Mumbai, (IANS) Saif Ali Khan isn’t the only one who’s unveiled a

secret passion for playing the guitar. Director Farhan Akhtar, who

plays a rock musician in Abhishek Kapoor’s “Rock On”, also knows

how to strum but says he is not as good.

Now that Saif and Farhan are working together in the latter’s “Voice

From The Sky”, will they be jamming together?

“I don’t mind, but I don’t think I’m as good as Saif on the guitar. Not

that we’re in competition or anything,” Farhan, who ventured into

showbiz with the successful directorial venture “Dil Chahta Hai”, told

IANS.

Unlike Farhan, Saif has performed at a few concerts and also played

the guitar with the Indi-rock band Parikrama.

For Farhan, “Rock On” was like a dream come true.

“Playing the rock musician in ‘Rock On’ has been a wild fantasy come

true for me. I’ve been playing the guitar for eight years now. When I

was 14, I heard Guns ‘N’ Roses do their song ‘Appetite for destruction’

and I was hooked. I wanted to be a rock star.

“The timing for ‘Rock On’ was just right. When I met Abhishek Kapoor

and he told me about my role of a musician, I grabbed it. I had the time

to sharpen my skills on the strings. It gave me a chance to play out a

secret fantasy. I really enjoyed it.”

“Rock On” recreates the musical mischievous masti of Farhan’s “Dil

Chahta Hai”. And Farhan is all praise for his musicians.

“They’ve all been wonderful - Luke Kenny, Arjun Rampal, Prachi

Desai and Shahana. We’re all happy working together and meeting

when we’ve time. That feeling of bonding shows up on screen.”

The film will be released by the end of August.

“I don’t think Saif is planning to cut an album before me,” Farhan

joked. “I’m really looking forward to working with him. For ‘Voice

From The Sky’, we both go back to the turn of the last century.”

Mumbai, (IANS) On a stage made in the image of the outer space with

a cut-out of the moon in the background, Indian film legend Amitabh

Bachchan crowned 13-year-old Aishwarya Majmudar as the first

“Amul Star Voice of India Chhote Ustad” here late evening Saturday.

Amitabh, who came to promote his upcoming film “Bhootnath”,

walked onto the stage in a studio here and announced the winner after a

power-packed welcome performance by the eliminated contestants of

the show.

The Ahmedabad-based girl, who was fondly referred to as ‘Style Ben

Aishwarya’ for her high style quotient, triumphed over 14-year-old

Anvesha Dattagupta from Kolkata.

Playback singer Kunal Ganjawala, who was among the judging panel

of the TV show, told IANS: “Our duty was to bring the right

contestants to fight it out at the finale and I am happy we were able to

do so. It was a neck-to-neck competition and the results entirely

depended on public voting.

“I think both contestants were equally good and deserving and, believe

me, unlike most other reality shows, both these girls will be seen and

talked about for a long time to come.”

The entire show saw a series of livewire performances by the two

contenders, with fillers by the eliminated contestants, host Abhaas

Joshi, playback singers Shaan and Ganjawala, and also song-based

reality show winners Ishmeet Singh, Abhijeet Sawant, Rahul Vaidya

and Himani Kapoor.

For the fist time on television, the young girls provided live playback

to Bollywood actors Malaika Arora Khan and Isha Koppikar.

New Delhi, (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani, a

movie buff, loved Ajay Devgan’s directorial debut “U, Me Aur Hum”

during a special screening here and gave it a standing ovation.

Ajay’s film, that releases April 11, delves into the institution of

marriage through the story of three couples. The film is about how no

marriage can be complete without problems.

“Member of Parliament Ravi Shankar Prasad arranged a special

screening of the film Saturday in New Delhi for Advani, who gave it a

seven-minute standing ovation while the credits were being shown,”

said a source close to the actor.

“The film touched my heart,” Advani, who started his career as a film

critic, told media persons. He came with his wife Kamla to watch the

film.

Apart from Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj was also

present at the screening as were the actors Ajay, Kajol and the rest of

the star cast including Karan Khanna, Sumeet Raghvan and Divya

Dutta

Advani, who in a recent interview said he loves watching movies, had

also attended the special screening of Aamir Khan’s directorial debut

“Taare Zameen Par” last year. The film moved him to tears.

Mumbai, (IANS) Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan made a

special appearance at the Mehboob Studios here to express his support

for a unique Mumbai Police initiative - observing Monday as ‘No

Honking Day’.

The actor affixed on his car Saturday a sparkling white sticker that said

“No Honking Today” as representatives of the police department and

scores of NGOs cheered on.

The campaign, first of its kind in India, aims at creating awareness of

the social and medical ill effects of honking and noise pollution.

Mumbai Police and other agencies have so far distributed over

100,000 such stickers in English, Hindi and Marathi to vehicles

owners, including two-wheelers, four wheelers, taxis and autos.

Mumbai has a whopping 1.5 million vehicles, including 110,000

auto-rickshaws and 55,000 taxis, Shahaji Solunke, deputy

commissioner of police (Traffic), told IANS.

Mumbai’s population is approximately 15 million, which means that

there is one vehicle for every 10 people.

“As it is, Mumbai suffers from high noise pollution level. Series of

tests conducted by us have shown that it is between 65 decibels

(lowest) and 95 (highest), both in residential and industrial areas. The

limits are 55 for residential and 85 for industrial areas,” said Sumaira

Abdulali, head of Awaz Foundation, which is part of the ‘No Honking’

initiative.

Harish Baijal, another deputy commissioner of police (Traffic), said

the inspiration for the campaign came when he was posted to Kosovo

for a year.

“Drivers do not honk there at all. I was amazed and wondered why we

could not attempt something like this in Mumbai,” he said.

“Honking is a mindset … and both pedestrians and drivers need to be

disciplined. People seem to enjoy honking, whether driving or waiting

at the 470-odd traffic signals in Mumbai,” Baijal pointed out.

In India, honking is actually encouraged! Behind many vehicles,

especially trucks, “Horn OK Please” is written in bold letters.

Baijal was relieved that many enlightened Mumbaikars shared his

views. Shortly after the initiative was announced, nearly 50 voluntary

organisations, citizens groups, corporate houses, college and school

students came forward to support the campaign.

“Apart from Awaz Foundation, they include the HDFC Bank, Radio

Mirchi, Red FM, STAR News, students of Wilson College and Kirti

College, many schools and 800 traffic police personnel of Mumbai,

and nearly 2000 volunteers of different NGOs and citizens groups,”

Sumaira said.

Sumaira, Solunke and Baijal are unanimous that “awareness” on the

issue is a must.

“We must prepare a noise map of Mumbai and the government must

implement noise pollution control measures,” Sumaira said.

At present, honkers get away with measly fines, but Sumaira suggests

invoking the Environment Protection Act, which makes noise

pollution a non-bailable offence and stipulates a jail term of five years

and a hefty fine of Rs.100,000.

“The nation is already paying heavily for the high noise pollution levels

that we live with. All stress related disorders, heart problems or

hearing defects are directly connected to noise pollution,” Sumaira

said.

She emphasised that the police would be handicapped in their quest to

make Mumbai noise-free without support from concerned

governmental agencies.

Baijal said the traffic police have already begun cracking down on

offenders.

“Last weekend, within just three hours, the police registered 25 cases

of noise pollution. Monday, all those who honk needlessly shall be

penalized,” he said.

FM radio stations have gone all-out to promote the campaign.

Bachchan apart, the organisers have urged other celebrities to come

forward and express support for the drive.

Heavy honking is witnessed on Mondays, the first working day of the

week as people rush to offices after a relaxed weekend. Even

designated ‘no honking zones’ like hospitals and educational

institutions are not spared by speeding drivers.

Rakesh Upadhyay, director of pharma firm Vedanta Health Care, said,

“The drive must be supported by all right thinking citizens as it is for

the general good of the city’s health”.

Sumaira assured the people the campaign would not end Monday. “It’s

the beginning,” she said, adding that it would become a regular feature

until noise pollution was drastically reduced.

After the news of Salman playing guru to Shoaib Akhtar, he comes another bit on the Salman-Shoaib front. It has been reported that in the wee hours of Saturday morning Shoaib Akhthar and Salman Khan entered into a bit of an argument concerning their individual fitness levels and physique.

Shoaib Akhtar challenged Salman to a race to prove a point or two. Shoaib instigated Salman by taking off his shirt the Salman way. The two then set off starting from Salman’s Galaxy Apartments to the other end at Taj and back.

Guess who won? It was Shoaib who made it ahead of Sallu Bhai by a second or two. Looks like Shoaib knows his way out at Bandra. Let’s hope he soon finds the right road to bollywood too.

Yes! Salman’s fans can relish a major share of their star this year with almost three films of his going to be released between May and July.

This Khan, who is often touted as the bad boy of Bollywood and who is in the eye of controversies most of the time, will be seen essaying different roles in three films.

The first film to hit the theaters reportedly will be ‘Heroes’ were Sallu plays a Sardar. ‘Heroes’ is a ‘Samir Karnik’ venture and also has a host of other stars like Sunny & Bobby Deol, the dimply beauty Preity Zinta and Amrita Arora among others.

The next flick that is expected to hit the screen is Sallu’s much delayed project ‘Hello’. The film is said to be another version of Chetan Bhagat’s best seller ‘One Night At The Call Center’. Salman has a special appearance in this flick.

The third film to hit the screens will be ‘God Tussi Great Ho’. This film is said to be the desi version of Hollywood actor Jim Carrey’s movie ‘Bruce Almighty’. This film will also see the Big B playing God. The film also co-stars Manisha Koirala and Priyanka Chopra.

The other projects of Salman Khan that are under production are ‘Main Yuvraj’ and ‘Wanted Dead And Alive’ which are expected to release towards the end of this year.

With so many films of Salman going to release we wish this cool dude all success in all his forth coming films!

Katrina Kaif, the latest face of success in Bollywood referred to as the most bankable heroine lately is all set to shake a leg in Salman Khan’s next film ‘Wanted Dead And Alive’.

This film is a Hindi version of the south Indian super hit film ‘Pokiri’ which was released in Tamil and Telugu in the same name. In Tamil it starred Vijay and in Telugu, Mahesh played the lead role.

Katrina Kaif will do the item song that Mumaith Khan had done in Mahesh-starrer ‘Pokiri’. The song ‘Naa vayasinka padahaare’ has been a chart-topper for almost a year and is among the most popular item songs in Telugu.

The Hindi version of the film named ‘Wanted Dead And Alive’ is being made by Boney Kapoor, starring Sallu baba in the lead. So, it’s little wonder that Katrina gave the nod for the song. Also, we are told that she is being paid a bomb! Soon, the song will be shot in Chennai.

Keep watching this space for more interesting updates!

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar’s dream to make it big in Bollywood will very soon become a reality as he has found a guiding star for himself and it’s none other than the heart throb of Bollywood Salman Khan. Recently when Shoaib was in Mumbai for the IPL bidding he made it a point to meet Salman at his residence in Bandra.

Salman’s friendship with the cricketer is not something new. Salman has always been a god father to many newcomers like Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor. This time it was Shoaib who came over to Salman who in return gave him some tips and encouraged him to join Bollywood.

From teaming up with Shah Rukh Khan for IPL to gearing up for a filmi career, Shoaib seems to explore all that he can. Now don’t be surprised if you read somewhere that the cricketer is settling in Mumbai.

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar’s dream to make it big in Bollywood will very soon become a reality as he has found a guiding star for himself and it’s none other than the heart throb of Bollywood Salman Khan. Recently when Shoaib was in Mumbai for the IPL bidding he made it a point to meet Salman at his residence in Bandra.

Salman’s friendship with the cricketer is not something new. Salman has always been a god father to many newcomers like Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor. This time it was Shoaib who came over to Salman who in return gave him some tips and encouraged him to join Bollywood.

From teaming up with Shah Rukh Khan for IPL to gearing up for a filmi career, Shoaib seems to explore all that he can. Now don’t be surprised if you read somewhere that the cricketer is settling in Mumbai.

Pune is going to be a little brighter from today. The reason is the presence of the coolest dudes of Bollywood. The stars will be present for the Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football Cup that will be held in the city starting from today.

The Abhijit Kadam Memorial Football Cup was founded in 2003 in memory of late Abhijit Kadam who meet with untimely death in a car accident some years back. Abhijit, the son of Minister Dr. Patangrao Kadam, was a good football player himself. This foundation is a tribute to him from his father Dr. Patangrao and brother Vishwajeet to groom the upcoming football players in the state.

None other than King Khan, who is an avid supporter of sports, will be inaugurating this event. Be it cricket, hockey, racing or football we have our man right there in front cheering the players. The match will also see a host of other stars like Salman and Sohail Khan, Govinda, Sunil Shetty, Dino Morea, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Kemmu, and the ‘Saawariya’ hero Ranbir Kapoor participating in this charity match against the Pune team. This match will be held on March 4.

This match is co-organized by the Salman Khan Foundation and the proceeds of this game will go towards the treatment of the AIDS and cancer affected children.

The game will come to an end on March 8 when Nana patekar and John Abraham are supposed to be giving away the prizes to the winners. Well girls with as many as a handful of Bollywood hunks attending the event you know where to be, come March 4.

Superstar Salman Khan finally gave his dates to brother-in-law, Atul Agnihotri. After several months wait, Salman finally shot a stage song for the film ‘Hello’ at ND studios Karjat. 75 Indian and Russian dancers with a crowd of about 700 were involved in shooting the song for over a 7 day schedule. The song was choreographed by Rajiv Surti and set was designed by Nitin Chandrakant Desai.

The film is presented by Paul Parmar and produced and directed by Atul Agnihotri. The film is based on the bestseller book ‘Óne night at call centre’ by Chetan Bhagat.

The film stars Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Ishaa Koppikar, Amrita Arora, Gul Panag , Sarath Saxena, Dalip Tahil and Suresh Menon .It has special appearances by Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, and Arbaaz Khan.

Music - Sajid Wajid, Lyrics -Jalees Sherwani, Cinematogrphy - Sanjay F Gupta, Executive producer- Ranjit Shah, Sound Designer- Jitendra Chaudhary, Prodcution designer – Muneesh Sappel, Editor -Umesh Gupta, Action -Mahendra Verma.

Whenever there is Salman around he does not fail to hit the headlines. While some say he is the bad boy of Bollywood many feel he is a guy with a loving heart. This star was recently seen as the judge to the reality music show for kids, ‘Chhote Ustad’. And what did he do this time.

From the moment the kids saw Salman they began cheering him and Sallu to seemed over-whelmed by their talent. Then some kids in the show placed a request to Salman. They wanted to see their hero in his trademark style, bare-chested and Salman instantly removed his shirt and flashed his torso with his rippling muscles. He also hit the dance floor and also sang ‘O O jaane jaana..’ amidst roaring applause.

Salman yet again proved that he has a good heart inside that great body by donating five lakh rupees for one child battling with cancer. Not only that, Sallu also surprised the kids with is talent in handling the canvas when he painted for the kids on the sets. He is one guy who knows to win many hearts.

Salman has a riot of films releasing around mid-2008 with ‘Hello’, ‘Heroes’, ‘God Tussi Great Ho’, ‘Main Yuvraj’ and ‘Wanted Dead And Alive’. With so many Salman films in queue Salman fans can truly feast on their hero after mid-2008.

Are they together or are they not??? Well this seems to be a never ending arguement when it comes to the relationship of Salman and his belle Katrina Kaif. But recently there have been rumors doing the rounds that Salman has changed his focus from Katrina and zoomed in on a new face. Well she is not a new face altogether, we are talking about Mahek Chahal, who is rumored as the new girl in Sallu’s life.

There are also reports that things or not in the best of shape between Salman and Katrina.

The recent buzz is that Sallu is hanging on with this NRI beauty a bit more than usual and has been going around introducing her to prospective producer friends. If you remember it right, then this was the lass who was first suggested to appear in ‘Ajnabi’, but for reasons unkown was dropped from that project. Mahek has also been spotted in sets of Sallu films where she is not involved.

Might it be that our Sallu baba is attracted to NRI chics?

Though Salman is always mentioned as the bad boy of Bollywood, seldom people fail to notice that this bad boy has a heart of gold. It might just be that Sallu was trying to just be friendly to this damsel in distress and helping her find good roles in Bollywood.

Is this new found friend just a friend or is there something more than friendship to the Sallu-Mahek relationship, only time can be the judge.

Vipul Shah’s next film ‘London Dreams’ has Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan playing the lead roles. But who are playing the lead heroines for these two heroes in this film?

There were rumors doing the rounds that either Kareena Kapoor or Katrina Kaif will get to play the roles. But there are also rumors coming out that the director is on the look out for news face to act opposite Salman and Ajay.

At least that is what the director has disclosed recently. The reason for the director looking for a new role, the director has pointed out that the script demands so.

The filming of ‘London Dreams’ will begin towards the end of June. The same director’s film ‘Singh is Kinng’ is all set to release in August.

Well, we all know that director Boney Kapoor is making a film with Salman Khan. The film will be a remake of ‘Pokiri’. But what is news is that Salman has decided to do this with a cut in his payment for the film.

And what will Boney Kapoor do in favor? The director has decided to launch Arbaaz Khan, the brother of Salman in a single hero subject. All this happened when Salman walked in to Boney Kapoor with this request to launch his brother in a single hero subject.

The actor also suggested that if Boney was willing to produce the film then Salman will make a concession in his remuneration in ‘Pokhiri’ remake.

This film that will launch Arbaaz in a sole-hero topic will be jointly produced by Boney Kapoor and Salman Khan. Boney is currently getting the script in place after which they will decide on the director.

This shows yet another side of Salman - The a brother who cares about his sibling!

Shah Rukh Khan and Sonam starrer ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ which is going to be released on December 12, 2008 is making news not just because Aditya Chopra is directing it after a long gap of eight years since he directed ‘Mohabbatein’ in 2000, but also because it’s the first film from the Yash Raj Films to look for a share of 55 per cent from the total Bombay circuit’s earning in the first week of the release. This is something that has never happened before. For other cities a share of 55, 55 is being looked upon.

Till now other big banners in the industry have gone for the share of revenue as same as that of Yash Raj Films for some of their high-profile projects. But with Yash Raj taking a step ahead, it needs to be seen how the other entertainment companies will react to this new sharing deal if it is approved in Yash Raj’s favour at 55% or any other figure other 50% by the multiplexes.

Apart from ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ Yash Raj Films’ releases this year are ‘Tashan’, Kunal Kohli’s untitled film, Siddharth Anand’s ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’, animated flick ‘Roadside Romeo’ and ‘Krazzy 4′ produced by Rakesh Roshan.

‘Krazzy 4′ directed by debutant Jaideep Sen will hit the theatres on April 11, 2008 and is distributed by Yash Raj films in all territories except Delhi-UP, Punjab and Bengal. They are looking at a revenue share of 50, 45 for Bombay circuit and 50, 50 for other circuits. The film starres Juhi Chawla, Irrfan Khan, Arshad Warsi, Rajpal Yadav, Suresh Menon, Rajat Kapoor and Dia Mirza.

‘Tashan’ will be released on April 25, 2008, Kunal Kohli’s untitled film on June 27th, ‘Bachna Ae Haseeno’ on August 15th and ‘Roadside Romeo’ on October 24th. Revenue sharing terms of 50, 45 are being looked at for Bombay.

All the new films need to be successful for Yash Raj Films to stick on to the agreed terms of revenue sharing. In 2007 as none of the films except ‘Chak De! India’, ‘Tara Rum Pum’, ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’, ‘Laaga Chunari Main Daag’ and ‘Aaja Nach Le’ let the cash registers ringing as per the expectations, Yash Raj had to wave off the revenue terms by 5 percent , changing it 45, 40.

Yash Raj Films will be hoping for the very best results for all the films released from their stables before December 12th for Aditya Chopra’s ‘Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’ to stick on to the newly introduced sharing figures of 55%.