Salman Khan was advised to give up his smoking habits by his doctor after he suffered serious smoke congestion on sets film ‘Dabanng’ in Wai.

The scene required Salman to shoot in close proximity with the fire and though everyone insisted on a single shot, the actor took several takes before the scene was canned and ended up breathless because of the smoke. He had to be rushed to a hospital, after shooting that gruelling sequence.

In fact, it was Salman Khan’s habit of heavy smoking that had made the situation grave after combining with the smoke coming out of fire on the set of the film.

Confirming the incident Dr Jayghosh Kaddu, medical director of the hospital, told a leading daily, "Salman's condition was aggravated by two factors. First he had been travelling all of the previous day and was exhausted. Secondly, his smoking habits, coupled with the smoke inhalation, caused him further discomfort."

"I told him that he would be a better actor to his fans if he gave up smoking as it would be better for his health. He took the advice very sportingly with a smile, " he added..

An ECG was conducted on Khan and a nebuliser was used to calm him down. "The tests showed that all was fine, " he added.

In spite of the doctor's advice to take rest for the next couple of days Salman went back to shoot for the other scenes the very next day.

Well, it looks like Kat has had enough of senior actors like Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar.

When Bipasha Basu met footballer Cristiano Ronaldo at a party a few years ago, she managed to kiss him. However, Dia Mirza walk passed him a few days ago yet could not meet him, forget about kissing him.

The actress, who was talking on phone, went straight to her room, not realising that the Real Madrid star was sitting in the lobby of the building. In fact, she was shocked when her entourage asked her if she met the footballer, who was in the lobby waiting for one of his friends to go for a party.

Ronaldo had already left by the time Dia reached the lobby to meet him. She has been his huge fan for a long time and follows almost every game he plays. She said that it was her loss, as she has been dreaming to meet him. She added that she had missed a golden opportunity.

Mallika Sherawat has been cast opposite ‘Avatar’ co-star Laz Alonso in the feature ‘Love, Barack’ a political romantic comedy set during the frantic and intoxicating days leading up to 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Doug McHenry (New Jack City) is directing the film. Los Angeles Times contributing writer Gary Goldstein wrote the script. Francis Kenny is director of photography.

Mallika Sherawat will play the female lead and central character Aretha Gupta, a devoted, local Obama volunteer coordinator. The story, a snapshot of a moment in time that was filled with hope, change, and passionate debate, follows the romantic and political rollercoaster that develops when, the month before Election Day, democrat Aretha unexpectedly falls for her Republican counterpart (Alonso), a handsome, dynamic African-American working for the local McCain office.

Acclaimed veteran actress Ruby Dee (Best Supporting Actress Oscar Nominee for 2007’s American Gangster) has also joined, rounding out the cast that includes comedy veteran Gerry Bednob (The 40 year old virgin) and Loretta Devine (Waiting to exhale, Crash)

Sherawat says, "Laz Alonso is a talented and exciting actor. I’m very lucky to be working with him."

The story’s inspiration comes from the many publicly-documented campaign romances that sprung-up around the Obama Presidential win, which experts speculate resulted in a baby-boom last year and what is being called an "Obama baby-boom."

 

Katrina Kaif, the sizzling hot firang bombshell of bollywood who endeared herself to audiences with her urbane, suave, sexy acts in flicks like ‘Welcome’, ‘Namaste London’, ‘Singh Is Kinng’ etc, is all set to leave her comfort zone and play the part of a cotton sari clad politician in Prakash Jha’s upcoming flick ‘Raajneeti’.

Though the hot Kat has been put opposite such formidable talents like Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgn, Naseeruddin Shah and Ranbir Kapoor, she does not feel under-confident before them in any way. In fact, her role requires her to speak in chaste Hindi in the flick and Katrina was all game for it. She not only delivered all her dialogues to perfection but gave complex to those who took her as the one only capable of enacting dumb or glamour doll acts in the movies.

Sources close to production house say that Katrina Kaif’s character in ‘Raajneeti’ may change the course of her bollywood career and finally give her the much required impetus needed for being taken seriously by producers, where acting was concerned.

Earlier, Katrina Kaif’s Hindi had heavy British accent and hence most of the producers preferred to work with other actresses. Even if they decided to work with Katrina, they would ensure that dubbing was done by someone with natural native accent in Hindi, so that the character did not seem outlandish on celluloid.

Katrina Kaif is also busy with Farah Khan’s latest directorial venture ‘Tees Maar Khan’(opposite Akshay Kumar), which requires her to perform in Madhuri Dixit style. In fact, Farah has already supplied some of choicest Madhuri’s dances on DVD to Katrina to prepare for the job.

Katrina has also bagged a lucrative endorsement deal with Lux brand and now onwards will be its ambassador for its anti ageing soap. This is another positive factor for Katrina Kaif as Lux brand is a sort of indication for the bollywood beauties that they have reached the pinnacle of success in the tinsel town and are being counted among the best.

Vipul Shah's schedules for Action Replayy seem to be going awry for no fault of anybody's.

First it was his principal actors' choc-a-block schedules that delayed the film. Now when the film had just two more songs to be filmed, Vipul is again left high and dry. And it's not his to question why. Because this time it's the weather gods who are to blame.

The song was to be shot in Manali.

“And who would have thought there would be snow in Manali in February?! It has never happened before!” marvels Vipul.

“We had planned the whole song schedule for a time when we were sure there would be no inclement weather. When we got to know there was heavy snowfall we were stunned. There was no way we could shoot, ” says Vipul who now needs to find alternative dates for the Manali song.

Easier said than done, considering how busy Aishwarya and Akshay are.

Rather than delay the release of the film further Vipul may drop the song completely. “We shot one romantic 1970s -style romantic number a solo with Shreya Ghosal. Now we wanted to shoot a song about a couple romancing in winter like Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz in the song Karvaten badalte rahen in Aap Ki Kasam in Manali.”

Pritam Chakraborty's brief was to create a raga-based melody, a la the 1970s. Some portions of the track were even recorded with a live orchestra as the composers of the 1970s used to do.

But will this labour of melodious love ever get shot now?