After the highly acclaimed movie, ‘Rajneeti’ which was inspired from the Indian epic ‘Mahabharta’, Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ is yet another movie inspired by another great epic ‘Ramayan’….Featuring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda, Nikhil Dwivedi and Ravi Kishan the film is a romantic-action story.

The film has Abhishek Bahchcan playing the local thief named Beera. While South star, Vikram plays a cop, Dev Pratap Sharma, Aishwarya plays his beloved wife, Ragini. Dev who wants to capture Beera, faces a tough time when Beera kidnaps his wife to avenge a personal grudge. The film is a modern version of Sita being abducted by Raavan. But it has got a twist to it.

The film is a typical Mani Ratnam movie. With picturesque shots of landscapes, mountains, the film leaves you mesmerized..Cinematographer Santosh Sivan once again has done an excellent job. The shot where Abhishek tries to kill Ash for the first time and Ash jumps of the cliff, is simply amazing. Even the shots in the dense forests just take your breath away.

Another aspect that will leave you asking for more has to be the music. The Oscar winning music composer A. R.Rahman has given an outstanding music for ‘Raavan’. Songs like ‘Beera Beera’ , Ranjha-Ranjha’ have tremendous recall value.

Overall, ‘Raavan’ is a great combination of art, cinematography and music. The story however is a bit stretched especially in the first half. Actor Abhishek has done a superb job with his first experimental role. Ash plays her role convincingly. In general, the film is another cop and thief story that tries to be different from others.

Watch out for ‘Raavan’ s great visual appeal….

Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi seems to have taken a fancy to following star couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. He did it yet again Thursday evening when he made an unexpected late entry at the premiere of “Rann where Aishwarya and Abhishek were present for the Amitabh Bachchan starrer.

Vivek, who was linked with Aishwarya earlier, arrived hastily at the venue half an hour after the premiere had begun. A source told us “It’s strange to see Vivek here. We don’t know if he has been invited here or has come over just because he is in the capital for an event.” Vivek was reportedly an uninvited entry at Hrithik Roshan’s birthday bash early this month at Shah Rukh Khan’s house Mannat in Mumbai, where the Bachchan couple was present.
He was also spotted chatting with Big B and his wife Jaya at a recent awards function where Aishwarya and Abhishek were noticed sitting at a far distance.

Sequels to successful movies is the happening trend in Bollywood.

Priyanka Chopra, who was the female lead in Dostana has lost the lead role in Dostana 2 to Katrina Kaif. The buzz is that she will be seen in an important scene in the film. Though she walked off into the sunset with Bobby Deol, director Tarun Mansukhani is making room for her in the sequel. He is currently putting the finishing touches to the script and has penned an interesting scene featuring both the actresses.

Katrina Kaif has been finalized for the sequel to Dostana which had Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham as two heterosexual men playing gay men due to unavoidable circumstances.

Recently the news of Ranbir Kapoor or Imran Khan replacing John upset many Dostana fans, and it seems like Karan Johar has paid attention to the response as Abhishek and John’s Dostana is very much happening in Dostana 2.

However, the most exciting would be to see what kind of chemistry Abhishek cranks up with Katrina. The lady grooved in well with John in New York, but this is the first time she’ll be rubbing shoulders with Abhi…

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has taken a bold step which may very rare dare to take. He has acted as a peacemaker between the two warring actors Abhishek Bachchan and Vivek Oberoi. Abhi and Vivek almost stopped talking after Aishwarya dumped him and tied the knot with Abhishek Bachchan. Things went weird after Vivek made some stunning revelation about Ash at Farah Khan show, ‘Tere Mere Beech Main’. But now Shah Rukh Khan thought that they should end the truce and join hand. With this motive, he invited Abhi, Ash and Vivek to his party at ‘Mannat’.

A source close to Vivek says, “Shah Rukh certainly did not want any of his guests to feel tense at his home. Besides, he had personally invited Abhishek, Aishwarya, Vivek and many others to Mannat, when they met at Hrithik’s birthday party in Juhu.”

Shah Rukh Khan helped the two gentlemen to erase the discomfort and created a lighter and friendly atmosphere between the two. The two actors after a while seemed comfortable at each other’s company.

Few days back, Vivek was also seen bridging the gap between him and the Bachchans by talking to Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan. The three got along very well.

It was the 102nd birth anniversary of Late Dr. Harivansh Rai Bachchan on the 27th of November. On this occasion Big B with wife Jaya, son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya, best friend Amar Singh and many more inaugurated the English version of famous series of poetry called “Madhushala” written by his late father. The event was literally a Bachchan Sandhya where all the family members recited a poem from the book and dedicated it to Late Dr. Bachchan. Abhi-Ash were excited to recite their favourite poems with everyone. Big B read an extensive part of the book and remembered the good old days when he heard them from his father…

Bachchan Junior and Aishwarya will be celebrating their 2nd wedding anniversary on the 20th of April. Previously, they were to shoot for their film Raavan with director Mani Ratnam and probably wouldn’t get to celebrate their anniversary. But now since the director has been admitted in the hospital due to a heart attack, they might just get the day to themselves.

Currently, they are in Europe and the shooting has been halted till Mani Ratnam recovers. Lucky for them, they get to celebrate their anniversary and probably even give us good news soon? *winks*

Lakme India Fashion Week is back and I’m gonna let you in one some really juicy gossip about it. Now before you start thinking fashion malfunctions, let me just burst your bubble. No, there weren’t any fashion malfunctions… yet, but there were lots of Bollywood celebs who stole bitchy glances at each other and we also discovered some new found lovers! (ahem ahem!)

Gossip no.1- Tabu and Nagarjuna (who is married, btw) were seen hand- in- hand and couldn’t take their eyes off each other. For those of you who don’t know, Tabs often drops in to Naga’s house whenever she goes to Hyderabad. I wonder what Naga’s wife has to say about that!

Gossip no. 2- Vidya Balan and Sonam Kapoor seemed to share some really cold vibes. Why? Well, the reason is stupid- Apparently Sonam stole Vidya’s seat during one of the shows! Uhhh… Grow up women!

Gossip no. 3- Asin was acting like Miss Attitude when all the photographers came to get a good shot of her. Yeah ok, Ghajini did well but how about staying grounded girl? Little did she know that Anushka Sharma was just about to steal the show!

Gossip no. 4- Katrina Kaif actually looked like a doll in the Barbie doll outfit. Poor Ash! The only thing she has now is Abhishek Bachchan!

Gossip no. 5- Deepika Padukone was ignored by EVERYONE! I have no idea why!

Rakeysh Mehra’s Delhi6 is all set to release in February. Director Mehra released it’s music on the sets of Indian Idol.

But while everyone including Sonam to director Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, lyricist Prasoon Joshi and others participated enthusiastically, lead actor Abhishek was nowhere in the promotion.

When asked about the Abhishek Bachchan, Rakeysh informed us that Abhi was busy shooting for Mani Ratnam’s Ravana somewhere far off, with wifey Aishwarya Rai.

Interestingly both Ash and Abhishek were very much in town to grace another event that happened in the same evening.

It is believed that and promotion that has given more importance to Sonam. It seems that Abhishek is not so pleased by the promos as Sonam is getting lot of attention from the promoters thus AB baby has taken the backseat. When we asked Sonam about Abhishek she said, “I liked working with Abhishek.

He is really a cool guy. He is fun to work with. We all had fun on the set. We both are foodie.”

Hope Abhi feels the same for his co-actress.

Abhishek Bachchan loves to play pranks on set. We’ve heard numerous reports of his shenanigans but most of the time he’s just throwing his weight around and abusing hid star power. On the sets of his latest movie Delhi 6 he tried to punk his co-star Sonam Kapoor.  Poor Sonam got so taken away by the prank that she was reduced to tears.

For this elaborate prank Abhishek joined forces with legendary stunt director Allan Amin on the sets of Delhi 6. The prank started with Allan asking Sonam to do a stunt without wearing a safety harness. Sonam refused to follow the order of Allan. She made it clear that she’d not do anything without the safety harness. That is when Abhishek intruded their conversation and pushed Sonam to do the stunt and follow Allan’s orders. He asked Sonam how she can say no to Allan in spite of just being a film old in the industry. Talk about abusing one’s star status.

Sonam even requested the duo to talk to her dad before pushing her into it on which Abhishek acted as if he had lost his temper. He stormed off the sets and locked himself in his vanity van refusing to continue the shoot. Allan Amin went running after him to persuade the actor to get back to work. Abhishek didn’t budge and that is when Sonam broke down. She burst into tears as she actually believed Abhishek and thought she had offended him by refusing to follow his suggestions. When Sonam realized that she was just Abhishek’s ‘bakra’, she couldn’t stop laughing.

I have to say Sonam is an extremely good sport. Even after being at the recieving end of such tom foolery Soonam has nothing but good things to say about Abhishek and I quote “Abhishek is a genuinely good guy. Very rarely you come across such people in Bollywood. He is sweet and his nice behaviour talks highly of his protective upbringing. His parents have raised him really well. He is a thorough gentleman with a terrific sense of humour.”

Goldie Behl’s dream project Drona, starring his childhood friend Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra has been such a disaster at the box-office, that the producers of the film Eros International is starting to it’s sack employees.

A lot of employees have been given a month’s notice and have been asked to resign right after that. The losses incurred by Eros have been pegged at 30 crores, of the emotional trauma suffered by people who actually sat through the entire three hour hocus pocus, I can’t even imagine a figure.

Eros is so badly injured that they have even backed out of another high octane project they had put their feet in. Looks like Eros has learned a bit of an expensive lesson.

John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan left little to the imagination recently while shooting at Miami Beach for Karan Johar’s latest peek out of the closet, Dostana. The two Sunday actors have to play gay for a couple of scenes and by the looks of things, are discovering new things about themselves everyday.

K Jo claims that after the success of such offbeat flicks such as Taare Zameen Par (yea, that one’s really out of hand), the Indian audiences are finally ready for this sort of display. He goes on to bite the hand that feeds him by saying that all romantic movies need not end in trains pulling away from European stations. Blasphemy! Yashji must be turning over in his astro-turf mustard field as we speak.

Anyway, the changing trends have finally allowed K Jo to show flashes of his creative samadhi in Dostana. For the greater good of humankind, I hope the ball stops here. Giving him any more freedom is not an option. The last thing we want to see is an all male Bollywood version of Dirty Dancing.

Drona has critically been declared the big budget blunder for this year. A small success story in the shape of Aishwarya’s outfit for the Drona premiere has emerged. Aishwarya apparently wore a marine blue dress, alongside Abhishek who only wears tuxedos. She looked stunning and was applauded for her choice of clothing which on some occasions in the past has not been so befitting.

Aishwarya, however had a bigger reason for wearing a beautiful dress. The colour marine blue it seems matched the shade of the feather in the movie which is supposed to be Abhishek’s guiding light in Drona. Major attention to detail I tell you… the guys at Pixar are proud of your feat Ash.

I know I’ve said this before, but Abhishek Bachchan’s Drona is proving to be the proverbial fruit basket that he’s sending to all the people he’s fallen out with over the years in the industry. After trying to rope in Raj Thackerey and the Kapoor sisters, the latest victim in this no holds barred display of last-ditch diplomacy is none other than chain-smoker and Johar junkie, Shah Rukh Khan.

His shock appearance at the event made it clear that the animosity between him and Junior B was a thing of the past. Moreover, it was also made very clear that there’s nothing Shah Rukh loves more than making small talk with the first family of Bollywood on a Thursday night.

By showing up at the Drona premiere, SRK also smoothed things over with Ash. The two of them had fallen out after Chalte Chalte when Sallu gave ‘inappropriate sexual deviancy’ a new meaning by showing up on the sets of the movie and creating a rucus. But from the look of things yesterday, the long cold war between SRK and the Bachchans has ended. So now, there’s only one stone left to upturn. (Rick Flair/Nature Boy music begins)… SALLU!

After burying the hatchet with Raj Thackerey, the Kapoor sisters seem to be next on Junior B’s hit-list. In an attempt to let bygones be bygones, Abhishek has invited the two sisters for the premiere of Drona… the very same ploy he used for Raj. Whether or not this monumental gesture of undying friendship is going to work remains to be seen, but let us just trace the warped history between the Bachchans and the Kapoors.

Abhishek and Karisma Kapoor were engaged at one point. But Karisma’s better judgement prevailed before the two took their Barbara Streisand Karaoke Night of a relationship to the next level. Ever since then, the ties between the two Bollywood khandans has been somewhat strained. As for Kareena; she and Abhishek debuted together in the insufferable, Refugee and embarrassed themselves again in Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon.

But everything seems to have boiled over now. In any case, the release of Abhishek’s new movie, Drona, is around the corner and will need all the support it can get. The only people stupid enough to actually sit through Goldie Behl’s nightmare are the Kapoors and the rest of their brain-dead Bollywood gang, who’ll hold on to any piece of a shared past with Abhishek like it’s a K-Mart discount coupon.

Abhishek Bachchan seems to be trying very hard to get into the MNS leader and saffron junkie, Raj Thackerey’s good books. After showering him with such gems as, ‘he’s a great guy’ and many other generic compliments, Junior B has invited him for the premiere of Drona! And so, with this lovely gesture of awkward F.Y.J.C. love, the city may be set to witness a new era of trust and friendship.

But wait a minute. We’ve not taken a major element of this delicate situation into consideration. Drona. I don’t know what kind of effect a man dressed in gold weilding some ancient, engraved sword will have on Mr. Thackerey. He might just well up and have visions of Shivaji Maharaj flashing before his eyes by the end of it. On the other hand, he might pillage the Bachchan residence for the fact that a movie with a beard and a sword in it is not based on Shivaji.

Well, we’ll just have to wait and see what twisted magic Goldie’s one-hit-blunder conjures up. The fate of the city hangs in the balance…

The latest innocent by-stander to be claimed by Bollywood’s answer to the Freemasons Club, the Bachchans, is none other than hip-hop demon and ‘that guy who sang Mariah Mariah‘, Wyclef Jean. His recent comments have left no doubt in my mind that the wily Bachchans have taken his soul into custody and will not release it until he says the magic words. Nishabd moved me to emotional spaces that I never thought existed within me. Say that and you’re free to go.

In case you’ve forgotten what Wyclef  has to do with anything, here’s a reminder. He and Abhishek had recorded a number together for the album Bollywood meets Hollywood. It seems the two shared a moment in the studio which has somehow convinced Mr. Jean that this Monday morning burnt toast that Junior B calls a personality is hypnotic!! As if that wasn’t hilarious enough, he goes on to call Bachchan senior one of the sharpest men he’s ever met.

Maybe now, after they’ve gotten more mileage out of one track on some pointless album than a Hero Honda Splendour can get on a Frankfurt autobahn, I think Wyclef will be allowed to make his way back to the U.S. and never talk about this ever again.