Variety in attire will be spice of Ash's life this year

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has lined up a range of diverse looks for 2010. Her looks in Raavan, Endhiran, Action Replayy and Guzaarish promise variety.
In Mani Ratnam's thriller Raavan, fashion designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee has given Ash what he defines as a "very organic and rustic look". Vipul Shah's Action Replayy, a story that moves through four decades, will see her sport attires defining the seventies, eighties, nineties and the 2000s.

Mukherjee is also designing Ash's attire in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Guzaarish . He promised never - before ethnic splendour for the actress in that film. Tamil bigwig Shankar's Endhiran ( earlier titled Robot ) will see the former Miss World in bright colours, often bordering on the garish, typical of South Indian cinema.

"Ash's beauty can be limiting... So, she tries to underplay her beauty by taking up diverse and challenging roles," Mukherjee said. "In Raavan , she plays a classical dancer who is an educated and urban girl. Since the character is rooted to her culture, I have designed a contemporary yet rustic look with a puritan feel and realistic sensibilities. I gave her a lot of Khadi dresses and clothes from handloom shops," he added.

Ash, on her part, said her character Ragini is a strong woman in sync with modern India. Endhiran - opposite Rajnikanth - packages Ash as a typical south heroine. Her wardrobe mostly comprises saris and dresses in loud hues and even includes feathered and jewelled headgear.

Fashion designer Manish Malhotra, has styled Ash's look and attire for the Rs 120 - crore film. The look is in sync with the masala fantasy adventure film, he said.

The actress's look in Endhiran is multi - dimensional. "Ash's character in the film is a simple one that gradually gets a contemporary avatar that borders on fantasy," Malhotra said. He shopped in New York for the right colours in Ash's costumes.

The year - end will see Ash's fourth release of 2010 — Guzaarish , opposite Hrithik Roshan. While Bhansali maintains strict secrecy on the film, Mukherjee said Ash's look will "be completely different from what we have seen till date". But Action Replayy promises the biggest variety. Ash sports over 125 dresses in it. The makers of the film said this was justified as her character travels in time. Director Shah said Ash's character "loves to wear all sorts of clothes and keeps shopping all the time". Ash will sport everything from simple salwar - kameez to funky leather attire and multicoloured wigs in the film.

In a song dedicated to seventies screen couples such as Rajesh Khanna - Mumtaz, Amitabh Bachchan - Jaya Bhaduri, Dharmendra - Hema Malini and Rishi Kapoor - Dimple Kapadia, Ash and her co - star Akshay Kumar will be seen in heavy retro gear.

Shah refuted claims that the retro look is a copy of any specific film or star.

He said Akshay, Ash and the costume design team went through videos footage, especially TV footages of live cricket matches of the seventies, to arrive at the right look.

Shooting Kareena 'topless' in Kurbaan

The promos of Saif Ali Khan's film with girlfriend Kareena Kapoor -- Kurbaan -- are out, and it's getting a lot of attention. The music is riding up the charts, and it looks like producer Karan Johar may have a winner on his hands.

The man helming the film is Rensil D'Silva. This may be his first directorial venture but Rensil is not new to the field. An ad man with about 18 years of experience, Rensil has also scripted films like Aks, Rang De Basanti and Mani Ratnam's upcoming film Raavan.

When we asked Rensil why it took him so long to finally direct a film, he said he was 'waiting for the right time.' Well, it looks like the right time has arrived.

Rensil talks to Nithya Ramani about what to expect in Kurbaan and even the much-talked about poster showing a topless Kareena.

You have written the script of Kurbaan as well.

Yes. It is Karan Johar's story. He told me about the film and for the next few months, I couldn't get it off my head. A common friend told Karan that I had loved the story, so he asked me to direct it.


Image: Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Rensil D Silva

Not doing 'Raavan' an amicable decision: Bipasha

New Delhi, Oct 11 (IANS) Bipasha Basu, who now looks forward to multi-starrer comedy 'All The Best', has dismissed rumours that her role in Mani Ratnam's 'Raavan' was cancelled because her character posed a threat to the other actresses - Aishwarya Rai and Priyamani. She insists it was an amicable decision between her and the director.

Rumour mills were abuzz that Bipasha's role of Mandodari opposite Abhishek Bachchan in the film was suspended because her part was overpowering as compared to the other female stars.

'They were all rumours and only rumours. I am not a part of 'Raavan'. I was initially a part of 'Raavan' but Mani sir thought he couldn't do justice to my role... as to whatever he had promised me would definitely be in conflict with the actual story of the film once it is shot,' Bipasha told IANS in an interview.

'So he took a call instead of being in an embarrassing position later on. He decided to tell me that and amicably we decided that it should not be done...hopefully we'll work together soon. So now there's going to be no Mandodari in the film,' she added.

The film also stars Nikhil Dwivedi and Tamil actor Vikram.

Bipasha was in the capital to promote her forthcoming release 'All The Best - Fun Begins' that is releasing Friday.

Distributed by Yash Raj Films, the laughathon has been directed by Rohit Shetty. Apart from Bipasha, it also stars Fardeen Khan, Mugdha Godse, Sanjay Dutt and Ajay Devgn, who has produced the comedy.

' 'All The Best' is a situational comedy and a total entertainer. It deals with a lot of mistaken identities, people lying and getting into trouble,' Bipasha said.

'My character is called Jahnvi who is married to Ajay in the film. She is a straightforward girl who is trying to run her life and family by looking after a totally rundown gym. She cons people to join the gym by lying because by the looks of it, nobody wants to join it,' she added.

Apparently this is the 30-year-old's sixth movie with Ajay after 'Zameen', 'Apaharan', 'Shikhar' and 'Omkara'.

Bad weather causes further delay in Raavan shoot

Looks like Mani Ratnam's Raavan is jinxed. Having such a big star-cast and having being made in two languages always gave some problem to the director. Currently, it is the bad weather at Malshej Ghats which is standing as an obstacle for the shoot.

A source from the unit reveals, "We have been going to shoot at the location every morning at 6 am. But we end up shooting not even a single scene. This is due to the bad weather and heavy rains which have disrupted our entire schedule. Abhi-Ash have been also traveling every morning to the location and end up sitting in their vanity van due to bad weather conditions."

The source continues, "Mani Ratnam is getting very stressed with the entire situation. The movie is way behind its schedule due to unwanted circumstances. Getting dates of the actor's also causes a lot of grief. Past few days have been off. Although the entire unit is going to the location for the shoot in all the muck, but no shoot is able to happen."

"Govinda who was supposed to join in this month is asked to come in later as the shoot is being postponed," adds the source.

Bipasha chucked out of Abhi-Ash starrer ‘Raavan’

Mumbai: Bollywood’s Bengali beauty Bipasha Basu is quite upset about losing out on the opportunity to play an important role in Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’. Bips was to play Abhishek Bachchan’s wife Mandodari in the film, which also stars Aishwarya Rai, but the latest news suggests that the actress is not doing the film anymore.

When asked about the reason for her role being scrapped, Bips responded, “I am sad... but it’s better than having my role chopped or totally edited... when lot of effort had gone to work out the role for this guest character.”

Although the real reason behind Bipasha’s ouster is unknown yet, an insider alleged that her character in the film was proving to be a bit too strong and was kind of disrupting the length of the film. Grapevine has it that Bips has been moved out of the project as she might be proving to be a threat to other actresses in the film like Ash and Priya Mani.

However, it has been clarified by Mani Ratnam’s spokesperson that the filmmaker did want to work with Bipasha but, at the same time, didn’t want to do injustice to the actress’ role.

Now let’s see if Bips will be replaced or Mandodori’s role will be completely scrapped the movie

Mani Shifts Locations

After shooting in the perilous jungles of Kerala, Mani Ratnam has decided for a change in venue. The unit of 'Raavan' is all set to move to Malshej Ghat in Maharashtra. The popular hill resort of the state is likely to be taken over by the unit of Mani's film by the end of the month.
A forty day schedule is being planned for Malshej Ghat and the 250 strong unit of the film is all set to take over the tourist destination. With such a long schedule and such a large unit, most of the resorts have apparently all been booked by the unit. Special arrangements are also being made of the stars of the movie, Aishwariya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan. It is believed that with this 40 day long schedule, 'Raavan' will be back on track. The schedule had gone haywire with Mani falling sick. But with his actors and crew members doling out extra dates, the film seems to be all set to come back on track.

Uncertainty Plagues Mani's 'Raavan'

There seems to be a cloud of uncertainty which is plaguing Mani Ratnam's 'Raavan'. The director had been shooting recently in the jungles of Kerala, where a freak accident compelled the unit to disband the shooting and flee to Ooty. This is hardly one of the many reasons why the film's shooting had to be delayed.

Last week's accident was a freak one, where one of the elephants being used for the shoot went on a rampage. The scary incident left the unit and cast members with no other option but to flee from the spot. The fate of the schedule hangs in balance. The delays in the shooting have certainly been taking its toll on the director, who has recently recovered from a heart ailment and has been in hospital for a while. Earlier, the film's shooting was delayed as Amitabh Bachchan was seriously ill and Abhishek and Aishwariya Rai Bachchan were by his side until he recovered. Then, Mani himself fell ill and was hospitalised. To top it, according to reports, the director is not very happy with certain sequences and is reshooting many scenes. Understandably, the film's budget is shooting up dramatically. This fact must be a constant source of stress for Mani, who is shooting the Hindi and Tamil versions simultaneously. Ash and Abhishek are going out of the way to accommodate the director as they both have a lot of respect and affection for him. But it is not a hidden fact that Ash has to begin shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Guzaarish' opposite Hrithik Roshan. Besides that, she has a film opposite Ranjnikanth to complete, along with Vipul Shah's next opposite Akshay Kumar. In the pipeline is a film opposite Abhishek in Abhinay Deo's next. It is just getting that much more difficult for the director to balance things out and complete his movie without losing his sanity.

Mani's RAAVAN: ZANJEER like moment for Nikhil!

Like the typical Bollywood flick, everybody loves the outsider who makes it big. You know the quintessential rags-to-riches hero sans a celebrated last name, who
gets the hits.

Nikhil Dwivedi's is turning out to be the classic case of the proverbial outsider storming Bollywood without any star system to support him, who had made his debut

with MY NAME IS ANTHONY GONSALVES.

He was noticed for his earnest debut performance, and no less than the genius director Mani Ratnam impressed by his talent, signed Nikhil in his next cinematic vision

RAAVAN, which turned out to be the best gift any actor could get.

To Nikhil's credit, the directors rave about his talent and his attitude, which they are sure will prove his altitude in the Bollywood.

And sure enough Nikhil is not disappointing, as he has already signed on with 4 accomplished directors in their future projects. He has already built on the momentum

that will pitchfork him as the star to look out for in the near future.

As Nikhil strongly believes that all of us are there in a common time zone, in the end, the hardworking people with talent, who are backed by their destinies, will stay.

Well sure looks like Mani Ratnam's RAAVAN can turn a new chapter, that one ZANJEER like moment, which will pitchfork Nikhil as the best young 'Outside' talent

to become deeply rooted in the masses' psyche, like his illustrious predecessors!!