You have Vidya Balan, boldly going with a wardrobe where no Bollywood heroine has gone before. You have Emran Hashmi too, carrying on with a deadpan face for over two hours and proving deadpan doesn't necessarily mean dead acting. They make an odd couple and, though they don't quite share the best of screen chemistry, give you the only reason to watch Ghanchakkar.

The odd-couple equation shared by the film's lead duo is rivalled only by its two-member supporting cast- Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das as two goons who provide the occasional laughs. A quirky twist of plot here and there, a hilarious bank heist, plus a faint hint of gore in end are other notable add-ons you get in this film. What else? Not much.

Rajkumar Gupta's new film promised to be a full-o'-beans comic thriller going by its promos and posters. The initial portions give you the sporadic LOL moments. But the suspense never really comes alive owing to sketchy characterisation. For a thriller, the film loses pace midway and never quite picks up.

For Gupta, who made the far more sombre Aamir and No One Killed Jessica before, this was probably let-your-hair-down stuff. There is no resisting the dark shades for him, though. Despite the comparitively lighter tone of his new film, you notice a trace of the intense all along. Ghanchakkar unfolds as a breezy tale set against a murky backdrop of crime. This is the story of Sanju (Emraan), master safe cracker who plans to give up crime for live a life of bliss with his uber-Punjabi wife Neetu (Vidya Balan).


For this, he needs to pull off one last job. So, he agrees to partner a couple of crooks (Rajesh Sharma and Namit Das) on a bank robbery. The heist goes off well, Sanju is given the task of hiding the stash and the three temporarily split.

Twist in the tale comes soon enough, when the two crooks return three months later to reclaim the loot. Sanju it seems has had an accident and is suffering from amnesia. Forget recalling where he hid the money, he fails to even recognise the two. With no other option, the crooks declare they will live with Sanju and Neetu in their home, till he regains his memory.

The drama in the screenplay (Gupta and Parvez Shaikh) was supposed to kick off at this point. Is Sanju merely pretending to be an amnesiac because he wants to keep the entire loot? Could Neetu know more than she pretends, and does she plan to double cross her husband?

The mystery about these two characters and the situation they are in was meant to pique audience curiosity. It never quite happens because Ghanchakkar takes too long to narrate its story.

Vidya makes most of her crazy Punjabin who spews Cosmo and Vogue as inspirations in style as smoothly as she mouths Punjabi accent in her Hindi (minute becomes minnt; bharosa is bhrossa). Emraan holds your attention despite a role low on melodrama.

There is a recurring dinner table joke all through the film where Neetu asks Sanju about the food, "Kaisa hai?" The reply, more than once: "Namak kam hai." Our sentiment too, about this film.

The day is coming near when the 14th edition of the IIFA awards gala show will take place in Macau on July 6. The A-listed actress of Bollywood, who is still basking on her success of Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, will make it to the stage this time.


The actress is very excited to perform onstage next month at the IIFA awards extravaganza. It has been heard that Deepika will groove to her popular songs like Angrezi beats, Tum hi ho bandhu and the most recent one Balam Pichkari. She stated, “I’m thrilled to be performing at the IIFA this year. I'll be performing to some of my favourite songs from my recent release Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani and Cocktail. This will also be my first visit to Macau and I hope my fans enjoy my performance.” Let’s hope for the best from our very own Deepika at far distant Macau.

IIFA is always seen as the favorite award show of the Bollywood celebs. And now there’s only two weeks left for the show to take place on July 6 in The Venetian Macau. IIFA is in its 14th year and this time two big stars are going to host the awards night; Shah Rukh Khan and Shahid Kapoor. Both the stars are going to share the stage space to entertain their fans with an amusing flavour of their own.

King Khan has hosted IIFA way back in 2005 that took place in Amsterdam but for Shahid, this is his first time. Stars love IIFA for its weekend’s outdraw and fun elements. The prestigious awards are returning to Macau for the second time after 2009. The vibrant duo of SRK and Shahid has earlier hosted the Nokia 16th annual Star Screen Awards (2010) and they’ll be doing it again at IIFA.

The show will showcase the dance performances of beautiful Madhuri Dixit, Deepika Padukone and Abhishek Bachchan. Prabhudeva will be setting the IIFA stage ablaze this year with Sridevi in a dance act. We all know that SRK and Shahid will not stop teasing the actors coming on stage with their funny one-liners, so get ready to get amused with stars.

Mumbai: Rani Mukerji and Aditya Chopra have been dodging the shutterbugs for quite sometime now. The relationship status of the two has been under the scanner for a long while now and many believe that they have already exchanged marital vows!

Nonetheless, neither Rani nor Aditya have ever spoken about their relationship in public. But if the rumours are anything to go by then there is certainly something special between the two of them.

Apparently, the duo tried to escape the paparazzi that had gathered outside Aamir Khan’s rented house. The superstar had reportedly invited the actress and the Yash Raj scion to a bash recently hosted by him. 

Till date, Aditya has always kept distance from the spotlight and has seldom made public appearances. Even Rani, who was last seen in ‘Talaash’ with Aamir Khan, has maintained a low profile ever since rumours of her marriage to Aditya have been doing the rounds.

But it goes without saying that the industry insiders must be aware of Rani’s current relationship status. 

Veteran actor Shatrughan Sinha made a major blooper during the unveiling of late filmmaker Yash Chopra`s statue early this, when he referred to Rani Mukerji as Rani Chopra, thereby further sparking speculations about the Rani’s marital status. 

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Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is known as the "most beautiful woman in the world" and now Vancouver has a chance to witness her charm.

Rai is in Vancouver with her husband, actor Abhishek Bachchan, and their daughter Aaradhya, to represent Bollywood at British Columbia’s inaugural Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA).

The 39-year-old stunner, who hails from Mumbai, India, began her career as a beauty pageant contestant and model; Rai won the Miss India and Miss World pageants in 1994 before moving on to film where she made her acting debut in the 1997 film "Iruvar."

Since then, Aishwarya has won two Filmfare Awards (the equivalent of the Oscars), two Screen Awards, and two IIFA Awards.

Of course, she's not one of the top-paid Bollywood actresses just because of her movies; Rai also modeled for L'Oréal and Lakmé Cosmetics.

Check out some of Aishwarya's best style looks:

The tragic suicide of young actress Jiah Khan has inspired Bold Bollywood which was launched at a five star joint recently.

The film that tells the story of three aspiring actresses who come to Mumbai to make a career in the movies, has actors like Hazel Keech, Sandeepa Dhar, Shweta Bharadwaj, Rajpal Yadav and Manoj Joshi among others playing key roles.

Jiah Khan

Postmortem report of Jiah Khan has concluded that the Bollywood actress died due to hanging and no

external injuries were found on her body, police said on Wednesday.

"The postmortem report has found that the death of Jiah Khan was due to hanging and no other external wounds were found," they said.

Jiah (25) hanged herself at her residence in western Mumbai on June 3, allegedly over broken relationship with aspiring actor Suraj Pancholi, son of actor couple Aditya
Pancholi and Zarina Wahab.

Police arrested Suraj (21) and booked him on the charge of abetment to suicide following the incident.

The actress' mother blamed Suraj for driving her daughter to suicide and later handed over a six-page letter, purportedly written by Jiah, to police, throwing light on the relationship between the two.

The letter did not mention the person it is addressed to and narrates emotional travails of its writer.

Police are yet to verify if the letter was indeed written by Jiah and are awaiting report of handwriting experts.

Mufti Darul Ifta Salim Ahmad Kasmi has issued fatwa against Bollywood actor Salman Khan. The fatwa has been issued against installation of Salman's wax statue at Madame Tussauds.

Salman recently unveiled his life-size wax replica at the famous wax works museum Madame Tussauds in London making him the fourth Bollywood celebrity to be featured in the must visit premier tourist spot.

The Bollywood hunk was sized and photographed in Mumbai for the $400,000 wax replica, which took five artistes 12 weeks to create.

Salmans wax figure is in a special Bollywood section and joins other Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachchan, his former girlfriend, Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan. The wax figure of Salman is just metres away from Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's.

Sonam Dhanush

Chandan is a theatre in Juhu, Mumbai, known to cater to a hardcore masala audience. Therefore when on Saturday, the Raanjhanaa stars decided to pay this revered relic of entertainment a visit to check out the public's reaction first-hand, all hell broke loose.

A member of the entourage that accompanied the two actors said, "Aanand (the film's director Aanand L. Rai) sent the two stars ahead and decided to join them later. Big mistake. Left to themselves, Sonam and Dhanush who had no idea of the kind of audience that frequents Chandan, found themselves suddenly surrounded by scores of eager fans desirous of shaking their hands and getting pictures."

There were cries of 'Kundan' and 'Zoya' all across the theatre.

Says the eyewitness, "No one was watching the film any more. They went wild over Sonam and Dhanush. While Dhanush is no stranger to single-screen frenzy, as in the South its common-occurrence for superstars to encounter mob audiences, Sonam was completely taken aback by her first exposure to the masala masses."

Says director Aanand Rai, "I let Sonam and Dhanush go ahead of me. I wanted them to enjoy the moment. I knew Dhanush is accustomed to fan frenzy. But Sonam's fans have so far been the more up market controlled and restrained moviegoers, the kind who would rather smile at a star rather than scream on seeing her. This was the first time she got a first-hand dose of full-on fan adulation. At Chandan they don't hold back when they love you."

Says Sonam, "We got mobbed at Chandan. I didn't expect such enthusiasm. It was sobering."