It’s been another great year for Indulge and a fabulous year at the movies. Bollywood actors have a great deal to celebrate, and the festive season of Diwali, which is just around the corner, will give them a perfect excuse to celebrate. So before I move on to what some of Bollywood’s shapely stars have planned for the festival of lights, let me wish Indulge a Happy Anniversary and our readers a very Happy Diwali in advance
Yummy Yaami
The lovely Yaami Gautam, who made a sparkling debut in Vicky Donor, is currently preoccupied shooting Gowravam, a Tamil-Telugu film with costar Allu Sirish in Tamil Nadu. Around Diwali, last year, she was shooting Vicky Donor, but luckily a day off for the crew gave her the chance to go home to Chandigarh. She hopes the same happens this year. What she looks forward to most is shopping, buying and receiving gifts and eating sweets. “Diwali has always been special, but these days I am a little less enthusiastic because of environmental issues. I love Diwali, but I really hate noise pollution,” says Yaami.
Overheard
Someone I know who was one of the extremely select gathering to be invited to Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor’s wedding reception at Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Hotel, reported that both Karisma Kapoor and Malaika Arora Khan smoked up the dance floor with their duet. In his thank you speech, the groom even acknowledged their chemistry. Saif also thanked Kareena’s cousins Ranbir and Arjun, both of who performed in a group dance, adding, “Let’s hope this is the only time we see them in the back row of a dance performance.” The comment was met with whistles and cheers, reported the source who was most impressed by the elegant, tasteful and intimate celebration — quite unlike the Bollywood norm.
Fingers crossed
As for Preity Zinta, the first-time producer is hoping her lamps are going to burn brighter and that she will have a lot to give thanks for this Diwali, as her maiden production, Ishkq in Paris, releases today (November 2). When I met her recently, the actress and IPL team owner admitted that she didn’t realise how much time and effort post-production would take. The actor needs a hit both as a producer and star as the only film in her kitty at present is the Sunny Deol starrer Bhaiyyaji Superhit. Also counting their chickens today are two actors desperately in need of box office accolades — the lanky Kunal Kapoor (last seen in Don 2), and the affable Aftab Shivdasani (last seen in Bin Bulaye Baarati).While the latter is banking on producer Vikram Bhatt’s predilection for the suspense genre with 1920-Evil Returns, Kapoor is hoping for a score with débutante Sameer Sharma’s Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana. Sharma, interestingly, is the grandson of singer Mukesh and actor Neil Nitin Mukesh’s cousin. For his debut film, Sameer has chosen a Punjabi setting to tell a story about homecoming, finding love and finding oneself while on a quest for a secret family recipe of chicken khurana.