Call it the price of recognition, but Pritam Chakraborty has no choice!

When this Bengali makes music, India sits up and takes notice. To the eternal optimist, Pritam Chakraborty has been bringing the music of the world to the consoles of Bollywood. But for the well-informed optimist, he is India’s most appreciated plagiarist.

Pritam has music in his blood and gene. Born to a father who ran a music school, he completed his education in Kolkata before migrating to Mumbai, the city of ambition, in pursuit of the great Bollywood dream.

A special promotional song costing Rs. 6 crore was shot by director Rohit Shetty for Golmaal Returns at the Filmistan Studios in Goregaon, Mumbai. The song, titled, Tha Karke, features the entire cast and crew of the film that included, Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Arora, Anjana Sukhani and Celina Jaitley. One can recollect, Shetty had shot a similar style number with the entire cast of his last film, Sunday and it featured in the film’s opening titles.

At a launch party hosted by Producer Dr. Amanullah Khan of One World Entertainment and Mr.Vikram Khakhar of Wize Mindz Entertainment Pvt Ltd, veteran actor Raj Babbar flagged off the launch of his son Aarya Babbar’s debut International Punjabi film “Virsa” recently in Mumbai!

Present at the film launch were Raj Babbar and renowned Director Mahesh Bhatt who launched the film and the entire cast and crew of the film-Director Pankaj Batra, Aarya Babbar, Gulshan Grover, Kawaljeet Singh, Mehreen Raheal, Naumaan Ijaas, Amaan Ali and Aparna Sharma as well as other Bollywood celebrities such as Producer Anjum Rizvi, Aashish Vidyarti, Rohit Roy, Aryan Vaid, Sudhanshu Pandey, Mohan Doshi, Anoop Soni, Ravee Gupta, Vivek Shroff, Shweta Pandit, Moon Moon, Sadiya Siddiqui and brother Farhan.

Warner Bros studios have taken legal action against an Indian studio which plans to release a film entitled Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors.

The Hollywood giant has recently commenced proceeding against Mirchi Movies, of Mumbai, over the film in question; feeing its name is too similar to that of the Harry Potter franchise.

Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors, tells the story of a ten-year-old boy who moves to England with his parents and becomes involved in a plot concerning a secret microchip. The film is set for a September 12th release in India.

The stage is being set for a drama of the visual senses as Vogue, the bible of fashion, unfolds its first issue in India against the art deco Umaid Bhawan Palace here Saturday. The scale of the event seems like a Hollywood production.

Paola Ricotti, a creative director, has been brought in from Milan. The talented Sumant Jaikrishnan, a production designer, will work on enhancing an already imposing palace. His brief: use simplicity and style for Vogue’s debut.

And event manager Vandana Mohan will deftly manage the mayhem with her team backstage to bring in guests from Delhi and Mumbai on charter flights.

Lollywood big guns Sana and Javed Sheikh have signed on for another Indian film, Paak, based on India-Pakistan relations, Mr Sheikh, who is in Mumbai these days, told Daily Times by telephone.

Mr Sheikh said the story of the film was based on positive relations between the two countries. He said he would be performing the character of a goodwill ambassador working for peace.

He also confirmed the participation of Sana as the solo heroine in the flick. Waheeda Rehman, Raj Babbar and his son will take on three of the other major roles in the film, he added.

Meera’s big break in Indian films?

Meera surprised the Lollywood wallas recently when she flew back from Mumbai disclosing that she is acting in Mahesh Bhatt’s movie, Nazar Ke Saamne. Clad in a flaming red sari, Meera looked radiant (and also quite Indian), as she made a surprise public appearance at a music album launch.

Lollywood super star “Moammar Rana”, has been the lead man of a number of successful films Chooriyan and several others and has worked with some of the best directors in Lahore including Syed Noor.

Moammaar is making his Hindi film debut In Dobara, directed by Shashi Ranjan.

on the other hand Shaan is still negotiating with Indian film-makers, Shashi Ranjan has roped in his close rival Moamar Rana for a guest appearance in his Jackie Shroff-Raveena Tandon-Mahima Chaudhary starrer Dobara.

The role was to be essayed by Sanjay Dutt earlier, Shashi told.But we couldn’t manage Sanju’s dates. That’s when I started thinking of a replacement.

Ali Azmat was all set to act in Mahesh Bhatt’s Rog last year, but the Indian government denied him a visa. When asked why, Azmat calmly shrugs and says with a devious smile, ‘‘I don’t know why—there’s no because.’’ Maybe that’s why he doesn’t care much about acting these days. Currently in the city to promote his first solo album, Social Circus, the shiny-headed, irreverent and utterly candid former lead singer of Junoon says he actually quit acting seven years ago. ‘‘I’m not going to wait around for five hours for the female lead to show up.’’

Renowned fashion designer Moazzam Abbasi, a die-hard fan of Parveen Babi pays a tribute to Bollywood’s all time favourite diva.

They blackballed and clapper clawed her. Hissing and hooting. Disparaging and damnatory.. A thousand deaths, that made her die. Helplessly, the more she tried to vivificate, the tighter they shut the grave on her, making her dance on shooting needles, to bury her alive. Mocking her controversial existence, her pravity, her depravity… Frowning faces that spat fire on her morality, smirking at her cloven foot. They kicked her harder when she was almost down, hurting her sensibilities and crushing her being. Her mind was a seesaw, while she yearned for love, they threw her into a winter of discontentment, instead of holding and protecting her. They dug deeper and pulled out a mental horror that she had hidden – PARVEEN BABI they have let you die.