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If you have the fame and fortune, it's only natural to think about future investments. Well Deepika Padukone is smartly investing in real estate. The actress has recently purchased a sprawling 2,776 sq foot four bed roomed apartment with three parking slots in BeauMonde Towers, Prabhadevi. The said flat is on the 26th floor of a 33-storey tower which comes with a price tag of a whopping Rs.16 crore. But for a place that is as close to the Siddhivinayak temple, we guess it's worth every penny spent. It is also learnt that the actress and her father had visited the property registration office at the Old Custom House in Fort to pay stamp duty for their new apartment, which amounted to approximately Rs. 79, 82,600, and was done jointly in Deepika and her father's name. The actress however might continue to live in her current Pali Hill apartment with her family.

Katrina's feisty role in Prakash Jha's  Raajneeti  won her a lot of accolades. Hence, a lot of people were surprised when Kats didn't feature in Jha's next biggie  Aarakshan . However, Katrina has no reason to worry as she is all set to work with Jha again in a film titled  Satsang . Satsang  would feature Katrina in the role of a woman from the West in search of spirituality. She would be seen in a non-glamorous avatar without any make-up and would be donning ochre robes. Even though the film will mostly kick off only after Jha finishes  Aarakshan , Katrina is super-excited at the prospect of re-uniting once again with Prakash Jha. The actress believes this to be her most challenging role till date.

There is no denying that the promo of Vishal Bhardwaj's next Saat Khoon Maaf is indeed captivating. Besides Priyanka Chopra's mesmerising performance, if there is one thing that stays with you long after the promo has ended it's the song ' Darrrling ' which plays in the background. While Saat Khoon Maaf itself is an adaptation of Ruskin Bond's novel 'Sussanna's Seven Husbands', even the song ' Darrrling ' isn't entirely original. The song in fact finds its roots in the Russian folk song ' Kalinka ' and even has a few Russian words in it. The Russian song ' Kalinka ' was written in 1860 by Ivan Larionov and has since then been a part of various Russian stage shows. One of the reasons for using a Russian song could be the fact that one of Priyanka Chopra's 7 Husbands in Saat Khoon Maaf is Russian actor Aleksandr Dyachenko.

Whenever you see Vidya Balan perform, you tend to believe that she does nothing by the book. Five years on, Vidya's star has risen yet further, and it is a mark of how untouched she is - how real, if you like - that nothing has changed. Whatever it was, those formative experiences served her well in her chosen career as an actress. Those murky corners where pain, discord and ambiguity are rife have always attracted Vidya, and it's really the truth if I may exaggerate, that Balan is swallowed by Bollywood and it will be an understatement if I again stress on the fact that Vidya's portrayal of diverse and distinguished roles is a testament of quality, excelling in range, power and versatility. Her forthcoming role of Sabrina Lal from No One Killed Jessica is just a few of the many more we will be a witness to in the days to come and in the near future. And as we come to an end of this exhilarating chat with one of India's finest, I ponder and deliver - &

This week Marathi director Pramod Gajanan Joshi who's making the Hindi-Marathi bi-lingual Chhodo Kal Ki Baatein (Kashala Udyachi Baat in Marathi) didn't know what hit him when just 15 minutes before the first day of shooting Anupam Kher announced to the director that he wanted his character to be blind! The story goes that Joshi, new to the star system in Bollywood, thought Anupam was upset and was expressing his grievance in this way. But apparently Anupam not only insisted on his character going blind just minutes before the first shot, he refused to shoot until the change was made. Says a source from the small-budgeted unit, "Anupamji announced just before the first shot that he felt his character would be better off as a blind person. Our director thought Anupam was joking. When Joshi Saab realized Anupamji was serious, he pleaded about the lack of time. 'How can the character that can see be turned blind just like that? So many adjustments have

Rani Mukherjee wants to get one thing straight. "Women are more powerful than men". I guess we have to give it to Rani for a quote like that. I can recall the day when Jessica Lal got murdered. I was in my second year college. What started as a cold blooded murder in the night club, went on to become one of the most unforgettable moment in my journalistic career. Yes, my first story got published in 1999 which was called 'Killing for whose sake?' that highlighted the many such issues including that of Jessica Lal. As for Rani, she agreed to do the film instantly when her director Raj Kumar Gupta told her that the film was based on the Jessica Lal murder case. Such was this brutal incident that no one is able to get it out of their heads, including Rani. Guess what? This was the first time I was meeting her in flesh. Yes, as false it may sound, it is the truth. But it never felt like it when you talk to Rani Mukherjee because as an actress, she has a re

For me, this weekend gone by was akin to good old days when election poll results hooked one to television sets. There were hourly bulletins giving updates on vote count for candidates. To keep the country entertained while being engaged, Doordarshan showed films. A three hour long film would run for as long as six hours with intermittent poll flashes displaying all the ups and downs, those who were racing ahead or were left behind and then the eventual losers and winners. Over the weekend, Tees Maar Khan did just that as the numbers obsessed industry was monitoring the film's collections on an hourly basis. It just set me thinking: Three decades back it was the silver jubilee v/s golden jubilee run of a film that decided its fate Two decades back it was the 100 days run that came with its own prestige A decade back it was the collections more than the days or weeks that were looked at closely Five years back it was the first week that decided if the film was

If you, for once thought that Bollywood is going through the sequel season, you will be surprised with the sudden decision coming from Ajay Devgn. No, the actor isn't talking about his Golmaal sequel or as you'd call it G4. When we recently interviewed Ajay on his views regarding Toonpur Ka Superhero , he came up with a statement that went, "Yes, if Toonpur Ka Superhero does well at the box office then we might be looking at a sequel or try and be a part of yet another animation film." As far as Toonpur is concerned, Devgn quotes, "We are so busy making live action films but whenever we see Hollywood animation films, we are taken by a surprise. However, when our own industry makes it, we don't. I don't understand why. Yes, I agree that when Kirit came up to me with the idea, I was hesitant initially because that's never happened here. But now I can confidently say that you can compare Toonpur with any Hollywood animation film."

They say if you market it well you can even sell snow to an Eskimo. The case with the biggest movie of the season Tees Maar Khan may be no different, thanks to the famous ' Sheila Ki Jawani ' which is surely doing the trick. So strong is the publicity that the words "you can run but you can't hide" seems to buzz non-stop in one's head. Be it radio, be it the television, even your maid would sing the song while she goes about her daily chores. No matter where you go, positive reinforcement about Tees Maar Khan seems like it's even better than the likes of Avatar . Producer Shirish Kunder keeps retweeting the endless compliments he is receiving from the film. Including Akshay Kumar who too has been retweeting the compliments like Hardik_Daya @akshaykumar I'm in office reading such good reviews abt TMK , feeling J, waiting for evening, night show tickets booked :)), mailabhi2020 @akshaykumar TMK is out of this world ...I am still laughi

They say art and culture has no language and this became apparent during the recent visit of the Russian President H.E. Dmitry A. Medvedev to India when he took out time from his two day visit to head to Yash Raj Studio. The agenda was quite simple; it was to further strengthen the ties of the two countries with special emphasis on promoting cultural exchanges between Russia and India and for the President to get an opportunity to directly meet with the members of the Indian film industry. Not many know that Indian Films have been very popular with Russian audiences for over 60 years since the time of the legendary Raj Kapoor. And this fond memory helped to get the President's meeting off to a very cordial beginning and set the mood for what followed. President Dmitry Medvedev was very happy that he was able to spend some time at the studio along with Yash Chopra and meet with the members of the Film Producers Guild of India and others. He said that his associat

Farah Khan admits that it was a big decision for her to work with an actor other than Shah Rukh Khan. However, she is also glad that she worked with someone like Akshay Kumar. While there are multiple reasons behind the comfort level that she shared with Akshay, the biggest of them all was the fact that never once did the actor questions her on her decision to leave Shah Rukh for him. "All Akshay did was ask about the story idea and then discuss around logistic related to production. Never once did Shah Rukh came in the middle of our conversation, whether the ones that we had initially or during the making of Tees Maar Khan ", says Farah Khan who has stayed on to be in the line of fire for an entire year gone by ever since she decided to move away from Shah Rukh Khan to Akshay Kumar after working with the former in Main Hoon Naa and Om Shanti Om . "Shirish and I gave Akshay a small narration and he said that he was fine with it", informs Farah, &

In an entertainment industry, notorious for robbing artistes of their rightful resources Arbaaz Khan's munificence comes as a pleasant surprise. After reading the story in a daily tabloid, Arbaaz touched base to say he is willing to compensate Razia Beghum's family, though Arbaaz also made it clear that he doesn't really owe anyone any compensation. Says Arbaaz, "Every week we've someone or the other claiming to be the original composer-singers of ' Munni Badnaam '. I can understand the eagerness to make a claim over something as successful as this song. The truth of the matter is, the original version of ' Munni Badnaam ' (' Launda Badnaam ') is a paaramparik (traditional) song. It therefore belongs to no one and everyone." Arbaaz further explains, "When someone comes to me with a script, I don't ask him where it came from, its origins, is it taken from a Hollywood films, etc etc. I presume it is o

More and more film-makers are jumping on the bandwagon. More than two decades ago, CHHOTA CHETAN [1984] triggered the trend of making 3D films in India. After the success of that film, almost every film-maker felt that they had found the formula to lure audiences in hordes. In fact, there was a mad rush to make 3D films then, but the failure of a few films put sudden brakes on the production of 3D films. But this trend [3D films] seems to be on a revival. Vikram Bhatt's next film HAUNTED is in 3D. Ramgopal Varma is making a 3D film as well. BLUE director Anthony D'Souza did a comprehensive course in America to get the 3D technique right, while Shirish Kunder has officially announced JOKER in 3D. An actor/film-maker, who's making an ambitious project right now, is also planning to convert it to 3D. Besides, a slew of 3D projects are in the pipeline. Let's hope the bubble doesn't burst faster than expected this time.

Notice this. Most of the movies that worked at the box-office this year were desi films. They either had characters from small towns or villages. Or had the rural backdrop. Till the onset of this year, most film-makers were of the opinion that the multiplex junta prefers to watch urban themes, while desi subjects/characters worked with a tiny minority at smaller centres. But the audience proved them wrong yet again. Suddenly, all of a sudden, the year 2010 witnessed a number of desi films striking gold at the box-office. Take the case of DABANGG, the biggest Hit of the year. It had a rural backdrop and its protagonist, Chulbul Pandey, was an uncouth and brash character. But the film worked big time at plexes as well as single screens. Ditto for ISHQIYA, which was set in a village or PEEPLI [LIVE], which, depicted the rural community. UDAAN too was about the father-son relationship in a small town of India, while TERE BIN LADEN threw light on a Laden lookali

The former con star will soon be a cricket star. Talking about Akshay Kumar who is donning the role of a cricketer for his next, Patiala House , actually did a lot of homework for it. The role was inspired from Monty Panesar who was England's first Sikh cricketer. Though there has been a contribution by a lot of cricketer's like ex cricketers Paras Mhambre and Balvinder Singh Sandhu are among them. They have worked very hard on training Akshay to look and perform like an authentic bowler. Akshay plays a Sikh bowler who wants to represent England in the cricket team but the story based on father son clash shows how his dad in the film who has faced a lot of racism is against the idea. The unit toll details from Monty's life in particular as it was the most inspiring one considering his struggle to finally make it to the England team is a very powerful one. Nikhil Advani, the director of the film, said, "Every piece of art and creative process

Adnan Sami came to Mumbai and shot to fame with songs like ' Kabhi Toh Nazar Milaao', 'Lift Kara De ' and likes. The songs became so famous far and wide that Adnan, in no time, became the blue eyed boy of the music industry. Not the one to 'throw his weight around'; he shocked everyone with 'shedding off his weight', one fine day! Post that, he has been in the news mostly for his personal reasons than professional. Few days back, Adnan was in the news for his estranged relationship with his ex-wife. His family issues were out in the open. And now just when, things seemed to settle down for the singer, another controversy has struck him. It is learnt that The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confiscated Adnan's eight properties and five parking spaces under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). According to the reports, ED slapped the penalty on Adnan on grounds of illegal possession of the estate and now as per FEMA

Karan Johar might just win the award of "revelation king" what with so many secrets and speculations are brought to rest, and beans that were spilled on his show. Be it Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor's break-up story or Priyanka Chopra and Shahid Kapoor's affair, even Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka's mutually animosity, it all came oozing out on 'Koffee With Karan'.

Next year, Amitabh Bachchan's much-delayed international collaboration will finally happen, though on an unusual platform. In June 2011, the Big B will be bonding with several big international names including Cameron Diaz who will be part of an American-Hollywood entourage to be invited to participate at the international Bollywood event. Says a source, "Because this time the IIFA is being held in Toronto many big names from the American movie industry are being invited to attend and Cameron Diaz has already said yes. The IIFA organizers Wizcraft have already spoken to Cameron. Events are being planned to accommodate Mr. Bachchan and Cameron on the same platform for several discussions on the coming together of Bollywood and Hollywood." Though the next IIFA awards function is a long way away and the venue (Toronto) will only be officially announced in mid-January, Sabbas Joseph, Director Wizcraft International Entertainment confirms that Toro

Everyone wondered why Akshay Kumar dedicated his performance at Reliance Broadcast Network's Big Star awards held last week in Mumbai, to the New Year when it wasn't even Christmas time as yet! It turned out that Akshay's performance was targeted at being telecast on New Year's Eve on a channel. But to the awards nominees who were present at the venue of the awards on Tuesday evening it did appear mighty odd that Akshay was singing and dancing about the New Year 9 days in advance. Said one of the stars present at the awards, "It was quite funny, really. Akshay was welcoming the year 2011 on December 21 2010. We all wondered if he was trying to prove he was ahead of his times." When contacted, Tarun Katial, Chief Executive Officer Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd, explained, "Akshay's New Year gig was part of his Tees Maar Khan act. Since his performance was going to be part of the telecast of our awards on New Year's Eve

He is the man who is known for the 'Human' side of his 'Being'! Well, no prizes for guessing that we are indeed talking about the 'won' and only Salman Khan, the very same Salman who celebrates his birthday today! There is a certain irony about this man called 'Salman'. And the irony is that, despite having shot to fame with the film Maine Pyar Kiya , there was never a time in his life for him, to say 'Maine PR Kiya'. The very fact that Salman Khan is in a film, itself is guarantee enough that the film's makers will be laughing and smiling their way not just to the banks, but, Swiss banks! An apt example is that of the recently released film Dabangg , a film that went onto make records...only to break its own records! Such is the charisma of this 'Gentleman to the core' called Salman Khan! ApnaDesi wants you to join us as we wish the eternal Superstar a very happy Birthday, by posting your wishes below:

EXPECTATIONS There are good expectations from the music of  Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji  for multiple reasons. Firstly and most importantly, the film bings together the team of Pritam, Emraan Hashmi and Ajay Devgn which did wonders in  Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai  earlier this year. Secondly, the film showcases a new side of Madhur Bhandarkar with romcom being the chosen flavour. For his last musical  Fashion , he had extracted some fantastic musical score from Salim-Sulaiman. One expects him to have done something similar for his newest endeavour as well. Neelesh Mishra, Kumaar, Sanjay Chhel and Sayeed Quadri write. MUSIC The album begins with a song which is pretty much the kind that one expects from a Pritam-Emraan combo. A soft love song with a childlike feel to it, ' Abhi Kuch Dino Se ' has a quintessential Mohit Chauhan stamp to it as the singer gets behind the mike. Also, one can't miss the countryside melody to it as Pritam spins a tune that is easy on ears and beco