Heard of Laloo rakhis? Well, rakhis with Laloo Prasad Yadav’s face on it was a rage this year and sold a record-breaking number last week. It sold three times more than Amitabh Bachchan rakhis! The sales figure is estimated to have touched an awesome Rs 11 lakh which is far ahead of the second highest seller Amitabh rakhis at Rs 3 lakh, in Raipur alone. This is the third consecutive year that Laloo rakhis have done great business. Other stars like Aamir Khan, Sunny Deol, Hema Malini and also TV actress Smriti Irani have rakhis in their names that did great business but no abhineta could get even close to the neta.

Abhishek Bachchan; Priyanka Chopra

Abhi, na jaao chhod kar...

Though, in the public poll conducted in Karan Johar’s chat show, she lost to Rani as the most eligible girl for Abhishek it seems Abhi wanted to send across a wink to Priyanka Chopra and called her his “heartthrob” on national television! And this girl Pri Chops is walking on air ever since. She is said to have had a major crush on Bachchan Jr herself right from the time she put her sexy foot forward on the Bollywood ramp. So much so that the industry people even vouch that they have seen her carrying his photograph in her purse. (So what were Akshay Kumar and Harman Baweja doing on her cell then?) Others have also witnessed symptoms of a crush on the sets of Bluff Master. The love-crazy girl admits her elation in so many words. “I went crazy when I heard that Abhishek had gone on air to say he would die for me. Although I missed the programme, I came to know because the whole industry was talking about us...my initial reaction was ? Oh, God! What if it’s really true? Yeah, baby! What if it’s really true? Maybe Karisma, Tara Sharma, Rani, Dipannita Sharma, at least would know...

Bebo to do a Helen!

Kareena Kapoor

And Kareena has been a great fan of Farhan Akhtar right from the day she saw Dil Chahta Hai and had been (secretly?) wishing she could work with him. The respect turned out to be mutual and Farhan admitted that he too enjoys and admires Kareena’s work and was for a long time keen on working with Bebo. Now he’s done the deed. Meaning, he’s cast her in a pivotal role in his remake of Don. “I could think of no one but her for that role.” Though Farhan is not divulging which role he has in mind for Kareena, news trickling out suggests that she’s slated to do the glam vamp Helen in Don! Which means Kareena will groove to the evergreen number, Yeh mera dil pyaar ka deewaana with SRK! The original was filmed on Amitabh and Helen and will be retained in this remake. Which also means Kareena this time will get an opportunity to snatch the sizzle from under Priyanka’s Aitraaz nose.

His father’s voice

Abhishek is ready to croon in films, yes once again, and this time in his forthcoming film, Bluff Master, directed by Rohan Sippy. Vishal-Shekhar after Dus bahaane are now composing a Hinglish number for Abhi. But this film also claims to have no original numbers, only remixes. So Abhi will be giving voice to one of the popular tracks, it seems. This is not the first time Abhi will sing for us, earlier he has also given voice to an original number, in Rituparno Ghosh’s ready for release, Antarmahal, that too in Maithili! Like Bachchan, like Bachchan, we guess.

SPOTLIGHT

Soha Ali Khan

High flying Soha grounded

Here’s a star sis, with starry tantrums, just like her star brother. We are talking of Saif’s behna, Soha Ali Khan. Saif is known to behave whimsically at times, and on a number of occasions has left organisers in a lurch. Now sis Soha who had her director Rituparno Ghosh and producer Jaya Bachchan embarrassed to the teeth. The Soha-Abhishek starrer, Rituparno Ghosh’s film Antarmahal, opened at the Locarno film festival and Soha was to represent the cast. With Abhishek tied up in a shoot, Soha was to address the press. She was excited about her prestigious brief on the international arena and had was chirping about her Locarno agenda. But, then, at the last moment she just didn’t turn up. A last-minute replacement, Rupa Ganguly, who’s doing the role of Soha’s sister-in-law, had to be flown in to save the day. Soha’s reason for the absence was the passage money. She had expected air tickets to be arranged by the organisers. But the organisers of the Indian delegation in Locarno said that everyone pays for their own fare, that’s the way it goes. She has a point. But the point is, that’s what the stars expect, and since this was her first such flight out, how would she know?