However, the strenuous shooting took a toll on her health and her condition worsened. She had to request director Bhansali to grant her leave for two days from shooting for Guzaarish, in which she stars opposite Hrithik Roshan. The director easily accepted even though she was supposed to shoot in Mehboob Studios on Monday and Tuesday. She is currently on medication and is resting at home.

But we have managed to get official confirmation from Abhishek Bachchan’s spokesperson that these reports floating around are nothing but plain rumours. We were further told that Abhishek is presently shooting for Ravana near Ooty and has not taken any appointment from any tattoo artist and has no such plans either.

The tattoo trend of imbibing one’s partner’s name on one’s most visible part of the body- the forearm had begun with Saif Ali Khan getting the ‘Kareena’ tattoo done. Akshay Kumar too has been sporting his son’s Aarav’s name on his back.

This is apparently because she didn’t want her co-star, Hrithik Roshan to waste his dates. Even though she was sick, she reported on the sets in time, much to the surprise of the unit members and didn’t throw any tantrums. According to a source, she continued shooting, in spite of having fever for two days, as she wanted to make it convenient for Hrithik, it being the last two days of his first schedule.

Though Guzaarish went on floors from July 31st, Ash just recently joined them after coming back from Mani Ratnam’s Ravana shoot. Our unit sources reveal, “There was instant chemistry between the two as they caught up with each other after a long time. From their first shot together, they were right on cue.”

It is learnt that all their shots, which were rather intense, were canned in the first take itself, much to the delight of the director. And as soon as a dramatic scene would be wrapped up, the two would be cracking up about something they said to each other. “It’s their personal rapport that makes their acting seem so effortless on screen,” our source added.

Apparently Ash had also brought homemade food for the entire unit and was instrumental in making the sets cosy for everyone.

Aishwarya Rai: The word Beauty loses its essence before this bolly-diva. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan before stepping into Bachchan camp has had her share of love-affairs. Let’s have a glimpse on her passing affairs: beginning with tinsel town’s macho man Salman Khan. Although, the duo didn’t part ways on amicable terms but they undoubtedly compliment each other as far as looks are concerned. Salman and later, Vivek Oberoi were head-over-heels in love with this world-class beauty. Ash never denied of an affair with Salman, however, she was left with nothing but sheer emotional scars at the end. Mr. Oberoi’s love always seemed to be one-sided considering Ash’s consistent denial. Wonder, if she had no feelings for Vivek…why was she traced every now and then with the latter. Nevertheless, Ash today is a part of first family of film fraternity. Let sleeping dogs lie, wotsay Padam-shreemati Bachchan.

Karishma Kapoor: Kapoor and Bachchan were all set to bless their new generation. A lavish engagement at J W Marriot would have eventually led to wedding if everything had worked out well between the two families. The real reason of the relationship gone sour is yet to be known, but the duo’s long and beautiful love affair ended in despair. Karishma later on, tied-knot with a businessman Sanjay Kapur and rest, as they say is history.

Nargis: This eternal beauty’s much-hyped affair with Raj Kapoor was the talk-of-the-town during her time. The duo painted their romance in best possible way. However, considering the family values Kapoor could not materialize their love into wedding, leaving Nargis in disdain. Mother India was a turning point in Nargis’s life. Her love yet again blossomed with a newcomer Sunil Dutt and eventually turned into marriage.

Raveena Tandon: Akshay and Raveena had a storming love affair, which everyone thought would end in a happily ever-after wedding. But alas! Khiladi Kumar’s never ending list of girls tired Raveena. She was heard to have forgone her career for her man. Akshay’s eventual link-up with Shilpa Shetty spoilt the beautiful relationship. Raveena broke off amicably and later on got married to a sindhi businessman.

Tina Munim: This bolly-beauty was responsible for breaking the most talked about love marriage of Rajesh Khanna andDimple Kapadia. Tina Munim and Rajesh Khanna became the leading couples of 80’s on and off screen. In-fact, a reel-life drama was churned out on the real-life story of Khanna, Dimple and Tina titled Sauten. They had a long and beautiful affair, until Tina decided to tie the knot with Anil Ambani. Like the other two ladies Anju Mahendru and Dimple Kapadia, she could not withhold herself from raving about Khanna. Such was the charm of super-stars on all the ladies he dated in his time.

Amrita Singh: Amrita Singh might be tight-lipped about her ex-hubby’s affair with first- Rosa and eventually then- Kareena Kapoor. However, this gorgeous diva too had her share of affairs before getting married to Chote Nawab.

Amrita Arora: The sexy-siren and Bollywood wildcat Amrita Arora might have kept low-key, as far as her affair with British cricket player Usmaan Afzal is concerned. Her list of ex-boyfriends is longer than the number of movies she did. But now recently she has settled down with Shakeel Ladhak by bidding good-bye to her ex-affairs.

- Esha Razdan/ Sampurn Media

And now the thriller tentatively titled Crooked, which Abhishek and Aishwarya were supposed to start this summer, has been pushed to the end of the year, again for health reasons.

Director Abhinay Deo was supposed to start Crooked immediately after his directorial debut. However Abhinay who’s just wrapped up Delhi Belly for producer Aamir Khan has a seriousness illness in his family.

Deo’s wife has fallen ill, and the director suddenly needed to take time off to be with her thereby, throwing the entire Crooked schedule off course.

The project could’ve gone for a toss considering how busy the lead pair is and also considering the fact those huge amounts of date adjustment would already be required for Mani Ratnam’s film.

The other choice was for producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani to replace the director.

However showing rare and heartwarming solidarity the producers and the lead pair decided to wait for the director to be emotionally capable of shooting the film.

Says producer Ritesh Sidhwani, “There was no question of replacing Abhinay. Crooked is his baby all the way. And we wanted to make it only with him. Fortunately, Abhinay’s wife is now on the way to recovery. But he needs to be with her. Abhishek and Aishwarya have readjusted their dates. We now shoot in Greece, Istanbul and Thailand at year-end.”

Incidentally the film won’t be finally called Crooked.

“We need a good Hindi title. And we’ve told the film’s dialogue writer Anurag Kashyap to find one for us,” says Sidhwani.

Illnesses in the family and at her work place have put Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s choc-a-bloc schedule under further pressure.

First it was her father and father-in-law who underwent health problems. Now it’s the Bachchans’ family friend Amar Singh whose kidney transplant in Singapore has further challenged Aishwarya’s schedules.

In fact scheduling setbacks caused by unforeseen health problems seem to be hounding Aishwarya. Two of her films; both starring her husband Abhishek, have fallen back due to illnesses.

Mani Ratnam’s Raavan has been pushed behind because of the director’s heart scare. Consequently a major chunk of Aishwarya’s dates went to waste, though it did give her chance to go on a holiday for her marriage anniversary in April…a holiday she could ‘ill’ afford. Then the proposed thriller Crooked which takes her across the world for shooting with her husband got postponed from mid-2009 to the end of the year as the director Abhinay Deo’s wife fell ill. Aishwarya willingly reshuffled the dates.

Says a close friend, “She can never be ruthlessly professional; if a project is in distress she will accommodate and reschedule it, no matter what it takes. There’re three delayed projects, none delayed because of Aishwarya. But nonetheless, requiring her immediate attention. She has already made space for the next schedules of Raavan and Shankar’s Tamil Robot with Rajnikanth which has also over-shot considerably and requires her additional dates.”

Aishwarya’s scheduling woes don’t end there. Raavan is a bi-lingual in Tamil and Hindi which means it takes double her time.

Says the friend, “Abhishek is in only one version of Raavan. Aishwarya is in both Tamil and Hindi. And she’s also speaking her own Tamil lines.”

Hence when the matter of the entire Bachchan family going for Amar Singh’s surgery came up, it was gently suggested that Aishwarya minimize or cancel her participation.

Says the source, “But for Aishwarya a family commitment is paramount. Work can wait. This is professionally her most crowded and difficult period ever. But she is determined to finish all her projects on time.”

“At least no one should blame me if any of my films are delayed,” Aishwarya laughed before leaving for Singapore. She now travels from Singapore to Chalakudy in Kerala for the next schedule of Mani’s Raavan with no space to meet her loved ones in Mumbai.

Rajnikanth will also be the part of these stunts. Ash is working really hard for this film and it has been learnt that she is learning Martial art from stunt master Ramesh, so that the shot comes to be an excellent one.

Ash surely is one committed and professional actress. Undoubtedly, director Shankar is quite satisfied with the way the film has been progressing and hopes to complete it by end of this year.

Earlier, she had mastered her enunciation of Tamil so fluently that Superstar Rajnikanth was floored by her Tamil.

Now, Aishwarya Rai has topped herself, with yet another achievement; by learning Karate for the film Endhiran. Endhiran features Rajnikanth and Aishwarya Rai in the lead and is produced by Sun Pictures. The film is directed by Shankar. In order to act in the stunt scenes, Aishwarya is learning karate.

Ramesh is running a karate school in Chennai. For the past 30 years he has been training karate to various actors. Since there is a scene where Aishwarya Rai has to fight, Shankar has decided to teach her karate. Now Ramesh is coaching her in karate. According to the sources they have stated early, since this scene is very important to film, so Ash is being trained in the martial art. Earlier Aishwarya learnt fencing for Jodha Akbar that won her appreciations.

The process of shooting becomes much harder for the director, since its being shot in hectic locations. But the director is making sure that nothing goes wrong with the film and the film turns out to be master piece.

Shankar’s problems have been eased a bit with Aishwarya picking up Tamil language very quickly. Even Rajnikanth is said to be impressed as he had never seen anyone from North India speak in Tamil so well.

Aishwarya Rai at the launch of Beautiful Beginnings in Mumbai on 7th July 2009. Aishwarya Rai at the launch of Beautiful Beginnings-free training in beauty services for underprivileged girls in Mumbai today evening. Beautiful Beginnings is a partnership between L’Oreal India and Aide et Action-an NGO specialized in free vocational training and education to the underprivileged. pic taken 7th july evening.

To everyone’s surprise Aishwarya got a grip of the language in no time at all.

“And she was soon rattling off the dialogues and getting hanged of the emotions with equal skill in both the Hindi and Tamil takes. So much so that Rajni Sir who has waited for decades to work with Aishwarya was taken aback.”

When asked about the above incident Aishwarya laughs, “Regional languages have never been a problem. I did a Bengali film Chokher Bali and I was able to get a hang of the complex intonations, though later they needed a particular sing-song tone and my voice had to be dubbed.”

But the buzz in Robot is that they are planning to retain her Tamil lines in the final print.

Says the actress from Ooty, “I’m not at familiar with Tamil. My mother tongue Tulu is very different from Tamil. But you must remember my first film River was in Tamil and I had to say lengthy lines in that film. From my beginnings with Mani Ratnam in Tamil to this my second Tamil film of my career….it’s been quite a journey.”

At the moment she’s shooting in the freezing cold in Oooty for Mani Ratnam with Abhishek. “We shifted from the jungles of Kerala to Ooty by car so I couldn’t accompany Abhishek. I’ve finished this schedule and go back to Shankar and Robot. Really gruelling.”

Our sources reveal, “After having learnt sword fights for her English movie The Last Legion, Aishwarya has been training herself in Karate for Endhiran. A noted stunt master Ramesh who has been running a Japan Shito-Ryu karate school in the South for over 30 years, which is affiliated to the World Karate Federation is training the actress for the movie. Ramesh is teaching Aishwarya the basics of Karate for now. In the movie Aishwarya Rai and the other girls in the film will be learning Karate from her hero. Rajnikant is already trained in Karate so he will not have to train himself. Some interesting scenes were shot recently in the VIT University in Chennai.”

Aishwarya Rai has always been a quick learner. Even during the making of the The Last Legion Aishwary Rai had trained herself in the sword fight. She took her skills forward in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar. Her trainers have always been enamoured by her quick learning skills. Apparently Ramesh was also charmed that the actress was able to repeat the karate movements easily.

Ramesh has also acted in Mani Rathnam’s Iruvar (1997) which was Aishwarya Rai’s first ever film. He has also acted in over 400 movies made in South India since 1986 with almost all the leading heroes of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages.

Aishwarya and Amitabh Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, Sonam Kapoor, Tanay Chheda at ZAIA (Cirque du Soleil) Welcomes IIFA.

Jodhaa Akbar bags top honours at The 10th IDEA IIFA Awards announced at the CotaiArena, The Venetian Macao 12000 gather to witness the biggest celebration of Indian Cinema.

Macau, June 14, 2009: The tenth year of IIFA surpassed all expectations with a spectacular show that saw epic movie Jodhaa Akbar bag most of the top Awards. The film won the coveted Best Picture Award, while Ashutosh Gowarikar won the award for Best Director and Hrithik Roshan for Best Actor for Jodhaa Akbar. Celebrating a decade of magic, the IDEA IIFA Awards show was held at the Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel, that played host to the three day Videocon IIFA Weekend.

Priyanka Chopra won the Award for Best Actress for her much acclaimed role in Fashion, while her co-star Kangana Ranawat won the Award for her performance as supporting female actor. Arjun Rampal came out victorious for Best Male performance in a supporting role for Rock On. The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented by IIFA Brand Ambassador, Amitabh Bachchan to Rajesh Khanna, who received a standing ovation from the packed arena.

Abhishek Bachchan won the Award for best performance in a comic role for his hilarious character in Dostana, while Akshaye Khanna won for Best performance in a negative role for Race. Neeraj Pandey’s powerful film, ‘A Wednesday’ won the Award for Best Story.

To commemorate the last decade in Indian Cinema, the Videocon IIFA Golden Decade Honors were instituted and presented at the Idea IIFA Awards. The Male Star of the Decade went to Shah Rukh Khan, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won in the female category. Movie of the decade went to Lagaan, with Rakesh Roshan winning Director of the decade and the talented AR Rahman won the award for Music of the decade. The star debut of the year was awarded to Asin and Farhan Akhtar. The IIFA and Green globe Foundation presented an Award to Rahul Bose for his contribution to creating awareness on global warming.

Other categories that featured Jodhaa Akbar wins were Music Direction by AR Rahman, and Javed Akhtar and Javed Ali for Best Lyrics and Best Playback Singer (Male) respectively for the hit song, Jashan-e-Baharaa from Jodhaa Akbar.

The action packed show had stellar performances by Sonam Kapoor, jacky Bhagnani, Bipasha Basu, Anoushka Sharma, Govinda, Riteish Deshmukh and Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, as well as an impromptu Antakshri session which Amitabh Bachchan concluded.

This electrifying awards presentation ceremony will be beamed to a global audience and reach out to more than 500 million households on STAR TV, IDEA IIFA Awards broadcast partner. The 10th IDEA IIFA Awards ceremony will be telecast on Star TV on July 5th, 2009.

The Winners for the IDEA IIFA Awards 2009 are as follows:
CategoryWinners
Best Background Score AwardA R Rahman (Jodhaa Akbar)
Best DialogueMano Rishil (Oye Lucky)
Best EditingBallu Saluja (Jodhaa Akbar)
Best Art DirectionNitin Chandrakant Desai (Jodhaa Akbar)
Best Costume AwardNeeta Lulla (Jodha Akbar)
Best Make-upMadhav Kadam (Jodhaa Akbar)
Best PictureJodhaa Akbar
Best ScreenplayNeerai Pandey (A Wednesday Short and Sweet)
Best StoryNeeraj Pandey – A Wednesday
LyricsJaved Akhtar – Jashan-e-Baharaa (Jodhaa Akbar)
Music DirectionA.R. Rahman – Jodhaa Akbar
Performance in a Comic RoleAbhishek Bachchan – Dostana
Performance in a Negative RoleAkshaye Khanna – Race
Playback Singer (Female)Shreya Ghoshal – Teri Ore (Singh Is King)
Playback Singer (Male)Javed Ali – Jashan-e-Baharaa (Jodhaa Akbar)
Best Sound Re-editing Leslie Fernandes (Race)
Sound RecordingResul Pookutty & Amrit (Ghajini)
Best ActionPeter Steins & Stun Siva (Ghajini)
Special Effects AwardsGhajini
Sounding Recording AwardRock On !!
IDEA Style ICON Award (Female)Bipasha Basu
IDEA Style Icon Award (Male)Hrithik Roshan
Debutant Star Female AwardAsin – Ghajini
Debutant Star Male AwardFarhan Akhtar – Rock On
Best DirectorAshutosh Gowariker – Jodhaa Akbar
Performance in a Supporting Role (Female)Kangana Ranawat – Fashion
Performance in a Supporting Role (Male)Arjun Rampal – Rock On !!
Performance in a Leading Role (Female)Priyanka Chopra – Fashion
Performance in a Leading Role (Male)Hrithik Roshan – Jodhaa Akbar

Videocon Music of Decade AwardA.R. Rahman
Videocon Star of Decade (Female)Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Videocon Star of Decade (Male)Shahrukh Khan
Videocon Movie of the DecadeLagaan
Videocon Director of Decade AwardRakesh Roshan

Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan, Sushmita Sen, Sonam Kapoor, Sophie Chaudhry, Randhir Kapoor, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Javed Akhtar, Anushka Sharma, Genilia D Souza, Shabana Azmi, Mugdha Godse, Madhur Bhandarkar, Lara Dutta, Rajesh Khanna, Kabir Bedi arrive at Zaia Show, Green Carpet, Macau for IIFA on 11th June 2009.

Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan, Sophie Chaudhry, David Dhawan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Javed Akhtar, Shabana and Tanvi Azmi, Lara Dutta arrive in Macau for IIFA on 10th June 2009.

The countdown has begun with as the stars of Bollywood have already started to make their presence felt in Macau for IIFA Awards 2009. Last night many of the biggies from the industry flew to the event.

The list includes David Dhawan, Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, Aushtosh Gowarikar, Shyam Shroff, Ritesh Siddhwani and Boman Irani. Junior Bachchan with Ash too was on the roll. Another jodi Zayed Khan with wife Malika will also grace the occasion.

Sonam Kapoor after celebrating her birthday with the family flew for the awards. The list continues with some handsome hunks like Ritesh Deshmukh, Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor.

The sexy seren of B town were also seen on the airport. Sushmita Sen, Anushka Sharma, Lara Dutta are the few names. Not much seen Neelam seemed to be too excited for the award function while catching up the flight for the award.

Now we can surely say that Sitaare zamme pe

Our production unit source tells us, “Both Abhi and Aish are in constant touch with director Shaad Ali, daily enquiring about Mani Sir’s health status and checking out whether he is over exerting himself or not. Abhishek’s good friend, Shaad was earlier an assistant director to Mani Ratnam before turning independent with films like Saathiya, Bunty Aur Babli and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom but he is back to working as Mani Sir’s assistant for Ravana. The couple is deeply concerned about Mani Sir’s health and doesn’t want him to rush into the making of the film because of the delay that has been caused due to the recent gap in the shoot following Mani Sir’s third stroke scare. Abhishek is also making sure through Shaad that Mani Sir has less of a worry on the sets by keeping most of the production work on sets ready and there is no reason given to him to raise his temper about anything.”

Our source further added that both Abhi and Aish will join the shoot later this month. Presently Mani Ratnam is shooting with other stars of the film including South star Vikram, Govind and Nikhil Dwivedi.

It can be recalled that Mani Ratnam was hospitalised in Chennai on April 14th following breathing difficulty and dizziness. He had also complained of discomfort in the chest. The 52-year-old director had earlier survived a heart attack in 2004 when he was filming Yuva also starring Abhishek Bachchan.

The show will be hosted by Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta and Boman Irani.

But one of the highlights each year, the movie premier, has been done away with.

Explains IIFA director Sabbas Joseph, “It can’t be helped. The movie premiere had to be cancelled this year because of the ongoing strike of new releases in Bollywood. two big films were ready to be premiered at IIFA this year. I shall refrain from mentioning their names. But the imbroglio did away with the premiere.”

As a substitute IIFA this year has the world-famous Cirque de Soleil performing for the audience. “We believe audiences won’t get a chance to miss the world premiere once they see the Cirque de Soleil performing.”

Why Macau?

Says Sabbas,“Because we feel it’s the Las Vegas of the East. In this the tenth year of IIFA’s existence we wanted either the US or China to be our venue. We chose China because we feel it could be a gateway for Bollywood to the West. We also hope to end the deadlock between India and China over the exchange of cinema. We haven’t come away from one venue without opening up doors for Bollywood. We’re confident this would be the case in China.”