Ram Gopal Varma had an ingenious idea about promoting his film Sarkar Raj .

The movie, starring Amitabh Bachchan , Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai , has strong political undertones and Ramu had deemed it proper to promote it by organizing a mock political rally by the end of May.

Reports have it that an event management company was also hired to organize the rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park. Amitabh, Abhishek and Ramu were to take part in the rally. But now, the plan has been scrapped keeping in mind the current political situation in Mumbai.

It is no secret that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackrey has been very vocal about criticizing Mr. Bachchan for neglecting Maharashtra in favour of UP. Fearing that the film’s mock rally might take an ugly turn, the idea has been dropped by the movie’s team.

‘Sarkar Raj’ is set to release in June. The film narrates yet another adventurous episode in the life of the Nagre family.

Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan will be seen fighting with each other. Not in real, but in reel life. The trailer of Ram Gopal Varma's Sarkar Raj which is doing the rounds of the idiot box, shows Aishwarya sans make-up in a very serious and strong role. The powerful father-son jodi of Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan reprise the roles of Subhash and Shankar Nagre in this sequel to the Godfather-inspired Sarkar.

With the Bachchan trio joining forces on screen (not for the first time though. The trio was last seen together in the superhit song 'Kajra Re' from Bunty Aur Babli), this movie has become the most-anticipated movies in recent times. More so because this is the first time that Abhi-Ash appear on screen together after their marriage.

The actress has a very rigourous schedule ahead. She will have to juggle dates between Shankar's Robot with Superstar Rajinikanth and Mani Ratnam's next with hubby Abhishek. And if the couple decide to start a family in due course... well this ex-Miss World will have her hands full!

The beautiful actress cannot stop raving about the veteran American actor. “He’s fantastic. An institution. He has unbelievable comic timing and such energy. It’s incredible how hard he works at his age on the physical comedy. Just like Pa! Pink Panther 2 is completely Steve Martin’s film,” said Ash, adding, “what makes my role special is that they haven’t specified my nationality. Nor have I been made to put on any accent. In fact, every other character is culture-specific. Except mine. That was really nice. We all have done our best. And when we started shooting in Paris, Abhishek was with me, so it was very nice.”

However, Ash refuses to admit that Pink Panther 2 being an international project was extra special to her. “I’m not one to compare assignments. For me Chokher Bali in Kolkata was as precious as Pink Panther 2 in Boston. But, yes, Gurinder Chadha’s Bride & Prejudice and her husband’s Mistress Of Spices had a lot of Indians in the crew, so I felt at home.” And to set the record straight, Ash said, “ The Last Legion with Sir Ben Kingsley was my first fully-fledged international project. It was such a fantastic experience.”

I’ve come to the conclusion that Anbumani Ramadoss is the sort of minister we can do without. My grouse is not that he’s incompetent, corrupt or half-witted. For all I know he may be an excellent administrator, honest and brilliant to boot. The problem is he has no respect for the rest of us. He treats us like children, even idiots. He thinks he knows best and that he’s always right. I’m afraid ministers who think they’re infallible are a nuisance. They need to be eliminated much like pests!

Last week Dr Ramadoss asked celebrities to stop endorsing aerated drinks. With the likes of Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai and Sachin Tendulkar in mind, he said: “I urge stars... to desist from promoting these products.” Why? Because the good doctor has decided they’re bad for us and, therefore, we must not be tempted to drink them.

Earlier, the doctor’s wrath fell upon scenes of smoking in films and television. He believes these glamorise smoking and tempt us to follow suit. So now, a committee he will appoint will decide if smoking on screen is permissible. If it is, the concerned actor will have to feature in an advertisement warning against smoking to be run before, after and during the film. In older movies, a scroll with the same message will be run for a minute before and after each smoking scene.

Both decisions are silly. But since silliness is typical of politicians what irks me is that, in addition, both decisions transgress into areas where ministers ought not to venture. They intrude upon our right to decide for ourselves.

No one would deny smoking is bad not even smokers themselves. Similarly, most people believe too many Cokes, Pepsis, Fantas, Thums Ups or Mirindas aren’t in their best interest although, to be honest, I’m not sure if they’re bad per se. However, a surfeit of anything isn’t advisable. That’s indisputable.

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We are observing periodic block voting, designed to put Aishwarya Rai down in favor of Katrina Kaif, in our online poll. We intend to honor the block votes in order to present a level playing field and preserve the neutrality of our poll process.

After every block voting Aishwarya recovers some ground in the regular polling that follows, only to be beaten back once again by block votes.

The block voting that is taking place strengthens our suspicion that the tabloid report yesterday declaring Katrina No. 1 was a phony plant.

However, we will reiterate to Aishwarya fans that we will honor the block votes because the playing field is level. Unless you counter the more aggressive minority with their own block votes, the poll may not reflect the ground reality, as so happens in a democratic process.

Not to mention that we ourselves will end up eating humble pie! But then, we did say, Katrina is our favorite, even though we do not believe she is the most popular.

Bollywood is moving to improve its standing in the global film community. The International Indian Film Academy, or IIFA, unveils plans to hold its 2008 Award programme in Bangkok in June. Bangkok will be the ninth destination since 2000. That year the show went to London. The traveling road show is all about attracting new fans to Indian cinema.

Organizers held a press conference in Bangkok to stress the benefits the host city will reap from the Awards weekend.

Several Indian films were shot in Thailand last year, pouring $20-million into the national economy. Another $7-million came from advertisements filmed in Thailand by Indian production companies.

The IIFA presentation launched an attempt to stir excitement in a country where Bollywood cinema has a cult following at best.

Indian cinema legend Amitabh Bachchan talked about cinema as a force for peace and harmony in today's conflict-ridden world.

Amitabh Bachchan said, "I have always believed that cinema is perhaps in this rapidly hostile and dangerous world, an event that brings communities together. It is a true integrator of different communities. When we sit inside the darkened hall of a cinema house we never question the nationality, or the colour, or the caste, or the creed of the person sitting next to us. We watch the same product in front of us."

Another highlight of the event was the announcement of the nominees for this year's Best Picture Award.

The film stirring the most discussion was "Sarkar Raj". It's Ram Gopal Varma's new film starring Aishwarya Rai. The film will premiere during the Awards weekend. 

The two Dostana heroes had a pleasant break while shooting in Miami. First Abhishek Bachchan had wife Aishwarya Rai join him on their first wedding anniversary and then John Abraham had Bipasha Basu for company.

"It's just for three days. My work got over on Monday in Switzerland, so I decided to rush to Miami to be with John before I went on to my next shoot," Bipasha said, happy at the thought of finally seeing John after a month.

The Karan Johar produced Dostana being directed by Tarun Mansukhani, also stars Priyanka Chopra in the female lead.

Bipasha was shooting in Europe with Ranbir Kapoor for Bachna Ae Haseeno.

"I really enjoyed myself in the European summer. I had a super time shooting with Ranbir and my director Sid (Siddharth Anand). In fact, the entire unit was loads of fun. Italy was paradise. I enjoyed my time in Capri, Rome and Zurich."

After her brief holiday in Miami, Bipasha rushes to Bangkok to join Neil Nitin Mukesh for a 40-day schedule of new-director Jehangir Surti's Freeze.

Interestingly, in both Bachna Ae Haseeno and Freeze, Bipasha plays a woman slightly older than her co-stars.

Despite many past reports that she has opted out of Robot, Aishwarya has maintained that she is still a part of the film. Her denials not withstanding, the buzz persists, and the delay in the launch of Robot might force her to choose between the two.

Aishwarya is close to Robot director Shankar as well as Mani Ratnam. Both the directors have helped shape her career. Mani Ratnam launched her in films with Iruvar (1997) while Shankar firmly established her in tinsel town with Jeans (1998).

Later Mani Ratnam helped shape Aishwarya's career with Guru, and was also instrumental in helping Abhishek Bachchan establish his own identity with films such as Yuva and Guru.

The repeated delays in the launch of Robot have led to a clash between its production schedule and that of Mani Ratnam's Next, which is set to roll in September.

On her return from the US, Aishwarya will get busy promoting her film Sarkar Raj, which is set for release on June 6. She will be on the Unforgettables World Tour during July and August, with Amitabh and Abhishek.

She will be ready to start her next project in September, the question is which one?

Mani Ratnam's Next pairs Aishwarya with Abhishek, so you might think Aishwarya will drop Robot. However, Robot is a big budget film that has already seen many delays. It will probably be easier for Mani Ratnam to reschedule his film rather than for Shankar, who might find it impossible to coordinate Rajnikant's dates with Aishwarya's once again. 

She is at the most promising stage in her professional and personal life, but Aishwarya Rai is one worried woman currently.

If reports are to be believed, Ash has to choose between two very good (to say the least) projects with the most sought after film makers in India.

Ash has dates to accept only one film and she has to choose between Maniratnam and Shankar, both of whom had given important roles to this former Ms Universe during her initial stages in the film world.

Who can forget Ash in her grey sweater, sitting on the edge of the railing near the Kodai suicide point, flirting with Mohanlal in Iruvar? One could not but smile when the beauty swayed in a half-saree for Shankar's Jeans.

While Shankar was the man who gave her the title of being the world's eighth wonder in his Adhisayam song, it was Maniratnam who gave her an idea of screen presence and acting.

Ash's movie with Mani, where she will be paired with Abhishek (their romance bloomed in Guru) and Vikram (in Tamil) was a commitment that came much before Shankar's Robot with superstar Rajinikanth.

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Despite the top studios making a beeline to enter Bollywood and the Indian Film industry’s growing prowess across markets, the first four months have been dismal at the box office. With 19 films released in 2008, from January to April, the box office has seen just two hits Race and Jodha Akbar. Besides, there was a drop in the number of releases during the 4 months. In 2006 the number of releases for the same period was 28, 27 in 2007 while 2008 has seen only 19 releases so far.

The saving grace has been Race and Jodhaa Akbar, with collections of Rs 62 crore and Rs 61 crore respectively. The list of big banners which flopped was Ajay Devgan’s Halla Bol which clocked in Rs 15.9 crore, followed by Black & White, which marked Subhash Ghai’s come back, which managed just Rs 5.8 crore. The much publicised Pakistani film Khuda Ke Liye, despite a wide release across multiplexes could rake in only Rs 1.2 crore.

Pritish Nandy, CEO, Pritish Nandy Communications, puts it best when he says, “Number of films released going down was something that was bound to happen. The in-built inflation omnipresent in the film industry has been a major factor. With actors prices having zoomed up, the economics of movie making has been destroyed. Moreover, date availability being an issue, number of releases will see a decline.”

Mr Nandy added that Hollywood went through the same phase earlier with actors dictating the industry, pushing studios to step in and ensure that the script was the selling point and not the actor. He added that this year the number of films in toto will also see a decline from the average 250 films a year to about 200-220.
While the Hindi film industry might have produced many actors, it is still the top stars who rule the roost at the box office. Says Namrata Shanbhogue, media and entertainment expert with Enam Fin Consultants, “The stars of Shahrukh, Akshay, Aamir, Salman are still major drivers of box office revenues. And non availability of dates from these stars could automatically mean delayed releases.”

With actor availability now becoming scarce, producers are looking at strategic ways of controlling talent costs. For instance, long-term deals with actors and directors is in vogue. UTV, for instance, has reportedly tied up with Hrithik Roshan to do a certain number of movies for a fixed sum. UTV also has a tie-up with directors like Madhur Bhandarkar and Ashutosh Gowariker. Similarly, Studio 18 has tied up with Katrina Kaif for two movies. However, trade analysts state that this trend is short lived, and with the demand-supply mismatch, actors are shying away from long term contracts, and are cashing in on the bull run.