New Delhi, Aug 20 : Maruti Pictures, the producers of upcoming comedy 'Daddy Cool', has dismissed rumours that the film is a copy of 2007 Hollywood film
'Death At A Funeral'.

The news came after rumour mills were abuzz that the Hindi movie is a copy of the Hollywood venture - in the name of inspiration.

Distributed by Big Pictures, "Daddy Cool" has been produced by Maruti Pictures' Ashok Thakeria and Indra Kumar.

"This is to clarify reports appearing in certain sections of the press about the upcoming Hindi film 'Daddy Cool' being a lift from the English film 'Death At A Funeral'," said a statement released here by Maruti Pictures.

"'Daddy Cool' has duly obtained permission from the producers of the English film to produce and release the film across the world... Big Pictures is releasing the film only after ascertaining the facts," the statement further read.

Releasing Aug 28, "Daddy Cool" has been directed by K. Murli Mohan Rao. It stars an ensemble cast including Sunil Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Javed Jaffrey, Aarti Chhabria, Ashish Chowdhry, Tulip Joshi, Kim Sharma, Sophie Choudry, Rajpal Yadav, Chunky Pandey and Prem Chopra.

Ayesha Shroff wife of Jackie Shroff introduced Katrina to the world of Bollywood and now she is revealing startling secrets about the actress.

Ayesha says, “Katrina had an English surname, which was not easy to pronounce. She is not Katrina Kaif originally. She is Katrina Turquotte. We wanted to give her a surname which would be accepted by the Indian audience. First we thought of naming her Katrina Kazi, but then we thought Kazi would have a religious overtone. So we thought of Kaif.”

When quizzed about surname Kaif belonging to her Kashmiri father, Ayesha says, “If that’s what she says, you have to believe her. Her name on her passport that time was Katrina Turquotte.”

Verdict reserved on Sanjay Dutt's plea for suspension of conviction (Lead).

New Delhi, March 30: The Supreme Court
Monday reserved its verdict on Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt's plea for suspension of his conviction in a criminal case to enable him fight the general elections.

A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice R.M. Lodha reserved the verdict amid strong opposition from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and various civil society groups to Dutt's plea for suspension of his conviction for possessing illegal arms in the run-up to the March 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai.

Dutt, sentenced to six years in jail by a Mumbai anti-terror court, moved the court early this month seeking parity with cricketer-turned-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)parliamentarian Navjot Singh Sidhu, whose conviction in a case of unintentional killing was stayed by the apex court in 2007 to enable him contest elections.

As per electoral laws, a person convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to jail for more than two years is barred from running for elections.

The Samajwadi Party wants to field Dutt from the Lucknow constituency, and he had already started campaigning there.

The apex court is likely to pronounce its judgement in a day or two.

The bench reserved its verdict after hearing a two-hour-long argument from various sides, including those of senior counsel Harish Salve, who made a strong case for suspending Dutt's conviction.

But the hearing took a dramatic turn towards its fag end when several civil society groups, represented by several senior counsels like former attorney general of India Soli J. Sorabjee, former additional solicitor general K.T.S. Tulsi and senior counsel Prashant Bhushan, put up a stiff resistance to Dutt's plea.

The three senior counsel opposed Dutt's plea contending that allowing him to contest the poll by suspending his conviction would open the flood gates for further criminalisation of the body politic and efforts to rid politics of criminal elements would suffer a permanent setback.

They argued that allowing Dutt's plea would lead to a deluge of similar pleas by 'all sorts of convicted criminals' before courts all over India for suspension of their conviction in criminal cases and that would eventually lead to flooding of parliament and state legislatures with criminals.

Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam too opposed Dutt's plea arguing that various relevant laws do not empower the court to suspend the conviction of a criminal.

The courts, at most, can suspend the sentence, entailing the conviction, and not the conviction per se, which could only be set aside by a court only after detailed examination of the evidence against the accused, Subramaniam said.

He also contended that Dutt's case cannot be compared with that of Sidhu, who had first won an acquittal from the lower court.

The law officer said when the Punjab and Haryana High Court convicted Sidhu, setting aside his acquittal, Sidhu was already an MP and did not incur immediate disqualification owing to the conviction.

He could have continued as MP simply by challenging his conviction by the high court, argued Subramaniam, adding that Sidhu, however, quit as Lok Sabha member and then came to the apex court for suspension of his conviction to fight election for the same seat that he had quit.

The courts should sparingly suspend the conviction of a criminal, said Subramaniam adding that the apex court should utilise its inherent power only in cases where the principles of natural justice have not been followed.

It should not use its power to facilitate a criminal to contest election, said Subramaniam.

Earlier arguing for Dutt, Salve sought suspension of his conviction saying that he had ended up procuring illegal arms from an underworld don under the genuine fears that his house and family were likely to be attacked by perpetrators of the communal riots in the metropolis after the demolition of the Babri masjid at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh.

Salve said that even the trial court convicting him on the charges of possessing illegal weapon has noted that he had no knowledge of the larger criminal conspiracy to bomb the metropolis.

Shah Rukh Khan's biographer and close friend Mushtaq Sheikh, who has co-written films like 'Om Shanti Om' and "Billu", says he hates being used by those who have personal grievances against the superstar.

Furious at a media report that he and Shah Rukh had fallen apart, Mushtaq said the superstar was "very much family".

"I hate it when my friends are attacked. I mean how can you demean names like Farah Khan, Priyadarshan and Shah Rukh Khan all in one article without an iota of truth and get away," Mushtaq told IANS.

"This is tabloid journalism at its worst. I hate being used by somebody who has misused his pen to vent personal grievances against Shah Rukh."

Mushtaq, whose friendship with the superstar dates back more than a decade, recently released a book on Shah Rukh titled "Still Reading Khan".

"Malice? Desperation? You tell me what inspires muck-rakers and I will till you where this came from," said Mushtaq when questioned if Shah Rukh and he had indeed fallen out.

Doesn't he feel that in today's desperate times when movies are not releasing and news is hard to find, this is just one way for a section of media to grab attention and increase viewership?

"See, movies are releasing, and there is enough news out there, but it does depend on what kind of media you are and what you think are 'good stories'. Matter of fact, Shah Rukh is family and will continue to be one. People can imagine, say and write anything they want."

After featuring on the Rolling Stones’ Cover, Rock On has scaled new heights. The movie’s screenplay has been chosen for the Oscar archives.

“It’s a great high for me that the script of our first film in association with Big Pictures has found a place in the Oscar library,” “Rock On!!” producer Ritesh Sidhwani confirmed in a press release.

“We got overwhelming reactions from across the board and now the news of the script going to the Oscar Library. It can’t get better than this,” Sidhwani added.

According to Gregory Walsh, script librarian of Oscars, “The screenplay of Rock On will be made available for research to only actors, students, filmmakers and writers who are their regular patrons. The script will not be allowed for circulation outside the library premises and cannot even be photocopied.”

Samir Karnik’s Heroes is another movie to be chosen for the Oscar Archives that already contains a few popular film screenplays like that of Gandhi My Father, Sarkar Raj, Chak De India, Kal Ho Na Ho, Munnabhai M.B.B.S., Devdas and Lagaan.

Celina Jaitley has tasted a little bite of the so-called success of Golmaal Returns but she still feels she is unlucky, especially in love. She celebrated her 27th birthday on 24th November without the ’someone special’ in her life.

“So maybe for my birthday, god will grant me romance and love. About time I got lucky in love,” Celina told IANS.

Nevertheless, something good came up with the absence of love in her life. She spent her birthday partying with destitute girls at Regina Spaces she threw a party at the NGO premises for them.

“I threw a birthday party for my girls. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them smile. Wish my family was here.”

Celina’s family too couldn’t make it to Mumbai for the occasion and her pet dog made sure she doesnt have a peaceful day before her birthday.

“So for me it was not a very happy birthday. My parents left Mumbai and my dog didn’t take well to their absence. So she swallowed plastic. The entire day before my birthday the vet was trying to pull the plastic out of her throat. Not a very pleasant way to bring in my birthday.”

She didnt have anyone to gift her anything so she gifted herself a brand new BMW.

“I need that boost. I’ve been working hard and my ‘Golmaal Returns’ is a hit. So I need to indulge myself. I know a girl’s best friend are diamonds. But she needs a posh car to get to the jewellery store. So a BMW,” said Celina.

Its not always bad to be alone on birthdays isn’t it… especially if you can afford a BMW.

Saif is out proclaiming his love for Kareena. The man is so madly in love that he has no qualms about this issue. We hear that Saif has got Kareena’s name tattooed in Devnagri on his arm at Hakim’s Alim in Bandra.

The man really took some pain searching and browsing through different calligraphic styles so as to finalize the shape of the tattoo.

Finally, after much resolution he walked into Hakim’s Alim in Bandra and sat for a two-three hour session to get Kareena’s name tattooed in Devnagari- an ancient Indian language.

The tattoo was reportedly done in indelible ink. And this is not the end the couple have cleverly planned their schedules and left for Greece on Friday, January 4, so as to spend time together alone there before other crew members of Tashan- their new film together, catch up with them for a shooting schedule there.

And this is not the end the couple have cleverly planned their schedules and left for Greece on Friday, January 4, so as to spend time together alone there before other crew members of Tashan- their new film together, catch up with them for a shooting schedule there.

Amrita Rao who is known for her decent and naïve like attitude surprised everybody by visiting a striptease bar.

Though underage the lady got in by paying an extra 10 dollars. Accompanied by two of her friends she ventured out on the streets

And after witnessing the scenes within, Amrita promised herself that this was the first and last time she would be visiting a striptease bar.

She literally for the first time saw women stripping from top to bottom. If that wasn’t enough the women also went on to perform nude pole dances.

The most embarrassing thing about the whole scene was the fact that she and her friend were the only girls in the room.

Well, poor thing!!!!

“Jodha Akbar” a UTV venture, is the most awaited film of the year. which is based on a romance between the 16th century Muslim Mughal emperor Akbar, played by Hrithik Roshan, and a Hindu princess, Jodha Bai, played by Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai.

Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the movie will also be dubbed in Tamil and Telugu languages.

Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai Bachchan states that all the actors in the movie ‘Jodha Akbar’ had worked very hard and had done the film with ‘full passion’.

What if Jodha Akbar failed like Asoka?????

To this question Ash stated “At certain times certain films do well…certain films do not do that well. It’s a very tricky thing.”

On the other hand bollywood movie star Hrithik Roshan says he deliberately choose this movie , as acting out the difficult role of the Mongol emperor in the new historical romance “Jodha Akbar” gave him an opportunity to excel as an actor.

“It is only when it seems to threaten the value of my job would I be consciously giving it my best,” he said.

Well, let’s wait and watch how this movie fares at the box office.