“You are here now!” Shah Rukh Khan exclaimed when we met on Tuesday night at the plush Yash Raj Films studios in Andheri in north Mumbai. Khan and his family arrived back in Mumbai early last Monday morning after his one month London holiday. We chatted about his beloved London where we met recently as he took his kids on a private viewing of his waxwork at Madame Tussuads. “I love walking in London, I feel at home there,” Khan revealed.

Homage to Hollywood

The heavy monsoon has crippled Mumbai but this has not prevented Bollywood from partying. At the Die Hard 4 premiere last week, held at the PVR multiplex in the posh suburb of Juhu, the attendees included many A list directors like Nikhil Advani, Anurag Kashyap, Rohan Sippy and Sanjay Gupta, who admitted that they were dying to see the film. Gupta, famous for his Pulp Fiction inspired Kaante, left halfway through the screening. Was he rushing off to start working on his latest homage?

Bouncy and bubbly

“I got a boob job, so what?” wannabe actress Rakhi Sawant revealed. The silicone enhanced starlet, last seen in a hilarious cameo in Shootout at Lokhandwala, was on full display at the aforementioned Die Hard premiere. Dressed in a strange hairdo (wig?), shiny clothes and a large red pendant neckpiece, Sawant’s arrival created a stampede. The bubbly and now busty Sawant added that she was going to remove the implants soon as they “tend to bounce if one dances very hard”.

First family affair only

Last Thursday night also saw the premiere of Apne, which took place at Cinemax, Versova in the Mumbai suburbs. The Rocky inspired film features veteran actor Dharmendra and his two actor sons, Sunny and Bobby. I noticed that the male members of the Deol dynasty were in full attendance. Conspicuous by their absence was Dharmendra’s ‘second’ wife’ Hema Malini and their two daughters Esha and Aahana.

Shilpa’s exit

Sisters Shilpa and Shamita Shetty attended the Apne premiere. Looking gorgeous in a silver grey dress, Shilpa was the centre of the media’s attention. I noticed Shilpa leaving the premiere of her own film even before the start of the screening. Could it be because her alleged cheating ex-boyfriend Akshay Kumar had turned up with his biwi (wife) Twinkle on his arm?

Stick to the day job

Despite the rains, I trekked from south Mumbai to Cinemax, Versova in north Mumbai for the first show of last Friday’s release, Aap Kaa Surroor. Music composer Himesh Reshammiya makes his acting debut in this ‘real luv story’. Reshammiya and his mother Madhu attended the screening. During the interval, cinema staff sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to his mom as it was her birthday. The bearded singer, famous for his distinctive nasal twang, refused to remove his trademark orange cap.

Deja vu

The 231st American Independence Day Celebrations hosted by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce on Saturday night was a funny affair. Comic actor Boman Irani was the master of ceremonies and he entertained the guests with impersonations of four American icons: a cowboy, Elvis, Sinatra and the Godfather. His audience was amused but Irani’s act was largely a repeat of his ‘Bollywood Oscars’ performance which he co-hosted recently in Sheffield, England.

Superstitious Bollywood

Is all well in the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Rai marriage? Mega-god Amitabh Bachchan, father-in-law of the bride, had to take the unprecedented step a few days ago of clarifying ‘astrological problems’ in the golden couple’s recent marriage. Soothsayers predict that the marriage is unlikely to last due their mismatched horoscopes. “I haven’t seen Aishwarya’s horoscope. Neither has she.” Bachchan stated.

Tamil Titanic

The first half of 2007 has been a slow year for Bollywood. Biggies like Salman Khan’s Salaam-e-Ishq, Amitabh Bachchan’s Eklavya and the recent Abhishek Bachchan starrer Jhoom Barabar Jhoom performed weakly at the Indian box-office. The biggest hit of the year so far is superstar’s Rajnikant’s Sivaji, which unusually for a Tamil language film, is a crowd pleaser in Hindi-Marathi-English speaking Mumbai.

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