Kareena Kapoor looks good only with me: Saif Ali Khan

Saif Ali Khan didn't mince words when asked which of Bollywood's many Khans does his girlfriend, actress Kareena Kapoor look best with
Apart from Saif, Kareena has so far worked with Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and will soon be seen with young Imran Khan in "Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu". After working with Saif in "Tashan" and "Kurbaan", she will be seen with him again in the upcoming "Agent Vinod", set for release March 23.


Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan

"Kareena looks good with me and there is no comparison! Apart from me, I don't see anybody (with whom she looks good)," Saif told reporters here on the sidelines of the first poster launch of his production "Agent Vinod".

Kareena, the leading lady of the spy thriller, was missing from the event Wednesday. Saif explained: "We had to divide to conquer... she will be seen in future promotional activities for the film."

The first poster of the movie features only Saif in it. However, he promises that unlike other action films, the actress has a justified role in his film too. "Kareena has a very strong role in the film. She has done justice to the role and the role has also done justice to her," Saif said.

The shooting of "Agent Vinod", directed by Sriram Raghavan, took a while. And Saif denies rumours that the delay ensued due to budget hassles.

"The film taking time to complete are the reports given by media. There were lots of rumours that the film is getting delayed, it's getting over the budget... everything was just a rumour. Films take time," he said.

He guarantees that the wait will be worth it, as he said: "The kind of action and locations that we have chosen, I have not seen in much movies. The film must have taken a longer time, but it does not matter as long as the product is interesting."

The film is said to have dollops of action, but Kareena wasn't too comfortable with it. "She doesn't like doing action, but she is very good at it. She gives pretty intense expressions. As far as I am concerned, I thought it (action) would be fun, but it was very frightening. It's not easy," said Saif.

Besides the unique action sequences, "Agent Vinod" will also have a "different" item song, a 'mujra' picturised on Kareena. "We thought let's go a different way and try something different in terms of expression. I believe even Dinesh Vijan was pushing for a mujra... we needed to make our item a little bit different," said Saif.

Prateik getting pricey?

The actor is apparently losing out on some plum offers due to an 'unreasonable' demand of Rs 1.5 crore per film

It had been earlier reported that Prateik lost out on Shoojit Sircar's Second Time Lucky because the production house, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, had apprehensions about casting the actor in a complex character.

Apparently, this decision was taken after watching his lackluster performance in Prakash Jha's Aarakshan. Now, however, the real reason seems to be something else. Buzz is that Prateik lost out on the film because he demanded an exorbitant fee, which the producers didn't feel he deserved.

A source close to actor says, "Prateik demanded rupees 1.5 crore for the film. Since some of his films have not worked in the past, the producers were apprehensive about paying him so much. The producers are not sure if they would be able to recover the money."

The source adds, "Prateik never gets into the financial details. It's basically his manager, who takes such calls. One and half crore is not a huge amount considering the pay packages of other stars but Prateik still has to prove himself. Things may turn in his favour overnight, if he gives a hit."

Reportedly, actor also lost out on Tigmanshu Dhulia's Milan Talkies because of the same reason. Prateik and the production house remained unavailable for comment.

Ranbir, Vidya named best actors at Apsara Awards

Bollywood stars Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan picked the best actors' trophies at the star-studded seventh edition of Chevrolet Apsara Awards here Wednesday night for their performance in "Rockstar" and "The Dirty Picture" respectively.

The best film award went to "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", and Zoya Akhtar won the best director for the movie. Her actor-filmmaker brother Farhan took home the best supporting actor award for the movie too.

The best supporting actress award went to Priyanka Chopra's cousin Parineeti, for her portrayal of a bubbly, rich, spoilt Delhi girl in "Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl". The act also bagged the best debutant (female) award for her.

The best debutant (male) honour went to southern actor Rana Daggubati for his first Bollywood project "Dum Maro Dum". The best choreography trophy was picked by Bosco-Caesar for the peppy title track of "Desi Boyz".

Irshad Kamil picked the best lyrics award for "Naadaan parindey" from the film "Rockstar", while the best music award went to Oscar winning composer A.R.Rahman for the same film.

Mohit Chauhan, who became the voice of Ranbir's character in "Rockstar" walked away with the best singer (male) award for the cult song "Sadda haq". Among the females, Shreya Ghoshal took the honour for her rendition of romantic number "Teri meri" from the movie "Bodyguard".

A special award was bestowed upon megastar Amitabh Bachchan for the last season of "Kaun Banega Crorepati", which proved to be a worthy platform for the common man.

The Apsara Awards, organised by the Film and Television Producers Guild of India in association with Wizcraft International Entertainment and channel Colors, was hosted by witty filmmakers Farah Khan and Karan Johar. It had a line-up of entertaining acts.

A highlight was the kickstarting of the celebrations of 100 years of Indian cinema . As a special segment of the celebrations, the awards night hosted a special tribute dedicated to the cinema legends and their glorious years in Bollywood. Veteran stars like Rajesh Khanna, Zeenat Aman and Jaya Bachchan came upon the stage for it.

Other performances were a hit too. "Band Baaja Baaraat" actress Anushka Sharma took to the stage to groove with popular telly actors Nandish Sandhu, Sushant Singh Rajput and Shabbir Ahluwalia on songs like "Dum dum", "Thag le" and "Jazba" respectively.

Soon-to-be married couple Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza also set the stage on fire with their crackling chemistry as they brought their real-life love story alive on stage while performing at the award function at the Yash Raj Studios. They emulated the story of their eight-year-old romantic journey.

Kareena Kapoor staged a sizzling performance, wherein she took a cue from sirens of the southern film industry and performed on a medley of south Indian hits such as "Nakka mukka", recently heard in the Hindi film "The Dirty Picture". She also grooved to "Ringa ringa" from the film "Arya 2", as well as the chartbuster "Kolaveri di".

Actress Ameesha Patel also entertained the audience by dancing to recent hit item numbers like "Chikni chameli", "Ooh la la" and "Madhubala" from Mere Brother Ki Dulhan.

Bollywood badshah Shah Rukh Khan gave the show a befitting grand finale act. Styled around recent hit "Don 2: The King Is Back", the performance saw the superstar in the avatar of a gangster.

Sony Music acquires rights of 'London, Paris, New York'

The music rights of romantic comedy "London, Paris, New York" have been reserved by Sony Music. All seven songs in the album have been written, composed and sung by Ali Zafar, who is also the movie's lead actor.

The album, which will be digitally available starting Jan 30, will also have the movie's actress, Aditi Rao Hydari lending her voice to a song called "Voh dekhane mein". The release of the album will be in the first week of February across key retail outlets.

"London, Paris, New York" follows its characters' personal journey and their love story as they meet in London, flirt in Paris and fall in love in New York for a night each over eight years. The songs of the movie blend strongly with the theme of the scene and location.

"This generation-next movie comes with a variety of songs where the multi-faceted creative talent, Ali Zafar, has sung all of them giving each song his own distinctive style that merges perfectly with each moment in the film," Sanujeet Bhujabal, marketing director, Sony Music India, said in a press statement.

"The freshness quotient of the music will be loved by all music fans whether young or those who are young at heart," added Bhujabal.  The soundtrack also features voices from Sunidhi Chauhan, Haldika Kiani and Pakistani Sufi singer Sanam Marvi. The film, directed by Anu Menon, will release March 2.

'Student...' not releasing with 'Joker': Karan Johar

Filmmaker Karan Johar has quashed rumours that his forthcoming directorial "Student Of The Year" will release on the same date as Shirish Kunder's "Joker".

"Farah is a really dear friend and I would never come up with the film the same day with her husband's film," the 39-year-old filmmaker said here at Riteish-Genelia's pre-wedding party, thrown by Sajid Nadiadwala Tuesday night. "Student Of The Year" is so far scheduled for release Aug 31.

Johar's new film features three new faces - Alia Bhatt (Mahesh Bhatt's daughter), Varun Dhawan (David Dhawan's son) and model-turned-actor Siddharth Malhotra. The filmmaker is upbeat about launching the newcomers.

"I'm really excited about the three of them. Siddharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt... all of them are very talented. I will not say much about them. You should see for yourself and base your opinion on what you see," he said.

"Student of The Year" will see Johar return to direction after his 2010 film "My Name Is Khan". The film is being co-produced by Shah Rukh Khan. For now, Johar is keeping his fingers crossed for his latest production, the remake of 1990 film "Agneepath", which will hit screens Thursday. The film features Hrithik Roshan, Sanjay Dutt and Priyanka Chopra in key roles.

Sanju's twins can't watch 'Agneepath'

Sanjay Dutt does not want his twins to watch his menacing Kancha Cheena act till they are mature enough

Sanjay Dutt's deadly act in Agneepath may have raised the bar for Bollywood villains, but this is one screen persona he would like to hide from his twins.


Sanjay Dutt in Agneepath

Though Shahraan and Iqra are toddlers, and too young to understand at the moment, he would not like them to watch the flick till they are grown up and mature enough. Reason? The star feels he has outdone himself in essaying the bloodcurdling baddie on screen.

Though he has been part of gangster flicks and done dark roles, he thinks nothing matches to this. He has already instructed wife Maanayata to keep this film beyond reach of their offsprings.

Says Dutt, "Yes, I would really not want my kids to see me in such a character. I have told Maanayata not to show it to them for a long, long time."

When the star began to shoot for the flick, he had to shave his head. On reaching home with his tonsured look, his tots initially stayed away for a while. It was only later when they recognised his voice that they knew this was their dad!

Seeing himself in Kancha Cheena's avatar came as a shock to Dutt as well. Though he followed the script, he was taken aback by the evil he had managed to spew for the character.

When he saw the first rushes of the film and during dubbing, he needed to take a break as he was so taken aback by his monstrous self on screen.

Why can't celebrities have fun, asks Shahid

Actor Shahid Kapoor wonders why people are more stringent about parties involving celebrities, and says like all young people even celebs like to party.

Recently, a party organised in Mumbai in honour of international talk show queen Oprah Winfrey was busted by police more than once due to complaints from neighbours about loud music. In the past, several actors' parties have been interrupted for the same reason. Shahid feels it's not right to keep celebrities under special scanner all the time.

"Parties are for enjoyment. I don't think that's something which gets represented correctly. Especially if it is an actor's party and the music is loud, people tend to be a bit stricter, which is something I have never understood. We are all young people and why shouldn't we enjoy our lives," the 30-year-old said here at an event.

Shahid also believes if he can't have a guilt-free fun time, it's a hindrance to his freedom.

"There has to be a system where people can enjoy themselves without feeling guilty. Why should I feel guilty if I have worked hard all day long and then want to dance as much as I want? If I can't do it, then I feel it takes away from my freedom," he said.

The actor has recently wrapped up shooting for Kunal Kohli's tentatively titled "Teri Maeri Kahaani".

He also recently performed at the Zee Cine Awards in Macau, where he shook a leg with Ranbir Kapoor.