CELEBS FACTORY

Lakshmi Rai, the suave actor best known for her roles in year 2011s biggest hits Kanchana and Mankatha celebrated her 31st birthday on the 5th of May, 2012.

Born in Belgaum, Karnataka, the sexy model turned actor made her cinematic debut with a Tamil film 'Karka Kasadara'. She soon started working in all the four southern languages and predominantly appeared in Malayalam films like Annan Thambi (2008), 2 Harihar Nagar (2009), Chattambinadu (2009), Evidam Swargamanu (2009) and Arabiyum, Ottakavum, P. Madhavan Nairum (2011) that helped her gain the success and fame to establish herself in the industry.

Lakshmi Rai was recently roped in to play a pivotal role in A.L Vijay's Thandavam alongside Vikram, Anushka and Amy Jackson. She has also signed up a Bollywood project with Himesh Reshammiya, a Telugu film with Nandamuri Balakrishna and the Kannada remake of Kanchana opposite Upendra.

Celebs Factory wishes the pretty actress a happy birthday and a very prosperous year ahead.

Okay, so we know that Nargis Fakhri has been confirmed to play Akshay Kumar's heroine in his next film, which he's co-producing with Himesh Reshammiya.

Interestingly, the model who made her debut opposite Ranbir Kapoor wasn’t the first choice for the Ashish R. Mohan directed film.

Reportedly, South Indian starlet Ileana D’Cruz was initially confirmed for the part. Seems there’s more buzz about Ranbir and Priyanka Chopra, her co-stars in her upcoming maiden Hindi release.

So turning apprehensive about how she turns out in her Bollywood debut, the makers of the Akshay-Himesh joint production decided to rope in Nargis instead, considering that her film has released… never mind if her performance has been panned.

A trade paper has hinted that Akshay Kumar, the original Khiladi of the Hindi film industry, will make a very special appearance in Khiladi 786 produced by Himesh Reshammiya, for a whopper fee.

Says an insider, "Akshay who has a very special appearance in Himesh's film is reportedly being paid 20 cr. Apparently, 12 cr has already been paid to him as signing amount before the press advertisements were carried and another 8 cr will be paid to the actor before the principal photography starts."

Akshay however denies the whole story. He says, "I am the producer of Khiladi 786. My fee is zero because I will obviously get a share in the profits. Besides I am doing a full-fledged role in the film and not a special appearance." Guess someone just jumped the gun! Akki's is the last word.

In an open-front shirt and denim jeans, the Durban-born beauty pouted her way into the entertainment industry.

Candice Boucher, the 27-year-old South African model sizzled on the cover of magazine's April issue last year. She later created quite a stir with her see-through gown, that left little to the imagination, at the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Though Candice was there for the premiere of her Israeli film Hearat Shulayim, she ended up posing for photo shoots with the cast of her first Bollywood film, Azaan.

That's right the Playboy cover-girl is B-Town's latest firang import. She'll be seen opposite debutant actor Sachiin Joshi in the espionage thriller Azaan. Candice plays an undercover agent who doubles up as a sand artiste in the film directed by Himesh Reshamiyya's brother-in-law Prashant Chadha, best known for his directorial debut Aap Ka Suroor, starring Himesh himself.

Currently, Candice is in Mumbai to promote the film. She will be in India for 10 days and will be touring other cities as part of the film's publicity campaign. She may have posed for leading international magazines such as FHM, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Elle & Playboy etc but don't let this get you very excited for let us tell you that there won't be much skin show on Candice's part in the film. "It's a very sober role," Mail-Today quoted her as saying.