Glamour Bombshell Sona who made heads turn when she launched a couple of big budget productions last year. Though her producer avatar made enough news in the media, the first report card isn’t that satisfactory.

She launched ‘Bhagyaraj 2010’ and ‘Kanimozhi’ almost simultaneously. While Bhagyaraj 2010 faced setbacks, the other film ‘Kanimozhi’ was completed and released with in a few months. However the film did not do well in spite of great songs in it.

It appears that Sona is said to have lost around five crores. Buzz says this has jolted Sona hard and she has silently dropped the other project ‘Bhagyaraj 2010′ after the first schedule.

So what next for Sona?

Sona has decided to give more time to her fashion boutique UNIQ. The store is nearing its third anniversary day and Sona has some big plans to celebrate the event. For the inauguration of the store, she brought is Shilpa Shetty and for the third anniversary celebrations, she is planning to bring none other than Aiswarya Rai. Sources close to Sona says the beauty has promised to be in Chennai for the celebrations.

The votes are in. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is Bollywood’s most coveted actress. Sixteen years after she was declared the most beautiful woman in the world, her flawless features still top the list of inquiries made at the plastic surgeon’s office.
“We get maximum requests for Aishwarya Rai’s narrow jaw line and high cheekbones. Most people still think of her as the one with a perfect face,” reveals cosmetic physician, Dr Rashmi Shetty. Plastic surgeon, Dr Meenakshi Agarwal adds, “Patients also ask for her eyebrows. Fine features like hers are very popular.”
Dr Jamuna Pai concurs: “Most people who come in to fix their nose want a sculpted, aquiline look, and they usually refer to pictures of Aishwarya Rai.” Pai adds. “Patients are also conscious of skin and that’s another area where she scores. She has the most beautiful and robust skin. From the enquiries we get, people seem to have noticed that.”
Other icons
While Angelina Jolie’s lips have conquered the globe, Bollywood’s leading ladies don’t fall far behind in the copycat game. “Kangana Ranaut’s lips are perky and full, people like that they’re not too dramatic,” Pai reveals. While pouty Priyanka Chopra’s lips may have only male fans, many women covet Katrina Kaif’s pink kiss.
“The pouty look is here to stay,” insists Pai. “Thin lips will never be popular because they age you. As you grow older, you lose volume on your face. I have a knack for subtly filling up the lip, though an actress might opt for a more emphasised look.”
Eyes on you
Reportedly, Bipasha Basu’s eyes have a fan following of their own. “She’s got a beautiful uplifted shape, close to almond eyes. We can create that using botox and fillers. Many people have requested it too. Shilpa Shetty’s eyes are emphasised by her luscious lashes. People who have thin eyelashes, like her lashline.”
Cheekbone implants are popularly used to give the face a youthful look. Instead of going under the knife, cosmetic physicians inject fillers into cheekbones to create glamourous apple cheeks. “The procedure is popular among girls who lose weight, especially on the face, because of heavy dieting. Madonna looks like she has opted for this procedure. The gaunt look with extremely prominent cheekbones and hollowed-out cheeks ages you,” claims Shetty. The results last between six months to two years, depending on the amount and quality of filler used.
Another popular trend is the dimple effect. Agarwal says that Deepika Padukone’s dimpled cheeks have tempted patients to ask for the same.“Today, everything from your smile to your nose can be bought,” grins Pai. “You can achieve anything you want.”
Never grow old
Among the older stars, people still love Rekha’s strong jawline. She hasn’t faded from public imagination,” reveals Shetty. Patients also want to know the secret behind Dimple Kapadia’s luminous skin, while Madhuri Dixit’s smile still reigns as the most coveted of all. “It’s been a while since they’ve seen her, but many still think of her smile as the most beautiful.”
Skin deep
Beauty is skin deep, cosmetic physicians will testify to that. Bipasha Basu’s dusky skin may be looking considerably lighter, but Pai attributes her glowing skin to her new workout: “People love her glow, they’ve noticed the change in her skin texture. It’s mainly her fitness regimen that’s flushing all the toxins out of her system.”

Shetty adds that Kareena Kapoor’s pink flush also attracts a fair share of admirers. “Her skin is really flawless, she needs no make-up,” she avers. Sushmita Sen is another torchbearer for the dusky skin tone.
Body line
According to Dr Rustom Ginwalla, there was some truth to that size zero phenomenon. “One of the things that people ask for, unrealistically, is to have Kareena Kapoor’s figure. Some actually come with photographs of the stars. If it’s unachievable, I shoo them away because they will never be satisfied with the results.” Ginwalla admits that most Indian women, with their heavy bone structure, cannot realistically copy Kapoor’s narrow frame. “They want to have the same proportions, especially the slim waist.”
Liposuction being the key method used to reduce fat, is one of Ginwalla’s most popular procedures and is used to tame flabby arms, thighs and abs. He’s also launched a new method called baser high-def, which makes it possible to construct a six-pack without spending long hours sweating it out in the gym. “You need to be someone who’s relatively fit anyway,” he mentions. “What we do is sculpt the body, especially the chest and abdomen area, to emphasise the muscles. Most men who come in for these procedures want to look like Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om.”
And while actress Jennifer Lopez may have the world’s most desired derriere, in Mumbai, Malaika Arora Khan’s voluptuous assets have many women asking for the same. “But Malaika was born with that butt,” reveals Pai. “I’ve known her for many years. So I have to tell patients who ask for the same, that she is genetically endowed.”

While the who’s who of Bollywood had turned up for Shilpa Shetty’s wedding reception last week, Aishwarya Rai was one celebrity who stood out of the crowd all thanks to her striking outfit – rather its colour. She was attention-grabbing enough in her pink salwar that made her the center of attraction.

However, if one notices, pink has often been Aishwarya’s style statement over the years. Here’s a glimpse of Aishwarya in her favourite colour.

People would not have forgotten the great music video “Mile Sur Mere Tumaha”, that was aired in Doordarshan almost a couple of decades ago. It features who’s who of India from different fields.

Now a fresh attempt is being taken to render it in a new style and new package. Acclaimed ad filmmaker Kailash Surendranath and Aarti are busy producing and directing the new version.

Some of the big names of Bollywood including Aishwarya Rai, Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone will feature in it. Amitabh Bachchan, who appeared in the original, too finds his way back in the remake.

Also Shilpa Shetty is expected to be part of it. Interestingly, Deepika Paudkone’s father Prakash Padukone featured in the first version.

ONCE THEY had good innings in Bollywood. They were young. They were never actresses but stars. But age caught up with them.

Refusing to give up on Bollywood, although it has given up on them, they try gimmicks to stick on.

Instead of growing up (mentally) and moving on, they simply will remain here by hook or crook. They refuse to hang their boots and welcome the next phase whatever it may be.

With their fewer or non-existent films, they resort to gimmicks to be in limelight. The current trend is to hit the networking circuit hard and be on page three.

This does make news if not careers. Socialising has its own fringe benefits.

Their movies fail big time. Now with hardly anything on their platter, is it anything surprising to find them becoming socialites and on the networking sites.

These socialite non-actresses should have pity on their agents, who must be finding it difficult to procure movies for them. Next the agents may turn producers/directors to fit them in. Let’s take a look where they are now and what the future holds for them. Some can upgrade to another role playing if they put their heart to it. But Bollywood is truly over for them. Hope they realise it pronto.

Aishwarya Rai (35): In a couple of months she will turn 36. Already showing age on face and figure but one must admire her spirit of never give up (although there is nothing to give up). She clings to Bollywood although it has nothing more to offer to her. She was never an actress. With her screechy laughter and looks (read luck) she survived. Miss World title helped her land movies and of course her own coquettish ways. Her debut Hindi movie Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (1997) had director Rahul Rawail tearing his hair. She had no expressions to talk of.

Twelve years in the industry and being married hasn’t changed her mentally. She was last seen in the blink and miss role of a thief in the Hollywood flick The Pink Panther 2 (2009). She has two Tamil flicks Endhiran and Raavana. There are talks of a movie each opposite Hrithik Roshan and Aakshay Kumar. The Khans refuse to work with her.

Others are younger heroes, who won’t work with didi/auntiji. Its time for her to start a family. She can role play a mother to great success. There were rumors she were to join politics. It’s time to change tracks and move on. She can actively exchange acting tips with hubby Abhishek. Both need each other’s help in this department. Bollywood courts youth. Or she will be seen hitting Cannes and IIFA only. Tsk tsk.

Mallika Sherawat (27, 33, 45): Her age keeps bouncing up and down (doesn’t matter) like figure stats. She hit the Bolly scene too late age-wise. She did create waves with Khwahish (2003) and Murder (2004). But then it all fizzled out. She hit the scantily clothed photo shoot scene and now is extra active on social networking sites like Twitter.

With inconsequential movies she proved she didn’t care for them. All she craved for was publicity. This socialite had truly arrived. Currently, she is trying her lucky stars in Hollywood. With a string of flops following her, she has nothing fresh on Bolly platter.

A Holly flick Hisss (2009) is on the scene that may well join the list of misss. It can’t go any worst than this for the poster girl. What next for her? Perhaps the role of an Agony Aunt in real life. That should sell like hot cakes. She will be a chatpati red hot aunt, whom no one would mind. Will she give it a thought?

Shilpa Shetty (34): Another pretty face but with excellent public relations, she has successfully survived for so long in Bollywood. No doubt, she has a figure to envy and die for. She arrived with élan on Bolly scene with a hit like Baazigar (1993).

But Kajol and Shahrukh Khan walked away with all the glory. A string of flops and inconsequential roles led her to resort to item numbers and special appearances. Help came by way of Big Brother show and now beau Raj Kundra. IPL too helped. She claims to get married this December.

Considering her busy occupations (not Bolly flicks) with opening spas, latest controversy being kissed by a priest recently and of course networking, we seriously doubt it. In 2008 she had only a special appearance in Dostana.

And 2009 is no better with The Man (Hindi, two years in the making), Kaanch (Hindi, cold storage) The Desire (Indian English movie) and Forever (English) making no news. Shilpa should seriously give matrimony a thought. Hitting the rich socialite circle in London with Kundra should be the right role she could dig her teeth into. Don’t say no, SS.

Rakhi Sawant (28, 30): She was born Neeru Sawant. She is a multi-faceted personality (dancer, film/TV actress, model, TV talk show host). And she has no reservations in admitting to her humble origins. She began her innings with Dil Ka Sauda (1999) and will now be seen in Dil Bole Hadippa (2009).

She is more known for her hyper acts of verbally thrashing Mika for kissing her, discarding her boyfriend Abhishek Awasthi and now the much publicised swayamvar where she chose her life partner Elesh Parujanwala. More known for her item numbers than her movie roles, she has rightly decided on marriage. The question that remains is when? And that is a million dollar question considering she doesn’t wish to give up on her ‘career’ after marriage. Hope she gets married and it survives. All the best.

The above mentioned ‘actresses’ have no active movie careers to talk of as of now but are more known for their networking, socialising and gimmick stunts. Leaning on Bollywood doesn’t make sense. Isn’t it time they gave credit to their present roles and stuck to them. Rather they should move on and gracefully accept whatever life offers to them. Bollywood is past. Hope they realise and accept this fact. Future would definitely be more blissful.

There are stories and rumours galore about film stars, but celebrities are no longer willing to tolerate gossip that will affect their relationships. Many like Aishwarya Rai, Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar have threatened legal action to stop gossip-mongers from spreading false news about their personal lives.

Recently an article titled, “Career more important than family”, published by a website infuriated Aishwarya so much that she issued a statement saying she would take legal action against those who are spreading rumours about her.

According to Archana Sadanand of Imagesmiths, who handles the publicity for Aishwarya, a celebrity’s life is in the public domain but circulating untrue statements about them affects their personal lives.  “Yes, a celebrity’s life is there in the public domain but writing things that are untrue and attributing false statements to them affect their personal lives and in such cases the best way out is legal recourse,” Archana told IANS.

“A rumour is a rumour until it takes the shape of newsprint or media space… when we authenticate any such information by broadcasting, we in a way are adding to our readership or viewership.  “But we seem to forget that a life, a person is attached to such rumours and in most cases these rumours have a snowball effect,” said Archana, whose client list also includes big names like Akshay Kumar and Imran Khan.

In the past actors like Saif Ali Khan and Akshay too have threatened legal action against gossip-mongers.  Saif was at the receiving end when The New York Post reported that he had thrown attitude in a local bar and was thrown out. He then threatened to take the newspaper to court.

“I’m considering taking legal action against the paper. The article is slanderous and completely baseless,” Saif, who was shooting for Siddharth Anand’s “Tara Rum Pum” then, had said.  Akshay too decided to act against those spreading rumours of a discord in his married life with Twinkle Khanna.

Akshay and Twinkle’s spokesperson released a statement that said: “They will not stand for false and malicious reporting by any publication any more. They have sent a legal notice to the publication concerned for the false report that they published on July 24, 2007, and they will take them to court.”

Akshay also threatened to sue a British tabloid for giving false “details” of his and ex-girlfriend Shilpa Shetty’s personal lives. It was published soon after Shilpa won British reality TV show “Celebrity Big Brother” in 2007.

“I will never talk about a lady in those terms, this is totally baseless, I’ve never spoken to the said newspaper and I will seek legal recourse,” Akshay was quoted as saying that time.  Said Rajnigandha Shekhawat, another publicist: “Rumours can take a completely nasty turn sometimes with absolutely no bearing on the truth… I think it’s fair if the actors threaten to sue.”

“However, rumour-mongering is a big part of a celebrity’s life and most of them are now aware that there is no escaping it,” said Rajnigandha, whose clients include Shahid Kapoor, Sonal Chauhan, Vir Das and Purab Kohli.

Even southern actors have come down heavily on people circulating false news. Recently, when Tamil actress Trisha was accused of entering into an unsavoury argument with former India cricketer Hemang Badani at a hotel, she issued a stern denial and said that certain “vested interests” have been spreading rumours about her.

“I won’t keep mum from now onwards. Whosoever writes or says anything bad about me, I won’t mind taking them to court,” she had said. Many feel that stars seek legal help not just to safeguard their personal lives but also to protect their image.

“Actors survive on image, it’s their bread and butter. So how can they take somebody trying to tarnish it so lightly? And in the clutter today, image has become more important…It’s part of the marketing strategy of celebrities,” said Neelam Gupta, who handles the publicity of singer Sukhwinder among others.

But rumours about stars have always done the rounds. So are celebrities becoming more impatient now?  “I don’t agree. I’ve heard of stars in the 1980s going and beating up editors of film magazines! That’s something I haven’t heard of in recent years,” said Rajnigandha.

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan might be all of 35 and is losing out on endorsement deals and positions to the likes of Kareena Kapoor and plastic actress gone lucky, Katrina Kaif, but she still is going strong in more ways that one.

Not just Ash, her contemporaries like Sushmita Sen, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta and Kajol too have been replaced by the likes of Kat, Bebo, Deepika Padukone, even Sonam Kapoor and Genelia D’Souza.

But Ash is doing better than her contemporaries. She may not be the face of Coca-Cola and Nakshatra diamond jewellery in India, but she still has successful and long-standing international endorsements.

She has completed nearly a decade of endorsing Swiss luxury watch brand Longines, international soap Lux and is the brand ambassador of global haircare brand L’Oreal since 2003. And unlike Shilpa Shetty and Preity Zinta who have moved on to businesses like IPL with rich boyfriends.

Ash still has some good movies like Maniratnam’s “Raavan’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next with Hrithik Roshan, Vipul Shah’s “Action Replay’ with Akshay Kumar and a movie with Excel entertainment, probably one with Rajiv Menon as well. Hollywood top star Will Smith is still willing to work with her. That very well makes clear the fact that the dame is here to stay put in the glitzy world of showbiz for a few more years.