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!!

Merry Christmas from Kareena, Amrita and Bollywood Buzz!

Happy Holidays are here again. And we ought to doff our Santa hats to Charles Dickens.

For it was he, who through his story, A Christmas Carol, revived the festival. A happy and joyous occasion for gifts, pudding and the ho-ho-ing cuddly Santa.

A time for love and friendship, celebrating their dostis among other things on this merry day are friends Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora, who reminisce about Christmas trees, stockings full of goodies, midnight masses, sumptuous meals and Santa.

"I've been celebrating X'mas ever since I was in my mom's arms. Not many know that my mother is half Christian and that Christmas is celebrated in our home in a big way. We attend midnight mass, decorate a Christmas tree and do everything that a traditional Christian family would," says Kareena.

So X'mas is another common factor between them, besides being younger siblings to two very hot-and-sexy sisters. And though they admire Karishma and Malaika, Bebo and Amu claim to have had their share of fights with them over X'mas gifts.

"I always wanted the gift Malaika got. I used to fight for it, and when she eventually gave it to me, I used to fight again, as I thought she didn't like her gift enough, and in reality mine was better. She used to get so fed up, and eventually let me keep both," laughs Amrita.

Kareena describes Santa as "good-looking, sexy, nice, cuddly and protective". It was at age seven or eight that Bebo got to know that Santa wasn't real.

"But I still love him. For he reflects good things and happy moments," she says. Amrita adds, "I was in a constant state of denial. It's only at 11 that the truth slowly sunk in, and I learned that mom was actually Santa. Till date, it is she who fills our stockings with chocolates, candies and little gifts."

The best X'mas presents these two girls have ever received have been from their respective elder sisters.

"It has to be my nephew Arhaan," says Amrita, "He could've well been bundled and left under the X'mas tree for me. Now we spoil him on Christmas." For Kareena, it's her niece Samaira that makes the world wonderful.

But will these two actress-friends exchange gifts today?

"We keep picking up stuff for one another wherever we go," says Amrita, "It doesn't have to be Christmas. But yes, why not? There's always place for gifts for our loved ones under the tree."

Here's wishing all Bollywood Buzz readers a joyful and splendid Merry Christmas!!

Amrita Arora in Yagnesh Shetty's Boomerang

While the likes of Shilpa Shetty and Bipasha Basu are action-happy, actress Amrita Arora is keen on joining the league.

The actress will soon be seen in an action role in Boomerang.

Ammu says, "It's a very Charlie's Angels kind of movie, and I am doing that kind of action." So, what training did she undertake for this role? "I learned skating and the use of a gun. I also did some harness training." That's some tutoring.

Never mind the Hollywoodish name, but the film is a Hindi movie. "It also stars Kim Sharma, who is also doing a lot of action and Zeenat Aman, who is in a Demi Moore-ish role."

Sounding exciting enough, the movie is directed by Yagnesh Shetty. The team will leave for their last schedule to China soon and the flick is expected to hit the screens in October this year.

We look forward to a lot of boom from Boomerang!

Amrita's futuristic birthday party!

As the actress was on a night shift, Amrita Arora's birthday was celebrated at Mona Kapoor-Archana Shourie's Future Studios, this Jan 31. Seems the actress was busy shooting for producer Surendra Bhatia's KUCH LOVE KUCH DRAMA with Ashish Choudhary, when her family decided to give her a surprise birthday party.

With Malaika, Arbaaz Khan, Amrita's parents and boyfriend Usman Afzal and a few family friends coming in, Amrita was very excited at the treat. The huge chocolate cake was a mouthwatering fare and even the normally health-conscious Malaika could not resist a mouthful! If that was not overwhelming enough, friend Riya Sen and a couple of buddies came in to wish Amrita, who after the celebrations, went back to the shoot, as though to spell out her future in filmdom.

Her upcoming films include Vikram Bhatt’s RED and SPEED, Atul Agnihotri's HELLO and Surendra Bhatia's KUCH LOVE KUCH DRAMA.

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"I hope to maintain my friendship with Bebo"

Amrita Arora is forthright and believes in calling a spade a spade. She has been upfront about all her relationships and her equation with cricketer Usman Afzal is no different. Unlike other actors, she neither denies being into a relationship nor dismisses it as the customary ‘we are just friends’ justification. “Firstly you wouldn’t be in a relationship if you’re ashamed of it. Usman is a great guy. He has been very supportive and pushes me to do better. Usman and I compliment each other,” says the sultry actress.

Her budding camaraderie with Kareena Kapoor a.k.a Bebo comes as a surprise amidst the alleged catfights and bickering in Bollywood. She defies the fact that two actresses can never be friends. “I adore Bebo. We are very close and I hope to maintain my friendship with her,” Amu says effusively, adding, “Bebo and I are an example of the fact that two actresses can be friends.”

Kareena Kapoor too is all praise for Amrita. "I really like that girl. She's fun, easy-going, hassle-free and honest…just like me. I make friends for life. For example my best friend has been with me from school. Amu too will remain with me,” Kareena is quoted as saying in an interview.

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