It feels like summer has been going on forever now! Its so freakin’ hot! So what can one do to beat the heat? Here are 10 cool options to get rid of that irky feeling and walk out with a sunny smile!

1. Carry dry ice with you and make sure you dab it on your face and wherever you may like to.

2. Wear skimpier clothes, so that no one sees the sweat patches under your arms and there’s no harm in looking sexy!

3. Use that powder which Shahrukh Khan promotes saying, “Thanda thanda cool cool” (See if it really feels cool)

4. When we were in school we were taught that the land is hot in the day time and the water is cooler… So go to GOA, the land of beaches and chill in the cool water or maybe in some swimming pool close to home!

5. Remember ‘Thanda matlab…’? Yeah so you know which cool drink to have and cool off!

6. Go to a hill station if you’re not bound to work! Trust me, it’s the best thing to do! That’s the perfect bahana to get the perfect vacation!

7. Switch on the AC if you’re at home or if the bills don’t permit you to, tapko at your friend’s place (who has an AC at home) and chill!

8. Take your girlfriend/ boyfriend for “cold” coffee.

9. Pamper yourself with a cool bubble bath after emptying a full ice tray. I’m not saying you need to do that alone!

10. Go watch movies back2back at a theatre nearby. AC hai, popcorn hai, aur cold drinks bhi hai. Just get some cool company!

As all of us Roadies fanatics know, Sufi just got voted out of Roadies 6.0 Hell Down Under. Unexpected. But that, my friends, is Roadies; quite similar to what we see in real life too. The elections are drawing closer and not surprisingly, Bollywood is involved in encouraging us to vote. But do we really care? Yeah sure, the interest level may have risen after the terror attacks and the Jaagore campaign; but how many of us really know whom to vote for? And do we think the state of our country will improve after voting for the “right” candidate?

If you think our politicians suck, you haven’t seen Roadies yet! Just imagine Devarshi as a politician. I think he could easily be compared to a certain Rail Minister. Atleast he’ll keep us entertained! But with the kind of planning and thinking that actually happens on the show, these people can really do wonders as politicans. Ok may be we can count Paulomi out of it ’cause if she becomes a politician, she’ll only think of her make-up and how we should stop global warming otherwise her make-up will melt. On the other hand, I think Samrat would be a damn good candidate! Don’t you think so? Or how about Raghu! He’s most definitely got it in him to bajao the useless people! If he does become a politican, he will surely get my vote!

Bigg Boss 2 host Shilpa Shetty is preparing to host another reality show. The show will have participants competing to be a part of the elite cheerleading squad for the IPL team of Rajasthan Royals.

Ever since Shilpa’s millionaire boyfriend Raj Kundra has acquired a stake in the Rajasthan Royals IPL Team, Shilpa has been actively involved in almost every aspect of team’s operations. Even on this show, Raj has announced, the styling and costume of the cheerleaders will be finalized by none other than Shilpa.

Shah Rukh Khan has also recently announced launch of a reality show to select cheerleaders for his team, Kolkata Knight Riders called Knights and Angels. However Raj Kundra has clarified that he did not buy a stake in Rajasthan Royals to make Shilpa compete with King Khan and Preity Zinta. SRK’s hunt has been on since 7th March. Guess Shilpa woke up a little late with the cheerleader requirements of her league. My guess is SRK’s cast offs will probably be part of Shilpa’s Royal entourage.

Raj has also clarified rumors regarding his relationship and his alleged engagement with Shilpa. He announced that if he ever marries Shilpa, the world will know about their union.

Pinu Patel the enigmatic restaurateur/ bachelor from London, who has been the center of an explosive controversy in Mumbai, is slated to appear for a candid one on one chat with the famous Bollywood item girl turned TV host Taki Sawant on the ‘Taki Sawant Show.’

Pinu, a fairly unknown restaurant owner from London, is currently in Mumbai to “explore” further business and personal opportunities,and became the darling of the Indian media after he was caught with his pants down, literally. Pinu Patel’s tryst with a Bollywood starlet and subsequent overdose on Viagra in an attempt to “woo” her graced the headlines of all major national media outlets and has caused both great amusement and outrage nationwide.

Since this “painful” and “embarrassing” exposé, Pinu has shied away from the media, causing further speculation amongst the masses of the reasons behind his excessive medical aid and has led to further investigation by the journalistic community behind his intent.

A reputed journalist from a major publication, who does not wish to give away his identity, has revealed that he has solid evidence to prove that Pinu Patel the eligible bachelor from London is a 35 year old virgin. His Viagra overdose is directly correlated to his inability to perform with women sexually. In spite of his great credentials, several women in the past have rejected Pinu’s marriage proposal for reasons best termed as sketchy. The big question that now plagues the masses and intrigues gossip mongers everywhere is whether Pinu Patel is GAY.

Throughout this extremely uncomfortable ordeal, Pinu has maintained a stoic silence. However, when his sexual orientation was brought into question, Pinu has finally decided to “come out” in the open and clear any misunderstanding that maybe floating around about him via the extremely popular ‘Taki Sawant Show.’

Taki Sawant an enterprising TV hostess is known for her bold, in your face, tell it like it is attitude, which has flabbergasted many a popular celebrity in the past. Pinu’s decision to make his first open, public statement regarding his sexuality on the ‘Taki Sawant Show’ surprised many, but when questioned about his risqué decision; he said “I appreciate Taki’s complete honesty. While it maybe easy to fool other TV hosts, it is impossible to deceive Taki. She can sense a lie, always. She is not afraid to call a spade a spade. I appreciate that.”

Popular film personality and gay rights activist Karan will be Taki’s co-host for the special ‘Pinu Patel Hour.’ By roping in Karan, Taki hopes to enlist the support of a prominent human rights proponent in her quest to know the truth and in turn extend it to her interviewee in case of a life-altering revelation.

With the press hot on trail of this shocking tale, Bollywood is not too far behind. So intrigued are they by Pinu Patel’s gnarled life that a film titled ‘Straight-Pinu Patel Ki Tedhi Medhi Love Story’ has been made chronicling his adventures and his ultimate quest for love.

Straight-Pinu Patel Ki Tedhi Medhi Love Story is collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and IDream Production Private Limited with online strategy and creative consultation provided by Desimad. Desimad is one of India’s most popular online video networks (Top 5) for professional and consumer generated Content.  Desimad was created with a vision to offer the Indian youth a wide variety of edgy ‘desi’ content in the form of videos, comics, animation, music, photos and games.

Straight-Pinu Patel Ki Tedhi Medhi Love Story is a snazzy, hip, entertaining, modern day fairytale with a twist! Directed by Parvati Balagopalan (dir. Rules-Pyar ka super hit formula), the film stars Vinay Pathak, Gul Panag, Anuj Choudhary & Ketaki Dave.

Straight- Pinu Patel Ki Tedhi Medhi Love Story is slated to release in over a 100 theatres across India on March 20th.

Check the exclusive clip of the ‘Taki Sawant Show’ below.

Indian Idol, the first music reality show on Indian television has proved once again that it is leagues ahead of all the spate of such shows that followed its wake. The Grand Finale was only the stamp of its superiority. The Grand finale of Indian Idol Season 4 outshone all other finales of the last three seasons. For the first time on any show did so many past winners and contestants turn up in a great show of solidarity.

Abhijeet Sawant, Sandeep Acharya and Prashat Tamang the three previous title holders were there. So was Monali Thakur of Zara zara touch me touch me of Race fame. There was last year’s finalist Amit Paul who has just made his debut as a singer with Luck By Chance. Rahul Vaidya, Prajakta Shukre performed too. Last year’s most loved singers were there in full force, Emon Chatterjee, Ankita, Parleen Singh, Abhishek, Deepali, and a host of others were all there to make their presence felt.

They were joined on stage by this year’s Top 14 contestants. The result: simply mind blowing performances. To forget the histrionics of Hussain and Chang would be preposterous. But the icing on the cake was the return of Mini Mathur on the stage that she held fort for three delightful seasons. Most importantly past judges were there too. Udit Narayan and Alisha Chinai was there. Sonu Nigam and Farha Khan were sorely missed.

To add to all the fun and excitement, Annu Malek has composed an anthem for Indian Idol this year. “We wanna wanna live our dreams” wrote lyricist Javed Akhtar in a song that will surely rock the dance floors all over. Udit Narayan, Alisha and Kailash Kher have lent their voices along with the Top 14 contestants of this season. Sonali has not been ignored. She rocked the stage with her jhatkas.

Exhilarating numbers, outstanding performances, great singing and fantastic energy that is what Indian Idol Grand finale is all about. Celebrities John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh were the celebrity guests who joined the excitement of the finale.

But the evening belonged to the Top three. If Army man Kapil Thapa descended like a commando on to the stage, the Sourabhee proved what a Rock star she is. Torsha’s transformation is now complete as a diva. If there was scope for all three to be proclaimed winners like Kailash hoped there would be, all three would be winners. But the winner is the one who bags the highest votes on this given day and that is Sourabhee - our very own Indian Rockstar.

It was not just a moment of glory for Sourabhee, but a turning point in her young life. There is no looking back now for Indian Idol, the show that has given Hindi music industry some great playback singers for the years to come, it is yet another feather in its cap… Today yet another new singing star is born.

Over the next eight days Kylie will be in Mumbai working on Ashtavinayak Films’ Blue which stars Akshay Kumar, Sanjay Dutt, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta and Zayed Khan and which has music scored by Oscar winner A R Rahman.

Kylie has already recorded two songs for the film, one a solo for the promotional video of Blue and the other a duet with Sonu Nigam. The international pop music artist who has sold in excess of 60 million records and has achieved her greatest successes in Australia, Europe, Asia and Latin America, was approached and given the music tracks scored by Rahman to hear. She liked them and agreed to sing for the film, but in her London music studio. Her solo number is reportedly a racy and peppy song that has an international beat to it. The duet was done between Mumbai and London, with Sonu recording here and his tracks being sent to London for Kylie to sing along with. The music notwithstanding, Blue which will release in August appears to be the costliest Bollywood film ever made with its budget touching Rs 110 crore already.

In Mumbai, Kylie who is well-known for her elaborate music videos and expensively mounted stage shows, is slated to shoot the duet with superstar Akshay Kumar to Farah Khan’s choreography. Speaking with regards Akshay said yesterday, “I actually and truly believe Slumdog Millionaire has opened many doors for not only India, but for our own film industry. Only weeks ago Kylie was on stage honouring our beloved A R Rahman at the BAFTA Awards, now she’s performing a song composed by the very same man. I think she must feel as honoured and excited about working together with him as I am. And I’ve heard Kylie moves as sweet as she sings, so it’s back to the rehearsal room for me!”

This morning most of India woke up early to watch Slumdog Millionaire’s fate unfold. Ultimately, it turned out to be day for “Slumdog Millionaire” at 81st Oscar award ceremony, where the movie based on the plot of Mumbai, surrounded around a slum boy’s tale of rising from rag to riches bagged eight Oscars out of 10 nominated categories.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ won Best Cinematography for Anthony Dod Mantle, Best Writing and Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy , Best Sound for Resul Pookutty, Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke, Best editing for Chris Dickens, Best Original Score and Best Original Song for A. R. Rehman. The movie also won the coveted Best Motion picture and Best director for Danny Boyle.

Hopefully these accolades will ensure the postive move of Bollywood from conventional dance-song dramas to world class cinema. Maybe even the quality of performers will improve. The untainted Frieda Pinto presented an award for Best Foreign film with extreme class. Watching A.R. Rehman jamming with Peter Gabriel was surreal and it was obvious that everybody involved with Slumdog couldn’t contain their excitement when the movie won Best picture. Everyone was onstage elated. Congratulations to them all.

When Shilpa Shetty stepped into the IPL arena along with her beau Raj Kundra, it was quite evident that glamour would seep into the cricket field. Shilpa has kept her promise of making a music video for the team and the theme song for the Rajasthan Royals will be composed Anand Raj Anand who is a close friend of the lady.

Apparently, the basic song of the Rajasthan Royals (’Halla Bol’) will remain unchanged, but the music that accompanies it will be changed. The lyrics of the anthem will be some what like, ‘Phir vahi lalkar hai, phir kanon mein goonj rahi jeet ki jhankar hai.’

The song will be sung by Anand Raj Anand himself along with Monali Thakur with Shilpa shooting a sizzling music video to promote her cricket team on the choreography of Ken Ghosh. The buzz is around that approx. 3 crores will be spent on the music video.

Says Shilpa excitedly. “I’m so glad Ken is making an exception for me. We chose Anand Raj Anand because he’s an expert at catchy folk songs. I first worked in a film with his music when he scored for Pardesi Babu. I was simply bowled over by the numbers. Today when I hear the song he has composed for our team I feel deeply enthused.”

Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty and her boyfriend, London-based NRI businessman Raj Kundra, bought a 12 percent stake in the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Rajasthan Royals. The couple has invested $15.4 million in the team, which was bought by London-based Emerging Media Group for $67 million. Shilpa called it a strategic business investment and said: “I completely relate to Rajasthan Royals. My story is similar to the team’s journey to the top. It is an honour to be a part of Rajasthan Royals.” “Whenever the team needs me I will always pitch in. I will be the moral support of my team.

The team needed an Indian owner and so I am here,” she added. With the tie-up, Shilpa becomes the fourth Bollywood star after Preity Zinta, Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla to enter the IPL. While Preity is part-owner of Kings XI Punjab, Shah Rukh and Juhi are co-owners of Kolkata Knight Riders. Asked if the moved was aimed at getting more fame, Shilpa said: “It is just a game and we should have our own fun. I am not in the run to get more fame. This was just Raj’s business acumen.”Kundra added: “The team’s success story last year was an inspiration for me. That’s why I am investing in this team.”

Rajasthan Royals led by the maverick Shane Warne surprised everyone last year by winning the inaugural edition of the tournament ahead of some teams that had big stars in their kitty.

A Hindu group in Goa Thursday filed three complaints with the police alleging the globally acclaimed film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ ‘hurts religious sentiments’.

The complaints were lodged against the makers of the Golden Globe award winning film by Hindu Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) in three police stations in Margao, Panaji and Mapusa.

The group alleged the film depicts Lord Ram in particular and the Indian culture in general in a bad light.

Seeking a ban on the screening of the film, the complaint named the film’s producer Christian Colson, writers Simon Beaufoy and Vikas Swarup and director Danny Boyle and co-director Loveleen Tandon as the main accused.

The HJS carried out demonstrations in Panaji after ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ was screened last week.

Farhan Akhtar the current host of chat show Oye! It’s Friday will soon be shown the door, as the show is not having a good run.

Apparently the NDTV Imagine bosses are keen to replace Farhan, their first choice was coffee man Karan Johar who turned down the offer because of his directorial commitments.

It’s a new format and it’s Farhan’s first time on TV, so it was expected it to pick up slowly but it doesn’t seem to be working.

The production house also blames Farhan’s non-availability of dates for shooting. The production people have to constantly keep running after him to secure dates. There’s an understanding that he won’t be able to shoot when he has to promote his films or work on new projects.

Do you want Farhan to be replaced by somebody else? Who do you think should be the new host?

Payal Rohatgi shot into limelight from the oblivion with ‘Big Boss 2’, though we need not mention here the cat-fight she had with Sambhavna Seth and the way Sambhavna gave her the hell of a time on the exit interview with Pooja Bedi on Bigg Boss 2 . Sambhavna had written down the names of her notorious movies and was defending her “down market” remarks made by Payal during the show.

None the less Payal swore that its all in the past and now has buried the past by launching her official website mynameispayalrohatgi.com. This was just the right time to launch her website when ‘Big Boss 2’ got her noticed and her role as a ‘full of life’ yoga instructor in the movie ‘Dil Kabaddi’ got her critical acclaim.

Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt, will begin his campaign for the Lok Sabha elections as a Samajwadi Party candidate next week in Lucknow and  will be greeted by hoardings that rake up his past and the criminal case against him. Apparently the people of Lucknow aren’t too happy about the star with criminal past contesting elections. The Anti-Terrorism Forum Lucknow has put up unwelcoming hoardings that read “Lucknow is our heaven, we do not want AK forty-seven”. with AK-47 images at all prominent public places.
Last week, Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh had announced that Dutt would be the party’s candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from Lucknow and if the star was not allowed to contest the polls because of the ongoing criminal case against him, his wife Manyata would become the candidate.
I have always felt that when you mix bollywood with politics you get a very gruesome outcome. Look what happened to Vilasrao Deshmukh when Ram Gopal Varma walked behind him.

But now back to the more important Dutt situation. A mighty big hearted Sanjay said at a press conference last night that he forgives little sis Priya for all the dissappointed comments she made to the press regarding his different political preferences. Although she has pointedly denied making any such comments.

All things Aamir Khan touches tends to turn to gold. Ghajini is no exception. Everything about Ghajini was novel right from the storyline to Aamir’s new hairstyle, it’s promotions right to the launch of Van Huesen’s Ghajini line and the latest being the unique gesture of appreciation from producer Madhu Mantena to Aamir Khan.

Madhu Mantena presented a solid-gold statue to Aamir designed specially to resemble Aamir’s Ghajini look at the party held to celebrate the film’s success earlier this week. He was very careful to include all 8 of Aamir’s abs.

The statuette is pure gold and probably cost the producer close to Rs. 70-80 lakhs though he isn’t telling.

“It has certain amount of other metal to make it malleable. Solid gold wouldn’t allow the identical Ghajini shape to be done in gold. But the idea was to create an Oscar-sized statue exclusively for Ghajini. Aamir knew he was getting a trophy. But he didn’t know it would be golden and with his Ghajini’s look. He was overwhelmed,” says Mantena.

Director Murugadoss was also given a statue, though far less hefty and golden than Aamir’s, but of course including the 8-abs.

Dabboo Ratnani’s 2009 calender is fabulous. The preview images that were released left me bored and after last years all male calender I was ready to write him off. Luckily today I chanced upon this glorious picture of Kangana in a Pamela Anderson inspired top. These types of T-shirts are designed for the busty and usually adorned by porn stars  but that didn’t deter Kangana. Now everyone know’s where her beauty spots are.

Also making notable guest appearances in this calender are Riya Sen and Sushmita Sen. I don’t care how many people go on and on about how much weight those two have put on, they’ve still got it. Sush is still as hot as ever and Riya, well she leaves little to the imagination.

Artistically styled this years’ calender also features Deepika Padukone warrior princess, Katrina astride a beautiful white horse, Lara Dutta in a tub, a plaid clad Ritesh Deshmukh and very sexy Bond girl inspired Bipasha Basu.

Check out Dabboo’s website for all the pics.

Shaurya Chauhan upcoming bollywood actress will be featured on the January 2009 cover of Maxim. This bombshell best known for her work as Neelam Chauhan is awaiting her movie release Horn Ok Pleassss starring Nana Patekar and Muzamil Ibrahim.

However this isn’t the lovely  debut. Shaurya was first seen in Vikram Bhatt’s Mumbai Salsa.

This trained gymnast and classical dancer was one of the Kingfisher Calender models in 2006 and judging by the pic to the left the Maxim shoot is destined to be a treat.

Click here to view Shaurya’s photogallery.