Shilpa Shetty Raj Kundra tying the knot?

Industry gossip has it that the babe-with-the-figure-of-a-mannequin hot-bod Shilpa Shetty is all set to get married in December this year with long time beau Raj Kundra. The couple have been going steady for close to two and a half years now and Shilpa's dad is touring the passport office in Surat repeatedly to acquire his passport which is currently withheld on account of an ongoing criminal investigation. Papa Shetty had supposedly sent some goons behind a cloth store merchant in Surat when he had refused to pay Shilpa the dues for a modelling assignment she had done for the store and got himself embroiled in a criminal case. Daddy Shetty, now, has appealed for a release of the passport citing the reason to be that he has to attend his daughter's wedding which is slated to be held anywhere in the months from September to December this year.

Shilpa, however, is calling the 'It’s-all-pure-rubbish' shots. The big brother winner insists that the passport is being sought for her dad's London travel to attend beau Raj Kundra's birthday which is dated in the same month. And it has got nothing to do with her marriage. It's a birthday on the cards and not marriage, she insists. To quote an agitated Shilpa,

The passport is certainly not meant for my wedding, please! It’s not happening in October, November, December or any of the dates that have been fixed for my wedding in the media. Raj and I will announce the date from the rooftops and invite the entire press corps to be part of the baraat when it happens. In the meanwhile, please leave my father alone.

The couple were engaged early this year in the month of March and have been going steady ever since. Shilpa's mother has been known to approve of the groom from the beginning. Raj Kundra, after all, is a valuable catch. He is one of the youngest Brit Asians to have made it to the top 200 Brit Asian's millionaire list. A self made man, Kundra had started out as a fashion clothing supplier to various international apparel brands. Later on, he moved on to more lucrative businesses such as diamonds and precious metals exports and electronics exports. A college drop out, Kundra has also, today, with Shilpa as a crutch, made a foray into Bollywood movie production as well as holds a 10% stake with Shilpa Shetty in the IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals, of which Shilpa Shetty also happens to be the brand ambassador.

The couple had faced a few glitches in the initial periods of their relationship as it had blossomed out of an extra marital affair. Raj Kundra was previously married to Kavita Kundra and also has a child. The ex-wife had gone publicly on record accusing Shilpa of having broken her marriage with Raj because Raj was smitten by Shilpa's beauty. Shilpa, however, has always been unapologetic about the fact and has often quoted that Raj was the only person who gave her comfort in the lonely life that she had been leading for quite some time now.

Her previous relationship in her early twenties with Akshay Kumar had ended in bitterness when Akshay had dumped her. She has often stated 'All I know about myself and about life is because of that relationship'. After a brief relationship with producer-director Anubhav Sinha, Shilpa had started to feel the pinch of the void again and when Raj happened, he had smoothly slid into that void to give her comfort.

So, now that they are going thick and seem to be committed to each other, while their partnership has also been doling out financial results and success to both the partners, is marriage actually on the cards? 'Yes', says Shilpa, but doesn't fail to add,

At the moment we’ve our hands full with many new exciting ventures. We need get the space in our lives to plan and enjoy this wonderful event. Haath peele karne ke liye haath khali to hone chahiye.

Makes me wonder what is the cause behind all the dilly-dallying... Do certain doubts still persist in the minds of Shilpa or Raj? Two things, however, are for sure. First, Bollywood actresses have traditionally shied away from commitment and marriage. Shilpa, in her mid-thirties already, is no different. Second, she has put her father's passport release in appeal in jeopardy by stating that no marriage is on the cards. So, if daddy shetty is to travel to South London to celebrate to-be-son-in-law Kundra's birthday with the rest of the in-law family, he and Shilpa will have to pray hard that the Judge doesn't follow Bollywood gossip.

Here's wishing them luck!

Releases this week

There is a mindboggling line up of movies releasing this weekend. For what reason, I cannot imagine, would any producer want so much competition?

We consumers, however, love to be spoilt by choice! It would be a task to review them all though, but hey, I am not complaining...

Check them all out below:

• Daddy Cool

A comedy on a funeral gone wrong, the movie boasts of a multi dimensional star cast consisting of Suniel Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Prem Chopra, Javed Jaffrey, Aarti Chhabria, Ashish Chowdhry, Tulip Joshi, Kim Sharma, Sophie Choudry, Rajpal Yadav & Chunky Pandey. Rajiv Masand's latest preview tweet- Daddy Cool! Bloody Fool!

• Quick Gun Murugan

Based on Channel V's adorable character Quick Gun Murugan, a comic cowboy whose mission in life is to save the cows. Literally. The movie is a spoof on the war between vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism. A Must-Watch this weekend.

• Kissan

A melodramatic tale of a farming family in sadda Punjab. Waiting to see if the magic of the Khan brothers works this time.

• Toss

A group of friends stumble upon a potful of money beside a dead corpse on their holiday. What awaits them now? Will this movie flip the destiny of the producers?

• Love Khichdi

The story of a romantically unsteady chef who falls in love with every girl he lays his eyes on. Who does he finally end up with? A romantic comedy of romance, and self-discovery.

• Babarr

Mithun Chakraborty makes a comeback in this film that explores disorientation in the youth of today.

• Shaabash! You can do it

A dance competition contestant rises to win the competition through yoga. Hmm....

Love Aaj Kal- movie review

Love Aaj kal was the most awaited Indian film of the year coming out from the kitty of Imtiaz Ali. After the stupendous success of Jab We Met, which I maintain to this day, was an almost flawless movie, fans across the country were waiting to see If the director could recreate the magic of last time once again. And he succeeded to quite an extent.

Love Aaj kal is a sensitively woven film around the complications of the mind in a love affair. It deals with the issue of commitment phobia and sails on his favourite undercurrent- discovering yourself before you fall in love. Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan face a series of break-ups and their struggle to discover who it is that they are in love with is endearing. The apprehensions of their mind translate into careless action more often than not and the movie has the charm of connecting with the audience. Rishi plays the guiding angel, making references to his learnings in yesteryears.

The film is a remarkable take on discovering love within yourself and while the screenplay is a little shoddy at times to preserve the slickness of the movie, it never gets on to you. Deepika, however, is a failure in the movie with close to nil voice modulation in her non-expressive dialogues. Saif preserves his boyish charms and never seems too old for Deepika. The music score is sensational and has quite a few foot-tapping numbers.

Rating: 3.5/5

Recommendation: Watch it for the script

Kaminey- Movie review

Having come across all the brouhaha surrounding the movie, I just had to watch Kaminey. My sister wanted to watch it too and we carelessly had asked our teenager brother tag along as well for an A rated movie. Not that it was a very uncomfortable movie to watch with a budding teenager. The adult scenes in the movie are juvenile, few to name and far in between.

The story plots runs through the intertwining lives of various mafia gangs operating in the domains of politics, narcotics and gambling. Shahid kapoor plays a double role in this movie for the first time with two contrasting character shades of black and white. One brother is the quintessential black dog- greedy and having his finger in every dirty pie. The other is an NGO worker with never-too-overwhelming shades of righteousness.

The two brothers, having parted their ways after their father’s death, meet again through a twisted tale of narcotics and sinful greed and murders and scams. Priyanka Chopra, in a role albeit too small, plays an important character in the script. She delivers her marathi with a heavy accent most of the times and often fails to convince as a marathi potti. Shahid, however, steals the show out and out and puts up some remarkable effortless acting. The other negative characters make you hate them right from the first few frames.

The lisp of one of the shahid brother lends the much needed comic relief in a few instances. My brother couldn’t stop singing Manhoof, Manhoof (for Manhoos, Manhoos) all the way back in the car. A release in the mafia film space after a long time, kaminey, however, doesn’t bring any freshness with it and works on the tried and tested lots-of-ugly-people-lots-of-shouting-and-lots-of-killing formula. The film lacks the quintessential soul and emotional appeal and hence fails to connect with the audience.

Rating: 3/5

Recommendation: Watch it once if you are a big fan of the mafia genre. You will not miss anything even if you give it a skip.

Dil Bole hadippa- Preview

Dil Bole Hadippa is the latest production from the banner of Yash Raj films and is slated to release on the 18th of September this year. This romantic comedy has Rani Mukherjee playing a village damsel who has a passion for cricket. Not watching, but playing cricket. To prove the women-dont-play-cricket taboo wrong, she sets out to donne a man's get-up and transforms herself into a pagdi wearing, punjabi speaking jatt cricketer.

Industry experts insist the movie is heavily inspired from blockbuster chick-flick 'she's the man' where the female protagonist, on similar lines, pretends to be her twin brother when she doens't get selected for the local soccer team because she's a girl. How far people accept Rani in her male reincarnation is something we will have to wait and watch for now. Till then, check out Rani's latest Bhangra avatars.

Whats your Rashee

Everyone's talking about Ashutosh Gowariker's next home production- 'Whats your Rashee'. The film boasts of creating cinematic history for the first time in world cinema- yes, that includes Hollywood, for having any character play 12 different versions of himself/herself in the same movie. The last such feat I recollect is Govinda's shoddy attempt in the namesake 'Had kar di Aapne'. Govinda had played seven different roles of himself. Priyanka will be playing 12 different versions of herself in this movie, one for each zodiac sign as the name suggests.

Ashutosh has tried his hand at romantic comedy for the first time with this movie. Generally known to dabble in serious cinema- lagaan, swades, Jodha Akbar, the director wants to move out of his genre and try his hand at something he always wanted to do. The movie, wisely, is the adaptation of a gujju novel- Kimball Ravenswood by noted playwright Madhu Rye.