Bachchan's handprint to be placed in Krakow

Amitabh Bachchan's handprint will be placed alongside those of entertainers like late King of Pop Michael Jackson in the Polish city of Krakow. "And yes, my hand print on ornate slab to be placed in the path of honor by the Great Castle, along with other entertainment greats!," Amitabh posted on his Twitter page.

The 68-year-old was in Krakow to be a part of a film festival, where his film ‘Black’ was screened. He also attended an event to honour his father, renowned poet Harivanshrai Bachchan, at the University of Krakow.

He described the process of his hand-printing ceremony on his blog. "...Back in the room of the hotel, the dye was being cast. Chemicals were ready and mixed, instructions on how the hand should be placed, administered and the two hands dipped into a cold sluggish-like material - the paste that shall give impressions of the 'life line' and 'heart line' and the 'health condition'.

"As you hold steady the hands dipped slightly in the solution, the pink paste starts to turn white - indication that within seconds the hands need to be removed, as the job is over," he posted. Amitabh was also presented with a 'key of the city' by the mayor of Krakow.

Amitabh Bachchan: Bhopal individuals are absolutely refined

He is shooting here for Prakash Jha's "Aarakshan" and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan has grown fond of the locals, whom he describes as cultured and disciplined.

"As many people I have met so far in Bhopal, all are polite, cultured, disciplined and easy to get familiar with. Love and care for people of Bhopal," Big B posted on his Twitter. Bhopal is special for Amitabh as his mother-in-law - wife Jaya Bachchan's mother - lives in the city and he, in fact, went to meet her.

Amitabh Bachchan no longer IIFA brand ambassador

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has been the brand ambassador of the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards since their inception in 2000, will no longer perform the role – and the concept itself has been dropped.

‘Due to unexplainable reasons, after announcing the event, Mr. Bachchan couldn’t participate in the IIFA Weekend in Sri Lanka last year. Following this, IIFA aborted the concept of a Brand Ambassador,’ Sabbas Joseph, director, Wizcraft entertainment that organizes the event, said in a statement.

‘Keeping in mind the huge respect that Wizcraft and IIFA have for Mr. Bachchan and the deep relationship that we’ve always shared, we are not having anyone replace Mr. Bachchan.

‘The Bachchan family has been an intrinsic part of IIFA every year, and in this regard we have already shared with them a proposal about their participation this year too. Mr Bachchan’s reason for non-participation is best known to him. IIFA and Mr.Bachchan are inseparable. We will continue to pursue his participation for this year too,’ Joseph said.

However, there could be more to this than meets the eye as Amitabh confirmed the parting of ways on his Twitter account but put the onus on the IIFA.

‘Not coming to Toronto IIFA…IIFA says my services are not required,’ he Tweeted.

Amitabh Bachchan join grand premiere of No One Killed Jessica

The much talked Bollywood film of the year No One Killed Jessica had a grand premiere in presence of some big names of the industry. However, Vidya Balan had a special guest, her son megastar Amitabh Bachchan. She could not miss inviting Big B, who played her son in Paa.

Amitabh also acknowledged the invitation posting about it in his blog. He wrote that Vidya called over the Bachchan family for the premiere of her strong film based on Jessica Lal murder case, which involved the son of a well known and powerful politician. Vidya’s performance in the movie is liked by Big B and said that she has been graceful as always and the performances have justified the story and title of the film.

Big B was also elated to meet Rani Mukherjee after a long time. The actress was once very close the Bachchan family before Abhishek Bachchan got married to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. The megastar also expressed his happiness over meeting Rani saying that he is very happy to see her after a long gap. Rani is also playing an important role in the movie.

Mr. Bachchan offered his best wishes to the film and its team. We hope Big B’s wish works for the film and Rani, who will be seen in a quite different role in this film, which is releasing today.

Amitabh Bachchan makes ‘deadly proclamations' about media

Amitabh Bachchan has had a 40-year-old long love-hate relationship with the media, ever since he began his Bollywood journey. The actor, who is 68 years old and is still going strong, knows how to prove people wrong by his witticisms, Zee News reported.

According to a report, the living legend, who made an appearance on Karan Johar’s talk show ‘Koffee with Karan’, expressed his deadly views on some of the well-known faces of the fourth estate on a recent episode.

However, the audiences could not hear the stalwart’s comments as they were chopped off the episode. When quizzed by the filmmaker on which was the most over exposed couple, Big B spontaneously replied, “Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi are the most overexposed couple of the year,” the website reported.

When promos of Amitabh’s statements were aired, some people showed great interest and made frantic calls to the producer of the show for the sound bytes. Considering the fact that the statements were quite controversial, KJ’o decided it was best to pull it off from the episode to be telecast.

Moreover, when KJo asked Big B about the worse criticism that he had ever heard about himself, the actor said, “Devyani Chaubal saw ‘Muqaddar Ka Sikandar’ and wrote ‘his sun is setting, he’s over’...Pritish Nandy wrote an article on me and titled it ‘Finished’,” the report said.

Saif Ali Khan credits Amitabh for his Bollywood raid

Even though Saif Ali Khan is veteran actress Sharmila Tagore's son, the actor says he joined the Indian film industry chiefly because of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

The 40-year-old actor is all set to work with Amitabh in Prakash Jha's next 'Aarakshan'. This is the second time that both the actors will share screen space after the 2007 film 'Eklavya: The Royal Guard' 'I joined films pretty much because of Amitji so it's always an absolute honour to work with him and I'm glad I got another opportunity to get associated with him,' Saif told reporters here.

Big B too was elated to know about Saif's thoughts and revealed that he felt honoured after hearing what Saif had to say. 'I have worked with Saif in 'Eklavya', that was my first association with him. I am really honoured and privileged to know that he feels that I was in someway responsible for his entry into this film industry. I'm delighted to work with him again,' said the 68-year-old star.

Amitabh also remembered some of the moments that he spent with Saif.

'Today, I remember one of the very old moments. Saif was six-seven years old and he had visited my sets when I was shooting a song in Filmcity. Sharmila ji, his mother, said that he wanted to be with me and see the shooting.

'He was a very confused looking youngster then, who stood at the top of the hill, sitting on a rock all by himself and watching the shooting. From then on I have watched him grow so brilliantly to a fine actor with a lot of variety in every performance,' revealed the actor.

'Aarakshan' also stars Deepika Padukone, Prateik and Manoj Bajpayee and will go on floor Jan 15. It is based on policies of caste based reservations in government jobs and educational institutions.

In offer to safeguard tigers, Amitabh barters sunglasses to son

In an offer to safeguard the tiger from eradication, Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan today sold his sunglasses for a whopping Rs 40 lakh to his son Abhishek at Pench Tiger Reserve in eastern Madhya Pradesh.

In Pench for last two days to participate in a campaign organised by NDTV, the megastar auctioned his sunglasses over cell phone to contribute to the fund to save the species which is facing a grave threat of extinction.

On the occasion, famous playback singer Shanker Mahadevan enthralled audience with his songs. While a forest guard Kamlesh was felicitated for putting his life at stake to save endangered species, a journalist Sanjeev Choudhary was honoured for his reporting on wild life, especially the big cats. Amitabh is scheduled to leave for Mumbai tomorrow morning by a special plane.

Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek And Amitabh Bachchan PhotoShoot In Mumbai

Aishwarya Rai rested the eye at the second showing of Vipul and Shefali Shah's play 'Bus Itna Sa Khwab' on August 22 late night at Rangsharda theatre, Bandra in Mumbai. She accompanied husband Abhishek Bachchan and pa-in-law Amitabh Bachchan to the event, dressed in a white button front loose fit shirt with folded sleeves and black slim pants. She kept cozy carrying a black and gray scarf.

She wore white peeptoe pumps with a black bow top and carried a black clutch. Her hot pink nails were a rare sighting on her. Abhishek looked cute in a white shirt with a pink floral print detail on the front, light blue jeans, brown pointy leather shoes and a brown striped scarf to keep him warm. Amitabh Bachchan was his stately self in a blue pin stripe suit and white dress shirt.

The trio sat in the front row, next to Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna. The Bachchans joined the rest of the audience for a standing ovation to a brilliant performance by Shefali Shah and the rest of the cast. After getting such a grand reception to her performance, an emotional Shefali got a special hug from Big B. "Incredible play 'bas itna saa khwab' and Shefali Shah, Vipul's wife, my wife in film 'Waqt', is just unbelievable..choked with emotion!" Amitabh tweeted after the show.

Talking about her role in the play, a socio-psychological thriller about the purpose of life and how reality is replaced by illusions, Shefali said, "I am playing Shalini's character which has got so many layers to it. She's the most relatable woman and yet she can surprise you. My challenge is to portray her in a way that everyone can identify with her."

Mallika Sherawat Ready To Romance Amitabh Bachchan

Mallika Sherawat might not have thought that her dream to work with Big B would come true so early. Recently, she expressed her desire to share screen space with Amitabh Bachchan and opportunity knocked her door so soon. If everything falls in place then very soon she will be seen acting alongside Big B. PNC has sent her a script of romantic comedy.

Where she has to share screen space with Amitabh Bachchan. The script as well as the excitement to work with Big B made Mallika to accept the offer. Currently, she is in the US for the Hollywood project ‘Hissss’ and as soon as she lands in India, she will sign the dotted line. Mallika once expressed her desire to act with Big B. She added that everybody wants to act with Big B and she doesn’t mind running around the trees with him. Let’s wait and see Big B’s take on this point.

Priyanka Chopra Gives Complex To Big B

Sizzling B-Town beauty Priyanka Chopra is climbing the ladder fast.The hottie has been in talks for her toned up body ever since she entered Bollywood. From Dostana to Fashion, she has swayed her male fans with her chic look. Now it is handsome old man Amitabh Bachchan who has been bowled out by the beauty.

Priyanka’s tweet revealed that Mr. Bachchan keeps a close eye on her. The hiss became aloud after Piggy Chops wrote in her twitter, "Phir wahi!! Gym jaa rahi hoon... But training with friends today. Should be fun!!! If only I could muster up the energy to walk!!!" Big B was quick to comment on this as he wrote ,“Kitna gym kariyega! Complex de rahi hain aap hum sabko! Kal hi badha deta hun apni timings ko.” Looks Mr. Bachchan is ready to take challenge !

Katrina Kaif to play daughter of Amitabh Bachchan in Aarakshan

Katrina Kaif is all excited and ready for her very different avatar in her next flick Rajneeti. She will also be seen in another movie that will prove to be very challenging to her.

The actress will be seen playing the role of Amitabh Bachchan’s daughter in her next upcoming movie, Aarakshan. This movie will be directed by the same director of Rajneeti, Prakash Jha.

The director says that this movie is all about job reservations of the backward classes. And it will speak a lot about the difficulties people face to find a decent job in the country.

With Katrina who prepared herself with mavericks related to dynastic politics for her film Rajneeti, she is already looking into information related to job reservations in the country for this new film too.

The entire movie will be set on a college background with students wandering about to find a suitable job. And Amitabh Bachchan will be playing.

The role of the college principal whose character is entirely inspired from his father, Harivansh Rai Bachchan.

The movie will have Ajay Devagan in the male lead role. Ajay will play the role of being the principal’s favourite student who belongs to a backward class and supports reservation. Ajay is casted along with Big B in two projects this year. One being this movie and the other is an untitled movie by Rajkumar Santoshi.

Jacqueline Fernandez imitates Big B

Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez, who started in the Hindi film industry with Aladin, got her true taste of Bollywood.

While shooting for Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai where she had to imitate screen icons like Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra.

Till about a few months back, the only Bollywood personality that Jacqueline knew was Big B, Riteish Deshmukh.

And Sanjay Dutt, her co-stars in Aladin. However, it took a Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai to make her aware.

About other major film personalities like Dharmendra, Mithun Chakravorty, Sunny Deol and Ajay Devgn amongst others.

"Who doesn't know Amitabh Bachchan? After all he is an icon all over, including Sri Lanka.

However, even after stepping into the world of Hindi films, I wasn't really too aware about her other screen personalities.

I am sure not many would mind though, I am still learning," she told PTI. But she had her share of Bollywood celebrities while on the sets of Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. In the film, where.

She plays a woman from planet Venus, Jacqueline is required to be a part of a hilarious sequence where she puts on TV and finds various actors staring from the screen channel after channel. "Yes, this is a hilarious sequence where Jackie, who has just landed from Venus, gets her first taste of Bollywood medicine," said Milap Zaveri, the writer-director of the film.

"As she starts flipping channels, she comes across Himesh Reshammiya, Sunny Deol, Dharmendra, Mithun Chakravorty, Ajay Devgn, Sridevi and Amitabh Bachchan. She is quite amazed on seeing their on screen antics and starts copying their trademark dance steps, dialogue delivery and kicks & punches," he added.

So what Jackie gets to see is Himesh Reshammiya coming up with a nasal rendition, Sunny Deol getting into the Yaara O Yaara (Jeet) jig all the way, Sridevi coming up with her historic Nagina act, Dharmendra with his 'jat yamla' persona, Mithun's disco-dancer act and last but not the least, Bachchan's Tiger roar from Hum.

"Milap made me shoot this sequence on the first day of my shoot. I was so nervous. Here I was working in a comedy film with a new director and had to basically mimic these actors. Worse, I had no clue who they were. I asked Milap and he told me that all of them were screen legends in their own rights," remembers Jacqueline.

After the failure of Aladin, Jacqueline has pinned her hopes on Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai, which hit theatres today. She recently completed a commercial with Sanjay Dutt and Ranbir Kapoor and finished shooting for an item number in Housefull.

Amitabh to be honoured at Muscat film fest

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is going to add another feather on his cap. Just on the heels of bagging the Filmfare Best Actor Award for his performance in Paa.

He will be honoured with the Life Time Achievement Award at the sixth edition of Muscat International Film Festival to be held from March 13-20."

In a few days it will be Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman and the International Film Festival, where there shall be decoration for a Lifetime of Achievement," Bachchan wrote on his blog.

Big names from around the world like Mohanlal, Resul Pookutty, Antonino Sucameli, Franko Nero and Masdah Azahbah will be attending the festival.

Bollywood actress Shabana Azmi will be the president of the jury of the international section of films in competition.

A total of 72 films from 20 countries will be screened at the festival organised by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture in cooperation with the Oman Film Society (OFS) and the International Film Fraternity of Oman (IFFO).

Amitabh Bachchan drafted in for new Asian channel

A new Asian entertainment channel endorsed by Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan is due to come to the UK and US.

‘Colors’ will be the first branded channel by Mumbai-based Viacom 18 Network. The company is an equally owned joint venture between America’s Viacom Inc and India’s Network 18.

It also runs other networks in India including MTV, Nick, VH1 and Studio18. Colors was launched in India in July 2008 and will soon come to western markets, its owners confirmed this week.

Naming Bachchan as brand ambassador is part of its profiling-raising strategy for British and American markets.

The actor said: “My association with COLORS began with Bigg Boss Season 3. … I am sure Colors.

With its myriad hues of entertainment, will spread its magic in the US & UK as it did in India.” The channel offers a range of content, from Bollywood films to Hindi soaps. No date has been set to start broadcasting in the UK yet.

Amitabh says he can barely act

He had been voted the Superstar of the Millennium yet superstar Amitabh Bachchan says he can barely act and doesn't see himself capable of directing a movie.

In his latest blog the superstar wrote “I am often asked when I would direct a film and my standard answer to that has always been that I can barely act.

Where am I going to get the acumen to direct. To me it has been an enormous task that can only be fulfilled by those that have passion and desire to want to tell a story”

Amitabh who won the Best Actor award at the recent Star Screen Awards continued “I guess sometime or the other we have all wanted to do that - to narrate a credible story.

But to convert it into film is indeed another matter. I am most happy when I do not have to worry about the aspects of film making than with those connected to a performance.

Prepare, perform, and push off ! It may sound too selfish a thought, but really what else could I ever contribute to it.”

Big B who in his four decade long career has given Bollywood some of its biggest hits added “Directing a film is an enormous task. Every aspect of it has to be understood and envisioned before any serious claim can be made on this.

Which is why I think the respect and admiration and acclaim that should have rightfully been the Director’s is sometimes destroyed by a complete misunderstanding of what his or her contribution, in the field of direction, is.”

Paa Amitabh is an incredible human being - Aishwarya

The Bachchans just can’t ask for a better bahu than Aishwarya Bachchan. The former Miss World has been totally committed to the Bachchan family besides shooting films and commercials without break. She is equally excited about the Family banner ABCL’s Paa, though she is not part of the cast.

The fact is that she is supporting the film by taking up the responsibility as its marketing head. This is her way of reviving the family banner, which went bankrupt a few years ago following a series of flops and incurring a huge loss from organizing the Miss World contest in Bangalore in 1998.

Ash is all praise for her father-in-law and said that he is an incredible human being and a thorough professional. She added that she didn’t need to say these words but the fact is that he is leading an extremely busy life with lots of commitments.

She said that she met Auro, the character played by her father-in-law. She added that she dropped into the sets of Paa and couldn’t believe her eyes that the person sitting next to her hubby Abhishek was paa (Amitabh Bachchan). Well, the much-hyped film Paa starring Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Paresh Rawal and Vidya Balan is scheduled for release on December 6.

Amitabh, Aamir to talk about 'Paa', '3 Idiots'

Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan are leaving no stone unturned to promote their upcoming films "Paa" and "3 Idiots" respectively - the two are meeting Sunday to discuss marketing gimmicks for both the films. "Paa" is releasing Dec 4, while "3 Idiots" hits the screens Dec 25.

"Aamir comes over Sunday at my initiative to discuss a few promotional points for our respective films. It is always a joy to meet him... We have always spent time together discussing various topics of common interest and yes films is one of them. Lets see how things go.

Aamir, who excels at promotional gimmicks for his movies, has so far had live chat with fans on the Internet, reportedly got in touch with them through social-networking websites and even launched the music of the film online.

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, "3 Idiots" has been produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller "Five Point Someone", it stars R. Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor apart from Aamir.

Big B too is promoting "Paa", in which he plays a 13-year-old suffering from the disease progeria that causes premature ageing. He says his fans often come to visit him on Sundays and that he plans to "give hand outs autographed by me or maybe by Auro". "There is a unique way in which the promotion for 'Paa' is scheduled over the radio and soon you shall all be in a position to witness it...," he wrote.

"Talks have now been initiated for the premiere to be held in not one, not two, but three centres. And we are diligently working on a London-Dubai-Mumbai destination... The logistics and the mechanics are being worked out and hopefully there will be some news soon," he added. Directed by R. Balakrishnan, "Paa" stars Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan as Amitabh's parents.