SRK to inaugurate the 42nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa

Shah Rukh Khan will be inaugurating the 42nd International Film Festival of India to be held at the pristine locales of Goa from the 23rd of November to the 3rd of December. The ten day festival will be spread across cultural locales like Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhawan and others and will bring the best of creative geniuses and celebrated auteur to a common platform which is aimed at making the festival the best in world. While the opening ceremony brings in the King of Bollywood, the closing ceremony will have the Southern Superstar Suriya best known for his super hit movies like Perazhagan, Vaaranam Aayiram and Kaakha Kaakha adding spice to the proceedings. The film festival will also see international celebrities like eminent French filmmaker Luc Besson and International actress Michelle Yeoh.

The festival which is termed as the 'festival of change' seeks to bring in vast changes into the concept of the festival and is a 'work of transition' in the words of Festival Director, Shri Shankar Mohan. A step towards the global acceptability of the festival is to bring in the biggest name in Bollywood today, Shah Rukh Khan who will flag off the ten day global cultural fiesta. The opening celebrations will also include the screening of the Portuguese film The Consul of Bordeaux directed by Francisco Manso and Joao Correa.

A.R. Rahman to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at DIFF

Music maestro A.R.Rahman will be honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at the 8th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). Winner of two Academy Awards and two Grammy Awards, the 45 year old virtuoso is the first musician to receive a Lifetime Achievement award at DIFF. 'The Mozart of Madras' is also the youngest recipient of the award. Rahman will receive the award during DIFF to be held from December 7 to 14.

Rahman will also kick off his world tour with a concert in Dubai on December 9; the concert is supported by the Festival.

This year DIFF will also present the Lifetime Achievement Award to veteran Egyptian actor Gamil Rateb.

Shakal Pe Mat Ja

There are times when fatigue sets in while watching the usual masala films that have precious little to offer in terms of content. The customary item songs, the much explored panoramic locales of Europe, the familiar dialogue and drama catering to the NRIs… how one longs for something fresh to come out in cineplexes that would pep you up again.

2011 has been a landmark year for Bollywood. Besides the success ratio which has shot upwards, the material churned out by dream merchants has been much better when compared to previous years. Irrespective of how these films fare, you cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that there has been a genuine effort to give the audience something fresh. 

Salman Khan to work with Subhash Ghai

With Wanted, Dabangg, Ready and Bodyguard all becoming mega hits Salman Khan has become one of the most sought after actors today. With his next film Ek Tha Tiger already in production and Dabangg 2 in process Salman is all set for exciting times ahead.

Though he may have a line-up of films in the pipeline, Bollywood Hungama has learnt that Salman has agreed to star in Subhash Ghai's next film in 2012.

The buzz is that Salman will be doing Ghai's film in October next year. There are also talks that A.R.Rahman would be composing music for this project. Ghai and Salman had worked together earlier in Yuvvraaj in 2008 but the film unfortunately bombed at the B.O.

Amitabh Bachchan in Ashutosh Gowariker's next

Ashutosh Gowariker first directed Aishwarya in Jodhaa Akbar, which eventually won the actress a plethora of awards, then he went on to work with Abhishek Bachchan in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey which unfortunately couldn't click at the B.O.. Now, we learn that the maverick filmmaker is all set to work with the third member of the Bachchan family, the legendary Amitabh Bachchan in his next film.

Ready-made Couple: Salman Khan turns nurse for Asin

Bollywood hunk Salman Khan turned nurse for Asin who fell ill while shooting for their upcoming film 'Ready'.

The actor who is reuniting with the Southern beauty after their 2009 film 'London Dreams' made sure that she got plenty of rest and ate her medicines on the sets of the film.

"Salman was extremely caring right through the shoot of 'Ready' and especially when I was ill. I caught an infection and even as I continued to shoot, I was on constant medication. Salman made sure that I ate properly, " the actress said.

The 'Dabangg' star kept a constant tab on his leading lady, who was down with an infection during the last days of the film's shoot. Asin's mother, who is a doctor, prescribed her medicine and it was Salman who made sure that she ate them on time.

"In a hectic day of shooting, one tends to forget taking medicines but he was always there to remind me of taking them on time. He forever kept checking that my fever was under control. That was so nice of him, " said the 25-year-old actress.

At 32, Bipasha Basu goes topless

Gorgeous Bong diva of Bollywood, Bipasha Basu is surely having a super Friday as she turns a year older.

The B-town beauty turns 32 on Friday with a promise to gift more beautiful films to her fans.

"I celebrate my birthday fr a week! Starting now! Thank god fr this day(7th jan) when I was born!I love my life! Thank u all fr ur sweet wishes!," she tweeted to her fans.

Bipasha was a popular model before she entered films.

She was the winner of the Ford's Godrej Cinthol Supermodel contest in 1996.

After winning the contest, Basu also was flown to New York by the Ford Company, where she had a successful modelling career at the age of 17.

Vivek cancels honeymoon with Priyanka for Tennis match

Vivek Oberoi postpones planned vacation for exhibition match

Vivek Oberoi cancelled his Red Sea honeymoon with wife Priyanka as he was asked to play a tennis match with Mahesh Bhupathi, Leander Paes and Tamil star Suriya.

Says a source close to VO, "Vivek and Priyanka decided to postpone their honeymoon to the Red Sea because he was invited to kickstart an opening exhibition match at the Chennai Open with Bhupathi, Paes and Suriya yesterday.

The actor is fond of Bhupathi and immediately jumped at the chance. Also he has been nominated for the Screen awards and is hosting the Apsara awards and he will be going on his honeymoon a bit later in the month."

The actor was excited about the match as it's an international sporting event. "Playing with the tennis stars and his buddy Suriya was exciting for Vivek.

SRK who? Farah to team up with Akshay Kumar again!

Never mind the lukewarm response to Tees Maar Khan (TMK), Akshay Kumar, currently holidaying with his extended family in Goa, will do another film with Farah Khan.

"Why not? I had a ball working with Farah. I'm looking forward to working with her again. She's a tough taskmaster. Men are scared of her. So am I.

She speaks her mind no matter what the consequences. She wasn't making a film to win the National award. She made a commercial film, " he shoots back, unperturbed by scathing feedback for TMK.

Family matters
Not just Khan, Kumar will also do a film with her husband Shirish Kunder.

"Why just her husband? I'm doing a second film with her brother Sajid Khan and a film with Shirish. Shirish and I will produce his film Joker. But it has nothing to do with the circus, " he hastens to add.

Kumar co-stars with Sonakshi Sinha in Joker. "I saw her in Dabangg. It didn't look like her first film. She was so confident. She complemented Salman perfectly. I hope we look as good together."

High Court passes order to seal Sanjay Dutt's Mumbai properties

They say that old incidents always comes back one way or the other, either to make you feel nostalgic or to haunt you. In case of Sanjay Dutt, it's the latter that holds true.

The Bombay High Court has passed an order to seal Sanjay Dutt's Mumbai property after producer Shakeel Noorani dragged the actor to court over losses incurred due to him abandoning a film. The case so far: In the year 2002, Shakeel Noorani launched the film Jaan Ki Baazi that had Sanjay Dutt in the lead along with Priyanka Chopra. Noorani claims that halfway

S-E-L to compose ICC Cricket World Cup 2011's official theme song

The coming year 2011 promises to be a treat for all cricket lovers as the mother of all tournaments - The ICC Cricket World Cup- is scheduled to take place from Feb 19 to April 2nd. This time the World Cup is being hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The countdown to cricket's biggest tournament has already kicked off with just 50 days to go. When you talk about cricket, can Bollywood be far behind? Well, not really, and this time Bollywood would be making its presence felt through the musical trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. The trio have composed the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011's official theme song.

Shammi and Shashi Kapoor hospitalised

The Kapoor legends so to say, Shammi Kapoor and Shashi Kapoor, brothers aged 79 and 72 respectively, are suffering from age related ailments. They both have been hospitalised for the past few days.

While Shammiji is suffering from kidney ailments and is recuperating at Breach Candy hospital, Shashiji is admitted at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in

Ajay Devgn to star in Neeraj Pandey's Special Chabbis

Neeraj Pandey, who shot into the limelight with his critically acclaimed film A Wednesday, is now ready to shoot his next outing. His next directorial venture titled Special Chabbis, is a film based on a real life incident where twenty six men, posing as Income Tax officials, carried out a mock raid on a leading jewellery store in Mumbai and seized jewellery worth millions, never to return.

Bollywood Hungama has learnt from a source close to the actor that, "Yes Ajay did hear the script for the film and has also agreed to do it, though at this point no more details are available of the film."

Big B lends voice to Aamir Khan Productions' Delhi Belly

Not too long ago, the media was rife with tussle between the 'perfectionist' Aamir Khan and the stalwart of Bollywood Amitabh Bachchan, over the latter's film Black. When everything seemed lost, there was an olive branch extended and Bachchan and Aamir once again became close friends. Now Bachchan Sr. will be lending his voice to Aamir Khan Productions' forthcoming film Delhi Belly.

One may recall, Amitabh Bachchan, had lent the voice earlier too for Aamir Khan's first home production Lagaan.

Tulip Joshi in legal suit

We've hardly been hearing about Tulip Joshi at least as far as films are concerned, so it comes as a surprise that she managed to create a controversy out of the one film that she is doing currently.

If what we hear is true then the producers of the film Dam 999, Biz TV Network, a UAE based company, has filed a legal suit against the actress. The case so far, from the producer's side is that Tulip has been non responsive towards the film. They say that after paying her the initial half of her total fee, Tulip shot for just two days leaving the schedule mid-way citing health problems.

Vivek Oberoi plays exhibition match at Chennai Open

While on one hand the New Year 2011 has just begun and millions out there are still reeling under the New Year's spell, there are people like Vivek Oberoi, for whom work figures above all other things.

Vivek Oberoi is at present in Chennai playing the exhibition tennis match, alongwith yet another star Suriya, at the Aircel Chennai Open. For the uninitiated lot,