Dish TV renews contract with Shah Rukh Khan

February 10th, 2009

MUMBAI: DTH service provider Dish TV has extended its contract with actor Shah Rukh Khan.

Dish TV roped in Khan as its brand ambassador in 2007 and has now extended the actor's contract.

According to Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor, the company is planning to target a subscriber base of eight million over the next fiscal. Dish TV's current subscriber base stands at five million.

Dish TV's competitors Tata Sky has Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador, whereas Bharti's recently launched DTH service Airtel Digital TV uses actors Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan and Vidya Balan in its communications.

Vidya Balan Blog | vidya Balan Official Website

February 4th, 2009

Following the lead of actors like Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, John Abraham, Aamir Khan and Shilpa Shetty, Vidya Balan now wants to become a blogger.

The actress recently got herself a Toshiba laptop and has been surfing the net regularly. Says a source close to Vidya, "Earlier, she'd just long on to check her e-mails.

But now she spends a lot of time on the net reading blogs, watching videos and staying in touch with world news."

The actress plans to blog about issues that bother her. She will also talk about her films and post pictures. There are no plans to start a website for now, she will only blog.

Shahid gets close to Vidya Balan again

January 15th, 2009

Shahid Kapur has been dilly-dallying with his love life for a while now.

After his breakup with Kareena Kapoor, there was a buzz that he was close to Amrita Rao, then Vidya Balan, followed by Sania Mirza and Priyanka Chopra.

Some said that he was close to Priyanka now but it seems his friendship with ‘Kismet Konnection’ co-star Vidya Balan is still going strong too.

Shahid was seen with the much mature looking Vidya at Aurus, a Juhu lounge bar in Mumbai recently.

When both came to Aurus, the table was already booked on Shahid’s name, as he had made the reservation himself.

He was dressed in a brown jacket and dark blue jeans and black shoes. Shahid arrived on his sports bike and Vidya came in her car wearing a yellow suit.

The table was away from the common area.

A source has said, “Shahid and Vidya have had been out for dinners in the past but with common friend designer Shabina Khan and others. However, this was the first time they were spotted having dinner all by themselves”.

It’s been said that they ordered dinner with dessert.

They didn’t seem to be in a rush and stayed on till very late in the night.

The buzz is that Tabu was sitting a few tables away from them. She apparently noticed the duo but did not go to join them. Basically Shahid and Vidya enjoyed each others company without a care in the world.

Post his break up, Shahid sure has been having an interesting love life. We wonder what the next twist is going to be.

Kabhi khushi kabhi gham

January 14th, 2009

Is it possible for two actresses to remain friends? Ask Vidya Balan and Raima Sen who are as thick as thieves

In Bollywood there are many friendships that start from the reels and extend onto real life. Vidya Balan and Raima Sen are one such. On Sunday evening, an eyewitness caught Vidya and Raima bonding like school girls. The two actresses seemed to be having a great time at Juhu's Prithvi café taking the entire place by surprise.

The witness said, "Vidya and Raima walked into the Prithvi Cafe instantly drawing our attention. Vidya was dressed in a white chikan salwar kurta while Raima was in a pair of jeans and a white shirt. They were giggling and enjoying each other's company. It appeared as if the two were catching up after a long time."

Since the café was full, they didn't find a place to sit says the witness. "Vidya and Raima were about to walk out when the manager made place for them. They had a glass of the famous Prithvi cutting chai while most present there were ogling at them.When they stepped out, they could not locate their cars. So they hopped into a rickshaw and sped away like a breeze even before gapers like us could realise anything."

Raima confirmed to us, "Vidya and I have been good friends since our Parineeta days. However, this is something very personal and I don't want to talk about it."

Meanwhile, Vidya remained unavailable for comment.

Vidya Balan Causes Traffic Jam

January 10th, 2009

No, she's not bad behind the wheel, it's just that Vidya Balan's enthusiastic ways can be a distraction for other motorists.

Recently, Vidya spotted director Raj Kumar Hirani at the Carter Road promenade in Bandra while she was in her car. The actress immediately rolled down the glass of her window and called out to the director. But Raju failed to notice her. Vidya then stopped her car and got down to meet him. And with that she brought the traffic to a standstill too!

Kismat Konnection goes for Oscar library

January 10th, 2009

The library of motion picture of arts and sciences(oscars library) has expressed interested in acquiring a copy of the screen play of Kismat Konnection for the permanent core collection. The scripts in their collection are made accessible for research purposes only; students, film makers, writers and actors are among their regular patrons.

Says Mr. Ramesh Taurani, owner of Tips, “I am very pleased with the inclusion of the screenplay of Kismat Konnection to the Oscar Library. TIPS FILMS has always endeavored to give the audiences great stories backed with great entertainment value. Its always a pleasure to be recognized for your craft by one of the most respectable film bodies of our times.”

Speaking on this a close friend of Shahid said, “Shahid was always proud to be a part of Kismat Konnection. He felt privileged to be working with a director like Aziz Mirza. Now with the Oscar library acquiring the script of the film Shahid feels even more privileged.”

You may hate her clothes but Vidya Balan is red hot

Vidya Balan's on a roll. Post the success of Kismat Konnection the actress' kismet is really shining.

She's just back from a month long trip from New York where she had gone for a fund raiser and she's all set to shoot for her next set of exciting projects, namely Pa with Amitabh Bachchan and AB junior and Vishal Bharadwaj's production.

She's choosing her new films with care as always but one thing she's sure of is ' no more fluff roles for her.'

Obviously the actress can afford to pick and choose cos she's the only girl who has had nine big hits out of the total twelve films in her filmography.

A trade expert spills the beans on this "Can you beat that? Vidya Balan is actually a hit machine. Vidya has had one big blockbuster every year.

All her films have been hits or super hits with the exception of Eklavya, Halla Bol and Salaam-e- Ishq where her role was smaller than the audience in the theatre!

She was appreciated even in these flop films and she's had flak imagine for being part of the biggest blockbusters of last and this year, namely Heyy Babyy, Bhool Bhulaiya and this year, Kismet Konnection. All thanks to her wardrobe!

C'mon even icons like Madhuri and Ash have been criticized for their dress sense at some point or the other. But that didn't stop their success.

Likewise none of this criticism has actually affected her box office status. She's still most popular with the family and the women audience."

Another fashion expert seconds the sentiment, " Vidya is very popular inspite of all this flak she has got.

She is a classical beauty in the mould of Hema Malini, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee and an exceptionally gifted actress. She has the most expressive eyes and she is different from the new lot of girls"

Obviously its Vidya's classical Indian beauty that captivates everyone including her fans at the box office. So flak or no flak, Vidya continues to go from strength to strength.

A friend of the actress remarks, "Vidya has sportingly taken all this criticism in her stride and chooses to learn from it. Criticism spurs her on and it's the reason for her success!"

Says Vidya, " I love my critics. They have helped me grow."