Even before the release of her debut film ‘Aladin’, Jacqueline Fernandez has earned a fan following amongst several many B-town folks. The industry is abuzz with news of top-notch Bollywood Directors having expressed a desire to work with her.

But there’s one actor who has managed to impress Jacqueline with his killer looks and charming demeanour, and that’s Shahid Kapoor!

The model-turned actress had worked with Shahid Kapoor in a luxury brand ad a year ago and since then has become a fan of the suave actor.

“I really admire Shahid Kapoor for his hard work and passion. He has grown as an actor with every film and when I saw him in Kaminey, I was totally floored by his performance! He can look innocent and hot at the same time”, exclaims ‘Jacquie’, as she is lovingly called by her Bollywood friends.

When asked if she’d want to work with Shahid in the near future, Jacquie delightedly quips, “Sure, I’d love to!”.

Now let’s hope a ‘Genie’ reads this and quickly fulfils Jacqueline’s wish!

-Sampurn Media

The new buzz in Bollywood concerns the super fashionable Priyanka Chopra and the chocolaty Shahid Kapoor. They are seen bonding big time on the sets of their forthcoming film ‘Kaminay’. What adds to the fire is that the duo resides in the same building – Raj Classic and are even spotted together, during off- shooting hours. On the other hand, Harman seems to be going out of Priyanka’s life and his visits to her have been visibly reduced.

A source informed a magazine, “She stays on the eighth floor in the ‘B’ wing and Shahid stays in the ‘A’ wing on the 11th floor. They leave together for the sets of their upcoming film and some days, they even leave in a single car while the other one tags along empty.”

“Previously, the frequent visitors to Shahid’s home were his earlier hook ups Viday Balan and Sania Mirza. And now it’s PC,” the source added.

According to another reliable source, “Priyanka has been not visiting Harman’s house regularly. At least for over a month now, she has not been spotted here. Previously, we’d see her Mercedes perpetually parked outside Baweja house.”

What’s going on is anybody’s guess now! The on and off romance is very common in Bollywood and don’t be surprised if you hear, Shahid making an announcement like Bebo’s Saifu – yes, we (read Shahid and Priyanka) are together.

The year 2009 was expected to begin with the Nana Patekar – Shahid Kapur starrer Paathshaala. The film was slated for release on January 9. But its release has been shifted ahead.

The film will now hit the screens in March-end or April first week. This, despite the fact that the shooting of Paathshaala was completed a couple of months back, it is already in the final stages of post-production and can easily meet the January 9 release.

According to sources, Paathshaala is a well-made film and the producers want to ensure that it gets an appropriate release. Hence, the shift in release.

Two years back just around the same time, Rajashri Productions’ Vivaah was about to be released. Directed by Sooraj Barjatya the film was touted to be a super flop at the box office. With both its lead actors Shahid Kapoor and Amrita Rao back then having a cold run, the film’s failure was assured. Also, the music of the film was simply not picking up and was termed out-dated. But the film went to become a super hit all across the nation proving all its detractors wrong.

Two years later, a similar scenario is being experienced with Rajshri Productions’ latest upcoming release Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi. There is a strong buzz that the film is definitely going to prove a dark horse as it is carrying very good reports.

t may not have a big star cast (Eesha Koppikar – Sonu Sood) to rely on but those who have seen it feel the film has very strong content to make the film work. Not many must be aware that the film is a remake of Rajshri’s 1976 hit, Tapasya starring Rakhee alongside Parikshat Sahni and Asrani. Eesha Koppikar and Sonu Sood are playing the lead in the remake version.

The story of Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi is about an elder sister (Eeshaa Koppikar) who sacrifices all for the betterment of her siblings. The film is due for an all India release on November 7.

Director: Aziz Mirza
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Om Puri

Kismat Konnection falls under the league of those feel-good NRI love stories having a customary Indian narration in some foreign location. The kinds where every person the hero even randomly stumbles upon speaks to him in Hindi.

The kinds where the hero is still named as Raj Malhotra. Where’s the story you ask? Left to chance.. fate, destiny, luck or Kismat as you may call it.

Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapoor) is the university topper but somehow luck isn’t favouring him. Five years post graduation he is still jobless and waiting for his first assignment as an architect.

Kismet connects as he comes across Priya (Vidya Balan) who happens to be his lucky charm. In her presence even the impossible turns achievable for Raj. Raj desperately seeks her company in all his endeavours from employment to affection.

Just when you start liking the breezy premise, the director decides to add (rotten) meat to the story by adding a hackneyed love triangle to stretch the screenplay by a few more cliched scenes.

Priya is already engaged with another guy but we are familiar with the fact that the heroine will ultimately end up with the hero. And since the third angle just happens to be some side-hero, he’s also given a bad conduct certificate of two-timing to make his exit easier.

On a parallel note Raj gets the contract to design a shopping mall which incidentally happens to be on the same land where Priya supports a community center.

Surprisingly the film derives the plot on the same grounds of the old age home premise in Lagey Raho Munnabhai and more shockingly Vidya Balan ends up playing the same character as in the earlier film.

Either director Aziz Mirza should have derived from some other source or if the inspiration was so compelling, he should have cast some other actress. This is deja vu on the face.

Finally Raj wins both, Priya and the project by delivering a sentimental speech in the climax where he talks about everything from global warming to US superpower but for the practicality of the project.

Was there a cross connection here? And the film opts for such a convenient conclusion that you wonder if there was any problem at the first place.

Kismat Konnection starts on a promising note but soon resorts to conventional formula. The second half drags with Raj’s repeated attempts to win the construction contract.

The love triangle is clearly off-track and is simply enforced to manipulate that mandatory sangeet song sequence to appease the family and NRI audiences.

Thankfully the script steers away from sermonizing on bhartiya sanskriti et al, an avid tendency with such genres. On the upside Binod Pradhan’s cinematography is eye-pleasing and Pritam’s music is soothing to the ears.

This time around Shahid Kapoor displays a hangover of.. no not Shah Rukh but Amitabh Bachchan in the initial reels and also does a complete take on his extended Namak Halaal dialogue.

Nevertheless he soon comes to his usual self and gives a sincere performance. And those Ahmed Khan choreographed gyrations can never go wrong. As against the notion, Vidya Balan carries a graceful charm and is natural as ever.

Om Puri is effective in his imposing character with a Punjabi accent. Vishal Malhotra repeats his friendly act for the nth time. Age has caught up with Juhi Chawla and it shows onscreen.

Concisely the film only connects with the viewer intermittently and a lot has been left to Kismat.

If Saif Ali Khan can do it, why shouldn’t Kareena Kapoor? According to reports, Saif called his ex-girlfriend Rozzaa Catalano several times on her birthday last month. On Monday, Bebo called ex-beau Shahid to wish him on his birthday.

Says a source close to Kareena, “Though Shahid and Kareena have parted, they have kept in touch with each other. Kareena remembered his birthday on February 25 this year and called to wish him. When she spoke to him, he was in Goa with close friends, Ahmed Khan and Lovely Singh. Bebo wished him and then they continued to talk for sometime. The conversation flowed very easily, just like in the past, when they used to have long chats.”

Though they aren”t lovers anymore, Kareena still cares a lot for Shahid and remains concerned about his career and is often in touch with mutual friends to find out how his career’s progressing. Kareena is currently shooting for Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Returns.