Bollywood dudes not only display, sometimes topless a la Salman Khan, muscle power and romance their heroines on the Swiss Alps on screen but they also believe in living life to their fullest off screen. Shaheen Raaj recently cornered Bollywood actor Ashmit Patel in his own chill out zone. He had almost disappeared into oblivion since three years after doing films like Inteha, Daag, Murder, Nazar, Silsilay, Kudiyon Ka Hai Zamana, Fight Club et al. He has resurfaced again this time busy shooting for two English films American Empire and Florida Road.

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Deepika the beauty and the brain speaks to Lipika Varma A short expert follows -

“I am very conscious about maintaining the right fitness levels and the right sizes. I am told that being fit and healthy is more important than looking hot”

Deepika Padukone, has all the physical persona as well as the ravishing look. God has been kind enough while he took out some extra time in carving the beautiful lady. Deepika looked the perfect beauty and the brain. Her style statement surely intimidated many a men. Looking fit as a fiddle, she accepted the obvious. “Well, I am here for launching a fitness book (Namita Jain’s), I ought to dress fit…if not tough.”

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You are back to another season of KBC. How does it feel to be hosting again the show you had left behind after the second season?

It feels good. I feel very nostalgic. Other than the channel changes, most of the crew is the same with Siddharth Basu and his team. It’s good to be among the familiar faces again.

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Priyanka Chopra looked the most arrogant “Tom Boy” on the launch of Fear Factor*3  which will allure the audiences of “Colours.Being the boss of 13 contestants on the show, the ravishing beauty Priyanka spread an aura of liveliness.

In a brief chat with Lipika Varma she discloses so a many things –

Beginning with her laziness she asserts,” Although, I am very lazy as a person and my fitness level is always low, but now that I am doing Khatron Ke Khiladi *3 and Don II which is another action oriented film my mother coaxed me to take up fitness and gymming. I am working 36 hours even though a day comprises of 24 hours a day. What more can I do? She questions innocently. Further informing about her competition she adds,”Don II also has Lara Dutt who is also fitness conscious, so  I have to be fit as we two are in competition.”

We further steer to a different question…13 men and you will be the only girl? Will you not be pampered? I love being pampered and am going to enjoy it.  I never thought about being pampered. I will be privileged one indeed and which lady will not like being pampered. But I will have the reigns in my hand.”

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Actress Divya Dutta has not only worked in many Hindi movies like Chote Sarkar, Train to Pakistan, Suraksha, Bade Miyaan Chote Miyaan, Shakti- the Power, Agnisakshi, Raja ki aayegi baarat, Welcome to Sajjanpur , Veer Zaara, Veergati, Umrao jaan, Baghbaan, Summer -2007, Delhi6, U me aur hum ,Love khichdi , Hello, Morning walk etc. but also Punjabi cinema like Waaris Shah-Ishq da waaris, Shaheed-e-Muhobbat, Mitraan di chhatri.

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Is your illness completely gone? How far are you back to your normal life?

My disease, Multiple Myeloma, is in remission. We don’t take the attitude that it is gone completely, but we monitor regularly and now I’m leading particularly healthy life. However, that’s why research is so important in the field of Multiple Myeloma; the next drug could be the one that saves my life. Someone told me, ‘healing begins when you realise there’s no cure’. I am not back to a normal life, but an extraordinary life because of the insights I’ve gotten and the changes I’ve made to my lifestyle. In a word: simplified.

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Bipasha Basu tells Jyothi Venkatesh that she is happy that her performance in Lamhaa has not gone unnoticed.

What message did Rahul drive home through Lamhaa?

The message that Rahul Dholakia tried to drive home through the film was that you cannot really grow up in a land which is surrounded by guns, with a feeling of insecurity at the back of your mind. It is just recently after the elections that life has returned to a semblance of normalcy in the valley. The stalemate that is there in Kashmir makes you wake up from your slumber and prod you not to take anything for granted and fight your way till you are able to get the right solution to your problems.

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Vikramaditya Motwane, whose maiden venture as a director Udaan, produced by Anurag Kashyap, is all set for release next week, tells Jyothi Venkatesh that his economics worked better without stars in his film Udaan and he has been a purist as far as he could and hence there was less insecurity in him as a filmmaker to sell his film.

You had written the script of Udaan seven years back, why did the film take so many years to see the light of the day?

I wrote the first draft of my film Udaan way back in 2003 and since then was nurturing it. The reason I could not go ahead and make it earlier is that it is an off- beat track and till the advent of the multiplexes in 2006, it was very difficult for a film like Udaan to get an outlet for its release. I had to face several issues like the film had no stars in it and where and how will be able to show my film. I have always maintained that the story of any film is the king. Nowadays economics-wise, it is easier to screen such films because the perception of the audiences over the years has changed. I have faith in my film and it should not be difficult to recover its cost of Rs 3.5 crores. I and cinematographer Mahendra Shetty followed the story in Udaan by using the realistic technique.

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Pakistan singer Zafar Ali, who is making his debut as a leading man with Tere Bin Laden, tells Jyothi Venkatesh that whatever he has achieved till now has been only due to talent and nothing else and asserts that he has not ever been subjected to the syndrome of the casting couch here or in Pakistan.

What made a popular singer like you to take up the offer to play the lead in a Hindi film in India?

As a singer, you crave for glory but once you get what you seek you want to do something to explore, to feel excited and challenged as an artistic person. I feel that a film is the ultimate medium where a singer also gets the scope to dabble with creativity in a bigger way.

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