This Sankranthi will be more intense with the biggies like Nannaku Prematho, Dictator and Soggade Chinni Nayana fighting it out to walk away with the cake. But all of a sudden, the makers of Sharwanand’s Express Raja showed their courage and joined the Sankranthi battle.

Many in the industry are apparently calling the makers as being slightly over confident and are opining that they should have given space and facilitate more screens to the big ticket films by postponing their film’s release by at least a week.

Even Prabhas, the head honcho of UV Creations, has reportedly fumed on the producers for sandwiching a small film like Express Raja amidst the biggies. Apparently, Prabhas even cautioned them about the negative talk  UV Creations has been getting of late. We will have to wait and see if Express Raja will strike gold at the box-office and justify the producers’ confidence.

On the other hand, even the buyers who bought Express Raja at heavy prices are expressing their concerns about recovering their investments, with the biggies occupying most of the screens and apparently, some of them are even miffed with the producers for this haphazard release.

Malavika Nair, who made her debut with the film Yevade Subramanyam in Telugu, has celebrated a milestone event in the industry. The actress is now doing her second Telugu film Kalyana Vaibhogame directed by Nandini Reddy and also celebrated her 18th birthday with the unit. “Yes, I’m officially a major now and I can have a bank account to save my money,” says Malavika. The actress is also studying for her standard 12 final exams in Delhi. “I am leaving today as I don’t want to discontinue my studies. My finals are in April,” she says.

She adds that earlier, her father used to select films, but now she can do it on her own. “But I never wanted to become an actress. My roles in the Malayalam films were because of advice from my father. So, that’s how I started acting.” Her first film as a lead actress was Yevade Subramanyam and after that Malavika got several offers, but she didn’t like any of them. “My top criteria is my role in the film, which should be important. About Kalyana Vaibhogame I personally liked this role and decided to do it.” She added that when Nandini Reddy narrated the role to her she found the character “cute”. “See, I’m currently caught between my studies and films. I don’t want to discontinue my education but at the same time I don’t want to miss this film either,” says Malavika. And for this film, she managed to work without disturbing her studies.

The actress is also a good artist and enjoys sketching in her spare time. “I like painting which is why I may opt for the arts after my 12th,” she says. Director Nandini Reddy has even gifted Malavika a set of colour pencils and a notebook and a bond is forming between the actor and the director. “I do hope my next film, too, is with her,” says Malavika. But for now, the exams are top priority. “I want to come back only after April (after my exams) and if people forget me during that break it’s fine. Actually, I was frustrated and I didn’t want to act anymore. When I was around 14, people would yell at me for not wanting to act in film. But now, it’s okay and I’m interested. I never thought I would become a lead actress but after Yevade Subramanyam, my thoughts changed,” says Malavika.

The actress says she is playing Divya in Kalyana Vaibhogame. “It’s a love story and explores the before and after in relationships,” she says. And about her resolution for the new year, the actress says it’s going to be about decisions. “Follow my own instincts, whatever it may be,” she adds.

Mumbai: While fans are eagerly waiting for Karan Johar’s ‘Kapoor and sons’ trailer, Arjun Kapoor has a surprise in store for all of us. The film which stars Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Fawad Khan and Rishi Kapoor has been in news ever since it has been announced.

Arjun got on to twitter and shared a picture of his father Boney Kapoor and two uncles – Anil and Sanjay with photos of their sons including Arjun Kapoor, Harshvardhan Kapoor and Jahaan Kapoor. “Well @karanjohar I’m leaking ur new films first look…it’s all in the family…@aliaa08 @S1dharthM @chintskap,” posted Arjun.

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, whose comments on perceived intolerance in the country had created a controversy, ceases to be the mascot for government’s ‘Incredible India’ campaign as the contract for it has expired. “Our contract was with the McCann Worldwide agency for ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ campaign. The agency had hired Aamir for the job. Now the contract with the agency is over. Ministry has not hired Aamir. “It was the agency which has hired him. Since the contract with the agency is no more, automatically the arrangement with the actor no longer exists,” Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma said on Wednesday.

Asked specifically whether Aamir is still Tourism Ministry’s brand ambassador, the minister said, “Definitely not”. ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ campaign, part of the Incredible India campaign was launched during the UPA regime. Earlier, the ministry issued a vague statement in response to certain news reports following government’s answer to a RTI query on the issue. “In response to certain news reports appearing in the media, about Aamir Khan, the Ministry of Tourism clarifies that there is no change in the stand of the ministry in this matter. “The Ministry further clarifies that at present it has a contractual agreement with creative agency McCann Worldwide to produce social awareness campaign and the said campaign featured Aamir Khan,” the ministry statement said.

Two months ago, Aamir had made controversial comments on perceived intolerance in the country for which he was criticised by many senior Union ministers. At an event, Aamir had said that his wife Kiran Rao had asked if they should move out of the country, as she feared for the safety of their children in a climate of insecurity.

When contacted, Prasoon Joshi, the head of McCann Worldwide agency, only said, “We at McCann had a contractual agreement with the Ministry of Tourism for a social awareness campaign Atithi devo bhava’. Aamir Khan had graciously lent his support for the same. We have delivered the campaign to the Ministry.”

Though the buzz was that Actor Aamir Khan was removed from the position of brand ambassador of Incredible India campaign by Tourism ministry, the latest report of Press Information Bureau cleared the air. The report claimed that there was no change in Ministry’s stand and Khan was continuing the same position.

The report further said that a contractual agreement with Mc Cann Worldwide, a creative agency, was inked by the ministry for awareness campaign which featured Khan.

Khan has been the image of the campaign since years and worked onto number of commercials issued by government in public interest.Recently, Khan was under fire for his remarks on ‘rising intolerance.’ The remarks even hit Snapdeal, whose brand ambassador was Khan.

Bollywood young starlet Alia Bhatt was in news for several times for her alleged love affairs with co-stars. The short beauty has also been linked with her Student Of The Year co-star, Varun Dhawan. But the rumors died down soon after their second film together, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhaniya hit the screens. Now, the ‘High Way’ babe is rumored to have seeing her other Student Of The Year co-star Sidharth Malhotra.

As per the buzz, both Alia and Sidharth are spending a lot of time together and were seen outside each other’s house at times. These have fuelled rumors that they are in a relationship and that they have apparently moved in together. ‘Alia is seen almost always at Sidharth’s residence in Bandra, Mumbai. She is supposedly in Sidharth’s house even when the latter is not in,’ adds the buzz.

Interim, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth are working together for Karan Johar’s latest production venture Kapoor and Sons. The romantic comedy directed by Shakun Batra is nearing completion. Fawad Khan, Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt and Amrita Puri are other leading cast in the flick which is scheduled to release on March 18th.

Bollywood relationships are limited. When male and female actors work together, they maintain romantic liaison. However, they typically put an end to their relationship, after release of the film. We need to see where Alia and Sid’s relationship ends!

Mumbai: Salman Khan, who is currently shooting for his much awaited film ‘Sultan’, took some time off his busy schedule to meet the actors of ‘Freedom Theatre’ from Palestine.

The eight actors came to India to collaborate with a Delhi-based theatre group Jana Natya Manch for the play titled ‘Hamesha Samida’. The actors are on a 10-city tour in India. As soon as the play’s director and co-star Sudhanva Deshpande learnt about the Palestinian actors being huge fans of Salman, he reached out to his friend Kabir Khan and requested him to arrange a meeting with the superstar.

Kabir arranged the meeting at a hotel on Tuesday afternoon. The fans gifted Salman a Keffiyeh which took Salman back to his ‘Ek Tha Tiger’ days. The actor happily wore the Keffiyeh and posed for few pictures with his fans.

Mumbai: Bollywood star Girish Kumar and his lovely co-star Navneet Kaur Dhillon, came together to launch the trailer of their upcoming rom-com ‘romantic-comedy ‘Loveshhuda‘. At the launch event, the two stars set the ball rolling with a live performance of their sexy dance number. The stars sat down for an interaction with their Vaibhav Misra and producer Vijay Galani. Talking about his film and experience working with his director, Girish said, “I wish to have many hits 10 years down the line. Vaibhav has written a fabulous script. It is a very real story and has many layers to it.”

With the trailer starting off with a one-night stand, we just had to ask the leading man if he has ever felt adventurous before and been through similar situations. However, Girish avoided the question saying his family was present at the event. The actor coyly said, “Let my one-night stand be a secret.” Girish, who was last seen in 2013’s ‘Ramaiya Vatsavaiya’, had only kind words for his leading lady. He said, “Shruti Hasan and Navneet, both are hard working. The film required a fresh face so we signed her.”

The film, considered being a fresh and quirky love story, will mark the debut of former Miss World 2013 Navneet in the film industry. When asked about her debut role and her time on the sets, Navneet said, “I thank the Miss India contest for bagging ‘Loveshhuda’. Talent is very important. I feel that I am a born actress. Beauty pageants and acting are two different things.”

The starlet also said that her director Vaibhav scolded her on the sets, and that she learned a lot from Girish.
Talking about the film’s kissing scenes that may run into censor board trouble, Girish said, “We are trying to do real thing as a youth centric film.”

Mumbai: Sonakshi Sinha flew to Delhi today, to attend the launch of her father, Shatrughan Sinha’s biography. The book titled ‘Anything But Khamosh’, was in the news lately because of its revealing content.

Several online reports alleged that the actor turned politician aggressively lashed out against the ruling party and drops hints at how Amit Shah and Smriti Irani were given Cabinet posts despite performing poorly in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

However, Sinha cleared the air on his social networking handle, urging fans and followers not to believe all the rumours about the book.