Shah Rukh Khan celebrated birthday with Siddharth Anand; Vicky-Katrina, Shahid-Mira attended

Siddharth Anand and Shah Rukh Khan

Celebrating SRK

Over the weekend, Pathaan (2023) director Siddharth Anand hosted a big bash that was attended by several B-Town celebrities. Turns out it was not a Diwali party, but a celebration to mark the 59th birthday of his spy thriller's star, Shah Rukh Khan. Sources claim it was Sid's way of honouring SRK, with whom he is teaming up again on King, which the filmmaker and the superstar are jointly producing. Besides Gauri Khan, Suhana and Aryan, Vicky Kaushal and Katrina Kaif, Karan Johar, Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput, Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover, Shweta Bachchan Nanda and Agastya Nanda, among several others, joined in the revelry. King, helmed by Sujoy Ghosh, marks the big-screen debut of Suhana, also features Munjya actor Abhay Varma, and has Abhishek Bachchan playing the main antagonist.

Hello Hyderabad

Undeterred by the threat looming large over him, Salman Khan continues to go about fulfilling his work commitments. He is in Hyderabad for the shoot of his next, Sikandar, with director AR Murugadoss. Most of the current schedule will be filmed in the city's grand Taj Falaknuma Palace. The superstar will be joined by Rashmika Mandanna for the opulent song sequence in this Sajid Nadiadwala production. A video capturing the venue's courtyard and exteriors adorned with fairy lights, creating a magical setting for the shoot, has gone viral on social media. After the Hyderabad shoot, the team will return to Mumbai for another schedule, the set for which is being built.

South side stories

Bobby Deol will soon be seen as the baddie in Kanguva. During a recent promotional interaction for the fantasy actioner that releases pan-India on November 14, Bobby shared, "I'm doing more films in the south industry than I am doing in my own industry, which is great. I have some great characters to look forward to." Maintaining that "God has been kind," the actor added, "It is great to know that I've spent 30 years and I'm still here. In my mind, I still think like a child. It is only when I see my kids, I realise ‘Oh, I've become old'."

Sawaal pe sawaal

A question posed to Varun Dhawan and director-duo Raj-DK during the recent episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati season 16 has triggered a controversy. "Which actress tragically passed away in a plane crash along with her husband, Maharaja Hanwant Singh of Jodhpur?" superstar host Amitabh Bachchan asked his celebrity guests. The options provided were Sulochana, Mumtaz, Nadira, and Zubeida. Confused by the query, Varun and Raj-DK used two of their three lifelines before finally selecting Zubeida as their answer. Big B then explained that Zubeida starred in Alam Ara (1931), India's first talkie film, and that her life inspired the Bollywood film Zubeidaa (2001), which starred Karisma Kapoor and Manoj Bajpayee. After the episode was aired, social media users called out the error in the question's context, stating that there were two Zubeidas - one, the actor Zubeida Begum Dhanrajgir from Alam Ara, and the other, Maharaja Hanwant Singh's wife. The mistake was further highlighted when veteran journalist Khalid Mohhamed wrote on social media, "Kaun Banega Crorepati... Whoever calls the shots, may I request for a clarification on KBC. Zubeida [Dhanragir] was a renowned actress who featured in Alam Ara. Not my maa Zubeida, who wished to act, but wasn't permitted by her strict father. How could your research team make such a gaffe?" Khalid's post further fuelled the discussion online with some netizens backing his point.

Horror comedy next

Siddhanth Chaturvedi, who recently signed director Vikas Bahl's next with Wamiqa Gabbi and Jaya Bachchan, has added another film to his kitty. The Yudhra actor has now bagged writer-director Milap Zaveri's next. The yet-untitled film is a horror comedy and Disha Patani is being finalised to play the leading lady. She hasn't attempted this genre before and is excited about the subject. Milap, whose films cater to the masses, is expected to add all the essential ingredients to make sure the film is appreciated by a wider audience. The makers are keen on taking the movie into production in the first quarter of 2025.

Kartik's carnaama

Kartik Aaryan, who has often spoken about his passion for a pair of hot wheels, recently opened up on the first car he bought for himself. Describing the "third-hand" vehicle that cost him about R50,000, the actor reportedly said, "It had a good music system and I enjoyed taking it for long drives." However, during the monsoon, it would leak and eventually, became unrepairable. Admitting that he had got attached to it and was too emotional to sell it, he said he gave it away to someone who needed it.

Scene unseen

A couple of weeks ago, Karan Johar marked 12 years of Student of the Year (2012) with post saying he embarked on the film to have the best time of his life. Yesterday, the filmmaker shared a deleted scene from the movie that launched Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Sidharth Malhotra into stardom. Captioned ‘funny scene which got deleted from the film', it features Alia's character Shanaya walking up to Varun's Rohan and asking him to express grief over Abhimanyu's (Sidharth) grandmother's death. That's when Rohan tells her that Abhi's granny is still alive. Later, Rohan and Abhimanyu share a funny moment as they laugh at Shanaya's antics. Interestingly, the sequence leads to the romantic number, Ishq waala love.