Rani in Bajirao Mastani?

 The grapevine is abuzz that Rani Mukerji will play Salman Khan's wife in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Bajirao Mastani.

The film is the cinematic account of the romance between Bajirao Peshwa and his great love Mastani, played by Kareena Kapoor.

Idiot box beckons Ms Poo?

While on Kareena, it seems she is being wooed by the Sahara Channel.

The channel first collaborated with Karisma Kapoor to create the television series, Karishma -- The Miracle of Destiny. 

Now they hope to have Kareena on the bandwagon as well.

 Sahara has registered Miss Poo (Poo was the nickname of Kareena's flamboyant character in Karan Johar's Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham) as the title for her serial.

 What say, Bebo?

 Hrithik's new look

 Hrithik Roshan is almost unidentifiable these days. The actor is sporting a new haircut for Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya, in which he plays a soldier.

 Lakshya, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta, is a love story set against the backdrop of the Kargil war.

Akhtar's debut, Dil Chahta Hai, also saw its lead stars -- Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna and Zinta --

sporting hip and trendy hairdos.

 Salman dismisses Anu

 Music director Anu Maliik was the original choice for Puneet Isaar's Sanghar, starring Salman Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Arbaaz Khan and Ashutosh Rana.

 Khan's friends, Sajid-Wajid, will now compose Sanghar's music.

Apparently, when Khan heard the first two songs recorded by Maliik, he expressed great displeasure and forced the film's makers Prem Kishen, Sunil Mehta and Issar to replace Maliik with Sajid-Wajid.

Jackie and Raveena together again

Jackie Shroff and Raveena Tandon will star in filmmaker Shashi Ranjan's forthcoming venture.

The film was launched on April 19, with a song recording by Alka Yagnik at Krishna Studio in Goregaon, a Mumbai suburb.

 Shroff and Tandon earlier worked together in Sanjay Gupta's Jung, Arjun Sajnani's Agni Varsha and Sangeeth Sivan's yet-to-be-released Sandhya.

Ramoji Rao eyes Tamilians

Ramoji Rao's Usha Kiron Movies, a big name in Telugu cinema, is debuting in Tamil with Imithu, Imithu Kothal Imithu

 Directed by Sakthi Chidambaram, the film stars Jai Akash and Neha in the lead.

Imithu, Imithu Kothal Imithu is a remake of Rao's Telugu hit, Anandam.

Yesterdays Newsbytes