Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra has been chosen to officially inaugurate Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai’s latest iconic luxury resort at a $40 million glittering function Thursday, according to reports. The former Miss World has also been chosen ‘Goddess of Atlantis’ at the function, the highlights of which will be one of the world’s largest fireworks display and a performance by Australian pop star Kylie Minogue, Read the full story

A court here Wednesday issued a non-bailable warrant against Bollywood actor Suniel Shetty for not appearing before it in a case filed by a local businessman for dishonoured cheque for Rs.1 million.

Shetty had sought exemption from personal appearance in the case, but the court rejected the plea. The court of Judicial Magistrate (first class) Manisha Jain then issued a non-bailable warrant for Dec 23 appearance by Shetty.

On Shetty’s petition earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had stayed the trial court proceedings. During the last hearing, however, the high court vacated the stay and asked Shetty to appear before the court Wednesday.

Subash Gulati, owner of Empire Store in sector 17, filed the complaint against Shetty in 2005 alleging that a cheque issued by Shetty’s company had bounced.

“A cheque of Rs.1 million issued by the Hyundai India Telecom Limited (HITL), Chennai, to my client Subash Gulati had bounced due to insufficient funds in the bank account of the company. During the launch of the company in 2004 there were eight directors and Suniel Shetty was one of them. And therefore, he is liable for this fraud,” said Kanwaljit Bawa, counsel of Gulati.

Singer Sonu Nigam is so impressed with Bollywood star Salman Khan’s well-toned body that he urged the actor, who has often exposed his six-pack abs on screen, to flaunt his well-built legs too.

Sonu, who is a fitness freak himself and took initial lessons of exercising from the actor, said: “I started my fitness lessons with Salman. It is during that time that I saw him exercising and found his legs in perfect shape with perfect muscles.”

“We are familiar with his perfect six-pack abs and the upper body muscles, but fans have yet to see his muscular legs, which are so perfect. I think he should expose his legs too, which he has not done often,” Sonu added.

Sonu was speaking at a function held here recently to celebrate the success of the music of “Yuvvraaj”. Releasing Friday, the movie has Salman in the lead role.

Reacting to Sonu’s statement, Salman said: “I have done it on a few occasions, but not too often. If need arises and there is a demand, I would surely do it. But, it has to be done by keeping the Indian sensibilities in mind,” the actor remarked.

Prakash Jha’s “Rajneeti” was to be Raveena Tandon’s dream comeback but the actress quit the project once she learnt that she would have to play Ajay Devgan’s mother.“You can’t blame me for saying no to playing mother to an actor with whom I co-starred in so many films. But I had a bigger reason for my refusal. The film required me to leave Mumbai for two months at a stretch. Both my children are too young to be left behind for such a long time, especially since they don’t even go to school yet,” Raveena told IANS.
Raveena was expected to play the role of an all-powerful politician in director Prakash Jha’s “Rajneeti”, inspired by late prime minister Indira Gandhi’s life and times. Raveena was to play Ranbir Kapoor’s mother. And Ranbir’s role resonated the life of Rajiv Gandhi.
Raveena, who had earlier played a politician in “Satta”, had several meetings with Jha and both of them were excited about it.
Raveena had to age from 20 to 60. Her makeup, saris and styling were all finalised. Until she realised the role required her to play not just Ranbir’s mom but also Ajay’s mother.
That’s when the National Award winning actress decided to back out, thereby halting her spectacular comeback plans.
“Prakash Jha offered me the role in ‘Rajneeti’. And what a role! I’ve the highest regards for Prakash. And when I met him for this part, I realised he’s even bigger a visionary than I thought.
“He’s meant to not just make films but be a national leader. He’s absolutely the right person to direct a subject like ‘Rajneeti’. I’d have given anything to return to cinema with this project, specially since he insisted I was his first and best choice,” the actress said.
Raveena, who was last seen in the 2006 dud “Sandwich”, is ready to return to the big screen. But she will only do a film that requires her to shoot in and around Mumbai. The actress is best remembered for her hits like “Mohra”, “Andaz Apna Apna” and “Bade Miyan Chote Miyan”.
As for the role of the female politician in “Rajneeti”, Jha is now thinking of casting either Tisca Chopra or Mrinal Kulkarni.

Small screen star Eijaz Khan, known for his roles in shows like “Kavyanjali” and “Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka”, is all geared up for his first major Hindi film role in the forthcoming “Meerabai Not Out”. He says Bollywood directors no longer mind casting TV actors in pivotal roles.

“Today filmmakers don’t hesitate experimenting and making films on diverse topics and themes with TV actors portraying central characters,” Eijaz told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

In “Meerabai Not Out”, Eijaz plays a boy-next-door who is married to Mandira Bedi, a cricket fanatic in the film. It also stars former Indian Test skipper Anil Kumble.

The film is being produced by Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) and directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni.

“PNC approached me for the role of Mandira Bedi’s husband after seeing my work on television. ‘Meerabai Not Out’ is a sweet and situational story where I essay the role of Dr. Arjun Awasthi,” the actor said.

Although his Bollywood stint includes forgettable roles in “Kuch Na Kaho”, “Just Married” and “Zameen” to name a few, Eijaz is pretty happy with the kind of roles he has in his kitty.

He is also doing Dharmesh Darshan’s production debut “Bhavra” with Shweta Salve, Sangeeta Ghosh and Manav Gohil, who are all TV actors.

In the film, Eijaz plays an extremely ambitious guy who can stoop to any level to achieve his goals. The movie has already created a flutter in film circles with its bold approach and his scenes with bikini-clad heroines.

“If a particular scene is not aesthetically shot, then that’s a problem. If the role demands something and if it is handled well and not made to look vulgar, then people will not have a problem.

“Audiences see us in different roles on TV, so I don’t think they will have problems accepting us in a different role on the silver screen,” he said.

Eijaz, who has eluded television for almost two years now, will also be seen in PNC’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”.

The actor said he is open to doing all kinds of films and won’t shy away from any genre.

“I want to learn and do a variety of roles. I’m not one of those who’ll say that I don’t want to run around trees or I want to do only art films.

“I want to experiment with all kinds of cinema. If people are willing to work with me and like my work, then I’m ready to work with them,” Eijaz said.

The global financial crisis may have forced many companies to put their expansion projects on hold, but Big Cinema, part of the Anil Ambani-promoted Adlabs Films Ltd, is singing a different tune.

Describing movie entertainment as a “recession-proof business”, a top company official told IANS the cinema chain’s investment plans were on track and it was looking for new lease agreements in various parts of the country to expand operations.

“For us, the time is right to strike attractive property lease deals for expansion,” Big Cinema chief operating officer Tushar Dhingra said.

Big Cinema has 186 screens across 72 theatres in the country with a total seating capacity of 70,821.

Dhingra, however, said there would be a slight dip in the theatre advertisement revenue owing to the recession.

While advertisements account for 10 percent of the division’s revenue, ticket sales account for 60 percent and 30 percent comes from selling food and beverages. For the last quarter Big Cinema earned Rs.890 million.

On future projects, he said Big Cinema will open a four-screen multiplex at Kathmandu, Nepal, next April.

“The total investment will be around Rs.60 million and the seating capacity will be 1,100. We are also promoting a megaplex with 10-15 screens under one roof,” Dhingra said.

Last week, the division opened a fully refurbished four-screen KG Big Cinema in Coimbatore with 2,325 seats.

“Our relationship with the KG group is a mix of lease rental and management contract. We have invested Rs.50 million. The theatre is a well known destination within and outside Coimbatore,” he said.

Meanwhile, Big Cinema was selected for the `Exhibitor of the Year-2008′ by CineAsia. The award will be presented Dec 11 at this year’s CineAsia-2008 convention in Macau, China.

New Delhi, Her closeness to Rahul Mahajan on reality TV show “Bigg Boss” had reportedly unnerved her ex-beau Abu Salem, but actress Monica Bedi is unfazed. She says his comments and reactions don’t make any difference to her. “Monica Bedi is out of her past. Abu’s (Salem) reactions to anything won’t affect me and they are never going to come in the way of my career,” Read the full story

Mumbai, Abhishek Awasthi, known as Rakhi Sawant’s boyfriend, is in no mood to compromise this time after their recent breakup and blames people around her for the situation. Read the full story

Katrina Kaif is currently shooting in New York with John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh for Kabir Khan’s next venture, but she isn’t too happy being away from home and family. Read the full story

Veteran actors Rekha and Kamal Haasan will grace the opening and closing ceremonies respectively of the forthcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI), starting Nov 22 in Panaji.

“Rekha and Kamal Haasan will be the chief guest of the opening and closing ceremonies, respectively, at IFFI 2008, besides the presence of the governor of Goa, S.S Siddhu, Chief Minister Digamber Kamath and the minister of state for Information and Broadcasting Anand Sharma,” said S.M. Khan, additional director general and director of film festivals.

Bollywood actress Amrita Rao will host the inaugural ceremony.

Telugu actress Illina D.Cruz, who is of Goan origin, will be a special guest, stated a press release.

In the competition section at IFFI, 15 films from all over the world will be showcased. Film India Worldwide will be another attraction in the cinema of world section, which will showcase films made by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in collaboration with foreign filmmakers.

In addition, there will be 47 films including 26 feature films and 21 non-feature films in the Indian Panorama section.

Films of veterans like Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, B. Saroja Devi and Tapan Sinha will be presented in Lifetime Classics.

IFFI will also pay homage to late filmmakers G.P. Sippy and B.R. Chopra.