The Shaukeens is admirable to watch once in terms of the humour quotient.

Akshay Kumar has done numerous comedy roles but hasn’t really had as much fun. We have seen actors steal scenes away from stars many times before, but The Shaukeens is the ultimate star’s vengeance. Akshay casts himself in a role where he’s playing a version of himself (one who supposedly cannot act, craves for a National award and eagerly subjects himself to torture from an unconventional abusive Bengali art filmmaker) and steals the thunder away from bona fide veteran actors Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra by taking sporting digs at himself and proving that his comic timing is the very best.

Fortunately, director Abhishek Sharma paces up the movie much well by bringing in a lot more laughter on screen. While he picks just the one line plot of the movie, the narration of his version, The Shaukeens, is put together in a totally new set-up.

This means the movie comes straight to the point in first 10 minutes itself, unlike the Ashok Kumar - Utpal Dutt - A.K. Hangal affair that took more than 30 minutes before the pace picked up. Also, out goes the whole Mithun Chakraborty track that really contributed absolutely nothing to the original. Instead, a whole new track centered on Akshay Kumar is introduced which is truly relevant to the tale. Also, going with the present times, the friendship between Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra is not as sugar coated as the one from the era gone by. This is what makes The Shaukeens a lot more fascinating and appealing.

Luckily, it is free spirited Lisa Haydon who lights up the screen every time she appears. She has the way of making every scene her own each time around and while that was noticeable in Queen too, she does it all over again in The Shaukeens too. As an outgoing soul who lives by the spirit of being an 'Earth's child' (as she calls herself), she is really astonishing, bindaas and cheerful. What makes her and her characterization ultra special is the fact that beyond her body beautiful, it is her free flowing body language and realistic dialogue delivery that make her extraordinary.

In addition, what makes the movie even more ultra special is the 'most special appearance' of Akshay Kumar who is really the leader of the pack. He is truly fantastic while playing a superstar who is confused with the ongoing trend of 100-200 crore club when all that filmmakers are asking him to do is repeat his Khiladi stunts! His effort to make himself worthy enough of being an award winning actor is remarkable.

The climax scene is wrapped up pretty soon when a much more innovative culmination in a humorous tone would have kept the film's overall comical tone intact.

Nonetheless, what keeps The Shaukeens immensely entertained are the performances, dialogues, locations and most importantly, the pace. In fact the first half just goes by in a jiffy while the second half is made extraordinary due to Akshay Kumar. Lisa Haydon keeps the sparkle intact and Annu Kapoor leads the trio of old men with his punchy dialogues and a cool act. Anupam Kher lets his hair down too, though a little more spice in his characterization and mannerisms would have allowed him to cover a greater distance. Piyush Mishra brings on good laughter as an unqualified businessman who struggles to make his presence felt amidst his classy friends.

On the whole, The Shaukeens is worthy to watch once in terms of the humour quotient.

Movie Super Nani is worthy to watch for Rekha’s good performance.

It is always a super sight to see Rekha on screen. And then when she makes a full-fledged return to the big screen in an author backed role in film Super Nani adapted from a Gujarati play (Baa Ae Maari Boundary by Imtiaz Patel). No wonder, Super Nani made for a much awaited watch, particularly due to the lady in there who has been around for over four decades and never failed to charm.

The movie starts off well and you do get a hang of the proceedings as Rekha, in complete 70s style, goes about her overdramatic ways. The title rolls are as everyone from Rekha's husband (Randhir Kapoor), son (Rajesh Kumar), daughter-in-law (Shreya Narayan) and daughter (Anchal Dwivedi) are introduced. While she cares for them all, for the family members she is someone who is just incidental and not really worthy enough of one single decent conversation. For her grand-son (Sharman Joshi) this is unacceptable and he goes about putting things in place.

Super Nani is called Super Nani because a dutiful housewife, (Rekha) prodded by her US-based grandson (a soppy Sharman Joshi speaking in a terribly fake NRI accent), reinvents herself as a glamorous diva to teach her thankless family a lesson in gratitude and humility.

While braving this outmoded farce, directed by Indra Kumar and starring Rekha in the title role, I thought of many other befitting titles it could have opted for.

In this whole setting, there are certain astonishing aspects of Super Nani that make one wonder how they could have been placed in the first place. Despite a mansion like setting with Randhir Kapoor being a CEO no less, there is just a single help in the house and it is Rekha who is shown to be running household tasks. Her family members are definitely mean and one could digest that as well. However, the way they go about insulting Rekha for the flimsiest of reasons is plain erratic. Agreed that a movie like this had to be over the top but in the name of drama, a few episodes get over-dramatic.

Sharman finds the model in Rekha in a jiffy. Her comfort to get into the skin of the character is almost instant, even though it is justified that she has a stage background. Her makeover is as easy as it gets and her rise to the top of stardom inside a year is stuff that dreams are made of. Furthermore, Rekha is in and out of her house at will which appears disorderly at many places.

But, what makes Super Nani watchable is the fact there are sufficient heart-warming moments interspersed by director Indra Kumar. Rekha brings in just the right emotions when dishonored and her change in persona on gaining a high in her personal and professional life makes one smile. Her humorous timing is perfect as well and one misses her more than ever before in these scenes. In the meantime Sharman is her ideal partner in these scenes and he brings in good laughter too.

Luckily, the drama never turns intense and there is humor interspersed every now and then. The way she goes about setting right her family members have a humorous tone to it which brings in the right entertainment quotient. In fact one expected this very aspect to stay on till the final act when Randhir Kapoor realizes her true worth.

Amongst actors, apart from Rekha everybody is required to be loud due to the film's theater like setting. Randhir Kapoor does well. Sharman Joshi, at places, reminds of his 3 Idiots act. Rajesh Kumar is suitable. Shreya Narayan brings on laughs. Anchal Dwivedi tries hard. Anupam Kher in a small role manages to make an impact. As Sharman's leading lady, Shweta Kumar is camera-friendly.

As for Rekha, it is this very aspect of seeing the lady glow again on screens that makes Super Nani a nostalgic watch. Of course with a much tighter tale and a more modern-day treatment, this Indra Kumar affair could have made for an even more thrilling watch.

Overall, it is an average film with Rekha’s good performance.

Sunny Deol to return to direction for Ghayal Returns!

Now, Sunny Deol wants to make a striking comeback with Ghayal Returns – probably, a project he’s convinced will be his new Gadar. He is leaving no stone unturned to make sure it becomes a movie to watch out for. In fact, he’s directing and producing it himself. At present, Sunny along with his team of writers, technicians and assistant directors is stationed in Khandala. They are working untiringly on the script of this ambitious project.

We’ve been hearing about Ghayal Returns for months now. In fact, the teaser of the 1990 revenge drama starring Sunny Deol, Amrish Puri, Meenakshi Sheshadri and Om Puri was aired during the screening of Salman Khan’s Ready. But the Deol picture failed to gain momentum and faced multiple roadblocks, with stories of several directors – from Ashwini Chaudhary to Rahul Rawail and even Rajkumar Santoshi (who directed Ghayal) – helming the project making rounds at different times. But, it turned out to be all empty noise.

But, now with Deol wielding the baton, this will be a movie that will definitely make a lot of buzz.

Rajkumar Santoshi is all set to begin the long-shelved film Power!

Director Rajkumar Santoshi is eager to get back to Bollywood’s power list. It’s reliably learnt that he has worked out a new script of the multi-starrer Power which was shelved after its first announcement in 2010.

Santoshi, along with the producer Feroz Nadiadwala, had announced Power featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt with much fanfare but for reasons best known to the producer and director, the movie got shelved. Prior to that Feroz and Ajay had some differences. In fact, Ajay even shot for it for about a week. Since then, the movie has been on the back burner.

At present, buzz is that Santoshi has determined to revive Power. According to a close source, Santoshi has incorporated a few changes in the script and will restart the project. He’ll be approaching new actors. Santoshi is perhaps best known for Andaz Apna Apna and Damini. But of late, he has taken a backseat. Whispers have it that he ran into gigantic debts.

Aishwarya Rai and Aamir Khan to star together in KJo's next!

They’re all remarkable and they’ve all been contemporaries, but they’ve never worked together. After all these years, it is actually likely the dream team of Karan Johar, Aishwarya and Aamir will work together in a movie!

At least that’s what the buzz that is doing the rounds in the industry tells. Aishwarya and Aamir have only worked for a coke commercial and nothing else unless you count that little time they spent on screen in Mela. So it actually would be a first time that the duo are getting teamed up we already absolutely love the idea!

As for Karan Johar, he’s never worked with either of them in his career and it sure would be great to have the duo romance the Karan Johar way, if the fact about him directing the movie is true, that is. So as soon as Jazbaa gets done with this grand movie with KJo, Aishwarya and Aamir Khan is all set to take off.

Salman Khan is pampering Kareena during the Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s shoot!

There are quite a lot of benefits for the leading ladies who get to act in Salman’s movies. They not only have their career graph shoot up considering how his movies are all massive hits by default, but also get pampered like crazy by the man himself while they’re working with him, thanks to his really big heart!

And it’s now Kareena Kapoor’s turn to bag all the attention that his leading ladies get while she’s working with him in Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Fortunate little Bebo is getting to eat the ‘ghar ka khaana that he particularly gets for her from his home along with surprises at times, like there was this one time when he got cupcakes for her right on the sets of Bajrangi Bhaijaan. And then daily, he showers praises on her for how beautiful she looks and how her skin glows and all of that...which senseless to tell, makes her blush every single time.

Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif to finally move in together!

After a very long time hearing things about Ranbir-Katrina’s new home on Carter road and how they’re decorating it and all that, at last the couple seems to have determined to move in together into that house, or so the rumors say.

And from what the sources reveal, it is in this very weekend that the duo will be moving in. But considering how Rishi Kapoor is not fine, there is a chance that the whole thing could be postponed. Also, they have Jagga Jasoos that they’re both working for which is still on the way to completion.

If Ranbir-Katrina do move in though, there is without doubt going to be a huge party…something like a house warming party to which all of the bollywood celebrities are going to be invited that they will actually host where they could also be making their relationship official. Since Ranbir and Katrina have both taken a vow of silence in this matter, we will only know of things when they actually happen.

Anushka gets flying kiss from Virat Kohli during a Match!

Virat Kohli was in so many ways, the man of yesterday’s match…he totally stole the show for more than one reason…he not only led the team to win but also got us all completely bowled over by his oh-so-romantic act of blowing a kiss to his girlfriend Anushka Sharma who was at the stadium to watch him play!

Dressed up like a total doll in white, Anushka Sharma was cheering for him throughout the match and when Virat Kohli did that slight romantic gesture after he made a half century, she stood up in what was a sort of a standing ovation in response.

We guess the twosome have now determined to fully come out into the open about their relationship. Keep in mind how last time, when Anushka Sharma was in Australia to watch him play and then everyone blamed her for his bad performance? This is like a fitting reply to that by Virat Kohli! Anushka must be so proud of her man.

Deepika loves my bald look: Ranveer Singh

Ever since Ranveer Singh has gone bald, everybody can’t stop talking about how unbelievably handsome he looks in all the glory of his new baldness and then, it in fact is not wonder that his lady love Deepika Padukone is completely in love with the look. Because it seems that, she is. And this, Ranveer Singh himself confessed to in one of his interviews.

“Deepika loved the look. I had shown her my pictures in costume. She is very happy and excited about joining the shoot of the film… it will happen within a couple of months” was what he told, very casually, as if Deepika is no more than just one more friend.

Here’s another piece of buzz about the baldness that we just found out and it’s that, he is going to have a little tuft of hair, something like a shendi that he’s going to sport in the role and something that Bhansali actually asked him to hide (which probably explains why he’s always seen wearing a hat).

I am not marketing-savvy and don’t believe in extensive promotions, says Akshay Kumar!

After the benchmark set by Shah Rukh Khan’s Happy New Year, the industry onlookers are now gunning for the forthcoming big-budget movies, including Akshay Kumar’s The Shaukeens which opens this week and Aamir Khan’s December release PK. They are hoping that these two biggies will at least match the success of HNY, if not surpass it.

Taking about energetic movie promotions that the Khans – Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir – are known for, Akshay Kumar admits he’s not that marketing-savvy and doesn’t believe in wide-ranging promotions, unlike some other Bollywood megastars.

During The Shaukeens promotions, Akshay disclosed, “I know it’s the order of the day. But I cannot do extensive promotion like other actors do for whatever reasons, be it wanting their film to earn the fastest highest collections ever or aiming to set new box-office record etc.”

He tells he can dedicate maximum “two weeks” for promotions. “Usually, I promote my film only for a week but if my movie’s marketing and PR team asks me to promote it for two weeks, I do it. I get bored of answering the same questions again and again. It can be very tiring.”   

I don't want to be termed as hot, says Lisa Haydon!

The word ‘hot’ has become so identical with ‘beautiful’ these days that you’d think people would be pleased to hear someone call them hot. But that’s not the case with Lisa Haydon! Call her hot and it truly offends her!

“I don’t want to be termed as ‘hot’. It was getting offensive after a point. Who wants to be hot” Lisa Haydon told to the media.

She also talks about how her character of Vijayalakshmi of Queen is hotter than this character of Ahana that she is playing in Shaukeens. Here’s what Lisa Haydon told about it, “In my opinion, my The Shaukeens character Ahana is not hot. Vijayalakshmi (from Queen) is hotter than Ahana though she does not do anything to be hot – she burps, she snores, and has an ‘I don’t give a damn’ attitude which appeals to people. Ahana, on the other hand, is a very innocent and naive girl.”

Bipasha Basu and Harman Baweja garbage split rumours!

All of the media and the cyber world was swarming with news of how Harman and Bipasha’s relationship is in a very good place with Harman cheating on Bipasha and all of that yesterday and that seems to have irked the duo as they came out with a ‘statement’ where in they cleared air on what really happened between them just so that we will stop guessing.

 “We have had our differences but this rumour is rubbish & has nothing to do with us taking our time off. In our relationship we have been dignified & respect each other. We do not like people having a field day at our expense. Whether we continue or not, We do & will always respect each other and would request media to respect our privacy too instead of printing all kind of rumours without even verifying it with us.”, as per joint statement released by both.

Did you observe they denied nothing and that they in fact told if they weren’t sure if they would continue or not? Obviously, the rumors weren’t wrong! Aww….don’t we feel sorry for poor Harman and Bipasha who are already on the verge of breakup while only a few days they looked like they were absolutely in love? 

Govinda won't work with David Dhawan?

If you’re an admirer of Govinda and remember the past of Govinda’s movie career, you would know that if there was one director that he worked with for the maximum number of times and made the best of his movies, it would be David Dhawan. And now that he’s back with a bang, we’d think that he would definitely like to work with him again…but guess what? Govinda is never going to work with David ever again and this he vowed to himself after the big argument they had in the recent past..!

What happened was…in the year 2009, it was Govinda’s idea to do Chashme Baddoor and with Dhawan and the whole film was a product of his thought. David without consulting Govinda made it with Rishi Kapoor in 2013.

“I never get upset with David because we have worked in so many films that we are used to quarreling. But this time, we had a fight. I am hurt. But I am not blaming him. He must have his own reasons. He might be feeling, ‘How do I meet him if I can’t offer him work?’ But my thinking is, one should say clearly that ‘We can’t work together, so I can’t give you work. But let’s meet, talk.” he revealed.

Siddharth Malhotra’s secret fitness plan to play a wrestler for Brothers!

Siddharth Malhotra, who’s next project is Brothers, where in he plays a wrestler is doing just one thing recently and that is getting himself bulked up to look like a wrestler, every bit in the film. And we’re sure he’s going to make one really hot wrestler!

So here’s what Siddharth Malhotra is evidently doing to get himself the perfect body for Brothers…it’s protein and more protein for the man, as he supposedly is trying to include loads of protein in his diet and is even carrying protein bars to his shooting locales…and then there is another secret element in Siddharth Malhotra’s fitness diet and that’s fish. Yes, it seems that, most of his meals have got one thing or the other that involves fish in them.

Along with this, he’s also got an hour or two allotted for working out every day that he sticks to. As per the sources, he’s already put on a few kilos and very shortly, we’re going to get to see a whole new and bulked up Siddharth Malhotra!

Shah Rukh Khan desires to play villain in Dhoom franchisee!

Dhoom and Shah Rukh Khan are two of bollywood’s leading brands and the union between the duo just had to happen one day. And we might really get to witness it right in the next installment, Dhoom 4, because that’s what king Khan told, talking about it on his birthday!

Although he hasn’t been asked for it or anything, Shah Rukh Khan expressed his wish to be a part of the Dhoom series as he thought that it was very cool! SRK says, “I am doing a film with Yash Raj and that’s Fan. If I get an opportunity, I would love to do it (Dhoom 4). I find it very cool. I knew Sanjay Ghadvi and I liked the film. Aditya has never asked me for Dhoom.”

And that would also mean that we’d get to see Shah Rukh Khan play the bad guy just like he did in the Don series.