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Producer Sanjay Gupta’s much-awaited movie “Pankh”, featuring actress Bipasha Basu, is finally hitting the screens April 2.

“Pankh” traces the life of a boy who plays a female artiste as a child in films. When he grows up and wants to be launched as a hero, he goes through gender confusion and falls in love with an imaginary actress, played by Bipasha.

The film, which was to release 2009, is directed by Sudipto Chattopadhyay and features Mahesh Manjrekar, Lillette Dubey, Ronit Roy, Sanjeeda Sheikh and newcomers Maradona Rebello and Amit Purohit, apart from Bipasha.

The director is confident that the movie will touch the right chords with the audience.

“This was a story that needed telling. It is a film that will touch every sensitive soul. ‘Pankh’ is Bollywood’s wildest take so far,” Chattopadhyay said in a statement.

Gupta is releasing the film under his newly launched brand White Feather Arthouse Film in association with Next Gen Films.

He also announced the release of unconventional film “The Great Indian Butterfly”, which has been a part of many film festivals. The movie, featuring actors Aamir Bashir, Sandhya Mridul, Koel Purie and Barry John, will be on screens March 26.

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is on and micro-blogging site Twitter is abuzz with posts from Bollywood personalities rooting for their favourite teams.

Actor Rahul Bose posted on his Twitter account: “(I) am only 1/2 Bengali, 1/2 Punjabi-Maharashtrian. Lived in Bombay all my life – Mumbai Indians for me…”

Another Mumbai Indian fan is Abhishek Bachhcan, who is eager to buy the team’s jersey.

“The new Mumbai Indians jersey looks very cool. Can’t wait to get my hands on one,” said the 34-year-old actor.

Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings have their supporters as well.

Filmmaker Kunal Kohli said: “…Punjab v/s Delhi (today), tough choice, both good teams, I’ll go with Punjab.”

While actor R. Madhavan had a different stance: “Started. My best to all the teams and hope the Chennai Kings rock. Damn. Felt bad when they did not approach me as their brand ambassador.”

While most celebrities have one favourite team, actress Dia Mirza wants to settle for two.

“I am Dia. I am from Hyderabad. And I am supporting the Deccan Chargers…I live in Mumbai now. I will be sure to support Mumbai Indians,” she said.

IPL has a fair share of the Bollywood quotient with many teams owned by members of the Hindi film industry. Shah Rukh Khan co-owns Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with Juhi Chawla, Shilpa Shetty co-owns Rajasthan Royals and Preity Zinta is a co-owner of Kings XI Punjab.

The film fraternity also came out in full strength to congratulate Shah Rukh Khan for KKR’s win against Deccan Chargers in the first match of the tournament in Mumbai Friday.

Shilpa Shetty said: “Congrats KKR! Well deserved.”

Karan Johar posted: “His name is Khan and he is a Rockstar!!! Way to go Shah Rukh.”

Others who congratulated the team included Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone, Dia Mirza,

Riteish Deshmukh and Shekhar Kapur.

It’s raining awards for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan this year. The veteran is set to add another feather to his cap with the lifetime achievement award at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival.

“The Hong Kong’s Asian Film Festival now wishes to honour me before the end of the month. And so soon after I leave the picturesque shores of Oman, I should be heading further east to receive what I believe, not so much a personal recognition, but one that comes to me as a member of the film industry of India and indeed India itself,” the 67-year-old posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com.

“Yet another moment when the Indian tricolor shall earn recognition on foreign soil. A moment of pride for me, a fraternity of which I am part and a country whose citizenship I cherish,” he added.

Amitabh was honoured with the lifetime achievement award at this year’s Apsara Awards and Muscat Film Festival as well, besides winning several awards for best actor.

The actress Karisma Kapur has delivered a baby boy at a private hospital around noon yesterday. This is her second child after Samaira who is now a five-year-old girl.

The actress’s spokesperson said, “Karisma delivered a baby boy. Both the mother and the baby are doing fine.”

Karisma stayed away from Bollywood after getting married to Delhi-based industrialist Sanjay Kapur. Since then she has been featuring only in the brand endorsements.

Almost after a decade of numerous roles in Bollywood, the actor Abhishek Bachchan says that he is not at all reluctant to do the Hollywood flicks.

He feels that the there has been loads of exchange when talked about talent, techniques or acting, among British, European, American and Indian cinema.

In an interview, Abhishek even that he hardly sees any big deal working in Hollywood. “I would rather ask when are they going to come and act in our films and dance around trees with fifty people? That would be far more interesting”, said the actor.

Abhishek was recently in London for the Tongues on Fire Film Festival. Talking about his involvement with the festival, he told that initially he felt he was under-qualified to be represented like this. “After a while I said it’s nice that the younger generation of the world’s largest film industry is a generation that a lot of people are showing interest in

Bollywood struggling actor Harman Baweja and sizzling actress Kareena Kapoor received the worst actress title at the second Golden Kela awards, an offshoot on Hollywood`s Razzies on Friday night.

Baweja was adjudged the Worst Actor award for his performance in `what’s Your Raashee?’ whereas Kareena was considered Worst Actress for her role in `Kambakkht Ishq`.

Bollywood funnyman Cyrus Broacha was the chief guest of the evening who was given the Cyrus Broacha Memorial Award.

The famous filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar also won the “Bas Kijiye Bahut Ho Gaya Award” requesting him to stop making films now. The Hollywood stars, Sylvester Stallone and Denise Richards were also awarded with the “Baawra Ho Gaya Hai Ke” (Have you gone mad) Award for contribution in flop “Kambakkht Ishq” with Bebo and Aki.

The award for worst supporting actor was won by Ranvir Shorey and Deepika Padukone respectively for their performance in “Chandni Chowk to China”. However, the worst film has gone to “Kambakkht Ishq” and Ashutosh Gowariker was announced as worst director for “What’s Your Raashee?”

The renowned vocalist of popular band Indian Ocean, Rahul Ram gave a tremendous humorous performance on the song “Nani teri morni…” and “Raat ke musafir”.

Shruti Haasan and Jackky Bhagnani were the winners of the worst newcomer actors’ title for their roles in “Luck” and “Kal Kissne Dekha” respectively.

Rani Mukerji’s “Dil Bole Hadippa!” was awarded with the Most Original Story title for completely being copied from Hollywood`s “She`s The Man” and also her pairing with Shahid Kapoor was declared as the Worst Pair.

The list of these awards is endless but interesting thing to mention is that none of the stars declared for the awards were seen at the event that was launched by Random magazine as a spin-off on Hollywood`s Golden Raspberry Awards renowned as the Razzies that identifies the worst in the cinema.

Scintillating Bollywood actress Vidya Balan has a new role – that of brand ambassador for the sleep awareness month of March. The awareness month aims to sensitise people about sleep disorders, the symptoms of which are often ignored but are nevertheless a serious health condition.

Primarily related to one’s lifestyle, sleep disorders are increasingly becoming common among urban Indians. Therefore, the need for regular check-ups.

“In our busy lives, we do not pay much attention to sleep or the lack of it. Getting a good night’s sleep is as important as having your daily dose of vitamins. In case you are facing irregular sleep habits, it is important to approach your local doctor for a check-up,” Balan said.

The sleep awareness month will see Indian Sleep Disorders Association (ISDA) and pharmaceutical company Abbott India organise various awareness programmes, including camps, with healthcare professionals who are experts in the field of insomnia and other sleep-related issues in metros and smaller cities across India.

One such camp for increasing sleep awareness was held at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital here Saturday.

According to experts, one in every three Indians suffer from insomnia or some other form of sleep disorder.

J.C. Suri, president of Indian Sleep Disorders Association, said: “The importance of sleep can be seen from the fact that people spend about one-third of their lifespan sleeping. However, increasing competition at the workplace, hectic lifestyle and stress have resulted in a higher incidence of sleep-related disorders, especially among urban Indians.”

“It is important to create awareness about sleep disorders so that people recognise not only the symptoms but also understand that it is a treatable condition,” he added in a statement.

Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has announced her latest venture on micro-blogging site Twitter. She is all set to open a new club called Royalty in Mumbai with her businessman husband Raj Kundra.

“Okay guys this is the news. Our newest venture is Royalty – the newest club in town, nearly ready, have been busy with that, so happy (that it is) nearly done,” Shilpa posted on her Twitter page Friday.

“You heard it here first as promised. Having our first party here after the Rajasthan Royals match, hope we win…more reason to celebrate,” she added.

According to an informed source, the duo have bought Poison, a club in Bandra, and plan to re-open it by the name Royalty.

Shilpa and Raj are currently busy with the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 cricket tournament that kicked off Friday.

Her other business ventures include a wellness spa chain called Iosis and her own brand of healthy curries and poppadoms in Britain.

Sunny Deol starrer “Right Yaa Wrong” released in 21 theatres in Pakistan Friday and the action star is hoping to get positive reviews from the audience all over.

“‘Right Yaa Wrong’ is a good film and it is releasing all over the world including theatres in Pakistan. I hope people will like it and I feel it should pick up with the audience all over soon,” Sunny told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

In Pakistan, the movie has released in Capri Cinema and Cine Plex in Karachi, New Majestic Cinema in Hyderabad, Prince Cinema, D.H.A and Cine Star in Lahore, Taj Mahal in Faisalabad, Dreamland Cinema in Multan, Cine Plex in Rawalpindi and Kashmir Mahal in Gujranwala.

Written and directed by debutant Neeraj Pathak, the crime thriller is produced by Subhash Ghai. It also features Irrfan Khan, Eesha Koppikhar and Konkona Sen Sharma.

“Right Yaa Wrong” revolves around two cops – Ajay Shridhar (Sunny) and Vinay Patnaik (Irrfan) and their intense rivalry.

The Bollywood superstar, Salman was summoned as a prosecution witness in a case.

The prosecution claims that Fazlani had asked the actor to lessen his fee for the film and threatened him with the bad consequences if he didn’t do so.

Khan told the Special MCOCA Judge M P Kukday that nobody threatened him and rather he was approached by the producer Nazim Rizvi as well as assistant producer Abdul Rahim Allahbaksh with the offer to play lead role in the film. He explained that he didn’t even remember Fazlani in any specific reference but had met him once or twice.

He also mentioned that he did not have any big expectations from the film but only wanted it to be directed by the talented and experienced director.