Katrina working hard for her role in Tees Maar Khan

Katrina Kaif is undergoing a transformation for her role as an item girl in Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan. She is slowly turning aggressive and loud. She has made sure her manner turns loud even when it’s 5am in the morning. She is also making an effort to look strikingly different in each of the item songs, which Farah and her assistant, Gita, have choreographed. To get her character’s look right, Katrina has been shopping for clothes and accessories herself. She has been visiting small shops that sell cheap stuff to give her character an authentic look. She feels that it’s a bit of a challenge to do a complete look but working in Rajneeti has taught her that every accessory brings the character in. The actress has also been brushing up her knowledge on Bollywood’s item girls by going through some of the popular item numbers like Mumtaz’s 'Tik tiki mera dil bole' from Humjoli (1970) and Bipasha Basu’s 'Beedi' from Omkara (2006). Akshay Kumar, Katrina’s co-star on Tees Maar Khan has been advising her to just go wild when dancing on camera as it will help her character. Source: planetradiocity

Akshay tops Bollywood's income-tax charts again

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, who starred in a recent Income-Tax Department advertisement to promote compliance, has lived up to his

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image by becoming the highest tax payer from among the film fraternity for the second straight year.

Mr Kumar paid an advance tax of Rs 9 crore in March, 2010, taking his total advance tax payment in the current financial year to Rs 18 crore. He paid Rs 31 crore in 2008-09, a period that saw him delivering hits after hits.

“It feels good and privileged to be the highest tax payer. It is also a greater sense of responsibility, “Mr Kumar told ET over telephone from the sets of Farah Khan’s Tees Maar Khan, his latest project. Aamir Khan, with a tax payment of Rs 12 crore, stands next in the ladder with Shah Rukh Khan following him.

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The 42-year-old Mr Kumar had a rough year with all his five releases falling short of the jackpot at the box-office. Warner Bros’ much hyped debut Chandni Chowk to China, Kambaqht Ishq, Blue and Percept’s Tasveer 8 x 19 and De Dana Dan all struggled at the cash counter.

These films were signed by the actor on the heels of four phenomenal hits of the previous year, ensuring him a big market price. Plus, his brands Thumbs Up was there as well as Levis, while he added LG and Dollar Vest as well. All of this collectively contributed to his earnings and thereby tax.

“Along with fulfilling my tax duties, I also feel the time has come for me to give back to society and the country at large. Which is why I am also using my brand status to do an ad for service tax. If I can get my message across to even half the people across, I feel it would be worth it,” Mr Kumar said.

Among the Bachchans, Abhishek paid an advance tax of Rs 4.15 crore in March, 2010, while his wife Aishwarya Rai paid Rs 2 crore. Father Amitabh Bachchan paid advance tax of Rs 2.9 crore in March, 2010, taking his total advance tax payment in the year to Rs 4 crore. Ranbir Kapoor is the new kid on the block to join the Bollywood’s top taxpayers’ club with an advance tax payment of Rs 2.1 crore in March, 2010.


Qurbaan star Saif Ali Khan made a payment of Rs 1.52 crore in March 2010 substantially lower than Rs 5 crore he paid in March, 2009. His lady love Kareena Kapoor paid an advance tax of Rs 1.45 crore in March 2010 taking the total to Rs 3.65 crore.

Salman Khan closely followed Saif with an advance tax payment of Rs 1.5 crore, but occupied the fourth position with a total tax payment of Rs 5.5 crore in the financial year. Advance tax is paid in four instalments in June, September, December and March and is based on taxpayers’ projected income in a particular financial year.

Source:  economictimes.indiatimes.com

Big B lauds Pune for backing artists, their work

PUNE: Actor Amitabh Bachchan was all praise for Pune as he lauded the citizens for supporting artists and their works.

Bachchan, in the city to attend the concluding session of the 83rth all-India Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, spent some time in the afternoon with the cast and crew of the Marathi movie ‘Vihir’, produced by his own production house AB Corp Ltd.

“The city has always supported and appreciated artists. For a long time, I wanted to produce a movie in Marathi and because of Jaya, I was introduced to the work of Umesh. This is how we came together for this project,” said Bachchan while addressing the audience during interval of the film screened at a multiplex in Kothrud.

Bachchan said AB Corp Ltd would like to continue producing films like Vihir—which has been acclaimed at various international film festivals like Seoul (S Korea), Rotterdam international film festival (The Netherlands) among others.

“This region has given us name and fame. I am living here for last 40 years and as a company, we (the production team) are proud of the production and success of the movie,” the actor said.

Among artists and members of the production team present during the interaction were actors Mohan Agashe, Girish Kulkarni, Jyoti Subhash, Amruta Subhash, Ashwini Giri, Alok Rajwade, child artist Aditya Ganu and director Umesh Kulkarni.

Source: Times of India.