Remo calls Madhuri lady MJ

He loves her grace, her precision and her moves. Choreographer Remo D'Souza, who worships only late King of Pop Michael Jackson after Jesus Christ, says "Madhuri (Dixit) is like lady MJ".

"I have always been very fond of Madhuri. I love almost all of her songs and her dance is incomparable. Today's actresses don't come close to her dance and expressions. She is so flexible, so emotive - for me, she is completely like lady Michael Jackson," Remo told us.

Just as he picked up the art of dancing by watching Jackson's videos, Remo also tried to emulate Madhuri's filmy steps.

"Once, very long time back, I had to train one girl for a competition...that time I learnt all of Madhuri's steps in 'Ek do teen' to teach the girl. Madhuri was fabulous in it. But my favourite song featuring her is 'Humko aajkal hai' from the film 'Sailaab'," he said.

Remo vied for many years to meet Madhuri - in studios, at film shootings and screenings, but his big chance came when he was asked to share the stage with her as the judge of Sony TV's " Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 4".

"I was overjoyed on meeting Madhuri. She has been my favourite all through," said the choreographer, who feels Prabhu Deva and Hrithik Roshan are the only two Indian male stars, who can dance like MJ.

Now the hip-hop specialist has a wish to make Madhuri and Hrithik dance to his tunes.

"I feel Hrithik will do complete justice to my style of dancing. There aren't too many actors who can dance well...he is the best among the current lot," he said.

For now, Remo is gearing up for the release of "Faltu", his second directorial project after Bengali film "Lal Pahare'r Katha".

The choreographer-turned-director says: "Thank god I'm not in Hollywood where if you're once a choreographer, you'll always be a choreographer. I am lucky I am a part of Bollywood because here a choreographer not just teaches dance steps, he is responsible for directing a complete song. So after directing a whole lot of songs during my career, I am competent enough to make a film."

As for his choreography projects, Remo has worked on "Patiala House", and will soon be working on four songs in Prakash Jha's "Aarakshan", which also features megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

Ranbir takes Katrina for a drive

Ranbir Kapoor was spotted in Katrina Kaif's company in his sports car by an onlooker

Ranbir Kapoor was spotted driving around in his red-coloured two seater Audi R8 with Katrina Kaif.

Ranbir recently wrapped up the shoot for Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar in Gurgaon. On his return to Mumbai, he's managed to spend some time with Katrina.

A source reveals, "Ranbir is really fond of that car and loves to drive in it. This time, however, he got caught driving around Juhu with Kat by his side.

Since the windows didn't have sun film, Katrina's side profile was captured by an onlooker who passed the car."

 Ranbir has also been linked with his Rockstar actress Nargis Fakhri. However, the source confirms that he's mended ways with Kat and the two are very much together.

Akshay's stunt goes wrong

A stunt goes wrong. Akshay Kumar's quick thinking saves him

Akshay Kumar recently got into a scrape with alligators while shooting a cola ad in Malaysia. Says a source close to the actor, "Akshay loves all risky stunts from car chases to diving down waterfalls.

Of course, most of this he does for his films. So when the cola brand he endorses wanted to shoot the ad in Malaysia, Akki suggested that he fight crocodiles and go white water rafting.

The concept would be how Akshay fights crocs and dives down from his boat into the river to rescue his cola."

The unit, accompanied by the crocodile trainers, started shooting early one morning in the jungles of Gopeng Perak.

Khiladi Kumar was to go white water rafting, jump down from the raft into the river, dodge the crocs and swim to safety.

"When he jumped into the water the crocs were at a safe distance. However, something happened, and one of the reptiles lunged towards the actor."

All Akshay could see was its menacing jaw rushing towards him. "He froze for a split second. He has indulged in plenty of extreme-action stunts but fighting a crocodile is something he hasn't done in real life.

He turned around, grabbed the raft and quickly swung onto it and started rowing away as fast as he could till he reached a place of safety.

His presence of mind saved him. Fortunately, they got some great shots of the actor with the crocs and he didn't have to re-shoot."

According to the source, "AK has fought sharks while shooting for Blue. There too, he had an accident and got injured. But he loves thrills and the cola he endorses is all about thrilling action and excitement."

DID YOU KNOW?

Our source reveals, "Akki is waiting to complete 12 years with the cola company so he can set a record for being the longest-serving celebrity endorser."

Shruti chooses Tamil over Hindi

It's all quiet on Shruti Haasan front for the Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji promotions

Shruti Haasan has been conspicuous by her absence from the promotions of Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji. The singer-actress features in the movie opposite Emraan Hashmi.

While the rest of the cast Ajay Devgn, Omi Vaidya, Shazahn Padamsee, Shraddha Das and Hashmi have done their bit, Kamal Haasan's daughter has been silent about her project.

Says a source, "Considering her debut Hindi film Luck with Imran Khan did not fare well, she should have been looking forward to her second coming.

But strangely, she has chosen to be quiet about Madhur Bhandarkar's comic caper."

The actress appears in the film halfway through just before the interval. She essays the role of Niki, an industrialist's daughter, who is keen on bettering society through social work.

Buzz was that Shruti stayed away from the promotions as she felt that her role did not turn out be that great.

In the movie, Tisca Chopra, who essays the role of her stepmother, is there throughout the film. Almost till the interval, the audience wonders if Shruti is part of the cast or not!

Her spokesperson maintains, "Shruti's Tamil film opposite Suriya demanded all of her dates from December-end to February first week. She has been shooting in Chennai and overseas.

As a result, she couldn't promote DTBHJ as much as he would've wanted to. She was looking forward to promoting the film but was really upset that the promotional dates clashed with her Tamil movie schedule."

The spokesperson adds, "For her, working in a Madhur Bhandarkar's film was an honour, so she was really upset that she couldn't align herself to their publicity schedule."

"But," the source states, "it is indeed strange that Shruti did not fly down even for its music launch or any other function related to the flick even earlier."

Maybe for Shruti, it was a case of Dil Na Kehta Hai Ji!

Birthday time

Shruti Haasan celebrates her birthday today. The actress turns 25 and is having a working birthday as she is shooting for her Tamil film.

Deepika has a nervous breakdown

The actress is a nervous wreck on Aarakshan set due to huge crowds

Deepika Padukone has started working with Prakash Jha on his next film Aarakshan. This being her first film with the director, Deepika was extremely nervous about the shoot.

To add to her woes, she was shooting in Bhopal at a college. After seeing the crowd of hundreds gathered at the college campus, she almost had a nervous break down.

A source reveals, "Bhopal is foreign territory for Deepika. She hasn't shot for a film in the city before. Also, working with Jha was a first-time experience for her.

His style of working is very different from the directors she's worked with in the past."

Deepika's shoot started with some solo scenes of her in the campus. When she got on the sets, she was clueless about what she would have to do.

The source adds, "DP reached the production area, which was in the backyard of the college. Not many students had come in. The crowd was just about trickling in.

In matter of couple of hours, the place was packed with students and everyone had gathered to see her shoot."

Since her character is that of a college girl she was required to shoot at various places in the campus. However, things got better when Saif joined the shoot in the second half of the day.

"Deepika was much more comfortable when Saif came on set. He made her feel relaxed and put her at ease. She was also surprised at what kind of a hold Jha had on the crowd.

Despite the fact that there were hundreds of students around, every time he would say action there would be pindrop silence on the set."

By the end of the day Deepika got comfortable with the college crowd and even interacted with the students, promising to return to their campus once their shoot ends.

IT exposes Priyanka Chopra's 9 flats

Everybody knows that Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra has her own home in Mumbai but many may not know that she has invested in real estate. Well, the Income Tax (IT) raids at her residence and office have revealed that she owns nine flats in Mumbai.

IT officials found out that Priyanka owns five flats at Raj Classic in Versova but the actress has cleverly converted them into two - one comprising of three flats and the other two. She also owns a penthouse and three flats, which she gives out for rent.

The Income Tax officials raided the houses of Katrina Kaif and Priyanka Chopra on January 24 on suspicion of tax evasion. They raided about 12 premises belonging to the actresses and sealed their lockers and seized their documents. The raids had earlier exposed that Katrina has an unaccounted wealth of around Rs. 6 crore in the form of jewellery, property and business ventures.

Ajay advises Saif & Kareena not to marry

Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn is happily married to actress Kajol and is known for being a family man. But surprisingly, he advised Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor not to get married.

It happened at Karan Johar's show Koffee With Karan. When asked during the 'rapid fire round' to give a piece of marital advice to Saif and Kareena, Ajay said, “Don't get married'. The actor said it in good humour though and Karan seemed to understand it.

However, it will be very interesting if the ever-curious Karan probes Ajay further on his statement 'don't get married'!

Obscenity case against Mallika dropped by court

Bollywood's sex siren Mallika Sherawat must be heaving a huge sigh of relief, as she is free of the obscenity case. A session court has dismissed the obscenity case filed against her by social activist Vinod Jain for her performance at a five-star hotel.

Vinod filed cases against Mallika and the hotel on December 31, 2006 after seeing her performance on television, as he found it obscene. The court has dismissed the case after over four years.

However, Vinod is planning to take the case to the High Court.

Bebo gets food poisoned

Kareena Kapoor got food poisoned during her recent stint in Pune. Bollywood's numero uno actress is shooting in Pune with Salman Khan and was laid up in bed with a nagging stomach ache and fever.

A concerned Saif Ali Khan who is in Bhopal for the outdoor shoot of Aarakshan was constantly on the hotline with Bebo's family doctor RK Agarwal.

He wanted the general physician to drive to Pune and check on Bebo. The actress of course is distressed that she lost two days lying in bed.

Priyanka has unaccounted assets of Rs 6 crore: I-T

The Income Tax raid at Priyanka Chopra's premises has revealed that the Bollywood actress has unaccounted assets worth Rs six crore, a senior official said today.

"Primarily of what we have scrutinised, we have found that assets worth Rs six crore were not accounted for," the official said.

However, the official did not divulge details of the unaccounted assets. "The unaccounted assets are in various forms and we are still scrutinising it," he added.

Director General of Income Tax (investigations) B P Gaur confirmed the development.

Tax officials had on Monday conducted raids at the places of actors Priyanka and Katrina Kaif, fashion photographer Atul Kasbekar, besides talent management companies Matrix and Bling.

The department had also conducted raids at the premises of Priyanka's secretary Chand Mishra.