Actress-producer Lara Dutta is excited about doing a sequel to her debut film production "Chalo Dilli", but says the new project will not be a continuation of the 2011 entertainer.

"The sequel to 'Chalo Dilli' will be a fresh film altogether and not a continuation. We have different characters in that," Lara told IANS.

"Chalo Dilli", directed by Shashant Shah, features Lara and Vinay Pathak in the lead.

Apart from the sequel, what should one look forward to from Lara on the work front?

"There are multiple things happening right now. I am working on my production house, we have been talking about the sequel to 'Chalo Dilli' with Eros (Eros International) and that's in pipeline. The film is in pre-production.

"I'm very excited about 'Chalo Dilli' sequel. It will go on floors soon. But I can't talk about the other projects," added the former beauty queen.

The makers of upcoming English-Tamil biopic "Ramanujan" Saturday unveiled the first of the many behind the scenes featurettes online.

The featurettes will give audiences an insight into the art, costumes, locations, crew preparations and authenticity of the film.

"Ramanujan" is the story of mathematics wizard Srinivasa Ramanujan. Actor Abhinay Vaddi is reprising the role of Ramanujan.

"Our behind the scenes featurettes will give the audience an insight into the hard work we put into the film, and a glimpse of the grandeur depicted - of British India and England during World War I," read a statement from the film's production house Camphor Cinema.

"The behind the scenes team accompanied us to all the shoots and has captured amazing and interesting things that go on behind the camera," the statement further read.

The first behind the scenes featurette "Creating the World of Ramanujan" features the recreation of the world of Ramanujan from Kumbakonam to Cambridge - bringing the beauty of India and England of the early 20th century period.

Directed by National Award winning filmmaker Gnana Rajasekaran, "Ramanujan" features an ensemble cast of Bhama, Sarath Babu, Suhasini Mani Ratnam, Y. Gee Mahendra, Delhi Ganesh, Abbas and Nizhagal Ravi in important roles.

Tamil actor Silambarasan aka Simbu has clarified that his upcoming Tamil romantic drama "Sattendru Maraathu Vaanilai" with Gautham Vasudev Menon has not been shelved. He says the project has been put on hold as the filmmaker first needs to complete his project with Ajith Kumar.

Simbu and Gautham shot "Sattendru Maraathu Vaanilai" for few days and subsequently stopped shooting for reasons unknown.

Clarifying the status of the project, Simbu told IANS: "My project with Gautham is very much on. We started shooting and had to stop because Gautham had a commitment with Ajith that came and he had to complete it. Therefore, we've put on shooting on hold and as soon as we are good to go, we'll start filming again."

This is the second time Simbu has collaborated with Gautham after the highly successful Tamil romantic-drama "Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya".

Simbu is currently busy wrapping up Tamil romantic-comedy "Idhu Namma Aalu" with ex lover Nayantara.

After impressing the audience with his work in films like "Kai Po Che" and "Shahid", Rajkummar Rao has once again been applauded for his performance in his latest release "Citylights". The National Award winning actor says that while he wants his films to be commercially successful, he also wants critical acclaim.

"I duly believe in the numbers game. It's important for a film to (find a) balance. It should earn money besides getting critical acclaim. Till now, all my films have managed to achieve both and I hope 'Citylights' gains more success," the actor told reporters here Friday.

Rajkummar, who made his Bollywood debut with "Love, Sex Aur Dhokha" in 2010, is currently busy shooting for Arbaaz Khan's production "Dolly Ki Doli", in which he stars with Sonam Kapoor.

Gurmeet Choudhary, who is beginning his film journey with Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt's Vishesh Films banner, is looking forward to the first of his three-film deal.

"Vishesh Films is a big banner. I was very excited when I was told about the role. Bhatt saab has made such great films," the actor said here Friday at the opening of a jewellery store.

Gurmeet refused to say anything about the genre of the film, but said he is open to doing different kind of films.

"My action and dance is very good, so it could be something on them...I also like films like 'Citylights' and I would want to do such a film. I am not choosy and would work in any film with a good script," Gurmeet said.

The actor was a finalist in the recently concluded reality show "Khatron Ke Khiladi".

He became famous on the small screen after portraying the epic character of lord Ram in the 2008 show "Ramayan".

Actress Sonakshi Sinha, who is making her southern film debut with megastar Rajinikanth-starrer "Lingaa", says she was nervous about working with him.

On her experience of working with the icon, the young actress said: "He is a wonderful person. I may not have seen many of his films, but I remember him from 'Hum'. I used to really like watching that film."

Sonakshi found him to be extremely humble despite his star status.

She recounted: "The first day when I met him on the set, I went up to him and told him, 'It is such an honour to work with you, sir', and I said, 'I am very nervous'. So he said, 'Why are you nervous? I should be nervous because you are my friend's (Shatrughan Sinha's) daughter."

That conversation turned out to be the ice-breaker between the actors.

"I couldn't have asked for a better debut (in the southern film world) than this. I am very happy," said the excited actress, who is currently busy promoting her forthcoming Bollywood film "Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty".

One thing that Sonakshi realised is that Rajinikanth's professionalism and humility is because of the respect he pays to his fans.

"He is very professional. He is such a huge star, yet he is so humble and speaks to everyone so politely. Once he goes out of the set, he is always surrounded by his fans and he makes sure that he rolls down the window and greets them.

"This is the reason he is such a huge star. The amount of love he gets from his fans, he reciprocates it. That's amazing."

"Lingaa" is directed by K.S. Ravikumar.

Iconic veteran actor Dilip Kumar's long-awaited biography "Substance and Shadow", will be launched here June 9 in the presence of the thespian's wife Saira Banu as well as Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan.

The biography, which was earlier scheduled to be released on Dilip Kumar's 91st birthday in December last year, is penned by author Uday Tara Nayar, who is also a close family friend of the Bollywood thespian.

Singing legend Lata Mangeshkar is also likely to be present at the momentous occasion, said a statement Saturday.

Dilip Kumar, one of the best performers that the Indian silver screen has ever witnessed, gave six decades of his life to filmdom and worked in much appreciated films like "Jwar Bhata""Mela", "Naya Daur", "Devdas", "Madhumati" and "Mughal-E-Azam".

The launch event of his biography will be arranged, managed and executed by Samara Productions, Astrus Talent and Event Management and MOH Entertainment.

Actress Sonakshi Sinha had to sit for two hours to get her hair tied in a braid everytime she had to shoot for her role in the forthcoming actioner "Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty".

The actress, who has luscious locks, says she had always wanted to sport the braided look, and "Holiday..." gave her a chance to fulfil the wish. She is impressed with the final outcome of the film, which release June 6.

The actress says “it took about two hours to get the braided look.”

“I've always wanted to do that look, but never got the opportunity in my other films to do it. Here, I was playing a boxer, so I thought I had to do it and I did it. It looked quite cool and convincing too," Sonakshi told IANS.

Produced by Vipul Shah, presented by Reliance Entertainment and directed by A.R. Murugadoss, the film features Akshay Kumar essaying the role of a dedicated army officer.

For the scene, in which Sonakshi is seen as a boxer participating in an inter-college championship, the actress took some training from Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh and action star Akshay too gave her tips to prepare for the role.

He not only helped her work on her stance but also made her punches look natural.

While the men made sure that she got the boxing moves right, her sporty look was styled by Sakshi Mehra.

Filmmaker Karan Johar's banner Dharma Productions together with producer Guneet Monga of Sikhya Entertainment will co-produce the official remake of popular French film "The Intouchables". Mohit Suri will direct the project.

In the announcement on Twitter, Karan posted: "Guneet Monga (Sikhya Entertainment) and Dharma Productions will co-produce the official remake of 'The Intouchables'...directed by Mohit Suri."

Confirming the same, Monga tweeted: "Guneet Monga and Dharma Productions to co-produce the official remake of 'The Intouchables'. To be directed by Mohit Suri."

"The Intouchables", released in 2011, was directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano.

Language turned out to be a bit of an issue on the set of forthcoming Bollywood film "Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty" as it had a mix of Hindi and Tamil-speaking crew. But the film's lead actors Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha say it was all in good fun!

For one of the songs in this Hindi remake of Tamil entertainer "Thuppakki", some sand had to be thrown in the air for effect. But the people who were responsible for throwing the sand ended up overdoing it as the instructions were being given in Hindi and they didn't understand it.

Sonakshi, who has shot a southern movie recently, told IANS: "I've been a part of other south Indian sets as well. Everyone communicates in English and it's fun when people from two cultures interact."

The film is directed by ace southern filmmaker A.R. Murugadoss. Sonakshi says he is "wonderful" and "explains what is required in a shot very well to his actors".

Meanwhile, Akshay said English was a common factor.

"We all know English and Hindi. They all know English, but not Hindi. They had a translator. Nothing funny happened (on the set) because we all were in a serious mood while shooting. The film is something very intense," the action titan said in an interaction with IANS.

The actor will be seen in the role of a dedicated army officer in the film which is ready to hit the screens June 6.

It is presented by Reliance Entertainment and produced by Vipul Shah.

Sonakshi Sinha is a well-known actress in Bollywood, but she says she doesn't have any friends in the industry as she has not worked with actresses.

"I don't think I have any friends in the industry. If you look at my films, I have done only solo roles and I have not worked with any other actresses in the films. So, I don't interact much with others. If at all we meet, we meet at award functions," said the "Dabangg" star.

Asked if she would like to do a multi-starrer film, she said: "Why not? Of course, I would like to and my next film 'Action Jackson' is a multi-starrer film."

While the audience is yet to see her in a multi-starrer, Sonakshi will be next seen with Akshay Kumar in their forthcoming film "Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty".

"I was introduced to Vijender Singh (boxer) by Akshay to learn the body language of boxing. He helped me with the basic body language of boxing and it helped me a lot," said the actress, who will be seen as a boxer participating in an inter-college championship in the film.

The 26-year-old might have needed some help from the experts to make her role look convincing, but the student of fashion designing likes to give inputs to designers she works with.

"I give some inputs as far as outfits are concerned. So, whichever stylist and designer works with me, I decide with them and they give me options. I give lot of inputs so, it's a joint effort," she said.

From one scene to lead role - life has come full circle for Vir Das.

The stand-up comedian Vir Das's Bollywood entry was not so glorified - he started off with doing one scene in 2007 hit “Namastey London”.

However, the interesting part was that he shot his first scene with Rishi Kapoor, in which he played a prospective groom for Katrina Kaif (who played Rishi's on-screen daughter). And that was his only scene in the film.

In his seven-year acting journey, Vir climbed up the success ladder and during the course of time his roles continued to lengthen with films like adult comedy "Delhi Belly", zombie movie "Go Goa Gone" and thriller "Revolver Rani".

Now, tentatively titled “Khanna Patel” will see him in the lead role and this time he plays Rishi's on-screen son.

According to a source, when Vir learnt that he'll be playing Rishi's son, the first thought that crossed his mind was that how seven years ago he had done is first scene with him. It was indeed a surreal moment for him.

A token of appreciation made director Mohit Suri pay a midnight visit to fellow filmmaker Karan Johar.

It all happened at a quiet dinner organised by Karan for a handful of friends at his Khar apartment. Ekta Kapoor, Shabina Khan, Manish Malhotra and Ayan Mukerji were among those invited, said a source.

At the dinner, Ekta showed Karan the new official two-minute-18-second trailer of “Ek Villain” and the guests were completely blown away. So much so that past midnight they made congratulatory calls to director Mohit Suri.

Ekta went a step ahead and invited Suri to Karan's house.

Ranbir and Katrina, who reached Karan's at the same time as Mohit, also watched the trailer of his film and showered praises on the young director's exemplary work.

When contacted, Mohit said: "I was at Mithoon's studio when Ekta called me and gave me the good news.”

“I was relieved more than anything else as I had been in the edit suite day and night, cut off from the world, and these were the first few people who had seen the trailer. I am delighted with the overwhelming response to the trailer from the audience too, now that it's out on the Net."

Starring Riteish Deshmukh, Sidharth Malhotra and Shraddha Kapoor, “Ek Villain” releases in cinemas June 27.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will return to the host's chair of "Kaun Banega Crorepati" (KBC) soon. But his small screen journey doesn't conclude here. He will also be seen in his first fiction TV show - "Yudh".

The promo of his fiction show, directed by Anurag Kashyap, is currently being aired on Sony Entertainment Channel. The official launch will happen Sunday.

"The promos or the first look of the new TV serial that I work on shall be revealed tomorrow (Sunday) during the finals of the IPL (Indian Premiere League)," Big B said.

"See, look, discuss, obtain and finally give in to the peoples' choice. It would start broadcast on Sony TV and shall be the joint venture between Yash Raj films and moi (me)," he posted on his official blog srbachchan.tumblr.com.

The promo was published on YouTube May 31 and in a day's time, it has been viewed 8,472 times.

Some of the viewers felt that it is inspired by popular crime drama TV series titled "Breaking Bad".

Whether it is an Indian version of the American show, only time will tell when it will reportedly hit the TV sets later this month.

The story revolves around a man - his journey and struggle with his collapsing health, his battle with business rivals and his complicated family equations. It is a journey to emerge a winner from despite all odds.

The show also features Sarika and Kay Kay Menon.

If watching actor-producer Akshay Kumar getting slapped by a monkey in a sequence in "Housefull" was hilarious, the action star’s fans will now see a backup dancer leaving her hand's print on his cheek in "Holiday".

The actor, who has mostly beaten the bad guys black in blue on the big screen, gets slapped by a woman in his forthcoming film "Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty", which also features Sonakshi Sinha. But he says it wasn’t anything serious.

Talking about the particular scene, Akshay said: “It was just a funny thing."

"Nothing special was going on in my head. The whole idea is that I tell her why is the girl (Sonakshi) not agreeing with me and she (the back-up dancer) says if she is not agreeing, then I’ll come along with you. I said, 'no I want her only'. So, the girl gets angry and slaps me,” the actor told IANS.

He plays an army officer in the A.R. Murugadoss directorial, which will release June 6.

Shah Rukh Khan's Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the title in 2012 and they have again reached the finals of the seventh edition being played here Sunday. The superstar admits to being nervous, but says he has nothing to lose and tweeted a picture with AbRam written on it.

"As long as I will do justice to that moment in which I exist, I have nothing to fear. The rest does not matter," tweeted SRK before the match.

But he is nervous about the result.

"I am getting a feeling that my constant tweeting is a sign of nervous excitement. Fingers are not stopping," added SRK whose daughter Suhana is with him at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium.

The “Main Hoon Na” star has three children -- son Aryan, daughter Suhana with wife Gauri, and baby boy AbRam, who was born through surrogacy in 2013.

While his daughter and her friends are all up to watch the match live here, his other family members are back home in Mumbai.

“We are kind of ready in all shapes and sizes. Bring it on. Go my KKR,” Shah Rukh shared along with a photograph with AbRam’s name written on it, but it is not clear whether its a jersey or a T-shirt.

“Suddenly, wish for all around me. Wife is babysitting lil one, miss her. Aryan in school. But my army of lil girls with me. Ready steady po,” he further tweeted.

"Two hearts racing. My KKR & mine. They say when two hearts race… both win. So let’s wish for more and dream a little higher. Love you, my boys," he wrote.

Actress Raveena Tandon, who is here for a store launch, says she loves the region and hopes the new government works for its development.

“Just landed in Guwahati! Store opening. Just love northeast of our country. Lovely people. Has so much potential. Hope new government focuses on development,” she posted on Twitter Sunday.

"Guwahati art deco on the walls! Welcoming you, at the airport," she further posted along with a photograph.

According to reports, she is in the Assamese city for the showroom launch of PC Jewellers.

On the work front, she recently shot for the reality show “Entertainment Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega” as a guest judge.

Dhondutai Kulkarni, one of the last living exponents of the famed 'Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana' music and Sangeet Natak Akademi Award laureate, died here Sunday morning.

She was 86 and the end came due to old age complications at her home in north Mumbai suburb of Borivli, family sources said.

The iconic musician Alladiya Khan, who founded the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana, made it unique by its full-throated singing, complicated taans and a large repertoire of ragas.

Popularly known as 'Gaan-Yogini', Dhondutai was born in Kolhapur and her father initiated her into singing and she started performing for All India Radio at the age of eight.

Later, she was trained by Bhurji Khan and Ustad Azizuddin Khan, the son and grandson, respectively, of Alladiya Khan, besides Laxmibai Jadhav and later Kesarbai Kerkar.

Actress Mallika Sherawat is no stranger to controversy. And she has once again kicked up a storm by appearing in a tricolour in the poster of her new film "Dirty Politics". There are more stars who have had a controversial brush with the Indian flag.

In the poster, Mallika is seen wrapped in the tricolour and sitting atop a car with a beacon, and it hasn’t gone down well with a political party from Rajasthan.

But she is not the first one to get into trouble.

Back in 2000, designer Malini Ramani also landed in trouble when she donned a flag dress. She showed her design skills by using horizontal strips of orange, white and green and a blue wheel - all similar to the Indian flag.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the creativity of the designer that became a topic of discussion, but the fact that she allegedly dishonoured the national flag, according to some.

A few years later, actress and host Mandira Bedi’s attire came under fire when she chose to wear a flag-themed sari. While hosting one of the cricket matches, Mandira was seen wearing a sari that had national flags of all the countries, which participated in the tournament. There was an image of the tricolour that was apparently positioned in a disrespectful manner - below the knee. This angered many.

Tennis player Sania Mirza didn’t dare to wear the tricolour, but she found herself in the flag controversy, thanks to smart photography.

Mirza was pictured sitting with her bare feet that appeared to rest on a table next to an Indian flag. As many saw this as an act of showing disrespect to the Indian flag, she had even thought of giving up playing tennis to show her respect to the national flag.

After featuring in supporting roles, actor Sharib Hashmi found his big ticket as a lead character in "Filmistaan". He says he has now decided to stick to acting and wants to make it his bread and butter.

Sharib's height posed a problem for him.

"I wanted to be an actor, but I couldn't be one because my height was just 5'4. I realized that even the supporting actors were taller than me. But, I was secretly nurturing the desire of becoming an actor," Sharib said here.

"Now I want to stick to acting and I want to make acting my bread and butter," he added.

He was introduced to the world of cinema and glamour since his childhood.

"My dad was a film journalist, so since childhood I was exposed to the glamour world. Film stars used to come to my house for interviews and I used to get inspired by all these things," he added.

Sharib was a writer before venturing into acting via supporting parts in films like "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" and "Haal- E-Dil".

He considers "Filmistaan" as his debut film.

"I would consider this as my first film because I am playing the lead in this film. I still cant believe I am part of 'Filmistaan'. In all my previous films, I was in the supporting role. So, this is like a huge break for me," he added.

Directed by Nitin Kakkar, "Filmistaan" has been widely acclaimed across film festivals. It is releasing June 6.