Bollywood Snippets ..Nov 14th'06

Are real-life lovers Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif going to perform live on stage for the Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) night to be held in Malaysia next month? If the rumours are true, then this is the first time that the macho Khan will actually get to share the stage with his current girlfriend, a chance that he did not get during the Zee Cine Awards in 1999. Aishwarya Rai was Salman Khan's girlfriend then.

The duo was to perform on stage to the hit Salman number, Mujhse Shaadi Karogi. It was as though Salman was going to propose marriage to his real-life girlfriend before a live audience. But Ash's well-wishers did not want this to happen. On the day of the award function, they saw to it that Ash was committed to shoot at an outdoor location for another film. It was that very year that Ash had also bagged the Best Actress Award for her performance in Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, and her mother Vrinda Rai collected the Best Actress trophy on Ash's behalf. So, Salman's wish to dance with his current girlfriend may come true at Gifa.

However, when contacted, a staff member from Chimes Media, the firm handling the PR for Gifa, said, "Well I really don't know whether Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are going to be together for a live performance. I really can't comment on it. Even we have heard similar rumours, but don't know how true they are." Besides Salman and Katrina, the other stars expected to perform are Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and Amisha Patel. Actors Arshad Warsi and Amrita Arora will host the award function.

Kapil Sharma, the younger brother of director Anil Sharma of Gadar fame, is making a debut in Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron. He had the experience of his lifetime recently when his idol Dharmendra met him. Interestingly, the duo had worked together in Hukumat 15 years ago, where Kapil was a child artiste.

Dharmendra, who met Kapil, told him, "You remind me of what I was years ago. Your face reflects the same innocence and the hunger to grow and prove yourself. You will go places." If all goes well, we will definitely see Kapil in a typical Dharmendra role. Sources reveal that Kapil's debut film has two item numbers and considering that he is known for his dancing skills, the item numbers we believe, are going to be chartbusters of the year. "Yes, the film has two more item songs by leading heroines, but they are fun numbers, not raunchy ones," clarifies Kapil.

Rahul Bose is on a high these days. With his film Pyaar Ke Side Effects having won rave reviews and his next Anuranan being selected for the International Film Festival (IFFI) to be held in Goa, the actor is excited about this film. "Anuranan means resonance," says Rahul. "The film is about two sensitive couples, Rituparna Sengupta and me, along with Raima Sen and Rajat Kapoor. It is about resonance in relationships. It is the lives of these four friends that creates a resonance, a chord that echoes through their present and future. The role was not challenging as much as it was interesting," he adds.

Rahul says that his role in Anuranan is that of a classical hero who has his own idealism that exudes a kind of positive energy. "I play the role of a Bengali guy who is always charged. It is similar to the kind of role which actor Soumitra Chatterjee performed in Charulata. Director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhary has done a wonderful job. It was his first film and his finances were hinging on me. However, the film has been tastefully done," says the Jhankaar Beats actor.

Rahul is one actor who claims that all the films and roles he performs are totally different, be it Thakshak, Chameli, Jhankaar Beats, or the very recent Pyaar Ke Side Effects. "It's an obvious move. I try to experiment and do things without calculation. It is a pleasure to try out different characters. I desire to do a romantic film now. Something very light-hearted," he reveals.

The actor is looking forward to a host of Hollywood films that he has in his kitty. He is doing The Whisperer with Manoj Bajpai. "It is a psychological thriller, and I have written the script. Then there is a Hollywood film about friendship and passion called Kerala by Santosh Sivan opposite Nandita Das. It is a Malayalam and English bilingual. I play a Keralite from a village and the film is based in 1930s. I also have Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Kaal Purush. I've given my best shot in this film," he says.

The common link between Bunty Aur Babli, Sarkar and KANK was that Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan were shown sharing screen space, which most filmmakers want to show if they have the duo acting in their film. But that's something director Apoorva Lakhia has abstained from showing in Shootout At Lokhandwala. "Though Amitabh and Abhishek play crucial roles in my film, for the first time they will not share a single frame together. Amitabh plays a cop while Abhishek's character is powerful," he says.

Apoorva said that he began his career with Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost working with Abhishek and then worked with Amitabh in Ek Ajnabee. "I could not think of making Shootout At Lokhandwala without casting the two," he says. It was director Shaad Ali who could get the father-son duo together for the first time with Bunty Aur Babli. But Amitabh and Abhishek were not paired as father and son in the film. So one could say that Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar was the first film that had them together as father and son, followed by Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.