Madhuri Magic: Off the Air?

WHILE shooting for his forthcoming film Jeena Sirf Merre Liye in Paris, Tusshar Kapoor misplaced his Emirates return air-ticket and created quite a chaos… The airline’s Paris office couldn’t do much to help, and eventually producer Vashu Bhagnani had to pull some strings to get his Mumbai travel agency to reissue a fresh ticket so the young actor could return to good ol’ Mumbai. Quite unlike him is Kareena Kapoor, his co-star in the film, who guards her passport and her documents with her life.

After the Cover, The Cover-Up

ALL of Mumbai’s socialite set is gossiping about the fallout between Parmesh Godrej and the Roshan parivaar. Upon urging from Rakesh and Pinky Roshan, Mrs Godrej agreed some months ago to redesign the Roshan home in Juhu. According to the grapevine, Mrs Godrej insisted she wouldn’t charge a penny for the job if only Hrithik would support the charity cause she endorses. That agreed upon, Mrs Godrej began work on the apartment, but recently abandoned the job when she read somewhere a ‘‘careless’’ remark attributed to Hrithik, that his new home was being redesigned jointly by Mrs Godrej and his wife Suzanne Khan. The high-flying industrialist wife was appalled by Hrithik’s comment and went all out to announce in the media that Suzanne had absolutely nothing to do with the redesigning, and that every stone and every piece of marble laid in that house was as per her own ideas and initiative. The house, we learn, is about 90 per cent done already, but Mrs Godrej won’t finish the job. Meanwhile, the real story, we hear, has something to do with Suzanne’s mum Zarine Khan (herself an interior designer) being a little upset that she wasn’t commissioned to do the job. In turn, Suzanne was keen to hog some of the credit herself…

Who’s Afraid of Bharat Shah?

THE very same Bollywood stars who turned a blind eye and a deaf ear when film financier Bharat Shah was arrested for his alleged nexus with the underworld are now once again giving him their attention, and indulging his every fancy. A whole swarm of film folk will fly to Antwerp shortly for the weddings of Shah’s niece and nephew (Priti and Vishal), who are getting married on the same day. Live-show organisers G S Entertainment and Cineyug will put together a package of star-studded performances by our desi actors. Among those expected to take the flight to Antwerp next week are Sridevi, Akshay Kumar, Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Preity Zinta, Akshaye Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Saif Ali Khan, and Diya Mirza. Also going along will be a cartload of Mumbai models who will participate in a glittering fashion show, among the many events leading to the final shaadi. Also, there has been much talk of Nitin Desai’s scintillating Rs 11-crore sets of Devdas being used as the wedding backdrop.

Dreamz Die Hard

NOTHING quite seems to be happening at Dreamz Unlimited these days. There has been talk that choreographer Farah Khan’s directorial debut will be next on the anvil for Shah Rukh Khan’s production company, but it has been over a year now and yet there has been no announcement on that front. Meanwhile, talk that Aziz Mirza’s next (starring SRK and Aishwarya Rai) will also be announced soon, is fast getting stale. Although Shah Rukh and Juhi Chawla insist that the failure of both their films, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani and Asoka, hasn’t deterred them, looks like that’s exactly what has happened.