Bollywood Gallery #8 - Page 5

Weekend do nothing. Actually, for me means, simply laze around and it's pretty simple stuff. Remember the good old school and college days, when holidays were all about fun and only fun? It's still the same for me. I enjoy watching TV and films. A lot of my time goes in chatting and e-mailing friends. Nothing official, only personal work on my day-off. On Saturdays, in case I am at home and not travelling, I try to clean and arrange my stuff. Normally, I am a very messy person for which I always get a scolding from my mother. But now I am trying to break away from the habit and keep things as clean as possible. On my sabbatical, you can also find me with a book. Earlier, I had tried my hand at cooking, but I was no good at it. So, I have gladly given it up. On Sundays, I just chill out as I'm not into shopping at all. My friends know that, so thankfully they don't drag me for those never-ending sessions. — As told to Princy Jain

Heisthemanwho made the rediscovery of the Mahatma fashionable among Gen Z in its latter day avatar, Gandhigiri. But Rajkumar Hirani, di- rector of the laugh riot Lage Raho Munnabhai, insists that he is "a sim- ple man who just loves his work." The balancing act: "I certainly want to convey a social message, but wit- hout compromising on entertainment," he asse- rts. But this does not take anything away from the director who is all set to complete the hat-trick with Munnabhai Chale America. "The film will be a comment on the East-West divide and how each is perceived." While Sanjay Dutt and Arshad Warsi will take the story forward, Hirani plans to cast an American actress for the female lead. Road ahead: While Munnabhai films have turned out to be a huge phenomenon, the direc- tor plans to move beyond the Munnabhai genre. "I am doing another film under the Vidhu Vinod Chopra banner, which will take a look at the ed- ucation system with the humour quotient intact." True lies? Lage Raho... is a major contender for most of the prestigious Bollywood awards this ye- ar, pitted against the blockbuster Rang de Bas- anti. So is there a rivalry? "Not at all. Honestly spe- aking, I will not be disap- pointed if I don't get any award," he says. Honest, indeed!

Bollywoodstar Aftab Shivdasani, who is sporting a 'monk' hairstyle these days, hosted a party to celebrate the completion of the movie — Red. Needless to say, the theme of the party was red and thankfully most of the guests obliged. The bash, hosted at Mum- bai's hot spot Voyeur, was a rocking one as many glam- our dolls and stud boys of Bollywood joined Aftab in his celebration. Besides the cast and the crew of the movie Red, the bash saw the host's friends flocking in till late at night. The sizzling hot stars in- cluded Isha Koppikar, Ria Sen and Nauheed Cyrusi, smiley face Amrita Arora with arm-candy Usman Afzal, Suniel and Mana Shetty, hunks Zayed Khan and Dino Morea, Ashish Choudhary, muscle man, Sohail Khan, seniors San- jay Gupta, Deepti Naval and Chunky Pandey and TV's glam babes Sophie Chaudhary, Anusha Dan- dekar and Rakshanda Khan. Besides Red being the evening's style statement, the fairer sex flaunted deep cleavages and glittering ac- cessories while the guys sported body-hugging tees, showing off their biceps. The party rocked till the wee hours and Aftab summed up the mood say- ing, " It's always great to throw a party and I'm glad to see all my friends here. We do not know the fate of the movie but I m celebrating it already". A spiritual sojourn The Bald and the Beautiful: Aftab (hugging Amrita Arora) has taken to Buddhism, religiously. He's chanting Buddhist hymns, reading spiritual books and even donning the Lord on the back of his shirt. Probably that's why he looks calm when rumour mill is abuzz that he and girlfriend Yana Gupta have split. Yana, was, however, conspicuous by her absence.

*ing: Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Jack- ie Shroff, Raima Sen and Vidya Balan Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra Storyline: Contemporary India. A majestic fort. A royal dynasty that no longer rules. A king without a kingdom. Yet Eklavya (Amitabh Bachchan), their royal guard, lives in a time warp. He lives only to protect the fort, the dynasty and the king. Eklavya has spent his entire life serving the royals and closely guarding their secrets, but now he's getting old and in- creasingly blind. Unable to cope with the suffo- cating customs of his land, the heir, prince Harshwardhan (Saif Ali Khan) has moved to London. But the sudden demise of the queen, Rani Suhasinidevi, (Sharmila Tagore), forces the prince back to the kingdom. The prince's return brings a rush of joy into the moribund fort. His mental- ly- challenged twin sisters, Princess Nandini (Raima Sen) and his child- hood love Rajjo (Vidya Balan) are de- lighted to see him. But the joy of re- union is short-lived. There is unrest in the kingdom: The king receives a death threat over the phone. An ir- reverent police officer, Pannalal Chohar (Sanjay Dutt), is called in to investigate. But he might be too late. The fragile peace of the land is suddenly shattered by a barrage of bullets. And amidst the mayhem, the safely- guarded secrets of the fort are unveiled. USP: The film marks the return of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who directs after a hiatus of seven years. MASALA MAAR KE... • Vidhu Vinod Chopra wanted Amitabh to grow natural beards. While Amitabh opted for a fake beard, due to his oth- er commitments. • It's the second time that Vidya and Raima are working together. The ac- tresses shared such bonding that they used to be called chipkali sisters.

WHAT Arun Joshi's birthday WHERE Grand Hyatt, Santacruz WHO Meghna Naidu, Sanober Kabir, Anand Raj Anand .. P erfumery entrepreneur Arun Joshi cel- ebrated his birthday at the Grand Hyatt, Santacruz withperformances by Megh- na Naidu, Sanober Kabir and Great Indian Laughter Challenge's Naveen Prabhakar amongst others.