Is Hollywood copying Bollywood? This week’s release 10,000 BC features a plot which is pure Bolly-corn: a lost father, a wise old lady, a scantily-clad heroine captured by the evil villain, a hunky hero who rescues her, elephants and a laughable digitally enhanced sabre-toothed telepathic tiger. Bring on the songs!

Bollywood before Gordon Brown

The battle of the waxworks has begun! Gordon Brown may be the Prime Minister of the UK but he has been deemed not worthy enough to justify a £150,000 commission in London’s Madame Tussauds museum. The popular tourist attraction invited Mr Brown earlier this month to be “amongst the select group of people that are made into waxwork figures” but they have had a change of mind.

“We are going to wait for a general election, if there’s a surge of support then we will reconsider,” Ben Lovett, PR spokesperson for Madame Tussauds revealed. Brown therefore will unfortunately not be joining Bollywood A-listers like Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan at the world famous institution.

Madame Tussuads is not saying but could their change of mind have anything to do with Brown’s alleged refusal to be immortalised in wax? If this is true, it means that the British PM has a lot in common with our own intelligent actor Aamir Khan who has stated that he is not keen at all to be a dummy.

She’s worth it

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s international acting career may be on hold – her last release The Last Legion with Sir Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth crashed at the global box-office. However her global brand endorsement continues to enjoy a high visual profile. Ash is currently in the L’Oreal ads on television for the world’s ‘first glossy black mascara’ and in full page ads in many international beauty and celebrity magazines. Amongst articles titled ‘I am ready for a new man’ and ‘Dare you date like a man?’, Ash can be found pouting that she’s worth it in April’s issue of the UK chick-mag, Company.

Diplomatic Diva

Race, released next week, features divas Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif. The buxom Basu is keen to deny any suggestion that she is miffed with the producers for highlighting her British co-star by filming an additional song on Kaif and leading man Saif Ali Khan. Basu says: “I have no complaints whatsoever. The song was always there. Initially it was to be filmed in Durban, then Dubai but they couldn’t film the song for some reason or the other.”

Bollywood goes to Walford?

“I am really thinking of British cinema,” married actress Mahima Chaudhry stated last Saturday. Chaudhry attended the opening of the 10th annual Tongues of Fire Film Festival at Bafta in London’s West End. The festival seeks to highlight Asian women’s achievement in cinema. The Pardes actress does not want to go to Hollywood as “even the blacks are having difficulty breaking through in American cinema”. Maybe Chaudhry should audition for British telly serial EastEnders? If she is successful, she will join fellow Indian actress Meneka Das (Little Box of Sweets) who made her soap debut in the fictional London suburb of Walford earlier this week.

Bollywood at Wallmart

Bollywood’s foothold into North America continues with retail giant Wallmart deciding this week to sell Bollywood DVDs in 27 of their Canadian stores. Titles available include the Three Men and a Baby copy, Heyy Babyy with Akshay Kumar which is Bollywood’s first DVD to be released on the high definition Blue Ray disc format.

Gym blues

Bollywood’s original gym bunny Sanjay Dutt collapsed whilst working out in the gym last Saturday. The Munna Bhai star is currently trying to achieve an “eight pack” for his forthcoming film Blue in order to top Shah Rukh Khan’s recently revealed six-pack in the blockbuster, Om Shanti Om. Here’s wishing the newly-wed Sanjay Dutt a speedy recovery.

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