Body double for Bond girl!

LONDON: Aishwarya Rai has agreed to

appear in the next James Bond film if its producers agree to use a body double for the sex scenes with Pierce Brosnan, who plays secret agent 007. Rai was asked to play Brosnan’s romantic interest in the still untitled film, the 21st in the Bond series, but she has insisted she will take the role only if a look-alike is drafted in for the inevitable sex scenes.

She told the British press that her strict upbringing meant there was no question of her doing anything saucy. “I’ve said I will do the film if there is a body double. The producers have said they will have to ask Pierce,” she said.

She said the Bond offer came after she bumped into Brosnan at a party. “He walked over to me and said he had seen me on the

cover of Time magazine,” she said. “I could hardly say anything at first but then my friend started talking and told Pierce how much he loved his trademark intro, ‘The name’s Bond, James Bond’.”

“Pierce kept looking at me and the next thing was the casting agent for the film got in touch and asked if I would like to be a Bond girl.”

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is said to be keen to cast a Bollywood actress to increase Bond’s appeal in Asia.

Reports said two other Indian actresses — Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta — had been approached to appear in the film should Rai’s demand rule her out.

Madhuri pals with Ramu

MUMBAI: Rumours have whizzed past about Madhuri throwing a fit about the film Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon by Ram Gopal Varma. According to some, Madhuri demanded a hefty sum for her name and personality being used in the film. But the truth is otherwise. Madhuri and her entire family saw the film. And they loved it! In fact Madhuri asked Varma to provide her with publicity material that she wanted to take back with her to the US and distribute among her friends.

Madhuri has been approached by Rituparno Ghosh for a major role in one of his two

Hindi films. If she gives the nod it could be her comeback vehicle.

Esha delights Madhavan

MUMBAI: Kareena has regretfully backed out of Rituparno Ghosh’s quickie with Ajay Devgan in November. “The dates that Ritu wanted clashed with Mani Rathnam and Govind Nihalani. I tried. But I

couldn’t reshuffle the dates since they involved someone as busy as Bachchan.”

Mani Rathnam is so pleased with Kareena’s

performance in Yuva that he has decided to add two songs to her character. The way things are going it looks like the Tamil version of Yuva will be complete before the Hindi one.

Madhavan, who plays the slightly negative part (done by Abhishek in Hindi), is all praise for Esha Deol. “She’s so full of life and a real surprise on the sets. We’ve all kind of adopted her on the sets.”

Bebo with Sr, Jr Kapoors

MUMBAI: Besides their surnames, what’s common to Anil Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor? Kareena Kapoor! While Anil, the senior Kapoor, co-stars with her in Bewafaa, Shahid, the youngest Kapoor

entrant, is all set to play the lead with Kareena in a Ken Ghosh film. That’s not all.

Kareena and Shahid are also in a Boney Kapoor project to be directed by Satish Kaushik. “I’m only 23. There aren’t too many leading ladies who suit me,”

explains Shahid.

Chameli set to earn honours

MUMBAI: Sudhir Mishra’s Chameli looks good enough to win all the art house accolades this year. Kareena is a special revelation in the film. Rahul Bose can’t stop marvelling at how she has grown during the two months of shooting.

“With every schedule she has surprised everyone, except perhaps herself. Before every shot she’d be her normal friendly self, talking, joking and messaging. The minute the camera switches on she transforms,” Rahul says.

During the final lap of Chameli, Rahul and Kareena performed some very difficult dramatic scenes. There was a stunned silence on the sets after every shot.

“Will I get the awards? I don’t know. God willing, yes. But you can’t give a performance for the awards. It’s like having a baby to come first in class,” Kareena says. She is also working for Govind Nihalani’s Dev where she comes face to face with the mighty Amitabh Bachchan.

Indo-Asian News Service