Mumbai: Rani Mukerji has walked out of Deepa Mehta’s film, an adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s masterpiece novel Midnight’s Children, because she apparently didn’t want to play the mother of a 14-year-old.
That she happily played a mother of two kids in Yash Raj Films’ “Ta Ra Rum Pum” almost three years ago is another matter.
A source says, “She asked Mehta that how she can play the mother of a 14-year old when she herself is just 30? She preferred to leave the film instead.”
Initially, Rani was quite excited about the idea of working with Mehta as it would have been the first time in her 13-year career that she would have worked with a female director. Reportedly, she had even met Rushdie and Mehta in Toronto for the same.
Equally excited about working with Rani, Mehta had earlier said in an interview, Read the full story

Is Vivek Oberoi following Ash? Vivek made an entry at a Delhi mall on Thursday, where the red carpet premiere of Rann was taking place, and where Ash and Abhishek were also present.
“It’s strange to see Vivek here. We don’t know if he’s been invited or has come over just because he’s in the capital for an event,” said a source.
Vivek was also reportedly an uninvited guest at Hrithik Roshan’s birthday bash this month at Shah Rukh’s house, Mannat, where the Read the full story

Bollywood stunner Deepika Padukone won the coveted ‘Heartbeat of the Nation’ award at the fifth Apsara Film and Television Producers’ Guild Awards.
The star impressed judges with her performance in the blockbuster hit Love Aaj Kal.
A familiar face at the esteemed award ceremony, Deepika was also previously honoured with the award for ‘Best Debut Female’ for her performance in Om Shanti Om.
Having recently turned just 24, Deepika has accomplished a tremendous amount and continues to prove her talents beyond Read the full story

London: Supermodels Padma Lakshmi and Lakshmi Menon have beaten Indian actresses Aishwarya Rai and Freida Pinto in a most desirable women poll conducted by a portal.
According to the top 99 women poll by askmen.com, Padma Lakshmi has grabbed the 15th spot while Menon sits at the 45th position leaving behind “Slumdog Millionaire” star Pinto and former Miss World Aishwarya in 50th and 63rd positions respectively.
“I am delighted that the readers of this portal have chosen to include me on their list. I am extremely flattered,” the website quoted Padma as saying.
Beating all of them, however, is Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, who tops the list. It also features singer Beyonce Knowles at Read the full story

Mumbai: Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra may be ruling Bollywood today, but it is Kareena who has toppled the other two by being the highest paid actress. She has been signed for a whopping Rs 7 crore by Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Ltd for their next, Golmaal 3, directed by Rohit Shetty.
A source says, “Kareena hasn’t given any hit last year except 3 Idiots and has raised many eyebrows for being signed for the exorbitant amount. While Bollywood actors are slashing their prices to cope with the recession, it is surprising how much the industry is paying the actresses. Even A-list actors are not being offered such a huge amount.”
It is learnt that Kareena will be the only heroine in the film as she has made it very clear that she Read the full story

LADY GAGA is continuing her support of the gay community – she’s hosting an event calling for same-sex marriage to be made legal in the U.S., contactmusic.com quoted.
The Poker Face hitmaker will present the Hands Up for Marriage Equality benefit in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday (16Jan10).
Gaga, who led a gay rights march through Washington, DC in October (09), will use the gala to raise funds for four organisations – Empire State Pride Agenda, Equality Pennsylvania, Garden State Equality, and The Power. All four organisations work to advocate and empower the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community efforts.
The singer says in a statement: “I am honoured to be able to continue to raise Read the full story

Aamir Khan starrer comedy-drama 3 Idiots has grossed over Rs 315 crore ($70 million) globally in 19 days since its release, a statement by Reliance BIG Entertainment, the film’s distributor, said Tuesday.
Based on Chetan Bhagat’s bestseller Five Point Someone, the film has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani.
“3 Idiots has opened new vistas for the Indian film industry. The huge response across continents reinforces our belief that a well-made, Read the full story

LONDON: Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have opted out of attending the upcoming Golden Globes Awards ceremony apparently because the superstar failed to receive a nomination for his role in ‘Inglorious Bastards’.
Pitt stars as an American soldier in the World War II drama, which is up for a string of awards at the bash including Best Picture and Best Director for Quentin Tarantino but the actor has not been nominated for his role in Read the full story

MUMBAI: The new heartthrob of Bollywood Imran Khan was born on January 13, 1983 to Anil Pal, an Indian Bengali American, and Nuzhat Khan, who is Aamir Khan’s sister. The actor rose to fame in his debut movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na in 2008,quoted aajtv.com.
His father works as a Director of Operations Engineering at Netflix in Silicon Valley, was a classmate of director Mansoor Khan, Nuzhat’s brother, at IIT Bombay. His parents divorced when Imran was one and a half years old. He grew up with the surname Khan as his mother brought him up in India. However, he moved to live with his father in California, to finish high school. He then trained in film making in Los Angeles. He is also the nephew of actor Aamir Khan, director Read the full story

Abhishek ‘Sirji’ Bachchan has now become a tree to promote Idea Cellular’s new ‘Green Planet’ campaign.
With global warming becoming a hot debate topic, Idea’s Sirji is advocating ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ to ’save the planet’.
The new Idea TVC showcases how the mobile phone can be used as an efficient tool to read daily newspapers, generate e-bills, make payments and transactions, issue e-tickets and boarding passes; thereby saving tonnes of paper everyday.
Brand Ambassador Abhishek Bachchan, playing the role of an agonized ‘tree’ this time, strikes the idea of using mobile phone to save paper, and Read the full story