The Bengali film stars in Mumbai jointly worshipped the deity of Durga at Balkanji Bari in Santa cruz West on Thursday. Organised by the North Bombay Sarbhajanin Durga Puja Charitable Trust, the puja was attended by Bollywood actresses Kajol, Rani Mukherjee and their families.

Huge marquees were set up and decorated traditionally to beckon the devotees this year. The set was designed by Amit Pal and was graced by a 13-feet tall Durga idol.

The film stars treat this puja as a family affair. Yesteryear actor Moushumi Chatterjee has been a part of the celebrations for the past 30 years. “This isnt just a Mukherjees puja for celebrities. Its for the working class. We do our utmost to bring all communities together. I request the new generation to be humble and inclusive of all,” said Chatterjee.
The actor said that she has been waking up early, at the crack of dawn for doing preparations for the Navratri festival.

“We take a bath at 3 in the morning and cook to make a bhog offering. On Mahasthami, which is day after tomorrow, this idol will come to life. We chant our mantras and the idol looks for real,” she adds. Debu Mukherjee, secretary of the trust added, “This puja is a gharelu (domestic) puja. Kajol and Rani grew up here. So we dont think they are celebrities. Its like a house party for them.”

It’s been more than two years since Aishwarya Rai last appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show on American television. Back then, her detractors found her too giggly and a tad superficial on the show even though she made Oprah don the Indian saree.

This time, it was not just Ash but also her hubby Abhishek Bachchan who was invited for Oprah’s show. Last week, the couple reportedly flew to the US to shoot for the episode.

Aishwarya and Abhishek are the first couple from Bollywood to appear on the show. Both of them are known to be very diplomatic while dealing with the press.

The show will be aired on Monday the September 28th .

Hrithik Roshan and Priyanka Chopra were named youth icons in the entertainment field, whilst Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi was named the Icon of the year at the inaugural edition of the India Youth Icon Awards.

Hrithik edged past actor-director Farhan Akhtar while Priyanka beat actress Katrina Kaif to bag the top spot.

The awards, organised jointly by Wizcraft Entertainment and electronics major Videocon, are aimed to recognise and reward individual excellence and exemplary achievement in the genres of business, sports, entertainment, media, social welfare and justice and technology.

The other Youth Icons for the year are:

Deepika Padukone was named the Fashion Icon of the Year
Aishwarya Rai was named the Global Face of the Year award
Shooter Abhinav Bindra was named the Sports Icon of the Year
Author Chetan Bhagat bagged the award in the arts category
Actor Rahul Bose in the social justice and welfare category

One of the highest paid actresses in the world, Julia Roberts moves about the hotel she’s staying in with minimal security, but when our celeb Aishwarya Rai Bachchan arrives at the event came for an event, their tantrums and security entourage took centrestage. Julia quietly went to the spa.

Quite a big part of Bollywood, and consequently, a BIG congregation of bodyguards were in Delhi recently, to attend the India Youth Icon awards ceremony. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was here, so were Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone among others. Going by a ratio of eight bodyguards (yes, we counted) per celeb, that made it 24 of them already. No wonder the event appeared to be crowded!

And then, there were Dia Mirza, Irrfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Shabana Azmi, Sayali Bhagat, R Madhavan! And amidst dashing after one star after the other, and being pushed around, we came face-to-face with Julia Roberts! And what a change it was! While several from the hotel’s security staff (adding to the celebs’ own entourage) escorted our Indian celebs, Julia was casually moving about the hotel sans any security. “She had breakfast in the restaurant, was spotted in the lobby with her kids and spent some time in the spa too,” a source told us.

On Thursday, Julia had arrived 20 minutes before she was expected to, without any fanfare and she didn’t use the lobby. There weren’t many people waiting for her either – just a handful to ensure that she got to her suite comfortably. And before Aishwarya was slated to arrive, members of the hotel staff were waiting for her with posies and a thali complete with a lit diya to welcome her. And while the wait got longer (Ash’s flight was late), somebody joked, “Arrey, yeh diya toh bujh jayega Ash ke intezaar mein.” And that was met with a witty rejoinder, “Nahin, yeh Devdas wala diya hai, especially Paro ke liye aaya hai… nahi bujhega.”

When Ash arrived, she didn’t admire the diya – she didn’t get to see it at all, for, she was quickly whisked away to the second floor. And while all this was happening, Julia returned from the spa to her residential suite on the fourth floor of the Leela Kempinski Hotel – quite by herself. We caught her coming out of the lift with her daughter. Looking casual in a pair of denims and a mauve tee, Julia returned our greeting and smiled, before walking away to her suite. No wonder the hotel staff thinks she’s “pleasant and warm”! We went snooping again, but Julia’s floor looked normal. A hotel staffer informed us “there’s a special butler who cooks for Julia. He’s from India, and not somebody who has travelled with her.” But on Ash’s floor, the vibes were intimidating. The security personnel asked us to “just leave”. “There are no celeb tantrums with Julia. She goes down for breakfast with her family. She’s a genuine star, the kind rare to find,” gushed another hotel source, explaining just how impressed they were with Julia’s non-celeb, simple ways.

Yet another source told us, “Julia is Indian at heart when it comes to raising her children. She’s in the hotel just for her kids and she spends each minute with them. She’s either feeding them or taking them for walks, she’s involved with them. I’ve not seen a lot of stars doing that. Their children are generally the nanny’s responsibility – but in Julia’s case, even though her kids have nannies, when she’s around, she does everything herself, just like we all do.”

Source: Times of India

Dressed in torn jeans and a figure-hugging Be Human tee, an American gangster-style Fedora tilted rakishly on the head… Salman looked a cocky combo of Rocky Balboa and Indiana Jones as he muscled his way into the Times of India building when he came to play Guest Editor for this BT.

Said Salman about the mdia “Controversies, bad pictures, poor headlines… I see too much of this,” the Guest Editor admitted, sipping on black coffee, the aforementioned fists thumping the table. “But I am like an undertaker… he sees dead bodies every day, they don’t make a difference to him. But the effect on other people… that’s there. People may not believe what’s written, but they read anyway. What bothers me is the sadistic pleasure some journalists get by putting somebody down. Jara idhar-udhar chalega, but why be vindictive? They don’t realise that their own personality reflects in their writing. Just as my character comes out in my paintings… when I’m angry, it shows on the canvas.”