Who will be the first Indian Bond Girl?

Two Bollywood actresses are vying to be the first Indian Bond girl as rumours spread that the next 007 film will be shot in the country. Producers of the film, expected to be directed by Sam Mendes, have been scouting locations in India.

The plot is believed to be set in Afghanistan in landscapes similar to India's Rajasthan deserts and the arid mountains of Ladakh, close to the border with Tibet. In 1983 the Bond film Octopussy featured the Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj in a plot centred on a cult of "octopus" women on a floating island in Udaipur, the "city of lakes" in Rajasthan in western India.

Last week Freida Pinto, who played Latika in the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire, was linked to the new film in which Daniel Craig will play 007. Her latest film, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, directed by Woody Allen, will be released later this year. She is to be the face of L'Oreal cosmetics and is believed to be India's highest paid film star.

Aishwarya Rai, a former Miss World and India's most successful actress, was also in the frame, friends told an Indian newspaper. They said Rai, 36, was better suited to the role because of her vast experience in Bollywood and Hollywood.

She recently appeared in Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin and made her name outside India in Bride and Prejudice. Aged 25 and recently listed as one of the world's most beautiful women by People magazine, Pinto would appear to fit the age and beauty profile.

While Rai is 11 years older, her friends reminded her Indian fans she was once described as the "most beautiful woman in the world" by Julia Roberts. A spokesman for Eon, the film's producers, declined to comment.

Katrina Kaif Loves Train Rides

These days the Bollywood stars seem to be giving up their starry airs for the good. Recently, our space talked about Hema Malini and Deepika Padukone taking economy class flights. Now, we have it that Katrina Kaif was comfortable to hop into a train while she wanted to go on a shopping spree in Bangkok.

It so happened that Kat was recently in Bangkok shooting for a new commercial. When she was free from work, she decided to go shopping but as she stepped out of the hotel, she realised there was a huge traffic jam. However, there was no stopping the beauty as she took a train to the shopping district despite warnings from her well-wishers that it was not quite safe for her to do so.

So, Katrina boarded a train for the first time in several years, had a wonderful time shopping at Siam Paragon Shopping Centre and at another luxury mall on Sukhumvit Road and ended up buying a few pairs of boots as she is extremely fond of them.

Will Bollywood Megastars be the Saviour of BBC Asian Network?

Over 100 well-known British Asians comprising Meera Syal, as well as Bollywood celebs Shilpa Shetty and Aamir Khan have demanded the BBC to change its decision to shut the Asian Network, the digital radio station. The BBC is already under attack over plans declared this week to shut BBC 6 Music and confronts.

A new wave of protestation today as over 100 famous British Asians wish the Asian Network to be saved. Top stars, actors and peers have signed up a letter, advocating the BBC to stop the closing of the station. Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha, England cricketer Vikram Solanki, singers Jay Sean and MIA and Sir Mota Singh QC, Britain's highest-profile Sikh member of the judiciary.

Also signed the letter forwarded to to BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons. All signatories showed their "deep shock" at the BBC's verdict to shut out the national station. The letter said that the 8-year-old digital broadcaster offers up a "key platform" for.

The national Asian society and provides original British Asian talent an outlet, which is obviously under-represented in the more conventional BBC. The decision to close both the Asian Network and 6 Music were part of a policy review by BBC's director general Mark Thompson, published earlier this week, The Guardian reports

Kareena Kapoor to dine with her future sister in law

Kareena has great regard for Saif’s sister Soha Ali Khan and her beau Kunal Khemu. It is not a surprise to hear.

Kareena strongly recommending Kunal to ‘Golmaal 3’ director Rohit Shetty. She convinced Shetty to include him as an integral part of the Golmaal series.

Recently, Kareena told Shetty that Kunal would be an asset in his forthcoming film, ‘Golmaal’ in which she stars.

Sources said that recently Saif, Kareena, Soha and Kunal met for dinner. Kareena and Kunal had an intense conversation about his movies and forthcoming projects.

She thinks he is a very talented actor and is just making the wrong choices with his movies. She mentioned the same to him and discussed Golmaal 3 with him.

It’s a thoughtful gesture on Kareena’s part to help out Soha’s boyfriend. Golmaal director Rohit was hunting for the star cast and Kareena was aware of that.

We hear she had a word with Rohit, who was convinced by Kareena’s reasoning. The director immediately decided that Kunal should be sharing the screen space with Kareena, Ajay Devgan Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Arshad Warsi and Mithun Chakraborty.

Kareena Kapoor turns down Shahid Kapoor AGAIN

Since the time Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor parted ways, Boney Kapoor’s project ‘Milenge Milenge’ has been suffering setbacks. First, the film has been out rightly delayed. Next, Boney Kapoor’s plans for shooting a promotional video for the film with Shahid and Kareena went berseck as Kareena went on her size-zero spree and the promoters of the film had to give up the idea. The promotional song had already been recorded with Himesh Reshammiya and as per the sources, now this song will be shot on Shahid and a new girl.

The latest headache for the producer has been the fact that Kareena has refused to come together and share the stage with Shahid Kapoor for the promotion of the film. She is ready to promote the film but sans Shahid.

The producers of the film are in a fix with Kareena’s unprofessional attitude. Dear Kareena, linkups or breakups, professional commitments should always come before personal preferences!

My Name is Khan War still going on

The Shahrukh-Sena issue has taken a new twist with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray joining the fight by targeting the Shiv Sena for being harsh to Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan while sparing his counterparts.

Raj Thackeray, the estranged nephew of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, said that Amitabh Bachchan too has to apologise if Shahrukh is to do so for supporting the inclusion of Pakistani cricketers in IPL3 because Amitabh shared the same dais with Pakistani artistes and recited poems recently.

The MNS chief questioned why only Shahrukh's film is being targeted and criticised the 'double standard' policy of the party. He has made it clear that his party would not disrupt the screening of My Name is Khan.

The Shiv Sena has called for the ban of My Name is Khan in Mumbai following Shahrukh's refusal to apologise for stating that Pakistani cricketers should be allowed to play in IPL. Over thousand Shiv Sena activists have been arrested in the last couple of days for violent protest against the film.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali Re-Unites with Aditya Chopra

It’s a small world. And the world of entertainment is even smaller than the rest. Two of Bollywood’s biggest filmmakers Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Aditya Chopra had a major misunderstanding last year when Aditya Chopra ended up using the Punjabi exclamation ‘Hadippa’ which was a registered title in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s production house in Yash Raj Films’ Dil Bole Hadippa.

Buzz up!The incident left a bitter taste in Sanjay Bhansali’s mouth and the director had vowed to not go anywhere near the Yash Raj banner.

A year later the acrimony has faded. And now for the first time in his entire career Sanjay Leela Bhansali will be shooting (from Feb 21) in Yash Raj Studios, and that too for his crucial last schedule.

Says a source close to Sanjay, “It is the final lap of shooting and Sanjay needs to be absolutely relaxed. He weighed the pros and cons and decided to let bygone be bygones and approached Yash Raj. Mr. Yash Chopra and his son Aditya have happily extended all facilities at their swanky studio to the director who hopes to shoot in peace and without any guests dropping in.”

Says the source, “One of the drawbacks in shooting at one of the other major film studios in Mumbai is that guests can drop in any time. In spite of clear instructions to his actors and technicians about no visitors on the sets of Guzaarish, Sanjay regularly had to deal with VIP guests on the sets. Most of them he had to say no to. At Yash Raj such intrusions are not allowed. And that would avoid Sanjay a lot of embarrassment.”

Says Sanjay Bhansali, “It is strictly a business arrangement. Yes I am shooting at Yash Raj later this month. It is comfortable and convenient. And we all belong to the same fraternity, don’t we?”

This schedule completed the director would have only a song with Aishwarya Bachchan and scenes with the magician to shoot.

The song with Aishwarya will be unlike anything she has shot before. It will have her dancing but for the first time in non-choreographed spontaneous movements.