Shall we Dance?
Actress Shilpa Shetty, who is soon to appear in a dance reality show Zara Nachke Dikha to be aired on Star Plus, admits that television shows have proven lucky for her and after getting married she wanted to do something which didn't take up much of her time.
"Judging is always a huge responsibility and TV has always been something that has proven lucky for me," Shetty said.
"I am just married, and so I thought I should spend some time with my family. I wanted to do something that did not take much of my time and at the same time allowed me to have a great time," she added.
Shetty has teamed up with actor Arshad Warsi and choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant to judge the show.
"As you know, it's a battle of the sexes and we will try and not have any bias. I have always been very pro-women but I have also been very pro-talent," Shetty said.
Shetty, who won the British Celebrity Big Brother TV show in 2007 and hosted the second season of Bigg Boss in 2008, said: "Well I really liked the concept and as you know that they are bringing it on a grander scale this year. Dancing is always something that I enjoyed. This is my third stint on television and every year it keeps getting better."
Big B’s muse is... Jacqueline
Amitabh Bachchan usually has his co-stars in awe of him but the Bollywood megastar on Tuesday was all praise for budding actress Jacqueline Fernandez, a former Miss Sri Lanka.
Bachchan and Fernandez had worked together on the fantasy film Aladin and it was then that the 24-year-old impressed the star.
"From the very first day when we started working on this film Aladin, Jacqueline has been an inspiration of how your attitude should be on sets. She was a picture of grace, of dignity, of humour, of togetherness," Bachchan said.
"Never throughout the making of the film did I ever notice a frown on her face. She was always with a beautiful smile and she mingled with everyone. She was a source of great inspiration in the sense of what being together is," he said.
Bachchan and Fernandez, who was dressed in a white sari, were in Colombo to announce Sri Lanka as the 2010 destination for the IIFA Awards.
Kites fighting
Director Anurag Basu says he is offended and disturbed by the reported leak of the climax of his Kites even though that is not how the film ends. He also believes the movie should not get an A-certificate by the censors as it has "no such intimate scenes".
"The climax that got leaked was thankfully wrong," Basu said, reacting to reports that lead actor Hrithik Roshan and Mexican actress Barbara Mori, who play lovers in the movie, die in the end.
"That is not the climax of the film, but it clearly offended me because many sections of the audience would believe it to be the actual end," he said
"They will go inside the hall with that perception which is very disturbing. It is very unethical. A film has growth only till the climax and if the audience has any perception about the same, there is no fun watching it then. It is really disturbing," he added.
Vidya, Exhausted completely
Vidya Balan, who has been shooting outdoors on the streets of Delhi for Who Killed Jessica from dawn till 10.30pm, is extremely exhausted.
"There's no time to do anything. By the time we wrap up, all I want to do is crash out for the day," she said.
"Sadly, I haven't even been able to meet my sister who stays in Gurgaon [on the outskirts of Delhi]. She's a wife, mother and a jobholder. By the time she comes from work it's too late for us to meet up," the actress said.
However, Balan is quick to point out that she loves Delhi.
"I love the wide open spaces, the broad streets and the crowded lanes. Rani [Mukherjee] and I have been shooting outdoors. Since she's my favourite actress, I am happy to be sharing camera space with her."
