Himesh Reshammiya is not taking any chances.

After the disastrous fate of remakes like J P Dutt'a Umrao Jaan , and Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag, the singer-turned-actor is making sure that his second film, Karzzzz -- a remake of Subhash Ghai's [Images] 1980 film -- starts off on a good note.

He has decided to seek the blessings of Rishi Kapoor , who starred in the original, before leaving for the film's 45-day shoot in South Africa on January 25.

According to sources, Ghai may also give his blessings for the new film.

Himesh has already composed eight songs for the film, including a number from the original.

Producer-director Inder Kumar's daughter, Shweta Kumar, will make her debut in this film. She will play Tina Munim's role. Urmila Matondkar will play Simi Garewal's [Images] character in the remake.

The film also stars Raj Babbar, Danny Denzongpa and Gulshan Grover , and will be directed by Satish Kaushik.

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Sanjay Dutt has finally admitted that he is married to Manyata.

A half-page advertisement in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, which
congratulated Sena chief Bal Thackeray on his 82nd birthday
today, mentions the names of those greeting Thackeray as
‘Sanjay Dutt and Manyata Dutt’ instead of her surname, Shaikh
Dilnawaz.

The ad says, ‘Wishing a very happy birthday to Hindu Hriday
Samrat’ Shri Balasaheb Thackeray from Sanjay Dutt [Images] and
Manyata Dutt.’

Sanjay had always denied his marriage to Manyata earlier, and
this is the first time he has announced the union in public.

The Dutts have always been on good terms with the Thackerays,
ever since the Sena chief intervened and bailed out Dutt from
jail in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts case. In fact, after he
came out of jail in 1995, he went straight to Thackeray’s home
to thank him.

It is rumoured that Sanjay and Manyata got married on October
19, 2006, in Mumbai. It is also rumoured that the couple are
shifting to a new home but no official statement has come from
the Dutts.

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Can you believe this? After churning out four hits in a row during 2007, Akshay Kumar is now charging over Rs 20 crore for a film!

Similarly, Akshay hit films during 2007 - the maximum by any actor in Bollywood - include HEYY BABYY, NAMASTE LONDON, BHOOL BHULAIYA and WELCOME. And, according to industry sources, Akshay has hiked his price and signed the next film by Venus Records for a whopping Rs 22 crore.

Although Akshay is far behind Amitabh Bachchan or Shah Rukh Khan as far as status value in the industry, success has not gone to the lad's head and he is neither interested in any competition with Big B or King Khan. On the other hand, sources close to Akshay say that he is inspired by Rajnikanth who has been charging Rs 16 crore per film following the runaway success of 'SHIVAJI - THE BOSS'. And Akki himself says that he is not too interested in past performances, but is working hard to give more hit films this year.

Akshay's consistency in delivering hit films has already earned him the title of 'Hindi Film Hit Machine' in Bollywood circles. If the films Akshay is doing now are any indication, the year ahead will see him doing a lot of action on celluloid. In fact, last year, most of Akki's movies were comedies.

Akshay's next film is Nikhil Advani's big budget adventure flick 'CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA' which depicts a part of the actor's life and is estimated to cost a whopping Rs 100 crore making it one of the most costliest films made so far! We sincerely, hope that the New Year will see Akki rising to greater heights in all regards.

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Sherlyn Chopra who displayed her outrageous side with her music album ‘Outrageous’ is now set for a noble cause but not without her sensuous image. Yes, the gal will wield whips and chains not to realize some kinky fantasy, but to do an ad for PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals). According to PETA India’s chief functionary Anuradha Sawhney, the ad will feature Sherlyn in a Victoria’s Secret kind of outfit on a set that would resemble a bedroom. Sherlyn would wield whips and chains in the ad. The theme of the ad, conceptualized by PETA, would be, “whips and chains should be left to the bedroom and not used on animals in circus.”

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Best Motion Picture

Atonement
No Country for Old Men
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
There Will be Blood
Best Director - Motion Picture

Paul Thomas Anderson -- There Will be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen -- No Country For Old Men
Sidney Lumet -- Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Sean Penn -- Into the Wild Joe Wright -- Atonement
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture

Julie Christie -- Away From Her
Marion Cotillard -- La Vie En Rose Angelina Jolie -- A Mighty Heart
Kiera Knightley -- Atonement
Ellen Page -- Juno
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture

George Clooney -- Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis -- There Will Be Blood
Emile Hirsch -- Into the Wild
Frank Langella -- Starting Out in the Evening
Denzel Washington -- American Gangster

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role

Cate Blanchett -- I'm Not There
Ruby Dee -- American Gangster
Julia Roberts -- Charlie Wilson's War
Amy Ryan -- Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton -- Michael Clayton

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role

Javier Bardem -- No Country For Old Men
Philip Bosco -- The Savages
Hal Holbrook -- Into the Wild
John Travolta -- Hairspray Tom Wilkinson -- Michael Clayton

Best Screenplay (original)

Diablo Cody -- Juno
Tony Gilroy -- Michael Clayton Tamara Jenkins -- The Savages
Kelly Masterson -- Before The Devil Knows You're Dead
Adrianne Shelly -- Waitress
Best Screenplay (adapted)

Joel and Ethan Coen -- No Country For Old Men
Christopher Hampton -- Atonement
Sarah Poley -- Away From Her
James Schamus & Wang Hui-Ling -- Lust, Caution
Aaron Sorkin -- Charlie Wilson's War

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If sources are to be believed Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be paired opposite Rajnikant in Shankar’s forthcoming film Robot . Shankar who created box office history with his last release Sivaji – The Boss had been to Mumbai recently to meet Aishwasrya Rai. According to a source the South based filmmaker was in Mumbai for few days to meet Aishwarya. He came in the first week of January and discussed the script and her role with Ash. “Aishwarya has gone through the script before joining Abhishek who is shooting for Dilli 6 in Rajasthan. Even though she has gone through the narration, she is yet to decide about Robot .” says a source. It believed that Shankar wants Robot to be bigger than Sivaji – The Boss . The film is said to be backed by the Hollywood giant Sony Pictures who are planning to make it a 100 crore budgeted project. It has also learnt that Rajnikant and Shankar are keen to co-produce Robot together. South King Rajnikant has given his nod to the project after Bollywood’s Badshah Shah Rukh Khan denied it. Now director Shankar wants a big actress opposite Rajnikant. Since the movie is going to be in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu Shankar feels Aishwarya will be apt for it as she has already done south films. It can be recalled that Kareena showed interest in Robot when she came to know that SRK is going to be part of the film. It is also believed that Kareena herself expressed her desire to work with Shah Rukh for the same film. But it couldn’t happen because SRK had some differences with director Shankar regarding its script.

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The Seagrams Royal Stag Concert in Association with Fuel was held in Mumbai on Weekend and saw Saif Ali Khan in his first ever stage performance in Mumbai. Saif collaborated with Parikrama on the stage and had the crowd rocking on his guitar tunes. Strings also performed at the concert .

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Post the huge critical and commercial success of 'Jab We Met', Kareena Kapoor's career has accelerated into top drive.

The success of 'Jab We Met' was preceded by the critical acclaim of her superlative and award winning performance in 'Omkara' which had the critics raving that based on her acting abilities alone.

Kareena had all the potential to reach the top actress slot in Bollywood.

And post the success of 'Jab We Met', Kareena Kapoor has become the highest paid actress in Bollywood.

Kareena eclipses the next generation of actress when it comes to the diversity in her choices, right from big budget fare with A- list directors to imaginative projects, she has literally done it all. She is the perfect mix of performance and glamour.

And with her slew of her forthcoming films like 'Tashan' will Yashraj, ‘Agent Vinod’, ‘Golmaal Returns’, ‘Kambakth Ishq’, a film with John Abraham and a film with Karan Johar, Kareena is the undisputed claimant for the mantle of number 1 actress in Bollywood.

Besides her film which will consolidate that position, Brand Kareena, like SRK and Big B, is also known as the 'Endorsement Queen' in endorsement bandwagon.

Kareena’s high profile endorsement brands consist of Globus, ICI Paints, Head & Shoulders, Boro plus cream, Citizen Watch etc.

She is indisputably the most glamorous fashion icon with her magnetic personality. Viewers fall in love with her instantly, since she is spontaneous, camera friendly and a natural performer.

Kareena has always experimented with roles and her risks, hard work and perseverance has paid off. Be it a Refugee, a ‘K3G’, an ‘Omkara’, ‘Dev’, ‘Aitraaz’, ‘Hulchul’, ‘Chameli’, it's not hard to be astonished by her intensity and range.

And justifiably, with the award season in Bollywood, Kareena has already bagged the Star Screen Best Actress Award for her performance in 'Jab We Met'.

And if the first award of the year is any indication, seems like Kareena will dominate all the award functions for the best actress category this year.

She seems to have left competition behind with her spontaneity and uninhibited performance in 'Jab We Met' which is inching towards being a cult classic Well truly, she has earned the well deserved top slot!!

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After the huge success of his directorial debut Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan has moved on to his next film, Ghajini. The shooting will start on January 22.



The film, directed by A R Murugadoss, stars Tamil actress Asin and Nishabd's Jiah Khan. Aamir had taken a break from the Ghajini shooting to complete Taare Zameen Par.



On his blog, the actor said the past few months have been very busy for him.



'It was exciting, nerve racking, exhausting, rejuvenating, draining and enriching. I feel I was stuffed into a washing machine which didn't have an off button,' Aamir writes.



He added that he has finally given up smoking, admitting that he was delayed in kicking the habit, as he was supposed to quit on December 31.



Ghajini is not the only thing to keep Aamir busy these days. He lists his many activities on his blog, like bringing out the Taare Zameen Par DVD, and working on the release of the next Aamir Khan production, Jaane Tu, starring his nephew Imran Khan

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Producer-Director Indra Kumar who has given blockbuster films like Dil, Beta, Mann and the recent laugh riot Dhamaal will launch his daughter Shwetha opposite Himesh Reshammiya in Karzzzz produced by Bhushan Kumar and Krishan Kumar.

Karzzzz is a remake of Subhash Ghai's 1980’s film about reincarnation. Swetha will make her debut with Karzzz and play the female lead opposite Himesh Reshammiya. Directed by Satish Kaushik, the film also stars Urmila Matondkar, Gulshan Grover, Danny Denzongpa and Rohini Hattangadi.

T-Series has bought the remake rights from Mukta Arts for the original film Karz directed by Subhash Ghai. The original film had a cast of Rishi Kapoor, Tina Munim and Premnath amongst others and was a blockbuster of the 80's.

And another exciting feature about Karzzzz is that the audiences will finally see Himesh without his trademark cap in this film.

The shooting is scheduled to commence from January 25 and the film will be shot in South Africa, Kenya and Mumbai

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