There’s a drought of hits at the box office, but Bollywood is witnessing a production boom. There are about 70 movies on the floor in varying stages of completion.

By yearend more than 100 movies made in Mumbai will have been released, over and above those that have already hit the screen as of April 25.

Buoyancy has also been witnessed in Bhojpuri movie production. As many as 60 movies made in the Bhojpuri language are now ready for release and another 60 are on the floor. Most of these are being made in Mumbai for logistical reasons.

The year so far has seen Bollywood movies not getting a good draw - only “Jodhaa Akbar” and “Race” have been declared hits.

Although “Krazzy 4″ and “U, Me Aur Hum” have not been able to live up to their pre-release hype, both the movies are sailing ahead smoothly.

The movie that is eagerly awaited at present is Yash Raj Films’ (YRF) multi-starrer action thriller “Tashan,” releasing next week.

Though YRF does not need props to boost box office performances, the much-publicised romantic linkup between Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor seems to have worked as a magnet to draw more crowds to “Tashan”, the couple’s first movie together.

“Since the romance between Saif and Kareena is for keeps, and not a gimmick to generate hope for ‘Tashan’, the people are eager to see their onscreen chemistry. And this, without being intended, will help the box office performance of the movie,” said a trade analyst.

Mahesh Bhatt’s “Jannat” is due for a May 2 release and a week after that B.R. Films’ “Bhoothnath,” starring Amitabh Bachchan, will hit the screen.

Another Amitabh starrer, “Sarkar Raaj,” directed by Ram Gopal Varma, is also due for a June 6 release.

Some of the much hyped movies lined up for release between June and October include “Kismet Konnections”, “Love Story 2050″, “Mission Istanbul”, “Money Hai To Honey Hai”, “Drona”, “Singh Is King”, “Gajini” and “Yuvraj”.

The year has also seen two well-known publishing houses making their movie debuts.

While the Times of India Group forays into moviemaking through Mirchi Movies, Nari Hira of Magna Publishing - the group that launched Stardust film magazine - ventures into film production with “Bhram”.

Preity Zinta, who is currently stationed in Mohali with her Indian Premier League (IPL) team - Kings XI Punjab, is aghast to hear stories that some of the players of the team were shabbily treated and asked to move out of the Taj hotel to a less opulent place.

Says a source close to Bollywood actor: “Preity and Ness (Wadia) are aghast at these stories. The last thing they have on mind is to discriminate against any player. But you see, there’s only one super-luxury hotel in Mohali and the main players in the squad of 16 were all housed there.

“In addition, Ness and Preity have decided to take on 10-12 players as trainees in a special development programme meant specially to create new cricketing talent. These boys were put up in a separate hotel but only because there was no room at the Taj. The team spirit didn’t suffer for a second just because the team of trainees stayed elsewhere.”

When contacted, Preity told IANS: “There’s no discrimination. We are in fact, trying to keep the game as much free of glitches as possible. Such negative stories aren’t helping our efforts at all.”

As for one of the trainee cricketers speaking on the alleged discrimination, the source said: “We’re pretty sure the cricketer didn’t mean to sound as though he was discriminated against, simply because that was not the intention at all.”

Preity intends to be totally immersed in Mohali team’s activities for the next couple of months.

In July, she leaves for the ‘Unforgettable world tour’ with Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. This would be her second concert tour with the Bachchans.

In fact, she flew back from Mohali to Mumbai for a day, last week, to shoot a promotional video for the concert. “The Bachchans are my buddies. They asked me, and I agreed,” Preity explained.

Our wait to know the title of Kunal Kohli’s forthcoming film starring Saif and Rani for the Yash Raj banner has finally ended! Kunal Kohli’s next film is ‘Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic’,a film that will revolve around Saif - a rich man, four orphan kids and Rani- the angel who comes in their lives to help them get rid of their worries.

I eagerly attended the exclusive screening of the film’s ‘first look’, and was relieved to see that the film didn’t bear any resemblance to Mary Poppins or Hum Hain Rahi Pyaar Ke as was reported by many publications.

The film in fact reveals how four orphan kids are forced to shift to Saif Ali Khan’s mansion in spite of them hating him and vice versa! Saif even makes it clear that if it wasn’t for the court’s orders he too wouldn’t let the kids stay with him! In their troubled lives nothing seems to look positive until Rani, the angel arrives… what she does and what is the actual relationship that Saif shares with the kids is what the film all about…

On declaring the title Kunal said, “When we encounter problems, we feel the need for someone to come and help us! We want a magic to happen. We need an angel! Thus my film is called what it is called. What inspired me to make the film was the fact that families are not made by birth but by love and this is the love that the characters in my film share. Also as you saw in the promo, it is not even loosely inspired by Mary Poppins.”

He further added, “Thoda Pyaar Thhoda Magic’ is not a fairy tale as the family in the film is very real. The kids are not filmy with gel in their hair! In fact three of the four kids have never even faced the camera before! They are like the Mr. India children. I was inspired by Mr. India and it was not a children’s film.”

Talking about his debut as a co-producer, Kunal elaborated, “After a while you want to progress, earn a little more money and you do feel that you should be able to own the product you make. I told Adi about it and he said why not begin with this film?”

Kunal concluded his brief chat to me by saying, “I’ll give you more information when the film releases on 27th June and the music on 23rd May.”

The Saif-Rani banter in Hum Tum hooked us completely and we hope they create some more magic on screen with their awesome chemistry once again!

As temperatures soar and the sun beats down relentlessly, glistening heaps of cut fruit and cool glasses of juice in stalls on the roadside become more and more inviting. Although they provide relief from the heat, they could still bring one to grief.

MCD officials are now trying to ensure that the public health department undertakes proper monitoring of juice shops and cut fruit shops in order to prevent the spread of water borne diseases. ‘‘This is the season for water borne diseases like cholera, typhoid and dysentery,” said M K Monga, chairman of the MCD health committee. ‘‘Such diseases are often spread through juice and cut fruit. We have already written to the MCD public health department to monitor such stalls, especially stalls selling sugarcane juice. Sale of sugarcane juice is banned from April 15 to September 15.”

‘‘The sweet fruits attract hundreds of flies carrying diseases, some of which even die and fall into the piles of fruit and glasses of juice. All such stalls have to maintain proper sanitation, not allow water to collect near the fruits and dispose of waste appropriately,” said Monga. Particularly sensitive areas, according to Monga, are Krishnanagar, Mangolpuri and Shahdara.

Meanwhile, all water trolleys and ice-cream trolleys plying on the city roads have also come under the scanner. ‘‘No unlicensed trolleys will be allowed on the roads and checks will be conducted at random,” added Monga.

The civic agency will also try and spread awareness among citizens about the kind of water that is used. ‘‘There are two kinds of hand pumps,” said Monga. ‘‘Hand pumps that are red in colour are shallow. Water from these is fit only for washing and bathing. Water from the green hand pumps can be drunk, but only after chlorination.”

A meeting of all MCD district health officers (DHOs) has been called on Thursday to discuss measures to be taken. ‘‘We also propose to have a weekly review of the functioning of all DHOs and keep a tab on the number of ice-cream vendors or fruit juice vendors nabbed for not following regulations,” said Monga.

MUMBAI: The normally taciturn Amitabh Bachchan has stepped into the world of blogs to air his views - and hit out at co-star Shatrughan Sinha’s insinuation that the nominations list of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards was fixed.

Stepping right into the controversy over the IIFA awards, of which he is brand ambassador, Amitabh goes to some length to explain his standpoint in his blog.

“A section of the print media carried comment from my colleague and friend and neighbour, Shatrughan Sinha. It reportedly quoted his reactions to the nomination list of the IIFA awards, wherein he has purportedly stated that sab kissika beta hai, ya kissiki bahu, ya kissiki biwi ‘, and the media adding there interpretation to it, stating that this was directed to a particular family of ‘guru’ fame,” he states.

The Mani Ratnam directed Guru , starring Amitabh’s son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai, has been nominated in all the main categories of the IIFA awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Performance in a leading role.

“I believe what is being insinuated is that there is partiality or some ‘fixing’ in the choice of the nominations carried by IIFA. And as the report concluded, the indication was towards one family, not difficult to guess which one,” Amitabh writes.

The actor, who is readying for the release of his next film Bhootnath , says he is surprised by Shatrughan Sinha’s allegation and harks back to the past to make a point.

“I am surprised at this observation, especially since, during the time of the National Award selection for best actress in one of the past years, when the award went to Raveena Tandon, it was alleged that Shatrughan Sinha’s wife, the lovely and graceful Poonam, a great friend of Raveena’s mother had recommended the appointment of MacMohan, the brother of Raveena’s mother, on the board of the jury (structured by the government, in power - in this case the BJP, of which Mr. Sinha was a Minister of State) in order that he may cast his vote in favour of Raveena Tandon.”

“If this alleged story is true then I do value Mr. Sinha’s alleged statement of sab kissika beta, kissiki beti, kissiki biwi - you are so right Shatru,” he wrote.

“Of course, this does not take anything away from Raveena’s very deserving award - she has been a wonderful and talented co-artist in many films of mine, or, MacMohan, the Sambha of Sholay , who has remained a dear friend and has worked with me in several films. As has Mr. Sinha.”

Commenting on the IIFA nominations, Amitabh said the names were finalised through computerised voting system.

“And may I also state that IIFA nominations come from the film fraternity through computerised voting systems, audited and compiled by PriceWaterhouse Coopers, an international company of repute and standing.”

“And Shatru! I have seen some very encouraging reports of the film, where your son is being introduced to this great industry. May he prosper and succeed even more than his illustrious father and may he never have to face a slighted accusation of ‘fixing’, when his name comes up for an award in future.”

This year, the IIFA weekend will be held in Bangkok from June 6-8.

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Wednesday sent a bill to Cricket Association of Bengal, Shah Rukh Khan-promoted Red Chillies Entertainment, owner of the Kolkata Knight Riders IPL team, and the Pepsi company to pay taxes.

Member Mayor-in Council (MMIC) Fayez Ahmed said that CAB has been asked to pay Rs 25 lakh to the KMC for amusement tax for the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) matches at Eden Gardens.

Red Chillies Entertainment and Pepsi company have been asked to pay advertisement tax of Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 68,000 respectively for putting up hoardings and banners at the Eden Gardens during the IPL matches, he said.

DUDHAI/ SURENDRANAGAR: It could well be mistaken for an orphanage. Boys, mostly between two and five, play on the compound of the Vadvala temple in this dusty village. They are all adopted children, after their parents, belonging to the Rabari community, abandoned them there.

But, nobody here raises an eyebrow. It’s been a 300-year-old tradition, where a family prays for a male child or more than one son in the family and makes a ‘mannat’ (pledge) to give away one of the sons to the temple. At times, even a single child, if it is a boy, is also given away. Called the ‘ramta kariya’, which translated literally means ‘left to play’, it is a way to show gratitude.

“People pray for two to three sons. If their wish is fulfilled, they offer one of the sons, generally youngest, to the temple,” says
Rambalakdasji, chief priest of the temple. Rambalakdasji was also left in the temple by his parents when he was two years old.

At present, there are 13 boys in the temple and the tradition does not permit a girl child to be given away here. The temple legally adopts these children once their parents decide to “donate” them. Their original names are changed. Even surnames are changed to ‘Dudhrejia’. The boys are nurtured here and admitted to the best English medium schools in Ahmedabad.

“It would have been impossible for me to put my son in an English medium school. We can also meet him whenever we want to,” says Jogabhai, an agriculture labourer at Khatdi village, whose second son Harekrishna was given away to the temple. He studies in HB Kapadia School in Ahmedabad. Jogabhai had pledged that if he got a third son, he would give away his second son to the temple.

The chief priest says that once these children turn 21, they are given a choice — whether to become a priest or lead a family life.

Recently, three-year-old Darshan of Bhimasar village near Anjar joined other boys in the temple. Unable to bear a child, his mother had pledged to give away her first child. The youngest member at the temple is Jaykrishna, who is just two, from Barvala village near Morbi.

RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court on Wednesday dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) against Indian ODI cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni challenging the construction of a swimming pool in his house and fined petitioner Krishna Chandra Sircar Rs 1 lakh for moving the petition based solely on media reports.

The petitioner and others were also hauled up for a sharp practice that, the judges said, amounted to contempt of court.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Muthuswamy Karpagyavinayagam and Justice DGR Patnaik got upset after Dhoni’s lawyer produced a letter written by one of the signatories to the PIL, B P Sinha, asking the Indian skipper not to construct the swimming pool in his house even if the high court gave him the permission to do so.

The judges said this amounted to contempt of court. “Knowing that the matter was sub judice, how could anyone write such a letter to Dhoni?” the court wondered. For the gaffe, Sircar will be poorer by Rs 1 lakh. While Sircar’s counsel apologised to the court on behalf of Sinha, the judges nonetheless took a dim view of the transgression.

The judges were bemused when they learnt that all that Sircar had to show as proof of a swimming pool being built by Dhoni were a few newspaper clippings.

Interestingly, in the course of hearing the matter, the court on learning that the area where Dhoni’s house is being built faces water shortage, directed the Jharkhand government to install between 25 to 50 hand pumps.

Remember the bare chest Salman Khan in the song ‘O O Jane Jana’ from the film Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya almost a decade back? Now get ready for the same very soon.

Salman Khan shot a similar 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 the set was design by Nitin Chandrakant Desai.

The film is directed by his brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri and is based on the bestseller book One Night At A Call Centre by Chetan Bhagat. The film also stars Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Ishaa Koppikar and Amrita Arora.

Salman Khan and producer-director Ravi Chopra developed a strong bond during making of Baghban. It became stronger with Baabul, which had Khan in a brief role.

Now, Chopra, who is directing Govinda in Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai, has asked Khan to do a cameo in the film, which the star has unsurprisingly agreed. Khan has allotted five days for the film without asking what his role will be or where they will be shooting. Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai is a comic caper, which will also include Tabu and Lara Dutta.

The crime rate is spiralling with the maximum rise recorded in crimes falling under the “crimes against property” category in the country. A total of 18,78,293 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes were reported during the year 2006 against 18,22,602 in 2005, recording an increase of 3.1 per cent in 2006. Madhya Pradesh with 10.4 per cent has accounted for the maximum crimes under IPC followed by Maharashra with 10.2 per cent and Andhra Pradesh with 9.3 per cent.

Notably, a decline has been noticed in number of persons arrested, persons chargesheeted as well as persons convicted in the year 2006 in comparison to 2002.

Persons pending investigation has suffered an increase over the same period. The persons pending investigation has risen each year with such figures standing at 500,199 in the year 2002 and steadily rising to 606,520 in the year 2006, says the Union home ministry’s annual report 2007-08.

A total of 3,92,352 violent crimes against property were recorded in the year 2006 as compared to 3,88,867 crimes during 2005 showing a “marginal increase” of 0.9 per cent, says the report. Crimes against body, including murder, kidnapping and abduction rose by 0.2 per cent in the same period and crimes against public order showed an increase of 0.7 per cent. Crimes enlisted under murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping etc stood at 4,30,498, accounting for 22.9 per cent of the total IPC crimes during the year 2006, says the MHA report. Riots and arson amounted to 65,121 in the same year, it says. Crimes falling under Special and Local Laws increased by 0.6 per cent.

Ayurveda has some simple home remedies that would help you get the beautiful skin, we all crave for. The first among them is to apply sandalwood paste on the face, preferably with milk. This home remedy is even known to remove white stretch marks on the skin. The second tip is to rub the whole body with refreshing coconut oil, before taking bath. This is known to smoothen skin. Ayurveda also advises people against eating food that is too spicy, if you want glowing skin.

Summer is here and it is time for some tips to beat the heat and stay healthy this summer. The first thing that you need to do is to drink plenty of water. This will help in preventing your body from getting dehydrated. You should not also push yourself beyond your physical limits during times when the heat is at its peak. If possible take a short nap in the afternoon to refresh your energies. Try wearing a sunscreen lotion when going outdoors. A hat and sunglasses are also a must, come summer time.