Bollywood Gossips

The story of ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI has some reality in it. Kangna has admitted that the character of Rehana which she plays in is indeed based on a real actress who existed in the 70s. Her name was Sona and though no one knows where she is today, she was the love interest of Haji Mastan (a Mumbai based don on whom Ajay Devgn’s character is based).

“Well, I have been told that Haji Mastan was in love with this girl called Sona”, Kangna says in a hush-hush tone, “She was a Madhubala look-alike and a struggler during the 70s. She had worked in this film called KACHCHE DHAAGE that starred Vinod Khanna and Moushumi Chatterjee. When Haji Mastan and Sona met, they became romantically involved. He even went on to make a movie for her.”

While producer Ekta Kapoor and director Milan Luthria are officially not quite declaring ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI to be the real life tale of Haji Mastan or Dawood Ibrahim, it was pretty much obvious to one and all that the comparisons were not coincidental by any means. The question that was fast making the rounds was that whose story was being played by Kangna Ranaut? Is it Meena Kumari or Mudhabala by any chance???

“As such there is no particular reference point. As for the actresses that you mention, how can you even think of that? Haji Mastan and Madhubala belonged to a different period altogether. While Haji Mastan was active in the decade of 70s, Meena Kumari used to act during 50s and 60s. There can’t be any connection at all so where was the question of my character being based on Madhubala at all?” said the actress.

Well, the latest that we hear is that, Akshay Kumar and Priyanka Chopra who have not done a film together after Akki’s wife Twinkle asked him to stay away from the girl are now in touch through phone.

A source close to the actress informs, “Priyanka and Akshay, are regularly in touch through phone and they often call or SMS each other.”
We all know that Aki’s friendship with Piggy Chops is not acceptable to Twinkle. She had also incorporated a clause on all of Akshay’s film contracts that Akshay will not do a film with Priyanka.

The obedient husband Akki, stuck to his wife’s demand but has always been in touch with Priyanka.

Wonder what’s goin on!!

Shahrukh Khan congratulated Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray in ‘Saamna’ on the latter’s 50th birthday. The actor also sent a bouquet of flowers to the Sena’s executive president. This is indeed a generous gesture by king Khan. Readers may remember that Shiv Sena had raised a great ruckus during the IPL over SRK’s comment on including Pakistani players in the IPL.

In fact, Shiv Sena had threatened to ban Shahrukh’s ‘My Name is Khan’ in Maharashtra. Given this backdrop, SRK’s large heartedness shows that he is not only a hero in reel life, but also in real life as he is willing to forgive and forget.

Actor Madhavan, who stole many hearts with his powerful performance in 3 IDIOTS, is making news for a different reason this time. These days Madhavan is becoming a source of inspiration for many including his friend Aamir Khan. It’s learnt that Madhavan has designed a logo for himself and his wife, which has caught the eye of perfectionist Aamir Khan. Now, Aamir is adamant to have a similar logo for him and his wife Kiran Rao. Reportedly Aamir has spoken to the same designer…

Sonam Kapoor, who is making waves for her stylish looks in her upcoming film AISHA, was beset with some wardrobe issues at a promotional event. It’s learnt that Sonam wore pants that kept slipping down since it was not of the right measurement. The actress was pulling it up every time and finally had to pin it up to keep it from slipping further. Well, we wonder how Sonam got into such a style mess at the first place. The actress who shows up quite fashionably otherwise on…

Dev Anand is all set with his next directorial venture CHARGESHEET, in which he is also playing a pivotal role. The 86-year-young actor tells us the secret behind what keeps him going. “I have a strong heart of steel. I have made the film with the thought that I’m competing with the world. I’m growing even today. There are many people who become sharp with age. Sharpness is required in motion picture making,” says Dev with conviction. He further adds, “Time goes along…

After COMPANY, Ajay Devgn is gung-ho about playing the role of a gangster yet again in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MUMBAAI. The actor tells us what is attractive about gangster based films. On the success of gangster based films, Ajay opines, “It’s not about gangster based films. It’s about good scripts and bad scripts. What we are trying to make is just a reflection of society.” He continues, “There is something intriguing about gangsters. When you talk about my character in the…

Two times National Award winning actor, director, producer Ajay Devgn, has someone who has broken clichés time and again. From being touted as an action hero, to being unbeatable at comedy, carrying strong characters in drama genre to reinventing himself for every role, Devgn has outdone himself time and again.

With Milan Luthria’s Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, Ajay is all set to show once again his ability to shine as an actor. From donning the role of a Don to enacting a character from an era gone by, Ajay is simply unstoppable.

Join Ajay Devgn on Bollywood Hungama’s Celebrity Video Chat exclusively on Thursday, July 29 at 1530 hrs IST.

What’s common to the films Chasme Budoor, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Lucky-No Time For Love, Bunty Aur Babli, Pyar Tune Kya Kiya and terms like ‘comedy’, ‘class acting’ etc… Well, we would have loved to say that the common factor that ‘connects’ all of the above is ‘Ravi Baswani’. The sad news is that Baswani who redefined comedy in his own way in Indian films passed away yesterday.

It is indeed a tragic loss not just to Bollywood, but also to mankind, he was also known to be a simple and down to earth man. Ravi suffered a massive heart attack. We at Bollywood Hungama pray for the departed soul, thus wishing that may His soul rest in eternal peace.

After a relatively quieter first half of 2010, prolific composer Pritam is back in the limelight yet again. He has just delivered a chartbuster soundtrack in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai, the songs of which can be heard from all nooks and corners. Moreover, he has a jam packed second half of the year ahead, what with biggies like Action Replayy, Golmaal 3 and Crook: It’s Good To Be Bad in the offing.

While it is a given that there would be at the least a couple of chartbusters in each of his forthcoming films (well unless law of averages proves otherwise), there also has been a strong buzz around him doing a few promotional music videos. This is not something new for him though since in the past, he has faced the camera while shooting songs for films like Life In A Metro and Mukhbir.

No wonder, it didn’t sound improbable when news started making the rounds that he, along with one of his favourite singers Neeraj Sridhar, was roped in for promotional tracks of Action Replayy and Golmaal 3. While Pritam is working for the first time with Vipul Shah – the maker of Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai starrer Action Replayy – he has been a constant fixture with Rohit Shetty after Golmaal Returns and All The Best.

However, when enquired, Rohit dismissed the theory about Pritam being used as a face of the music as well. “No, he is not doing any music video of Golmaal 3. There was never even a plan for this so it is surprising that such a piece of news has actually floated around. In fact I am hearing it for the first time”, he says.

On the other hand Vipul couldn’t hide his amusement when ‘informed’ about the presence of Pritam in his upcoming film.

“Now this is really funny”, he says in amazement, “How could this be even a possibility? Especially so when I have Akshay and Aishwarya in my film. They are enough to be the face of the videos here. Pritam has done well in the studio while recording music and that’s good enough for me.”

Well, further investigation reveals that Pritam has indeed done a music video along with Neeraj but that’s neither for Action Replayy nor Golmaal 3. It is in fact for ‘not so usual suspect’ Aashayein (starring John Abraham), the music of which has just hit the stands. The song in question is ‘Mera Jeena Hai Kya’ which features both Pritam along with Neeraj in a specially designed music video. This is not all as there is another song in the album as well that has a promotional music video made around it. Titled ‘Dilkash Dildaar Duniya’, it features Shaan.

Incidentally, Pritam is the guest composer of the film and has contributed only two songs in an album that mainly has Salim-Suleiman as the prime composers. Pritam was unavailable for comment.