DDLJ crosses the 700-week mark, creates new record

Fourteen years after it was first released "Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" continued its successful run at the box office crossing the 700-week mark. The Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer, which had previously broken the record of "Sholay", to become the longest running film in 2007, has been playing continuously for 700 weeks at Mumbai's Maratha Mandir theatre, creating a record of its own.

The film, directed by Aditya Chopra, starred Shah Rukh and Kajol in a story that featured Indians living outside the country for the first time in a mainstream Bollywood film.

The film a romantic drama, included typical Bollywood elements, but owed its stupendous success to the fresh twist it brought to the boy-meets-girl story. Filmed in London and Punjab, the film is considered one of the best romantic films of Bollywood.

The music of the film composed by Jatin Lalit topped every charts and the movie won 10 Filmfare awards, including best actor and best actress for Shah Rukh and Kajol.

The Curious Case of Bipasha Basu

Age is just a number, alright.

More for our celestial beauties. Who cares about lines and creases, lovelies... Botox hai na? Lol! But we tell ya...the Bollywood women are only getting sexier with age. And hear this one....the hottest of ‘em all, yeah Bipasha Base, of course, wants to regress in numbers. Recently while talking to ZoOm she expressed that she had no qualms about arriving at the cool number 30.

She proudly added, “I look my age, perfect. I had said that after I reach this age, I’ll start going backwards. Now that I am here, you can guess, what I will do. It’s time to go back now. Ha, ha, ha.” Regression, huh? “No, not now. From next year onwards, I will regress 100 per cent. By 2010 I’ll have a different age.” Aha! Maybe our lovely Bips is too inspired by Brad Pitt’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. We don’t blame her, but we’re curious to know if she wants to go to Hollywood, too. Out there the age really doesn’t matter, Bips. And if you ask us... we don’t want baby Bips, we just want the babe!

'I don't consider anyone my competition'

Former Miss India Neha Dhupia, who has as many as five films lined up this year, says that winning a beauty pageant is no guarantee for striking gold in Bollywood and that it's only hard work that finally counts.

"It's not easy to create a place for yourself in Bollywood even if you have a pageant behind you.

No one in the industry was laying out special carpets for me because I had won the Miss India contest.

You have to work hard if you want to prove something. It's taken me a long time to carve a niche for myself, but I'm glad that finally I have done it," Neha said on phone from Goa.

Neha’s releases for 2009 include Paying Guest with Mukta Arts, Pappu Can't Dance Saala and Raat Gayi Baat Gayi by actor-director Saurabh Shukla, Raftaar co-starring Emraan Hashmi and Priyadarshan's De Dhana Dan.

In Pappu Can't Dance Saala, her first release this year, Neha is acting along with funny man Vinay Pathak.

"In this comedy I'm doing with Vinay Pathak, I play the role of a Maharashtrian back-up dancer.

It was something very different for me because I'm not a Maharashtrian.

I had to learn the mannerisms of the character, who is a complete brat and a bully, but Saurabh (Shukla) helped me a lot," she explained.

Neha maintains that she has become more careful while choosing projects as she doesn't want to get typecast in a certain role.

"I'm holding myself back now and doing only interesting projects."

After winning the Miss India crown in 2002, Neha stepped into Bollywood in 2003 with Qayamat: City Under Threat, which starred Ajay Devgan.

She got noticed when she acted in Julie in 2004.

She went on to do films like Kyaa Kool Hai Hum and Shootout At Lokhandwala and tried to break her glam image with Chup Chup Ke, Mithya, Maharathi and Dasvidaniya.

"I feel in our industry you get typecast instantly.

When I started off I was offered other roles as well, but I chose the ones I did and got stuck with one image, which was hard to break.

That was a mistake and I've learnt from that. There was no guiding force for me when I entered Bollywood," Neha said.

Like many others in Bollywood, Neha too admits she would love to work with Shah Rukh Khan and Mani Ratnam, but adds that she doesn't consider anyone her competition in the industry.

"I don't consider anyone my competition.

Everyone is great and so talented. Why compete? I would rather be a collective part of the industry," the actress said

Katrina and Kareena did not see eye to eye

At one time Katrina and Kareena did not see eye to eye, but at Amrita Arora’s wedding they looked like they were new BFFs (best friends forever).

Katrina admitted that Kareena had helped her get healthier and fitter after she fell ill on the sets of her film De Dhan Dhana Dhan: "I was weak after taking all those antibiotics.

So I immediately appointed a trainer for myself and asked Kareena for tips on how to increase my energy levels. She was very sweet and gave me the best possible tips. Now I work-out for an hour everyday, have given up chicken and only have food sent by microbiologist Sonali Sabharwal.

Kareena has inspired me to keep a proper regime.” Cute! But how long will this friendship last before the Kat's claws come out again?

Want to LOOK like Shilpa Shetty

After investing in the IPL, Shilpa Shetty’s next business venture is the Iosis Medispa for which she has collaborated with Kiran Bawa. The actress with the best body in Bollywood tells us why she wanted to start a chain of spas, how she unwinds and what makes her spa different from the rest.Why did you start a chain of spas?Spa stands for ‘Salva Pour Aqua’ which means healing through aqua. The reason we wanted to start a medispa because our aim is Wellness India. Today, we lead such stressed, fast-paced lives that we have no time for ourselves. There is nothing to be apologetic about if you want to feel and look beautiful - it is your right. You need the right advice. There are so many girls out there who need help. They need the right approach to cure their ailments from within. They need to focus on health and fitness. Beyond the business aspect, I really think it is important to take care of yourself and unwind no matter who you are and what you do. This is one opportunity I have opened for people as this is the way I unwind after a long day’s shoot. Iosis is my catharsis.Why did you decide to partner with Kiran Bawa and Iosis?I couldn’t have asked for a better person to partner with. Kiran and I have known each other for 17 years as we are family friends. She comes from a hospitality background and is trained abroad. I just went to a Chembur salon for a beautician course. We share the same passions. We come from a sound financial background. We are not doing this for money, even though today success is measured by the money you make. I need someone to look into nitty-gritties and she is the perfect person to do that. We both are 50 percent partners in the venture.What makes your spa different from the other spas?What makes our spa different from the other spas is that it is a medispa. It is not just about slimming and getting a facial. If you have a problem, like a shoulder ache, we will give you a massage and some therapy to go with it to solve your ailment. It is a long term process. We have trained doctors, cosmetologists, dieticians, nutritionists, dermatologists, Reiki specialists and other rejuvenation therapists to guide you to wellbeing. There are acne, laser and pigmentation treatments. There is Yoga and Power Pilates and a hydro-therapy room, all under one roof. That is the way I have wanted it as a customer, because I don’t want to run around. We have done extensive R&D to make our spa different. I can’t talk enough; you need to see it for yourself. Also, our spa is aimed at the younger generation because they are impatient and want to see results fast. Even the older generation is more than welcome to experience our services.Do you have any membership packages?Here people can enroll for a yearly membership program. Most spas or salons don’t have such packages. And our spa is not only for the uber-rich class. The middle-class feels spa is a luxury indulgence. We want to break that misconception. A basic clean-up facial starts at Rs.300 while a gold-caviar facial costs Rs.3000. So there is quite a range to cater to the taste of our clientele.Do you have a special Shilpa Shetty package?We do. Kiran tells me she got a lot of people who said they wanted to look like me and wanted a hair blow-dry like mine. So my favourite caviar facial and body massage and all my tips have been combined in a package called Shilpa Shetty’s Signature Treatment. One thing is there, you won’t walk out looking like me but they can surely get a blow dry like mine. On a lucky day, you might see me there.

Kareena opposite Hollywood hunk!

Kareena Kapoor is all set to star opposite Hollywood hunk Jared Leto in the first East-West film of her career, "Gandhi Park". To be directed by Palakkad (Kerala)-based chartered accountant-turned-film professional Kolata Tom George, the new crossover venture is due to roll in New York on Jan 20.But the first-time director does not want "Gandhi Park" to be known as "Tom George's film". He says: "It is going to be every Indian's film. It is a film that will highlight the contribution of the global Indian."The cast of "Gandhi Park" will also include Naseeruddin Shah, R. Madhavan and Shernaz Patel. Twenty percent of the film will be shot on north Indian locations like New Delhi's India Gate and Agra's Taj Mahal, reveals George. The film, to be produced by an outfit in the US, has been scripted by the well-known Hollywood screenwriter David Linter. Linter's credits include the Michael Radford-directed Daryl Hannah starrer, "Dancing At The Blue Iguana".Kolata Tom George, who lived in New York for 10 years, is not new to the moviemaking scene. He has already produced a few Malayalam films, including the critically acclaimed "Akale", National Award-winning director Shyamaprasad's adaptation of Tennessee Williams's "The Glass Menagerie".The $9 million "Gandhi Park" could catapult the producer-director to a completely different league. "When the US faced the Y2K (Year 2000 problem) crisis, Indian software engineers stepped in and fixed the problem. Indian doctors and engineers are also in the forefront of life in the US. My film will be an honest attempt to tell the world what Indians are capable of achieving," says George."Too many films coming out of this country these days tend to focus on India's poverty," says George. "They end up giving the world a terribly lopsided view of the country." "Gandhi Park" will have Naseeruddin Shah playing a New York transit system official and Shernaz Patel will assume the role of his supportive nurse-wife. The couple has one daughter, the character to be played by Kareena, a pharmacist and violinist in love with an American (Jared Leto, the star of such Hollywood films as "Alexander", "The Fight Club" and "The Thin Red Line"). Tamil movie superstar Madhavan will play the crucial role of a skilled software engineer who works for Bill Gates.