Vidya Balan to replace Bipasha?

After Bipasha Basu suddenly left Kashmir while shooting for Lamhaa, producer Bunty Walia and director Rahul Dholakia are having second thoughts about her being the film’s lead actress. Whether Bipasha will remain a part of Lamhaa or not will be decided after she has a meeting with Bunty and Rahul today.

Meanwhile, Bunty and Rahul are already looking at options to replace Bipasha if she dies not agree to travel to Kashmir for a shooting schedule in January. One of the strongest contenders to step into Bipasha’s shoes is Vidya Balan.

On Monday, Rahul drove down to Wai to meet Vidya and ask if she would be willing to replace Bipasha in Lamhaa.

A couple of weeks ago Bipasha had left the film’s shooting mid-way and had flown down from Kashmir to Mumbai leaving Rahul, Bunty and Sanjay Dutt stranded. The cast and crew of Lamhaa were shooting a sequence at Anantnag, which is 55 kms away from Srinagar.

Rumour has it that Bipasha received a call after which she was very distressed. Suddenly she stalled the shoot and went inside her van. She then called up Rahul from inside and told him that she was returning to the hotel. Rahul followed Bipasha’s van and reached the hotel to have a talk with her.

However, he was shocked to see Bipasha packing her bags and heading to the airport. Rahul tried to stop her but Bipasha shot back saying, “You won’t understand Rahul, you’re not a woman.”

An industry insider said, “In January, Bunty and Rahul need to shoot for 10 days in Kashmir. If Bipasha doesn’t comply, she can’t be a part of the film.”

When contacted, Bunty said, “We need to shoot in Kashmir for 10 days. I will start the shoot from January 4. I need Bipasha there. I have been made to understand by her and her manager that she is averse to going back to Kashmir. But I think I will convince her to do so. I am optimistic.”

Rahul said, “I need Bipasha in Kashmir. I am meeting her for the same today.”

When asked if Bipasha would still remain a part of Lamhaa even if she didn’t agree to go to Kashmir, Rahul said, “I will cross the bridge when I come to it.”

A friend of Bunty added, “Bipasha behaved extremely unprofessionally by leaving the shoot mid-way without informing Bunty and Sanjay. The reasons for her strange behaviour are not known.”

Despite repeated calls and text messages, Bipasha remained unavailable for comment.

How Vidya Balan ditched Sooraj Barjatya

Vidya Balan ditched Sooraj Barjatya at the last minute. This may sound shocking but it is actually true! Rajshri roductions’ Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi was to star Vidya Balan in the lead opposite Bobby Deol originally.
But now the November 7th releasing film has Eesha Koppikar along with Sonu Sood playing the main lead. So what went wrong?
Our sources revealed, “Sooraj Barjatya had approached Bobby Deol and Vidya Balan for his written film Ek Vivah Aisa Bhi being directed by debutante Kaushik Ghatak. They both had given their consent for the film.
But then though Bobby initially found the family oriented subject appealing, as the days progressed he developed cold feet. He excused himself out of the film citing dates problem. Sooraj had hoped that he would find a suitable actor in the A list to play the romantic lead opposite Vidya. But as that didn’t look to materialise, Vidya chickened out of the project preferring to do Kismat Konection along with Shahid.

Sooraj was then left with no option but to rope in small names like Eesha Koppikar and Sonu Sood to stop the film getting stalled even before it was about to be shot!”It looks a remote possibility that Sooraj Barjatya will now ever approach either Vidya Balan or Bobby Deol to star in any of his Rajshri banner films!

Vidya Balan walks out of David Dhawan film over John Abraham

Popular Bollywood actress Vidya Balan has walked out of a David Dhawan film because of fellow lead actor John Abraham.

Says a source close to Vidya, “Vidya is not doing UTV’s Hook Ya Crook. Vidya felt that after Salaam-E-Ishq, she and John needed to do a film which had substantial roles for both. She had reservations as Dhawan’s heroines don’t have much to do except sing, dance and look glamorous. She voiced her concern to the director who promised to make changes in her role. Vidya wants to do more women-oriented roles.”

The source adds, “Vidya doesn’t want to protest too much as she doesn’t want to upset David, so she has quietly opted out though the producer and David are insisting that Vidya is still doing it.”

A spokesperson for Vidya says, “Vidya is not doing the film but it’s because she doesn’t have the dates.”

Sania and Vidya are history, Shahid after Priyanka now

Fans of Shahid Kapoor are still a little confused over who is his lover, names such as Tennis babe Sania Mirza and fellow actress Vidya Balan have been mentioned, but did you know that Priyanka Chopra has also become smitten with the baby face actor?

The two have been shooting for Vishal Bhardwaj’s Kaminay during which they have bonded. A source close to Shahid says, “Shahid and Priyanka have been getting close ever since Shahid distanced himself from Sania a month ago.”

What might amaze you is that Shahid has been fond of Priyanka ever since he laid eyes on her, a good few years ago. Says the source, “Right now they are very fond of each other. There’s nothing else to it. They are both feeling vulnerable. Things are cooling off between Shahid and Sania and Priyanka and Harman are fighting and arguing ever since the release of Love Story 2050. When Harman went to Jaipur to shoot for Victory, Priyanka joined Shahid in Pune to shoot for Kaminay. And a new friendship is emerging on the sets.”

An insider says, “Recently, both were spotted at the premiere of Tahaan because both are close to Mubeena Rattonsey, the executive producer of the film. They became closer because of this common friend. Priyanka, Mubeena and Shahid often go out for dinners and hang out together. Shahid and Priyanka even sat together during the screening. Interestingly, they stay in the same apartment complex, Raj Classique at Versova, and have also been spotted travelling together to shoots.”

Shahid’s spokesperson maintains, “He shares a very professional relationship with Priyanka. He’s single and has been going out and meeting new people. But there is no romantic angle to his friendship with Priyanka.”

Vidya Balan and Madhavan’s ‘ad’ chemistry inspires a film!

Vidya Balan and Madhavan’s sweet nothings for ‘Airtel’ ads presented amazing onscreen chemistry. The low voiced chit-chat, the passion and rare sensuousness that the duo created brought rave compliments for the ads. Not only the audience, but Director Raj Kaushal liked it so much that the filmmaker has decided to bank on the onscreen pair.

Raj Kaushal, has directed forgettable flicks like ‘Anthony Kaun Hai’ and ‘Shaadi Ka Laddoo’ but he seems optimistic about his upcoming romantic comedy. Vidya and Madhavan have reportedly given their consent to the film and are all set for the big project.

Vidya Balan and Madhavan were earlier seen in Maniratnam’s ‘Guru’ and were very well received. Raj Kaushal is keeping his fingers crossed for his upcoming venture. Hope the sizzling onscreen chemistry between Vidya and Madhavan works for him!

'I can never be compared to Shah Rukh or Salman'

After the brilliant Jab We Met, Shahid Kapur hopes to give us another good film, Kismat Konnection, this Friday.

Nithya Ramani spoke to the actor, and asked him to shed light on his new film, directed by Aziz Mirza and co-starring Vidya Balan.

What is Kismet Konnection about?

It is a romantic comedy, similar to what you would expect of an Aziz Mirza film. In all his films, his protagonists always represent the common man. The characters are never too heavy, or senseless.

I play Raj, a struggling architect. Everybody thinks that he will make it big one day but it has been five years, and nothing much has happened yet. The character is very different than the one I played in Jab We Met, where I was very silent.

Do you believe in kismat?

Yes, I believe that there is another force that inspects our life. Like hard work and effort, fate plays a vital role in everyone's life. People should know how to recognise an opportunity and grab it.

This is your first film with Vidya Balan. How has the experience been?

She is a wonderful actress, very simple and easy to get along. It becomes very easy if the actors get along well with each other. Initially, everyone was worried about how we would break the ice. But she made it very simple. She came up to me and asked for my autograph on the first day of the shooting. All of us started laughing.

Vidya turns to bad ways

Looks like after portraying congenial characters in her popular flicks, Vidya Balan is in the mood for an image changeover.

Recently in one of the interviews, demure and elegant Vidya Balan disclosed about her future projects. One of them being Vishal Bhardwaj's production Ishqiya, which will be directed by his assistant Abhishek Choubey. If the buzz is to be believed, than Vidya will be shown in a negative character in this upcoming project. Vidya, who always has been popular for her good and sweet characters, has courageously went ahead and has given her nod for the film.

Ishqiya also stars veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah and Arshad Warsi.
This would be the first time when Vidya would share the screen space with the talented actor Naseeruddin. Considering this fact Vidya is quite excited about this project and is eagerly looking forward towards it.

Meanwhile the lady is busy with the promotions of Kismat Konnection which is set to hit the theatres on 18th July.