5 QUESTIONS
BILLBOARD
BOX OFFICE
MAKING WAVES
MEMORIES
MOVIES CHAT
QUOTE MARTIAL
REVIEWS
ROUGH CUTS
SHORT TAKES
SOUTHERN SPICE
THE LIST
WISH THE STARS
ARCHIVES

Ash is right on top

Strange, how Aishwarya Rai always manages to upstage Sushmita Sen. Barely a few months after Sush won the Miss Universe crown, Ash hogged the limelight by bagging the Miss World title. When Sushmita got a Mahesh Bhatt film opposite newcomers, Aishwarya went on to sign a film with Bobby Deol and director Rahul Rawail.

Sush tasted success with Biwi No1, but the euphoria did not last long. For, on the heels, came Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Taal, with Ash not just finding success but critical appreciation too. And finally, came the Filmfare Awards.

Minutes after Sush was declared the best supporting actress, Ash stole the thunder by winning the best actress award as also the applause. Despite their rivalry, the girls continue to pretend to be oh-so-friendly-with-one-another and gush over each another at every opp. And to think, they are called bad actresses! Their reel performances pale compared to their real life ones, and here they don't even have a scriptwriter or director to guide them.

Rahman takes a break

Composer A R Rahman is taking a sabbatical. Friends close to him say the whizkid will move to the US where he is supposed to work on the score for a play. He is doing all this probably to recharge himself as Rahman feels that composing music for films has bogged him down and affected his creativity. We must say that for this talented composer, wisdom has come at the right time since he has begun to sound a little repetitive now.

Peace returns to Kapoor household

Maheep Sandhu is heaving a sigh of relief. Not because her hubby has met with any spectacular success on the professional front. Even that would not have made her as happy as the news that Sushmita Sen and Sanjay Kapoor have finally called off their relationship.

Elder brother Boney Kapoor tried his best to make Sanjay see sense, but then he couldn't say much because Sanjay, who is quite close to Boney's first wife Mona, was ready to tell bade bhaiyya that he was following in his footsteps.

Precisely the reason why Sridevi refused to join the advisory committee. But when papa Surinder Kapoor put his foot down and insisted that Sanjay's newborn child and wife would not come back to the house until he severed all ties with the beauty queen, the magic worked.

Manisha: Que sera sera

Manisha Koirala flatly denies having ditched Deepa Mehta at the last minute. "We were still at the negotiation stage, and I had made it very clear that I would not shave my head. Deepa seemed okay with the idea of a wig at that time," she is said to have confided to a pal.

She does not mind losing out on the film. Manisha is stoically philosophical now. "What has to come my way will..." she says calmly. Commenting on the lack of films in her kitty, she says she refuses more films now than ever. "I am happy at the pace I am working at. I don't want to do films which will go on and on... I want to do films which will be completed in a short time and not linger on." This, coming from an actress who is primarily responsible for the delay of most of her films.

Dedication, Shabana style

Trust me when I say this. It comes from a source close to Deepa Mehta's unit who says that "there was actually no need for Shabana Azmi to shave off her head. Actually the older widows had a crew cut. It is only the younger ones who had to shave off their heads. But Shabana convinced Deepa, who of course, didn't mind the fact that the actress was more than willing to run the razor over her head."

But then, adds the source, there was no need for Shabana to flaunt the entire process of going bald. Reportedly, Shabana refused to let the barber do his job till the photographer arrived. But then, that is Shabana -- take it or leave it.

What's wrong, Salman?

Salman Khan is not going to like this or believe it either. But a director whom he considers a buddy has been tattling to all and sundry about how the star has taken to the bottle.

This director, with whom Salman shot recently, was heard complaining that the star drank openly on the sets. "Please do go and smell the Coke Salman is drinking," he would prod visitors and other unit members.

Sure enough, they would be aghast to find Salman drinking. Actors -- like a lot of people -- do drink, but then few are known to do so on the sets.

Akshay, Shilpa, Twinkle, yawn

Everyone knows Akshay Kumar's real name is Rajesh Bhatia and that he is affectionately called Raju. Why does Shilpa Shetty have to make a public display of her affection by screaming into her cellphone in the middle of an awards function, saying, "Raju, where are you, Raju, why are you not answering the phone, Raju?"

Surely, she would want everyone to believe that all is hunky dory. But then doesn't she know that Raju did not take her calls because he was then showering all his attention on Twinkle Khanna.

If Shilpa doesn't trust us, all she has to do is ask Twinkle's neighbours. They are thrilled to have a daily darshan of Akshay who, like the gentleman he is, not only comes up the stairs to fetch his date, but also drops her to the doorstep, so what if it is in the wee hours of the morning.

Photographs by Pradeep Bandekar and Sondeep Shankar

-- The Insider