Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh Khan at a book reading is reason good enough for the city's celeb brigade to turn out in full colour. And the usual suspects were in full attendance at The Regent in Bombay where an exclusive book reading of The Making Of Asoka, written by Mushtaq Sheikh was being held.

Juhi, all smiles in a beige number, read an excerpt from the Majestic Manouvers section of the book. Author Mushtaq read an excerpt from the Mythologic section which told of how King Ashoka burnt his harem. While SRK looking dapper in black read portions from the Big Fight.

Rekha, Artist M F Husain (barefoot with paintbrush in hand), Shabana Azmi with husband Javed Akhtar, Ila Arun, Dolly Thakore and Farah Khan and Anupama Verma were spotted at the 'do'. But it was Himanshu Malik and Sonali Kulkarni who took the cake, for arriving much after the reading was over, just in time for high tea.

Healing the world -- Lata Mangeshkar

Lata Mangeshkar and brother Hridayanath Mangeshkar have built a state of the art hospital in Pune, which will be formally inaugurated by the Prime Minister on November 1 in memory of their late father.

Built for Rs 25 crore, the hospital has been in the making for the past 18 months. The hospital will offer state of the art medical facilities and Lata Mangeshkar has promised that the hospital will offer free medical care to deserving patients.

Her live concerts have raised most of the money required for the building of the hospital. Many of Bollywood's leading personalities including Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan and Yash Chopra have also contributed towards the fund.

Sen walks out on Husain

We hear that a distressed Sushmita Sen has walked out of M F Husain's film Do Kadam Aur Sahi. According to industry sources, the ex-Miss Universe was peeved with the artist after he painted a portrait of Tabu after watching Chandni Bar.

Now that's a vague reason to walk out of a film, if there ever was one.

The film is about two families living in three different cities, Jaisalmer, Hyderabad and Prague. Sen was slated to essay a double role in the film.

Chandni Bar still No 1

Despite Chandni Bar's limited release the disturbing film on Bombay's bar girls has made it to top spot leaving Ajnabee far behind.

Tabu's one-woman show, was able to beat the Akshay-Bobby-Kareena-Bipasha Basu thriller, Ajnabee, which witnessesed a huge drop of Rs 29 lakhs in its second week in Bombay alone.

Compiled By: Vivek Fernandes
Design: Imran Shaikh