BOLLYWOOD BUZZ September 2003
The return of Mama Mads
There is great news for fans of Madhuri Dixit Nene. According to the grapevine, Mads is all set to return to the silver screen after enjoying her real life role as mom. Apparently the gorgeous actress is making a grand comeback to films with a movie titled Nargis, which is being written and directed by debutante Zoya Akhtar. Does the name ring a bell? Well, Zoya is the sister of Farhan Akhtar, the guy who hit a high with his very first film as director, Dil Chahta Hai. Nargis is supposed to be a love story of an older woman and a younger man and Saif Ali Khan is being touted as Madhuri's co-star in it. But Zoya at the moment is tight-lipped about her project refusing to even confirm the diva's presence in the movie. Well, the lady's smart, she knows this only serves to heighten curiosity about her debut film.
Madhuri brings to mind her one-time screen rival, Juhi Chawla. The chirpy actress gave birth to a baby boy, her second child, on July 21 in London. Congratulations, Juhi!
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Salman, Ash may reunite on screen
Even if they have parted ways in real life, chances are that ex-lovers Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai would be reunited on reel in Pritish Nandy's ambitious remake of Guru Dutt's 1962 classic Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam which had the tragedy queen Meena Kumari in the haunting central role of choti maalkin. There's only one catch: Nandy is going by the assurance given to him earlier by Aishwarya that she would do the film. But that was during the height of the Salman-Ash romance. What happened later is of course history with Ash vowing never to work with Salman again. The question now on everybody's lips: Will Aishwarya break her promise made to herself, to keep another one made to her producer? By the way, Deepa Mehta has been chosen to direct the modern Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam.
Even as we write this, news comes in that Salman is out of Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam! And Ash is in.
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Walking in
your footstep!
Vivek Oberoi seems to be walking in the footsteps of good friend Aishwarya Rai! For, close on the heels of Ash's foot fracture came Vivek's multiple (or should we say sympathetic) leg fractures. Like Ash, Vivek too met with the horrendous accident during a film shoot. But unlike Ash who had Vivek constantly by her bedside, poor Vivek had to make do without Ash's company as she was away in London shooting for Gurinder Chaddha's Bride and Prejudice and the contract barred her from leaving the city. However, according to the buzz in media circles, Ash actually managed to make a flying visit to Mumbai to meet her "current beau" in hospital. What's more, she was gutsy enough not to keep the visit under wraps!
A traumatized Vivek is now on crutches and will be out of action for a couple of months, his shooting schedules thrown haywire.
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East meets West
In Bollywood
Imagine Brandy Rodericks, hot babe of the popular American television serial Baywatch, lip syncing for a Hindi song! Well, that's exactly what she's doing for Vashu Bhagnani's new film titled Out of Control which will be made both in Hindi and in English. The film tells the story of a middle-class Indian man in New York who marries an American woman for immigration reasons. Brandy plays the role of the hero's American wife.
Brandy is not the only one who's Bollywood-bound. Action hero Suneil Shetty says his second production Rakht might feature a song by the Latino singing sensation Ricky Martin!
Incidentally, Amitabh Bachchan has replaced Pierce Brosnan as brand ambassador for international suiting giants Reid and Taylor. Well, Big B's certainly bonding with the best. Leaving Bond both ?shaken and stirred'!
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