GUESS whO Worth worshipping

No bizarre names for us, thank you, we’re Bollywood’s celebrity babies! Amitabh Bachchan has finally announced the name of his youngest granddaughter, putting to bed the six months of avid speculation and making loads of parents very happy. Aaradhya is the name of the daughter of Aishwarya and Abhishek. The name which is Sanskrit for “worth woshipping” or “worthy of admiration”, will no doubt be adopted and adapted by numerous families for a while to come. After all, isn’t it said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?

Grandpa Big B spilled the beans on Twitter, after a fan asked him the child’s name on the networking site.

Meanwhile, Aaradhya’s mum is probably heaving a sigh of relief, and sincerely and silently thanking Shah Rukh Khan for shifting the focus of the media onto himself. Poor Ash, she’s been absolutely beleaguered thanks to a photograph appeared of her looking like she’d put on a bit of weight. The shot, very likely well photoshopped since then, has made headlines, touting the story that fans want her to lose weight and get back into shape. It’s sublimely ridiculous and equally hilarious that the poor girl can’t indulge in a few extra samosas to celebrate her motherhood without the entire nation (and its press) going into a complete tizzy! Don’t worry, Ash, enjoy your mum time off: thanks for showing us you’re a real woman like the rest of us. Now, that’s worthy of admiration...

shaken any other Bollywood actor. Shahid’s nearly decade-long career in tinsel town has been rife with professional and personal ups and down. But the actor is still positive. “Success can be more dangerous than failure. When you are successful, you feel that you are doing everything right. So, failure can teach you a lot. I just believe in going out and doing your best,” said Shahid recently.

After Vishal Bharadwaj’s hit film Kaminey in which he featured in a double role opposite Priyanka Chopra, Shahid was seen in Dil Bole Hadippa!, Chance Pe Dance, Paathshaala, Badmaash Company, Milenge Milenge and Mausam. But none of them really took off, resulting in a dip in his ratings.

But he’s now looking forward to Kunal Kohli’s Teri Meri Kahaani, opposite Priyanka Chopra once again, which fans hope could rekindle their rumoured past romance. Shahid is hopeful their chemistry will work for the film, which he says is diametrically different from Kaminey

“I think the audience really liked us in Kaminey. It’s always fun working with Priyanka. This film is very much different from Kaminey and nothing will look similar,” he said.

Teri Meri Kahaani depicts an entertaining love story in three different eras, with the same two actors in three different time periods. In what he describes as a simple, uncomplicated film, Shahid admits that out of the three eras, he personally enjoyed playing the character of a Muslim boy named Javed who is the most misbehaved character of that era (the 1910s). “His only job is to pick up women. I really enjoyed playing Javed’s version,” Shahid said.

Shahid also shrugs off rumours that Priyanka and he shared cold vibes on the sets.

“I don’t deal with these situations. I just let them go. Just ignore this news and move on. These reports don’t bother me,” he said, a tad predictably.

And asked about his favourite female costar from a bouquet as diverse as Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Amrita Rao, Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan, he responded, “Do you think I will answer this question? Not for a million bucks!”

“My funda is never choose between women,” Shahid added with his dimpled grin. And that goes to prove that even if Shahid’s a bit down in the dumps, he still has his wits intact!

Shahid and Priyanka will be on our shores shortly: fans will get to see them talk about their latest movie Teri Meri Kahaani in Melb in early June.

SRK gets five

Once again, Shah Rukh Khan’s in the media spotlight for all the wrong reasons, this time for allegedly misbehaving with security personnel and mumbai cricket association (mca) officials at mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. mca slapped a fiveyear ban on king khan, co-owner of Indian premier League (IpL) team kolkata knight Riders (kkR). But Bollywood in general has been backing the superstar, with renowned lyricist and writer Javed akhtar saying that the decision is a “little harsh”.

“from whatever I know, I feel it’s more of an over reaction. I don’t know exactly what happened, so I can’t judge. But there is no need to react like this. I have no right to take sides, but I feel that the punishment is a little harsh,” he told reporters recently. In his clarification, the superstar alleged that he got upset when he saw mca officials allegedly manhandling his daughter. Well, at least our ‘perfect’ actors are showing us their fallible side!

Abhishek k is annoyed

No, not for being mistaken as his namesake of the Bachchan family, but because he feels that too many ‘foreign’ females are starting to spoil the Bollywood scene. Giselli monteiro, Barbara mori, amy Jackson – all these beauties from overseas are now playing key roles in Bollywood films, and director abhishek kapoor feels this obsession with “white girls” can be damaging to desi actresses.

“our obsession with white girls playing lead in Indian films is extremely detrimental to the psyche of the Indian girl. as bad as selling fairness cream,” tweeted the Rock On! director.

“our Indian girls are being sidelined in favour of this caucasian invasion... ST this madness and recognise our own beauties,” he added.

kapoor, who is now working on Po Che! based on chetan Bhagat’s Mistakes of My Life, says he is especially disturbed with how filmmakers cast foreigners in the role of an Indian girl.

Brazilian model Giselli featured as a punjabi girl in Love Aaj Kal and as an Indian in Always Kabhi Kabhi. British model-actress amy Jackson played a malayalee in Ekk Deewana Tha

“I have no problem with a caucasian girl playing a caucasian... But selling her as a punjabi or an Indian is deluding the audience and also making the Indian naive woman feel inadequate. Extremely harmful to their psyche, and people in power should be more responsible,” wrote kapoor.

Well abhishek, you’ll probably realise sooner or later that the Indian actress is way more resilient that you give them credit. The current brood couldn’t care less, and certainly wouldn’t be psyche-damaged from a slew of overseas wannabes. chill, man, and live and let rock!

Cannes then Sydney for Anurag kashyap

he’s best known for his off-beat and quirky movies, so when director kashyap’s latest offering, Gangs of Wasseypur premiers at the ongoing 65th cannes International film festival, his niche audience may be in for a surprise. Because this one, the director admits, is an out-and-out commercial experience. “for the first time, I have made a film for the masses. people usually think when a

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movie goes to cannes, it is an art movie. We have made a commercial film. It has taken me a lot of years to reach here. When you stop running after a butterfly, it comes and sits... it’s the same thing,” anurag explains, sounding a bit like one of his movies.

Ganges of Wasseypur is a gritty take on the coal mafia and stars manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Syed Zeeshan Quadri and aditya kumar.

The 5 ½ hour epic (shown in two sections) comes to Sydney film festival next month, and has been picked for competition, the first Indian film in this ashyap’s crime thriller Peddlers has also been selected for screenings at the prestigious festival, making anurag happy with his experiments and choice of cinema.

nurag is best known for his films

Black Friday, Dev D and That Girl In Yellow Boots. Let’s see how anurag fares with his venture into the commercial world…

A gentle look at india Stalwart Indian actress Lillete dubey says that unlike Slumdog Millionaire, director John madden’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel takes a gentle look at India. and she should know, having worked in the recently released movie amidst some hollywood’s finest.

“It’s not like Slumdog Millionaire which showed our country in a brutal light. The Best Exotic arigold hotel takes a very gentle look at our country,” said Lillete who plays a feisty character, but doesn’t even get a mention in the opening credit titles.

“Indian audiences may feel we’ve been short-changed, but the Indian actors in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel are playing exactly what they were promised. No more no less,” she added. owever the size of the parts played by the Indian actors, including Slumdog Millionaire hero dev patel, is borderline or negligible.

Explaining why her name is missing in the opening credit titles, she said: “It’s not indi film where one is promised the sun and moon with the stars, and then one ends up with two minutes on screen. ll of us Indian actors and that includes many players from my plays like Neena ulkarni and Rajendra Gupta, were told exactly what we had to do.”

“The film is about the British characters. It features stalwarts like Judi dench, aggie Smith and Tom Wilkinson. It would be slightly unrealistic to expect me and the other Indian actors to have pivotal roles,” she added.

She, however, admits that she should have insisted on being billed in the opening credits.

“But it’s not their fault. I should’ve put it into my contract. I’ve to admit it’s a bit of a shock to see my name missing in the opening credits when even Tina esai is mentioned,” said the 51-year-

“I did it (the film) for the pleasure of being directed by John madden and for working with maggie Smith Srk

What’s the chitchat between shilpa shetty and raj Kundra here?

Shilpa: pregnancy announcement, check. Baby shower, check. keeping up well with the Bachchans so far. Now for the birth. all the arrangements made to satisfaction, I hope?

Raj: yes, your highness nishita wins a double pass to new hindi film “dangerous ish” and Judi dench. They made it memorable. I remember for one scene, where maggie was supposed to give me an off camera cue, she sat on her wheelchair in the burning sun of Jaipur for four-and-a-half hours.

“I finally couldn’t take it any longer. I went up to her and told her there was no need for her to be there. She turned around and said it was her job. Just watching an actress like maggie Smith is so enriching. I don’t regret doing the movie at all. my role may be minuscule. But I derived tremendous pleasure in being a part of the cast. ” Well, things are done a bit differently at home, Lillete, where publicity is all that matters!