Actress Sonal Chauhan, who starred alongside Emraan Hashmi in ‘Jannat‘, is on a roll. She will shoot at the Seven Wonders of the World for a song worth Rs.10 lakhs.

The song will be for a Kannada film ‘Cheluvine Ninna Nodalu‘ and she has teamed up with southern actor Shivrajkumar in it.

‘I am more excited than nervous. I will have to do tonnes of rehearsals. The most exciting part of it all was shooting this song with the superstar himself - Shivrajkumar. He is absolutely amazing to work with,’ Sonal said.

In the song, Sonal is believed to have worn a dress worth nearly Rs.400,000. The film’s team is expected to fly to all the monuments on the new list of Seven Wonders of the World in March.

‘I am very excited about this trip. This is a lifetime opportunity. Imagine going to every single monument across the world that has been listed as a wonder. It’s a dream come true! I am eagerly looking forward to doing the same now,’ gushed the young actress.

13B. That’s the name of the thriller releasing next week starring R Madhavan and Neetu Chandra. Many people around the globe consider 13 an unlucky number, so does Neetu. The actress admits that after working in a film with ‘13’ in the title, her fears of the number have only increased. “I have become more cautious about number 13. I was a little superstitious about it earlier, but now after doing the film, I’ve become more fearful. I try not to use any numbers with 13 in it. In fact I get scared even when the clock strikes 1pm (1300 hrs),” she says looking up the time in her watch that had just crossed 1300hrs.

And it’s not just Neetu, in fact the whole unit of ‘13B’ witnessed how unlucky the number could be during the course of shoots. “A lot of scary incidents used to take place on the sets, especially at 1300hrs. Whenever we used to shoot at that time some or the other problem used to come up. Sometimes technical, sometimes otherwise,” says the actress who was last seen in the Abhay Deol starrer ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’.

The actress also confesses that she was the one who used to get most scared on the sets and everyone took advantage of that. “I was the one who used to get sacred easily and because of that everyone used to scare me. Once I was doing a shot with a candle using just some minimal light. After the director said cut, there was pin drop silence as nobody said anything and I got very scared as to why there was no response. If something like that happens in real, I would die of heart attack,” laughs she.

Thankfully for Neetu, the film is not releasing on a 13th, but will be out in theatres on 6th March. ‘13B’, which has been directed by Vikram Kumar, also marks yesteryear actress Poonam Dhillon’s comeback.

Attention fans Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan will not be hosting the Filmfare awards this year. And now it’s official. Instead of the two Khans, another Khan (Imran) and a Kapoor (Ranbir) are jointly hosting the awards next Sunday.

Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor have just made up. Now that Priyanka knows Bebo has her back she’s begun taking potshots at Katrina Kaif’s deglamourized avatar in Rajniti. We all know friendship between actresses in Bollywood is a rare phenomenon and avid watchers of the industry have observed that cat fights are more regular than a girls’ nights out in Bollywood.

Speaking to media persons, Priyanka commented on Katrina’s look sans make-up in the Prakash Jha directed Rajniti. Priyanka said that just by removing make-up one cannot become a better actor. She also said that removing make-up and acting is like hiding something, while claiming to be uninhibited.

It may be recalled that Priyanka’s last two hits, Dostana and Fashion, had Priyanka playing extremely glamorous roles. Priyanka replied to this by saying that the need to appear without make-up never arose for her and if a role requires it, she would gladly sacrifice her glamorous image.

All the audiences can hope for is that the two actresses battle for the top actress’ spot on screen and treat their fans to some power packed performances.

Jerry Seinfeld is in fact one of my favourite stand-up comedians of all times! I was sitting back last night in my beanbag chair at home watching television as I had nothing better to do at night and was watching that famous sitcom ‘Seinfeld’ on DVD. The series has these little snippets of his comedy acts which are just hilarious!

I think his specialty is giving a take on certain nuances in conversation or situations that take place in daily life! There was this particular piece on the word ‘take care’, which was damn funny by the way, which made realize what he said was actually true! These two words have a very kind intent and a good gesture, but have become a mechanical part of our lives. According to Jerry, it actually means ‘take off’ as in ‘get going already!’

Life is Interesting…..

Here’s the video

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!”

Emran Hashmi is known as the serial kisser but his female counterpart Mallika Sherawat started her career with ‘Khwahish’ which created nationwide stirs due to seventeen lip locks. In the days to come, Bollywood viewers are going to get their due visual treats of passionate steamy kisses in intense romance scenes.

The latest buzz in the B-town says that the kiss in Mallika Sherawat’s ‘Hisss’ will be the lengthiest kissing scene ever in Bollywood. That is what the buzz from B-Town is. However, it is not the sex kitten Mallika who will be seen locking her lips on-screen, but the artists in the stretched out lip locking scene are Irfaan Khan and Divya Dutta.

The film is being directed by the Hollywood film maker Jeniffer Lynch and Irrfan did feel jittery when Jennifer told him about the steamy scene with Divya. The director sensing that Irfan and Divya were quite tensed promised them that the scene will be taken care of in the most possible aesthetic manner. The scene was shot in Kerala. The actors had to do the act in front of the entire unit and not break the lip-lock until Jennifer Lynch asked them to do so.

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.

After Aamir and SRK managed to completely change their physical appearance it’s now Saif’s turn. He’s been publicly dating Kareena Kapoor for awhile now and you’d think some of her yogic obsession would rub off on him. Instead the Chote Nawab is going the Aamir Khan way to develop a ripped body. He’s even going to train unday Satyajit Chaurasia, the trainer behind Aamir’s look in Ghajini.

Saif intends to shed five kilos for Imtiaz Ali’s Agent Vinod since he has some bare body scenes in the movie and wants his torso to look impressive. Strangely for Tashan, which was also an action movie that required actions sequences, Kareena was the only one who took her look seriously and created ripples the world over with her size zero bikini scene.

Get ready for more hot bods to scorch the screen this year. Salman’s Veer is yet to release and Saif is currently in training. Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail also promises Prateik Babbar in a never before seen avtaar.

If the rumors are to be believed Anil Kapoor will soon appear as host of Kaun Banega Crorepati’s third season. Sony Television which has bought the rights of KBC is hoping to rope in Anil Kapoor to host the show. Anil wowed the world audience with his role of KBC host in Slumdog Millionaire. Meanwhile, Sony Television wants to take advantage of his fame.

One close source revealed, “Initially, the channel was thinking of taking Salman Khan as the host since they had already signed him under a three-year contract for their game show Dus Ka Dum. But’ since the show didn’t do as per their expectations and they had already paid Salman, they thought they would make him host KBC. Now, after seeing Anil Kapoors’s performance in Slumdog Millionaire, the channel is trying to get him to raise their TRP’s.”

Its not yet confirm that whether Sony has approached to Anil or Anil agreed to it. But definitely Anil proved himself as Lambi Race Ka Ghoda.

UV lights, and a strange atmosphere around…How come I don’t see any women……

My cousin and dear friend Rajat was performing last night at this place called ‘Corks’ on Oxford Street. As I mentioned in my last post, I never miss Rajat’s performances and I was there, yet again!

I hardly venture out of the vicinity of my home sweet home and sort of ‘make friends’. Going for Rajat’s performances is always an experience as I meet a lot of different people from various backgrounds, this is indeed refreshing, due to my line of work and because of the amount of time it consumes, I mostly only interact with people that are related to food industry in some way. It is always fun and exciting to meet people on a more casual, social scenario and make a connection with them.

I was quietly perched on the ‘not so comfortable’ bar stool and was enjoying one of Rajat’s songs, when David approached me. David is an aspiring chef who infact has a passion for Indian cuisine! Normally I am always a little weary telling people that I own a restaurant, but this time around the conversation was so engrossing and interesting that it just slipped out, we spent the entire time engaged in a passionate discussion about cuisines from around the globe and I was so absorbed in my chit-chat that I totally forgot to applaud Rajat! David was fair and was well built. He spoke with a British accent and was very friendly. I told him all about my restaurant and how it was always my dream to run the best Indian food joint in London. David and I exchanged numbers before Rajat and I left.

While driving back home, Rajat told me that it was a Gay bar that we were at…..sweat trickled down my face as I wished for that statement to not be true. I dropped Rajat home and just waited in the car thinking about David.

I know I’m straight…but I’m still thinking about David….I would love to meet him soon…is that so wrong?

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.”

Throngs of fans waited outside Breach Candy Hospital with baited breath till they heard the good news. King of Bollywood Shah Rukh had undergone a surgery of his left shoulder on Monday 16th February. All the anxious souls were relived after hearing that the operation was successful and SRK is in good health.

He has some post surgery pain obviously but on the whole he is expeted to make a quick recovery. He was discharged this morning and walked out with his sling on his left arm and attended a press conference. SRK has been advised to stay away from the action and shooting for at least four months and to take bed rest.

However, king Khan has decided to take rest till start of next IPL season and to continue work from May or June. Let’s see if bollywood can survive without the King. Karan Johar’s much expected MY NAME IS KHAN is on hold till Shah Rukh recovers, completely.

I happened to chance upon a back issue of the Guardian and was shocked to see that Sharat Sardana had passed away. He was only 40 and an extremely witty writer. I absolutely loved Goodness Gracious me and Kumars at no. 42. Humor never came easy to me. I’ve always struggled to tell a joke, more often than not I mess up the punch line. I’m no good at making fun of myself either. I watch other people do it all the time. It seems entertaining and those listening are always in peals of laughter.

I’ve only seen one stand up comedian in my entire life and his name was Papa CJ. It was a slow Saturday night so I left the restaurant for a bit and headed to Corks which is this comedy club bang opposite Bond Street station. That night was stand-up comedian night. So we were all entertained by Papa CJ. I kept thinking to myself ‘Thank God I don’t have the dorkiest name.’ I also wondered how many kids this Papa CJ had.

Anyway onto his set. All he did was make obvious jokes about the Indian accent and our weird sounding names. I could do that. It didn’t seem so difficult but the next day when I tried to retell some of Papa’s joke I could barely recite a single one. Guess I was born without the funny bone.

Get ready people. Sushmita Sen is finally back with “Karma Aur Holi” in March 2009. Written and Directed by New York based Manish Gupta, the film has an eclectic mix of star cast from the east and west. Co-produced by Drena DeNiro, daughter of legendary Robert DeNiro, much-awaited film stars Sushmita Sen, Randeep Hooda, Rati Agnihotri, Suresh Oberoi, Deepal Shaw and international super model, Naomi Campbell, underground rapper Sticky Fingaz & Vincent Pannetta to name a few.

Karma aur Holi happens to be the first Bollywood and Hollywood joint production with mainstream stars from both the film industries. This Karmic encounter of cultural confluences has come full cycle this Holi.

The film deals with relationships of many dimensions, their conflicts and resolutions on the day of Holi signifying a new beginning. A contemporary film, wherein the story revolves around the identity of Indian families living in the U.S., having migrated from their native land, adapt to the difference in culture and how they have been ready to give up their inherent cultural inhibitions. The rawness of indie-film world of New York where Manish has worked adds the freshness and a flavor of timelessness to “Karma Aur Holi”.

The film was shot in New York and its suburbs and Princeton in New Jersey.

The much awaited wedding of Ayesha Takia with her restaurateur boyfriend Farhan Azmi is going to take place on March 1. Actually Ayesha and Farhan were supposed to wed earlier, but after the Mumbai terror attacks the couple decided to postpone their nuptials.

It will be a private Nikaah ceremony at a mosque. However there will be a huge reception at the CCI club on the next day. Several personalities from the film fraternity are invited for the reception.

Confirming the news, Ayesha’s mother Faridah said, “I can not conceal my excitement. I am very happy.”

She later added, “We have shopped for everything from Mumbai.”

After the reception the couple will go off to some foreign location for their honeymoon. However the place is not yet decided.

A friend close to Ayesha said, “Ayesha and Farhan are still discussing options. They have yet not zeroed in on any place yet.”