Alibaba and the 40 Thieves will have John Abraham's voice

Alibaba goes desi. I am saying like this because the much awaited animated film Alibaba and the 40 Thieves will have John Abraham's voice . After testing many foreign voices, Alibaba settled to John abraham’s voice. The film is directed by Soumitra Ranade of Jajantaram Mamantram fame.

The director of “Alibaba and the 40 Thieves” says, "We have John Abraham lending his voice for Alibaba, while Saurabh Shukla, Raza Murad, and Mukesh Tiwary do for other characters."

Alibaba and the 40 Thieves is a story based on a boy called Chinku, who lives in Mumbai and is trans-migrated into Arabian Night's tale. The music of the film is given by a group called Three Brothers & a Violin. It's expected to release by 2009.

It will be interesting to see how John's voice sounds over Alibaba because he was among those actors whose debut films were dubbed by someone else. His superhit film Jism had his voice dubbed by a dubbing artist.

Riya and Raima to play sisters

They are real life sisters. But now, Raima Sen and Riya Sen are coming together in Vicky Chopra's Seasons Greetings as reel life sisters. The episodic film directed by Vicky Chopra will apparently have six stories all coming together in unexpected ways.

Raima shooting in Italy says, "Yes, Riya and I are finally coming together as sisters. But I'm yet to hear the script, though I've given the nod."

Riya speaking about the project earlier has said, "Raima and I stay together in Mumbai. There is not a thing that we don't share. All our friends are common. If she likes someone, so do I. And if I dislike someone, she doesn't have a choice. Our friends say we should have been twins."

When Shilpa and her sister Shamita came together, it was to play soutens in Deepak Tijori's Fareb.

These sisters too had offers earlier to act together. "But we were pretty sure that if and when we come together, it would have to be as sisters," said Riya.

Sherlyn Chopra coming up with Dard-e-Sherlyn

Sherlyn Chopra aka Mona Chopra is all set to paint the silver screen red in a diamond-encrusted bikini with her sensual and sexy moves.She will soon be seen in a video directed and choreographed by Remo D'souza who has choreographed several films and item songs. In the video Sherlyn will be seen in different avatars. In one she will be a 'Moulin Rouge' performer while in another she will be a typical Bollywood item girl with all the associated jhatkaas and matkaas donning a diamond encrusted bikini.

DJ Akbar Sami has remixed and reworked the track to give it a house and club touch. "The original track 'Dard' was more of a lounge track. While it was a great piece of music, it wasn't of the dance variety. The success of an album and a music video is primarily based on the popularity it enjoys at discotheques and clubs. We have reworked Sherlyn's original track to give it an international club and house feel."

The costumes have been especially designed by fashion designer Reza with inputs from Sherlyn and Remo. "We worked on the look keeping in mind the music and the dance moves. Sherlyn is a great dancer and a sensual, sexy movement comes very naturally to her. Keeping her plus points in mind I designed the costumes for her, which includes a traditional sequence, a bikini sequence and also an international sequence."

We just have to wait for another month.

Lara Dutta on weight loss

Lara Dutta would be shooting for the action packed film Blue and has been as cool as never before. The reason being, she believes, is her strict workout routine.

"I am healthier than ever before because of all the working out I have been doing and feel that I am in my best form ever," she says. Lara will be getting into her action shoes for the first time as an actress. However, fit for her does not mean skinning herself down to nothingness.

"I have never wanted to be waif-thin, but to have a fit and lean figure, which I have achieved all thanks to the strenuous training that I have been going through preparing for the movie Blue," says the ex Miss World.

Interestingly, Kareena Kapoor's rapid weight loss was much in news as rumours spread that she was facing health problems due to the same. Though Kareena has so far been denying all such reports.

Aamir Khan is brand ambassador for Monaco Biscuits

Life is all about moments that are sweet and salty, very much like Parle's famous Monaco biscuits. The commercials of this brand have always been the talk of the town as it very clearly conveys the Sweet and Salty combo in the most subtlest and lucid manner ever.

Well, the latest one to join the sweet and salty moments is the 'Mr. Perfectionist' Aamir Khan, who has been roped in as the Brand Ambassador.

The ad definitely lives up to the reputation of the brand and leaves the viewer in good 'taste'. The ad shows a political party campaigning for its leader on the road, while Aamir and his friends are in a tearing hurry to cross the road, and they do not want to get late for the film at any cost. Even as they cross the road, they are stopped by one of the cronies of the political leader. That's when Aamir gets his 'salty' elements in place and 'sweetly' manages to cross the road and is even on time for the film.

Ajay Devgan honoured with Jasarat Award

Better known for chilled-out, down to earth, a great actor, and now a fabulous director, Ajay Devgan must have taken years of dedication and hard work to attain such a reputation. He has always been known more for his socially relevant films than his comic appearances. Finally, his noble work got appreciations.

The Urdu Press Club of India honored Ajay Devgan with the Jasarat Award at Kanpur. After doing socially relevant films like Zakhm, Legend of Bhagat Singh, Gangaajal, Apaharan, Halla Bol and his directorial debut film, U Me Aur Hum, he's finally being appreciated. Although Ajay was not present for the award ceremony, he gave his respects in a written statement stating the value of Urdu and its significance in the Indian film industry.

Along with Ajay Devgan, historian author Amaresh Misra was also honored with the Jasarat award.

Lara Dutta turns into a Bhojpuri Item Girl

When we saw this picture of Lara Dutta performing at an event over the weekend, we were just socked.

In fact it took us two minutes and more than some vigorous rubbing of our eyes to know that this is indeed the same beauty who sizzled on screen in item numbers like "Aisa Jadoo Daala Re" and “Zinda Hoon Main”.

What's with the outrageous costume darling? The complete mis-match makes her look like a B-grade Bhojpuri actress. May be Lara wanted to be at her comical best while performing at this Comedy Honors night. If that's the real reason, we are certainly having a good laugh.

Celebrities during International film festival at Cannes

For the premiere of “Kung Fu Panda”, during the 61st edition of International film festival in Cannes, France on May 15th, the well known celebrities made their presence felt. Among them were Aishwarya Rai, Angelina Jolie, Eva Longoria, Elsa Zylberstein, Lucy Liu, Rachael Leigh Cook, Phoebe Price and others.

Newcomers to watch in Summer 2008

Till date 2008 has been more or less miserable with the biggest of the films failing to do any wonders at the box office. Even then there is still some hope ahead. Apart from many biggies which would be unleashed on the silver screen in months to follow, there would also be a large number of films where newcomers would be looking forward to make an impression. Here they go..

Sonal Chauhan- a former Miss India contestant, in Jannat

Nisha Rawal and Monishka in Hastey Hastey

Neha Uberoi and Sikandar Kher in Woodstock Villa


Rajeev Khandelwal in Aamir

Mashhoor Amrohi and Vishakha Singh in Humsey Hai Jahaan

Rishi Rehan and Avantikka in Khushboo

Uvika Chaudhary in Summer 2007

Amita Pathak, Nakuul Mehta and Adhyayan Suman in Haal E Dil

Kaveri Jha- a 2005 Miss India contestant, in Hijack

Imraan Khan in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na

Harman Baweja in Love Story 2050

Rajneesh Duggal and Adah Sharmam in 1920

Darsheel Safary becomes Cover Boy for Child

Darsheel Safary has always been in the news after Taare Zameen Par despite the fact that he hasn't signed a single film after that. So what's keeping this little boy busy?

Well its endorsements, public appearances at events, presence on T.V. shows and of course now he has even joined the bandwagon of stars who feature on the cover page of magazines. Yes, the child prodigy is seen on the cover of May 2008 issue of the magazine Child. Child is a magazine that talks about raising kids in a healthy and happy way.

So, it’s no wonder to see probably the most recognized child artiste on the cover page. In an exclusive interview, Darsheel even shows his playful and mischievous side. He talks about his hobbies, his fascination for gizmos and his love for his kid sister whom he fondly calls Neju-Peju.

Manish Acharya to make songless comic thriller

The Loins Of Punjab Presents created a worldwide stir and is now looking at Mumbai for creative sustenance. Manish Acharya’s next film in Hindi is a comic thriller which is set in Mumbai and Tokyo.

"Loins Of Punjab Presents- went further than I expected. Now it's time to return home. I'm making my next film out of Mumbai. And it's a comic thriller set in two cities. The language this time would be purely Hindi", says Acharya.

"But to me the greatest excitement is not having songs in the film. After forty songs in my last film that's quite a break. My comic thriller may have music and songs in the background like Johnny Gaddaar. But the characters aren't going to stop in their tracks to sing songs."

And guess who Manish wants to play the lead in his comic thriller? He is looking towards one of the A-lister Khans.

Madhavan signs 4-film deal with Adlabs

Adlabs has recently finished shooting of 13B starring Madhavan and Neetu Chandra and is in the process of signing Madhavan for four more films.

Commenting on their decision to sign Madhavan for their forthcoming films, Saurabh Varma, Chief marketing Officer, Adlabs says, “We are impressed with Madhavan's performance and marketing skills in 13B and therefore decided to take this relationship further”.

He further added, “When you sign a marketing expert who is also the hero of the film, we are shaping up the best talent. He makes an amazing contribution to the team and brings huge energy to the table- right from how one can exploit the film through various means and methods”.

Starring Madhavan and Neetu Chandra, 13B is a supernatural thriller and is slated to be released on September 2008.