Preity Zinta will be examined as witness-in-chief on January 23 in a defamation case she filed against a tabloid in 2005, her lawyer said.    The actress had filed the case against the Mumbai-based tabloid for publishing an article regarding an alleged taped conversation between actors Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in which her name was mentioned in an objectionable manner.  The tapes of the alleged telephonic conversation were later examined in 2005 by the forensic laboratory in Chandigarh, which said the voices were not that of Salman and Aishwarya.

Suniel is joining hands with Shobha and Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms to produce a film based on bike and car racing. The film has been titled ‘Raaste’ and will star Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Sikander Kher and Aishwarya Rai.  John will once again be seen in his cool biker dude look and is extremely excited about doing the film. Ash and Abhi have once again been cast together in this film. The film will be directed by Farhan Akhtar’s assistant Vicky Singh.  “John plays a biker, Abhishek is a racer and Sikander also has an interesting part to play,” says the director.

Actress Kangana Ranaut is so impressed by Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan that she wants to get married to somebody as cultured and as nice. She met Hrithik at the recent Global Indian Film Awards (GIFA) in Kuala Lumpur where she was honoured with the best female debutante for her role in "Gangster - A Love Story". "In a world filled with dishonourable intentions Hrithik is such a thorough gentleman. He knows how to make a lady feel special. He spoke to me as if I was the best actress in the world," Kangana told. "I think his wife is very lucky. Where can I find a husband like that?" said Kangana.

Salman Khan has cancelled his visit to South Africa for a film shooting after the police said he would be quizzed over the underworld's links to the movie industry, well informed sources said. The crime branch of Mumbai Police is to interrogate Salman for an episode that involved the underworld playing a role to allegedly influence him to reduce his fees in "Chori Chori Chupke Chupke", produced by Nasim Rizvi and financed by Bharat Shah, through money sent from abroad by mobster Chhota Shakeel. Shah and Rizvi have been found guilty in that case.

Former Bollywood leading lady Madhuri Dixit visited Siddhi Vinayaka temple in Central Mumbai's Prabhadevi area along with her husband Dr. Sriram Nene and two sons-Arin and Ryan- to offer prayers to Lord Ganesha. It has been reported that Dr. Nene is also planning to settle in India, by early next year. For the time being, Madhuri is thinking to get her elder son enrolled in a Mumbai school.

The way things are going, Sascha Sippy has nothing to worry about. Ramu's Sholay is going to be very different from the way Ramesh Sippy conceived and made it 30 years ago.  For one, the songs and the song situations are going to be very different. Except for the Mehbooba track, Ramu is re-vamping the entire music score and therefore the entire song situations. Hence there will be no Holi song before Gabbar and gang's attack on the village, and no Basanti dancing on glass for Gabbar in his hide-out. "In fact," reveals Ramu, "I decided to retain Mehbooba only because I liked track so much that I had to have it in my film. All the other songs in my film are originals.

Here are links to few new release movie sites:
Bhagam Bhag
Baabul
Kaabul Express

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