Shilpa admits dating London-based Indian millionaire, Raj Kundra

For the first time, in an interview to UK's leading newspaper Daily Mail, Shilpa Shetty has revealed that a new relationship brought a long period of loneliness to an end and transformed her life.

"I am dating somebody. I have known him for some time but I have only just started to know him better. I hope he will be the one but I don't want to say too much because it is still very early on in our relationship," she said.

Though she has not named her new love, the daily claimed that it's none other than the London-born entrepreneur of Indian origin, Raj Kundra, whose former wife had blamed Shetty for wrecking their marriage.

"I'm not going to deny that it's him, but please don't say it is, because I don't want to frighten him off," Shilpa said.

"He respects and understands what I do and it is nice to be cared for. I have been very lonely for a very long time and it is nice to know I have somebody to look forward to seeing at the end of the day. At last I feel normal.

It has been an incredible year for me but I have also been very lonely. I have been away from home, in a foreign country and I haven't had a boyfriend for a very long time. I need someone to woo me. Magazines are always saying I am beautiful and millions of men want to woo me, but none has come forward because they are all so scared.

I can go to a party and sense that men really like me but they are in awe of me and won't come and ask me for a date. Being an Indian actress is bad enough but now I'm a celebrity in the UK it's too much. It would take a really secure man to handle the media attention. I'm eulogised by a lot of men, but they wouldn't take me home to meet their mothers."

Bollywood babes performing on New Year's Eve

It's that time of the year when everyone says Goodbye! to the year gone by and get all geared up to say Welcome! to the New Year.

In between the departure of the old year and the advent of New Year lies something like the midnight for which everyone waits with bated breath, to welcome the New Year with open arms.

For the urban crowd, the New Year celebrations include shelling out money in some of the 5 star mega structured hotels to see some of the Bollywood heroines, performing live.

But the flip side of the coin is that this money gets translated into a pot-full of moolah, for these heroines, and these pot-full goes to the tunes of anywhere between a few lakhs till crores, depending upon the saleability quotient of the star.

Bollywood Buzz brings to you an insight of the star-charges and the places where you can go star-hunting (with the damages, of course!)

Topping this year's pricey-list is none other than Bipasha Basu who will be performing at the JW Marriott, Juhu.

She is reportedly said to be charging a staggering Rs 90 lakhs!

The costs of the tickets are kept at Rs 11,500 per person (including taxes and food). But then, who needs booze when the intoxicating Bips is around!

Though some portion of the market says that the figures have just been exaggerated (and that the actual figures rest at Rs 72 lakhs), whereas the other portion of the market says that the figure quoted is lesser than what she is charging (and that the actual figures rest at a staggering Rs 1.23 crores!)

Rumors have it that come what may, Bipasha cannot be a Mallika Sherawat as the latter's pull is far greater than the former.

Last year, Mallika pulled off a show-stopper of a show with a price tag attached of Rs 50 lakhs for a half-an-hour performance!

The Drama Queen Rakhi Sawant, along with her boyfriend Abhishek Awasthi and DJ Whosane, will also be performing on New Year's Eve.

You can find all of them performing at Tulip Star Hotel, Juhu. The charges here are Rs 7000 for a couple entry with unlimited food and drinks.

Rakhi is reported to have charged the organizers a whopping Rs 51 lakhs for her performance!

Rumors are also rife that Rakhi will make the most of this platform to project her angst against Star TV for their allegedly rigged voting system in Nach Baliye, where she and her boyfriend Abhishek lost to Sanjeeda Sheikh and Aamir Ali.

Not far behind are Tanushree Dutta and Koena Mitra, who will be joined along with the songster Mika in Sahara Star, Mumbai.

The rates of the tickets here are priced at Rs 20,000 for couples and Rs 11,500 for singles.

Koena is supposedly charging the organizers Rs 27 lakhs for her 16 minute performance whereas Tanushree Dutta has been signed up for Rs 15 lakhs for her 24 minutes performance.

The next in row are an array of celebrities who will be India-trotting as a part of their New Year performances:

Amrita Arora (performing in Bangalore) and Malaika Arora (performing in Delhi)

Neha Dhupia - performing in Ahmedabad.

Udita Goswami - performing in Pune.

One of the event organizers said, "The charges of these stars are directly proportional to their popularity. Malaika Arora command easily upto Rs 25-30 lakhs whereas Amrita Arora charges Rs 12 lakhs.

Neha Dhupia charges anywhere between Rs 15-20 lakhs and Udita Goswami, who used to charge Rs 15 lakhs for any performance earlier, has now reduced to Rs 5-8 lakhs."

With so much happening this New Year's Eve, who wouldn't wanna be a sell-e-brity!!

Video: Theatrical promo of Race

Directed by Abbas-Mustan, Race has Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy in lead roles.

Pritam Chakraborty has given the music to this thriller and the movie is slated for a Feb 2008 release.

Exclusive: Snapshots from Subi Samuel's Breast Cancer Awareness Calendar 2008

After showcasing Daboo Ratnani's 2008 Calendar, we now bring you some exclusive snapshots from Breast Cancer Awareness Calendar 2008.

Shot by photographer Subi Samuel, this visual treat features several film stars including Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Karan Johar, Vidya Balan, Celina Jaitley, Neil Mukesh, Dia Mirza, Kunal Kapoor and Arjun Rampal.

Subi Samuel has launched this calendar for a socially relevant cause of Breast Cancer Awareness in association with Marching Ants.

This noble initiative will take its next step early next year with a series of events, starting with a Valentines Day Ball in February 2008.

Besides that, there is also a Celeb Walk that has been planned in Mumbai, where supporters will be sporting pink T-shirts.

What really makes this calendar stand apart from others is the fact that every page contains a very heartfelt saying about the dreaded disease.

The calendar went on sale from December 15 and its proceeds will go mainly to the Women's Cancer Initiative at Tata Memorial Hospital.

Its available in Mumbai at Boudoir London store (Juhu) and The British Council Library (Nariman Point).

What are you waiting for then? Go ahead, buy this calendar and make a difference to someone's life!

Tom Cruise is coming to Bollywood!!

If actor-producer Vivek Vaswani has his way, Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise will be a part of his next film!!

According to some rumors buzzing around in Bollywood, Vivek Vaswani has approached Hollywood superstar Tom Cruise for the lead role in his next movie - Hotel, Motel and Patel.

Two bound scripts have been delivered to Cruise's agents for the film and Vaswani expects to begin as soon as he wraps up his current film, Dulha Mil Gaya starring Shah Rukh Khan, Sushmita Sen and Fardeen Khan.

Vaswani's ambitious English film revolves around a motel, where the Patels have come to stay and are joined by a Hollywood actor, which will hopefully be played by Tom.

Well.. as much as we like the sound of the film, we do hope that we get to see Tom shaking his delectable derrière to a song!

And after his latest flick, Lions for Lambs, got beat out by SRK's Om Shanti Om at the box office, it might be a wise choice for Mr. Cruise!

Stay tuned in!

Shah Rukh Khan to perform live at Airtel Bindaas India Concert, Mumbai

UTV's Bindass is all set to air a two hour live Airtel Bindass India Concert with Shah Rukh Khan and other Bollywood stars.

The Airtel Bindass India Concert will take place live on 13 January 2008 at the MMRDA grounds, Mumbai and will telecast on 26 January on Bindass.

Joining SRK will be artistes like Boman Irani, Priyanka Chopra, Dia Mirza, Dino Morea, Rakhi Sawant, Kunal Ganjawala, Ganesh Hegde, Niti Mohan and Mauli Dave.

"All Indian's are huge fans of Shahrukh Khan, so we are delighted to have him and other Bollywood stars performing at Bindass India Concert," said Bindass senior vice president (marketing) Sita Laxmi Narayan Swami.

Is Amisha Patel over with Vikram Bhatt?

As 2007 comes to an end, the sun also looks to be setting on another Bollywood relationship.

If the grapevine is to be believed, there is trouble brewing in the paradise of Bollywood's maverick director and loveable bad boy, Vikram Bhatt and his pretty girl-friend, actress Amisha Patel.

Their four-year-old relationship is reportedly under threat from Kanav Puri, a London-based businessman, who was also seeing model Priya Sachdev (before her marriage to New York-based hotelier Vikram Chatwal).

Amisha and Kanav met a few months ago in Delhi.

A source close to Kanav said, "There is a lot of interest on both sides. Last week, the duo was spotted at party thrown by Sanjeev and Ajay Bijli (of PVR Cinemas) for Aamir Khan. They were inseparable."

The same night Vikram Bhatt was apparently spotted at a suburban five star hotel with a female friend. The couple apparently don't go out together.

When contacted, Vikram said, "I know people have been trying to create a rift between Amisha and me. But we are very much together. Amisha likes to party and I prefer quietness. We have made our own spaces."

Stay tuned in!

Shahid-Sania Mirza: To serve with love?

Looks like Shahid Kapoor and tennis player Sania Mirza are getting closer!

The two of them are spending more quality time with each other. On Monday evening, Shahid and Sania were spotted having dinner at Bangalore's Windsor Sheraton, a suburban five-star hotel.

Says an eyewitness, "Shahid and Sania very much looked like a couple. They were completely engrossed in each other, and were oblivious of what was happening around them."

A close friend of Shahid says, "Yes, Shahid did spend time with Sania and they have been bonding very well with each other."

Shahid's friend goes on to add that Shahid was never in a relationship with Vidya Balan , who is paired opposite him in Aziz Mirza's Kismet Connection.

"That link-up was merely to create hype for Kismet Connection," he signs off.

Benazir Bhutto was offered a Bollywood role in 1972!!

As you all know, Pakistan's former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday after addressing a large gathering of her supporters in Pakistan.

While browsing the web today, I came across an interesting article related to her and thought of sharing it with you all.

Years ago, when a shy, 19-year-old Benazir Bhutto visited India for the first time, she was bowled over by an unusual proposal.

Well-known Bollywood comedian, the late I.S. Johar, offered her the lead role in a Hindi movie!

"The incident happened in 1972 when Benazir had accompanied her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto for the historic Shimla Agreement in the wake of the India-Pakistan war the previous year," recalled Bollywood historian Amar Solanki.

A veteran Gujarati film director himself, Solanki said that Johar always courted controversy.

"By making the offer to Benazir, he shot to prominence in India, Pakistan and even Bangladesh which had been created in the aftermath of the war," he said.

However, Benazir politely declined Johar's proposal, saying she was destined for a different role in life.

May her soul rest in peace...

Salman-Madhuri to come together again?

According to the latest buzz going around in town, Sooraj Barjatya (of Rajshri Productions) is now looking for a good script as he would like to cast Salman and Madhuri in his next yet again after the humungous success of Hum Aapke Hain Kaun.


"I want Salman to work for Rajshri again and even Madhuri, it's just that I am waiting for the right script so that as soon as I get it I can approach them", revealed Barjatya.

Stay tuned in!

Preity Zinta off to Thailand for New Year

Preity Zinta is taking a well-earned vacation.

After shooting as the derelict NRI wife in Deepa Mehta's Heaven On Earth, Preity is off to Phuket, Thailand with her friends to bring in the New Year.

Last year at this time Preity had injured herself during a vacation.

"The year has been a tough one for me," groaned Preity. "Not only did I suffer a serious injury, it has also been a year of tough challenges for me as an actor."

"In 2007, I went into another kind of cinema altogether. From doing Yash Raj Films to playing a woman who finds herself at the receiving end of life in Heaven On Earth has been quite a creative and cultural shock for me," Preity said.

The actress is, however, quick to point out the film isn't only about a battered wife.

"It's about all the people who leave India and hope to find paradise abroad, only to be stuck on wretched 16-hour jobs with no happiness or sunshine. I never knew how such marginalized women existed until I played one," she said.

"Deepa Mehta's Heaven On Earth was tough on me emotionally. In the month that I was in Toronto, I went out just twice and that too to maintain my sanity. I really need a break now," added the actress who had only one commercial release this year, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom.

Preity will return from her vacation in the second week of January with a clear date diary.

"I haven't said yes to any of the scripts I've heard. I'll take a call when I return from my holiday. But yes, 2007 has been my year of unconventional films. So 2008 will probably be a year of hardcore masala movies."

Exclusive: Dabboo Ratnani Calendar 2008

Dabboo Ratnani is a leading Indian model photographer mostly known for his annual calendar which has become a highly notable showbiz event in India since its first publication in 1999.

And now it's that time of year again, when Dabboo Ratnani whips out his most stunning superstar pictures packaged in a special calendar!

Daboo Ratnani Calendar 2008 is out now...but with a difference.

Unlike his previous calendar, this time it features only male stars instead of his usual male-female mashups.

Daboo Ratnani's 2007 Calendar had Water as theme, however, there is no theme this time.. just some great shots of masculine beauty!

Check out the snapshots!

Jan - Hrithik Roshan & Bobby Deol

Feb - Abhishek Bachchan & John Abraham

Mar - Shiney Ahuja & Ranbir Kapoor

Apr - Neil Mukesh & Ajay Devgan

May - Vivek Oberoi & Fardeen Khan

Jun - Rahul Bose & Shahid Kapoor

Jul - Sanjay Dutt & Dino Morea

Aug - Upen Patel & Saif Ali Khan

Sep - Zayed Khan & Akshay Kumar

Oct - Amitabh Bachchan & Kunal Kapoor

Nov - Shah Rukh Khan & Salman Khan

Dec - Ritesh Deshmukh & Arjun Rampal

Daboo Ratnani's Official Site