By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan drops heavy hints about a budding romance but still won’t let the love kitty out of the bag entirely. Filmfare valiantly plays nosey parker

What is the uppermost thought in your mind these days?
Sleep, food and times with loved ones (giggles).

Should we make that ‘loved one?’
I said what I had to. You decode it.

Okay…
And romantic music on a long drive (giggles some more).

Can we safely assume you are over Shah Rukh Khan?
No! I’ll never be over Shah Rukh. I know I’ve been going to town saying I want to have an affair with him but the truth is I don’t. You don’t want to picture him having an affair somehow. SRK has this dependable image where you imagine him to be in love with just one woman for the rest of his life. Pity it’s not me.

How’s Vidya Balan in a relationship?
You’ll have to ask him.

Who?
Whoever I was, am, will be seeing.

Would that be Siddharth Roy Kapur (CEO, UTV Motion Pictures) at the moment? You’ve been linked a little too strongly with him recently.
You know, the initials excite me. SRK. Hahahahaha. Every pun intended. Well, Siddharth is the producer of my last film No One Killed Jessica (NOKJ)… (trails off)

Okay let’s try another tack. Are you single or taken?
Let’s just say I’m single until I’m married.

So are you relieved that finally you have been linked with someone else other than Shahid Kapoor?
I guess, not just me, even Shahid must be relieved! Its some kind of move from SK to SRK. Don’t you think?

The two of you never admitted to being anything more than friends. Are you still in touch?
Hmmm… See we got along famously during Kismat Konnection. But it’s difficult to sustain friendships beyond the film. But we do wish each on birthdays and occasions. We also did an impromptu jig at a recent award function. Really, there is nothing more to say…

Is there any resentment about your last relationship?
No. There is no bitterness. I don’t blame anyone. You can’t fight it if two people are not meant to be together. But it’s nice to have been through that than to have never explored it at all. Until you decide that it’s time to move on, nothing anyone says can make you. Actually, the most important lesson I learnt is that you should never use someone as a crutch to get over someone else.

Okay last one. What advice would you give someone who is trying to woo you?
Let’s just say it’s working (Smiles).

By Jilawatan

Balan needs a new stylist, new wardrobe or in the least, some fresh imagination

I look good in sarees. Only sarees. Nothing but sarees. And the same kind of sarees.’ Vidya Balan’s fashion motto seems to be getting too monotonous and unimaginative these days.

Wrapping a plain chiffon number with a thin embroidered border, and little else might have been a fashion statement once, but not anymore.

The beautiful Balan wore a green saree sans jewellery when she danced with Shah Rukh Khan and Hugh Jackman.

And again its yellow cousin at a recent fashion event while walking the ramp. The black clutch or the orange (yes, orange) bindi could hardly salvage the outfit.

Maybe, its time to set her imagination free. And not only in the accessories department, where she needs to rein her colourful fantasies if anything.

After all, what the hell was she thinking while carrying a nimbu-mirchi plastic keychain?

1. Vidya Balan walks the ramp with her favourite designer and a black clutch

2. The actress wards off evil with nimbu mirchi toy at Filmfare

3. Balan’s affinity to this look dates back to her Paa days

By Jilawatan

The 12th edition of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) concluded with the presentation of the Ficci-Frames Excellence awards.

The awards honoured excellence across four major entertainment verticals cinema, television, music and radio.

Starting with the film awards, Dabangg bagged two awards – one for best film of the year and the other for the best music of the year.

Shah Rukh Khan was adjudged the best actor for his role in My Name is Khan while Karan Johar took home the best director award for the same film. As anticipated, Vidya Balan took home the best actress award for Ishqiya.

The highlight of the awards ceremony was Ficci conferring the Excellence International honour to Hugh Jackman, the Australian actor best known as Wolverine in the X-Men series.

In the best debutant category (female), Sonakshi Sinha bagged the award for her performance in Dabangg, while Ranveer Singh collected the best debutant (male) award for his role in Band Baaja Baaraat. Maneesh Sharma won the best director debut trophy for the same film.

Aishwariya Rai Bachchan was honoured with the ‘Decade of Global Achievement’ award for her completing a decade in Hindi cinema.

In the Television category, Star Plus was given the most successful television channel of the year award while Sony’s popular reality show Indian Idol-5 was declared the most successful non-fiction show.

In the acting category, Sushant Singh Rajput from Pavitra Rishta bagged the best actor (male) award, while Rashmi Desai of Uttaran took home the best actor (female) award.

Radio Mirchi was declared the ‘Most Successful Radio Channel’ of the year.

Speaking on the occasion, Ficci Entertainment Committee chairman Yash Chopra said: “The entertainment industry in India is booming along with business excellence and we are happy to recognise such levels of talent in the respective fields. We take pride in honouring best performers for their contributions in their area of work.”

The event was a joint venture between Wizcraft International Entertainment and Ficci to honour talent for their contribution in the entertainment industry.

By Jilawatan

Bollywood is considered to be a superstitious lot, not willing to take risks especially when it comes to trying to ensure the success of their films at the box-office.

Apart from auspicious mahurat dates and naming of films, even casting of actors considered lucky mascots for the makers is increasingly the norm. So, what happens when both the leading actor, as well as, the film-maker have their own ‘lucky’ stars. Well, they simply cast both! And according to the buzz that’s what happened in Anees Bazmee’s Thank You. The film that stars Akshay Kumar, Sonam Kapoor and Bobby Deol also has a surprise cameo by actor Vidya Balan, apart from an item number by Mallika Sherawat.

Apparently, while Bazmee considered it was lucky to include Mallika as she she had made a cameo in his earlier hit Welcome, Vidya is considered to be lucky for Akki and reportedly that is what helped the director zero in on her for a vital role opposite Akshay. A source reveals, “Akshay and Vidya have had two superhits together Bhool Bhulaiya and Heyy Babyy and hopefully the combination will click again. So the makers agreed immediately and cast Vidya.” In fact according to another insider, the length of her character was considerably increased and even a song was thrown in after Vidya agreed to come on board. The source adds, “Vidya’s also of course a talented actor, so it was like a win-win situation for the film. So things fell into place, even though Anees already had his own lucky actor Mallika in the film.”

But Sherawat and Balan are not the only ones. Rani Mukerji and Kajol too have been considered film-maker Karan Johar’s lucky charms, although he has gone on record claiming Shah Rukh Khan to be the luckiest mascot. In fact, according to Bolly-lore, if Kajol tripped while shooting for a film, then the film was bound to be a super hit.

Actor Salman Khan is the lucky boy for the Barjatyas, while Katrina Kaif’s been proven lucky for Akshay. Anushka Sharma’s now being considered lucky for her film-makers too. Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali swears by his heroine Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, while actor Sridevi was apparently the lucky mascot for the Chopras. Actor Madhuri Dixit was considered to be lucky for Indra Kumar, but then so was a particular tree in Ooty that he featured in all his films, while Urmila Matondkar was both the muse and the mascot for Ram Gopal Varma.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan has been chosen to be the brand ambassador for the ongoing Sleep Awareness Month and will be spreading awareness about sleep disorders like developed risk of hypertension followed by insulin resistance, obesity and diabetes.

Balan had been an insomniac since childhood and she thought it was ‘cool’ to stay awake at night. “I always felt that sleep was a waste of time and was fascinated with stories about Shah Rukh Khan and how he slept merely four hours.

By Jilawatan

Vidya Balan was honoured by the Mayor of Melbourne as part of the ongoing Indian Film Festival 2011: Bollywood and Beyond which featured a special restrospect of her movies.

The fest kicked off in Sydney with No One Killed Jessica. Vids was thrilled and hope her special friend ‘SRK’ (not Shah Rukh Khan!) was around to share her joy.

By Jilawatan

Buzz was in the air that Parineeta girl Vidya Balan and renowned film corporation UTV’s head honcho Siddharth Roy Kapoor are likely to get engaged.

A top industry source stated “Vid and Sid are close. And in the past weeks they have been spotted spending quality time with each other on two occasions.”

The source added, “The first time was when they reportedly stayed back after an awards night in Singapore and more recently when they were photographed in casual attire at a beach destination in India.”

The two indeed had kept mum about their relationship status but Vidya had recently let the cat out of the bag.

At an award function held recently, Sajid Khan the host of the show accompanied by Shah Rukh Khan asked Vidya about the special ‘SK’ in her life.

To this Vidya gave a coy smile and stated “It’s not SK but its SRK”. Well she was not hinting at Shah Rukh Khan but Siddharth Roy Kapur who also shares the same initials as that of King Khan.

By Jilawatan

Actress Vidya Balan has rubbished reports claiming that she will be the brand ambassador for the embattled Kochi IPL team.

The actress who belongs to a Palakkad Brahmin family was the fan favourite to be the ambassador for the team from Kerala, but Balan said that she has not even been approached with a proposal.

“I have no clue about it and no one has approached me yet,” the actress told reporters.

Balan who was in town to receive the ‘Tejaswini’ award for young women achievers, refused to comment further on the controversy surrounding the spat between IPL Chairman Lalit Modi and Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor.

The Kochi franchise of the super successful 20-20 cricket tournament, ran into controversy when Modi publicly disclosed the names of some of the owners of a consortium that recently bought the team for a whopping $333 million.

Out of this free equity, 19 per cent is said to have gone to Sunanda Pushkar, a Kashmiri beautician closely linked to Tharoor who is reportedly planning to marry her after divorcing his second wife, a Canadian.

So as of now, fans of the 31-year-old actress will not be seeing her cheering from the stands.

The IPL matches have become glamorous events thanks to the presence of the fans from Bollywood who come out to support their favourite teams.

While leading actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Preity Zinta and Shilpa Shetty are team owners, Katrina Kaif is the ambassador for the Royal Challengers team from Bangalore.

By Jilawatan

Bollywood has only two self-confessed insomniacs — one is Amitabh Bachchan and the other is Shah Rukh Khan. For years now the sleeping habits or rather the waking habits of these two phenomenons has been discussed endlessly. That the Big B reads or blogs incessantly through the night, and that SRK plays games or tweets till sunrise, is something everyone knows. However, a new breed of sleepless beauties and hunks have now descended on tinsel town. Some by default, others by design.

Vidya Balan says, “I’m very much a night bird. If you message or call me at night, I’ll promptly answer. But try doing this to me in the morning and you won’t even get a response.” Vidya also reads late into the night and on occasion has long winding chats with her friends including designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee.

Aamir Khan and Salman Khan also (and only) socialise post midnight. Sources say when Aamir keeps his security staff waiting after 11.30 pm, you should know he is likely to pay a visit to Salman’s Galaxy Apartments. The two buddies then go pub crawling (now Aamir doesn’t drink) and motorbike riding in the middle of the night. Their sessions usually end with Salman landing up at Aamir’s home in the wee hours. Of course, if Aamir’s wife Kiran Rao Khan is home, then the early morning activity continues at Salman’s bachelor pad.

By Jilawatan

Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Vidya Balan were cited as best actor and best actress respectively at the star-studded 55th Filmfare Awards ceremony here late Saturday.
Bachchan won the award for his role in Paa, while Vidya Balan claimed the trophy for her role in the same movie. As Bachchan was not present in the ceremony, Vidya Balan took the award on his behalf.
Hosting the gala night were Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Saif Ali Khan, whose one liners had the audience in splits. Their on-stage chemistry was much appreciated by the Bollywood stars present at the ceremony at the Yash Raj Studios.
3 Idiots was declared the best film, while Rajkumar Hirani claimed the best director award for the movie. A.R. Rahman won the best music director for Delhi 6.
Mohit Chauhan won the award for the best male playback singer for the song “masakali” from the movie “Delhi 6″, while the female playback singer honours were shared by Kavita Seth and Rekha Bhardwaj.
While Kavita was awarded for the song “Ik tara” from the movie “Wake Up Sid”, Rekha won the trophy for the song “Genda phool” from the movie “Delhi 6″.
Among the other highlights of the evening was a tribute to legendary pop singer Michael Jackson by Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor, who charmed the audience with his perfect dance moves.