'I don't consider anyone my competition'

Former Miss India Neha Dhupia, who has as many as five films lined up this year, says that winning a beauty pageant is no guarantee for striking gold in Bollywood and that it's only hard work that finally counts.

"It's not easy to create a place for yourself in Bollywood even if you have a pageant behind you.

No one in the industry was laying out special carpets for me because I had won the Miss India contest.

You have to work hard if you want to prove something. It's taken me a long time to carve a niche for myself, but I'm glad that finally I have done it," Neha said on phone from Goa.

Neha’s releases for 2009 include Paying Guest with Mukta Arts, Pappu Can't Dance Saala and Raat Gayi Baat Gayi by actor-director Saurabh Shukla, Raftaar co-starring Emraan Hashmi and Priyadarshan's De Dhana Dan.

In Pappu Can't Dance Saala, her first release this year, Neha is acting along with funny man Vinay Pathak.

"In this comedy I'm doing with Vinay Pathak, I play the role of a Maharashtrian back-up dancer.

It was something very different for me because I'm not a Maharashtrian.

I had to learn the mannerisms of the character, who is a complete brat and a bully, but Saurabh (Shukla) helped me a lot," she explained.

Neha maintains that she has become more careful while choosing projects as she doesn't want to get typecast in a certain role.

"I'm holding myself back now and doing only interesting projects."

After winning the Miss India crown in 2002, Neha stepped into Bollywood in 2003 with Qayamat: City Under Threat, which starred Ajay Devgan.

She got noticed when she acted in Julie in 2004.

She went on to do films like Kyaa Kool Hai Hum and Shootout At Lokhandwala and tried to break her glam image with Chup Chup Ke, Mithya, Maharathi and Dasvidaniya.

"I feel in our industry you get typecast instantly.

When I started off I was offered other roles as well, but I chose the ones I did and got stuck with one image, which was hard to break.

That was a mistake and I've learnt from that. There was no guiding force for me when I entered Bollywood," Neha said.

Like many others in Bollywood, Neha too admits she would love to work with Shah Rukh Khan and Mani Ratnam, but adds that she doesn't consider anyone her competition in the industry.

"I don't consider anyone my competition.

Everyone is great and so talented. Why compete? I would rather be a collective part of the industry," the actress said

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Priyanka Chopra's two-in-one mantra – shoot and meet family

Actress Priyanka Chopra, who recently shot for Ashutosh Gowariker's What's Your Raashee, said she did more masti than work on the sets of the film in Chicago as many of her family living in the US came to meet her and hang out with her.

"It was more masti than work. We chose this time to shoot in Chicago because the script needed snow. And we got it in plenty.

I love the snow. And since I've a lot of family in America I called them over to Chicago. It was more fun than work really."

"I love going to America. I've my family there. Earlier during Dostana in Philadelphia I had a ball.

Now in Chicago many people, including my naani, my aunts and cousins would be on the sets to visit me. And luckily there was very little work for me. It was Harman's character which is from Chicago."

Priyanka was glad to have this chance to unwind.

"I let Harman do all the slogging... but What's Your Raashee is a very taxing film for me. This kind of role has never been done. For the first time in my career I plan to take a two-week holiday after a movie."

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Salman Khan’s Veer in trouble again

An FIR has been lodged against the Veer crew for cutting down trees in Bikaner without permission. To add to their woes, the trees belong to the Khejri species which is the state tree of Rajasthan and is worshiped by the Bishnoi tribe.

The Gajner Police station in Bikaner confirmed the FIR and said, "Yes, there is an FIR lodged under section 41 and 42 of the Rajasthan Forest Act under which transporting Khejri tree is an offence."

On the other hand Vijay Galani, producer of the film, denied any wrong doing. He said, "At the moment I am near Jodhpur and I am shooting for my film Veer. To my knowledge, neither have we cut down any tress illegally nor is there any FIR lodged anywhere in the state. People are saying all these things without any basis. Till now, we haven't received any communication from any police station about the FIR or any complain against the film crew."

Just a few days ago, Veer was mired in controversy when the Rajasthan High Court stayed the shooting in Amber Fort because of an accident which injured around 15 people. Later, the court allowed the shooting on the condition that the producer will pay a compensation of Rs20 lakhs to the state government for the damage to the historic structure and as compensation to the onlookers injured.

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DDLJ crosses the 700-week mark, creates new record

Fourteen years after it was first released "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" continued its successful run at the box office crossing the 700-week mark. The Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer, which had previously broken the record of "Sholay", to become the longest running film in 2007, has been playing continuously for 700 weeks at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir theatre, creating a record of its own.

The film, directed by Aditya Chopra, starred Shah Rukh and Kajol in a story that featured Indians living outside the country for the first time in a mainstream Bollywood film.

The film a romantic drama, included typical Bollywood elements, but owed its stupendous success to the fresh twist it brought to the boy-meets-girl story. Filmed in London and Punjab, the film is considered one of the best romantic films of Bollywood.

The music of the film composed by Jatin Lalit topped every charts and the movie won 10 Filmfare awards, including best actor and best actress for Shah Rukh and Kajol.
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Ranbir - Konkona starrer Wake Up Sid to release on Oct 2

Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and UTV Motion Pictures today announced that they are all set to release its film Wake Up Sid on Oct 2, 2009. Wake Up Sid is produced by Karan Johar and distributed worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures.

The film is being directed by debutant Ayaan Mukerji and stars Ranbir Kapoor and Konkona Sen Sharma. The music of the film has been composed by the celebrated trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

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What's happening in Bollywood

Check out Jackky and Vaishali at the music launch of Kal Kissne Dekha, Eesha Koppikhar without make up and how being Bebo's BFF has helped Amrita Arora professionally.

Launched
Vaishali Desai, Zayed Khan, Vashu and Jackky Bhagnani, Abbas Mustan and Sameer launched the music of Kal Kissne Dekha last evening.


Future Stars?
Jackky Bhagnani keeps it simple in black and denims. Vaishali has a pretty face and hot body but the hot pink is a tad too much to handle. Both of them will evolve, hopefully.


Jail-ers
Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse and Madhur Bhandarkar at the mahurat shot of Jail, held yesterday in Bandra, suburban Mumbai.


Desi for Videsh
Preity Zinta looks pretty in a black kurta with denims and blue sandals at the launch of Videsh: Heaven on Earth.


Secret Notes
Director Deepa Mehta exchanges notes with cinematographer Giles Nuttgens. All of them, from Preity to Deepa to Giles and Ravi Chopra, were exchanging notes during the press conference.


Kaun Hai Woh?
Can you recognize Sushma Reddy and Eesha Koppikhar (with beau Timmy Narang) without make up? Looking at her hands, Sushma sure had a blast on Holi. Eesha, on the other hand, looks fat in her all-velvet track suit which isn’t nice at all.


Cover Up
Sangeeta Bijlani looks lovely for her age but she should avoid wearing knee length dresses because her legs aren’t the slimmest!


Useful Friend
Being Bebo’s best friend has really helped Amrita Arora. Bebo helped her bag supporting roles in Golmaal Returns and Kambakkht Ishq, lose weight with the help of her Yoga trainer Payal Gidwani and becaus of her friendship with Bebo, her wedding was made a big deal of. Now she is seen in an Airtel commercial alongside Kareena, Saif and A R Rahman. We wonder what Amu’s achievements are that she deserves to be on the same platform as Rahman, Saif and Kareena.

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Leave me alone: AR Rahman

Post-Oscars it's not been an easy time for A R Rahman.

He returned home to a kind of hysterical fanfare that exhausted and alarmed him. Rahman has been beleaguered by a blitzkrieg of attention. He is finding it tough to cope with all the adulation. Suffering from serious fatigue the maestro has decided to go completely underground for a while.

After cancelling his work-related trip to London, Rahman has now disappeared from his home in Chennai to destinations unknown. Presumably he has surfaced in Bengaluru . But none of his close family and friends are telling his fans, admirers and the media about his whereabouts. A close friend, on condition of anonymity, spilled the beans. “All the international and national attention finally got to Rahman. He is essentially a very very shy artiste. All he cares about is God and his music, in that order. He doesn't talk about anything else. Going on stage and being the cynosure of thousands of eyes is death for him. He went into hiding with only his God and music for company.”

Inaccessible at the moment to all but his closest family members, Rahman reluctantly replied to persistent queries about his health. He said, “I am just recovering from all the exhaustion.”

The question is, how will this media-shy genius cope with all the demands on his time and attention that are bound to be

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The other side of the gate: John

Be it Om Shanti Om, or the recent Luck By Chance, the lives of those involved in Bollywood continue to fascinate the audience.

But more than the audience, it’s the bunch of people living outside the studio gates that gets to see the real Bollywood. And John Abraham is one actor who the bunch will definitely get to see. For John plays himself in UTV’s Film City. The film, to be directed by UTV biggie Deven Khote, will see a host of newcomers too.

Says Deven, “Film City is about the lives of those people who stay outside the film studios and how their lives are influenced by people from inside the industry. It will be a fun film; one of the protagonists plays a spot boy while the other plays a camera assistant. Film City is my experiences in the film industry for the last two decades.”

Won’t this be similar to Luck by Chance, we ask Deven. He is quick to say, “See, John does play himself, but we have deliberately refrained from roping in other actors, like in Luck by Chance. We didn’t see the need to do that, and so, we have fresh faces in Film City.”

Says John, “I think Film City’s a small film with big emotions. Only ideas work today.”

Reveals our source, “Deven was earlier planning a film titled Dhin Chak with Salman Khan, but the film never got made because Salman insisted on changes. It was then that Deven moved on to Film City and roped in John.”

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