Canadian country music and pop diva Shania Twain has ended her 14-year marriage to her music-producer husband Robert Mutt Lange. In a statement here Thursday, her representative would only say that the couple were ending their marriage, without giving any reasons for the break-up. “This is a private matter and there will be no further comment at this time,’’ the statement added. The 42-year-old singer had met Lange, who is 17 years her senior, in 1993 for collaboration on her first hit album The Woman in Me, and married him the same year. The couple, who have been splitting their time between Switzerland and Lange’s native New Zealand, have a six-year-old son Eja. Born Eilleen Edwards at Windsor near Toronto, Shania Twain’s is a rags-to-riches story. As a little girl, she did odd jobs in restaurants and sang in local cubs to support herself and her family in Timmins, north of Toronto. Later, when her parents died in a road accident in 1987, she supported her four siblings by singing in a resort. It was only in 1991 that she landed her first recording contract and changed her name from Eilleen to Shania. The songs of her self-titled debut album were noticed by Lange who contacted her with an offer to work with her in 1993. Their collaboration and marriage took her to stardom, as her first album The Woman in Me became an instant hit. Shania has sold more than 60 million albums so far. In her hometown of Timmins, there is a museum devoted to her.

Actor Will Smith, who has starred in hits such as Independence Day and I am Legend, has decided to start his own school because he feels there isn’t anything good enough outside for his kids.

Smith and his wife Jada, who has acted in films such as the Matrix trilogy and Collateral, have been home schooling their kids. But Smith is reported to have spent about $1 million to lease a campus near his California home.

The campus has been named the New Village Academy of Calabasas. The school will be run privately for kids up to sixth grade.

Smith’s son Jaden had co-starred with him in The Pursuit of Happyness.

If all goes well, Salman Khan will perform at the Indian Premier League (IPL) final, to be held at Y R Patil Stadium (Nerul) on June 1. We hear Salman will perform the music video of his upcoming reality show 10 Ka Dum live and also shake a leg to one of his filmi songs.

A source says, “The IPL tournament has been a huge hit right from the beginning. Salman’s performance will be the icing on the cake.”

So, will Salman perform during the break or before the match begins? “No, Sallu won’t perform during the interval or before the match. Sallu’s performance will be a part of the closing ceremony. It will be a rocking item,” our source adds.

It is learnt that Salman has yet not rehearsed for his act during the IPL final. Right now, he is in Australia shooting for Main Aur Mrs Khanna. Our source adds, “Sallu does not need a rehearsal. He is too good. He can spontaneously start dancing at any given moment.”

And what about the possibility that the unpredictable Sallu backs off at the last minute? Just a few days ago, he refused to attend a film award function simply because he didn’t feel like it. “Now, that’s one thing that nobody can confirm. There’s no doubt that Sallu is very moody. So far, he has agreed in principle. Let’s hope for the best.”

Salman has already finished shooting four episodes of 10 Ka Dum, which is based on the American game show Power of 10. In true Sallu ishtyle, once he cycled all the way from Bandra to the shoot for the show at R K Studios in Chembur. A few days before that, he jogged down to Mehboob Studios for the show’s rehearsals. We hear Salman even cancelled the shoot of the music video of 10 Ka Dum simply because the workers were taking time to ready the set.

As of now, the IPL organisers can only keep their fingers crossed that the moody bug doesn’t bite Salman just before he is to perform at the final’s closing ceremony!

Aamir Khan is at it again. After making digs first at Amitabh Bachchan and then at Shah Rukh Khan on his blog (via a dog Shahrukh), his next target is Salman Khan. At a recent music sitting of his nephew Imraan’s debut film, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, Aamir and director Abbas Tyrewalla put together a hilarious song inspired by Salman.

Aamir Khan has not only been an intrinsic part in discussing every minute detail of his nephew’s film but also played an important role in composing and writing the songs of the film. A source says, “Aamir has been meticulously planning and executing every aspect of his nephew’s debut film with director Abbas Tyrewalla. He also roped in A R Rahman, the best name in the music industry to compose the music of this film.”
But Aamir seems to have more than just personal interests in the film’s making. He didn’t spare a chance to make personal digs at co-stars wherever possible.

Says a unit member from Aamir Khan Productions, “Recently, Aamir had a music sitting with Abbas Tyrewalla to discuss the concept of a particular song. Abbas had to come up with the lyrics as per Aamir’s expectations. The song has a lot of attitude and spunk and is filmed on Imran and his gang of friends where they are addressing the song to Pappu, a burly rich guy in their college. It was hilarious to watch Aamir discuss the concept keeping Salman in mind and he also ended up saying, ‘I hope Salman doesn’t mind this song’ at the music sitting.”

“Throughout the song’s discussion, Aamir went all out to make fun of Salman Khan who is well-known for his muscles, penchant for wearing and gifting expensive watches, fast cars and bikes, his popularity with women, his peculiar accent, and his unique dance style,” adds the source.

Check out the song:

Hai muscular…
Very muscular
Hai popular…
Very popular
 
Hai muscular hai popular
Spectacular! he’s a bachelor
Pappu ki gaadi tez hai
Pappu kudiyon mein craze hai
Pappu ki aankhen light-blue
Pappu dikhta angrez hai
 
Rado ki ghadi haathon mein
Perfume Gucci wala…
 
But Pappu can’t dance, saala!
But Pappu can’t dance, saala!
Haan Pappu naach nahin sakta!

Kites, Anurag Basu’s new film, is all set to give Hrithik Roshan an unusually steamy image. So far the actor has been known to steer clear of love-making traps laid by his sensuous co-stars. Barring Kareena Kapoor in Sooraj Barjatya’s Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon there have been no really hot-and-sizzling bed-room scenes in this image-conscious star’s career who is happily married and likes to be seen that way by his fans.

All that is about to change now. In Basu’s Kites, Hrithik apparently has a lot of roll-in-the-hay scenes. According to a source the film is actually an adaptation of Woody Allen’s film on a lust-quadrangle, Matchpoint, about an ambitious working-class man who marries into huge wealth and then keeps stealing back to his girlfriend, who comes from an objectionable background, for some livewire excitement on the sly.

According to the source, “Kites will show Hrithik as never before. And the girls chosen to play Hrithik’s wife and mistress are Kangana Ranaut and Barabara Mori who have been briefed about the steamy sensuous scenes in the film. Neither of the two ladies is known to be particularly coy. Kangana and Barbara are more than willing to go with the script.”

In fact, Sonam Kapoor turned down Barbara Mori’s role because neither she nor her dad could see her doing those steamy adulterous scenes. Says the source, “When Sonam’s father heard the script, he was shocked that Anurag Basu could even think of Sonam for such a steamy part after Saawariya, where she was covered from head to toe.”

Vidya Balan’s laughter has never suggested more happiness. “I must say I’m very content in the space I’m occupying right now,” she says, indulging in some frank-speak. With a mysterious smile, Vidya suggests she is no longer blissfully single and is enjoying it. Vidya says, “The other evening I went to watch Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak perform Dear Liar at Prithvi theatre.” On being asked who accompanied her, she chuckles, “Ah, it was friend whose name begins with ‘S’. I’m not saying any more than that!”

We haven’t so far spoken directly about Vidya’s new close friend Shahid Kapur. She surprises us by being overtly forthright about it! She says, “I don’t deny that Shahid is a very close friend. For the first time, I’ve worked with a co-star who’s actually closer to me by way of age, experience and temperament. We were together for two months in Toronto shooting Aziz Mirza’s Kismat Connection and we really got along well. I found him very calm and intelligent. I think we’re alike in many ways. I really enjoyed working with him. And I would love to do more films with him.”

She adds, “I’m amazed by the range of men I’ve been linked with. From Pradeep Sarkar we went to Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham and now Shahid. I seem to have been going down the generations until I’ve finally come to a guy who’s my age,” she says.
She says Kismat Connection has turned out really special.” I’ve watched Aziz Mirza saab’s films like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Yes Boss and Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani starring Shah Rukh and Juhi Chawla. The lucidity of their romance has been captured in Kismat Connection. A moment of great pride for me was when Aziz saab called up to say, ‘Bachcha, tumne achha kaam kiya hai!”

The other evening I went to watch Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak perform Dear Liar at Prithvi theatre.” On being asked who accompanied her, she chuckles, “Ah, it was friend whose name begins with ‘S’” - Vidya

She has every reason to be happy with her first movie becoming a superhit.

This sensuous belle wants to prove her acting mettle and thats she’s lapping up a variety of roles that require her to do deadly action scenes and to also tickle the funny bone. She also wants to dance to the tunes of B’wood and for that she was seen learning Salsa from Kaytee at Joss.

Riya is the lucky one, who will be playing the leading role in Dev Anand’s next directorial venture.

We did tell you about Shreyas Talpade’s first stint at production. It’s a Marathi film titled Kandepohe.com! Well, the actor-producer held a special screening for his near and dear ones at Film City in Goregaon recently. The film will see light of day on June 6. And Shreyas we hear is one excited bloke.

“He feels like a proud father and is super-excited about his first production,” says a close friend of the actor. Future plans? Well, Shreyas plans to produce some more Marathi films, and will later take on production of Hindi films as well. So enjoy kandepohe just for starters.

Sarkar Raj is a special film for several reasons. One of the most important reasons is that it is the first film for Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, post their marriage.
 
Since all three Bachchans were shooting together, lunch would be a completely family affair. The newly wedded bahu of the Bachchan house, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan would supervise what was being cooked. She would see to it that Amitabh’s’s favorite dish and Abhishek’s favorite dish were all packed in the dabba . What had really become a hit with both Amitabh and Abhishek was the delicious south Indian vegetarian food.     

Mr. Bachchan is a vegetarian and so the bahu made sure that special dishes were made for the senior Bachchan. And as for Junior, well, the thought of anything to do with Ash, must have been food for his soul.
 
Lunch hour was the only hour that the family would get time to spend together, because soon after that, they would be in their respective characters. The only thing that they missed was the presence of Jaya Bachchan

It was 8 pm. Mumbai city was orange – street lights, headlights… The burban traffic, however, made me see red. I was on my way to Ram Gopal Varma’s office in Andheri. The filmmaker is quite a sucker for time. But interestingly doesn’t wear a watch. “I like to control time, I don’t like time controlling me,” he said, as we made ourselves comfortable in his meeting room.

Amitabh, Abhishek, Ash stared down at me from the larger than life poster of his forthcoming flick, Sarkar Raj that has as its motto: Power cannot be given, it has to be taken. So how power crazy is this creator? “I don’t want power to build armies, I don’t want it to make crores of rupees, I want power to simply do what I want to do,” suggests Ramu, “Ever since I was conscious, I have been powerful. Nobody has ever been able stop me from doing what I’ve wanted to do. Things worked, things didn’t work, but till today there hasn’t been a single day that I felt powerless. And I’m very powerful not because I have money or muscles, but because I don’t care about what may happen to me.”

Hasn’t the failure of RGV Ki Aag ebbed the man’s flaring ego? “Failure of a product doesn’t happen one fine day. You preempt it. I was mentally prepared for a very adverse reaction to Aag from the beginning. Unfortunately, the shock wasn’t as much as what people must’ve expected me to suffer from. They may be disappointed to hear that I didn’t read a single review, or hear any negative comments, because I was busy making Contract . But I was aware of the tremendous ridicule and flak; it made me presume that many expected me to be in a depression exactly proportionate to their enjoyment. They may have assumed that I was hiding under the bed and not coming out, but the fact was that I’d moved on…on to my next film!”

Tea? Coffee? Ramu asks. I decline, while he asks for a drink for himself. Spiked! Wonder what Health Minister Dr. Ramadoss’ reaction would’ve been. We probe for his comment on Mr. Minister suggesting that smoking and drinking scenes in films should be banned. “I don’t smoke, but as long as I can have my drink at my place, and nobody stops me from that, I’m fine!” he laughs. “I don’t believe in banning anything. It’s hard to believe that somebody will see films and learn to drink and smoke,” avers the director.

Abhishek’s intense stare gets my attention. Yes, I’ve to ask questions about him and the film. So, is Sarkar Raj really based on the Bal Thackeray-Raj Thackeray rift, I ask Ramu. “There is a character who has a certain resemblance to Raj Thackeray, in terms of his attitude and personality, but his track is not related in any way to the on-going rifts or issues,” he explains.

“Raj Thackeray for me is a very strong personality,” continues Varma, “I know nothing of his political party, its intentions, or what he stands for… I’ve no interest in that. But on a personal level I know Raj well. And I’m a fan of his. The impact he has on me on a personal level could definitely be carried forward to a character in my film. Raj Thackeray will be a part of many of my movies, his facets and aspects that have attracted me will be represented by many characters in my motion pictures. But I reiterate, there is no reference of Raj or MNS’ issues with whomever or whatever in Sarkar Raj .”

So have the Thackerays already seen the film? We heard of a special screening being organized for them. “No! But I’ll show my film to anyone who wishes to see it. Films are for the public at the end of the day. So if Raj wants a special screening, I’ll surely give him one,” affirms Ramu. And while he so fondly speaks of the personality that is Raj Thackeray, I ask him to choose between Mumbai and Bombay. “I like the word Bombay. But I’m an outsider. For the people who are from Maharashtra, their take on it is different, and that again is not my problem. I’m a guy who lets things be. I’ll do what I want to do and you do what you want to do. To tell someone else what to do and to enforce it, is something I fundamentally disagree with,” he admits, sipping his last sip of spirit!

When filmmaker Subhash Ghai tells you, “The competition today, when it comes to making films, is all about achieving scale, big budgets, big directors, big banners,” you’d probably stop to think.

After all, he’s the man who’s given Bollywood some of its most lavish films. But that, by his own admission, “hasn’t stopped me from dreaming still bigger dreams.”

And one of these bigger dreams is his school, Whistling Woods International, an institute for films, TV and media arts. And even though Ghai remains committed to making films (he’s currently busy with the last schedule of his next, Salman Khan starrer Yuvraaj), his mind, these days, is preoccupied with the campus placement fair at Whistling Woods.

“We’ve made professionals who can do the job quicker and better. All these years, an actor or director had to struggle for at least 7-8 years to prove his/her talent. But my students can prove their mettle within two years,” says Ghai. Guess if you have directors like Ashutosh Gowarikar and Vishal Bharadwaj, and actors like Naseeruddin Shah – some of the names of those on the guest faculty at Whistling Woods – teaching, you could be a pro pronto. That is, if you have the basic talent.

Ghai couldn’t agree more. “The admission selection process at Whistling Woods ensures that the students we take on have an intrinsic bent for all things filmi,” he says, adding, “We train them to be market friendly, be technically sound. There’s a craft and technique to expressing any form of art in the right way.” That apart, the institute has a vast library of over 5000 movies, hands-on workshops where the students get to make short fiction, TV programmes and animation films, apart from acting in and directing longish features.

And Ghai has his plans for expansion in place. “We’d like to go international, and have already tied up with institutes in Hungary, South Africa, Australia for affiliations. But before that, I’d like to see a Whistling Woods International in every major city of India. We have many talented students out there, who till now haven’t got a platform to hone their skills. Within five years, we’ll have six institutions in India. And Delhi too is in the pipeline.”

She came to Mumbai from Delhi to try her luck in Bollywood as an actress.

But after doing more than 56 item numbers in Bhojpuri films and some hot numbers in Bollywood, Sambhavna Seth could only attain the title of sex symbol and item girl.

Not content with bagging an award for her item number in a Bhojpuri film recently, she continues with her quest for meaty roles in Bollywood. On her recent visit to the city, she tells NT how she plans to make her dreams come true.

ON NAGPUR

This is Sambhavna’s third visit to the city in the last two years. Ask her the reason for the frequent visits and she replies, “Nagpurians actually pamper me a lot. I am in constant touch with some of my fans here through the phone and e-mails. Now they are like my family members.”

UPSET WITH RAKHI SAWANT

Upset over the fact that Rakhi Sawant recently snatched the dance number that she was supposed to do in Shakir Sheikh’s film Mudrank, Sambhavna says, “Two days before the song, ‘Money money touch me honey’ was to be shot, I was told that Rakhi was doing that number and I was asked to do another song in the film. That girl is selfish and insecure.” Calling Rakhi a phoney, Sambhavna continues, “She gathers publicity through cheap talks. Her going public about her silicon implants was yuck.”

HIDDEN DESIRES

Sambhavna is all set to sizzle the screen with six dance numbers in Bollywood in her forthcoming films. But she says that she wants to shed the sex bomb tag. “I wish to work with crème de la crème directors of the industry and would like to be recognised as an accomplished actress. It is all a matter of time and luck I guess,” says she and adds, “there is nothing wrong in being an item girl, but people like Rakhi have made this genre very cheap.”

Koena Mitra hasn’t been linked up with anyone yet!

So, when we met her last, we asked her about her dil ka status. She confirmed that she was single, but said she has her own notions of romance. She doesn’t see herself proposing to a man or chasing him.

She tells us, “I’d never chase a man, even if I was madly in love with him.” But how would she like her man to propose? “I’d find it intriguing if he can pass on the love message without showing much affection in public.” Well, the lady’s told us what she wants… are the guys out there reading this?