'The highlight of Housefull is not the bikini'

Her decision to don a bikini in Housefull has won her legions of fans but Deepika Padukone says she is taken aback by the attention the short sequence is receiving.

The leggy beauty will be seen strutting her stuff on an Italian beach with her co-stars Lara Dutta, Jiah Khan, Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh in Housefull, but she says there is more to the film than just bikinis.

"When you are shooting on a beach in Italy, you have to look sexy. However, the highlight of the film is not the bikini here. I remember people making a big deal about Priyanka (Chopra) wearing a swimsuit in Dostana but we know that the film was a lot more than that," Deepika told PTI.

The actress, who has paired up once again with Akshay a year after the Chandni Chowk To China debacle, has no qualms about wearing a bikini, if the script demands so.

'"All the advertising is fine as long as everyone related to the film is aware about the real intent. On the same lines in Housefull too, we girls appear in bikinis for a while but the film moves on. The focus is not skin show. But then when some people think so, it takes away the credibility of the director," said Padukone.

'Aladin is like old wine in a new bottle'

With Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt coming together in his new film Aladin, director Sujoy Ghosh does not expect to go wrong. Adding to the cast is the hilarious Ritesh Deshmukh and Miss Sri Lanka Jacqueline Fernandez.

Sujoy tells Nithya Ramani why he's confident that Aladin will be a hit like his first film Jhankaar Beats.

What is Aladin about?

It is my take on the old story. I would call it a smart take because I want to tell people that we have talent in India and we need to use it to the maximum to be on par with Hollywood films.

Aladin has been made on an epic scale, set within a world that the audience haven't seen. A lot of homework and pre-production has gone into this. In my films like Jhankaar Beats and Home Delivery, I could afford to be creative on the sets but not with a film like Aladin. Everything was well planned and we knew what exactly we wanted and how.

The protagonist of the film happens to go by the name of Aladin. He's so frustrated with his name that he starts hating lamps because his peers constantly tease him. But one fine day, he decides to get a lamp and out comes a genie. It's hard for him to believe that this can happen.


Image: A scene from Aladin

Do Knot Disturb yourself with this film

If David Dhawan and Govinda come together in a film, you can be sure of some non-stop entertainment. After all, they have rained down hits like Coolie No 1 [ Im, Hero No 1, Deewana Mastana and Partner.

Unfortunately, Do Knot Disturb falls way short of expectations and you start wondering if the director has lost his magic touch.

The trouble with the film is its story. It's so weak that one cannot expect the actors to do their comic act and keep the audiences entertained.

Govinda plays a rich businessman, whose interest is only to take care of his mistress Dolly (Lara Dutta ) rather than do any work. He runs his wife's (played by Sushmita Sen ) business, who guesses that her husband is cheating on her. She hires a detective (Ranvir Shorey ) to catch her husband in the act.

Govinda outsmarts her by getting Ritesh Deshmukh to act as Lara's boyfriend, so that his wife rests her fears.

The problem arises when Govinda starts doubting Ritesh's intentions. Much else unfolds on screen but you're bored stiff by now.

Rajpal Yadav and Sohail Khan try to make the plot interesting but they fail as the story goes nowhere. The dialogues are loud and repetitive.

Lara Dutta fails to impress and Sushmita Sen has put on oodles of weight. Hello, just because you're playing a housewife doesn't mean you have to put on so much weight!

Govinda and Ritesh do well but the script fails them.

Music director Nadeem-Shravan return after a long time but they have come up with only one good song called Bebo.

The film has some good one-liners but that is not what you expect from a David Dhawan film. Do Knot Disturb yourself this weekend on this film.

Riteish Deshmukh: Reactions for DO KNOT DISTURB are quite positive

A year after he was last seen in a lead role, Riteish Deshmukh is now all set to wear the hero's cap again. The film in question is DO KNOT DISTURB which is now all set for a 2nd October release. His last major release was DE TAALI but that was a delayed project. Between DE TAALI and DO KNOT DISTURB, he also did bit roles in CHAMKU and KAL KISSNE DEKHA which was mainly to help out friends.
He is happy now that DO KNOT DISTURB is treading the right path as far as enthusiasm amongst the paying public is concerned.

"Thankfully, the reactions that we have got so far are quite positive", says Ritiesh from Europe where he is currently shooting for Sajid Khan's HOUSEFULL, "Today, promos are so important to set the tone right for a film. This was especially important for DO KNOT DISTURB since there are certain things about the film that we wanted audiences to know now and some other things that had to be revealed only in theaters."

He isn't willing to reveal much about the film's 'hidden part' but does maintain that it was quite tricky to cut the promos.

"David-ji (Dhawan) was convinced though that this is the right promo for the film. He knew that audiences would get excited about the premise of the film and meanwhile also wonder ki yaar yeh ho kya raha hai. I guess with the kind of feedback coming our way, the team has indeed succeeded in conveying that impression", says Riteish.

A multi starrer with Govinda heading the cast along with Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Sohail Khan and Ranvir Shorey along with Rajpal Yadav, Himani Shivpuri, Rituparna Sengupta and Manoj Pahwa, DO KNOT DISTURB has music by Nadeem-Shravan and is a Vashu Bhagnani production.

Are Ritesh, Genelia dating?

The saying 'you can run but you can't hide' seems to hold true for Ritesh Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza. It has been quite some time that the two have been denying that they are romantically involved, but time and again they have been spotted together spending some quality time with each other.

According to sources, the two were hanging out together at a restaurant in Mumbai recently. Ritesh, Genelia and a couple of their friends had gone to the restaurant, but soon they decided to leave as the place was brightly lit. Both the actors are very careful and do not want anyone to click their pictures together.

They left for another restaurant and according to reports the two spent over two hours together, where they even obliged their fans and gave them autographs too.

We wonder what's stopping them from making their relationship public?