Raveena’s royal wedding

UDAIPUR: Bollywood heartthrob Raveena Tandon married film distributor Anil Thadani at a glittering ceremony in this Rajasthan tourist resort this Sunday that was attended by a galaxy of film stars, politicians and sportsmen.

Family sources said among the select 200 guests who attended were Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri, Rani Mukherjee, Govinda and Salman Khan, politician Amar Singh, industrialist Gautam Singhania and cricketer Ravi Shastri. Raveena’s childhood dream of a wedding fit for a princess was fulfilled at the historic Jagmandir, an island palace in the Lake Pichola here.

Raveena was wearing her mother’s 35-year-old maroon-coloured lehenga or traditional long dress. Thadani was attired in a cream-colour sherwani or long coat.

Arya, Gracy in Dil Humko...

MUMBAI: Producers Raj Shah and Kuku Babbar (Raj Babbar’s younger brother)have signed Arya Babbar and Gracy Singh to play lead roles in Dil Humko Dijiye. The other male lead is to be finalised.

The first schedule will be held from February 23 to March 5 in Mumbai. The next schedule will be held from March 20 to 30 in Punjab, followed by a major schedule, from May 5 to mid-June, in Canada. The film is slated for Diwali release. Dil Humko Dijiye is scripted and directed by Chitraath, while Nikhil-Vinay score the music.

‘Hunt’ for whites on

MUMBAI: Travel advisory for all whites travelling to Mumbai: You just might get headhunted and find yourself in pitched battle with Aamir Khan.

An unprecedented demand for firangi extras for Ketan Mehta’s under-production film, The Rising, has led the film’s casting director to resort to some unusual tactics.

They include: shanghaiing whites at airports, laying siege at hotels around Colaba, and scouting the beaches of Goa. All this to one end: to fill the background scenery in the battle scenes with a sea of white.

Cute Look Productions, which is overseeing background casting for the cinematic version of the Mutiny of 1857, says: “We have to cast 3,500 white Caucasians. Between February 22 and 25, they need about 230 of them.”

What they are paid: For background action — Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,500 a day, the ‘talking parts’ — Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 a day

Saif out of Gulel

MUMBAI: Saif Ali Khan has opted out of Aparna Sen’s Gulel. Buzz has it that Saif demanded a few changes in the script so as to suit his current image. Sources close to Saif reveal, “His role in the film was very weak compared to the other roles in the film. Thus he had no choice but to turn it down.”

However, Aparna Sen maintains that Saif is very much a part of the film. “As far as I know he is still in my film,” she told the press. It may be recalled that Aparna Sen and Pritish Nandy

Communications, the producers, had a fallout too. “We opted out because Gulel is an art house film,” maintained Rangita Nandy. Looking at the way things are moving one wonders if the film will ever

get made.