Double mazaa
After dancing into the limelight with ‘Jhalak Dikhlaa Ja', rapper Hard Kaur will now be seen as a host on ‘IPL Rockstar', a music reality show in which 14 singers will compete before the stadium audience. Talking about her debut as a TV anchor, the petite singing sensation (of ‘Talli, main talli ho gayee' fame) says, “I was never interested in doing things like eating insects or staying hungry to entertain people. But I love dancing, singing or performing comedy. I had told Colors that I wanted to be an anchor and for so long they had been looking for the right assignment for me. Though I have done some anchoring for BBC, I need to be really careful about my Hindi when I do it here in India.”
Hard Kaur promises to be an entertaining host. “I'm neither camera shy nor am I people shy. For the stadium and TV audience, it is going to be double mazaa.”
Ritesh's favourite
Ritesh Deshmukh inaugurated Mumbai's first fully air-conditioned food street or ‘Khaugalli' as it is called. This new innovation offers a wide range of cuisines at Four Bungalows locality, in the heart of Mumbai's film locality.
Ritesh, dressed in a denim shirt and pants, reached the venue on time and had a grand time sampling the fare from nariyal paani to vada pav to jalebi to rolls and pasta.
Asked to pick a preference, he voted for the vada pav. “Whenever I am hungry and want a quick bite, I grab a vada pav from a rasta stall,” he claimed.
Quirky title
Tannishtha Chatterjee who is making a foray into mainstream films with Road, Movie has a strong sense of humour. The dusky beauty seems set to compete with other such actors as Bipasha Basu and Neetu Chandra. But ask Tannishtha about this and she laughs: “No I'm not that competitive. I'm very happy in my own world.”
The obviously jovial girl prefers to joke about her film's quirky title. With a hearty laugh, she says: “I would always tease my director, Dev Benegal, that he had forgotten his punctuations when he named the movie Road, Movie . How can you have a comma in between?”
John scores a goal
John Abraham did not only play a footballer in a film (De Dhana Dhan Goal), he is willing to go the extra mile for the game. The upcoming FIFA World Cup is sponsored by Castrol, for which John is the brand ambassador in India. So John has joined hands with footballer Bhaichung Bhutia for a promotional strategy. Praising the footballer to the skies, John says, “Bhaichung is the face of football in India and it feels great to have someone whom I adore as the brand ambassador of the same brand that I also endorse. And seeing the state of our football, I think our association should work hard and get development in line.”
After Priyanka's ads for hockey, it seems like we will see John endorsing football now.
Chandan goes gaga over veterans
‘Dhan Te Nan' has taken Shahid's co-actor Chandan Roy Sanyal places and he is all set to tickle people's funny bone in Hema Malini's Esha Deol-starrer, Tell Me Oh Khuda. Chandan is particularly thrilled to share screen space with veteran actors such as Rishi Kapoor and Vinod Khanna. The theatre actor who has become very good friends with Rishi Kapoor says about the senior star, “He is full of life. We would chat about many things. He told me how he prefers spontaneous acting to method acting. When he used to come for a shot and if I was not around, he would call for me.”
Chandan is also impressed with his other co-star Vinod Khanna. “Vinodji is spiritual while approaching a character. My birthday came in the middle of the shoot so we had a nice party. I had my first drink with Vinodji. That was my gift,” he smiles.
Rather importantly, Chandan is gaga over yet another 1970s megastar — his producer Hema Malini. He gushes, “Hemaji is so beautiful. I love the way she carries herself so gracefully.”
Narrow escape
Many are the hazards of outdoor shoots but Om Puri came across a particularly deadly one while shooting for Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke on the outskirts of Mumbai recently. After shooting was over for the day, Om decided to utilise his time to catch up on his fitness training. So Om and his trainer set off for a jog to a nearby mountainous area. Suddenly, Om found the trainer running in the opposite direction, while frantically instructing Om to follow him. Om soon realised why when he saw a flock of huge vultures coming right for him. Om ran straight back to the sets and thanked his stars for the narrow escape.
Arshad is hot
Post- Ishqiya , Arshad Warsi has discovered his sexy side. The funnyman has been netting compliments for his kohl-eyed look in the Vishal Bhardwaj film. Arshad who is gearing up for his next Hum Tum Aur Ghost blushes: “You know what, this is new for me. Suddenly, women are telling me that I look hot. I went out for lunch with my family and so many women crowded me. I was shocked. They were all looking gorgeous.” And is wife Maria objecting to the feminine attention he is getting? Arshad replies, “When somebody asked Maria how she felt about this, she quipped: ‘People are realising that he is hot now. I knew it much before. That's why I married him'.”
Madhoo's role model
Roja girl Madhoo is making a comeback in Hema Malini's Esha Deol-starrer Tell Me Oh Khuda after almost a decade. On the sets, we were rather surprised to learn that Madhoo addresses Hema, who is about double her age, by her first name. The younger actor explained that she shared a very special bond with her famous first cousin. “I was born in Hema's arms. My father and her mother were very close. We have grown up with her. I also did a role as a kid in Dreamgirl .”
Hema is Madhoo's link to her past. “I have great regard for Hema as an actor, dancer and person. So many people from our family have died. Her mother is no more. Today, I have children of my own but hanging on to Hema is like hanging on to my family. We have only each other.”
