Another one bites the dust-On Kambakt Ishq & LD

And then he turned into Cinderella. He entered his own party at midnight after personally inviting guests to come at 8.30 pm. Instead of his carriage, too bad his latest film, Kambakkht Ishq, turned into a pumpkin. But tell dapper Akki that and he'll go on TV to give yet another of his injured I'm-being-targeted interviews. For Pete's sake, can't the man just accept that he's delivered yet another of those unwatchable sexist movies and move on to finding himself a substantial scriptwriter?

"He can't," said a producer. "He came clean during Chandni Chowk To China. But after a line of flops, he can't afford to accept that people have once again not liked his film. What'll happen to his astronomical price if he keeps acknowledging his duds?"

Kambakkht Ishq is not exactly a box-office dud but reports are that it will make an over-all loss of at least 20 crore rupees. More than its commercial run, what is pertinent is that it has not added any value to Akshay's stock as an actor and it really is time he moved to the next level in his craft, unless he is content to be a fitter version of Govinda.

Meanwhile, Akshay loyalist Vipul Shah (with whom the actor did films like Waqt, Namastey London and Singh Is Kinng) invited Salman's dad, Salim Khan, to watch a sneak preview of London Dreams and give his expert comments.

London Dreams is the film where that superb pair of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam actors, Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan, come together again. Both actors bring two distinct personalities to the table. One is brooding, intense, the other is flamboyant, tongue-in-cheek. It worked in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Hum Dil De... "And it will be a super hit in London Dreams," predicts Salim Khan. Finally, dad is a happy man since Salman has done so many indifferent films lately that a well-made commercial (if London Dreams is indeed all that Salim says it is) is just what the unpredictable Khan needs to stand up and be counted again.

Oh, by the way, Salman Khan at 43, has finally grown up. Katrina Kaif has changed him so wonderfully that Salman has actually started taking pride in her success. Nobody knows this but he recently rang up a trade paper to check out how New York was faring and wanted to know how Katrina had performed in it. He was pleased when he was told that the film had brought respite to the industry (the first undisputed money-making release of 2009) and that Katrina, who was hitherto known only for her pretty face, was being appreciated for her acting too. What a pleasant departure from the Salman who poured a bottle of cola on girlfriend Somy Ali's head and regularly disrupted another girlfriend Aishwarya Rai's shoots!

A couple of Sundays ago, this very column had forecast that there will be a new blast of Khan-Sinha dosti, after Shatrughan Sinha's daughter, sprightly Sonakshi was signed up for her film debut opposite Salman Khan. It has already happened. On July 9, Shatru and Punam Sinha celebrated their wedding anniversary at a party hosted by Salman and family at the Khan residence in Bandstand. For those who weren't invited by Salman, the Sinhas sent out invitations for a party on July 11. Without mentioning the anniversary, the invites were cleverly sent out for celebrating Shatru's electoral victory and for the completion of wife Punam Sinha's new film Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna Hai. This is the film which ended an old 30-year battle between Rekha and Shatrughan Sinha. They're now purring fondly as co-stars.

If Salman Khan's dinner on July 9 was diwan-e-khaas, the Saturday night affair at the newly-opened Novotel in Juhu was clearly diwan-e-aam. The whole world and its cousins were invited.