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Katrina Kaif and Rahul Gandhi have emerged as India’s most eligible single woman and man in a poll conducted by a wedding portal.
While Gandhi polled 30 per cent votes, Katrina was preferred by 27.5 per cent respondents.

"It surely feels nice to top such a poll. I really hope I will not remain single forever," smiled Kaif, while reacting to the outcome of the poll by BharatMatrimony. com. She beat Vidya Balan (22.7 per cent votes), Priyanka Chopra (18.7 per cent) and Deepika Padukone (13.3 per cent) to wrest the top spot.
Gandhi, on his part, edged out cricket skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his vice- captain Yuvraj Singh and Bollywood stars Shahid Kapur and John Abraham to top the year- end poll. While Dhoni polled 21.1 per cent votes, Shahid had 13.4 per cent votes. Interestingly, flavour of the season Ranbir Kapoor finished sixth.

"Rahul Gandhi deserves the top slot. He comes across as a good boy and a thorough gentleman. Plus, there are no past ‘stories’ about him unlike several cricketers and movie stars," ad guru Prahlad Kakkar said. " For example, a person like Salman Khan is unlikely to top such a list due to his several past encounters with women," he added.

The third season of the realityshow "Bigg Boss 3", hosted by iconic film star Amitabh Bachchan, has landed in trouble with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry Monday sending a notice to Colors channel for "offending good taste" and for the use of vulgar language.
The channel has been asked to show cause for its actions within five days, failing which it will be taken off the air.

 
"It has been brought to the notice of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that certain parts of the reality show ‘Bigg Boss 3′ telecast and re-telecast on Colors channel offend against good taste and decency and are not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition," says the show-cause notice.

The notice says the language used by some participants is abusive and the show contains visuals which appear to be obscene and violative of the government’s programme code.
It also points out that recently in one of the visuals, one participant has been shown pulling down the shorts of another participant. "This has offended the sensibilities of many viewers," says the notice.
The ministry has asked Colors not to carry content on the show that "constitutes a violation of the programme code as enshrined in the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995," failing which it will be taken off the air.
Recently, one of the participants in the show, actor-director Kamal R. Khan, was thrown out for violent behavior.
The reality show is based on the international show "Big Brother" in which 13 celebrities are locked in a house for 84 days and monitored round-the-clock by 40 cameras.

Hollywood diva Jessica Simpson has confirmed on Twitter her impending visit to India.

On Twitter Simpson wrote: "@kenpaves and I are going to India!!!!"

Ken Paves is a celebrity hairstylist out of Beverly Hills (USA). She will reportedly shoot in India starting next week for her VH1 docu-series show The Price of Beauty.

In this show, Simpson will reportedly get some beauty pointers from Bollywood actress-model Neha Dhupia , 29, who was quoted as saying: ‘I know for sure that Jessica will be draped in a sari.’

Simpson reportedly may also study the local dietary fads, beauty regimes and fashions and even take part in some of the extreme practices she finds out.

Simpson will be throwing a grand Bollywood party after completing this shooting, reports indicate.

3 day collections amount to a whopping 51 crores!

Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Visions Ltd’s ‘BLUE’ has definitely set the cash registers ringing!

Directed by Anthony D’Souza, Bollywood’s most ambitious project has lived up to its hype and people are flocking to the theatres to catch the grandest oceanic spectacle ever made in Bollywood!

The film has broken all records to rake in a whopping 51 crores in the first weekend itself! The style and look of the film, the wild scenic beauty of the oceans, the fast paced action on land and in water has had the audiences rushing to the theatres!

Coupled with a perilous treasure hunt, some foot tapping music by the award winning music duo A.R Rahman and Resul Pookuty and a chart topping number international pop icon Kylie Minogue, the film has long been the talk of the town. To top it off, the film stars top Bollywood actors like Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, Rahul Dev and Katrina Kaif making it the ultimate visual treat!

Having created waves in the Box-office, ‘BLUE’ looks poised to become a landmark film!

A British beauty of Indian origin will be whisked off for a Bollywood role after being crowned the first ever Miss Bollywood UK at a gala event in Birmingham.

Reena Patel, from London, beat off 14 rivals – whittled down from a long list of 900 – at the star-studded event Saturday night to win the title which comes with the offer of a Bollywood role and a year’s modelling contract.

The runner up was Simran Chadha from Manchester and the third place was taken by Stacey Fox of Essex in an ethnically diverse contest held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.

The judges included Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala, said Miss Bollywood UK CEO Zia Choudhury, a Leicester-based model and actor.

Patel, 23, now waits to be flown off to India to live the life of a Bollywood celebrity and will be automatically entered into the finals of Miss Universe Great Britain which will give her an opportunity to compete for the title of Miss Universe.

“The appeal in Bollywood is the song and dance, the glamour, the people – it is after all the largest film industry in the world,” Choudhury said.

Salman Khan who always keeps mum about SRK, has finally revealed what he thinks about SRK.

Salman says, “What Shah Rukh does or says is not of the least interest to me but he is one of the most insecure actors. If he could get rid of that he would actually be a nice fellow. When we were all starting out in our careers, and were in the Rs 4 to 5 lakh bracket, we were friends. As we became more and more famous, he grew more insecure.”

On being linked up with many girl, Salman says, Two people may have just begun dating, they need time to know one another, to understand one another and you people start writing that they are in a relationship. That puts an awful amount of pressure on them and they are almost forced to get into a relationship.When they find they are not terribly compatible and don’t want to take the relationship further, you people say, he is changing girlfriends all the time.” Huh?

Internationally acclaimed Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur is quite impressed with Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Kaminey’ and says the film ‘catapults Indian cinema in modernity beyond (Quentin) Tarantino’.

‘The greatest thing about Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Kaminey’ is that you cannot work out why it is working. You cannot work out why you are laughing amidst the ugliness of violence in perhaps India’s first real dark comedy. And why in the final moments of the film with the brilliant background song by Vishal himself, you finally get the point of the film,’ Kapur posted on his blog www.shekharkapur.com.

‘With violence all around you, you sense innocence caught in the crossfire of unnecessary violence. And finally you come away with a great sense of the pointlessness of it all. It’s terrific… Vishal better think hard about how to surpass this one,’ he added.

A thoughtful director himself, Kapur further praised the technical aspects of the film that has Shahid Kapoor in a double role.

‘The cinematography (by Tassaduq Hussain) is great as are some of the performances, the script and the editing. It is ultimately a director’s brilliant vision of the world that is playing through,’ he said.

The 63-year-old, however, didn’t seem to be too impressed with Bharadwaj’s idea of making the lead characters lisp and stammer in the film.

‘Did Vishal have to use the idea of stuttering and stammering with the main character though? It was a little over done and the only thing that harked to a more traditional form of comedy in Indian films. The film could have done with a little less of that,’ he wrote.

‘Kaminey’ is Bharadwaj’s first commercial hit. It earned about Rs.330 million in its first weekend at the box office.

The producers of upcoming comedy ‘Daddy Cool’, has dismissed rumors that the film is a copy of 2007 Hollywood film ‘Death At A Funeral’.

The news came after rumor mills were abuzz that the Hindi movie is a copy of the Hollywood venture – in the name of inspiration.

Distributed by Big Pictures, ‘Daddy Cool’ has been produced by Maruti Pictures’ Ashok Thakeria and Indra Kumar.

‘This is to clarify reports appearing in certain sections of the press about the upcoming Hindi film ‘Daddy Cool’ being a lift from the English film ‘Death At A Funeral’,’ said a statement released here by Maruti Pictures.

”Daddy Cool’ has duly obtained permission from the producers of the English film to produce and release the film across the world… Big Pictures is releasing the film only after ascertaining the facts,’ the statement further read.

Releasing Aug 28, ‘Daddy Cool’ has been directed by K. Murli Mohan Rao. It stars an ensemble cast including Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Javed Jaffrey, Aarti Chhabria, Ashish Chowdhry, Tulip Joshi, Kim Sharma, Sophie Choudry, Rajpal Yadav, Chunky Pandey and Prem Chopra.

It has been almost two years since Kareena Kapoor parted ways with Shahid Kapoor but both these stars haven’t been unable to bury the hatchet. Recently Kareena had said that she would advice Shahid to move on in life. Shahid Kapoor has finally hit back and said he didn’t to react on her comments and has no time to think about her any more as he was busy with his work.

The Kaminey star who was recently voted as the youth icon said he hoped Kareena would stop thinking about their past relationships and stay happy with what she had in life. He praised Kareena on being one of the finest actresses in the industry and said she had a long way to go. Trying to be politically connect Shahid said that she wished Kareena has the best in her life.

On being quizzed on maintaining friendship with his we-flame Shahid said that there were lot of factors which decided upon the fate of friendship. On a candid note Shahid added that although not impossible it was something which he found definitely difficult. Well all we can say is Kareena it is high time you move on and leave Shahid in his own world.

2009, one of the worst years for Bollywood in recent times, just got battered some more. Tuesday’s call for closure of all multiplexes for the next three days (see report in city section) means that one of the year’s most-awaited films, the UTV-produced Kaminey, takes a hit. Here’s why: Mumbai is the most lucrative film territory in the country. Seventy per cent of a film’s gross earnings in the first week comes from collections in the opening weekend and Mumbai accounts for 40 per cent of that.
In Kaminey’s case, for instance, the paid previews, a relatively new concept that allows one to see a film before official release at a premium, were all sold out. “We had paid previews at 12 locations in Mumbai and we will suffer a loss of around Rs 50 lakh per day on an average on account of cancellation,” says Devang Sampat, senior vice president, Cinemax. “However we are covered by insurance.”
The Shahid Kapoor-Priyanka Chopra caper directed by Vishal Bharadwaj was to be one of UTV’s big films of the year and is slated to be released across the world with 1,200 prints. The bigger the film, the more number of prints to saturate the market, which producers hope to encash in the first week itself on the strength of the hype built around it.
Both Mumbai and Pune are big markets for such films. Once the film has been seen elsewhere there is the danger of it getting stale and an even bigger risk is of piracy.
“The prints are out and people will be looking at getting pirated copies to Mumbai to satiate the curiosity, it can spell doom for a film,” says a trade analyst not wanting to be quoted. Something similar happened to another UTV film, Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye, which was released in the weekend of the November 26 terror attack when fear psychosis of another kind kept people indoors and away from cinema theatres. By the time Mumbaikars woke up to the idea of entering a cinema hall, the damage had been done and a perfectly good film paid the price for it.
Rumy Jaffrey, the director of Life Partner, the other film to be released along with Kaminey this Friday, said, “This is just a financial loss. The important thing is to safeguard everyone’s health. However, I would like to say that since the government has taken such a decision, it should also look into the piracy problem. I hope they try and stop pirated CDs and DVDs coming in to Mumbai.”
However, UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapoor still remains upbeat, pointing out that in the absence of any major release till September 18, Kaminey still stands a good chance. Vishal Bhardwaj, the film’s director, refers to the closure as an unpleasant surprise, but also points to the, “terrific buzz about the film all over India and the fact is that Mumbai and Pune are not all that India is about. Yes, I can’t deny that they are important, but I also can’t deny swine flu,” he said.
Sandeep Bhargava of Indian films which is releasing Life Partner also said that they were going ahead with the film’s release as it was too late to withdraw and push the release. “All our prints have been sent across India,” he said.
With just one mega hit so far – Love Aaj Kal – and the film industry still to recover from the two-month multiplex ban earlier this year, Bollywood’s run of bad luck continues.