Look boys we ain’t just glamour girls!

If the men are doing it so are the women. From opening restaurants to starting hotels, actresses are also blurring the lines between the worlds of Bollywood and business.

While actors like Mithun Chakraborty, Shah Rukh Khan and Suniel Shetty are thriving in the business world, their counterparts Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai and Preity Zinta are also giving them tough competition.

Sushmita was probably the first to turn entrepreneur when she set up her company Sensazione in 2006. Through her company, she plans to open a chain of hotels, lounges and spas.

Besides, she has acquired 12,000 sq ft of space in Kolkata for a ‘lifestyle zone’, which apart from a huge open space will house a nightclub, a restaurant and a cigar lounge.

She says frankly that she was tired of being an actor and business had always been a second career option.

‘Had I not been an actor, I would have been an entrepreneur. The lounge bar in Kolkata and my dream project, the spa, are all part of my effort to touch people’s lives,’ the actress has been quoted as saying.

Sushmita has other plans too.

Under the banner of her production house Tantra Entertainment Pvt. Ltd, the ex-Miss Universe also wants to make meaningful films. Her first venture is ‘Rani Lakshmi Bai – The Warrior Queen’. The actress, who is directing as well as acting in the film, is currently busy with the pre-production work of the historical epic.

Her colleague Preity Zinta has become co-owner of the Mohali cricket team of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with partner Ness Wadia and two others. She is determined to make a go of it and says: ‘When I do anything in life for the first time, I want to succeed.’

‘It’s 2008! Women should get more active in business. It’s very different from working on a film where you’re on your own when ‘action’ is called on camera. In a boardroom, there’s constant conference and multi-tasking. The creative process is different in both the spheres.’

And Aishwarya Rai, according to reports, has stepped in to resurrect father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan’s company AB Corp and is negotiating with filmmakers to restart production work.

Then there is Ayesha Takia who with restaurateur boyfriend Farhan Azmi is set to launch their first boutique hotel in Goa.

‘It’s a dream come true for Farhan and I. We have been planning to do something together for the past year,’ Ayesha said in a press announcement.

The couple has acquired a 200-year-old Portuguese bungalow in Candolim, which is just 10 minutes away from the beach. They plan to build a luxurious swimming pool, a lounge area and are working out details on how to entertain guests with good music and superb cuisine.

‘Each of our boutique hotels will have 20 rooms,’ Ayesha has said.

Her appreciative boyfriend adds: ‘Ayesha is interested in doing other things rather than just acting which is so great.’

There are others too — for instance, Raveena Tandon is contributing significantly to the running of her husband Anil Thadani’s film distribution business.

Former actress Twinkle Khanna is a successful interior designer and won the Elle Decor International Design Award. She floated a company called Mock-Ups that specialises in interior decoration, designing and executing spaces.

Besides designing homes and offices, she also owns an interior designing store – the White Window – in Mumbai.

In 1940, legendary actress Devika Rani tried her hand at business by taking the charge of Bombay Talkies after her husband’s death, but she had to face failure.

But the new brigade is set to rewrite the rules.

Baby boy for Hrithik-Suzanne

Hrithik Roshan today became the father of a baby boy, his second son.

The actor’s wife Suzanne, gave birth to the the baby boy, weighing about 3.5 kgs, at the Leelavati hospital at Suburban Bandra at around 1125 hrs, family sources told the press.

”Both his wife and the baby are doing fine”, the sources said.

The couple’s first child ‘Hrehaan’ was born in March 2006.

Suzanne, daughter of Actor-producer Sanjay Khan, is a well-known interior decorator.

Mallika’s dress too revealing?

Mallika Sherawat is in soup again for wearing an ‘indecent’ dress at Dasavatharam audio launch at nehru Indoor Stadium on April 25.

An The Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK), which has been acting as Tamil Nadu’s moral police, submitted a petition at the Periampet police station claiming that her dress and behaviour hurt the sentiments of Tamils.

One of their activist S R Kaniraj caliamed in the complaint that Sherawat has “caused mental agony and hurt to the sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu by wearing a revealing mini skirt, exposing her back and sitting cross legged in front of the Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.”

HMK wants the police to take action against Mallika. Chief minister M Karunanidhi was the chief guest at the event, which was also attended by Jackie Chan, Amitabh Bachchan, Mammooty, Hema Malini and others.

HMK had earlier shot off a petition in January against Shriya Saran’s choice of dress at the silver jubilee celebrations of ‘Sivaji’ starring Rajnikanth and Shriya.

No Kissing and No Hot scenes for me

Neha Oberoi, who started with the ‘lovebuds’ story in the film ‘Dus Kahaniya’, says she is happy with a glamorous image but will not be comfortable doing bold scenes.

“I am a glamorous girl but I am not open to doing bold scenes. I am not comfortable doing kissing scenes or shedding clothes on screen,” says Neha, who has acted in Sanjay Gupta’s film ‘Woodstock villa’, releasing next month.

Oberoi, who play ‘Reshma’ in the film, is happy with the way her character has shaped. “I consider it as my debut film because this was the first Hindi film that I signed.”

“I play a ambitious small town girl who comes to Mumbai to become a model and an actor. It is a suspense thriller also starring Sikander Kher (Anupam Kher’s son),” she says.

Neha, who debuted with a very small role in ‘Dus Kahaniya’, however, is not worried about her unconventional launch but finds herself lucky to work with some great actors.

“I am happy with the way my career is shaping up. Though I started with a small role but I can’t be more thankful to God because during this film I got the chance to work in the company of actors like Naseerji, Shabanaji, Nana Patekar,” she says.

Even as Neha’s film ‘Woodstock villa’ is all set to hit the theaters next month, the actress is not sitting idle. She has already bagged an important role in a film starring Sanjay Dutt.

“I am also working in a film ‘EMI’ which stars Sanjay Dutt. The film is a satire on how the loan recovery agents harass a common man to recover loan amount,” she says. So, was she nervous working opposite Sanjay Dutt?

“Well, I was nervous initially. But I had already worked with him in a song for ‘Woodstock Villa’. There was no problem and we shot some long shots quite easily,” Oberoi says.

Although competition is the buzz word in Bollywood but Neha is all prepared and confident to create a space for herself in the film industry.

“I don’t have any competition because I am not competing with anybody. I believe there is enough space for everybody and if I am good then my work will speak for me,” she quips with confidence.

However, Oberoi admits that she had no inclination nor any idea about acting which happened quite by a chance. The actress had never thought to make a career in Bollywood.

“I never thought that I will be an actor someday. After my 12 standard, I did a music video and soon offers started pouring in from south and I decided to give it a shot,” “My first film ‘Balu’ won me a filmfare award and it gave me a big boost,” she says.

Lara differentiates between Priyan and David!

Who’s the comedy queen of Bollywood? Well, our vote goes to the former Miss Universe and top Bollywood actress, Lara Datta. Don’t believe us? Check out some of her superb comic acts in films like MASTI, NO ENTRY, BHAGAM BHAAG, JHOOM BARABAR JHOOM and PARTNER, to name a few. Undoubtedly Lara is the reigning comedy queen of Hindi films.

Having been the choice of three top names of the genre – Priyadarshan, David Dhawan and Anees Bazmee, it is obvious that Lara knows all about the subtleties of comedy. And that being the case, Lara is in the best position to answer a very pertinent but interesting question about the difference between the styles of the Priyadarshan and David Dhawan’s comedy.

As per Lara, the USP of both Priyan and David’s films is pure entertainment. The subtle difference is that Priyadarshan’s comedy has a lot of depth and class while David’s work is spicier and easier to pick. She hastens to add that both the directors have proven their capabilities time and again and she loves watching the films made by them.