A Producer asked me to sleep with him

Her maiden film as an actress – Hum Sey Hai Jahaan bombed at the box office, but then pretty, dark and smart Vishakha Singh is not unduly perturbed by the fate of the film for the simple reason that even before Hum Sey Hai Jahaan was complete, she had bagged two more films – Abhijeet Sengupta’s Do Aur Do Paanch and Venkatesh Naidu’s Coffee Shop, which are also being readied for an early release.

Born and brought up in Abu Dhabi, Vishakha, who was the cultural captain while she studied in school, is a beauty with brains, having graduated in Business Administration in New Delhi. Vishakha confesses that it was sheer boredom with her internship in a couple of ad agencies that prompted her to try her hands at modeling.

Vishakha continues confessing that her acting stint had actually started right from home when she had lied to her strict father that she wanted to go to Mumbai to do theatre because he was not in favor of letting her act in films.

Vishakha concedes that though it is easy to get offers to act in ad films after giving the auditions, to face the camera and emote and lose one’s inhibitions to a blank lens which is just a piece which does not respond to you is quite a tough task.

“Though I did not learn acting by joining any acting academy, I am glad I was able to understand the medium by facing the camera for ad films.

Though as far as acting was concerned, I was 10 when I embarked on a career in acting, today I feel I can rate myself 4 out of 10, ” Vishakha quips.

Though Vishakha has not acted in any TV serial till date, she says that all the credit for having made her an actress ought to go to Balaji Telefilms which had auditioned her for a role in their popular serial Kasauti Zindagi Ki.

“I was given a two page long dialogue for the scene in which Prerna loses her son. After I had done the scene, I went on crying and was asked to report for the shoot from the next day.

However I decided that I could not suffer doing such scenes for 25 days every month and politely declined the role of Aparna who ends up marrying Mr Basu, ” explains Vishakha.

However, Vishakha says that she does not regret having said no to act in TV serials.

“TV is a very open medium. Touchwood, if my films do not do well at the box office, I am one hundred per cent confident that television is one medium which would still welcome me, with open arms.

I do not mean to look down upon TV. It is just that as of now I want to concentrate all my attention on making a career as an actress in Bollywood, ” Vishakha explores her world of hope.

Whether in Hum Sey Hai Jahaan or Do Aur Do Paanch or for that matter Coffee Shop, Vishakha says that she has made it a point not to expose at all, though it is the latest mantra in Bollywood.

“Losing one’s inhibitions does not at all mean that one should bare one’s clothes but emotions. It is only the director and the script which can convince me as far as agreeing to expose on the screen is concerned, ” bold goes the rising star.

What is Vishakha’s take on exposure? I ask Viashakha. She shoots back, “I have a lot of pride in me.

When I saw Esha Deol appear in a skimpy bikini in Dhoom, my heart sank, because I realized that I stood no chance of saying no to getting into a bikini, if Esha who is from the film industry had to do it. I am not at all a prude.

Though I had turned down Arjun Sablok’s offer to cast me in Niel N Niki in the role in which he had eventually cast Tanisha, because he could not convince me to expose my cleavage almost throughout the film, I’d readily do a lip to lip kissing scene like Rani did in Black if the scene changes the entire narration like it did in Black.”

Is she scared of the syndrome of the casting couch? I ask her.

Without batting her eye lids, she replies, “I am not scared at all of the casting couch, because I’d slap the person if someone makes an attempt, though I do not deny that it does exist.

A Telugu film producer told me on my face to sleep with him if I wanted to act in his film, but he was lucky because I had politely walked out, since I was new then, long before I bagged the offer for my first film.”

In Do Aur Do Paanch, Vishakha plays a typical tapori girl since the film, in her own admission, is a take off on Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, a comedy action film, which has Salman Khan doing a special appearance though the flick has no love triangle at all.

In Coffee Shop, Vishakha plays the role of a painter. “It is about the struggle of the girl who wants to go to the New York School of Fine Arts. Though in real life, I also dabble with painting as a hobby, I am not a M. F. Hussain in real life, though I could identify with the journey of the character that I am playing in Coffee Shop to a large extent, ” Vishakha casts light on her character.

When she met Mashoor Amrohi who has not only played the leading man in Hum Sey Hai Jahaan but also produced, directed, written and choreographed the film, Vishakha says that she could easily gel with him because they belonged to the same age group and there was no communication gap.

“I was relieved to make my debut with a banner which was known to present women in a dignified way”, Vishakha quips and adds that it was a big advantage to her that Mashoor, besides being the leading man, was also the director of the film since she did not have to necessarily look tom the director behind the camera.

Inrterestingly Vishakha’s name was suggested by the unit of Chak De India after she had been rejected by Shimit Amin when she auditioned for the role eventually played in the film by Vidya Malavade, because Shimit did not find her suitable for the matured character.

Vishakha says that her wish list is to act in films like Black and Cheeni Kum since she is a die-hard fan of Rani Mukerjee, Kajol, Tabu, Vidya Balan and Minissha Lamba (“I like Minisha’s choice of films”) as far as actresses are concerned though her staunch favorite among the actors is none other than Hrithik Roshan. “I dote on Hrithik Roshan because he is so devoted to his work”, she concludes.

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Kashmera is making me famous: Rakhi

Bollywood’s celebrated item girl Rakhi Sawant loves publicity of all kinds – positive or negative. And she doesn’t mind even if it comes from her rival Kashmera Shah.

‘Whether she loves me or hates me, she has made me famous by playing my role, ‘ Rakhi told on telephone from Mumbai.

Kashmera apparently played an item girl named Rakhi who aspires to become an actress in a big budget musical called ‘City of Dreams’ held in Mumbai last week.

But the ‘Jungle’ girl maintained that her role had no resemblance to Rakhi. Rakhi, however, asserts that it was undoubtedly a character inspired by her life.

‘Kashmera definitely played Rakhi Sawant’s role in that play. It was entirely based on me, ‘ said Rakhi, who has just won a reality dance contest, ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa’.

‘But even if it wasn’t Kashmera, somebody else would have surely played the role, ‘ Rakhi added.

Asked if she would ever play a role based on Kashmera’s life, she remarked: ‘No, never! I would never play any such role.’

She added: ‘Kashmera is such a girl that you befriend her and then she would backstab you. She never talks anything positive. I associate only negativity with her.’

Rakhi’s remarks are a continuation of the war of words between the two Bollywood item girls.

Kashmera had recently said of Rakhi: ‘I love to hate her and I hate to love her.’

Rakhi and Kashmera’s rivalry goes back to Sony TV’s reality show ‘Big Boss’, where the two were participants. They started off as good pals but their relations soured during the show. The duo accused each other of maligning their image to gain sympathy votes.

Their relations only worsened during reality dance show ‘Nach Baliye 3′, in which they even took personal potshots at each other.

Rivalry apart, Rakhi is currently basking in the happiness of finally winning ‘Yeh Hai Jalwa’.

‘I am feeling great and very confident. My mother is very happy. Just like when the Indian cricket team wins and gets back, my win was also celebrated like that, ‘ she said joyously.

Till date, Rakhi, who stood runners-up on ‘Nach Baliye’ believes that she was the winner of the show. ‘I was the winner of ‘Nach Baliye’. Abhishek (Awasthi) and I got the maximum points but the voting system was bad, ‘ she said.

Rakhi and her partner Abhishek had filed an official complaint against STAR Plus after the ‘Nach Baliye’ results were announced. They had levelled several accusations against the channel, including tampering with SMS votes and indulging in software manipulation.

Kareena has not made me a Size Zero: Amrita Arora

Gaunt with the wind ? That seems to be the magic mantra for all the wannabe Size 0s of Bollywood these days.

The latest slim-as-a-reed candidate is the petite Amrita Arora who like her best friend, Kareena Kapoor seems to have lost a lot of weight.

Says Amrita, “Yeah, Kareena is my best friend. And like all best friends she’s a positive influence on me. She introduced me to power yoga and that changed me life and my physicality.”

Amrita insists she hasn’t lost weight drastically. “It’s only my face. Like Kareena’s, it’s naturally chubby face. I hate it when she and now I are called anorexic. What a terrible description. We both love our meals yaar.

Trust me, Kareena eats heartily, and so do I. I’m doing nothing out of the way. I still go to the gym only once a day and I’m not starving myself.

It’s just that for the first time in my life I’ve lost weight on my face. So has Kareena.”

As for Size 0, Amrita sighs, “I’m Size 6-8. O seems a distant dream and I don’t even want to get there, please. When people talk about me being anorexic and a Size 0 I feel bad. That’s not the kind of influence I want to be on audiences. “

Amrita is happy doing an assortment of films including Gol Maal Returns where her best friend Kareena also stars.

“I’m opposite Arshad Warsi and we all live as part of one family in the plot and we all make one another happy. Now how much more positive can the influence get?”

1000 and counting – Sonal Chauhan

You must have heard fans weighing their idol actors with gold and coins. But would not have heard of an incident when a fan has weighed his favorite actor with flowers.

Yes, exactly this is what happened with Sonal Chouhan, the petite ‘Jannat’ fame bimbette. A fan was so impressed with her that he sent her a bouquet with more than 1000 flowers to weigh her with it.

“Sonal first got scared thinking she is been stalked, ” informs a source close to the actor. “But then she was pleasantly surprised as she realized that it wasn’t the case, ” further adds the source.

And the most interesting part of this entire incident was that Sonal took more than 2 hours to count the exact number of flowers which was more than 1000.

Well, Sonal must be on cloud nine. But she isn’t enjoying it to the fullest. Reason – she is regretting being ultra thin for she would have received couple of hundred more flowers had she been a little more plump!

Shahrukh got Kareena confused to take revenge from Saif

This time the hottest of the Bollywood couples faced the wit and humor of Sharukh and his gang. Yes, this time it was the turn of Kareena and Saif Ali Khan who was quizzed by SRK and brigade at gradually heating up reality show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hai as to prove one more intelligent than a fifth class student.

This time at the show, it was the King Khan who was challenged by Saif as a host but very soon Shahrukh got things under control as he confused Kareena a bit with his a number of questions.

The reality show that is picking up has a lot to offer people of all age groups. And above all the questions raised by fifth standards students have made many professionals and experts to sweat.

Priyanka Chopra’s Brave Red Hair Look

When my stylist for the film, Mickey Contractor, told me that I would be sporting red hair in the film, I thought he had lost it. I couldn’t imagine walking up to my dad and telling him that I had to dye my hair red. But when my dad saw me with the new hairdo, he just freaked out. He didn’t speak to me for three days! I love my dark long hair but later I took it as an exciting challenge. I thought this can be a different experience as no other actress has done it before. So I coloured my hair twice in 45 days! I never used to go out and whenever I did, I used to wear a bandana.

Priyanka’s New Look:

I’ve to get thinner to look like Deepika

Anil Kapoor known to be one of the slimmest actors Bollywood has ever produced has now decided to make his daughter slimmer than ever before.

And he found an ingenious way of letting her know his slimming intentions. He got her a fat-free- sugarless cake on her birthday on Monday.

Known for her sweet tooth, Sonam caught on quickly.And got seriously worried.

“I thought I had slimmed enough. I lost 35 kgs before Saawariya. I’ve been constantly keeping my weight down. But I think Dad knows the other girls are looking very slim these. It was his way of letting me know that I needed to get even thinner. A strange present on my birthday.”

With a string of illnesses in the family suddenly happening all at once Sonam Kapoor just didn’t feel like celebrating her birthday.

“None of us was in the mood to party. Dad did get me a sugar-free cake and I blew out the candles in front of my family. But that’s about it..There were too many illnesses and hospitalizations in the family.”

But Dad Anil Kapoor did make a ‘weighty’ statement.

Sonam has caught on. “I’m going on a diet. I need to get thinner to look comparable with the other girls. Look at Deepika. She’s athletic and slim. I’m not an athlete. But I’m a runner. I love to go on long runs all on my own for miles and miles. That is a sure way to lose weight.”

But now with dad’s prodding her into a fat-free awakening Sonam is about to lose more kilos.

“I have to. It’s not a vanity. It’s for my sanity. I can’t be happy being healthy when the other girls are frantically losing weight. So thanks to my Dad I’m losing more weight.”

And what else did Sonam do on her birthday? “Nothing. Saw a film and went to sleep early since I needed to look fresh the next morning to shoot for Delhi 6.”

If Aishwarya can do item numbers why can’t I: Neetu Chandra

When I meet Neetu Chandra in sweltering and scorching heat on location in Bhopal where she is shooting for director Gary Grewal’s maiden venture as a director- Khusar Prasad Ka Bhoot in which she has been teamed opposite Randeep Hooda, she is excited about her role in the film.

“I play the role of Chabeeli, a woman of loose character in Khusar Prasad Ka Bhoot. What is interesting is the fact that I am the only girl in the entire film.

Chabili is liked by all the characters in the film. Everyone in the film tries all the time to hit on me. Thanks to the script, I am now having the opportunity to do a performance oriented role in Khusar Prasad Ka Bhoot.

It is my fourth film with Paresh Rawal, with whom I had acted in my very first film Garam Masala”, exclaims an excited Neetu.

Neetu is of the opinion that her role as Chabili in Khusar Prasad Ka Bhoot is quite different from her earlier roles till date.

“It is a big transition for me as an actress if you just compare my role in Khusar Prasad Ka Bhoot with my earlier characters in earlier films.

It is totally opposite to the character I did in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Traffic signal or for that matter the character of the Haryanvi lady cop that I played in Ashwani Dheer’s One Two Three.

The best thing about my character in this film is that mostly I have got to deliver my dialogues on the louder side through my eyes”, explains Neetu.

Neetu says that she preferred to be launched as one of the three girls in Garam Masala instead of waiting for a big break as a solo heroine.

“I am from a film background. Priyan Sir chose to give me a break with a big banner, ” goes on the charming lady, “If I had done a solo lead, I do not think anyone would have come to watch me in the film.

In Garam Masala, I had two big leading men like Akshay Kumar and John Abraham to lure the audiences to the theaters.

I preferred to have a safe launch like Garam Masala after having appeared as a super model in several ads including Parker, Minto, and Reliance etc. Priyan Sir had directed the Parker ad in which I had the privilege to appear alongside with Amitabh Bachchan”.

Neetu asserts that her glamorous post Garam Masala image almost affected her prospects in films.

She further adds, “Though I had acted in a serious role in the play Aao Saathi Sapna Dekhe directed by Swanand Kirkire who had composed the music for Parineeta, I started getting roles which needed me to appear in a bikini after Garam Masala since I had projected a glamorous image in the film.

In fact the image with which I was saddled after Garam Masala actually almost affected my career prospects since there were people who even tried to scare Madhur by telling him that it was wrong on his part to cast a girl like me in a deglamorised role in his film Traffic Signal”.

After having played a glamorous role in Priyadarshan’s Garam Masala, Neetu is glad that she played a deglamorised role in Madhur Bhandarkar’s film Traffic Signal, though several so called well wishers of hers advised her that it was a suicidal move on the part of a newcomer like her to take up an arty role like that.

Adds Neetu, “I am glad I received accolades for my performance in Traffic Signal. I am now acting in Rahul Dholakia’s Mumbai Cutting, believe it or not, in yet another path breaking as well as deglamorised role as a housemaid, with an entirely different dimension”.

Neetu admits that it was tough to play a housemaid in Mumbai Cutting.

“It is for the first time that I have played the role of a housemaid in Mumbai Cutting. I have not touched make up at all throughout the film. There are two brilliant actors from the theater in the film, but they have not been cast opposite me.

Even in Traffic Signal, I had to apply a tanned make up whereas in Mumbai Cutting I shunned make up to get into the skin of the character”, Neetu explains her serious approach towards her characters.

Neetu is now acting in a Tamil film called Yaavarum Nalam as R. Madhavan’s wife. The actress asserts, “It is a horror thriller film backed by Reliance Adlabs and directed by Vikram from the South.

It is being made in two languages – Hindi and Tamil. The Hindi version has been titled ‘Flat No 13 B’. Poonam Dhillon plays my mother in law in the film”.

Neetu is playing the role of a college student in Dibankar Bannnerjee’s Oye Lucky Lucky Oye opposite Abhay Deol.

“It is an out and out commercial movie from the stable of Dibankar who had made his debut with a brilliant film like Khosla Ka Ghosla. I play Abhay’s love interest in the film. I play a second year college girl.

It is Abhay’s story but I play an important role since I change him in the film which was shot in Manali. Paresh Rawal is also playing a very important role in the film, ” the lady adds on offers being showered on her.

Neetu, who is happy that she has proved to be a good survivor in this industry considering the fact that she has made it here without the help of any God father and does not have any filmy connections to work for her, is game to do item numbers, too.

“I am game to do item numbers today. Why not? Today I feel that item numbers are great because not every one can do it with finesse. Raakhee Sawant, Mallika Sherawat and Aishwarya Rai would not have been able to deliver their item numbers if they did not know dancing.

Today there are instances where films which remain unsold are snapped up by distributors if an item number is added to them”, Neetu clears up the matter. Neetu asserts that she is not at all insecure considering there is stiff competition in the film industry, because she has confidence in her mettle as an actor.

“I am basically a sports person and have the killing instinct because of that. The role that I did in One Two Three was offered to different actresses including Bipasha Basu and Sameera Reddy.

Since I do not want to limit myself, I grabbed the role though I felt that it was a stupid role. My gamble paid off when the critics showered their praises on me for my performance in the film”, sums up Neetu.

Neha Dhupia Says No To Unnecessary Skin Show

The sexy and bold actress has now suddenly become a little conservative!! Known for her sultry and bold image, Neha has now decided to cut on the unnecessary show of skin on the screen. With “cut down the unnecessary skin show” we don’t mean that she would not be baring her skin at all. Well, she still has no problems with dare to bare act provided that it’s projected in a good way. Reports also say that she has already refused some offers which demanded the “unnecessary skin show.”
With Neha not very popular with the directors already, will her NO to skin show fetch her any movie from now on??

Mallika Sherawat Challenged To Bare-It-All

Now here’s a treat for the fans of the sex symbol of bollywood, Mallika Sherawat. The sex king of Hollywood recently compared the Indian bombshell with the rich n famous Pamela Anderson. With this, he even offered her to bare it all at the Howard Stern TV show. Sources say that Mallika was asked to pose naked in a swimming pool even in her much talked about movie “Murder”, but the bikini beauty thought the scene was too bold and had refused then. But this time the tables might turn and the actress might agree to the offer as it is supposed to involve millions of dollars and huge modeling consignments.
With the movies coming rarely her way, we surely can expect the naked sexy actress soon on the show.