UBD's Bollywood-Bytes 14-August-2011

Karisma Kapoor in black

Karisma Kapoor
The diva has been away from our screens for many years now. Her last film was 'Mere Jeevan Saathi' (shot in 2004, released after a delay in 2006) where she had many a b****-fight with fellow UBD Amisha Patel. Recently rumours were rife that our Lolo will be making a special appearance in little sister Kareena's film 'Bodyguard' - but they turned out to be false. The 37 year old will be returning to films with 'Dangerous Ishq' due next year but it seems to have also been confirmed that she will be essaying Hema Malini's role in the 'Satte Pe Satta' remake with Sanjay Dutt. Watch this space.

Preity Zinta in black

Preity Zinta
PZ turns designer in her new movie. She was last seen in 'Heroes' [2008] but after rival Rani came back with a bang earlier this year, Preetam doesn't want to be left behind. She is currently working in the pre-production stages of director Prem Soni's 'Ishq In Paris'. Along with designer Surily Goel, Preity will be working on her look for the film and rumours suggest she is aiming to emulate Audrey Hepburn's look in 'Breakfast At Tiffany's'. The diva has won the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her role as Naina in Karan Johar's 'Kal Ho Naa Ho' [2003].

Amisha Patel in black

Amisha Patel
The petite gujji diva who made a huge splash in the industry with her first film 'Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai' [2000], and followed it with subsequent smash hits as well as Best Actress nominations with Gadar [2001] and 'Humraaz' [2002] is making a comeback. 'Meesh has not reached the highs of her early years but she has just signed on to the cast of 'Race 2'. Amisha had worked with the director duo Abbas-Mustan in the aforementioned 'Humraaz' and they asked her to join the cast alongside Deepika Padukone and Sonakshi Sinha. Let's see if things turn around for her.

Kareena Kapoor in black

Kareena Kapoor
Rumours are rife that Kareena has been signed on to do the abandonned project 'Heroine'. Initially Aishwarya was supposed to be cast in the movie and even shot for it for 10 days but then her unexpected pregnancy halted things. Ever since then the Kareena rumours have been flying around. Jus trecently it was reported that she requested 8 crores for the project. Time will tell what the truth is.

Bipasha Basu in black

Bipasha Basu
The recently single diva has tweeted that she has started shooting her first rom-com 'Shaadi Fast Forward'. Bips made her debut in 2001 with Ajnabee and has been nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award twice in her career (2002, 2006). The upcoming movie will be directed by Ashwini Choudhary who has made 4 low budget films in the past.

Lara Dutta in black

Lara Dutta
The beautiful babe has revealed that she is pregnant. She got married to Mahesh Bhupati recently and the couple announced the news in an interview. Lara has wrapped filming her role in 'Don 2' alongside fellow UBD Priyanka Chopra. The promo was released this week and she looked absolutely amazing. The 33 year old former Miss Universe started her acting career in 2003 with 'Andaaz' for which she won a Filmfare Award for Best Debut Female.

Priyanka Chopra in black

Priyanka Chopra
Piggy Chops has signed a music recording contract. As we all know Priyanka enjoys singing and has hinted that she may do something with it in the past. Now news just in that she has been singed by Interscope in the U.S. - the same label that houses Lady GaGa. Can I see a collaboration happening in the future?

Sridevi - UBD Birthdays

Birthday girl: Sridevi

Sridevi as a child star

Sree Amma Yanger was born August 13th 1963 and started acting at the age of four. She worked in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam as well as Hindi films and became a superstar before the age of 20. Today she is considered to be one of the greatest performers of all-time. She is known to her fans as "the last empress". She was the highest paid actress of her time and was known as the "female Amitabh Bachchan" in the press due to outshining her co-stars. Sri held the crown from the mid eighties to the early nineties. Her last release was 'Judaai' [1997] for which she was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actress Award for the 8th time in her career. She won the award twice: 'Chaalbaaz' [1989] and 'Lamhe' [1991] - playing dual roles in both. The diva is currently working on her comeback film titled 'English Vinglish' to be released mid-2012.

Sridevi in Himmatwala [1983]

Making her debut at the age of four in Tamil movie 'Kandan Karunai' playing the daughter of Gemini Ganesan (real life father of fellow UBD Rekha) - she went on to work throughout her pre-teens in many movies. At the age of 13 she got her first 'adult' film role in K. Balachander's 'Mondru Mudichu' [1976]. At the age of 15 Sri made her Hindi film debut with 'Solwa Saawan' [1978] which didn't fare too well at the box office. Sri went back south to concentrate on her other assignments but returned to Bollywood in 1983 with 'Himmatwala' - the film was a blockbuster. She followed this with more hits such as 'Tohfa', 'Mawaali' and 'Justice Chaudhury'. Her next release 'Sadma' earned her the first of many Best Actress nominations.

Sridevi in 'Chandni' [1989]

Sridevi was known more for her performances rather than the performance of her films. She continued to churn out spectacular acts throughout the 80s in hits such as 'Inquilaab' [1984], 'Masterji' [1985], 'Nagina' [1986], 'Mr. India' [1987], 'Ram Avtaar' [1988], 'Chaalbaaz' [1989] and Yash Chopra's 'Chandni' [1989].

Sridevi with Urmila in 'Judaai' [1997]

By the time the new decade started, Sri was the undisputed queen bee. She had zero competition. Jaya Prada, Dimple, Poonam, Padmini were all but gone. She was the first choice of every director and worked with the best of the best. Unfortunately some of her decision making let her down as she refused a role in 'Beta' which won the upcoming Madhuri Dixit much applause and awards. Unfortunately, as is usual in Bollywood, the bigger she got the less ideas the fiilm-makers had to cater to her talent. She continued to electrify the audiences with her performances in films such as 'Khuda Gawah' [1992], 'Gumrah [1993], 'Laadla' [1994], and 'Army' [1996].

Sridevi at the IIFA Awards 2011

Ever since her last movie almost 15 years ago, her fans have been waiting for her comeback eagerly. The time has finally come for this ultimate diva to return to the screen and set it on fire again. This may just be the most exciting comeback of all comebacks. Sri is currently shooting in North America and the film will co-star Amitabh Bachchan who she last worked with 20 years ago.

Ultimate Bollywood Divas would like to wish the lady a very happy birthday and all the best with the movie. Let's see a Sri at her best in her 1989 smash hit 'Chandni'

Priyanka Chopra Unveils New Hairstyle

Priyanka just posted a pic on Twitter captioned "Boredom struck". The 29 year old diva has sported imilar hair in last year's 'Anjaana Anjaani' where she played a rebellious girl. The purple streaks look great in my opinion. Will the trend catch on?

Priyanka Chopra sports purple streaks

UBDs Out 'n' About - Sonam Kapoor

Everyone's favourite fashionista of Bollywood was papped leaving a hotel and she looks great in leggins, a loose gym top, black handbag, shades and a top-hat. Check it out.

Sonam Kapoor

Sonam Kapoor

Sonam Kapoor

Sonam Kapoor

UBD Tribute: U.K. Riots

Big love to all the different communities across London and other parts of the country who are coming together to fight the yobs. From the Turkish in North London to the Bangladeshis in East London, and the Sikhs in Southall and Birmingham. Especially amazed at the coverage on Sangat TV. The guys had one camera, one van and one vision - true journalism, putting the liked of the BBC and Sky News to utter shame. Here Sangat TV anchor Upinder Randhawa helps police arrest some rioters by giving them a lift in their van:

The fighting spirit of the community reminds me of Sridevi in the 1996 film 'Army' when they are preparing for a fight for justice. Check it out:

UBD Tribute: London Riots

It is a very sad day in London. Violence and looting have continued overnight and spread across countless parts of my beautiful city. As sad as it is to see all this chaos, I welcome all the discussions on our society and culture that have come about across social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as radio stations such as London's LBC Radio. Here is a tribute to the people of my town, my city, my country, my world. Our world.

Kareena Shoots Commercial

Here are some exclusive behind-the-scenes photos of B'town's reigning Queen Kareena Kapoor. KK was shooting a commercial for Monarch Universal - an elite real eastate company. The buzz online seems to be focusing on one thing: the rock on her finger! It looks huge. Is it part of the costume or is it a gift from long-time boyfriend Saif Ali Khan? Bebo and Saif started dating in late 2007 and have suggested many a time that they will tie the knot soon. The pair are currently working together on their sixth film 'Agent Vinond' which has been in production for over 2 years and is due in 2012.

Kareena Kapoor | Monarch Universal

Kareena Kapoor | Monarch Universal

Kareena Kapoor | Monarch Universal