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Remember the super hit song Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Yeh..... from Meena Kumari's timeless classic Dil Apna Aur Preet Parai. Incidentally, the Daastaan (story) of Meena Kumari's life has suddenly become a hot piece of news since biopics are ruling the roost in Bollywood hence everybody is keen to exploit the life of the tragedy queen and mint money.

On one hand filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia has reportedly signed Queen actress Kangana Ranaut to play Meena Kumari in his film which is an adaption of the biography on Meena Kumari, penned by eminent late journalist Vinod Mehta.

On the other hand, interestingly, Meena Kumari's step-son Tajdar Amrohi, son of Kamal Amrohi from his first wife, is also making a movie titled Meena Baa Kamaal (Meena - the extraordinary). Initially Manisha Koirala was announced to play the lead but she declined the offer and now a new actress would play the part.

To celebrate the release of Salman Khan’s latest film Jai Ho, BollySpice presents to you an exclusive countdown list where we list some of the actor’s greatest works. From Best Action Film to Best Song, we give you the lowdown on what has made Salman Khan one of the most iconic and most loved actors in Bollywood history. We hope you like our choices and hope they will make you a bigger fan of Salman than you already may be. Enjoy!

Best Masala Film – Dabangg (2010): Director: Abhinav Singh Kashyap. Producers: Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan & Dhillin Mehta.

Arguably one of Salman’s best works, Dabangg contains everything you would expect from a masala flick. It has action, drama, romance and comedy, with the accompaniment of some flavoursome songs. The film also saw the debut of Bollywood favourite Sonakshi Sinha, who has subsequently managed to build a successful career in the industry.

To celebrate the Indian film industry's centenary year, here are 10 essential movies – from a silent film about the life of the Buddha to a violent gangster epic

Prem Sanyas/The Light of Asia (Franz Osten, 1925)

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Among the few silent films that remain are three Indo-German co-productions that predate the arrival of the German technicians and directors who worked in the Bombay Talkies studio in the 1930s. The Light of Asia was shot in India but edited and processed in Germany and intertitled in English. The script was adapted from Sir Edwin Arnold's epic poem The Light of Asia (1861) while the opening credits proclaim it was "Shown by Royal Command at Windsor Castle, April 27 1926" and that it benefited greatly from help offered by the Maharaja of Jaipur. The film shows westerners touring India (Mumbai, Delhi, Varanasi) who come to Bodh Gaya, the site of Gautam Buddha's Enlightenment.

New Delhi, July 14: Small screen actor Avinesh Rekhi grabbed viewers' attention after his stint on daily soap "Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon" and says currently he is only focusing on the show.

But if he gets a chance to act in a Bollywood film, he would love to do something like "Andaz Apna Apna".

"To be honest, I have not got any offers for films. My career has just started and my only focus at this time is 'Madhubala'," Avinesh told Ians while talking about future plans.

"I love comedy films, my favourite movie is 'Andaz Apna Apna'. I loved Aamir Khan's character Amar in the film and would love to do something like that sometime," he added.

Seen as reticent and brooding Sultan on the show, Avinesh says that.

Shankar Mahadevan's dream came true when he recorded his first-ever duet with Lata Mangeshkar earlier this month. A devotional the music for the song was composed by Mayuresh Pai. We now learn from very reliable sources that the enterprising Shankar Mahadevan is planning a peace album with the Nightingale. Containing songs about healing the world, the songs, we are told, would convey the same therapeutic effect as Lataji's 'Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon' and 'Jo Samar Mein Ho Gaye Amar'. Says a source close to the project, "It was Shankar's ardent wish to do a heal-the-world album with Lataji. Now when there is strife, violence, hatred and negativity all around us, Shankar feels the time is right to get his dream project on the road." We learn that Shankar spoke to Lataji about the project. She has agreed to devote ample time this year to his therapeutic time.

Leander Paes, is making his debut as an actor with Ashok Kohli directed Socio-political drama Rajdhani Express- Point Blank Justice on 4th January 2013. Produced by Manoj Kejriwal , Ritika Kohli & Rajesh K Patel, it has an ensemble star cast of Leander Paes, Jimmy Shergill, Puja Bose, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Gulshan Grover, Kiran Kumar, Mukesh Rishi, Sadhanshu Pandey, Sayali Bhagat, Achint Kaur and Shilpa Shukla. In the film Leander is playing the character of Keshav, an errand boy for a gun runner, who steals the weapon and a ticket to escape and travel in Rajdhani Express from Delhi to Mumbai. Inside the train his fate is no better. Distanced, ridiculed and humiliated, he reacts by pointing his gun at his co-passengers. All Hell breaks loose.

How was the first day of shoot as an actor?

My first day in my first movie was the beginning of a fantastic journey for me. I...

“We actors are completely oblivious of ourselves and our surroundings while we perform and even when we watch our work in the rushes shown to us, our senses and vision are trained to detect shortcomings more than accomplishments. That’s the only way we know to improve and render performances that come close to our own satisfaction. And it is always the audience who have the absolute right to acclaim or reject our work, however hard we may have worked to achieve perfection and excellence.” – Dilip Kumar in a letter to Amitabh Bachchan on 14 December 2011

One article alone is not enough to write about the profound impact which Mr Dilip Kumar has had on many people and on Indian films. He himself may not have been aware of the fact that working in films would someday result in him being branded by film personalities and by fans worldwide as one...

The script has changed in Bollywood in the last 60 years - the women are more worldly, the men more macho and the cinema itself more techno-savvy, almost as good as Hollywood, says veteran cinema writer and critic Bhaichand Patel..The women in Hindi cinema are more assertive though no less beautiful (than yesteryear ones), they often smoke on screen and they are equal to men. Mainstream cinema has been a good trend-setter for equality of gender - it is happening now,. Patel told us..The hero, however, has not changed as much as women though they - the crop represented by Salman Khan, Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan - are a little more physical and action-oriented than the early superstars like Dilip Kumar and Raj Kumar..A former Un official, Patel studied filmmaking at New York University.His new book, Bollywood.s Top 20: Superstars of Indian Cinema launched Monday,...

New Delhi, Dec 11: Dilip Kumar celebrated his 89th birthday Sunday and celebrities like Deep Mehta, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar wished him and showered praise on the legend.

Bollywood took to twitter to express its love and fondness for the thespian, known for his memorable performances in 'Amar', 'Madhumati', 'Devdas', 'Shaheed', 'Leader', 'Daag', 'Naya Daur' and 'Mughal-e-Azam'.

This is what the celebs have to say about Peshawar, now in Punjab, born Yusuf Khan, who was introduced to the Hindi film industry as Dilip Kumar by Devika Rani.

Deepa Mehta: Many Happy Returns Dilip Saheb. You made me cry in 'Andaz',.

He is as a hugely successful popstar and on his first outing as an actor Ali Zafar blew critics away with his performance in Tere Bin Laden. For his next role, Ali took on a Yash Raj Film Mere Brother Ki Dulhan with Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif. From what we have heard Ali held his own and almost steals the show with his outstanding comedic performance. The actor/singer talks about his experiences working on the film that he predicts will be such a big hit you may have to wait 5-6 days to get a seat!

Tell us about your character in Mere Brother Ki Dulhan.

The character that I’m playing is Luv. Luv is Kush’s brother and they have a very interesting relationship with each other. They are kind of candid with each other, but there is also a little bit of a formal equation between the two.

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.s production .Peepli Live., which has created an unprecedented buzz despite being a non-commercial movie, has got a mixed start at the ticket windows in terms of advance bookings both in metros and small centres..The advance is nothing good considering that it has no star cast. We have sold only 20 percent of weekend tickets, but we are expecting a bumper weekend because of a trustworthy name like Aamir Khan,. Amit Awasthi, senior manager (Programming and Operations) of Spice Cinemas, told Ians.A source from PVR cinemas said: .The advance is okay but nothing like an Aamir starrer. We are getting a lot of bulk bookings from corporate offices, but on small-scale basis it is yet to pick momentum. Apart from metros, the booking is okay at small centres like Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Indore and Ludhiana..Directed by debutant Anusha Rizvi, .Peepli Live. puts the spotlight...

On Saturday Amar Kaushik who’s an assistant director to Onir got the shock of his life on a local train where he was discussing Anurag Kashyap’s Dev D loudly and lavishly with his friends.

A group of passengers’ close- by heard Dev D being mentioned and roughed up Kaushik very badly.

Says the director Onir: “They mistook him for Anurag because Amar looks like Anurag. And they said to him, ‘You’ve been talking rubbish about Raj Thackeray’. It is scary. If they can behave this way with Anurag’s look-alike what would they do with the real person. What has happened to the.

Ack Media, owner of the legendary Amar Chitra Katha comics, has acquired a 50% stake in Mumbai based Fable Farm Studios for an undisclosed amount. The studio's founder Vfx veteran Biju D will retain ownership of the rest of the company. Speaking exclusively to Bollywood Hungama, Biju D said, "We will share revenue on an equal basis. We are currently developing several story ideas and experimenting with a variety of animation styles, which might be later transformed into TV series and films." Prior to the acquisition, the studio was located at an animation institute in Andheri, Mumbai. "We now have four studios all over India which focus on gaming, IP creation, etc," Samir Patil, CEO of Ack Media added. The studio currently employs 21 artists and will soon shift to a bigger facility. Ack and Fable Farm also jointly announced a 3D stereoscopic 3D film based on the popular Tinkle character 'Suppandi'.

Ack Media, owner of the legendary Amar Chitra Katha comics, has acquired a 50% stake in Mumbai based Fable Farm Studios for an undisclosed amount. The studio's founder Vfx veteran Biju D will retain ownership of the rest of the company. Speaking exclusively to Bollywood Hungama, Biju D said, "We will share revenue on an equal basis. We are currently developing several story ideas and experimenting with a variety of animation styles, which might be later transformed into TV series and films." Prior to the acquisition, the studio was located at an animation institute in Andheri, Mumbai. "We now have four studios all over India which focus on gaming, IP creation, etc," Samir Patil, CEO of Ack Media added. The studio currently employs 21 artists and will soon shift to a bigger facility. Ack and Fable Farm also jointly announced a 3D stereoscopic 3D film based on the popular Tinkle character 'Suppandi'.

Amar Chitra Katha comics, entertainer of generations and one of the greatest sources of Indian fables, epics and mythology, will soon come alive on the big screen and the silver screen. Ack Media and Turner International have signed a deal to jointly produce two animated films and 26 half-hour episodes based on the legendary Amar Chitra Katha stories. The TV series and films will be produced in the inimitable Ack art-style reinvented for the world of 2D animation. The films are being developed under the tutelage of Cartoon Network animation experts. Announcing the acquisition, Monica Tata, Vice President and Deputy General Manager-Entertainment Networks, South Asia, Turner International, said, "As a great believer in the Indian storytelling heritage, Turner has successively contributed to keeping India's treasure trove of stories alive with animation through its leading kids' channels,Cartoon Network and Pogo. We are ecstatic to provide a platform to recreate the magic...

Amar Chitra Katha comics, entertainer of generations and one of the greatest sources of Indian fables, epics and mythology, will soon come alive on the big screen and the silver screen. Ack Media and Turner International have signed a deal to jointly produce two animated films and 26 half-hour episodes based on the legendary Amar Chitra Katha stories. The TV series and films will be produced in the inimitable Ack art-style reinvented for the world of 2D animation. The films are being developed under the tutelage of Cartoon Network animation experts. Announcing the acquisition, Monica Tata, Vice President and Deputy General Manager-Entertainment Networks, South Asia, Turner International, said, "As a great believer in the Indian storytelling heritage, Turner has successively contributed to keeping India's treasure trove of stories alive with animation through its leading kids' channels,Cartoon Network and Pogo. We are ecstatic to provide a platform to recreate the magic...

Sharad Malhotra better known as Amar of Banu Main Teri Dulhan. Sharad who was planning to celebrate New Years with his family in Kolkatta expressed his desire to buy a house in the coming year.

According to sources, currently Sharad lives in Versova on rent but always had this dream of owing a house in Mumbai. Due to the recession happening nowadays property rates have slashed down by 25% so he feels that this is the right time to buy a house for himself. He wants to buy a house in the same locality where he is currently staying as of now coz he enjoys the beach view on his way back from.