Mum’s the word

Akki and Sanju are not talking. To each other, that is. The cold vibes between two Bollywood action heroes have apparently turned into icicles. And Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar — who are acting together in the new film, Blue — have been giving debutant director Anthony D’Souza sleepless nights. Trouble started when Sanjay, a source says, started feeling that his role was being overshadowed by that of Akshay Kumar in the film. This led to that, and for a moment it seemed that the film would get stuck. But now all is well — and the remaining part of the film will be shot later this month. And Akki and Sanju insist they are the best of friends. Have we heard that one before?

Femme force

What’s common among Lutfa, Rani, Manorama, Aparajita, Shefali, Anoubi and Eileen? Browse through Shakti, a book celebrating woman power written by former intelligence official Maloy Krishna Dhar, and you’ll know. All real life people, these are women whom the ex-joint director of the Intelligence Bureau met through his life, and whom he describes as “some stellar women characters who left indelible impressions in the deepest recesses of my mind.” Written at the behest of his now deceased wife Sunanda, the book, published by Vitasta, is Dhar’s tribute to these incredible goddesses who “illuminated the paths even at the darkest moments of despair.” Well, given that his own life — much of it devoted to sleuthing — was so interesting, the tales of the women he crossed paths with should be gripping too. Mata Hari, here comes Dhar.

Bad boy

If actors can be singers, why can’t singers act? At least that’s what Sudhanshu Pandey — a member of the Indian boy-band Band of Boys — is out to prove. Pandey plays a negative role in the Monica Mogre Case files, a Zee TV show. Pandey, who has also acted in a few films such as Singh is Kinng, will soon make an appearance in the Sanjay Gupta film Alibaug starring Sanjay Dutt. In Monica Mogre, he plays a conman who lures rich women into matrimony and then kills them for their property. And, no, he doesn’t go singing all the way to the bank.

Rah-rah Riya

Riya Sen is taking off her sari — though not literally, of course. After her role in the film Nauka Dubi, where she was in a deglamorised mode in a sari, the actress is quite possibly busy looking for her fishnet stockings. For the Bong bombshell will soon be seen playing the role of a sexy seductress in Manmohan Shetty and Siddharth Jain’s next venture Shaadi of the Dead opposite Purab Kohli. The film is a comedy, and Riya is not going to disappoint her legion of fans. Six yards will give way to those little numbers. And everybody will end up seeing more of Riya — in more ways than one.

Oh, Lord

First she sang as a jailbird. And now Monica Bedi, actress-turned-gangster’s moll-turned-undertrial-turned-television star, is exercising her vocal chords. Bedi has just recorded a song for the music album Ek Omkaar, which has chants from the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib. Although she is not a trained professional singer, Bedi readily agreed to sing when music company Universal Music approached her. According to Bedi, singing in the praise of God has given her more confidence to achieve her future goals. We are not sure what the future goals are, but the present, evidently, is in tune.