KING KI--IAN'S BIRTI--IDAY DI--IOOM

It was wishes gal o re for birthday boy Shah Rukh Khan who turned 49 on 2 November The who's who of India's glitterati including West Bengal CM, Mamata Banerji, sports stars and several Bollywood stars, wished the King of Romance on the occasion

The superstar said to the media that he doesn't count his years as he always feels energised and is actually looking forward to his SOth birthday

It was a double dhamaka for SRK this year as his just released Happy New Year also made the quickest Rs.100 crore on the box office (it has now touched the Rs 200 crore mark)

On his birthday SRK came out to greet his eager fans waiting to wish him, and later tweeted , "So many beautiful people outside Mannat. Thank you all for celebrating my birthday with such ownership and love Very humbling:'

A special gift from Dharma Produ ctions was Best Moments with SRK- a bouquet of memorable moments from their films with SRK for his fans to enjoy

The best of scenes were picke d from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, Kai Ho Naa Ho an d Kabhi Avida NaaKehna.

As well, DOU (Di/wale Du/haniya Le Jayenge) is set to complete 1,000 weeks next month "Aditya Chopra is planning to have us all watch the film together with some unedited footage There is a lot of affecti o n attached to the film;' said SRK on the occasion of his birthday bash

The actor, who has played negative roles in the past, also said he wou ld love to do Dhoom 4 if approache d. So far John Abr aham, Hrithik Roshan and Aam i r Khan have played the main villain in the Dhoom franchise When asked if he woul d like to d o a negative role in Dhoom 4, SRK sa id, "I am d oing a fi l m with Yash Raj currentl y, Fan If I get an opportunity, I wo u ld l ove to do Dhoom 4'.'

Bollywood mourns the loss of one of its finest villains

"We wi ll remember Sadashiv Amrapur k ar as a versat i le actor, popular across gen erations RIP My deepest condol ences to his fami l y," read a post on PM Mod i's Twitter handle @narendramodi.

The PM and many othe r veteran actors and film makers like Amitabh Bachch an, Anupam Kher, Pooja Bhatt, Madhur Bhandarkar, Kuna! Kohli, Riteish Deshmukh , offered condolences at the death of versatile actor, Sadash iv Amrapurkar, 64 He was hospitalised at the Kokilabein Dhiru bai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai with lung i nfection.

His Maharani act i n Sadak and his genuine personality are trademarks that t h e l ate actor Sa d ashiv Amra p urkar will always be remembered for, said celebrities from the Hindi film industry.

Baba Sehgal plays himself in Bank -Chor

Baba Sehgal, popular as the king of desi ra p , will be seen as h imself in Y-Fi lms's Bank- Chor His cameo was especially written for the movie

The singer, best remembered for songs l ike Thanda thanda paani an d Oil dhadke, wi ll be seen as one of the hostages stuck insi d e the bank dur ing the heist i n t h e fi l m His character · will d r i ve everyone - the robbers, the bank employees, customers and other hostages - crazy with his rapping

"The part was specially written in a later d raft as both Bumpy (the direct o r) an d I are huge fan boys of the man;' producer Ashish Patil, producer says

"He's als o been entertaining the crew with his batty raps that he makes up on the spot about everything from the oily medu wada to the spot boy serv ing chai What a mad film this is shap ing out to be;• Patil ad d ed.

Bank-Chor is a comic -caper that tells the story of three morons trying to rob a bank who pick the worst day possible w h en everything that ca n go wrong, goes wrong an d how they 're inad vertently caught in the crossfire of p o licemen, industrialists an d corrupt politicians

The film stars Riteish Deshmukh , Vivek Oberoi and Rhea Chakraborty in l ead roles.

Amitabh Bachchan

Yesudas , Shreya Ghosa l, Salim Merchant, Shruthi Haasan an d Har iharan have l ent their voice on the project

Big B, big paunch

Bi g Bis currently i n Ko l kata , b u t you already know that because you fo ll ow h i m on socia l media!

He was seen cycl i ng hi s way through the city's nerve centre BBD Bagh t h at houses n u merous heritage structures as well as the Writers Buildings - the regular seat of the West Benga l government

N o, it wasn't a spot of exercise for the 71-year-ol d superstar; he was fi l min g for h i s upcoming film Piku

"Kolkata shal l a lways hol d a special p l ace," Am itabh tweeted. "It's a 'city of joy'that ener gises you with intellect and passion:'

He al so c l aimed that the city made him nosta l gic and b ro ught back "too many memori es "

Amitabh ha d migrated to the eastern metropolis in search of a future and a job i n the early 1960s He m ade do with a sa l ary of just Rs 500, working for a p r ivate company. Later, h e moved to Mumbai to make it big on the si lver screen.

Hariharan,

Javed Akhtar team up for National Games theme song

Lyricist Javed Akhtar and composersinger Har iharan are working together to bring out the theme song of India's 35th Nationa l Games, starti ng Jan 31.

Akhtar has penned the l yrics for the three-minute signature song in H i nd i , while Hariharan has c o m posed the music for it.

The song highlights the sportsman spirit Apart from the song, jingles will also be used as fillers and would be re l eased acro ss the country on FM Ra d ios

A promo film on the event i s bei ng worked out as well

Piku is d i rected by Shoojit Sar kar of Vicky Donor fame The mega star p l ays the role of fat h er to starl et Deepika Pa d ukone. In an era wher e Bollywood actors obsess about six pack ab s, Ami tab h Bachch an went on a binge diet to sport a p aunch for this particular role

The film al so stars l rr fan Khan an d Moushumi Chatterjee So we were wrong to thin k Shoojit's Piku has something to do w ith Satyajit Ray's 1980s Bengali film Pikoo

Meanwhile, Big B might pop i n to see h i s ow n wax statue at the city's new wax m u seu m that i s set to open on 10 Nov Statues of 19 ce l ebrities i nclud ing Shah Rukh Khan, Sach i n Tendu l kar and Presid ent Pranab Mukherjee will dot the museum christe n ed 'Mother's Wax Museum' after Mother Te resa

Big B's upcoming films are Shamitabh wh i ch r el eases in Feb 2015 and Wazir, set for Apr i l 201 5

Lisa Haydon is shaukeen

Actress Lisa Haydon says she's a fan of Rat i Agn i hotri's performance in the 1982 film Shaukeen, which has inspired the forthcoming film The Shaukeens Shaukeen, a cult film by Basu Chatterjee, starred Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt. A K Hangal and Rati in key roles

The new age film The Shaukeens, which releases this week, features Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoo r and Piyush Mishra. But Lisa also clarified that her character Ahana in The Shaukeens is very different from Rati's orig inal role

"I am enjoying the fact that the humour in this comedy is very self-deprecating. Every actor has made a great effort to laugh at himself," she said

The experience of working on The Shaukeens has been wonderful for Lisa, who has been noticed for her work in Aisha and Queen in the past uQueen was equally satisfying in its own way, even though it was a small film. The Shaukeens has given me an opportunity to work with amazing actors I don't think I have seen a comedy like th i s in Indian cinema before," she said.

The film is directed by Abhishek Sharma and also stars Akshay Kumar, Anupam Khe r, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra

Lisa's role was earlier offered to Nargis Fakhri. But no, she isn't complaining

"I don't comp l ai n about my blessings;' said the dusky beauty.

How to do a good divorce

The one good th i ng that the HrithikSusanne divorce has done, is to show how to be friends after the marriage is officially over.

WI-IO WORE IT BETTER?

Hr ith ik Rosh an and his estr anged wife Susanne Khan we r e granted d i vorce by a Sandra court recently They continue to be fr i ends and meet regularly, especially at events to do with their kids Hrehaan and Hridhaan.They have joint custody of the kids

Hrith ik 's lawyer Deepesh Mehta says, "Here is an example of how a couple should part ways i n an elegant and classy way. Their divorce was finalised in a unique way, with n o alimony and not a single document drawn up between them . It's al l on the basi s of trust, respect and faith:'

It was earlier reported that a Rs.100 crore alimony was invol ved in their divorce but Sussanne had officially deni ed it.

Hrithik announced Sussanne's decision to end their 17 -year-old rel ationship via an official statement Dec 13 , 2013. Both dated for four years before fi n al ly tying the knot 20 December, 2000.

Aish: A Jazbaa of a birthday surprise

The stunning actress Ai shwarya Rai Bachchan, who ce l ebrated her 41 st birthday on 1 November, was surprised by her director Sanjay Gupta with an early teaser trailer of her comeback film Jazbaa

"It was an idea that came to me very l ate;' Gupta revealed. "Why not put together a three-minute teaser of our film and present it to her. I made sure she didn't get to know about it as I slogged for 18 hours a day to get it ready in time:'

Anything for your lead ing lady, eh, Sanjay?

Shabana Azmi and l r rfan Khan also star in the film

Deepika Padukone or Victoria Beckham in Victoria Beckham?

Share your views with us on our Facebook page / lndianlinkAustralia

"I have also given a go-ah ead to a few more scripts," Aishwa r ya told reporte r s on her birthday "I thought of making an announcement today, but I thought with due respect to the director and producer, it wou ld be r i ght for them to make the announcement:'

Ummm, okay then

A clean sweep of PM Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

NRls like myself are often very critical of lnctia. Thjs i s not o u t of malice, but out of concern for the la nd of our birth.

If, like me, you want to write hurnoLLr columns for your l ocal cornmunicy newspaper, no p lace on earth offers as m uch scope as Inctia. Indeed it is a veri table mine perhaps a minefield roo.

When I l anded in Inctia in early October after nearly 10 years away, tbe story that was sweeping every media outlet was, yes, 'sweeping'.

Not by orctinary municipal meruals, but b y mirusters and mandarins. The mectia was awash wi tl1 pictures of the top brass wea ring s uits an d crisp saris wielding tl1e derijhad11. That, for those of you who don't know, is a reed b room attached co a long pole. So long in some insta nces, that the tool was hard to handle! Bue never mind, i t was o nl y for p ho to opporturuties following the launch of 'S111achh Bharat Abh!Ja11' (Cle an Inctia Campaign) by out new ly appo inted Prime M iru ster, Naren dra Modi. 1 wish these departme n t di111i111s wo uld show sinular eotlmsiasm in deaning the cobwebs on files with triplicate copi es collecting dust on their desks.

Being a inan of action like our own Tony Abbott, Mocti - after launc hi ng t he movement at Gandhi's spo tle ss Rajghat samctdhidid a spot of cleaning himself at a hasti of sanfration workers near Rajpath And wh atever he starts, MocL does in mega style, so he named a panel to propagate his program, rune prominent personalities that inclu d ed the likes of Anil Ambani, Sachin Tendulirnr, P riyanka Chopra, lugh profile U ruplomat.

Mocti has stated tha t his goal is to get tl, e en tire nation c lean by 2 Ocrober, 2019

Salman Khan, Kamal Hassan , Shashi Tharoor and others

Now AruJ knows how to bwld a huge pile of cash but not trash; and Priyanka can sway her hips and sing at the same time while swee pLng m dodge the drudgery Sachin can sweep anything to fine leg tl1at is spun in front of him, b ut what Salman and Kamal can do is n ot clear to me. Even to perform their snmt acts, tl1ey ask for dupes They leave a trail of trash .in their fight scenes. A h, Salman once waned to clean some Rajasthan forest of some animal ' d eer' to his heart.

Even b efore the S1JJachh move ment started, the Kerala urut of the Congress Parry moved to sweep its star member, Sasru Tharoor, out for agreeing to be part of a clean campaign , an undiploma tic act by the once o r wishing to di screctit Nfodi's noble v ision, I dare to say that jt may take more than five years, o r more than even 50 years, before we will see a modified 'Clean forua'. 1 hardl y notice any change in peop le's attitud e in n onchalantly dumping ru bbish o uc in the open Surely tl1is needs a bottom -up and nor top-down approach.

But m y humb.le opiru on is that Modi, being an astute politician, may be thinking of a clean swee p of the Congress and a few o ther regional parties by th e time the next general election comes arou nd, coincidenta!Jy in 2019.

Ever since Mocli announced his well -intentioned move, 1 have been paying extra attention to tl1e amount of rubbi sh lying at every street corner, and notice tliat every pile is growing b y a few inches w ith each pass ing day.

If only a time maclune were to be set, like the one tl1ei1 had before the dawn of the millenruum or the r eaching of the seven billion global popuJarjon mark, it ma y show how many more tom1es of trash have been added since the campaign started If alJ the rubbish from the entire nation o f India could somehow be pi led up in o ne p lace, 1 suspect it may challenge tl,e height of Everest.

Now w ith picmres of their broom - handling bash archived in albums, Salma n an d Kamal have gone back to their fight scenes co leave che next trail of trasb. Such j5 Bhara t (co paraphrase a well -known Australia n)!