Asian Entertainment News & Celebrity Gossip

Politics underscored the prizes as “Rang de Basanti” Saturday took top honors at the Int’l Indian Film Academy awards, Bollywood’s equivalent of the Oscars, at a ceremony held in Sheffield, England.

Event was held in from of a 12,000-plus audience at the Hallam Arena and according to some estimates show attracts half a billion TV spectators in 110 territories.

Six hour ceremony which overspilled into the small hours of Sunday morning, was a superstar-studded event. In attendance were Bollywood’s first family — Amitabh Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan and bride Aishwarya Rai — Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan and the inevitable Shilpa Shetty.

To see a complete list of winners and nominees, click on after the jump! 

Read the rest of this entry »

Bollywood Royalty in the form of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan arrived in dazzling grace and style last night at the Cannes Film Festival. Convenient how they can just pop on up from their honeymoon in Venice to attend this quaint little gathering.

Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan before Brand Bachchan became a Bollywood force

Family Feud was never THIS good! A raging rivalry between two of India’s biggest screen stars has worsened after the April wedding of Amitabh Bachchan’s son Abhishek to Aishwarya Rai created the ultimate Bollywood power family.

For years, India has watched the popularity battle between the iconic Amitabh Bachchan, a veteran who ruled the Bollywood box office for decades, and younger superstar Shah Rukh Khan, the reigning hero with a massive fan following.

In recent years, the two stars have taken subtle digs at each other in public although the rivalry was seen to have remained healthy in an industry known for its cliques.

Apparently no more say industry analysts. “With the marriage, the Bachchans have become a formidable commercial package,” said Bollywood commentator, Derek Bose.

“Brand Bachchan is now a threat to others. It has worsened the Bachchan-Khan rivalry, sparking new power equations.”

Team Bachchan: Amitabh and Abhishek are the father/ son tag team duo

Read the rest of this entry »

Aside from a media scuffle and a suicide attempt/ publicity stunt by an aspiring actress that happened during the wedding, the Big Fat Bollywood wedding of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachnan went on without a hitch.

The newlyweds followed their matrimonial bliss by paying a visit to Tirumala Balaji temple in Tirumala to perform prayers for two hours.

Next stop will be Venice where the couple plan to spend their honeymoon.

Move over Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar. Bollywood’s true royal couple is laying it down on how to throw a true Indian wedding!

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, one of Bollywood’s best-known screen couples, married on Friday in a traditional Hindu wedding in which the groom rode a white horse before the pair took their vows around a sacred fire.

The ceremonies concluded three days of celebrations at the actors’ homes in India’s entertainment capital of Mumbai, creating, what industry pundits said is, Bollywood’s ultimate power couple.

Rai, 33, is a former Miss World and Bachchan, 31, belongs to Indian film royalty, being the son of Amitabh Bachchan, the country’s best-known actor who has a huge fan following around the world.

Head on after the jump to read more details about the wedding and some craziness from a supposed scorned lover of Aghishek’s just prior to the ceremony!

And rather than just post a zillion photos of the wedding, check out this two part video compilation by CLICKING HERE (Part I) and HERE (Part II)!

Read the rest of this entry »

Two of India’s favorite movie stars, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan, have sent invitations - embossed with two entwined As and delivered with a box of chocolate meringues - for their private wedding set for this month, The Times of India reported this week in the latest in a spate of articles on the otherwise hush-hush nuptials. Earlier reports in the Indian media have claimed that the couple will wed April 20 in a small ceremony at Bachchan’s family home in suburban Mumbai. The wedding invitations were sent to a select few - including the industrialist Anil Ambani and his wife, Tina, the filmmaker Karan Johar and the actor Anupam Kher, The Times said. Bachchan, 31, and Rai, 33, have worked together in several movies, including “Guru,” released in January. [IHT]

Lots more dancing expected in their futures!

Two of Bollywood’s top stars - Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan - will wed next month, but the marriage celebrations are likely to be low-key since Bachchan’s grandmother is unwell according to news reports.

Rai, a former Miss World, and Bachchan, son of Hindi film icon Amitabh Bachchan, were engaged at a private ceremony in January.

The wedding is expected to take place on April 20 at the Bachchan residence in India’s entertainment capital of Mumbai.

“The families met and the decision was taken yesterday. The wedding will be a small private affair with only close family and friends in attendance.”

Unlike the recent Liz Hurley-Arun Nayar wedding, where the paparazzi went berserk, the Abhi-Ash marriage will be a very private affair at the Bachchans’ home Prateeksha in Juhu.

Read more about their impending nuptials apres le jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

Liz Hurley and husband, Arun Nayar’s recent continent hopping nuptials was a quaint warm-up to what Indians around the world are truly waiting for - perhaps be the greatest marriage in India’s modern history. Mark your calendars for March 19 for a true Bollywood fairytale between Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.

“With a guest list expected to exceed 5,000, helicopters hired to shower petals over the reception and the astrological charts finally predicting a union that is truly blessed, the marriage of the former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Bollywood leading man Abhishek Bachchan, the son of Asia’s most famous actor Amitabh Bachchan is expected to happen within a month,” the Observer reported.

The wedding celebration will be spread out over 10 days in a private estate on the outskirts of Mumbai and a palace in Rajasthan. The royal affair is being touted as a ‘Bollywood fairytale’ and India’s answer to the coupling of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

“For Indians across the world this wedding will be as big as Prince Charles and Diana’s was for the British”, says Bollywood columnist Amita Ghosh.

“The question people are asking right now is: why all the fuss about Liz Hurley? Perhaps this is why the media in India have turned against Liz, nobody really knows who she is. Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are our real stars and their wedding is the only one that counts,” Ghosh said. [IBN]

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, the stars of “Guru,” at its American premiere Friday night.

Excerpts from a NY Times article:
The red-carpet event was roleld out for the Indian film, “Guru,” and was rare American treatment for a feature from Bollywood, the Mumbai-based film industry.

Two of Bollywood’s biggest stars, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, touched down in Times Square Friday night, as their film opened around the world.

It got a high-profile American debut that many said was unusual for a movie without the apparent crossover credentials of a Bollywood film like “Bride and Prejudice.” Ms. Rai, who starred in that film as well, attended its American premiere at a theater in Union Square nearly two years ago.

Bobby Bedi, a producer, talked about the prospects for Indian cinema abroad.

“There is a huge interest in the world in India, things Indian and in Indian cinema,” Bobby Bedi, a producer said. But the formula for a successful crossover film eludes filmmakers, he said.

Films he described as more focused in scope, like “Monsoon Wedding,” have done well. “They’ve not really been about the world; they’ve been about villages or about small episodes in people’s lives,” he said. [NYTimes]

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan at the “Guru” world premiere in Toronto, Canada.

A late-night, hush-hush visit to a temple by Bollywood stars Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai has sparked talk of a wedding, but the priest denied the ceremonies were marital.

Bachchan, son of Indian film legend Amitabh Bachchan, and former Miss World Rai, whose friendship has long been under media scrutiny for signs of romance, held pre-dawn prayers in Varanasi, one of Hinduism’s holiest cities.

None of the party spoke to the media but their family priest said the prayers were held to mark the birth anniversary of Amitabh’s deceased father.

When reporters asked why Rai was there although she was not a member of the Bachchan family, the priest said: “I don’t know.”

This failed to deter news channels which broadcast stories speculating that marriage was on the cards for the star couple.

After the rituals, Abhishek and Aishwarya were scheduled to leave for Agra, the northern city home to the Taj Mahal, the 17th century white-marble monument to love. [Y!]