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UNUSUAL ROLE: Lara Dutta, 30, teams up with Amitabh Bachchan, 67, in her new movie. They play a married couple

• Even before their first release together, Kareena Kapoor cannot stop raving about Aamir Khan, her co-star in 3 Idiots, whom she des- cribes as a "cine- matic genius".Now there's talk that the perfectionist actor is keen to direct Kapoor and himself in an intense love story. We wonder how Saif Ali Khan feels about this close friendship.

• NOT THAT anyone was really missing her, but Esha Deol is currently busy shooting for her comeback movie titled Tell Me Oh Khuda. The movie is being produced and directed by her mom, Hema Malini, and will also feature Fashion star Arjan Bajwa.
• SEEMS like the friendship between Vashu Bhagnani and Sanjay Dutt has turn-ed sour. Apparently Bhagnani had, upon Dutt's insistence, agreed to cast Neha Ob- eroi, the daughter of his secretary, in the lead female role opposite Jacky Bhagnani in a movie titled Faltu. But the problems began when Bhagnani quietly replaced Oberoi with current Miss India Pooja Chopra. When Dutt heard of the double crossing, he promptly walked out of the project.
• THERE'S another new blockbuster in Bollywood. Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, a romantic comedy directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi and starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, has been declared a super hit. Sadly, the movie will not be released in South Africa. Director Santoshi has confirmed that his next movie will feature Sunny Deol, his hero in blockbusters like Ghayal, Ghatak and Damini.
• NOW how's this for an unusual pairing - Amitabh Bachchan and Lara Dutta are set to play a married couple in a movie titled The Actor. According to filmmaker Pritish Nandy, the age factor has nothing to do with the plot as the movie has a unique twist to generation-challenged relationships. Bachchan has, in the past, dabbled in unusual love stories with an age difference in movies like Nishabd and Cheeni Kum.
• WILL Hrithik Roshan's eagerly awaited Kites ever be released? After being pushed from October this year to January next year, there's now talk that the movie will release only in March. While some claim the movie is yet to find an overseas distributor, others claim the mega release of My Name is Khan has frightened the Roshans, who are not keen to release their movie about the same period. Kites features Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori and Kangana Ranaut.
• TAMIL Nadu's R Madhavan met former US President Jimmy Carter on November 16. Madhavan and Bollywood actor John Abraham represented India on the closing day of the Habitat for Humanity Programme, headed by Carter and his wife, Rosalynn. Another popular actor, Jet Lee, represented China on the same podium. Madhavan has been getting increasingly involved in social awareness programmes now that he has decided to steer his career towards Bolly- wood.
• AFTER a rather unpleasant divorce, Prakash Raj and Lalithakumarie have gone their separate ways. Less than a week later, Lalithakumarie announced that she was to return to the screen after an absence of 15 years. She has been a housewife since she married Raj but has now decided to return to films. Her comeback film is Muriyadi, which also features Sathyaraj. Muriyadi, a remake of the Malayalam thriller Passenger, has been produced by K Balachander who introduced her to acting.
• SIMBHU has returned to Chennai after a month in the US. During his stay there, he completed work on Goutham Vasudeva Menon's Vinaithaandi Varuvaaya in which he stars for the first time opposite Trisha.
• He also enjoyed a good holiday, taking in the sites and scouting around for make-up techniques that he can use in his next film, Valiban. This is one of three films in which Simbhu will feature in 2010, having had no films in 2009.
• Also on the cards is a film each for directors Bhoopathy Pandiyan and Lingusamy.
• AYNGARAN International have approved plans to produce a 90-minute abridged version of Peraanmai in English.
• Director Jananathan is to trim the 180-minute film by chopping off the songs and major portions of the film for the English version, which will be aimed at the inter- national market.
• CHERAN'S latest film Pokkisham might have had a dismal run in Chennai but the response was quite different when it was screened at the Mumbai International Film Festival.

Many Bollywood producers have now approached Cheran to either direct a Hindi remake or sell them the rights to remake the film themselves.