By Jilawatan

Shilpa Shetty was first choice for Nagesh Kukunoor’s next. Here’s how the film went to his rakhi sister Ayesha Takia

While it is known that Nagesh Kukunoor’s untitled next will feature Ayesha Takia, what isn’t as known is that the film was offered to Shilpa Shetty and that she was also supposed to co-produce the film.

HiTLIST was the first to report last January that Shilpa Shetty had signed Kukunoor on.

The actress had inked a deal with the director to helm a film for her production house S2 Global Productions. He was also one of the few B-Town folk who attended Shilpa’s wedding reception.

During the course of pre production, the two had a fallout over creative differences and eventually parted ways.

A source from the industry reveals, “The problem started when Shilpa insisted on having a big actor cast opposite her, while Nagesh wanted a lesser known face for the role.

Also it was a co-production, but the actress kept promoting herself as the sole producer, and credited Kukunoor as a director.

This didn’t go down well Nagesh who then decided to end the deal and approached another producer and also roped in his favourite actress, his rakhi sister Ayesha to play the lead role instead.”

The film being shot in Ooty will be Takia’s first since taking a B-Town breather following her marriage to restaurateur Farhan Azmi.

While the actress and the director remained unavailable for comment, Shilpa’s spokesperson says, “This is not true at all.

The project didn’t work out because of commercial viability. Hence, we dropped it and parted amicably.”

By Jilawatan

Bollywood marriages in 2009 have been quite happening. This year Bollywood has seen a lot of marriages from the very beginning till the end of this year. Some of the best known faces in tinsel town have tied the knot. But is this premise true or not let us check on that.

The year started with Ayesha Takia’s marriage to her long term boyfriend Farhan Azmi on 1st March 2009. Farhan is the son of a politician Abu Azmi. Well to tell you the truth Ayesha at least was young and her career (if any) was almost over inBollywood. So she had taken the right path and left Bollywood for good!

Another hyped marriage of the year was that of Big Brother’s girl Shilpa Shetty to her beau Raj Kundra, the London based businessman. Even winning Big Brother could not help her win back her fans (if there are some), so she had to tie the knot on 22nd November 2009.

Apart from them the year saw Amrita Arora (come on now, please do not ask who?) got hitched to her newfound boyfriend (of course she had a string of them) Shakeel Ladak. Isha Koppikar (the girl who danced on an item song called ‘Khallas’ years ago) married her boyfriend restaurateur Timmy Narang. Now if you all have such difficulty in locating these so-called well known faces, don’t you think that these ladies have done right thing by getting married without delaying any more?

By Jilawatan

Even though Bollywood couples prefer to walk down the aisle the traditional way, each wedding is a special package

Shilpa Shetty’s wedding card came with chocolates in a gold and red box, but the soulful pictures of Ganesha embossed on a backdrop of mantras set it apart.

On the other hand, Juhi Babbar’s wedding card had two peacocks scrawled by MF Hussain himself! Whether it is the invitation card, the wedding outfit, the sangeet and mehendi functions, Bollywood couples like taking their wedding vows in a traditional way, but with a difference.

Akshay Kumar wed Twinkle Khanna in a private traditional ceremony attended by only 50-odd guests comprising family and close friends. Fine, except that the wedding date, which was set on February 5, but suddenly brought forward to January 17, and till today no one knows the reason why!

When Fardeen Khan and Natasha Madhvani tied the knot four years ago there was no nikaah or Hindu rituals, but the suave and well-travelled Khan went in for a simple civil ceremony in a five-star hotel followed by a grand reception with a vast multi-cuisine menu!

Cousin Zayed Khan wed his childhood sweetheart Mallika, and had a pre-wedding rock star bash at a disco and a grand sangeet function too!

Though Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachchan wed at a small private wedding in the Bachchans’ palatial Mumbai bungalow, Abhishek waved aside his fancy cars and surprised everyone by going to the wedding venue on a well-decked ghodi!

Sanjay Dutt broke all rules when he wed Manyata as she was not divorced from her previous husband. They married according to Hindu rites in a small ceremony at a friend’s place, but later solemnised the wedding at the Registrar in Goa.

More recently Ayesha Takia was happy to wed restaurateur Farhan Azmi in a private and traditional nikaah at a mosque without feeling the need for any Hindu rituals!

Amrita Arora’s and beau Shakeel Lakadwala’s church wedding was one-of- its-kind, replete with Amrita wearing a long flowing gown and veil, with bridesmaids that included Kareena Kapoor!

The grandest wedding of recent times was Shilpa Shetty’s, who wed British millionaire Raj Kundra in a small traditional Bunt wedding in friend Kiran Bawa’s farmhouse in Lonavla. The special touch here? Each guest was provided with a make-up person and a hairdresser besides gift hampers!

Eesha Koppikhar brought in her nuptials with restaurateur Timmy Narang with a difference. She had a pre-wedding party with a Ken and Barbie theme. While Narang smiled as Ken, the bride-to-be glowed in a Barbie gown!

By Jilwatan

Bollywood actress-turned-business woman Ayesha Takia says her 21-year-old sister Natasha Takia is all set to enter the Hindi film industry next year. She wants her younger sibling to be welcomed by the audience like Kareena Kapoor was.

“My sister Natasha who is 21 will be in films next year. Hopefully, she’ll be welcomed in the industry like other star sisters. I’m very excited for her. Let’s hope her career works. She’s preparing herself, working out ferociously. When I started out I had no clue about these things. At least now when they know I’m her sister they’ll give her a chance,” Ayesha said.

“There’re so many beautiful girls in this country. Maybe they’ll watch Natasha at least the first time because she’s my sister. But there’s the downside. They’ll start comparing us. Audiences are so unforgiving. They give you one chance, and then they let go,” she added.

Ayesha said she would like Natasha to be received like Kareena Kapoor, who became a bigger star than her elder sister Karisma. However, other star sisters like Tanisha (younger sister of Kajol) and Shamita Shetty (younger sister of Shilpa Shetty) were cold-shouldered by the audience.

Audiences would now get to see more of Natasha and less of Ayesha on the big screen as the latter has ventured into the business world.

“I’ve done it (films) for so long. I’m now enjoying making my own rules. I’m having a ball concentrating on business ventures. My first boutique hotel in Goa is on. We are hoping to start it this season,” she said.