Rakhi Sawant.

Item girl Rakhi Sawant this year spent Diwali with her boyfriend Abhishek's parents. Is wedding on the cards?

The actress denied marriage rumors. "They had come to visit. Yes, our parents do want us to get married. But we don't want to marry yet. Right now we want to concentrate on our careers. Shaadi kar ke kya karlenge? Everyone gets married. Big deal! And after marriage, love tends to die, especially in showbiz," she said.

"With both of us working, there's the danger that I and Abhi will get less work after marriage. We don't have a good fortune like Ajay Devgan and Kajol or Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri. Let us both make something out of our lives. Then we'll shout out our marriage plans from the rooftops. Abhi to main khadi bhi nahin hui hoon theek se," she added.

Diwali proved to be really special for Rakhi as she had Shah Rukh for company. "I was busy whooping it up with Shah Rukh Khan on the sets of 'Nach Baliye'. I was too ill that day to even get up from bed. But the minute Shah Rukh walked in I was up on my feet. This was my most memorable Diwali," Rakhi said.

Despite all the fights and arguments on the sets of "Nach Baliye", the kind-hearted Rakhi seems to have forgiven her detractors on the show. She said, "Shall I tell you the truth? Now I don't care whether Abhishek and I win or lose. We got a platform and we got our fame."

Instead, she claims that the backbiting on the sets does not bother her any more. "May God keep everyone happy with their behavior. I've stopped paying attention to them. I don't want my mood to be spoilt before every performance. Now I just focus on my performance. God is on my side. But I don't want to pressurize God for anything. He has already given me everything," said Rakhi.

The Pardesiya item girl cannot help but gush about the compliments bestowed on her by the dreamgirl Hema Malini. "Recently we met Hemaji and she said she watches us on 'Nach Baliye'. She wanted to know if I was a trained dancer. There's a fire within me to dance. I don't have a godfather. 'Nach Baliye' gave me an opportunity to be noticed. People wait for my performances. Abhishek and I work really hard on every performance."

Rakhi has put all her other activities on the backburner to give her 100 percent to the current reality TV dance show. "At the moment we don't have time to do anything except 'Nach Baliye'. I did do an item song in Rakesh Roshan's Krazzy 4. But I won't lie to you. I'm not flooded with offers," the former "Big Boss" participant confessed.

Madhuri Dixit and Lata Mangeshkar at grand finale of Star TV's 'Voice of India' show, 24 Nov, 2007.

Mumbai, Nov 25 (IANS) Madhuri Dixit has been a Lata Mangeshkar fan for as long as she can remember. And when the latter sang for her in Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Ram Lakhan, the actress felt her career had come a full circle.

The two came together on one platform Saturday for the grand finale of STAR's "Voice Of India" show in Mumbai, 24 November, 2007, where Madhuri danced and also handed over the trophy for the winner to Lataji.

Says a STAR source, "Lataji and Madhuri met after ages. The warm bonding between the two was something to be seen."

Deepika Padukone.

New Delhi, Nov.26 (ANI): Once can be termed a fluke. The second makes a point and the third time its validation. Aishwarya Rai, then Shilpa Shetty and now Deepika Padukone, the three damsels from Karnataka have captured the imagination of the Bombay film industry.

Their dancing skills, chiseled bodies, large limpid eyes, perfect diction and dialogue delivery, dignified demeanor has the industry and viewers accepting the fact that Kannadigas have more to offer than Deve Gowda and rava dosai.

There is yet another K factor. If you combine a KK (Karnataka Kudi) with another K (khan) well you get sparkles. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam had the KK plus K combine of Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan and that raked in huge moolah and Om Shanti Om has the KK plus K of Deepika Padukone and Shahrukh Khan, and what a blockbuster that one is.

Aishwarya Rai.

That brings us to the other Karnataka Kudi, Shilpa Shetty. She has managed to melt the icy Brit hearts. So far, the Brits thought that only Udupi cuisine is what came out of Mangalore, that coastal city (mind it, its not a town) in Karnataka. Not so. This hot Kannadiga lady has shown that Mangalore has ice (Aishwarya) and fire (Shilpa). Now beat that.

But why call them 'kudis' which is the Punjabi word for 'lass' you might ask...because they can do the Punjabi thumak better than the Punjabi leading ladies of today. Watch Shilpa Shetty gyrating in OSO and see the Punjabi kudi Karishma Kapoor shaking her head and bobbing her knee....what was Farah Khan thinking? See Aishawarya doing the gidda in Bride and Prejudice and look at the dancing of Priyanka Chopra or Lara Datta.

Shilpa Shetty attends the photocall to promote the forthcoming dance and musical extravaganza, Miss Bollywood.

There is grace and vigor in Aishwarya, but in Priyanka and Lara's style its in your face heaving and jumping and lip biting. And what about the new K entrant Deepika Padukone who is disarmingly charming as 'dreamy girl'. Her poise and innocent looks are signs that she is "lambi race ka ghoda (ghodi?)". So, whereas there will always be room for Kareenas and Poojas of the film industry, the reigning queen will always be from the Deccan, whether it is Vijayanti Mala Bali, Hema Malini, Rekha or Vidya Balan.

Maybe, it can be loaned for a while to bong bombshells like Rakhee, Sharmila Tagore, Kajol or Rani.

But for today, it's with the K brigade, thank you.

After her Bengali hit 'Anuranan', Rituparna Sengupta has some promising projects in her hands which are sure to strengthen her foothold in the Bollywood industry. The promos of her upcoming supernatural thriller ' Gauri- The Unborn' are out and the gal is busy these days promoting her film with her tour all over India.

Her next project which is on the verge of completion is 'Saab Chai Paani'. The movie directed by Manish Gupta is based on corruption. Talking about it, Sengupta says, "I play Sonu Sood's wife in the film who is a hardcore Maharashtrian. I didn't have to speak much of Marathi, just a few words here and there. We also had someone on the sets to help me out".

Her next film is titled 'Love Game' and has Randeep Hooda as her co-star. 'Love Game' is an out and out comedy film. The film is about a chef who keeps having relationships and changes girls by the day. But what happens when he actually falls in love is what the films is all about.

Not only this, Sengupta is also working in a serious political thriller titled BBD directed by Anjan Dutt. The title stands for three historical characters namely Binoy, Badal and Dinesh.

Looks like this Bong Beauty is all set to rock Bollywood with her talent and versatility!

Washington, Nov 25 (ANI): Bollywood stars Bipasha Basu and Arshad Warsi have claimed that a group of white men hurled racial abuses at them, while they were filming in London.

Basu and Warsi were shooting scenes for forthcoming movie Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal when the group passed racist remarks at them.

Warsi claims that the actors were "very shaken" by the incident that occurred in May (07).

"I was shocked. I'm not used to this sort of thing. A car stopped with a couple of white guys. They just lashed out at us and totally gave us their point of view, Contactmusic quoted Warsi, as saying.

"It's the first time I've experienced this. For me it was an alien thing. It was like, do people actually think like that?" he added.

MELBOURNE, November 25: Australian pacer Brett Lee's much-talked about Bollywood career is all set to take off next year when he lands in India to shoot for a cameo in a film titled 'Victory'.

Although the details of the film are not yet known, a report in the 'Sunday Telegraph' said the tearaway pacer will do a day-long shoot for the movie next year.

"There's no question Brett is among the most marketable athletes in Australian sport," Lee's agent Neil Maxwell, who is himself a former cricketer, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

"There are Australian athletes offshore who can tap into bigger markets and possibly make more money, but the Indian market has been a massive coup for Brett. It's given him a platform to launch himself globally," he added.

The affable bowler, who has a huge fan-base in India, has never been shy of admitting that he was interested in foraying into acting in Bollywood.

Lee, who also sings and plays bass-guitar for a band Six and Out, last year teamed up with legendary Indian singer Asha Bhonsle for a chart-buster duet 'You are the one for me'.

And his manager said Lee's squeaky clean image has increased his opportunities in the entertainment industry.

"Obviously there's his blond, fresh-faced appeal, but one thing about Brett is his make-up as a person," Maxwell said.

"No sponsor needs to worry about him taking drugs or being pulled out of a nightclub at 3 am. I've never seen anyone so pedantic about what goes into his body," he added.

The 31-year-old, who is one of the highest-paid Australian cricketers, has a multi-year Cricket Australia contract and would end the year with earnings of more than $3 million.

However, Lee said he would not allow money to influence his choice of brands for promotion. The pacer said he would never take up any campaign for a alcohol brand.

In fact, Lee said he turned down an advertising contract offered by a alcohol company after he burst into the international scene with a seven-wicket haul against India at the age of 23.

"It was a massive deal, I was blown away. The money would have set me up for life, but it was from an alcohol company. My answer straight away was no. I didn't want kids seeing a Test cricketer plugging alcohol," he recalled.

"Looking back, it was the best move I ever made. The money and the status hasn't changed me. Everyone in my eyes is equal. I don't think I'm better than the average bloke who goes to work every day," he added.

Lee also said that he would not let endorsements and his other off-field activities affect his on-field performance.

"I've got some great sponsors and I enjoy being a brand ambassador, but what drives me is being the best cricketer I can be," he said.

"I'm on the cusp of 250 Test wickets, that's just bizarre. You know, as a kid, I just wanted to take one Test wicket, now if you do the maths it's possible I'll go past Dennis Lillee. I'm one off Richie Benaud. It makes me the proudest cricketer on earth," Lee, who has taken 247 Test wickets so far, said.