Tongue lash of the Week

Yunno what, Rimmi got a solid scolding from costar Akshay Kumar for misbehaving with her mom on the sets of Phir Hera Pheri. He’s known for being very respectful towards elders and can’t stand anyone doing otherwise. But Rimmi has a problem. She gets jittery if she finds her mom watching her shoot because, according to Rimmi, her mother doesn’t have much faith in her acting prowess (can one blame her?) and feels she could be better. And bechaari Rimmi can’t take that. So she simply asks her to take a walk while she is shooting and was caught offguard doing this, by Akshay. He naturally got hassled and rebuked Rimmi.

Rani Mukherjee

Playing the game?

The two demure, sari-clad, extremely talented actresses are at war. Though not of the teeth--claws kind, both have signed a film together. The film is to be directed by Pradeep Sarkar and produced by Yash Raj. It’s a coveted film no doubt and Sarkar roped in the hottest stars ? Abhishek, Saif, Rani and his fave babe Vidya. One thing’s got to be clear ? it’s a tailormade role for Vidya. And Rani understands these equations only too well (she should know!). Professional that she is Rani wanted a clear-cut dialogue with the director during the pre-production meeting itself. She made it clear that she was the senior actress and the star of the film and wanted an assurance that her role would be the fleshiest (as in meaty; oh, as in substantial), and she would get all the attention and the moolah. But this straightforwardness apparently didn’t go down too well with Pradeep Sarkar (weren’t they speaking the same language?) as Rani questioned his professionalism and hinted at favouritism. Hence, the relationship went cold, very cold. It was Adi Chopra who intervened to put things right between the two. After all everybody knows who Adi’s favourite is!

Gourav Chanana

Nearly lost it

The telly stars are finding it difficult to walk or even drive through Mumbai roads these days. Take Gourav Chanana’s bizzare experience recently. He was driving home from a shoot when he spotted a red car behind him. It was dangerously close and after a good 15 minutes of driving he was convinced he was being followed. When he decided to finally take a call on the stalkers and stopped, the car behind him almost bumped into his car. Within seconds he had two beautiful girls at his window asking for his autograph. Both also wanted to know whether his eyes were green or grey. That’s when he actually got back his smile.

Suniel Shetty

The winning edge

Suniel Shetty! The Biggest Loser! No, no, he is just the host of the TV show The Biggest Loser. Suniel Shetty is soon making his television debut with the Indian version of the most popular American reality show, The Biggest Loser. This is a show about health, fitness and motivation. The contestants are overweight people who’ll lose flab under the guidance of the celebrity trainer and return with a healthy body and, of course, hefty prize money. And who better than Suniel to host it?

SPOTLIGHT

Perizaad Zorabian

Chickening out of 2-chick flick

Perizaad’s suddenly lost steam? Quite unlikely for a cheery girl like her. What happened was, she had agreed to play a lesbian character in a US-Indian movie, Kiran Meets Karen, to be directed by this US-based filmmaker Manan Katohora. Perizaad was initially quite excited about this project, but suddenly developed cold feet.

Her take on this sudden change of mind was however honest: her personal inhibitions about playing a lesbian and she felt it would be unfair to the script if she played Kiran half-heartedly. What’s more she even convinced the director to drop her.

No wonder, Katohara doesn’t have any hard feelings for this ‘royal ditcher’. The director even spoke on her behalf to the press! Though he admitted he would love her to play Kiran, but he was quite understanding and accepted her point of view without any grudge. In fact, this US-based director was aware of a disaster named Girlfriend, a film based on lesbians, that had almost ruined Amrita Arora and Ishaa Koppikar’s Bollywood dreams. Must admit, there is some basic goodness about Perizaad that makes people want to remain her friend.