Looks like one more Indian cricketer has gone for a toss over a Bollywood babe. The boy in question is Dhoni, the current dhamaaka of Indian cricket and the babe ? the oh-so-chocolaty Tanushree Dutta! The cricket-film partnership has a long history and we didn’t guess this about Dhoni’s batting!

The knotty affair

Celina Jaitly

Naughty affairs precede the knot, that’s quite usual with our Bollywood stars. When the news of Emraan’s sizzling love affair with Celina, his costar for Jawani Diwani, hit the town and people around him were swearing that both were real hot on each other, he simply turned the tables around. When Celina’s ‘Immie’ and ‘Smoochie-poochie’, and Emraan’s visible possesiveness drew attention on the outdoors in Mauritius and a film named Jawani Diwani did its mischief, what followed were romantic dinners, long walks on the beach and cosy evenings. A lovely love story was in the making. And mind you, some friends vouched for the affair as well. “It’s true that Emraan and Celina had a brief, romantic interlude in Mauritius...can’t give any more details ? Emraan will kill me! We have sworn not to tell each other’s secrets.” But what Emraan did on his return to Mumbai was brilliant! He promptly proposed to his girlfriend of three years, Parveen Sahani, a school teacher, and the two are all set to tie the knot next year. “The woman of my dream,” as Emraan describes her, is patient, completely non-filmy, mellow, homely and traditional. “This is the woman I love dearly, and want to spend the rest of my life with,” he said. Good strategy: If you get caught having a fling with costar, the safest way is to the pop the question the steady’s been waiting to hear. This dude has got away with Murder!

Celina JaitlyFardeen and Zayed; (below) Milind-Meera

Khan-daani wedding and some more

The knotty season has just begun and it took off amid fanfare with Zayed Khan’s marriage last Sunday to his longtime girlfriend Malaika Parekh. Bade bhai Shah Rukh flew in from the US. Hrithik was there to shake a leg at his saalesaab’s wedding. Zayed’s wedding was a grand affair with 1500 invitees and 58 different items of food served. Now waiting in the queue is Fardeen whose sagaai drew loads of attention, and the December wedding no doubt will. That’s a Khan-daani wedding for you.

Here are some more wedding announcements. Peeya Rai Chowdhury who played one of the sisters in Gurinder Chaddha’s Bride and Prejudice will be tying the knot next month with our Calcutta boy the Jhankaar Beats buddy Shayan Munshi. And there’s Milind Soman who has ‘almost’ announced his marriage plan with French actress Mylene with whom he worked in the Valley of Flowers. While Milind is still working things out? “I would like to be married soon, but it’s not easy to work around all the issues” ? Meera his costar of Pyar Ka Superhit Formula has tied the knot recently. She married the South filmmaker, Vishal Agarwal, the son of noted cinematographer, Ashok Kumar.

SPOTLIGHT

Aditya and Tanissha

9/12 : The big clash

Are Yash Raj Films the most powerful banner in Bollywood? We shall soon know. December 9 is going to be quite a battle at the box-office. On that fateful day the scion of the Yash Chopra clan, Uday Chopra, will actually dare to take on the mighty Bachchan at the box-office! That’s the date when Arjun Sablok’s zany, zippy and zingy Neal ‘N’ Nikki will rub shoulders with the new Bachchan actioner, Apoorva Lakhia’s Ek Ajnabee.

The date has been locked-in confidently and irreversibly by the respective producers. Says the Ek Ajnabee director, Apoorva Lakhia, “At first we were a little apprehensive about getting the right chain of theatres worldwide when we heard that Neal ‘N’ Nikki was also being released on the same day. But then my producer Bunty Walia has worked things out. And we have a good chain of theatres booked worldwide for December 9. So we are definitely on.”

Apoorva admits it’s tough coming to the theatres with a Yash Raj film. “Their marketing is exceptional. But we have Mr Bachchan in our film. Need I say anything else?”

Neal ‘N’ Nikki director Arjun Sablok is more cautious in his exuberance. “We’re certainly coming on December 9, no doubt about that. But there’s no threat to any film. My film is entirely different in mood, content and intent from Ek Ajnabee or any other film scheduled for in and around December 9. Neal ‘N’ Nikki is a frothy, feel-good romance. Ek Ajnabee looks like an actioner. I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

Diplomatic stand notwithstanding, both films are more critical for their directors than their producers. Both Apoorva Lakhia and Arjun Sablok are one-flop old. Apoorva’s Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost sank without a trace in spite of the support of marquee names Abhishek Bachchan and Lara Dutta (both of whom, incidentally are making guest appearances in Ek Ajnabee). Likewise, Arjun Sablok in spite of a neat well-constructed narrative and excellent star value ? Hrithik Roshan, Esha Deol, Saif Ali Khan ? couldn’t salvage his reputation as a filmmaker in Na Tum Jano Na Hum.

Both need a hit badly to keep their heads above the water. Ek Ajnabee is as much a do-or-die effort for Lakhia as Neal ‘N’ Nikki is for Sablok. “I believe there’s room for both, and more. The box-office has a large heart. It can accommodate more than we imagine, as long as we provide value for money,” shoots Sablok.