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Ranjib Mazumder

Shweta and Raja in a file photo This has to be Shweta Tiwari's worst phase. And the reason is none other than her husband Raja Chaudhary. Reportedly, Raja Chaudhary came drunk to Shweta's doorstep (she has been staying with a relative) and a huge showdown followed on Saturday afternoon. Shweta and Raja have been living apart ever since Shweta filed a complaint against Raja for domestic violence. After Shweta filed a police complaint, she was given two bodyguards from Balaji Telefilms. One of the bodyguards has been always at the house where she is currently staying and one accompanies her wherever she goes to shoot. As she has been busy shooting for Kasautii Zindagi Kay every day, Raja could not get in touch with her. But, Raja knew that Saturday was Shweta's day off. Shweta was with her family when Raja barged into her house in the afternoon. "Raja was drunk and came to the house under the pretext of talking to his daughter. Raja went inside and a verbal abuse followed. In the mean time, Shweta called up her friends in Balaji who rushed to her rescue. In the end, Raja was thrown out of the house," says a close friend of Shweta. Shweta did not call up police because she did not want to be in the public eye again. The reason for Raja's anger is that he has been sending constant messages to Shweta to which she never reverted. Shweta has maintained a safe distance from her friends and she is constantly in an unavailable mode. Raja went out of his way claiming that the spat was a publicity stunt. This further upset Shweta. Raja Chaudhary was unperturbed when asked about the showdown. Denying the news he says, "I don't know who is spreading all these rumours! I came back from Delhi on Friday night and we were together on Saturday, enjoying the monsoons. However, our daughter Palak was not with us because she went to her grandmother's house." Raja even went on to say that everything between the couple has been sorted out. "I guess, 50 per cent of the misunderstandings between us have been sorted out," he says Isn't Shweta filing for the divorce? "I don't know who her lawyer is. I really don't know," he adds. MORE TROUBLES Shweta Tiwari's personal life seems to be taking the toll on her professional life as well. Reportedly, she has failed to turn up for the shooting of veteran actor Surendra Pal's debut Bhojpuri film Bhavji Ki Sister despite giving dates weeks back. Tiwari is paired opposite Manoj Tiwari in the film. Pal is fuming as she is shooting for Balaji's show but not for his film. Pal says, "I am desperately trying to get in touch with Shweta but all my calls and messages have gone unanswered. I just need 2-3 days from her but she is not responding at all. I understand that she is going through a lot of stress due to her personal life but she is shooting for Ekta Kapoor. If she can shoot there then she can also finish my film. Lot of money is at stake and I had to cancel the shoot at the last minute when she did not come on the sets earlier. I wanted to send someone to her house but I believe she has now hired bodyguards who do not let anyone meet her."

from mumbai mirror

What's going on?

Wait for it: Shweta Tiwari

In a time where word of mouth soon becomes news, we have been getting calls from various sources in Balaji and friends close to Shweta Tiwari about what's happening in her life.

While Raja Choudhary has been doing the media rounds, giving conflicting statements, Shweta still has to come out with her version. Recently, we got a call saying that Shweta is in depression and trying to commit suicide!

While another friend informed us that all's well with the Kasautii actress and she's laughing over Raja's circus act.

However, it seems it will only be a matter of days before Shweta's lawyer gives her the go-ahead to spill the beans and tell us what actually went wrong.

Going places

< content=07/07/2007 name=date>

Now Balaji Telefilms will produce serials for Sri Lankans, with local flavour and talent Back to Section Stories Posted On Saturday, July 07, 2007

Mail this Article Print this Article Search View Comments Rate this Article Comments Ranjib Mazumder Ekta Kapoor Some weeks back we had reported that soap queen Ekta Kapoor had taken her popular shows Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kasautii Zindagi Kay across borders. The popularity of her two shows reached the Sri Lankan markets. The Balaji 'K' shows became instant hit with the Sri Lankans compared to the local fare. But the fact that the Balaji Telefilms' shows were registering high TRPs in Sri Lanka did not go down well with the local actors and crew members The rising insecurity among the actors set them thinking. They approached Balaji Telefilms to produce shows for them with their actors. Ekta said, "Kyunki… and Kasautii… are hugely popular among the Sri Lankan audiences. Riding high on the success of both the shows, we have already set up an office. But we have been approached for another show which will strictly be based on Sri Lanka featuring their people." The new show will have the popular Balaji brand name. The auditions for the show have been done and the actors have been selected too. CEO of Balaji Telefilms, R. Kartik said, "The shooting is going to start on 18th of this month and the tentative day of its airing is August 6. The out-and-out family soap is a primetime daily. Although we have all the newcomers in the show, we are sure that it's going to make it big like our Indian shows. The story is the real hero here. These shows will help us penetrate the Sri Lankan market with full force."

Primetime across the border
6 Jul 2007, 0000 hrs IST,SUBHASH K JHA ,TNN

Ekta Kapoor's first official show in Pakistan is called Khwahish. It's time for Balaji-deprived Pakistani housewives to rejoice. Cablewallahs needn't fear the police for relaying K-soaps illegally to eager janta either. News goes that Ekta Kapoor has just given them the first official Balaji soap. "For me, the big moment right now is Khwahish, the soap that we produced in Dubai for the Middle Eastern market. We shot it on neutral land since we didn't want any legal or political repercussions. It's already been aired in Pakistan. So far our shows were being shown illegally in Pakistan. Our Kasauti Zindagi Kay is huge there. Now we've given them the first official Balaji soap. And they love it," says Ekta. The Pakistanis are really keen to meet Ekta. And she's planning a trip to Karachi and Lahore very soon. She says, "My creative director Nivedita Basu had gone to Pakistan. And she got a very warm welcome. We held a talent hunt for Khwahish in Pakistan. The principal male lead is from Pakistan. And now Khwahish will start to air in a fortnight." Meanwhile, Sanjay Gupta and Ekta Kapoor are getting together to produce a reality show. "We've just got a confirmation letter. It's going to be the biggest reality show ever in the country. I can't give out more details right now. But it's like nothing that has been done so far. I've waited so long to do a reality show. Sanjay Gupta and I wanted to get it right before getting it on the road." The Ekta-Gupta Balaji reality show starts in January 2008.

'Bond'ing with Ekta
8 Jul 2007, 0000 hrs IST,TNN

Ekta hosted her birthday bash a month after her birthday, and since she was bringing in the seventh day of the seventh month of 2007. Trust Ekta Kapoor to do things differently! She hosted her birthday bash a month after her birthday, and since she was bringing in the seventh day of the seventh month of 2007, she kept the theme as James Bond 007, with a strict black and red dress code, to which most of the guests complied. As expected, her do was buzzing until the wee hours of the morning. And this time around it wasn't just the entire telly crowd that came, saw and partied the night away, there were also some from the film industry (the Shootout at Lokhandwala gang). Urmila Matondkar looked stunning in a red outfit and matching red lipstick , and surprise, surprise, jaws dropped when Ekta herself walked in wearing a short black dress, quite a contrast to the long black gowns she wears. Sanjay Gupta, his niece Neha Uberoi, Apoorva Lakhia and Tusshar Kapoor all enjoyed the Casino Royale theme, which was well-perfected with lights in the form of dices all around. Ram Kapoor and his wife Gautami, the new 'Tulsi', posed merrily for the lenses, Gauri Pradhan and Gauri Tonk were colour-and-clothescoordinated , Rakshanda Khan bonded with Vikas Kalantri and Pooja Ghai, Prachi Shah and her husband Vishwas were spotted after a long time, Sandeep Baswana and Ashlesha Sawant walked in together, never mind the fact that they continue to call themselves 'just friends' ! A surprise guest was the rather low-profile Sakshi Tanwar, who came in with co-star Ali Asgar. Prachi Desai, Rushali Arora, Ronit Roy and wife Neelam, Aamir Ali, Chetan Hansraj, Sanjeeda, Riva Bubber and Narayani Shastri were all present to wish Ekta. Now that's male bonding! There's friendship, and then there's hug-meever-so-tight friendship ! Wonder what got into Vivek Oberoi and Shabbir Ahluwalia, but they greeted each other with such a tight squeeze, like long lost friends. 'Belting out his name! Manoj Bohra, who recently changed his name to Karn Vir Bohra, sported a belt with 'Vir' written on the buckle. Just in case people don't forget, eh? 'Slip' of the tongue! Shabbir Ahluwalia dressed according to the Bond black and red code, with a tie et al, but messed up the 'look' by wearing... hold your breath... slippers! Now which Bond wears chappals Shabbir? It's her first time... Nikkhil Arya had promised the world that he would unveil his fiance Neha Chhabria at this do. And he stuck to the promise. Make-up time Cezanne Khan, Sandeep Sikcand and Manoje Biddvai, all of who have not been on the best terms with Ekta of late (according to the rumour mills) were also present, 'bond'ing with the hostess.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/City_Supplements/B ombay_Times/Bonding_with_Ekta/articleshow/2184775.cms

Bad boys have all the fun
13 Jul, 2007 l 0000 hrs ISTlSurbhi Gupta/TNN


On television, increasingly male negative leads are making their mark. AT gets behind the scenes...
While telly vamps Komolikas and Jigyasas have gained instant fame, slowly the small screen's male villains are also gaining popularity . Unlike Bollywood, negative characters on television have become synonymous with women on television. This is essentially because the small screen's loyal followers are mostly the fairer sex.

Says Ismail Ubarkhan, who's directing the daily soap Banoo Main Teri Dulhann, "Our audiences, a huge chunk of who are women, love women vamps. Also, they love to follow the vamps' styles in costumes and accessories." It also has to do with the fact that women rule kitchen politics , feels actor Rajiv Paul, who's played various negative characters, including one in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. He elaborates, "In a saas bahu soap, there's more politics among the women, which, frankly, is just a reflection of the society. It leaves little scope for men."

Given a choice, most male actors prefer playing negative roles on television. Sample this, some of television's bigger stars are having a great time being bad - Aman Verma (Virasaat), Ronit Roy (Kasamh se), Hiten Tejwani (Kasauti Zindagi Kay), Akashdeep Saigal, Salil Acharya (Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi), Chetan Hansraj (Virruddh), Nikhil Arya (Kasturi) and Manoje Bidvai (Meri Awaz Ko Mil Gayee Roshni).

"Positive male characters are just like furniture in soaps. All the ideal, good deeds are done by women only. Good men just stand by their women. So men can show off their acting prowess only if they play negative characters ," says actor Anupam Bhattacharya, aka Aseem Shrivastava in Durgesh Nandinii.

Paul adds that he doesn't want to play positive roles, for, "they are very boring. Negative roles have more layers to them."

Playing the bad guy also means one runs the risk of being typecast, but it is still the better option. Chetan Hansraj who has played the bad guy earlier in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki and is the negative lead in Virruddh , find these roles more interesting. "They provide more scope to perform, enable the story to move forward, can be very powerful, and if done properly bring instant recognition," he says.

Probably, this is why even rank newcomers are taking the 'negative' route on television . Romit Raj, who plays Yuvraj in Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyann, says that it's been "awesome" playing a bad guy. "After the creative heads showed their faith in me, I decided to go ahead with it. And it was very interesting to do the wrong things the right way. As I don't gamble , smoke or drink in real life, I got a chance to portray a completely different character on screen, which made me discover my dark side." As for getting typecast, he says, "I've already started working on my second serial, where I play a nice guy, So, I guess, it's all about proving your talent."

So do our women vamps feel comfortable now that the men are about to steal some of their thunder ? "Why not?" asks actress Kamya Punjabi, who's played many negative characters , adding, "The audience should also be given something new and different . In the end, it's only the performance that matters."

www.Timesofindia.com

Leave me alone!


Shweta Tiwari has become a recluse ever since her problems with her husband became public. Often she shoots alone, and for scenes requiring many actors, her body double is used. She doesn't take calls from her co-actors either


Back to Section Stories Posted On Wednesday, August 08, 2007


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Mumbai Mirror Bureau

Shweta Tiwari aka Prerna of Kasautii Zindagi Kay has retreated into a shell ever since her problems with husband Raja Chaudhary became public. Although the actress is still shooting, she keeps to herself completely on the sets.

Sometimes, when she does not feel like shooting with too many people in a scene, the production house uses a body double in her place, so that she can maintain her privacy. Very often, she is called to the sets alone, and her close-ups are shot separately. This way, she doesn't need to meet too many people every day.

The otherwise fun-loving Shweta is barely seen outside of her vanity van these days. She's also always ready to finish work fast, so that she can spend more time with her daughter. Says a source, "The actress was given two bodyguards by Balaji to escort her from her home to the sets and back. After the Ekta-Smriti fallout, Ekta has become fiercely possessive about Shweta and is especially considerate towards her. The production house lets her shoot at her own will and uses a body double for her, whenever she wants to avoid interacting with too many people."

An actor from Kasautii Zindagi Kay says on condition of anonymity, "Shweta has changed drastically. She used to be really jolly earlier but now her trauma reflects on her face. We understand her condition and the rough phase in life that she is going through, so we do not try to question her about anything. She wants to spend more time with her daughter now and stay away from her husband. Nowadays, she does not respond to our SMSes or calls either. She has cut herself off completely from everyone and simply sits in one corner of the sets quietly, or retires to her vanity van in between shots."

The actor also confirmed that a body double is used for Shweta whenever she doesn't wish to come on the sets and meet too many people.

TV starlet's reel nightmare turns real

Mumbai: Bollywood history is replete with stories of celebrity marriages breaking up. But it seems like this trend is now extending to the small screen as well. The most recent case being that of Kasauti Zindagi Ki actress Shweta Tiwari and her husband Raja Chaudhary.