Bollywood khaali - to beat the heat..

Bollywood khaali

Actors skip the city to beat the heat

Ram Kamal Mukherjee

Evidently our Bollywood stars are more about inspiration than perspiration.  They can't stand the heat, dust and sweat of the studios of Mumbai in summer. 

So they do the next best thing.  They either go on 'world tours' or block dates for shooting in cooler climes. The upshot is that Mumbai is starless in summer. Salman Khan and his team, which includes Esha Deol, Arjun Rampal and a host of celebrities are expected to leave for a world tour. Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao are shooting for Sooraj Barjatiya's film Vivah in rural North India. "The network coverage area is so bad there at times that I can't even talk to Shahid properly," complains his girlfriend Kareena Kapoor.  She's happy, however, that he is expected to come for a day to attend the music launch of his film 36 China Town today.

 Akshay Kumar is travelling around the globe with Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen, Saif Ali Khan and Celina Jaitley. "I enjoy travelling, but this time the schedule is so hectic that there's no almost breathing space. We have back-to-back shows.  After the show I'll be joining Rituparno's team for Rahgeer in Bangkok," says Akshay. 

Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra are in Malaysia shooting for Farah Akhtar's Don, while Rani Mukherji recently left for Malaysia to join Karan Johar's unit for Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna. "My daughter is traveling round the clock and it although this may sound exciting, but we are going crazy with her schedule," says Krishna Mukherji, Rani's mother. Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan have blocked their dates for Mani Ratnam's Guru.

Bipasha Basu came back recently from Brazil, where she was shooting with Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan for Dhoom 2. Esha Deol returned from Bangkok and will be leaving for Chennai for her classical performance.

Vivek Oberoi is also traveling across the globe. Currently in Kuwait, he will be joining Suhashini Ratnam (Mani's wife) for a charitable cause in Chennai and then he has been invited as special guest for the Fashion Week grand finale in Delhi, where Upen Patel will be walking the ramp with Shweta Bachchan for Abu and Sandeep. Koena Mitra has also been invited for the same.

Manisha Koirala is spending time with her family in Nepal and she is expected to be back in Mumbai by the end of this month. Tabu is in Hyderabad, and will join the unit of Chini Kam with Amitabh Bachchan soon. Ajay Devgan and Kajol were planning a summer vacation abroad with their kid Nysa.

Yes, Aamir Khan and Mallika Sherawat are in town, perhaps. But since both prefer to remain inaccessible to everyone else even when they are in town, let's not count them…

•  The network coverage in that area is so bad that I can't even talk to Shahid properly — Kareena Kapoor