WEDDING DATE: Shahid Kapoor is getting married tomorrow. OLD FRIENDS: Rishi Kapoor recently tweeted the picture of Meenakshi Seshadri, a former Bollywood heroine who visited him during her trip to India. PERSISTENT QUESTION: The question Deepika is frequently asked is that who she likes working better with, Ranveer or Ranbir.


The big day for Shahid Kapoor is almost here. Tomorrow, he will be marrying Mira Rajput, after a relationship that they managed to keep secret up to the time rumors of the wedding got around. There was even unending speculation of the date of the marriage but it got confirmed finally after images of the wedding card became public and gave the date as July 7. It, incidentally, said guests should not bring any gifts, only their blessings.
The marriage itself is said to be a private affair with only close friends and family invited but they are also planning a grand reception a few days later in Mumbai.
There will be no honeymoon, as per what is being reported now. Shahid has a number of interesting projects and, with his stock as an actor having gone up considerably following a brilliant performance in Haider, he is much in demand now. So work will prevail for the moment.
Gossip mongers however continue to find interesting angles to the wedding. A rumour says that one of the earliest invitations went to Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan. Kareena, it must be noted, had had a long relationship with Shahid before they broke and she got hitched to Saif. They had been maintaining a distance after that, with Shahid being linked with a number of actresses until finally he publicly announced that he had had it with the women in the industry and that he would look outside. And he stuck to his word!


Surprise visit


Rishi Kapoor does throw up a surprise or two on Twitter ever since his online avatar took a life of its own and acquired a wide following. But this was one that no one really saw coming. He put up a photo of a woman and tweeted, ‘Any guesses who this is? I didn’t recognise her for a moment. What a lovely surprise. Name in 30 mins no hints.’
It didn’t take too long for anyone to come up with the right answer. The person was Meenakshi Seshadri, who at one point of time was one of the leading actresses of Bollywood just behind Madhuri Dixit in the rankings. Meenakshi, who looks quite stunning even now, had dropped in to see Rishi as has been her wont whenever she comes to India from the US where she has relocated with her husband and kids.
Rishi and Meenakshi are most remembered for acting together in Damini, a 1993 movie centred around her character that went on to become a blockbuster. It turned out to be something of a swansong for her because Damini happened at the fag end of her career. She had started her Bollywood journey a decade before it and after the movie there is really no role of hers that is remembered.
Damini was also one of the last hit movie for Rishi as a hero. Meenakshi’s final movie was in 1997 before she called it quits. But, according to another tweet put up by Rishi soon after his first one on Meenakshi, she is not averse to a return to Bollywood if there was something interesting on offer.



No favourites


It’s an inevitable comparison that Deepika Padukone has to live with when it comes to present and former boyfriends.
It also has something do with their first names — Ranveer Singh and Ranbir Kapoor — sounding so similar. And to make things complicated she is still great friends with Ranbir, whom she had a long relationship with, and they even do movies together that go on to make the box office sing.
But it even becomes more intriguing because she now has releases with both of them coming out almost back to back. There is Tamasha with Ranbir that hits the screen towards November end and then there is Bajirao Mastani with Ranveer that will release in mid-December.
The question she is always asked is who she likes working with more. And the answer is usually a diplomatic one. One newspaper that once again tested their luck was told by her that even she didn’t know who she made a better on-screen pair with. And then she deftly side tracked it by saying that both did well alongside her.



The big ones


The year so far has been rather tepid in Bollywood business-wise. Sure, there were some good movies that did great numbers. A few like Tanu Weds Manu Returns even broke the 100 crore barrier. But there has been no mega blockbuster, nothing that breaks records and makes everyone sit up and say that Bollywood is where all the action is among the movie industries of the world.
For individual producers, movies like NH10 or Piku might have been very lucrative in terms of profits but what the industry also needs are the spectacular hits and that has been sorely wanting so far into the year.
That might however soon change and as usual it will be the Khans of Bollywood who will be behind it. To begin with there is the Salman Khan release Bajrangi Bhaijaan, which is coming out in the middle of this month. It is directed by Kabir Khan and the last time the two got together there was Ek Tha Tiger which was a blockbuster. Salman will have another mega release in November with Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. It is directed by Sooraj Barjatya and the two have delivered superhits like Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun in the past.
Then there are the two big Shah Rukh Khan movies of the year. The first will be Fan, which is being produced by Yashraj, the biggest production house in Bollywood. In December, there will be Dilwale directed by Rohit Shetty whose combination with Shah Rukh had led to Chennai Express.
It is almost a given that the movie will test the existing box office records. There are also two Akshay Kumar starrers, Brothers and Singh is Bling. So looks like things are going to speed up a bit in Bollywood.

Send your feedback to
[email protected]

Related Story