Archive for May 1st, 2008

Celina Jaitley

Celina Jaitley is one of the few personalities who were born abroad in Kabul, Afghanistan on 24th November, 1981 and went on to become Miss India in 2001. Her mother was also a former Afghan beauty queen. Her brother is following in their father’s footsteps and is serving the Indian army. She spent a major portion of her childhood in Kolkata.   She began her career as a model and then, made foray in music videos industry where she featured in a few albums including Bombay Vikings’ “Zara nazroon se kehdo”. Her first feature film was “Khel” opposite Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty and the famous cricketer Ajay Jadeja where she played Jadeja’s love interest. Her other movies include “Janasheen”, “Silsiilay”, “No Entry”, “Jawaani Diwani”, “Tom Dick and Harry”, “Apna Sapna Money Money” and “Shakalaka Boom Boom”. Most of these movies had hit music and so did moderate business.   She is currently working on her first international movie “The Quest of Sheherzade” which has been shot in New Zealand. Her other upcoming projects are “One Night” and “Kabul ka Gangster”. Both the movies are in their post production phase and are expected to be in theatres soon. “Kabul ka Gangster” is supposed to justify Celina’s claim of being Afghan descent but 100% Indian at heart.    

Farhan Akhtar

What happens when your family background includes the likes of a scriptwriter, poet, lyricist, screenplay writer and an actress? Farhan Akhtar was born on 9th January, 1974 to Javed Akhtar and Honey Irani and went on to become an actor, writer, producer and director. His entry in Bollywood as a director was with “Dil Chahta Hai” which wooed the youth world over and earned him a Filmfare nomination for the best director. Though Farhan did not earn the award but the movie won a few awards including the Filmfare best screenplay award. “Dil Chahta Hai” is considered by many as one of the greatest movies ever made in Bollywood.   His next movie “Lakshya” starring Hrithik Roshan which was appreciated by critics released in 2004. The movie saw the father-son combination work as director-writer together. The movie was nominated for Filmfare best director award as well but the same still allured Farhan. Among his other popular projects was the remake of 1978 classic “Don” which saw Shah Rukh Khan in the lead in the 2006 version of the movie. The combination clicked and was a huge success at the box office. Another successful project of Farhan’s was Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.   Farhan made his acting debut with “The Fakir” and upcoming movies include “Luck by chance” and “Rock on”. He is also involved as a producer in “luck by chance” whereas his next directorial venture remains “Voice from the sky”.    

Shahid Kapoor

Shahid Kapoor started his career as a dance artist, since was trained under Shaimak Davar, working in various music albums and also, as a background dancer in movies like “Taal”. He also featured in a Pepsi ad opposite Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukherjee in 1998. His debut as the lead actor of a movie came in 2003 in the movie “Ishk Vishk” opposite Amrita Rao and he won both the IIFA and the Filmfare best debut award for his role in the movie. He had seven more releases before he had his first major box office success with Suraj R. Barjatya’s “Vivah”. Meanwhile, he earned great reviews for his roles in “Fida”, “36 China Town” and “Dil Maangey More”. He established his superiority over other new comers with “Jab we met” which had unprecedented success at the box office and has also earned him nomination for the best actor from both Filmfare and IIFA. Among his other appreciated roles is the one in “Shikhar” even though the movie was a big flop. “36 China Town” and “Chup Chup Ke” are some of the other movies of his which had moderate success at the box office. His upcoming projects include “Eight by ten” and “Kismet Konnection”. Shahid dated his fellow actor Kareena Kapoor for a while before the couple broke up in 2007.