In 1973, several major leading ladies like Mumtaz, Raakhee, Jaya Bhaduri, Dimple Kapadia, Tanuja, had married and retired from films. Producers wanted a new heroine as a replacement. Many thought Sulakshana was a Mumtaz lookalike and was soon persuaded to sign on multiple films as a leading lady.
Malaika Arora celebrated her 50th birthday in Goa with son Arhaan Khan, sister Amrita Arora Ladak and mother Joyce Polycarp.
Bappi Lahiri realised disco was a winning ticket and escalated his game with several more dancefloor perennials. Soon, every film producer and music director in town was down with disco fever. On what would have been Bappi Lahiri's 73rd birthday this November 27, Dinesh Raheja rewinds to the late music composer's halcyon days.
'It was Kishoreda who suggested to Sulakshanadidi that she should become an actress and sing her own songs in her films. This transformed her life and career.'
'Sleep is when your blood pressure falls; this nocturnal dip is when the heart gets rest.'
Himesh knows his audience well and doesn't mind poking fun at himself. 'Yeh gaana main normal gaoon ya naak se?', he asked the crowd.
'I have always broken my image every time I went on screen. I don't know what it means to be a Greek God but people used to call me one.'
Dharmendra's demise means the loss of one of the biggest icons ever in the Hindi film firmament.
The song that best encapsulates Geeta Dutt's unfairly abbreviated life would probably be: Yaad Karoge, Yaad Karoge, Ek Din Humko Yaad Karoge. On her 95th birth anniversary on November 23, Dinesh Raheja pieces together the life of this talented singer.
'The industry has lost a legend... and we've lost someone who shaped the very soul of our cinema.'
Stars are still caught up in Diwali even though this year's festival ended on Thursday.
'Sulakshanadidi was never the same after Sanjeev Kumar turned her down.'
Salman Khan was reportedly dating Aishwarya Rai during the 1999 filming of the musical, Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, but they broke up sometime later.
S D Burman enjoyed a productive partnership with Dev Anand's production house Navketan for two decades, but their collaboration reached its apogee with Guide.
Tere Ishk Mein is a disservice to brilliant actors like Dhanush and Kriti Sanon, who have poured their heart and soul into their performances in a story that fails to honour its characters, notes Divya Nair.
'Amrishji had a fascination for the colour red and wanted it in every movie costume of his.'
'I made a big fuss about playing Manoj Kumar's mother, but he had made up his mind. He said he would wait until I made up my mind. I was about 40 then. He was so large and I was so tiny!'
'Whenever we did any scenes together, whatever we did in the film, he never said, "Let's do another take or let's move on".' 'He always asked me, "Parmeet, is it okay?" Till I gave my best, he kept going on.'
'He's been doing something we don't talk about much, working with acid attack survivors.' 'He supports them not just emotionally, but also financially.' 'His Mir Foundation helps them with the surgeries they have to go through to step out again and get back their lives.' 'He doesn't talk about it and I only learnt about this when we were in Kolkata once and some of the girls had come to meet him at the hotel.'
Ananya Panday takes a break and jets off to the Maldives, making sure to keep her Gram Fam updated.
In a spectacular display of admiration and affection, Gujarat Titans celebrated their skipper Shubman Gill's birthday by lighting up Ahmedabad with a massive projection.
'Vivek Vaswani came over to discuss Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman which he was producing with Aziz Mirza as the director.' 'When I asked who was playing the lead, Raju, he said it was an actor called Shah Rukh Khan. "He looks just like Aamir Khan," Vivek added.' 'It was a shock when I met Shah Rukh on the first day of the shoot.' 'He was thin and tanned, with a fat nose and thick lips.'
Jeetendra and his family-backed Balaji Telefilms is focusing on expanding the content slate on its streaming platform Kutingg through micro dramas and long-format binge shows after the recent ban on its subscription-based video-on-demand platform ALTT due to obscene content.
'The new generation has heard Kishore Kumar's voice in Saiyaara or some other thing. That is not fair, man.' 'They should hear his songs that he has sung in his time, which came out of his throat, came out of his sensibilities.'
As the actress turns a year older, Namrata Thakker lists down things you probably still don't know about her, in her own words.
'Today, Shah Rukh is sitting so high up that it will have to be something really spectacular for him to jump up and say, "Hey, yes, let's make this film!".'
'For him what's important is relationships, his role, and, of course, the script.' Rediff celebrates Shah Rukh Khan's 60th birthday on November 2 with a special series that introduces us to the man behind the superstar.
'His belief that he is touched by the Almighty reflects in his performances.'
Few people have left the kind of imprint on India's advertising canvas as Piyush Pandey. An observer who seemed to know what made the country tick, a man who could find humour in life's everyday struggles and spin magic from it, one who understood that to reach the masses you needed to communicate with them in their language and context -- he was all of this and more.
Iconic songs, once popular in their own time, are being rediscovered by Gen Z and going viral.
When I asked UAE Skipper Muhammad Waseem why his team did not appeal for a walkover, he said his team had come to play, and that they had decided to wait as per the request from the authorities. Would any Test-playing country have waited and remained sporting enough to sacrifice their opportunity to play in the knock-out stage?
Sunny meet His Holiness.. Karishma recreates Dil Chahta Hai moment... Rajkummar says a prayer...
Banks and NBFCs are launching festival offers, including lower loan rates, cashback, EMI schemes and GST-linked benefits to tap rising demand ahead of Diwali
Jackie enjoys Purple Rain... Shriya's whole world in a pic... Preity admires a tree...
'It didn't seem like ICC event, it seemed like BCCI event'
Because of Mukesh's much-hailed association with Raj Kapoor, it is often overlooked that the singer has also scored hits with almost all major heroes. On Mukesh's 102nd birth anniversary on July 22, Dinesh Raheja recalls some of his classic songs.
When not harnessing Hrithik Roshan's dripping handsomeness for lady-killer purposes, Bollywood has found him quite a fit for on screen bromances as well.
rediffGURU Anu Krishna, mind coach, relationship expert and co-founder of Unfear Changemakers, explains how to resolve relationship struggles as a couple.
'I have more time in Bengaluru to write, away from the film industry in Mumbai that always pulls me down and makes me frustrated.'
'The moment I watched the teaser I was astonished.'
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