Lessons of the Week

Knowing Salman Khan, his tagging along with girlfriend Katrina Kaif ooks more like insecurity than being supportive. Sallu is a little miffed about some of Kat’s costars and now he has made it a point to follow her to all her film assignments. He even accompanied her during the dubbing of the film Namaste London. But having veteran Bollywood hunk along has its plus points as well. Sallu is said to be giving Kat tips on voice modulation and emoting!

Rah-rah Rai!

Aishwarya Rai

Poor Aishwarya Rai! Something is very wrong with her stars. From Salman and Viveik and her manglik horoscope, all were impediments to her bliss. Though now Chhota B and loads of yagnas are kind of taking care of her Krazy kiya re kundali, troubles haven’t left her yet. One of Ash’s three bodyguards is said to have desecrated the temple last week, Thursday, by entering the premises inebriated. The priests of the Brahma temple at Pushkar, Ajmer are absolutely furious. The bodyguard roughed up the worshippers there to keep them from coming near Ash. And the angry priests have demanded an apology from the star immediately and threatened to launch a protest if she ignores them. They even performed a yagna invoking the divine power to give Ash the ‘wisdom’ to atone for the sins. But Ash is adamant, “He was not drunk and he was just trying to keep a crush of fans and reporters away from me.” But the Trust President has threatened to take action against the star. What a way to start the year! But, good to see her the fiery Ash standing up for her wronged guy.

Ameesha at her Max!

Ameesha Patel

Ameesha turns from hot lips to hot bod this new year. Bollywood heat peaked to an all-time high when she appeared on the yearend issue cover of Maxim, one of the hottest and most reputed men’s magazines. Ameesha feels it has been one crazy photoshoot and “it was a scary shoot”. But she still insists she wasn’t even keen on exposing before the camera. She had been postponing the shoot for about two months until photographer Vikram Bawa put his foot down and cajoled her aggressively into doing it with a promise of aesthetic value. Ameesha didn’t even pick up a copy of the mag when it hit the stands, goes the story! “My confidence level got a boost after the compliments I’ve been receiving!” trilled Ameesha later. Oh, such humility! But we are sure this year we’ll see a lot ‘more’ of Ameesha in her new bold avataar. After all, she’s on to a new maxim. Be minimalist.

Hold on, John!

John Abs refused to work with Kangana as his costar, you know. And he refused twice, shame on him. First, for the Imtiaz Ali film Rock Star and then for Anurag Kashyap’s No Smoking. Now Kangana has got close to Anurag with whom she has done her debut film, Gangster. This left Anurag in a tight spot, really. But John Abs is now a saleable star and so Kangana had to be sidelined while Ayesha Takia was smuggled in. Kangana belongs to the ‘today’ generation and on top of that she has been quite a success within this short time. So she brushed aside John saying, “I’ve no idea whether John wants to work with me or not. I’m too busy working with those who want to work with me to worry about those who don’t.” Now Kangana must have realised that John is feeling a little insecure and jittery by her sudden rise. As for Kangana, John or no John, she cares a Bip.

SPOTLIGHT

Mallika Sherawat

The price to pay for having Mallika

Mallika adds value to his film. That’s an admitted fact from the producer Ashwini Ram Prasad from the South where Mallika danced to an item number. The headache that she gave him is just a part of the package. She did an item number in a Kannada film, Preethi Eke Bhoomi Melidhe. That Mallika now has enough star value is evident from the huge crowds that gathered to see her when she was shooting for some scenes on the roads of Bangalore. So much so that the police had to intervene and take control of the crowd with a mild laathi charge. So Mallika was justified when she made her producer sign a statement that there would be no press photographers allowed while she shot for the item number. Well, she didn’t want ‘distraction’ during work hours. So when she sighted some photographers on the sets clicking away, she naturally threw a fit. Not just that, she then threw a huge tantrum and stopped shooting. That threw everyone. A worried producer sorted out things without displeasing his item queen. After all, Mallika added value to his film. So how much did she cost him? “That’s strictly confidential.”