Pakistani Actress Veena Malik

Pakistani Actress Veena Malik:
Latest buzz has it that Veena is back in Bollywood & Vedita talks about the casting couch. What else is buzzing?

Pakistani starlet Veena Malik’s lowbrow antics on last season’s Bigg Boss finally seem to be paying off. Veena, who entered the reality show with Bollywood dreams and with intentions of becoming a household name in India, has now bagged a Hindi film. What’s more, Veena’s fans in India ( if any) will be in for a double treat, as the film in question, Daal Mein Kucch Kaala Hai , casts Veena in a double role. The comedy flick will also mark the directorial debut of Anand Balraj, who played the sidekick in several eighties’ potboilers.

Vedita Pratap Singh, who makes her debut in this week’s release, Bhindi Baazaar Inc , says she has already had an unsavoury experience with the industry’s dreaded casting couch. “I have faced it but never opted for such shortcuts. Even after doing theatre, I had to struggle for three years during which I came across many people who made lewd propositions but I would always stay away. I preferred to be patient for a break,” says Vedita.”If you bend before people and start begging for roles then they will take advantage,” says the newbie who has done several advertisements, and also a TV show in the past.

If all goes well, Vidya Balan will have the pleasure of working with Madhuri Dixit at the earliest. Vidya has already been confirmed in the sequel to ‘Ishqiya’ called ‘Dedh Ishqiya’ meaning ‘Ishqiya 1.5′ and not ‘Ishqiya 2′. Madhuri Dixit has been approached to play the lead and she might take up the offer soon and will start shooting for it after she does the ‘Satte Pe Satta’ remake where she is waiting for Sanjay Dutt’s hair to grow back.

Arshad Warsi, who played Vidya’s hero in ‘Ishqiya’, in the meantime is thrilled. “I am very happy that a sequel is happening. My character will be seen speaking in different dialects in the film,” he explains. “We start shooting by the end of next year,” he confirms. Abhishek Chaubey will direct the sequel as well which is being produced by Vishal Bhardwaj.

Ranbir Kapoor has been linked with several of his co-stars in the past and he has earned the image of a Casanova. But such strong is the friendship between the two that Imran defends Ranbir’s acts. “Why is everyone so bothered about Ranbir’s Casanova image? Everyone is talking about how Ranbir enjoys a fling with more than one girl. But my opinion on this is totally different. Let Ranbir wine, dine and go around with a girl, it is his personal choice. No one has the right to talk about or discuss his personal life. And these are his days… ‘aaj nahi karega toh kab karega?’ (If he doesn’t do it now, then when?)” says the recently married Imran Khan.

Imran is working on a project with Ranbir’s ex-fling Katrina Kaif. And the actor is all praise for this beauty. “After watching Kat’s work in ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’, I am ready to bet my last penny that everyone who has spoken unfavourably about Katrina’s acting calibre will have to change their opinion. She has proved her acting potentials in her recently released films too. Moreover, Kats is a very respected and good human being. She also has very good sense of humour, and is impressive too.” he concludes.

Bollywood’S Khan royale has done it again. Aamir Khan has announced that he will skip the National Awards from now on. The actor, who quite famously boycotted popular film awards a while back, raised eyebrows not long ago when he did not send his critically- acclaimed crossover production of 2010, Peepli Live , for consideration at the country’s mosthonoured film awards. Peepli’s director, Anusha Rizvi, subsequently cried victimisation because, like most others, she felt her film could have won a few awards at the esteemed platform. However, as entering a movie into any awards competition is the producer’s prerogative, she alleged that Aamir had deliberately held back her debut vehicle, out of spite as the two were no longer on good terms.

Now, Aamir has declared that he has taken a policy decision to never enter any of his productions for any awards, including the National Awards. The decision seems surprising because his past productions Lagaan and Taare Zameen Par have scored big at the prestigious platform. According to Aamir, he doesn’t like the idea of having to apply for an award — obviously referring to the red tape associated with the process at the National Awards. ” If anyone wants to honour a genuine effort, they can take the initiative in doing so. To me, the biggest achievement is getting a good response from the audience,” he told a section of the media.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is over the moon these days, as he recently got a chance to meet his idol Amitabh Bachchan. It so happened that Neil and Abhishek Bachchan, his costar in Abbas- Mustan’s upcoming venture, Players , were shooting in a suburban studio with Big B shooting for Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap in the neighbouring studio. Being a major Big B fan, he requested Abhishek to arrange a small meeting, and Abhishek, being the gentleman that he is, immediately complied. Neil, we’ve heard, couldn’t stop gushing about how he grew up watching Big B’s films and how the superstar was one of the prime reasons he joined the industry as an actor. We are sure Big B must have been more than flattered at hearing this.

Neil’s career has been progressing with a renewed vigour following his stupendous performance as Priyanka Chopra’s abusive first husband in the hit 7 Khoon Maaf. Ever since his debut with the surprise hit Johnny Gaddar in 2007, Neil has proved his acting prowess time and again.