Deepika Padukone

BANGALORE: Now that Farah Khan's "Om Shanti Om" has been declared as a hit, Bangalore's Deepika Padukone is the new rage of the Bollywood. Long-limbed and fresh-faced Deepika's bubbly presence is another big reason for the film's success apart from Shahrukh Khan's charisma. More than anyone else, the person who is over the moon over Deepika's success is her father Prakash Padukone, the badminton legend.

For the past few days, the trainees of the Tata Padukone Badminton Academy have been watching the film, courtesy Deepika Padukone.

In a chat with The Hindu, Mr. Padukone gave full credit to his daughter.

"It was a good show and she worked for her success. I am proud that she has made an impact," he said.

What pleases him is the fact that Deepika was not a whit overawed by Shahrukh Khan or for that matter anyone else.

"She has always been level-headed and knows what she is doing," said Mr. Padukone.

If Deepika did not choose to be model or Bollywood star, she would have become the most glamorous badminton star in the country. She had played a few State-ranking tournaments as a sub-junior with moderate success. But badminton's loss was Bollywood's gain.

Mr. Padukone wants Deepika to choose her roles with care and pick the right ones.

"What I would love to see is that she plays some good roles, not just glamorous stuff," he said.

Will she act as badminton star now that films such as "Chak De" are a big success?

Mr. Padukone is excited by the thought. "Why not? That would be a good idea. She could enact my own story, how as a youngster I struggled to make it to the top, eating, sleeping and playing just badminton and struggling to go on tours and living always in suspense, whether I would board the flight or not. Yes, I think there is enough masala in it," he said.

MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan refused to accept the charges levelled against him for defying an Anti-Smoking Act during the recent Twenty20 cricket match in Mumbai.

National Organisation for Tobacco Eradication, an anti-smoking group, had issued legal notice against Khan for allegedly lighting up in public in violation of India's anti-smoking law. "This is not how a superstar should behave... Adored by millions (he) shouldn't lend a helping hand to promote smoking," the group's general secretary Shekhar Salkar said.

The truth, however, is that Bollywood has precisely three actors who can sell a film on their name - Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan.

"Statistics have proved that others like Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and John Abraham have to be sold in clever packages," says a trade analyst.

Of course, if the film itself is appreciated ¬like a 'Lage Raho Munnabhai', 'Malamaal Weekly', 'Gangster'; 'Khosla Ka Ghosla' or 'Corporate', all of whom made it to the 2006 hit list - the stars don't matter.

Mumbai, Nov 16  Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and director Farah Khan Friday said "sorry" to Manoj Kumar for what he perceived as his humiliation in a scene in the recently-released "Om Shanti Om". But the legendary actor is reportedly unmoved.

According to Bollywood trade sources, Manoj Kumar has not accepted the apology yet.

"The two (Shah Rukh and Farah) will be required to do a lot more to convince him to forgive and forget," the trade sources told  Friday night.

Mumbai : Cine star Shahrukh Khan on Friday tendered an unqualified apology to thespian Manoj Kumar for making a spoof on the latter in his latest release `Om Shanti Om' while the film's director Farah Khan offered to delete the offending scene.

Addressing a hurriedly-called press conference here, Khan and Farah said they had no intention to hurt the veteran actor's sentiments and they were only making a parody.

Apologising to Kumar, the Bollywood superstar said "I was completely wrong...If if he is hurt, I apologise."

"I called him in the afternoon and the first thing he said to me was "it is no big deal, son", Khan said.

"People do parody...it is a done thing," Khan further said, adding Kumar had every right to say anything to him.

Khan's apology came soon after Kumar threatened to take legal action over a sequence in the hit movie, which spoofs the film world of 1970s.

Khan plays the lead role in the movie which is his home production under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment.

Farah said she offered to delete the particular scene from the film but the veteran actor said there was no need for it.

Just as one thought that all the hype surrounding Om Shanti Om has slowly settled, here comes yet another interesting bit of news regarding the film. The 'Bharat' of Bollywood, Manoj Kumar, is really upset at the way he has been made fun of in the Shah Rukh Khan starrer and is even planning to sue Farah and Shah Rukh Khan.

Om Shanti Om, which is based on the Hindi film industry of the 70's shows a scene in which a Manoj Kumar look-alike is not allowed to enter the premiere of a film by the cops as they can't recognise him. Although Farah Khan had informed Manoj Kumar that she would be using a body-double of him, the actor claimed that never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would be portrayed in such bad light.

However, when contacted, Farah Khan was quite amused at the allegations and said that they never meant to show any disrespect and that she herself was a huge Manoj Kumar fan. She also added that it was all done in good humour.

Soha Ali Khan.

Mumbai,  Sharmila Tagore shocked all and sundry by wearing a two-piece bikini in An Evening in Paris, but she has a very different approach towards daughter Soha Ali Khan and tells her how to fight off the minimal-clothes menace.

"She told me that if producers want me to get into a bikini just because she did so once, I'm supposed to say, 'My mom made some mistakes. I won't repeat them.' There are some things which I don't need to be told not to do, just as I've my own list of dos," Soha told IANS

It took Soha's glamorous mother quite a long time to go from Satyajit Ray to a glamorous double role in Shakti Samanta's An Evening In Paris.

But Soha is already there in less than a year and will be seen in a double role in Aparna Sen's next.

"And the best part is mom too is part of the film. So it will be great fun to shoot. It will also be my first film with a female director, and I'm really looking forward to being directed by a woman," said Soha whose period love story "Khoya Khoya Chand" is ready to hit the screens soon.

Soha got rave reviews for her performance as the stifled bride in a feudal household in Rituparno Ghosh's Antarmahal. She had a lot of difficult, explicit scenes with Jackie Shroff in the movie.

"They may look difficult to the spectator. But they weren't that tough to do. Rituda showed me exactly what to do. My co-star Jackie was far more nervous and embarrassed than I was. He told my mother he'd never be able to do those scenes if she was around on the sets. We took every precaution. Everyone except the immediate crew and cast was ordered out of the sets. Rituda took good care of me. It didn't seem tough. "

Soha makes no bones about her aspirations as an actor.

"I'm not too old in the industry, still finding my way around. I can't say whether I'm cut out for 'Shaadi No. 1' or 'Antarmahal'. Ideally I'd like to do both kinds of cinema, just like my mom did. There're some things I won't be comfortable doing.

"Sometimes I feel I belong to another era. That's when 'Antarmahal' seems like my cup of tea. Then again I want to do a young contemporary girl's role because that's what I'm in real life. In 'Rang De Basanti', I played a young college-going girl. I like that."

Rani Mukerji.

Pune, Nov 14  The district collector of Ahmednagar, Umakant Dangat, Wednesday ordered an enquiry into the reported purchase of agricultural land by Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji.

Dangat told IANS: "Rani Mukerji's father had come here a few days ago to have the land registered in their names but the land was already allotted for farming purposes."

The district's sub divisional officer has sent an inquiry notice to Rani with respect to the land, which she had allegedly purchased from an agent named Sampat More in village Nimba Korchali, about 400 km from Mumbai.

Dangat said the size of the land is 11 guntas (one fourth of an acre). However, the cost of the land hasn't been determined yet.

Rani reportedly paid Rs 33 lakh in December 2005 for the farmland near Shirdi in Maharashtra, not realizing the land is non transferable.

She even registered the sale deed paying Rs 1.32 lakh stamp duty in the district tehsildar office. The tehsildar now says ownership of the land cannot be transferred to Rani since it is government land leased out to a farmer.

The deal has been scrapped by the district collector.

"They should have inquired before getting into a transaction," said Dangat.

The sub divisional officer will scrutinize the records of the parties involved and pass an order thereafter.

Sampat More is now reportedly willing to return the money to Rani. The land was purchased in the name of Rani's father Ram Mukherjee.

Seventeen other people in the area have been duped in land cases in a similar manner.

Here, in the wake of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Saawariya getting a royal flogging from critics, is a look at some other films that haven't managed to go the distance -- at least the distance expected from them.