Genelia D’Souza turns 26 today, the bubbly young actress who has replaced the void left by Preity Zinta.
Genelia made her debut in Bollywood with Tujhe Meri Kasam which did not do much for her career, she shifted base to South Indian films and went on to deliver biggest box office hits.
She made a comeback in Bollywood with Jaane Tu Ya Jaane na opposite newbie Imran Khan and now has films in her kitty opposite Shahid Kapoor and others.
Two back-to-back flops and Harman Baweja seems to be creating insecurity even for his female co-stars! It is learnt that Genelia D’ Souza who stars opposite Harman in Anees Bazmee directed It’s My Life is trying her best to not have this film as her next release. She is wanting her Shahid Kapoor starrer Yahoo to come before It’s My Life.
Our source says, “Genelia D’Souza has had a bumper hit last year in Aamir Khan produced Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. But post that she has mostly been seen in TV commercials rather than feature films. She knows it well that the Shahid Kapoor film will create a bigger buzz and get her the publicity she needs, rather than a Harman starrer. And then of course Shahid Kapoor is also supposed to be sizzling hot property after Kaminey. That’s why Genelia is trying every trick in the book to delay It’s My Life.”
“She dily dallied allotting dates for the patchwork of It’s My Life and now she is not being co-operative for giving her dates for its dubbing. The matter seems to be going out of hand with Anees Bazmee apparently even threatening to get a professional dubbing artist dub instead of her if she doesn’t co-operate soon. But little does he know what her real reason is!” the source further adds.
Last heard, Genelia is said to have fallen sick! That means more wait for the It’s My Life makers.
Genelia D’Souza made a big comeback last year with Jaane Tu Jaane Na with Imran Khan but still hasn’t been able to match the footsteps of newbies like Deepika and Sonam who have made their debuts after her.
Ask her about not working with big banners, she says, “What’s the definition of a big banner.I have worked with UTV, Studio 18, Aamir Khan Productions, done films in the South, and I have four releases this year. There’s one opposite Fardeen Khan, It’s My Life opposite Hurman Baweja, Hook Ya Crook with John Abraham and Yahoo with Shahid Kapoor. Isn’t that a lot?
“Like every young girl, I too would like to work with the Khans, but each film has a script and only a suitable actor can play that role.”
Young hotties Anushka Sharma and Genelia D’Souza walked the green carpet at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards’ first day in sexy attire. Also present were Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Ashutosh Gowariker, Ramesh and Kiran Sippy, and Ila and Ishita Arun among others. Amitabh Bachchan’s wax statue from Madame Tussauds was showcased right in the middle of the green carpet.
Genelia D’Souza and Shahid Kapoor were shooting for a photoshoot at Bandstand, Bandra and Genelia’s micromini resulted in the traffic going haywire that even the cops couldn’t control themselves from taking their eyes of her legs.
A source says, “Shahid had canned all his scenes for the film. We just had a day’s shoot left before the film goes into postproduction. The photoshoot was supposed to start at 4pm and was to be wrapped up in a couple of hours at the Bandra Bandstand fort. When Genelia emerged, she was wearing a micromini and the crowd started gathering. It was supposed to be a sizzling, intimate photoshoot with Shahid and Genelia posing extremely close to each other.
Within minutes, the crowd started multiplying. Ken Ghosh decided that he couldn’t trust the crowd with Genelia in a mini skirt. As the crowd threatened to grow beyond controllable numbers, it dawned on the unit that they hadn’t even called private security or the cops. It was becoming difficult for both Shahid and Genelia to step out to shoot. Even the cops despaired over the numbers. Some of the persistent blokes in the crowd had even edged over to the fort and on the stones, which was a red alert for potential danger. They even tried covering up Genelia with a pair of jeans, but it was futile. The cops told the unit to cancel the shoot.”
Director Ken Ghosh says, The crowd was crazy. Shahid and Genelia had to rush back to the van. The sun was setting and we were losing light. We called security and cops, but it was of no use. Genelia was wearing a mini skirt and with such a crowd, it would not have been a pleasant shoot at all.”
Well it’s not Genelia’s fault, who wouldn’t want to have a glimpse of that shapely legs.
The saying ‘you can run but you can’t hide’ seems to hold true for Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D’Souza. It has been quite some time that the two have been denying that they are romantically involved, but time and again they have been spotted together spending some quality time with each other. According to sources, the two were hanging out together at a restaurant in Mumbai recently.Ritesh, Genelia and a couple of their friends had gone to the restaurant, but soon they decided to leave as the place was brightly lit.
Both the actors are very careful and do not want anyone to click their pictures together.They left for another restaurant and according to reports the two spent over two hours together, where they even obliged their fans and gave them autographs too.We wonder what’s stopping them from making their relationship public.
Genelia says that she and Ritesh Deshmukh are just good friends (yawn)
Rumours don’t always die a natural death. While Genelia D’Souza and Ritesh Deshmukh have been linked ever since they starred together in their debut film Tujhe Meri Kasam (2003), they have never admitted that they are romantically involved. On May 25, fact that they were seen together at Karan Johar’s birthday party only added fuel to the fire.
Genelia who still maintains a ‘we are only good friends’ stand with Ritesh is amused as well as exasperated on being linked with him. When asked about being seen with Ritesh at Karan Johar’s party, Genelia says, "Ritesh and I had gone there separately. Yes, we met up there and spent some time together. But does that mean we’re seeing each other? We’ve known each other since 2003 when we starred together in our debut film. Back then we were newcomers shooting far away from home in Hyderabad. Naturally, we bonded. I’m also friends with Ritesh’s brother but no one talks about that because he’s not part of the entertainment industry. As of now, I am only friends with Ritesh but if our relationship goes to another level, we’ll announce it proudly."
Genelia admits that she is reserved by nature. "I’m friendly with all my co-stars but they aren’t my friends. Being seen in parties and public events is not my scene. After shooting for films and ads, I hardly have any energy left to socialise. Right now I am concentrating on putting in my best effort at work," says Genelia.
Lately Genelia has hardly been home. "Ken Ghosh’s film with Shahid Kapur that I’m doing right now is the first film to be shot in Mumbai since Jaane Tu… Otherwise I’ve either been in the South or shooting abroad for my Hindi films. So it feels good to be home for a change," she says.
The young actress is looking forward to some heavy-duty dancing with Shahid. "We haven’t really started the dancing part yet. Shahid is a fabulous dancer and it will be a challenge to match steps with him."
About stepping into Jiah Khan’s role in Ken’s film, Genelia says she intends to meet up with Jiah soon. "But it’s not as if I took the role from her. Everything was sorted out before I was asked to step in. It was handled professionally. And coming into a project so late is no big deal. Even Jaane Tu… came to me after everyone else was in place. I firmly believe no one snatches anything away from anyone," adds Genelia.
Although her career has taken off in a big way in Mumbai she isn’t in a hurry to abandon the South side of her stardom. "In fact I’m doing one more Telugu film Katha. Of course my Southern projects had to be reduced because of the increase in assignments in Mumbai. But I’ll never give up South Indian films."
The girl of moment, Genelia D’Souza who earned lots of fans after Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na is coming up next with Ken Ghosh’s Yahoo opposite Shahid Kapoor. She is playing a choreographer in the film and is nervous to match dance steps with Shahid.
“It’s my first film with Shahid Kapoor who is a phenomenal dancer. And, I’m nervous as hell at the thought of having to match steps with him,” says Genelia.
When asked to her that whether she knew that Jiah Khan was first doing the role, she said, “I accepted the role because it is challenging for me as an actor. Also, I share a good rapport with the film corporation that is producing Yahoo.”
Genelia who is a superstar in Andhra Pradesh proudly says, “They actually write scripts for me there.” The actress get flooded with Bollywood offers post Jaane Tu… and has many projects in line which includes Abbas-Mastan’s Life Partners, Boney Kapoor’s It’s My Life and UTV’s Hook Ya Crook opposite John Abraham. Talking about all these films, Genne adds, “Fortunately for me, each of the roles I’m doing is different from the other.”
Genelia is also eager for the sequel of Jaane Tu…, but right now she is happy with yahoo in Bollywood.
Jai and Aditi will be back again, as Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na director Abbas Tyrewala is planning a sequel for his teenage hit flick, this time the movie deals with Jai and Aditi’s marriage woes.
Abbas says, “It starts with Jai (Imran Khan) and Aditi (Genelia D’Souza) having problems in their marriage. They are on the verge of a divorce after Jai ends up drunk and having a onenight-stand.”
Genelia is maha excited about the sequel and says, “A film like Jaane Tu doesn’t happen every day. It fell into my lap by chance. All of us in Jaane Tu have got busy. Everyone went their way. I’ve been working round the clock on my films and endorsements. But whenever I meet Abbas or Imran, we feel the same warmth that we felt during the making of the film. It would be fun for the whole team to be reunited.”
Little do people know, that Genelia D’ Souza had done her first film ‘Tujhe Meri Kasam’ with Riteish Deshmukh, but had moved South after the film bombed at the box office. But the success of ‘Jaane Tu.. Ya Jaane Na’ has changed everything for the bubbly actress who not only has offers from big banners in her kitty, but has also replaced actresses like Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta in commercials.
Genelia is now the face of brands like Vatika hair oil replacing Rani Mukherjee and Fair and Lovely. She has also snatched away the Fanta ad from Rani and has replaced Bollywood’s chirpy actress Preity Zinta in Cadbury Perk’s commercial. All we can say is- Good going Genelia!
