'Kareena Kapoor Khan sounds good'

What the actress will call herself after marriage and what it is like being on Bollywood power list…

She admits that no position in the film industry is permanent but at the same time Kareena Kapoor is excited after replacing Aishwarya Rai in Filmfare's power list. The actress says the position is both flattering and scary as it comes with a lot of responsibilities.

"I think Aishwarya has had a great innings. I think it's a great honour to be where she was in the power list. Power equations in the entertainment industry change minute by minute. I'm definitely going to try my best to hold that position," Kareena told IANS.

Kareena, who was seen in last year's hit "Golmaal Returns", admits the power comes not just from the movies, but also the products that one endorses.

"But I make sure the products reflect my personality. I'm endorsing 10 brands. Saif and I are endorsing just one brand together. We're going easy on signing together," she said.

Excerpts:

It's quite an honour to zoom to the top 10 of the power list and to be the only woman there.

It's flattering. And it's scary. Lots of responsibilities. My power comes from my honesty to myself and to my work. I've always done things that come naturally from my heart. It's amazing that I'm in the power list although I've never applied much thought to the process of getting there. I'm all heart, as you well know. At the end of the day, being true to myself is very important.

Earlier Aishwarya Rai was in the Top 10 list.

Yes, I know. Everyone has a chance to be in a certain position. I think Aishwarya has had a great innings. I think it's a great honour to be where she was in the power list. Power equations in the entertainment industry change minute by minute. I'm definitely going to try my best to hold that position.

The position makes me feel very responsible. I want to keep doing the kind of work that will keep me in that list. Last year I was seen in a successful film 'Golmaal Returns' where I didn't have a pivotal role. Strangely audiences expect me to take centre stage all the time.

How much of this power comes in a package with beau Saif Ali Khan?

We can't deny he's also one of the hottest actors in the industry. I think we are blend of looks and spirit. Saif and I are very alike. He also follows his heart and is very honest in what he does. Whether it's his professional or personal life, he comes clean.

The power comes not just from the movies but also the products that you endorse.

I agree. But I make sure the products reflect my personality. My products are young, zestful, fun and classy. Yeah, I do a lot of endorsements. I'm endorsing 10 brands. Curiously Saif and I are endorsing just one brand together. We're going easy on signing together.

So will you continue to be known as Kareena Kapoor after marriage?

I haven't thought of it. Kareena Kapoor Khan sounds good. I leave the decision to Saif.

Did (close friend) Amrita Arora's marriage make you wishful for your own?

I am with Saif constantly. For us, marriage is just a piece of paper.

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'My Valentine Wish…!' - Bollywood stars speaks on Valentine's Day

Preity Zinta: "To be able to balance out my crazy schedule so that I've time for those I love. What more can I want this Valentine's Day?"

Bipasha Basu: "Valentine's Day is special for all the people I love. I'll tell them how much I love them and prove my love for them with simple gestures. The ideal Valentine gift would be hundreds of red carnations. I know John will get them for me."

Kangna Ranaut: "Valentine's Day means pure selfless love from me to everyone I love. My ideal gift would be roses and candles."

Sammir Dattani: "My affair with the camera began on Valentine's Day. My first screen appearance was for a music video called 'Valentine's Day.' Since then I've made sure every Valentine's Day is special for me."

Manisha Koirala: "I'm spending Valentine's Day with family and friends. I would want everyone to experience love in any and every relationship."

Urmila Matondkar: "Valentine's Day is a time to show my friends and family how much they mean to me. The one gift I'm looking for is a gorgeous hunk. But the species seems extinct."



Shilpa Shetty: "I've got my Valentine's Day gift. The IPL and I've got the man who gifted it to me by my side. What more can I want?"

Riya Sen: "I want to spend quantity time with my loved ones. No matter where I am I want to be back in time for Valentine's Day to be with my loved ones. That's the greatest gift I can get. Other gifts are fun. But spending time with your loved one is the best gift. For Valentine's I'll be performing at a college festival in Ahmedabad before rushing home."

Neil Nitin Mukesh: "For me Valentine's is a day of love and friendship and a day of mending bridges. My ideal gift would be a collective hug from all those friends and family whom I love. And a million kisses from that someone special."

Dino Morea: "I want to spend Valentine's Day showing love to everyone who deserves it. We all are so caught up in our routine, this is the one day when we can devote to love."

Raima Sen: "I'm single, so the only Valentine gift I can give myself is time with the family."




Neetu Chandra: "This Valentine's Day means a lot to me as I'm partying with my school friends and meeting with my first ever crush, my schoolteacher. And I hope I find my permanent Valentine this year."

Mugdha Godse: "Valentine's Day is just another day for me. I'll be attending a beachside Catholic wedding of a very close friend on Goa's Morjim beach. Chalo apni Valentine nahin kisi aur ki sahi."

Minissha Lamba: "When you're in love it's Valentine's Day all year round. Am I in love? Who knows a woman's heart? Not even the woman herself."

Malaika Arora: "For me Valentine's Day means the freedom for people to express their love without worrying about self-appointed custodians of our precious moral values. The best gift I can think of is the right for us women to live our lives how we want without intolerant groups stopping us."

Celina Jaitly: "Valentine's Day is 'emotional atyachaar' for those who aren't in love. It will remind me that I've been unhappily single for the last three years. At the risk of sounding pompous I want a society rid of all intolerance and prejudice."

Tusshar Kapoor: "The day would again remind me I'm single. How about a love life for me this Valentine's Day?"




Amrita Arora: "Valentine's Day means nothing to me. Love should be celebrated everyday. Bring on the love!"

Chitrangda: "Sorry I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. I don't like the idea of being told when to celebrate love."

Ruslaan Mumtaz: "I just broke up with my girlfriend. So my ideal gift would be the sad songs of Himesh Reshammiya."

Koena Mitra: "Everyone loves to be loved. But being single gives me more room to love myself without sharing that space for love with someone else. All the eligible men have been taken away. The rest are not worth considering. I'm enjoying my single status and making the most of it."

Pooja Bedi: "It's horrible to be single on such a romantic day. But my brother Adam is getting married on Valentine's Day. So I'll be happy watching two people in love being united. Dreams do come true on this day. As for myself I'm a hopeless and a hopeful romantic. I'm even in love with the idea of love. The real thing may be around the corner."

Esha Deol: "I'm not answering this one."

Dia Mirza: "Being single on Valentine's Day is the same as any other day. Love is a feeling that you can't miss. It's omnipresent."



Divya Dutta: "Do I miss love? Not really. Work is great healer of the heart. And I get lots of love and male attention. So what if I don't have a guy this Valentine's Day. I know he'll come."

Jiah Khan: "There's too much work. No time to think about love. I miss having my family with me on Valentine's. They're my only true love."

Tanushree Dutta: "It's fantastic being single on Valentine's Day. You can choose whom to love for that day."

Arjan Bajwa: "Being single is not a big deal. I'm shooting in Hyderabad so I've no time to miss love. Moreover, Valentine's Day is no reason to miss love. To be loved by family and friends all through the year is a blessing. And I've that blessing"

Vatsal Seth: "Who is one kidding by saying it's great to be single? Valentine's Day and single....man, it sucks! It's like no one being there to wish you on your birthday. Being in love is the most amazing feeling and I definitely miss it."

Adnan Sami: "What a Valentine's Day gift my wife has given me."

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Delhi 6 inspired by Rakeysh Mehra's life

The film and characters of Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra's Delhi 6 are said to be inspired by real life persons who have lived in Delhi - 110006.

A source close to the film makers says, "This film is like Rakyesh OmPrakash Mehra's baby. A few characters bear resemblance to his own life. The character, Waheeda, Abhishek's grandmother in the film, resembles an old lady he knew in Chandni Chowk. The character played by Divya Dutta, Jilebi, also is inspired by someone he knew in Chandni Chowk. Slight alterations have been made to the character though."

He goes on to say, "Amitabh Bachchan will be doing a cameo on the insistence of Mr Mehra. Since there is only one scene for him, we are sure the audiences will appreciate the effort."

The source tells us that Sonam Kapoor's character, Bittu, is that of a traditional and homely girl who hopes to meet her dream man. The central theme of the film revolves around Abhishek Bachchan who plays Vijay. Vijay was born in the US and comes back to India, to Chandni Chowk in Delhi. He brings back his ailing grandmother, Waheeda Rehman, and forms an emotional bond with Ali (Rishi Kapoor) and Gobar (Atul Kulkarni). This is where his life's journey begins.

Delhi 6 is scheduled to release on 20th February, 2009.

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'I think Rab will take care of us'

Is this your new look for Karan Johar’s My Name is Khan?
Yeah it is. I think they’ll comb my hair a little more when they start shooting.

A new look seems to be quite a vogue nowadays.
I don’t know about the others but if I do one film at a time, I go for a look according to my director’s wish. Farah (Khan) asked me to get a six pack for a song, so I did.

Shimit (Amin) wanted me to look different in Chak De! India. Adi (Aditya Chopra) wanted two different looks for Rab ne Bana di Jodi. When my directors asks me to go in for a new look, I do.. when they don’t, I remain the way I am.

What’s your take on the financial crunch affecting film production?
Not just the film industry, everyone has been affected.. whether it’s real estate or any other business. Even basic requirements like iron and steel have been affected. So far, cosmetics and entertainment have been the least affected businesses.

Several films have already been shelved.
Recession will hit everyone including the film industry. I’ve done three films this year — Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi — which fortunately didn’t get shelved. Billoo the Barber has been produced by me. The shooting of My Name is Khan starts from December 18. I haven’t heard of any film getting shelved.

But the kind of prices actors were demanding will be affected. Actors, directors, writers, musicians, producers.. all their fees will be affected. We’ll have to make our products more cost-effective. If the audience can’t afford a Rs 250 ticket, everyone involved in filmmaking has to bring down his price. Plain logic!

The terror attacks have aggravated the filmmaking situation.
Itna toh bola maine TV par, yaar. What else can I say? You must have seen me on TV talking.

Yes. And you made a potentially controversial remark — that there’s an Islam from Allah but very unfortunately, there’s an Islam from the mullahs.
(Cuts in) What controversy? There’s Hinduism from the Geeta and there’s Hinduism from the pandits. When I say pandit or mullah, I’m talking about those who are conversant with religion.

I know the religion, so I’m a mullah. Mere bachon ko main religion sikhaunga, so I’m their mullah. Teacher mullah hota hai. I’m just pleading that if you have a child.. you’re their first teacher. The first thing parents need to tell their children is, “ Listen son, this is our faith and it’s a very good faith. It will lead us to the truth..it will help us to know whether we will go to heaven or to hell.”

And that Shah Rukh Khan, he says this in Urdu to his children.. he says the same thing in English..and in Shabar gurwani. Languages are different but the meanings are the same.

People are hesitant to go to the cinema halls in the wake of the terror attacks. Does the release of Rab Ne Bana di Jodi make sense in such circumstances?
See, for last two weeks, Adi and I stopped the film’s publicity. We felt we shouldn’t be talking about entertaining people. Having said that, somewhere down the line, life has to go on.

We’re taking a chance. What can I offer to the people who’re in a depressed state of mind? All of us can offer a part of our work. As a writer, you can give hope to your readers. From our work, I’m assuming we are making an offer — listen maybe this is not the nicest of times but this two-and-a-half hour film may help you to overcome some of your depression.

Are you apprehensive?
No I’m never apprehensive. If the film has to be affected negatively then it will be. If it has to have a normal run, it will get one. I go by Adi’s sensibility. We also believe that Rab is involved in this film.. I think Rab will take care of us.

The hep guy you’re playing in the film seems to have a weird sense of dressing.
He’s over the top and vulgar. He’s someone who wants to be a fashion guru but doesn’t know what fashion is. He’s a wannabe cool dude. Both the characters I play in the film are based on real guys I met during the shoot of Kya Aap Panchvi Paas se Tez Hain. Surinder and Bobby.

I asked Surinder Sahni what he would do if wins Rs 5 crore? He said he’d give it to the poor people. When I asked him why he wouldn’t want to keep the money, he said, “I know what it is to be poor. I want to give it to someone who’s poorer.”

The other guy was Bobby, he was carrying a guitar but didn’t know how to play it.When I asked him why, he said, “It looks cool.” When I asked him what do you want to be in life? He said, “I’m told I look like John Abraham.. so I want to be John Abraham.”

Aditya Chopra is not exactly known for accepting his actors’ ideas. So how did he go along with yours?
Do you know Adi? Adi is not known by anyone. Today, if we announce that there’s no person called Aditya Chopra, people will believe that. Because there’s no person called Aditya Chopra. Yashji uses a pseudonym to make movies. He doesn’t have a son called Adi.

Ha ha!
Well, Adi is a cool guy. He’s always busy with work. He comes back home from work after midnight, at one o’clock maybe and plays games till five in the morning.

But people have formed their own opinions about Adi. I keep hearing about his marriages. I’m like how? I know him the best, Karan knows him best of all.. but we don’t get to meet him.

Many think that Adi doesn’t like any interference. On my part, I can say that occasionally I tell him, “Adi main aisa karunga.” And he will say, “ Achha toh kar de chal.” Adi and I think alike.

Adi and I are very ordinary, boring persons since we only like to work. As an actor, I’ve to go to various places... interact with people.. everyone think I’ve a sense of humour. But in my personal life, I’m very boring.

You’re the first actor to be conferred the Malaysian title, Datuk (often equated with the British knighthood). However, the local talent there wasn’t too happy about this.
I’m not aware of the objections. Some awards are given to create a cultural bridge. Malaysia is very close to India. Very few people are aware of the fact that Malacca is actually a principality founded by the Indian king, Parmeshwara, in 1400 AD.

But of course, local talent will always have this kind of an issue. It could have happened. I truly believe that the title is an honour to our country. It’s a very beautiful place..you should go there for a holiday.

It’s recession time.. I don’t think I can afford to go there.
(Smiles) You can always find some controversial story and go there. It’s the easiest thing in the world to cook up a controversy out of nothing nowadays.

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