SRK's view on Slumdog Millionaire

Many critics and prominent industry people have been fuming about the fact that the Oscar nominated film Slumdog Millionaire highlights poverty in Mumbai. But the Baadshah of Bollywood Shahrukh Khan has no problem with it.

He thinks that the poverty seen in the film is a reality and hence wrong for people to become cynical when the film is getting international acclaim.

Shahrukh, who has read the original book as well as the script said, "Isn't that (poverty and slums) a reality? If you (critics) have a problem with the word slumdog, why don't you look positively and see that there is a word millionaire or 'crorepati' also."

King Khan has returned from Los Angeles after a month-long schedule of Karan Johar's My name is Khan. He said, "I have just returned from the US and people there have become crazy about the film and its music. The film's sound is also good apart from a good story and screenplay. The film deserves all awards."

However he doesn't regret turning down Anil Kapoor's role in the film. He said maybe he wouldn't have done justice to the role of a game show host like Anil Kapoor. He was already hosting 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' (KBC) and later 'Kya Aap Panchvi Pass Se Tez Hai' during the time Danny Boyle shot the film and will do the new season too.

He added, "I love awards and I hope to feature in a film comprising Indian cast and crew some day which will go to win these awards. The success of Slumdog Millionaire worldwide is an incentive to all Indian filmmakers."

And we always thought that the Baadshah was totally in love with Bollywood only and didn't really care about anything else. It's nice to see him talk with an international perspective for a change!

Priyanka Chopra turns Pink

The leading lady of Bollywood today, Priyanka Chopra seems to be building a fine working rapport with Rajasthan.

She has shot for her film Drona here, and then she came back in July last year to shoot for a commercial near Jaipur’s Jal Mahal, and now she’s back in Jodhpur again in just six months time to shoot for yet another commercial, this time for a beauty soap brand. Priyanka landed at the Jodhpur airport on Tuesday afternoon amidst heavy security. Our source present at the airport said, “Priyanka landed here around 1 pm. Though a large number of her fans had turned up to greet her and catch a glimpse of their star, she preferred to quickly push through the surging crowd and head for her hotel.” The actress will be in Jodhpur till today. On her earlier visit to Jaipur, Priyanka who was unavailable for comment on Tuesday, had told JT, “I just love the state and the fact that its people are still connected to their cultural roots. I want to go around the place, but my hectic schedule doesn’t allow me to do so.”

Why does Neha Duphia hate Valentine's Day?

Now when all are gearing up to celebrate this love-ly day, Neha Dhupia seems to be in a different mood altogether.

She tells us that she hates Valentine’s Day. Now let us assure you that everything’s alright between Neha and her boyfriend Ritwik Bhattacharya. Neha just finds the whole thing oh-so-stupid. “I think it’s really a stupid concept. I don’t understand why do we even need to celebrate that day? It’s not a festival to celebrate; so what’s the significance of it,” she asks. But there could be another reason for this hatred. “I was very fat when I was in school,” reveals Neha, “And very ugly, too. Every Valentine’s all girls used to get chocolates except me...” Now, now, that’s one sad story. But how much ever you may hate the day, we’re sure Rits can give you loads of chocolates for all those years that you didn’t get any! Cheer up Neha.

Aishwarya Rai to contest polls

After 'Munnabhai' Sanjay Dutt, it could be the turn of Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as a Samajwadi Party candidate.

Samajwadi Party workers and leaders in Bihar have decided to offer Aishwarya the party ticket for the Madhepura seat against Janata Dal-United (JD-U) national president Sharad Yadav, a party official said.

In view of the overwhelming demand of the party workers, the Samajwadi Party Bihar parliamentary board has recommended Aishwarya's name to party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Senior party leader Tulsi Singh said that a large number of party workers and people had requested him to convince Mulayam Singh to give the party ticket to Aishwarya from Madhepura. Singh is chairman of the party's state parliamentary board.

The Madhepura seat is held by the Rashtriya Janata Dal's Pappu Yadav, who is serving life imprisonment in Tihar Jail in Delhi for his involvement in the murder of Left leader Ajit Sarkar. His wife Ranjita Ranjan is a Lok Janshakti Party MP from Saharsa.

JD-U leader Sharad Yadav is likely to contest from Madhepura, his old seat.

In the last Lok Sabha polls in 2004, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, the RJD chief, won from Madhepura by defeating Sharad Yadav. Lalu Prasad later resigned the Madhepura seat and opted to retain the Chapra seat.

Madhepura, a rural seat, is dominated by the backward Yadav caste. Last year, Madhepura was hit by devastating floods when the Kosi river changed its course after a breach upstream in Nepal.

Priyanka gets more footage than Kareena & Deepika

If Priyanka Chopra declares from the rooftops that she is Shah Rukh Khan's biggest fan then it is with reason. The superstar, who has been taking more than a passing interest in the music of the films he produces, decided to give away a large portion of his duet in " Billu Barber " to her.

"Shah Rukh took very close interest in each one of the songs. He isn't a musician, but he has an instinctive ear for music. It takes him just a few seconds to approve or cut down a track," told composer Pritam Chakraborty.

With the songs meant for Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, Pritam faced no problems.

"Shah Rukh loved his songs with Kareena ('Marjani') and Deepika ('Love mera hit hit'). They were straightforward dance songs with shared grooves between Shah Rukh and Kareena and Deepika," said Pritam.

The song with Priyanka needed special treatment and Shah Rukh made Pritam re-work and re-record the song.

"Shah Rukh's song with Priyanka 'Khuda-ae-kher' is not an item song. It's a love ballad that the pair playing Bollywood superstars emote to in front of the camera. Being a love song Shah Rukh felt there wasn't enough of the female presence in the vocals. He made me re-record the song with more for the female vocalist (Dominique) to do since he wanted Priyanka to have an equal number of lines," the composer said.

"It was entirely Shah Rukh's idea to give Priyanka more lines in the song. He's a very generous entertainer. If you see him on screen he never tries to steal the limelight from his heroines. Even ' Khai ke paan banaras wala ' in 'Don' had a lot of Priyanka in it although it was entirely Shah Rukh's song," Pritam added.

Asked about Shah Rukh's generosity, Priyanka sighed and said: "What do I say? Now do you know why he's my favourite?"

Irrfan Khan and Lara Dutta, who play a rustic couple in "Billu Barber", will later be seen enacting the same Shah Rukh-Priyanka ballad.

Odissi dance Guru all Praise for Shilpa

Bollywood actresses Shilpa Shetty and Jayaprada took lessons in the classical Indian dance form of Odissi for an India-China joint film venture. And the Orissa-based dance guru is all praise for Shilpa's grace and commitment.

"Shilpa Shetty went through a week-long Odissi dance workshop under my supervision at Kollam (in Kerala), where the film is being shot," Odissi dance Guru Ratikant Mohapatra told IANS in Bhubaneswar.

Tentatively titled "The Desire", the film will see Shilpa sharing screen space with Chinese superstar Xia Yu, who is considered the Shah Rukh Khan of China. Produced jointly by Sharad Hegde from Mumbai and Tracy Shiyun from China, it is being directed by R. Sarath.

"I was specially invited by director R. Sarath to teach Odissi to Shilpa and choreograph the song for her in the film," said Mohapatra, son of legendary Odissi exponent late Kelucharan Mohapatra.

"My working experience with Shilpa Shetty was very good. As an actress and Bharatnatyam dancer she was able to understand the style and form of Odissi and its execution," he said.

"Practising in the morning and evening, Shilpa had no star tantrums and she proved herself to be a committed artiste. Her performance in the shooting was also satisfying," Mohapatra said.

The dance guru said the training session took place between January 14-19, while Jaya Prada also took lessons for a brief period.

The Indo-Chinese project, under the banner of C-9 Motion Pictures in association with Indish Creations, also features Anupam Kher, Sachin Khedekar, Sheetal Menon and Nakul Vaid.

"The Desire" revolves around Goutami (Shilpa), an accomplished Odissi dancer, and a talented artist Jai Leang (Yu) and follows the journey of their respective lives until they are separated and brought together again by destiny.

Yu is not the first Chinese actor to star alongside Bollywood stars. Veteran Chinese martial arts actor Gordon Liu was seen in Nikhil Advani's "Chandni Chowk To China" that released on January 16.

Mohapatra, who is director of Srujan, the dance school started by his father Kelucharan Mohapatra in Bhubaneswar, was involved in composing the music for the dance sequences as well.

"Sarath told me to compose the music for the Odissi (dance sequences) and choose an Oriya song. Then Shri Lakshmikant Palit was invited to compose the music and I composed the rhythm of Odissi Mardala," Mohapatra added.

"Presenting Odissi dance in a Bollywood film with its purity and form intact, along with Odissi music and Oriya literature is certainly an achievement for me personally, for our state and for the Oriya people," the dancer said.

Indo-Asian News Service

Latest size zero Babes

It’s great to see these glam-sham mams on the big screen. And it was even more pleasurable to bump into them at this do.

The three lovely women — Madhuri Dixit, Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen — are looking as gorgeous as ever. And yes, they all seem to have lost tons of weight, so much so that we think Mads, Zints, and Sush are soon going to be size zero! It’s the fad of ‘zero-giri’ that seems to be taking over our filmi duniya. Watch out girls!