Here’s a new tale of unprofessionalism on the part of celebrities. Singer Hard Kaur, who has sung tracks for Johnny Gaddar and Singh Is Kinng, ditched the organisers of an event, in spite of being paid a hefty fee.

Reveals our source, “Hard Kaur was scheduled to make an appearance at a popular night club in Ahmedabad. Saahil Khanna, owner of the company that organised the event, had made all arrangements for her.

They had even given in to her demands and provided the best of facilities. And all this was besides the Rs 5 lakh they paid her to make an appearance.”

A disappointed Saahil Khan says, “I feel let down. I did not expect such non-professionalism from Hard Kaur after being paid the money and given a grand treatment.”

After leaving the show on Tuesday, Rahul said he does not intend to marry actor Monica Bedi. “She is a dear friend and I will always stand by her. I am not marrying her. I want people to treat her with respect,” he said.

Adding that he was yet to come out of his divorce, he said that Monica has also been through a lot. “I will always be there for her.”

Rahul intends to cash in on his newfound fame by campaigning for his sister Poonam, who will be contesting the upcoming polls as a BJP candidate. “I will be her mascot and do everything possible to help her in the campaign.”

Asked if he harbours any political ambitions, he said, “I will definitely join politics but for now I want to concentrate on my production house. I already have a lot of acting offers and will take them up.”

Rahul says Big Boss has helped him clean his tarnished image. He defended his ‘flirtatious’ behaviour on the show, “My Krishna image went a bit too far on the show. Whatever I did on the show was for fun.”

Asked if his actions inside Big Boss’s house would prevent people from taking him seriously, he said, “If people saw a childish and flirtatious Rahul, they also got to see a mature man who decided to walk out after taking responsibility for breaking a rule on the show. All I can say is love me or hate me but no one can ignore me now.”

According to sources, incarcerated gangster Abu Salem has said that he does not approve of Monica’s proximity to Rahul after he was told that the aspiring actor-politician proposed to Monica on the show. Rahul played safe and said, “I really cannot comment but will react after I read what has been said. Besides, Monica is a dear friend and I will continue to be by her side.”

Rahul, considered to be the TRP driver of the show, was unceremoniously thrown out of the show for breaking a rule after he and other inmates of Big Boss ran away from the house.

Rahul alleges, “There was no food in the house, so we ran away. It was not anger but hunger that forced us to take the step. We would’ve had food and come back. In fact, we had even pleaded to Big Boss to give us food but our request was turned down.”

It was alleged that Rahul decided to leave the house as he was missing the girls who had already been evicted from the show. He laughed and said, “My Krishna image has been taken a bit too seriously by people.”

After being reprimanded for breaking the rule, the rest of the inmates backtracked. Rahul said, “I took responsibility because the prize money is not important to me. I had only participated to clear my name.”

So, who is Rahul rooting for? “Ashutosh. While I was walking out of the house, Raja came and told me to vote for Ashutosh as he needs the money and we will all vote for him to win the game.”

Source: Times of India

Rahul Mahajan’s sudden exit from Bigg Boss 2 may have cost him Rs 1 crore, but it has also left punters across the country high and dry.

Owing to his exit from the show on November 18, punters across India saw a whopping Rs 150 crore go down the drain.

Mahajan was touted by many to win the reality show. According to data from television audience measurement agency Audience Map (aMap), TRP ratings for the show also soared to a high of 1.9 (C&S 4+ years audience in North, West, East Hindi speaking market) on the day of his exit.

Source: ET Bureau

The show has been a big hit with punters alongside cricket matches. Sources in the betting circuit say that while Rahul Mahajan was the favourite with Rs 150 crore riding on him across betting centres like Delhi, Mumbai, Gujarat and Rest of India; other contestants like Raja Chaudhary (about Rs 90 crore), Ashutosh Kaushik (about Rs 70 crore) and Zulfi Syed (about Rs 30 crore) were also eagerly betted upon.

These figures are set to change now that Mahajan is out of the show. “The show has now been thrown open in a sense. It’s anybody’s game from here,” says a Delhi-based punter.

While Mumbai and Delhi are the betting hotbeds, there have been surprises from territories like UP and Bihar where punters bet heavily on Ashutosh Kaushik and Raja Chaudhary, respectively. “There is a lot of excitement around the show. After all, punters only go where there is huge public interest,” say media planners.

Said Mudra Max president Chandradeep Mitra: “The humungous betting amount is a sign of surrogate consumer involvement.” Agrees Lintas Media Group COO & joint president Sudha Natarajan: “The fact that they have taken newsmakers has generated tremendous excitement around the show.

Everyone knows about the John Abraham-Salman Khan dushmani, which began two years ago during the Rockstars tour. The actors haven’t come face-to-face since.

The actors found themselves at a food award event on Monday. John was given the snub, not just by Salman, but also by the organisers. The only saving grace was the public, who rooted and cheered for him.

A source in the event reveals, “Salman was asked to attend the event by Subhash Ghai, the director of Yuvvraaj. Salman was to hand out trophies to the contestants along with other film personalities like Ajay Devgan, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. Salman was the first person to reach the venue, followed by Ajay, Kajol and Kareena. They were all seated on a big table with Ghai.”

John walked in a few minutes and settled down at a table far from Salman & Co.

“John doesn’t like public scenes and he kept to himself. He didn’t even look in the direction of Sallu’s table, where all the actors were chatting and laughing. Then the announcer called Sallu, Ajay, Kajol and Kareena on stage to inaugurate the event. John was never meant to go on the stage. He was attending the event as a guest, but the members of the audience who spotted him, started to holler his name and the oganisers had no other option but to call him on stage too. Once on stage, John and Salman looked through each other. After giving awards, John stayed back at the event while Salman made a quick exit,” concludes the source.

Salman’s spokesperson says, “John and Salman were sitting very far from each other and as Salman was there only for a few minutes he couldn’t have found the time to exchange pleasantries with many present at the event.”

John Abraham however says, “The event organisers didn’t give me the cold shoulder. I was specifically called by them to hand an award and I was even given a particular time to be there, which was way after the show had already started.” On the reception he got from the crowd the modest actor says, “I think if you keep doing good work it has to pay off, right? I am very glad the audiences at the show were really nice to me and cheered me. It makes me really happy to know that people really appreciate good things.”

Many people have alleged that the whole drama was a stunt stage managed by Big Boss itself to increase the popularity of the reality show even further.

There could be some element of truth in this, because the 4 boys were filmed roaming the streets of Lonavala by a professional camera. Later the scene showed 4-5 security guards catching up and talking with the guys. They then escort the boys back into the house where Raja hugs one of the security men aka Sanjay Dutt outside the courts.

Inside the house, Raja Zulfi and Ashutosh are seen being upset about the whole incident, while Rahul is seen justifying the jail break and takes full responsibility.

Later, Rahul demands to leave the house after asking Bigg Boss whether there would be any liability on him and also asking that the eviction proceeding against Zulfi and Raja be dropped. Rahul says that the Rs 1 crore held no value for him but would mean a great deal to Raja, Ashu and Zulfi.

The guys help him pack his bags. Zulfi helps him colour his hair with a eye pencil. Ashu starts howling. The moment Rahul steps out, Zulfi and Raja also start crying. The guys scream “Rahul, we love you” from inside the house. Later they are seen sitting and moping around the house, while Raja goes around consoling the other two.

This incident has made people forget the Payal kissing incident, or the Monica infactuation bit and mad Rahul undoubtly the ‘Sabse Bada dil wala’!

All the 4 guys took the extreme step of breaking out of the Bigg Boss house just a week before the season ends.

But was Endemol justified in kicking out only Rahul as he did not apologise? Or has this whole thing scripted for TRPs? If it wasn’t as Endemol claims, then how was there a TV crew outside the house ready to catch the guys ‘night out’? A complete scene - of the guys walking the streets, people talking to them, and then the security men escorting them back is being flashed on the TV channels. Sure is very suspicious!

Or was Rahul missing the Bedi doll moll too much and found a way out?

What with Zulfi and Raja up for eviction, does that make Ashutosh the winner?
Questions and more questions?

Rahul Mahajan has been evicted from Bigg Boss after he refused to tender an apology for an incident that occured on Saturday when he broke out of the house with the remaining housemates, Raja Chaudhury, Zulfi Sayed and Ashutosh Kaushik.

After the crew stopped the housemates from going out of the house, Bigg Boss demanded an apology from all of them as it is against the rules to break out of the house. The other three apologised but Rahul refused to do so. That’s why he was evicted from the house.

Eyewitness said that Rahul’s sister, Poonam Mahajan landed in Lonavala - where the Bigg Boss house is located - to take her brother back to Mumbai. But sources also say that he has to stay back to complete his shoot with the show’s host Shilpa Shetty.

Endemol’s Managing Director (India) Deepak Dhar was unavailable for comment despite several attempts. Endemol sources refused to confirm or deny Rahul Mahajan’s eviction.

Rahul, on his part, asked to be evicted with whatever amount he deserved to get for 90 days, saying he didn’t feel like staying on any longer.

On Saturday night just past midnight, Sushmita Sen and her entourage of 17 close friends drove off for Goa to bring in her 33rd birthday tomorrow.

Goa is an annual ritual for Sushmita’s birthday. And no, director Mudassar Aziz wasn’t invited this year. The actress insists there is no romantic alliance bet-ween her and the director, Says Sushmita, “Let’s just say I’m single and ready to mingle, does that sound too trite? Her birthday entourage is made up of very close family members and friends, and daughter Renee. Sen says, “I’m beyond that stage where I have to party and be with 500 people to feel special. Every moment is special and I need no endorsement for it from the outside.
Just being with the people who really matter to me is celebration enough.”

One of the highest points of Sushmita’s life this year and a good way to bring in her birthday was the ‘Fun Fearless Female’ award by Comopolitan magazine. “What made the award special was that my daughter Renee was there to see her mother get this award. This was the first time she ever attended an awards function where her mother got an award. It felt wonderful to see Renee looking so proud of me.”

As for marriage, “Marriage hasn’t happened. It will happen when it happens. What guarantee is there that after getting into marriage and after twenty years of togetherness, I won’t discover it was the wrong move for me?”
Where’s the dori?

But why does she get tired of all her relationships? “You mean, do I dump the men? That’s not true. Initially, everything is hunky-dory in a relationship. Then there has to be some ‘dori’ to hold the hunky guy in our relationship. If not, then move on.”

Looks like it will be another working New Year’s Eve for Bipasha Basu this year. Last year, the actress performed at a five-star hotel in Juhu. On December 31 this year, she will perform at Sahara Star.

It is believed that Bipasha Basu been paid a whopping Rs 1.5 crore for her act. This is the highest amount an actress has managed to get for a new year’s performance.

Sources reveal that Bipasha was recently finalised for the act. She still has to decide which songs she will dance to. Last year, Bipasha had performed at the JW Marriot and had charged them 90 lakh for a 30-minute performance. This year, Katrina has replaced Basu at the same venue and has been signed on for one crore!

Though Bipasha is reluctant to reveal the actual amount, she adds, “I am happy to confirm that I am performing at the Sahara Star on December 31. And while I would not like to talk about the price it will be a brilliant end to a fabulous year for me both professionally and personally. It’s an amazing begin- ning for the year 2009. What better way to celebrate than to dance in to the New Year with all my well-wishers, family and friends! I wish that 2009 brings peace and prosperity to all.”

Kareena Kapoor might not make it for Golmaal Returns’ success party tonight at Vie Lounge in Juhu. She’s down with a raging fever and a throat infection.

On Sunday night, Kareena attended an event at Parel and collapsed after coming home. Says Bebo, “I am in awful shape right now. I am burning with a 101°C fever. I have a throat infection. After attending the event on Sunday, things became so bad that I collapsed after coming home. I was in such terrible shape that my mom had to call in the doctor. He’s giving me injections so that I can at least stand on my feet.”

Says Kareena. “I think my collapse has been caused by overwork and exhaustion. I have been working non-stop for the last 6 months round the clock. Even if I get half a day off, I am shooting for some ad or the other. I can’t talk. I had to cancel Sajid Nadiadwala’s (Kambakht Ishq) shoot yesterday. My body is acting up as I have constantly been working 20 hours a day. When mom heard I was going for the shoot yesterday, she forbade me from doing so. She’s horrified and has been scream- ing at Zayed (Bebo’s secretary) and me to stop over-stressing myself.”

All work

Will Kareena attend tonight’s success party? “Not as of now. It all depends on my health. I am shooting for Kambakht Ishq at Afghan Church tomorrow but I haven’t told mom as yet about it. If I tell her, she will scold me again. In fact we were to shoot an underwater sequ-ence at Film City, which will now have to shot later as I can’t shoot underwater now.”

Kareena says she’s shooting so much that she doesn’t have a break at all now. “I will have to go straight from my shoot to the airport for Karan’s (Johar) film in USA on November 23. Saif is also there but I think we will take a break for a week in mid-December. I will come home for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. I had been offered lots of money to perform for New Year’s Eve but I have refused them as I think it’s tacky.”