What John, Celina, Shilpa have in common

John Abraham, Celina Jaitley, Shilpa Shetty and Malaika Arora Khan have something in common apart from their celebrity status. They have come forward to endorse a message for animal welfare in the country. Whether it is turning vegetarian, binding themselves in chains, getting inside cages or going out of their way to provide shelter to animals - the actors have done their bit to promote awareness about cruelty against animals. "When it comes to raising awareness for animals, the celebrities are available at a click for the cause. They do it for free and give us time from their tight schedule knowing what they are standing for, " Anuradha Sawhney, chief functionary of PETA India, told over phone from Pune. Sawhney said PETA India did not, in fact, try to rope in celebrities just for the sake of it, but noted that when a known face says something to people, the impact is greater. Launched in 2000, PETA India is the Indian chapter of the US-based animal rights organisation People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. The celebrity involvement in campaigns for animals started in 2001 when actresses Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit wrote letters to people in South Africa and Assam appealing for the endangered black rhino and elephants respectively. Since then, celebrities like Rahul Dev, Ameesha Patel, Eesha Koppikhar, Yana Gupta, Raveena Tandon, Gulshan Grover, Shamita Singha, Jiah Khan, Rahul Khanna and controversy queens Rakhi Sawant and Sherlyn Chopra have shed their inhibitions to wear outrageous outfits, sometimes, just leaves or red chillies to spread the message that animals must not be killed for commerce. Celina Jaitley, who appeared in a torn and tattered grey vest and was tied with chains for a PETA ad to save elephants from captivity, said: "I have been an animal lover all my life...they are the most loyal and unconditional givers of love...they complete us and bring joy to us with their crazy antics. But we humans don't understand their value and treat them with cruelty for our own purpose, which is wrong." Shilpa Shetty, who reflected her concern for the misery of circus animals through a print commercial, told via text from South Africa: "Just the thought of getting into the cage for the PETA ad made me so uncomfortable...just imagine what animals who spend their entire life in cages go through." Another actor who has worked relentlessly for the cause is John Abraham. He provided a helping hand in creating India's first elephant village in Maharashtra, for which he was even awarded an EcoWarrior award in 2008. "Real men are kind to animals. If we don't treat our animals and the habitat with kindness today, it'll be not long that we lose both, " John said. The celebrity involvement did not go in vain. "We had a tremendous response when John got into a cage to show the dilemma of caged birds. We even had a fabulous response for Shilpa and Rakhi's ads where they got themselves caged to show the plight of circus animals, " said Sawhney. "Children from schools wrote to us pledging not to visit any circuses that had any animals. The response has been fabulous and it increases each time a celebrity does a campaign. Even when the Big B was voted the hottest vegetarian three times in a row (2002-2004), the response was huge and his fans even asked us to help them turn veggies, " she added. While actors like Raveena Tandon and Lara Dutta are "very anti-fur and anti-leather", said Sawhney, other indirect efforts by celebrities to stop atrocities against animals have been by promoting vegetarianism. These efforts have involved Aditi Govitrikar, Mahima Choudhary, Rajniesh Duggall and Devang Patel among others. Actor R. Madhavan and Kareena Kapoor were also voted the "cutest vegetarians" of 2007 with Kareena even bagging the crown for 2008's "sexiest vegetarian".

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Gul Panag tears Mahesh Bhatt apart in public

High drama took place during the book reading session of Varon BK Sharma’s acclaimed novel Assasination of George Bush at Crossword’s Juhu branch. Actress Gul Panag, filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and filmmaker cum activist Ashok Pandit engaged in a verbal duel which led to early wrapping up of the book reading session. The high voltage book, Assassination of George Bush written by actor turned novelist, Varon BK Sharma has been fast gaining popularity and to celebrate its success a book reading session was organized. It saw a decent celebrity turnout of Bollywood town folks such as Mahesh Bhatt, Gul Panag, Shefali Shah, Ashok Pandit, Suchitra Pillai, Roza Catallano, Aman Verma and socialite Nisha Jamwal. Since the celebrities present had already read the book, a healthy discussion began on its content and the issue of global Islamic terrorism it deals with. One thing lead to another and when the topic came to why there are few Muslims in Indian army; a heated argument took place between Gul Panag and Mahesh Bhatt. Gul comes from an army background and she therefore put up her views more strongly. Ashok Pandit too chipped in voicing his opinion on the topic. Mahesh Bhatt known for his command over such issues, for once appeared cornered. Soon their voices raised as their argument continued and it was all happening right in front of the present media and the guests present. The Crossword store official sensing that the matter would go out of hand intervened and hurriedly announced the end of the event. Bhatt was seen leaving the venue in a huff post that. When asked, Varon who has also written the critically acclaimed film directed by Subhash Ghai, Black and White, said, “I feel it was a healthy debate and nothing much should be read into that. The matters of the book are explosive so some sparks are bound to fly.”

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I'm going to Cannes with Sylvester Stallone: Bebo

Sajid Nadiadwala is taking his new big-budget film Kambhakt Ishq to Cannes. And he isn’t going alone. The film’s luscious lead will accompany him. Akshay Kumar who’s currently shooting in Singapore and Kareena Kapoor who’s in New York will be in Cannes to walk the red carpet with our glamorous pair. And giving them company would be Sylvester Stallone who plays a key role in the film. Stallone has been making discreet inquiries about the release of the film. When informed of producer Sajid Nadiadwala’s plans at Cannes Stallone apparently readily agreed. He’s extremely fond of both Akshaya and Kareena. “Is he?” chuckles Akshay from Singapore. “That’s flattering. When in my early years I was working in Bangkok I had three posters in my room, that of Sridevi, Bruce Lee and Sylvester Stallone.” Adds Kareena, “It would be lovely to walk the red carpet with Sylvester Stallone. How many of our actors would get that privilege?” The details of the historic waltz at Cannes have almost being worked out. Says Sajid cautiously. “We’re working on it. It will be in place soon.”

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Get ready for Mr. India 2

As a four week special, today we bring a writer par excellence - Kamlesh Pandey, who talks about his most ambitious film to arrive in the near future because he believes, "Good writing can change minds, and great writing can change the world." Writer/Story: Kamlesh Pandey Film (tentatively titled): Mr. India 2 Producers: Shekhar Kapur and Manmohan Shetty The Concept: "Shekhar and I have been meeting forever. He has directed many advertisements for me while I was into advertising. Ads like the Lux commercial with Aamir Khan, Chocobix commercial, etc. Now this was more than a decade back. I was writing Shekhar's film called Champion which was going to launch Bobby Deol as an actor. But somehow the project never conceptualized. After that, he went to Hollywood and got busy filming in the West. But every time he used to visit India, we both often met for lunches at my place. After watching Rang De Basanti, he came home one day when we had the delicious Sarson Da Saag and Maake Di Roti. After RDB, he started staying back in India a lot more because his daughter was also growing up. Shekhar has this habit of keeping in touch with what I am doing. Time went by and just six months ago I got a call from Manmohan Shetty's office saying that Shekhar wanted to meet me. I went to meet him and he asked me the golden question, "Would you like to do a sequel to Mr. India?" I replied, "Why not?" Now not many know that after getting inspired by Sridevi's role in Mr. India, I had written Chalbaaz for Pankaj Parashar." Casting of Mogambo: "If you go to see, Mr. India, back then, was considered to be a superhero film in a way. My first question to Shekhar was, "The soul of Mr. India was Amrish Puri. He is the guy who made the film what it is today. Sridevi has always been good. There is no doubt about that. She has been dependable and reliable. But where do we get the soul of the film from?" I am not going to detail how we've replaced Amrish Puri. Today there is no one of the stature of Amrish. I don't think any media knows how Shekhar explained the role of Mogambo to Amrish Puri. Shekhar told him, "Imagine you're doing King Lear on the stage". Amrish caught it immediately back then as he had done a lot of theatre in Mumbai and Delhi. The whole flamboyance you see in Mogambo was that of a typical Shakespearean actor. So our worst nightmare was not writing Mr. India 2, but to decide who would bring back the same as Amrish Puri did in the sequel. The most obvious option now was to take a big hero today and make him a villain, which is not unusual in today's time." The Story: "Shekhar believes that the first draft is the best draft because at least there is something to react to on paper. I mean, you cannot react to a blank paper, can you? So I wrote the story and he reacted instantaneously. He then added a few ideas and finally the story was complete. I will not be letting the story out but will brief you a bit on the problem we faced while scripting. Mr. India was released in 1987. We are bringing him back after almost 23 years now. So where was he all this while? What did he do? These were the questions which we had to find answers to. By the way, the original Mr. India was highly inspired by the old classic Kishore Kumar film Mr. X in Bombay. That was the first film in India to bring the invisibility aspect into films. Mr. India was a novelty then but now the invisible aspect isn't going to be the USP of Mr. India 2. It has to be something else. Speaking of the earlier story of Mr. India, more than a superhero film, which it was, it also tackled the issues of common people of India and those issues were very real. So now in the sequel, we need to tackle the real problems what we are facing today." The Director: The next big question after the casting of Mogambo was - Who will direct Mr. India 2 because Shekhar himself does not want to direct as he is to busy with his dream project, Paani. He really wants to get Paani out of the way. Shekhar's Paani is very much a Mumbai film set out of India. It's a science fiction story located in the future. The film tells the story of a city divided into two. Those few who can afford water and, those who cannot and have to fight for it. And those who can afford it protect it with armed might. It tells the story of one year in the life of this city. From one Harvest festival of Holi to the next. So now you can imagine how busy Mr. Kapur is with the film. Shekhar met many directors till he roped in one but at the last moment, he opted out. Can't name him. Now that we had the script and the story in place, I wanted the director in place because it makes sense to do the screenplay along with the director as I didn't want to bother Shekhar all the time. Right now we are without a director and we are desperately looking for one. We have many good directors who are technically very sound but we need someone who has the spirit of directing something like Mr. India 2. Shekhar is in search for that spirit." Anil Kapoor, Satish Kaushik and the Kids: "Anil is very excited to be a part of the sequel to Mr. India, and in order to do justice to the sequel, we have also kept some of the characters real and have roped them in from the previous film. Like Satish Kaushik as Calendar, Ahmed Khan, etc. Mr. India still exists, Anil Kapoor still exists. Whether his appearance has changed or not, is something for which you'll have to wait and watch. What's funny is that he has even got the same cap and the same old coat which still fits him. Anil is the only actor who still looks the same as he used to while he was in Mr. India. In the last decade, many people have seen Mr. India on television channels and they all must've already set a mental block for the film. So bearing in mind all these things, the characters also have to be designed. Anil has now become fantastic and a brand name after Slumdog Millionaire. My second film as a writer was Tezaab. So we know each other since then. In fact, he was not the hero of Tezaab initially. It was Aditya Panscholi who was to do the lead role. He is definitely going to bring a lot of maturity to the sequel of Mr. India 2."

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I've never posed in the nude: Kangana Ranaut

The forever-flighty Kangna Ranaut returned to Mumbai from a gruelling month-lomg shooting of a Telugu film to horrifying rumours of how she had done a nude scene down South. Kangna is enraged. “Nude? I’d never do a nude scene in my entire life even if someone makes me to do it at gun point. I come from a very conservative background. If my parents were to ever see that I’ve crossed the line of morality they’d drag me back to Himachal. Yes, I’ve done aesthetically-shot pictures which reveal my physique. And why not? I’ve worked really hard on getting my body muscular and toned.” But nudes? “No way. I’ve never posed in the nude, never will, no matter how right the zeroes on the cheque are.I’ve an inbuilt censor code.” So how did these rumours of going ‘all the way’ start? “You tell me. Journalists started calling up my Telugu director Puri Jagannath in Hyderabad while we were shooting. He, poor man, was so scandalized he almost had a heart attack. Puri is one of the most successful and respected filmmakers of Telugu cinema.” Clarifying that there are no nude sequences in the Telugu film Kangna says, “Even the much-hyped ‘nude’ scene in Raaz 2 was a hoax. I wore a body suit in the bath tub. I don’t think taking off all of one’s clothes is a cool thing to do.” Kangna is back in Mumbai for a couple of days only for costume and makeup trials for Ekta Kapoor’s Once Upon A Time In Mumbai. “I play the only glamour element in the otherwise-dark film. This would be my most glamorous role. My look has to go from the late 1960s to the 1970s.” Kangna’s clothes are being done by Manoshi Nath who did the ‘stylized’ look on Dibakar Banerjee’s Oye Lucky Luck Oye. Says Kangna, “The challenge in Ekta’s film is to look glamorous without any body exposure. I think it’s possible.”

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John to do love scenes with director's wife in 1-800-Love

After director Sam Mandes' spectacular spousal success directing his wife Kate Winslet in the richly resonant Revolutionary Road in '1-800-Love' John will be romancing his director Abbas Tyrewala's wife. And he is cool about it. "I know Abbas and Pakhi well. They make a beautiful couple. There's absolutely no awkwardness about doing a love story with the director's wife. Pakhi has co-written the script and knows her character and mine, in and out. She's an unknown face and extremely pretty. These are her biggest advantages. A beautiful woman whom the audience hasn't seen." John is dead serious about this project. "I'm going to sit on script readings with Abbas, do workshops and rehearsals with Pakhi, just like Abbas did with the cast in Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na. 'm hungry for acting challenges. But most of the time my physicality comes on much too strongly on screen. People haven't really seen the performances I'm really proud of, like No Smoking, Kabul Express, Zinda and Aashayein. My physicality always takes precedence. But you know what? I'll change that. I've been in this industry only five years. People have started looking differently at me after Dostana. The body was talked about. But when they praise my performance it really feels good." Where next? "Nagesh Kukunoor's Aashayein. I'm very proud of it.Yes, it has been delayed. There's a problem between Reliance and Percept that needs to be sorted. We're working on a solution. Aashayein is a beautiful film and we have to release it. Another film I'm really excited about is Kabir Khan's New York. I know I've got it right this time. Kabir says so. It's an awesome film. And I'm thankful to Aditya Chopra for showing faith in me at a time when I didn't have Dostana." John describes himself as an off-roader. "I travel my own road. Like I'm doing Abbas Tyrewala's 1:800 Love. When he offered me that film he was directing Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na. The film's producer Madhu Mantena had Ghajini in the making and I was doing Dostana. By God's grace we all have a success on hand. So we're a proud team and very comfortable with. It's my intense love story and it's such a wonderful space to be in. Before Dostana I was only doing films that kept me within my comfort zone. Now I'm going to test myself as an actor as much as possible." When questioned whether he would feel any awkwardness directing love scenes between his wife and John, Abbas Tyrewala said, "I hope not! If I can't remember they're acting then I lose the moral ground to ever a direct a girl in a love scene. Luckily I've never written explicit love scenes in my film. The only explicit love-making scene I've conceived was for Vishal Bhardwaj's Maqbool. That apart I like my writing to be benign. It doesn't matter whether my wife is acting or not. I can't forget my parents will be watching my film." Kiddie times again for Aamir

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I couldn't let Shyam sir down: Minissha Lamba

Minissha Lamba has just returned from a gruelling one month outdoor schedule of WELL DONE ABBA. Though she is chilling out at the moment and catching up with friends and family, she looks back quite fondly on working with director Shyam Benegal. “Much before beginning to shoot for the film, I was sure about one thing that I couldn’t let Shyam sir down”, says Minissha with respect in her voice for the veteran film maker, “Here I was working with a man who has been directing for 35 years now so I had to be nothing but perfect with my performance.” With such a senior person calling the shots, wasn’t it intimidating to take directions from him? “Honestly, it wasn’t intimidating because Shyam sir is a pro in working with actors. He knows how to take care of them and extract the best out of them. This is why I didn’t even know how an entire month passed by and the shooting got over. More than him calling the shots, what was really unnerving was the kind of immense pressure that I had put myself into. For me, every day was a challenge as I had to give my very best”, she shoots off. “With such an ensemble cast in the film, you have to be on your toes all the time. There were some scenes in particular which were quite challenging and I didn’t really know where I was and what was I doing. But as I said, Shyam sir gets it going for his actors at the end of the day. I can only say that working in WELL DONE ABBA was an educative trip for me and I only came back a little more well versed in cinema”, signs off Minissha. With Boman Irani playing the title role of ‘Abba’ and Minissha Lamba as his daughter, the film also stars Sameer Dattani (as Minissha’s love interest), Ravi Kishan, Ila Arun, Salim Ghouse, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajit Kapoor, Yashpal Sharma and Ravi Jhankal. A BIG Pictures production, the film has lyrics by Swanand Kirkire, Ila Arun and Ashok Mishra with music by Shantanu Moitra.

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Many people may not know but I am married: Sampada Vaze

Q. What qualities would you look for in your man? A. I get along invariably with men. I see how they talk and whether they know what they are talking. He should be well spoken and well informed, aware of the rest of the world as well. I have a great admiration and respect for self mad man. He should have respect for women and most importantly for my family. Q. Does looks matter to you? A. No, not at all because I don’t rate high looks to anyone and very often good looking men or women have ego problems, which I have invariably found. I don’t think looks matter at all and that parameters are high on that part. Q. Your take on ‘love at first sight’… A. I don’t believe in love at first sight at all. I think it’s more like attraction and you build up on that. Q. Your first crush? A. I was in the sixth standard or something and there was a very cute boy in my club house, who was a good swimmer and had a very unusual name, Dussand. And after so many years I don’t remember his face but his name (laughs). Q. Do you believe in going out on dates to know a person? A. Yeah! Absolutely because other than that how will you know a person. Our parents and our grandparents did not have that luxury but we have got it and we should use it and should make a conscious choice. Q. Should your man woo you with flowers and all the other chivalrous trappings? A. I am not very impressed with all these. I am a very instinctive person and I think I like those who do more straight talking and one who talks sense. And moreover when I was in college I used to get tons of flowers, so I don’t get impressed by flowers at all honestly. Q. Are men and women different? A. Yes, very different. But I don’t say they are radically different. I won’t say men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Q. Is it possible to find the perfect man? A. I don’t think there is a perfect woman so like wise there is no perfect men. So you only be lucky if you find a perfect men or women. Q. There is a lot of talk about giving space in a relationship, what’s your definition of space? A. I am a strong believer in that. You definitely need to give the other person space to grow. By space I mean definitely following separate profession as I don’t believe in forcing someone in doing something which he may not like. You and your partner can have separate friends and there should be faith and belief on one another giving proper space. You can have separate interest and when you have that there are many things to talk about. Q. Would parental consent be important? A. Yes it’s very important because whether we like it or not, we all are product of our parents and if our parents don’t agree with us, I mean on logical basis not on the religious basis, then it would definitely cause you to think ten times. Q. Given a chance to date a historical character, who would he be and why? A. Oh my God! It has to be John f. Kennedy, he is so charismatic I have read his books I think he is amazing. Q. What do you think about the institution of marriage? A. I am definitely a believer in it, but if some one prefers to have a live in relationship she should not be forced to get married. But I personally feel that marriage is important. Q. What would you do if your man turned out to be a gay? A. I would congratulate him for keeping the secret for so long because I think he will have to be quite a smart guy if he manages to deceive me. I will probably feel less offended because he preferred another man and I can’t be a man. And I would kill him for sure in the clauses. Q. Is sense of humor a must? A. Not a must, but it would be nice if he has a sense of humor. Q. Is there a Mr Right hiding in the closet? A. I have found my Mr. Right. Many people may not know but I am married.

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