CELEBS FACTORY

Popular TV actress Ratan Rajput has received 54,863 wedding proposals from suitors including doctors, lawyers, engineers, professors, businessmen, chefs and bankers, for her upcoming televised swayamvar "Ratan Ka Rishta" -- and this is said to be highest so far for the show. The maximum offers have come from Meerut and Lucknow.

Ratan, who became popular after her stint as Laali on Zee TV's show "Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo", has managed to elicit the maximum number of proposals ever, surpassing those received during "Rakhi Ka Swayamvar" and "Rahul Dulhaniya Le Jaayega", said a press statement from Imagine TV.

"I want to thank everybody for their continuous support to me. I hope that with the blessings of god, my family and viewers, I find a true soulmate," said Ratan.

The Patna girl has received maximum proposals from Uttar Pradesh, with hopefuls from Meerut and Lucknow topping the list; followed by cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bhopal, Bangalore, Patna, Chandigarh, Ranchi and Hyderabad.

Men from Britain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Canada, Pakistan and the US have also sent in their profiles in the hope of walking the aisle with Ratan.

"The response for the third season - 'Ratan Ka Rishta' has been very good. We have entries from all over the world and with so many prospective grooms on hand; Ratan has been spoilt for choice. We are confident to find the right match for Ratan," said Nikhil Madhok, senior director - Marketing and Communications, Imagine TV.

Rahul Mahajan, who is leading a successful married life with Dimpy Ganguly after his on screen swayamvar, has wished Ratan all the best.

"The swayamvar has been a beautiful journey that I cherish. It brought both Dimpy and me together from perfect strangers to being a happily married couple. We not only met on the swayamvar, but also discovered and found love in each other here. We both would like to wish Ratan all the very best in her search for her groom," said Rahul, son of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

Though her Telugu debut 'Josh' with Naga Chaitanya did not create waves in the box-office, star kid Karthika (daughter of 80s actor Raadha) is very happy with the way her Tamil debut 'Ko' with Jiiva and Malayalam debut 'Makara Manju' with Santhosh Sivan has shaped up.

Getting accolades for her performance in the recently released Tamil film 'Ko', the actor seems very excited. "My Tamil film just hit the screens, while my Malayalam film is set to release this week. Everyone's been asking if I'm nervous, but I am thrilled to have two releases. I've given my 100% and hoping for a great start," says the 18-year-old actor.

Talking about the roles she's playing in both the films, she says, "In 'Ko', I play the role of a reporter who works for a Tamil daily, while in 'Makara Manju', I am doing a dual role, where one of the characters is the celestial enchantress, Urvasi."

Karthika, who wanted to join her dad's business, says that acting came to her by chance. "Though my mom, Raadha and aunt Ambika were South Indian divas in the early '80s, I never thought I would get into film business this early. But luck had its way. I couldn't have asked for a better debut with KV Anand in Tamil," she says enthusiastically. On being compared with her mom constantly, she says, "I was initially tense, later accepted it and now I've learnt to ignore it. I am here to prove myself and it's totally unfair to compare me with a legendary actor like my mom."

"I had no work for 3 years after my first release... I was jobless," says Mahakshay Chakraborty aka Mimoh, with a candour that's endearing.

Tell him this is a far cry from those newcomers who often say they're busy going through scripts or have projects in the pipeline and he says, "My dad ( Mithun Chakraborty) has always told me that you gotta be honest with yourself and by admitting that I had no work, I am just being honest. It was a frustrating period. Other newcomers were bagging projects, doing commercials, even dating all the hot chics in town and here I was being refused work left right and centre!

But in these tough times I always looked up to Abhishek Bachchan for inspiration. He's the son of the 'God' of the industry and has to constantly live with comparisons. He told me that people are always gonna put you down, but you gotta get up and fight! So, Abhishek's my hero!"

Telling us why he chose a horror film - Haunted - as his second film , the actor says, "Look when a struggling actor has no work and then a reputed director like Vikram Bhatt agrees to audition him and he messages him saying 'you're on in my next film', for God's sake, I am not going ask what film it is! I just leapt at the chance and I'm just so happy to have done such a different project."

The team of " Madhouse" (earlier titled "Sadda Adda") really wanted a Delhi girl for the item number in their movie, but lack of time lead them to hire Iran-born-and-Sweden-raised Maryam Zakaria to perform for the song.

The song was shot at a pub in Noida, and while speaking to us, the movie's producer, Rajeev Agarwal, said, "We already had our dates from the production team and couldn't delay the shoot, so we selected Maryam because she is a fabulous dancer and has Indian looks too."

The movie's director Muazzam Beg was supervising the shoot, and told us that we shouldn't look at the song as just another item number, even though the song is called " Dilli Ki Billi". He says, "The song is about Delhi women – how they are edgy yet bitchy, but you'd always fall in love with them. The item number is picturised in a pub where the actors have gone for a night of fun. So it's contextual." We later saw Maryam practicing her moves in a corner all by herself.

One of the most handsome men of South film industry Rana Daggubati is in Bollywood now. The boy plays a young musician and gets to romance the hottest Bollywood babe Bipasha Basu in "Dum Maaro Dum".

But more than his films, people seem interested in knowing about his height and search for it on google. So, in Rana’s case we can say the height can kill. The boy is gifted with a great height of 6’3”, and that also makes him the hot favourite among girls because it’s a known fact that girls just love tall guys.

When Rana made his debut with Telugu film Leader, critics heaped praises on him saying that he can even do English movies. Now this debonair man is going places and is said to have signed an English movie too and will be seen next in Telugu film "Nenu Naa Rakshasi" with Ileana. But for now it’s "Dum Maaro Dum" - his first Bollywood film.

It has been over a fortnight since the music of 'Jolly Boy' was released, but the one person who's been conspicuously missing is composer Yuvan Shankar Raja. Arguably the hottest property in Chennai now, Yuvan has the busiest of schedules. But, it is surprising that he's not said a word, nor is willing to respond to queries about his participation in 'Jolly Boy'.

A source says, "The soundtrack remains similar to 'Pathinaaru', the film that 'Jolly Boy' is based on. The Tamil original, although tanked at the box office, was hailed for its music, which Yuvan had composed for free, back then. He's just recreated the same music with different singers for the Kannada version."

D Sabapathy, the director of 'Pathinaaru', has directed this film as well, which has Diganth and Rekha in the lead. While this remains puzzling. Does Sandalwood really embarrass Kollywood composers?

Now, this ain't anything new. Few years ago, Sajni - a film starring Dhyaan and Sharmila Mandre made news for its music resembling that of A R Rahman's Jodi ( which itself reused some songs of his earlier album Doli Saja Ke Rakhna ) and neither he acknowledged of his Sandalwood stint. Albeit he'd just recreated tunes from his hit Tamil film 'Jodi', he didn't really speak much about the film.

Again, Does Sandalwood embarrass Kollywood composers, we wonder!

Was she in hiding! Namitha's fans were missing her for sure. But no sweat. The actress will be back on big screen with a slimmer look as she plays a yoga teacher in the film which is titled after her name, Namitha I Love You.

What can be a bigger treat for Namitha’s lovers than a film named after her? After a long time her film will be releasing in Telugu. Yes, the lady is charged with oomph and looking hot in the film. She is even sporting a starry tattoo on her back.

But what surprises us more than the movie’s name is Namitha’s slimmer avatar. Though she flaunts her curves and is looking voluptuous, her body is in a better shape. She has also tried to look different with various hairstyles and jazzy clothes.

You can catch your favourite Namitha in "Namitha I Love You" this May.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has so far doggedly kept away from social networking. But on her fourth wedding anniversary on Wednesday, hubby Abhishek Bachchan persuaded her to come on Twitter.

However, Aishwarya did not open her own page on Twitter but rather chatted with the fans through Abhishek’s handle.

“Thank you all for the wonderful anniversary wishes. Will get Aishwarya to chat with you'll this evening. Much love again... Ok guys, here she is..... Shoot away” Abhishek wrote on Twitter.

“Hello everyone, :) :) and thank you all so much for all ur love and wishes "4" us on our special day. Truly overwhelmed. Love Aishwarya,” Ash wrote in her first Tweet.

Instantly, Ash was showered with congratulatory messages from friends and fans. From then on, Ash was busy ‘thanking’ the fans.

We wish for the day when Ash would have her own Twitter handle.

Bengali beauty Raima Sen is bonding with the Australian pace bowler Brett Lee nowadays.

Lee, who is currently in India to play for Shahrukh Khan’s IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders, apparently has a fan in the sloe-eyed stunner Raima Sen. She recently went on a date with Lee.

A day before the date, Raima herself wrote on her Twitter page: “And lunch with BRET LEE tomorrow....keep u posted”.

However, the lunch date turned into a coffee date, for she wrote after meeting Lee: “Had coffee with brett lee....it was fab.”

Raima also posted an image of hers with Lee and photographer.

Single-again John Abraham is seen bonding with female co-star Deepika Padukone in London. Is it just a working relationship or do we see something more brewing?

Even as the snapshots of Bipasha Basu chilling out with Josh Hartnett on the sets of the movie Singularity indicate that there might be more to the bonding between the two than meets the eye, perhaps the same holds true for John Abraham as well, who has been shooting in the relatively cool climes of London for first-timer Rohit Dhawan’s film Desi Boyz with Deepika Padukone.

Buzz is that while filming a song in Brighton, John and Deepika bonded like thick friends. John, decorous as ever, seems to have made quite an impression on Deepika who’s said to be dating Siddharth Mallya. Interestingly, she too hasn’t been seen with the Mallya lad for quite some time now.

In that case, it was perhaps two like-minded co-stars bonding on the sets, but may be there’s more smoke than fire to all this gossip.

Yana Gupta is set to give the Munnis and Sheilas a run for their money with a scorching hot item song in "Murder 2".

The item song was originally offered to Bipasha Basu who dilly-dallied too much and kept the producers, the Bhatts, waiting. Finally, an exasperated Mukesh Bhatt roped in Yana Gupta for the item.

The song, titled “Aa Zara Kareeb Se”, has Yana stripping down to minimal clothes, with a horizontally slit peekaboo top barely covering her assets and fishnet stockings gracing her slender legs.

The track was shot at Chandiwali Studios on a non-AC floor, but Yana did not crib about the heat.

No wonder director Mohit Suri is pleased with Yana’s dedication and her lack of inhibition in shedding the clothes.

Murder 2 stars Emraan Hashmi with Jacqueline Fernandez.

Kim Kardashian is at it again, baring her hot bod in a photoshoot for the May issue of the UK Cosmopolitan magazine.

The reality TV star poses enticingly in a number of revealing outfits in the photoshoot meant for the special ‘Body Issue’ of the magazine. The 30-year-old siren confidently flaunts her slimmer, sexier body and also reveals a few secrets about acquiring those killer curves.

She says workouts and diets are important, but it’s okay to pamper yourself once in a while.

“If I was stuck on a diet my whole life, I would be really miserable. I love to eat. If you can’t enjoy your life then what’s the point? You can’t torture yourself. I love Rice Krispies Treats, ice cream and frozen yogurt,” she is quoted to have told the magazine.

In the moment of victory of Vijay Mallya’s IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday, Deepika Padukone and Siddharth Mallya threw caution to the winds and hugged and kissed in front of TV cameras.

The win was especially euphoric because it was built on a bludgeoning knock of 102 off just 55 balls by Chris Gayle, former KKR opener now playing for RCB. Gayle who failed to provide blistering starts to KKR last year was dropped from the team this year, only to be picked up by Bangalore. Ironic that his big knock came against his former team.

Anyway, the crowd, though supportive of KKR at Eden Gardens, was still left in raptures by the Gayle storm and particularly euphoric were the supporters of the Bangalore team.

In the stands Deepika and Siddharth Mallya cheered for the Bangalore team and at the moment of triumph, they hugged and kissed each other.

The news channels played that shot umpteen times on prime time and we thought about sharing a photo grab of the video with you as well.

Hardly has the rumour of the Kochi pacer S. Sreesanth dating Riya Sen died down, that we hear of a new girl from Bollywood he’s gotten very friendly with.

The girl happens to be the Rocket Singh - Salesman of the Year debutant Shazahn Padamsee who was last seen playing the cute crush of Ajay Devgan in Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji.

Rumour has it that Sreesanth has been taking Shazahn out for long drives on the streets of Mumbai lately. Interestingly, Shazahn hasn’t denied that she has gone out with Sreesanth on occasions. But Shazahn says she and Sreesanth are “just good friends”.

The girl insists that she’s presently focussed on her career and is very much single as well. However, she did add that she finds Sreesanth “sweet”.

She better watch out! Cupid works in mysterious ways.

There is much speculation about who will be in Rakesh Roshan’s Krrish 2, the sequel to his science fiction superhero thriller, Krrish.

Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra played the lead pair in the original. Hrithik played Krishna, a boy with supernatural powers who follows his girlfriend to Singapore. Rekha was perfect as his protective grandmother and Naseeruddin Shah as the evil Dr Siddhanth.

Like the original, this time round too Hrithik will play superhero. But Rekha will not be a part of the film. It has also been confirmed that Vivek Oberoi is to play a strong negative character for which at one time Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn were considered. Likewise, Chitrangda Singh is to play a vamp in the film. Names like Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were tossed around for the female lead, but it is Priyanka who is confirmed for the sequel.

This time, the science fiction will be a bigger budget extravaganza. If all goes well, Krrish 2 is expected to go on the floors in India in October this year. Rakesh Roshan will be directing the movie.