to pamper

Bipasha Basu is over the moon. Her elder sister Bidisha has just delivered a baby girl. And Bipasha, who's currently shooting an item song at Film City with boyfriend John Abraham couldn't be happier.

"I'm so happy. Because now I have both a nephew and a niece. I can buy the sweetest girlie things for her. And that's so much more fun than shopping for a boy. I was bored of buying Spiderman and power-ranger kits. Now I can buy the bratz and the barbies for my niece. I'm so excited."

Incidentally Bipasha loves to have her nephew around the house. "Though he's quite a handful and keeps me on my toes it's good to keep up with his energy level. And now with a niece in the family I can have both of them to keep me busy when I'm not shooting."

And that won't be too often in the near future.

Bipasha-Ronaldo caught 'Kissing'...

One of Bipasha's dreams came true at Lisbon. "I got to meet my favourite footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. For two months I had been raving to my boyfriend John that I'd meet Cristiano at IIFA. They had promised to make him walk with me. I was crushed when it didn't happen.

Who was to know that I'd party with him just weeks after IIFA?! I was like a fan to begin with. But after we bonded we just became two individuals bonding as buddies over an important international event. We're pals now. If I ever have to see a football game all I've to do is ask Cristiano."

Bipasha became a football fan ever since she met John. "I've been Cristiano's fan for five years…Both John and I. I haven't yet told him the details of my partying with Cristiano. I will as soon as he returns from his outdoors."

Actually the duo hit so well that Ronaldo, who has reportedly been dating former Hollyoaks star Gemma Atkinson for months, was spotted kissing Bips at a VIP party in his home country of Portugal.

An onlooker told the leading tabloid: "Cristiano and Bipasha were all over each other. They were kissing and he was being very tender, cupping her face and staring into her eyes."

When asked about the 'Kiss', Bipasha said: “Yes, it is me in the picture. It was taken at an opportune moment and has been taken out of context. Again, it looks like a case of irresponsible assumptions.”

Bipasha danced and partied with The Man United footballer until her sole was bruised. "I felt like a princess. He paid me so many compliments. He danced with me throughout the night.

There were 50,000 jealous women staring at us. I must've got so much Portuguese bud-dua that night. The local girls wanted to murder me. Now he wants to e-mail me regularly".

During dinner Cristiano told Bipasha he's a big fan of Bollywood. "I thought he was just trying to be sweet. I told him he didn't have to say he liked Bollywood films just to please me. But he called his mother, spoke to her in Portuguese.

She loves Indian films for their emotional content. That wasn't the end of it. Cristiano fished out his cellphone and made me hear Tujhse naraaz nahin from Masoom. He said, 'Now do you believe me?'

Bipasha laughs at the memory hours after landing back in Mumbai. "Though he looks older, Cristiano is very young….just a boy. Now I've told him I'm only his fan on the field. Beyond the field he's my friend.

I've told him I'm his first Indian friend. We discussed John and my football film Goal. I've invited Cristiano to India."

Don't waste your time on me: Bips

By Subhash K Jha

Bipasha Basu isn't enjoying the way her relationship with John Abraham is being linked to her absence in the new shampoo ad for the brand they they endorse.

"People can say what they like. They do that anyway, no matter what explanations we give. John and I are not answerable to anyone."

Regarding the speculation about John doing the shampoo ad with another model, Bipasha sighs, "When we signed the contract for the shampoo we didn't even know we'd be doing any of their ads together."

Bipasha and John signed their contracts separately. "And my association with that brand of shampoo continues. At this point of time John and I are advertising different brands of shampoo. So the question of me being replaced in the new ad doesn't arise. People can continue to speculate as much as they like. It doesn't bother me."

All the loose talk about the status of her relationship with John has begun to annoy Bipasha. "Let them say what they like. My life is mine alone. I'm answerable only to myself, my family and my close friends.

Beyond that, does it really matter? What I'm doing in my personal life shouldn't be of any consequence to anyone except me. I mean no harm to anyone. So why harm me with such endless speculation?"

The gossip mongers have been going to town with the now-off-now-on observations. Says Bipasha. "Precious news space shouldn't be wasted on such trivia. There's so much more worth writing about. From now I won't discuss my private life in print."

Screen Buzz: What upsets Bipasha Basu?

Nothing upsets actress Bipasha Basu – not even the gossipmongers and the prying media. At a conference recently, Bipasha made it a point to answer questions only relating to the purpose of the conference and refused to answer any controversial queries.

When the media further tried to probe into it, by saying she ought to 'clarify', she said, "I don't feel the need to. I am not upset with anybody.

People will do what they have to, they'll write what they want to and make what they will of situations." Looks like this one is really off press!

Top 5 Reasons why Bips is still hot?

“I’m in love with Bipasha,” said Hollywood actress and style icon Sienna Miller in an interview with a Mumbai daily a few days ago. There’s no dearth of people who would love to love Bipasha. Isn’t it! Well, it seems Buxom Basu babe has been making a hell lot of news off late. Whether it is good or bad one can’t say. For in showbiz any publicity (positive or negative) is considered to be good publicity. Post the smoldering beedi in Omkara and bikini peep show in Dhoom 2, Bipasha was anyways tava fresh property. But the heated grapevine has made her hog the newsprint and prime time news-space in a continually big way. We at IndiaFM bring you top five reasons why Bips is Hot? And happening….

1). There’s a lot of speculation about Bipasha’s longstanding relationship with John Abraham. A Mumbai tabloid quoted “sources” stating that Bipasha admitted to friends that she was single for the first time in the last ten years and she is enjoying it. She was single at this year’s IIFA Awards in Yorkshire and with another girl ruffling John’s hair in the latest Clinic All Clear ad (a brand that they’ve been successfully endorsing for some time now) people are saying the split is confirmed. In a sudden turnaround, the newspapers are buzzing with a last minute filmy patch-up between the two as according to eyewitnesses John after returning from an outdoor shoot in Pondicherry headed straight for Bipasha’s house the same evening. So, have they kissed and make up! The mystery is killing…

2). Bipasha has been looking a million dollars. In fact she has never looked so hot and sexy. She has been getting loads of male attention. Not only in India but even the firangs are going nuts over this Bong bombshell. She made the famous announcement that the beauteous Taj Mahal is indeed the new wonder of the world at Lisbon a few days ago. But the more juicy part was the photograph that showcased 22 year old footballer Christiano Ronaldo planting a passionate kiss on Basu’s lips in the celebrations that followed thereafter. The on lookers vouched for the terrific chemistry the duo shared as they danced together hip to hip, gym chest to…oops…Bipasha later criticized the media by dismissing it with a statement saying that how can she be serious about a 22 year old kid? A kid! Hmmm…we don’t think she is an aunty yet and Ronaldo is known to be a scampering stud. Never mind. From what it seems, everyone seems to have had a good night’s….

3). Once the rumours of rift with John started doing the rounds Bipasha was continually linked up with her Race co-star Saif Ali Khan (he is fresh from a break up with Rosa). Interestingly the two have shot for a steamy love making scene for this Abbas-Mustan thriller. Basu admits that she visits Saif’s house but then so what! Uhm…we aren’t saying anything. There have also been reports of Bips patching up with ex-boyfriend (or should we say ex-ex-boyfriend) Dino Morea. The two have been spotted at functions together further fuelling speculation. Wonder where this dusky siren’s heart is heading for?

4). A tabloid in a shocking story revealed that Bipasha had undergone a silicon implant operation before Jism to add more dollars to her physical packaging. Apparently the doctor who performed the operation has still not been paid the Rs 2.5 laks that Basu owes him. Columnist, Socialist and novelist Shobha De in an article in The Sunday Times of India on 22nd July (aptly titled Boob Tube) said, “Every other aspiring actress goes under the knife to fix assorted body parts. The only thing big about this deal are the extra inches a surgeon adds. Too bad Ms Basu’s doc isn’t a gentleman. I hope after this leak, he never recovers his money. Let’s have another beedi , Bips.” So far Bipasha hasn’t reacted to this surgeon’s allegations. We still don’t know the raaz of those….Uhm.

5). Bipasha has always been an advertiser’s delight. She continues to endorse products, the latest being Reliance Mobile, Pantaloons besides Clinic All Clear. It is being said that with souring of relationships between her and John, she shall be shooting for the ad separately. An interesting point to be noted is that Bipasha was earlier associated with gaming portal zapak.com and launched zapak.tv in January 2007. The website had promised to feature a 'Bipasha Basu zone' with games based on the actress. But it was only a couple of days ago that we received an invite for the launch of what was promised to be the launch of Bipasha Basu’s first mobile game by another brand called Jump. If Bips had already been associated with another gaming portal then how can her first game be launched by another group?

These were five reasons that make Bips a hot property right now. Do let us know what you think of sexy Bipasha making headlines galore on message2venu@gmail.com

"John & I don't have to do ads together " - Bipasha

Bipasha Basu isn't enjoying the way her relationship with John Abraham is being linked to her absence in the new shampoo ad for the brand they endorse.

"People can say what they like. They do that anyway, no matter what explanations we give. John and I are not answerable to anyone."

Regarding the speculation about John doing the shampoo ad with another model, Bipasha sighs, "When we signed the contract for the shampoo we didn't even know we'd be doing any of their ads together."

Bipasha and John signed their contracts separately. "And my association with that brand of shampoo continues. At this point of time John and I are advertising different brands of shampoo. So the question of me being replaced in the new ad doesn't arise. People can continue to speculate as much as they like. It doesn't bother me."

All the loose talk about the status of her relationship with John has begun to annoy Bipasha. "Let them say what they like. My life is mine alone. I'm answerable only to myself, my family and my close friends. Beyond that, does it really matter? What I'm doing in my personal life shouldn’t be of any consequence to anyone except me. I mean no harm to anyone. So why harm me with such endless speculation?"

The gossip mongers have been going to town with the now-off-now-on observations. Says Bipasha. "Precious news space shouldn't be wasted on such trivia. There's so much more worth writing about. From now I won't discuss my private life in print."