Deepika Padukone has kissed Saif Ali Khan on screen, but her new co-star Neil Nitin Mukesh hadn’t kissed on camera. The conservative actor had no choice but to succumb to a liplock for Yashraj Films’ ‘Lafange Parindey’.

Neil has pulled out the plug on his no-kissing clause as he was virtually forced to do a long, lingering kissing scene with Deepika.

Director Pradeep Sarkar and Deepika had to use every possible power of persuasion before Neil abandoned his chastity vow.

“At first Neil was totally against the kiss with Deepika. He has refused to kiss in all his films,” said a source close to the project.

“In fact his first director, Sriram Raghavan, threw a fit when Neil refused to kiss Rimi Sen. In his second film, ‘Tera Kya Hoga Johnny’, director Sudhir Mishra insisted Neil kiss Shahana Goswami, but the actor refused. Even in ‘Jail’ where there was an intimate scene with Mugdha Godse, Neil refused to kiss,” the source added.

Conservative to the core, Neil plunged into his first kiss only after the director assured him that the romantic relationship needed a culmination.

“Pradeep persuaded Neil and he finally saw his director’s point of view. But the actor was nervous. Deepika had kissed before on screen. Not Neil,” the source said.

“He first suggested a peck. But was finally persuaded to do a long, torrid smooch comparable in intensity and duration with Aamir Khan and Karisma Kapoor’s kiss in ‘Raja Hindustani’,” the source added.

When contacted, Neil said: “I can’t talk about this. But, yes, we’ve gone completely by the requirements of the script. And ‘Lafange Parinde’ is my first love story.”

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Aamir Khan is known to give his heart and soul to his projects and the superstar admits that he’s extremely nervous as his production venture ‘Peepli Live’ nears its release date.

“As 13th Aug gets closer, the butterflies in my stomach are really beginning to flutter around. Have lost my appetite and my sleep,” Aamir wrote on his blog.

“I’m really depending on you guys (audiences) this time round for support. This is an especially tough one with no big stars and a film based in a rural background.”

“For those of you living outside India please tell all your friends, neighbours, collegues, gardners etc, who may not have ever seen an Indian film before, to give this one a try. Assuming you like it of course,” he added.

Directed by debutant Anusha Rizvi, ‘Peepli Live’ is a satire on society. It revolves around two impoverished farmers - Natha (Omkar Das Manikpuri) and Budhia (Raghubir Yadav) - who live in a village called Peepli. They are about to lose their land due to their debts.

An incompetent politician suggests they commit suicide to get government help. The news spreads and the media turns Natha into a celebrity.

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Bollywood is definitely a great place and I can’t see myself being anywhere else. Being born to a family associated with movies, I learnt the basics at an early age… And knowledge must be spread.

So here it is… The tongue-in-cheek A to Z of the Bollywood Alphabet as I know it… Some of it may be relevant… Most of it may not… But go through it anyway…

A for AMITABH BACHCHAN – The undisputed King of Bollywood

B for BALLS – which some have… some pretend to… and some don’t at all…

C for CRITICS – who aren’t always qualified but never disqualified!

D for DIRECTOR – who everyone assumes knows what he is doing.

E for EGO – which is plenty in the industry but seldom helps.

F for ******* – Lets not go there… I’ll need more than a column to divulge those details…

G for GOSSIP – which everyone contributes to yet no one owns up to…

H for HISTORY – Which if you don’t make it… You are it…

I for INTERNATIONAL – which everyone has gone but ‘they’ still aren’t aware…

J for JACK OF ALL TRADES – that would undoubtedly be me…

K for KAREENA AND KATRINA – who have beauty, brains and blockbusters…

L for LUST – which most often is mistaken for the other four-letter word beginning with ‘L’…

M for MOTHER – an element that never goes wrong in movies…

N for NEW AGE – A word often thrown at the mainstream to give it a complex…

O for ORGANISATION – An alien concept in most quarters…

P for PAPARAZZI AND PR – The latest entrants in Bollywood… Celebrities are fashionably in denial about them but cant do a day without them…

Q for QUEENS – A lot of them around ruling the roost…

R for RAT RACE – Even if you win you are still a rat… Just a well-paid one!

S for SHAH RUKH KHAN – Sorry couldn’t resist that one…

T for TWITTER – where everyone’s talking and no one’s listening

U for UNIVERSAL HIT – Full page ads proclaim this every Friday… ‘Proclaim’ being the operative word…

W for WANNABE – a virus that has no vaccination…

X for ‘EX FACTOR’ – which rules the industry… Everywhere you turn there’s an ex!

Y for YES MEN – who everyone has around them just to feel ‘objective’…

Z for Zzzzzzz – a sound I’m hoping you guys aren’t making right now!

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The Sajid Khan-directed hit Housefull (supposedly a remake of the Kamal Haasan- Prabhu Deva starrer Kadhala Kadhala) starring Akshay Kumar, Boman Irani, Arjun Rampal, Ritesh Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Deepika Padukone and Jiah Khan, has run into trouble.

The Chennai High Court has issued a stay order on the film and hence, the film will not be telecast on Indian satellite television and cable.

Earlier, PL Thenappan, who produced Kadhala Kadhala, had filed a complaint with the Tamil Film Producer’s Council, alleging that Kadhala Kadhala was remade in Hindi as Housefull without prior permission.

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Considering the war of words the two sides had in February, during the release of My Name Is Khan, the advertisement came as a surprise.

What is not clear is whether Shah Rukh authorised the advertisement or someone in the production house sent it without his knowledge. Incidentally, AB Corp placed an advertisement wishing Uddhav as well.

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Sonam Kapoor outside a suburban lounge bar on Tuesday night. When the actress left the venue, two bikers tailed her for an autograph. Anil Kapoor’s daughter obliged them by stopping her car and signing her name on a piece of paper for them.

Preity Zinta was seen at an event after a long time. We are not sure what her excuse is for wearing shimmery pants. Nope, she didn’t come in straight from shooting a song for one of her films.

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The music launch of her upcoming film, Subhash Ghai’s Hello Darling, was supposed to be a happy occasion. But the expression Celina Jaitly wore to the event seemed like it had been in a ‘deep freeze’ mode. Obviously, the ‘new look’ got everyone talking.

Case in point? The actress’ appearance at the announcement of the film two-odd years ago.

Change truly is a constant in Celina’s life. Take a look at her go from somewhat expressive to completely expressionless.

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Apparently, there are already several fake accounts on Madhuri’s names thus it’s equally difficult for her fans to find out which is the real Madhuri Dixit. However, Madhuri who joined a social networking site on May 30 has applied for verification.

She got in touch with the head office to put things in the fast gear, “I am waiting for verification of Twitter because I don’t want my fans to be confused.” The actress has submitted required documents to verify her account.

Madhuri was very excited about joining the web world but she feels extremely disappointed for not being verified as yet. “Verification is taking long because I’m in USA & the confirmation from Twitter India is taking long. Honestly. I’ll be happier when Twitter confirms it,” said Madhuri, who is currently in Denver with her family.

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