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Beautiful People

Akshay Kumar’s in the beauty business now—he’s opened a beauty salon in partnership with his celebrity hair-stylist Perry Patel. The ceremony was strictly a family affair with Akshay’s nani cutting the ribbon, his mother beaming proudly at her daughter-in-law Twinkle, and Dimple, in a cotton sari, her hair wet and loose, carrying grandson Araav in her arms.

Twinkle looked stunning in jeans, a short blouse and a spray of diamonds all over. She and Akshay looked so much in love one is tempted to knock down those rumours linking Akki to his leading ladies.

Incidentally, Akshay’s sister Alka will handle the day-to-day affairs at the salon. Bhaiyya will just drop by for his hair-cut the way other clients do.



Sahara soiree

Even the most ostentatious of filmwallahs were left gaping at the sheer size and scale of the Sahara weddings in Lucknow on February 10 and February 14, 2004. Sahara Shri Subrata Roy’s two sons Sushanto and Seemanto got married in unprecedented style with practically every industry bigwig in attendance.

One specially chartered plane from Mumbai carried the likes of Yash Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Sunny Deol, Dimple Kapadia, Urmila Matondkar and Raveena Tandon to the shaadi and back. Another plane-load included Jaya and Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vivek Oberoi and sisters Shilpa and Shamita Shetty.

The highlight of the wedding was Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan dancing away in the baraat with Amar Singh and Lord Swraj Paul, Kareena Kapoor wearing a Manish Malhotra creation that rivalled those of the two Sahara bahus, and Aishwarya Rai and Vivek Oberoi making it to a very exclusive dinner hosted by the Sahara family for Lord Swraj Paul, the Godrejs, the Ambanis and the Bachchans.



Et Tum!

Cecile Anthony and Manisha Koirala flew to Phuket to ring in Valentine’s Day and then followed it up with a 10-day vacation in Thailand. Before leaving for Thailand, a distraught Manisha cried,

“Oh God why are some guys trying to make it seem like Tum is a sex film? It’s nothing of that sort. I wish people would stop associating me with sleazy films. I don’t want a repeat of the Ek Chhotisi Love Story controversy.’’

Of course Tum came and crashed. And no one bothered with its content. One is sure before Manya signs on another controversial film, she’ll think a hundred times over. Twice bitten, 100 times shy.



These two are really non-items ….

CUP SHUP – he’s a nobody!

Producer Pahlaj Nihalani’s elder beta and Kareena Kapoor’s buddy Vicky is an ace polo player.

He won the Jubilee Polo cup at the Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur sometime ago and was actually gifted a momento from Mrs. Anil Thadani, wife of the high-flying car-racing financier from Singapore. Maharaja Gaj Singh was also a part of the entire eventwhich had political heavyweights like Finance Minister Jaswant Singh gracing it. Way to go Vicky.



Letters to a son – pl spk re Samir Jain

It was nostalgia time for Amitabh Bachchan when he released Unki Pati, Apni Thati (His Letters, My Wealth), a compilation of his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s letters to him.

about published by the Navbharat Times and edited by Kamalkant Budhkar.

Mr.Samir Jain, Vice Chairman of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited met Mr Kamalkant Budhkar at Haridwar. And he happened to read the letters penned by Shri .Harivanshrai Bachchan to Mr Budhkar, which left an indelible mark on him. And therefore he initiated the project of having this book printed. The first copy of the book was presented to film-maker Yash Chopra. And Mr Bachchan got nostalgic while recalling his babuji’s letters to him had also made an immense contribution in shaping his own life.



Masti aur Dhoom

Vivek Oberoi is quite a charmer. And his charm was in full evidence when he was wrapping up the last day’s shoot of Indra Kumar’s Masti. Vivek and his co-star Lara Dutta were doing this wet, wet song and since Lara was in a swimming costume, she wanted the press off the set when the shot was canned.

So Vivek made up by playing host to the press in between takes. When asked about his next schedule for Subhash Ghai’s Ksna, where he would be in the company of a British actress and Isha Sherwani, our lad turned around and said, “Why talk about my next schedule? All I know is that right now I’m in the company of this very dusky beauty, Lara Dutta, and I’m quite happy.”

Lara blushed a beautiful pink. Must say Mr Oberoi has it down pat when it comes to pleasing the fairer sex.



Shaadi Ke Laddoo

So you know Raveena Tandon married Anil Thadani on February 22 at Udaipur’s Shiv-niwas Palace. You also know that Govinda danced all night long and was joined by Raveena’s bhidus Jackie Shroff and Ravi Shastri.

What you don’t know though is that Raveena received each and every guest personally when they set foot in Udaipur. She chose far-away Udaipur as the location for her wedding because she had always dreamt of getting married like a princess.

Also, she wanted the shaadi to be a strictly private affair with only family and close friends. “Neither Anil nor I are the Page 3 sort,” she said. But the media made it an extravagant affair by giving it top coverage.

“I’m grateful to the media,” said Raveena after the event. “I guess it was their way of showing they cared about me. I’m touched.”

Raveena invited very, very few people from the industry. Karan Johar, a good friend of Anil Thadani, led the baraatis. There was designer Anna Singh too. From the political side, there was Amar Singh.

Raveeena confesses, “I was grinning so much through all the ceremonies, my friends teased me and told me I could try to be a little more bashful.” Raveena didn’t even shed the customary tears at her bidaai. In fact no bidaai songs were even played. Instead they played bhangra tunes to match the robust and joyous mood. Anil took her away in a boat, and Raveena says it was the most memorable moment of her life. “Anil is my real soulmate,” she told us.

For their honeymoon the couple took a luxury cruise to the Far East. Here’s wishing Raveena and Anil continued bliss in their married life.



Holieer Than Thou

March 7: Venue: Prateeksha, the Bachchan residence. The occasion: Holi.

But naturally—the industry turned up in full force—Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, Karan Johar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Tabu, Shilpa Shetty, Arshad Warsi and who have you.

The Bachchans, as always, were the most gracious hosts with Amitabh Bachchan greeting each and every guest with gulal, Abhishek spraying them with colour and water from the garden hose and Jaya Bachchan graciously saying a namaste.

Some privileged guests like Adnan Sami and Sanjay Leela Bhansali were personally carried by the Bachchans Sr and Jr and dunked in a bathtub placed in the garden.

The food was Hindustani and the spirits ranged from bhaang to wine, Bloody Marys to beer.

The guests danced with gusto to Bachchan’s Holi numbers and Viju Shah’s band struck up tunes at full volume for special requests.

The highlight of the event: Amar Singh and Shah Rukh Khan burying the hatchet after their now infamous heated exchange in Dubai. Which made the Bachchans extremely happy. After all, Jayaji is extremely fond of SRK and Amitabh considers Amar Singh his younger brother.