Abhishek is more blessed than parents: Rakeysh Mehra

Filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who directed Abhishek Bachchan for the first time in "Delhi-6", says he is a "pedigree" actor and is far more "blessed" than his parents Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan.

"In terms of balance, Abhishek is far more blessed than both his parents. He is a thoroughbred and a pedigree. He has styles from both his mother and father but possesses the sensitivity and softness of his mother," Mehra told IANS.

Mehra, who worked with Amitabh in "Aks", was also all praise for Abhishek's acting style.

"Abhishek is in his nascent stage as an actor but he has got a whole lot of experience as an actor. He delves into the character and lately he's started doing that more often. I remember while shooting for 'Delhi-6', I couldn't believe that it's Abhishek when he completely got into the character of Roshan (the protagonist).”

Who is attending IIFA

The event is going to be talked about for who flies down for the celebrations. Those who stay away might be scorned for penny-pinching, no matter how busy their lifestyles might be. Stars can always make a concession, though most don't seem to be in a party mood.

Which celebs are going to be present at IFFA?
In spite of biggies like SRK, Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan giving a miss to the IIFA , still is a huge star studded list of attendees like Hrithik and Suzanne Roshan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Kangana Ranaut, Arjun and Meher Rampal, Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmukh, Anoushka Sharma, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, David Dhawan, Rakesh Roshan, Ashutosh Govarikar, Randhir Kapoor, Govinda, Neelam, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Ghodse, Ritesh Sidhwani, Malaika Arora Khan, and Amrita Rao.

That is some list!
Hold your horses, here's more dope on the glitterati.
Also attending will be Rajesh Khanna, Zayed Khan, Sophie Choudhury and fashion designers - Rocky S, Manav Gangwani, Anamika Khanna and Farah Ali Khan.

Will the real winners please stand up.
Oscar winners A R Rehman and Rasool Pookutty will also be attending the Videocon IIFA Weekend and this is a good chance for IIFA to make sure the world tunes in to see where musician Rahman is partying.

Last minute drop-outs.
This list is incomplete without Jaya Bachchan who has chosen to stay back home. But guess what is keeping her home? She will be taking care of close friend Amar Singh, who is hospitalised. Wasn't his family enough to take care for two days?

Hmnn, strange are the ways of celeb committments.

In Pics: Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan Spotted in Bhopal

Abhishek watches Shiamak's show

From May 29 to June 3, dance guru Shiamak Davar presented his Summer FunkTM Workshop and Show 2009 in Mumbai.

This year, Shiamak is celebrating 25 years in show business in India, 15 years of offering students the Summer Funk™ platform and 20 years of his classes in Mumbai.

More than 20,000 family members and friends watched students perform over five days at the Shanmukananda Auditorium.

Among the guests was Abhishek Bachchan, who went berserk dancing with Shiamak’s mother on stage. “Summer Funk is the best thing on Earth,” he said.

Also seen rocking were singers Abhijeet and music director Adesh Srivastava, along with his wife Vijeyta.

Bachchans secretly shooting in Delhi

It’s the beta who’s older, actually, in the movie that was being shot in Delhi yesterday.

Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan continued shooting for Pa in Delhi, amid tight security – and secrecy. Amitabh is playing a bald man in the scenes that were being shot in Delhi, and every measure was taken to ensure that he was not visible to onlookers.

He was to come to Dwarka Sector 9 Metro station to shoot, but was dropped mid-way at Tagore Garden Metro Station. The shots were taken on the train, in the stations, and AB returned without being seen. Even elsewhere, Amitabh would only appear with his head covered. A source from the unit says that his make-up started at 2 am and went on till the early hours of the morning.

AB & AB Baby in Delhi

Abhishek and his pa, Amitabh Bachchan, were shooting in Delhi for the movie Pa yesterday.

They started shooting at Rajpath early in the morning, and moved from there to the Metro station at Dwarka Sector 9. According to sources in the unit, a Metro train had been hired for the shoot. It would stop at a few stations, take the shots from there and come back. They had permission till 1 pm to shoot.

Vidya Balan, who’s also part of the cast, was shooting with them. Abhishek was in a blue shirt and a waistcoat, and Amitabh was in character as a bald man, which is what his role in the film demands.

Insider gossip from Karan Johar's party

Karan Johar’s 37th birthday party at Hotel Four Seasons in Mumbai on May 25 is being called the bash of the year.

More A-listers were spotted here than one could keep tabs of, but some details have made there way out of the venue. Obviously, an insider has been doing the talking...

Guest list
Shah Rukh-Gauri, Abhishek-Aishwarya, Hrithik-Sussanne, Saif-Kareena, Karisma, Ranbir-Deepika, Imran-Avantika, Arjun Rampal-Mehr, Shahid Kapur, Rani, Farhan Akhtar, Tusshar, Sonam Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Vivek Oberoi, Lara Dutta, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia and many more.

Notably missing
Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham and Karan’s good friend Kajol. Some were away from Mumbai, while others were down with flu.

Dress code
Karan asked men to be in formal suits. Most guests obliged, though a few like Hrithik went casual. Most women were in tiny dresses. Like on most occasions, birthday boy Karan wore black.

Highlights
* Karan dragged Abhishek to Shah Rukh and the two ended up chatting for sometime, with Ash looking on. So is it the end of Khan-Bachchan cold war?

* Kareena and Ash were seen chatting and dancing. Pleasant surprise considering after Abhishek and Karisma’s engagement broke, Kareena had put a ban on all things Abhi.

* Riteish and Genelia came separately; Shahid and Vidya were seen leaving together.

* Shahid and Kareena made no effort to chat, while Ash made an effort and avoided Vivek Oberoi.

* Hrithik, Abhishek, Arjun and Farhan climbed on the bar counter and danced.

* The party ended in the wee hours of May 26.

Our regret
It was unfortunate that Karan, while being a gracious host to his colleagues, extended no hospitality to the media which had turned up to cover the event. Angry with the ill treatment, most photographers banned the party and you missed seeing the photos.

Tamasha and Hungama at Karan's Birthday Bash

If the film industry were the United Nations, Karan Johar would be the Secretary-General. A self-confessed people person who loves nothing better than to bring warring factors together and to get everyone to kiss and make up, he has become, at the young age of 37, a sort of father figure to the entire acting fraternity. (Much like his father Yash Johar was, to the previous generation.)

Not surprising then that at his birthday party on Monday night (Tuesday morning actually, considering it wound up only at 4.30am), lots of drama happened. Given that one-half of the industry studiously avoids the second half because of real and perceived grievances while many sit in the lap of most, the party was not without its dramatic and memorable ones.Saif Ali Khan was dressed the most nattily in waistcoat and muffler. Hrithik Roshan came in casuals.

Among the directors who attended were Farhan Akhtar, Nikhil Advani, Rensil D'Silva and Kunal Kohli. Shah Rukh Khan was formally dressed, while youngsters Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan wore jackets.

Though Salman Khan didn't attend, his brothers did. Karisma Kapoor accompanied Saif and Kareena.

Aamir Khan sent a bouquet.Not surprisingly, the sushi was a big hit. After all, these are some of the fittest people in this country.

Aishwarya Rai married into the Bachchan-Kapoor feud that started when the Abhishek Bachchan-Karisma Kapoor engagement was called off, giving wing to many a nasty rumour fuelled by the fact that Abhishek and Kareena didn't work together again. But with Kareena wishing wistfully that Abhishek would find some room in his heart for her and Aishwarya wishing to let bygones be bygones, it was wonderful to see the two lovely ladies catch up at the party and then spend the night dancing away.

Abhishek, meanwhile, was whisked away to the corner by Karan, where Shah Rukh was seated, thus also ending the Bachchan-SRK cold war.

While all the bonhomie (above) was happening, Vidya Balan and Shahid Kapur were reconnecting. Though they came separately, they left together.

Some people went to great lengths(literally) to avoid former friends. When Vivek Oberoi arrived, Aishwarya moved to another corner.

On the other hand, when Shahid arrived, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena were cool.

Claudia, who?: Abhi

A rare sight this: Abhishek Bachchan in a goofy mood, laughing, joking and generally taking everyone for a trip.

In town for the anniversary of a luxury product at the Emporio mall, the dude answered every single question, and not one ‘no comments’. Someone wanted his autograph, and thrust a scrap of paper into his hands. “For my daughter, please, she’s crazy about you,” said the lady. “I appreciate, but I’d still need a pen,” said Abhi, with a very straight face, while the lady blushed. Tell us about the French connection in Pa, one journo wanted to know. “French connection? The film is being directed by Balki, and I must say, so far he’s an Indian. So, no French connection, ma’am,” shot back Abhi.

But perhaps no one realised, even then, that Abhishek Bachchan was in a decidedly un-Bachchan mood. Someone asked him to ask a question to Lata Mangeshkar, for some TV programme. “Are you crazy? What would I ask her?” he asked. “Can’t ask her age, that would be improper, wouldn’t it?” he added, his eyes glinting with mischief.

Seemed like no one could quite handle the usually monosyllabic, sulking AB Jr in this mood. Poochhna tha if he’s playing AB Sr’s father in Pa and ended up asking, ‘Are you playing your father’s son in Pa?’ Abhi pounced on the mistake. “Playing my father’s son? I am my father’s son. Would you believe it?” he asked loudly to nobody in particular. “I am my father’s son.” That quite ended the Q&A session, and Abhi then mingled about.
Conversation veered towards his films, his losing and putting on weight, working with Aishwarya, and doing photoshoots with sis Shweta Nanda... “Aishwarya is my wife, and Shweta my elder sister first and foremost. Nothing is going to change that. They both pamper me silly. And as for putting on and losing weight, it’s a very tough task. It might sound fun, but it’s not. It is very demanding on the body.”

And the Cannes veteran that he is now, has he quite mastered the art of walking the Red Carpet? “We go there for work. Yes, it is seen as being very glamorous and prestigious, but at the end of the day, it is work for us. The Cannes festival is one of the biggest movie markets in the world. We go there to sell our films, it is a fantastic platform. The whole world comes there to buy and sell films,” says Abhi. And what about the tiny spark of controversy? “What controversy?” he asks, fidgeting with his ring a bit – which, by the way, is a habit of Abhi’s. He keeps playing with his ring every now and then. Oh, those reports of him ‘chatting and discussing’ with and enjoying the company of German supermodel and Playboy playmate Claudia Ciesla at the Indian Pavilion at Cannes? “If all this helps her, it’s great. Best of luck to her,” says Abhi, and adds firmly, “But I don’t know the lady. Never met her.”

Golden Decade Honours to be given at IIFA 2009

In its tenth year, the IIFA Academy has decided to institute a special set of awards to commemorate the last decade of Indian Cinema. It has put together nominations in five major categories for The Videocon IIFA Golden Decade Honours, which will be announced at the IDEA IIFA Awards on June 13 in Macau. The five categories are: Star of the Decade – Male, Star of the Decade – Female, Movie of the Decade, Director of the Decade and Music of the Decade.

The nominations are as follows:

Star of the decade – Male: Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan.

Star of the decade – Female: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Rani Mukherji, Preity Zinta and Priyanka Chopra.

Movie of the decade: Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2000), Kaho Na Pyaar Hai (2001), Lagaan (2002), Devdas (2003), Kal Ho Na Ho (2004), Veer Zaara (2005), Black (2006), Chak De India (2008) and Rang De Basanti (2007).

Music of the decade: Taal (2000) - AR Rahman; Kaho Na Pyaar Hai (2001) - Rajesh Roshan; Lagaan (2002) - AR Rahman; Saathiya (2003) - AR Rahman; Kal Ho Na Ho (2004) - Shankar Ehsaan Loy; Veer Zaara (2005) - Madan Mohan; Bunty Aur Babli (2006) - Shankar Ehsan Loy; Rang De Basanti (2007) - AR Rahman and Guru (2008) - AR Rahman.

Director of the decade: Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (2000), Devdas (2003) and Black (2006); Rakesh Roshan for Kaho Na Pyaar Hai (2001) and Koi Mil Gaya (2004); Ashutosh Gowarikar for Lagaan (2002); Yash Chopra for Veer Zaara (2005); Raj Kumar Hirani for Lage Raho…. (2007) and Shimit Amin for Chak De India (2008).

Chelsea fan AB Jr extends film award invitation to the team

Footballers and Bollywood actors? Now that's a combo we haven't heard before. And if all goes well, Chelsea Football Club superstars John Terry and Frank Lampard will be present at an Indian film awards event next month. They will be there as special invitees of Abhishek Bachchan.

A source close to the actor reveals, "Abhi is a big Chelsea fan and was specially invited to catch the European Champions League semi-final between his favourite team and Barcelona FC at Stamford Bridge recently, by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. He also mingled with the Chelsea players and spoke to them at length."

The source further adds, "Abhishek casually asked Terry and Lampard to join him and his family at the award shows and the pair agreed to show up. Terry and Lampard have very little Bollywood influence and it will be interesting to see them come to the awards night."

A couple of years back, Australian cricketer Brett Lee also made an appearance at the same awards show with his brother and that's where he met his now IPL team owner Preity Zinta.

Abhi-Ash embarrassed by Sallu's love interest

Salman Khan’s latest love interest, Claudia Ciesla, has put Abhishek and Aishwarya in an embarrassing situation.

Claudia, who’s a German model-actress and has also been a Playmate, had her photograph clicked with Abhishek while they were in Cannes. Soon thereafter, the photo appeared in a Mumbai newspaper along with the story that Abhishek was seen chatting with wife Ash’s ex-boyfriend’s current love interest!

The Bachchans were in for a shock when they found out about Ciesla’a past and the fact that even a nude image of hers had adorned the cover of a German magazine.

Abhishek could not recollect getting this picture taken. After some time he realised it was just one of the many photographs he and his wife got clicked with fans.

So now, as a precautionary measure, Ash and Abhi will be saying no to all fans wanting to get photographed with them, at least for the time being.

In Pics: Director Prakash Mehra's Funeral

What's happening in Bollywood!

The electronic media disgusts Amitabh Bachchan, Emraan Hashmi turns painter, Tanushree Dutta has a new haircut and more

Angry

On his blog, Big B has said that the electronic media behaved irresponsibly at Prakash Mehra’s funeral.
He wrote, “Abhishek and I attended it, but the behavior of the electronic media at the crematorium was just disgusting. No respect shown for the sensitivity of the occasion. No regard for the moment, and no ethics at all in maintaining some decorum for this very private and sombre ritual. All they were interested in was in getting that ‘bite’ or shoving their cameras inches away from your nose, at a moment when one desired peace and quiet. Shameful. But what of some of the mourners, if they can be called that ! They were no less. Pushing and shoving to get a position behind or near about the celebrity, so the cameras can catch them.
I shall not dwell on this anymore ; I may just burst a blood vessel.”

Kisser and Painter

After pretending to paint in his movie Raaz - The Mystery Continues, actor Emraan Hashmi has decided to paint for real in his next venture, Tum Mile. In the movie directed by Kunal Deshmukh, Hashmi is playing the role of an artist painter. He reveals that while he first started painting a little during Raaz, he has taken it to a higher level in Tum Mile.
Fans can see Hashmi wielding the brush as well as charcoal and churning out authentic creations. Apparently, the actor is so in love with painting that he intends to take it up seriously. Tum Mile will be Hashmi’s first movie with Soha Ali Khan and is based on the 26 July, 2005 Mumbai floods. Soha and Emraan have a few kissing scenes in the
movie

New Look

Like Rihanna and Bipasha, Tanushree Dutta has also opted for a bob now. She recently got a new hairdo from hairstylist Guy Kremer in Calcutta, and the reason behind this is to beat the scorching heat in her own way. “I like experimenting with my hair, and after getting this haircut, I am getting lots of compliments from near and dear ones. Hope my
fans like it as well,” says Tanushree. We like her new chic hairstyle!

Almost Famous

Newlyweds Amrita Arora and Shakeel recently got back from their honeymoon in Europe. Just when the lovely couple thought that they could enjoy their holiday without revealing their identity, they were overwhelmed by a huge group of Indians in transit at Venice airport. It didn’t stop there! To Amu’s surprise, she ended up encountering some great Hindi film buffs among her hotel staff as well. When contacted, Amrita said, “It was a pleasant to see my fans in European cities. My work and dedication towards my career is being recognized and benefited me with a fan following all over the world.” Exactly what dedication and career is she talking about? She is known as Bebo’s best friend and Malaika’s baby sis.

Happy Mommy

Tara Sharma has managed to stay slim and trim even at 7 months' pregnant. Take a look at the smiling and glowing mommy-to-be.