A day after a court ordered the attachment of two properties of Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt over a financial row with producer Shakeel Noorani, the actor's lawyer claimed on December 29 that he received extortion calls from the underworld in 2005 at Noorani's behest.
The film producer rubbished the allegation.
"Sanjay Dutt does not owe a single penny to Shakeel Noorani. Noorani, in the past, has been demanding money from Sanjay Dutt. Mr. Dutt has received extortion calls at the behest of Shakeel Noorani. The complaint was lodged with the Anti-Extortion Cell and late (senior police inspector) Vijay Salaskar was investigating the case," said Rizwan Merchant, Dutt's lawyer.
"Statement of Sanjay Dutt has been recorded. Shakeel Noorani was also personally called to the office of the Anti-Extortion Cell," he added.
Merchant said that when Noorani did not succeed in his extortion demands in 2005, he (Noorani) made a complaint to the Indian Motion Pictures Producers' Association (IMPPA), which was rejected.
"Once a complaint is rejected, a subsequent complaint is barred. The IMPPA could not have passed any award once the first complaint was rejected," Merchant said.
Noorani, however, rubbished all allegations made by the actor's lawyer.
"In fact, Sanjay Dutt has threatened to get me shot if I chase him to complete my film. He had personally thrown me out of the set where he was shooting for his film "EMI" when I requested him to finish my film," Noorani said.
Noorani also denied making any extortion calls, claiming that he had no underworld connections. "It is Sanjay Dutt who has underworld connections. He often met people from the underworld when we went for shooting abroad," he said.
"I was also never called for questioning by Salaskar. You can check the records if you want," he told reporters.
Noorani also claimed that the IMPPA had never rejected his complaint.
The Bombay High Court Tuesday ordered the attachment of two properties of Dutt. The decision followed an arbitration award passed by the IMPPA in January in favour of Noorani.
The properties ordered to be attached include the actor's flat in the Imperial Heights building at Pali Hill in suburban Bandra and his office in suburban Santa Cruz.
Dutt has 30 days to pay Noorani, failing which his properties will be auctioned. The actor can also challenge the order in the high court.
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Looks like Shah Rukh Khan is proving that he is the 'Badshah' even of Tellyland. TOI has learned that King Khan is apparently charging Rs 2.5 crore per episode for his forthcoming reality show Zor Ka Jhatka on TV.
Top industry sources claim that with this astronomical amount, SRK certainly becomes the costliest B-town A-lister to be signed on for a reality show. Whenever Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan have hosted TV shows, the industry debated whether they were the highest paid actors. However, this time it looks like the figures are on SRK's side. A source from the show reveals, "No one will speak openly about how much he is earning, but SRK charging Rs.2.5 crore certainly seems a believable figure.
As of now what can be revealed is that Shah Rukh is on for four weeks, Monday to Thursday, and if you calculate it, he is getting Rs 40 crore for 16 episodes. Bring on the superstar who can charge so much even after his last stint on TV (Kya Hum Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain) was panned and did not get the TRP that he got during Kaun Banega Crorepati."
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Rani Mukerji made for a Kodak moment when she prostrated in a 'sashtang namaskar' before dancing diva Madhuri Dixit on the reality show 'Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4'. Check out the pic right here.
Rani admitted she is a self-proclaimed Madhuri Dixit fan after she shook a leg with the 'Dhak dhak' girl on 'Dola re dola' on the show's episode to be aired Monday (December 27).
Rani came as a special guest along with Vidya Balan to promote their upcoming film 'No One Killed Jessica', releasing Jan 7.
The two actresses, who have burst the bubble of catfights in Bollywood by being unusually pally with each other, also danced together on 'Ibn-e-batuta'.
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They say art and culture has no language and this became apparent during the recent visit of the Russian President H.E. Dmitry A. Medvedev to India when he took out time from his two day visit to head to Yash Raj Studio.
The agenda was quite simple; it was to further strengthen the ties of the two countries with special emphasis on promoting cultural exchanges between Russia and India and for the President to get an opportunity to directly meet with the members of the Indian film industry.
Not many know that Indian Films have been very popular with Russian audiences for over 60 years since the time of the legendary Raj Kapoor. And this fond memory helped to get the President's meeting off to a very cordial beginning and set the mood for what followed.
Russian President Dmitry meets Yash Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan Click here to add this article to My Clips
By Bollywood Hungama News Network, December 24, 2010 - 18:08 IST
Yash Chopra, Mukesh Bhatt, Dmitri Medvedev, Randhir Kapoor, Ramesh Sippy, Manmohan Desai
They say art and culture has no language and this became apparent during the recent visit of the Russian President H.E. Dmitry A. Medvedev to India when he took out time from his two day visit to head to Yash Raj Studio.
The agenda was quite simple; it was to further strengthen the ties of the two countries with special emphasis on promoting cultural exchanges between Russia and India and for the President to get an opportunity to directly meet with the members of the Indian film industry.
Not many know that Indian Films have been very popular with Russian audiences for over 60 years since the time of the legendary Raj Kapoor. And this fond memory helped to get the President's meeting off to a very cordial beginning and set the mood for what followed.
Shahrukh Khan, Dmitri Medvedev, Yash Chopra, Kareena Kapoor
President Dmitry Medvedev was very happy that he was able to spend some time at the studio along with Yash Chopra and meet with the members of the Film Producers Guild of India and others. He said that his association and love for Indian films started way back in 1970 with Raj Kapoor's Shree 420, a popular and iconic film in Russia. He also said that cinemas are a common language and that he looked forward to receiving good proposals from the Indian Film Industry.
Even Yash Chopra was thrilled to meet the President as he said, "We are honoured to have the President of Russia, H.E. Medvedev, who took time off during his very short visit to India, to come visit us. Speaking on behalf of all of us present here and particularly the film fraternity, I am confident that this visit will most certainly help us to build on our already strong cultural and emotional relationship that has existed over many years. With this as our heritage, we should be looking at doing things collectively going forward."
While at the studio Yash Chopra invited the Russia President to the sets of Ra.One to meet Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor. This was a special occasion for the President, being the first time that he was on the sets of an Indian film shoot. In his unique and witty style, Shah Rukh Khan said that there is a great diversity of Russian and Indian culture which can be mutually drawn upon. He suggested that we should go there to learn the ballet and Russia should come here to learn the bhangra!
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Salman Khan turns 45 today (December 27) and he’s in Dubai to celebrate in style. Salman is in the city with his family, and planned ahead are joint birthday and New Year celebrations. You can check out our pics of the family on their way to Dubai from Mumbai airport right here.
Salman posted on his Twitter page yesterday: “Wat up! On ma way to dubai. Wish u all a v happy new year.”
Celebrating with Salman on this birthday trip, apart from his family, are lots of friends, including Sajid Nadiadwala and David Dhawan.
Today, of course, the birthday boy was flooded with starry wishes via Twitter
Brother Arbaaz posted: "Happy birthday Salman bhai. Have a great day and a Dabangg year ahead. We all love you :)"
Salman’s ‘Dabangg’ co-star Sonakshi Sinha tweeted: “Chulbul Pandey/ robinhood pandey/ Salman Khan ko janamdin ki shubhkamnayein! pretty sure he is bringing the house down in dubai!!”
Preity Zinta: “Hey Salman, wish u a very happy birthday & may all things wonderful big & small always come ur way ! Lotza love always :-)”
Amrita Arora posted: “Happpppy b'day Salman Bhai..hope u have a superrrr year....”
Riteish Deshmukh posted: “Wishing Salman Khan very happy birthday.” Genelia D’Souza also wished Salman, retweeting Riteish's message.
So what exactly does Salman have planned for his birthday? Watch this space for updates! And if you're in Dubai, keep an eye out for Chulbul Pandey!
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Ajay Devgn and Katrina Kaif will be crowned the most profitable actors of 2010 at the 'ETC Bollywood Business Awards 2010 - Evaluating Movie Moghuls' today (December 28). First timer Abhinav Kashyap will get the most profitable director trophy.
On evaluating the industry players on the basis of return on investment for the first time, the actors have won the top spots after the economic quotient of their movies was taken into consideration as a cornerstone for mapping their success.
"Figures talk, you cannot manipulate it, you cannot play games with it," said Ajay, who has had six releases this year including 'Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?' 'Raajneeti', 'Golmaal 3', and 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai' and except 'Aakrosh' and 'Toonpur Ka Superhero', all his movies did good business.
The research done by ETC indicated that Indian audiences paid a cumulative sum of Rs.282 crore to watch Ajay's films throughout the year vis-a-vis Rs.142 crore to watch Katrina's 'Raajneeti' and 'Tees Maar Khan'.
Breaking all records is Salman Khan starrer 'Dabangg' that has been named as the top grosser of the year. Debut director Abhinav Kashyap bagged the most profitable director trophy for the corrupt cop saga with audiences paying a cumulative sum of over Rs.140 crore to watch his film.
"It is a fair assessment of the recipient's work and his popularity and mass appeal," said Arbaaz Khan, winner of the most successful producer for 'Dabangg'.
This will be the first time in India where an initiative has sought to recognize even the marketers, distributors, production houses and exhibitors on the basis of business the industry has generated in 2010.
"All those who represent the industry, actors, musicians and directors have only been judged on creative parameters. No one had thought of evaluating them on how much business they had generated," Anurag Bedi, business head, ETC, said.
"Such an evaluation will bring forward the workings of Bollywood as an industry," he added.
The ceremony also has first time categories such as marketing (best marketed film of the year - 'My Name Is Khan'), distribution (special award for film distribution) and promotion (most successful banner/corporate house/production house of the year), among others.
While the award for the most profitable multiplex chain of the year goes to PVR Cinemas, the most successful small-budget film of the year trophy will be handed over to 'Peepli Live'. Corporate house of the year is Shree Ashtvinayak Cinevison Ltd.
The ceremony will also recognise the most successful Hollywood film of the year with 'Inception' taking centrestage.
"ETC Bollywood Business Awards 2010 - Evaluating Movie Moghuls" will aired December 28 at 8.30pm on ETC channel.
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An invite to the prime minister's private dinner for the US first couple was an honour enough, but when President Barack Obama praised his work, Aamir Khan was on cloud nine.
The star, who was invited to the dinner by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his Race Course Road residence, was cornered by the waiting media as soon as the dinner got over around 10 pm last night.
"President Obama said he has heard a lot about my work and my films," said Aamir, who was clad in a cream coloured kurta pyjama.
"It (the dinner) was an opportunity to meet big personalities. I am a big fan of Manmohanji and I am happy that he called me up," he told the journalists.
Aamir, 45, also praised the dinner platter and revealed that First Lady Michelle Obama had told him that she has danced to his title number from Rang De Basanti.
Bollywood lyricist Javed Akhtar and his actress-activist wife Shabana Azmi were also invited to the grand feast.
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Salman Khan has started shooting for the next schedule of Ready, which promises a dose of humour, drama and action along with great music.
After breaking all box office records with Dabangg, Salman is back at his comic best in Ready, which is being produced by T-Series.
"Ready is a highly anticipated movie since it marks the coming together of Salman and director Anees Bazmee after No Entry, which did extremely well. Salman has impeccable comic timing and there's no denying the track record of the man with the Midas touch - Bhushan Kumar. By the looks of it Ready has blockbuster written all over it," said a source in a press statement.
The film is currently being shot in Mumbai.
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Traditional dresses worn by Aishwarya Rai in the films Raavan and Robot have been runaway hits in Malaysia.
The churidar and long-sleeved kameez Aishwarya wore as a dance teacher who gets kidnapped in the modern-day version of the Ramayana are a hit among women shoppers. Both Tamil (Raavanan) and Hindi versions (Raavan) along with Robot with megastar Rajnikant were huge hits among Malaysian Indians.
The traditional dresses - called masakali - have been in the market since early this year. But sales have peaked as Deepavali approaches.
Malaysia is home to 2.1 million ethnic Indians, a bulk of them Tamils who throng to Chennai-made films. But craze for Bollywood films is there among everybody. The Bachchans – Amitabh, Jaya, Abhishek and Aishwarya – and the Khans, SRK, Aamir, Salman and Saif Ali – are immensely popular there.
Thiyananthan Bathumalai, managing director of Harekrishna Silk, said most of the masakali dresses in the market were inspired by movie stars.
"For example, we now have 'Robot masakali', which was inspired from the movie Robot and 'Raavan masakali', which was inspired by Raavan, of course," he said.
Thiyananthan said many customers ask for masakali suits on entering his shop.
"People still ask for 'Anarkali suits' or 'Patiala suits' which were the craze some time ago. But this year, it looks like Aishwarya Rai is leading," he said.
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Katrina Kaif is in Patiala for the shooting of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan. The gorgeous lady is haunted by plenty of local Punjabi boys who have been lining up outside her hotel to catch a glimpse of her and well, ask for her hand in marriage! These hopeful young men have been infatuated with Kat’s character ‘Jasmeet’ from the movie Namastey London, who comes to Punjab to look for a husband.
As hilarious as it may sound, Kat’s hotel is surrounded by her male fans who have gone to the extent of asking the hotel staff if they can somehow get in touch with her parents to discuss a potential proposal! From what we hear, Katrina has been provided with top security and a special backdoor entrance where she sneaks out of the hotel.
Kat, however, laughed it off when a source approached her. She said her team of Mere Brother Ki Dulhan is enough to keep her feeling safe and protected and it is all in good fun.
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Legends have it that the second day of the November month is an extremely and extraordinarily auspicious day. No wonder then, the fact remains that those who have taken birth on this day, either become extremely successful in reaching out for the stars or become a star themselves! History has it that, they either become topnotch Journalist, Magician, an Army Officer, a sparkling NRI, Advertising Executive, Police Officer... etc...!
Well, there's someone who smiled at the world on this very day and went onto 'adorn' all of the above mentioned professions... all in this very life! The world may know him by various names like 'King Of Romance', Romantic Hero', 'Legend Of Romance', 'Magician of Pyaar, Ishq Mohabbat', etc... But, all of us better know him as the one and only S-H-A-H-R-U-K-H KHAN, the very man who celebrates his royal birthday today!
You too can join us in wishing Shahrukh Khan a very happy birthday, simply by posting your wishes below:
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Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has wished daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai luck and happiness as she turns 37 today.
"Happy birthday daughter-in-law and may you achieve and get all that you so desire," Bachchan posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com.
Though Aishwarya is busy promoting her two upcoming movies - Action Replayy and Guzaarish - she has decided to celebrate the day with her family.
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Vivek Oberoi and his new bride Priyanka Alva looked very much the happy couple at their grand wedding reception in Mumbai. The event, however, saw more heavyweights from politics than from Bollywood.
While the bride glowed in a green-blue lehnga choli, the groom sported a dark velvet sherwani at the reception last night. They were both dressed in Rohit Bal creations.
Priyanka being the daughter of late Karnataka leader Jeevaraj Alva, the event saw a slew of political faces, including Bharatiya Janata Party leaders LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj who flew in from Delhi to bless the newly married couple.
Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh, Kripa Shankar Singh and Maharashtra ministers Chhagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane also graced the occasion. Ujjwal Nikam, special public prosecutor for the 26/11 attacks, was also present.
Kripa Shankar said: "I have come to congratulate Vivek and Priyankaji. I will pray they lead a very happy life. Suresh Oberoi and his wife wished for a long time to see their son get married, which finally came true."
Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam said: "Vivek is my good friend and I wish the couple a very happy married life."
Vivek's father Suresh Oberoi was on cloud nine and said: "I have got a daughter. I am very happy about Vivek. I am also happy about his performance in Rakta Charitra."
From the film industry, Fardeen Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Tabu, Genelia D'Souza, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, director Ram Gopal Varma and Farah Khan attended the ceremony.
Bollywod star Akshay Kumar made a big entry at the end of the wedding and left the venue within minutes after wishing the couple. "I wish them a happy life, that's all," he said.
Shatrughan Sinha said: "Vivek is a very nice boy, so is his family. They seem to be made for each other. I think it would be a fantastic bonding and should be like that."
Fardeen said: "I wish them a happy life forever."
Siddharth said: "I have known him for a long time and I am very happy that he is finally settling down and I am here to wish him and Priyanka the best."
Varma, who was instrumental in launching Vivek in Bollywood with the film Company, said: "I wish them a great charitra."
Riteish said: "I am happy for Vivek. Wish them a very happy married life."
Farah said: "I of course wish Vivek all the best. He has been a dancer with me, so I know him for a long time and I think this is the most perfect thing he has done in a long time.”
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For most leading ladies in tinsel town, their career takes a downfall after they touch 30. But certainly not in the case of Aishwarya Rai, who continues to flourish in Bollywood as she turns 37 on Monday and has two mega projects -- “Action Replayy” and “Guzaarish” -- lined up for release.
The former beauty queen has come a long way from being crowned Miss World in 1994, to working in Tamil films, moving to Bollywood and finally topping it up with international fame through movie projects as well as attending prestigious foreign film festivals.
But all through her 13-year film career, filmmakers feel she has remained a director’s delight, and is here to stay for a long time to come.
“Aishwarya always followed me during the shooting of ‘Taal’, and is a complete director’s actor. I’m proud she has evolved so much as an actor. She is giving good performances, she has achieved international fame, and she is leading a happy married life -- what else can she ask for from life? But she is as grounded as ever,” filmmaker Subhash Ghai told IANS.
The director, who worked with Aishwarya in 1999, says the actress will “definitely be in Bollywood for another 10 years” and is looking forward to associating with her once again.
Ace filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who gave Aishwarya’s career a big push with “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam” followed by “Devdas”, says she is a timeless beauty.
“Aishwarya is my muse, my jaan and I get terribly excited when I make a film with her because she is very, very special. Some people are timeless and Aishwarya will be there for another 20 years,” said Bhansali, whose third project with the actress, “Guzaarish”, releases Nov 19.
Aishwarya, who married actor Abhishek Bachchan in 2007, has broken the notion that married actresses discontinue their film careers... and her husband is proud of her.
“I feel great about Aishwarya’s achievements, I’m very proud of her. Whatever adulation she has got, she truly deserves it. I’m happy that she broke the notion that women can’t work after marriage. Why are we so regressive in our thinking? If she wants to work, her audience wants to see her, what is people’s problem? I as a husband am very happy that she is doing so well. I think she is doing better work now,” Abhishek had said.
Aishwarya started acting in 1997 with Tamil film “Iruvar”, followed by her Bollywood debut in the same year opposite Bobby Deol in “Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya” -- both of which flopped.
But the next year, she won her first Filmfare Best Actress award South for Tamil film “Jeans”. She also bagged the Filmfare Best Actress Award for Bhansali’s “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”.
She gave a power-packed performance in “Taal”, but then delivered a string of duds like “Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai“(2000), “Dhai Akshar Prem Ke“(2000), “Albela” (2001), “Hum Kisise Kum Nahi“(2001).
But it was Bhansali’s “Devdas” that resurrected her career and fetched her another Filmfare award in the Best Actress category.
She also gave good performances in “Chokher Bali“(2002), “Raincoat” (2004), “Guru“(2006), “Dhoom 2”, “Provoked“(2007), “Jodhaa Akbar” (2008) and “Sarkar Raj” (2008). She recently featured in Mani Ratnam’s “Raavan” and opposite superstar Rajnikanth in “Robot”.
Some of her English projects include “Bride & Prejudice” (2003), “Mistress of Spices”, “The Last Legion” (2007) and “Pink Panther”.
According to a 2009 Forbes list, Aishwarya Rai is India’s most bankable star in Hollywood, and is also counted among the 100 most beautiful women in the world.
She has been attending many international film festivals and was also the first Indian actress to be on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.
Now she is gearing up for the release of “Action Replayy” on Diwali and “Guzaarish”, and is busy promoting them. But she hopes to spend some time with her family as she steps into her new year.
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Salman Khan is irreplaceable and this has just been proved! The dashing Khan walked out of Dus Ka Dum earlier this year due to a financial dispute with the TV channel.
For the first season of Dus Ka Dum, Salman charged Rs 89 crore whereas for the second season he asked for a small percentage of raise which didn’t quite happen. His fee was then agreeably cut down since the channel admitted a cash crunch due to the economic recession. The third season came along and according to insiders there was still no sign of increment from the channel.
Sallu bhai made it loud and clear when he walked out, that if he returns, he would return on his own terms. Tried as they might, they just couldn’t find someone good enough to replace the great Khan. It was no surprise that last week he was called by the broadcasters of the show. With Big Boss 4, Dus Ka Dum and Dabangg Salman might just top the rich list in T’Town this year.
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