Ash honored once again

Yet another title for Miss World and Bachchan Bahu, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Beating her Hollywood counterparts, Ash has grabbed the title of the woman with the sexiest eyes and yes, no one can question that. American television channel E!’s Sexiest Body Parts list crowns Ash as the woman with the sexiest eyes leaving behind Hollywood icons like Angelina Jolie, Megan Fox and Scarlett Johansson. Meanwhile, Irish actor Jonathan Rhys-Myers (of Bend It Like Beckham fame) won best male eyes award.

Other winners includes Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen who won the sexiest legs award, Charlize Theron bags E!’s decolletage award with her sultry shoulders, Eva Mendes voted lovely locks, Taiwanese actress Shu Qi took away sexiest lips title. Scarlett Johansson has been voted the female celebrity with the best breasts. Actress Jessica Biels butt has topped the list of E!’s sexiest bottom and the list goes on.

So, this is another proof to the fact that Aishwarya’s blue eyes have mesmerized not only Bollywood but also Hollywood!

Ash at cannes

The Cannes International Film Festival, the most glamorous event on the festival calendar has returned to celebrate its 61st year. The festival opened on Wednesday with a Fernando Meirelles’s grim Brazilian drama Blindness. This year’s star lineup offers a mix of new talent.

But the festival is devoid of Indian cinema, except for Dev Anand’s Guide which is a part of the Classics section.

No other Indian film has made it to the competitive or non-competitive categories but a host of Bollywood stars are expected at the festivalI genuinely bond with the people, the place and the festival. I feel, as a member of our film fraternity it will be fantastic to have representation here in Cannes too. But I don’t think that should be used as a barometer to judge what we have or to lament. It could be an ambition. After all its is an individual choice. The filmmakers decide the need for a movie to be part of ‘A’ festival or be it the Cannes itself. Said Aishwarya. NDTV

Ash forgotten

Bipasha Basu, the husky dusky sexy bombshell of bollywood who oozes oomph with every twist and turn, has been selected to play the character of Abhishek Bachchan’s wife in upcoming mega- budget flick ‘Raavana’

Bipasha Basu will play the part of Mandodari, who was ‘Raavana’s most loved queen and had the authority to advise him on any state matter without inviting wrath of the demon king. Sources close to director Mani Rathnam say that Bipasha will play a full-fledged role in the flick, and she is going to start shooting in right earnest from the middle of September. The highlight of Bipasha Basu’s character in ‘Raavana’ will be a sizzling hot item number, which is likely to be in the same genre as that of ‘Omkara’s ‘Bidi jalai le….’

In all, Bipasha will have around forty minutes of footage in Mani Rathnam’s magnum opus, which is likely to take around twenty days of her shooting time. Aishwarya Rai plays the part of Sita (not Abhi’s wife as was the case in Mani’s earlier flick ‘Guru’), while Vikram essays the part of Rama in the flick.

Sources close to Bipasha Basu say that Mani Rathnam had approached the sizzling hot bollywood diva for the role opposite Abhishek Bachchan around a month ago. Bipasha seized the opportunity and immediately said yes to the project. However, Mani had prevented her at that time from disclosing about it to anyone else, and so she kept mum till now.

But now when Bipasha Basu’s costumes are ready, she just can not hide her excitement about the project. Her look as Mandodari, ‘Raavana’s chief queen, is gorgeous, and sultry beauty has been waiting with bated breath to join the unit of ‘Raavana’ to shoot her sequences.

The buzz doing the rounds in the industry is that Mani Rathnam chose Bipasha Basu to play the part of Mandodari as she can project the right balance of oomph and intelligence in the scenes, which was a must for the character of Mandodari to come alive on the screen.

In fact, Mandodari was not only Raavan’s queen but is also credited with the invention of chess, which is purely a mind game. It is for this reason that whenever Mandodari would reprimand Raavana for abducting Sita, he would just laugh it off without being angry. In fact, Raavana had a deep respect for her intelligence and righteousness.

However, the grapevine has it that Bipasha Basu was not the first choice for Mandodari’s character and got the part only after Sushmita Sen rejected the offer. Insiders reveal that Sushmita Sen did not have any objection to the role, and in fact, wanted to enact the character but Aishwarya factor finally led her to opt out of the project.

It may be recalled that Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai have been bitter rivals from their initial days of Miss Universe and Miss World respectively. They never liked each other and have always tried to avoid as much as possible. So, there was no possibility of Sush forgetting all that for Mani Rathnam’s ‘Raavana’.

Good news for Ash.

According to cyberspace search item poll, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been voted the most dangerous Indian celebrity thereby knocking down Katrina Kaif. Last year, it was Katrina who ruled the cyber world. Among Indian cricketers Yuvraj Singh topped.

McAfee research showed that among Indian actresses, Aishwarya Rai’s wallpapers, Aishwarya Rai screen savers and Aishwarya Rai videos are downloaded maximum that lands Website’s online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware. Similar is the case for Yuvraj Singh.

‘Cricket and Bollywood are two subjects about which every Indian is passionate about. It is no surprise that cybercriminals capitalize on celebrities from the world of sports and cinema to lure innocent fans to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise’, said Kartik Shahani, Regional Director - India, McAfee, Inc.

'Its very common for malware authors to take advantage of current hot topics luring consumers to malicious websites they created. Users need to be cautious and should keep their antivirus/ security software updated with the latest versions’, Shahani said.

While, ‘Kaminey’s stars photos have also been downloaded to

The best on screen couple

Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai have not made a film together this decade. After the fallout of their relationship and subsequently the Vivek Oberoi saga, Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai have never patched things up. In a recent interview, Salman Khan talked about his past relationship with Aishwarya Rai and it felt like someone had just cut open a healing wound.

Aishwarya Rai on the other hand have been very quiet about their past relationship. The now Mrs. Bachchan have worked with a lot of stars of the Bollywood industry, however, it is the pairing with Salman Khan in "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" that struck a perfect romantic chord with her fans. It's not that Aishwarya Rai have not given successfull films without Salman Khan or vice versa, its just that they are such huge stars and have such a massive fan following that I can only wonder what could have been had the continued to star opposite each other.

According to several polls over the past few years, the verdict of the fans is clear. That they want Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai to get back together and make a masterpiece again. Hope they can bury their differences and get back to creating magic again.

Ash welcomed by the hyderabadi's

In town to inaugurate the exclusive watch store, Celebrations, at a city mall in Banjara Hills, the actor had fans waiting for her in eager anticipation.

The barricades and extra security could not dampen the spirit of fans who came in hordes to check out their favourite actor.

Clad in a trendy black pant suit, the Bachchan bahu had everyone spellbound with her radiant beauty as she made her way to inaugurate the store. Once there, she interacted with guests present and posed for pictures with them.

But she did not make an exit until she posed for pictures and waved to fans who had been standing there for hours only for a glimpse of Ash.

Glad of not casting Ash- priyadarshan

PRIYADARSHAN tells JYOTHI VENKATESH that he prefers to cast the same set of actors in every film of his because he is of the opinion that when butter is at home, he need not go out to search for ghee.

What is Billu about?

Basically Billu is a tribute to friendship. It is the story of a simple ordinary hair stylist who leads an extra ordinary life. It is about Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan) who is living in his village with his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and two kids. Life was bitter sweet. We can say more sweet than bitter. Till one day a super star (Shah Rukh Khan) comes into their lives and everything changes. Life changes, people change, friends change, the village changes but one man does not-Billu. It is the story of true friendship between Lord Krishna, the King of Dwarka and Sudama, a poor hermit. The moral of the story is so strong that it inculcates humbleness and greatness and conveys the true meaning of friendship.

Isn’t Billu a remake of the Malayalam hit Katha Parayumbol?

It is not a 100 % remake of Katha Parayumbol but a take off in my own way. The character of the hair stylist played by Sreenivasan in Malayalam, Jagapathi Babu in Telugu and Pasupathi in Tamil, is being essayed by Irrfan Khan in Hindi.

Has Katha Parayumbol also been remade in other languages?

Director P Vasu remade the Malayalam film Katha Parayumbol into Tamil and Telugu, titled Kuselan and Kathanayakudu, respectively. Rajinikanth played the role of super star in the remakes.

Where did the Tamil remake fail?

The strength of the original story was diluted when it was remade in Tamil and Telugu Besides the films also suffered because of the problem of adding additional characters. The remakes also lost their theme because of the up-scaling of Rajinikanth’s role, when compared to the role of Mammootty in the original Malayalam version.

What did you do to do justice to Shah Rukh’s character as the super star?

A lot of changes in the screenplay were made to suit the larger than life image of Shah Rukh Khan, though he does not play himself ,without in any way diluting the strength of the original script and as a result we have him doing as many as three item numbers with actresses like Kareena Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra.

Is it different from the usual Priyadarshan films?

The film is full of my comic touches, complete with the much loved village bumpkin characters, played by Asrani, Om Puri and Rajpal Yadav. But above all, it rekindles the Krishna - Sudama timeless friendship.

Does criticism about you being the Master of Remakes bother you?

I am not bothered when the critics dub me as the Remake Man, because the Oscar last year went to the remake version of a Hong Kong film called The Departed. My Kabhi Na Kabhi was not a remake of any Malayalam hit but an original subject written by Javed Akhtar. Do you know that all David Dhawan films have been rehashed from Bhagyaraj’s hit films? I think most remakes of South Indian hits fail only because they try to make it as it is. I make it a point not to let any of my film in Hindi look like a Tamil or Malayalam film from any angle.

What is of primary importance when you make a film?

As far as a director is concerned, the approach to a film is more important and also doing justice to the film. All other things are secondary.

Which are your forthcoming projects?

I have five mega projects lined up. I am finalizing a script for a film which may star Amitabh Bachchan and Akshaye Khanna. The story is about bank robbery. I’m directing it for Percept Pictures. I am also making a horror film called Grrr! for them. I am also making the Hindi remake of Majeed Majidi’s classic The Children of Heaven with Darsheel Safary, and Rituparna Dasgupta.

Have you stopped making Malayalam films?

I will return next year to Malayalam films to direct veteran scriptwriter M.T. Vasudevan Nair’s next script, which would also star my favorite actor Mohanlal in the lead.

Tell me about your ambitious project Kanchipuram.

Kanchipuram is a tragic tale of pre-Independence Indian silk weavers in Kanchipuram. The story unfolds against the backdrop of the first rumblings of labor unionism in South India. The film has Prakashraj, Shreya Reddy, the daughter of the former wicket keeper Bharat Reddy, Shammu and Jayakumar in the lead. The film, using Tamil language and grammar of that period, has been produced by Percept Picture Company and Gulshan Kumar.

Wasn’t your Bhool Bhulaiya a rehash of the Tamil hit Chandramukhi starring Rajnikant ?

Chandramukhi was a commercial massacre of the original Malayalam film Mani Chitra Thazhu starring Mohanlal and Shobhana which was made way back in 1981. I was pissed off when the media wrote that I was remaking a trash like Chandramukhi when the original version is even today considered classic. I had not directed the film but assisted Fazil who had directed it. The concept also was his but they killed his concept and made it into a Rajnikant style film because they wanted to cater to the masses. I made Bhool Bhulaiya by sticking to the original concept of Fazil.

In what way was Bhool Bhulaiya different from the original Malayalam hit?

Though I followed the original, I made sure that the subject suited the North audience and did not reek of nativity in any way. I had Banaras as the backdrop instead of Kerala. Chandramukhi was more of an action film. In the original version, they showed the protagonist as a split personality. However, since I am a psychology student, I took the liberty to base the story on identity syndrome.

Didn’t you plan to cast Aishwarya Rai in place of Vidya Balan when you set out to remake Manichitra Thazhu as Bhool Bhulaiya?

To make Vidya Balan do Shobana’s role was a big challenge for me as a director. To Vidya’s credit, I should say that she worked very hard on her role, though there is a lot of difference between a genuine dancer and a filmy dancer. The role which Vidya did in Bhool Bhulaiya was tailor made for her. I realized that it would have been a grave mistake on my part if I had taken on Aishwarya Rai, as I had planned earlier instead of Vidya.

Why do you cast the same set of actors in your films again and again?

When the butter is at home, why should I search for ghee? I like to use complete actors like Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav and Manoj Joshi who can do all kinds of roles. I am of the opinion that known devils are better than unknown angels.

You have no qualms to admit that you like to play to the gallery as a film maker?

My Dhol was a time pass film, which was rehashed from three Malayalam films– Manamathai, Mazhai Peyyunnu Madhalam Kottunnu and Chandralekha. So what if it did not click like some of my earlier films? I could not sit through the Hindi remake of my hit Malayalam film Chandralekha because Raj Kanwar who directed it mauled my original version very badly. Can you tell me one single serious film which has worked in Hindi in the last two years at the box office? I have no qualms to admit that I play to the gallery because today the majority of the audiences are youngsters who have problems at their homes and want to pass time when they come to the cinema houses. -Sampurn Media