AB leads Bollywood celebrations in Britain

Amitabh Bachchan will join a host of Bollywood film personalities to celebrate 23 1/2 Days of Bollywood, a festival organised by Selfridges in Britain in May.

The festival will be held at Selfridges' departmental store on Oxford Street in London and at its branch in Manchester.

The festival will run at Selfridges May 3-26 and aims to be the biggest celebration ever mounted of Bollywood's film culture in Britain.

The entire store is being transformed for the festival with film sets created Nitin Desai, one of Bollywood's most celebrated set designers.

The Selfridges show will include appearances by stars, film dance shows, film screenings, fashion shows, interviews and discussions with leading authors and a full-scale recreation of a Bollywood star's mansion.

India's fashion and interior designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla have designed the Bollywood Star mansion, based on the home of actress Dimple Kapadia.

The season will also feature a series of lectures and discussions with leading authors including Justine Hardy, Chris England, Nasreen Munni Kabir, Ruchir Joshi, Anita Nair, Shyama Perera, Hari Kunzru, William Sutcliffe, Ismail Merchant and Manju Malhi.

Yesteryear actress Nadira will soon appear in an episode of Shh ... Koi Hai, a weekly horror teleshow.

The actress, who once gave the heebie-jeebies to many a docile heroine, said that she was not the one scaring people off but was likely to be at the receiving end of the spooking.

Harry Baweja's back with Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai

His last film, Mujhe Mere Biwi Se Bachao bombed at the BO. But Harry Baweja won't be deterred. He's back with his next production Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai directed by Hansal Mehta.

The film, a start to finish project, will conclude by the third week of May.

From directing a TV cookery show to directing films, Hansal Mehta has come a long way but box-office success has eluded this two-film-old director. He's hoping he will break the jinx with Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai.

Ashutosh for another Coca Cola Ad

Aamir Khan and his production company have been approached by Coca Cola to direct their next commercial, after the first successful Thanda matlab Coca Cola ad.

Ashutosh Gowariker, who directed the first Cola commercial, will wield the megaphone again for the second time to direct Aamir Khan in the new Coke ad which will be scripted by Neeraj Vora.

Compiled by: Vivek Fernandes
Design: Imran Shaikh