KICKING UP A STORM

Salman Khan's song Jumme ki raat, released recently as a teaser to his upcoming film Kick, has gone viral. Released appropriately on a Fri day (jumma), the video shows a hunky Sallu romancing a ravishing Jacqueline Fernandes It seems to have done its job, which was to whet the appetite of Salman fans across the diaspora eagerly waiting for the Eid re lease of the fi l m.

The song sung by Mika and Palak Mucchal is composed by Himesh Reshammiya.

Of course you can't help noticing the similarity to that other famous jumma number, Big Band Kimi Katkar'sJumma chumma de de from Hum (1991).

Salman himself agrees the similarities are there. "I love Jumma chumma; every time it plays on TV I watch the whole number!"

But his number is filmed differently, he hastens to add.

Regardless, the song has definitely kicked up a storm, with near ly 8 million views on YouTube for the film's trailer by the next morning. We wait to see if it trans lates to bums on seats, come Ei d. A recent SRK-Kareena Kapoor pre -release of a song went similarly viral, but alas, did nothing for the film when it was eventually released.

Expectations from Salman and Kick are huge, especially since Salman's last release Jai Ho under-performed at the box office.

Pretty Preity in Ness mess

Preity Zinta's allegation of molestation against her former beau and business partner Ness Wadia has not got much reaction from the film fraternity. Many like directorTanuja Chandra feel it's better to wait for the legal process to move forward and "avoid playing judge and jury ourselves;'while Moon Moon Sen feels"it is entirely their business''.

Chandra, who directed Preity in author -backed film Sangharsh, says, " I imagine she must have thought a great deal about it and hasn't done this on an impulse. Like all women in the country she has every right to approach authorities if she feels her individual space has been violated. We must wait for the legal process to move forward and avoid playing judge and jury ourselves''.

The outspoken Pooja Bedi has decided to sit on the fence.

She says:"Neither Ness nor Preity come across as a liar. Both are such lovely people. So it is just very unfortunate that it's all turning out the way it is. Having said this I feel it is for the courts to pass a verdict, not us ''.

Neetu Chandra feels the matter is personal. However, she also feels Preity is not the kind to raise a hue and cry unnecessarily.

"As far as I know, she is a no-nonsense person and leads her life with dignity. A break-up is never p l easant. Both the partners have to be very careful about preserving each other's self-respect in public after the break-up, for the sake of what they shared in the past''.

Preity lodged a written complaint againstWadia with the Marine Drive police station on June 12. She accused Wadi a, her former beau who co-owns the IPL team Kings X I Punjab with her, of grabbing her hand and abusing her during a cricket match in Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on May 30. Wadia has denied the allegations, terming them "totally false and baseless''. His fri ends have suggested that Preity is jealous because Ness has moved on and is now in a new relationship

Actress -parliamentarian Moon Moon Sen feels the two should sit and talk it out, even though she says she admires Preity's courage here.

"Maybe there's a history of abuse and now it has erupted in a public place to embarrass both of them. Surely the two can sit down and sort it out. No matter how we look at it, it is entirely their business''.

Movie guru Shailendra Singh finds the incident unfortunate

"It's unfortunate that a girlfriendboyfriend fight has national import ance. There are far more serious matters awaiting the nation's attention".

The battle of t he newbies

Fresh -faced Armaan Ja in will soon make his acting debut with fellow newcomer Deeksha Seth and first-time director Arif Ali, in LekarHum DeewanaDil.

The number of fresh faces continues to ri se in Bollywood and Armaan Jain wishes them alI the best of Iuck or so he says.

"There are a lot of youngsters, around l0to lS, ofmy age group doing the same genre of films;' he states.

"I believe in healthy competition. I hope we all work hard and have healthy competition. Hopefully, people accept my first film first an d we all grow together''. Yes you l ike healthy competiti on, we get it. but do we believe it?

Jai n has worked with two former assistant directors Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan, who are now successful actors, and says that he bonded with them while assisting filmmaker Karan Johar on My Name Is Khan.

"I was an intern, joini ng towards the end of the schedule. I gotto spend a l ittle bit of time with Sidharth and Va run during shooting schedule. It was great bonding with them,"says Armaan.

While he feels he is too young to explore the filmmaking part of the industry, he is not against it.

"When I started assisting, I wasn't aware of how films are made, what happens. Once I got involved with technicals, I started making short fi lms. I used to try and get my hands into editing. I directed a short fi Im to understand the craft practica l ly also My ma in concentration is to get this film r ight and act for now. Definitely at some point of t ime, I would love to direct a film I lov e editing as well;' adds the former intern, assistant, editor and wannabe director.

Armaan is the cousin of actor Ranbir Kapoor, and has also shown interest in RK Fi lms, the banner established by his

Preity Zinta

late grandfather and actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor

"At some point, if my uncles or Ranbir do [revive the banner] and if they want to involve me in some way, I would be honoured to do so If someth ing comes up, then definitely,"says Armaan Lekar Hum Deewana Oil will release on July 4.

Lost in translation

Ukranian ballroom dance expert Maksim Chmerkovskiy is visiting India to be the first internationa l judge of reality TV show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, the Indi an version of Dancing with the Stars.

However, it seems that the housewarming was not so warm with reports claiming Maksim is already unhappy as a judge on the show as he cannot speak or follow Hindi.

Maksim was quick to deny the reports "That's not true. I am having a blast And that report is bull - ;' he refutes.

"I came to India to embrace a new language and culture This is a once-ina- lifetime opportunity for me And I am enjoying every moment of it''.

Sounds legit. But he still can t understand a word of what the contestants and fellow judges say, with his own statements ticker -translated on screen

Arma An Jain

Luckily, with a bit of help (and by that, we mean an entire production team), the ballroom prodigy battles on " I had hoped that the production team would understand there would be d ifficulties And everyone is helping out I sit between Madhuri Dixit and Karan Johar They're constantly telling me what 's going on It helps that the show is taped and doesn't go on air live So, they stop the shooting and explain what's going on The experience I am getting her e is not something you get in a classroom;'he affirms

At least something is going his way, with Maksim claiming that Bollywood contestants have a lot more respect for the judges on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa than on Dancing with the Stars.

First step to being a better judge on Indian TV: Hindi lessons!

The key to a healthy relationship: Breaking box office records

Movie star Akshay Kumar's latest film Holiday -A Soldier Is Never OffDuty has minted Rs 102 62 crores in three weeks at the domestic box office and producer Vipu l Shah could not be happier

The Shah -Kumar partnersh i p has once again struck gold with this fi lm adding to their co ll ection of hits incl uding Aankhen,

WJ-10 WORE IT BETTER?

Maksim Chmerkov S Ki Y

Waqt - Race Against Time, Namastey London and Singh Is King.

However every relationship has its rough patches, fo r examp le the Action Replay fiasco.

"It has been a fantastic journey with Akshay;· Shah said, when talking about his partnership w ith the superstar.

" Holiday is our sixth fi lm together and four out of five films were successful. What is very i mportant is that all films got a lot of credibility from the audience''.

Holiday i s about terrorism in which director A R. Murugadoss focuses on sleeper cells and how quietly they merge into their target society before unl eashing havoc.

The thrilling drama featured a new style of action directed by renowned British stuntman Greg Powell, known for his work in Hollywood's super hit franchises such as Harr y Potter anc;t James Bond

The filmmaker said the successes have helped them in winning a "good reputation''.

"My relationship with Akshay has reached that stage where we constantly want to do better wor k together It has become stronger by the day;' said Shah

We sincerely hope you've been buyi ng him flowers But we wonder, who pays for dinner?

No more Bipasha : Vashu Bhagnani

Producer Vashu Bhagnani is so upset with Bipasha Basu, one of the female leads in his just released Humshakals, that he has decided not to work with her agai n

Directed by Sajid Khan, Humshakals, which also features Riteish Deshmukh, Saif Ali Khan, Ram Kapoor, Esha Gupta and Tammannaah Bhatia, hit the theatres in mid-June

The dusky beauty, who was m i ssing from all the promotional events of the film, stated that she was dissati sfied with the end resu lt of her role i n the fi lm

Bhagnani says that he never misled her about her role

"I asked Sajid myself to cast Bipasha," Vashu says. "She is a lovely lady But I don't know what her probl em i s It's not like we told her something and del ivered something else''.

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Is the feisty Bipasha too much of an alpha-woman fo r Bollywood's misogynist ways?

Dear Auntyji

Dear Auntyji

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l have been seeing this really nice boy for six m onths. About a month ago, I overhead his mother and aunt refer to him as adopted. I was shocked and amazed, but secret ly I was not su rprised because Ricky doesn't l ook anyt hing like h!s family members. So Ricky does n ot know this because I tried t o ask him in a number of ways w h ether he was adopted b ut he very proudly told me he was his fat her an d mother's du/ara Yes, I know you're probably wondering who uses that word anymore, but he picked It up from a movie we were wat ching called Anmol Rishta or something. So it turns out his rishta with his paren t s is not so Anmol after all. I am th i nking that in six weeks time, at a family gathering, I will ask Ricky's mum about t his an d have her te ll him to h is face t h at he is not adopted a n d is her real son. I wa nt t o fully expose her for the liar she is. So, I thought I would ask for your feedback on this first, I don't want Ricky to hate me after thfs, but I am doing him a favo u r. Please let m e know your thou ghts Aun tyji?

Auntyj

I Says

My goodness, how old are you? Five? Seven? 17? You couldn't possibly be older than thi s becaus e your total lack of common sense and empathy is indicative of a stupi d bachchi, rather than a grown woman. Here is what is wrong with your nasamajh planning, you stupid kalaankani. How do you really know what Ricky 's mum and aunt were speaking about? Were you part of the conversati on? How do you know they weren 't speaking about Ricky on Days of our Lives, because you do know that he was adopted right? Just after Bo and Hope got married. Wait, I am confusing myselfthere. In any case, your first mistake was to l eap headlong into a conclusion w ith no basis. In doi ng that, it looks like you have yourself a concussion because your second mistake was to thi nk, you horrid little besharam /adki that you can i nterfere in the lives of others. You have no right whatsoever to start maki ng allegations about anything, and that too at a public forum. I mean, seriously, what were you thinking? All this i s really none of your business and I wou l d let sleeping dogs lie Until you are told information first hand, you shouldn't do anything with this. And second, it's not your place to be the local grapevine Having said all this, I'm beginning to think that Ricky deserves better than a churail like you, so by all means, go ahead with your plan. You will make it obvious to all that you don't deserve to be i n that fam i ly then you can go and find some other family to torment. Man you really have been watching too much Zee TV Honestly, don't you have better things to do than to live a Zee TV serial of your own? And is your serial called, A busybody ki kahaani or Ek nadaan, pagal si /ad k i

On Facebo ok, my ex keeps posting pictu res and comments abou t how much fun she is having wit h her new man, and she makes poin t ed references t o how crap I was. Each time she post s someth ing, something i nside o f me d i es. I don't wan t her back, but I wish she wou l dn't write such crazy st uff, you know what I m ean? What should 1 do, Auntyji? I have not done the full tit-for-tat kind of thing, buttnan, I am so t empted. I wish I could just find myself a supermodel and post pictures on Facebook with pithy commen ts about how fabulous my life is Do you have some honest candid advice for me, Auntyji ? You know I really va l ue what you have to say.

Au nt yj i says

Ah, yes, Facebook, the place where fri endships go to die and where people's spi r its are slowly crushed. I have one very simple piece of advi ce for you But first, I have a questi on. What the fudge are you doing on Facebook anyway? Why are you on there vicariously living everyone else's meaningless and dull l ife? The only useful thing Facebook i s good fo r is to help keep your self esteem down, where th is one is getting promoted and that one is eating a fantastic meal and the other is living a lovey-dovey life with h is or h er otherwise really bor ing other half. So, unless you are going to say th at you use Facebook to gather insights into human behaviour in order to predict the next big trend, I don't see any reason for you to be on Facebook Who cares what your friends are up to I mean, do you really care that Amrita from g rade 6 is now married and l iving in Denver w ith two ugly, but intell i gent kids who get trophies for w inning spelling contests? Do you really want to see narcissisti c Ankhit posting p icture after boring p i cture of his l ovely-i n-hi s eyes new wife Shila? And do you rea ll y, really care that Madhu ate aloo sabzifor breakfast? Serious l y, do you rea ll y want to know all this? No, you should want to know more important things in life, such as, how to eradi cate poverty or mal aria and what is Modi s five year strategy? So my advice is for you to get off Facebook, then you won 't have to ca re what your ex does with whom. Remember she is playing to an audience of one. Why g ive her the satisfaction? Obviously you did not g i ve her sat isfaction when you wer e together but she is getting her sat isfacti on now Oh, I do hope this del icious irony is not lost on you! In any case, get off Facebook, and live you r own life. That 's my candid advice to you. Now take it and go. Live your life. But not on Facebook for Vishnu 's sake

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