Shilpa Shetty - the next bond girl?

The producers of the James Bond films, currently putting together the cast list for the 23rd movie in the series, are keen to sign up Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty so that the film is a success in Asia.

Shilpa, who became one of reality show's most talked about stars earlier this year, is seen as a perfect leading lady for the current Bond, Daniel Craig, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The fact that she is big in Bollywood is about to seal the deal, the report said. "Shilpa is having secret talks with the top brass who are working on the next movie. As far as they are concerned, she has it all -- she is beautiful, feisty and a great actress," a movie source told the paper.

"But they also want someone who is a big star...Which Shilpa is...She has a huge following in Bollywood as well as a number of fans in the western world - especially in Britain - so she will be great for box office sales," the source said.

Craig is set to begin work soon on the 22nd bond movie but the producers have already begun planning for the next film.

Another factor in Shilpa's favour is that she has some former experience of dealing with bond-style villains. While starring in "Celebrity Big Brother", Shilpa was subjected to sustained bullying by Big Brother veteran Jade Goody, former S Club singer Jo O'meara and glamour girl Danielle Lloyd.

She went on to win the show and became a star here. Her latest project is her own perfume -- S2, which has outsold Victoria Beckham's scent.

Aishwarya's wax model displayed at New York museum

Bollywood superstar and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai yesterday became the first Indian celebrity to have her wax model displayed at Madame Tussaunds Museum in historic Time Square here.

Within minutes of unveiling of her life-like model dressed in intricately patterned red Sari, her fans in New York began flocking the museum to admire the waxwork.

The unveiling of the model, borrowed by the New York Madame Tussaunds from its parent museum in London, coincided with the India's 60th Independence Day celebration and will be on display for six weeks before being sent back.

But several of her fans, who had gathered at the museum, said the six weeks were too short a period for all fans from New York City and neighbouring states to see their favourite star in wax.

A group of dancers, dressed in 'lahengas' and matching blouses, gave a scintillating performance during the 15 minute unveiling ceremony. The dances portrayed several of her popular songs.

In the museum, Rai is in the company of several other celebrities including Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.

Besides Rai, the only Indian film personalities immortalised at Madame Tussauds in London are her father-in-law Amitabh Bachchan, super star Shah Rukh Khan and Tamil superstar Rajnikanth. Other Indian attractions at the museum are Mahatma Gandhi, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

But Rai became the first Indian celebrity to be displayed in New York. Rai's waxwork was unveiled in London in 2004, timed with the release of her first international film, "Bride and Prejudice", directed by London-based Gurinder Chadha. She was present during the unveiling in London.

Director of Marketing of the New York Museum Rosemary Preta said the coming of Rai's waxwork to New York fulfills the long standing demand of her fans.

Set up by Frenchwoman Marie Tussauds in London in 1835, the world famous museum now has branches in Amsterdam, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and Shanghai, besides New York, with Washington DC to be added to the list in October 2007

Aishwarya Rai honoured : wax figure at the museum’s New York franchise.

India is the flavour of the season at London and Madame Tussauds is doing its bit too. It will install Aishwarya Bachchan's wax figure at the museum's New York franchise.

In London , the museum has already started its India celebrations, which will be on till the end of September . "It is called the India Hours. It is our way of celebrating 60 years of Indian independence," says Ben Lovett, spokesperson, Madame Tussauds.

The museum has already started a hunt to decide who will be the next Bollywood star to grace its premises. "From August 13 to 30, we will be having a poll to choose the next Bollywood figure to become a part of Madame Tussauds ," says Lovett.

Those who have made it to a shortlist include Hrithik Roshan, Kajol, Karan Johar, John Abraham, Lata Mangeshkar, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Salman Khan and Madhuri Dixit.

The other Indian film actors immortalised at the museum are Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Rajnikanth

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Shriya on the roll

ivaji - The Boss has given Shriya a big high as she is now the ‘most wanted’ actor. And why not? She has everything going for her; right from good looks to sex-appeal to faultless acting talent.

It was with the Telugu film Nuvve Nuvve that Shriya gained stardom and her most popular films till date are Santhosham with Nagarjuna, Mazhai, Nenunnanu, Tagore with Chiranjeevi and lately Sivaji with Rajnikanth.

She lost her chance to work with Kamal Hassan in Dasavatharam when she demanded a high remuneration but now she has a superhit in Sivaji with the legendary Rajnikanth to her credit after which she was seen in Mukesh Bhatt’s Emraan Hashmi-starrer Awarapan.

Presently, the accomplished kathak dancer is supposed to have signed a film with Hrithik Roshan and will start working on it after the completion of Ek - The Power opposite Bobby Deol. A remake of the Telugu super hit film Athadu starring Mahesh Babu, Trisha, Krishnan, Kota Srinivasa Rao and Prakash Raj, the Hindi film is directed by Sangeet Sivan and is produced by K Sera Sera. Slated to release soon , the film also stars Nana Patekar and Chunky Pandey.
Her Tamil projects on hand are Azhagiya Tamil Magan with Vijay, Vikram-starrer Kandaswamy and an untitled project with Ajith. So Shriya Saran is on the roll as far as her film career is concerned.

Namitha sets her sights on Kannada, Malayalam film worlds!

She is already queening it up in Tamil film world. Now, the glamour queen of Kollywood Namitha seems set to conquer the neighbouring Kannada cinema, too.

If the latest reports from Kannada cinema are any guide, Nam is close to realising her ambition of making it big there as well.

The grapevine has it that her latest Kannada movie, ‘Neelakanda’ is a runaway hit. Understandably, the very voluptuous heroine has received more offers to act in Kannada films. The buzz is that she has been offered a film with young Kannada hero Darshan .

The Kannada success seems to have whetted Nam Baby's appetite. Now, the glam girl has set her sights on Malayalam cinema, too.

Meanwhile, in Tamil Namy has bagged a film opposite Sunder C titled ‘Perumal’. She already has ‘Azhagiya Tamizh Magan’ with Vijay , ‘Billa’ with Ajit and ‘Kettavan’ with Simbu .

So, Kannada, Malayalam heroines be forewarned! Namitha is on your trail.

Paruthiveeran named best Indian film at Osians fest

Kollywood is going places with the new genre of directors and actors getting the recognition they truly deserve. At the recently held Osian’s cinefan – an, Asian Film festival in Delhi, Paruthiveeran was adjudged the best movie. And the best actress award went to its heroine Priyamani. Asian and Arab country movies were featured in this film festival.

Director Ameer was applauded as the greatest storyteller by the judges. The portrayal of the village love story in a different light and the unexpected climax are the two reasons for selecting the movie as the best, they said.

“Paruthiveeran” was chosen for its “strong narrative that allows reality to be played out cinematically, rendered with visual energy to connect with a wider audience” while Priyamani was awarded for her “intense and vivid portrayal of a character driven by obsessive love and for her performance in a broad range of acting prowess”.

Kay Kay Menon was named the best Indian actor for his “seering and restrained portrayal of a character in ‘Shoonya’ whose struggle to overcome his personal vulnerability becomes an allegory of a nation in search of its conscience and values”.

“Dancing Bells”, by Malaysian filmmaker Deepak Kumaran Menon was adjudged the best movie in the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) section while “Woven Stories of the Other” by Sherad Anthony Sanchez of Philippines triumphed in the First Features section.

In the Asian and Arab category of the festival, which concluded yeterday, South Korean director Zhang Lu’s “Desert Dream” got the Best Film award while Tunisia’s Lotfi Abdelli was named the best actor for his role in “Making Of”.

Cherry Pie Picache got the Best Actress award for the Filipino film “Foster Child”.

Vijay's ATM team to shoot in Kazakhstan

Director Bharathan will shoot a romantic duet featuring Shriya and Vijay in Kazakhstan.Set to tunes by A R Rahman, the song will feature scores of dancers shaking their legs with Vijay and Shriya.

Recently, a song with Vijay and Namitha for Azhagiya Tamil Magan was canned in Phuket Islands near Bangkok.

ATM, which is based on a story by Jeeva, is about a youth, who possess Extra Sensory Perception (ESP).

A major portion of the movie has been completed.

Vijay's Azhagiya Tamizh Magan Opens Exclusive

The shooting of Vijay’s upcoming film ‘Azhagiya Tamizh Magan’ has been progressing at a very brisk pace in Chennai. Vijay said that the shooting is going on very well and that the movie would be a good entertainer for all his fans. Our VFN team decided to meet up with Vijay at the shooting spot of ‘Azhagiya Tamizh Magan’ for a small interview for which Vijay readily obliged. Here are some excerpts from the interview with Vijay by VFN team

The 175th day function of Pokkiri was a roaring success and was celebrated in a very grand manner. What are your thoughts about the function?

Vijay: I have a lot of memories from the function that I will cherish forever. My fans have given me everything that I have ever wished for, including the title ILAYATHALAPATHY. I felt that I should celebrate the success of Pokkiri along with my fans because they have made the film such a big success. I conveyed this idea to the producer Ramesh Babu who organized this function in a very efficient manner along with my father SA Chandrasekar and with my PRO Mr. PT Selvakumar.

My fans had come from various parts of Tamil Nadu for this function and elevated the function to great heights. I am thankful to them for making the function a big success. The moment that I will always cherish is the applause and the ovation that I received when I came to the venue for the function. The fans applauded the performances of all the artistes who had performed on stage and gave a great welcome to all the artistes who had come to the function. All these applause and appreciation of the fans becomes the biggest energy for any artist. My fans are what I consider as the gift that God has given to me.

The biggest highlight of the silver jubilee function of Pokkiri was the dance performance by the physically challenged children under the guidance of Dance master Lawrence. What are your thoughts on that?

Vijay: I had asked my father to personally invite Lawrence to bring the children and perform with them during this function. When I saw their performance on the stage, a big wave of happiness swept through my heart. I was totally mesmerized seeing that performance. I am sure that their performance was a God sent gift to them. When Lawrence told in his speech that he wanted me to dance on stage, I was initially shocked. But when he asked me to dance specially for those children who had performed on stage, I was really touched. I wanted to make those children happy and so I decided to dance on stage. The happiness on the faces of those children is invaluable.

Please tell us something about Azhagiya Tamizh Magan?

Vijay: The shoot for Azhagiya Tamizh Magan is going on at a very brisk pace. We recently shot for a song at Phuket Islands featuring myself and Namitha. There are a few more songs to be shot for this movie. This movie has certainly been a different journey for me in my film career.

I want to tell one very important thing to my fans. “Do not have big expectations for this movie”. The fans might come to this movie expecting a Pokkiri or Ghilli or Thirupachi. It is better to come to this movie without any pre-conceived hype and expectations. I am sure that all my fans will be fulfilled with this movie if they come without many expectations.

Please tell us something about your next film after ATM?

Vijay: As you all know, Dharani Sir will be the director of my next film after Azhagiya Tamizh Magan. Discussions about my next film are going on right now with the concerned people. I am very eager to work in this film and I am waiting for the shooting to commence soon.

Your costumes in Azhagiya Tamizh Magan have been the talk of the town. How do you manage to get such beautiful costumes in your films?

Vijay: After my marriage, my style of costumes has changed. My wife Sangeetha has been instrumental in suggesting different styles of costumes to my costume designer Mr. Rajendran who has been incorporating her ideas into designing my costumes. Now, Nalini Sriram who has been designing my costumes for Pokkiri and now Azhagiya Tamizh Magan also has been giving a lot of different costumes which have been really good. Costumes have always played a major highlight in my recent films.

We thank Vijay for taking his precious time off to interact with us and patiently answer our questions.