Shahid Kapoor shows off his Bismil moves on the red carpet before the Haider screening at the Rome Film Festival

HAIDER WINS BIG: Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider — a desi retelling of Shakespeare’s Hamlet — has won big at the Rome Film Festival, bagging the People’s Choice award in the Mondo Genere (World Genre) category.

“People’s Choice in the main category at the Rome film festival .. A first for an Indian film. #haider. Proud and humbled,” read a tweet from Haider’s leading man Shahid Kapoor, who along with Bhardwaj (in picture), was present at the festival for a screening of their film. Before the screening, Shahid even obliged screaming fans on the red carpet with his Bismil moves.

Haider — that completes Vishal’s Shakespeare trilogy after Maqbool (Macbeth) and Omkara (Othello) — is set in the riot-stricken Kashmir of 1995 and also stars Tabu, Kay Kay Menon, Shraddha Kapoor and Irrfan Khan. Released on October 2 in India, the film had a slow start but word of mouth ensured that the Rs 22 crore film has earned twice its budget.

BOND WITH THE BEST: Swastika Mukherjee and Ritwick Chakraborty at the music launch of Partha Sen’s Anubrato Bhalo Achho at Hyatt Regency. Swastika plays a middle-aged homemaker who bonds with Ritwick at a chance meeting in a hospital. “I sport salt ’’ pepper hair in the film. It’s a lovely story and Ritwick is my favourite actor,” said Swastika. Mayookh Bhaumik has scored the music for the film.

Picture: Rashbehari Das

MY BUDDY’S DAUGHTER: News filtering in from the sets of Sooraj Barjatya’s Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo suggests that Salman Khan is finding it “embarrassing” and “uncomfortable” to romance Sonam Kapoor. Reason? Sonam’s dad Anil is a close friend of Salman and the 48-year-old Khan has known Sonam, 29, ever since she was knee-high, visiting her dad on his film sets. Sonam, who had told t2 that she has always crushed on Salman — “Oh my gawd... he is so hot... he smells so good...” — is apparently cool about her romantic scenes with the Khan who plays a double role in the film. Set to hit screens in end-2015, Prem Ratan Dhan Paayo also stars Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher and Swara Bhaskar.