Bipasha Basu has come a long way, from being a glamour doll. The Bengali actress is proving that she is not all about sex and oomph. She played an ambitious corporate executive with élan in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Corporate.  Now, she will take on yet another deglamourized role in the film Sab Charitro Kalponik. Directed by Rituparno Ghosh, SCK stars Bengali film’s superstars, Prosonjit and Jishu.

However, Bips has been able to strike a fine balance in the roles that she takes up. Alongside characters of substance, Basu continues to do the roles, which exploit her sexy image.  Dhoom: 2, Omkara, and on the way to being a hit Race are three examples. In fact, her looks in Dhoom: 2 and Race juxtaposed with her “plain Jane” look in Sab Charitro Kalponik, could be a study in contrast.

It appears Amitabh Bachchan and his family is planning to own a studio just like the one Shah Rukh Khan owns. The Bachchans are in the process of making their own state-of-the-art dubbing suite and preview theatre. They will dub their portions in this studio and will have private screenings there.

The studio will be at the bungalow, which was supposed to be the nest of lovebirds Abhishek and Aishwarya in Bandra.

Although plastic surgery is a term that we often hear nowadays, you will be surprised to know that it has been existence for centuries now. Early historical references to some kind of skin grafts being performed by an ancient physician named Sushruta in India somewhere during 800 B.C. Similarly there are references to the Greeks performing some forms of plastic surgery during ancient times. Newer techniques are evolving in the field of plastic surgery, almost each passing day. In a field that is usually driven by the aging population, procedures such as face lifts, nose jobs and eyelid shaping are finding an increasing number of takers these days.

Millions of men and women around the world suffer from the problem of thinning hair. There could be several reasons for the problem cropping up in the first place. It typically includes reasons such as improper diet, stress, vitamin deficiency or thyroid malfunction. In certain cases there is also the case of hereditary hair loss. This type of hereditary hair loss is known as ‘androgenetic alopecia’. Fortunately with the modern medicine field making rapid strides, there are many treatment options available for hair thinning. You should always seek the opinion of your doctor before you opt for any treatment option. Minoxidil is a medication which is usually used as a topical lotion to prevent hair loss. These days even surgical hair replacement methods are available. You can also find many vitamin supplements that are believed to help in stopping hair loss. The internet is perhaps the best source of information on hair thinning or hair loss.

Rumours were flying that Jeyam Ravi was in love with the Bollywood Hottie Kangana Ranaut. But in typical and time honored fashion Jeyam Ravi has said she is a just good friend. “ We share a perfect bond of friendship. Nothing beyond that exists,” said the young star. It is argued however that the two, who were shooting for their Tamil film Dhamm Dhoom have crossed the sacred line of friendship and are now in love. It is said that the two are in constant touch with each other even after the shoot. When Kangana was asked to disclose her feelings towards her Co-star, she said ‘ Ravi is a good  person by heart and any girl who would marry her will have a good partner in him’

The success story of Malaikottai has resulted in a sequel now. The Successful duo Vishal and director Bhoopathi Pandiyan are once again joining hands for a film titled VEDI.The movie in all likely hood would be no different from the earlier ones of Vishal. It should be a ripper in terms of racy narration and action sequences. With the Bhoopathi Pandiayn is currently busy with launching his younger brother as a hero, work on vedi would start only in the month of August. Vishal would also become free by the time after completing the schoot of Sathyam. The heroine has not been announced as yet. Malaikottai featured Priya Mani in modern outfits unlike in her earlier films.

When a couple of people find everything they touch working out well they will be fools to change their working arrangements. Things cant get more successful than the collaboration between Simbu and Yuvan Shankar Raja. After making successful films like Manmadhan and Vallavan, the combo is testing the waters again but this time at the cost of music director Dhina. According to sources, Simbu was not comfortable with any other music director than Yuvan and as a result. Dhina, who was earlier announced as the music director as one of Simbu’s films, has upped and quit opening the door to Yuvan.

Oscar Films the producer of Dasavatharam plans to bring in Jackie Chan to release the audio of the film at Chennai.

Sonu Nigam has headed to South Africa for a 3-city tour once again and this time around he will not only be singing songs from his movie hits of 2007 and 2008. The fans will also get a treat of his songs from his album Classically Mild.

Sonu says, “It is very exciting to be visiting South Africa again, especially after the special requests that I received from my fans. The fans over here are superb and the ambience they create is a singer’s delight. This is going to be one of helluva tour and hope my fans have as much of a great time listening to me sing, as I will have singing for them. Even though I last performed here in 2004, it feels like yesterday because of the fantastic memories that my fans have given me.”

We wish Sonu all the love and luck with his performances in South Africa and hope he comes back with a ten-fold number of fans.

Rani Mukherjee
Aditya Chopra is coming back to direction after a long while with his lucky mascot Shah Rukh Khan in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Chopra’s beau Rani Mukherjee too will be seen in the film but not in a full fledged role this time. Sources close to the Chopra camp reveal that Rani will be doing an item song in the film. Our sources also add that to give her appearance in the film more meaning and impact, a few scenes with punch packed dialogues are been incorporated.

Karan Johar
Karan Johar’s Khan, which is a take on terrorists and terrorism, is being delayed for some time. The reason for this is that Shah Rukh Khan wants to complete just announced home production Billo Barber directed by Priyadarshan this year. Also simultaneously, he will be busy with Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, which hopefully will be completed and released this year itself.

This all means that Khan will have to wait to go on floor early next year. Khan portrays SRK as a peace activist, as KJo wants to send message of peace to all terrorists through this film.

Mumbai, (IANS) Bollywood’s showman Subhash Ghai is all set to reunite with music maestro Pyarelal. He says that he is indebted to Pyarelal.

Pyarelal, along with his partner Laxmikant who died in 1998, composed stupendous scores for Ghai’s “Hero”, “Karz”, “Karma” and “Saudagar”.

“I consider Pyarelal among the 10 top music composers of the world. Whatever I know about music is thanks to Pyarelal. I’m indebted to him,” Ghai told IANS.

“After his partner passed away, he seemed to have thrown in the towel. He had lost his energy level. It happens when you lose your close creative collaborator. But he’s now ready to return. I’m constantly meeting him and I think we’ll soon work something out.”

Recently Ghai earned critical appreciation for “Black & White”, which had Anil Kapoor and newcomer Anurag Sinha in key roles.

Mumbai, (IANS) Legendary Indian actor Dev Anand has approached Goldstone Technologies Ltd Hyderabad to recolourise and restore the prints of his 1965 classic “Guide”, which is chosen to be screened in the “Classics” section of the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival.

“The original negative of ‘Guide’ has gone through a lot of wear and tear over the years and there are a lot of scratch marks on it. So, the print needs to be restored as the movie is highly popular even today. Dev Anand approached us again for the job and we are working on it,” Travis Caddell, managing director of Goldstone Technologies Ltd, told IANS by phone from Hyderabad Tuesday.

The Hyderabad-based Goldstone recently colourised Navketan’s 1959 black and white hit “Hum Dono”, which had Dev Anand in a double role. Nanda and Sadhna played his leading ladies.

“Guide”, in which Dev Anand plays the role of a tour guide who finds himself entangled in the affairs of a woman caught in a marital discord that drives him to the brink of his own life, will be shown in the “Classics” section at the Cannes.

Apparently, this is one reason why Dev Anand has opted for colour grading of the movie prints.

“Guide,” based on R.K. Narayan’s novel of the same name, has Waheeda Rehman in the most fascinating role of her career that gave the actress a chance not only to prove her histrionic abilities, but her dancing talent as well.

Goldstone Technologies Ltd recently colourised the Kannada movie “Satya Harischandra”. The movie, in which the Kannada film legend Rajkumar played the title role, was originally released in 1965.

Apart from restoration and colourisation, Goldstone also converted the format of the movie from 35 mm to CinemaScope at its Hyderabad facility.

Ahmedabad, (IANS) A Gujarat forest department team has handed over bailable warrants to Mumbai Police against Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, his former wife Reena Dutt, filmmaker Ashutosh Gowariker and two others on filming endangered chinkara gazelle in the 2001 Hindi film “Lagaan”.

Bhuj court Chief Judicial Magistrate S.B. Patel had recently issued the warrants on a complaint by the Gujarat forest department.

The court issued bailable warrants of Rs.5,000 each for the five who are to be present in court on April 15. The two others facing the court’s ire are executive director Srinivas Rao and photographer Ashok Mehta.

Aamir Khan has been accused of violating the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, by filming chinkaras for his movie “Lagaan” without permission. He is also accused of keeping a chinkara in captivity during the filming. The chinkara later died.

On a complaint by assistant conservator of forests J.V. Vyas, the Bhuj court issued a bailable warrant.

The forest department re-opened the case following a fresh complaint filed by wildlife NGO Gir Nature Youth Club.

“When the news reached me of open violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, I decided to file a complaint on July 10, 2006,” said Amit Jethava of the NGO.

Jethava told IANS that in the past notices were sent only by inquiry officers that had no impact. “Why should notices be sent? He should be arrested and brought before the court.”

According to a source in the forest department, Aamir Khan is unlikely to present himself in the Bhuj court on April 15.

Mumbai, (IANS) Yet another twist has been added to the turbulent relationship between Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and Manyata with the couple telling a Mumbai court that they are not “legally married”.

Challenging the allegations of bigamy levelled by Manyata’s first husband Meraj-ur-Rehman, the couple told a Mumbai court that there was no material to show the validity of their marriage in the eyes of the law, Dutt’s lawyer Rizwan Merchant told IANS.

Earlier, Dutt and Manyata were granted a reprieve till April 23 when the Mumbai Sessions Court stayed the proceedings against them by the Bandra court.

Additional Sessions Judge S.N. Sardesai admitted a revision application filed by Manyata and exempted the couple from appearing before the Bandra court April 15, Merchant said.

Meeraj-ur-Rehman filed a petition in the Bandra magistrate’s court that his marriage with Manyata has not been dissolved and he is still legally married to her.

The sessions court also stayed the proceedings at the Bandra court and called for the records of the case. It has posted the hearing of the revision application April 23.

The Bandra court March 11 ordered issuance of process against Dutt and Manyata, observing that their marriage was illegal.

The order was passed following an application filed by Manyata’s first husband, Meraj-ur-Rehman, claiming that he is still legally married to Manyata.

Dutt and Manyata had a court marriage in Goa Feb 7.