Sonam Kapoor in Saawariya

From Deepika's to-die-for wardrobe in Om Shanti Om to Amitabh's colourful, hippie style in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, we have the low-down on the best-dressed stars of 2007.  

Deepika Padukone in Om Shanti Om  

Well, what can we say that hasn't been said already? This Bangalore stunner made our jaws drop with her super sexy look in Om Shanti Om. Be it the gorgeous ghagras and retro outfits she donned as Shantipriya or the uber cool hot pants and bustiers she sported as Sandy, Deepika oozed oomph in every single frame.

Punjab was hot on the Bollywood movie map in 2007 with several films being shot there. The Deols shot a major portion of their family saga Apne as did Kareena and Shahid Kapoor for Jab We Met and Katrina-Akshay for Namaste London.

Recently, Preity Zinta and Salman Khan were there too to shoot for Samir Karnik's Heroes. And last Thursday, Preity was back in Punjab for her second shoot in 2007 under heavy security.

After a gruelling month-long schedule of their first Punjabi film Heaven On Earth, Preity and director Deepa Mehta were in Chandigarh for a two-day shoot under tight security because fans in Punjab are known to get "hyper-excited" at the sight of their favourite stars.

A fortnight ago, when Ranbir Kapoor landed in Amritsar to shoot for Siddharth Anand's untitled film, thousands thronged the location near the Golden Temple and broke through the security cordon to get as close to the actor as they could.

Speaking from the outskirts of Chandigarh where she was shooting Friday and Saturday, Deepa said, "I don't know whether we're coming or going. Since we had only Preity's dates till Dec 24, we went straight from location in Toronto to the airport to rush to India... We're aware of the security risks. The administration has been very co-operative. We're well protected. And Preity has her own bodyguards. So far it's been smooth sailing."

Heaven On Earth, the true-life story of a battered wife in Toronto, has been Preity's toughest role to date. 

New Delhi, Dec 26 : If anyone thought that the first ever joint counter terror exercise carried out by Indian and Chinese militaries in Kunming in China's Yunnan province would be an out and out serious affair, then one is grossly mistaken as it had a lot to do with cultural extravaganza and friendly bonhomie also.
So you had beautiful Chinese women swinging to songs from Sanjay Leela Bhansali's flick, Devdas, and Chinese military personnel dancing on the rhapsody steps of Bhangra.
As the five-day long military exercise between the two armies concluded on the Christmas day, the kind of jovial mood witnessed there could hardly give any one an inkling that these two countries fought each other almost half a century ago, and are still negotiating the controversial border dispute issue.
The chill in the weather was nowhere to be seen as women clad in bright red and gold ghagras and cholis swayed to the tune of 'Dola Re' trying to imitate histrionics of dancing diva Madhuri Dixit and beauty queen Aishwarya Rai, and they even succeeded to.
Bollywood may be a cliche, but it's a successful recipe that makes even Chinese dancers go gaga over it.
The dance numbers encapsulating Indian culture was on the cards but the Indian soldiers had no clue that it would be so warm and vibrant in Kunming, where the minimum temperature dipped to five degree Celsius.
During the day, when soldiers demonstrated their tactical skills of overcoming the hostage crisis, the evening was reserved for interaction and some 'celebration'.
Not only Bollywood dance beats, the Indian rum, Old Monk also made inroads into Chinese military's palate.

Dec 26: Though the year 2006 was the year of biggies in Bollywood who brought some excellent films, the year 2007 also stands no behind as the industry offers some outstanding movies with a mix of multi-starrer, comedy, art, low budget entertainer and films based of sports.

As usual though the ratio of hits and flops follows the old trend comparing the amount of movies the industry produces, the year 2007 has brought some of the best movies as Shahrukh Khan starrer 'Chak De! India' and then 'Om Shanti Om' and Mani Ratnam's 'Guru' top the list. However, it's the small budget film like 'Bheja Fry', 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd', 'Gandhi My Father' and some which became popular for their creativity.

Here's a brief summary of some of the biggest hits of the year 2007 as according to their box office collection and appeal to audience.

Guru (Release - Jan 12): A biographical movie inspired by the life story of late industrialists Dhirubhai Ambani, one of the best topics chosen by director Mani Ratnam was the first hit in 2007. The acting potential of both the leading actors Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai did come out aptly. The director recreating his on screen story telling magic like the past 'Roja' and ' Bombay' came up with a bang again in combination with AR Rahman music.

Namaste London (Release – March 23): The Akshya Kumar and Katrina Kaif starrer is an East-meets-West love story with a pack of romance, comedy and drama did able to catch the interest of audience with a theme that is more common, a story of a western-cultured girl who forced to marry an ordinary Indian and their marriage and so on. The film did good business in India but not in overseas. This was the second hit after a long dry month in Bollywood.

Partner (Release – July 20):Starring Salman Khan and Govinda, this David Dhawan comedy flick did well in the box office. Salman as love guru to Govinda in the course of helping teaching lesson how to win the loved one's heart produced enough laughter gimmicks that turned on movie buff.

Chak De! India (Release – Aug 10): Directed by Shimit Amit and produced under the Aditya/Yash Chopra banner, the film did the right justice taking the theme of our neglected national sports 'hockey'. The film is closely linked with the life of former Indian Hockey player and coach of Indian women's hockey team Mir Ranjan Negi. The film remains a cult, as it not only inspired other sports with its anthem Chak De! India but also made the sports administration to think about all other sports equally like the cricket.

Heyy Babyy (Release – Aug 24): Written and directed by small screen entertainer Sajid Khan, the film revolves around the life of three bachelors: Akshay Kumar, Ritesh Deshmukh, and Fardeen Khan and how a small baby changed their life for ever from careless human being to serious father figure. With emotion, drama, humour and music score by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, the movie offered all-round entertainment. This was also the second hit in the cards of Akshya Kumar.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa (Release – Oct 12): A simple ghost story but director Priyadarshan with his superb comic delivery ability along with Akshya Kumar, Vidya Balan, Shiney Ahuja and Rajpal Yadav created a magical spell of wittiness that produced enough laugh riot along with mystery, discovery and surprises which resulted in making it a box office hit.

Jab We Met (Release – Oct 26): Director Imitaz Ali in his attempt to bring Shahid Kapur and Kareena Kapoor together able to create on screen magic with a story line of two individual and how deep love emerged within them for being together. This romantic comedy has enough material for each one and hence gave upward mark to both Shahid and Kereena's film career. The film's promotion also got boost from the real-life break-up and Kareena's love interest in Saif Ali Khan.

Om Shanti Om (Release – Nov 2007): This is so far the biggest blockbuster of 2007 with excellent box office response. The second movie of director Farah Khan with high pre-promotion did able to catch audience's attention and Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan yet again proved that he is the superstar with huge fan following. Taking characters of 60's and 70's the film again proved that Shahrukh, romance with song and dance still works.

Tare Zameen Par (Release – Dec 21): Amir Khan in his first directorial endeavour proved his cinematic excellence not only in acting but also making and directing film on a sensitive issue based on children. The film revolves around a dyslexic child who lost himself down in front of high expectation. This film again proves the versatility of Amir and probably the talented one among three Khans.

This is an admirable finish to 2007 !!!