Akbar Khan whose Mughal romance ‘Taj Mahal - An Eternal Love Story’ is soon going to become the first Indian film in 41 years to be released in Pakistan, got full support of film industry bigwigs in a recent industry meet called by Khan just after his famous spat with veteran filmmaker Yash Chopra at the F.I.C.C.I. Frames Convention.

Yash Chopra has delibrately ignored to mention Khan’s film at the event and then chose to make it a platform for the propagation of his banner and his film ‘Veer Zaara’.

Important People like Mahesh Bhatt, Shyam Shroff, Pahlaj Nihalani (President of AMPTPP), Ratan Jain, Vikas Mohan, Sanjay Khan, Shashi Ranjan and Aditya Bhattacharya came to pledge their support towards Akbar Khan. Khan of course chose the occasion to snub Chopra for his narrow-minded outlook. (more…)

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who just returned to shooting after a long gap recuperateing from illness, will not take up new assignments as doctors have placed some restrictions on him.

The superstar has shot a few scenes for Karan Johar’s ‘Kabhi Aalvidaa na Kehna’ and make-up man Deepak Sawant’s Bhojpuri film ‘Ganga’. The actor expressed his gratitude to his fans who prayed for his recovery.

You are facing the camera after nearly three months. How does it feel?

It feels the same, not much difference. Same people, same mode of work, camera still rolls and cuts, trolleys and cranes work, music plays, and life moves on. On the first day at the shoot for Karan’s film people showed respect and joy at my return. I feel odd and embarrassed. (more…)

Now that Karan Johar has almost completed work on his forthcoming movie, he finally speaks about Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna and its big star cast.

There is a lot of curiosity and excitement about your new film?

What for? I’m just an ordinary director making an ordinary film. I guess the curiosity comes from my making my first film since 2001 after Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. Kabhi Alvidaa Na Kehna too has a huge cast. So there will be a certain expectation. Films involving me and Shah Rukh are talked about. They’ve been very successful in the past. People’s expectations are scaring me. I’m not getting much sleep. But yes. I’ve tackled marriage, an institution I’m not familiar with. Now that I’m 33 and graying, I’ve stopped seeking the support of hair-dye. I was more than ready to take on a mature theme. I was quite tired of being counted among the new generation of filmmakers. I’m not young anymore. I’m ten years into the industry, and quite qualified to tackle a mature subject. (more…)

Shahrukh is still the Badshah of acting despite of not getting any awards this year and Akshay is currently ruling the box office. And the two will be seen together for the first time as opponents (Shahrukh to don Amitabh’s cap, while Akshay in Shashi Kapoor shoes) in Yash Chopra’s Kabhie Kabhie remake.

Yes, Yash Chopra has decided to remake his own ’70s block-buster Kabhie Kabhie originally made with Amitabh Bachchan, Shashi Kapoor and Rakhee. The new version is likely to have Shah Rukh Khan playing Amitabh and Akshay Kumar playing Shashi Kapoor. For Rakhee’s role Yashraj Films had approached Rani Mukherji but apparently Rani doesn’t have dates available, so now they are considering Preity Zinta. (more…)

Bollywood superstar Rani Mukherjee launched Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and lyricist Javed Akhtar’s new album ‘Eight Stages of Love’ in Mumbai recently.

Pandit Shivkumar Shankar and Javed Akhtar teamed up after 25 years to compose the album which, as the name suggests, has eight songs that describe the stages of love through ever lasting melodies. The commentary between the tracks has been narrated by Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah.

Talking about the album, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma said: “There are different emotions in the album, but they are all based on love and romance. There is also a commentary that takes you from one track to another which is written by Javed and very effectively narrated by Naseeruddin Shah”. (more…)

Classic beauty Vidya Balan and today’s most sought after actor Abhishek Bachchan might just get paired opposite each other, if things go all right.

After the success of Parineeta, the actress is on every director’s most-wanted list, so much so that Parineeta director Pradeep Sarkar does not want to loose her. He went far enough to say, “I would love to work with her in all my projects”. Apparently Sarkar has been approached by Yash Chopra to direct a film for his banner, and Sarkar wants Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan in the lead.

Sarkar recently worked with Abhishek in an ad and was impressed by him. On the other hand Yash Chopra also is very keen on casting Vidya in his film. Therefore it is quite possible we see both together on screen soon. (more…)