the Buzz Kareena speaks her mind

While beau Saif Ali Khan has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, Kareena Kapoor has been experiencing a completely opposite reaction. The versatile 31-year-old actress recently shared some of her experiences, both professional and personal, at the high profile India Today Conclave in New Delhi.

The actress was quite outspoken on the subject of gender equality in Bollywood. “It’s always between three or four Khans or other male actors. I guess female actors are there for just dancing with them. We have to stand behind Shah Rukh and Salman (Khan) and say, ‘Hey! I’m here too, give me something to do.’ And the paychecks... what Salman gets and what I get... let’s not even go there!”

However, the gutsy gal, reportedly the highest earning female star in Bollywood, doesn’t consider herself a hero among all heroines. “I don’t think I’m a hero because all the films like 3 Idiots, RA.One and Bodyguard that made Rs.100 crore-Rs.150 crore, their producers and all the three Khans took home their money. What am I left with? Chhammak challo?” she asked of an appreciative audience.

However, Kareena’s not one to give up and she is happy to fight for equal rights. “I don’t get a pay cheque as much as them. But I am going to fight for it, and hopefully one day we will get there,” she said.

On the long-awaited news of when she will finally become Begum of Pataudi, Kareena finally disclosed that she hopes to step into that role by the end of 2012. “We’re not going to announce the date yet. I don’t understand why the entire nation is in a hurry to make me the Begum of Pataudi. There’s no rush. Obviously people have to be patient,” she said, a trifle peevishly.

She is currently working on Heroine, in which the actress delivers a powerpacked performance and she is giving it her very best. Well, I guess she can’t blame fans who have been waiting for this piece of news since 2007 when the actress began dating Saif, who is 10 years her senior. Let’s hope Kareena works some of her magic in keeping Saif out of trouble… some hope!

Bhatt’s for the butt!

Film director Mahesh Bhatt is pulling his not inconsiderable weight to curb the ban on smoking scenes in Indian movies. The Delhi High Court recently issued a notice to the Health and Family Welfare Ministry regarding Bhatt’s plea, even as the director claimed that the Ministry’s notification was “illegal and arbitrary” and violated his fundamental rights. Bhatt said, “I am deeply aggrieved by the 2011 amendments as they are not only violation of the freedom of speech and expression but also against the right to carry out profession, trade and business.”

The government has been asked to respond to the plea, but we’re not holding our breath for a quick response.

Stars keeps Bollywood alive, says Zoya

Bollywood director Zoya Akhtar of the hugely popular flick Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara believes that star power keeps the Hindi film industry alive. “I think the star system works on a level. Apart from Hollywood, India and China no other film industry is surviving. We are surviving because we have our stars and our audience wants to watch our people. We would have been eaten up. Europe has been eaten up by Hollywood right now,” said the 39-year-old recently.

Stressing further upon the importance of stars, Zoya said while the critics loved her first film Luck By Chance, the audience did not come to see it but ZNMD drew them in.

“Luck By Chance got me every possible nomination. I won the best debut, all the critics loved it and they loved me.

They actually pushed the film, which they don’t really do. They wrote articles saying people should go and watch it. But people didn’t go and watch it. That’s where star power comes in. You have a Hrithik Roshan and a Katrina Kaif in your film and it equals bums on seats,” said the pragmatic Zoya. True, where would we be without our Sallu, SRK, Aamir, Hrithik, Saif, Kareena, Vidya, Katrina, Bipasha, Priyanka….the list is endless!

Louder, racier Race 2!

Director duo Abbas-Mustan, who have wrapped up the second schedule of Race 2, claim that the sequel would be grander in scale than the original one. It will be louder, more opulent and more complicated, from the sound of it!

“Race 2 is in the same genre and will be made on as grand a scale as the original. We will be shooting in Turkey and Cyprus next. The story has plenty of twists and turns and every character will have gray shades,” said Abbas Burmawalla. The original movie Race was released in 2008, and was quite a success.

Race 2 also features an impressive star cast with Anil Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, john Abraham, Deepika Padukone, jacqueline Fernandes and Ameesha Patel on board.

So is bigger actually better? The director duo seem to think so. Let’s wait and see…

Sunny hopes to beat Bips

Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone who will sizzle on screen in Jism 2, hopes to at least match, if not beat the standard that Bipasha Basu set with the prequel.

“I have seen her (Bipasha) and she is gorgeous and amazing in the first movie. I hope I can live up to her standard and not let her down in Jism

2,” the 30-year-old said recently.

“I want to do a good job and I hope everybody likes the movie,” she added.

Sunny’s debut on the small screen was with reality TV show Bigg Boss 5, and she got lucky when filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt decided to offer her Jism

2. She is set to start shooting soon.

The gorgeous and yet kindly Bipasha, who made headlines for her steamy scenes in the 2003 film jism, is sure Sunny will do a good job.

“I don’t know her but (Mahesh) Bhatt saab always casts someone who suits the role. So I am sure she will do a good job,” said Bipasha.

Jism 2 also stars Randeep Hooda and Arunoday Singh. Well, you can be sure that with Sunny doing what she does best, the movie will certainly sizzle!

Sonam in sensible role

Delhi’s jawaharlal Nehru University ( jNU) has a reputation for being one of the country’s leading education institutions, and actress Sonam Kapoor is set to portray one of its students.

The young actress has landed the role of a Varanasi girl, who studies at jNU in Raanjhanaa. Southern star Dhanush will play the hero opposite Sonam. The decision was taken after intense discussions between director Aanand fame, and

As per the script, Dhanush plays a local Varanasi boy, and Sonam essays a Varanasi girl educated in Delhi. Sonam jNU campus to grasp the conduct and ideology of

“The culture of education at the jNU is radically different from other universities in Delhi and across the country. At jNU students, both male and female, are very politically aware,” said a source from

“They talk intelligently on national issues. They dress sensibly, hang out at specific cafes in Delhi, attend seminars and protest actively on national issues. The director Aanand Kumar wanted Sonam to imbibe all of these traits. And they also speak fluent Hindi,” the source

When it comes to her spoken Hindi, Sonam, according to the source, needs to work as hard as Dhanush. Sonam’s rendition of the national language is distinctly Bambaiya, as one can imagine. Dhanush, poor guy, has been working with a Hindi coach, also trying to get

But for Sonam, in addition to her accented Hindi, the hautecouture look just won’t do for the film. Although she won’t play the quintessential Varanasi girl, her character is that of a local girl who has been to college in Delhi for three years, and returned to her home town as quite the sophisticated small-towner with an acquired metropolitan air, says a source close to the

At first the director was not sure if Sonam could carry off the role. But after meeting her, he was

“I am bowled over by her commitment to get the nuances of the role right. I’ve found my lady,”

Seems like Sonam’s back in action, after long last!

Saif versus kareena, who

Well, the audience will be the ones to decide, but if you were faced with Saif Ali Khan’s item number and Kareena , which would you choose? The real life couple star together , and rumour has it that

Dil mera muft ka, will be overshadowed by Saif’s Pyaar ki , which has been described as a number that catches your attention in the first 20 seconds because of its comic, cheeky notes and free footsteps.

When asked about the song, Saif said, “There is a sequence in the film where Agent Vinod is being watched by CCTV cameras...and he is behaving in a certain way, so we thought we should do an extension to that and we did the song.”

Composed by Pritam Chakraborty, has been written by lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya and asmin Oza. Mika has

Agent Vinod is a sleek spy thriller