Lara Dutta won't tour with the Bachchans

Lara Dutta won't tour with the Bachchans

Not without regrets, actress Lara Dutta has excused herself from the upcoming ‘The Unforgettable Tour’.

The tour – with Amitabh Bachchan , Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai at the helm – had already lost some of its sheen when Akshay Kumar opted out of it earlier. Now, Lara has followed suit.

According to reports, Lara is down with a knee injury and she wants to be fully fit for her spunky role in the action thriller Blue . She would be doing daring stunts and scuba diving for the movie.

Lara says if she goes on ‘The Unforgettable Tour’ – on which she would obviously be required to dance a lot – her knee injury might not heal or may even get serious. Therefore, she wants to rest her knee and prepare for her role in ‘Blue’.

However, the actress has expressed her regret over not being part of the show.

‘The Unforgettable Tour’ was unveiled last year in Toronto. Apart from the Bachchans the show still has Bollywood stars like Bipasha Basu , Ritesh Deshmukh and dancer Shiamak Davar .

Lara Dutta sheds her inhibitions

Lara Dutta sheds her inhibitions
Lara is on a fast track now. There's a new determination in her to overcome her inhibitions, whatever they might be worth.

While she prepares to do her first ever avant-garde film Devdas with Sudhir Mishra where she intends to change her entire image and get-up to play a modern-day Paro, in a new sporty film entitled Blue Lara has gone several steps further.

She has actually managed to overcome her fear of the underwater to do some serious scuba-diving with the ever-sporty Akshay.

For years now Lara has been petried of taking the plunge. Akshay urged her to not only accept a film that needed her to go against her ingrained fears, but also helped her out of the dive-despair.

Laughing throatily Lara admits she has gotten over a lifelong fear. "But I can't speak about what it is. Yes, Akshay's natural sporty spirit is highly contagious. And it did help me to take the plunge."

She reminisces fondly about Akshay. "He was my first co-star in Andaaz and very very helpful. Then we did Bhagam Bhaag when he was fully into comedy.

I didn't know I had a comic streak in me until then. Now that he's returning to action, I'm also moving on from comedy to action big time."

Man's world is show -world. Even a free-spirited actress like Lara has to follow in the leading man's footsteps.

Lara Dutta loves Las Vegas

Lara Dutta loves Las Vegas



Bollywood actress Lara Dutta, who recently attended a party hosted by lifestyle brand Ed Hardy and spent Valentine's Day in Las Vegas, said she had a gala time and would love to visit the city again.

"I went there for three days and had a great time. I went for sightseeing, saw the musical "Phantom of the Opera" and generally just let my hair down, along with my close friends. It was a good experience," Lara said

How can they do Raaz 2 without me?: Dino

How can they do Raaz 2 without me?: Dino

It has been his career's highest point. The Vikram Bhatt directed Raaz (2002) featuring him and Bipasha Basu, had rocked the box-office. But both Basu and Dino Morea don't figure in the sequel.

The follow-up
Directed by Mohit Suri, has Emraan Hashmi and Kangana Ranaut in the lead. Surely, Morea must be disappointed?

To this, he responds, "I'm not disappointed but definitely baffled.How can they make a Raaz 2 without anyone from the original cast? How can it be a sequel, then?"

Meanwhile, the buzz is that he's now dating Lara Dutta , the former girlfriend of his buddy KellyDorje?

"Hey, Kelly's a friend. Lara and I also go back a longway to the time when we were modelling in Banglaore. But I guess the industry doesn't believe in the 'we're just good friends' concept any more.


"I'm not disappointed but definitely baffled.How can they make a Raaz 2 without anyone from the original cast? How can it be a sequel, then?"
Time for action
On the professional front, after Dus Kahaniyan, Dino Morea has signed up for Acid Attack, another movie with Sanjay Gupta. He won't reveal much because, "Sanjay wants to have a big launch. It's an action-packed thriller. I've even got myself a new look.. lean, mean and long hair. "

There's also Heroes , featuring Salman Khan, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Mithun Chakraborty and Preity Zinta. Won't he be lost in the crowd?

"It's not a long role but the story will stay with you for a long time," promises Dino.

"Mithun and mine is a father-son story, Salman and Preity are husband and wife while Sunny and Bobby portray brothers. We're all army officers with the same amount of footage while Sohail ( Khan ) and Vatsal ( Seth ) take this on-the-road movie forward."

Item boy
He has a special appearance in Har Pal. "It's a fun song. I'm a DJ in a nightclub. Preity called and I couldn't say no. I'm an item boy now, he jokes.

Magna's Bhram is releasing next month followed by the desi Rebecca, Anamika, in April.

"Deh is complete too but I don't think it'll ever be out. And the producer of Kabhi Bhi Kahin Bhi, a thriller I signed four years ago, has just woken up and wants to start shooting," he sighs. He has his own production house now. But for the moment, he's only into ad films that fetch him good money.

"Maybe if I get a good script and director, I'll start a film by the end of the year," he shrugs.

Bipasha, Lara, Ritesh to join Bachchan world tour

Bipasha, Lara, Ritesh to join Bachchan world tour



The now-off-now-on world tour by the Bachchan family is finally taking off this July. The entire clan, the Big B, Abhishek, Aishwariya, and possibly even Jaya, will be packing their bags and taking off. The family will apparently wait for the release of Ram Gopal Verma's Sarkar Raj, in which Ash and Abhishek play business partners.

The first leg of the Bachchan's tour will take them to Europe and North America over July and August. They will then travel elsewhere, covering 25 cities in all. Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar, who were the star attractions in the initial line-up, have opted put as they have no dates to offer. Instead, the Bachchans have roped in Bispasha Basu, Lara Dutta and Ritesh Deshmukh. Ash is excited about the prospect of sharing the stage with hubby Abhishek and pa-in-law. She recalls the fun they had while performing to the famous Kajra Re number at an awards function a couple of years ago. She is sure they will recreate the magic once more. Having watched earlier concerts of the Big B, she is aware if how he is able to rivet the audience, while Abhishek has a blast. All three of them enjoy live shows as they genuinely enjoy music and dance. So for Ash, it is going to be one grand party on stage. And of course, Kajra Re will be part of the repertoire.

Three beauty queens as desi Charlie's Angels

Three beauty queens as desi Charlie's Angels



Three top actresses of Bollywood will be kicking butts and punching bellies in a power-packed action flick on the lines of Hollywood’s ‘Charlie’s Angels’.

It is a subject that hasn’t been yet tried in an industry where heroines are reserved only to romance heroes, run around the trees, simper, and strut their stuff. For a change – and a welcoming one at that – the heroines are set to thrash the baddies in an action chick flick to be produced by Abbas-Mastan .

Tinsel town is abuzz with talks that the brothers in white have roped in Rohit Jugraj to direct the film. Rohit made a forgettable directorial debut with James but showed remarkable growth as a filmmaker in his second flick Superstar , released just two weeks back.

And now, Rohit and Abbas-Mustan are looking forward to sign Priyanka Chopra , Lara Dutta and Sushmita Sen (all three of them former beauty queens) to play the three leading roles of spunky, butt-kicking girls in the film.

Rohit also admits that the movie will be styled like Charlie’s Angels, but he also adds in the same breath that his film will delve deeper into the psyche of the protagonists.

About the film’s cast, Rohit refuses to confirm any names but says he is confident of the influence of Abbas-Mustan in the film industry to get him a stellar star-cast of his choice.

If things turn out as expected, this yet untitled film will be the first full-fledged action flick in Bollywood with girls in lead roles. The actresses might have to undergo training in martial arts and parkour before shooting the film.

Lara Dutta in a groovy mode

Lara in a groovy mode


The year gone was great.. with a critically acclaimed performance in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom and a huge commercial hit, Partner. Then, came Mission Ustad on 9x and a chance to judge big names. Lara Dutta has plenty to sing and dance about. And that's exactly what she's doing. "Rehearsals for Max Stardust Awards has me on my toes," she laughs. ‘I'm also doing a Balaji show."

Lara Dutta will be performing to a medley of popular hits at the Max Stardust Awards tonight. "It's a blend of western tracks like the Johnny Gaddaar chartbuster, Move your body and desi numbers like Sajnaji vari vari (Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd) and Dupatta tera (Partner). There are a lot of expectations because all the tracks and that includes Deewangi from Om Shanti Om, have been beautifully performed," she points out.

"Also, all the songs are high on energy, it's challenging but fun."There's a fun film too gearing up for release. Ravi Chopra's Banda yeh Bindaas Hai. "I've finally been paired with Govinda. The film has kept me busy for most of the last quarter of 2007," she informs.

Miscast Mission
Ustaad continues on primetime and its celebrity female judge is all praises for the show that went on air eight weeks ago. She gushes, "It's picked up well. Read my blog and you'll know. The number of letters have skyrocketed.. more people want to know about India's UN mission. I'm sure awareness has gone up from its earlier two per cent. The mission is a success!"

She jokes that hers is a classic case of miscasting. "I can't judge singers who've proven their talent a hundred times over. I leave that bit to Javed saab (Akhtar) and AR Rahman and look into the content," she says. Will she judge another show? "Not in the near future," she asserts.

Lara Dutta follows Aishwarya

Taking a cue from Aishwarya Rai who did 'Kajra re' to get back into Yashraj Films after her fallout with Shah Rukh Khan ....

Lara Dutta follows Aishwarya