Imran with SRK and Aamir with Salman

The upcoming HDIL Couture Week fashion show is turning into a childish show-of-strength of sorts. While the owner of the company Sunny Dewan is in the inner circle of close friends of both Shahrukh Khan and Salman Khan , the people who will walk the ramp for Salman; and for Karan Johar (with show-stopper Shahrukh Khan) will ultimately define kaun kiska dost hai.It’s interesting that Aamir Khan will be showing off Sallu’s designs while nephew Imran Khan will share ramp space with Shahrukh Khan.Sallu has convinced Saif, Aamir, Sunny Deol, sanjay Dutt , Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar , Govinda and Katrina Kaif to walk the ramp for his organisation Being Human on (October 11).

Karan, who is launching his own fashion line of men’s clothing (Oct 16) has Shahrukh and Gauri, Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan.Imran is in Karan’s next production I Hate Love Stories, and willingly agreed to walk for KJo for his producer, who is designing the line along with Varun Bahl. A source close to Salman says the number of stars walking for his organisation has nothing to do with upstaging SRK’s ramp romp, “Salman is keen that the show is a big success for the sake of Being Human. He wants to establish the brand and create awareness for it so people donate money to it. “Salman has been helping out the poor and needy with operations like open-heart surgeries for the last three years with his own money.

Initially, he thought he would sell his paintings to raise money but that didn’t work out like he planned.”Imran Khan and Karan Johar remained unavailable for comment. Gauri will be walking the ramp with 20 young and hot male models and will be the only female model for Karan’s show.Salman’s show has a family segment, where Salman’s brothers Arbaaz and Sohal will be walking with their respective wives, Malaika and Seema.

Kajol makes Kareena Nervous

Kareena Kapoor is leaving nothing to chance this time. Determined to match strides with the formidable scene-stealer Kajol in the Hindi version of Stepmom, the actress has been quietly attending acting workshops with the film’s director Siddharth Malhotra.”The last time I rehearsed for a part was for Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara. But that was a more unconventional film and role where I had to get into a milieu and character I knew nothing about. But Stepmom is urban and very contemporary.

I play a very normal metro-centric working girl,” said Kareena.Malhotra’s film is inspired by director Chris Columbus 1998 hit drama Stepmom, a heartwarming tale of two women – divorced Susan Sarandon and the new woman (Julia Roberts) in her ex-husband’s life – and the problems they face to find a common ground of understanding.And to attend the workshops, Kareena has been stealing time out of the rehearsals for a song she began shooting with Aamir Khan in 3 Idiots. Through the workshops Kareena is discovering how difficult it is to play a normal girl. “I walk, talk, dress like an ordinary working girl.

I’ll be using no makeup.”Bollywood’s ace designer Manish Malhotra too is having a hard time trying to bring down Kareena’s glamour quotient in Stepmom to look like an ordinary working woman. “I couldn’t cut my hair as planned because of continuity clashes. And I didn’t want to cut my long hair. But I’m going for a new hairstyle,” said Kareena.The two actresses start shooting together from the end of this month.Talking abour Kajol, Kareena said: “She’s always been one of my favourite actresses. We worked together in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham. But this is something else.”

There will be a lot of dramatic scenes between the two women in the movie. “The desi version of Stepmom is very different from the original. My role is also a big departure from what Julia Roberts played in Stepmom,” Kareena said.

Rani replaces Madhuri

It was good to hear that Madhuri Dixit was making a comeback on television. The Dhak Dhak girl was all set to judge a dance based reality show titled Dance Premier League. However, now it looks like the lady will not be able to make it after all. Rani Mukerji, it seems has replaced Mads as the judge in the show. After yet another failed attempt in the form of Dil Bole Hadippa, Rani is all set to give her career a new direction.

A source from the media confirmed the news and said, “Yes, its true. Rani has replaced Madhuri. This will be Rani’s first television appearance and she has already given them her nod. Rani has not signed any film after Dil Bole Hadippa. She is ready to try something new in her career. Madhuri too, had accepted the offer. She is a good dancer and loved the concept of the show. But then one of her many conditions was not fulfilled. So she refused.”

The source further revealed, “Madhuri had asked the makers of the show to find her a nanny to take care of her children while she is on the sets. But they could not fulfill her wish and she walked out of the show. Yash Raj Films had hired a nanny during the making of her last movie Aaja Nachle. The nanny was with her children on the sets for 24 hours.”

Rani and Aditya in a Relationship

For long Rani Mukherjee has been denying any sort of relationship with filmmaker Aditya Chopra but the dusky beauty now admitted that she shares a special relationship with Aditya.

Salman-Katrina Wedding not Far now

It was Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif who sparked their break-up story and no one else. Recently, they came to a party separately and hardly spoke to each other. They didn’t even come near each other, thus raising the eyebrows of the onlookers. Well, the couple intentionally decided to keep a distance.

The good news is that all is well between the couple. Salman said that they decided to come separately to avoid being photographed together. He added that there is a special reason for it and would make an appearance together very soon.

But why now, as they have been photographed together many times in the past? Is the wedding not far off? Back to Salman-Katrina!

Shipa's Marriage Delayed

Shilpa Shetty was planning to get married to Raj Kundra this Christmas but actor Sunny Deol spilled water on her marriage plan. Sunny is doing a film with Shilpa, titled ‘The Man’ and the film is getting postponed every year. Now Sunny wanted to complete the shoot by this year and so he has requested Shilpa to delay her marriage.

SRK beaten by BIG B

Amitabh Bachchan has once again shown who the top star from Bollywood is. His Big Boss 3 on Colors which was going head to head Sunday against the team of Farah Khan-Shahrukh Khan on Star Plus on October 4, outdrew Shah Rukh Khan on Farah Khan on her Tere Mere Beach Mein on Star Plus in national ratings. According to overnight ratings released by aMAP overnight tv ratings meter, the topper of Sunday, Big Boss3 net reach rating was a 6.0 while the Farah Khan hosted Tere Mere Beach Mein, which had surprisingly pitted Shah Rukh Khan opposite Bachchan, ended up faring less than 4.5. Ghajini, bollywood’s top blockbuster, on NDTVImagine the same day, drew a top rating of 3.1 while Akshay Kumar starrer Singh is King on Sony drew around 3.3 according to aMAP.Big Boss 3 opener also reportedly doubled the viewership from the previous seasons of Big Boss 2 hosted by Shilpa Shetty, and Big Boss 1.Usually the trend is, sequels and ‘trequels’ decrease in ratings compared to their opening seasons. Here it’s gone the other direction.

However, the ratings of Big Boss, while winning over the competition, are not on par with Amitabh Bachchan’s last stint on TV in 2005 when KBC2 returned on the air.One explanation could be that the SRK show was on at the same time, thereby affecting the ‘cinema’ part of the audience albeit somewhat. Secondly, KBC2 in August 2005 was coming off Bachchan having delivered consecutive box office blockbusters in Bunty&Babli (costarring Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukherjee, Aishwarya Rai) and Sarkar (Abhishek Bachchan, Katrina Kaif) in May and June of that year respectively. That was not the case this time around. Also, unlike KBC, which had Bachchan at center stage throughout, Big Boss show is set around 13 contestants through the week. And yet, the fact that an appearance by 67 year old Bachchan still ends up doubling the previous Big Boss seasons, and trumping the current competition, including top stars like Shahrukh Khan, head to head on Television viewership meters across India speaks to the enduring mass appeal of the cine star, who will next be seen in Aladin and Paa at the box offices later this year.

Finally, though the final verdict on BB3 won’t be out for some time, it would not be a surprise, if like KBC1 which started amidst doubt in July 2000, only to sustain and pick up steam instead of dropping after July 2000; Big Boss 3 too follows a similar pattern of registering big bumps on Fridays/Saturdays (days Bachchan is set to appear) as the season goes along, as the audience reviews of the initial show have been quite positive. KBC I launched in July 2000, but hit its peak viewership in ratings in between August-October of that year, setting up ratings records which haven’t been touched since.

“Wake Up Sid” gives “Do Knot Disturb” a beating

New Delhi, Debutant director Ayan Mukerji’s charming “Wake Up Sid” about a young man and a woman five years older has not only wowed critics but pulled in the crowds too, sidelining the Govinda starrer “Do Knot Disturb”.

The box office received a shock with Ashutosh Gowariker’s “What’s Your Raashee” that released Sep 25 but proved to be tedious for audiences with its length and 13 songs.

But the buzz is back with “Wake Up Sid”, starring Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma, that released Friday along with “Do Knot Disturb”.

” ‘Wake Up Sid’ is doing extremely well. We’ve had an occupancy of more than 90 percent across 17 shows over the initial weekend and it is still going strong while ‘Do Knot Disturb’ had only a two-day run with close to 75 percent despite 16 shows,” Amit Awasthi, manager (programming and operations) of Spice Cinemas at Noida, told IANS.

“We are expecting ‘Wake Up Sid’ to continue a good run at least until the Diwali weekend, which has major releases like ‘Blue’, ‘Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna’ and ‘All The Best’. Though we have ‘Acid Factory’ on Oct 9, we are sincerely doubtful about its future in multiplexes,” he added.

Made at a budget of around Rs.15 crore (Rs.150 million), “Wake Up Sid” has been produced by Dharma Productions Pvt Ltd and distributed by UTV Motion Pictures with around 700 prints worldwide.

” ‘Wake Up Sid’ has had a very good occupancy and opening over the first weekend. It is a different movie for different people and is totally a multiplex movie. It is going to have an extended play,” said a source from PVR Cinemas.

“It has done what ‘Rock On!!’ did last year… it has evoked people’s hidden past and is so associative. While ‘Do Knot Disturb’, despite having almost the equal number of shows as the former (around six each per property) did have a good opening, but it fell flat in no time,” the source added.

“Do Knot Disturb” has been co-produced by Vashu Bhagnani and Big Pictures and directed by David Dhawan. Released across 1,060 screens worldwide, it stars Govinda, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta and Riteish Deshmukh.

Yogesh Raizada, corporate head (cinemas) of Wave Cinemas, however, thinks it is too early to tell.

“We kept around 10 shows each for both the movies across different properties and the result has been around 60 and 80 percent respectively for ‘Do Knot Disturb’ and ‘Wake Up Sid’,” said Raizada.

“The response for the latter has been very good and this one is in fact sustaining too but, as far as the long run is concerned, nothing can be said as the business has mostly been done during the initial weekend,” he added.

Salman Angry???Katrina With SRK!!!!

Dream merchants in Bollywood are working overtime to whip out the most sensational casting coup in years. Efforts are on to pair up Katrina Kaif with none other than Shahrukh Khan for a film.

Yashraj Films have reportedly been trying to rope in Kat with their blue-eyed-no-longer-boy SRK. Now Karan Johar has joined the queue.

Speaking to a news channel, K-Jo said that Shahrukh and Katrina are the actors with the most romantic image in Hindi film industry presently. When quizzed if he wants to cast them together in a film, Johar, the enterprising producer that he is, did not rule out the possibility.

If indeed the efforts of these filmmakers come to fruition, we might see Katrina and Shahrukh romancing each other on screen sooner than expected. The on-screen match is now all the more possible, because Salman Khan, Katrina’s beau, has made it clear that he has absolutely no objection to Katrina working with anyone “except one idiot” (Sallu clarified he’s not SRK) in the industry.

So the door is open. All that the filmmakers have to do is come up with the right script that brings SRK and Kat together. For Sallu surely won’t be fuming.

SRK Idolised by Priyanka

Priyanka Chopra is idolised by millions around the globe yet who is it that the actress herself sees as her idol? It’s none other than the King of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan of course.

"Shahrukh Khan is my idol and has always been. He has been a favourite actor of course, but I really look up to him also as a person. Looking at where he came from and how he became who he is today, I find it extremely fascinating," Priyanka said in a recent interview.

The stunning ex-model went on to explain that she admires him for how he made it in a notoriously difficult industry which often relies on nepotism, "He started with theatre, did plays, got a break in TV - he turned from a regular college kid to a mega superstar... and all that completely on his own with no help from anybody in the film industry. I admire a lot about him and I think it's just fantastic," said the actress who has bagged the youth award icon for entertainment.

The actress starred with SRK in the remake of Don and hopefully their next joint project is not too far in the future.

Priyanka’s comments come hot on the heels of Salman Khan’s complimentary statements about Shahrukh where he used words such as ‘outstanding’ and ‘great’ to describe his foe.